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ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA.
EIGHTH EDITION.
m
\
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA,
OR
DICTIONARY
ARTS, SCIENCES, AND GENERAL LITERATURE.
EIGHTH EDITION.
WITH EXTENSIVE IMPROVEMENTS AND ADDITIONS;
AND NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS.
VOLUME XL
ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK, EDINBURGH.
MDCCCLVI.
[The Proprietors of this Work give notice that they reserve the right of Translating it,}
NEILL AND CO., PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BEIT ANNIC A.
Granville GRANVILLE, the ancient Grannonum, a fortified sea-
11 port town of France, department of La Manche, at the foot
Graphite. 0f a steep, rocky promontory projecting into the English
Chamjel 30 miles S.W. of St L6. It is surrounded by
strong walls, and the streets are narrow and steep. The only
remarkable building is the parish church, a venerable Gothic
edifice. The harbour is spacious and secure, but dry at
low water. Works, however, are now in progress for the
improvement of the harbour generally, and for the con¬
struction of wet docks. The inhabitants are chiefly en¬
gaged in the coasting trade, or in the cod and oyster fish¬
eries. Ship-building is also carried on. It has a tribunal
of commerce, an hospital, public baths, and a naval school.
Granville was bombarded and burned by the English in
1695, and partly destroyed by the Vendean troops in 1793.
Pop. 8347.
GRAO, a seaport town of Spain, prov. of Valencia, and
four miles E. of that town. It is situated at the mouth of
the Guadalviar or Turia; and it has a town-house, prison,
parish church, and two schools. Pop. about 3000, chiefly
fishermen.
GRAPE, the fruit of the vine. See Horticulture,
and Wine-Making.
GRAPE-SHOT, in Artillery, consists of a quantity of
shot piled round an iron spike which is placed in a strong
canvas bag, the whole being firmly corded together so as
to form a cylinder adapted to the calibre of the cannon.
It differs from canister or case-shot in that the latter kind
is composed of balls packed into a tin canister with a
wooden bottom.
GRAPHITE (ypd(f)u), I write), otherwise called plum¬
bago, and often improperly black lead, is a mineral carbon
with a slight admixture of iron. It may be made artifici¬
ally by exposing iron with excess of carbon to a violent
heat for a considerable length of time, when a real car¬
buret of iron will be formed; whereas in the native speci¬
mens the iron and charcoal are only mechanically com¬
bined. The finest graphite occurs at Borrodale in Cum¬
berland, and is appropriated exclusively to the manufacture
of pencils. The coarser varieties are used for making
crucibles and portable furnaces, for which purposes this
substance is peculiarly fitted from its infusibility; and it is
VOL. XI.
also much used for giving a gloss to the surface of cast- Grapho-
iron goods, as well as to diminish friction between rubbing meter
surfaces of metal or wood in machinery. The properties lj
and geographical distribution of graphite are more partial- ,'ratianus
larly noticed under Mineralogy.
GRAPHOMETER, a mathematical instrument, other¬
wise called a semicircle, used in land-surveying to observe
any angle the vertex of which is at the centre of the
instrument in any plane, and to find how many degrees it
contains.
GRAPNEL, or Grapling, a kind of small anchor with
four or five flukes or claws, chiefly used to secure small
boats.
GRASMERE, a village of England, county of West¬
moreland, picturesquely situated at the head of the lake of
the same name, 4 miles N.W. of Ambleside. In the burial
ground adjoining the parish church are interred the re¬
mains of the poet Wordsworth. The lake of Grasmere is
about a mile in length by half a mile in breadth, and is
surrounded by mountains presenting beautiful scenery.
GRASS. See Graminece in index to Botany, and
Agriculture.
GRASSE, La, a town of France, capital of a cognomi-
nal arrondissement in the department of Var, 23 miles
E.N.E. of Draguignan. It occupies a highly picturesque
situation on the southern declivity of a hill, facing the
Mediterranean, from which it is about seven miles distant.
The streets are narrow, steep, and winding, but the houses
are generally well built. The climate is salubrious, and
the town is well supplied with water from a rivulet which
rises above it. It has a large Gothic church of ungainly
appearance, three hospitals, town-hall, exchange, theatre,
communal college, and public library. Next to Paris it
carries on the largest manufactures of perfumery in France.
The vicinity abounds in citrons, oranges, lemons, figs, and
pomegranates, and in flowers used by the perfumers. Fine
marble and alabaster are also found in the vicinity. Pop.
(1851) 11,540.
GRASSHOPPER. See index to Entomology.
GRATIANUS, Augustus, son of Valentinian I., suc¬
ceeded to a share of the Western Empire on the death of his
father in a.d. 375. After a reign of eight years he was
A
G R A
Gratianus murdered by the partizans of a rebel aspirant to thc ' P
!l rial throne. Though only twenty-four at the tune o h^s
Grattan deathj he had given proof of possessing many exce e
1 qualities. He was just and gentle, zealous for the public
o-ood and a true friend of Christianity.
GRATIANUS, a Benedictine of the twelfth century, is
said to have been born at Chinsi in Tuscany, and o have
Sed at Bologna. His name has been preserved by his
co ectlmiof thf canons or decretals of the church, pub-
l°shed at Mainz in 1472, under the title of Decretum
Gratiani. This work was a great improvement upon its
predecessors ; but from the want of standard authorities and
rsound principle of criticism many of the canons in it are
quite apocryphal, and the text in many places very corrupt
Gratian, however, was himself well aware of the defects of
his work, and warns his readers not to put too much faith
either in his statements or his conclusions. He is o ten
ouiltv of the most absurd self-contradictions in his endea¬
vour to reconcile incongruous canons; and is accused by
the Abbe Fleury of unwittingly extending the authority of
the Pope, by his doctrine that the Pope was not himself
subject to the canons. As Gratian’s errors ivere leading
to awkward results, an edition of h\s Decretals vyas pub¬
lished in 1582 by order of Gregory XIII. ; in which the
more flagrant mistakes were corrected. A treatise, Ve
Emendatione Gratiani, by Antonius Augustinus, is an in¬
dispensable supplement to Gratian’s own work.
GRATIUS, a Roman poet, whose real name has been
almost supplanted by the epithet Faliscus, added by a
modern commentator. He was a contempoiaiy o ngi
and Ovid, and wrote a book on hunting called Cynegeticon
Liber, which seems to have fallen wholly into oblivion
before the time of Caracalla. At least, we find in the
reign of that emperor the Greek Oppian writing on a cog¬
nate subject, and boasting of having struck out an entirely
new path for himself. There is only one MS. °f the
Cyneqetica extant, and even it is very corrupt. 1 hi*,
added to the arbitrary use of many individual words, the
forced constructions, and a general haze that hangs over
the whole poem, makes it very difficult to be understood.
The work professes to describe the various kinds of game,
the means to be employed for their pursuit and captuie,
the best breeds of horses and dogs, &c. 1 he facts on
which the poem is based are derived chiefly from Xeno¬
phon. The best editions of Gratius are those of Lurmann
and Wernsdorf. There is an English verse translation of
the poem by Christopher Wase, London, 1654 ; and a
German one by S. Perlet, Leipzig, 1826.
GRATTAN, Henry, an illustrious Irish orator and
statesman, was born at Dublin in the year 1750. His father
was a barrister, and, though not remarkable for brilliant
qualities, was industrious and prudent. Being a Protestant,
the corporation of Dublin extended to him its pationage,
in consequence of which he was elected as lepiesentative
of the city in parliament, and made recorder. After passing
through the usual course of scholastic discipline, which he
did with much ecldt, young Grattan was entered as a fellovy-
commoner in Trinity College, Dublin. Here also h& gieatly
distinguished himself amongst contemporaries who aftei-
wards became the chief ornaments of the senate and tie
bar. His original intention was to have studied for a fel¬
lowship, but the persuasions of his relatives induced him
to remove to England, where he entered himself as a student
of the Middle Temple. When the requisite number of
terms had expired, he returned to his native country, and
in the year 1772 was called to the Irish bar. His practice
seems to have been small; but that his talents had already
begun to make an impression, is proved by the fact, that in
1775 he was brought into the Irish parliament under the
auspices of Lord Charlemont. From this period the life of
Grattan became a portion, and a very conspicuous one, of
G R A
the history of his country. He joined the ranks of the op- Grattan,
position, and the accession of strength which it thereby ac-
quired soon became apparent. The effect of his command¬
ing eloquence was not confined to those who listened to it
in the house. He infused the patriotic spirit with which he
was himself actuated into the country at large. It is allowed,
indeed, that the volunteer bands, who had begun to assemble
in the various parts of Ireland, acquhed new confidence
from the bold uncompromising tone assumed by the young
speaker; and in the course of a few years their ranks
swelled to the number of 80,000 men, armed, disciplined,
and prepared for the field. The menacing attitude which,
Ireland assumed at this critical period, and the boldness
with which the members of the Irish opposition, particularly
Grattan, contested the supremacy of the sister kingdom,
induced the British legislature, in the year 1782, to repeal
the statute of the 6th of George I. By this law it had been
enacted that the crown of Ireland should be inseparably
annexed to that of Great Britain ; that Ireland should be
bound by British acts of parliament, if named therein ; that
the Irish House of Lords should have no appellate jurisdic¬
tion ; and that the last appeal, in all cases of law and equity,
should lie to the British House of Peers. For Grattans
exertions in getting this statute rescinded, his country was
profuse in laudatory addresses to him ; and the parliament
rewarded his services by a grant of L.50,000. A more
magnificent donation was intended, but Grattan declined to
accept it. That bestowed was large enough to inspire envy
and provoke misconstruction. The following sessions of
parliament were stormy; and the young patriot had to con¬
tend, amongst others, with Mr Flood, an antagonist formid¬
able alike by his acknowledged talents and the unscrupu¬
lous virulence of his attacks. The latter maintained that
the act of repeal did not involve a renunciation of the Bri¬
tish claims, and that therefore they might be resumed and
exercised at any time. This sophistry found supporters in
both houses of parliament, and the reputation of Grattan
actually began to wane. But the energy and success with
which he opposed Mr Ord’s celebrated propositions, brought
forward in 1785, fully re-established his fame. One of
these was, that the Irish legislature should, from time to
time, adopt and re-enact such statutes of the British parlia¬
ment as related to the regulation of commerce. In oppos¬
ing this proposal Grattan put forth all his powers, and from
this period he began to be acknowledged as the leader of
the countrv party, and as the head of the Irish ^ ”g Club-
The members of this association were reciprocally bound
not to accept office under any administration which had not
for its avowed principle the conceding of certain popular
measures. These consisted of a bill to make the grea o -
fleers of the crown responsible for their proceedings ; a bi
to prevent revenue officers from voting at elections; and a
place and pension bill. Several other important subjects
engaged the attention of Grattan at this period; and amongst
these was the establishment of a provision for the cleigy
independent of tithes. He also brought m a bill to en¬
courage the improvement of barren lands, by exempting
reclaimed wastes from paying ecclesiastical dues during
snace of seven years. But both these measures were le-
jected by the legislature, principally through the influence
'of the established church. ,
About the same period Grattan strenuous y advocated an
extension of civil rights to his Roman Catholic countrymen.
That a Protestant statesman should exert himself m beha f
of those who professed a religious creed different horn
own, was, at the time when Catholic emancipation was at
length conceded by the British parliament, a matter of sue
frequent occurrence, that no personal claim to d^mcUon
could be raised upon that ground: to entertain such sen
timents was not considered as sufficient to subject the per¬
son entertaining them to public suspicion as one infected
GRATTAN.
3
Grattan, with pernicious opinions. But during the early career of
. ^ v Grattan the subject was viewed in another aspect, and
through a different medium. In Ireland, whilst the heads
of the Protestant church, with the majority of the Protes-
testants, were arrayed in opposition to any concession to the
Catholics, in England the tide of vulgar prejudice ran so
strongly in the same direction, that a great civil convulsion
had nearly arisen out of it. When these facts and circum¬
stances are taken into consideration, the conduct of Grattan
will appear in its true light, as that of a wise statesman,
and a fearless patriot. His principal object was to obtain the
elective franchise for the Catholics; but the administration of
that day indignantly rejected the prayer of their petitions.
On the arrival of Earl Fitzwilliam, as lord-lieutenant, in
1795, Mr Grattan attached himself to that highly popular
nobleman, and under his auspices originated many plans
which had for their object to promote the peace and pros¬
perity of his native land. But the recal of his lordship put
a stop to all amelioration, and at the same time generated^
universal discontent, which was increased by the creation of
new sinecures, and the lavish profusion of titles. The con¬
sequences were memorable and instructive. The society
of United Irishmen, whose ostensible object was reform,
but who really aimed at the independence of Ireland, ac¬
quired new courage from these dissensions, and some even
proposed to establish a republic in that country. The tri¬
umph of the French Revolution had no doubt inspired these
daring projectors with hopes of success. A large portion
of the people adopted their principles; military associations
were formed, and numbers disciplined and armed; whilst
an intercourse w7as opened with France, by which succours
and assistance were liberally promised. From the com¬
mencement of the rebellion which ensued, Mr Grattan ad¬
vised measures of conciliation ; and when he saw that there
was no hope of stemming the general movement, he with¬
drew from parliament, and retired to his country residence.
But the grand project of Mr Pitt for effecting a union
between Great Britain and Ireland summoned him from his
retirement. He obtained a seat in parliament for the ex¬
press purpose of opposing that measure, which, he main¬
tained, w'ould prove fatal to the best interests of Ireland.
Its success did not, however, prevent him from accepting
a seat in the imperial parliament, and there employing his
talents and eloquence for the benefit of both countries. Fie
was chosen, in 1805, to represent the small borough of Mal-
ton ; and in the year following he was returned as one of the
members for Dublin. Throughout the remainder of his
career, his public conduct continued to evince the purest
patriotism and the most undeviating consistency, illustrated
by an eloquence fraught with the finest inspirations of genius
and liberty. Notwithstanding the uniform and vehement
opposition of the corporation of the city which he repre¬
sented, he continued to advocate the Catholic claims with
equal zeal and ability. Accordingly, towards the close of
his life, we find him complying with an unanimous requisi¬
tion on the part of the Catholics of Ireland, to present their
petition to the British parliament, and to give it his support.
Some of his friends represented the fulfilment of this duty
as incompatible with his health, which had now begun to
decline ; but he nobly replied, that “ he would be happy to
die in the discharge of his duty.” This event did actually
take place; for he expired on the 14th of May 1820, soon
after his arrival in London ; and his remains were interred
in Westminster Abbey.
It is comparatively easy for posterity to judge for them¬
selves of the moral and political qualities of a statesman’s
character, because these can be dispassionately determined
from the information afforded by history as to the course of
conduct which he had pursued, and the measures which he
had supported. If Mr Grattan be thus estimated, he must Grattan,
ever be accounted one of the most ardent, consistent, and
patriotic of modern statesmen. Viewing him as an orator,
we can only judge of his excellence by the report of con¬
temporaries, who but rarely agree in such matters. We
are informed that he had to contend with an indifferent
voice, which was thin, and, considered simply as an organ
of sound, unequal to the expression of impassioned feelings.
His action, too, was seldom elegant or graceful, but it pos¬
sessed a far higher character, it was forcible and energetic.
Animation and ardour predominated in his manner; and
his pronunciation was distinct and articulate. Ihese are
the qualities which are calculated most powerfully to impress
a mixed assembly ; and the effects which he accordingly pro¬
duced on several occasions have not been surpassed by
those of any orator of modern times. “ With much of na¬
tional peculiarity, but chiefly in the manner,” says a very
able writer;1 “ with much, too, of individual mannerism,
his eloquence is, beyond all doubt, of a very high order.
Perhaps, after making every deduction for obvious defects,
he may even be accounted an orator of the first class. For
he possesses an originality, and a force rising far above
any excellencies of mere composition. Fervid, vehement
thoughts, clothed in language singularly pointed and terse;
an extraordinary power of invective, so remarkable indeed,
that he may be ranked among the greatest masters of the
sarcastic style; and, above all, and it is the distinguishing
character of his oratory, a copious stream of the most saga¬
cious and original observations, or the most acute and close
arguments, flowing, though not continuous and unbroken,
yet with an ease the more surprising, because they almost
all are in the shape of epigrams ;—these are the high and
rare merits which strike the reader of Mr Grattan’s speeches,
and must have produced a still deeper impression upon
those who heard him in his prime.”—“ He had deep, and
warm, and generous feelings, and, when roused to enthu¬
siasm, they sometimes found vent in simple language ; but
his accustomed style of epigram is far more prejudicial to
the expression of passion than to the conduct of an argu¬
ment ; and accordingly, his declamation was by no means
equal to his reasoning, if we except the vituperative parts
of it, which were among the finest of all his performances.
He had a lively and playful fancy, which he seldom per¬
mitted to break loose; and his habits of labour were such
that he abounded in all the information, ancient and recent,
which his subject required, and could finish his composition
with a degree of care seldom bestowed upon speeches in
modern times. Finally, he was a man of undaunted
spirit, and always rose with the difficulties of his situation.
He was ready, beyond any man, perhaps, who ever laboured
his speeches so habitually. No one ever threw him oft his
guard. Whoever dreamt that he had caught him unawares,
was speedily roused to a bitter sense of his mistake ; and it
is a remarkable circumstance, that, of all his speeches now
preserved, the two most striking in point of execution are
those personal attacks upon Mr Flood and Mr Corry, which,
from the nature of the occasions that called them forth,
must, of necessity, have been the production of the moment.
The epigrammatic form in which he delighted to throw all
his ideas, and the diction adapted to it, had become so ha¬
bitual to him, that, upon such emergencies, they obeyed
his call with the readiness of a natural style; and he could
thus pour forth his indignation in antithesis and point, as
easily as the bulk of mankind when strongly excited give
vent to their feelings in the sort of language which, from
this circumstance, we are accustomed to term the eloquence
of nature or of passion.
“ In the more glaring defects of what has been called the
Irish school of orators, he certainly did not abound. Ex-
1 Edinburgh Review, vol. xxxviii., p. 58.
4 G R A
Gratz travagance of passion ; strained pictures of feeling ; exube-
ranee of metaphor, and of forced metaphor; and, worse than
all, excess of passion expressed by unnatural and far-fetched
imagery, in language quite wide of nature, and often wholly
incorrect;—from these characteristic vices of his country s
fanciful and ingenious and ready orators, he was exempted
beyond all his contemporaries, by the chastening effects of
classical discipline. Occasionally, indeed, they do bieak
out in his compositions ; but, generally speaking, it is rather
in the style than in the ideas that he departs from nature;
or if in the ideas, it is in his love of point, rather than in
his proneness to metaphor. In one great quality he not
only stands single among his countrymen, but may be pro¬
nounced eminently superior to our own greatest oiatois ;
and it is that in which all modern compositions, those of
Dante and perhaps of Milton alone excepted, fall so far
short of the ancient, and especially the Greek exemplars ;
we mean the dignified abstemiousness, which selects one
leading and effective idea, suddenly presents it in a few
words, and relies upon its producing the impression desired,
without saying all that can be said, and, as it were, running
down the topic. In Mr Grattan’s speeches we constantly
meet with opinions delivered, or illustrations flung out, in
a single sentence, or limb of a sentence, and never again
recurred to, although the opinion may have been so saga¬
cious, and the illustration so happy, that a copious modern,
or even an ancient of the school of Cicero, would have
worked the one into a dissertation, and the other into an
allegory. This is a merit of the very highest order, subject
to the remarks already made upon the difficulty of making
things thus lightly touched at once perceived by an audi¬
ence, and the aggravation of that difficulty by the obscurity
incident to the epigrammatic style.”
Grattan’s Life has been written in 5 vols. by his son, who
has also edited his miscellaneous works and his speeches in
pari iamen t. (J. F. s.)
GRATZ, a city of Austria, capital of Styria, as well as
of the circle of Gratz, occupies a commanding position on
both sides of the river Mur, an affluent of the Drave, 1094
feet above the level of the sea, and 96 miles S. by W.
of Vienna. It consists of the city proper or inner town,
which stands on the eastern bank of the river, and four ex¬
tensive suburbs, having altogether a circuit of about seven
miles. The suburb Murstadt is on the western bank, and
is connected with the opposite bank, on which are the three
others, by two bridges. The inner town occupies little
more than a seventh part of the entire area, and is sepa¬
rated from the suburbs by ramparts and a glacis. It lias a
gloomy and antique appearance, and the streets are narrow
and irregular. The suburbs are much more regularly built
than the town itself, and contain many elegant edifices.
That of Murstadt is the largest and finest. The vicinity
abounds with beautiful gardens and villas. On the Schloss-
berg, a rocky eminence in the centre of the town, rising to
the height of 300 feet, stand the ruins of the citadel, des¬
troyed by the French in 1809. The cathedral or church
of St dSgidi is a Gothic structure, erected by Frederick IV.
in 1456, and contains many handsome marble monuments.
Near it is St Catherine’s chapel, erected as a mausoleum
by Ferdinand II., who lies interred here, together with his
consort, mother, &c. Gratz possesses in all ten parish
churches, twelve other churches and chapels, five monas¬
teries, and two nunneries. The Landhaus, where the es¬
tates hold their sittings, is a very ancient edifice, in which
is preserved the ducal hat of Styria, worn by the Emperor
of Austria when he receives the allegiance of the Styrians.
It also contains numerous suits of old armour. The uni¬
versity, founded by Charles Francis, Duke of Styria, in
1586, is one of the second order, having faculties of theo¬
logy, law, and philosophy. Lectures are given in medicine,
but no degrees are conferred. It has a library of about
G R A
100,000 vols. and 7500 MSS., a natural history museum, Graudens
&c. In 1850 it had 866 students. The convicte, the II
largest building in the town, and formerly a college of the ^ Graunt.^
Jesuits, is now used as a school in connection with the
university. The Johanneum institution was founded in
1811 by Archduke John (Johann), from whom it takes its
name. Its object is the encouragement of the arts, sciences,
and manufactures of Styria by the formation of collections
of various natural and artificial productions, by a library,
and by gratuitous lectures delivered by professors attached
to the institution. It has a reading-room, library of 32,000
vols., collections of animals, minerals, antiquities, coins,
plans, &c., a botanic garden, and chemical laboratory. Gratz
possesses also a gymnasium, episcopal seminary, deaf-mute
institution, lunatic, foundling, and orphan asylums, a general
hospital and lying-in institution, theatre, &c. It is the seat
of the highest civil authorities for the duchy of Styria, and
the residence of the prince bishop of Seckau. Its chief
manufactures are cotton, woollen, and silk goods, iron and
steel wares, leather, paper, hats, earthenware, and rosoglio.
Being in the line of railway from Vienna to Trieste, it car¬
ries on a considerable trade with these places, as also with
Hungary, Croatia, Transylvania, and Turkey. It is the
seat of two great fairs, each of which lasts for three weeks.
Gratz was taken by the French in 1809, after a siege of
seven days. Pop. (1851) 55,421.
GRAUDENS, a town of Prussia, province of West
Prussia, and government of Marienwerder, on the right
bank of the Vistula, here crossed by a bridge of boats
2700 feet long, 18 miles S.S.W. of Marienwerder. It is
surrounded by a wall, and is farther protected by a strong
fortress which commands the Vistula. It has a gymna¬
sium, training seminary, house of correction, and an esta¬
blishment for the reformation of juvenile offenders; also
breweries, woollen cloth and tobacco factories, and some
trade in corn. Pop. (1849) 7639, besides 2454 military.
GRAUNT, John, the author of Observations on the
Bills of Mortality, and the founder of Political Arithmetic,
was born at London, April 24, 1620. At an early age he
was apprenticed to a haberdasher in the city; and when he
entered into business on his own account, he gained the
esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens, passed with
reputation through all the offices of his ward, and was first
captain and then major of the trained bands. It is not
known at what precise time he first began to collect and
digest the Bills of Mortality; but it appears, from his own
statement, that he had directed his attention to the subject
several years before he had any design of publishing the
discoveries which rewarded his researches. His book en¬
titled Observations on the Bills of Mortality was published
in 1661, 4to, and met with so favourable a reception that a
second edition was called for the succeeding year, and others
followed. Immediately after its publication, Louis XIV.,
by a royal ordonnance, provided that a more exact i egistei
of births and burials should be kept in Paris ; and Chailes
II. conceived so high an opinion of his abilities, that, at the
institution of the Royal Society, he recommended Gxaunt
to the choice of the members, with this additional charge,
that if they found any more such tradesmen they should
be sure to admit them. Graunt appears to have changed
his religion, and become Roman Catholic, some time before
his death, which took place on the 18th of April 16/4. He
left his papers in charge of Sir William Petty, who had all
along befriended him, and who took care to adjust and in¬
sert them in a fifth edition of his work, published in 1676,
8vo. The observations of Graunt may be considered
as having formed the elements of that useful science
afterwards styled Political Arithmetic, which, therefore,
he is entitled to the honour of having founded; and
whatever merit may be ascribed to Sir William Petty, Mr
Daniel King, Dr Davenant, and others, there can be no
D
Gr Xi A
Grave doubt that the Observations on the Bills of Mortality
|| served as the model, if not as the basis, of all their investiga-
Gravesend. {jons. (j. B—E.)
GRAVE, in Grammar, a species of accent opposed to
acute, and expressed thus ('). It marks that the voice is
to be depressed, and the syllable it is placed over is to be
pronounced in a low deep tone.
Grave (Sax. grcef), a tomb or sepulchre. See Burial.
GRAVELINES, a strongly fortified seaport town of
France, department of Le Nord, and arrondissement of Dun¬
kerque, on the Aa, near its mouth, in the English Channel.
It is chiefly known for its fortifications, which are of great
strength, having been constructed by Vauban ; and, being
in a low marshy situation, protected from the sea by dunes
or sandhills, the surrounding country may be laid under
water at pleasure. The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in
the cod, mackerel, and herring fisheries. Pop. 5582.
GRAVESANDE, William Jacob, a distinguished
Dutch geometer and natural philosopher, was descended of
an ancient and honourable family, and born at Bois-le-duc,
in Holland, Sept. 27, 1688. The name of his family was
properly Storm van s’Gravesande. He studied the civil law
at Leyden ; but the mathematics were his favourite pursuit.
When he had taken his doctor’s degree in 1707, he settled
at the Hague, where he practised at the bar, and cultivated
the acquaintance of learned men. In May 1713 he, with
some other young men distinguished for their acquirements,
organized a review entitled Le Journal Litteraire, which
was continued without interruption till 1722. In 1715
s’Gravesande, in the capacity of secretary of legation, ac¬
companied the deputies of the states-general sent to Lon¬
don to compliment George I. on his accession to the throne,
and there, through the influence of Dr Burnet, Bishop ol
Salisbury, was admitted a member of the Royal Society.
He returned the following year to the Hague, and in 1715
was appointed ordinary professor of mathematics and astro¬
nomy in the academy of Leyden. During the vacations of
1721 and 1722, s’Gravesande made two journeys to Cassel
to visit the landgrave of Hesse, a prince who showed an
enlightened taste for experimental philosophy, and gene¬
rously furthered its advancement. In 1724 he resigned
the rectorship of the academy, to which he had previously
been promoted, and on this occasion pronounced a discourse
J)e Evidentia, which has been prefixed to the third edition
of his Elements of Physics. In 1730 he added to his ordi¬
nary course civil and military architecture, which he taught
in Dutch ; and in 1734 he was also appointed to teach phi¬
losophy, including logic, metaphysics, and ethics. S’Grave¬
sande died Feb. 28, 1742, at the age of fifty-five. His
principal works are : Essai de Perspective, Hague, 1711 ;
Physices Elementa Mathcmatica, experimentis conjirmata,
sive Introductio ad Philosophiam Newtonianam, Hague,
2 vols. 4to, 1720-1742; Philosophic Newtonianc In-
stitutiones in usus academicos, an abridgement of the
preceding, Leyden, 1723, 1728, and 1744; Matheseos
Universalis Elementa, quibus accedunt, specimen com-
mentarii in Arithmeticam universalem Newtoni et de
determinanda forma seriei infinite adsumtee Nova Regula,
Leyden, 1727, in 8vo ; Iniroductio ad Philosophiam, Me-
taphysicam et Logicam continens, Leyden, 1736, 1737.
In the JDictionnaire Historique of Prosper Marchand may be
found a detailed biography of s’Gravesande by Allemand,
the editor of the work, who was intimately connected with
s’Gravesande and his family. There is also an elaborate
life of him in the Biog. Univers., by De Gerando.
GRAVESEND, a municipal borough, river port, and
market-town of England, county of Kent, on the right bank
of the Thames, 22 miles below London, with which it is
connected by railway. Gravesend is chiefly indebted for
its prosperity to its intercourse with London ; and since the
establishment of steamboat and railway communication
G R A
with that metropolis, it has been gradually increasing in Gravina.
size and importance. It occupies a pleasant and healthy
situation, with good accommodation for bathing; and from
the heights above the town, especially that called Windmill
Hill, extended views of the river with its windings and
shipping are obtained. During the summer season it is
much resorted to by the middle classes of London, many
of whom have houses here to which they come daily or
weekly at the close of business. The crowds of visitors
that come here on Sunday in fine weather are very
great. The town occupies an acclivity rising from the
river; the older and lower part of it is irregularly built,
with narrow and inconvenient streets, but the upper and
newer portion is well and regularly built, and has several
handsome streets, squares, and terraces. The town-hall is
a neat and conspicuous Doric edifice, erected in 1836.
The church, which stands near the centre of the town is a
neat brick building. It has several other churches and
chapels, a free grammar-school, literary institution, market-
house, custom-house, theatre, concert-room, bazaars, baths,
&c. It has several piers, two of which, the town-pier and
the terrace-pier, are very handsome and convenient struc¬
tures, mostly of iron. East of the town is a battery, nearly
facing Tilbury Fort on the Essex side. Gravesend is the
boundary of the port of London. In the vicinity are ex¬
tensive market gardens. The borough is governed by a
mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors. It includes the
two parishes of Gravesend and Milton, and extends along
the river for a mile and a-half, and two miles inland in the
southern part. Pop. (1851) 16,633.
GRAVINA, Giovanni Vincenzo, one of the most dis¬
tinguished men of letters the kingdom of Naples has pro¬
duced, was born at Rogiano, a small town near Cosenza, in
Calabria-Ulteriore, Jan. 20,1664. His parents, who, by their
station and their fortune, held the first rank in the place, ne¬
glected nothing to promote his early education ; but the pre¬
cocity of mind, the vivacity of imagination, and the ardour
to instruct himself evinced by their son, soon made them
sensible that he required other cares at their hands, and
needed to be restrained rather than stimulated. Gregorio
Caloprese, his uncle, after having cultivated, with success,
at Naples, poetry and philosophy, had retired to his native
place, Scalea, a maritime city in that part of Calabria. The
education of a nephew, who inspired so high hopes, appeared
to him an agreeable task, and he willingly undertook it.
As the relations of Gravino had destined him for the pro¬
fession of the law, the time was now appi'oaching when it
would be necessary to make jurisprudence a serious study ;
but for that science he had conceived an aversion which
appeared to be insurmountable. But his prejudices at
length vanished; he applied himself vigorously to the
study of the civil and canon law, and at the same time
extended his knowledge of theology by an attentive per¬
usal of the works of the Fathers. Gravina had long de¬
sired to visit Rome; but his uncle, Caloprese, who still
superintended his education, opposed his wish until he
should have completed his course of study. When this
was accomplished, he repaired to the ancient capital of
the world in 1689. In 1691, he published, under the sup¬
posititious name of Priscus Censorious, a dialogue, entitled
De corrupta Morali Doctrina, Naples, 4to, the object ot
which was to prove that the corrupters of morals do more
injury to the church than the boldest heresiarchs. Gravina
was then only twenty-six years of age. But the eloquence
of the style and the solidity of the reasoning ensured the suc¬
cess of the book, which, at the same time, excited lively dis¬
satisfaction amongst the numerous partisans of convenient
doctrines and loose practice. Father Concina has inserted
this dialogue almost entire in his treatise De Incredulis.
Nor did poetry escape the contamination which had so deeply
infected morals. A single writer, Alessandro Guidi, a friend
6 G R A
Gravina. of Gravina, struggled at Rome against the prevailing de-
basement of taste, and, at the request of Christina, queen of
Sweden, had, under the Arcadian name of Erillo Cleoneo,
written a comedy, entitled Endimione. As this piece be¬
came the object of the most virulent attacks, Gravina,
under the name of Bione Crateo, undertook the defence of
his friend, which he read in a literary assembly, and which
was afterwards printed under the title of Discorso sopra
Endimione, Rome, 1692. This little work, in which he
laid down excellent principles, drew upon the author new
adversaries, who considered it equally strange and un¬
pardonable that Gravina should attempt to constitute him¬
self at once the censor of morals and the reformer of taste.
A jealousy, almost amounting to fury, was excited against
the young Neapolitan ; whilst his disposition to censure the
works of others, and the confidence which he appeared to
repose in his own opinions, were but little calculated to calm
the spirits of his enemies. Gravina sometimes commended,
but he more frequently censured, and his decisions were
often expressed in contemptuous terms. This tendency
made him a host of enemies. His least actions were watched
in order to calumniate him, and he was assailed with the
most malignant invectives. Then appeared in succession,
under the name of Quintio Settano, the Arcadian alias of
Ludovico Sergardi, sixteen satires against Philodemus, the
name under which Gravina was therein designated. 1 hese
satires, which were equally spirited and bitter, obtained
great success, and were circulated in profusion. Gravina
at first affected indifference. It is a fault of the age, said
he, to take pleasure in outraging merit. But as this tran¬
quillity did not reduce his enemies to silence, he could no
longer restrain his resentment, and composed some decla¬
mations of the nature of verrine, and also some iambics;
but he has not published these retaliatory effusions, pro¬
bably because he thought them inferior to the satires of
Settano. The malignity of the enemies of Gravina did not
lessen the esteem which he had inspired, nor abate his zeal
for useful and wholesome pursuits. He united with several
other literary men who had associated together for the pur¬
pose of cultivating poetry in silence. There were only
fifteen of them, but their number soon increased, and Gra¬
vina assembled them for the first time in November 1695,
at a house which he had provided for the purpose on Mount
Janiculum. They framed for the association a democratic
constitution, and took the name of Arcadi, or Arcadians.
On the 20th of May 1696, the Arcadi held a general as¬
sembly on the Palatine Hill. Gravina, after an eloquent
discourse, presented the marble .tablets containing the laws,
which he had written for the association, with the expres¬
sions consecrated in the Roman jurisprudence. During
this period Gravina had composed several dissertations,
which he collected under the title of Opuscula, Rome,
1696, and in which are included—1. Specimen prisci
Juris; 2. De Lingua Latina dialogus; 3. Epistola ad
Gabrielem Reignerium & Galium; 4. De contemptu Mor¬
tis ; 5. Epistola ad Trojanum Mirabellam ; and, 6. Delle
Favole Antiche, which has been translated into French
by Joseph Regnauld. After the death of Alexander
VIII., Antonio Pignatelli, having obtained the pontifical
throne, under the name of Innocent XIL, wished to raise
Gravina to the highest ecclesiastical honours; but the
latter refused to embrace the clerical profession, as all
his ambition was confined to teaching the laws, and his
taste led him towards secular erudition. Nor was his am¬
bition disappointed. In 1699 he obtained the chair of civil
law, and in his opening discourse traced the history of that
science ; whilst, in order to make his system of instruction
better known, he composed the treatise De Instauratione
Studiorum, which he dedicated to the new pontiff. The
discourse De Sapientia, which he delivered in 1700, also
relates to the same subject. In that one which is entitled
G R A
Pro Legibus ad magnum Moschorum regem, after speaking Gravina
of the pre-eminence and dignity of the Roman laws, he tl
considers them in reference to the influence which they Gray,
were likely to have in the civilization of the states of the
czar, Peter the Great. The subjects of the other disser¬
tations of Gravina we need not indicate, as they have been
collected in his works. We shall merely refer to that one
on the internal rule, because it makes known the religious
sentiments with which the mind of this great civilian was
deeply imbued. In 1703, Gravina passed from the chair
of civil to that of canon law. From the commencement of
his career as a public instructor he had abolished the usage
of scholastic argumentation; and each succeeding year
brought some useful change. He thought that the only
means of establishing sound doctrine was to ascend to the
sources or fountain-head of the laws ; and this accordingly
is the object of his treatise De repetendis Doctrinarum
Fontibus. But these little treatises, which he composed
with extreme facility, did not prevent him from continuing
his great work, De Ortu et Progressu Juris Civilis, the first
book of which appeared at Naples in 1701, and the whole
was completed in three books, and printed in 1713. During
the period which elapsed from 1711 to 1714, Gravina com¬
pleted and published several works, particularly his Dis¬
courses, his book De Romano Imperio, Naples, 1712, in
12mo ; his tragedies, Palamede, Andromede, Appius Clau¬
dius, Papinianus, and Servius Tullius, Naples, 1712, in
l2mo; and his treatises, Della Ragione Poetica, Rome,
1708; and Della Tragedia, Naples, 1714, in4to. Gregorio
Caloprese died at Scalea in the summer of 1714. As soon
as Gravina heard of his illness, he hastened to pay his last
duties to a relation to whom he lay under so many obliga¬
tions. He passed nearly two years in Calabria, and it was
not until 1716 that he returned to Rome, where he died on
the 6th of January 1718, leaving to his mother, Anna Lom-
barda, the property which he possessed in Calabria, and to
Metastasio all that he had acquired at Rome, excepting some
legacies to his other pupils, Giuliano Pier-Santi, Lorenzo
Gori, and Horazio Bianchi, all men of reputation in letters.
The works of Gravina have been collected in three vo¬
lumes, under the title of Opere del Gravina, Leipzig, 1737,
in 4to, and Naples, 1756, with notes by Mascovius the
editor. (J* B—e.)
GRAVINA, an episcopal city of southern Italy, king¬
dom of Naples, and province of Bari, on the left bank of
the Gravina, 37 miles S. W. of Bari. It is surrounded
by walls flanked with towers, and has a cathedral and eight
other churches, a college, and several convents. Its ancient
castle was, during the middle ages, one of the strongholds of
theOrsini, to which family the town and neighbourhood still
belong. The cattle fair held here on the 20th April is one
of the most famous in the kingdom. The vicinity is cele-
bratedfor its pasturage and for itsbreed of horses. Pop. 11,000.
GRAVITATION, and Gravity, terms used synony¬
mously to denote the mutual tendency which all bodies
have to approach each other. See Physics.
GRAVITY, Specific, the weight of any body as deter¬
mined by its relation to the weight of another body which
is assumed conventionally as a standard of measurement.
The standard generally adopted is that of water at a certain
temperature. This subject is explained in detail under
Hydrodynamics, chap. ii.
GRAY, a town of France, capital of a cognominal ar-
rondissement, in the department of the Haute Saone, on the
declivity of a hill, on the left bank of the Saone, 29 miles
S.W. of Vesoul. From its situation on the Saone, it en¬
joys great facilities for trade, and is an entrepot for goods
passing between the south and east of France. The town
is built in the form of an amphitheatre, and at a distance
presents an attractive appearance, which, however, disap¬
pears on nearer inspection,—the streets being narrow,
G R
Gray, crooked, and steep. It is commanded by the ruins of an
ancient castle, formerly inhabited by the Dukes of Bour¬
gogne. It has a fine quay, a handsome bridge across the river,
cavalry barracks, town-hall, exchange, theatre, several hospi¬
tals, communal college, and public library. Pop. (1851)6703.
GRAY, Thomas, the author of the celebrated Elegy
written in a Country Churchyard, was born in Cornhill,
London, December 26, 1716. His father, Philip Gray,
an exchange broker and scrivener, was a wealthy and no¬
minally respectable citizen, but he treated his family with
brutal severity and neglect, and the poet was altogether in¬
debted for the advantages of a learned education to the
affectionate care and industry of his mother, whose maiden
name was Antrobus, and who, in conjunction with a maiden
sister, kept a millinery shop. A brother of Mrs Gray was
assistant to the Master of Eton, and was also a fellow of
Pembroke College, Cambridge. Under his protection the
poet was educated at Eton, and from thence went to Peter-
house, attending college from 1734 to September 1738.
At Eton he had as contemporaries Richard West, son of
the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and Horace Walpole, son
of the triumphant Whig minister, Sir Robert Walpole.
West died early in his 26th year, but his genius and vir¬
tues and his sorrows will for ever live in the correspondence
of his friend. In the spring of 1739, Gray was invited by
Horace Walpole to accompany him as travelling com¬
panion in a tour through France and Italy. They made
the usual route, and Gray wrote remarks on all he saw in
Florence, Rome, Naples, &c. His observations on arts
and antiquities, and his sketches of foreign manners, evince
his admirable taste, learning, and discrimination. Since
Milton, no such accomplished English traveller had visited
those classic shores. In their journey through Dauphiny,
Gray’s attention was strongly arrested by the wild and pic¬
turesque site of the Grande Chartreuse, surrounded by its
dense forest of beech and fir, its enormous precipices, cliffs,
and cascades. He visited it a second time on his return,
and in the album of the mountain convent he wrote his fa¬
mous Alcaic Ode. At Reggio the travellers quarrelled and
parted. Walpole took the whole blame on himself. He
was fond of pleasure and amusements, “intoxicated by
vanity, indulgence, and the insolence of his situation as a
prime minister s son”—his own confession—while Gray was
studious, of a serious disposition, and independent spirit.
The immediate cause of the rupture is said to have been
Walpole’s clandestinely opening, reading, and resealing, a
letter addressed to Gray, in which he expected to find a
confirmation of his suspicions that Gray had been writing
unfavourably of him to some friends in England. A par¬
tial reconciliation was effected about three years afterwards
by the intervention of a lady, and Walpole redeemed his
youthful error by a life-long sincere admiration and respect
for his friend. From Reggio Gray proceeded to Venice,
and thence travelled homewards, attended by a laquais de
voyage. He arrived in England in September 1741, having
been absent about two years and a-half. Flis father died
in November, and it was found that the poet’s fortune
would not enable him to prosecute the study of the law.
He therefore retired to Cambridge, and fixed his residence
at the university. There he continued for the remainder
of his life, with the exception of about two years spent in
London, when the treasures of the British Museum were
thrown open. At Cambridge he had the range of noble
libraries. His happiness consisted in study, and he
perused with critical attention the Greek and Roman
poets, philosophers, historians, and orators. Plato and the
Anthologia, he read and annotated with great care, as if for
publication. He compiled tables of Greek chronology,
a ded notes to Linnaeus and other naturalists, wrote geo¬
graphical disquisitions on Strabo; and, besides being fami¬
lial with French and Italian literature ; was a zealous archae-
A Y.
ological student, and profoundly versed in architecture, bo¬
tany, painting, and music. In all departments of human
learning, excepting mathematics, he was a master. But it
follows that one so studious, so critical, and so fastidious,
could not be a voluminous writer. A few poems include
all the original compositions of Gray—the quintessence, as
it were, of thirty years of ceaseless study and contemplation,
irradiated by bright and fitful gleams of inspiration. In
1742 Gray composed his Ode to Spring, his Ode on a
Distant Prospect of Eton College, and his Ode to Adversity,
—productions which most readers of poetry can repeat
from memory. He commenced a didactic poem, On the
Alliance of Education and Government, but wrote only
about a hundred lines. Every reader must regret that this
philosophical poem is but a fragment. It is in the style
and measure of Dry den, of whom Gray was an ardent ad¬
mirer and close student. His Elegy written in a Country
Churchyard was completed and published in 1751. In the
form of a sixpenny brochure it circulated rapidly, four edi¬
tions being exhausted the first year. This popularity sur¬
prised the poet. He said sarcastically that it was owing
entirely to the subject, and that the public would have re¬
ceived it as well if it had been written in prose. The so¬
lemn and affecting nature of the poem, applicable to all
ranks and classes, no doubt aided its sale ; it" required high
poetic sensibility and a cultivated taste to appreciate the
rapid transitions, the figurative language, and lyrical mag¬
nificence of the odes; but the elegy went home to all
hearts; while its musical harmony, originality, and pathetic
train of sentiment and feeling, render it one of the most
perfect of English poems. No vicissitudes of taste or
fashion have affected its popularity. When the original
manuscript of the poem was lately (1854) offered for 'sale,
it brought the almost incredible sum of L.131. The two
great odes of Gray, the Progress of Poetry and The Bard,
were published in 1757, and were but coldly received.
His name, however, stood high, and, on the death of Cibber
the same year, he was offered the laureateship, which he
wisely declined. He was ambitious, however, of obtaining
the more congenial and dignified appointment of Professor
of Modern History in the University of Cambridge, which
fell vacant in 1762, and, by the advice of his friends, he
made application to Lord Bute, but was unsuccessful. Lord
Bute had designed it for the tutor of his son-in-law, Sir
James Lowther. No one had heard of the tutor, but the
Bute influence was all-prevailing. In 1765 Gray took a
journey into Scotland, penetrating as far north as Dunkeld
and the Pass of Killiecrankie ; and his account of his tour,
in letters to his friends, is replete with interest and with
touches of his peculiar humour and graphic description.
One other poem proceeded from his pen. In 1768 the
Professorship of Modern History wras again vacant, and the
Duke of Grafton bestowed it upon Gray. A sum of L.400
per annum was thus added to his income; but his health was
precarious—he had lost it, he said, just when he began to
be easy in his circumstances. The nomination of the Duke
of Grafton to the office of Chancellor of the University en¬
abled Gray to acknowledge the favour conferred on himself.
He thought it better that gratitude should sing than ex¬
pectation, and he honoured his grace’s installation with an
ode. Such occasional productions are seldom happy; but
Gray preserved his poetic dignity and select beauty of
expression. He made the founders of Cambridge, as
Mr Hallam has remarked, “ pass before our eyes like sha¬
dows over a magic glass.” When the ceremony of the in¬
stallation was over, the poet-professor went on a tour to the
lakes of Cumberland and Westmoreland, and few of the
beauties of the lake-country, since so famous, escaped his
observation. This was to be his last excursion* While at
dinner one day in the college-hall he was seized with an at¬
tack of gout in his stomach, which resisted all the powers
8 G R A
Graywacke of medicine, and proved fatal in less than a week. He died
ii on the 30th of July 1771, and was buried, according to his
Grazalema. own beside the remains of his mother at Stoke Po-
J geis, near Slough in Buckinghamshire, in a beautiful se¬
questered village churchyard that is supposed to have fur¬
nished the scene of his elegy.1 The literary habits and
personal peculiarities of Gray are familiar to us from the
numerous representations and allusions of his friends. It
is easy to fancy the recluse-poet sitting in his college-cham¬
bers in the old quadrangle of Pembroke Hall. His win¬
dows are ornamented with mignonette and choice flowers
in China vases, but outside may be discerned some iron¬
work intended to be serviceable as a fire-escape, for he has
a horror of fire. His furniture is neat and select; his books,
rather for use than show, are disposed around him. He has
a harpischord in the room. In a corner of one of the apart¬
ments is a trunk containing his deceased mother’s dresses,
carefully folded up and preserved. His fastidiousness, bor¬
dering upon effeminacy, is visible in his gait and manner,
—in his handsome features and small well-dressed person,
especially when he walks abroad and sinks the author and
hard student in “ the gentleman who sometimes writes for
his amusement.” He writes always with a crow-quill,
speaks slowly and sententiously, and shuns the crew of
dissonant college revellers who call him “ a prig,” and seek
to annoy him. Long mornings of study, and nights feverish
from ill-health, are spent in those chambers; he is often
listless and in low spirits ; yet his natural temper is not
desponding, and he delights in employment. He has
always something to learn or to communicate—some sally
of humour or quiet stroke of satire for his friends and cor¬
respondents—some note on natural history to enter in his
journal—some passage of Plato to unfold and illustrate—
some golden thought of classic inspiration to inlay on his
page—some bold image to tone down—some verse to re¬
touch and harmonize. His life is on the whole innocent
and happy, and a feeling of thankfulness to the Great Giver
is breathed over all.
Various editions of the collected works of Gray have
been published. The first, including memoirs of his life
and his correspondence, edited by his friend, the Rev. W.
Mason, appeared in 1775. It has been often reprinted,
and forms the groundwork of the editions by Mathias (1814)
and Mitford (1816). Mr Mitford, in 1843, published
Gray’s correspondence with the Rev. Norton Nicholls; and
in 1854 another collection of Gray’s letters was published,
edited also by Mr Mitford. Every scrap of the poet’s MSS.
is eagerly sought after, and every year seems to add to his
popularity as a poet and letter-writer. (r. c—S.)
GRAYWACKE. See Greywacke.
GRAZALEMA (anciently Lacidulermimri), a secular
town of Spain, province and bishopric of Malaga, depart¬
ment of Ronda. It contains about 12,000 of a population,
5000 of whom are engaged in manufactures. This includes
the suburbs of Gaidobar and Benamahoma; and it has 3
hermitages, 1 parish church, 1 convent of the barefooted
Carmelites, &c. The name of this town is of Arabic origin ;
and there are still found in it inscriptions and other Roman
G It E
antiquities. It stands on the great road from Ronda to Great
Cadiz. The neighbouring sierra of the same name is of Salt |jak0
great extent, and occupied by sheep and immense herds of Q.re|ves
swine, in which a large traffic is carried on in the town, as v 
well as with Seville and Cadiz. The manufactures consist v
chiefly of woollen and linen, flannel, leather, and soap ;
thread, dyeworks, carding-wool, &c. The export trade con¬
sists of the animal produce of the sierras, and articles manu¬
factured in the town.
GREAT SALT LAKE, in the Utah territory of North
America, lies on the margin of the Great Basin, between
W. Long. 112. and 113., and under N. Lat. 41. See
Utah.
GREAVES (Fr. greve), a kind of armour for the legs,
originally of leather, quilted linen, &c., and afterwards of
steel. This kind of defence for the legs was used both by
the Greeks and Romans, by the former of whom they were
called kvt)ixl8€<;, by the latter ocrece. Greaves were made
of various kinds of metal.
GREAVES, John, an eminent mathematician and anti¬
quary, was the eldest son of John Greaves, rector of Cole-
more, near Alresford in Hampshire, and born in 1602.
He went to Baliol College, Oxford, in 1617 ; was chosen
fellow of Merton in 1624; and, six years later, professor of
geometry in Gresham College, London. After travelling
in Europe, he visited the East in 1637, and collected a con¬
siderable number of Arabic, Persic, and Greek manuscripts,
of which he well knew the value, as he was a thorough
master of these languages. He also collected for Archbishop
Laud many oriental gems and coins. He made a more ac¬
curate survey of the pyramids of Egypt than any traveller
who had preceded him, and afterwards digested his observa¬
tions in a work on that subject. On his return from the
East, he visited a second time several parts of Italy ; and
during his stay at Rome instituted inquiries into the an¬
cient weights and measures. Soon after his return he was
appointed to the Savilian professorship of astronomy at Ox¬
ford, but was deprived of his Gresham professorship, the
duties of which he had wholly neglected. In 1648 he lost
his fellowship as well as his chair on account of his adhe¬
rence to the royalist party. But his private fortune more
than sufficed for all his wants till his death in 1652. Besides
his papers in the Philosophical Transactions, the works ot
Greaves printed separately are, Pyramidographia, or a de¬
scription of the Pyramids in Egypt, London, 1646, in Svo ;
A Discourse of the Roman Foot and Denarius, ibid. 1649,
in 4to; Elementa Linguae Persicce, ibid. 1649, in 4to ;
Epochae celehriores Astronomis, Historicis, Chronologis
Chataiorum, Syro-Graecorum, Arabum, Persarum, Sfc.
usitatce, ex traditione Ulug Beig, Arab, et Lat. Lon¬
don, 1650, in 4to ; Chorasmice et Mawarnalnabrce, hoc
est, Regionum extra fluvium Oxum, descriptio, ibid. 1650 ;
Astronomicce quaedam, ex traditione Shah Cholgii Persce,
una cum hypothesibus Planetarum, ibid. 1652, in 4to.
In 1737 Dr Birch published the Miscellaneous Works of
Greaves, in two vols. Svo, containing some of those above
mentioned, with additions, and a biographical notice of the
author.
1 A claim has been put up for the churchyard of Granchester, about two miles from Cambridge, the great bell of St Mary’s serving
for the “ curfew.” But Stoke Pogeis is more likely to have been the spot, if any individual locality were indicated. The poet often
visited the village, his aunt and mother residing there, and his aunt was interred in the churchyard of the place. Gray’s epitaph on
his mother is characterized not only by the tenderness with which he always regarded her memory, hut by his style and cast of thought.
It runs thus “ Beside her friend and sister here sleep the remains of Dorothy Gray, widow, the careful tender mother of many chil¬
dren, one of whom alone had the misfortune to survive her. She died March 11, 1753, aged 72.” She had lived to read the Elegy, which
was pei’haps an ample recompense for her maternal cares and affection. Mrs Gray’s will commences in a similar touching strain :—“ In
the name of God, amen. This is the last will and desire of Dorothy Gray to her son Thomas Gray.” [Cunningham’s edit, of Johnson’s
Lives.] They were all in all to each other. The father’s cruelty and neglect, their straitened circumstances, the sacrifices made by
the mother to maintain her son at the university, her pride in the talents and conduct of that son, and the increasing gratitude and
affection of the latter, nursed in his scholastic and cloistered solitude—these form an affecting but noble record in the history of genius.
9
GREECE.
Greece. Greece and its inhabitants, after a long period of obli-
v‘on, have latterly become objects of general interest to the
Introduc- more enlightened nations of Europe. It was singular, in-
toryobser- deed, that whilst classical scholars were immersed in the
vations. study of its poets, orators, and historians, the country that
gave birth to so many literary treasures, though neither
distant nor inaccessible, seemed to have been completely for¬
gotten. The learned contented themselves with supposing
that the modern country was inhabited by rude and un¬
known tribes, governed by fanatical Turks, whose barbarous
rule exposed travellers to continual insults and pillage, and
had swept away all traces and memorials of the ancient
glory of Greece. Besides, the country was not known to be
distinguished by its natural beauties ; and being confounded
with the torpid mass of the Ottoman empire, its political
importance was reduced to nothing. Till the commence¬
ment of the present century the only intelligible accounts
we had of the country were drawn from Strabo aud Pau-
sanias. The inquiries of Spon and Wheler, Le Roy, and
Stuart, which brought some of its precious antiquities to
light, were chiefly addressed to artists and scholars. Chand¬
ler’s Travels were not much better adapted for general
use. But the work which, more than any other, contributed
to render all subjects connected with Greece and its anti¬
quities popular, was the Travels of Anacliarsis. Previous
to the appearance of this work, however, various circum¬
stances had contributed to bring the Greeks more con¬
spicuously forward on the theatre of European affairs.
’W bile the general diffusion of education was increasing the
number of those who felt an interest in classical subjects,
the rise of the power of Russia, the connection she en¬
deavoured to form with the Greeks, and her projects against
1 urkey, held out a probability that Greece might speedily
regain some share of political importance. The Greeks
themselves, by the desperate efforts they made in 1770, and
again in 1790, gave a proof to the world, that their exis¬
tence as a people, and their national feelings, had survived
those destructive revolutions which were supposed to have
ovenvhelmed them. When the political enthusiasm created
by the French Revolution made the most gigantic plans of
political change appear easy, the emancipation of this long
neglected country from the Turkish yoke was looked to as
one of the most certain and gratifying triumphs of the new
principles. Before the interest arising from this state of
things had expired, circumstances of a different kind di¬
rected public attention more immediately to Greece. The
host of English travellers who had been accustomed to roam
over the Continent, shut out from their usual routes by the
arms of France, were forced into less frequented tracts, and
numbers of them visited Greece. By these, and by a few
individuals from other parts of Europe, a great part of
the country was explored, and a great mass of information
given to the public. Its topography and statistics are now
better known than those of many of the nearer and more
accessible parts of Europe ; the classical interest of the
country has been augmented by vivid descriptions of its
monuments and its scenery; and the stirring events of the
revolution completed in 1832 have greatly strengthened its
claims to the attention and the sympathies of western
Europe. It is now found that the modern Greeks, instead
of being the mixed progeny of obscure aud barbarous tribes,
possess a respectable degree of civilization, and great ca¬
pacities of improvement; that they have preserved the
features and national character of their ancestors with Greece,
surprising distinctness ; and that their dialect does not i ,
deviate much farther from the language of Plato and
Demosthenes, than that of Chaucer does from the Eng¬
lish of the present day. Independently, too, of its other
attractions, Greece surpasses Italy, and perhaps every other
country in the world, in the beauty of its scenery. Its an¬
tiquities are not, like those of the latter country, accumu¬
lated chiefly upon a single spot. They are scattered over a
wide surface, associated with a variety of scenery, and pre¬
sent memorials of many separate communities, distinguished
by differences of character, habits, and civilization. Its
monuments, compared with those of Rome, breathe a purer
taste, a finer moral spirit, and bespeak a sublimer genius ;
they tell of brighter and better times, of characters and
actions more surprising, generous, and romantic. Some
of them transport the mind back to those remote times
where truth and fable are blended,—to those delightful fic¬
tions which bear the impress of the genius of the people
more distinctly than the real events of their history. No
country, in short, presents greater attractions to a well-in¬
formed traveller.
In this article we shall first describe Greece in its full Name,
extent, according to the boundaries recognised in ancient
times by the Greeks and Romans. We shall then give a
brief sketch of the history of the late revolution ; and con¬
clude by a statistical view of the new state, which forms
only a portion of ancient Greece.
I he original name of the Grecian Peninsula was Hellas
—a term at first confined to a small town and district in
the south of Thessaly, whose inhabitants, the Hellenes,
gradually overran the whole of Greece. As they extended
their conquests, they gave the name of their mother coun¬
try to all the places that fell under their dominion. Even
their distant colonies in Italy, Sicily, and Africa, were looked
upon by them as integral parts of Hellas equally with the
capital cities of Greece Proper or the Peloponnesus. In a
more restricted sense the term was applied to the country
stretching southwards from the River Peneus and the Am-
bracian Gulf to the Isthmus of Corinth. The part of Epi¬
rus, however, that fell geographically within this distribution,
was not regarded as forming part of Hellas, though Hero¬
dotus and others maintained that it did. The Peloponnesus,
though inhabited by Hellenes, was not, strictly speaking,
comprised within Greece Proper. At a later period, how¬
ever, not only the Peloponnesus, but Macedonia and part
of Illyria, were included in the general term. It is not
known why the Romans called the country by the name of'
Graecia instead of adopting the term in common use among
the Greeks themselves. The name Grcecia is first used by
Aristotle. After the country passed by conquest under the
Roman yoke, the conquerors reduced it to a province and
called it by the name of Achaia. As the various states of
Greece are all discussed under their respective heads (See
Attica, Bceotia, &c., &c.), we shall in the present article
take the appellation in its most extensive sense, and so follow
what may be considered the natural limits of the country; be¬
cause the territories included within these limits are associated
by certain political relations; and because many of the most
interesting subjects of inquiry and discussion relating to the
ancient, and still more to the modern state of Greece, con¬
nect themselves most naturally with this arrangement.
The continent of Greece, including Albania and Mace- Extent.
VOL. XI.
1 Cellarii Geog. Antiq., lib. ii., cap. 13 ; Strabo, lib. viii.; Potter’s Antiq. b. i., chap. 16.
/
B
10
GREECE.
Greece, donia, is nearly shut in on the north by a chain of moun- formed a separate state, were much smaller than any of these; Greece.
' tains known anciently by the names of Rhodope, Scomius, her wealth and power depending chiefly on commerce. _
and Orbelus f it is bounded on the west by the Adriatic Greece forms a long and rather narrow peninsula, sin- Gulfs ami
and Ionian Seas, on the south by the Mediterranean, and gularly indented on three sides by arms of the sea, and mountains,
on the east by the Aegean Sea, or Archipelago. It extends having a greater proportion of its surface occupied by
from 36 10 to 42 40. of north latitude; and from 19. 45. mountains than any other country in Europe of equal ex-
to 24. 40. ofeast longitude from London. Its length, from tent, except Switzerland. It has been justly observed.
Cape Matapan to Mount Orbelus, or Argentaro, is 450 that those physical features which distinguish Europe from
English miles; its greatest breadth, from Durazzo to Ca- the other quarters of the world belong in a peculiar man-
vale at the foot of Mount Pangoeus (a branch of Rhodope), ner to Greece, and distinguish it in the same proportion
235 miles ; and it embraces an area of 57,750 square miles, from the other parts of Europe. Of these arms of the sea,
exclusive of all its islands except Euboea. But, as our the most considerable are the Gulfs of Contessa, balonica,
ideas of the extent of the country have always a reference Yolo, iEgina, and Nauplia, on the east; those of Kolokythia
to those ancient states which comprised but very minute and Coron on the south; and those of Lepanto and Arta
portions of its surface, it is necessary that its dimensions on the west. Of the mountains, the first in order are those
should be described more in detail. which pass along the northern frontier. Mount Argentaro,
Ancient The country recognised as Greece before the rise of the ancient Orbelus, placed at the northern extremity of
limits and |.^e Macedonian power, comprehended the Morea or Pelo- Greece, near the forty-third degree of latitude, may be
divisions. nesuSj Attica, Euboea, Boeotia, Phocis, Doris, iEtolia, considered as the centre of the whole system of mountains
Acarnania, Thessaly, and Magnesia; and even several of in European Turkey. From this nucleus an elevated
the states included within these limits had little or no share chain, bearing the names of Scomius and Rhodope an-
in those splendid actions which have shed so much glory ciently, passes south-eastward, and sends off branches on
over the country. The surface of Peloponnesus, which both sides, one of which, Pangeus, advances southward to
included seven different states, is about 9000 English the vEgean Sea, nearly opposite to the Isle of Thasus, and
square miles ; that of the countries just named, without shuts in Greece on the east. From the same central
the peninsula, including Eubcea, is 14,800 ; and both nucleus another great chain passes south and south-east-
together amount to 23,800 square miles—an extent of sur- ward, under the ancient names of Scardus, Pindus, Cithae-
face not exceeding two-fifths of England, or one-fifth of ron, and Parnes, and terminates at Cape Colonna, the
the British isles. If to this we add 16,000 square miles southmost point of Attica. This chain, which includes the
for Albania or Epirus (including the basin of the Drino), celebrated mountains of Parnassus and Helicon, divides
18,000 for Macedonia, and 1000 for the Cyclades, the the northern continent of Greece into two parts of near y
whole surface of Greece and its islands will be 58,800 equal breadth, and gives birth to all the most considerable
square miles, which is almost exactly the area of Eng- rivers, which flow off on its opposite sides, but in no in“
land. While Greece preserved its independence, how- stance cross it. On the east side, besides many small late-
ever, all these territories were never united into one body ral ridges, it sends off two principal branches, which enclose
politic, nor was their confederated force ever applied to the 1 hessaly on the north and south ; these are the Cambuman
prosecution of any common enterprise. The communities Mountains, which, connecting the central j^dge . *~us
whose warlike achievements and brilliant career in arts with the lofty group of Olympus, separate Macedonia horn
and philosophy raised the Grecian name so high, occupied 1 hessaly; and Mount Gita, which, running eastward to
but very minute portions of the country ; as the follow- . the Maliac Gulf, forms, at its termination, the famed pass
ing table, deduced from measurements, will show :— of Thermopylae. Mount Othrys, a little farther nort i,
E S M'l may be considered as a subordinate chain to Gda. Mount
Attica including Megatia and Sa,antis, bu, not' ' ^ O^pus is
Euboea ttuU . ’  
Bceotia        1530 j . g northward of the Gulf of Arta, is covered by a
Laconia (without Messema)       1720 ^ ri,„^no. nff Wflliv. hllt disnosed in
Achaia (the twelve cities with their territories) 1140
These states, therefore, were in general about equal in
western side of the central chain, the whole country to the
series of ridges, not running off laterally, but disposed in
lines nearly parallel to the central chain, and separated by
deep valleys. One of these ridges, nearest the coast, and
extent to middle-sized English counties. None of them terminating in a promontory, in latitude 40. 30., was known
was so large as Norfolk or Devonshire ; and the two ad- anciently by the name of Acroceraunus; another farther
joining counties of York and Lancaster were nearly equal north, and more inland, was Mount Tomarus. A long and
to the whole seven states of the ancient Peloponnesus.
Attica, indeed, besides possessing at one period Eubcea,
had many colonies in the Cyclades, Thrace, and other
parts ; and Sparta held Messenia long in subjection; but,
in great struggles, these colonies and dependencies often
shook off their allegiance, and the parent state was obliged
to rely on its own resources. Such was the energy of
these small communities, that Attica, which scarcely sup¬
ports, at present, a population of 50,000 souls, sent out
sometimes colonies of 10,000 men at once (Diod. Sic.
lib. ii.); and Sparta furnished 50,000 soldiers to fight the
Persians at Platma. The territories of Corinth, when she
narrow ridge occupies the Island of Eubcea, and is evidently
continued in the outermost chain of islands included under
the name of the Cyclades. Another chain of these islands
may be considered as a prolongation of the great central
ridge from the promontory of Sunium or Colonna.
The mountains in the Morea or Peloponnesus, which
are as numerous as in the north of Greece, present rather
a singular configuration. A long ridge, bent into a circu¬
lar form, encloses the central plateau or basin of Arcadia;
and five spurs, or subordinate ridges, run oft from the dif¬
ferent sides of this circular chain to the five prominent
points of the peninsula.
1 Throughout this article we use the ancient or the modern names, according as either happen to be better known than the other.
In general, the ancient divisions of the country, being more minute and more accurately defined than the modern, serve better for
the purnoses of description. The greater number of modern travellers have felt it necessary to adopt this practice.
G li K E C E.
11
Greece.
of raoun
tains.
The elevation of some of the Grecian mountains has
. been estimated, but not accurately measured. Mount Or-
Eievation belus, the northern boundary of the country, has its sum-
~e mit covered with snow all the year,1 and must therefoie
exceed 8000 feet in height; but none of the other moun¬
tains seems to reach the circle of perpetual congelation.
The elevation of the great central chain of Pindus is loose¬
ly estimated by Dr Holland at 7000 feet.2 That of Olym¬
pus, one of the loftiest summits in Greece, was computed
by the ancient philosopher Xenagoras to be ten stadia and
a plethrum, an elevation not materially different fiom that
of 1017 toises, or 6500 feet, assigned to it by Bernoulli.
The famed Parnassus seems to be considered by Dr Clarke
and Dr Holland as rising above most of the other Grecian
mountains ; but as its summit is destitute of snow during
a part of the year, its height cannot exceed 9500 feet, and
is probably much less. This mountain is still called Par-
nassu by the peasants residing on it, but in the low coun¬
try of Livadia it bears the name of Lakura.3 The cele¬
brated Athos, which is now the seat of twenty-two mo¬
nasteries, rises to the height of 713 toises, or 4350 feet,
f Walpole, p. 204.) Several of the Albanian mountains
are estimated by Dr Holland to be from 3000 to 4000 feet
high. The mean height of the mountains of the Morea is
estimated at 1200 feet; on the west side they attain a
height of from 3000 to 4500 feet; Mount Cyllene rises to
the height of 4500 feet, and Mount Oleno to 6000 ; Mount
Taygetus, in its range from Cape Matapan to Arcadia, va¬
ries from 3000 to 7200 feet. The plain of Tripolizza, in
Arcadia, is about 2000 feet above the sea, and the insulat¬
ed rock of the Acro-Corinthus about 1900. (Boblaye, An¬
nates des Sciences Naturelles, Feb. 1831.)
A great part of the surface of Greece is occupied by a
formation of compact limestone, of a whitish or bluish grey
colour, approaching at times to the nature of chalk. It
forms in some places long sharp continuous ridges, in others
round or craggy summits, and it presents strata highly
inclined. It contains a few organic remains, with many
flint nodules, and some beds of gypsum on the western
side ; and occasionally masses or beds of a calcareous con¬
glomerate. The Acropolis of Athens consists of the last-
mentioned rock. The compact limestone, which forms the
entire mass of Parnassus and Helicon, rests on mica slate
near Athens. The hills of Attica consist generally of pri¬
mitive limestone ; and the same species of rock, with clay
slate, serpentine, sienite, porphyry, abound in Negropont,
the central parts of Pindus, Olympus, and Athos, and all
round the Gulf of Salonica. Farther north, in Mounts
Scomius and Rhodope, granite and gneiss are found. In
general, primitive rocks are most abundant on the east side
of Greece, and the secondary on the west. Tertiary de¬
posits are found in Elis, Laconia, and Argolis; and tra¬
chytes and other igneous rocks exist in iEgina, Milo, San-
torin, and on the continent at Methana in Argolis. M. Bo¬
blaye states that four, and in some cases five, successive ter¬
races of shingle are seen at many parts on the shores of the
Morea, each of which had once formed the sea beach, in¬
dicating that the land had been elevated by a correspond¬
ing number of sudden movements upwards. (Boblaye,
Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Feb. 1831; Hollands
Travels, p. 89, 319, &c.) It is to the peculiar constitu¬
tion of the great limestone formation that Greece owes
those physical features which so remarkably distinguish the
country ; the numerous caverns, fountains, subterraneous
river courses, hot springs, and gaseous exhalations, which
Greece.
Geology.
gave birth to so many of the popular superstitions of the
ancients. *
The rivers of Greece, flowing within a narrow territory, Itivers.
are much inferior in size even to the larger branches of the
Danube. They may be fitly compared with those of Great
Britain for the length of their courses and the quantity of
water they convey. T-he classical rivers, however, which
are chiefly in the south, are generally mere brooks, such
as would find a place only in a county map. The largest
rivers in Greece are the Axius, now the Vardar, in Mace¬
donia; the Drinius, now the Drino, in North Albania;
the Peneus, now the Salympria, in Thessaly ; the Ache-
lous, now the Aspropotamo, in Altolia ; the Alpheus, now
the Roufia, and Eurotas, now Yasilipotamo, in the Morea.
These and some others have permanent streams ; but the
greater number are mere mountain torrents, short, but
rapid in their courses, and dry in summer.
The general aspect of Greece is characterized by a very General
singular distribution of its mountains. These are usually asPect-
neither placed in parallel chains nor in massive groups,
but are so disposed as to enclose extensive tracts of land,
which assume the appearance of large basins or circular
hollows. The bottom of these basins consists of an allu¬
vial plain of the richest soil, and level as the ocean, through
which sometimes rise steep insulated rocks, like the sum¬
mits of vast natural columns. Nature had thus marked out
the country into a number of distinct districts, admirably
calculated to become the seats of small communities. The
plain, with its rich alluvial soil, furnished subsistence for a
dense population ; the insulated rock became the Acropo¬
lis or citadel of the chief town, a place of refuge in war ;
and the surrounding mountains were barriers against inva¬
sion. In proportion as access from without was difficult,
internal communication was rapid and easy. A crowded
population, dispersed over the sides and the area of this
natural amphitheatre, lived as it were in the continual pre¬
sence of one another. Their country, a word of unde¬
fined import in large empires, conveyed to them as distinct
an idea as that of their own homes. Its whole landscape,
with its trophies, temples, monuments, and fields of re¬
nown, were constantly under their eyes. Their patriotism,
concentrated within this narrow sphere,—attached to visi¬
ble objects by early and habitual associations,—kept alive
by frequent struggles with neighbouring communities, for
independence or glory, and still more by the proud sense
of individual importance, inspired by their republican in¬
stitutions,—was not, as in larger empires, a vague and lan¬
guid feeling, but an ardent and steady passion, of which
nothing in the modern world can give us an adequate idea.
The same circumstances had an influence on their political
condition. Conquest, which forces nations of different
habits, characters, and languages, into combination, is the
great parent of slavery. In such heterogeneous masses
union becomes impossible. The despot, glittering in bar¬
baric pomp, and surrounded by foreign guards, appears m
his subject provinces like a being of another order, not to
collect the sentiments or redress the wrongs of the people,
but to silence all complaints, and enforce obedience to his
own lordly will. Though hated by all his subjects, he can
still employ the wealth and the physical force of one nation
to trample on the rights of another, and is thus able to hold
the whole in slavery. But the small Greek communities,
protected by the barriers of their gulfs and mountains,
escaped this evil destiny. The people, united by identity
of manners and language, by common interests and con-
443.
Travels in the Morea, Albania, and other parts of the Ottoman Empire. By F. C. Pouqueville, M. D. (translation), London, 1813, p.
Travels in the Ionia. Isles, Mania, Thessaly, Maeeionia, &c. during 1812 and 1813. By Henry Holland, M. D. 1815. p. 207.
Memoirs relating to European and Asiatie Turkey, edited by the Reverend Robert Walpole, A. M. 1817, p. 72 , Tra.els,
4tli edition, 8vo, 1818, vol. vii. p. 260 ; Holland’s Travels, p. 394. Article Climate in this work.
12 G R E
Greece, timial communication, could combine with the utmost fa-
cility to resist the first encroachments of their rulers. They
were able to apply freely the lights of reason to all their
common concerns, to model their government according
to their circumstances and their views of common interest,
and to make the end for which it existed the measure of
the powers bestowed upon it. The forms of government
they adopted, though not contrived by absolute wisdom,
were probably in principle better adapted to their situation
than any other that could have been suggested. And never
did the powers of the human mind display themselves with
such energy and grandeur under any other system in the
history of the human race.
Of the plains we have mentioned, some terminate in the
ocean, and seem to owe their existence to the retiring of
the waters. Such are those of Macedonia, Athens, Argos,
Laconia, Messenia, and Ambracia. Others are completely
surrounded by a rampart of mountains or high grounds,
except at a single point where the waters have found or
forced a passage. Of this description are the three re¬
markable valleys of Thessaly, Boeotia, and Arcadia. Each
of these forcibly suggests the idea of a vast inland lake,
where the waters, accumulating for a long period, had at
length burst through the barrier that confined them, and
left the bottom dry. There is also an analogy between
these valleys and some of the inland seas of Greece, such
as the Gulfs of Corinth, Arta, Volo, and the channel of Ne-
gropont, which are marine lakes completely land-locked,
and communicating with the Mediterranean by a single
passage, which may at one period have been closed. It
may even be conceived that the Archipelago itself, at one
period, was completely shut in by a barrier of high lands,
of which Cerigo, Creto, Scarpanto, and Rhodes, are por¬
tions or fragments ; and that its numerous isles are either
the summits of mountains which then diversified its sur¬
face, or of detached rocks like those of Meteora in Thes¬
saly, which have resisted the incessant action of the waters.
Topogra- The valley of Macedonia, which extends in a semicircle
phy* round the head of the Gulf of Salonica, is the largest and
most fertile district in Greece. Its produce has been
supposed to be nearly equal to that of all the rest of the
country. The rivers in the lower parts, which overflow
annually, render the country marshy, and subject to the
malaria. It contains a considerable number of ancient re¬
mains, but they have only been partially examined. A
large tumulus still marks the site of the battle of Pydna,
which reduced Macedonia to a Roman province. Thes¬
saly, separated from Macedonia by Olympus and the
Cambunian Mountains, is a vast circular basin, of fifty
or sixty miles diameter, enclosed on all sides by moun¬
tains, and next in fertility to Macedonia. The whole
of its waters flow off by the river Peneus. The cele¬
brated Vale of Tempe, a deep ravine, formed by precipi¬
tous cliffs six or eight hundred feet high, and separat¬
ing Mount Olympus from Ossa, affords a passage for this
river to the sea on the east. The vale is about five
miles long, and so narrow, that the river in some parts
occupies the whole breadth of its bottom ; the scenery
is more striking by its grandeur than its beauty. The rocks,
which are of bluish-grey marble, have a shattered appear¬
ance, and, wherever the surface admits of it, are covered
with trees and shrubs. Some of the ancients believed
that this defile was formed by an earthquake. Were any
natural convulsion to close it up, Thessaly would again be
converted into a lake; and Xerxes, when he invaded Greece,
threatened the Thessalians with this catastrophe if they
opposed him. The rocks of Meteora, at the upper side
of the Thessalian plain, are objects of a very remarkable
kind. Ihey rise from the level surface of the country
near the Peneus, and cover a triangular space of two miles
.each way. They consist of a great collection of lofty rocks,
E C E.
in the various shapes of cones, pillars, rhomboids, and ir- Greece,
regular masses, all standing detached from one another,
with faces generally as perpendicular as a wall. Their
height varies from one to three or four hundred feet, and
the deep winding intervals between them are filled with
trees and brushwood. On the summits of some of these
rocks monasteries are suspended in mid air, as it were on
the tops of very tall pillars. Some of the monasteries oc¬
cupy the whole surface of the rock they rest on, and per¬
sons ascending to them are swung in a basket or net, and
dragged up by a rope passing over a pulley. The rocks
are composed of a conglomerate, consisting of fragments
of granite, gneiss, and other primitive substances, dispos¬
ed in horizontal strata. The narrow district on the east¬
ern side of Mounts Ossa and Pelion is the ancient Mag¬
nesia, and is now called Zagora. At the south extremity
of Thessaly lies the famed Pass of Thermopylae, which is
merely the narrow space between the flank of Mount CEta
and the sea. The part of this space nearest the sea is
occupied by a marsh, between which and the cliffs the
breadth of firm land is still about sixty paces, as stated
by Livy. The hot springs mentioned by Herodotus, the
remains of the wall built by the Phoceans, and a tumulus,
believed with good reason to be that of the Spartans, are
all yet to be seen. The length of the pass is about five
miles. The country of Phocis, which lies immediately
south of the pass, is one of the most rugged in Greece,
being occupied almost entirely by the branches and decli¬
vities of Mounts CEta, Parnassus, and Helicon. Bceotia
is a large circular valley, enclosed by Parnassus on the
west, Helicon on the south, Cithaeron on the east, and a
range of high lands on the north. A low ridge running
north and south divides it in two. The lake Copais, which
occupies the bottom of the western and larger division,
and receives all its rivers, sends off its waters by subter¬
raneous passages to the sea on the north-east. In summer
this lake has the appearance of a green meadow covered
with reeds. Bceotia has more than once been inundated
by obstructions in these subterraneous channels. The
country is very fertile, but is higher and colder than At¬
tica. It is often covered with thick fogs, as described by
the ancients ; and, from the abundance of its marshes, is
very subject to malaria. Attica, which adjoins to Boeotia
on the east, is comparatively arid and barren, hilly rather
than mountainous, but distinguished peculiarly by the
dryness and elasticity of its atmosphere, and the beauty
and serenity of its climate. The isthmus of Corinth,
which connects Attica with the Morea, is occupied to¬
wards the north by high rocky hills, which render it strong
as a military post; but in the south, where its breadth is
about four miles, the surface is low, seldom exceeding a
hundred and fifty feet. The remains of the ancient wall,
and of the canal begun by Nero, are yet visible. The
Morea consists of an elevated central plateau or valley,
namely, Arcadia, and of five separate districts, formed by
the exterior declivities of the mountains which surround
the central plateau, and by spurs or branches which run
off from these mountains. The central valley of Arcadia,
so famed for its pastoral character by the ancients, is, like
the inland districts of Thessaly and Boeotia, high and
cold, often covered with fogs, arising from the moisture
of its soil, and hence also subject to malaria. All its run¬
ning waters escape by the single channel of the Alpheus;
and it has sometimes suffered from partial inundations. Its
scenery, in the opinion of Lord Byron, is by no means de¬
serving of its ancient celebrity. Argolis, lying in a semi¬
circle round the Gulf of Nauplia, embraces but a small
portion of level country, which, however, is remarkably
rich, but very unhealthy, v The city of Argos still exists
in its ancient plain, and, till ruined by the revolution, was
one of the best built towns in the Morea. The ancient
G R E
Greece. Laconia, consisting of the long open valley of the Eurotas,
is very thinly peopled. The ruins of Sparta, four miles
south-west from the village of Mistra, are extensive, but
afford no fine specimens of architecture; the spot is en¬
tirely deserted. Messenia, which lies round the head of a
gulf, has a pretty large plain, of a very rich soil. Elis, on
the west, and Achaia, on the north of the Morea, are in
general hilly, and rather dry. In general, the west of
Greece has a different physical character from the east.
Altolia, Acarnania, and Epirus (the modem Albania), pre¬
sent none of those circular basins so characteristic of the
east and south sides of the country, except the valley sur¬
rounding the Gulf of Arta. iEtolia and Acarnania consist
of long valleys open to the south, and rising into mountains
in the north. Albania has the same features on a larger
scale. Its mountains, which are more numerous than those
of any other district of Greece, cover the country in long
parallel ridges, and are separated by deep valleys, some of
which open to the south, and others to the west, but none
to the north. The Cyclades, and other islands in the
iEgean Sea, are almost all steep and rocky.1
Scenery. The mountains of Greece, which cover so large a pro¬
portion of its area, are partly wooded and partly naked,
and the woods abound more on the west side than the east.
The low country susceptible of tillage probably does not
amount to more than two fifths of the whole surface, and
of these two fifths, judging from the corn, olives, cotton,
tobacco, &c. required for the population, one twelfth or
fifteenth part may be actually in cultivation. It is gene¬
rally bare of wood, and, from the want of enclosures, the
profusion of weeds and brushwood, the thinness of the po¬
pulation, and the ruinous condition of the few cottages,
combined with the crumbling remains of the noble struc¬
tures of the ancients, has a desolate, melancholy, and de¬
serted aspect, which harmonizes well with the fallen for¬
tunes of the country. In the end of summer, from the
excessive heat which dries up the streams, the hills and
fields appear parched. In many quarters of the country,
however, there are copious perennial springs, which gush
out suddenly from the limestone rock. Greece combines
in the highest degree every feature essential to the finest
beauties of landscape, except large rivers, which are per¬
haps incompatible with the general character of its scenery.
Travellers of taste have wanted words to describe the mag¬
nificence of the views it affords. Its mountains encircled
with zones of wood, and capped with snow, though much
below the Alps in absolute height, perhaps are as imposing
from the suddenness of their elevation. Rich sheltered
plains lie at their feet, which want nothing but an indus¬
trious population to fill the mind with images of prosperity,
tranquillity, and happiness. But it is in the combination
of these more common features, with so many spacious and
beautiful inland bays and seas, broken by headlands, en¬
closed by mountains, and specked and studded with islands,
in every variety of magnitude, form, and distance, that
Greece surpasses every other country in Europe, and per¬
haps in the world. The effect of such scenery, aided by a
serene sky and delicious climate, on the character of the
Greeks, cannot be doubted. “ Under the influence of so
many sublime objects, the human mind becomes gifted as
by inspiration, and is by nature filled with poetical ideas.”
Greece became the birth-place of taste, science, and elo¬
quence, the chosen sanctuary of the muses, the prototype
of all that is graceful, dignified, and grand, in sentiment or
action. The poetry of the north, nursed amidst bleak
E C E. 13
mountains, amidst oceans covered with fogs and agitated Greece,
by storms, is austere and gloomy; but the muses of Greece,
awakened into life in a rich and beautiful land, amidst
bright and tranquil seas, are gay, joyous, and luxuriant.
You almost conceive (says Chateaubriand), as it were by
intuition, why the architecture of the Parthenon has such
fine proportions, why ancient sculpture is so unaffected, so
simple, so tranquil, when you behold the pure sky and de¬
licious scenery of Athens, of Corinth, and of Ionia. In
this native land of the muses, nature suggests no wild de¬
viations : she tends, on the contrary, to dispose the mind
to the love of the uniform and the harmonious.2
The climate of Greece seems to be distinguished from Climate,
that of Spain and Italy in the corresponding latitudes,
chiefly by having the characteristics of an inland region in
a higher degree ; that is, the extremes of summer and win¬
ter are more severe. In Attica, which has a drier atmo¬
sphere and more uniform temperature than the rest of the
country, the average rain is about twenty-one or twenty-
two inches, and the greatest heat, in each of the four years
ending with 1807, was 104, 99, 93, 94. The greatest cold
was from 28 to 32 of Fahrenheit. The mean deduced
from all these extremes is 63‘5. This agrees very nearly
with the temperature of a spring in the isthmus of Corinth,
observed by Dr Clarke to be 64, and with the temperature
given in Professor Leslie’s table, which is 64*4. At the
southern extremity the annual temperature, according to
the same authority, is 65-3, and at the northern extremity
about 60. But local diversities have a greater effect than
mere difference of latitude, on the distribution of the sea¬
sons. In Attica, which, being freely exposed to the sea,
has in some measure an insular climate, the winter sets
in about the beginning of January. About the middle of
that month snow falls, but is seldom seen for more than
a few days, though it lies for a month on the summits
of the mountains. Gentle rains fall about the middle of
February, after which spring commences; and the corn,
which is a considerable height in March, is cut in May.
In the beginning of March, the vines and olives bud, and
the almonds are in blossom. In the great interior plains
and valleys, which are girt with mountains, and cut off
from the direct influence of the sea, the winters are much
colder, and the summers, making allowance for the dif¬
ference of height, are warmer. At Tripolizza, in Ar¬
cadia, the snow has been found eighteen inches thick in
January, with the thermometer at sixteen degrees Fahren¬
heit ; and it sometimes lies on the ground six weeks. Dr
Clarke was informed, that in the winter preceding his visit,
the peasants at the foot of Mount Cithaeron in Bceotia were
confined to their houses for several weeks by the snow.
At Yanina, situated in an inland plain, 1000 or 1200 feet
above the sea, the snow lies to a considerable depth in the
winter, and sometimes falls as late as April. The neigh¬
bouring lake was so firmly frozen over in 1813, that it
was everywhere crossed on the ice. The summits of the
central chain of Pindus, and most of the Albanian moun¬
tains, are covered with snow from the beginning of Novem¬
ber to the end of March. These various facts show that
the winter in Albania, though shorter than in England, is
as severe; but that the summer is a vast deal hotter, the
extreme summer temperature being fifteen or eighteen de¬
grees higher at Athens than London; while Bceotia and
Thessaly are probably still hotter than Attica. Though
we have no accurate data to establish a comparison between
the climate of Greece and those of Spain and Italy, yet the
1 Beaujour, let. 1-4 ; Holland, p. 280, 291, 234, 370, 420; Clarke, vi. 502, vii. 303 ; Hobhouse, let. 14, 15, 10; Walpole, 60, 303,
300, 335, 522 ; Byron’s notes to canto 2d of Childe Harold; Tournefort, let. 4-8.
* Holland, 248,302, 401, 254, 418; Hobhouse, 83, 461, 201 ; Clarke, vii. 260; Beaujour, let. 4; Chateaubriand’s 7Yav<;& (trans¬
lation), vol. i. p. 85, 187; Williams’ Travelt, let. 54, 55, 68, 72, 74.
i
14 G R E
Greece, fact of cotton being successfully cultivated, on a large scale,
in Macedonia, as far north as the latitude of Rome and
Valadolid, where it does not succeed in the two last coun¬
tries, is a proof that the summer temperature in Greece is
higher than either in Spain or Italy. The coldest weather
in all parts of Greece is accompanied with a N.E. wind.
The N. and N. W. winds are distinguished by their serenity
and dryness. The zephyr or W. wind is famed for its
balmy softness ; the S.E., S., and S. W. winds are all humid,
and the E. wind still retains the character of a morning
breeze, as described by Aristotle. The sirocco is felt in
Greece. It blows from the S.E., and produces its usual
effects on the human constitution ; a sense of oppression, a
dull headach, with lassitude and uneasiness in the limbs.
Earthquakes are very frequent in Greece, but they are sel¬
dom very destructive.1
Metals. As yet little is known of the mineral resources of Greece;
but, from its geological structure, we may conclude that it
is, like Italy, rather poor in metals. The silver mines of
Laurium, in Attica, which were extensive enough to employ
10,000 slaves, and supported the Athenian navy at one
period, are now entirely abandoned. Copper also w'as an¬
ciently found in Attica. Ores of iron, gold, silver, lead, or
alum, were wrought in Euboea and Melos, Naxos, Siphnos,
and others of the Cyclades. The gold and silver mines of
Macedonia yielded Philip 1000 talents a year.
The mines and quarries of Greece might be a source of
considerable wealth. The marbles of Pentelicus and Paros
are still the finest in the world. The first—close, fine, glit¬
tering ; the second—of a limpid transparence, with broad
veins and a warm colour, giving to statues a flesh-like ap¬
pearance. Not long ago there were discovered in the Ar¬
chipelago quarries of rosso-antico; and in Taygetus, beds
of the admirable jasper known by the name of verd-antique ;
but not one of these fine quarries is worked. At Marco-
poulo, in Bceotia, there is a bed of lignite or coal, equi¬
valent to T406otIls of its weight of pure carbon, but neither
is this worked. At Kumi, in the island of Euboea, there is
a much better lignite, said to be equal to §ds of an equal
weight of Newcastle coal. This mine, after paying all ex¬
penses, clears for the state 12,000 drachms a year.
Greece has several mines of argentiferous lead, especially
one on the island of Zea, where the veins run down to the
sea at the bottom of a little creek where coasting vessels
can touch. The ore contains about 80 per cent, of lead;
and the lead, on an average, about 0‘0012o of silver. These
mines are not worked; but when the winter rains detach
masses of ore, the municipality claims them. The produce
of the emery of Naros, which is now extracted and sold by
the government, may be said to be the only revenue that
Greece derives from her mineral wealth. Its amount is
about 400,000 drachms. One reason for the mines and
quarries not being worked is the want of roads and capital.
Diseases. There are few or no diseases peculiar to Greece. Like
all the countries on the shores of the Mediterranean, it
suffers greatly from malaria. This prevails chiefly in the
months of August and September, and produces remittent
or intermittent fevers, which attack those who reside in
low situations, near the mouths of rivers, or in the neigh¬
bourhood of lakes, marshes, or rice grounds. The ancients
were aware that fevers of this description affected certain
districts; but, undoubtedly, the sphere of their influence
has been vastly extended by the neglected state of the
country. Attica, though one of the driest districts of
Greece, is not entirely exempted from them. These fe¬
vers, recurring frequently, vitiate the system, and produce
goitres and scrofulous complaints. Coughs, catarrhs, and
apoplexies are prevalent in some districts; and elephanti¬
asis, and leprous affections, arising probably from deficient
E C E.
and unwholesome nourishment, are more common than in Greece
other countries. The plague has not made its appearance
since the establishment of the kingdom, and when it had
previously occurred it had been imported from either Con¬
stantinople, Smyrna, or Egypt. The cholera has appealed
in later years; and in 1855 it made severe ravages in
Athens.
It has been said that there are no longer any Greeks in People.
Greece—that the population is altogether Albanian; but this
is not correct. Notwithstanding all they had passed through,
previous to the war of independence, they preserved their
lineage and language to a wonderful extent. The Al¬
banians principally inhabit Attica, Bceotia, Phocis, Argolis,
with the isles of Hydra, Spezzia, Salamis,and Andros. They
have also several villages in Arcadia, Achaia, and Messenia.
But the wars of independence destroyed a great part of this
population, and the rest is now mixed in the Greek element.
In the rest of the Peloponnesus, in all the other islands, in
Altolia, Acarnania, a great part of Thessaly and Lower
Macedonia, the population is exclusively Greek.
As soon as the war cry of independence was raised, many
Fanariot families, who were the most educated of the Greeks,
and serving the Turkish government as ambassadors in
foreign missions, as learned interpreters in the Divan, and
as governors in the principalities, came to assist their com¬
mon country with their talents, and continued to fill the
highest offices even under the government of King Otho.
Such are the Morousis, the Risos, Mavrocordatos, and other
distinguished families now at Athens. These speak a puri¬
fied Greek, but they adopt the dress and manners of western
Europe, as do also the greater part of the people in the
towns.
A numerous and very different class of Greeks are the
mountaineers of the northern provinces, who, finding that
the diplomatic arrangements had left their part of the coun¬
try in the hands of the Turks, proceeded southwards, and
fixed their homes in the kingdom which had been founded
by their prowess. These people who call themselves Pali-
kars have brought with them, even into the city of Athens,
many of the strange usages of their former life ; and it may
be said of them in common with the^Mainots of the Morea,
that they form the most original and characteristic portion
of the Greek population. They still continue to wear the
national dress—a calico shirt with a large turned-down
collar, short cotton drawers, leggings fastened up to the
knees, not unlike the Kv^p.tSe§ of Homer’s heroes, red slip¬
pers, a skirt resembling a Highland kilt, a sash, and narrow
garters of coloured silk, a jacket generally of silk, and often
embroidered with gold, a broad leather belt, from which are
suspended an embroidered handkerchief, purse, tobacco-bag,
inkstand, and arms ; and to crown all, a red cap with a blue
tassel. Such a dress often costs a sum equal to L.25. The
dwellings of the Palikars resemble fortresses ; and their
servants, selected from among their old retainers, form a
little garrison. They practise a ruinous hospitality, espe¬
cially towards such Greeks as come from their own part
of the country. Their language is mingled with Turkish
words, and some of them can still speak that language.
Between the Palikars and the Fanariots, but rather re¬
sembling the latter in character and habits, are the Islanders,
who are by profession mariners or traders, generally both.
They wear the red cap, a short jacket, with the wide Turkish
trousers instead of the kilt and leggings.
All Greeks wear the moustache but shave the beard,
except in mourning, when it is allowed to grow. Whiskers
are considered indicative of dandyism, and not very cre¬
ditable. Few of the women are handsome; the men are
almost universally so ; and their great stature, slender form,
oval face, long aquiline nose, large moustache, and easy
1 Holland, 47, 137, 411, 426 ; Hobhouse, let. 24; Pouqueville, p. 29, chap. xv.; Clarke, vi. 585, vii. 102 ; Arist. Meteor, lib. 2, c. 2.
G R £
Greece, gait, give them an imposing appearance. They are an
_ v ^ exceedingly temperate people; drunkenness is a vice re¬
markably rare among them; their food also is spare and
simple; even the richest are content with a dish of vege¬
tables for each meal, and the poor with a handful of olives
or a piece of salt fish. Very few partake of animal food
more than once a week or once a fortnight, except at Easter,
when every one must partake of it. All other pleasures
are indulged in with similar sobriety ; their passions are
moderate, and insanity is almost unknown among them.
They have much intelligence, aptitude, and ready wit, rather
than’great capacity for abstruse study and profound thought.
Greek mechanics learn even a difficult trade in a few months;
commercial young men rapidly acquire the command of
five or six languages; students of law, medicine, and theo¬
logy, likewise attain in a very short time to the knowledge
necessary for their respective professions ; all minds appear
eager after knowledge, both as matter of pride and natural
curiosity. The love of liberty and independence does not
seem to have been rooted out of the national mind by cen¬
turies of subjugation; they love to command, but though
they are very loyal to a good government, are apt easily to
rise when their rights are infringed. As there is little
love of obedience among them, so neither is there any
toleration for aristocratic pretensions. They have all
groaned alike under the Turkish oppression; all alike
have been beaten with the same rod, all are nearly alike
poor; and though in western Europe we hear of Greek
counts, and even princes, such titles are not recognised in
Greece itself. The counts, if of good coinage, are from
the Ionian Islands, where the population received them
from the Venetians; the self-styled princes are those who
filled the temporary functions ofhospodar or bey, under the
Turkish regime. Another distinguishing characteristic of
the Greeks is their ardent patriotism—a genuine legacy
from their illustrious ancestors. This passion strangely
blinds them as to the real importance of their country, so
that one would think they deemed Greece the centre and
object of all the events in Europe. But this weakness
aside, it must be admitted that many of them have sacri¬
ficed all their property, which was not inconsiderable, for
the liberation of their country. The public buildings of
Athens have been raised by the subscriptions of indivi¬
duals ; most of the Greeks who live abroad bequeath their
property to their national institutions.
The Greek is generally supposed to hate agriculture,
and, in fact, other trades and pursuits are preferred by him.
Distant voyages, hazardous speculations, and, above all,
commercial bargains, are more agreeable to his disposition.
But his dislike to agriculture under the Turks lay not so
much in his indisposition to follow it, as in the heavy taxes
and repeated exactions demanded by the pachas of his dis¬
trict, which left him hardly one-fourth of his products for
himself.
In business the Greek is quick, intelligent, and attentive;
and in his transactions with the Turks he has the celebrity
of possessing keenness, amounting to swindling, inasmuch
as he generally charges twice the value for the goods sold
to them. But if the faithful followers of the Prophet are
thus imposed upon by their more acute neighbours, it not
unfrequently happens that the latter fail to get payment of
half their account, and perhaps lose all.
The Albanians form about a fourth of the population of
the country; and retain their foreign dialect. They are
strong, patient, addicted to manual labour, and as well
adapted for agriculture as the Hellenes are for commerce.
The Wallachs or Blakhs on Mount Pindus, and on the
borders of Thessaly and Macedonia, betray by their lan¬
guage their descent from the Roman colonies of Dacia, and
still call themselves Romuni. They are a nomad or pas¬
toral race, sleeping in the open air among their flocks,
E C E. 15
which are protected by ferocious dogs like those of Eumeus. Greece.
In Greece a Wallach and a shepherd are synonymous. v'—■v'—
The Maltese are numerous about Athens and Piraeus;
and, by a curious exception, bear a high character for ho¬
nesty ; whereas at Constantinople and Smyrna they are for
the most part robbers and assassins. At Athens they share
with the robust inhabitants of Maina the severer labours of
the mason, the gardener, and the porter. Ihe Bavarians
have almost disappeared; Turks are scarcely found; and
there are comparatively few settlers from other parts of
Europe.
The Greeks marry young. The ceremony is a purely
religious act; and divorces are not so easily obtained as in
Constantinople. The pride of the Greek matron is placed
in the number and beauty of her children ; but though
great numbers are born, comparatively few come to ma¬
turity. They die off under the influence of fever, which is
a great scourge in the country.
There are very few people who have a family name, but
each adds to his baptismal name either the name of his
father, or some bye-name invented for himself. Thus, there
are thousands of Basils, Athanasiuses, Peters, Georgeses,
Nicholases, or even Aristideses, and Themistocleses. This
one is Peter the son of Nicholas, or Peter the Albanian, or
Peter of Nauplia, or Black Peter, or Short Peter. The
duties of relationship are strictly observed; and the poor
man who maintains at his own expense the widow and chil¬
dren of a brother is not praised as though he had done
anything more than his bounden duty. I he right of primo¬
geniture is not likely ever to be known in Greece. Those
who have such a strong sense of equality among compatriots
will never tolerate inequality among brothers. Yet it is dif¬
ferent with their fathers. They submit to him as to an ab¬
solute master; and this respect is shown by all classes
without exception. The father has absolute command in
his family, and is respected and supported to the last days
of his life even by his married children. Parricide is said
to be almost as little known as when Solon refused to make
laws against it. There seems to be, on the whole, very
much that is commendable in family life among the Greeks.
The drachm, which is the unit of the currency, is about Money.
8|d. of our money. It is divided into 100 equal parts called
lepta. There are copper coins of 10, 5, 2, and l lepta, the
only Greek money that circulates in the country. The
silver coins of 50 and 25 lepta have been melted down or
exported. Those of 1 drachm are very rare. Those of
5 drachms are now only to be found in Turkey. The gold
pieces of 20 drachms, called othos, also have disappeared.
A very complete scale of weights and measures was esta- Weights
blished by the government in 1836; but the people adhere and mea-
for measure of length to the pique = 27 inches. Then for sures.
weight—the principal one known, even in the capital, is the
oke, a Turkish weight equal to 2 lb. 12 oz., which is di¬
vided into 400 dramia = If Eng. drams. The cantaar or
quintal is generally 44 okes = 121 lbs. The kilo or quilot
of corn is 22 okes, or 60 lbs. The land measure is the
strema, equal to about one-fourth of an English acre.
It appears that not half the surface is susceptible of cul- Cultivated
tivation ; and at least two-thirds of the cultivated, and four-land-
fifths of the uncultivated soil belong to the state. One
great disadvantage to agriculture is the scanty supply of
running water; but the peasants are very dexterous at taking
advantage of the smallest rill to irrigate their tillage.
Money rent is little known ; the lands being farmed on
the metayer system, according to which the landlord re¬
ceives a certain proportion of the net produce—usually a
third. He has frequently to furnish the seed, and some¬
times the oxen for tillage, the cost of which, with high in¬
terest, is deducted from the profits before any division is
made. On this system, there is little inducement for the
proprietor to expend capital on improvements; still less is
16 G R E
Greece, there for the metayer, who has no interest in the land be-
V—yond the season. Consequently, inclosure and drainage
are scarcely thought of; and the stones having never been
removed, lie so thick together that in some places it is
scarcely credible that they can have accumulated naturally.
The dwellings of the peasants are extremely poor, consist¬
ing of stones and fragments of tile and pottery held together
by mud. Glass casements are rare even in provincial towns ;
and in the country cottages the light is most frequently ad¬
mitted only by the door-way.
Produc- The arable soil of Greece is devoted chiefly to the culti-
tions. vation of corn, vines, mulberry trees, and fruit trees. Wheat,
rye, barley, and maize, succeed pretty well in the stony dis¬
tricts where the mould is but a few inches deep. Oats
render but a middling crop, and the potato is quite un¬
suitable. But the leguminae grow well, and rice might be
raised in the wet soils. In many parts of the country cakes
of maize flour form the staple article of food. (See page 32.)
At the head of all the agricultural productions for ex¬
portation are the Corinth grapes, which we corruptly call
currants, and which are cultivated from the isthmus to Ar¬
cadia, along almost all the northern and western shores of
the Morea. This fruit is of a violet colour, and hangs in
long loose bunches. They are gathered at the same time
as other grapes, dried in the sun and packed. Very few of
them are used in Greece, few anywhere except in England.
The consequence of this is, that the effect of raising a large
crop is merely to lower the price in the London market;
whereas if France, America, and Russia used plum-pud¬
dings to the same extent as the English, Greece would have
had in this one article an inexhaustible source of revenue.
All kinds of grapes succeed well, and the best vintage is that
of the island of Santorin, where above sixty varieties are
reckoned. The Russians are very fond of Santorin wine, and
import L.20,000 worth yearly. The art of expressing and
fermenting the juice of the grape is quite in its infancy;
and unfortunately the Greeks have no wine-cellars, and
very few casks. The wine is kept in skins, and rosin is put
into it to keep it from spoiling. It is at first exceedingly
disagreeable to the taste; but the natives prefer it to the
choicest beverages of France and Spain ; and even foreign¬
ers become reconciled to it with use.
Next to the vineyards as a source of revenue are the
mulberry plantations. There is a demand for silk in every
market in the world, and the climate of Greece affords
facilities for an unlimited extension of this branch of in¬
dustry. The south of the Morea generally, and all the
islands of the dEgean Sea, are adapted for it, and here the
house of almost every peasant is in part given up to the
rearing of the worm. I he spawn or eggs are nestled in
the bosoms of the women; and the worms hatched in spring
are abundantly supplied with the young mulberry leaves then
shooting. The cocoons are placed in the sun, and the heat
kills the worms. In 1836 some Greek merchants, who had
resided in the silk districts of Italy, introduced Italian work¬
men with their families into Morea to improve the mode of
winding; and a few years have greatly advanced this branch
of industry and placed it on a firm and extensive basis,
giving promise of a lucrative and increasing trade. Two
silk-throwing manufactories have been established at Athens
with great success. (For further particulars see page 32.)
The Moniteur of Paris of 16th and 17th October 1855, pays
a high compliment to the quality of the Greek silk in the
Paris Exhibition, which gained the first prize.
The olive next claims attention. Being indigenous, the
trees are found in a wild state in every direction, and seem
only to require grafting to yield excellent fruit. Grafted
olive trees are very numerous ; and many of the people live
all the year round on little but olives, indifferently pickled
in brine.. The oil is extracted in the rudest manner, after
which it is either run into cisterns or jars. There is a large
E C E.
consumption of it in the country, nothing else being used Greec<
for light, and a great deal being consumed in food and
cookery ; but still there remains a good quantity for expor¬
tation. Cotton succeeds well wherever it is sown, espe¬
cially in the plain of Argos, and in the islands. It does not
form an important item in the exports, owing to the large
consumption of it in the country. Madder thrives well in
the northern districts. Greek tobacco is said to be of good
quality, and to have a delicious perfume. It is cultivated
at little expense.
The cultivation of fruit-trees might be a profitable branch
of industry. The figs of Attica have not degenerated since
the olden time; the apricots are delicious; and the pome¬
granates, oranges, and lemons, would make a good figure
in the shops of London and Paris.
First among its natural productions may be mentioned
valonia, the cup of the acorn of the Quercus JEgilops, an oak
of which considerable forests exist in the neighbourhood of
Marathonisi, Cape Papa, Arcadia; also in Attica, the island
of Zea, and other places. The acorn is a powerful astringent,
used in tanning and dyeing, and for this purpose is shipped
for England and Italy. Another species of oak—the Quer-
cm coccfera, commonly called galls—grows in great quan¬
tities on Mount Taygetus, and breeds the insect known as
kermes. In the process of drying the insect assumes the
appearance of a small brittle berry partly filled with pow¬
der, which, from time immemorial, has caused some to look
upon' it as the berry of the plant, while others considered it
to be a swelling caused by the puncture of a particular kind
of fly. It is used in dyeing the red Tunis caps both of the
Greeks and Turks, and a good deal is exported to Tunis
and Alexandria. The dried leaves of the lentisk, also, under
the name of ^xotvo cfavWov, are used by the tanners in Greece
and the Levant. Turpentine is obtained in large quantities
from the pine forests of Mount Cithaeron and other districts.
Notwithstanding the immense clearances made by the
ravages of war and other causes, Greece contains 2,800,000
acres of forest, filled with timber trees of the best quality;
yet wood is bought abroad for house and ship building, as
for want of roads these forests cannot be worked. The
shepherds make a practice of setting fire to the coppice
woods, in order that their flocks may find some tender sprouts
to crop in spring. It is not unusual in the neighbourhood
of Athens to find large black patches covering half a square
league; and if an explanation be required, the answer is,
“ Only a shepherd who has been making pasturage for his
sheep.”
The principal places of trade are Syra, Patras, Piraeus,
Kalamata, and Nauplia. The trade of Patras is chiefly im¬
port; Hydra, Spezzia, and Galaxidi, come more properly
under the denomination of ship-owning ports. The exports
are chiefly the articles we have enumerated, with others of
minor importance; the imports are chiefly iron ware and
woven fabrics; besides coffee, sugar, and spices.
The carrying trade is very considerable, especially among
the islands. Some of the Greek vessels are between 600 and
700 tons register, and a good many from 300 to 400 tons;
but the great majority of them are boats of 6 or 7 tons
having a large hatch in midships. (See page 32.) It
is customary for a ship-owner to bargain with a captain
and crew, taking up a certain sum at interest, generally se¬
cured on bottomry bond; with this money a cargo is pur¬
chased on the ship’s account, and the profit is divided be¬
tween the vessel and the crew, the latter sharing among
themselves according to their special agreements. In this
way the Greeks carry on extensive speculations in corn
whenever bad harvests or other circumstances present open¬
ings in the ports of Turkey, Italy, Spain, or France. Be¬
sides this, they export the various productions of Turkey,
Greece, Egypt, Persia, and Southern Russia, to London,
Marseilles, and Trieste. The great advantage which the
ORE
Greece. Greeks have over foreigners in prosecuting this trade is that
^ t-v ' of having relations and connections in the interior on whom
they can rely for the collection of small parcels; and thus
theyavoid the impositions of agents and the profits of middle¬
men. The Greek trader despises nothing, and will gather
a few bags of rags, or a ton or two of bones and horns, while
he is chartering fifty vessels to load with corn and tallow.
Then the same vessels supply Turkey, Persia, and Greece
with the manufactures of England and Germany. The
extensive Greek establishments at Manchester for purchas¬
ing, examining, and packing goods, attest the importance of
this branch of commerce. They have almost quite super¬
seded the English traders here, chiefly from their thorough
knowledge of the countries to be supplied, and their readi¬
ness to execute the smallest as well as largest commissions
for the shopkeepers of the East. The Greek trader slips
in everywhere, neglects no business, disdains no expedient,
and changes his flag as often as he finds it his interest to do so.
The Greek government does nothing for maritime trade.
There is but one lighthouse on the coasts; and, notwith¬
standing the shipwrecks that are recorded every winter,
the ministers turn a deaf ear to the appeals of the ma¬
riners. A similar neglect is shown concerning the means
of internal communication. There are only seven roads,
amounting in all to a length of 30 leagues, and this in a
country where the state owns more than half the land, where
evictions are easily effected, and where the peasants are will¬
ing to lend their hands for works of public utility. There
is no highway from Athens to Sparta, or to Corinth, or to
Patras, which, owing to the trade in currants, is becoming
the commercial capital.
The banking and exchange operations form perhaps the
most remarkable part of the commercial system. The na¬
tional bank was founded at Athens in 1842, the capital
being in the first instance fixed at 5,000,000 drachms.
Branches have since been opened at Syra and Patras. The
exchange opei'ations throughout the country are ruled chiefly
by the transactions at Athens, where bills on London, Paris,
Marseilles, Trieste, &c., are negotiated with facility. The
most serious hindrance to the progress of industry in Greece
is the high rate of interest. The legal rate is 10 per cent,
for ordinary loans, and 12 per cent, in commercial business.
High as this is, most of the loans are effected at still higher
rates; and the government cannot suppress the usury.
From a statement inserted in the Spectateur de VOrient of
Athens, it appears that the bank has paid interest to the
shareholders, from 1849-54, at 8^ to 9^ per cent, per annum;
that its capital amounts now to 6,000,000 drachms, and a
reserve fund of 400,000 drachms to provide against emer¬
gencies.
Janufac- The manufactures of Greece are few and simple, the
ures. value of the raw material being little enhanced by the la¬
bour ; yet the peasantry are entirely clothed in cotton and
woollen fabrics of their own manufacture. The capotes,
not only of the Greeks, but of the whole maritime popula¬
tion of the Mediterranean, are made of a woollen stuff’, the
peculiar manufacture of the Wallachs; and Kalamata is
famous for a silk gauze, highly prized in the East for bed-
curtains. Embroidery in gold, silver, silk, and cotton, is
brought to great perfection ; and marble-cutting and sculp¬
turing have made great progress. At the Great London
Exhibition of 1851, the embroidered dresses in red and gold,
and in blue and silver, were highly praised. The samples
of marbles were not in a condition of manufacture to de¬
mand much notice as specimens of industry. Commen¬
datory mention is made, in the report, of lithographic stones
from Messenia, samples of steatite (the French chalk of com¬
merce), of a fine natural cement of puzzuolan, of varieties
of flexible sponge, and some other objects. In the Exhi¬
bition of 1851, only four medals were given for various pro¬
ductions of art and manufacture from Greece; and in the
VOL. XI.
E C E. 17
Exhibition of Paris, eleven of the first class were given (five Greece,
of which were for agricultural products); thirty of the second, ' —,/-» J
and twenty-seven of the third.
The Greeks call the horse Alogon, that is to say, the Animals,
animal above all others. Alogon also means unreasonable,
a term, it would seem, not very inappropriate, for they ap¬
pear to be intractable creatures. The ass is here, as else¬
where in the East, a much less degraded animal than with
us. They are tolerably swift as well as sure-footed. Oxen
are scarce, and the city of Athens can only boast of five or
six cows. The milk, butter, and cheese of sheep are in
general use. Sheep are indeed an important part of the
wealth of the country. Every family eats roast lamb at
Easter.
The coasts of Greece are well provided with fish ; but
the people do not seem disposed to cultivate this branch of
industry.
The game is excellent; the hares, snipes, and thrushes
are said to have a delicious flavour. The passage of the
wild ducks at certain seasons affords fine opportunities to
those who live near Lake Copais. So the quails on their
passage supply the Mainotes with food for a month; they
are so heavy on their arrival that they are sometimes knocked
down with sticks. Pigeons may be shot in spring and
autumn during their migrations, and thrushes in March and
April. The Greeks have an almost incredible tolerance
for the sportsman. He wades through the barley, scrambles
over the walls of the enclosures of unburnt brick at the risk
of demolishing them, eats the best fruit, and nobody inter¬
feres with him except when he is seen to carry fruit away in
his bag. The only enemies the sportsman has to fear are
the shepherds’ dogs—immense curly monsters which their
masters encourage to throw themselves upon strangers.
Even in towns dogs are troublesome after nightfall.
Eagles and vultures are abundant in Hymettus, Pen-
telicus, and most of the other mountains. A few foxes,
and even jackals, are found in the Morea. The owl still
inhabits the town of Athens, but it is no longer held as
sacred there. In the month of April a species of hawk
called the kestrel, visits the Acropolis, and rids it from all
the crows which invest it. It departs, however, in October,
and crows return to defile the marble of the monuments.
The tortoise is common in the fields and brooks of Greece,
but the people have the greatest repugnance both to the
land and water animal.
The choice of Athens as the capital of Greece proceeded Athens,
on archaeological rather than prudential considerations; and
those who know the country express much regret that
Corinth was not rather chosen, as being much more con¬
venient for the interests of commerce, besides enjoying a
more fertile soil, a more salubrious climate, and a more
plentiful supply of water. Even the Piraeus would have
suited better than Athens, for, as has been remarked, the
capital of a nation of mariners should be a seaport. When
King Otho, or rather his father, decided on Athens as the
headquarters of government, the once splendid city was
but a village in ruins, surrounded by an arid plain. A
palace was hastily erected, the court settled as it could into
the neighbouring dwellings, and the officials encamped
around. But houses were rapidly built; the stone costs
nothing, the plaster is excellent, and the Greek masons are
not unskilful. There are now 4000 houses and 32,000 in¬
habitants. The Turkish village which formerly surrounded
the base of the Acropolis still remains, and forms a quarter
of the new town called Plaka. The new quarter of Athens,
where the palace, the university, the legations of England,
France, Bavaria, and Russia, with other public establish¬
ments, are situated, presents a curious spectacle. The
streets are not regularly laid out, nor are they carefully
levelled; and a great fosse or open sewer traverses it through¬
out. Yet at every step are to be seen pretty houses orna-
C
I
18
GREECE.
Greece, merited with columns or pilasters, and standing in the midst
of gardens. Even the best of these consist but of two
storeys above ground and one beneath. The basement,
like a cellar with us, is warm in winter, and cool in summer.
Here the family take their meals. On the ground floor are
the public or reception rooms, and the bedrooms above.
The public buildings are few, the ministers’ offices and the
courts of justice are located on the first floors of houses
occupied as shops or taverns below.
Govern- Greece is a constitutional monarchy. The charter gua-
ment. rantees to citizens equality before the law, personal and re¬
ligious liberty, freedom of the press, immunity from con¬
fiscation, and education of the people at the public expense.
Unfortunately for Greece, its constitution, from various
causes, was never tried to its full extent; above all, the na¬
tion was not ripe fora representative government, and the king
never gave to it that cordial assistance necessary to strengthen
and consolidate it. Since the events of 1854, however, we
learn that he has in conjunction with his ministers attempted
to bring about those improvements which the advantages
of the constitution enable him to do. These endeavours to
improve and benefit the country are not thrown away, for the
people fully appreciate them; and we may safely say that
throughout Greece he is universally loved. Though re¬
ligious liberty is the first article of the Greek constitution,
proselytism is strictly prohibited. The highest offices of
state are open to all without distinction. A Greek subject,
whether he be Jew, Turk, Catholic, or other persuasion,
can attain the highest position in the country by his owui
individual efforts.
The legislative power is exercised by the king, the senate,
and the chamber of deputies collectively. The king en¬
joys all the privileges of a constitutional monarch; his per¬
son is sacred, and his ministers, who are seven in number,
are responsible. Senators are nominated for life by the
king; they must be forty years old; they receive 500
drachms (about L.18) per month. The deputies, who must
be above thirty years of age, are elected from among per¬
sons who possess some property or an independent profes¬
sion. They retain their places for three years, and receive
250 drachms (about L.9) per month during the session. The
electors consist of all men above twenty-five years of age,
who possess any kind of property, or exercise any inde¬
pendent profession in the district of their political residence.
The power of the king is not however really controlled
either by the senators or deputies. As little are the minis¬
ters of state any check upon his sovereign will. We quote
from M. About.1
“ In fact, the power of the king is only limited by the
diplomatic body. Every minister is ready to do anything
for the sake of keeping his place. These men—poor, am¬
bitious, without principles, and brought up in such a miser¬
able school of politics—only aspire to gaining as long a time
as possible their 800 drachms a month. They know that
their position is precarious, that no ministry has lasted, and
that the quidnuncs of the coffee-house of “Beautiful Greece”
announce every morning the formation of a new cabinet.
They only think, therefore, of keeping in their places, and
of making the best of their temporary tenure of state affairs.
Each one on coming into power takes care to surround
himself with his creatures. He does so from prudence and
from duty; from prudence, not to be betrayed by his sub¬
ordinates ; from duty, to reward the devotion of those who
have served him. A minister who did not make a clean
sweep in his department, and did not put devoted officials
into the places of those that knew their business, would pass
for a fool and an ungrateful person. He would lose the
friendship of his clients, and would become the laughing¬
stock of his enemies. It follows that all the staff of the
administration is renewed with each new ministry ; that
men of capacity are never formed in the offices; that the
officials of all ranks, not having any certainty for the future,
lay hands on all that is within their reach; that the state
has no old servants, and that there is in the kingdom but
one civil functionary who has been able to acquire the right
to a pension. A more distant, but not less necessary con¬
sequence of such a state of things is, that the king never
finds any resistance either in his ministers or in any of the
other officials.2
“ Neither did the governments which gave to Greece an
absolute monarchy consider seriously enough the character
of the people and the state of the country ; nor did the re¬
volutionists, who tore from the king the constitution of 1843,
take into account the ignorance and barbarousness of the
nation. If ever it could be said that a country was not ripe for
liberty, it may be said in speaking of Greece. Not that men’s
minds are closed to political ideas; far from it. All Greeks,
without exception, are apt to discuss public affairs—all talk
of them, if not wisely, at least with a knowledge of them—
all take a passionate interest in the smallest debates of the
session,”
In the election of representatives, political and personal
passions have the greatest influence, and the government
takes advantage of this to insure the election of its sup¬
porters. Sometimes intimidations and other means are
used, which have, on one or two occasions, caused the loss
of human life.
The judges of Greece are characterized for their inde¬
pendence and integrity of character. Since the govern¬
ment has been established we believe there is no example
of their having been influenced, either by intimidation or
by bribe, to commit an act contrary to their consciences.
The constitution provided for the appointment for life of
the judges after five years from its promulgation, but sti¬
pulated that this must first be established by a law. The
reason for this was, because at that time there w'ere few
judges deeply learned in jurisprudence, and the constitution
allowed five years to supply this want from the class that
were then studying. Unfortunately, though the five years
have long elapsed, no one has yet introduced a law to that
effect, because each ministry wishes to reserve these places
for their particular supporters.
For administrative purposes, the kingdom is divided into
10 nomarchies or prefectures, and into 49 eparchies or sub¬
prefectures, two of which may be administered by one sub¬
prefect, The eparchies are subdivided into demarchies or
cantons; and the rural districts are administered by muni¬
cipal functionaries called paredri—that is, coadjutors of the
demarch. All these functionaries are nominated by the
king, and salaried by the state.
Nomarchies. Capitals. Eparchies. Chief Towns.
I. Hellas, or Northern Greece (3822 sq. m.)
-<Egina
1. Attica and
Boeotia
Athens
{ Angina
Megaris
Attica
Thebes
Livadia
rParnassis
2. Phocis and } T . 1 Doris
Phthiotis SLamia VLocris
(Phthiotis
Megara
Athens
Thebes
Livadia
Amphissa
ASgition
Atalandi
Lamia
Pop. in
1851.
104,807
99,697
3. Aearnania 1 Messo-
& Aholia ) longhi
{Y altos Ambracia
Vonitza Yonitza
Messolonghi Messolonghi
Lepanto Lepanto
Trichonia Agrinion
Eurytania Karpenisi
118,265
Greece
J Greece and the Greeks of the present day. Edinburgh : Thomas Constable and Co.
- It also has the effect of increasing the class of functionaries, already much too large for the country.
GREECE.
19
Greece.
Religion.
JVomarchies. Capitals. Eparchies. Chief Towns.
II. Peloponnesus (10,160 sq. m.)
{Nauplia
Argos
K‘n.
Spetzia
Corinth
Nauplia
Argos
Hydra
Poros
Spetzia
Corinth
Pop. in
1851.
134,099
5. Achaia &
Elis
Patras
'Patras
AEgialia
Kalauryta
.Elis
Patras
yEgion
Kalauryta
Pyrgos
129,984
6. Arcadia
7. Messenia
Tripo-
litza
{Mantinea
Gortys
Cynouria
Megalopolis
Tripolitza
Gortys
Agios Petros
Leondari
118,488
f Kala-
( mata
Tryphyllia Cyparissia
Olympia Andritzena
< Pylos Navarino
Messenia Nisi
Kalamata Kalamata
109,900
8. Laconia
{Lacedaemon Sparta
Sr} >
Gythion Marathonisi
(Etylon CEtylon
96,846
III. Islands (1255 sq. m.)
9. Euboea
Chalcis
'Chalcis
Xerchori
Carysto
.Scopelos
Chalcis
Xerchori
Carysto
Scopelos
70,969
10. Cyclades Syra
(
Syra
Zea
Andros
Tinos
Naxos
Santorin
Milos
Hermopolis
Zea
Andros
Tinos
Naxos
Santorin
Milos
j
159,172
stantinople, one of the four great divisions of the Eastern
Church. The war of independence virtually freed it from
this position, and the constitution of 1843 established the
fact. The patriarch, however, did not recognise the inde¬
pendence of the church in Greece, and the result of a long
negotiation between the Greek government and the patri¬
arch was a bull or tomos, signed in 1850 by the patriarch and
synod. It set forth that the right of uniting or separating
ecclesiastical provinces had in all ages belonged to the oecu¬
menical synods ; and it granted to the Greeks the permission
to separate, but not without some restriction, to the effect
that difficult cases should be referred to the patriarch and
his sacred college. This tomos did not satisfy either party.
The Russian emperor and his partisans desired to see the
Greeks kept in connection with the synod, while the friends
of independence desired more perfect freedom. In 1852,
the matter was brought before the Chambers, and a bill was
passed to the effect that the superior ecclesiastical authority
of the kingdom should reside in a permanent synod, called
the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece. This synod is
composed of four prelates of the kingdom, besides the me¬
tropolitan, who enjoys the right of presidency. A commis¬
sioner appointed by the king attends the sittings, not to
vote, but to countersign all their acts and decisions. The
functions of the synod are either internal, including the
preservation of pure doctrine and worship with the main¬
tenance of ecclesiastical discipline, and other matters
purely religious; or they are external, relating to matters
which involve public interests, as marriage, divorce, the
excommunication of laymen, and the celebration of extra¬
ordinary religious festivals on working days. In the for¬
mer, the powers of the synod are independent of the
state ; in the latter, it can act only in concert with the
government.
Total 1,142,227
bor the administration of justice there is an areopagus,
or supreme court, 2 courts of appeal, 3 commercial courts,
10 civil and criminal courts, 120 justice of the peace courts,
with jury trials, lawyers, notaries, &c. Then there is a pro¬
visional civil code, a commercial code, a code of civil pro¬
cess, and a code of criminal law, which seems to secure
everything that can be desired for the ends of justice. Ca¬
pital punishment was introduced by the penal code in 1837,
but before an executioner could be found there were 30 or
40 prisoners waiting for execution. The guillotine is the
instrument used ; and the horror of the scene is occasionally
augmented by the struggles of the culprit to escape. The
law provides that he shall walk freely and unbound to his
doom; and as most of those who are thus condemned are
vigorous men, brigands by profession, the struggle is some¬
times fearful. The executioner, however, at length pre¬
vails, being armed with a dagger, and when the culprit is
exhausted with loss of blood from its thrusts, he goes freely
to suffer the last sentence of the law.
The people, who are for the most part strongly attached
to the Greek Church, have almost forgotten the religion of
their king, because they look forward to the 40th article of
their constitution being strictly enforced, which stipulates
that the next heir or successor of King Otho shall be of
the same religion as their own. Prince Leutpold, the bro¬
ther next in age to Otho, declines changing his religion.
A still younger brother, Prince Adalbert, consents to ac¬
cept the sovereignty in his stead, and the London confe¬
rence has authorized the substitution ; but as he is not ab¬
solutely certain of the succession, he chooses to continue a
Roman Catholic till actually put in possession of the throne ;
and to all appearance it will again be the fate of Greece
to receive a king who is an utter stranger to them, and at
heart averse to their religion.
When Greece was a province of Turkey, its religious
community naturally formed part of the patriarchate of Con-
Excommunication, however, is used in a different spirit
from the Roman Catholic Church, namely, to influence,
by the fear of God and future punishment, the consciences
of those who, knowing the perpetrators of a crime, conceal,
or do not reveal to the authorities, the criminal, or of those
who are the possessoi’s of stolen property. Very often this
has succeeded better than the efforts of the police. It is,
however, vei'y seldom used, and the synod must first have
permission fi-om the king.
The kingdom is divided into 24 episcopal sees, of which
11 are directed by archbishops, and the remaining 13 by
bishops. Evei’y bishop is chosen by the king out of three
candidates pi’esented by the Holy Synod. He can displace
him again only in conformity with the canons, and after the
advice of the synod. The metropolitan receives 6000
drachms (L.212) a year ; each archbishop, 5000 (L.180) ;
and each bishop 4000 (L.145). The inferior clergy receive
no salary from the state. They live chiefly by the altar,
but they also levy certain portions of the harvest.
The goveimment found the country infested with monks,
and it has shut up many of their houses ; but it has been
impossible either to suppress or reform a convent at Janina
( Turkey), containing about 200 females, who are not closely
secluded, and whose morals are said to be scandalous. The
religious houses are undei’stood to be asylums of anti-national
intrigue, the inmates being generally devoted to the inte¬
rests of the Russian emperor, and disposed to look on King
Otho as a mere heretic.
There are above 300 churches in Athens and its neigh¬
bourhood ; only five or six of them are habitable, the rest
are miserable sheds or ruins, yet none of them is utterly
abandoned. On the day of the saint to which it is dedi¬
cated, a little lamp is lighted, a little incense burned, and
a few prayers chanted. It would be deemed sacrilege to
destroy even the meanest of these sanctuaries. There are
no infidels or latitudinarians in Greece ; no one is ashamed
of punctually attending to the duties of religion. (For the
Greece.
20
GREECE.
Greece, doctrines and state of the Greek Church, see Greek
Church.) Roman Catholics are tolerated, among whom
is the king himself; but he is obliged to render Public
homage to the state religion five or six times a year. There
are few Jews who, though they have every protection, do
not seem to prosper amongst the Greeks.
The army, which was reorganized in 1843, consists now
of 6 battalions of the line, 3 battalions of light infantry, 2
troops of cavalry, 3 companies of artillery, 1 company of
engineers, and 1 of artillery workmen, 3 corps of gendar¬
merie, 1 corps of pensioners and phalanx ; in all, including
the administrative hospital pensioners, 9o2 officers, 12,57
subalterns, 8237 soldiers—total 10,446.
The fleet numbers 21 vessels, principally small, except
3 steamers and some gun-boats which the government has
lately ordered in England. The complement of the Greek
navy is 1431 men, including 418 officers and 139 sub¬
officers.
Education. Greece boasts of one university, divided into the faculties
of theology, philosophy, law, and medicine ; a military
school ; a polytechnic school of arts and trades ; a normal
school for training elementary teachers; a school of agri¬
culture ; a seminary; seven lyceums ; an extensive insti¬
tute for female education ; an orphan female school, called
Amalion, was established last year at Athens, under the
patronage of Her Majesty the Queen of Greece (who is very
much beloved by the nation for her intelligence and judg¬
ment, and for the great zeal she shows for the patriotic cause);
179 Hellenic schools, in which ancient Greek is taught; and
369 communal or Romaic schools, in which strictly elemen¬
tary instruction is imparted. In 1854-5 there were 643
students at the university—20 in theology, 190 law, 317
medicine, 74 philosophy, and 42 pharmacy; and there
were 38,018 scholars at the various schools. The education
in all, from the humblest village school to the university, is
gratuitous. The effect is to draw the youth of the country
in undue proportion towards the learned professions. A
young man will at once enter the house of a Fanariot as a
valet, and matriculate at the university as a medical student.
When his studies are completed, he will ask his master’s
permission to attend him in future as his physician. Children
and youths of all ages prosecute their studies with indefati¬
gable eagerness ; and at Athens an idle student is not to
be found.
Newspapers and periodicals form the principal literature
of the country, but a considerable number of books are
published yearly in every branch of knowledge, either trans¬
lated or original. In 1851, 188; and in 1852, 164 books
were published, the greater part of which were of poetry;
and though we understand few of the latter are of a first-class
character, yet it shows that the Greeks aspire to gather the
laurels of Parnassus once more. All the books are written
by Greeks; and it may be mentioned, that out of the 164
published in 1852, 120 belong to the kingdom of Greece,
29 to the Ionian Islands, 7 to Turkey, and 8 to Vienna
and London. They are a very musical people ; but until
lately music did not form a part of their education.
In sculpture, there is now an establishment at Athens of
a talented artist, who with such splendid prototypes before
him may succeed in approaching his ancestors.
In 1846 M. Salvandy, minister of public instruction in
France, resolved to found at Athens a school for the pro¬
motion of literature, similar to the French Academy at
Rome for the fine arts. It was decided that the members
should be chosen from among young men who had ob¬
tained fellowships in history, philosophy, and literature;
and that they should each spend two or three years in
Athens, at the expense of the state, in a house provided
for them, and prosecute the study of Greek literature.
The first professors that repaired to Greece seemed at
a loss what to do with themselves. Some began to learn
modern Greek under an Athenian professor; others em- Greece,
ployed themselves in teaching French to the Athenians;
others travelled about the country; while economisers at
home, disposed to pick holes in the budget, wondered what
end was gained by the 40,000 francs per annum which this
academy cost the state. In 1850 a decree was passed,
placing the school under the patronage of the Academy of
Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, and enjoining that each
member should annually send home a paper on some ques¬
tion of Greek history, geography, or archaeology. The in¬
stitution was, however, nearly extinct, when the fortunate
excavations of M. Beule gave it a fresh impulse. There
are now five young professors prosecuting with enthusiasm
their researches into the archaeological remains.
The kingdom of Greece has ever been pecuniarily in
an embarrassed state. It was necessary for the protecting
powers to enable her to negotiate a loan by becoming
security for her. The sum thus raised has been squan¬
dered by the Bavarian regency, and now the revenue
never meets the expenditure ; so that there is little hope of
the debt ever being paid. The greatest part ot the taxes
are paid in kind, because of the scarcity of money. The
wealthy proprietors bribe or intimidate the officials; and
the lesser ones are protected either by a powerful friend
or by their own poverty. The ministers of finance, there¬
fore, up to 1846, used to prepare two budgets—one indi¬
cating what sums the government ought to receive; the
other, wrhat it could dare to hope for. The year after the
revolution, only a small portion of the taxes imposed were
realized.
The state income consists of—(1.) Direct taxes, including Income,
land tax, paid in kind; usufruct, or the rent paid in kind by
the cultivators of the state lands; except the tax on the
currants, valonia, and all kinds of fruit, which is paid in
money ; taxes on bees, cattle, and buildings, which are paid
in money; and a tax on grants of land from the state, also
payable in money. (2.) Indirect taxes, including customs-
duties, stamp-duties, taxes on trade and professions, licenses
to carry arms, consular fees, and quarantine, harbour, and
navigation dues. The public £stablishments—as the mint,
the mails, and the royal printing-office—yield very little re¬
turn. The national property—consisting of mines, quarries,
medicinal springs, salt-works, fisheries, forests, olive-groves,^
vineyards, &c.—ought to supply a considerable revenue, it
the government were intelligent enough to have them
worked advantageously, and strong enough to compel pay¬
ment from those who work them. The state expenditure
consists chiefly of the interest on the national debt, internal
and foreign ; the civil list; the salaries of the chambers and
the expenses of the ministry; besides those of collecting
taxes and customs.
The following statement of the foreign debt is from the Debt,
report of M. Metaxas, audited by M. Lemaitre, commis¬
sioner of the French government:—
In 1832, France, England, and Russia, to complete the emanci¬
pation of Greece, and to assure her prosperity, supported by their
guarantee a loan of sixty millions of francs. Each of the three
powers guaranteed a third of the sum, that is to say, twenty mil¬
lions.
One part of these sixty millions was intended to indemnify the
creditors of Greece, and particularly the Turkish government; the
remainder was to supply the first wants of agriculture and com¬
merce, and to form as it were a social capital for this improvised
kingdom.
Unfortunately, the funds were confided to the Council of Re¬
gency. The regents were irresponsible ; they employed the money
as they pleased, and went away without giving in any accounts.
It is difficult to say which most to admire, the audacity of the re¬
gents, the simplicity of the Greeks, or the rashness of the great
powers, to confide sixty millions to three individuals who had the
right of squandering them.
Since the year 1832, up to the 31st December 1843, the issues
of the bonds for the loan amounted to :—
Greece. ®'or guarantee : —
GREECE.
21
Francs. Cents. Drachms. lep.
English 19,838,805 33£ = 22,155,977 79
Russian 19,999,573 33J = 22,335,523 50
French 17,400,661 33J = 19,433,058 58
57,229,040 63,924,559 87
To be deducted :—
Loss in the negotiation of the loan
adjudged to MM. Rothschild, at Drachms, lep.
94 per cent  3,835,473 59
Discount paid to those that took
up the loan for payment in ready-
money  1,176,188 10
Commission and other expenses.... 1,964,251 73
  6,986,013 42
Nett capital ..56,948,546 45
Interest, sinking fund, commis¬
sion, ditferent expenses up to
31st December 1843  33,080,795 31
Remains, 23,867,751 14
Greece contracted in Bavaria an¬
other loan, which produced,
after deducting the expenses of
negotiation  4,658,186 14
Paid for interest, sinking fund,
commission and expenses up to
31st December 1843   2,809,077 66
Nett  1,849,109 00 1,849,109 00
Sums advanced by France 3,085,098 25
Sums advanced by the three Powers 2,757,028 32
Gross total of the resources of which Greece
could have disposed 31,558,986 71
To be added for two heads misplaced  100,947 62
Total 31,659,934 33
Greece, or at least her government, has therefore received from
foreign powers, between 1832 and 1843, a nett and clear sum of
31,659,934 drachms, 33 lepta.
Let us see how these resources have been employed :—
Indemnity stipulated nominally in favour of Turkey,
but in reality to the advantage of Russia, who Drachms, lep.
had pecuniary demands to press against Turkey, 12,531,164 54
Reimbursement to ditferent persons for debts ante¬
rior to the establishment of the Greek kingdom, 2,238,559 15
To which may be added, as useless expenditure, the
Bavarian Regency, 1832-33  1,397,654 27
The conveyance, cost, and return of the Bavarian
troops, from 1st September 1832 to 30th Sep¬
tember 1834  4,748,050 0
20,915,427 96
Which, deducted from  31,659,934 33
Give a remainder of.  10,744,506 37
With a little assistance, Greece paid the interest of the
loan of 60,000,000 frs. in the years 1841,1842, 1843. Since
then she has fallen hopelessly into arrears. She now owes to
the three Powers 100,000,000 drs., which she cannot pay ;
besides above 200,000,000 drs. to English capitalists, which
she will not pay.
As to other items of the state expenditure, the king’s
civil list is 1,000,000 drs., or about L.36,000 sterling; the
chambers receive about 600,000 drs. a year; the seven
ministers, as salary, 9600 drs.; while the departments of
the army and navy expend <5,500,000 drs.; and the other
five state departments, 4,500,000 drs.
Ithas been remarked, that if Greece were organized like the
Ionian Islands, without either king, fleet, or army, 6,500,000
drs. might be realized above the annual expenditure towards
liquidating her debt and improving the national property.
Antiqm- rpile antiquities of Greece open so wide a field, that, in
an article of this kind, we can do nothing more than allude Greece,
to the various classes of objects comprised under the title.
Among these we may, without much impropriety, rank many
of the cities themselves, which not only exist on the very
spots they anciently occupied, and bear the same names,
but, deriving their most striking characters from natural
objects which remain unchanged, they still present to the eye
at a distance the same general aspect and outlines. With
regard to the interior of the cities, also, though the august
temples of the gods have disappeared, and filth and mean¬
ness meet the eye everywhere, little doubt will remain with
those who have read what the ancients have left us on the
subject of their private houses, and what modern travellers
have told us respecting the disinterred buildings of Pompeii,
that the houses at the present day—with their square in¬
closed courts, their projecting roofs, and dead walls, and all
that is most peculiar in their plan and interior arrange¬
ments—are copies (though miserable copies) of those of the
ancient Greeks ; and it is probable that some of the modern
dark and narrow streets of Athens come much nearer in
appearance to what they were in the age of Pericles than
the admirers of antiquity are willing to allow. Among the
cities which occupy their ancient sites, and bear their ancient
names with little alteration, may be mentioned Athens,
Thebes, Livadia, Larissa, Pharsalia, Salonica, Corinth, Ar¬
gos, Nauplia, Patrse; and a great number of others of less
note might be added. The ancient buildings of which re¬
mains now exist belong to three different eras :—1. The very
ancient structures to which the name of Cyclopean has been
given, consisting of vast masses of unhewn stone, put to¬
gether without cement. They are not numerous. The
ruins of the citadels of Tyrins and Mycenae, which are of
this description, have remained in their present state for
3000 years, and present the most perfect specimen in exist¬
ence of the military architecture of the heroic ages.1 2.
The works of the classical ages, consisting of temples, baths,
porticoes, theatres, columns, stadia, fountains, which are
extremely numerous, and executed in a great variety of
styles, exemplifying the infancy, progress, perfection, and
decline of the arts. Of the two or three hundred temples
enumerated by Pausanias—many of which were models of
the most exquisite beauty and symmetry—that of Theseus
at Athens was the only one tolerably entire; and it was
destroyed by the Turks in 1827. Others are found in va¬
rious stages of dilapidation ; and the far greater part have
vanished from their sites, and only left traces of their exist¬
ence in their innumerable fragments of inscribed and sculp¬
tured marbles scattered over the fields, or stuck into the
walls of forts, churches, and clay-built cottages. 3. A num¬
ber of square towers, of a rude construction, built on the tops
of hills, for military purposes, are the only memorials left
by the Latin princes who ruled Greece for two or three cen¬
turies before the Mohammedan conquest. 4. Next in im¬
portance to the remains of ancient edifices we may rank the
statues, bas-reliefs, and inscribed marbles ; a great number
of which, generally somewhat mutilated, have been brought
from Greece to enrich the museums of Western Europe;
and a much greater number, no doubt, lie buried under the
soil. 5. Vessels of terra cotta, or ancient pottery, consisting
of vases, amphorae, lamps, &c., of exquisite workmanship,
adorned with coloured designs illustrative of the arts, habits,
and mythology of the ancients, and often in high preserva¬
tion. The quantity of these found among the ruins of an¬
cient cities is incredibly great. 6. Coins of gold, silver, and
copper, which are great in number and variety, every con¬
siderable town having its separate coinage. 7. Amongst
the most interesting remains are the tumuli, erected to com¬
memorate great victories. These simple but expressive
1 In Sir William Gell’s Itinerary of Argolis, a good account of these remarkable ruins is given, illustrated by excellent drawings.
22 G R E
Greece, monuments, formed of conical mounds of earth, but long
since divested of their sculptured ornaments, still mark the
fields of Marathon, Leuctra, Platsea, Cheronaea, Thermo¬
pylae, Pharsalia, and Pydna. 8. We ought also to class
among the antiquities of Greece a vast number of fountains,
caves, rocks, and other natural objects, which owe their in¬
terest, not to any beauty or importance they possess in them¬
selves, but to the legends associated with them in the history
and mythology of the ancient Greeks. With regard to the
antiquities of Greece in general, it may be observed, that
the finest, the best preserved, and the most numerous spe¬
cimens of ancient art are found at Athens. Salonica, it is
said, ranks next to it in this respect; but its monuments are
deficient in the interest derived from classical associations.
In general the southern and eastern parts of Greece, and
the islands, abound most in antiquities. Albania and yEtolia
contain but few, and these not of much interest.1
Languages. There are five languages spoken in Greece at the pre¬
sent day:—1. The Turkish, which is in use among a few of
the Turks, but the great majority speak Romaic. 2. The
Bulgarian, a dialect of Sclavonic, spoken by the tribes of
Bulgarians who inhabit the northern parts of Macedonia.
3. The Wallachian, in use amongst the Ylaki, who occupy
the branches of Pindus and Olympus ; a language of uncer¬
tain root, but containing a large mixture of Latin, and some
Italian. 4. The Albanian or Skipetaric, spoken by the na¬
tives of Albania, and by some of the colonies of this people
in the south of Greece. It is an unwritten tongue, and
abounds in nasal sounds. Its basis is supposed to be the
ancient Illyrian, with which is intermixed a large proportion
of Latin, and smaller proportions of Romaic, Sclavonic,
Italian, and Turkish, 5. The Romaic (Pw/xatK^) or modern
Greek, spoken by all the Greeks, by most of the Turks,
and by a part of the Albanians. This is the name given to
the language by the Greeks, who call themselves Poyiaioi,
or Romans, a denomination derived from the establishment
of the Roman empire for so many ages at Constantinople,
which they consider as the capital of Greece, The Romaic
bears a much closer resemblance to the Hellenic than the
Italian to the Latin. Indeed we have been informed by
one of the best modern Greek scholars in Europe, that if
we take the Attic as a standard, the ancient Doric differs
as much from it as the present living dialect. The peculi¬
arities which distinguish the Romaic from the ancient Greek
cannot be fully explained without many details ; we shall,
therefore, only notice some of the most prominent. These
are,—1. The disuse of the aspirates in speaking, though they
are retained in writing. 2. The adoption of the first nume¬
ral els fit a ev, for an indefinite article, as in the French.
3. In substantives it discards the dual number, and the
dative case ; makes some alterations in the oblique cases ;
marks cases sometimes by prepositions; and often changes
the Hellenic masculine and feminine into neuter. 4. The
degrees of comparison are formed as of old, by adding -repos
and Taros, but sometimes by vrXeov, plus, as in the French.
5. Diminutives are much used, as in the Italian. 6. Con¬
siderable changes and substitutions have been made in the
tenses of the verbs; the infinitive and the middle voice have
been suppressed, and two auxiliary verbs introduced, OeXw,
I will, and c^w, I have. 7. The Hellenic pronouns are re¬
tained, but with many modifications. Many old Hellenic
words have changed their meaning, attributives being used
as substantives, and vice versa. The pronunciation of the
Romaic deviates widely from that of the ancient Greek as
taught in our schools. The B is sounded like our Y, whilst
E C E.
the place of B is supplied by /xtt. The A is sounded like Greece.
th in that, and Q like our th in think. The vowels 77, 1, v, '
and the dipthongs ei, 01, vc, are all pronounced like the Ita¬
lian i. It is said, however, that the dialects of the spoken Ro¬
maic in Greece have not so marked a difference as those of
the distant provinces of France or England. The purest
dialects, or those which approach nearest to the Hellenic,
are found in some of the least frequented islands of the
Archipelago, in the mountainous parts of Greece, at Yanina,
and among the well-educated Greeks of Constantinople.
The name of Romaic is going into disuse; the modern lan¬
guage being denominated Neo-Hellenic, and the ancient,
for the sake of distinction, Hellenic.
The new Greek language has lately made immense pro¬
gress, and great care is taken by every writer not only to
avoid introducing any foreign idioms in the language, but
also to imitate the style of their Greek prototypes. They
keep with the greatest scrupulosity the ancient ortho¬
graphy.
The Romaic, which, before the revolution, was a mixed
language, full of foreign words, and unintelligible to any
one not acquainted with the Greek, the Italian, and the
Turkish, is written and spoken now by the educated classes,
pure, as in the ancient language. Any Greek scholars can
easily understand a Greek newspaper, by impressing on his
mind the above remarks on the language.
NARRATIVE OF THE GREEK REVOLUTION.
In the course of last century, the Greeks made two un¬
successful attempts to liberate themselves. The first was
in 1770, during a war between Russia and the Porte. The
Russians, in pursuance of a plan previously concerted,
landed a small force of 2000 men at various points in the
Morea. The Mainotes and other Greeks instantaneously
rose in arms, and got possession of the open towns, butcher¬
ing the Turks with every circumstance of cruelty. Be¬
fore they had mastered any of the fortified places, however,
a great force of Albanians pouring in, defeated them, and
retaliated, with dreadful severity, the cruelties committed
on the Turks. The inhabitants of some entire towns and
villages were massacred, and the country was almost deso¬
lated. Though the Greeks acted with much vigour at the
outset, it was observed that their spirits sank at the first
check they received. But it is impossible to reprobate too
strongly the cruelty and perfidy of the Russian government,
which, by sending such an inadequate force, exposed the
Greeks to certain destruction, for the sake of operating a
paltry diversion in its own favour; and, at the conclusion of
a peace, took no effectual means to protect them from the
rage of their enemies.
In 1790, the Greeks of Suli, in Albania, rose in arms,
upon an understanding that assistance was to be received
from Russia. A deputation went to Petersburg to offer
the crown of Greece to Prince Constantine, brother of the
emperor, whom they saluted /LtcnAeus twv 'EAAtjvcdv. They
were to collect their various troops from Suli, Livadia,
Attica, and the Morea; to march through Thessaly and
Macedonia, where they were to be joined by other rein¬
forcements ; and to meet the Russians at Adrianople with
300,000 men (as they gave out), after which the combined
army was to proceed to Constantinople, and drive the
Turks out of Europe. But in the end little was done. The
Russians sent a trifling sum of money, which was chiefly
embezzled by their own agents, and soon made peace,
1 On the subject of the Antiquities of Greece, the reader may consult the following works :—Les Ruines des plus beaux Monument
de la Grece, par M. Le Roy, fol. 1758 ; The Antiquities of Athens, by Stuart and Revett, 4 vols. fol. 1762-1816 ; The Ionian Antiquities,
by Chandler, Revett, and Pars, 2 vols. fol. 1769-1797 ; The Unedited Antiquities of Attica, by the Society of Dilettanti, fol. 1817;
Chandler and Clarke’s Travels, already referred to; and Mr Edward Dodwell’s Classical and Topographical Tour in Greece, 2 vols. 4to,
1819;—and on the geographical, historical, archaiological, and statistical condition of ancient Greece, consult also M. S. R. Rangabe’s,
Ta 'EWvvinx, edited at Athens, 1853.
G R E
Greece, without concerning themselves about the peril into which
they had brought the Greeks. The Suliotes defeated the
Pasha of Yanina; and, aided by their rocks, defended them¬
selves, performing prodigies of valour against the Albanian
Turks. A squadron of twelve small vessels, which they
had fitted out at Trieste, signalized itself in the Archipelago,
and after spreading terror amongst the Turks, was over-
powered and destroyed by a greatly superior force. This
second enterprise, in short, ended like the first, without
any other effect than that of exposing the Greeks to re¬
newed outrages from the Turks. The brave tribe of the
Suliotes, on whom the Greeks placed great reliance, as the
best soldiers of their faith, were reduced to a remnant by
Ali in 1803, after a contest of many years.
Though the hopes of the Greeks were cast down for a
time by this event, various causes were silently operating
a change in their situation, and preparing the way for a
more successful effort. Amidst all the hardships of their
lot, knowledge had been steadily increasing. The influence
of Russia over the Porte was visibly extending, and pro¬
mised them sooner or later the means of exchanging Ma-
hommedan for Christian rulers. But what was of more
immediate importance, the establishment of Russian ports
on the Black Sea, and the destruction of the French ship¬
ping by the wrars of the revolution, created a trade in
corn between Odessa, Marseilles, Leghorn, and Trieste,
which falling into the hands of the Greeks, had raised up
a class of capitalists amongst them, and given them posses¬
sion of a commercial navy. From a few small barks en¬
gaged in coasting traffic, a short period saw them in pos¬
session of some hundred large well-rigged merchantmen,
making long voyages. Greek houses were established at
the ports mentioned, as well as at Smyrna, Salonica, and
Constantinople. As patriotic feelings were universally dif¬
fused, a part of the wealth thus acquired was expended in
founding schools and libraries, and the number of Greek
youths sent to the universities of Western Europe was
greatly increased. The ancient classic writers of the coun¬
try were studied with new ardour, and lessons of freedom,
magnanimity, and patriotic devotion, eagerly imbibed from
their pages. Amongst the educated Greeks, those espe¬
cially who had studied in France, Russia, and Germany, a
more just idea was acquired of the relative weakness of the
Porte, and the advantages which any people contending
with it might derive from those arts and improvements,
the growth of an advanced civilization, which the Turks
despised. The conviction thus gained strength, that no¬
thing more was necessary to accomplish the liberation of
the Greeks, than a combined and organized effort by them¬
selves, aided if possible by the countenance of some great
Christian power. This idea gave birth to the Hetairia, a
secret association, which is supposed to have originated
about the beginning of the present century, but remained
obscure and feeble till 1815. About that time Count Capo
dTstrias, a Greek by birth, who enjoyed a considerable rank
in the Russian service, established a Philomuse Society,
ostensibly to promote Greek literature, but really to serve
as a cloak for the Hetairia. In a little time he withdrew
from its apparent guidance, but without ceasing to pro¬
mote its objects privately. The Hetairia had a complex
and artful organization. It was divided into five orders:
those of the first or lowest receiving merely a general inti-
mation that a scheme was in contemplation to regenerate
Greece ; and the information communicated of the society’s
designs becoming more special and distinct through the other
grades, to the fifth or highest, called the Grand Arch,
which was composed of sixteen members, and alone pos¬
sessed a full knowledge of the society’s plans, the power of
issuing general orders, and fixing the time and mode of
execution. All the members were sworn to secrecy on
their knees, at the dead of night, and bound to kill any
E C E. 23
one of their brother members who should be guilty of Greece,
treachery. The grand arch had its seat at Moscow, from
which it corresponded with persons in all parts of Europe.
The society spread its ramifications through the southern
parts of Russia, had numerous members in Odessa, Yassy,
Bucharest, and in Greece Proper, and some at Vienna,
Paris, and Leghorn. Most of the primates of the Morea
joined it in 1819. This conspiracy had been spreading its
roots through European Turkey for five years before the
Ottoman government knew of its existence; and when at
length apprised of the fact by an accidental circumstance,
its usual apathy, and its contempt of the Greeks,,prevent¬
ed it from taking any precautions to avert the threatened
danger. It has been said that the Hetairists had fixed
upon the year 1825 for beginning the revolution ; but the
statement rests on no good authority. Whatever might
be their intentions, the rebellion of Ali Pasha, by embar¬
rassing the Porte, and neutralizing one who would have
been a formidable enemy, presented an opportunity too
favourable to be lost, and precipitated the commencement
of hostilities.
In the autumn of 1820 a Turkish army advanced into
Albania. Most of All’s officers and armies having deserted
his standard and joined the enemy, he shut himself up in a
fortress at Yanina, after destroying the town, and prepared
to stand a vigorous siege. Aware of the designs of the
Hetairists, he stimulated them to take up arms, by a pro¬
mise of money and assistance ; and though they did not
confide in it, they resolved to embrace the advantage w hich
the position of affairs held out. The first movement was
in a distant quarter. By previous concert a number of
Greeks assembled at Yassy in Moldavia in the end of Feb¬
ruary 1821, and on the 6th of March Prince Ipsilanti,
who held the rank of major-general in the Russian service,
crossed the Pruth, and joined them. After proclaiming
the independence of Greece, he left that town on the 13th,
with eight hundred horsemen, proceeding towards Bucha¬
rest, but lost time foolishly on the road, and did not enter
the capital of Wallachia till the 9th of April. Dissensions
in the mean time broke out in his small army ; and though
the spirit of the people w as good, and the lethargy of the
Turks left him a clear space for action, his incapacity
and indecision rendered him unable to improve these ad¬
vantages ; and a proclamation issued by the Russian con¬
sul, in which the insurrection was strongly condemned by
the emperor, on whose assistance they had relied, com¬
pletely disheartened the insurgents. About the end of
April, a body of Turks put themselves in motion from Silis-
tria, occupied Bucharest, and followed the insurgents north¬
ward. Some trifling skirmishes took place in the neigh¬
bourhood of Tergoivisht, rather to the disadvantage of the
Greeks; and a rash and unsuccessful attack made by one
of their officers at Piteshti caused a panic in the army, fol¬
lowed by a disastrous retreat. In this action the greater
part of the Sacred Battalion, composed of Greek youths
from various parts of Europe, was destroyed, after a brave
resistance. Ipsilanti shortly afterwards stole away from his
troops, and sought refuge within the Austrian boundary.
A partisan warfare was continued a little longer. One small
corps retreated to Yassy, and thence to Skuleni on the
Pruth, where, under Athanasius of Agrapha, they sustained
an attack from a body of Turks six times more numerous,
refusing to fly, though the means of retreat were open to
them, till three fourths of their number were destroyed.
Another small party under Yorgaki, or George the Olym¬
pian, shut themselves up in the monastery of Secka, where
they resisted the Turks for six and thirty hours. At length,
when the enemy got into their rear, and success was hope¬
less, the gallant chief, having refused the safe retreat which
the Turks offered him, called his followers together, and
exhorted them to seek a glorious death sword in hand.
24 Gr R E
Greece. Finding that instead of seconding his heroic resolution,
they were preparing to fly, he retired to the chamber where
his powder was deposited, and uttering a short prayer, blew'
himself up, with four of his attendants. George was a na¬
tive of Mount Olympus, and during this short campaign
showed a prudence and courage which would have fitted
him admirably for heading the insurrection ; but the Greeks
of that district were slaves to family titles, and George, who
had no pretensions to rank, held only a subordinate situa¬
tion. Quiet, modest, averse to intrigue, he seems, says Mr
Gordon, to have been a real hero, inspired with sincere
devotion, sublime courage, and an enthusiastic love of his
country. With his death, on the 26th of August, all resist¬
ance ceased in the principalities. The intention of the in¬
surgents was to erect European Turkey into a province for
Prince Ipsilanti.
From the beginning of 1821 secret conferences were
held by the more zealous Hetairists of the Morea, and a
spirit of insubordination began to appear amongst the peo¬
ple. At length, on the 2d of April, the standard of inde¬
pendence was hoisted at Kalavrita, a town about thirty
miles south-east from Patras, by Germanos, archbishop of
Paleon-Patron, and Andreas Londos.1 Two days afterwards
the fighting began at Patras, where the Christian inhabitants
rose on the Turks, and, during a bloody struggle of some
days, a part of the town was burned. The Turks, however,
retained the citadel, from which the Greeks had no means
of expelling them; and Yusuf Pasha crossing the straits
of Lepanto, the armed insurgents suddenly fled, leaving
their brethren in the town to be butchered by the Turks.
The insurrection spread with such rapidity over the Morea,
that seven days after the first shot was fired, a Greek se¬
nate assembled at Calamata in Messina, under the presi¬
dency of Petras Mavromichalis, beyofMaina. A partisan
warfare was carried on for some time against the small bo¬
dies of Mahommedan settlers living in the country, most of
whom ultimately sought refuge in Tripolizza, the capital of
the Morea. Meanwhile three thousand Albanians coming
from the north, victualled the Acrocorinthus, and advan¬
cing to Argos, routed a body of Greeks posted there, killing
seven hundred of them, and afterwards burned the town.
The Kihaya Bey then proceeded to Tripolizza, and seemed
resolved to act with vigour. The Greeks, who had now
assembled a considerable force, were divided as to the
mode of acting ; but it was finally determined to fight, and
they accordingly posted themselves at Yaltezza, near the
enemy. The Kihaya Bey, leaving Tripolizza with five thou¬
sand troops, attacked them on the 27th of May, but was
repulsed in several attacks made on the village in that and
the following day, and finally fled to Tripolizza, with the
loss of twro pieces of cannon and four hundred men. This
victory, though small, had a great moral effect in raising
the courage of the Greeks. The three great seats of Greek
commerce, Hydra, Spezzia, and Psyra, entered into the
revolutionary cause about the same time with the towns
on the mainland. A small fleet of Hydriot and Spezziot ves¬
sels visited the other isles of the iEgean, proclaiming the
independence of Greece, and was everywhere received
with enthusiasm ; whilst light-armed ships scoured the seas,
and captured every Ottoman trader.
In Rumelia the insurrection broke out a few days later.
The Armatolis, a sort of stationary Christian militia, in
the mountains of Acarnania, iEtolia, and Thessaly, kept up
by the Turkish government for the purposes of police,
were unwilling to risk the loss of their pay. The peasants
of Attica and Boeotia, however, took the field in the be¬
ginning of May ; and on the 7th of that month, scaling the
low wall which surrounds Athens, took possession of the
town, and drove the Turkish inhabitants into the citadel.
In Epirus, the remnant of the brave Suliotes, reinforced by
other Greeks, and encouraged by Ali Pasha, harassed the
E C E.
Seraskier Kourschid Pasha, by cutting off his convoys of Greece,
provisions. The scene of these hostilities was chiefly in
the ancient Thesprotia, and it was carried on with great
activity in May by Marco Bozzaris. From this district it
spread into Acarnania and iEtolia; the independent flag
was hoisted in Messolonghi in June, by several of the Ar-
matoli chiefs ; Vrakhori, a Mahommedan town twenty
miles north of Messolonghi, was carried very gallantly, and
some weeks afterwards Zarpandi in the same district; Sa-
lona was next taken; and the Turks in three months were
deprived of a large proportion of the posts which they had
occupied south of Mount CEta. Kourschid Pasha, however,
made a vigorous opposition, and success often changed sides.
In this desultory warfare the summer passed away. The Ru-
meliots, in the various actions fought, showed themselves
much better soldiers than the Moreots, and this reputa¬
tion they continued to maintain during the war. Whilst
these events were passing, Mavrocordato arrived at Messo¬
longhi from Leghorn, and, after conferring with the pri¬
mates, went to Tripolizza, where the Moreot leaders were
assembled for the siege. Finding he was an object of
jealousy to Demetrius Ipsilanti, he returned to Messo¬
longhi in September, and laboured to organize the insur¬
rection in Rumelia. In the mean time Omar Pasha,
with a body of four thousand Turkish troops, marched
from Thessaly, routed a party of seven hundred Greeks at
Thermopylae, a second larger party under Odysseus at
Scripu, and destroyed Livadia, the most flourishing town
of Rumelia. He then advanced to Athens, and on the
30th of July relieved the citadel, in which sixteen hundred
Turks had been blockaded for eighty-three days, by a mot¬
ley army consisting of Attic peasants, iEginetans,and other
islanders. The armed Greeks retired to Salamis and TEgi-
na, and the Albanians of the pasha’s army plundered and
wasted the country. The Greeks now collected in small
corps in the hilly districts of Boeotia and Phocis, straiten¬
ing the communications of the Turks, and cutting off their
supplies. A strong reinforcement coming to the latter
from Thessaly, was routed at Thermopylse by Odysseus,
with the loss of eight hundred men. The pasha shortly
afterwards withdrew from Attica and Boeotia, and the
Athenians from Salamis re-occupied the town, and re¬
sumed the blockade of the citadel in November. In the
extreme north the insurrection had been unfortunate.
The Macedonian Greeks, who had taken refuge in the
peninsula of Pallene, had their line of defence at Isthmus
forced by Aboulaboud, and, except a portion who escaped
by sea, were either killed or made prisoners. The monks of
Athos capitulated to the same pasha, after two thousand
of them had left the mountain. The people of Magnesia,
when dividing the booty they had taken from the Mahom-
medans, were surprised and routed by the Pasha of Drama.
A part sought shelter in the forests of Pelion, and part for¬
tified themselves in the peninsula of Trikeri, or fled to the
neighbouring isles of Scopelos and Skiathos. The thirty-
five neat and flourishing villages of the district were most ¬
ly burned by the Turks. The Olympians, or Greeks of
Pieria, also rose in arms, but at too late a period. The
Pasha Aboulaboud had previously subdued the Christians
of Athos and Macedonia, and being able to bring his
whole force against them, routed them, and burned the
120 villages they possessed in the valleys of Olympus.
The Greeks of Macedonia, cruelly used by the Pasha of
Salonica, were driven by despair to take up arms. Un¬
able, however, to make head in the plain country against
the Ottoman cavalry, they retreated to the peninsula of
Cassandra, abandoning seventy villages, which the Turks
burned. We must explain, however, that the rage of the
Turks was excited to fury by the discovery of a plot form¬
ed by a Hydriot captain, to fire the arsenal at Constan¬
tinople, kill the sultan, and raise the Greek population.
See History of the Greek Revolution, by M. Tricupi, Greek Ambassador in London, tom. i., p. 76, who gives rather a different version.
GREECE.
Greece. The government, alarmed by this event, seized and exe-
-■'"Y~w/ cuted the leading individuals of the Fanariot families,
whilst some thousands of the other Christian inhabitants
were massacred in their houses, without the least regard
to legal forms. The death of the patriarch, a very old
man, much esteemed for his virtues, and of a number of
the other high clergy, created a great sensation. Saloni-
ca, Adrianople, and Smyrna, were the scene of similar bar¬
barities. The last of these towns, in particular, was con¬
signed to a general sack, like a city stormed. Kydonia, a
Greek town with thirty thousand inhabitants, which had
grown up in a few years, and was renowned for its college,
where three hundred students received a superior educa¬
tion, falling under the suspicion of the Turks, was burned
to the ground, and its people were forced to seek refuge
in Psyra and other isles. The Greek ships, which were
merely merchant vessels, carrying from twelve to twenty-
four guns, would have been impotent against any navy but
the Turkish ; but by their superior seamanship, and a
bold and skilful use of brulots or fire-ships, they often
baffled or defeated strong squadrons of large men of war.
Their first exploit of this kind was the burning of a Turk¬
ish seventy-four on the coast of Mytelene in June. This
paralysed the operations of the capitan-bey for a little;
but setting forward again, he arrived at Samos, the poor
but brave inhabitants of which, forty thousand in number,
had slain their Ottoman rulers, and now harassed the
Turks of the neighbouring continent by frequent descents
upon the coast. A large land force was collected to sub¬
due them, and the capitan-bey attended with the fleet to
co-operate. But the Turks were defeated with great loss
in an attempt to land a thousand men, and a second arma¬
ment was intercepted by the Greek fleet, who burned ten
transports, whilst the soldiers escaped to the shore. The
troops after this refused to embark. The Greek and Turk¬
ish fleets manoeuvred in presence of each other, but part¬
ed without fighting, after the former had burned several
fire-ships without effect.
Demetrius Ipsilanti, second brother of Alexander, tra¬
velling in disguise from Russia, landed at Hydra in June,
and thence sailed over to the continent, where he was
welcomed with extraordinary demonstrations of joy. He
brought a small supply of money and arms, and a commis¬
sion from his brother, investing him with the supreme com-
^ mand of the army. Patriotic, upright, brave, and accom¬
plished, he unfortunately wanted the energy necessary for
the post he assumed, and soon found himself thwarted in
his views, and rendered incapable of effecting any thing, by
the jealousy of the bishops and military chiefs. Prince
Mavrocordato, another Greek of noble descent and consi¬
derable talents, arrived in the Morea a few weeks later. The
Turks at this time were driven out of the open country,
but held nine fortresses in the Morea, Patras, the castle
at the adjoining straits, Navarin, Coron, Modon, Nauplia,
Acrocorinthus, Monemvasia, and Tripolizza. The Greeks
wanted both materials and skill for conducting regular
sieges, and merely kept most of these places blockaded
less or more strictly. Monemvasia, and afterwards Nava¬
rin, surrendered in August, in consequence of famine.
The one capitulation was pretty faithfully kept; the other
was most disgracefully violated by the massacre of the
l urks, to whom a safe retreat had been guaranteed. The
siege of Tripolizza was pressed with a little more vigour,
as it was the capital of the peninsula, and contained a
number of wealthy Turks, whose property was looked to as
the prize of conquest. The city was defended by a wall
fourteen feet high and two miles in circuit, flanked by a
few towers with cannon, and its population was increased
by refugees to 25,000 souls. The besieging army amounted
to about 4500 men, which was less than the number of
adults within the walls; it gradually swelled, however, as
VOL. XI.
the increasing scarcity in the town multiplied the chances
of a surrender. The contest was carried on by trifling
skirmishes, till the Turkish cavalry, which was the only
force dreaded by the Greeks, being entirely ruined, the
besiegers were enabled to invest the place more closely.
Famine was now doing its work upon the unhappy Mosle-
mins, who were negotiating for a capitulation on the 5th
of October, when some Greeks mounting a part of the
wall which had been neglected (there was no truce), enter¬
ed the town, and were immediately followed by the rest of
the army. The place was completely sacked, and of ten
or twelve thousand inhabitants, young and old, of both
sexes, still remaining in it, about eight thousand are sup¬
posed to have been slain. A number of women were carried
off as captives, and a few officers were spared for the sake
of the ransom expected for them. Some Turks sold their
lives dearly, and a party of forty cut their way through
the Greeks, and escaped to Nauplia. The booty in mo¬
ney, shawls, jewels, dresses, pistols, sabres, and other ar¬
ticles, was very great, and led to petty contests amongst
the victors. The town presented the aspect of a ruin.
As a small counterpoise to this loss, the capitan-bey de¬
stroyed the village of Galaxidi, near Salona, and carried
off thirty-four small trading vessels, the property of its
industrious inhabitants. The Ottoman fleet at the same
time revictualled Modon, Coron, and Patras. The Greeks
made an attempt to surprise Nauplia, which would have
succeeded but for the cowardice of the Moreots; and a
large body blockading the castle of Patras were, owing
to their gross carelessness, surprised and routed by a
party of Turks who crossed at Lepanto. Thus terminat¬
ed the year 1821.
The Turks of Crete, inspired with alarm by the appear¬
ance of Greek cruisers in the adjacent seas, began to strip
the Christian inhabitants of their arms, and to butcher
many of them in cold blood. A number of the latter, com¬
prehending the brave and hardy mountaineers of Sphakia,
were driven by this cruel usage to fight for their lives.
In July, August, and September 1821, the insurgents,
about twelve hundred in number, repeatedly defeated
large bodies of Turks; but the pasha at length collecting
an army of ten thousand men, overpowered them, and
burned most of their villages.
A national assembly convoked by Prince Ipsilanti had
met at Argos about the end of 1821, but finding that po¬
sition insecure, it removed to Piada, near the ancient Eiff-
daurus, in January 1822. The assembly chose Mavrocor¬
dato president, and adopted an organic law or constitution,
tramed on republican principles. The government was to
consist of a senate of seventy members elected annually
by the people, and an executive council of five persons.
1 he constitution enacted equality of rights, the freedom of
the press, and toleration in religion. The government was
then organized. The executive council consisted of Mav¬
rocordato, president; Kanakaris, Logotheti, Delhyani, and
Orlando, members; and Theodore Negris, secretary. Seven
ministers were also appointed for finance, foreign affairs,
war, &c., whose names it is unnecessary to give. After
passing a decree for a loan of 5,000,000 of piastres, the
assembly closed its session on the 20th of January. The
government thus erected proved a mere phantom. It had
no means of coercing the military chiefs, who set its powers
at defiance, and disdained even to pay it marks of outward
respect.
The citadel of Corinth, a post of great importance, sur¬
rendered on the 26th of January 1822, when the Turks were
inhumanly slaughtered, in violation of a compact to convey
them away in safety. The Greek government fixed itself
here for some months, and issued a variety of decrees, which
were very little attended to. The death of Ali, pasha of
Yanina, who was shot by the Turks in February, after
25
Greece.
<  
26 G R E
Greece, giving himself up on a promise of personal safety, made a
considerable change in the position of the Greeks. Kour-
schid Pasha shortly after sent an army of 17,000 men to
attack the Suliotes, who, though numbering only 4000 war¬
riors, including Epirots, made so obstinate a resistance with
the aid of their rocks and woods, that the Turks were finally
compelled to retreat with a heavy loss, and the pasha had
no resource but to turn his active hostilities into a blockade.
Mavrocordato arrived at Messolonghi in June, commissioned
to act as captain-general of Western Greece. Anxious to
succour the Suliotes, he marched northward with 3000 men
to Petta near Arta. Here he was attacked by 10,000 Turks,
and in consequence of the treachery of Gogos, one of the
Armatoli chiefs, his little army was overpowered, and lost
four hundred men, including two thirds of the small corps of
disciplined Philhellenes. He made his way back to Mes¬
solonghi ; and the Suliotes, reduced to extremity, signed a
capitulation with the pasha, by which the existing remnant
of three hundred and twenty men, and nine hundred women
and children, were transported to Cephalonia, with their arms
and baggage, at the pasha’s expense, with a douceur of two
hundred thousand piastres superadded. Released from this
troublesome enemy, Omar Pasha approached Messolonghi
in October with ten thousand men. The town had scarce¬
ly any defences, and the garrison being under four hun¬
dred men, he might have carried it by a coup-de-main.
He spent some weeks, however, in a state of inaction, or
in trifling negotiations, and this interval Mavrocordato di¬
ligently improved, by raising new works, whilst a reinforce¬
ment of men from the Morea increased the garrison to up¬
wards of 2000 men, and the Greek fleet brought supplies of
ammunition and arms. The rainy season too having set in,
spread sickness through the Turkish camp ; and the pasha,
now aware of his error, and anxious to retrieve it, attempt¬
ed to carry the works by escalade before daylight on Christ¬
mas morning, when he supposed the Greeks would be at
their devotions. They had previous information, however,
and beat back the Albanians at every point, with the loss
of six hundred men. The pasha now began his retreat, ob¬
structed by the swoln rivers, and harassed at every step
by the Acarnanians, who where up in arms ; he reached
Previsa with the wrecks of his army in February 1823.
In the TEgean Sea the spring of 1823 was marked by
the most unfortunate and tragical event which distinguish¬
ed the revolution ; the entire destruction of the happy and
prosperous Greek community of Scio. This island con¬
tained 120,000 Christian inhabitants, whose peaceful ha¬
bits, intelligence, industry, and wealth, exhibited a picture
of civilization unrivalled in the other parts of the Turkish
empire. They were unwarlike, but being mildly govern¬
ed, they desired no change. When the Hydriot fleet ap¬
peared, they entreated the admiral to leave their coast, and
not compromise them with the Porte. Two adventurers,
however, one of them a Sciot by birth, who had spent
his life abroad, the other a Samian, in an evil hour, plan¬
ned an expedition to dislodge the Turks, which was too
feeble and ill supported to accomplish its object, but strong
enough to alarm the Porte, and bring ruin on the unhappy
islanders. Leaving Samos in March 1822, with a flotilla
of eight brigs and thirty launches, filled with one or two
thousand men, the two adventurers, Bournia and Logo-
theti, disembarked near Scio, and entered the town without
experiencing any resistance. They were coolly received
by the inhabitants, who dreaded the vengeance of the
Turks; but the citadel with a stout garrison held out
against them, and disturbed them by frequent sallies. A
month passed away thus, when the Ottoman fleet sudden¬
ly appeared before the town, and driving off the few Greek
ships stationed there, conveyed over a part of an army of
thirty thousand men collected on the opposite Asiatic
coast, which is only ten miles distant. The Turks carried
E C E.
the town by assault on the 15th of April, putting to death Greece,
the men, young and old, without mercy, and not even
sparing women and children. A part of the town was
burned, and what escaped the fire was destroyed other¬
wise. For a month crowds of armed barbarians wan¬
dered over the island, wasting and plundering. It was cal¬
culated that 25,000 of the Sciots were slaughtered, and
45,000 dragged into slavery; 15,000 were saved at first
in the Mastic villages, the property of the sultan, but
were afterwards massacred; the rest escaped, or were absent
when the catastrophe occurred ; but those who saved their
lives lost every thing else, and the most opulent families of
which Greece could boast were thus reduced in an instant
to beggary. In August the island did not contain above
1800 Greeks, out of the 120,000 who peopled it in March.
If the Hydriot fleet had appeared in proper time, the Turks
could have been prevented from disembarking, and, with
moderate diligence, the town might have been secured
against a sudden assault. But the insurrection was no less
rashly planned than ill conducted, and the horrors in which
it terminated filled all Greece with unavailing lamenta¬
tions. A strong fleet sailed from Hydra when it was too
late; but it achieved nothing except burning the Turkish
admiral’s ship, in which more than 2000 men perished.
This exploit was accomplished in a very gallant manner, by
Canaris, a high-spirited patriot, whose name, and that of
Miaulis, are associated wdth the most brilliant achieve¬
ments of the Greek navy in the history of the wTar.
In Eastern Greece a desultory warfare was carried on in
the spring of 1822. The Greeks of Mount Gita, Othrys,
and Pelion, harassed the Turks in the south-eastern plains
of Thessaly, but without gaining any advantage. An at¬
tempt was made to dispossess the Mahommedans of Euboea,
but it miscarried. The Athenians had tried to bombard
their citadel, but they wanted skill and an adequate supply
of projectiles; they then mined parts of the wall, but could
not produce a practicable breach. At length, however,
famine did their work. The Turks capitulated on the
22d of June, and though their personal safety was guaran¬
teed, a large number of them were, as usual, massacred in
cold bloO|d, and the rest were saved with difficulty by the
Frank consuls.
Kourschid Pasha had been collecting a large force in
Thessaly, but the Greeks, with their usual negligence and
want of foresight, though apprised of the fact, made no de¬
fensive arrangements till the enemy was in the heart of
their country. The Turkish army, twenty or thirty thou¬
sand strong, chiefly cavalry, with a small body of infantry
and artillery, crossed the Sperchius, seized the defiles of
Mount GEta, and entered Boeotia in the beginning of July.
Odysseus, who had charge of the Pass of Thermopylae with
4000 men, either from weakness or treachery, offered no
resistance. The Pasha Dramali, the commander of this
army, burned Thebes, passed Cythaeron and the Dervend
of the isthmus unopposed; and the impregnable castle of
Corinth, though victualled for three months, fell into his
hands by the pusillanimity of the garrison, without firing
a shot. From Corinth he pushed on to Nauplia, the
Greeks everywhere leaving their houses and flying in the
utmost consternation at his approach. No one thought of
fighting, till Demetrius Ipsilanti threw himself with a small
party into the ruined castle of Argos, not with the hope of
making an effectual resistance, but in order to gain time,
and induce the fugitives to rally. The manoeuvre succeed¬
ed. A pause took place in Dramali’s operations, during
which Colocotroni arrived from the interior with a consi¬
derable force, which he drew up between the mountains
and the sea near Lerna, strengthening his position with
some hasty works calculated to render useless the cavalry,
which was the pasha’s right arm. After skirmishing foi
one day, with little success, the Greeks wisely resolved to
GREECE. 27
Greece, wait the effect of scarcity upon their enemies, having pre-
viously burned all the standing corn. The Turks soon
exhausted their stock of provisions by their wasteful ha¬
bits, and Dramali had neglected to secure his communica¬
tions with Corinth and Northern Greece, by guarding the
passes. The insalubrity of the soil, and the inconsiderate
use of unripe fruit at the same time, gave birth to fevers,
which cut off numbers of his men; whilst the cattle brought
for food, and the cavalry horses, died in thousands from want
of fodder. Pressed by these evils, and unable to force the
entrenchments in his front, he began his retreat on the 5th
of August. The Greeks, however, who had divined his
purpose, stationed some thousand men in the mountainous
defiles, who assailed him in his flight, and, besides killing
2000 of his soldiers, captured all his treasure and baggage,
with a vast number of horses, mules, and camels. Many
more of the Turks died at Corinth, where marsh fevers
prevailed, and amongst these the commander, Mahmoud
Dramali. A great number of the survivors were destroy¬
ed in an attempt to reach Patras by land; and at the
commencement of winter only a small remnant was in
existence of the formidable army which, three months be¬
fore, seemed powerful enough to overwhelm Greece.
The Palamede, or castle of Nauplia, pressed by famine,
capitulated in the end of December; and for once the
Turkish prisoners were allowed to depart in safety. The
Greeks who held the citadel of Athens gave up the com¬
mand of it to the crafty and treacherous Odysseus, a choice
of which they had reason to repent. The Turkish fleet,
instead of supporting the army, sailed round the Morea to
Patras, and on its way back to the Hellespont a ship of
the line was burned by the intrepid Canaris.
In February 1823 a second Greek congress assembled
at Astros in Argolis, and was attended by 260 deputies.
Feuds ran so high between the parties that it was difficult
to prevent bloodshed. It broke up at the end of April,
having appointed Petro Bey president of the executive
council, and fixed Tripolizza as the seat of the government.
Its decrees, however, were treated with contempt by the
military chiefs, who soon compelled the executive to seek
refuge in Salamis. The transient gleam of prosperity
caused by the retreat of the Turks had kindled a violent
spirit of disunion ; and the nation was now rent into fac¬
tions, headed by men like Colocotroni, Petro Bey, Londos,
Delhyani, Odysseus, Ghouras, and Panourias, who, having
been originally klephts or robbers, retained the craft, fero¬
city, and rapacious habits of their primitive vocation, and,
when the enemy was no longer present, thought of nothing
but plundering the people, and assassinating one another.
The men of better principles, Mavrocordato, Ipsilanti, and
Conduriotti, armed only with resolutions of the national
congress, had no power to awe these ruffians and their
military bands into obedience. The country, in fact, was
everywhere a prey to anarchy, and as early as 1823 the
wiser part of the people began to broach the scheme of in¬
viting a foreign prince to accept the sovereignty of Greece.
In the early part of the year 1823 the Turks of Euboea
made predatory incursions into Attica and Boeotia; whilst
the Greek mariners of Psyra and Samos made descents on
the coasts of Asia Minor, plundering the towns, and carrying
off wealthy Mahommedans prisoners for the sake of the ran¬
som obtained for their liberation. In June, however, a
Turkish army of 6000 men broke into Phocis and Doris,
and advanced to the neighbourhood of Athens. The Greeks,
as before, avoided battles, but encamping on the heights,
cut off detachments and foraging parties; and ultimately
this force melted away by casualties or desertion, without
accomplishing any thing of importance. An expedition
undertaken by Odysseus to drive the Turks from Euboea
miscarried; and the Christians of that isle having risen in
arms, were vanquished, and compelled to seek refuge in
the isles of the iEgean, after witnessing the destruction of Greece,
the 150 villages they possessed. The principal effort of
the Turks, however, was made in Western Greece. The
Pasha of Scodra led an army of 5000 Mirdites or Albanian
Christians into Acarnania. Messolonghi at that time was
without men or arms, and almost detenceless. Marco Bozzaris,
a brave Suliote, with a small corps of his countrymen, find¬
ing himself unable to arrest the pasha in his march, con¬
ceived the bold idea of surprising him in his camp. The
attack was made in the night time; but of the three par¬
ties of Souliotes, two slunk back; and the third, led by
Bozzaris, consisting of only 350 men, after storming se
veral tambourias, and making a horrible slaughter of the
enemy, finding itself unsupported, retired with the loss of
one third of its number, including its intrepid command¬
er. The Pasha of Scodra now joined Omar Vrioni, and
the two approached Messolonghi; but the town was by
this time garrisoned and provisioned; and the Ottoman
commanders having an extravagant idea of its strength,
turned aside to besiege Anatolico, a paltry village a few
miles distant. They bombarded it for some weeks, till
the rains setting in, and spreading sickness amongst their
troops, forced them to retire in November. No solicita¬
tions could induce the Pasha of Scodra to engage in the
invasion of Greece a second time.
In Crete the insurrection opened in 1823 with a pro¬
mise of success, which was not realized. Affendouli, the
former chief of the insurgents, having lost his influence,
resigned ; and Tombazi, a Hydriot, and an able but rapa¬
cious man, was elected leader in his place, and dignified
with the Lacedemonian title of Harmost. He arrived in
Crete with 1200 Rumeliots and Moreots, and a few
small armed vessels, early in the summer, and being join¬
ed by the Sphakiots, gained several advantages over the
Turks. Kissamos, a fortified post, fell into his hands by
capitulation, but his troops were routed at Khadeno, and
failed in an attack upon the Mahommedans of Selino. The
sea being in the mean time open, the Pasha of Egypt
disembarked two successive bodies of disciplined troops.
The last of these, which landed at Canea in September,
routed the insurgents in the neighbourhood of that town,
and carrying fire and sword throughout Sphakia and the
other disaffected districts, completely extinguished the
insurrection. In the course of the year the capitan-pasha
sailed as far as Patras, and afterwards paraded his fleet
about the Atgean; but the whole extent of his achieve¬
ments consisted in relieving Carysto, and reducing the Mag-
nesians of Trikeri; whilst some of his smaller vessels were
run ashore and destroyed by the Greeks. The citadel of
Corinth, after a blockade of nine months, surrendered in
November to Nikitas, who, in terms of the contract, faith¬
fully secured the unmolested retreat of the Mahommedans.
Whilst the Greeks thus prospered externally, there was
nothing but dissensions among themselves. “ The mem¬
bers of the executive,” says Mr Gordon, “ with the ex¬
ception of Zaimis, were no better than public robbers....
Every corner of the Morea was torn to pieces by ob¬
scure civil contests, and hardly any revenue came into the
treasury.”
The efforts of the Greeks to liberate themselves from
the Turkish yoke had from the first excited the sympa¬
thies of Western Europe ; and in 1823, when their resist¬
ance began to rise above the character of a transient re¬
bellion, these sympathies produced small succours in men
and money. In England, France, Germany, and Swit¬
zerland, subscriptions were raised, the value of which was
generally sent out in ammunition or military stores. Small
corps of volunteers, actuated by a fine enthusiasm, also
went from Western Europe, and though universally disgust¬
ed with the treatment which they received, they always
fought bravely, and often rendered very important ser-
28
Greece.
GREECE.
vice. Amongst these foreigners, who received the appro¬
priate name of Philhellenes, no one was the object of such
universal interest as Lord Byron. His lordship d.sem-
barked at Messalonghi with 8000 dollars in specie, on the
5th of January 1824, and was received with the most extra¬
vagant marks of joy. Shortly afterwards Lieutenant Parry
arrived with some small field-pieces, supplies of powder,
shot, and tools, sent by the Greek committee in London.
His lordship took into his pay a corps of 500 Suhotes,
whose insolence and rapacity rendered it soon necessary
to expel them from the town, or rather to purchase their
absence with a sum of money. The Rumeliots who
replaced them were not much better; and Byron found
himself so incessantly teased for money, so distracted by
the turbulence of the military, the intrigues and dissen¬
sions of the different parties, that his mental anxiety prey¬
ing on his frame, produced a shock of apoplexy, by which
his health was seriously injured. A fever followed some
time afterwards, and carried off this gifted man, on the
19th of April, amidst the lamentations of the Greeks, who
atoned in some degree for the vexation they had caused
him, by the sincere homage which they paid, and still pay,
to his memory. After his death the mutual jealousies of
the chiefs became more violent than ever, and the summer
passed away in a state of comparative inaction. Mavro-
cordato advanced with 2000 men to the Gulf of Arta in
August, and skirmished with the Turks, till the rains in
November forced him to retire. In the east a body of
Turks, who penetrated into Boeotia and threatened Athens,
retired without effecting any thing. Ghouras, who held
the citadel of that town for Odysseus, having quarrelled
with the latter, got him into his power, and put him to
death.
The naval campaign of 1824 was signalized by two un¬
fortunate events. The small and prosperous isle of Ka-
sos, of which Savary gives so interesting a description,
was invaded by an Egyptian force, and entirely ruined,
2000 of its inhabitants being sold into slavery. The Porte,
greatly exasperated by the active hostilities of the Psy-
riots, whose ships preyed on the Ottoman trading vessels,
and insulted the coasts of Asia Minor, sent a powerful
fleet against them under the capitan-pasha, with 14,000
troops on board. The island of Psyra is small and bar¬
ren ; its rocky coasts render disembarkation difficult; and
its inhabitants, whose numbers had been increased to fif¬
teen or twenty thousand by emigration from Scio, trust¬
ing to their courage and the natural strength of their ter¬
ritory, had taken no pains to secure themselves by arti¬
ficial works. The small Greek fleet stationed off the har¬
bour fled at the approach of the Moslemins, who, under
cover of a false attack, landed a strong force at the north
extremity of the isle, and gained possession of the hill
which rises above the town. This unexpected success
produced a panic among the timid refugees, which spread
from them to the Psyriots ; men and women threwr them¬
selves into the boats and attempted to escape, whilst the
Turks entered the town unresisted, and laid it waste with
fire and sword. In the midst of this miserable rout, a
band of 600 refugees from Mount Olympus and other
parts of Macedonia distinguished themselves by a feat of
heroism worthy of ancient Greece. Throwing themselves
into the convent of St Nicholas, where they had placed
their wives and children, they resisted the attacks of the
whole Turkish army, till two thirds of their number were
killed. All hopes of relief being at an end, they resolved
to blow up the convent. Their fire having accordingly
ceased, the Turks scaled the walls on every side, when
suddenly, says Gordon, the Hellenic flag was lowered, a
white banner inscribed with the words Liberty or Death
waved in the air, a single gun gave the signal, and a
tremendous explosion, shaking the isle, and felt far out at
sea, buried in the ruins of St Nicholas thousands of the Greece,
conquerors and the remnant of the conquered. This
happened on the 5th of July. Onl y two of the Greeks were
taken alive. The loss of life was great in Psyra; and the
island, which might have been saved by a little foresight
and exertion, was completely ruined. After the deed
was done the Greek fleet appeared, took some Turkish
vessels, and destroyed a small corps of Janizaries left on
the island. From Psyra the capitan-pasha proceeded to
Samos, but here all his movements were watched by the
Greek fleet; and his attempts to convey over an army
from the mainland were not only defeated, but he lost
three ships of war and a thousand men, and at last retired
from the shores of Samos completely baffled.
The sultan, made sensible, by the failure of three cam¬
paigns, of the inefficiency of his own fleets and armies,
delegated the task of re-conquering Greece to the Pasha
of Egypt, whose ambitious views made him listen readily
to the request of his nominal superior. In the beginning
of August, Ibrahim, the pasha’s adopted son, sailed from
Alexandria with a powerful fleet of ships of war and trans¬
ports, amounting altogether to 400 sail, with 17,000 men
on board, 2000 horses, and a strong train of artillery. He
put into the bay of Maori, the ancient Telmessus, to wra-
ter, and shortly afterwards was met by the Greek fleet of
seventy sail, carrying 700 guns. For more than three
months Ibrahim manoeuvred amongst the gulfs and isles on
the coast of Caria, endeavouring to beat oft the Greeks,
and proceed on his voyage; but though he counted six
guns and six men for every one his enemies could muster,
his mariners were so wretchedly deficient in skill, that he
was continually baffled, and at last thought himself for¬
tunate in escaping to Crete in the beginning of Decem¬
ber, with the loss of two fine frigates and four brigs of war
blown up, fifty transports taken or sunk, and 4000 soldiers
and seamen slain or drowned, exclusively of some thou¬
sands who died of disease.
The first Greek loan was negotiated in London in Fe¬
bruary 1824. The nominal amount was L.800,000, of
which all that was available, after deducting interest, com¬
mission, sinking fund, &c. was L.280,000. It served to
quicken the operations of the government, and no doubt
contributed materially to the success of the fleet, and the
defeat of Ibrahim. In the Morea fierce civil war raged,
Colocotroni, Londos, Sisini, and other robber chiefs, set¬
ting the government at defiance. Ihey were crushed,
however, by the vigorous efforts of Colletti, the secretary ;
but the Rumeliots, by whose agency he put them down,
proved a scourge to the country by their rapacity.
Ibrahim having procured reinforcements from Egypt
during the winter, set sail from Suda in hebruary 1825,
and landed with 4000 men at Modon on the 24th, a day
pregnant with sorrow to the Greeks. The success of
their naval efforts in the preceding year showed that,
with common activity, they might have prevented the dis¬
embarkation ; but no precautions were thought of, partly
from want of foresight, partly from a feeling of false secu¬
rity, which led them to think that the Egyptians would
be as feeble adversaries as the Turks. Ibrahim attempt¬
ed nothing till he had brought over additional corps, and
raised his army to 11,000, and afterwards to 15,000 men.
He then commenced the siege of Navarin, defeated 7000
palikars who tried to relieve it, breached the walls, car¬
ried some outworks after hard fighting, and gained pos¬
session of the place by capitulation on the 18th of May.
Thence he advanced into the interior, burning the villages,
which the Greeks deserted on his approach. Colocotroni
endeavoured to arrest his progress in the mountainous
defiles, but without success; Tripolizza was burned by
its inhabitants; and Argos shared the same fate at the
hands of the Egyptians. Nauplia was threatened, but
GREECE.
29
Greece.
Ibrahim had no battering artillery; and dreading the
want of provisions, he retreated towards Messenia. The
Greeks, who had assembled to the number of 7000, at¬
tacked him near Tripolizza, but were beaten so com¬
pletely that they gave up all further thoughts of resist¬
ance in the open field. In August and September the
pasha ravaged the valleys of the Alpheus and the Euro-
tas, destroying the town of Misitra and a number of villa¬
ges, and then returned to Modon. One or two gallant
feats were performed by the Greeks during this unfortu¬
nate campaign. A small body of 300 men under Papa
Flessas, surrounded by many thousand Egyptians, defend¬
ed themselves with the bayonet and the but-ends of their
muskets, till the whole perished except two, who lay hid
under the slain; and at the Mills of Lerna, Ipsilanti,
with a few hundred men, baffled the main body of the
pasha’s army.
In Northern Greece, Redschid Pasha, the most energe¬
tic of all the sultan’s officers, had been intrusted with the
conduct of the war. Leaving Yanina, he arrived in May
before Messolonghi, which contained about 5000 of the
bravest Greek soldiers, and opened trenches. The works
were carried on with vigour, in the face of a most deter¬
mined resistance. Elevated mounds were raised to com¬
mand the batteries of the besieged, and mines were sunk ;
the Franklin bastion, the most exposed part of the defences,
was laid open by breaching, and repeated attempts were
made by the Turks to take it by assault, in one of which
they at length succeeded ; but the Greeks, no way daunt¬
ed, sprung a small mine, and rushing upon their enemies
sword in hand, dispossessed them, and following the
Turks into their lines, destroyed some of their batteries.
Fresh efforts were made by the pasha, and still frustrated
by the courage of the Greeks, till the winter rains in Oc¬
tober compelled Redschid to suspend his operations, and
coop himself up within a fortified camp near the town.
Ibrahim, who had received a great accession of force in
November, now determined to try a v/inter campaign, and
gratify the Porte by conquering Messolonghi. March¬
ing northward, he burned the villages of Elis, and cross¬
ing the Straits of Lepanto, encamped before Messolonghi
in January 1826. He began by offering terms to thebe-
sieged, which were proudly rejected. His batteries were
more skilfully constructed than those of the Turks, and
his artillery better served ; but after he had ruined part
of the town’s defences, his attempts to storm were con¬
stantly defeated by the Greeks, who, in fighting hand to
hand, with sword or bayonet, were vastly superior both to
the Turks and Egyptians. The siege would indeed have
ended in total failure, if he had not succeeded, at a great
expense of life, in reducing various outworks commanding
the channels of the lagoon by which the besieged commu¬
nicated with the sea, and received supplies of provisions.
Starvation now accomplished what arms could notachieve.
After every thing edible, whether wholesome or unwhole¬
some, was consumed, the remainder of the gallant garrison
adopted the resolution of cutting their way through the
enemy’s lines. A deserter betrayed their plan to the
pasha, who was fully prepared to receive them. Formed
into two bodies, they issued from the town by moon-light on
the 22d of April; a false alarm induced the one to return :
the other, raising a simultaneous shout, “ On, on, death
to the barbarians,” rushed forward with their muskets in
their hands, and their sabres slung to their wrists. “ Nei¬
ther ditch nor breastwork,” says Gordon, “ neither the
flashing peals of cannon and small arms, nor the bayonets
of the Arabs, could arrest the tremendous shock; in a
tew minutes the trenches were cleared, the infantry bro¬
ken, the batteries silenced, and the artillerymen slaugh¬
tered at their guns.” Of the other body which returned
to the town, some escaped in boats, some by wading through
the lagoon, some voluntarily blew themselves up with a Greece,
number of the enemy, when the latter entered the powder 'w
magazine, and not a few of the survivors died of fatigue
and exhaustion before they reached Salona. The heavy
loss of the Turks and Egyptians during the siege attested
the superior valour of their enemies; and the heroic de¬
fence of Messolonghi may well vie with the proudest
achievements of ancient Greece.
In Eastern Greece, Colonel Fabvier, a brave and zealous
French officer, formed a corps of regulars or tacticos, and
carrying them over to Euboea, made an attempt on Ca-
rysto, which failed. No drilling, in fact, could induce
the palikars, or Greek irregulars, who had been accus¬
tomed to rely entirely upon their strength, agility, and
adroitness, to meet a steady fire when drawn up in line.
Another national assembly was held at Piada in Argolis,
but it effected nothing. After the fall of Messolonghi,
Redschid Pasha invaded Attica, and took Athens, but fail¬
ed in his attempts upon the citadel, into which, when its
garrison was greatly reduced, Colonel Fabvier introduced
600 men, with a supply of powder. The glorious fall of
Messolonghi had awakened an enthusiasm in Western Eu¬
rope in favour of the Greek cause, and contributions to
the amount of not less than L.70,000 were raised in
1826. The royal families of Bavaria, Prussia, and Swe¬
den, and the king of France, were amongst the contribu¬
tors.
In May 1827 Ibrahim invaded the country of the Mai-
nots, but was defeated in all his attempts to penetrate
their mountain fastnesses. The rest of the summer was
spent in ravaging the open country, and burning the vil¬
lages, the inhabitants of which took refuge in woods and
caverns. To his great mortification, none of the people
made their submission, and parties of irregulars watched
his movements, cutting off stragglers, and intercepting
convoys. Lord Cochrane arrived in Greece in March
1827 with a steam-frigate. A very splendid frigate, built
in America, also reached ALgina this year, but proved of
no great use, the Hydriot mariners being unaccustomed
to manage vessels of such a size. These two frigates were
nearly all that the Greeks derived from a second loan of
L.2,000,000 negotiated in London in February 1825.
General Church, an Englishman who had served in a
Greek corps formerly kept in English pay in the Ionian
Isles, arrived by invitation about the same time. They
found the Greeks rent into factions furiously hostile to
each other. It is a memorable fact, that whilst Ibrahim
was wasting the Morea, there were no less than seven
petty civil contests raging in different parts of Greece I
By the influence of Church, Cochrane, and Captain Ha¬
milton of the Cambrian, a temporary reconciliation was
effected between the adverse parties, and the necessity
of having a foreign chief being generally acknowledged,
a congress assembled at Trcezene in April, and elected
Count Capo d’lstrias president for seven years. Church
was appointed general of the land forces, and Coch¬
rane admiral of the fleet. The fortunes of Greece were
now at a very low ebb ; but what power remained in the
country was summoned up in an expiring effort. From the
Morea, the isles, and Western Greece, a force of nearly
10,000 men was collected at Salamis and the Piraeus. Af¬
ter carrying on a war of posts, chiefly at Port Phalerus, for
some time, General Church was persuaded to risk a battle
with the Turks in the plain of Athens, the object being to
relieve the citadel. The result was a disastrous defeat on
the 5th May, in which the Greeks lost 1500 men. The
remaining troops dispersed, and the citadel capitulated.
The only fortified posts now in the hands of the insurgents
were Nauplia and the Acrocorinthus.
Relief was, however, approaching from another quar¬
ter. From circumstances which it would be tedious
30
GREECE.
Greece, to explain here, the policy of the great Christian poweis
had undergone a change. A protocol had been signed at
Petersburg in April 1826, by the Russian and British
ministers, the object of which was to effect an accommo¬
dation between the Porte and the insurgents, by erecting
Greece into a dependency of the Porte, paying a fixed tri¬
bute, but having the entire regulation of its own affairs.
On the 6th July 1827 a treaty of intervention was signed
between France, Russia, and Britain, on the same basis.
The sultan firmly denied their right of interference, for
which, however, the piracy practised by the Greeks gave
them a good pretext. A naval force was sent into the
Mediterranean to inforce the provisions of the treaty, and
the belligerent parties in Greece were enjoined to sus¬
pend hostilities. The Greeks joyfully agreed ; but Ibra¬
him hesitated, as the measure was not sanctioned by the
sultan ; and the capitan pasha, who was lying in the har¬
bour of Navarin with a strong Turkish fleet, having similar
scruples, the warlike movements were partially continued.
The combined fleets of England, France, and Russia, stood
into the Bay of Navarin in order of battle on the 20th Octo¬
ber. Though the intention of the admirals was to treat,
the Turks believed they came to fight, and were anchored
in smooth water to receive them, and supported by batte¬
ries on shore. Who began the battle is uncertain; but it
was obstinate and bloody, and most destructive to the van¬
quished party. About 6000 Turks were slain, and of 120
men of war and transports, all were sunk or destroyed ex¬
cept twenty or thirty brigs and corvettes. The killed and
wounded on the side of the allies amounted to 626. The
victory produced unbounded joy among the Greeks, and
excited them to make a new attempt upon Scio, by an ex¬
pedition under Colonel Fabvier, which, though conducted
with great courage and skill, ultimately failed. Ibrahim, see¬
ing his communications with Egypt now cut off, obtained
his father’s authority, and agreed to evacuate the Morea.
He sailed in the beginning of October 1828, leaving, ac¬
cording to stipulation, about 8000 troops in Patras, Modon,
Coron, Navarin, and Castle Tornese, of whom 1200 were
Egyptians. To avoid renewed hostilities between the
Greeks and Turks, a French army was sent to the Morea
in the autumn, and took possession of these five fortresses,
the last being the only one that offered any resistance.
Count Capo dTstrias passed from Petersburg to London
and Paris in the end of 1827, and after conferring with the
British and French ministers, he set sail from Toulon, and
landed at Nauplia on the 18th of January 1828. The peo¬
ple received him with great joy, hoping to find repose and
security under his government; and his authority was ac¬
knowledged at once by the military chiefs and other func¬
tionaries of all descriptions. He was a clever and dexte¬
rous diplomatist, but his conduct as president seems not
to have been judicious. Anxious to copy the centralising
system which prevails in absolute monarchies, he dissolved
the municipalities, and nominated prefects, judges, and
other officers, deriving their authority entirely from him¬
self. Many of his appointments also gave offence : among
others, the nomination of his brother Augustin, a person of
no ability, to the command of Western Greece, led to the
resignation of General Church in 1829, after that officer
had recovered all the country south of the Gulf of Arta
from the Turks. The French troops, it is to be observed,
confined themselves to the Morea, such being their instruc¬
tions, and left the Greeks to carry on hostilities in the
north with their own means.
The Porte obstinately rejected the arrangement proposed
by the three powers in 1827, till it was humbled by numerous
defeats in 1828 and 1829, and saw the Russian army with¬
in a few leagues of its capital. The stipulations in behalf
of Greece made by Nicholas were, however, set aside by
the governments of France and Britain, and it was settled
that the affairs c*f that country should be discussed in Lon¬
don. The conference held there, after much deliberation
finally resolved that Greece should be erected into a mo¬
narchy entirely independent of the sultan, and ruled by a
Christian prince. The crown was offered, in the end of
1829, to Prince John of Saxony, who refused it; and then
to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Cobourg, who agreed to accept
it; but having corresponded with Capo dTstrias, the latter
artfully infused so many doubts and apprehensions into the
prince’s mind, that he resiled from his engagement. This
was in May 1830. Other princes, it is said, were propos¬
ed, but nothing was decided; and in the mean time Greece
was again falling into a state of anarchy. The popularity
of Capo dTstrias’ government was of short duration. Visibly
the partisan of Russia, he showed a devotion to her inte¬
rests which offended all the more independent Greeks. He
extinguished the freedom of the press, which the people
were perhaps more eager to possess than fitted to enjoy ;
established a council, called the Panhellenion, which was
intended to supersede the elective senate ; refused to pub¬
lish any account of the national finances, and threw many
popular leaders into prison. These and other measures
produced violent discontents, which at last broke out into
open rebellion. The Mainots, whose prince he had placed
in durance, were the first to throw off his authority. I hey
were followed bv the people of Hydra, who established a
provisional government, at the head of which were Miaulis
and Condouriotti, assisted by Mavrocordato. The French
and English ships of war in the Archipelago stood neutral;
but the Russian admiral, Ricord, eagerly took a part in the
contest, on the side of the president. With this aid he at¬
tacked Poros, where the Greek fleet lay ; but the islanders
had anticipated his design, and, when the loss of their
ships of war became inevitable, blew them up to prevent
them falling into his hands. Whilst this contest was go¬
ing on, the son and brother of Mavromichaeli, the captive
bey of Maina, instigated by a feeling of revenge, came to
Nauplia and assassinated the president at the door of a
church, on the 9th of October 1831. One of the assassins
was murdered on the spot by the people, and the other was
seized, tried, and executed. A new commission of govern¬
ment was then appointed, consisting of Augustin Capo dTs¬
trias, with Coletti and Colocotroni, who thought it prudent
to convoke a national assembly. Loud complaints wei e made
that the free choice of the people was defeated by force and
fraud ; and when the assembly met in Decembei, it speeddy
separated into two hostile bodies, one of which remained at
Argos, while the other seated itself at Megara, and thence
fulminated decrees against Augustin and his associates.
The Moreots generally adhered to the former, the Rume-
liots to the latter. Civil war now raged furiously in the
country, and the peaceful cultivators were driven, as in the
time of the revolutionary struggle, to desert their homes,
and seek refuge in the woods and caverns. This lament¬
able state of things probably quickened the languid pro¬
ceedings of the conference in London, who in May 1832
fixed upon Otho, second son of the king of Bavaria, as the
sovereign of Greece. The prince was born in 181o, and
was of course a minor; but the defect was supplied as far
as possible by a council of regency. The three powers,
parties to the conference, obtained an extension of territo¬
ry and a better frontier for the new state, including the
province of Acarnania, for which, however, a price was to
be paid to the sultan ; and, in order to put Otho in a con¬
dition to meet initiatory difficulties, they guaranteed a loan
of L.2,400,000 for him, to be paid in three equal annual
instalments. Otho landed at Nauplia on the 31st Ja¬
nuary 1833, attended by 3600 Bavarian soldiers, and was
warmly welcomed by the people. The French troops had
been gradually reduced, and were now entirely withdrawn.
The regency commenced the work of organizing the go-
Greece.
♦
G JR E
Greece, vernment, made a new division of the country, disbanded
the palikars, formed a small body of Greek regulars, and
took some steps towards the establishment of tribunals. As
might have been expected, its endeavours to introduce or¬
der soon awakened the factious spirit of the klephts or mi¬
litary chiefs, some of whom, including the arch-anarchist
Colocotroni, were tried for plotting the overthrow of the
government, convicted, and sentenced to imprisonment or
exile.
(The preceding narrative, as far as the end of 1827, is
abridged from Mr Gordon’s History of the Greek Revolu¬
tion, Edinburgh, 1832; an able, impartial, and instructive
work.)
In the whole course of the war, the Greeks never had any
regular army; for the attempts to form a corps of disciplined
troops, and keep them in pay, always failed. Their soldiers,
with the exception of some small bands of Armatoles, con¬
sisted of peasants who took up arms for a few months, when
the enemy made an irruption, and fought till he was ex¬
pelled, or driven into the fortresses. They made war as
irregulars, seldom encountering the Turks in the field, but
posting themselves in defiles, and on mountains, taking
advantage of rocks, inequalities of the ground, villages, or
ruined buildings ; and where these were wanting, covering
themselves by small temporary parapets of earth or stones,
called Tambourias. The Rumeliots were excellent marks¬
men, and admirable at defending a post. A hundred of
them planted in a ruined monastery seldom failed to beat
off one or two thousand Turks. Their defeats were chiefly
owing to three circumstances: first, their entire want of
cavalry—for as infantry they were superior to their enemies;
secondly, their deficiency in artillery, both for service in
the field, and for battering fortified posts; thirdly, their in¬
corrigible neglect of order and discipline, in consequence of
which they were often surprised and routed by a contempti¬
bly inferior force. As obstacles to their success, we must
also mention their mutual animosities, the rapacity and
selfishness of their chiefs, and their habit of neglecting all
advantages for the acquisition of spoil. Their fleet was
better managed than their army, but its operations failed
on many occasions, from the mutinous spirit of the sailors,
and the habit, which they could scarcely ever be persuaded
to abandon, of returning to port to see their families at the
the end of every month, however pressing might be the
occasion for their services. With all their faults and errors,
it is impossible to read the history of the revolution without
feeling respect for their courage, and for the unconquerable
spirit which bore them up under the most dreadful priva¬
tions and reverses.
In June 1835 King Otho assumed the reins of govern¬
ment, in which he was assisted by a council of state,
nominated by himself. The whole territory was divided
into communes of three classes: the first, those containing
a population of 10,000 and upwards; the second, those
from 2000 to 10,000 ; the third, of less than 2000. The
communes of the first class were governed by a demarchos
or mayor, 46 paredroi or aldermen, and a municipal council
of 18; the smaller communes, by a demarchos, with pro-
portionably fewer aldermen, and a less numerous council.
Ihe election of the municipal officers was vested in the
male inhabitants above 25 years of age, and every com¬
mune was responsible for the acts of violence and robbery
committed within its jurisdiction.
So necessary was repose to all classes of the people after
the ravages of a long wrar, that the first years of Otho’s
reign passed in comparative tranquillity, although the sullen
murmur of discontent was frequently heard, especially with
reference to the state appointments, which were filled by
the king’s German friends, to the exclusion of the native
Greeks. Otho refused to establish a representative system
of government till September 1843, when the people rose
E C E.
and accomplished a revolution which has hardly any parallel Greece,
for the skill and success with which it was executed. There ^ v
was neither bloodshed nor violence, nor was the personal
safety of the king in anywise endangered. But the plans
being matured, and the army gained over, the ministers
were arrested, and the people, assembling in front of the
palace in the middle of the night, demanded a constitution.
The king appeared at a low window, and they presented to
him a charter including a representative government and
other popular objects, and enforcing the dismissal of the
Bavarian and other foreign officers. The king was required
either to sign this charter or to quit the shores of Greece at
once and for ever, in a vessel which had been equipped,
and was lying ready for his embarkation. At first he pro¬
mised to consider the demand and consult his ministers;
but he was informed that the ministers were no longer re¬
cognised, and that an immediate decision was necessary.
The king now acceded with as good a grace as he could;
the obnoxious ministers wei'e released, and the new ministry,
selected by the constitutionalists, repaired to the palace,
where they afterwards appeared with his Majesty on the
balcony, while the people cried “Long live the constitu¬
tional King;” and the affair terminated apparently to the
satisfaction of all parties. It is said, however, that before
long the constitution had become a veritable farce, the
deputies being in every case direct nominees of the king,
and military force being employed, when necessary, to carry
the candidate of the government. Not only the chambers,
but the whole civil and military administration, had become
little else than a refined system of corruption. The judges
likewise, the professors of the university, and the masters
of the gymnasia and inferior schools, fell under the unli¬
mited control of the government, being all removable at
pleasure.
The only subsequent events of general interest have been
the interventions of foreign powers, rendered necessary by
the duplicity of the government. The first of these was in
1850, when a British fleet blockaded the Greek ports for
three months before the government would consent to com¬
pensate certain British subjects for injuries which had been
inflicted on them. The other interference occurred at the
commencement of the war between Turkey and Russia in
1854. In order to understand this movement, it is neces¬
sary to remember that two passions are predominant in the
Greek mind—implacable hatred against the Turks, and an
ardent desire to extend the kingdom of Greece. These
feelings, which animate every Hellenic breast, received a
further impulse from the consent of the king. On this sub¬
ject foreign political opinions were divided as to whether
the revolution was of Russian instigation. That the mass
of the people believed in Russian assistance, and also that,
through her influence, they would acquire an extension of
their territory, there is no doubt; but we believe that the
higher classes in Greece would not have advised such a re¬
volution had they been at all aware that the Western
Powers would have taken arms against Russia. They can¬
not be accused for their miscalculations, because higher -I
authorities in Europe could not believe in the war at that
early period. Besides, they knew well enough that Russia
urged them to rise several times in the last century against
the Turks, and, after she had accomplished her designs,
left them to the revengeful sword of their masters. They
had, therefore, little confidence in her. But the time chosen
was so propitious, that an impartial judge would have ac¬
cused them of being apathetic if they had not arisen. There
appeared also an adverse feeling towards the allies, be¬
cause we were in the peculiar position as defenders of
their implacable enemies; but they forgot that, in defend¬
ing Turkey, we served their interests by keeping their in¬
heritance intact, out of the reach of the powerful hand of
Russia.
32
GREECE.
Greece. We are of opinion, therefore, that the Greek nation has
no sympathy with Russia more than with any other people
who would make war against Turkey ; and we believe, that
if to-day we were to proclaim war against 1 urkey, there
would be little necessity for sending our soldiers there, inas¬
much as it would be sufficient to raise the standard of liberty
for the Greek race, and we should have round us in a few
weeks 100,000 well-armed Greeks, needing little more than
ammunition.
The accusation, therefore, heaped upon the Greek nation,
as being partizans of Russia, is unfair. Neither do we be¬
lieve that either the king or queen of Greece stimulated
the revolution to serve Russian interests. We cannot see
what inducement they could have to endanger the throne
they possess. Their ambition to extend their power was,
we believe, the only reason; and how far that was their
policy, and harmonized with the wishes of their subjects, is
evidenced by the strong attachment towards them. The
revolution, however, after the interference of the allies in
favour of Turkey, was incompatible with their proclamation ;
and seeing that neither the revolutionists nor the king took
heed of their advice, they were obliged to land some French
and English troops at Piraeus, and to send a few British
ships into the vEgean.
The king was obliged to comply with their demands, dis¬
missed his ministers, recalled his officers, issued proclama¬
tions to all Greeks that took up arms to return to their
homes, and consented, on his own part, to submit the con¬
duct of his government to the surveillance of the allies for a
time. The ministers imposed upon him have been lately
dismissed, and a new ministry formed, who conduct the
affairs of the kingdom in a satisfactory manner. Severe mea¬
sures have been taken against the scourge of the country—
brigandage; and it is hoped that this time at least we shall
see an end to their depredations.
It was only in 1816 that the first Greek house—E. Ralli
and Co.—was established in London. In 1818 four more
were established; and there are now 61 firms in London,
65 in Manchester, 30 in Liverpool, besides a few in Glas¬
gow, and other parts of the United Kingdom. The statis¬
tics would be interesting if we could give an account of all
the trade this small body of merchants is doing with this
country and all other markets, but it is exceedingly difficult
to get them. We only know that the exports of manufac¬
tured goods to Turkey in 1830 was L.1,028,447, whereas
now it is above L.4,000,000, the increase of which is al¬
most solely due to Greek enterprise.
The following statistics show that the progress which the
Greek nation has made is highly creditable.
1,
Statistics of Greece.
Cultivated Land in 1854.
Stremata.
For Cereal 3,649,870
... Olive trees  600,000
... Vines 1,000,000
Stremata.
For Mulberry trees.. 240,000
... Fig trees  150,000
5,659,870
Cattle.
Sheep and goats 5,600,000
Oxen  160,000
Buffaloes....  2,000
Horses    90,000
Mules  30,000
Asses  7,000
5,889,000
Produce.
Wheat 2,669,000
Barley 1,223,600
Indian corn  2,830,000
Maize  281,900
Oats and other kinds
of cereal 1,258,000
8,262,500
Ole os.
Oil  1,600,000
Wine 16,200,000
Silk   70,000
Currants 60,000,000
Valonia  14,000
Wool  1,500,000
79,384,000
Persons Employed in Agriculture.
Proprietors  52,590 Other labourers and
Field labourers 111,330 servants  35,089
Shepherds  37,669
Greece.
2. Statistics of Silk.
Average price
Okes. Drs. per oke.
1851  48,282 991,947 = 20-54 drs.
1852  60,771 1,999,970 = 32-91 ...
1853  56,770 1,774,063 = 31-25 ...
1854   — 1,353,018
1855  70,000 —
This proves not only an increase of production, but also
an improvement in the quality ; for, though the quantity has
nearly doubled since 1851, instead of reducing the price,
Greek silks are fifty per cent, dearer.
3. Commercial Navy of Greece.
Vessels. Tons.
1821  440 61,449
1834
1835,
1838
1839
1840
1843
Vessels. Tons.
1844  3414 146,703
1845  3584 161,103
1848 3983 255,233
1850  4016 266,201
1851  4327 257,093
1852  4230 247,661
1853  4143 247,991
,2891
3370
,3269 88,502
,3345 89,642
,3384 110,690
.3469 137,558
We have no accounts of 1854; but there is no doubt
it will show an increase on 1853, in consequence of the per¬
mission of the Czar for the Greek flag to enter the Danube.
4. Population.
1821   675,646
1832   712,008
1843   863,003
1852  1,002,118
1853  1,041,527
1854  1,142,227
5. Imports and Exports of Greece.
Imports.
1851   —
1852  24,982,151 drs.
1853  20,209,960 ...
1854  21,270,182 ...
Exports.
1851  13,995,195 drs.
1852  10,402,212 ...
1853   8,988,890 ...
1854   6,799,211 ...
The minister of finance states that the great decrease in
exports for the last three years is owing principally to the fail¬
ure in the currant crops, the result of the disease in the vine.
Of the 13,995,195 drs. exported in 1851, 8,359,196 drs.
were of Corinthian currants alone. In 1852 the exports of
currants were 2,844,058 drs. only, or nearly six millions less
than 1851; in 1853 there is no account of the currants
exported inserted; and in 1854 only the small amount of
9046 drs. are included in the amount of 6,799,211 drs.
Countries trading with Greece.
Importation. Exportation.
England 4,029,641 drs. 908,279 drs.
America  73,850 ... —
Austria and Germany...4,448,266 ... 1,918,650 ...
Egypt and Candia  966,897 ... 99,946 ...
France 1,640,567 ... 1,052,516 ...
Ionian Islands 1,146,176 ... 774,863 ...
Russia  34,163 ... —
Turkey 7,240,149 ... 1,443,581 ...
Other countries 1,552,393 ... 160,882 ...
Total, 1854 21,270,185 6,799,211
Judicial Statistics (1852).
Cases before the judges of the peace, 22,602, of which
4753 were amicably adjusted by the judges, it being their
duty to conciliate the adversaries before bringing their dis¬
pute into court; and 1035 were carried to a superior court.
The civil tribunals in the same year had 17,268 cases
brought before them; but 2108 were left for decision in
the following year. The court of the last resort, or Areo¬
pagus, had, in 1852, 702 cases; at the end of the year 55
were left undecided, 187 were abandoned by the parties,
and 519 were decided.
/
GREEK
Greek GREEK CHURCH, The. Western Christendom has
Church, for many centuries been so much engrossed with its own
—concerns that it has paid little attention to the Greek Church,
and knows little about the distinctive character or position of
that large section of professing Christians. But recent
events have rendered it necessary to give a somewhat more
minute account of the origin, progress, and present position
of the Greek Church than formerly.
Those who have paid attention to the effect upon hu¬
man opinion of diversities in race and language, will be pre¬
pared to expect a considerable difference to appear in cer¬
tain points between the churches of the Eastern and Western
divisions of Christendom. In the Eastern division the chief
seats of influence, from the earliest period, were Jerusalem,
Antioch, and Alexandria. In the Western division Rome
naturally obtained pre-eminence, as being the seat of im¬
perial power, though noton account of any special right as a
church. The peculiar claims of Alexandria arose out of the
reputation which that city had obtained as a seat of learn¬
ing and philosophy. Nearly all the doctrinal controversies
which agitated the church for the first three centuries,
were more or less directly connected with Alexandria;
but while thus African as to their locality, they were Ori¬
ental in their real source and character. The tendency
of the Oriental mind was very evidently displayed in its
proneness to speculative inquiries into the spiritual myste¬
ries and metaphysical regions of thought, and the dim
theosophic mysticisms, which seemed to be connected with
the great and primary truths of Christianity. On the other
hand, the tendency of the Western mind to the steady pur¬
suit of power, manifested the result of that training which
the stern Roman republic and domineering Roman empire
had given to Europe. It was not as having been the bishop¬
ric of the Apostle Peter, either in fact or in pretence, that
Rome at first sought and began to acquire pre-eminence ;
but it was as the abode of secular dominion, the imperial city,
in whose inhabitants ambition and love of power had become
both a universal passion and an imagined right. The Eastern
mind delighted in intellectual subtleties, and strove to gain
the high position of supremacy in the regions of thought.
The Western mind was characterized by a stern, invincible
will, and sought the tangible dominion of absolute power and
personal supremacy. These leading and characteristic dis¬
tinctions may assist us in tracing the subject of investigation.
It was not till after Constantine the Great had resolved
to raise Byzantium into the rank of an imperial city, to give
it his own name, to divide the empire into two, and to make
Constantinople the seat of the Eastern empire, that the
characteristic distinctions already stated began to manifest
their antagonistic tendencies. The Bishop of Constanti¬
nople became then the metropolitan in a second seat of
empire, and ere long greatly absorbed the influence of the
elder metropolitans of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria.
The title of metropolitan was raised to that of patriarch in all
these apostolic seats, as they were beginning to be termed, but
still the seat of Eastern empire gave pre-eminence to the Pa¬
triarch of Constantinople above the other Eastern patriarchs.
At length the great barbarian invasion of Huns, Goths,
and Vandals overthrew imperial Rome, and reduced it to
a simple monarchy. This event gave opportunity to the
Bishop of Rome to assume and exercise a large measure of
civil influence and power. In him seemed to be vested the
heritage of imperial Rome’s fallen greatness ; and on that
very account the Western nations readily acceded to the
Pope of Rome the pre-eminence which had been wielded by
the previous emperors. The very name of Rome was still a
word of power, a spell wherewith to evoke the demon of
ambition, and the Pope was the mighty magician to whom
alone that word of power belonged. The popes, as already
remarked, seemed naturally to imbibe the spirit of ambition
and love of power by which the haughty city had been so
VOL. XI.
CHURCH. 3*
long possessed. They were, therefore, very ready to avail Greek
themselves of the opportunity thus presented; and as the Church-
empire passed away, the popedom arose, grew, and sue-
ceeded to all the proud pretensions of the imperial Caesars.
In the meantime the Eastern seat of power, Constanti¬
nople, seemed to be, at least in secular affairs, the proper
successor of imperial Rome; but in consequence of its po¬
sition, it looked more like the successor of the empire
founded by Alexander the Great. It began, therefore, to
receive designations indicative of that position, and to be
called the second, or the Lower Greek Empire. At a sub¬
sequent period, when the Eastern Church and the Western
became separate, and hostile or rival bodies, the designation
Greek Church, was given to the Eastern division, from that
of Lower Greek Empire, which had become distinctive.
The ambitious tendencies of the Bishops of Rome were
very early manifested. The first instance of that arrogance
which produced a general disturbance in the church, and
introduced the element of strife, causing a permanent dif¬
ference, was that respecting the celebration of Easter. The
Oriental churches followed the reckoning of the Jews as to
the time of the Passover. The Western or Latin Church
adopted a different computation. In the year 196, Victor,
Bishop of Rome, addressed a letter to the Asiatics, ex¬
pressly commanding them to conform to the practice of
Rome. They convoked a synod, deliberated on the ques¬
tion, and refused to comply. Victor issued an edict of ex-
communication against the Oriental churches, which they
indignantly repelled. The assumption of supremacy thus dis¬
played by Rome was not admitted by the rest of the Chris¬
tian Church; but neither was it withdrawn by Rome. Roman
ambition appeared in the attempt repeatedly made by suc¬
cessive Popes to claim the right of ultimate jurisdiction, by
having it conceded that in difficult or disputed cases there
should be an appeal to Rome. This claim was, of course,
favoured by parties who thought themselves injured, or who,
in their desire to gain some peculiar point, sought the sup¬
port of Rome—a support which she was willing to grant to
any case, provided she could thereby obtain confirmation to
her claim of appellate jurisdiction.
Early in the fifth century, the metropolitan jurisdiction of
Constantinople was considerably extended, and the jealousy
of Rome thereby excited. This was greatly increased when,
in 451, the council of Chalcedon conferred on the Bishop
of Constantinople the same honours and privileges which
were already possessed by the Bishop of Rome, notwith¬
standing the strenuous opposition of Leo the Great, who
was at that time Pope. Leo perceived very clearly the ad¬
vantage which the rival pontiff enjoyed from the residence
of the emperor; and to counteract that influence he ap¬
pointed a resident legate in Constantinople to watch over
the Papal interests, and to maintain a constant correspon¬
dence with the Vatican. The contest continued for nearly
a century and a half, keeping the whole church in a state
of incessant intrigue and agitation—the advantage on the
whole inclining to Rome, chiefly in consequence of the
ready countenance and support which the Popes gave to
the discontented and turbulent who sought her aid, and
thereby strove to strengthen the claim to appellate jurisdic¬
tion, in which supremacy was necessarily involved. In the
year 588, in a synod held at Constantinople, John the
Faster, Patriarch of Constantinople, adopted the title of
universal bishop, a title which was vehemently con¬
demned by Pope Gregory, although it does not seem to
have been intended to confer any authority by that title
at first, but to be merely an empty honour. In the pos¬
session of a Patriarch of Constantinople it could not in¬
deed, confer power; because the emperor himself always
contrived to retain all power, even ecclesiastical, in his own
hands. The result was very different when the same title
was conferred on the next Pope, Boniface III., by the em-
E
34
GREEK CHURCH.
Greek
Church.
peror Phocas in 606, which no subsequent emperor could
fecal, nor In any great degree control, » —»ce of
the independent position and residence ot the uope&.
The contest for supremacy which had so long been
waged between the Eastern and Western Churches be¬
came at length a schism, in consequence of the introduc¬
tion of a doctrinal element into the dispute. 1 he most
important doctrinal controversies which agitated the eai y
church were those relating to the doctrine of the Trimty.
The Arian heresy was a denial of the divinity of C ms .
This was condemned in the council of Nice in 325. T e
divinity of the Holy Spirit was also disputed but was af¬
firmed in the council of Constantinople in 381, when also
the Nicene Creed was revived and enlarged, so as to con¬
tain a clear statement and definition of the faith of the
church. In that creed, so revived and authenticated, tne
definition of the Holy Spirit contained the words “ pro¬
ceeding from the Father.” But at the council of Poledo,
held in 447, the following words were added, and the k.on
(Filioque) so that the definition became, “ proceeding from
the Father and the Son,” This clause did not attract much
attention for some time ; but when it did, it was immediately
opposed by the Greek Church. It was, however, favourably
received bv the Western Church ; was affirmed by a council
held at Gentilli, near Paris, in 767 ; and was re-affirmed
at the council of Aix-la-Chapelle in 809, where 1 ope Leo
III. admitted the truth of the doctrine, but objected to
making it an article of faith. Rome, however, soon adopted
the expression ; and in order to defend it by authority,
falsified the canons of the council of Constantinople by
interpolating the very clause in dispute. This was ol
course easily detected, and added greatly to the bitterness
of the controversy. But Rome adhered to the favourite
maxim of Papal policy, never to retract any statement or
assumption however false ; because answers and refutations
may be forgotten, but the incessant repetition of the false
statement will finally lodge it in men’s minds, by the meie
force of iteration and re-iteration.
Some time after the rise of this controversy, a peison ot
the name of Photius, a layman of great learning and ability,^
was made Patriarch of Constantinople by the Emperor
Michael, who deposed Ignatius to make room for Photius.
The deposed Patriarch appealed to Rome. Pope Nicholas
assembled a council at Rome in 862, pronounced the ele¬
vation of Photius illegal, and excommunicated him and all
his supporters. Photius retaliated, held a council at Con¬
stantinople, and pronounced deposition and excommunica¬
tion on the Pope. From that time the contention between
the Roman and the Greek Churches may be fairly said to have
assumed the character of a schism; and, indeed, it is called
by Romanist authors the Photian schism. But there was
another event at a later period from which the actual schism
is more commonly dated. About the middle of the eleventh
century, when the power of Home had been established
overall the Western Churches, ambition urged on the proud
claim of the Pope to universal supremacy ; and Leo IX.
attempted to induce the Patriarchs of Alexandria and An¬
tioch to submit to his sway. This drew forth the indignant
opposition and remonstrances of Michael Cerularius, Patn-
arch of Constantinople ; and after some angry coirespon-
dence with Rome, the Pope pronounced on him the sentence
of excommunication. This was not at once final. Ihe
Papal legates were invited to Constantinople, with a view
to heal the schism ; but their insolence provoked severe re¬
torts. The breach widened; and, at length, in the church
of St Sophia, they publicly excommunicated the Patriarch
and all his adherents, deposited their written sentence on the
great altar, shook off the dust from their feet, and departed.
This event took place on the 16th of June 1054 : and the
schism between Rome and Greece was completed.
From that time forward the Greek and Roman Churches
have continued in a state of separation from each other, and
generally in a state of considerable hostility. One attempt
to obtain a reconciliation between them was made at the
council of Florence in the year 1438. At that time t e
Greek Patriarch and his friends seemed disposed to concede
almost everything in dispute for the sake of a re-union
with Rome. Constantinople was then violently assailed
by the Turks ; and as the Greek empire was not able to
resist the formidable enemy, the idea was entertained o
attempting to organize a new crusade for its relief. But
great as was the political danger, greater still was the
ecclesiastical rivalry ; and although the parties who attended
the council at Florence would have yielded everything foi
the sake of a crusade, the Greek Church as a bouy was
not disposed to ratify such extensive concessions, and the
attempt proved abortive. The Greek Church would not
admit the insertion of the Filioque clause, nor the supre¬
macy of Rome, and nothing less could satisfy Home, At a
later period, when the Reformation had shaken the power of
Rome in Europe, she was inclined to adopt a more concilia¬
tory course with the Greek Church, and seemed rea y
desirous of reunion. But it may easily be perceived that
no such union is practicable, unless the Greek Chmci
submit to the supremacy of the Pope, which is not only a
necessary principle, but the necessary principle with 1 ome.
And, as the Filioque clause is inserted in the creed of
Rome, it also must be admitted by the Greek Chinch,
and with it every other Papal innovation. 1ms would
not be union, but absorption—the extinction of the (aieek
Church, and the extension of Papal Rome.
But there is another element of a very formidable cha¬
racter which has greatly increased the impracticability of
such a union or absorption. Christianity was introduced
into Russia from Constantinople about the year 866. ihe
Church of Russia thus received its creed and ritual from
the Greek Church before the schism between the Greek
and Latin Churches had been consummated, yet so near
the period of that schism as to receive with its creed a
dislike to Rome. During several centuries the Russian
Church was governed by a metropolitan bishop, whose seat
was successively at Kieff, Vladimir, and Moscow. t
length, in 1589, the Patriarch Jeremiah of Constantinople,
on whose patriarchate the Russian Church had been de¬
dependent, went to Moscow, and consecrated the metropo¬
litan bishop, Job, to the rank of Patriarch of all Russia.
From that period the Church of Russia ceased to be de¬
pendent on the Greek Patriarch, though it continued to be
identical in doctrine and ritual with the Greek Church,
This wras in many respects a very important event. Ihe
Lower Greek Empire had been overthrown when Con¬
stantinople was taken by the Turks in 14o3. From that
time forward, although the Patriarch of Constantinople was
allowed by the Sultan to reside in that city as the official
head of the Greek Church, yet his power and influence
had undergone a sad decline. It was no longer possible
that he could exercise much authority in the East, or
maintain Christianity against the sway of the haughty
Moslem. In the meanwhile Russia, relieved from the
Mongolian domination, had begun to emerge out of bar¬
barism, and to assume the position of an independent and
growing power in the northern regions of both Asia and
Europe. All the other Oriental patriarchates had also fallen
under the Mohammedan power. Alexandria, Jerusalem,
and Antioch were little more than names, once venerated,
but now sinking into oblivion. If, then, the Gieek Church
was to continue in the enjoyment of an independent exist¬
ence, that was possible only by its seat ot power being
transferred to Russia. And when so transferred, it be¬
came possible not only that its independent existence could
be prolonged, but that as the church of a great and rapidly-
increasing nation its own influence might also increase.
Greek
Church.
GREEK CHURCH. 35
Greek There was still another change awaiting the Greek
Church. Church in Russia. The patriarchate had continued for
—little more than a century, when, on the death of the tenth
Patriarch, Adrian, in the year 1700, anew crisis came. The
sceptre of Russia was at that time swayed by the vigorous
arm of that sublime barbarian Peter the Great. The ge¬
nius of that marvellous man was set on the vast achieve¬
ment of raising Russia at once to the rank of a great and
even of a civilized power. For the accomplishment of such
an enterprise, the possession of all power, civil and eccle¬
siastical, in the most absolute form, was necessary, that he
might, by his sole unfettered energy, do the work of cen¬
turies in a lifetime. He prevented the election of another
Patriarch, made himself head alike of both state and church,
and appointed Stephen Yavorsky to the nominal rank of
Guardian of the Patriarchate. Through this novel agency
he ruled the church at his will, as he was also ruling the
state. Finding a little disposable leisure in the year 1721,
Peter set himself to frame a new constitution for the
church. He constituted a supreme court for its government,
called the most holy synod, of which he appointed him¬
self president, and delegated a procurator to occupy his
position in his absence, without whom no meeting of the
synod could be held, and without whose consent no deci¬
sion could be valid. Since that time the emperors of Rus¬
sia have held the most absolute supremacy over the Church
of Russia. It may be added, that as the Greek Church
has no means of maintaining its independent existence in
either Papal or Mohammedan countries, but must look to
Russia as the only powerful country that adheres to its faith,
the Russian autocrat may be said to hold the most absolute
supremacy over the Greek Church wherever it exists, or at
least to be naturally regarded as its protector.
From this historical survey we can mark the relations of
the Greek Church to other Christian churches. Its re¬
lations to that of Rome may be very easily seen and under¬
stood. Till the period of the fifth century there was no
other essential ground of difference between them than
what arose from their conflicting claims of supremacy. In
doctrinal matters they were nearly identical. They had
not borrowed from each other, but both held the doc¬
trines which had been declared by the general councils.
From that position the Greek Church has scarcely moved.
An accurate knowledge of the doctrines and ritual of the
Church in the fifth centuky will therefore adequately re¬
present and explain all that is common to the Churches of
Greece and Rome. The schism which took place at a
later period has rendered the Greek Church a standing tes¬
timony against Rome with regard to the subsequent errors
and corruptions of that rival system—a testimony with which
Papal controversialists find it very difficult to deal.
The controversy between the Greek Church and Rome
must needs be interminable as a ground of separation, un¬
less Rome renounce her claims both of universal supremacy
and of infallibility,—that is, unless she cease to be Papal; or
unless the Greek Church submit so entirely to all the claims
of Rome, that she would cease to have any independent
existence. But, still more, the position which the Greek
Church so long held, as independent of Rome, was almost
entirely the result of its direct connection with the Lower
Greek Empire, and its dependence upon the emperors.
Throughout all the period of its existence the Greek Church
has been subservient to the civil power. Its elevation to
patriarchate dignity was due solely to its connection with
the seat of empire. Its Russian branch obtained similar
rank in consequence of the rise of Russia into a great mo¬
narchy. The absorption of all ecclesiastical power by the
state under Peter the Great, though placing it in a condi¬
tion of greater subserviency than it had ever before expe¬
rienced, was nevertheless only the extreme development of
its hereditary servitude. It is not, therefore, now in the
power of the Greek Church to unite with Rome without Greek
the permission of the Emperor of Russia. The memory of Church,
her former intercourse with Rome can have left no such
favourable impression on Russia as to make her willing to
resume it. About the year 1590, Ignatius Potsi, Bishop of
Vladimir, commenced a series of intrigues for the purpose
of effecting a union between the Russian Church and that
of Rome ; and, in 1596, a strong party was formed in the
Polish and Lithuanian provinces, termed Uniates, from their
support of the proposed union, whose adherents soon
amounted to four millions. Every effort of force, fraud, trea¬
chery, and rebellion—all that Jesuits could suggest, and trai¬
tors accomplish—was tried by the Uniates for many years,
causing incessant turmoil and bloodshed in the large dis¬
trict which they inhabited—making Lithuania an Ireland
to Russia. This continued till so recent a period as the
year 1839, when three millions of the Uniates w’ere re¬
conciled to the Russian Church, to the great delight of the
Emperor Nicholas. The sufferings inflicted on the nuns
of Minsk may testify by what peculiarly Russian persuasives
this reconciliation was effected. It may be very confidently
believed that there is not the slightest probability of any cor¬
dial agreement between the Roman Church and the Russian
element, now the ruling one, of the Greek Church.
There is one other point to which reference may be made,
rather as a matter of curiosity than on account of its public
importance. About the year 1723 there was a proposal
made by certain Anglican bishops respecting the possibility
of union with the Greek Church. But when the creed of
the Church of England was examined, it was found to be
far too deeply imbued with the principles of the Reforma¬
tion to suit the views of the Eastern Church ; and though
there was no formal rejection, the proposal was laid aside.
It is of some interest also to know that similar notions about
a possible union with the Greek Church have been promul¬
gated by certain Puseyite clergymen at present. Their at¬
tempt, it may be anticipated, will prove equally abortive,
though it may somewhat embarrass British statesmen.
The chief points of difference between the Greek Church
and that of Rome are the following:—The Greek Church
does not admit—1. The supremacy of Rome. 2. The
Filioque clause in the creed. 3. The enforced celibacy
of the parochial clergy; though monks and bishops must
be unmarried. (The reason of this is, that although the
monastic system had begun before the schism, the celi¬
bacy of the regular clergy had not been enforced till a later
period, and this was not adopted by the Greek Church.)
4. The doctrine of transubstantiation, in the Papal sense of
that term, is not held by the Greek Church. (Rome itself
did not adopt this strange tenet till the council of Lateran
in 1215.) 5. The dogmas of purgatory and penance, as
taught by Rome, are not held by the Greek Church ; yet
some of their views bear a close resemblance to the Papal
theories on these points. 6. The Greek Church disagrees
with that of Rome about the use of leaven in the Eucharist.
In almost all other respects there is little difference between
the Greek and Roman Churches, because both are as cor¬
rupt as the church of the fifth century, and both have
hitherto rejected the Reformation. The Greek Church is
thoroughly hierarchical; holds the monastic system ; wor¬
ships pictures, although it rejects the worship of images ;
gives to the Virgin Mary as high a degree of worship as even
Rome can—its theory of the Panagia being scarcely dis¬
tinguishable from that of the Immaculate Conception.
The following inferences, of some importance in the
present state of European and Eastern affairs, may be fairly
drawn:—1. The Greek Church cannot unite with Rome,
in consequence of Rome’s claim of supremacy, and the
hereditary rivalry of the two on that point, 2. The Greek
Church cannot submit.^ Rome, because the ecclesiastical
supremacy of the Emperor of Russia is the exact counter-
4
gkeek church.
part and express antagonism of the Pope. 3. The errors
which the Greek Church holds in common with Rome are
not derived from Rome, but are those common to the who e
church in the fifth century. 4. The Greek Church could
become Protestant, because it never has denied, and can¬
not, consistently with its own creed, deny, either the autho¬
rity or the free circulation of the Scriptures. 6. One sing e
Christian-minded and wise Russian emperor could place
the Greek Church in Russia in friendly relation with evan¬
gelical Protestantism, which, indeed, the Emperor Alexan¬
der I. seemed inclined to do. Even in Russia there is one
element looking in that direction, namely, the Starowers,
or Starovertze, or “ Old Believers,” who dissent from the
doctrine of Imperial Supremacy, and are active in diffusing
the Bible. That body amounts, it is said, to about five mil¬
lions of native Russians. They are, however, discounte¬
nanced, depressed, and to some extent persecuted by the
Czar. But although there is no necessary antagonism between
the Greek and Protestant Churches, yet the Greek Church
hates, opposes, and persecutes Protestants, so far as it can.
The Greek Church bears, in its organization and exter¬
nal forms, a very close resemblance to that of Rome, as
might be expected from their mutual origin in the corrupt
Christianity of the fifth century. The Patriarch of Constan¬
tinople was the virtual Pope of the Eastern Church till the
taking of Constantinople by the Turks, with this special
difference, that the Patriarch was never allowed to exercise
any civil authority. Since that period the Sultan has allowed
the existence of the Patriarch, and recognised his religious
superiority over those of his own creed; but has himself
held the power of appointing to, or deposing from, that
office, for which he exacts a tribute or purchase before in¬
vestiture. Archbishops and bishops also are required to pur¬
chase their official dignity by the payment of a tribute to
the Turkish government. The officiating clergy of the
Greek Church are the Patriarch, archbishops, and bishops,
and subordinate to these are the papades or parish priests.
All the dignitaries are taken from among the caloyers or
monastic orders, and are not allowed to marry ; but the pa¬
pades may be married, with these special limitations—that
they be married previous to their consecration, and may
not marry a second time, should they become widowers.
Hence they are commonly married before taking orders,
and invariably select young and healthy women for their
wives. The revenues of the dignitaries are raised by a
tax imposed on each family, while the parish priests are
supported chiefly by means of what they can wring from the
superstitions of the people as perquisites of office, such as
money paid for absolutions, benedictions, exorcisms, ceremo¬
nial sanctifyings of water, sprinklings of streets and tombs,
granting divorces, and innumerable ritualistic observances.
They are almost universally a base and degraded class them¬
selves, extremely ignorant, and they keep the people in equal
degradation and ignorance, partly because such is their own
state, and partly that they may secure their influence.
Their places of worship are built generally in form of a
cross. The choir is always placed towards the east; and
the people turn their faces in that direction when they pray.
Their public religious service is liturgical and exceedingly
protracted. They have four liturgies; and the service con¬
sists chiefly of prayers, hymns, recitative chants, and fre¬
quent crossings, with such numerous repetitions that it often
occupies five or six hours, without any sermon. During
this long service the people stand leaning on the supports
of the few seats in the church, or on a kind of crutches pro¬
vided for that purpose. No images are allowed within their
churches ; but they are plentifully decorated with rough and
glaring paintings, and the more rough and glaring these are,
the better are they in the estimation of the worshippers.
Their music is without any aid from instruments, and is
chiefly a kind of chanting, but is said to be often beautiful
and touchingly plaintive, although monotonous. The vest¬
ments of the clergy are very varied in form, and often of
fine texture, gorgeous in colour, and ornamented with jew- '
ellery of great value. Each of these vestments has its mystic
meaning and virtue, to which great importance is attached.
The worship of saints, angels, and the Virgin Mary is carried
to as great an excess as it can be at Rome; and it is long
since the Greek Church held that the “ Mother of God,” as
they term her, was without original sin. It may be said,
indeed, that the Panagia, or Holy Virgin, is the peculiar
deity of the Greeks, as much as ever Pallas Athene was of
the ancient Athenians. Everywhere, in church, palace, or
cottage, a little coarse picture, intended to represent the
Holy Virgin, may be seen, often with a lamp burning be¬
fore it as the object of special adoration.
The Greek Church is also burdened by an immense num¬
ber of fasts and saints’ days. The secular Greeks observe
four Lents, and the caloyers or monks, two more. The
first of these lasts two months, the second forty days, the
third is variable, and the fourth continues from the 1st of
August till the festival of the Assumption, on the 15th.
All Wednesdays and Fridays aVe fasts, and a vast number
of saints’ days are also observed, so that of the whole year
there are only about 130 days free from fasts or festivals, by
means of which the common people are either crushed into
idleness and poverty, or rendered regardless of religion.
The Russian division of the Greek Church has nearly
absorbed the whole, so far as regards its relation to other
communities. The Patriarch ot Constantinople has long
been dependent on the Sultan. The Patriarch of Alexan¬
dria is obeyed by only two churches. In Antioch the ad¬
herents of the patriarchate can be all accommodated in a
single room in a dwelling-house. The Patriarch of Jeru¬
salem resides chiefly at Constantinople, and owes any power
he possesses to the holy places held by Greek monks in Pa¬
lestine, which the Romanists, by means of a French agent,
recently attempted to seize, an attempt which tended to pre¬
cipitate the present war, in consequence of the intervention
of Russia as the avowed protector of the Greek Church.
An approximation is all that can be made towards an es¬
timate of the numbers adhering to the several divisions of
the Greek Church ; and in this we follow Marouvieff and
Neale,—chiefly the latter, as the most recent authority.
In Russia  50,000,000
In Turkey 12,000,000
In Greece, Montenegro, &c  800,000
In the Austrian dominions   2,800,000
In the Patriarchate of Alexandria  5,000
In Asia Minor and Cyprus   150,000
In the Patriarchate of Jerusalem   15,000
Greek
Church.
Total, about 65,770,000
Of these, as will be seen, at least 50,000,000 belong to
Russia alone, forming the only division of this ancient no¬
minally Christian Church, which has now any degree of
power for good or evil, and possessing that power only as
the Russian autocrat may please to permit, or may think
propei to employ it, as an engine of despotism. The juris¬
diction of the Patriarch of Constantinople extends nomi¬
nally over the Greek Church in Turkey, Sclavonia, Galicia,
Anatolia, and the Ionian Isles ; but his influence has sunk
to the merest semblance of power in all these countries. In
Servia the metropolitan Bishop of Belgrade maintains an
independent authority. There seems no probability that
the Greek Church, either in Turkey or Asia, can again be
united under one Patriarch, so as to become active and
powerful; and it may be hoped the course of modern events
will so protect and encourage the progress of a sound and
free Bible Christianity, as to rescue from superstition, en¬
lighten, and elevate the inhabitants of that lovely and fertile
region of the earth, the ancient home of freedom, and closely
connected with the birth-place of true religion, (w. M. h.)
G R E
Greek GREEK FIRE. See Fire, Greek.
Fire GREEN, one of the prismatic colours. It is composed
^ I! ^ of blue and yellow rays, which, mixed in different propor-
reen ' j tions, exhibit various shades.
GREEN BAY, a large arm or bay on the west side of
Lake Michigan, forming a part of the boundary between
Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan. It is
above 100 miles long, and from 15 to 35 broad. The epi¬
thet “ Green” has been applied to it on account of the co¬
lour of the water, which is said to exceed 500 feet in depth.
At the head of the bay, on the right bank of the Neenah,
or Fox River, is a thriving town of the same name. The
bay and river afford a perfectly secure harbour, and the
largest steamers of Lake Michigan stop here, making it
the principal place of deposit and transit for the imports
and exports of Northern Wisconsin. Pop. (1853) about
2500.
GREENCASTLE, a flourishing post village, capital of
Putnam county, state of Indiana, North America. It is
on the great line of railway extending through the centre
of Indiana from east to west; and another line of railway is
in progress which will cross the former at Greencastle, and
connect it with South Chicago and with the Ohio River at
New Albany. It is the seat of Asbury University, a
flourishing institution belonging to the Methodists, and
has several high schools. Pop. (1850) 1382.
GREEN CLOTH, Board of. See Household,
Royal.
GREENE, Robert, a dramatist and prolific miscel¬
laneous writer of the latter portion of the brilliant Eliza¬
bethan era, was a native of Norwich, and born about the
year 1560. He graduated in St John’s College, Cam¬
bridge in 1578, and took his degree of M.A. at Clare Hall
in 1583. Subsequently, in 1588, he seems to have studied
at Oxford. From the period of his leaving Cambridge his
life was that of an author by profession, marked no less by
the extraordinary fertility of his talents than by the profli¬
gacy of his conduct, of which he has himself left many
curious and affecting records. Of the forty or fifty plays,
pamphlets, and poems of Greene which have come down
to us, a few of his pieces are interesting as specimens of
dramatic blank verse, and as illustrating the state of the
English stage at a time contemporary with, or immediately
preceding, the early dramas of Shakspeare. Greene was des¬
titute of the fire and energy of genius, but he had a fine
play of poetical fancy and command of classic imagery, with
a smooth and copious diction, and considerable powers of
invention. The true dramatic power, as evinced in the de¬
lineation of character and in depicting contrasts of situa¬
tion and passion, he certainly did not possess, nor was there
any approach to this on the stage before Shakspeare, ex¬
cepting in the case of Marlowe. Greene’s tragedy of Or¬
lando has, however, many striking and elegant passages,
and in his light comedies are scenes of low humour, inter¬
spersed with descriptions of English rural life and scenery.
The play of George d Greene, the Pinner of Wakefield,
doubtfully ascribed to Greene, introduces us to the forest
scenes of merry Sherwood, to Robin Hood and Maid Ma¬
rian. His numerous pamphlets throw light on the manners
of the times, besides detailing his own adventures, knav-
G R E
37
eries, follies, and repentance. But the most popular of his
works are those which borrow a lustre from their connection
with Shakspeare. His tale entitled Pandosto, or the His-
torie of Dorastus and Fawnia, is memorable as the story
on which Shakspeare founded his delightful drama of The
Winter’s Tale. The original story was published in 1588,
and was so popular as to have gone through thirteen edi¬
tions before 1632, when a fourteenth was printed. Shak¬
speare followed closely the outline of Greene’s novel, ex¬
cepting in the miraculous last scene where Hermione is
restored. The geographical blunders of making Bohemia
a maritime country, and placing the temple of Apollo at
Delphi in an island, were copied from his prototype, as in
As You Like It the poet placed a lioness in his forest of
Arden, because he found a lion in Lodge’s Euphues,
whence he derived the groundwork of his play. Such
anachronisms are common in the old dramatists and ro¬
mance writers. Their fabulous stories are quite removed
from the region of the literal and possible, but geographical
blunders may perhaps be ascribed to ignorance and haste. It
must be regarded as one of the idiosyncracies of Shakspeare’s
mighty mind, that one so boundless in knowledge, and so
illimitable in his intellectual resources, should have had re¬
course to obscure writers and legends for the plots of his
dramas. But no one, as Coleridge has remarked, can under¬
stand Shakspeare’s superiority fully “until he has ascertained
by comparison all that he possessed in common with otheis
of his age, and has then calculated the surplus which is en¬
tirely Shakspeare’s own.” In the Winter's Tale the fasci¬
nating character of Perdita, the humour of Autolycus, and
the exquisite sheep-shearing scene, are Shakspearian crea¬
tions—and among his very finest.1 To pass from the drama
of Greene, Peele, Lyly, and Marlowe, into the drama of
Shakspeare, is to pass into a new world. Characters, blank
verse, language, sentiment, and action—all are different,
and all new.
Greene.
“ Changed like the world’s great scene, when without noise
The rising sun night’s vulgar lights destroys.”
In his latest work, A Groat's-worth of Wit bought with
a Million of Repentance, Greene makes a well-known
allusion to Shakspeare of the highest interest and value as
connected with Shakspeare’s dramatic progress. He ad¬
dresses those gentlemen, “ his quondam acquaintance, that
spend their wits in making plays,” and tells them “ there is
an upstart crow beautified with our feathers, that with his
tiger’s heart wrapt in a player’s hide, supposes he is as
well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you ;
and being an absolute Johannes Fac-totum, is, in his own
conceit, the only Shake-scene in a country.” There is no
mistaking this reference; and the words “ tiger’s heart,”
&c., are a parody upon a line in an old play, the True
Tragedie of Richard Duke of York, which line, with many
others in the same old drama, Shakspeare adopted in hrs
Third Part of King Henry VI. The obvious inference is
that Greene, or some of his “quondam acquaintance,” the
makers of plays, was singly or jointly author of the True
Tragedy, which Shakspeare had altered and adopted for
his own theatre. Greene’s Groafs-worth of Wit was pub¬
lished late in 1592 immediately after his death; at this
1 Greene’s reputation for scholarship—one who had “two gowns,” like Dogberry, being master of arts in both universities—no doubt
led Shakspeare to follow him in his geographical and classical allusions. In the Pandosto Greene makes Dorastus excuse his shepherd’s
disguise in this pedantic style :—“ Shame not at thy shepherd’s weed. The heavenly g< ds have sometimes earthly thoughts. Neptune
became a ram, Jupiter a bull, Apollo a shepherd; they gods, and yet in love.” Shakspeare thus paraphrases the passage :—
“ The gods themselves,
Humbling their deities to love, have taken
The shapes of beasts upon them : Jupiter
Became a bull and bellow’d ; the green Neptune
A ram and bleated ; and the fire-robed god,
Golden Apollo, a poor humble swain
As I seem now.”
38 G R E
Greene time, therefore, Shakspeare appeared to his rival dramatist
II an “ upstart,” who had recently shot up into public notice,
Greenland. ancj commenced his career by remodelling and improving
inferior and old plays. How he “ bombasted out a blank
verse” we all know, but the verses so written before Sep¬
tember 1592 cannot now be ascertained. 1 he questions,
What were the plays ? and How much in them was ori¬
ginal ? start to the mind; but as yet there is none to
answer. If Greene could be proved to be the author of
the True Tragedy and the First Part of the conten¬
tion betwixt the two famous houses of York and Lan¬
caster, which Shakspeare also remodelled, his character as
a dramatist would be materially advanced. But they seem
to us much beyond the pitch of Greene, and have more of
the manner of Marlowe. The tragedies of King John and
Henry V. are also founded upon old plays; and Greene,
or some of his associates—Marlowe, Peele, Lodge, and
Nash—may have written them. The charge of plagiarism
is at all events distinctly brought forward—the great dra¬
matist was “beautified with some of the feathers” of his
contemporaries; but we must always recollect that it was
Shakspeare’s original editors that claimed lor him the un¬
divided authorship of the historical plays, not the poet him¬
self. His dramas “outlived him,” as Heminge and Ccn-
dell finely remark in their dedication, “ he not having the
fate, common with some, to be executor to his own writ¬
ings.” If the Winter’s Tale could be proved to have been
produced before 1592, Greene’s charge against Shakspeare
would be easily understood ; but all the evidence, internal
and external, shows that it was a much later production.
The point, therefore, must remain in obscurity ; and how¬
ever interesting it may be to curious investigators, it does
G R E
not weigh one straw in the balance as respects Shakspeare’s Green-
genius or fame. Greene died in great misery on the 3d house
of September 1592. At a supper the previous month, in II
company with Nash and some others of his associates, he L"reen and
had indulged to excess in pickled herrings and Rhenish
wine, which brought on an illness that proved mortal.
According to Gabriel Harvey, all Greene’s gay compa¬
nions forsook him in his last sickness, and he was main¬
tained by a poor cordwainer and his wife in their house
near Dowgate. This humble pair supported and nursed
the miserable poet, decked his corpse with a garland of
bays, pursuant to his own request, and paid ten shillings
and fourpence for his winding sheet and burial. There is
nothing in Greene’s plays so impressive or dramatic as this
last scene, nor anything more strange than the combina¬
tion which his life presents of incurable folly, meanness,
and vice, united to great literary industry. His associates
did not benefit by his example ; some of them sank under
personal irregularities in early manhood ; and it is lament¬
able to see how little classic acquirements and university
honours, with all the aids of genius and popular favour,
could effect in elevating the tastes and habits of these men,
or saving them from the lowest moral degradation, (r. c—s.)
GREENHOUSE, or Conservatory. See Horticul¬
ture.
GREEN MOUNTAINS, a mountain range of North
America, commencing near New Haven in Connecticut, and
extending through Massachusetts and Vermont into Canada.
It attains its greatest elevation in Vermont, to which it
gives name {verts monts, i.e., green mountains). Mansfield
North Peak, the culminating point of these mountains, rises
to the height of about 4300 feet above the level of the sea.
GREENLAND.
GREENLAND, or Groenland, a very large island, or,
probably, assemblage of islands, lying to the north-east of
North America, and for the most part comprehended within
the Arctic Circle. In early times it was supposed to form a
part of the American continent; but the discoveries of
modern navigators have proved, what indeed the very idea
of a north-west passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific
Ocean supposed, its insularity. And the latest discoveries
have, moreover, shown, or all but proved, the entire separa¬
tion of the lands on the west side of Baffin’s Bay, or rather,
what we would now venture to designate Baffin’s Sea,
from those of the opposite shores, so as to limit Greenland
to the country on the eastern side of that great channel.
From Cape Farewell, in lat. 59° 49' N., it stretches on the
west side in a north-north-westerly direction through Smith’s
Sound, and then more easterly into a high northern latitude.
On the other side, the Greenland coast runs first north-
north-easterly, then north-easterly, and finally (so far as yet
traced), in a northerly direction, bending eastward in the
75th and 76th parallels of latitude. It expands from Cape
Farewell, the southern point, up to latitude 70°, where it
attains a width of about 600 miles, which is pretty evenly
maintained to the northern extent of our researches on the
eastern side. I his side of Greenland has been denominated
East or Old Greenland, the other West Greenland.
In general, the discoveries which have been effected in
this quarter of the globe have resulted from attempts made
to discover a north-west passage to India through the Arc¬
tic bea. The existence of such a communication is a sub-
ject winch from time to time has occupied the attention of
the British government for the last three centuries; and
although much valuable information had been obtained by
means of these voyages, the great problem remained un¬
solved until the very recent researches after the fate of our
lamented voyager Sir John Franklin, when Capt. M‘Clure,
in his researches, via Behring’s Strait, eastward, determined
the fact of a sea communication between the Pacific and
Atlantic Oceans. This he effected by sailing till within
sight of Capt. Parry’s discoveries at Melville Island, and
thence completing the personal transit by ice-travelling and
voyaging to the shores whence he had departed. But be¬
yond the determination of the geographical fact, it was
found, as had been confidently predicted, that no practical
use could be made of a channel so thickly encumbered with
impenetrable, or all but impenetrable ices.
Greenland was first discovered by an Icelander named
Gunbiorn, who was driven by storm upon this coast, about
the beginning of the tenth century, and carried back in¬
telligence of its existence to Iceland. Towards the end of
the same century,—according to some writers in 983,—an
Icelandic chief named Eric Raude, or Eric the Red, hav¬
ing killed another powerful chief, and being obliged to quit
the country, determined to follow up Gunbiorn’s discovery.
After having spent two or three years in exploring the
country, he returned to Iceland, giving an exaggerated ac¬
count of the freshness and verdure of the country, which
he called Greenland. In consequence of this, a fleet of
twenty-five sail was equipped and sent out, laden with per¬
sons of both sexes, cattle, and other necessaries for forming
a settlement. Only about the half of the vessels reached
their destination ; but other adventurers setting out, not
only from Iceland, but from Norway, the Orkneys, and
other islands, in a few years a considerable colony was
formed, and a regular trade established. The real position
of these early adventures has been a subject of much learned
investigation and no little controversy. But it seems highly
probable that the original colony of Greenland began about
the southern promontory, near Cape Farewell, and gradually
GREENLAND.
39
rreenland. extended itself along the coast in a north-westerly direction.
. ^ Beyond this first settlement another proceeded farther to the
west. The former was called CEstre Bygd, or the eastern
settlement, and the latter Vestre Bygd, or the western settle¬
ment. Christianity having been introduced about the begin¬
ning of the eleventh century, numerous churches and con¬
vents were built, and the country was divided into regular
parishes, to which monks and other spiritual instructors were
attached. The colonists, although compelled to lead a life
of severe privation and hardship, continued to increase, and
to extend to the north. The zeal with which the early
Scandinavians pushed their settlements to the northernmost
parts of Greenland is strikingly attested by a curious monu¬
ment which was discovered in 1824. It consists of a stone
carved with Runic characters, which was found standing
erect in the ground on the island of Kingiktorsoak, under
the parallel of 730.1
For some centuries the commercial intercourse between
Greenland and Norway was kept up ; but about the begin¬
ning of the fifteenth century all intercourse ceased, and the
unfortunate colonists were cut off from the rest of mankind.
The Esquimaux, the natives of the country, whom in deri¬
sion the Norwegians called Scrcellings, or Dwarfs, on ac¬
count of their diminutive stature, attacked the western co¬
lony, which was compelled to seek assistance from that which
lay to the south-east. There can be little doubt that the
scanty population was reduced by these savage invaders;
but it was more effectually thinned by that dreadful pesti¬
lence called the black death, which desolated Europe from
the year 1402 to 1404, and which extended its ravages even
to Greenland. Those who escaped the plague probably
soon fell victims to the Esquimaux; at least, nothing is
known of them after the commencement of the fifteenth
century. The terms eastern and western being used in re¬
ference to the original settlements, naturally led to the be¬
lief that the eastern as well as the western side of Green¬
land had been colonized ; and a notion very generally pre¬
vailed for a long time that the western settlement only had
perished, the eastern one having escaped the calamity, but,
from the vast accumulation of ice, had been secluded from
all communication with the rest of the world. During the
last century the court of Denmark repeatedly despatched
ships to ascertain if any settlers still remained on that part
of the coast wdiich is now called East or Old Greenland,
but without success. A more recent boating expedition in
1829-30, under Captain W. A. Graah, of the Danish royal
navy, has, however, in extent of research on the eastern side
of Cape Farewell, yielded by far the most satisfactory in¬
formation. He examined the coast as far north as 65° 45'
but found nothing to indicate that this coast had ever been
colonized ; and we are thus led to the conclusion that the
notion of any of the Norwegians having settled on the
eastern shores must be a mistake; a mistake arising from
a misapprehension of the words cast and west. In 1721
Hans Egede, a clergyman from Vaagen, in Norway, accom¬
panied by his wife and family, left his native country to
settle as a missionary in Greenland. He landed at Baals
River in N. Eat. 64°, and called the place Godthaab, or Good
Hope. Since that time the Danes have established nume¬
rous settlements upon the western coast of Greenland, lying
between 60° and 73' N- Eat. The whale fisheries have
greatly contributed to the advancement of the colonies;
and from the intimate intercourse which is now kept up
with Europeans, their condition is at present more flourish¬
ing than at any former period.
There are, at present, thirteen Danish colonies in Greenland, be¬
sides some smaller establishments termed factories. For adminis¬
trative purposes they are formed into two inspectorships, called
respectively North and South Greenland. South Greenland lies Greenland,
south of N. lat. 67°, and comprises six colonies, as follows:— t . .
Founded.
1. Julianehaab, or Juliana’s Hope  1775
2. Frederickshaab, or Frederick’s Hope 1742
3. Fiskenseset, or Fish Point  1754
4. Godthaab, or Good Hope  1721
5. Lukkertoppen    1775
6. Holsteinborg...,    1759
Ofwhom
Pop. 1845. Danes.
2336
650
485
801
640
744
41
10
20
25
18
10
5656 124
Julianehaab is the most southern as well as the most important
of these. Its district extends to the most southern point of Green¬
land, Statenhuk, and beyond it for some distance along the east
side. At Piskenasset the Danes carry on an extensive seal fishery
by means of nets, &c. In its vicinity is the Moravian station of
Lichtenfels, founded in 1758. Godthaab is the residence of the
inspector of South Greenland; and in the vicinity is the Moravian
settlement of New Herrnhut. Lukkertoppen takes its name from
three pointed hills in the vicinity, resembling sugar loaves, and
has one of the best and safest harbours in the country. North
Greenland lies noi'th of N. lat. 67°, and comprises seven colonies,
as follows:—
1. Egedesminde, or Egede’s Memory;..
2. Christianshaab, or Christian’s Hope,
3. Jacobshavn, or Jacob?s Haven 
4. Rittenbenk    
5. Godhavn, or Good Haven 
6. Omenak 
7. Upernivik,.   
Of whom
Founded. Pop. 1845. Danes.
.. 1759 767 15
.. 1734 420 14
. 1741 275 14
,. 1725 435 11
. — 249 17
,. 1758 528 21
.. — 405 18
3079 110
Egedesminde, in Disco Bay, was founded by Captain Egede, and
named in memory of his father Hans Egede. It comprises a num¬
ber of large and small islands, but the proper settlement is on the
island of Ausiet. Between this and Fox Island (Raevoe) there is a
very secure harbour. A great many seals are caught here, espe¬
cially in nets; but the collecting of eider-down forms the most
important branch of industry. Godhavn, or Good Haven, in the
southern extremity of the island of Disco, N. Lat. 69. 12., is the
seat of the inspector of North Greenland, and has a coal-mine, which
supplies the other settlements on Disco Bay with that article. Ome¬
nak is noted for its extensive seal fishery, which is carried on by
the Greenlanders in their kaijaks or small boats and upon the ice,
and by the Danes with nets which are let down the openings be¬
tween the ice. There are here coal-mines which supply the colony.
Upernivik is the most northern of these colonies, being in about N.
Lat. 73., and though of recent formation, it is already one of the
most important in North Greenland. The population of Greenland
on 31st December 1845 thus amounted to 8735, being 8501 natives,
and 234 Danes ^ and in 1851. is given at 9400, of whom 250 were
Danes. This includes only those subject to the Danish crown ; of
those that may be scattered over the country, no conjecture can be
formed.
We shall now give a brief outline of the discovery of the
various sections of the coasts of Greenland, with occasional
references to researches about proximate lands with which
those on Greenland were more or less mixed up. This
will lead us again to notice the enterprises of the sixteenth
century in search of a passage by the north-west from the
Atlantic into the Pacific Ocean.
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Frobisher, a dis¬
tinguished English navigator, made several voyages to this
quarter of the globe. In 1577 he discovered the straits
which have been called after him.. In the year 1585,
Davis, another able seaman, came in sight of high land,
which he called Mount Raleigh, supposed to lie somewhere
on the west of the straits bearing the discoverer’s name.
In 1610 Hudson discovered the straits and the bay which
are called after him, in which he experienced a disastrous
termination to his useful career. To certain rocky islands
lying about the 64th parallel, he gave the name of Isles
of God’s Mercy. He also discovered two capes, one
of which was called Digge’s Cape, and the other Wil-
1 The following is a translation of the inscription by Dr Rafn, secretary of the Royal Antiquarian Society of Copenhagen:—“ Erling
Sigvatson, and Bjarne Thordarson, and Endride Oddson, erected these memorial stones, and cleared the place, on Saturday before
Gagndag (the 25th of April), in the year 1135.”
40 GREENLAND.
Greenland, loughby Cape. In 1616, Baffin, one of the most dis-
tinguished of our English navigators, discovered the large
expanse northward of the Strait of Davis, now known as
Baffin’s Bay. Sailing in a little vessel only of about fifty-
five tons burthen, he effected one of the most extraordinary
voyages on record. Under the imperfect appliances of the
age for navigation, Baffin, with one small vessel, circum¬
navigated to Smith’s Sound, on the north of that bay or sea
which, northward of “ Hope Sanderson, the furthest land
Master Davis reached, lying between 72 and 73 degrees,”
was an utterly unknown region,—thus adding some 1100
miles of discoveries, reckoned by the mere coasting line, to
the knowledge of these ice-encumbered shores. His ex¬
ploration northward reached, it would appear from the brief
but graphically told story of his voyage, as given among the
Pilgrimages of Purchas, as high as about 77° 47' of latitude,
where he obtained a clear view into Sir Thomas Smith’s
Sound, which he describes as running “ to the north of 78
degrees, and being the greatest and largest in all the
bay.”
For 200 years from the time of Baffin the knowledge of
this great inlet (excepting some limited and unpublished in¬
formation obtained by occasional enterprises of the whalers)
had not been advanced. In the year 1818, however, in con¬
sequence of information, we believe, communicated by
Captain Scoresby to Sir Joseph Banks, the admiralty fitted
out two expeditions; one of which, under the command of
Captain Ross, was destined for the discovery of the north¬
west passage ; and the other, at the head of which was
Captain Buchan, had for its object to attempt a voyage
across the pole. On the western side of Greenland, the first-
named navigator discovered a high mountainous region to
the north of Upernivik, to which, from national predilec¬
tions, he gave the name of the Arctic Highlands. It is
little else than a mass of rocks, intermingled with immense
blocks of ice. He then proceeded towards the northern
extremity of Baffin’s Bay, which he explored as far as the
ice would permit, looking from a distance into Smith’s
Sound. He surveyed the coast generally, ascertained the
positions and the appearance of the land, the situation of
the islands, and the general configuration of the great inlet,
from the 78th down to the 65th parallel. The discoveries
of Baffin, which some had disputed, were thus signally con¬
firmed ; for whilst the form of the bay, as given mainly
from conjectural applications of Baffin’s descriptions, was
found to be thoroughly erroneous, the several deep inlets
and other remarkable features of the coast-line, as noted
by this admirable voyager, were not only easily recognised,
but the latitudes and more striking particularities were
found to be characteristically correct.
But the limited period of a mere summer’s voyage having
left several points in Ross’s course defective and inconclu¬
sive, especially as to the supposed closing up of Lancaster
Sound by continuous land, another expedition was sent out
the year following under Captain Parry, who succeeded
not only in passing through this famous inlet of Baffin, but
in discovering a navigable channel among islands extend¬
ing far westward, which was successfully pursued for about
thirty degrees of longitude beyond Ross’s furthest. But as
these researches, with the general body of the discoveries
since then made, fall beyond the limits of our present ar¬
ticle, we must refer, for an abstract of them, to our general
account of the Polar Regions. The chief additions to our
knowledge of western Greenland which remain to be noticed
consist of certain corrections of the coast-line incidentally
made by the westerly exploring expeditions, and more ac¬
curate information of Smith’s Sound and the coasts imme¬
diately beyond, resulting from Captain Inglefield’s voyage
in the summer of 1852, and from the very successful and
interesting American exploration, still further north, under
Dr Kane in 1853-5.
Captain Inglefield, in the Isabel, fitted out by Lady Greenland,
Franklin, having the advantage of an auxiliary steam power,
made an advance northward of Baffin’s furthest of about 50
miles, reaching within Smith’s Sound to 78° 28' N. latitude,
and obtaining the view of a sea expanding again consider¬
ably beyond.
The exploration of this new expanse into the main Arc¬
tic Ocean (with which the Greenland sea in the east, and
Behring Strait in the west, communicated), by the second
American search expedition under Dr Kane, completes our
sketch of the progress of discovery on the western side of
Greenland. This hardy and intelligent adventurer, in a
little solitary vessel, the brig Advance, pushed his way
through Smith’s Sound in the month of August 1853, and
crawled along shore within a cram of dangerous ices which
all but filled the passage, to a position higher in latitude
(about 78° 40') than had ever before been taken as a win¬
tering station in these western regions by Europeans. In
this position the brig was frozen in, early in September, and
so remained throughout the succeeding summer, and with
so little prospect of release as to occasion her abandonment,
after a protracted adherence to her of above twenty months.
From this high position in latitude, explorations (fur¬
thered for a time by the effective aid of their Esquimaux
dogs) were perseveringly made, and rewarded by results of
the most interesting nature in geography, hydrography, and
glaciology. The coast of Greenland, forming the eastern
boundary of Smith’s Sound, was traced northerly and east¬
erly, until the exploration was diverted by a stupendous gla¬
cier of a vast extent, with a precipitous face about 500 feet
in height abutting the sea. The geographical discoveries
were pushed still further towards the pole, and new lands as
high in latitude as 82° 30' added to our charts. The lands
on the two sides of this channel were found to be connected
by apparently perpetual ices, having, at the time of the
examination, an open sea beyond entirely free from visible
encumbrance, wdiose waves were dashing with sublime ac¬
tion and force against the face of the icy barrier. Here an
area of about 3000 square miles was seen entirely free from
ice, the commencement and margin, as has been inferred,
of an open unfreezing polar sea. On this question, how¬
ever, which comes in more fitly for discussion in our article
on the Polar Regions, we here only remark cautionarily
against a premature conclusion, that Captain Scoresby, in
his account of the arctic regions, describes an open sea,
which he himself once observed and navigated, to the north¬
ward of Spitzbergen, running about E.N.E. and W.S.W. for
300 miles within the latitudes of 80° and 81° 30', and having
an area of from 15,000 to 20,000 square miles, or from five to
six times the extent of that traced by Dr Kane; yet this ap¬
parently open polar ocean was found to be but a mid-glacial
sea! Besides, the extreme lowness of the temperature in
Dr Kane’s case—being the lowest, on the mean, ever ob¬
served on the face of the globe—afforded sufficient evidence
that there could be no such sea remaining open to the pole,
beyond an incidental lake.
It does not come within the scope of our present article
to dwell on the particular facts, and incidents, and processes
of this admirable research by Dr Kane, except to notice the
falling in with Esquimaux living in a region further north
than any they had before met with. Agreeing as these
natives in their general characteristics do with other Green¬
landers, they were found to have incidental peculiarities in
their habits and modes of living. They employ dog-
sledges of great efficiency in speed, but have no boats or
kaijaks. They surround themselves in winter with walls
of moss, and, at that season, live mainly upon raw walrus
flesh—habits of life which, for the season, Dr Kane and his
party found it expedient, and, after a little experience, not
unpleasant, to imitate and adopt. Under this new dietary
education, raw walrus flesh soon became palatable ; and
GREENLAND.
rreenland. even tallow candles, when they could be spared for such
- r j—< a purpose, were pronounced by the chief of the expedi¬
tion to be very good ! Useful and friendly as these natives
were in their intercourse with Dr Kane and his party, they
unfortunately possessed the infirmity (shall we call it ?) too
characteristic of the Esquimaux, of an insatiable habit of
self-appropriation—stealing unscrupulously whatever they
could manage to secrete, equally regardless of the dam¬
age to the owners, or of any possible use of the articles
to themselves.
We may just add that Dr Kane, in the Advance, started
on his expedition from New York on the 31st of May 1853,
having along with him, in crew and associates, seventeen
men. Three of this number, the cook, carpenter, and a
seaman, died in the arctic regions, and the remainder re¬
turned safe to port on the 11th October 1855. The party
left their vessel still fast in the ice on the 20th of May, and
travelled over the ice to the navigable waters of Baffin’s
Sea, whence by means of their boats they proceeded to the
settlement of Upernivik. They there took passage in a
Danish trader ; and when, in their progress southward, they
reached Lievely in Disco Island, they met with the expedi¬
tion of Lieutenant H. J. Hartstein, which had been sent out
by Congress in search of them.
As to the eastern side of Greenland, all our accurate
knowledge, except a few particulars referring to the coast
near Cape Farewell, is of recent attainment. A coast-line,
indeed, of the more southern parallels was to be found in
our charts of the Arctic Regions, and in maps by Egede
and Crantz, traced to a considerable extent, with an elabo¬
rateness of flexure that would indicate real and careful ex¬
amination ; but subsequent researches have by no means
verified the supposed configurations.
Northward of the 70th parallel of latitude, all the geogra¬
phical information we had of that coast previous to the voy¬
age of Captain Scoresby (now the Rev. Dr Scoresby) in
1822, consisted of the not very definite notification of cer¬
tain points of land discovered by the adventurous Hudson
in 1607, with a few touches on the coast, and notices of
land being seen by whalers, chiefly Dutch, in 1654, 1665,
and 1670. In 1822, however, Captain Scoresby, whilst
engaged in the Greenland whale fishery, and successfully
pursuing the commercial object of his voyage, penetrated
the ice westward, as he had previously provided for attempt¬
ing, to the coast of Eastern Greenland. But the position
of the coast, and its line of direction, were found to be
widely different from those ascribed to them in the charts,
whether English or Dutch ; for the real place of the land
in latitude 74° was found to be from 8° to 15° of longitude
further west, and the line of direction from 69° to 74° 30'
N. by E., instead of N.E. or E.N.E. as formerly laid down.
The first land seen by Captain Scoresby, stretching from
N.W. by N. to N., extended to about 74° 30' N., the
nearest headland being estimated at 50 miles distance.
This was on the 7th of June, and so early in the season
as to prevent any near approach to the coast, from the in¬
tervention of a chain of heavy field ice northward of 73°.
But after tracing a proximate outline of the more northern
part of the coast, Captain Scoresby was gradually enabled
to approach the shore as, with the advance of the season,
he proceeded southward; and in the course of the explora¬
tion, succeeded in landing on four or five different positions
between the 70th and 73d parallels. The coast from 74° 30'
to 69° 10' was generally surveyed, and names were given to
the more particular headlands, islands, and inlets. Two very
remarkable inlets were observed and partially examined,
one in latitude 72° which was named Davy's Sound, and
the other in 70° 15', which received the name of Scores-
by's Sound, on account of the first examination of it ever
known to have been made having just been accomplished
by the investigator’s father. In this way, single-handed,
VOL. XI.
41
and without cost to the country, some 600 miles of new Greenland,
coast line (reckoning its various flexures and inlets) were
added to our Greenland charts ; and much novel informa¬
tion on the geography, hydrography, and natural history of
those regions was communicated to the public in the Jour¬
nal of the Voyage, which appeared in the succeeding spring.
One circumstance of geographical interest it may be proper
more particularly to notice, viz., the conviction conveyed to the
mind of Captain Scoresby by his observations on the current
setting into Davy’s Sound and Scoresby’s Sound, that these
fine expanses of water, which, in certain westerly directions,
were clear of ice or land to the utmost extent of vision, were
actual channels of communication between the sea of Green¬
land on the east, and that of Baffin on the west. Hence
the great probability of the supposition already noticed, that
Greenland consists of an assemblage of islands.
In the year 1823, Captain Clavering, in command of the
Griper sloop-of-war, under admiralty orders for pendulum
experiments, advanced on the same coast as that first ap¬
proached by Captain Scoresby ; and, being about a month
later in the season, was enabled to get close in shore, and
to enter a considerable bay in lat. 74°, supposed to be that
originally discovered by Gael Hamkes, a Dutch navigator,
in 1654. The line of the more northerly part of the coast,
as laid down by Scoresby, was now corrected, and new coast¬
line, including Shannon Island, with dottings of headlands
reaching from 74° 30' to 76°, added to our charts. South¬
ward of Gael Hamke’s Bay the coast was traced pretty close
along to Cape Parry of Scoresby, and then finally left. The
general configuration of the coast, excepting some ten or fif¬
teen leagues in the furthest north, seen by Captain Scoresby
only in the distant horizon, was singularly verified by Captain
Clavering’s inshore researches. For though the first ex¬
plorer was not able to approach the land between 73° 30'
and 74° 30' N., nearer than from 40 to 45 geographical
miles, the positions ascribed by the two navigators to the
headlands of Gael Hamke’s Bay, and other leading points
(with Jackson’s Island, which had been first laid down at
about 30 miles distance), proved to be all but identical.
This coast presents many remarkable and interesting
features. On the Liverpool coast of Scoresby there is a
mountainous chain of 3000 to 4000 feet in height, forming
precipitous cliffs, which terminate in numerous peaks, cones,
pyramids, or series of perpendicular serrated points. In the
interior were seen peaks supposed to be almost twice the
elevation of the lofty coast. The coal formation of Jame¬
son’s Island, in Scoresby’s Sound, was among the most in¬
teresting of the geographical particulars observed.
The final researches, which terminate our description of
the eastern coast of Greenland, were those made by Cap¬
tain Graah in the years 1829 and 1830, by order of the
king of Denmark. The leading object was to search for
the lost colonies, and trace the coast, if practicable, in boats,
from Cape Farewell up to latitude 69° N., the southernmost
point discovered by Captain Scoresby. The expedition con¬
sisted of two women's boats of the country, rowed by women,
carrying the Danes of the party (Captain Graah and three
others), and attended by five men in their kaijaks. From the
southern island, Cape Farewell, up to latitude 65°, the coast
was found to trend about N.N.E.; and from thence, for 60
to 80 miles (as far as they were able to trace it), the line
was about N.E. The highest point on Captain Graah’s chart
extends to 65° 45', leaving the interval of about 340 miles
(in a north-easterly direction) yet uncertified and unknown.
The pressing of the ice in close contact upon the land pre¬
vented the further navigation of these eastern shores.
The aspect of a country subjected during the greater
part of the year to an intense degree of cold, and also for
several months deprived of the light of the sun, must of
course be dreary and desolate in the extreme. A fall of
snow in the midst of what is here called summer, only be-
F
42 GREENLAND.
Greenland, cause it is not so dismal as the other parts of the year, is by
no means uncommon. Towards the end of autumn it be¬
gins to descend in a regular succession of showers, which
continue until every object is buried beneath a sheet of
dazzling whiteness. Ice also begins to form about this time,
first upon small streams and lakes, then upon larger ones
and inlets of the sea, and finally upon the ocean itself, a
vast extent of the surface of which becomes a solid frozen
mass.
Ere the frost has reached its highest degiee of intensity,
the air deposits its moisture in the form of a fog, which
freezes into a fine gossamer netting or into spicular icicles.
The surface of the ocean also assumes a very remarkable
aspect. It steams like a lime kiln, a phenomenon caWed frost
rime, and caused, as in other instances of the production of
vapour, by the water being still warmer than the superin¬
cumbent atmosphere. As the cold increases both these ap¬
pearances vanish ; the air clears; and the sea, cooled down
to the same standard, becomes a solid floor of congealed salt
water. Winter now broods over the frozen regions of the
higher latitudes in darkness unbroken save by the light of
the moon and the stars, which serves to reveal the desola¬
tion of the scene. Halos and luminous meteors are also
more numerous here than in lower latitudes. But the
aurora borealis, in particular, is highly serviceable in breaking
the monotonous gloom of an arctic winter. This brilliant
meteor plays almost incessantly in fantastic coruscations,
which have the appearance of very vivid sheet lightning, and
keep up an almost constant illumination. Captain Parry ob¬
serves, “ The sound of voices, which, during the cold weather,
could be heard at a much greater distance than usual, served
now and then to break the silence which reigned around us ;
a silence far different from that peaceable composure which
characterizes the landscape of a cultivated country ; it was
the death-like stillness of the most dreary desolation, and
the total absence of animated existence.” During this cheer¬
less period of the year, the natives, thickly covered with
skins, remain generally immured in their miserable huts ;
and, crowding around the stove or lamp, contrive, as far as
possible, to doze away the long and tedious night. The in¬
side of the hut, all openings in the walls of which are care¬
fully stopped to exclude the piercing cold, becomes covered
with a crust of ice; and if for an instant an aperture be
made so as to admit the external air, the moisture within
becomes precipitated in a shower of snow. It may be re¬
marked, however, that the external darkness prevails only
during a part of the day. Twilight exists whenever the
sun is less depressed than eighteen degrees below the hori¬
zon : the limits of total obscuration occur in the latitude of
84^°, at mid-day in the winter solstice. Captain Parry’s
party, when in latitude 74° 40', could see to read the small¬
est print at noon in the middle of winter. After the sun
has appeared above the horizon, the half-famished inhabi¬
tants venture forth in search of food about the shores of the
sea. In June and July the sun is always above the horizon.
The heat, thus greatly augmented, gradually dissolves the
perennial ice. The icy covering of the ocean breaks, and,
separated into vast masses, is driven about, dissevered, and
dispersed by the winds and currents. In particular situa¬
tions the snow and ice of successive years are cast into im¬
mense glaciers, the foundations of which being sapped by
the sea, break off in prodigious masses, and, floating far into
the ocean, present to the mariner a bright but fearful spec¬
tacle, reflecting in varied tints the rays of light, yet threaten¬
ing, if come in contact with, to crush to pieces the stoutest
vessel. P\ot unfrequently they are borne to a great distance
into lower latitudes. In these high latitudes, although the
summer is short, the temperature is frequently oppressively
sultry on land, which causes great humidity in the atmo-
sphere \ a characteristic of the arctic regions.
The mineral productions of the arctic regions are of con¬
siderable interest. Only the shores of the country, how-Greenland,
ever, have been examined, the interior remaining unex-
plored. on account of the eternal ice and snow under which
it is buried. The rocks, as far as they have been examined,
are principally of the primitive formation, consisting of
granite, gneiss, mica slate, hornblende slate, syenite, and
clay slate. Among the secondary rocks is found the secon¬
dary sandstone, or coal formation ; similar to that which
abounds in the vicinity of Edinburgh, and containing im¬
pressions of plants. Specimens of the coal formation, col¬
lected by Captain Scoresby, were found by Professor Jame¬
son to contain impressions of tropical plants ; a very inte¬
resting fact, as connected with the change of temperature
which the earth appears to have undergone. The most
northern part of the coast of East Greenland examined by
Captain Clavering was mountainous, and principally com¬
posed of trap rocks ; lower down Captain Scoresby found
the primitive rocks the prevailing ones among a large and
very general range of geological series. The west coast of
Greenland is similar to that above described. The elevated
parts of the country are for the most part covered with
snow or ice ; and in summer, although rivers appear, which
are fed by the melting of the ice and snow, they are few and
inconsiderable in size. There are also lakes, some of which
are of considerable magnitude, and supplied from the same
source as the rivers. Springs likewise burst forth; and
Giesecke mentions a tidal spring (rising and falling with the
tide), and a thermal spring, which maintains a temperature
of 104°, and flows uninterruptedly during the whole of the
year. The islands upon this coast, the largest of which is
called Disco, are similar in formation to the continent, and
present the same bleak and wintry sterility. Four forma¬
tions have been found on the coast of West Greenland;
namely, primitive, secondary, tertiary, and alluvial. In the
first of these, various curious and rare minerals occur, such
as the cryolite, gadolinite, zircon and sodalite, tourmaline,
and numerous precious stones, such as garnets, iolite, rock-
crystal, and the like ; and in the secondary and tertiary
rocks, limestone containing fishes, and imbedded amber,
have been found. Copper-ore is said to be abundant in
various parts ; and plumbago, iron-ore, and tin-stone, are
found. The lands bordering on Baffin’s Bay, and the
islands lying at the northern extremity of it, are not much
elevated above the level of the sea, the average height be¬
ing 800 feet, and the highest elevations seldom exceeding
1500 feet.
The vegetation of a soil which for two-thirds of the year
is bound together by intense frost, and covered with snow
several feet thick, cannot be supposed to present much
variety or beauty. Even the hardy race of pine trees, which
in North America during severe cold withstand the fury of
the northern tempest, if they make their appearance at all
within the Arctic Circle, dwindle into stunted shrubs, which
only rise a few feet above the ground, throwing out lateral
branches. But to supply this deficiency, and afford to the
Esquimaux the means of making their arms and utensils,
considerable quantities of drift timber are frequently thrown
up on the barren shores. The most abundant plants are
mosses and lichens ; and these are not only copiously pro¬
duced, but they possess a nutritious and salutary quality,
which does not characterize those of the same species that
grow in more temperate climates. Mushrooms and ferns
also find the means of subsistence here ; and there is a thick
tufted juicy plant, of extreme fecundity, emphatically called
scurvy-grass, on account of its acting as an antidote to
scurvy. The different species of sorrel, especially the Ru-
mex digynus, are found flourishing under the snow at the
very furthest limits of vegetation. These are likewise an¬
tidotes to scurvy. During the short gleam of summer some
beautiful specimens of the floral tribe adorn the vegetative
patches, but little of vegetable production useful as food
GREENLAND. 43
Greenland, can be raised under this ungenial sky. The order algce,
■V-*-' especially the species or tribe fucus or sea-weed, grows in
great abundance, and covers the Greenland coast with sub¬
marine meadows. The singular phenomenon of red snow,
which has excited so much interest, is now supposed to re¬
sult from an assemblage of very minute vegetable bodies
belonging to the class of cryptogamic plants, and is termed
Uredo nivalis. The arctic mountains on which Captain
Ross observed the red snow are about 800 feet high, and
extend eight miles in length. Captain Scoresby observed
the same phenomenon on Rathbone Island on the eastern
coast in 1823. Although snow is not the natural situation
of this plant, it possesses a great tenacity of life, and not
only preserves its vitality in winter, but, during the partial
thawing of the snow it multiplies so as to cover a vast ex¬
panse with red suffusion.
Although vegetation be scanty and unimportant in the
arctic regions, there is a remarkable profusion of animal life.
The sea, in particular, swarms with living beings, some of
which are of a magnitude far surpassing anything to be met
with elsewhere. One of the grand articles of food for sup¬
porting these numerous tribes is the genus Medusa of Lin¬
naeus, graphically called by seamen sea-blubber. These
animals are of a soft, gelatinous consistence, and they abound
to an extraordinary extent. By far the most numerous of
the medusan tribes, however, are very minute ; but so plen¬
tiful are they, that about a fourth part of the Greenland sea
is tinged of an olive-green colour by them. This portion
of the ocean is considered as the polar pasture ground, where
whales used to be met with in greatest numbers. Animals
of the class Crustacea stand next in number and import¬
ance as food for the whale. Here various species of the
crab occur in large numbers, as well as of the shrimp, whose
carnivorous propensities, as observed by Parry, are remark¬
ably strong. Many of the zoophitical and molluscous
orders, and several species of marine worms, also abound.
But the cetaceous tribes are by far the largest in size, and
most important to mankind, of the numerous living beings
which inhabit the northern seas. The largest of these is
the whale, the mysticetus being sometimes sixty feet in
length, and the rorqual nearly a hundred. Of whales there
is a considerable variety; and the catching of them has long
been a lucrative speculation, on account of the oil and whale¬
bone derived from them. All the shores and borders of the
arctic zone are frequented by huge amphibious races, which
seem to form an intermediate link between whales and qua¬
drupeds, between the mammalia of the ocean and those of
the land. Amongst these is the morse or walrus, a large and
unwieldy creature, measuring from twelve to fifteen feet in
length, and from eight to ten in circumference. Seals are
very numerous, and constitute both the food and the cloth¬
ing of the Esquimaux, and a profitable fishery to Euro¬
peans. Amongst land animals is the polar bear, whose
ferocity and daring render him one of the most formidable
of quadrupeds. The rein-deer are pretty numerous in some
parts of Greenland during summer, and afford a favourite
object of chase. Their flesh is good, and the skin forms a
very comfortable article of clothing. The arctic fox is met
with in considerable numbers. The dog, however, is the
most important quadruped, and the most valuable to the
Esquimaux, who have succeeded in taming and rendering
it subservient to them in travelling and in hunting. Yoked
to a sledge, these animals can draw a great weight with very
, considerable rapidity. Land birds are not numerous, but
the number of sea-fowl is incredible. The auk, the petrel,
and the gull, in clustered myriads darken the sky, and make
the rocks and shores re-echo with their wild clang. The
goose and the duck are also met with in these regions; and
great flocks of that species of duck called the eider, whose
down is so valuable, arrive in spring on the most northern
shores of Greenland. Amongst other arctic birds are terns,
which produce the most delicate eggs of any water bird; the Greenland.
colymbus (guillemot), whose skin affords a comfortable
article of clothing; the (sand-piper); the charadrius
(plover) ; and the tetrao (grouse and ptarmigan).
The native inhabitants of these countries are the Es¬
quimaux, a race widely diffused over the shores of the
Northern Ocean.
Like the vegetation of these high latitudes, the human
figure is dwarfish in size, and decidedly below the Euro¬
pean standard. A man five feet nine inches in height is
considered as a person of gigantic stature, and, compared
with the average altitude to which they attain, as possess¬
ing amongst them the same superiority of size which a per¬
son six feet two or three inches in height does amongst us.
The body is somewhat thick, but the hands and feet are
small, and the fingers short. The face is generally round
and flat, with prominent cheek bones, but full and plump
cheeks. They are tolerably well shaped; and the female
countenance, although destitute of all pretensions to re¬
gular beauty, has a frank and good-humoured expression ;
and if they would allow it to be purified of its thick incrus¬
tation of grease and dirt, it might even be accounted hand¬
some. The flesh of these people is soft and flabby, and
they have a phlegmatic constitution corresponding to this
habit. The dress of the men consists chiefly in a double
coat of seal-skin or rein-deer; the hairy side of the inner
one being placed next the skin, whilst to the outer one
there is an ample hood attached, which is drawn over the
head. Their breeches are also double, and of the same ma¬
terial, overlapping the boots, which extend to the knee;
the latter are composed either of deer skin, or, if for hunt¬
ing or travelling, of the hide of the seal or the walrus. The
dress of the females is very nearly the same, with some
slight variations in form. The chief distinction lies in their
boots, which are of capacious dimensions, and, like those of
Hudibras, receptacles for whatever sort of goods may come
in the way of the wearer. These habiliments are very neatly
sewed together, an art in which the women display con¬
siderable dexterity. The thread they use is the sinews and
some other parts of animals. There is also some taste shown
in decorating them with parti-coloured stripes of skins.
Like other savages, they are fond of ornaments, and con¬
trive also to paint their bodies.
Under such a rigorous climate, much labour is necessary
to secure subsistence. For nine months the ground is
locked up in frost, and rendered incapable of producing any
root or herb which can constitute a staple article of diet.
They are, moreover, improvident; in consequence of which,
combined with the precarious supply of food, they are often
subjected to severe privation. Yet they are proof against
the lessons of experience, and so happy is their disposition,
that a moment’s gratification of their wants makes them
forget that they had ever suffered from hunger, or that on
the morrow they may again be in the same distress. Hunt¬
ing and fishing are their only resources, and of course their
time is spent in pursuing, by land or sea, the wild animals
by which these are inhabited. During summer, the deer
is pursued with bow and arrow or the gun, and their flesh
and skin are highly prized. But for the greater part of the
year the Esquimaux must seek their food in the waters,
from the seal, the walrus, and sometimes the whale. For
the purposes of respiration, these animals rise above the
water, and the moment they become visible, the Esqui¬
maux attack them with dart or harpoon, to which they have
sometimes a long line attached. The capture of a whale
is the greatest and rarest of their marine achievements.
On these occasions a large body of men assemble armed
with a variety of weapons. The animal, when struck,
plunges under water; but being obliged to rise for air, a
fresh attack is made upon him with their lances, until, ex¬
hausted by fatigue and loss of blood, he falls their prey.
44 G R E
Greenland. These captures are shared amongst the inhabitants of the
village, all the cooking pots in which are put in requisition
when the arrival of one is announced, for the purpose of
boiling the flesh of the animal, which is cut up into dainty
slices. The cooking being finished, the feast commences
by a person first extracting a large piece from the pot, and,
after severing with his teeth as much as the mouth will
hold, handing it to a second person, who does the same,
and he to a third, and so on till the whole is devoured.
There seems to be no assignable limit to the capacity of
an Esquimaux stomach. He has been known to devour, in
twenty-four hours, ten pounds four ounces of solid food, more
than a pint of strong soup, and a gallon and a pint of water.
A single Esquimaux, assisted only by his dogs, will attack
the polar bear without the slightest fear or hesitation; which
indicates no small amount of personal courage. The dogs
keep the ferocious animal at bay, assailing him on all sides,
whilst the master attacks him with his spear, and avoids,
with astonishing adroitness, the furious springs of the enraged
monster. In reflective intellect the Esquimaux have little
to boast of. Although some of them are arch, ingenious,
and jocular, no manifestations of a profound understanding
have yet been discovered amongst them. In arithmetical
skill they are lamentably deficient, being scarcely capable
of counting as far as ten ; and their taste for music is nearly
at as low an ebb. Some of them, however, display a con¬
structive talent, in exercising which the principal tool em¬
ployed is the knife. Their houses are built of various forms
and materials, according to the season and the region of
their residence. Some of their winter houses are of stone
and earth, partly sunk in the ground. Others are of .snow
and ice. Those of ice are built in the following manner:
When winter approaches, the ice is cut into tall square
blocks, with which they construct regular spacious domes,
connected with other smaller ones, for the purposes of do¬
mestic economy. For the admission of light, a round hole
is cut on one side of the roof of each apartment, and a cir¬
cular plate of ice, three or four inches thick, and two or
three feet in diameter, is inserted in it. The light is soft
and agreeable, similar to that which is transmitted by ground
glass, and is quite sufficient for every purpose as long as
there is any light to be derived from without. The inside
of the tenement is shaped with care, and a glossy surface is
then given to it by the effusion of water. The wall soon
becomes a solid mass, which, being a slow conductor, checks
the access of cold. As soon as the snow melts, the Green¬
landers quit their wintry habitations, and erect their tents,
which are of two kinds; one of these is of a pretty solid
construction, and such as forms a fixed summer residence;
the other is of a lighter nature, and can easily be removed
from place to place. It generally consists of poles, upon
which the skins of animals are stretched. Their boats con¬
sist of a light frame-work of wood or bone, which is covered
with seal-skins. There are two kinds of them; one large
for the transport of goods and for the conveyance of women ;
the other small, and fitted to hold only one man. The top
of the latter, which is called a kaijak, is covered over with
seal-skin, but in the middle there is a round opening for
the reception of the Greenlander, who, here seated, propels
himself through the deep by means of an oar, which is fur¬
nished with a broad blade at each end. With this slender
vessel he swims over the billows like a sea bird, and without
much dread of tempests.
In their moral character the Esquimaux inherit more than
an average share of human frailty. Few savage tribes have
made themselves more notorious for dishonest and thievish
dispositions. 1 hey will steal the most useless things. Little
respect indeed is entertained for the rights of property;
gratitude is a virtue almost unknown amongst them ; and
in their habits they are exceedingly licentious, connubial
infidelity being winked at as a very unimportant matter.
G R E
But some tribes, especially those seen by Captain Graah, Greenland,
appeared to possess a much higher moral character. They
also display little or no sympathy or regret for the suffer¬
ings and death of neighbours, or even of relations. The Es¬
quimaux, however, are not inclined to war; they are neither
irascible nor revengeful ; and they treat their offspring
with the greatest tenderness. In their domestic economy,
however, they are uniformly filthy, and disgusting in the
extreme.
These descriptions, however, only apply in their full ex¬
tent to original Esquimaux who have had little or no inter¬
course with Europeans. In the various missionary stations
the grosser aspect has been much modified and changed by
the influence of Christian teaching. And among a no in¬
considerable number of the people the true principles of the
gospel have taken root, and the effects of it have become
apparent in their lives, so as to yield an improvement ge¬
nerally among the population around, and very many indi¬
vidual examples of the true Christian character.
Their language is remarkable for the copiousness of its
grammatical forms. Their particles are as numerous and as
varied as in the Greek; but the rule which directs them to
introduce into the verb all the parts of the sentence gives
rise to words of a disproportionate length. The consonants
r, k, and t predominate in this language, and produce harsh
sounds by their frequent recurrence. The Greenlanders of
the north speak a dialect unintelligible to those of the south ;
according to Captain Ross it is called Kumooke. The Green¬
landers sometimes call themselves Innouk, or brothers ; but
their real national name appears to be Kalalit, and they
commonly designate their country by the name of Kalalit
Nounet. The trade of Greenland is a monopoly in the
hands of the Danish government. Five or six vessels are
annually sent from Copenhagen, about the beginning of
May, with manufactures of various kinds, as well as colonial
produce, as coffee, sugar, tobacco, &c. The exports from
Greenland in 1847-9 averaged about L.l7,000 annually,
and consisted chiefly of seal-skin, deer-skin, oil, whalebone,
and eider-down. (w. s—Y.)
GREENOCK, a seaport town of Renfrewshire, Scot¬
land, on the south bank of the Firth of Clyde, 22 miles
below Glasgow, in N. Lat. 55. 57. 2.. W. Long. 4. 45.
30. In front of the town there is a fine and extensive
bay, formerly known by the name of the Bay of St Law¬
rence, from a religious house that anciently stood there.
Behind the town the land rises into a picturesque ridge of
hills, about 800 feet high, between which and the bay
Greenock stretches for upwards of two miles and a half
along the shore, but its breadth is inconsiderable. Its
name is supposed to be derived from the compound Gaelic
word Grianaig,—Grian signifying sun, and Aig port or
bay,—the bay being directly opposite to the rising sun.
In the earlier part of the 17th century Greenock was an
obscure fishing village, consisting of one row of thatched
cottages ; and in 1716 there were only six slated houses in
the place. In 1589 James VI. granted leave to Schaw, the
proprietor, to erect a place of worship for the convenience
of the inhabitants of the district.
In a charter, dated 5th June 1635, granted by Charles I.
as administrator-in-law to his son Charles, Prince of Scot¬
land, in favour of “ Johne Schaw of Greinock, and Helen
Houston, his spouse,” a novodamus grant is made
“ To the saids Johne Schaw, his spouse, and thair foresaids, off
the toune or village of Greinock, in ane frie brugh of barronie, to ♦
he callit, now and in all tyme cuming, the hrugh of Greinock.”
This charter, which was ratified by the Scottish parliament in 1641,
appears to have excited the jealousy of the neighbouring royal
burgh of Renfrew, whose representative, John Spreule, “pro¬
tested, in name of the Provost, Bailzies, Counsel, and Communitie of
the brugh of Renfrew,” that any ratification of the charter “ be
nae ways prejudicial! to our said brugh liberties, and priviledges
thereof, contenit in our antient infeftments as accords of law.”
GREENOCK.
Greenock. Being merely a burgh of barony, and thereby excluded
from the right of foreign trade, Greenock had to contend
with the royal burghs in its immediate neighbourhood,
Dumbarton, Renfrew, and Glasgow, to which alone this
privilege was accorded. A second charter by Charles II.,
and dated 11th July 1670, grants in favour of “John
Schaw of Greenock in liferent, and of Sir John Schaw,
now of Greenock, designed therein his eldest lawful
son in fee ” of the lands and barony of Greenock, “ with
the harbour built and erected thereupon; ” a new grant
is made “ to the said Sir John Schaw, younger, of Gree¬
nock, and his airs male,” of all casualties of superiority
which might have accrued to His Majesty, “ by reason of
ward, nonentrie, forfaulture, purpresture . . . . or for
building and edifieing the foresaid Harbourie”
It is evident from these extracts that in the interval be¬
tween 1635 and 1670, John Schaw, the elder, had built a har¬
bour at Greenock; and as he had thereby incurred the penalty
of purpresture by encroaching on the ground between the
ebb and flow of the Clyde, the last charter was necessary
to exonerate him therefrom. It further conveyed “ special
and full power and libertie to the said umgl. John Schaw,
and his said sone, and their foresaids, to repair and build
free Ports, Harbouries, and Havening-places, upon any part
of the grounds of the said lands.” John Schaw, the younger,
had distinguished himself in the royal cause at the battle of
Worcester, for which the honour of knighthood had been
conferred upon him, as was subsequently that of baronetcy ;
and to this may probably be attributed the favourable provi¬
sions of the charter.
For upwards of a quarter of a century the original har¬
bour appears to have remained little more than an insuf¬
ficient and insecure landing-place; but on 22d September
1696, an overture was made in the Scottish parliament
“ for building ane harbour at Greenock;—read, and re¬
mitted to the committee of trade.” To this overture re¬
ference is made as follows, in the minute of parliament of
29th November 1700:—“Petition; Sir John and John
Schaw’s, elder and younger, of Greenock, craving that the
act brought in from the committee of trade, allowing the
imposition therein-contained for building ane harbour at
Greenock, be now passed; and the draft of the said act
being also read, it was ordered to lye on the table.” The
petition and draft were again read on 23d December, but
nothing further was done.
Sir John Schaw died in 1702, and was succeeded by his
son of the same name, who, with equal zeal, prosecuted the
erection of a harbour. Notwithstanding the refusal of the
legislature to aid the undertaking, he resolved to accom¬
plish it by advancing his own money, and encouraging his
feuars to advance theirs. To secure repayment an assess¬
ment was voluntarily imposed, and a regular contract to
this end entered into in 1703. The harbour thus origi¬
nated underwent, in the progress of its construction, many
alterations and additions, of which no record now remains ; it
was not finished till 1734. It then comprised an area of 8 acres,
3 roods,and 10 falls; was contained within two quays, east and
west, and equally divided in the centre by a middle quay.
The prosperity of Greenock had continued to advance from
the period of the Union in 1707 ; and in 1710 it was estab¬
lished a custom-house port, and a branch of Port-Glasgow.
In 1751 application was made to parliament, and an act (25
Geo. II.) was procured whereby an imposition of two pen¬
nies Scots, over and above the duty of excise payable to his
Majesty, was laid upon every Scots pint of ale or beer that
should “ either be brewed, brought in, tapped, or sold within
the said town of Greenock ”—made payable to certain trus¬
tees—“ for cleaning, deepening, building, and repairing the
said harbour and piers.” This tax continued to be levied
for thirty years.
Prior to 1772 the harbour had been leased to the town
45
by the superior; in that year, however, the magistrates re- Greenock,
ceived a feu-right thereof from John Shaw Stewart, Esq., who i» v—„ j
had succeeded to the Greenock estate on the death of Sir
John Schaw on 5th April 1752. On the completion of this
transaction, the magistrates having resolved on the erection
of a new quay, a plan of the ground requisite for a new har¬
bour was prepared under the engineering superintendence
of James Watt; and a feu-right thereof was granted to the
magistrates by Lord Cathcart, who was the grandson of
Marion, the only child of the last Sir John Schaw, and in¬
herited thereby a part of the Greenock estate. The trans¬
action is dated 3d March 1773 ; and at the same time the
magistrates and council brought their first bill into parlia¬
ment, “ for deepening, cleansing, and making more commo¬
dious the harbour of Greenock.” This act received the
royal assent on the 1st of April following ; and the works it
contemplated were prosecuted during many subsequent years.
Various acts of parliament having reference to successive
enlargements and alterations of the harbours were from time
to time procured as the increase of trade rendered such
necessary, so that now of the original erections scarcely a
vestige remains. In 1785 a dry dock was built in the west¬
ern division of the old harbour, the expense of which was
'defrayed by subscription; and in 1818 the magistrates and
council contracted lor and built another, and greatly larger,
entering from what is now known as the East India Harbour,
and which was finished in 1824 at an expense of L.20,000.
On the 29th day of May 1805 was laid the foundation-
stone of the East India Harbour; and almost contempo¬
raneously with this large addition to the dock accommoda¬
tion of Greenock, a general improvement and renovation of
the quays and breasts of the older portions of the harbour
were undertaken. These works, which were very exten¬
sive, and involved an expenditure of upwards of L.120,000,
were not completed till September 1819.
The steadily increasing trade of the port rendered a fur¬
ther extension of dock accommodation absolutely necessary;
and in 1840 an act was procured for the construction of an
entirely new harbour and dock. Six years subsequently, the
work was commenced on a site directly east of the East India
Harbour, and on the 17th October 1850 the new dock was
formally opened, under the designation of Victoria Harbour.
It consists of a tidal basin, covering an area of about 6 acres, and
exceeding 30 feet in depth. The east and west walls are each 563
feet long; and the outer quay wall, divided by the entrance, 150
feet wide, is 176 feet long on the west, and 60 on the east side.
The average width of the quays on the east, west, and south, is up¬
wards of 85 feet, and on the north, toward the river, it is 70. The
depth of water within the basin is 26 feet at high tide, and 14 feet
at low water. The whole work, which is of the most substantial
character, cost upwards of L. 120,000; and, as a tidal harbour, has
not, in respect of its size and depth, its equal in the world. On
the east side a massive crane, capable of lifting from 70 to 80 tons,
has been erected; and here many of those gigantic steam vessels, for
which the Clyde has become universally famous, are fitted with
their engines. A crane has also been erected at the East India
Harbour capable of lifting 40 tons.
With the clay and earth dug out of the Victoria Harbour an
embankment was formed toward the west end of the town, reclaim¬
ing upwards of 4 acres of ground between high and low water-mark.
The walls, which are founded 6 feet beneath low water, extend 600
lineal feet parallel with the river, and upwards of 300 feet on the
east and west. A landing slip is formed on the eastern side. The
depth of water hereby secured is at high tide from 16 to 18 feet.
This embankment is denominated Albert Quay, and is used for the
discharge of timber-laden vessels : a portion has recently been
leased for a ship-building yard.
The old graving docks having become altogether inadequate, the
harbour trustees have recently purchased, for upwards of L.30,000
several acres of ground adjoining Albert Quay, and here it is in
contemplation to construct a new harbour, with the requisite dock
accommodation for repairing the largest vessels.
The following measurements show the extent of the existing dock
and quay accommodation:—
Albert quay and slip  906 lineal feet.
West harbour and quays   3940 feet, girthed.
46
GREENOCK.
girthed.
wide.
girthed.
wide.
Greenock. Entrance to harbour  130 feet wi e.
^ v y Custom-house quay  ( 990
East India harbour and quays  3200
Entrance to harbour  1^0
Victoria harbour and quays   2200
Entrance to harbour  I-50
The harbour trustees, who manage the affairs of the
docks, consist of the town-council, and commissioners an¬
nually elected. Greenock enjoys coasting and foreign tiade
to a very considerable extent. In 1/19 a vessel hom
this port first crossed the Atlantic; but shortly afteiwards
the shipping rapidlv increased, for the Union had now
opened full prospects to Scottish industry. With such
rapidity did Greenock extend her maritime relations that
the jealousy of the traders of London, Liverpool, and Liistol
was excited. They accused the merchants of Gieenock
and Port-Glasgow of defrauding the revenue, but the charge
was triumphantly refuted. The earliest trade seems to have
been in herrings, and it is still continued, the amount cured
annually averaging about 19,000 barrels. 1 rading in tobacco
was also carried on at a very early period. It was first
brought from the colonies, and then exported to the Con¬
tinent. The Greenland whale-fishing commenced as far
back as 1752, but it never rose to be of any importance, and
is now discontinued. The American W ar greatly interrupted
the progress of Greenock, as the principal trade of the port
was then with that country; but after the peace in 1783
it speedily revived, and within the seven following years
the shipping trade was tripled in amount. At present the
principal intercourse is with the East and West Indies,
Australia, and North America. Newfoundland and South
America have also employed a considerable quantity of
shipping. The gradual increase of trade is shown by the
following tables :—
Account of the gross receipt of customs at the port of Greenock
during 1728, and various subsequent years.
1728  L.15,231
1770   57,336
1802   211,087
1822   263,464
1831   592,008
1839  L.315,084
1846   324,477
1848   407,083
1851   410,206
1852   429,535
The stationary state of the duties of late years is ascribed partly
to their reduction, and partly to the improvements effected in
the navigation of the Clyde, which enable vessels that formerly had
to load and unload here or at Port-Glasgow, to ascend to Glasgow.
Account of the number of registered vessels belonging to the Port
of Greenock during the years 1825, 1834, 1845, and 1853.
No. Tons.
1825 241 29,054
1834 367 40,733
1845 428 82,744
1853   418 73,898
Of these last, 14 vessels, with an aggregate of 2012 tons, were
steamers.
Account of the number and tonnage of vessels that entered and cleared
from and to foreign forts in various years since 1784.
1784.. .
1804 ..
1824.. .
1834.. .
1853.. .
INWARDS.
No. Tons.
52
165
188
277
274
6,569
30,802
46,162
69,843
94,575
No. Tons.
530
5,120
3,054
2,073
13,764
OUTWARDS.
No. Tons.
63
155
188
284
153
7,297
31,896
46,857
71,698
55,630
Foreign.
No. Tons.
520
5,965
2,699
2,140
11,975
In 1830, 684 vessels of 67,884 tons entered, and 796 vessels of
81,988 tons cleared coastwise at the port.
In 1853, 574 sailing vessels of 38,328 tons, and 214 steam vessels
of 39,511 tons entered, and 162 sailing vessels of 8662 tons, and
102 steam vessels of 10,752 tons cleared at the port.
Prior to 1/41 the police and burgh affairs of Greenock were ex¬
clusively in the hands of the superior, through whose baron-bailie
they were ministerially discharged. By a series of charters, how¬
ever, dated respectively 30th January 1741, 10th April, and 2d Greenock.
September 1751, Sir John Schaw conferred power upon the feuars
and sub-feuars to elect nine trustees from among themselves,
whereof two to be bailies, one to be treasurer, and the other six to
be councillors for the good government of the town, and public
funds thereof. Authority was given to hold weekly courts, to pu¬
nish delinquents, to make laws for maintaining order, and to admit
merchants and tradesmen to the privilege of burgesses. The burghal
affairs of the town continued to be administered under the charter
of September 1751 till 14th November 1833, when the election of
councillors took place under the provisions of the Reform Act.
That act conferred no special benefit upon Greenock in respect of
the election of councillors, as under the charter referred to, the
qualified electors of Greenock formed the most numerous consti¬
tuency in Scotland. The town is divided into 5 municipal wards;
and the town-council consists of a provost, 4 bailies, a treasurer, and
ten councillors. A sheriff criminal court, sheriff small-debt court,
and justice-of-peace court respectively are held every week.
Greenock has a very irregular appearance, and, until lately, the
drainage of the town was very defective. A thorough system of
drainage, however, has recently been instituted, and a correspond¬
ing improvement in the healthiness of the place is the result. The
town is rapidly extending on the east by the increase of ship-build¬
ing yards and other public works; and on the west a series of
elegant and handsome villas stretch along the shore. The view
from the heights above the town is exceedingly beautiful. Amongst
the public structures which deserve to be noticed is the custom-house,
a handsome edifice in a good Doric style, erected in 1818, at a cost
of L.30,000. It is seen to much advantage, being situated in the
centre of the quay. The tontine is a substantial and handsome
building, erected in 1801, at a cost of L.10,000, and containing one
large hall, and many smaller rooms. Besides these, the town can boast
of several other handsome buildings. The railway to Raisley and
Glasgow was opened in 1841. The line is 22J miles in length. In
1828, a gas work was constructed at an expense of nearly L.9000,
and being exclusively the property of the corporation, has hitherto
been conducted with great advantage to the inhabitants. The West
Parish church is a graceful and elegant structure. The Watt mo¬
nument was erected in Union Street in 1838 to commemorate the
genius of James Watt, who was born in Greenock. It is in the
early English style of architecture, after a design by Blore, and has
cost upwards of L.8000, of which the son of W att contributed
L.3000. It contains an exquisitely finished statue of the philoso¬
pher by Chantrey.
Within this building also is the public library, founded in 1783,
and now containing upwards of 12,000 volumes. A mechanics’
library was founded in 1832; and a mechanics’ institution erected
in 1840.
On the high ground between Greenock and Gourock stands the
Wood Mariners’ Asylum, a very handsome and extensive erection
in the style of the Tudor period. It is the fruit of the generosity
of the late commissary-general Sir Gabriel Wood, a native of
Greenock, who died in 1845. It was founded for the benefit of
decayed master mariners and seamen belonging to the various sea¬
ports on the Clyde. This building, which cost L.10,000, was
begun in 1850, and opened in 1854. It provides accommodation for
50 inmates, although in the meantime only 25 have been admitted.
Greenock grammar-school was founded in the middle of last cen¬
tury. Its business was conducted in hired school-rooms till the
present year (1855), when a handsome building in the old monas¬
tic style, erected by public subscription, was opened.
The Highlanders’ Academy, a substantial and handsome building,
was erected in 1836. There are various other educational institutions
in Greenock adapted to every class.
The town is plentifully supplied with water, brought by an
aqueduct 6Jf miles in length, from an artificial lake in the neigh¬
bouring highlands, which receives the waters of a number of small
streams. Eor several miles it runs at an elevation of oOO feet
above the level of the sea, and in the vicinity of the town it pours
down a torrent of water in successive falls, affording water-power
to a number of mills erected on its course. There is also a com¬
pensation reservoir covering 40 acres of ground, besides other
smaller basins : Also a series of self-acting sluices, constructed in a
most ingenious manner, not only obviating all danger of an over¬
flow, but preserving every drop of water even during the greatest
floods. The whole of this magnificent public work, including two
expensive filters, was planned by Mr Thom, an ingenious engineer,
and executed under his directions at an expense of L.90,000.
The mill of the Shaws Water Cotton Spinning Company, erected
in connection with the preceding works, was founded in June
1838, and opened in March 1841. It is an oblong building, 300
feet long, 65 wide, and 4 stories high. The centre portion pro¬
jects, with a pediment on the top, surmounted by an octagon bel¬
fry. Each room is 215 feet long, and 61 broad, and the ceilings
G JR, E
Greenock. are supported by two ranges of cast-iron pillars, 20 in each. The
wheel-house, which stands at a little distance from the main build¬
ing, is 90 feet long and 33 broad. The base of the building is
nearly 50 feet below, while the roof is about 35 feet above, the
level of the road. The wheel itself is, in respect of its size and
structure, unequalled in the world. It measures 70 feet 2 inches
in diameter, or 220 feet 6 inches in circumference; the axle is of
cast-iron, and weighs 11 tons; the centres or naves, into which the
arms and braces are fitted with gibs and cutters, are 10 feet in
diameter, and weigh 8J tons each ; the sole of the wheel is con¬
structed of iron plates, fastened with 20,000 rivets; the buckets
are 160 in number, and each contains 100 gallons of water ; the
wheel revolves once in a fraction more than a minute, and, with a
full supply of water, is equal to 200 horse power. The weight of
the whole is 117 tons. The spur wheel, with its shaft, weighs
23 tons, measures upwards of 18 feet in diameter, and revolves at
the rate of 600 feet per minute. The wheel, with all its accompany-
ing apparatus, was the workmanship of the late Mr Smith of
Deanston, The mill, when fully engaged, occupies 600 hands.
A new cemetery, in the south-western part of the town, was
opened in 1846. it contains upwards of 20 imperial acres, the
carriage ways and walks alone considerably exceeding five miles.
On the high ground at the eastern end of the town, and com¬
manding an extensive view of the river and adjacent country,
stands the mansion-house, the old residence of the Schaw family.
Adjoining this building lies the Well Park, an extensive piece
of table-land overlooking the town, and inclosing the old well, on
which is the date 1629. In 1851 this was generously given to the
public by Sir M. R. S. Stewart. It is finely laid out with plants
and evergreens, and forms an agreeable promenade ground.
Another and larger park, the Wellington Park, has since been ap¬
propriated by the same donor exclusively to the use of the work¬
ing classes; and here bowling, quoiting, and other athletic exer¬
cises, for which it has been adapted at the expense of the town,
are zealously prosecuted.
Greenock is divided into three parishes, named respectively the
Old or West, the Middle, and the East. The first church was built
in 1591 on a piece of ground which at that period lay close to
the shore. It was condemned in 1837. Its ruins now stand in the
centre of a venerable burying-ground, near the spot where a part
of the rebel forces raised by the Earl of Argyle landed in 1685.
Within the burying-ground lie the remains of Burns’ Highland
Mary, and over the spot apublic monument, bearing an appropriate
inscription, was erected in 1842.
The New or Middle Parish was dissociated from the Old in 1741.
The church, a plain but elegant edifice, was erected in 1757.
The East Parish was disjoined from the Old, and constituted a
sepjarate parish in 1809. The original church, which was built as
a chapel of ease in 1774, was condemned in 1851, and a plain but
elegant structure wras erected by the town-council in 1853.
A church, containing nearly 1200 sittings, was built by sub-
scripjtion as a chapjel of ease in the north-western part of the town
in 1823, and subsequently designated the North Parish Church.
Having stood empty since 1843, it has recently been sold, and is
about to be converted into a pjublic bazaar and hall for public meet¬
ings. There are also in Greenock 6 Free Church places of worship,
4 United Presbyterian, a Congregational, an Episcopalian, an Evan¬
gelical Union, a Roman Catholic, a Methodist, a Baptist, an Irvingite,
and a Reformed Presbyterian chapel. A sailors’ home, capable of
accommodating 40 inmates, was opened in 1852. In connection with
this there is a chapel containing 300 sittings, in which divine ser¬
vice is regularly conducted by a chaplain. Attached to the institu¬
tion are a school, reading-room, library, and other advantages.
The manufactures of Greenock are various, but the prin¬
cipal are those immediately connected with the commercial
interests of the port. Shipbuilding, of which there are seven
large establishments, was introduced at an early period, and
has largely increased of late years in connection with the
use of iron in the construction of vessels. Four yards em¬
ploy iron almost exclusively; and several of the largest
steamers and merchant ships afloat have been built here.
There is one patent slip which is large enough to admit a
vessel of 400 tons register. Boat building is also exten¬
sively carried on; and in connection with these naval esta¬
blishments are 2 sail-cloth factories, o rope-works, and 5
sail-making sheds. There are also several extensive engi¬
neering establishments, machine manufactories, and forges.
Greenock is the chief seat of sugar-refining in Scotland, in
which department there are 11 houses. In addition to the
cotton mill formerly described, there are two woollen fac-
G It E 47
tories, a flax mill, a paper mill, 3 dyewood mills, 6 grain Greenwich,
mills, 4 steam-saw mills, a distillery, 2 breweries, 5 tanneries, '
a pottery, several chemical works, and various other esta¬
blishments common to large towns. 1 he manufacture of
straw-plait was extensively prosecuted for some years, but
has gradually declined, and is now almost extinct. Letter-
press printing was introduced in 1765, but the first book
was not printed till 1810. There are 2 bi-weekly news¬
papers. During summer steamers arrive and depart from
and to the principal places on the coast several times each
day; there is also daily communication by steamboat with
Liverpool, and various Irish ports. Trains run to and from
Glasgow almost every hour, and the time occupied by
express is 40 minutes. The philanthropic and benevolent,
institutions of the town are numerous, and comprehend
various objects, domestic and foreign. A man-of-war is
permanently stationed in the roadstead to receive volun¬
teers for the navy.
The opposition to the monopoly of the East India Com¬
pany originated with the merchants of Greenock in 1812,
who were the first publicly to petition against that abuse.
Greenock confers the second title of the noble family of
Cathcart, who are descended from Marion, the only child
of the last Sir John Schaw. The population in 1741 was
4100; in 1841, 38,846; in 1851,39,391. (j. M. J.)
GREENWICH, a market-town of the county of Kent,
in the hundred of Blackheath, within the lathe of Sutton,
and five miles from London. It is situated on the south
bank of the Thames, and extends along the shore of it.
Though extensive, it is a single parish, and is at the present
time well furnished with places of worship, having two large
churches in the central part of the parish, and two others,
one at the eastern and the other at the western extremity,
besides other churches and chapels of the established reli¬
gion, and several others belonging to various denominations
of dissenters.
The most attractive object is the royal hospital for aged,
decayed, or wounded seamen, built on a plan formed by Sir
Christopher Wren, and devoted by William III. to this pur¬
pose. The building consists of four piles detached from each
other, but so arranged as to form a complete square, open
towards the river. The several divisions are occupied either
as the residences of the governor or other officers ; and there
are a hall, a chapel, and apartments for the accommodation
of the pensioners. The latter are appropriated for seamen,
consisting of a cabin with a single bed, and a long gallery
into which each cabin opens, where free air and recreation
may be enjoyed. The hall is a magnificent apartment, de¬
corated with excellent paintings on allegorical subjects con¬
nected with naval affairs, by Sir James Thornhill. This
establishment has at present upwards of 3000 pensioners, be¬
sides between 5000 and 6000 others, called out-pensioners,
who receive stipends at various rates. There is connected
with it an infirmary, a school for several hundred boys, and
other institutions, but without the walls. The pensioners
are amply supplied with food, are well and uniformly clothed
and warmly lodged, and are, besides, supplied with the
sailor’s most indispensable luxury, tobacco. The whole
expense of maintenance is about L.26, 10s. a head, but
varying with the fluctuation of the prices of bread, meat,
and malt. See Greenwich Hospital.
Next to the Royal Hospital, the most remarkable insti¬
tution is the Royal Observatory, primarily established in
the reign of Charles the Second, for the advancement of
navigation and nautical astronomy, but which has, since that
time, under its successive able directors, Flamsteed, Bradley,
Maskelyne, Pond, and Airy, won an unrivalled reputation
for the excellence and variety of its observations, and for
the advancement which it has given to all branches of
astronomical science. Its organization at present is very
complete, and it is enabled to take under its charge the
43
G R E
Greenwich control of magnetical and meteorological science, together
lospital. with the transmission of time throughout England by means
of electro-magnetic circuits, in addition to the usual work
of an astronomical observatory. The chief astronomical in¬
struments in use at present are a very large transit circle,
and an altitude and azimuth instrument of sufficient firm¬
ness to produce lunar observations of first-rate excellence.
To carry out the various details of the observations and pro¬
cesses employed, including the general use of photographic
and electric manipulations, a large staff of assistants and
computers is required, amounting on the whole to fourteen
or fifteen persons.
The Park of Greenwich is an object of great attraction,
and the hill behind commands a prospect over London and
the plains of Essex. There are well-supplied markets on
Wednesday and Saturday. It returns two members to par¬
liament. In 1851 the population of the parish was 35,028,
and of the parliamentary borough, 105,784.
Greenwich has always been famed for the excellence of
its local charities, amongst which those most deserving of
notice are—the Jubilee Almshouses, for the maintenance of
a certain number of aged women; the Bluecoat Girls’ School
for boarding, clothing, and educating as many girls as the
funds will allow; and the Bluecoat Boys’ School. It has
also two branches of the National School for boys and girls.
From the salubrity of the air and the beauty of the
scenery around Greenwich, its neighbourhood has always
possessed a great number of boarding schools and other
educational institutions of a superior class. Of these may
be mentioned a very large proprietary school for boys in¬
tended for commercial or professional pursuits.
Greenwich Park and Blackheath form the pleasure-ground
of the population of London ; and on every public holiday,
especially at the two fairs held at Easter and Whitsuntide,
a very large number of persons crowd to Greenwich by the
steamboats, railroads, and other means of conveyance, partlv
to partake in the amusements that are to be found there,
and partly, we may presume, to enjoy the fresh air and de¬
lightful views attainable from the Park and its neighbour¬
hood. Under the metropolitan police regulations the good
order uniformly preserved amongst so large a concourse of
people is very remarkable ; scenes of riot and confusion
rarely occur ; and nothing is needed but a little co-operation
of the wealthier classes to render these periodical gatherings
at Greenwich a source of profitable delight, as well as of
mere amusement to the numerous visitors.
Greenwich Hospital is a royal foundation, erected by
the munificence of William and Mary (originating, as is
generally believed, with the queen), by letters patent of
25th October 1694. The hospital occupies the site of the
old palace, called CtvggtiwicIi 11qhsg, which was from very
early times a residence of our sovereigns. Edward III. had
a palace there. Henry IV. resided much at Greenwich, and
his will is dated from his manor of Greenwich. It was granted
by Henry V. to the youngest son of John of Gaunt, and re¬
verted again to the crown on his death (25th Henry VL).
Edward IV. took great delight in the palace, and enlarged
it at much cost. He granted it to his queen, Elizabeth.
It afterwards came into the possession of Henry VII., who
enlarged and beautified it, and resided much there. Henry
VIIL was at great expense to render the palace worthy of
Ins sumptuous court. He called this his manor of pleazaunce,
and held there many great banquets and royal ceremonies!
Queen Elizabeth made many additions to the buildino-, and
resided much there. James I. laid the foundation of the
House of Delight, which afterwards became the residence
of the governor of the hospital. Charles I. resided fre¬
quently at the palace; and his queen furnished, with extra¬
ordinary magnificence, the building begun by his prede¬
cessor. At his death, it was taken possession of by the
officers of the Commonwealth, who excepted it, for their
G R E
own use, from the general ordinance passed 16th July 1649
for the sale of the crown lands; but upon their subsequent
necessities for the support of the navy, it was ordered by
the House of Commons, 27th November 1652, to be im¬
mediately sold for ready money. Preparations to give effect
to this order were made, and some small part of the out¬
buildings was sold. I he palace and park were, however
(with other of the royal palaces), assigned by the House of
Commons for the accommodation of the Lord Protector,
and happily reverted to the crown on the restoration of
Charles IL, by whom the west wing of the present hospital
buildings was added, as part of an extensive design. (Has-
ted’s History of Kent.) The palace remained in the un¬
finished state in which Charles II. left it, when it was as¬
signed by the patent of William and Mary to certain of
the great officers of state, as commissioners for its conver¬
sion into an hospital for seamen. This was followed in the
succeeding year by a patent, dated 10th September 1695,
which recited that the object of the institution was to make
some competent provision that seamen who, by age, wounds,
or other accidents, should become disabled for further ser¬
vice at sea, and should not be in a condition to maintain
themselves comfortably, might not fall under hardships and
miseries, but might be supported at the public charge ; and
that children of such disabled seamen, and the widows and
children of such seamen as should happen to be slain in the
king’s service, might, in some reasonable manner, be pro¬
vided for and educated. The patent appointed Prince
George of Denmark, several of the great officers of state,
nobility, bishops, and others, to be commissioners for these
purposes; and required them to consider how they might
be best carried out, and the palace best converted for the
charitable object to which it was assigned, and also to frame
for his majesty’s approval a charter of foundation. The
government ot the hospital has been continued in similar
commissions in subsequent reigns, and the most distin¬
guished persons have been appointed commissioners.
George III., by his charter of 5th December 1775, incor¬
porated the commissioners, vesting the goods and revenues
of the hospital in them, and gave to them and their succes¬
sors a perpetual succession.
The revenues of the hospital have been derived from
several sources. William III. contributed by grant L.2000
a-year towards perfecting the work, and authorized the
commissioners to receive voluntary gifts and subscriptions
in aid. Above L.50,000 had been expended, on Queen
Anne’s accession, upon the buildings, which though still
very incomplete, were so far in a state of readiness that, in
December 1705, 100 disabled seamen were taken into the
hospital. On the 1st July 1708, the number amounted to
350, and the income was estimated at L.12,000 a-year;
half of which was applied to the maintenance of the seamen,
and the other half to the completion of the buildings.
By statute 7th and 8th Will. III., cap. 21 (1696), sea¬
men in the royal navy and the merchant service were com¬
pelled to contribute 6d. per month from their wages to the
support of the hospital, and the advantages of the institu¬
tion were extended to both services. The latter, perhaps,
did not receive their share of these advantages, for in the
following year it was provided, by 8th and 9th Will. HI.,
cap. 23, that, for avoiding all partiality and favour, any per¬
sons entitled shall be admitted in succession, one after the
other, according to their priority of registration. But this
did not last long, for we find it enacted in 1703 (2d and 3d
Anne, cap. 6), that the admiralty shall thenceforth have
full power to appoint disabled seamen and their widows and
children, and the widows and children of seamen killed in
the service, notwithstanding the provisions of the two pre¬
ceding statutes in favour of the merchant seamen who made
compulsory contribution to the support of the hospital. The
funds ol the hospital in its infancy were also supported bv
Greenwich
Hospital.
G R E
Greet occasional grants. By 4th Anne, cap. 12, the queen was
II _ authorized to appropriate to its use L.6472, the proceeds of
Calendar" ^ie S00(^s °f Kidd the notorious pirate. By 8th Geo. II.,
a en ai\ ^ forfeited estates of the Earl of Derwentwater, attainted
of high treason (estimated to produce L.6000 a-year), were
devoted to its completion and support; and by statutes of
the same reign, six sums of L.10,000 were devoted to the
same objects. Shares of prize money, of penalties in cer¬
tain cases, percentage upon bounty money, upon freightage
of treasure, and forfeited seamen’s pay, were also assigned
to the support of the hospital.
Within the last five years great changes have been made in the
management of the hospital and its revenues. In 1825, by statute
5th Geo. IV., cap. 26, the Royal Naval Asylum (a school for the
education of 800 boys, the children of seamen of the royal and the
merchant navy) was consolidated in its government and funds with
the hospital. In 1829 the corporation was dissolved by statute 10th
Geo. IV., cap. 25, and the estates were vested in the treasurer of the
navy, the first commissioner of woods, and three other persons
named in the statute, whose appointments were during pleasure, and
to whom the crown is empowered to appoint successors, while the
lords of the admiralty assign their salaries. In 1834 the contribu¬
tion out of seamen’s wages was abolished, and in lieu thereof a
sum of L.20,p00 annually towards the support of the hospital was
charged upon the consolidated fund.
The management of the civil affairs of the hospital is now vested
in the five commissioners appointed under the above statute. Sub¬
ject to the control and direction of the lords of the admiralty, they
have power to make all contracts for the supply of the establish¬
ment, to execute all agreements, mortgages, and bonds relating to
the corporate property, to grant leases, and to purchase, sell, and
convey land. The governor of the hospital is charged with the
maintenance of discipline and good order. The civil department
consists of the five commissioners who are appointed by the crown
on the nomination of the prime minister,—the two ex-officio com¬
missioners receiving no salary, the other three L.600 a-year each 
a secretary, clerks, and other officers. The military department
consists of the governor, salary L.1500 a-year, lieutenant-governor,
salary L 800 a-year, appointed in the same manner as the commis¬
sioners, four captains, four commanders, eight lieutenants, two mas¬
ters, chaplains, surgeons, and other officers. With the above ex¬
ceptions, all the appointments, civil and military, and the jmesenta-
tion to livings belonging to the hospital property, are in the gift of
the first lord of the admiralty. The number of pensioners main¬
tained in 1849 was 2710.
The revenue of the hospital in 1849 (for which year the latest ac¬
counts are printed) was—
Net produce of the estates  L.29 219
Rents in Greenwich  2>531
Interest on invested property  82 491
From consolidated fund, in lieu of merchant-sea¬
men’s sixpences  20 000
Freightage of treasure  10 406
Other small contingent receipts, including sale of
L.3000 stock to purchase river frontage  3 73Q
, _ _ . L.148,383
And the expenditure for the same year was—
Household and contingent expenses, comprising the
maintenance, clothing, and allowances to 2710
pensioners and 97 nurses, with salaries and wages
to the subordinate officers and servants, and all
works and repairs L.112 375
Charge for the royal naval schools  18 684
Parochial and assessed taxes  1341
Annuity pursuant to 28th Geo. III., cap. 63, to Lady
Newburgh.  lj000
Purchaseof river frontage and property for improve-
™ents   12,890
Other small charges  667
L.116,957
It is stated that under the arrangements made pursuant to the
acts of 1829 and 1834, the hospital surrendered L.42,000 a-year of
its revenues.—(Ho. Comm. Return, 1850. No. 495.) (s. R.)
GREET, in England, a small picturesque trout river in
the centre of Nottinghamshire. It rises in Jenkin’s Carr,
near Farnsfield, and falls into the Trent close by the vil¬
lage of Fiskerton.
GREGORIAN CALENDAR, one which shows the new
VOL. XI.
G R E
49
and full moon, with the time of Easter, and the moveable Gregory I.
feasts, by means of epacts disposed through the several e ^
months of the Gregorian year. See Calendar, vol. vi., p.
85-89; Chronologv, vol. vi., p. 668.
GREGORY L, called the Great, elected Pope in 590,
was born at Rome about the middle of the sixth century.
His family was both wealthy and noble, and in his thirtieth
year he was appointed praetor of Rome. He soon abdicated
office, however; and on his father’s death he surrendered his
whole fortune to the church, building six monasteries in
Sicily and one at Rome, to which he himself retired, in¬
tending for the future to lead a strictly ascetic life. Seeing
one day some English slaves of striking beauty exposed for
sale in the market, he suddenly cried out that their coun¬
trymen would be not “ Angli” but “Angeli,” if they were
only Christians, and straightway formed the resolution of
evangelizing Britain. He set out secretly on his mission ;
but his friends, who had been watching his movements,
speedily brought him back. The Pope of that day, Pela-
gius II., then sent him on an embassy to Constantinople to
beg assistance against the Longobardi who were threaten¬
ing Rome. On Gregory’s return from the Eastern capital,
Pelagius died of the plague, and he was unanimously cho¬
sen to succeed him. He strongly deprecated the honour,
and wrote to the Emperor Maurice imploring him not to
confirm his nomination. A pious fraud committed by the
city praetor then in office prevented these letters from
reaching their destination; and though Gregory even hid ,
himself for a time, he was at length obliged to yield to the
instances of his friends and accept the Papal crown. As
soon as he was seated on the throne he began with vigour
the work of reform, and not only put an end to the corrup¬
tions and abuses that had been creeping into the church
since the days of St Paul, but sent out his missionaries to
the ends of the known world. In Lombardy he crushed
the remains of Arianism ; in Africa he weakened the sect
of the Donatists; in Spain he effected the conversion of
the monarch; and in England he gained many thousands
of converts among all classes of the people. When John
the Abstinent of Constantinople assumed the title of “ (Ecu¬
menic Patriarch,” Gregory protested strongly, alleging that
the Pope himself had declined the title when offered him
by the council of Chalcedon, and that for his part he gloried
in being called the “ Servant of God’s Servants.” On this
principle he contented himself with advising the bishops
without dictating to them. Though he was unweariedly
zealous in propagating the gospel, he strictly abstained from
using cruel or dishonest means to gain his end. He was
perfectly tolerant of Jews and heretics ; set a good example
in liberating his slaves; and when master of all the wealth
of the Roman see, remained till his death as austere an as¬
cetic as when he was a simple deacon in the monastery of
St Andrew. He died at Rome in 604.
Of Gregory’s works the most important are his Moralium
Libri xxxv, and his two books of homilies on Ezekiel and
the Gospels; his Letters, which, as might have been ex¬
pected, throw much light on the history of the times ; and
his Dialogues, in which are described the miraculous works
of several saints—all related with the artless naivete of
entire belief. Some grave imputations have been cast upon
Gregory, but, as is now known, on very insufficient grounds.
He has been accused, for instance, of burning all the remains
of ancient literature in the Palatine library. It is known,
indeed, that he looked upon such works with suspicion, and
forbade them to be read by the faithful; but the sacrilege
attributed to him was not perpetrated till many centuries
after his time, as is proved in the admirable Art de Veri¬
fier les Dates. Equally unfounded is the charge brought
against him of destroying the monuments of ancient Roman
art, a crime which rather lay at the door of the countless
pilgrims who used to visit the Eternal City. So far indeed
50 G R E
Gregory is this accusation from being true as regards Gregory, that
VII. he is known to have reprimanded Serenus, bishop of Mar-
seilles, for having given over the images in his church to
the iconoclasts, and to have charged the missionaries
whom he sent forth, to preserve and purify the pagan
temples.
Gregory VII., one of the greatest of the Roman pon¬
tiffs, was born, about 1013, at Soano in Tuscany, where it
was said that his father was a carpenter. His own name was
Hildebrand. He is first met in history as prior of the Abbey
of Clugni, where he was held in high esteem for the depth
of his learning, the sanctity of his life, and the severity of
his self-discipline. Some services which he rendered to
Bruno, bishop of Toul, who was on his way to Rome to take
possession of the chair of St Peter (which he occupied under
the title of Leo IX.), were the immediate causes of his rise.
The grateful Pope made him a cardinal, sub-deacon of
Rome, and superintendent of the convent and church of St
Paul. Leo’s successors, Victor, Stephen, Nicholas, and Alex¬
ander, were in reality nothing but tools in Hildebrand’s hands,
chosen by his influence to wear the insignia of the Papal
rule till the time when he believed that he might him¬
self assume them. At length, in 1073, the moment
seemed favourable. Alexander died ; and Hildebrand, as
if in obedience to the tumultuous demands of the mob,
was compelled, as it seemed against his will, to mount the
vacant throne. But he refused to put on the tiara of St
• Peter without first obtaining the sanction of the Emperor
of Germany. As soon as, by an act of adroit humility, he
had gained this point, he was proclaimed Pope, by the title
of Gregory VII. Once firmly established, Gregory deter¬
mined to give practical effect to the two leading ideas of his
life. The first of these was the reformation of the Church,
whose ministers, especially in Germany and the north of
Italy, had long practised simony without let or hindrance,
besides leading grossly immoral lives. The second was the
total emancipation of the Church from the interference of
the civil power. In this way he saw that the sole right of
distributing the valuable patronage of the Church would
come to be vested in the Church herself. The latter of
these ideas he determined to work out through the former,
and a pretext for immediate action was not long want¬
ing. One of the most flagrant of the sinners whom Gre¬
gory was bent on punishing was Henry IV. of Ger¬
many, a man of naturally fine qualities, but vain, licentious,
grasping, and always in want of money. To meet the
expenses of the wars he was constantly waging with his
rebellious barons, he openly sold the most valuable sees in
his empire to men whose only qualification was a round sum
of ready money. Gregory, resolved on putting an end to
the practice, first warned the emperor by letter; and, when
no heed was given to his admonitions, sent legate after
legate to bring the imperial sinner to reason. When these
means failed, Gregory’s next step was to assemble a council
at Rome, in which it was resolved to excommunicate per¬
sons guilty of simony, to expel from the Church all married
priests and such as w'ere guilty of personal licentiousness,
and not to admit into it as ministers any who would not take
the vow of celibacy. Gregory foresaw the fierce opposition
that would be raised to these measures, but he was inflexible,
and his perseverance was finally rewarded with success.
The most obstinate of his opponent^ was the young Em¬
peror of Germany, and an occasion was not long wanting to
bring them into open collision. Henry, holding in con¬
tempt the decrees and councils of Gregory, continued to
exercise the patronage of the Church as before, and that
not in Germany only, but in Italy. The see of Milan had
become vacant, and the Emperor and the Pope both claimed
the right of appointing a successor. While the dispute was
still pending, Henry’s Saxon and Thuringian subjects had
broken out in open rebellion against the tyranny of their
G R E
ruler, and were encouraged in their disaffection by Gregory. Gregory
The Pope even went so far as to summon the German em- VII.
peror to Rome, to answer before him for his sins towards
his subjects. Henry’s rage at this assumption knew no
bounds. He summoned a diet of the leading clerical func¬
tionaries of his empire at Worms, declared Gregory de¬
posed, announced this fact to the clergy at Rome, and took
steps for appointing a successor to the dethroned pontiff.
Gregory, undaunted, assembled his counsellorSj, excommu¬
nicated the emperor, and absolved his subjects from their
oath of allegiance to him. Henry’s tyrannies had raised a
host of enemies against him ; and, backed by the authority
of the Pope, they convened to elect a new emperor. Re¬
sistance was in the meantime impossible, and Henry hur¬
ried away to Rome to make his submission and obtain par¬
don for his contumacy. In the dead of winter, and amid
hardships that might have appalled the chamois-hunter,
Henry crossed the Alps, attended only by his wife and a
few followers. Gregory was in waiting for him at Canossa;
but when his humbled and suppliant rival reached that
town he refused to admit him into his presence for three
days, and compelled him, though it was the depth of win¬
ter, and intensely cold, to spend the time in an outer court
of the palace without shoes, and with no clothes but a single
woollen garment. The Pope was at length pleased to ab¬
solve his royal penitent, who had no sooner left the Papal
presence than he began to plot his revenge. Stung to mad¬
ness by his humiliation, he threw himself on the gene¬
rosity of his Lombard vassals, and, supported by them, re¬
crossed the Alps, defeated his rebel subjects in several
battles, and finally conquered and slew Rudolf of Suabia,
who had been chosen emperor in his stead. Having restored
his fortunes at home, he determined to take a signal ven¬
geance on him whom he believed to be the cause of all his
disgraces. In 1081 he entered Italy at the head of a powerful
army, declared Gregory deposed, elected as his successor
Guibert, bishop of Ravenna, and would have taken the
Eternal City itself, had not the scorching heats of summer,
and the advance of Robert Guiscard with his Normans and
Saracens from Apulia, forced him to retreat. In each ol the
two following years he renewed his attack upon Rome, but
he did not gain possession of it till, in 1084, the treachery
of some of the inhabitants threw open the gates to him, when
Gregory was obliged to take refuge in the castle of St An¬
gelo. After being publicly acknowledged by the Romans,
and establishing Guibert on the pontifical throne, with the
title of Clement HI., Henry determined to return to Ger¬
many, especially as the terrible Robert Guiscard was again
at hand. Gregory, at length released from his confinement
by the arrival of this freebooter, excommunicated Henry
and Clement; but not deeming himself secure at Rome, he
retired to Salerno, where he died in 1085. His last words
were, “ I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and
therefore I die in exile.” Hildebrand has been called by
Guizot the Czar Peter of the Roman Catholic Church. On
this illustration it has been remarked that the Czar wrought
in the spirit of an architect who invents, arranges, and exe¬
cutes his own plan ; Hildebrand, in the spirit of a builder,
erecting by the Divine command a temple of which the
Divine hand had drawn the design and provided the mate¬
rials. His faith in what he judged to be the purposes and
the will of heaven was not merely sublime but astounding.
He is everywhere depicted in his own letters the habitual
denizen of that bright region which the damps of fear never
penetrate and the shadows of doubt never overcast. Could
we accept this self-subordination as genuine, it would go far
to redeem a character, formidable indeed as a whole, but
presenting some weak, and it may be a few base points. But
if we grant that it subsisted at all, it must be in a very diffe¬
rent measure, and of a very different quality, from that noble
faith which sustained Luther, or Cromwell, or Knox, or even
G R E
Gregory, the higher spirits of Hildebrand’s own Church, such as
Xavier and others of his type. It was alloyed, too, with a
large admixture of dross, such as found no place in the
moral natures of the men we have just named. They could
not, like him, act a part. They could not, as he often did,
turn round from denouncing the terrors of the Church
against recusants discreetly selected for their weakness to
cringe and fawn upon the mighty of the earth. His con¬
duct towards William the Conqueror, Philip of France,
Robert Guiscard, and others that might be named, puts it
beyond a doubt that he seldom allowed his principles to in¬
terfere with his interests. But though we may deny him
the praise of integrity, truthfulness, and the higher kinds of
courage, we must still admit him to have been perhaps, on
the whole, the ablest of all the successors of St Peter. The
amount of work which he did, and the imprint which he
stamped upon the Church, will more than bear out this
assertion. In the words of Sir James Stephen,—“ He
found the papacy dependent on the empire ; he sustained
her by alliances almost commensurate with the Italian penin¬
sula. He found the papacy electoral by the Roman people
and clergy ; he left it electoral by a college of papal nomi¬
nation. He found the emperor the virtual patron of the
holy see; he wrested that power from his hands. He found
the secular clergy the allies and dependants of the secular
power; he converted them into the inalienable auxiliaries
of his own. He found the higher ecclesiastics in servitude
to the temporal sovereigns ; he delivered them from that
yoke to subjugate them to the Roman tiara. He found the
patronage of the Church the mere desecrated spoil and
merchandise of princes ; he reduced it within the dominion
of the supreme pontiff. He is celebrated as the reformer of
the impure and profane abuses of his age ; he is morejustly
entitled to the praise of having left the impress of his own
gigantic character on the history of all the ages which have
succeeded him.”
Fifteen Gregories in all have occupied the chair of St
Peter. The name is one well adapted for a Pope as the
Watchman of Sion, being derived from ’eyprjyopa (the 2
p. a. of ’eyetpw), which signifies to keep watch, to be wake¬
ful or vigilant. Of the fifteen by far the most eminent are
the first and the seventh, whose lives have been given above
in some detail. The second and third, whose reigns fell
within the first half of the eighth century, became involved
in unprofitable broils with the Longobards. The fourth
came to the throne in 827, and is known from his efforts to
patch up the quarrels between Louis le Debonnaire of
France and his rebellious sons. The fifth and sixth were
not remarkable either for their personal qualities or the
events that took place in their reign ; and the eighth was
equally characterless. The ninth was noted for the un¬
compromising haughtiness of his views on the subject of the
Papal supremacy, which involved him in serious collision
with the Emperor Frederick II. of Germany. Open war soon
broke out between the two potentates, the Pope being sup¬
ported by his Guelphic partizans on the one side, and the
Emperor, assisted by the Ghibelline faction, on the other.
The tenth Gregory was respected in his day for some reforms
which he effected in the discipline of the church ; while the
eleventh, whose name was Pierre Roger, though personally
nowise remarkable, is noteworthy as being the last French¬
man that sat on the Papal throne. It was in the time of
Gregory XII. that the schism which had divided the
Roman Church since 1379, by the simultaneous reign of
two popes, was brought to a close. Gregory XIII. is re¬
nowned for his learning, his liberal spirit, and his reforma¬
tion of the Calendar in 1582. He had no share in the
massacre of St Bartholomew, which happened during his
reign ; but he is believed to have countenanced the conspi¬
racies against the life of Elizabeth of England. His suc¬
cessor was the famous Sixtus V. Little is known of Gre-
GRE 51
gory XIV.; but the last of the name, Gregory XV., was Gregory of
renowned for his learning, his piety, and his gentleness, and Kazian-
also as the founder of the College de Propaganda Fide at ^ 2um‘ y
Rome. He died in 1623. v ^
Gregory of Nazianzum was born about the begin¬
ning of the fourth century. Both the exact time and place
of his birth, however, have been disputed. His father, bear¬
ing the same name, became ultimately Bishop of Nazian¬
zum, in the south-east of Cappadocia, from which the more
illustrious son derives his surname. His mother Nonna,
an eminently pious woman, appears to have exercised a
powerful influence over the opening mind of her son. He
was dedicated by her to the service of God from his birth;
and, trained up under this consciousness, he is said to have
early manifested strongly religious feelings, and to have
even shown as a boy that ascetic tendency which marked
his riper years.
In pursuit of a more liberal and extended culture than
he could procure in the insignificant little town of Nazian¬
zum, he went first of all to Caesarea, the capital of his native
province, and then successively to Caesarea in Palestine, to
Alexandria, and finally to Athens. Having embarked for
Athens at an unfavourable season of the year, he very
nearly perished in a storm. Here he renewed his acquain¬
tance with Basil of Caesarea, between whom and himself
sprang up that warm and devoted friendship which has
closely associated their names in the history of the Church.
Here also he formed acquaintance with another person of a
very different character, the prince Julian, destined after¬
wards to play so prominent a part in the world’s history.
This acquaintance has special significance in relation to the
future conduct of Gregory. He seems thus early to have
penetrated the true character of Julian, and to have im¬
bibed towards him that hostility (for it can scarcely re¬
ceive any milder name) which he afterwards strongly mani¬
fested.
Gregory remained at Athens for a lengthened period.
He entered it when a youth, and only quitted it when he was
about thirty years old. Fie returned to his father’s house at
Nazianzum ; and being now for the first time baptised, he
renewed on his own part his dedication to the service of
religion. He still continued, however, for some time, and
indeed more or less throughout his whole life, in a state of
hesitation as to the special form in which he should apply
himself to this service. Strongly inclined by nature and
education to a contemplative and ascetic life, he was yet
continually urged by circumstances to active pastoral
labour. The monastic spirit clung to him through life,
and never ceased to struggle for the ascendency. It
was strongly encouraged by his correspondence with his
friend Basil, who, after various travels, had betaken him¬
self to a solitude in Pontus, and there gathered around
him a group of like-minded devotees. It is this con¬
tinually recurring desire for a monastic life that alone ex¬
plains the vacillation and inconsistencies of Gregory’s public
career.
In the meantime circumstances, apparently accidental,
determined his lot. The Emperor Constantins, by a
course of artful intrigue and intimidation, having suc¬
ceeded in thrusting an Arian formula upon the Western
bishops assembled at Ariminum in Italy, attempted the same
course with the Eastern bishops. The aged Bishop of
Nazianzum having yielded to the imperial threats, a great
storm arose among the monks of the diocese, which was
only quelled by the influence of the younger Gregory.
Shortly after, with a view to his permanent assistance, his
father came forward before the assembled congregation,
and unexpectedly ordained him to the priesthood. It ap¬
pears to have been during this period of his life, while he
continued as a presbyter in his father’s diocese, that he dis¬
tinguished himself by his opposition to Julian, and sent
52 G R E
Gregory, forth his two Invectives against that emperor. Subse-
v—quently he allowed himself to be nominated Bishop of
Sasima, a small town between Nazianzum and I yana. But
he seems scarcely to have assumed his duties here, as we
find him almost immediately again at Nazianzum, sharing
there the episcopal duties, now grown too burdensome to
his aged parent.
But a more important scene of duty awaited him. The
small and depressed remnant of the orthodox party in Con¬
stantinople sent him an urgent summons to undertake the
task of resuscitating the cause of truth, so long persecuted
and borne down by the dominant Arians of the capital.
With the accession of Theodosius to the imperial throne,
the prospect of success to this cause was opened up, if it
could only find some courageous and devoted champion.
The fame of Gregory pointed him out as such a champion,
and he could not resist the appeal made to him, although
he took the step sorely against his will, and was even obliged
to be dragged forcibly from his retreat. Here, amid many
contentions, he laboured so zealously that the orthodox
party speedily gathered strength; and the small chapel in
which they had been accustomed to meet became extended
into a vast and celebrated church, which received the signifi¬
cant name of Anastasia, or the Church of the Resurrec¬
tion. It bespeaks the true Christian character of Gregory,
that his first object was to awaken among his flock a loving
Christian spirit, and not merely to build up and defend their
doctrinal position. This also, however, he did, and with
such powerful success in his five famous Discourses on the
Doctrine of the Trinity, that he received the distinctive
appellation of'O ©eoXoyos, “the Divine.” He laboured in
the Eastern capital till the arrival of Theodosius, and with
this the triumph of the orthodox cause. The metropolitan
see was then temporarily thrust upon him ; but a spirit of
discord and envy in reference to the promotion soon spring¬
ing up in the episcopal council assembled by the emperor,
Gregory resigned his dignity, and withdrew again into re¬
tirement. The remainder of his days he appears to have
passed peaceably on his patrimonial estate near Arianzum.
Here he devoted himself to his favourite studies—poems,
discourses, and epistles, still extant (Edit. Morelli, Paris
1615), attest his diligence and activity as a student. The
best account of his life and writings is to be found in the
monograph of Dr Ullmann—Gregory of Nazianzus ; a
Contribution to the Ecclesiastical History of the Fourth
Century, Darmst. 1825; Translated by G. F. Cox, M.A.,
Oxon. London ; J. W. Parker, 1851. (j. x—h.)
Gregory of Nyssa, one of the fathers of the church,
was brother of St Basil, and was born probably at Caesarea
in Cappadocia about a.d. 331 or 332. He received the
best education that could be got at that time; and when of
suitable years, married Theosebia, a lady whose virtues are
highly extolled by her husband’s friend and namesake of
Nazianzus. After his marriage Gregory entered the
church, but after holding for some time the office of a
reader he once more devoted himself to the pursuits of
secular life. However, the remonstrances of Gregory of
Nazianzus led him to reconsider this step; and he was
finally ordained by his brother, the great Basil, to the
bishopric of Nyssa, a small town of Cappadocia. Here he
adopted the opinion then gaining ground in favour of the
celibacy of the clergy, and his wife became a deaconess in
the church. His stern orthodoxy made him obnoxious to
the Arian faction, then on the ascendant through the pro¬
tection of the Emperor Valens ; and in 375 he was driven
into exile, whence he did not return till Gratian ascended
the throne in 378. In the following year he took part in
the council of Antioch, and was commissioned by the synod
of that city to inspect the churches of Arabia and Jeru¬
salem. The results of his journey and the shocking disco¬
veries he made regarding the state of religion and morality,
G R E
he published in a letter, in which he inveighed against the Gregory,
practice of pilgrimages to the holy city. At the second ^
cecumenical council, held at Constantinople in 381, Gre¬
gory made himself conspicuous by his zeal against the
Arians, and read his elaborate work in twelve books against
Eunomius, in which he establishes the divinity and con-
substantiality of the Word. It was chiefly through his
means that the Catholic doctrine on the subject of the
Holy Spirit was added to the Nicene Creed. The exact
date of his death is unknown. Some authorities refer it to
396 ; others to 400.
Gregory’s works may be classified under six heads,—■
1st, Treatises chiefly on doctrinal theology, with especial
reference to the Arian heresies; 2d, Homilies; 3d, Ser¬
mons ; 4th, Controversial writings, including the refutation
of the Manichseans and Apollinarists ; 5th, Biographies and
Funeral Orations ; and 6th, Letters. There have been
numerous editions of some of Gregory’s separate works,
but the only complete edition of the whole works is that by
Fronton du Due, Paris, 1615; reprinted with additions in
1618; and again, though less correctly, in 1638.
Gregory, Thaumaturgus, or worker of miracles, whose
Christian name was Theodorus, was born of heathen parents
at Neocaesarea, in Cappadocia, in the third century of the
Christian era. He was destined by his parents for the bar,
and after studying at Athens, Alexandria, and Berytus, re¬
moved to Caesarea in Palestine, where he became the pupil
and finally the convert of Origen. On returning to his
native town he displayed so much learning, piety, and zeal,
that Phaedimus of Amaseia, his metropolitan, resolved to
consecrate him to the episcopate. Gregory long declined
the honour, and even fled into the desert to escape Phae-
dimus’ importunities. At length he yielded, and (about
a.d. 240) became bishop of his native town. He worked
in this new sphere with so much zeal and success that,
whereas at the outset of his labours there were only seven¬
teen Christians in the city, there were at his death only
seventeen persons who had not embraced Christianity.
This result he achieved in the face of the Decian per¬
secution and the inroads of the barbarians, who laid waste
his bishopric a.d. 260. Gregory was strictly orthodox
in his creed, and in 264 was present at the council of
Antioch, convoked to investigate the heresies of Paul of
Samosata. To him also was due the extirpation of Sabel-
lianism throughout the province of Pontus. The miracles
which he wrought, and which earned for him the surname
of Thaumaturgus, are attested by Gregory of Nyssa and
St Basil. They caused him to be venerated as a second
Moses, and would be beyond the sphere of human credence
unless certified by testimony which it is difficult utterly to
reject. Gregory is believed to have died in the reign of
Aurelian about the year 270, though some accounts place his
death six years earlier. His principal works are his Panegy-
ricus ad Originem, which he wrote when on the point of
leaving Origen’s school; Expositio Fidei, a summary of the
doctrine of the Trinity; Metaphrasis in Ecclesiasten, cri¬
ticised by St Jerome as “short but useful;” and an Epis-
tola Canonica, for the benefit of those converts who had
relapsed into paganism and desired to be once more ad¬
mitted into the church. There have been several editions
of Gregory’s works, of which may be mentioned that of
Gerard Voss, in Greek and Latin, Mayence, 1604 ; the
Paris edition of 1622; and that contained in Galland’s
Bibliotheca Patrum, Paris, 1788.
Gregory of Tours, who may be called the father of
French history, was born in Auvergne in 539, or, accord¬
ing to other authorities, in 544. His family wras noble and
powerful, and his uncle Gallus, or St Gal, who took care of
his education, was Bishop of Clermont. At the age of 34
he already enjoyed a wide reputation for piety and wisdom
in virtue of which he was appointed Bishop of Tours. The
*
G R E
GEE
53
Gregory, new bishop distinguished himself by his unflinching opposi-
tion to the ambitious designs of Chilperic, king of Soissons,
whom, in his Ilistoria Francorum, he denounces as the
Nero of his age, while his royal spouse Fredegonda is
hardly more gently dealt with. After governing his diocese
with great ability and success during many years, he died
in 593 at the age of 54.
Gregory’s History is the work of a truthful, impartial,
and enlightened observer of men and manners. His style
is indeed not only barbarous in its Latinity, but feeble and
devoid of colour or expression ; his descriptions are lifeless,
and his reflections commonplace. The information, how¬
ever, which he conveys is valuable ; and his work, which
embraces a period of 174 years after the first establish¬
ment of the Franks in Gaul, throws abundance of light
on the origin of the French nation. Besides his History,
Gregory has left some other works on the glory of mar¬
tyrs, the glory of the confessors, the miracles of St Mar¬
tin, &c. The best edition of his works is that of Ruinart,
Paris, 1699.
Gregory, the name of a Scottish family, of which many
members have attained the highest eminence in various
departments of science. The first who thus distinguished
himself was David Gregory, son of the minister of Drum-
oak in Aberdeenshire, and elder brother of the inventor of
the reflecting telescope. He is said to have been the first
person in Scotland who possessed a barometer; and his
curious experiments with this instrument led his ignorant
and superstitious neighbours to suspect him of being in
league with the devil. Fie was accordingly tried for witch¬
craft, but pardoned, as it was proved that he had never
exerted his powers except for the good of the sick and poor
in his vicinity. His son David, more famous than himself,
was born in Aberdeen in 1661, and was educated partly
in his native city and partly in Edinburgh. At the early
age of twenty-three he became professor of mathematics
in the university of the latter town, and was the first who
openly taught the Newtonian philosophy in Scotland. In
1691 he was appointed Savilian professor of astronomy at
Oxford,1 and held that situation till his death in 1708.
David Gregory’s principal works are his Exercitatio
Geometrica de dimensione jigurarum, Edinb., 1684;
Catoptricce et Dioptricce Sphcrricce Elementa, Oxon., 1695 ;
Astronomice Physicce et Geometricce Elementa, Oxon.,
1702. This last is his greatest work, and was highly
esteemed by Newton himself, of whose system it is an
illustration and a defence. Besides these works we owe to
Gregory an excellent edition of Euclid in Greek and Latin ;
and at the time of his death he was engaged, conjointly
with his colleague Halley, in editing the Conics of Apol¬
lonius. A treatise of Gregory’s on Practical Geometry,
which he left in manuscript, was published in 1745 by the
celebrated Maclaurin.
Of Gregory’s four sons, the eldest, David, became
regius professor of modern history at Oxford. He died in
1767, after having been for many years dean of Christ
Church College in that university.
Gregory, James (1638-1675), one of the greatest names
in modern mathematical and optical science, was the
son of the minister of Drumoak in Aberdeenshire. He
was born and brought up in the city of Aberdeen, and at
an early period manifested a strong inclination and capacity
for scientific pursuits. Before completing his twenty-third
year he had published his famous treatise Optica Promota,
in which is explained the principle of the reflecting tele¬
scope, which is still called by his name and widely used.
After the publication of this work, Gregory lost some pre¬
cious time in making experiments, and allowed Newton to
share with him the glory of perfecting his great invention.
In telescopes of moderate size, the original or Gregorian
form is still in use ; but in those vast instruments adopted
by the Herschels the improvements of Newton have been
found indispensable. About the year 1665 Gregory went
abroad and studied for some years at Padua, where he
published his Vera Circuli et Hyperbolee Quadratura, in
which he propounded his method of an infinitely converg¬
ing series for the areas of the circle and hyperbola. When
this treatise was republished in 1668, the author appended
to it another, entitled Geometrice pars Universalis, in which
he laid down with great elegance and originality a series of
rules for the transmutation of curves, and the measurements
of their solids of revolution. These and his other works
brought Gregory into correspondence with the leading ma¬
thematicians of that day, Newton, Wallis, Halley, and Huy¬
gens, with the last of whom he carried on a discussion on
the subject of his treatise on the quadrature of the circle and
hyperbola. On returning to England, Gregory was elected
a member of the Royal Society, and finally became pro¬
fessor of mathematics at St Andrews in 1669. In that
same year he married a daughter of the famous painter
Jameson, whom Walpole pronounced the “ Scottish Van¬
dyke.” In 1674 he was transferred to the chair of mathe¬
matics in Edinburgh, which, however, he only held for
about a year, when in October 1675 he was suddenly
struck with blindness, while showing the satellites of the
planet Jupiter to some of his students through one of his
telescopes, and died a few days after at the early age of 37.
James Gregory, according to Dr Hutton in his Philoso¬
phical and Mathematical Dictionary, was a man of very
acute and penetrating genius. His temper was in some
degree an irritable one; and, conscious of his merits as a
discoverer, he seems to have been jealous of losing any por¬
tion of his reputation by the improvements of others on his
inventions. Fie possessed one of the most amiable charac¬
ters of a true philosopher, that of being content with his
position in life. But the most brilliant part of his charac¬
ter is that of his mathematical genius as an inventor, which
was of the first order.
Among the other works of Gregory, besides those we
have already mentioned, are his Exercitationes Geometricce,
Lond. 1668 ; and, it is alleged, The Great and New Art of
Weighing Vanity, written to ridicule Sinclair, the slanderer
of Boyle and Saunders, and published under the name of
“ Patrick Mathers, Archbeadle of the University of St An¬
drews.” This latter, if it be really Gregory’s, which is almost
certain, is quite unworthy of its author.
Gregory, Dr John, professor of medicine in the uni¬
versity of Edinburgh, was the son of Dr James Gregory,
professor of medicine in King’s College, Aberdeen, and
grandson of James, the inventor of the Gregorian tele¬
scope. His father was married first to Catharine Forbes,
daughter of Sir John Forbes of Monymusk, by whom he
had six children, most of whom died in infancy ; and after¬
wards to Ann Chalmers, only daughter of the Reverend
George Chalmers, principal of King’s College, by whom
he had two sons and a daughter. John, the youngest of
the three, was born at Aberdeen on the 3d of June 1724.
Having lost his father when only in the seventh year of
Gregory.
1 On obtaining this professorship, he was succeeded in the mathematical chair at Edinburgh by his brother James, likewise an
eminent mathematician, who held that office for thirty-three years, and when he retired in 1725, was succeeded by the celebrated Mac¬
laurin. A daughter of this Professor James Gregory, a young lady of great beauty and accomplishments, was the victim of an unfor¬
tunate attachment, which furnished the subject of Mallet’s well-known ballad of William and Margaret. In 1707, another brother,
Charles, was appointed by Queen Anne professor of mathematics at St Andrews. This office he held with reputation and ability for
thirty-two years; and, on his resignation in 1739, was succeeded by his son, who inherited the eminent talents of his family, and died
in 1763.
54
G R E
G R E
Gregory, his age, the care of his education devolved on his grand-
father Principal Chalmers, and on his elder brother Dr
James Gregory, who, upon the resignation of their father
a short time before his death, had been appointed to suc¬
ceed him in the professorship in King’s College. He
likewise owed much in his infant years, and indeed during
the w'hole course of his studies, to the care and attention
of his cousin, the celebrated Dr Reid, afterwards of the
university of Glasgow. The rudiments of his classical
education he received at the grammar-school of Aber¬
deen ; and under the eye of his grandfather he com¬
pleted, in King’s College, his studies in the Latin and
Greek languages, and in the sciences of ethics, mathema¬
tics, and natural philosophy. His master in philosophy
and in mathematics was Thomas Gordon, professor of phi¬
losophy in King’s College, who ably filled an academical
chair for above half a century.
In 1742 Mr Gregory went to Edinburgh, where the
school of medicine was then rising into that celebrity for
which it has since been so remarkably distinguished.
Here he attended the anatomical lectures of the elder
Dr Monro, of Dr Sinclair on the theory of medicine, and
of Dr Rutherford on the practice of physic. He heard
likewise the prelections of Dr Alston on the materia me-
dica and botany, and of Dr Plummer on chemistry. The
Medical Society of Edinburgh, instituted for the free dis¬
cussion of all questions relative to medicine and philoso¬
phy, had begun to meet in 1737. Of this society we find
Mr Gregory a member in 1742, at the time when Dr
Mark Akenside, his fellow-student and intimate compa¬
nion, was a member of the same institution.
In the year 1745 our author went to Leyden, and at¬
tended the lectures of Professors Gaubius, Albinus, and
Van Royen. Whilst at this university he had the honour of
receiving from the King’s College of Aberdeen, his alma
mater, an unsolicited degree of doctor of medicine; and
soon afterwards, on his return from Holland, he was elect¬
ed professor of philosophy in the same university. In this
capacity he read lectures during the years 1747, 1748,
and 1749, on mathematics, experimental philosophy, and
ethics. In the end of 1749, however, he resigned his pro¬
fessorship of philosophy, his views being turned chiefly to
the practice of physic, with which the duties of this profes¬
sorship, occupying as they did a great portion of his time,
too much interfered. Previously, however, to his settling
as a physician at Aberdeen, he went for a few months to
the Continent; a tour of which the chief motive was pro¬
bably amusement, though to a mind like his certainly not
without advantage in the enlargement of ideas, and an in¬
creased knowledge of mankind.
Some time after his return to Scotland, Dr Gregory
married, in 1752, Elizabeth, daughter of William Lord
Forbes, a young lady who, to the exterior endowments of
great beauty and engaging manners, joined a very supe¬
rior understanding and an uncommon share of wit. With
her he received a handsome addition of fortune ; and
during the whole period of their union, which was only
for the space of nine years, he enjoyed the highest por¬
tion of domestic happiness. Of her character it is enough
to say, that her husband, in the admired little work, A
Father’s Legacy to his Daughters, the last proof of his
affection for them, declares, that “ while he endeavours
to point out what they should be, he draws but a very
faint and imperfect picture of what their mother was.”
The field of medical practice at Aberdeen being at that
time in a great measure pre-occupied by his elder brother
Dr James Gregory, and others of some note in their pro¬
fession, our author determined to try his fortune in Lon¬
don. Thither accordingly he proceeded in 1754; and
being already known by reputation as a man of genius, he
found an easy introduction to many persons of distinction,
both in the literary and polite world. Amongst these Gregory,
may be mentioned George Lord Lyttleton, who became
his friend and patron. An acquaintance, which had been
founded on a striking similarity of manners, tastes, and
dispositions, grew up into a firm and permanent friend¬
ship ; and to that nobleman, to whom Dr Gregory was
accustomed to communicate all his literary productions,
the world is indebted for the publication of the Compa¬
rative View of the State and Faculties of Man, which
made him first known as an author. Dr Gregory like¬
wise enjoyed the friendship of Edward Montagu and his
lady, the celebrated champion of the fame of Shakspeare,
against the cavils and calumnies ol Voltaire.
In 1754 Dr Gregory was chosen fellow of the Royal
Society of London; and as he made daily advances in the
public esteem, it is not to be doubted that, had he conti¬
nued his residence in the metropolis, his professional ta¬
lents would have found their reward in an extensive prac¬
tice. But the death of his brother, Dr James Gregory,
in November 1755, having occasioned a vacancy in the
professorship of medicine in King’s College, Aberdeen,
which he was solicited to fill, he returned to his native
country in the beginning of the following year, and took
upon him the duties of that office, to which he had been
elected in his absence.
Here he remained until the end of the year 1764, when,
urged by a laudable ambition, and presuming on the re¬
putation he had acquired as affording a reasonable pros¬
pect of success in a more extended field of practice, he
changed his place of residence for Edinburgh. His friends
in that metropolis had represented to him the situation
of the medical school as favourable to his views of filling
a chair in that university ; and this accordingly he obtain¬
ed in 1766, on the resignation of Dr Rutherford, professor
of the practice of physic. In the same year he had the
honour of being appointed first physician to his majesty
for Scotland on the death of Dr Whytt.
On his first establishment in the university of Edin¬
burgh, Dr Gregory gave lectures on the practice of phy¬
sic during the years 1767, 1768, and 1769. Afterwards,
by agreement with Dr Cullen, professor of the theory of
medicine, these two eminent men gave alternate courses on
the theory and practice of physic. As a public speaker,
Dr Gregory’s manner was simple, natural, and animated.
Without the graces of oratory, which the subject he had
to treat in a great degree precluded, he expressed his
ideas with uncommon perspicuity, and in a style happily
attempered between the formality of studied composition
and the ease of conversation. It was his custom to pre¬
meditate, for a short time before entering the college,
the subject of his lecture, consulting those authors to
whom he had occasion to refer, and marking in short
notes the arrangement of his intended discourse; then,
fully master of his subject, and confident of his own
powers, he trusted to his natural facility of expression to
convey those opinions which he had maturely deliberated.
The only lectures which he committed fully to writing
were those introductory discourses which he read at the
beginning of his annual course, and which are published
under the title of Lectures on the Duties and Qualifica¬
tions of a Physician. Of these, which were written with
no view to publication, many copies were taken by his
pupils, and some from the original manuscript, which he
freely lent for their perusal. On hearing that a copy had
been offered for sale to a bookseller, it became necessary ,
to anticipate a fraudulent, and perhaps a mutilated pub¬
lication, by authorizing an impression from a corrected
copy, of which he gave the profits to a favourite pupil.
These lectures were first published in 1770, and after¬
wards in an enlarged and more perfect form in 1772.
In the same year, 1772, Dr Gregory published Ele-
G R E
G R E
55
Gregory, ments of the Practice of Physic, for the use of Students ;
a work intended solely for his own pupils, and to be used
by himself as a text-book to be commented upon in his
course of lectures. In an advertisement prefixed to this
work, he signified his intention of comprehending in it the
whole series of diseases of which he had treated in his
Lectures on the Practice of Physic ; but this intention he
did not live to accomplish, having brought down the work
no further than to the end of the class of Febrile Diseases.
Dr Gregory became early a victim to the gout, which be¬
gan to show itself at irregular intervals even from the eigh¬
teenth year of his age. His mother, from whom he inhe¬
rited that disease, died suddenly in 1770, whilst sitting at
table. Dr Gregory had prognosticated for himself a simi¬
lar death ; an event of which, amongst his friends, he often
talked, but had no apprehension of the nearness of its ap¬
proach. In the beginning of the year 1773, whilst in
conversation with his son Dr James Gregory, the latter
remarked, that having for the three preceding years had
no return of an attack, he might expect a pretty severe
shock that season ; and he received the observation with
some degree of anger, as he felt himself then in his usual
state of health. The prediction, however, proved but too
true ; for having gone to bed on the 9th of February 1773,
with no apparent, disorder, he was found dead in the
morning. His death had been instantaneous, and proba¬
bly in his sleep ; for there was not the smallest discom¬
posure of limb or feature.
Gregory, Dr James, professor of the Practice of Medi¬
cine in the University of Edinburgh, and eldest son of the
subject of the preceding notice, was born at Aberdeen
in the year 1753, and there received the rudiments of his
education. He accompanied his father to Edinburgh in
1764; and after going through the usual course of literary
studies at Edinburgh, was for a short time a student at
Christ Church College, Oxford, of which his relation Dr
David Gregory had been dean. It was there probably
that he acquired that taste for classical learning, and that
admiration for the character of an accomplished classical
scholar, which ever afterwards distinguished him. He en¬
tered early on the study of medicine at Edinburgh, and
was a student in that faculty at the time of his father’s
sudden death, in February 1773. The extraordinary ex¬
ertion which he then made to complete his father’s course
of lectures, was regarded by many of his friends as suffi¬
cient indication of his ability to continue and extend the
hereditary reputation of his family. He took the degree
of doctor of medicine at Edinburgh in 1774, and spent the
greater part of the next two years in Holland, France, and
Italy. It is worthy of notice, that his most intimate friend
and companion on the Continent was Mr A. Macdonald,
afterwards lord chief baron of the Court of Exchequer, in
London.
After the death of Dr John Gregory, the chair of the
Institutes of Medicine (then finally separated from that of
the Practice of Medicine, of which Dr Cullen remained
professor) was offered to Dr Drummond, who was at that
time abroad, and who ultimately declined accepting it.
For two winters the class was taught by Dr Duncan, whose
appointment, however, was only temporary. In 1776 the
chair was again declared vacant, and on the 1st of August of
that year Dr Gregory was appointed professor. He began to
lecture on the Institutes the next winter session, and in the
succeeding year he commenced also the duty of teacher of
Clinical Medicine in the Royal Infirmary, and continued
to deliver at least one course of clinical lectures annually,
for more than twenty years.
from the time of commencing his duties as professor
Dr Gregory was continually engaged in medical practice ;
but his practice amongst the higher ranks of society was not
extensive until many of his pupils had been settled in bu¬
siness, and were desirous of availing themselves of his as- Gregory,
sistance. For the last twenty-five years of his life he was
much engaged in consulting practice; and for the last ten
he was decidedly at the head of his profession in Scotland.
Indeed, the boldness, originality, and strength of his intel¬
lect, and the energy and decision of his character, were so
strongly marked in his conversation, that, wherever his pro¬
fessional character was known, it could hardly fail to inspire
general confidence.
In 1778 he published his Conspectus Medicince Theoretics,
as a text-book for his lectures on the Institutes. This work
passed through several editions, both during his lifetime
and since his death, and has been very generally admired,
partly on account of the accurate view which it affords of
the state of medical science at the period when it was com¬
posed, and partly for the ease, perspicuity, and elegance of
its Latinity. The greater part of the work is occupied by
the principles of Therapeutics ; and as it must be confessed
that there has been less improvement since that time in the
investigation of the powers of remedies, than of the princi¬
ples either of Physiology or Pathology, that portion of it
may still be studied with advantage by all medical men.
On the illness of Dr Cullen in 1790, he was appointed
joint-professor of the Practice of Medicine ; he became sole
professor on the death of Dr Cullen in the same year; and
continued to deliver lectures on that subject, to audiences
almost regularly increasing, until his last illness in 1821.
He died on the 2d of April of that year.
As a practitioner and teacher of medicine, it may be
stated that Dr Gregory was chiefly distinguished by his
clear perception, and constant application, of the truth con¬
tained in a maxim which he was accustomed to quote from
a favourite Greek author: “ The best physician is he who
can distinguish what he can do from what he cannot do.”
He distrusted all theories in regard to the intimate nature
of diseased actions, as premature and visionary ; but he had
early and carefully studied the diagnostic and prognostic
symptoms, and the various forms of the most important
diseases, and the agency of the most powerful remedies;
and, without entering into the minutiae of morbid anatomy,
he had a clear understanding of the changes of structure to
be apprehended from disease in the different internal parts
of the body. On these points, and their immediate practi¬
cal bearing, he fixed all his attention. When he thought
that these changes were approaching, and could be arrest¬
ed by active treatment, he urged the truly effectual reme¬
dies with the peculiar energy of his character; restrained
only by his strong good sense and ample experience, and
despising all parade of nicety, or variety of prescription.
When he was satisfied that the nature or the stage of the
disease did not admit of effectual cure, his decision of cha¬
racter was equally shown in abstaining from useless inter¬
ference, and confining his views to the relief of suffering.
As a teacher, he was always strongly impressed with
the duty of fixing the attention of his pupils on those
points in the history of disease, and in the application of
remedies, the knowledge of which he had found by expe¬
rience to be most practically important, and the ignorance of
which he thought practically dangerous. The character¬
istic symptoms and varieties of inflammatory diseases, and
the extent to which the antiphlogistic treatment might be
carried in opposing them, were, therefore, subjects on which
he dwelt with peculiar earnestness; and in regard to the
use of those remedies in such diseases, he had acquired, by
long and keen observation, a tact and decision which proba¬
bly were never surpassed. On the other hand, in regard
to those numerous chronic diseases, where remedies are so
frequently ineffectual, he was equally zealous in inculcating
those means of prevention which he thought most effectual
and most attainable; and whilst he was incredulous as
to the alleged virtue of most medicines in such diseases,
56
G R E
•G R E
Gregory, he omitted no opportunity of illustrating the efficacy of
W'Y''W' temperance, even of abstinence, of bodily exertion with¬
out fatigue, and mental occupation without anxiety, in
averting their approach, or even arresting their progress.
From these great practical objects of his labours as a
teacher, no consideration ever turned him aside. His ex¬
tensive reading, particularly of the older authors, never
led to pedantic displays of learning ; his logical acuteness
never beguiled him into useless controversies ; his ferti¬
lity of imagination never carried him beyond the simplest
and most practical views of the subjects of which he treated.
As a lecturer, he possessed the great advantages of a
command of language, which made him almost indepen¬
dent of any written notes, and of a tenacity of memory
which enabled him to detail cases, in illustration of his
principles, year after year, from the whole range of his
experience, merely from having the names of the patients
before him, without the slightest inaccuracy or omission.
The commanding energ}rand quickness of intellect which
his lectures displayed, the frank and fearless exposition
of his opinions which they contained, the classical allu¬
sions with which thej' abounded, and the genuine humour
by which they were often enlivened, rendered them pe¬
culiarly attractive and interesting, and acquired for him
a remarkable ascendency over the minds of his pupils.
In the practice of the profession he was remarkable for
the frankness and candour of his communications with the
relations and friends of the sick; and for the zealous and
even tender interest, always increasing with the difficulty
and danger of the case, which he took in his patients.
This made the more impression, as it contrasted with a
certain roughness of external manner, and a constitutional
hilarity and whimsical humour, which on some occasions, it
must be owned, like that of a celebrated fictitious character,
made him “ not hesitate between his friend and his joke.”
His conduct with his professional brethren in consulta¬
tion was eminently distinguished by candour and libera¬
lity, and the total absence of all professional trick. He
never attempted to make himself of importance, but was
ever ready to give the strongest commendation to the
treatment previously pursued, when he thought it judi¬
cious ; always laying stress on the great and essential
points of practice, and never giving an undue importance
to favourite nostrums, or remedies of a secondary or fri¬
volous kind. Thus the young practitioner, who was at¬
tentive to his duties, and honourable in his conduct, al¬
ways found in him a zealous friend ; those only had to
dread coming into collision with him, who were wanting in
professional zeal or professional integrity.
Dr Gregory’s more intimate friends and connections were
strongly attached to him on account of the warmth and
steadiness of his attachments, of a generosity of disposition
bordering on profusion, and of a high and somewhat aris¬
tocratic sense of honour, which made him instinctively
shrink from any proceeding liable to the slightest imputa¬
tion of meanness, selfishness, or duplicity.
He had therefore an utter detestation for all those pro¬
fessional arts by which the favour of the public is sometimes
too successfully propitiated; and this was the true origin
of various controversies in which he was at different times
engaged with his professional brethren, and to which his
strong sense of humour, his fondness for logical disputa¬
tion, and (it must be confessed) a somewhat irascible tem¬
per, led him to devote more of his time and attention than
their importance deserved. For the interests of the Me¬
dical School, and of the medical profession of Edinburgh,
the continuance of these disputes was a matter of serious
regret; but the feelings which led him to engage in them
were too well understood and appreciated, to permit them
to occasion him any loss, either of private friendships or of
public estimation.
No medical teacher or practitioner of eminence was ever Gregory,
more ready to acknowledge the imperfection of his art,
more distrustful of medical theories, or even of the alleged
results of medical practice, when not in accordance with
his own experience; or more careless of posthumous repu¬
tation. But none was ever more solicitous to give, both to
his pupils and his patients, the full benefit of those princi¬
ples of medical science, of the truth and importance of
which he was himself convinced; and on this account his
professional character had assumed, long before his death,
a superiority over most of his contemporaries, of which
those who judge of it only from his own contributions to
medical science or literature cannot form an adequate con¬
ception.
Dr Gregory used to say, that whilst physic had been the
business, metaphysics had been the amusement, of his life.
Of this predilection we have a highly honourable testi¬
mony, in Dr Reid’s Dedication to him and to his illustri¬
ous friend Mr Dugald Stewart, of his Essays on the Intel¬
lectual Powers, published in 1785 ; and, at a much later
period of his life, in the cordial friendship which united him
with the late Dr Thomas Brown, and the warm interest
which he took in the appointment of that eminent meta¬
physician to the Chair of Moral Philosophy, on Mr Stewart’s
resignation of it, and retirement from the University. It
is proper to add, however, that on some important meta¬
physical questions the opinions of Dr Brown were different
from those of Dr Gregory, and probably never were the
subject of discussion between them.
His own metaphysical and literary works are, A Theory
of the Moods of Verbs, published in the Edinburgh Philoso¬
phical Transactions for 1787 ; and his Literary and Phi¬
losophical Essays, in two volumes, published in 1792. The
main object of the latter work was to explain and defend a
new argument on the old controversy as to the liberty or
necessity of human actions ; and whatever may be thought
of the soundness of the argument, no one has ever disput¬
ed the acuteness and power of logical reasoning which he
displayed in defence of it. It must be admitted, how¬
ever, that his ideas of metaphysical inquiry were in some
respects limited. He regarded metaphysics rather as a
field for syllogistic reasoning, than as a subject of inquiry
directed to the establishment of general principles by in¬
duction ; and one of his favourite doctrines, that meta¬
physics admit of no discoveries, if admitted as literally cor¬
rect, would almost imply that the study can lead to no use¬
ful practical results.
He retained throughout life a fervent admiration for the
classical authors, and a severe and somewhat fastidious taste
in literature, which was formed on the classical models.
Several of the lighter and controversial writings with which
he amused himself, particularly his Memorials on certain
changes in the arrangements of the Royal Infirmary in
1800 and 1803, exhibit very numerous examples of his
ready recollection and happy application of quotations from
the classics; and a number of Latin epitaphs and inscrip¬
tions of various kinds, which he composed at different pe¬
riods of his life, attest an accuracy of knowledge of the
Latin language, and a purity of taste in Latin composition,
which few men have the faculty of retaining throughout
a lifetime of incessant professional labour.
Dr Gregory was married in 1782, to Miss Mary Ross ; but
within a few months after her marriage, this lady, to the
extreme regret of all her friends, became decidedly con¬
sumptive, and survived only two years. After her death
her two sisters continued to reside with their brother-in-
law, until they both successively sunk under the same cruel
disease. In 1796, he married one of the daughters of the
late Mr M‘Leod of Geanies, by whom he had a large fa¬
mily. His second son devoted himself with zeal and abi¬
lity to the profession of medicine. He had entered on
G R E
Gregory practice, had already been placed in several responsible situ¬
ations in Edinburgh, and distinguished himself by some
Grenada. papers 0n medical subjects, when he was unfortunately
carried off by a fever contracted in the course of his du¬
ties in 1832. (w. p. A.)
Gregory, Olinthm, LL.D., was born in 1774 at Yaxley
in Huntingdonshire. He first acquired distinction through
his Treatise on Astronomy,vx\& by his Pantologia, a sort of cy¬
clopedia of the arts and sciences which he edited. In 1802
he was appointed mathematical master, and, some years later,
professor, in the Military School at Woolwich, where he re¬
mained till 1838, when bad health compelled him to retire.
During this long period of time he published a number of
works, some of them of considerable value, such as his Ele¬
ments of Plane and Spherical Trigonometry ; Mathematics
for Practical Men ; Letters on the Evidences of Christianity,
&c. His work on Mechanics is a good popular treatise on
the subject, and one that has proved very valuable to many
artizans whom want of mathematical knowledge has de¬
barred from the perusal of more scientific works. Dr
Gregory died in 1841.
GREIFFENBERG, a town in the Prussian province
of Pomerania, and government of Stettin, on the Rega, 45
miles N.E. of Stettin. It is the capital of a cognominal
circle, the seat of a court of justice, and has important
manufactures of woollen and linen cloths, hats, and leather.
Pop. (1849) 4975, including the military. There are several
smaller towns of this name in Germany.
GREIFFENHAGEN, a town in the Prussian province
of Pomerania, and government of Stettin, on the Reglitz,
12 miles S.S.W. of Stettin. It is the capital of a cognomi¬
nal circle, the seat of a court of justice, and has manufac¬
tures of woollen and linen cloths, breweries, distilleries,
fisheries, and some trade. Pop. (1851) 5591.
GREIFSWALD, or Greifswalde, a town in the
Prussian province of Pomerania, and government of Stral-
sund, on the Ryck, 3 miles from its mouth, in the Baltic,
and 20 miles S. by E. of Stralsund. It is pretty well
built, and is surrounded by promenades formed out of its
old ramparts. It is capital of a cognominal circle, and the
seat of several judicial tribunals. A university was founded
here in 1456, but the number of students is inconsiderable,
being in 1850 only 189. It has also a botanic garden, ob¬
servatory, gymnasium, &c. There is a good harbour for
small vessels at the mouth of the Ryck, and an active
coasting-trade is carried on. It has building-docks, distil¬
leries, salt-refineries, oil-mills, soapworks, and tobacco manu¬
factories. Pop. (1849) 12,715, besides 524 military.
GREIZ, or Greitz, a town of Germany, capital of the
principality of Reuss-Greitz, in a valley on the right bank
of the Elster, near the borders of Saxony, and 14 miles W.
by S. of Zwickau. It is surrounded by walls, and is toler¬
ably well built. It has a Latin, a normal, and other schools,
and is the seat of the government and of a judicial consis¬
tory. The prince’s palace occupies a hill adjoining the
town, and is surrounded by fine gardens. Its manufactures
are considerable, chiefly of woollen and cotton cloths. Pop.
about 7000.
GRENADA (or rather Granada), the most southern of
the Antilles, lies between N. Eat. 11.58. and 12. 20., and W.
Long. 61. 20. and 61.35., being 60 miles N.W. of Tobago
and about the same distance from the nearest point of South
America. It is 25 miles in length from N. to S., and its
greatest breadth is 12 miles; area 133 square miles. Gre¬
nada was discovered by Columbus in 1498, and at that time
it was inhabited by a numerous and warlike race, the Ca-
ribbs. The Spaniards did not attempt to form a settlement,
and the Caribbs remained in undisturbed possession of their
territory until the year 1650, when Du Parquet, the French
governor of Martinique, organized an expedition, consisting
of 200 adventurers, for the purpose of seizing the island.
VOL. XI.
G R E 57
These were received with the utmost kindness; and the Grenada,
few knives, glass-beads, and other trinkets presented to the
natives, they subsequently asserted to be the price paid for
the island. This afforded them a pretext for commencing
hostilities against the Caribbs; and Du Parquet, who had
returned to Martinique, sent a reinforcement of 300 men
with orders to extirpate the natives altogether. The greatest
cruelties were practised on the unfortunate natives—not
even the women and children were spared. Father Du
Tertre mentions that on one occasion “forty of the Caribbs
were massacred on the spot. About forty others who had
escaped the sword, ran towards a precipice, from whence
they cast themselves headlong into the sea, and miserably
perished.” In a few years the island became vested in the
crown of France ; but for a long time the colony remained
in a state of poverty and depression, so that, according to
Abbe Raynal, the island in 1700 contained only 251 whites,
and 525 blacks, who were employed on 3 plantations of
sugar, and 52 of indigo. Subsequently the French turned
their attention more particularly to their colonies, and
Grenada rapidly increased. In 1753 it contained 1262
whites, 175 free blacks, 11,991 slaves, and 83 sugar plan¬
tations. Grenada surrendered on capitulation to Britain in
1762, and was formally ceded to that country by the defi¬
nitive treaty of peace which took place in the following year.
Certain stipulations were made in favour of the inhabitants;
but the island does not seem to have prospered, and was re¬
taken by the French in 1779. By the general peace, which
took place in January 1783, it was restored to Britain, of
which it has since been a dependency, although an insur¬
rection of the slaves which took place towards the close of
the last century is said to have been fermented by the
French for the purpose of again obtaining possession of it.
Grenada is in general mountainous and picturesque. The
interior and north-west coast consist of continuous ridges of
hills rounded in their outline, and covered with vast forest
trees and brushwood. An irregular but continuous range
of mountains traverses the island from north to south, and
in some parts rises to the height of 3000 feet above the
level of the sea. From these several lesser ridges branch off,
and form rich and picturesque valleys. The geology of the
island is very complicated and irregular. The great mass
of the mountains and some parts of the low lands consist of
red and gray sandstone, greywacke, hornblende, and argil¬
laceous schist; but the strata are very much diversified,
being in one place horizontal, in another vertical, and in
almost all suddenly and abruptly intersected by each other.
Sulphur and fuller’s earth are common ; and porphyry, lime¬
stone, and basaltic rocks occur in certain places. The rivers
are numerous but not large. In the centre of the island,
and 1740 feet above the level of the sea, is the Grand
Etang, a circular lake 2^ miles in circumference and 14
feet deep. Several hot chalybeate and sulphurous springs
are met with in different parts. Along the coast are nu¬
merous excellent bays and harbours. The waters abound
with fish ; and game and various species of birds are abun¬
dant. Hurricanes are comparatively mild and unfrequent,
but shocks of earthquakes are sometimes experienced. The
medium temperature throughout the year is estimated at
82° Fahr. in the low country, but in the more elevated parts
it is, of course, lower. A considerable quantity of rain falls,
and throughout the year showers are frequent. Of late
years the climate has been materially improved. The soil
consists principally of a rich black or reddish coloured mould.
The chief products are sugar, cocoa, coffee, and cotton ;
indigo and tobacco are also raised, together with luxuriant
crops of fruits and vegetables, which grow here in great
abundance and arrive at high perfection. In 1853, 17,722
acres were under cultivation. Grenada is divided into six
parishes—St Patrick, St Andrew, St John, St Mark, St
David, and St George. In the last of these is the capital
H
58 G R E
Grenade St George or George Town, which is built upon a penin-
II . sula projecting into a spacious bay on the west or lee side
Grenadier. t]le js]anc]? not far from t]ie southern extremity. It is
v — y embosomed in an amphitheatre of hills, and stands princi¬
pally on elevations which rise from the bay, and conse¬
quently the streets are steep. The houses are well built
of brick or stone, and on the whole the town has a hand¬
some appearance. It is divided by a ridge running into the
sea, and forming on one side the Carenage, a large basin of
water, surrounded by wharfs and stores. Here the ships
lie land-locked and in deep water close to the wharfs. The
entrance is defended by a citadel called Fort George, which
stands upon a rocky eminence. On the left the land rises
gradually to some height, the summit being crowned by the
fortifications of Hospital Hill; and a long ridge, which falls
towards the middle, connects this fort with Richmond Heights
which constitute the background of the scene, and which
are also fortified. The ridge which connects Fort George
with Hospital Hill also separates the Carenage from the
larger portion of the town, which contains the market-place
and looks upon the bay. Upon this hill are built some of
the principal houses of the town, the church, and the par¬
sonage. At its extremity is the court-house, and nearly
opposite is the Catholic chapel. Besides the Carenage there
is another spacious sheet of water called the Lagoon, which
is separated from the former by a reef passable only by boats.
Among the public buildings of George Town are the court¬
house, a fine and commodious building, the jail, the church,
a handsome building with a spire and clock, the Roman
Catholic chapel, and the custom-house. The market-place
is a square piece of ground of considerable dimensions, sur¬
rounded by houses, and having a public fountain. Pop.
(1851) 4567. The other towns are unimportant.
Between St Vincent and Grenada there is a cluster of
small islands called Grenadines, some of which are depen¬
dencies of Grenada. Of these Cariacou is the most im¬
portant. It is about 19 miles in circumference, and con¬
tained, in 1851, 4461 inhabitants. The principal town is
Hillsborough. It is fertile and well cultivated, but suffers
occasionally from long-continued drought. Cotton was for¬
merly the chief article of cultivation, but sugar is the staple
article now raised.
The following return shows the different products of
Grenada and the Grenadines in 1853 :—Sugar, 11,293,851
lbs; rum, 326,808 galls.; molasses, 19,972 galls.; cocoa,
9318 lbs.; cotton, 73,633 lbs. The imports from Great
Britain during that year amounted in value to L.71,981 ;
from British colonies to L.44,181, and from foreign coun¬
tries to L.22,898,—total L. 139,060. Exports to Great
Britain, L. 104,432 ; to British colonies, L. 14,289 ; to fo¬
reign countries, L.5234,—total, L.123,955. In 1853 the
total revenue was L. 15,038, L.9471 being custom duties,
and L.5567 assessed and other taxes ; and the expenditure,
L. 17,130, being—civil government, L.4122; judicial, L.820;
ecclesiastical, L.2478 ; education, L. 1097 ; police, L.2358;
prisons, L.390; and miscellaneous, L.5865. In that year
the revenue was L.2328 less, and the expenditure L.236
more, than in the preceding year. The population in 1851
was 32,671, of which 15,713 were males, and 16,958 females.
In 1853 it was estimated at 34,077. There were then 11
Episcopalian churches, and 16 belonging to other denomi¬
nations, with an average attendance of 11,916. The num¬
ber of scholars attending Episcopalian schools was 967, other
schools 1057. Crimes and offences—44 felonies, 50 misde¬
meanours, and 120 other offences.
GRENADE, in Artillery, a kind of small shell which,
as soon as the fuze is lighted, is projected by the hand.
It weighs about 1 lb. 13 oz., and is chiefly used for throw¬
ing into the ditch or covered way from the parapet. Gre¬
nades were first used in 1594.
GRENADIER, originally denoted a soldier who threw
G R E
the grenade; but the term grenadiers came afterwards to Grenoble
be applied to certain troops of the line, distinguished from II.
the latter chiefly by a high cap and some other peculiarities ^renvi e'
of dress. The term originated with the French, in 1667.
In the infantry regiments of most European armies, the
tallest and finest-looking men are selected to form a com¬
pany of grenadiers who occupy the right of the battalion
when in line, and lead in attack.
GRENOBLE (the ancient Gratianopolis), a fortified
city of France, formerly capital of Dauphine, now of the de¬
partment of Isere, is pleasantly situated on the Isere, just
above its confluence with the Drac, in a basin surrounded by
lofty mountains, 58 miles S.E. of Lyons. The city proper, or
larger portion, occupies the left bank of the river, and is con¬
nected with the opposite bank by two bridges, one of stone,
the other an iron chain bridge. This portion of the town
is surrounded by bastioned ramparts, and has a citadel; it
contains several good squares, and the houses are three or
four storeys in height, with flat, tiled roofs; but the streets
are narrow, though well paved and regular. The portion
on the right bank, called the Faubourg St Laurent, consists
chiefly of one spacious street, immediately behind which
rises an abrupt mountain studded with fortifications to the
height of 918 feet above the river. From the summit of
this mountain an extensive view of the surrounding country
is obtained. This part of Grenoble was formerly surrounded
by an ancient wall, which has recently been demolished, and
its place is now occupied by a fine promenade. The river
is bounded on both sides by handsome quays, along which
extend lines of elegant houses. This town has been much
enlarged and improved of late years ; and it is proposed to
extend it considerably, and reconstruct the fortifications so
as to inclose a much larger space of ground. The public
buildings are not remarkable. The cathedral is a heavy,
ungainly structure, partly ancient and partly modern. There
are several public walks and handsome fountains. The
court-house is the most interesting old building in the town,
having been originally the palace of the dauphin. One of
the most pleasing features of the town is its extensive and
well laid out public garden, on the left bank of the Isere.
In the Place St Andre is a bronze colossal statue of Bayard
the “ chevalier sans peur etsans reproche,” who was interred
in a contiguous church. It has a public library, with 60,000
vols.; a college; museums of natural history and anti¬
quities ; a picture gallery ; botanic garden ; schools of me¬
dicine, artillery, and design; and societies of agriculture,
science, art, &c. The chief manufactures are kid gloves,
for which it is specially noted; chamois and other leathers ;
liqueurs, &c. It has some trade, by means of the river, in
hemp, iron, timber, and marble. Grenoble occupies the site
of the ancient Cularo, the name of which was subsequently
changed to Gratianopolis in honour of the Emperor Gratian.
This was the first place that openly received Napoleon on
his return from Elba in 1815. Pop. (1851) 26,852.
GRENVILLE, Lord. See Wyndham, Right Hon.
William.
Grenville, Richard, Earl Temple, the most distin¬
guished of a family of English politicians, was the eldest
son of a country gentleman of the same name, who pos¬
sessed the estate of Wotton, in Buckinghamshire. This
Richard Grenville of Wotton was married to Hester Temple,
a lady who succeeded to the title and estates of Lord Cob-
ham, to whom Pope inscribed one of his epistles. Their
son, the future Lord Temple, was born in 1711 ; and he
partly owed his introduction to public life to the circum¬
stance that his sister, Hester Grenville, was married to the
celebrated William Pitt, afterwards Lord Chatham. When
Pitt was, in 1755, dismissed from his office of paymaster of
the forces, Lord Temple generously made him a present
of L.1000. In the following year Pitt was secretary, and
Temple was made first lord of the admiralty. In 1757
G R E
Grenville, he was lord privy seal. He had various differences with
his illustrious relative, and was latterly a sort of leader in
opposition ; but he ultimately retired from politics, and de¬
voted himself to the embellishment of his seat of Stowe,
so famed for its magnificence. He died in 1777. Mr
Macaulay characterizes Temple as possessing no high ta¬
lents for administration or debate, but as being formidable
on account of his great possessions, his turbulent and un¬
scrupulous character, his restless activity, and his skill in
the most ignoble tactics of faction. Since Mr Macaulay
wrote, the “tactics” of Earl Temple have received a new
and interesting illustration. In 1852 were published The
Grenville Papers; being the correspondence of Earl
Temple and his brother, George Grenville, their friends
and contemporaries. This correspondence—long known
and mentioned as the “ Stowe Papers”—commences in
1742, and terminates in 1777. It is important as explain¬
ing many of the political movements of the day, and exhi¬
biting the sovereign, George III., in private communication
with his ministers. The papers were believed to contain
a solution of the mystery connected with the authorship of
Junius' Letters, but this they failed to accomplish, though
containing many interesting particulars relative to that
curious and well-kept secret. Mr W. J. Smith, editor of
the Grenville Papers, endeavours to establish the claim of
Earl Temple to be Junius. The necessary information
Earl Temple undoubtedly possessed, and Mr Smith assumes
that Lady Temple was his amanuensis and assistant: “ She
had talent enough to assist him in the composition of his
writings, and her praise was sufficient to support his vanity.”
The handwriting of this lady, it appears, bears a striking
resemblance to that of Junius. Now, it is certain that the
statements of Junius, made in his private communications
to Woodfall, printer of the Public Advertiser, are not al¬
ways consistent. He declared that he was the sole depo¬
sitary of his secret, and that it should die with him; yet he
writes to Woodfall—“ The truth is, there are people about
me whom I would wish not to contradict, and who would
rather see Junius in the papers, ever so improperly, than
not at all.” On another occasion he speaks of the gentle¬
man who manages the conveying department of the letters
between himself and Woodfall. Junius also boasts of being
above a common bribe, and asserts that he is a man of rank
and fortune—assertions which seem to countenance the sup¬
position that Earl Temple might be the author. But, militat¬
ing against this theory, and against Junius’ own assumption
of superiority of position, is the information contained in
three letters first published in this very work, the Grenville
Papers. In 1 768, before the writer had adopted the signa¬
ture of Junius, he addressed private communications to Earl
Temple, professing the warmest respect for his character
and public spirit, and offering hints on political questions.
The first relates to a report that Lord North was to intro¬
duce into his budget a tax of threepence in the pound on
all articles sold by auction. In this letter, “ C,” or Junius,
says—“ It is not necessary or proper to make myself known
to you at present; hereafter I may, perhaps, claim that
honour.” In the second letter he avows himself to be the
author of papers signed “ Lucius,” but assures Earl Temple
that he (the writer) “ is a man quite unknown and uncon¬
nected,” who had attached himself to the earl’s cause, and
to him alone, upon motives which, if he were of consequence
enough to give weight to his judgment, would be thought
honourable, &c. He adds, that at a proper time he would
solicit the honour of being known, but that he had then
important reasons for wishing to be concealed. The third
letter is to the same effect. The writer states that a satire
on the ministry, entitled “ The Grand Council” (published
in Woodfall’s Junius) proceeded from his pen, as had “al¬
most everything that, for two years past, attracted the at¬
tention of the public.” He adds—“ Until you are minister
ORE 59
I must not permit myself to think of the honour of being Gresham.
known to you; when that happens, you will not find me a
needy or a troublesome dependant.” He further expresses
the great desire he has to be honoured with Earl Temple’s
notice. Such is the substance of the three letters; they
are by the same writer who afterwards used the signature
of Junius, and they seem to prove that their author looked
for patronage from Lord Temple, to whom he virtually
offers his services as a political writer. Mr Smith supposes
that hints and materials were forwarded to Lord Temple
by his mysterious ally; and that from these, aided by his
own knowledge of events and parties, his lordship wrote
the letters signed Junius, Lady Temple acting as assistant
and amanuensis. Exactly the reverse we take to have been
the case. Lord Temple, and subsequently his brother,
George Grenville (who became prime minister after the
resignation of Lord Bute in ] 762, and held office until
dismissed to make way for the Rockingham administration
in 1765), saw the importance of this brilliant and unscru¬
pulous political writer, and supplied him with facts and
scandal for his polished invectives and unmeasured vitupe¬
ration. Lord Temple apparently had no talents as a writer,
however active he may have been as a politician; and
though Junius was of the Temple school, he assuredly
was not Temple. (r. c. s.)
GRESHAM, Sir Thomas, the founder of the Royal
Exchange and of the college called by his name in Lon¬
don, was born in 1519. His father had amassed great
wealth and attained great eminence as a merchant and
bill-broker in the reign of Henry VIII., and resolved to
train his son to succeed him in his business. After a tho¬
rough education at Caius College, Cambridge, young
Gresham was apprenticed to his uncle, a knight"and a dis¬
tinguished member of the Merchants Company. Under
Edward VI. Gresham was employed on the same services
as his father had performed for that king’s father, and in the
course of Edward’s short reign he made no fewer than forty
voyages to Antwerp on the royal business. By his finan¬
cial skill and foresight he rendered great service to the re¬
venues of the English crown, which he rescued from the
extortions of Dutch and Jewish capitalists, and introduced
with great effect the practice of raising money from native
money-lenders, in preference to foreigners, who exacted a
ruinous rate of interest. Mary and Elizabeth continued
him in his employment, and the latter knighted him in
1559. He had now amassed an immense fortune, and built
himself a splendid house in Bishopsgate Street (which, after
his wife’s death, was used as Gresham College, and the site
of which is now occupied by the excise office), where he
lived in great state, and where, by command of Elizabeth,
he often entertained the ambassadors and visitors of rank
that thronged her court. To these circumstances Gresham
owed his title of the “ Royal Merchant.”
During his repeated visits to Antwerp, Gresham had
seen and fully appreciated the value of a general place of
rendezvous for the merchants of the city. Anxious to in¬
troduce something of the kind into London, he offered to
build a suitable house if the citizens would furnish a site.
A piece of ground was accordingly bought, and a building
on the model of the Bourse of Antwerp was erected and
ready for use in 1569. In the following year it was opened
in state by Elizabeth, who, by a trumpet and herald, pro¬
claimed it “ 1 he Royal Exchange.” This building was
burned down in the great fire of London, but was after¬
wards rebuilt on a larger scale and at a cost of nearly
L.59,000. In 1838 this edifice was destroyed, like its pre¬
decessor, by fire; but on the same site a new exchange, of
far greater dimensions and more splendid in style, was opened
in 1844 by the Queen in state. See London.
Gresham invested a good deal of his wealth in landed
property in various parts of England. At one of his
00 GEE- GEE
Gresham estates, that of Osterlay near Brentford, he used sometimes to
II entertain Queen Elizabeth. Extant accounts describe the
r-esset. Spientiour an(j extravagance of these passages of her Majesty.
Gresham College. See London.
CRESSET, Jean Battiste Louis, the author of Ver-
Vert, and many other poems, was one of the most original
French writers of the eighteenth century. He was born
at Amiens in 1709, and was educated there in the college
of the Jesuits. In his seventeenth year he entered their
order, and was sent to Paris to complete his studies at the
College de Louis-le-Grand. He had not completed his
twenty-third year when he wrote his inimitable little poem
of Ver-Vert. There is not in the French language any
badinage more pleasant or more graceful than the adven¬
tures of the famous parrot of Nevers. He next published
the Careme Impromptu and the Lutrin Vivant, two bril¬
liant trifles that display remarkable powers of narrative;
and soon after, two charming epistles under the title of La
Chartreuse and Les Ombres. Both of these epistles, but
especially the first-named, are in their way as remarkable as
the Ver- Vert. They are perhaps less correct; the copiousness
of diction degenerates into luxuriance, and the abandon
sometimes savours of carelessness. Yet the happy flow and
pleasant cadences of the lines redeem the diffusion and the
long sentences which have been often censured as the pre¬
vailing faults of almost all Cresset’s compositions. An ex¬
ception must be made in favour of his Epitre d ma sceur,
sur ma convalescence, which is in its way a perfect master¬
piece, and far superior to many of the fugitive pieces of
Voltaire in the same vein. Inferior in merit to these, yet
still worthy of respectful mention, are the Epitre au pere
Bougeant, A ma muse, Epitre d’ un Chartreux, &c. The
fame of these works spread far and wide, and gained for
their author the professorship of humanity at Tours. Here
he had the misfortune to displease an influential and high¬
born religieuse, who accused him of doing mischief by the
light and frivolous character of his poetry ; and Cresset by
way of punishment was transferred to La Fleche. To
divert his thoughts, he set himself to translate the Eclogues
of Virgil, which he accomplished, however, with very in¬
different success. Finding his banishment intolerable, he
applied for a recall; and when his superiors refused, he left
the order. He always preserved a kindly remembrance of
his connexion with it, however, as is evidenced by his Adieu
aux Jesuites. He now removed to Paris, where he endea¬
voured to gain a reputation as a tragic writer. In 1740 he
produced his drama of Edouard III., which La Harpe
pronounced a “ roman sans vraisemblance, sans interet et
sans aucune entente du theatre;” and his Sidney, played
five years later, has no merits to save it from a like
condemnation. Both were utter failures on the stage.
Hardly more fortunate was his comedy of Le Mechant,
which possesses very great merits, though these are more
appreciable in the closet than on the stage. This comedy
gives a most brilliant picture of the period which cul¬
minated in the Regency. Many of the lines are exqui¬
sitely finished, and many of them have become proverbs,
but the plot is cold and commonplace. In 1748 Cresset
obtained the much coveted honour of a seat in the French
Academy ; but a few years later he retired to his native
town, where, with permission from the king, he founded an
academy. The remainder of his life was spent in the neigh¬
bourhood of his beloved Amiens, which he never quitted
unless business called him to the capital for a few days.
One of these flying visits to Paris was made in 1774, to
congratulate Louis XVI. on his accession, in the name of
the French Academy. The new monarch ennobled him,
and the dauphin (afterwards Louis XVIII.) made him his¬
toriographer of the order of St Lazarus. In his latter days
Cresset became religiously disposed, and published a letter
of regret for the mischief which he believed his comedies
to have done. This retractation excited the wrath of Vol- Greta,
taire, who wrote of him in 1759—“ Et ce polisson de Cresset
qu’ en dirons-nous ? quel fat orgueilleux! quel plat fana-
tique!” This was at least ungrateful in the patriarch of
Ferney ; for Cresset had not only never joined in the out¬
cry against him, but had even defended his Zaire against
its many assailants. Though it is hard to see what Cresset
had to retract, or what evil influence he had exerted over
French literature, he took great blame to himself for having
multiplied editions of his works ; and in deference to his
religious advisers, he burned some unpublished plays, and
two new cantos of Ver- Vert. Cresset died at Amiens, June
16, 1777.
Cresset, more than any other French poet, seems to have
felt the influences of time and circumstance; and his
works reflect to a surprising degree the influences by which
he was surrounded at the time when each was written. He
was the most original poet of his century in France, and
neither belonged to any school nor followed any model.
Not a trace of the Voltaireanism which was the ruling spirit
of French literature in his day is to be found in his writings.
His originality, refined humour, easy grace, and beautiful
versification, will always secure for him an independent
niche in the pantheon of French greatness. The best edi¬
tions of his poems are those of Fayolle, Paris, 1803, 3 vols.
18mo ; and Renouard, Paris, 1811, 3 vols. 8vo. The Ver-
Vert has been twice translated into English, first by T. G.
Cooper, and afterwards by Alexander Ceddes ; into Ger¬
man by J. M. Goetz ; into Italian by L. A. Vincenzi; and
into several other modern tongues.
GRETA, a river of England, in Cumberland. It rises
in the mountain cove of Wythburn, and at the western
base of Helvellyn enters the lake of Thirlmere or Leathes
Water, through which it flows, and whence it emerges
under the name of St John’s Beck, flowing thence along
the narrow but extremely picturesque valley of St John’s,
which is bounded on the W. by Naddle Fell, and on the
E. by Great Dodd, a hill at the extremity of the Helvellyn
chain. The lower end of the dale is closed by Saddleback,
which rises on the N., with its deep ravines and rocky
projections. This beautiful vale is the scene of Scott’s
poem of the Bridal of Triermain, and at its entrance from
Thirlmere rise “ the castled rocks,” so graphically described
by the poet. At the foot of Saddleback, which rears its
summit above “ the ruined towers of Threlkeld Hall,” the
stream is joined by the Glenderamaken, and takes thence
the name of Greta. In its further course it receives the
Glenderaterra, which comes bounding down between the
mountains of Saddleback and Skiddaw. Thence the Greta
passes under the woody side of Latrigg (“ Skiddaw’s Cub”),
w here its scenery is of the finest and most remarkable kind.
Little more than a mile from the foot of Skiddaw stands
the town of Keswick, on the left bank of this river, in the
most beautiful vale. Quitting the town, the Greta falls into
the Derwent at the foot of the noble lake of Derwentwater.
The bed of the Greta is stony and rocky, but the channel
immediately above Keswick has been to a great extent
cleared of the immense stones which, by their concussion
in high floods, produced the loud noises described in Words¬
worth’s sonnet on the Greta. Black’s Guide to the Lakes ;
Works of Scott, Wordsworth, and Southey.
Greta, a romantic tributary of the Tees, in the N.W.
part of the north-riding of Yorkshire. The valley of this
stream was well known to the Roman conquerors; and in
recent times its charms have been enhanced by the pic¬
turesque descriptions of Sir Walter Scott and other poets.
The Greta rises by a few branches on the Stainmoor Fo¬
rest and the northern slopes of Watercrag, the name first
belonging to the branch that springs near Rere Cross
on Stainmoor. These streams united flow past Bowes, a
large village remarkable for its castle. Further down, the
G R E
Greta famous scenery which deservedly renders the Greta so re¬
sile Iriar^a^^e’ Presents itself in the Cliff of Scargill and the
revl 'j woody and rocky banks of Brignall and Rokeby, so beauti-
fully described in Sir Walter Scott’s Rokeby. Quitting
“ Brignall’s dark-wood glen,” the river passes under Greta
Bridge, and, flowing along the romantic ravine between
Mortham Tower and Rokeby Park, it joins the Tees.
Greta, “ the rocky water,” in the west riding of York¬
shire, and county of Lancaster, is a tributary of the Lune.
It rises on the slope of the vast height of the Whernside, and
flows along Chapeldale, a very remarkable valley bordered
on one side by the towering elevation of Ingleborough, and
on the other by the Ingleton Fells. In this secluded dale
is Wethercoat Cave, one of the most astonishing natural
curiosities in the kingdom—a waterfall of great depth and
force, completely subterraneous, yet enlightened by the sun
which sometimes forms a beautiful rainbow in the spray.
The scenery at the village of Ingleton at the lower end of
Chapeldale is truly magnificent, especially when viewed
from the Burton Road. Here the roaring torrent is seen
rushing through the deep chasm, the village church and
tower rising far above on its brink, and Ingleborough rising
immediately as from a base nearly to the distance of five
miles. Here the Greta is joined by the stream of Kings-
dale, a lonely glen between Ingleton Fells and the Ridge
of Graygrath. In this moorland valley are the cavern of
Yordas and the waterfall of Thornton Force. From Ingle¬
ton the Greta flows on to Black-Burton, and soon enters
Lancashire, and terminates its rapid career in the broad
channel of the Lune. Phillip’s Yorkshire; Baines’ Lan¬
cashire ; and Lewis’ Rivers of England and Wales.
GRETNA or GRAITNEY GREEN, a village of Scot¬
land, county of Dumfries, 9 miles N.W. of Carlisle, and hav¬
ing a station on the Caledonian Railway. It has long been
celebrated for its irregular marriages, noticed under Ber¬
wickshire.
GREVILLE, Fulke, Lord Brooke, an English poet
of the brilliant Elizabethan period, was born in 1554, at Al-
caster in Warwickshire. He was educated, along with his
cousin Sir Philip Sydney, at Shrewsbury; and on leaving
school, spent a considerable time at both the universities.
After travelling on the Continent, and mastering some of
the modern languages, he returned home; and through the
influence of friends at court, obtained some honourable and
lucrative employments, chiefly in connection with the govern¬
ment of Wales. In 1614 he was made under-treasurer and
chancellor of the exchequer ; and six years later, was raised
to the peerage by the title of Lord Brooke of Beauchamp’s
Court. He was murdered in 1628, in a moment of rage, by
an old servant of his own, who had no sooner done the deed
than he threw himself upon the sword with which he had
slain his master.
Fulke Greville’s name is noteworthy in the history of
English literature, both from his own contributions to it,
and the services which he rendered to some of its needy
cultivators in his day. Besides founding an historical lec¬
ture at Cambridge, he rendered much valuable aid to Da-
venant, Camden, Speed, and others, in their struggles with
the hardships of a literary career. Of his own writings
we may mention, The Life of the Renowned Sir Philip
Sidney, Lond. 1652; Certaine learned and elegant Workes
of the Right Hon. Fulke Lord JBrooke, ivritten in his youth,
and familiar exercise with Sir Philip Sidney, Lond. 1633;
The Remains of Sir Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke, being
Poems of Monarchy and Religion, never before printed,
Lond. 1670; A Treatise of Human Learning ; An Inqui¬
sition upon Fame and Honour ; A Treatise of Wars ; &c.
Greville’s poems are remarkable for their depth of thought
and masculine strength of expression. They abound, how¬
ever, more in solemn ethical and philosophical thought than
in poetic beauties, strictly so called; and the diction in
G R E 61
which they are couched, though terse and powerful, is not Grew
unfrequently obscure. Southey calls Greville “ the most |(
difficult of all our poets,” and adds, that “ no writer of this drey,
or any other country appears to have reflected more deeply
on momentous subjects.” Charles Lamb, than whom few
knew better the spirit of the Elizabethan era, says of Gre¬
ville, that “ he is nine parts Machiavel and Tacitus for one
of Sophocles or Seneca. Whether we look into his plays
or his most passionate love-poems, we shall find all frozen
and made rigid with intellect.”
The most noticeable feature of Lord Brooke’s personal
character was his friendship and admiration for his cousin
Sir Philip Sidney. The inscription on his tomb-stone de¬
scribes him as “ The servant of Queen Elizabeth, the
counsellor of King James, and the friend of Sir Philip
Sydney.”
GREW, Nehemiah, the earliest vegetable anatomist and
physiologist of this country, was born at Coventry about
1628. He was educated as a Presbyterian; and on the
change of the national form of religion, at the restoration
of Charles II., he was sent to study at some foreign univer¬
sity, where he took his degree of doctor of physic. He
settled first at Coventry, but removed afterwards to Lon¬
don, where he obtained considerable practice as a physician ;
and at length succeeded Mr Oldenburg in the office of
secretary to the Royal Society. In this capacity, pursuant
to an order of council, he drewr up a catalogue of the natu¬
ral and artificial rarities belonging to the society, under the
title of Musceum Regalis Societatis, 1681. Besides seve¬
ral papers in the Philosophical Transactions, he also wrote—
The Comparative Anatomy of the Stomach and Guts, fol.;
The Anatomy of Vegetables, of Roots, and of Trunks, 1682,
fol. ; Tractatus de Salis Cathartici Natura et Usu ; Cos-
mologia Sacra, or a Discourse of the Universe, as it is the
Creature and Kingdom of God, fol. The works of Grew
were translated into French and Latin ; but, as it appears,
by no means correctly, at least in the latter of these lan¬
guages. He died suddenly, March 25, 1711. > A genus
of plants of the natural family of Tiliaceae has been called
“ Grewia” in his honour.
GREY, Earl. The family from which Earl Grey sprung
had been settled in Northumberland since the Conquest,
and was at various times ennobled in its branches, giving
birth to the Earls of Tankerville in Normandy and Eng¬
land, and the Barons Grey of Werk. Charles, first earl,
son of Sir Henry Grey of Howick, was aide-de-camp to
Prince Ferdinand at Minden, served long and well in the
American War, and commanded the land forces at the re¬
duction of Martinique, &c., in 1794. As the reward of his
long service, he was created Baron Grey of Howick in 1801,
and in 1806 Viscount Howick and Earl Grey. His eldest
son Charles, the subject of this notice, was born at Falloden,
near Alnwick, on the 13th of March 1764. He received
his early education at Eton, and before he was sixteen
entered King’s College, Cambridge, where he studied with
distinction for two years. He completed his education in
the usual manner, by a continental tour, spending some time
in France, Spain, and Italy. In 1786 he returned home,
and soon after was sent to parliament by his native county.
To the surprise of his friends, who belonged, of course, to
the Tory party, the youthful member took his seat on the
left of the speaker, and soon convinced the House that a .
formidable ally had been gained by the small but brilliant
opposition that followed the banner of Fox. His maiden
speech, Feb. 21, 1787, stamped his character as a speaker.
The clearness and force of his argument, the animation and
grace of his delivery, joined to a stately and aristocratic
bearing, excited general admiration. The subject of debate
was Mr Pitt’s commercial treaty with France, which the
young statesman followed his leader in opposing. A few
years sufficed to show that he was capable of taking wider
62 G R E Y.
Grey, views, and shaping a course untrammelled by any docile
—subservience to a chief. He soon became a prominent man
in the House; and to have commanded respect in a house
where Fox, Burke, and Sheridan spoke on the same side
with him, implied no common abilities. In the following
year, though not yet twenty-four, he was appointed one of
the managers in the trial of Warren Hastings.
From the very commencement of his political life, Mr
Grey stood out as the champion of the principles which gave
character to his whole career. The three words which
summed up his ministerial programme in 1831, Peace,
Retrenchment, and Reform, constitute the main burden
of his early parliamentary history. In the debates on the
Regency Bill in 1789, indeed, he vigorously supported his
party in defence of expenditure for one whom they “valued
highly as an auxiliary.” That Mr Grey’s conduct, how¬
ever, was guided by no servile partizanship was evinced by
his subsequent resistance to the additional grant for liqui¬
dating the prince’s debts. Of his principal appearances in
the House from 1789 to 1792, it may suffice to notice his
motion for inquiry into the convention with Spain in 1789,
his opposition to a war with Russia (on the taking of Ocza-
kow), and his efforts to mitigate the law of imprisonment
for debt.
The outbreak of the French Revolution, and the rapid
series of events from 1789 onwards, produced a schism in
the camp of the Whigs. While Burke vehemently opposed
the progress of the terrible phenomenon, and many of the
Wings consented to support the omnipotent minister, Fox
and Grey, at the head of their small but resolute band, never
swerved for a moment in their opposition to a war with
France. Fearlessly committing himself to the advocacy of
principles then regarded, not only by the order with which
birth and feeling connected him, but by an immense ma¬
jority of the people, as dangerous and revolutionary, Mr
Grey became one of the chief promoters of a political con¬
federacy, entitled “ The Society of the Friends of the Peo¬
ple.” The very name smacked of revolution ; and though
most of the leading and more liberal Whigs joined this Ibr-
midable association, Mr Fox declined to have anything to
do with it, and even exerted himself privately against it.
The avowed object was to obtain a reform in the system of
parliamentary representation ; and on the 30th April 1792
Mr Grey gave notice of a motion for next session, embody¬
ing the principle “ that the evils which threaten the consti¬
tution can only be corrected by timely and temperate re¬
form.”
Before next session the aspect of parties had consider¬
ably altered. The general antipathy to everything known
as “liberal”—a synonym to many minds for Jacobinism,
anarchy, and atheism—had its due weight with timid and
time-serving politicians, and a section of the Whigs were
already meditating an alliance with the ministry. The de¬
mand for parliamentary reform was not indeed quite new.
It had been for some time recognised as a valuable stock-
cry lor ambitious politicians, and so late as 1785 Mr Pitt
himself spoke of it as “ the great question which was nearest
his heart.” Mr Pitt had changed his sentiments, so per¬
suasive was the French revolution ; and it was no wonder
that smaller men consented to leave things as they were.
Of another stamp was Mr Grey. Amid almost universal
selfishness and servility, he adhered to his principles from
first to last, “ unshaken, unseduced, unterrified.” The faith
of his youth continued to be the creed of his manhood, and
its triumph was the glory of his old age.
On the 6th of May 1793, the House of Commons was
inundated with petitions in favour of parliamentary re¬
form. Among others, Colonel Macleod presented one from
Edinburgh “ of the whole length of the floor of the House.”
Last of all came Mr Grey with the petition of the People’s
Friends, a document “ of such length as took nearly half an
hour in the reading.” It stated “ with great precision and Grey,
distinctness” the existing defects in the system of parlia-
mentary representation, and the evils arising from the long
duration of parliaments. It offered to prove that the trea¬
sury and the peers actually nominated 97 members, and in¬
fluenced the return of 70 more, while 91 individual com¬
moners procured the election of 139, in all 307—a majority
of the entire House of Commons being thus returned by
one hundred and sixty individuals. Mr Grey concluded
his speech by moving for a select committee. After two
long debates the motion was lost by 282 to 41. The House
of Commons was well pleased with its own purity !
The war with France continued to meet with Mr Grey’s
determined opposition, even after it had come to be regarded
by many of his party as a necessary evil. Acknowledging
as he did (1794) that France “groaned under the most
furious tyranny,” and that “ he would prefer the dominion
of Nero or Caligula to the authority which now governed
that nation,” he made repeated motions (1795-96) for the
opening of negotiations, dwelling always with great force on
the ruinous expense of the war. The result was ever the
same ; “ extended and animated speeches,” able reasoning,
and undeniable figures, were followed invariably by crushing
minorities. The introduction of foreign troops into England,
the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, the large addi¬
tion to the grant for liquidating the debts of the Prince of
Wales, and the “detestable” bill to restrain public meet¬
ings, were opposed with equal vigour and with as little suc¬
cess. His motions in 1796 (March 10 and May 6), on the
state of the nation, and for an impeachment of ministers for
malversation of public money, were lost in like manner by
overwhelming majorities. His whole career was a despe¬
rate battle against invincible odds. On the 26th May 1797,
he again brought forward a motion for parliamentary reform,
and this time he put forth a plan. He proposed to leave
the number of members unaltered, but to increase the
county representation from 92 to 113 ; to extend the county
franchise from freeholders to copyholders and leaseholders ;
the burgh franchise to all tax-paying householders; a voter
only to vote for one member; the elections to be all on the
same day; and, if the whole measure were carried, but not
otherwise, triennial parliaments—a measure in principle
little different from the Reform Bill of 1830. In conclud¬
ing his speech, Mr Grey intimated that if his motion were
lost he would despair of any further success in attempting
to remedy the national ills, “and not again trouble the
House with his observations.” The motion was lost by
258 to 63, and the general question of parliamentary reform
went to sleep for more than a generation. Mr Grey did
not speak again in parliament till 1799, when he came for¬
ward in opposition to the Irish Union. For some years
after this he made no public appearance of importance.
On the 23d of January 1806, Mr Pitt died, and the Whigs
came into power under Grenville and Fox. Mr Grey, now
Lord Howick, w7as made first lord of the admiralty. On
the death of Mr Fox, a few months after his great rival,
Lord Howick succeeded his departed chief as secretary for
foreign affairs, and leader of the House of Commons. The
time had now come for attempting with better hope some
of the great reforms for which he had hitherto battled. One
only of these the brief duration of his power permitted him
to carry—the abolition of the slave trade. Early in March
1807, he moved the abolition of the oath which barred Ro¬
man Catholics and other dissenters from serving in the army
and navy. The opposition shriek of horror at so latitudina-
rian a proposal, was more loud than edifying. The cries of
“ No Popery,” “ Church and King,” &c., were raised with
great effect from the expectant premier down to the ortho¬
dox street-sweeper. The old king took violent alarm, and
demanded a written promise from his ministers not to
meddle with the obnoxious topic. Mr Pitt had given him
G R E
Grey, such a pledge, but Lord Howick and his colleagues respect-
—v--—^ fully declined to follow the example, and threw up their
offices. A few years later their successors quietly passed
the measure to the abjuration of which they owed their
power.
On the dissolution of parliament, Lord Howick declining
to contest the county of Northumberland, took his seat for
Appleby. The death of his father in November of that
year removed him to the House of Peers as Earl Grey, and
for several years he enjoyed the calm pleasures of domestic
retirement, steadily refusing the power which was more
than once within his reach, while its acceptance involved
the slightest compromise of the principles for the realization
of which alone power had for him any charms. To the
sweeter influences of family life, though outwardly a man of
stiff and haughty reserve, he was keenly sensitive, and no¬
where were these influences more attractively displayed
than in the family circle at Howick. He had married in
1794 the only daughter of William, afterwards Lord Pon-
sonby, by whom he had ten sons and five daughters.
In 1809, 1810, and 1812, repeated overtures were made to
Earl Grey and Lord Grenville to join the administration,
but on each occasion the offers were unhesitatingly rejected.
The Prince Regent was anxious to obtain the support of
“ some of those persons with whom the early habits of his
public life were formedand after the last unsuccessful nego¬
tiation, on the death of Mr Perceval (May 1812), Lord Grey
was careful to express his willingness that his friends should
take office without him, promising his cordial support;—for
himself untrammelled freedom was a stern necessity. Dur¬
ing the eighteen succeeding years, Lord Grey headed the
opposition in the House of Peers. In that time of depres¬
sion and discontent which followed the peace, he opposed,
consistently with his ancient policy, the harsh and coercive
measures of the government, ever advocating, as the true
and constitutional method of dealing with the existing evils,
the removal of the causes from which they sprung. In no
part of his public life did he earn higher honour than on the
trial of Queen Caroline. His severe and dignified opposi¬
tion to the Bill of Pains and Penalties had great weight in
influencing the decision of the Peers, and alienated him
for ever from a king who had been from the beginning un¬
worthy of his friendship.
In 1827 Mr Canning became prime minister, and a shame¬
ful spectacle of place-hunting ensued. All the Whig leaders
gave him their support. Earl Grey alone stood disdain¬
fully aloof from a man whose tardy and doubtful liberalism
contrasted so strongly with the unyielding consistency of
his own political life. His utter distrust of Mr Canning’s
policy, and the severity with which he criticised his career,
were sufficiently justified to his rigid sense of honour by
that statesman’s declaration of unqualified opposition to Re¬
form and Roman Catholic Emancipation. In that session,
in supporting the Duke of Wellington’s unpopular amend¬
ment on the ministerial Corn Bill, he made the memorable
declaration so characteristic of his severe patrician spirit.
“ If,” said he, “ there should come a contest between this
house and a great portion of the people, my part is taken ;
and with that order to which I belong I will stand or fall.”
Coriolanus was not less “ ambitious for poor knaves’ caps and
legs” than the lordly English reformer.
The time at last came for the triumphant realization of
the great objects for which Earl Grey had so long and al¬
most hopelessly contended. One of these—the relief of the
Roman Catholics from civil disabilities—was granted by his
opponents as a tardy concession to the imperious voice of
the nation. In the debates on that question in the House
of Lords, Earl Grey was said to have “ excelled all others,
and even himself.” The long sleeping question of Reform
was once more revived when disappointed politicians found
that ministers were bidding for popular favour, and the ex-
G R E 63
citing impulse of the French Revolution of 1830 gave new Grey,
life to the agitation of grievances. The Iron Duke with fatal
honesty scouted the necessity of change, and affirmed that
the existing system of representation enjoyed “ the full and
entire confidence of the country.” The country answered
with a groan, and the Wellington ministry had to retire.
The veteran leader of the Whigs was summoned to the helm
of affairs; and on the 22d of November, Earl Grey, as
prime minister, delivered his programme in the House of
Peers. The history of the great event which crowned his
long labours in the cause of Reform is elsewhere fully nar¬
rated (see Britain). Throughout the whole of that trying
and momentous time, the wisdom and firmness of the minis¬
ter were manifested so conspicuously as to have earned him,
in all impartial eyes, the glory of having guided the nation
in safety over the kindling mine of revolution. The con¬
test between his order and the people, of which he had
once spoken, had actually arrived, and he sacrificed the in¬
dependence of the peers to the will of the nation. That
no other course was open to a man charged with so fearful
a responsibility, is a sufficient answer to the charge of in¬
consistency. The moral courage requisite to so stern a
duty was of higher account than a martyrdom purchased by
civil war.
The acts of the first reformed parliament are already told
(see Britain). The emancipation of the slaves, the aboli¬
tion of the East India Company’s monopoly, the reform of
the Irish Church, and of the poor-laws, were the chief of
the legislative victories won under the rule of Earl Grey.
His foreign policy, in the able hands of Lord Palmerston,
was at once bold and pacific, temperate but just. Personal
changes and differences finally shook the cabinet, and in
November 1834 Earl Grey resigned. The remaining years
of his life were spent in retirement. For some time he ap¬
peared occasionally in the House of Lords, frankly support¬
ing the administration of Lord Melbourne. He died at his
seat, in Northumberland, on the 17th July 1845, in the
eighty-second year of his age. A political career so long use¬
ful and unblemished had seldom been exemplified. Faith¬
ful, in the midst of so much inconsistency and cowardice, to
the principles for which he had braved obloquy in his youth,
and resisted the fascinations of power, he attained at length,
in the decline of life but not of vigour, the goal of all his
strivings, the grand results, of which he had all but despaired.
In the latter part of his political life he stood alone—an u/ti-
mus Romanorum ; and, after his death, his characteristic
part as a statesman was no longer possible to a successor,
had any been fit to assume it. Let his defects have been
ever so many, and they were few, the high example of his
uncorrupted honour and constancy in the pursuit of great
ends is a KTYj^a es aa to the nation which reaps their
fruits.
Grey, Lady Jane, a scion of the blood-royal of England,
remarkable for her many virtues and accomplishments no
less than her misfortunes, was born in 1537, at Broad-
gate, in Leicestershire. She was the great-granddaughter
of Henry VII. of England. Mary, second daughter of that
king, after being left a widow by Louis XII. of France,
married Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, by whom she
had a daughter, who ultimately married Henry Grey, Mar¬
quis of Dorset. The offspring of this union was three
daughters, the eldest of whom was Lady Jane Grey. From
an early period she was distinguished for her talents; it
is known for certain that while still very young she had
thoroughly mastered Latin, Greek, French, and Italian,
and was conversant with at least three of the Oriental
tongues, Hebrew, Chaldee, and Arabic. In Ascham’s
Schoolmaster is given a touching account of the difficulties
and hardships under which she pursued her studies, and
the causelessly cruel treatment she experienced from her
parents. In 1553, her father and the Duke of Northum-
64 G R I
Greyhound berland, having risen to power after the downfall of Somerset,
, ii resolved to transfer into their own families the right of suc-
ne® ac • cession to the throne. A marriage was accordingly brought
about between Lady Jane Grey and Lord Guilford Dudley,
the Duke of Northumberland’s fourth son ; and the weakly
Edward VL, when he found his end approaching, was easily
persuaded to pass over his own sisters, Mary and Elizabeth,
and nominate Lady Jane Grey and her husband as his suc¬
cessors to the English throne. Some days elapsed after the
king’s death before Lady Jane was told that she was queen
of England ; and when she came to know the fact, she could
only with the greatest difficulty be persuaded to avail her¬
self of it. After a reign of ten days, she quietly resigned
the throne in favour of Mary. Her husband and she were
thrown into the Tower; and though it was not originally in¬
tended to put them to death, yet, in consequence of Wyat’s
insurrection, they were executed together, Feb. 12, 1554.
Lady Jane displayed on the scaffold the same pious resig¬
nation and calm self-possession that had distinguished her
throughout life. (Ascham’s Schoolmaster; Biog. Brit.;
Burnet’s Hist. Ref.)
GREYHOUND. See Hound, and Mammalia.
GRE\ WACKE, or Grauwacke, a rock formation,
composed of quartz, flinty slate, clay slate, and felspar, in
pieces varying in size, and cemented together by a clay-
slate basis. See Mineralogy.
GRIESBACH, Johann Jacob, an eminent German
biblical critic, was born at Butzbach, in Hesse-Darmstadt,
Jan. 4, 1745. He was educated at Frankfort-on-the-Maine,
and completed his studies at the universities of Tubingen,
Halle, and Leipzig. He distinguished himself especially in
all theological and biblical inquiries, and was the favourite
pupil both of Semler and Ernesti. At the early age of
twenty-four he had determined to devote himself to the
scientific study of the doctrines and text of the New Testa¬
ment. To carry out his plan, he began a literary tour
through Germany, Holland, and England, making friends
for himself among^lhe leading literati of all these countries,
and amassing large stores of valuable materials for his great
work. In 1770 he returned to Frankfort to arrange and
digest these; but in the following year was made theological
lecturer, and in 1773, extraordinary professor of theology
at Halle. In this office he distinguished himself so much
that he was offered a professorship at Jena, which he ac¬
cepted. In 1780 he became rector of the university, and
was promoted to various other responsible offices. The
Duke of Saxe-Weimar nominated him his ecclesiastical
councillor, and a member of his states; and he had been
already made prelate and deputy of the district of Weimar.
About ten years before this, he had married a sister of the
famous Schiitz, with whom he seems to have lived happily
till his death, March 24, 1812. Griesbach’s first edition of
his text of the New Testament was published at Halle in
1774, in the form of a hand-book for the students then at¬
tending his lectures. The first volume of the second edi¬
tion was published in 1796, and the second in 1807. A
font of types was cast expressly for this edition by the famous
type-founder Goschen ; and as the expense of the paper was
borne by the Duke of Grafton, chancellor of the university
of Cambridge, the grateful author published his book simul¬
taneously in London and Halle. The book has been since
twice reprinted in London, once in 1809, and again in
1818. 8
Griesbach’s recension of the text of the New Testament
is based on a comparison of the three great classes into
which he divides the various Greek MSS. These sets of
MSS. are the Alexandrine, the Western, and the Bvzantine
or Asiatic, which latter is the basis of the Greek Vulgate.
Of these, the first is by far the best, as Griesbach considers
undeniable, from the coincidence between the Scripture
quotations in the extant works of Origen and the text of the
G E I
celebrated Alexandrian MS. of the New Testament. The Griffin
Byzantine, in opposition to Matthise and Scholz, he con- I!
siders far from reliable. But his whole system has been Grinialdi.
attacked repeatedly in Germany and England, in the latter
country more especially by Dr Nolan in his Enquiry into
the integrity of the Greek Vulgate, or received Text 'of the
New Testament, and by Archbishop Lawrence in his Re¬
marks upon the Systematical Classification of MSS. adopted
by Dr Griesbach.
Griesbach’s chief works, in addition to those already mentioned,
are—Dissertatio de fide historicd, ex ipsd rerum quae narrantur, na-
tura judicandd, 4to, 1764 ; Diss. hist, theol. locos theologicos ex Leone
M. Pontifice Romano Sistens, Halle, 4to, 1768 ; Dissertatio de Codi-
cihus quatuor Evangeliorum Origenianis, 4to, 1771 ; Dissertatio cura-
rum in historiam textus Grceci Epistolarum Paulinarum specimen,
Jena, 1777; Programma de fontibus unde Evangelista; suas de resur-
rectione Domini narrationes hauserint, 1784; Progr. de imaginibus
Judaicis quibus auctor Epistolce ad Hebrceos in describenda Messice
provincia usus est, 1791-92; Symbolee criticce ad supplendas et cor-
rigendas varias N. T. lectiones ; Accedit multorum N. T. codicum
Graecorum descriptio et examen, Halle, 1785-93; Commentar. critic,
in textum Grcecum N. T. • Grieshach’s Opuscula Academica were pub¬
lished at Jena in 1824.
GRIFFIN, or Gryphon (gryphus, ypvf), in the natural
history of the ancients, the name of an imaginary bird of
prey, of the eagle species, represented with four legs, wings,
and a beak ; the upper part resembling an eagle, and the
lower a lion. This animal, which was supposed to watch
over gold mines and hidden treasures, was consecrated to
the sun; and the ancient painters represented the chariot
of the sun as drawn by griffins. According to Spanheim,
those of Jupiter and Nemesis were similarly provided. The
griffin of Scripture is that species of the eagle called in Latin
ossifraga, or osprey. The griffin is frequently seen on
ancient medals, and is still borne in escutcheons. Guillim
blazons it rampant, alleging that any very fierce animal may
be so blazoned as well as the lion ; but Sylvester, Morgan,
and others use the term segreiant instead of rampant. The
griffin was also an architectural ornament among the Greeks,
and was copied from them, with other architectural embel¬
lishments, by the Romans.
GRIMALDI, one of the four ancient families of “ high
nobility” of Genoa. The lordship of Monaco, afterwards ele¬
vated to the rank of a principality, belonged to the Grimaldi
from a.d. 980 for more than 600 years. With the Fieschi
they always acted an important part in the history of Genoa,
especially in the disputes between the Ghibelines and the
Guelphs, to which latter family both parties belonged. The
influence of the Grimaldi was much increased by their large
estates in France and Italy. Of this family there were
several eminent men, of whom the principal are: 1. Ranieri
Grimai.di, the first Genoese who conducted the naval forces
of the republic beyond the straits of Gibraltar. He sailed
to Zealand, in the service of Philip (the Fair) of France, in
1304, with sixteen Genoese galleys and twenty French ships
under his command ; and there he defeated and made pri¬
soner the Count Guy of Flanders, who commanded the
enemy’s fleet of eighty sail.—2. Antonio Grimaldi, like¬
wise was distinguished in the naval service of his country in
the early part of the fourteenth century. Flis victories over
the Catalonians and Aragonese, who had committed aggres¬
sions on the Genoese, gave the latter a decided maritime
ascendency for a long time; but at length, in 1353, the
Catalonians, assisted by the Venetians, under the command
of Nicholas Pisani, gave him battle, and nearly destroyed
his whole fleet.—3. Giovanni Grimaldi is celebrated for
the victory he gained over the Venetian admiral Trevesani,
on the Po, in 1431, when, in sight of Carmagnola’s army,
he succeeded in taking twenty-eight galleys and a great
number of transports, with immense spoils.—4. Domenico
Grimaldi, cardinal, archbishop, and vice-legate of Avignon,
was famous as a naval commander, and eminent as a zealous
G K I
Grimm, extirpator of heresy from the Romish Church. Though a
bishop at the time, he distinguished himself by his skill and
courage at the battle of Lepanto in 1571.—5. Geronimo
Grimaldi, born in 1597, was sent by Urban VIII. as
nuncio to Germany and France, and the services he ren¬
dered the Roman hierarchy were rewarded by a cardinal’s
hat in 1643. His whole career was highly honourable.
He was bishop of Aix, and strenuously endeavoured to re¬
form the manners of the clergy in the diocese by estab¬
lishing an ecclesiastical seminary. He also founded an hos¬
pital for the poor, and annually distributed 100,000 livres
in alms alone. He died at the advanced age of eighty-
nine, in the year 1685.
GRIMM, Friedrich Melchior, Baron, born at Ratis-
bon in 1723, is a remarkable instance of the power of letters
in the eighteenth century. He was born of poor parents,
who, however, gave him an education far beyond their
station. On completing his studies, he tried his fortune as
a dramatic writer, and, failing utterly, went to Paris as tutor
to the young Count Schonberg, whose father was Polish
minister at the court of Versailles. He there became reader
to the Prince of Saxe-Gotha, and attached himself to the
Encyclopedists, who then numbered in their ranks nearly
all the intellect of Paris. In the contest as to the respec¬
tive merits of French and Italian music, which at this time
divided the French capital, Grimm sided with the partizans
of the latter, and published on the subject a very witty little
pamphlet, entitled Le petit Prophete de Bohmisckbroda,
which covered the champions of the national music with
ridicule, while Rousseau drove them out of the field alto¬
gether by his Lettre sur la Musique Franqaise. Their
common fondness for music was the origin of a sincere
friendship between Grimm and Rousseau. Grimm’s repu¬
tation as a man of wit and talent now threw open to him
the best salons in Paris. His inimitable social tact, his fine
conversational powers, and the perfect elegance of his man¬
ners and person (on which last he bestowed infinite pains),
all strengthened the impression which he had made on his
first appearance as an author. His success was still further
ensured by his powers of fascinating the fair sex, with several
of whom simultaneously he contrived to pass as the perfect
model of a passionate and disinterested lover. After the
death of the Comte de Friesen (nephew of Marshal Saxe), to
whom Grimm owed much, and whose secretary he had
been, he attached himself to the Duke of Orleans, and began
writing, for the benefit of some of the German princes,
those literary bulletins, in which, with great ability, he
analyzed the current literature of France. In 1776 he be¬
came the Duke of Saxe-Gotha’s minister at the French
court. When the Revolution broke out he retired to
Gotha. In 1795, Catherine II. of Russia appointed him
her minister at Hamburg, and her successor Paul confirmed
him in this office. A sudden illness deprived him of the
sight of an eye, and he once more returned to Gotha, where
he died in 1807, at the advanced age of eighty-four.
Grimm’s only title to remembrance by posterity is his
Correspondence Litteraire, Critique et Philosophique, of
which there have been several editions, the best being that
in 15 vols., Paris, 1829. This work is an invaluable guide
to all who desire to know the secret, literary, and social, and
even political history of France during the middle and to¬
wards the close of the eighteenth century. But it must be
remembered that its author was till his death—what he had
been all his days—an adventurer, without fixed principles,
a professed atheist, and, on the score of morale, infinitely in¬
ferior to the Diderots and D’Alemberts, who respected, and
even feared him. Of these men Rousseau alone seems to have
thoroughly understood the intense selfishness, egotism, and
spirit of intrigue that constituted the real basis of Grimm’s
character. To the latter quality he owed mainly his suc¬
cess in life ; and that he possessed it in no common degree
YOL. XI.
G R I 65
may be easily imagined from the skill with which he finally Grimma
worked his way to the top of the social ladder. ||
GRIMMA, a town of Saxony, circle of Leipzig, on the Gl'mstead-
Mulde, 16 miles S.E. of Leipzig. In the middle ages
Grimma was an important commercial town. It has a
bridge over the river; an old castle ; manufactures of cotton,
linen, and woollen stuffs ; mathematical, surgical, and musi¬
cal instruments ; and some trade. Pop. (1849) 5384.
GRIMSBY, Great, a municipal and parliamentary
borough and seaport-town of England, county of Lincoln, on
the S. side of the estuary of the Humber, near its mouth,
and 15 miles S.E. of Hull. In the reign of Edward III. it
was a port of such importance as to furnish that monarch
with 11 ships and 170 mariners for the siege of Calais ; but
the gradual blocking up of the harbour by the accumula¬
tion of mud and sand led to the decay of the port, until the
construction of the new harbour in the beginning of the
present century. This soon became inadequate for the in¬
creasing commerce ; and, in 1846, a new harbour was com¬
menced, and the foundation-stone was laid by Prince Albert
17th April 1849. The new works occupy a space of 135
acres, gained from the sea, and comprise a wet dock of up¬
wards of 20 acres, with two entrance-locks, having in front
a tidal basin of 13 acres. The latter is formed by two tim¬
ber piers, which are together about 2000 feet in length,
and is provided with landing-slips. The chambers of the
two entrance-locks connecting the tidal basin and the dock
are respectively 45 feet in width by 200 in length, and 70
in width by 300 in length. At the dock entrances the
average depth of water is about 9 feet at ebb and 26 feet
at high tides, the latter being the permanent depth in the
dock itself. There are extensive warehouses and sheds for
the storing of merchandise, and lines of railway extend along
each side of the dock. The dock was opened on 23d March
1852. The Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire, and
the East Lincolnshire lines of railway terminate here. The
vessels registered as belonging to the port on 31st Decem¬
ber 1853 were,—under 50 tons, 74 sailing-vessels, tonnage
2151, and 4 steamers, tonnage 71 ; above 50 tons, 14 sail¬
ing-vessels, tonnage 1251, and 2 steamers, tonnage 1030.
The vessels that entered and cleared at the port during that
year were,—Coasting trade, sailing-vessels, inwards 251,
tonnage 17,143; outwards 176, tonnage 14,656; steamers,
inwards 4, tonnage 1563 ; outwards 1, tonnage 346 ;—Colo¬
nial and foreign trade,—sailing-vessels, inwards 420, ton¬
nage 82,397, outwards 243, tonnage 51,039 ; steam-vessels,
inwards 88, tonnage 33,760, outwards 95, tonnage 36,311.
The amount of customs duty received at the port during
1852 was L.29,101. The parish church of Grimsby is a
large cruciform structure, with a tower and steeple rising
from the centre. There are a free grammar and other
schools, a mechanics’ institute, &c. Grimsby is governed
by a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve councillors, and re¬
turns one member to parliament. Pop. (1851) of parlia¬
mentary borough, 12,263 ; of municipal do., 8860.
GRINDELWALD, a village of Switzerland, in one of
the most picturesque valleys of the Canton of Berne. It is
3250 feet above the sea, and is surrounded by the lofty Wet-
terhorn, Schreckhorn, and Grindelwald Mountains. Near
it are the two glaciers of Upper and Lower Grindelwald.
GRINDSTONE, a mass of sandstone cut intoaflat cir¬
cular form, and mounted on a spindle, which is commonly
made to revolve by means of a winch. It is used for grinding
metal or sharpening tools. The finer grindstones, such as
those called polishing stones by the cutlers, are obtained
from different rocks in Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and War¬
wickshire. Stones of the common kind are exported from
Newcastle.
GRINSTE AD, East, a market-town of England, county
of Sussex, 28 miles S. of London. It is pleasantly situated
on an eminence, and the tower of its parish church forms a
I
G It I
Grisons. conspicuous object for a great distance around. The church
and town-hall are both handsome edifices. At the east end
of the town is Sackville College, a quadrangular stone build¬
ing, erected in 1616. It was founded by Robert, Earl of
Dorset, for the support of twenty-four aged unmarried per¬
sons of both sexes, but in consequence of a deficiency of
income the number has been reduced to twelve. Each of
these has a comfortable room, and L.8 a-year in money.
Market-day Thursday. Previous to the Reform Act, by
which it was disfranchised, E. Grinstead returned two mem¬
bers to parliament. Pop. of parish (1851) 3820.
GRISONS (Ger. Graubundeii), the largest and most
eastern of the cantons of Switzerland, is bounded on the
N.E., E., and S.E., by Liechtenstein and the Austrian do¬
minions, and on the other sides by the cantons of St Gall,
Glarus, Uri, and Ticino. It lies between N. Lat. 46. 15.
and 47. 4., and E. Long. 8. 40. and 10. 29.; is 80 miles in
length from E.N.E. to W.S.W., and 45 in breadth, and has
an area of 2963 square miles. Lofty ranges of mountains
constitute its boundaries on almost every point, and occupy
a great part of the interior; indeed, the whole canton may
be said to be mountainous. The main chain of the Rhae-
tian Alps crosses the canton from W. to E., at first separat¬
ing it from Ticino and Italy, and afterwards dividing the
waters of the Rhine from those that flow into the Inn. A
great portion of this chain is above the limit of perpetual
snow; and some of the summits, as those of the Muschel-
horn, the Piz Yal Rhin, and Monte Maloya, considerably
exceed the height of 10,000 feet above the sea. It is crossed
by the passes of the Spliigen, Bernardin, Albula, and Sca-
letta. Another mountain range, an offset of the Lepontine
Alps, and little inferior in height to the former, extends in
a N.E. direction from the St Gothard, and forms the western
boundary of the canton, dividing the waters of the Rhine from
those of the Reuss and Linth. A third chain bounds the En-
gadine on the S.E., and a fourth, called the Rhaetihon, forms
the boundary between the Grisons and the Yorarlberg. The
valleys are numerous and strikingly beautiful. There are
five greater valleys, known as the Hither Rhine, the Farther
Rhine, the Engadine, the Albula, and the Brettegau; and
nearly 150 smaller valleys are connected with these. There
are no fewer than 240 glaciers and 56 waterfalls within the
canton. The Rhine and the Inn both have their sources in
the Grisons, as have also several tributaries of the Upper
Adige, the Po, and the Adda. The scenery is peculiarly
grand and magnificent. The character of the country unfits
it for agriculture, and consequently its chief wealth consists
in cattle, which, with timber, constitute its principal exports.
Sheep, goats, and hogs are also numerous. Iron, lead, and
zinc are among the mineral products, but few mines are
worked. The manufactures are not important, and are
chiefly for domestic use. The climate is very various. In
the upper valleys the snow lies for seven months in the
year, while in some of the others the temperature is suffi¬
ciently mild to admit of the cultivation of the vine. The
corn produced does not by half supply the wants of the in¬
habitants. Hemp and flax are largely cultivated. The
principal branch of commerce is the transit trade with Italy,
across the Alps. The old division of the canton into three
leagues is still adhered to ; the Gray League {Graue Bund),
the League of God’s House (Gottes-haus Bund), and the
League of Ten Jurisdictions (Zehngerichte Bund). Each of
these comprise several jurisdictions (in all twenty-six), and
these in their turn contain a number of communes, which
may almost be said to be so many little republics, as each
exercises within itself rights almost independent. The le¬
gislative power is vested in the great council, as also the
election to public offices, and the settling of disputes among
the communes ; but the people have a veto in the passing
of new laws, and in the concluding of treaties. It is com¬
posed of sixty-five members chosen annually, in the different
G R I
jurisdictions, by universal suffrage of the male population Grit
above seventeen years of age. It nominates a commission |(
of nine members, charged with the preparation and preli- Gro<ino.
minary discussion of subjects coming before it; and also
a small council of three members, one for each league, in¬
trusted with the executive. Pop. (1850) 89,895, of whom
38,039 were Roman Catholics, and 51,855 Protestants.
About 50,000 speak Romansch, 30,000 German, and 9000
Italian.
GRIT, or Gritstone, a name given to several kinds of
sandstone used in building, as well as for millstones or grind¬
stones, and sometimes for filtrating water. In geology the
term is applied chiefly to the calcareous grit, a part of the
middle oolite formation; and to the millstone grit, a rock
which contains embedded quartz pebbles.
GROAT, an old English silver coin, equal to fourpence.
Other nations, as the Dutch, Poles, Saxons, Bohemians, and
French, have likewise their groats, groots, groschen, gros,
and the like. In England in the Saxon times, no silver coin
larger than a penny was struck, nor after the Conquest till
the reign of Edward III., who about the year 1351 coined
grosses or great pieces, which went for fourpence each;
and so the matter stood till the reign of Henry VIII., who
in 1504 first coined shillings.
GROATS, oats deprived of the husks.
GROCYN, William, a distinguished classical scholar,
was born at Bristol in 1442, and educated at Winchester
School, and New College, Oxford. He was the friend of
Dean Colet the tutor of Erasmus, and the godfather of Lilly
the grammarian. A Latin epistle of his to Aldus Manutius
is prefixed to Linacre’s translation of Proclus de Sphcera.
It was Grocyn who first publicly taught Greek in Exeter
College, Oxford, and introduced a better pronunciation of
that language than had hitherto been known in England.
By the introduction of this language alarming many as a
most dangerous innovation, the university divided itself into
two factions, distinguished as “ Greeks and Trojans,” who
bore such decided hostility to each other that they pro¬
ceeded to open hostilities. Thus was Grocyn situated when
Erasmus came to Oxford and studied Greek under his tuition.
After distinguishing himself as one of the most learned and
able men of his day, Grocyn died at Maidstone in 1519. His
will is printed in the appendix to Life of Erasmus.
GRODNO, a government in the middle and western
portion of European Russia, lying between N. Lat. 51. 30.
and 54. 20., E. Long. 23. 7. and 26. 42., and bounded on the
N. by the government of Vilna, E. by Minsk, S. by Vol-
hynia, and W. by the kingdom of Poland. Its greatest
length is about 173 miles and its greatest breadth about
120. Area 14,700 square miles. The surface is an ex¬
tended sandy plain, broken only by a few chalk hills. A
large portion of it is covered with forests, particularly in the
N., while in the S. are extensive marshes. The principal
rivers are the Niemen, Bug, Narew, and Priepec. The
climate is moist and foggy. Rye is the principal grain cul¬
tivated, of which about 2,348,000 English quarters are pro¬
duced annually, and about one-third of this quantity is ex¬
ported. Few other kinds of grain or vegetables are grown
for food; but considerable quantities of flax, hemp, and
hops are raised. The pasture lands are extensive, and the
rearing of cattle obtains a considerable amount of attention.
The sheep have been much improved by crossing, and wool
constitutes a principal article of export. The mineral pro¬
ducts comprise iron, chalk, nitre, and building stone. The
manufactures are inconsiderable, and chiefly for domestic
use; the principal are woollen cloths and leather. In
the N. the inhabitants are mostly Lithuanians, elsewhere
the Rusniaks prevail. It is divided into eight circles. The
principal towns are Grodno, Novogrodek, Slonim, and
Brzesc-Litovski. Pop. (1849) 905,666.
Grodno, the capital of the foregoing government, is
G R O
Groin situated at the foot of a hill on the right bank of the Nie-
( il . men, 90 miles S.S.W. of Vilna. The town is irregularly
■ ronovius. on a jarge unjnc]ose(j Spacej an(J the houses are mostly
of wood. The streets, with the exception of two or three,
are unpaved and extremely dirty. It has a spacious and
handsome modern palace, built by Augustus III. of Poland,
and a more ancient one now uninhabitable. There are
nine Roman Catholic churches, two Greek churches, a
Lutheran church, and two synagogues; also a gymnasium,
a riding school, and an academy of medicine, founded by
Stanislaus Augustus, in connection with which are a library,
museum of natural history, and a botanic garden. The
manufactures are inconsiderable. Pop. (1849) 16,527.
GROIN, that part of the abdomen next the thigh.
Groin, in Architecture, the angular curve formed by the
intersection of simple vaults crossing each other at any
angle, and leading to a common centre or apex. See plates
to Architecture.
GRONINGEN, a province of Holland, forming the
N.E. extremity of that kingdom, and bounded on the N.
by the German Ocean, E. by the estuary of the Ems, the
Dollart, and Hanover, S. by the province of Dantzig, and
W. by that of Friesland. Its greatest length from S.E. to
N.W. is 50 miles, and its extreme breadth in the northern
part 34 miles. Area, 883 square miles. The surface is
level and everywhere intersected by canals and ditches,
whilst it is protected by continuous dykes against the inun¬
dations of the sea. The soil is generally heavy and marshy ;
and in several parts, especially in the S.E., are extensive
swamps. The principal rivers are the Hunse and the Aa.
The climate is humid and unhealthy. Along the shore
there extends a tract of land from 18 to 20 miles in breadth,
which, by being well drained and embanked, bears excel¬
lent crops of oats and some barley. The land farther from
the shore is generally sandy heath, affording much turf,
and yielding with care a supply of potatoes. The pas¬
tures constitute the chief wealth of this province, and sup¬
port a great number of excellent cattle. The butter and
cheese are, however, inferior to those of the provinces of
Holland and Friesland. The manufactures are few and
insignificant. The only town of importance is the capi¬
tal. The province is divided into three arrondissements—
Groningen, Winschoten, and Appingadam. Pop. (1854)
1
Groningen, the capital of the above province, and the
most important town in the northern part of Holland, is
situated on the Hunse, 92 miles N.E. of Amsterdam. It
is neat, clean, and regularly built, and is surrounded by
walls and ditches. It has twelve churches, the finest of
which is St Martin’s, a handsome Gothic edifice, surmounted
by a lofty spire. The town-hall is an elegant modern struc¬
ture, in the Bree-market, one of the grandest squares in
the kingdom. The university, founded in 1614, has an
excellent museum of natural history and a botanic gar¬
den, and is attended by about 400 students. Groningen
has an academy of painting, sculpture, and architecture ;
schools for the blind and the deaf and dumb ; societies of na¬
tural history, chemistry, and literature ; a public library, &c.
It has an active trade in cheese, butter, cattle, corn, and
other agricultural products; and ship-building is carried on.
There are paper-mills, and some factories of woollen and
silk stuffs, but, generally speaking, the manufactures are in¬
considerable. Pop. (1850) 33,695.
GRONOVIUS, the Latinized form of Gronov, Johann
Friedrich, a learned scholar and critic, was born at Ham¬
burg on the 10th of September 1611. He went through
n- studies with great distinction at Bremen, after
which he studied law at Altdorf under the learned profes¬
sors who had conferred celebrity on that school. To ex¬
tend his knowledge by travel, and to converse with the
jeamed and explore the libraries, he visited the principal
G R O 67
cities of Holland, England, and France. In 1658 he sue- Gronovius.
ceeded Daniel Heinsius, the celebrated professor of belles- v /
lettres in the university of Leyden ; and in that city he died
on the 28th of December 1671. Gronovius was a man of
equal learning and modesty ; and, as he was naturally dis¬
inclined to controversy, he avoided those literary disputes
by which so many then sought to obtain distinction. For
a correct list of his numerous works, we refer to the Biblioth.
Erudit. Precede, of Klefeker, and to the JDictionnaire of
Chauffepie, and shall only mention the following:—
Diatribe in Statii poetee Sylvas, Hague, 1637, in 8vo ; Be Sesterciis
sive subsesivorum Pecuniae veteris Grcecce et Romance libri in., Deven¬
ter, 1643, in 4to ; Observationum libri iv., Deventer, 1662, in 12mo;
Laudatio funebris Joannis Golii, Leyden, 1668, in 8vo; De Musceo
Alexandrine Exercitationes Academicce, inserted in the eighth vo¬
lume of the Thesaurus Antiquitatum Graecarum ; Lectiones Plautince,
quibus non tantum fabulce Plautince et Terentiance, verum etiam Caesar,
Cicero, Livius illustrantur, Amsterdam, 1740, in 8vo; Notes on the
Treatise of Grotius De Jure Belli et Pads. Gronovius also revised
the text, and published editions with notes, of Titus Livius, Statius,
Pliny the Elder, Justin, Tacitus, the Senecas, Aulus Gellius, Phaed-
rus, and Paulinus, almost all of which form part of the Variorum
collection. (j. B jj.)
Gronovius, Jacobus, son of the preceding, and one of the
most laborious philologers of the seventeenth century, was
born at Deventer (Holland) on the 20th of October 1645. At
an early age he had read all the masterpieces of antiquity.
In the course of his travels he visited England, where he
occupied himself several months in collating the manuscripts
in the libraries of Oxford and Cambridge. He then returned
to Leyden, and there published, in the year 1670, an edi¬
tion of Polybius, with notes, amongst which he inserted
those that Casaubon had on his deathbed bequeathed to him.
Phis first editorial effort did him much honour, and well
merited the offer, which was in consequence made him, of a
chair in the academy of Deventer. But entertaining the
intention of continuing his travels, he declined the proffered
situation, and almost immediately set out for P^ris, where
he met with a most distinguished reception. The death of
his father obliged him to return a second time to Leyden; but
as soon as he had arranged his affairs, he again set out along
with M. Paats, ambassador of the States-general, to Spain;
and having travelled through that country, he embarked for
Italy. The Grand Duke of Tuscany retained him in his
states by appointing him professor in the university of
Pisa ; and Gronovius profited by the facility he had of
visiting Florence, to form a connection with Magliabecchi,
who placed at his disposal all the treasures of the Medicean
library. At the end of two years he prevailed on the grand
duke to accept his resignation; visited Venice and Padua; and
traversed Germany on his way to Deventer, where it was his
intention to settle. But scarcely had he arrived in that city
when the curators of the university of Leyden tendered
him a chair, and pressed their offer so urgently that he was
induced to accept it; and he taught at Leyden till his
death in 1716. If he inherited the erudition of his father,
he had neither his gentleness nor his moderation. Never
was there a man fonder of disputation, or more unjust to¬
wards the adversaries whom, for the most part, he raised
up against himself by his asperity and haughtiness. It
would be tedious, if not disgusting, to enter into details
respecting the quarrels he had to maintain with Fabretti
on the sense of some passages in Livy; with Feller and
Perizonius as to the manner of Judas’s death ; with Vos-
sius on Pomponius Mela; with Bentley and John Leclerc
on the corrections of Menander; with Kuster on Suidas,
&c. The scurrility he indulged in these discussions, which
did not always terminate to his advantage, and his exorbi¬
tant vanity, caused him to be compared to Scioppius, and
procured for him the unenviable distinction of a place in
the work of Mencken on the Empiricism of the Learned.
In the Memoirs of Niceron will be found a notice of his
68
G It 0
G R O
Groom
II
Grose.
life, followed by a catalogue of his works, forty-six in num¬
ber.
The most celebrated, as well as the most important of these, is
the Thesaurus Antiquitatum Grcecarum, Leyden, 1697 and the fol¬
lowing years, in 13 vols. folio. For this invaluable collection he
adopted the plan traced out by Graevius in the Thesaurus Antiqui¬
tatum Romanarum, Utrecht, 1694, in 12 vols. folio. Gronovius
published new editions of several authors commented on by his
father, such as Seneca, Aulus Gellius, Phsedrus, and others; and he
also edited Macrobius, Polybius, Tacitus, Pomponius Mela, Cicero,
Ammianus Marcellinus, Quintus Curtius, Suetonius, Arrian, Minu-
tius Felix, Herodotus, Cebes, and some ancient geographers; the
poem of Manetho on the stars ; the Dactylotheca of Gorlaeus ; the
Lexicon of Harpocration, &c., the greater part of which, enriched
with correction and notes, form part of the Variorum collection,
though, in general, not held in much estimation. The other pro¬
ductions of Gronovius consist of Theses, Discourses, and Diatribes,
of which a list will be found in the Memoirs of Niceron, and also in
the Biblioth. Erudit. Prcecocium of Klefeker. (J. B—E.)
GROOM (Flemish, groin, a boy), a servant; more par¬
ticularly one who takes care of horses in the stable, &c.
Groom is also the title of several superior officers of the
royal household ; as groom of the chamber, groom of the
stole or robes, &c. See Household, Royal.
GROOTE Eylandt {Great Island), the largest island
in the Gulf of Carpentaria, North Australia; in S. Eat.
14., E. Long. 136. 40. It is of an irregular form, and is
45 miles in length from N. to S., with an average breadth
of 30 miles. It is generally barren and unproductive on
the coast; but towards the interior is covered with wood.
GROSE, Francis, a celebrated English antiquary, was
of Swiss extraction, but born at Greenford in Middlesex,
about the year 1730 or 1731. The bias of his mind showed
itself early; and his father indulging it, procured him the
office of Richmond Herald in the Herald’s College. In
1763 he exchanged this position for that of adjutant and
paymaster of the Hampshire militia, where, as he himself
humorously observed, the only account-books he kept were
his right and left pockets, into the one of which he received,
and from theother of which he paid. This carelessness ex¬
posed him to serious losses ; and after a vain attempt to re¬
pair them by accepting a captaincy in the Surrey militia, he
began to turn to account his excellent education and his
powers as a draughtsman. In 1773-76 he published his
Views of Antiquities in England and Wales, a work which
brought him money as well as fame. In the following year
he added two more volumes to this work ; and in 1789 he set
out on an antiquarian tour through Scotland. In the course
of this journey he visited Burns, who composed in his honour
the famous song beginning “ Ken ye aught o’ Captain
Grose,” and that other, still more famous, “ Hear, land o’
cakes and brither Scots.” In 1790 he began to publish
the results of what Burns called “ his peregrinations through
Scotland;” but he had not finished the work when he be¬
thought himself of going over to Ireland and doing for that
country what he had already done for Great Britain.
Shortly after his arrival in Dublin, however, he was seized
at table with an apopletic fit, and died in a moment.
Grose was a sort of antiquarian Falstaff; at least he pos¬
sessed in a striking degree the knight’s physical peculiari¬
ties ; but he was a man of true honour, a valuable friend,
and an inimitable boon-companion. Though his professional
merits were far from contemptible, he showed to greatest
advantage as a social being ; his humour, his varied know¬
ledge, and his good nature, were all eminently calculated to
make him a favourite in society. As Burns says of him—
“ But wad ye see him in his glee,
For meikle glee and fun has he,
Then set him down, and twa or three
Guid fellows wi’ him,
And port, O port! shine thou a wee,
And then ye’ll see him.”
Subjoined is a list of Grose’s works:—
The Antiquities of England and Wales, in 8 vols. 4to and 8vo;
The Antiquities of Scotland, in 2 vols, 4to and 8vo; The Antiquities
of Ireland, in 2 vols. 4to and 8vo, a posthumous work edited by Mr Gross
Ledwich, 1794; A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, 1785,
in 4to; A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1785, in 8vo; Grotius.
Military Antiquities, being a History of the English Army from the l ,
Conquest to the Present Time, 1786, 1788, in 2 vols. 4to ; The History
of Dover Castle, by the Rev. William Darell, 1786, in 4to; A Pro¬
vincial Glossary, with a Collection of Local Proverbs and Popular
Superstitions, 1788, in 8vo; Rules for Drawing Caricatures, 1788, in
8vo; Supplement to the Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons,
1789, in 4to; A Guide to Health, Beauty, Honour, and Riches, being
a collection of humorous advertisements, pointing out the means to ob¬
tain these blessings, with a suitable introductory preface, 8vo; The
Olio, a collection of essays, jests, and small pieces of poetry, highly
characteristic of Grose, though certainly not all by him, 1793,
in 8vo.
GROSS, the number of twelve dozen.
Gross Weight, in commerce, the weight of merchandise
and goods with the dust and dross, as also of the bag, cask,
chest, &c., in which they are contained ; and out of this
gross weight allowance is to be made for tare and tret.
Gross, or Grossus, in ancient English law. A villein in
gross, villanus in grosso, was one who did not belong to the
land, but immediately to the person of the lord, and was
transferable, like personal goods and chattels, from one
owner to another.
GROSSASPERN. See Aspern.
GROSSENHAIN, a town of Saxony, capital of a cog-
nominal bailiwick, in the circle of Dresden, stands in a
fertile valley on the Roder, an affluent of the Elbe, 20 miles
N.W. of Dresden. It has manufactures of woollen and
cotton stuffs, and dye-works; and in 1849 contained 6943
inhabitants.
GROSSWARDEIN (Hung. Nagy-Varad), a city of
Hungary, capital of the county of Bihar, on the left bank of
the Kerbs, 140 miles E.S.E. of Buda. It is strongly for¬
tified, and is the seat of a bishop, and of the several civil
and military boards of the county. Besides the town proper
it comprises eight suburbs, or rather distinct villages. The
chief public buildings are the cathedral and some of the
churches. It has several monasteries and nunneries, an
ecclesiastical seminary, gymnasium, national school, and an
orphan and other hospitals. It carries on a considerable
trade in the products of the vicinity. In the neighbourhood
are some hot mineral springs and valuable marble quarries.
Pop. (1851) 21,221.
GROTESQUE, in its usual acceptation, is applied to
anything distorted in figure; hence unnatural, wildly formed.
Dryden says—“ There is yet a lower sort of poetry and
painting which is out of nature ; for a farce is that in poetry
which grotesque is in a picture : the persons and actions ot
a farce are all unnatural, and the manners false—that is, in-
consisting with the characters of mankind; grotesque paint¬
ing is the just resemblance of this.”
In architecture, grotesque is applied to the light and fanci¬
ful ornaments used by the ancients in the decorations of the
walls and some of the subordinate parts of their buildings.
The term was thus applied from their having been long
buried: the Italians call any subterranean apartment by
the name of grotta, whence grotesque. Arabesque is also
applied to the same kind of ornament which was much in
use about the time of the Renaissance.
GROTIUS, Hugo, a celebrated Dutch scholar, jurist,
historian, and miscellaneous writer, was born at Delft, April
10, 1583. His father, Jan Grotius or Groot, was a lawyer
in that city. He was so much esteemed for his legal and
general learning, that he was four times chosen burgo¬
master, and was made one of the three curators of the uni¬
versity of Leyden. He took great pains with the education
of his son, who at the age of eight wrote good Latin verses,
and at twelve is said to have converted his mother from the
religion of Rome to that of the Reformed Church. After an
elementary course at the Hague, under the famous Uytenbo-
goard, young Grotius was sent to Leyden, where his studies
G K O T I U S.
Grotius. were superintended and directed by Joseph Scaliger. In
1597, when only fourteen, he defended, with much applause,
public theses in mathematics, philosophy, and jurisprudence.
Next year he accompanied Count Justin of Nassau and the
grand-pensionary Olden Barneveldt on an embassy to the
court of France. In that country he resided for nearly
twelve months; and during this period he took the degree of
LL.D. at the university of Orleans, though he had not then
attained the age of seventeen. On returning to his native
country, he was called to the bar, and pleaded his first cause
at Delft in 1599. This year also witnessed his first pub¬
lished work, which was an edition of the Satyricon of Mar-
tianus Capella, with notes and commentaries. The work
was undertaken at the instance of Scaliger, and was dedi¬
cated to the Prince of Conde. His reputation as a classical
critic was increased by his edition of the Syntagma Arate-
orum, published in the following year. As this work re¬
lates to astronomy, it afforded him an opportunity of dis¬
playing his science as well as erudition. His brief notes
on Lucan, accompanying an edition of the text, made their
appearance in 1603. Some of his Latin verses had been
printed so early as the year 1598, and others followed in
1599 and 1600. Adamus Exul, tragoedia, was published
in 1601 ; but this tragedy he afterwards considered as too
juvenile to be admitted into the general collection of his
poems. His Christas Patiens, tragoedia., was printed in
1608, and was received with great applause. It was trans¬
lated into English by George Sandys, and, at a more recent
period, into German by D. W. Triller. With the former
version he appears to have been much pleased. His third
drama, Sophompaneas, tragcedia, was not published till 1617.
It relates to the history of Joseph, whom he thus describes
by an Egyptian name. Of this tragedy a Dutch version
was undertaken by the celebrated poet Vondel. His Pro-
sopopeia of Ostend was still more enthusiastically received,
and was immediately translated into French by three dif¬
ferent persons, and into Greek by Casaubon.
His first appearance at the bar produced a very favour¬
able impression, and he soon rose to eminence. In 1607,
that is, at the age of twenty-four, he was promoted to the
important office of advocate-general of Holland and Zee-
land. During the following year he married Maria van
Reygersberg, a daughter of one of the first families in Zee-
land. About this period he was occupied with a profes¬
sional work, which appeared in 1609, under the title of
Mare Liberum, she de Jure quod Batavis competit ad In-
dicana Commercia Dissertatio, and involved its author in a
violent controversy with Selden, Wellwood, and other Eng¬
lish jurists. In 1610 he published a work l)e Antiquitate
Reipublicce Batavce ; and in the same year a Dutch trans¬
lation of it, which was partly executed by his father. The
book was afterwards translated into French. In 1613 Grotius
was appointed pensionary, or syndic, of Rotterdam, and then
fixed his residence in that city. In the course of the same
year he was sent on a mission to the court of London, for
the purpose of remonsti’ating against the arbitrary proceed¬
ings of the English, who claimed an exclusive right to the
Greenland fisheries. His diplomatic exertions appear to
have been attended with little or no success; but he was
very graciously received by James VI., and had the satisfac¬
tion offorming a personal acquaintance with Isaac Casaubon.
Soon after this the famous Arminian controversy broke
out, which ended so disastrously for Arminius and his par¬
tisans. Of these none had been more zealous than Grotius ;
and when the Stadtholder’s influence had decided the day
against him, he did not shrink from the punishment which
he well knew would follow defeat. Barneveldt was be¬
headed ; and Grotius, after an irregular and unfair trial, was
condemned to perpetual imprisonment, and to have all his
property confiscated. On the 6th of June 1619, in accord¬
ance with this cruel sentence, he was removed to the for-
69
tress of Loevestein, near the town of Gorcum in South Grotius.
Holland. His father was not allowed to visit him, and it
was only with great difficulty that his wife obtained per¬
mission to share his cell. In literary pursuits he found at
once the business and the pleasure of his life. He wrote
some short annotations on the New Testament, and a work
in Dutch verse on the truth of the Christian religion. For
the use of his daughter Cornelia, he composed a metrical
catechism in the same language. It was printed at the
Hague in the year 1619, and he afterwards translated it into
Latin verse. Another of his labours during his imprison¬
ment was his introduction to the Dutch law, Inleydinge tot
de Hollandse Rechtsgelehrtheyt. It was published in 1631,
or perhaps earlier, and went through many editions, several
of which contain the additions of Groenewegen, well known
for his treatise De Legibus abrogatis et inusitatis in Hol-
landia. He translated Stobaeus’s fragments of the Greek
poets, the Phcenissae of Euripides, and the remains of Men¬
ander and Philemon. After he had been imprisoned for
about twenty months, his wife devised a plan for his escape.
He was in the habit of receiving books and clothes in a
very large chest, which, for the first year, was examined
regularly, and with great care by the officers. At last, how¬
ever, they ceased their scrutiny; and Grotius’ wife perceiv¬
ing this, persuaded her husband to allow himself to be carried
out in the chest. He consented, and after some hair¬
breadth escapes, found his way to Antwerp. After a short
stay in that city he sought a more secure asylum in France.
He reached Paris, April 13,1621, and was warmly received
by the literati of that city, and by the king himself, who gave
him a pension of 3000 livres. He was at last joined by
his wife, who had been detained in prison for about a fort¬
night after his escape, but had been released when it was
found useless to detain her.
Being placed in a situation of comparative tranquillity, he
now resumed his literary labours. Before the close of the
year 1622, he published 'xn Apology himself and the party
with which he acted. For this work sentence o£ death was
pronounced against him in Holland, and the same penalty
wTas denounced against all in whose possession it might be
found. Grotius spent another year in Paris, editing and
writing, and next year retired into the country to a villa near
Senlis, which the kindness of the president De Mesmes had
placed at his disposal. He here began the composition of his
famous treatise De Jure Belli et Pads, which was pub¬
lished in 1625. This work immediately made its author
known all over Europe, and was translated into Swedish,
English, and German, and twice into French. The trea¬
tise De Veritate Religionis Christiance was published at
Leyden in the year 1627, and the subsequent editions of
this work have been very numerous. It has been translated
into almost all the languages of Europe, and into various
languages of Asia. An Arabic version was executed by
the learned Dr Pococke.
In the meantime, his residence in France was not entirely
free from inquietude and mortifications. His pension had
never been paid with any degree of regularity ; and he began
at last to yearn for his own country. The death of Maurice
of Orange, April 23, 1625, gave him hopes of returning in
safety. He arrived at Rotterdam in the October of 1631 ;
but his reception there, and in the other Dutch towns, was
so extremely ungracious, that he was glad to escape from
Holland with his life. He retired to Hamburg, where offers
were made to him by the King of Denmark and several
other princes. He accepted that of Oxenstiern, the chan¬
cellor of Sweden, who then governed that country in the
minority of Christina. By him Grotius was appointed
Swedish ambassador to the Court of France. He made his
public entry into Paris, March 2, 1635. His mission was
to try to secure the assistance of the French against the
Imperialists; and though he had to contend with the state-
70 G R O G R O
Grotius. craft, first of Richelieu, and afterwards of Mazarin,he upheld
the honour and secured the interests of his adopted country
with much address and effect. His diplomatic engage¬
ments, however, did not wholly interrupt his literary labours.
During his stay in Paris he edited Tacitus ; and, renewing
his legal studies, published his Florum Sparsio ad Jus Jus-
tinianeum, Paris, 1642, 4to. Of this work, two different
editions, both in duodecimo, were printed at Amsterdam
in the course of the following year. It contains a series of
annotations on the body of the civil law, and, as the title
suggests, many of them are philological. At this busy era
of his life he completed most of his theological works. The
publication, in 1640, of his Commentatio ad Loca quccdam
Novi Testamenti quce de Antichristo agunt aut agere pu-
tantur, exposed him to many severe animadversions from
such men as Des-Marets, Du Moulin, Cocceius, and Slich-
tingius, some of whom accused him of being at heart a par-
tizan of Papacy, others a follower of Socinus. This, how¬
ever, did not prevent Grotius from publishing another
volume of an equally liberal character, which bears the title
of Via ad Pacem Ecclesiasticam, Amst., 1642, 8vo. His
professed object is to conciliate the differences between the
Protestants and the Papists. Although he was completely
entangled in the cobwebs of Arminianism, the charge of
Socinianism seems to be destitute of foundation. But with
respect to the 'claim of the Romanists, it must be admitted
to be somewhat more plausible. Grotius had found an
asylum in a Catholic country: he may, in some degree,
have been misled by his respect for antiquity, and attracted
by the splendour of the Popish hierarchy. He expressed
a great veneration for the Church of England. His Via ad
Pacem was immediately attacked by several antagonists, the
most formidable of whom was Andre Rivet, professor of
divinity in the university of Leyden. Grotius defended
himself in a work entitled Votum pro Pace Ecclesiastica,
printed in 1642; and Rivet rejoined in the course of the fol¬
lowing year. In 1645 Grotius published Rivetiani Apolo-
getici, pro Schismate contra Votum Pads facti, Discussio;
and in 1646 Rivet endeavoured to assert the genuine peace
of the church against suspicious mediators. Grotius was
about this period engaged in a theological undertaking of
much greater importance, namely, his annotations on the
different books of the Old and New Testaments. His
notes on the Old Testament and the Apocrypha were
printed at Paris in 1644, in three volumes folio. His notes
on the Gospels had been published in the same form three
years earlier, but the concluding portions of this great work
do not appear to have been printed before tbe year 1648.
This is one of the works which have chiefly recommended
his name to posterity ; and writers of every denomination
have agreed in ranking him among the ablest of biblical
critics.
After having long discharged the functions of an ambas¬
sador, he at length solicited and obtained his recall. He
had encountered many discouragements in the course of
his negotiations ; and the arrival of a Swedish agent, of
whom he entertained a very unfavourable opinion, seems to
have confirmed his wish to retire. Having embarked at
Dieppe, the ambassador landed once more in his native
country, and was received with due honour at Amsterdam.
He proceeded by sea to Hamburg, where he arrived about
the middle of May 1645. On reaching Stockholm, he was
very graciously received by the queen, who made him ample
promises, and was anxious to retain him in her service. The
climate of Sweden, however, did not suit his health, and he
determined to quit it. Christina loaded him with gifts ;
and, with these rewards of his faithful services, he sailed,
August 12, for Lubeck. The vessel was speedily overtaken
by a storm, and on the 17th was driven ashore near Dan¬
zig. Travelling in an open carriage, he arrived at Rostock
on the 26th, in a very feeble and exhausted condition.
Every effort was made to save his life, but in vain. He Gfrottamare
expired, August 28, 1645, in the sixty-third year of his II
age. His remains were conveyed to Delft, and were depo- 10tt0,
sited in the tomb of his ancestors.
He had prepared for the press various works which he
did not live to publish. Soon after his death one of these
appeared under the following title—De Imperio Summa-
rum Potestatum circa Sacra, Lutet. Paris, 1647, 8vo.
This was soon followed by Philosophorum Sententice de
Fato, et de eo quod in nostra est potestate, collectce partim
et de Grceco versce, Paris, 1648, 4to; Amst., 1648, 12mo.
Next appeared Historia Gotthorum, Vandalorum, et Lan-
gobardorum, partim versa, partim in ordinem digesta,
Amst., 1655, 8vo. His history of his native country was
published not long afterwards—Annales et Historice de
Rebus Belgicis, Amst., 1656, fob; Amst., 1658, 12mo.
This very title at once suggests Tacitus as the writer’s
model, and his style is evidently formed on that of the
ancient historian. Another posthumous publication was
his tract De Eucharistia, which was fiercely attacked by
Salmasius, under the assumed name of Simplicius Yerinus.
A very ample and interesting collection of his letters,
consisting of nearly one thousand pages in double columns,
was published by two of his grandsons : Epistolce quotquot
reperiri potuerunt; in quibus prceter hactenus editas, plu-
rimoe theologici, juridici, philologici, historici, et politici
argumenti occurrunt, Amst., 1687, fob The poetical ver¬
sion of the Anthology, on which he had bestowed much
labour, was not published till a century and a half after his
death. The manuscript at length came into the possession
of De Bosch, a man of learning and taste, who published
the work in a splendid form, with copious illustrations of his
own, under the title of Anthologia Grceca, cum versione
Latina Hugonis Grotii, edita ab Hieronymo de Bosch,
Ultrajecti, 1795-8, 3 tom. 4to.
Gulielmus Grotius, or Willem de Groot, the brother of
Hugo, deserves a brief notice. Being bred to the legal
profession, he became eminent at the bar, and was appointed
advocate to the East India Company. He was a man of
erudition, and the author of several works. One of these
is an Enchiridion de Principiis Juris Naturalis, in which
he illustrates the principles of a science that was so deeply
indebted to another member of the same family. Another
of his works, which was published after his death, and which
is still held in great estimation by civilians, bears the title
of Vitce Jurisconsultorum quorum in Pandectis extant No¬
mina, Lugd. Bat., 1690, 4to. He appears to have been a
most affectionate brother, and to have sympathized very
deeply in the fortunes of a kinsman whose moral and intel¬
lectual endowments reflected so much lustre on the family
to which he belonged.
GROTTAMARE, a town of the Papal States, delega¬
tion and 14 miles S.S.E. of Fermo, on the Adriatic. It
has large manufactories of liquorice and cream of tartar,
and sugar refineries. Pop. 4050.
GROTTO, properly Grotta, a cave, natural or arti¬
ficial, in the face of a rock or a mountain.
Among the more remarkable artificial works of this kind
may be mentioned the famous Grotta di Pausilippo, which
is a straight passage cut through the rock from Naples to
Puzzuoli, about 1000 paces in length, 80 or 90 feet high,
from 24 to 30 feet wide, and forming the main road for the
daily traffic of a very populous district. See Pausilippo.
But the most remarkable exatnples of artificial caverns in
the world are to be found in the ancient Petra, which may
be called a city of caves or grottoes. See Petra.
Of natural grottoes, it will only be necessary here to
name a few of the most remarkable in their several ways, in
order to facilitate reference to those parts of the work where
they are more particularly described. Among these are
the celebrated caverns of Illyria, in the Julian Alps—moun-
GUO
G R Y 71
Group tains of calcareous formation, and abounding in caves;
|| while they present, particularly in the eastern part, the
Growth. natural phenomena of subterranean rivers, lakes, cascades,
■—'■v'"*'' and other curiosities, such as are unknown in any other part
of Europe. The most magnificent of these is described
under Adelsberg, which see. Under separate heads, or
those of the countries where they occur, will be found, to¬
gether with many others of note, descriptions of the follow¬
ing famous caves :—Baumans Hohle, a series of ossiferous
caverns in Germany (see Baumans Hohle) ; the ossiferous
cave of Kirkdale in Yorkshire (see Kirkdale) ; the Mam¬
moth Cave of Kentucky, said to be 8 or 10 miles in length
(see Kentucky) ; the Epsom Salt Cave, 2 miles long (see
Indiana) ; the famed cavern of Antiparos, an island in
the Grecian Archipelago (see Antiparos). The caves and
excavations of the Peak district in Derbyshire are very
celebrated. An account of these is to be found in the illus¬
trated work entitled Peak Scenery, by E. Rhodes.
The Grotta del Cane {i.e., dog’s cavern) is a small cave
near Puzzuoli, about 7 miles S. W. of Naples, remarkable for
the noxious quality of its air. This is caused by the car¬
bonic acid which issues from crevices in the floor of the
cave, and which fills the lower part to the level of the
entrance, when it flows out by its superior gravity. Hence
a man may enter the cave with impunity ; while a small
animal, such as a dog, is speedily destroyed by the noxious
gas it must necessarily respire. See CaVe, vol. vi., p. 350.
GROUP, in Painting and Sculpture, an assemblage of
two or more figures of men, beasts, or other things, which
have some apparent relation to each other
GROUSE, a heath-cock. See index to Ornithology.
GROUT, among builders, mortar rendered fluid by the
addition of water : also a mixture of plaster and fine stuff,
putty, or coarse stuff, used in finishing ceilings, for mould¬
ings, and sometimes for setting walls.
GROVE, a small wood or cluster of trees. Among the
ancients groves were held in great veneration. The pro-
seuchce, and high places of the Jews, whither they resorted
for the purposes of devotion, were probably situated in groves
(see Joshua xxiv. 26). The proseuckce in Alexandria, men¬
tioned by Philo, had groves about them ; for he complains
that the Alexandrians, in a tumult against the Jews, cut
down the trees of \hC\t ■proseuchce. There were groves near
many of the Roman temples, which were consecrated to some
god, and, as Cicero alleges, called luci by antiphrasis, a non
lucendo, as being shady and dark.
GROWTH, the gradual increase which takes place in
animal or vegetable bodies by the addition of matter through
ducts and secretory vessels.
Among the numerous instances recorded of an extraor¬
dinary degree of early development in the human frame,
not the least remarkable is that of a boy who was exhibited
before the Academy of Sciences at Paris in the year 1729.
This boy, though then only seven years of age, measured
four feet eight inches and four lines in height. It was
stated that at two years of age he began to exhibit signs
of pubescence, which soon afterwards were completely
developed. At the age of four he was able to toss the
common bundles of hay in stables into the horses’ racks;
and at six he could raise as much as a sturdy fellow of
twenty. But though he thus increased in bodily strength,
his understanding was not greater than is usual with chil¬
dren of his age, and their playthings were also his favourite
amusements. A similar instance of precocious virility was
exhibited to the great meeting of naturforsehers (natural
philosophers) at Hamburg in 1830 ; and another more re¬
cently to the British Association. It has been generally
observed that such abnormal precocity is indicative of pre¬
mature decay, and that few of these individuals ever attain
the ordinary term of manhood.
hor the physiological consideration of the subject of
growth in plants and animals, see Botany, vol. v., p. 99-
103, and Physiology.
GRUB, a small worm; a name more particularly applied
to the hexapod worms produced from the eggs of beetles,
and which are eventually transformed into winged insects.
GRUBENHAGEN, a principality in the kingdom of
Hanover, comprised in the Landrostei or province of Hil-
desheim. It consists of two unequal parts separated by the
Harz Mountains, the larger being S.W. of that range.
Area about 310 square miles. The Harz Forest covers the
greater part of the principality, some of the hills of which
are 2700 feet in height, and are clothed to their summits
with pines. The principal pursuit of the inhabitants is
mining. Its mineral wealth is considerable, comprising
gold, silver, copper, lead, iron, zinc, vitriol^ and sulphur.
The climate is cold, moist, and gloomy. Pop. 87,280.
GRUNBERG, a town of Prussian Silesia, capital of
a cognominal circle in the government of Liegnitz, and
36 miles N.N.W. of Glogau. It is surrounded by walls,
and has flourishing manufactures of woollen cloths, printed
cottons, and leather. The vine is extensively cultivated in
the vicinity. Pop. (1849) including suburbs, 10,587.
There is another town of this name in Hesse-Darmstadt,
province of Upper Hesse, 14 miles E. of Giessen. Pop.
about 2500.
GRUS (Eat. a crane), a constellation of the southern
hemisphere.
GRUTER, Jan, a distinguished scholar and critic, was
born at Antwerp in 1560. His father was a Fleming, but
his mother, whose name was Tishem, was an Englishwoman,
and able, from her own knowledge of the classics, to instruct
her son in them. Being obliged to fly Holland for siding
with the Reformed faith, Gruter’s family came to England,
and the young Gruter, after studying for some years at
Cambridge, returned to his native land, and graduated at
Leyden. After this he seems to have taught successively
at Rostock, Wittemberg, and Heidelberg, in which last
city he resided till his death in 1627, despite of‘tempting
offers of professorships in France, Denmark, and Italy. It
is not known what chair he held in Heidelberg, but he was
also conservator of the university library. His knowledge
of bibliography enabled him to amass a large private library,
which, however, he lost in the memorable siege of Heidel¬
berg in 1622.
Gruter at one time enjoyed a vast reputation for learn¬
ing, and there is no doubt that he was as good a scholar as
a man of solid faculties and unwearied industry can alone
be. But though his erudition was great, his mental power,
beyond the mere faculty of acquisition, seems to have been
small; and, accordingly, we do not find that he has made any
valuable contribution to any department of scholarship. Be¬
sides editions of some of the Latin classics which involved
him in highly indecent controversies with Pareus and others
of his contemporaries, Gruter compiled a most valuable
work, published at Heidelberg in 1601, under the title of
Inscriptiones antiquce totius orbis Pomani. Gruter is said
to have written a book every month, but the entire list of
his works preserved in Niceron only comprises thirty-two.
These, as has been already mentioned, are chiefly the later
Latin classics, and possess but little critical value.
GRUYilRE (German Greyerz), a town of Switzerland,
canton of Freiburg, 15 miles S. of the town of that name,
on a hill, the summit of which is crowned by one of the
best preserved feudal castles in Switzerland. Its population
does not amount to 400, but the district is noted for pro¬
ducing the celebrated cheese to which it gives name.
GRY, a measure containing one-tenth of a line. A line
is one-tenth of a digit, and a digit one-tenth of a foot, and a
philosophical foot one-third of a pendulum whose vibrations,
in the latitude of forty-five degrees, are each equal to one
second of time, or one-sixtieth of a minute.
72 G U A
Guada- GUADALAJARA, a province of Spain, in New Cas-
lajara tile, bounded on the N. by the provinces of Segovia, Soria,
II and Saragossa, S. by Cuenca, E. by Saragossa and I eruel,
, ada' and W. by Madrid. In Atienza in the north of this pro-
°upe‘ y vince are some of the loftiest summits in the Peninsula,
^ v_mi having their culminating point in the Pena de la Bodera.
The soil varies considerably, but is generally of good qua¬
lity. Pasture occupies the larger portion of the surface in
the higher tracts. The districts of Tamajon are admi¬
rably adapted for cereals. Alcarria, however, matures all
kinds of crops common to the latitude. Iron and lead are
the only minerals; the former is very abundant, and has
been worked from the remotest periods ; the latter occurs
but in small quantities. The principal productions are wheat,
barley, oil, wine, silk, saffron, and flax ; but the chief wealth
of the province consists in sheep and wool. Manufactures
and trade have been gradually declining for many years.
For administration the province is divided into nine dis¬
tricts, of which Guadalajara is the capital. The estimated
population of this province is (1856) upwards of 200,000 ;
and the area is 1951 English square miles.
Guadalajara, a city of Spain, capital of the province
of the same name, in New Castile, is situated on the eastern
bank of the Henares, 38 miles N.E. of Madrid, and is 2330
feet above sea-level, in N. Lat. 40. 33. It is ill built, has
five parish churches, seven conventual churches besides
several chapels, four convents, an Ionic sessions and town-
house, built in 1585; a handsome theatre, lying-in, civil, and
military hospitals; barracks; the palace of the Duque del In-
fantado; a Latin, normal, and various other schools. An ex¬
tensive Roman aqueduct supplies six public fountains ; and
there are four public promenades. The principal manufac¬
tures are wine, oil, soap, earthenware, and woollens. The
cloth manufactory which was formerly carried on in behalf
of the government, is now in private hands. The trade of
the city consists chiefly in grain, flax, fruits, clothes, and
silk.
Guadalajara is the chief town of the Arriaca of the Ro¬
mans, and was taken by the invading Moors (a.d. 714), who
bestowed on Jt the name of “ Guidalhichara,” or “ Guada-
laruaca,” of which its present name is a corruption. Pop.
about 7500.
Guadalajara, a state and town of Mexico. See Mexico.
GUADALCANAL, a town of Spain, province of An-
dalucia, 50 miles N. of Sevilla, and 70 S.E. of Badajoz,
near the Vanalija. Its principal manufactures are soap, lea¬
ther, hats, oil, wine, and brandy; and its trade consists chiefly
in grain, fruits, wine, and cattle.
GUADALETE, a river of Andalucia, in Spain. It rises
in the Sierra del Penol, or San Cristoval, province of
Cadiz, flows W.S.W. near the town of Bornos, and past
Arcos, and falls into the Atlantic near Matagorda, 3 miles
E. of Cadiz, after a course of 95 miles.
GUADALOUPE, or Guadeloupe, one of the Lee¬
ward group of islands in the West Indies, and one of the
most important colonies of France, and situated in N.
Lat. 16. 20., W. Long. 62. It consists properly of two
islands separated from each other by a narrow channel,
about 5 miles in length, by from 30 to 100 yards wide,
and with depth sufficient for vessels of 60 tons. This
channel, called La Riviere Salee, or Salt River, runs nearly
N. and S., and has a large bay at each end, that on the
N. being called the Grand Cul-de-Sac, that on the S. the
Petit Cul-de-Sac. The western or larger island, called
Guadaloupe proper, or Basse Terre, is 27 miles in length,
by 15 in breadth ; the eastern, or Grande Terre is nearly 30
miles long, by from 10 to 12 broad. Guadaloupe proper is
of volcanic formation, and is traversed from N. to S. by a
ridge of hills having a medium height of 2296 feet. Its
principal peaks are La Souffriere, an active volcano 5108
feet high, and Grossc- Montague, Beux-Mamelles, and Piton
G U A
de Bouillante, extinct volcanoes. It is copiously watered Guadal-
by numerous small streams, two of which, the Goyave and quivir.
the Lezarde, are navigable for small craft. The soil is —
fertile, and the surface is agreeably diversified by hill and
dale, wood and garden. The products, natural and culti¬
vated, are those of the West Indies generally. The prin¬
cipal town, Basse Terre, stands on the S.W. coast. It is
the residence of the governor, and has some fine public
buildings, fountains, and gardens, and about 6000 inhabi¬
tants. Grande Terre, unlike Guadaloupe proper, is marshy,
sterile, and flat, nowhere rising more than 115 feet above
the sea. Its chief town, +St Louis or Point a-Pitre, the
former capital of the island, is at the S. entrance to the Salt
River, and has an excellent harbour. It formerly contained
about 15,000 inhabitants, but was almost entirely destroyed
by an earthquake on 8th February 1843, on w'hich occasion
4000 of its inhabitants perished. The climate is humid,
and hurricanes and earthquakes are frequent. The rainy
season lasts from the middle of July to the middle of Oc¬
tober. The chief exports are sugar, molasses, rum, cotton,
coffee, dye-woods, and copper. The sugar crop amounts
to about 60,000 hogsheads annually. A considerable quan¬
tity of fish is taken in the neighbouring seas. The govern¬
ment consists of a governor, with a privy council of six, and
a colonial council of thirty members. The government of
Guadaloupe comprises, besides that island, those of Marie-
Galante, Desirade, Les Saintes, and the northern portion
of St Martin. Marie-Galante lies 14 miles S.S.E. of Gua¬
daloupe, and is about 12 miles in length, by 8 in breadth.
It is traversed from N. to S. by a range of hills running
parallel to the E. coast, where it presents a front of high
and precipitous rocks. The W. and N. sides of the island
are level; and parallel with the former is a narrow lagoon,
7 or 8 miles in length, separated from the sea by a low nar¬
row tract of land. The island abounds in woods, particularly
the wild cinnamon tree. Its principal town, Grandbourg
or Basse Terre, stands near the S.W. point. Desirade, or
Deseada, lies about 4 miles E. from the S.E. extremity of
Grande Terre, and is about 8 miles long by 3 wide. It
rises from the sea with a steep ascent, and then extends in
a table-land, which consists of limestone rocks, in which
many caverns occur, but it is without water. Ihe soil in
some places is of a deep black mould, and fertile ; in others
it is sandy and unproductive. The only anchorage is at the
Anse- Galet, on the E. side of the island. Les Saintes are
a group of rocky islets 6 or 7 miles S. of Guadaloupe, and
consist of lofty and steep peaks, some of which are united
by flat ground and ridges of inferior elevation. The two
largest are called Terre d'en Haut and Terre d’en Bas.
St Martin is a small island immediately S. of the British
island of Anguilla, in N. Lat. 18. 5., and W. Long. 63. 6.
Its form is nearly that of an equilateral triangle, each side
being about 7 miles in length, and comprising an area of
about 33 square miles. It is deeply indented with bays and
lagoons, some of which afford good anchorage. The surface
is generally hilly, the highest point being 1361 feet above
the sea. it was colonized by the French and Dutch in
1638, but these were expelled by the Spaniards, who them¬
selves abandoned the island in 1750, and the original set¬
tlers resumed possession. The southern portion of the
island belonged to the Dutch. Guadaloupe was discovered
by Columbus in 1493. In 1635 the French established a
settlement upon the island, and retained possession of it till
1759, when it was taken by the English. It was subse¬
quently, on several occasions, taken and retaken by these
nations, and was finally ceded to France in 1814. Pop.
(1854) 132,810. Slavery was abolished here by a decree of
the French Republic in 1848, at which time about 100,000
persons were emancipated.
GUADALQUIVIR, a river of Spain, province of An¬
dalucia, the fifth in point of length, and the sixth in the
G U A
iuadalupe number and importance of its tributaries in the peninsula.
II It rises in the Sierras de Alcaraz, Segura and Cazorla, and
Guan0, falls into the ocean by Sanlucar de Barrameda, after a course
V—of 412 miles. It flows first in a northerly direction, then
W., then S.W., and ultimately towards the S., draining a
basin of 25,680 square miles. In its course it passes through
and drains the four provinces of Jaen, Cordoba, Sevilla, *nd
Cadiz. Its source-spring is 4 miles W. of the town of
Quesada, Sierra de Cazorla, province of Jaen.
GUADALUPE, a town of Spain, New Castile, 100 miles
S.W.of Toledo. It is situatedon the southern slope of Monte
Altamira. The monastery of Jeronimo, which is in the
centre of the town, was formerly the Lorettoof Central Spain,
and still contains many valuable works of art. Pop. 4000.
GUAD1 is the Spanish pronunciation of the Moorish
Wadi, “ a stream with its valley.” It occurs in the names
of numerous rivers of Spain.
GUADIX, a royal and episcopal city of Spain, province
of Granada, and chief town of the department of the same
name. It stands on the northern slope of the Sierra Nevada,
and above the left bank of the River Guadix. It is said to
have been the first Bishop’s see erected in Spain ; and is
surrounded by ancient walls, and contains a fine cathedral,
partly in the Corinthian style. The ruins of an ancient
castle stand on a fine site, commanding the town. The
principal manufactures are saltpetre, earthenwares, hempen
goods, hats, silk fabrics, sail-cloth, and cutlery; and the trade
is chiefly in silk, wool, cotton, flax, corn, liqueurs, and various
other articles. The Moors made a valiant defence here and
maintained their position till 1589. Pop. nearly 12,000.
GUAIACUM, a resinous substance, of a greenish-brown
colour, an aromatic smell, and a bitterish acrid taste. It is
the produce of Guaiacum officinale, a tree that grows in
the warmer parts of America, especially St Domingo, and
which is popularly known as Lignum-vitce, This resin is
vised chiefly in pharmacy, but is an unimportant medicine.
GUAM, or Guahon, one of the Ladrone Islands. It is
a large island, about 120 miles in circuit, high and shelving
on each side, and fenced with steep rocks, against which
the surf perpetually beats. There is a bay on the west side,
in which there are several small harbours. The climate is
mild and salubrious, and the soil yields a great profusion of
vegetables and fruits, particularly guavas, bananas, cocos,
oranges, and limes. The population is uncertain. The island
was discovered by Magellan in 1521, and at that time the in¬
habitants—a wild and savage race—were numerous. Long.
143. 15., Lat. 13.10.
GUAMANGA, or Huamanga, a city of Peru, capital
of the department of Ayacucho, on an affluent of the Apu-
rimac, 140 miles W.N.W. of Cuzco. It was founded by
Pizarro on the site of an Indian village of the same name,
for the convenience of trade between Cuzco and Lima. It
has a fine cathedral, several other churches, monasteries,
nunneries, and a university, Pop. about 20,000.
GUANAJUATO, a state and city of Mexico. See
Mexico.
GUANCAVELICA, or Huancabelica, a town of
Peru, capital of a cognominal department, in a ravine of
the Andes, 11,000 feet above t he sea, and 80 miles W.N.W.
of Guamanga. The district is bleak and cold, but is famous
for its mines of gold, silver, and particularly mercury. Pop.
about 6000.
GUANO, the solid excrement of carnivorous sea-birds,
which is found in immense quantity on the coasts of South
America, and in other tropical countries, as South Africa.
The analysis of this very powerful manure, its varieties,
adulterations, market prices, agricultural application, &c.,
are fully detailed under Agricultural Chemistry, vol.
ii., p. 408-11 ; see also Agriculture, vol. ii., p. 299.
Guano, or Huano, is the Peruvian term for manure. This
substance, though brought to Europe for the first time in
YOL. XI.
G U A 73
1840, has been employed in agriculture by the Peruvians Guaranis
from the age of the Incas downwards. The chief sources ||
of supply at present are the Chinca islands, off the coast ofGuarantce-
Lower Peru, and the Lobos islands, opposite to Lam- “v—^
bayeque in Upper Peru. Chinca, the chief of the group
bearing that name, has been estimated to contain the enor¬
mous quantity of seventeen millions of tons ; and that of the
remainder of the group is given at twenty to twenty-five
millions. The supply on the Lobos islands, though not so
extensive, is yet very large. There are also other islands
and places on the coast that afford considerable supplies of
guano; so that upon the whole, for all practical purposes,
the supply may be considered as inexhaustible.
So ignorant were the governments of Peru and Bolivia
of the value of this article, that they sold to private parties
the sole right to ship guano for the term of nine years
for the trifling sum of #40,000; but soon perceiving the
ruinous nature of the contract, the Peruvian government
cancelled it two years afterwards (in 1841), on the ground
of enormous public lesion, and ignorance of the value of the
privilege conceded. This had the effect of opening up the
trade for a time ; but the monopoly system was revived in
the course of a year or two by the Peruvian government,
whose agents (Messrs Gibbs & Sons, of London) are now
the sole importers in this country, though of late much has
been sent direct from Peru to Spain. The exorbitant price
demanded for this manure has occasioned much complaint;
and it is to be hoped that some measures may be devised
for reducing the price to a fair commercial rate. (M‘Cul-
loch’s Commercial Dictionary-)
The total quantity of guano imported in 1854 amounted
to 235,111 tons: against 123,166 tons in 1853; 129,889
tons in 1852; 243,014 tons in 1851 ; and 116,925 tons in
1850. Of the above 235,111 tons, 221,747 tons came from
Peru; 3187 from British South Africa; 1502 from the
United States; 4249 from Chili.
GUARANIS, an aboriginal people of South America.
See South America, vol ii., p. 691.
GUARANTEE, in law, an obligation undertaken by one
party that another shall pay or perform that for which he is or
may become liable to a third party. In mercantile transac¬
tions in Scotland it may be constituted in any way by which
the consent of the guarantee obligant is truly and freely
given ; but it can only be proved by his oath or writing. I he
evidence of witnesses is inadmissible, unless the obligation
was undertaken as an integral part of a transaction relative
to moveables, provable by witnesses, or that something fol¬
lowed on the faith of it, with the knowledge of the guarantee
obligant, by which the rights of parties were materially af¬
fected. In England it is enacted by statute, that No
action shall be brought whereby to charge the defendant
upon any special promise to answer for the debt, &rc., of
another person, unless the agreement on which such action
shall be brought, or some memorandum or note thereof,
shall be in writing, and signed by the party to be charged
therewith, or some other person thereunto by him lawfully
authorized.” The construction of all such obligations is
never extended beyond their obvious meaning, and they
are only understood to apply to future, unless they expiessly
include past transactions. All their conditions and limita¬
tions must be carefully regarded, otherwise they become
void. If so expressed or intended, however, such obliga¬
tions may be of the most unqualified character ; they may
be unlimited in amount, and indefinite as to time. M hen
the guarantee obligant is compelled to pay, he has an action
of relief against the principal debtor; but that party, being
primarily liable, must first be sued by the creditor; and
whatever he does towards the extinction of the claim of the
creditor, or whatever the creditor recovers from him or
his estate, goes so far to relieve the guarantee obligant, who
can also plead against the creditor any defence which could
K
74 G U A
G U A
Guard be competently pleaded by the principal debtor. Where
II more persons than one are bound together in a guarantee
Guards 0bhgation, any of them seeking relief from the others of a
' share of his loss must communicate to them a share of any
" v—' security which he may hold over the estate of the principal
debtor, or of any abatement he may have obtained from the
creditor. A guarantee obligation may be extinguished
by the extreme neglect of the creditor ; as, for example, by
his failing to take advantage of a security in his power,
omitting to negotiate a bill, inadvertently giving up funds
of the principal debtor over which he had a right of lien or
retention, or renouncing any security over his estate. In
like manner, if he compound with, or discharge the principal
debtor, without the concurrence of the guarantee obligant,
the guaranty is at an end; excepting under a commission
of bankruptcy in England, or a sequestration in Scotland,
where the creditor may, by acquiescence, allow the principal
debtor to be discharged, and may accept a composition,
without discharging the guarantee, provided the guarantee
obligant has previously been duly warned and called on to
satisfy the debt. (m. l.)
GUARD, in military affairs, a body of men appointed to
watch a position, and withstand an attack, if attempted.
GUARDS, The, a general name for the regiments of
Household Troops.
Horse Guards, in England, were originally gentlemen
chosen for their bravery to be intrusted with the guard of
the king’s person. They were divided into four troops.
The first was raised in the year 1660, and the command
given to Lord Gerard; the second in 1661, and the com¬
mand given to Sir Philip Howard; the third in 1693, and
the command given to Earl Feversham ; the fourth in 1702,
and the command given to Earl Newburgh. Each troop
had one colonel, two lieutenant-colonels, one cornet and
major, one guidon and major, four exempts and captains,
four brigadiers and lieutenants, one adjutant, four subbri¬
gadiers and cornets, and sixty private men. The four troops
were afterwards turned into two regiments of Life Guards.
The Horse Grenadier Guards were divided into two
troops. The first troop was raised in 1693, and the com¬
mand given to Lieutenant-General Cholmondeley; the
second in 1702, and the command given to Lord Forbes.
Each troop had a colonel, a lieutenant-colonel, a guidon or
major, three exempts and captains, three lieutenants, one
adjutant, three cornets, and sixty private men.
The Yeomen of the Guard were first raised at the
coronation of Henry VII., Oct. 30, 1485. They are a
superior kind of Foot Guards to the royal person, and are
generally called by the nickname of Beef-Eaters. (See
Appellation.) They were originally fifty in number, and of
larger stature than ordinary, each being required to be over
six feet in height. This band was afterwards increased to
a hundred, and seventy supernumeraries; and when one
of the hundred died, his place was supplied out of the se¬
venty. Their first captain was the Earl of Oxford, in 1486.
The Foot Guards are regiments of foot appointed to
guard the royal person and palace. They were raised in
1660, when the command of the first regiment was given to
Thomas Lord Wentworth; that of the second to General
Monk, then Duke of Albemarle; and that of the third to
the Earl of Linlithgow. The second regiment is always
called the Coldstream Guards, from a town in Berwickshire,
where it was first embodied. This regiment is older than
the first, having been raised sooner; and, from being com¬
manded by General Monk, was called Monk’s regiment, in
compliment to whom it was made one of the three royal
regiments by Charles II.
Scotch Guards, a celebrated band which formed the
first company ot the ancient Gardes du Corps of France.
In the ancient intercourse between the two countries, the
natives ot Scotland had often distinguished themselves in
the service of France. On this foundation the company
of Scotch Guards, and the company of Scotch Gendarmes,
were instituted; both of them owed their institution to
Charles VII. of France, by whom the first standing army
in Europe was formed, in the year 1454.
The ancient rights and privileges of the Scottish Life
Guards were most honourable. The author of the Ancient
Alliance between France and Britain says, “ On high holi¬
days, at the ceremony of the royal touch, the erection of
knights of the king’s order, the reception of extraordinary
ambassadors, and the public entries of cities, there must be
six of their number next to the king’s person, three on each
side; and the body of the king must be carried by these
only, wheresoever ceremony requires. They have the keep¬
ing of the keys of the king’s lodging at night, the keeping
of the choir of the chapel, the keeping the boats where the
king passes the rivers ; and they have the honour of bearing
the white silk fringe in their arms, which in France is the
coronne couleur. The keys of all the cities where the king
makes his entry are given to their captain in waiting or out
of waiting. He has the privilege, in waiting or out of wait¬
ing, at ceremonies—such as coronations, marriages, and
funerals of the kings, and at the baptism and marriage of their
children—to take duty upon him. The coronation robe
belongs to him ; and this company, by the death or change
of a captain, never changes its rank, as do the three others.”
This company’s first commander, who is recorded as a
person of great valour and military accomplishments, was
Robert Patillock, or Patullo, a native of Dundee; and the
corps, ever ardent to distinguish itself, continued in great re¬
putation until the year 1578. From that period the Scotch
Guards were less attended to, and their privileges came to
be invaded. In 1612 they presented a remonstrance to
Louis XIII. on the injustice they had suffered, and placed
before him the services they had rendered to the crown of
France. Attempts were then made to re-establish them on
their ancient foundation ; but the negotiation for this pur¬
pose proved ineffectual. The troops of France became
jealous of the honours paid to them ; the death of Francis
II., and the return of Mary to Scotland, at a time when
they had much to hope for, were unfavourable to their pre¬
tensions ; the change of religion in Scotland, and the ac¬
cession of James VI. to the throne of England, altogether
disunited the interests of France and Scotland. The Scotch
Guards of France had therefore latterly no connection with
Scotland except in name.
Guard-Boat, a boat appointed to row the rounds among
ships of war laid up in a harbour or in ordinary, and to ob¬
serve that their officers keep a good look-out, &c.
Guard-Ship, a vessel of war appointed to superintend
maritime affairs in a harbour or river, and to see that the
non-commissioned ships have their proper watchword duly
kept, by sending guard-boats round them every night.
GUARDAMAR, a town of Spain, province of Valencia,
near the right bank of the Segura, 2 miles from the sea,
and 20 miles S.S.W. of Alicante. Pop. nearly 3500.
GUARDIA, the name of several places in Spain ; of
these the principal are'—1. La Guardia, a town of New
Castile, near the left bank of the Cedron, 30 miles E.S.E.
of Toledo. Its manufacturing industry is confined to wine,
oil, soap, saltpetre, linens, baize, and serge. The trade
consists chiefly in agricultural produce, cattle, and hemp.
Pop. nearly 4000.—2. A town in Andalucia, on a rock sur¬
mounted by an old fort, near the left bank of the Jaen.
The chief manufactures are delft, linens, and shoes; and
there is some trade in agricultural produce, and fruits.
Pop. nearly 2500.
GUARDIAN, in Law, generally signifies one who has
the charge of the person, education, and property of chil¬
dren, or of any one labouring under some incapacity for
managing his own affairs.
Guard-
Boat
Guardian.
G U A
Guardian A father is by nature the guardian of his children. On
II, . his death the office is devolved on those who may have
Guarmi. been app0inted by him, or if they decline to accept, the law
appoints the nearest relatives on the father’s side. The
Roman law, in the event of no appointment by the father,
generally committed the guardianship of both the minor
and his estate to him who, by the death of the minor, would
succeed to. his inheritance; presuming that he would take
the best care of the estate who had the nearest prospect
of succeeding to it. But both the law of England and Scot¬
land commit only the care of the estate to the heir-appa¬
rent ; and, wisely considering that he may not be suffi¬
ciently careful of a life standing in the way of his own suc¬
cession, intrust the custody of the pupil to the mother if
alive, or, if dead, to the nearest relatives on the mother’s
side. Guardians may also be appointed by a stranger for
the management of an estate left to the minor by such
stranger, or by a judge before whom a suit may depend, in
which a father may have an interest adverse to his child;
and in all cases where, from any cause, a person cannot
manage his own affairs, and his relatives are unwilling or
disqualified to act for him, the law, in one form or another,
provides a manager or guardian. In these last cases, secu¬
rity, and a strict account of his intromissions, are exacted
from the guardian. The guardianship of a father over his
minor daughter is at an end when she marries a person who
has attained majority—the husband being the guardian of
his wife.
Both in England and in Scotland, as by the Roman law,
guardians are appointed for the protection of the persons
and estates of idiots and lunatics. Guardians for children
are distinguished as tutors and curators. The former act
altogether in the place of the pupil, who is held incapable
of giving consent; and the latter act along with the minor
(that is a person past pupilarity, but still under majority),
who is not held incapable, though immature. The powers
of both of these guardians resemble those of a parent; and
may be comprehended in the word administration, or man¬
agement. They can neither sell their ward’s estate, nor
alter its succession.
In Scotland, the court, on evidence that a person of full
age is of a weak and facile disposition and wasteful habits,
will appoint, and such a person may even by his own vo¬
luntary act appoint, a guardian, called an interdictor, with¬
out whose consent (the public being previously warned in a
prescribed form) he can do nothing towards the alienation
of his heritable estate. This sort of guardianship can only
be removed by the court on evidence, either that it was ori¬
ginally unnecessary, or that the party has become provi¬
dent of his own affairs; or, when constituted voluntarily,
by the consent or death of the interdictor. (m. l.)
Guardian of the Spiritualities, the person to whom the
spiritual jurisdiction of a diocese is committed during the
vacancy of the see. A guardian of the spiritualities may
likewise be either such in law, as the archbishop is of any
diocese within his province, or by delegation, as he whom
the archbishop or vicar-general for the time appoints. Such
guardian has power to hold courts, and grant licenses, dis¬
pensations, probates of wills, &c.
Guardian of the Temporalities, one appointed by the
crown during such vacancy, to take care of the goods and
profits, and to render an account thereof to the Exchequer.
GUARINI, Giovanni Battista, a celebrated Italian
poet, was born at Ferrara, on the 10th of December 1537.
He studied at the university of Padua, under the direction
of his father Alexander, to whom he owed the greater part
of his acquisitions in knowledge, and more particularly his
taste for poetry. Guarini succeeded his father in the chair
ot humanity at Ferrara, though then scarcely twenty; but
some lyrical compositions already published by him had in¬
spired such hopes of future eminence as fully justified his pro-
G U A
motion. Called to the court of the Duke of Ferrara, at that Guar;nj
period the resort of men of the first talents in Italy, he there v.
became acquainted with Tasso, who was seven years younger
than himself, gained his friendship, and afterwards became
his most zealous defender and ardent panegyrist. The
duke having knighted Guarini, intrusted him with several
important missions to the different courts of Europe ; but,
during fourteen years that he remained in the service of
this prince, he never obtained the slightest recompense,
and in the meanwhile had expended the greater part of his
fortune. Guarini complained of this ; the duke, conscious
that his complaints were well founded, became irritated;
recrimination ensued, and the poet retired in disgust from
court. Some time afterwards, he passed into the service
of Emanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, and next into that
of Vincent, Duke of Mantua; but as, at both courts, he
received much praise and no salary, he at length retired to
his estate of Guarini, near Reggio. Having lost his wife,
he formed a design of taking holy orders, and with this
view repaired to Rome. But Guarini had too much am¬
bition to persevere in such a scheme; and, accustomed as
he had been to the gaieties of courts, he found himself but
little disposed to relish the sweets of retirement. He ac¬
cordingly returned to Ferrara, and thence proceeded to
Florence, where the Grand Duke Ferdinand loaded him
with presents and honours. His good fortune, however,
was not of long duration. The grand duke, wishing to
establish suitably a lady of Pisa to whom he had been at¬
tached, induced one of the sons of Guarini to marry her
without the knowledge of his father, whose delicacy on the
point of honour was well known to him. When the latter
was made acquainted with the marriage of his son, his in¬
dignation knew no bounds ; and, justly offended at the des¬
potic proceeding of the grand duke, he quitted Tuscany
without the ceremony of taking leave. But after passing
some months with his protectress, the Duchess of Urbino,
he became reconciled to the Duke of Ferrara; and in
1603 he was sent by that prince to Rome as ambassador
to Pope Paul V. Guarini, however, was constantly the
sport of fortune ; for, besides the ingratitude of the great,
of which he had had painful experience, his life was em¬
bittered by domestic misfortunes. He had lost in the
flower of her age a wife whom he adored ; and his three
sons frequently stirred up domestic quarrels about the divi¬
sion of a fortune almost entirely exhausted. But the most
severe blow he received was by the tragical death of bis
daughter Anna. On returning from one of his journeys,
he went to visit his beloved child, and when he fondly ex¬
pected to fold her in his arms, he found only a bloody
corpse. She had just fallen a victim to the jealousy of a
suspicious and violent husband. But all these misfortunes
did not prevent Guarini from occupying himself with his
works, the principal of which are, II Pastor Fido, a pas¬
toral tragi-comedy in five acts, and in verse, which passed
through forty editions during the lifetime of the author,
and by which his name has been rendered for ever famous;
Verrato Primo, Ferrara, 1588; Verrato Secondo, Flo¬
rence, 1595 ; II Segretario, dialogo, Venice, 1594, 1600;
Idropica, a comedy in five acts, and in prose, Rome, 1614.
A very beautiful edition of the works of Guarini was pub¬
lished at Ferrara, in 1737, four vols. 4to, with superb en¬
gravings, and very beautiful vignettes. The second volume
contains the lyrical compositions of the author, some of
which are highly esteemed; the fourth is filled with anno¬
tations and apologies or defences of the Pastor Fido, by
different authors. Guarini also left a treatise on public
liberty, which reasons of state, however, prevented him
from publishing. His death took place at Venice, whither
he had latterly retired, on the 6th of October 1612, in the
seventy-fifth year of his age. Guarini’s claim to the cha¬
racter of a great poet must rest exclusively on his Pastor
76
G U A
G U A
Guastalla Fido, which, with all its faults, contains innumerable re-
li deeming beauties, and still maintains its place as an Italian
> uatimala- classic. His style, though it wants the purity, sweetness,
and elegance, which characterize that of Tasso, is full of
rich and sparkling imagery; and his sentiments, if not
always natural or just, are seldom deficient in force and vi¬
vacity. The greatest blemish of the Pastor Fido is its
frequent indecency and exceptionable morality. It is no
doubt true that Corisco repents towards the conclusion of
the piece, and that there is an apparent conformity in this
respect to the established rule; but this professed repent¬
ance comes only after having displayed a character equally
vile and perfidious, and promulgated maxims of the most
lax morality. Although the Pastor Fido had been re¬
presented in all the courts of Italy, and even before popes,
yet it was afterwards put into the Index by reason of the
licentiousness which pervades it, and particularly on account
of the passage commencing Se’l peccar e si dolce e il non
peccar si necessario. But, with all these defects, it is a
work of undoubted genius, and will continue to maintain
the reputation which it originally acquired for its author.
An excellent translation of the Pastor Fido into English
blank verse was published anonymously at Edinburgh in
1809. (J. b—e.)
GUASTALLA, a walled town of Northern Italy, duchy
of Modena, capital of a small district of the same name, on
the right bank of the Po, 16 miles N. of Reggio. It is the see
of a bishop, and has a cathedral and several other churches,
and a public library. Manufactures—chiefly silk fabrics and
twist. The French defeated the Imperialists under its
walls in 1734. Pop. 10,000. The district of Guastalla
formerly belonged to Parma, but since the death of the ex¬
empress Maria Louisa it has been transferred to Modena.
GUATIMALA, or Guatemala, one of the republics
of Central America, occupies most of the table-land of
Guatimala, with the mountainous district between it and
tlie Gulf of Honduras, besides a portion of the table-land of
Yucatan. Its extreme latitudes are 13. 29. and 18. 12.
N., and longitudes 88. 10. and 93. 22. W. It is bounded
on the N. by the Mexican state of Yucatan, on the W.
by Chiapa, on the S. by the Pacific Ocean, S.E. by the
Republic of Salvador, E. by Honduras, and N.E. by the
Gulf of Honduras, and the British Honduras, or Belize.
The total area of Guatimala is about 49,000 square miles.
It is divided into seventeen departments, and contained,
according to the returns of 1852, a population of 972,000,
distributed as follows :—
Departments. Populations.
Guatimala   89,500
Sacatepec   44,500
Chimaltenango  56,400
Sanmarco  89,100
Suchiltepec   36,300
Escuintla  15,300
Amatitlan  33,000
Santa Rosa  36,000
Mita  72,300
Solola  84,200
Departments. Populations.
Totonicapan  84,700
Gueguetenango  64,800
Quesaltenango   66,800
Chiquimula  73,000
Vera Paz   6,200
Salama 109,900
Isabel  9,000
Total   .972,000
The surface of Guatimala is wholly mountainous, the
main chain of the continuation of the Andes traversing it
from S.E. to N.W. at an inconsiderable distance from the
Pacific shore, and branching off in various ramifications to¬
wards the Atlantic; forming many valleys, but inclosing
few plains. Along the main chain occur numerous vol¬
canoes, all near the Pacific. The culminating point of the
surface is in N. Lat. 15. 30., between the towns of Toto¬
nicapan and Gueguetenango. The eastern border of the
plateau descending to the Gulf of Honduras is cut by deep
valleys, which extend to a great distance, and in some places
advance to the very shores. The country lying to the W.
and the N.W. ot the Golfo Dulce is a low plain, while all
between the plateau and the Bay of Honduras is a succes¬
sion of ridges and valleys. In many places the shore is rocky, Guatimala
wuth rocky barriers lying off it.
Numerous streams drain this state. The most important
are—the Lacantun, forming part of the Mexican boundary;
the Motagua and the Polochic, which fall through the
Dulce into the Bay of Honduras. The most important lakes
are—the Dulce, advantageous for foreign trading vessels ;
the Amatitlan, 18 miles S.E. of Guatimala, is 9'miles by 3,
of great depth, and is much resorted to as a bathing-place
by the inhabitants of Guatimala, from February till April;
near it there are several mineral and hot springs; the
Atitlan, 80 miles N.W. of the city of Guatimala, is about
20 miles long by 9 broad, surrounded by lofty heights, in¬
cluding the volcano of Atitlan, and is remarkable for its
very great depth, and being without outlet, though several
small rivers enter it; the Paten, near the frontiers with
Yucatan, and about 30 miles long, 9 broad.
The climate of the table-land is that of perennial spring,
the thermometer scarcely varying throughout the year, and
it resembles very much the climate of Valencia in Spain in
almost every particular. In the northern part of the state,
in what is called Los Altos, the highlands, the average is
lower than any other part of the country. Snow sometimes
falls in the vicinity of Quesaltenango, the capital of this
department, but soon disappears, the thermometer seldom
remaining at the freezing point for any considerable time.
In the vicinity of the city of Guatimala, the range of the
thermometer is from 55° to 80°, averaging about 72° of Fahr.
Vera Paz, the north-eastern department of Guatimala, and
embracing the coast below Yucatan to the Gulf of Dulce,
is nearly ten degrees warmer. This coast from Belize down¬
wards to Isabel and San Tome is hot and unhealthy. From
May till October is the rainy season. Thunder prevails in
June, and terrific storms from the S.W. sweep along the
Pacific coast in August and September. Earthquakes are
very frequent.
The soil is generally very fertile, producing excellent rice,
and all the cereals in great variety and abundance. Agri¬
culture, however, is in a very backward state from the want
of enterprise and the ignorance of the people, as well as from
the want of roads. As articles of commerce, the most im¬
portant products are cochineal and indigo. Cotton, cacao,
sugar, vanilla, tobacco, and coffee, are grown in considerable
quantities. The table-land is almost destitute of trees and
even bushes, except on the declivities of the hilly ranges
which so extensively traverse it. Trees of very large size
form extensive forests on the lower lands along the Pacific.
These are a source of great natural wealth. Among the
trees the most valuable are the cedar, mahogany, Brazil,
Santa Maria, pimento, guaiacurn, &c.; and abundance of
medicinal plants are also found and turned to some account.
The vegetation is luxurious and vigorous along the low
tract by the Bay of Honduras. Sheep are reared in con¬
siderable numbers, especially over the northern districts, and
their wool is used for native manufactures. The horse is
small, hardy, and handsome ; and mules are numerous, being
the chief beasts of burden. Pigs and poultry are very
abundant, and of excellent quality.
Salt is manufactured along the coast of the Pacific. Jas¬
per, marble, and brimstone, are obtained in considerable
quantity in the vicinity of some of the volcanoes. Lead is
worked by the Indians in Totonicapan. The manufactures
are mostly limited to those for domestic use. The cotton
manufacture, once extensive, is now confined to the de¬
partments of Guatimala and Sacatepec. Coarse woollen
cloth is now more manufactured, especially gerga, which is
made into a peculiar black called poncho, in which much
taste is displayed.
Besides cochineal already noticed, the most important
exports are woods employed in cabinet work ; sarsaparilla,
vanilla, and other medicinal roots and plants; hides, sugar,
G U A T I
Juatimala. cofFee, ami cotton, in small quantities. The imports con-
> ^ > gist chiefly of wines, fancy goods, earthenware, porcelain,
cutlery, hardware, silk and linens, dry goods, and British
cotton. .
The inhabitants of Guatimala are a mixture ot native
Indians, Europeans, and Negroes. The natives of negro
blood are principally along the N.E. coast, and in Ama-
titlan. With the exception of certain portions of the in¬
digenous Indians, or northern portions of Guatimala, the
people of this state are characterized by all the vices that
degrade the inhabitants of Central America.
Guatimala received its name from the Mexican word
quauhtemali, “ a decayed wooden log, because the Mexican
Indians who accompanied Alvarado found near the palace of
the kings of Kachiquel an old worm-eaten tree, and gave this
name to the capital. In the mouth of a Spaniard the pro¬
nunciation became gucttimcilci' Others have derived the naine
from the Tzendale word 'uJi&tcz’m&lhd, * a water volcano,
in allusion to the mountain on the skirts of which the city of
Guatimala wms built. Another still less probable etymology
is that from coctecmalan, “ milk-wmod,” a peculiar tree found
only in the immediate vicinity of the original capital, where
now stands the village of Tzacualpa. Still_ another is from
the name of Quitemal, the first king of Guatimala, as Quiche
was named from Namaquiche, and ^Nicaragua from the cacique
of the same name.
The principal part of Guatimala was conquered in 1524: by
Alvarado, who found above thirty different tribes in posses¬
sion of the country, each governed by its own chief, and using
distinct languages and customs. ThePipil Indians still speak
the Aztec or Mexican language, and dwell on the Pacific
shores. Besides this there are above twenty different dialects
used in the republic; but many of these are so similar that
one tribe with little difficulty understands another. According
to a tradition related by the historian Juarros, the Toltec In¬
dians, the most civilized and powerful of the tribes of Guati¬
mala, came originally from Tula in Mexico. This emigration
is said to have been undertaken by the direction of an oracle in
consequence of the great increase of the population in the reign
of Namaquiche (i. e., “ Quichd the Great”), the fifth king of
the Toltecas. Namaquiche Y. died during their wanderings,
and was succeeded by his son Acjopil, from whom Kicab-
Tanub, the contemporary of Montezuma II., was the four¬
teenth in succession who reigned in Utatlan, the capital of
Quiche, which stood near the Lake Atitlan, and was so named
in honour of Quiche the Great, who had died during their
perilous and tedious wanderings southwards. None of the
Spanish settlements were conquered with so little bloodshed as
that of Guatimala; and this was mainly owing to the cele¬
brated Dominican Las Casas, who accompanied the conquerors
in their expedition into this territory. In 1524: Alvarado
founded the city of Guatimala; and in 1542 a chancery and
royal audiencia were established in this city, with authority
over all the settlements and provinces from the southern
boundary of Costa Rica to the northern limit of Chiapas.
Hence this city became the residence of the governor and
captain-general. Till his death in 1541 Alvarado had exercised
authority over the Spanish settlements from their subjugation
in 1524, during four years under Cortez, and subsequently by
direct delegation from the Crown. In 1742 the bishopric of
Guatimala, which was established in 1534, became metropoli¬
tan, and was invested with authority over the suffragan
bishoprics of Nicaragua, Chiapas (and Comayagua in Hondu¬
ras). At this time the kingdom of Guatimala consisted of the
aggregate of the settlements and districts ; and under the
Spaniards it formed a captain-generalship independent of the
other governments and viceroyalties of Spanish America.
During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Guatimala was
severely harassed by the Dutch and English privateers, and
by the inroads of the Poyaise and Mosquito Indians, who
freely permitted the English to settle along their coast, while
they maintained an unrelenting struggle with the Spaniards.
On the 21st September 1821 the country became an indepen¬
dent state, and united itself with the Republic of Mexico ; but
again, on 1st July 1823, it became a separate government, and
eventually the confederation of the five states of Guatimala—■
Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, with the territory of
M ALA. 77
Mosquitia—was formed. In 1846, however, this confederation Guatimala.
was dissolved ; and Guatimala, as well as each of the rest, be- ^ ^ .z
came independent. Of late, attempts have again been made to
renew the confederation, but, owing to political jealousies, ■w ith¬
out any definite result. The country has long been kept in a
state of constant agitation, industry has. been neglected, civil
wars have been rife, and every effort to improve the condition
of the inhabitants has been frustrated. Under a united sys¬
tem of government this country wrould rise into one of in¬
calculable importance and influence. It possesses ail the ele¬
ments of prosperity in the resources and advantages with
which nature has so richly and profusely invested it.
According to the constitution of October 19, 1851, the exe¬
cutive is in the hands of a president, elected by a general as¬
sembly, composed of the legislative chamber, the Archbishop
of Guatimala, the members of the supreme court of justice, and
the members of the council of state. The legislative.assembly
consists of fifty-nine members ; and the president is elected
for four years, but is eligible to be re-elected. The council of
state is composed of the ministry, eight councillors chosen by
the legislative assembly, and of others appointed by the presi¬
dent. The revenue and expenditure are about L.50,000, and
the debt now amounts to L.240,000.
The principal cities in this republic are New Guatimala,
the capital; Old Guatimala, Totonicapau, Quesaltenango,
Chiquimula, Salamd, Flores, &c. ; and the chief ports are
Isabel, or Golfo Duke ; San Tome, on the Bay of Honduras ;
and Istapa, on the Pacific.
The antiquities of Central America have recently been partially
investigated by travellers, and are beginning to yield some fruits.
The most prolific of the states, as yet, is Guatimala, which is now
(1856) being examined by a judicious and experienced antiquarian,
the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg, who resides as cura at Babinal in
Vera Paz, one of the least known of the departments of Guatimala.
He is there in direct relationship with the native Indians of that
district, which has longest resisted the advances of European
civilization, and in which the aborigines have probably retained
most of their primitive traditions, customs, and religious ideas.
Between Vera Paz, Yucatan, and Chiapas, there lies a wide tract
of country, drained by the great river Usumasinta, and inhabited
by the unconquered tribes of the Lacandones, Manches, Choles, &c.,
ail belonging to the great Tzendal or Maya tamily, who built the
now ruined temples of Yucatan, and reared Palenque* and Copan.
This region is full of extensive ruins and imposing monuments ; and
the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg is here earnestly prosecuting his
researches under most favourable circumstances. His object is to
reach the lake of Peten, or Itza, so well known from the early
chronicles as the stronghold of the warlike Itzaecs. The islands of
this lake are covered with ruins, of which imperfect accounts have
been given to the public by Colonel Galindo. But so little is yet
known of this country that it has not been ascertained by Europeans
whether this large lake discharges itself north into the Gulf of
Mexico, or east into the Bay of Honduras, or, indeed, if it have an
outlet at all. The documents brought to light by the Abb6 de
Bourbourg must prove of great value in elucidating the aboriginal
history of America. These consist of a copy of the Kachiquel gram¬
mar del Padre Flores, containing a comparison of the Kachiquel
with the Quiche and Zutugil, “the three metropolitan languages,-’
which are all dialects of a single stock; the original.MS. of
Ximenes, of which only a part is copied in that of Ordonez ; The
Ancient History of Quiche in Spanish and Quiche; a MS. History
of (Juatimala of Vera Paz, in Spanish, with numerous details on
the astronomy and religion of the natives. And beside these, a
separate history of Vera Paz; another of San Salvador; and an¬
other of the rebellion of the Tzendals, with a magnificent copy of
the Tonalamatl,ov Calendar of the Indians of Quiche, as still secretly
used by the Indians of Santa Catalina Ixtahuacan, have been ob¬
tained by this indefatigable Abbe. But the most precious of his
acquisitions is a MS. in the Kachiquel language, written about
1550 a.d., by one of the princes of Solola, near the Lake of Atit¬
lan; this he is rendering into French and Spanish; and it is full of
details of the immigration of the Indians into these countries, their
early sufferings, the valorous conduct of their chiefs, of the four
Tulas that existed, &c. The abbe has visited two ancient cities
full of large ruins; they are called Zamaneb or Cakyug, and
Tzak-Pokoma. These he discovered by means of a bayle or drama¬
tic dance, recited to him by a native Indian, a descendant of the
ancient chiefs of Vera Paz. The facts of this bayle agrees with
Ximenes, and also with the Kachiquel MS. already mentioned.
The best writers on Guatimala are,—Bernal Diaz del Castillo,
Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de Mexico, 1632; Herrera,
Historia General de los Hechos de los Castellanos en los Islas y Tierra
78 G U A G U B
Guatimala Ferme del Mar Oceano, Madrid, 1601; Alcedo’s Geographical Dic¬
tionary of Spanish America, by Thompson, London, 1810, but
Guayaquil, at Madrid, 1786-89; Haefkin, Centraal Amerika; Juarros, Guati-
\ i mala, which garbles the facts preserved in the MS. of Ximenes;
Humboldt’s, Thompson’s, Byam’s, and Dunn’s Travels; Baily’s
Central America, which is accompanied with a good map, and is the
most recent and reliable source of information up to this time (1856).
Guatimala, la Antigua, a city of Central America, in
the republican state of Guatimala, and about 27 miles
W.S.W. from Guatimala la Nueva. It stands in a wide
and fertile valley, at an elevation of 5820 feet above the
sea-level. The place was abandoned after the earthquake
of 1773, which partially destroyed it; but it now contains a
population of nearly 20,000. There is collected here a con¬
siderable quantity of cochineal; and there are some insig¬
nificant manufactories. The city is regularly laid out, but
a great part of it is still in ruins. Prior to the earthquake
the population amounted to about 60,000.
Guatimala, la Nueva, the capital of the republic of
Guatimala, in Central America.1 Its situation is in N. Lat.
14. 36., and W. Long. 90. 30., at the extremity of a plain 22
miles in length by 7 in breadth, with a deep ravine on three
sides, and elevated above the sea 4970 feet. The form of
the town is quadrangular; and the streets are wide, straight,
and clean. On account of the frequency of earthquakes the
houses are only one story in height. The Plaza or Great
Square measures about 150 yards on each side, and is sur¬
rounded on three sides by colonnades. Here are the prin¬
cipal buildings in the town—the cathedral, archbishop’s pa¬
lace, the old royal palace, the College de Infantes, and the
various government offices. In the centre stands a large
and elegant fountain. The town is well supplied with water
brought by pipes from the mountains upwards of two leagues
distant. Besides the cathedral, there are 26 other churches
and chapels ; and, besides the plaza, several other squares,
each with a fountain in the centre. At the south side of
the city there has recently been erected a fort mounting
20 guns. There are several private schools in Guatimala;
and several printing establishments, whence two weekly
newspapers are issued.
Thompson, in his Official Visit to Guatimala, states
that “ the mean heat” of the city of Guatimala “ during the
day, from the 1st of January to the 1st of July is 75° of
Fahr., at night 63°. In the summer months the average
may be taken at ten degrees higher.” Fruits, vegetables,
provisions, and all articles of ordinary consumption are abun¬
dant, at moderate prices, while many descriptions of British
manufacture are as cheap as in Britain. The manufactures
are muslins, gauze, cottons, earthenware, porcelain, jewel¬
lery, cigars, &c.
The inhabitants are courteous and hospitable to strangers,
but live very much apart from each other, their only recrea¬
tion being their incessant religious processions. The sub¬
urbs are occupied mostly by ladinos (mulattoes) and In¬
dians. The buildings of this city were begun in 1776, three
years after the fearful earthquake of 1773, which completely
destroyed Old Guatimala, the former capital. The popula¬
tion is variously estimated from 35,000 to 50,000.
GUAVA, the fruit of the Psidium pyriferum and P.
pomiferum, nat. ord. Myrtaceae, the pulp of which is made
into a jelly of a peculiarly delicious flavour. This sweetmeat
is imported in considerable quantities from the West Indies.
GUAYAQUIL, the name of a department, province,
city, river, and gulf, in the republic of Ecuador, South
America. The department is bounded on the west by the
Pacific, and on the other sides by Peru and the departments
of Ecuador or Quito and Assuay. The great chain of the
Andes forms its eastern boundary. The chief products are
cacao, cotton, maize, tobacco, and various kinds of fruits. Guay mas
Area, 26,238 square miles. Pop. estimated at 132,000. II
It is divided into the provinces of Guayaquil and Manabi, ^ u 10,
the capitals of which are Guayaquil and Puerto Viejo.
Guayaquil, the capital of the above department, and the
chief commercial town of the republic, stands on the right
bank of the river of the same name, which is here about
2 miles wide, in S. Lat. 2. 12., W. Long. 79. 39. It ex¬
tends about 2 miles along the river, and is divided into an
old and new town ; the former stands higher up the river, and
is entirely inhabited by the poorer classes. Guayaquil is very
unhealthy, which may be sufficiently accounted for from its
low, level site, without drainage, the marsh immediately be¬
hind it, and the effluvia arising, especially in hot weather,
from the mud left exposed to the action of the sun by the
receding tide. There is also a deficiency of fresh water, the
river being brackish for a considerable distance above the
town. None of the public buildings are remarkable for
architectural beauty ; and the houses are generally of only
one story, and built of wood. Vessels of considerable bur¬
den can come up to the town, as the tide at full and change
rises 24 feet. Foreign goods are imported in considerable
quantities, and sent up the river in balzas to Babayhoyo or
Caracol, whence they are carried on the backs of mules to
the valleys of Ambato and Quito ; and almost all the native
products exported are sent from this port. It has a dry
dock ; and several vessels of a superior construction have
been built here. Cacao is the principal article of export,
and next to it are straw-hats, hides, timber, tobacco, bark,
&c. The chief articles of import are British manufactured
cottons and hardware, silks, wine, flour, &c. In 1851, 181
vessels, of 16,051 tons entered and cleared at the port;
the cargoes in the former case were valued at L.274,700,
in the latter at L.287,800. Guayaquil is subject to frequent
and terrific earthquakes. Pop. about 28,000. The Guaya¬
quil River is the principal in Western Ecuador. It is formed
by the union of numerous streams from the Andes, and
becomes navigable for commeixial purposes at Babayhoyo
or Caracol, 70 or 80 miles from its mouth—river boats
ascending to one or other of these places according to the
season. Below Guayaquil the channel is impeded by nu¬
merous rocks and small islands, while at its mouth is the
larger island of Pana. Where the river falls into the Pa¬
cific it is known as the Gulf of Guayaquil, the extreme
points of which are 70 miles apart.
GUAYMAS, a seaport-town of Mexico. See Mexico.
GUAYRA, La, the principal seaport-town of the re¬
public of Venezuela, province of, and 11 miles N.N.W. of
Caracas. It is in an unhealthy situation, and is closely
surrounded by high mountains and rocks. The chain of
mountains which separates it from the high valley of Cara¬
cas descends almost directly into the sea; and the houses
of the town are backed by a wall of steep rocks, leaving
scarcely 100 or 140 fathoms’ breadth of flat ground between
this wall and the sea. The town is poorly built, and con¬
tains no edifice worthy of notice. The port is unsheltered,
but has good anchorage in from 6 to 30 fathoms, and is well
defended by land batteries. Its chief exports are coffee,
cocoa, indigo, and hides, with some cotton and sugar.
Pop. about 8000.
GUBBIO, or Eugubio (the ancient Iguvium), a city of
the Papal States, delegation of Urbino, and 27 miles S.
of the town of that name. It is pleasantly situated at the
foot of the Apennines, and is well built. Among its fine
edifices are the ducal palace, cathedral, and several churches.
Gubbio, however, derives its chief interest from the cele¬
brated Eugubian tables which were found near this, in
1 A city of this name was founded by Don Pedro de Alvarado in 1524, about 27 miles W. of the present city, near the town of Guati¬
mala la Antigua, and was destroyed in 1541 by enormous masses of water bursting forth from the neighbouring volcano which was
henceforth called Volcano de Agua.
G U B
Guben 1444, among the ruins of an ancient temple, and are now
ij preserved at Gubbio. (See Eugubian Tables.) Pop.
Judders. gQOO.
GUBEN, a walled town of Prussia, capital of a cogno¬
mina! circle in the government of Frankfurt, and province
of Brandenburg, on the Neisse, which is here navigable,
and on the Berlin-Breslau railway, 27 miles S.S.E. of Frank¬
furt. It is the seat of the courts of justice for the circle,
and of a board of horticulture; and has a gymnasium, a
public library, and manufactures of woollen cloth, linen,
hosiery, leather, &c. It carries on a considerable trade in
cattle, wool, and agricultural produce. Pop. (1849) 11,448.
GUDGEON, in Mechanics, the pin inserted in the end
a horizontal shaft for its support, and on which it turns.
Gudgeon, a species of cyprinus. See Ichthyology.
GUEBRES, Guebees, Gaurs,orGavres{i.e., “giaour,”
or infidel), terms used in the East to designate the Fire-
worshippers, a very ancient religious sect in Persia, who
derive their origin from the immediate followers of Zoroas¬
ter. In India, where a colony of this sect has long been
established along the western coast, they are called Parsecs,
a name indicative of their origin. Many of these have
acquired great wealth and distinction, particularly at Bom¬
bay. The characteristic feature in this religion is the wor¬
ship of fire, which the Behendie (i. e., “ followers of the true
faith”), as they designate themselves, profess to regard as
symbolical of the Supreme Power, which, as imaged in the
sun, quickens, vivifies, and blesses all things; or, in other
words, as the emblem of Deity. Their sacred books are
termed the Zend-Avesta, the authorship of which is ascribed
to Zoroaster, though it is unquestionably a spurious produc¬
tion. For an exposition of the leading tenets of this sect,
see Zend.
The Fire-worshippers of Persia at the present day are
nearly confined to the city of Yezd, and some towns in
Kerman. They are a mild and inoffensive race, industrious,
and temperate. They drink wine, eat all kinds of meat,
and eschew polygamy, which is specially prohibited by tbeir
religion, except in cases of hopeless sterility, when a second
wife is admissible. They have a singular mode of disposing
of their dead, by exposing the bodies \ipon the towers of
their temples, to be devoured by birds; and, from observa¬
tion of the part first preyed upon, they draw inferences as
to the fate of the deceased.
GUELDERLAND, or Geldeeland, a province of
Holland, lying between N. Lat. 51. 45. and 52. 32., and
E. Long. 4. 57. and 6. 47.; and bounded on the N. W. by
the Zuider-Zee, N.E. by the province of Overyssel, E. by
the Rhenish provinces of Prussia, S. by Limburg and North
Brabant, and W. by South Holland and Utrecht. It is
88 miles in length from E. to W., and its greatest breadth
is 54 miles. Area, 1962 square miles. The surface is
generally level, but not so flat as in most of the other pro¬
vinces of Holland, and some parts of it might even be said
to be hilly. The soil in the cultivated parts is good, but a
considerable portion of it is either sandy down or covered
with heath. The principal crops are wheat, rye, potatoes,
hops, and tobacco. The pasturage is excellent, and orchards
are very numerous. The principal rivers are the Rhine, the
Waal, the Yssel, the Leek, and the Maas, besides which
there are several smaller rivers and canals. It is traversed
by the railway from Amsterdam to Arnheim. The inha¬
bitants are chiefly employed in agriculture, but some manu¬
factures are also extensively carried on, as of leather, paper,
and linen. The province is divided into four arrondisse-
ments—Arnheim, Nimeguen or Nijmegen, Zutphen, and
Thiel. The capital is Arnheim. Pop. (1854) 390,512.
GUELDERS, or Geldeen, a town of Rhenish Prussia,
government of Diisseldorf, on the Niers, 26 miles N.W. of
Dusseldorf. Pop. 3974. It was the capital of the old duchy
of Guelders, which subsequently formed part of the duchy
G U E
of Burgundy; and by the peace of Utrecht one part was
ceded to the republic of the Netherlands and the other to
Prussia.
GUELPH, Oedee of, or Royal Guelphic Oedee, a
Hanoverian order of knighthood, founded in 1815 by the
Prince Regent, afterwards George IV. It consists of grand
crosses, commanders, and knights; and is both a civil and
a military distinction. It is sometimes styled colloquially
the “ Order of Merit"
GUELPHS, or Guelfs, the designation of a powerful
party in the middle ages, which, in Germany, and at a later
period in Italy, opposed the German emperors and their
adherents, who were called Ghibelins. The wars of the
Guelfs and Ghibelins became the struggle between the
spiritual and secular power—the Guelphs standing for the
Pope, and the Ghibelins for the Emperor. These factions
filled Italy with bloodshed for nearly 300 years.
The rise of the Guelphs is referred by some to the time
of Conrad III. in the twelfth century; by others to that of
Frederick II.; and by others, again, to that of his succes¬
sor, Frederick III., in the thirteenth century. The name
of Guelph is commonly said to have been formed from
Welfe, or Welfo. The Emperor Conrad III. having taken
the duchy of Bavaria from Welfe VL, brother of Henry,
Duke of Bavaria, Welfe, assisted by the forces of Roger
king of Sicily, made war on Conrad, and thus gave birth to
the faction of the Guelphs. Some derive the name Guelfs
from the German Wolff; and others deduce it from the
name of a German called Guelfe, who lived at Pistoia; ad¬
ding, that his brother, named Gibel or Ghibel, gave his
name to the Ghibelins. See Ghibelins.
GUERANDE, a town of France, department of Loire
Inferieure, arrondissement of Savenay, about 3 miles from
the sea, 23 miles W. of Savenay. It occupies the slope of
a hill, is surrounded by walls, and commanded by an old
castle. The chief manufactures are woollen and cotton
stuffs ; and large quantities of salt are procured/rom salt
marshes in the vicinity. Pop. 8550.
GUERCINO. See Baebieei.
GUERICKE, Otto Von, a highly distinguished expe¬
rimental philosopher, was born at Magdeburg in 1602 ; died
at Hamburg in 1686. It is to him that we owe the first
construction of the air-pump, afterwards improved by Boyle.
(See Pneumatics.) He was also the first to prove the force
ol the pressure of the atmosphere, by applying to each other
two hemispheres of brass, from which he exhausted the air,
and which sixteen horses were unable to pull asunder.
These experiments are all detailed under Pneumatics.
Guericke’s observations on these subjects, and also on astro¬
nomy, which he had studied with care and success, were
published under the title of Experimenta Nova, id vocat.
Magdeburgica, fyc., Amsterdam, 1672.
Guericke’s personal character seems to have been a
highly amiable one. He was held in high esteem by his
fellow-citizens, who elected him burgomaster. He was
also honoured with the title of Counsellor to the Elector of
Brandenburg.
GUERNSEY, one of the islands in the English Channel,
belonging to Britain, and lying between N. Lat. 49. 24. and
49. 33., W. Long. 2. 32. and 2. 48. It is situated in the Bay
of St Michael, 30 miles W. of the coast of Normandy, 52
miles S. of Portland, the nearest point of land to England,
and 15 miles W.N.W. of Jersey. It is of a triangular form,
is 9 miles in length, by from 3 to 4 in extreme breadth,
and has an area of about 16,000 acres. The northern
part of the island is a low level tract, but towards the S. the
land becomes more elevated and hilly, with deep and nar¬
row valleys and glens intervening. It has about 30 miles
of coast deeply indented with commodious bays and har¬
bours ; on the N. side low and flat, on the S. bold and pre¬
cipitous. Off the coast are numerous sunken rocks and
79
Guelph
II
Guernsey.
80
G U E
Guernsey, crags, which, together with the rapid current S ’
V  > causing the tides frequently to rise to the height of 3^ fee ,
render the approach extremely hazardous to strangers. I he
geological formation of the island is almost entirely granite,
the prevailing rocks being gneiss, granite, and siemte. I lese
are extensively quarried in several parts, and are sent in
large quantities to Portsmouth, London, and other places.
Some trap-rocks and micaceous schist occur on the western
side of the island. It is tolerably well watered with spring's
and clear gravelly streams. The climate, though moist and
subiect to sudden changes, is not unhealthy. The winters
are mild ; and the summers, though hot, are less oppressive
than on the neighbouring coast of France, or even than in
the S.W. of England. Snow is rare, and the frosts are
neither severe nor continuous. The mean winter tempera¬
ture is about 41° 62', that of summer 60° 7'. The thermo¬
meter seldom rises above 80°, or falls below 37 . Easterly-
winds prevail during spring, and westerly during the rest of
the year. Guernsey is not equal in fertility to Jersey,
neither is it so well wooded; but fruit-trees are numerous,
especially the fig and apple. From the fruit of the latter
much cider is made. Agricultural improvement is much
retarded by the very small size of the farms, arising from
the custom of each son sharing equally in his father’s landed
property. Few of them are exclusively devoted to agricul¬
ture, but generally carry on also some other profession oi
trade. Farms most generally vary in size from 5 to 12
acres, and very few of them exceed 30. The chief of the
agricultural productions are wheat, barley, potatoes, and
parsnips. Sea-weed is the principal manure in use. Oranges,
melons, and other fruits, which in England require shelter,
grow here in the open air. Flowers are also extensively
cultivated, among which is the Guernsey lily. I he people
devote their attention greatly to the rearing of cattle and
the dairy. The cows are much esteemed, and the butter
is excellent. The native breed of horses is poor, but it has
been much improved of late years. Hogs are numerous,
and of great size, but few sheep are reared or fattened.
Guernsey is divided into ten parishes, and its chief town is
St Peter Port. The trade of Guernsey is very inferior to
that of Jersey, and has greatly decreased since 1807, when
it was made subject to our revenue laws, previous to which
time its trade had chiefly consisted in smuggling. Steamers
ply between Guernsey and London, Southampton, Ply¬
mouth, and Weymouth. The imports are British manufac¬
tures, wheat, flour, wines, sugar, coffee, &c.; exports cider,
apples, potatoes, cattle, granite, and wine. Guernsey and
the rest of the Channel Islands came to England with the
duchy of Normandy, and are now all that remain to the
English Crown of that possession. The inhabitants are
simple and thrifty in their habits, and still retain many of
their ancient customs. Their language is the Norman
French of some centuries ago, though English is very
generally understood among the upper classes. The govern¬
ment of the island is vested in the hands of the states, com¬
posed of the bailiff, the procureur or attorney of the royal
court, twelve jurats, eight rectors of parishes, and the con¬
stables of parishes, one from each of the country paiishes,
and six from the town parish—in all thirty-seven. The bailiff
and procureur are nominated by the crown, the rectors by
the governor, while the constables are chosen by the inha¬
bitants. The “ Royal Court,” the supreme court of justice,
consists of a bailiff appointed by the crown, and twelve jurats
elected by the people. Guernsey, with Alderney and its
other dependencies, in 1851 had 64 places of worship, of
which 16 belonged to the Church of England, 7 to Inde¬
pendents, 6 to Baptists, 26 to various classes of Methodists,
2 to Roman Catholics, and the rest to minor bodies. The
total number of sittings was 23,827. There were 115 day
schools, of which 28, with 2477 scholars, were public, and
87, with 1994 scholars, private; and 33 Sunday schools,
G U E
with 4315 scholars. Pop. (1851) of Guernsey, 29,757; of Guesclin
adjacent islands, 3962.
GUESCLIN, Bertrand du, Count of Longueville, con¬
stable of France under Charles V., was born at the castle
of Lamotte-Broon, near Rennes in Brittany. His birth,
the exact date of which is not known, is variously assigned
to the years 1314, 1318, and 1320. At the pioper age he
was put under the care of a tutor; but he had little taste for
learning, and it was found impossible to teach him either to
read or’ write. But in all manly games and exercises he
displayed a most precocious dexterity; and at the tourna¬
ment given at Rennes in 1338, on the occasion of the mar¬
riage of Jeanne-la-Boiteuse with Charles of Blois, he was
eleven times victorious, and gained the great prize of the
day, which he presented to the friend who had lent him the
arms and horses he had fought with. He grew up strong
and tall, but ill-made, and, as he himself said, so ugly, that
he knew he would never please the ladies; “ but, he added,
“ I shall make myself dreaded by the enemies of my king.
Entering on the military career, he distinguished himself by
many deeds of chivalrous daring against the English, who
had at that time overrun the fairest provinces of France;
and when the battle of Poitiers threw King John into the
hands of Edward of England, he alone upheld the fortunes
of his country, and checked in many places the victorious
progress of the foe. Du Guesclin’s next great exploit was
the defeat of the allied forces of England and Navarre at
the famous battle of Cocherel, on the banks of the Eui e.
For this achievement, which established Charles V. on the
throne, Du Guesclin was made Comte de Longueville and
Marechal de Normandie. His usual good fortune, however,
was clouded towards the close of this same year (1364), by
a sad disaster. At the battle of Auray in Brittany, he was
taken prisoner by the English under the redoubtable Sir
John Chandos. After peace was restored between France
and England, Du Guesclin, who had been ransomed for
100,000 crowns, was once mow* free to serve his country.
An opportunity was not long wanting. A great number of
French and English adventurers whom the peace had tin own
out of employment had joined their forces, and under the
title of Pes grandes Compagnies, w7ere laying waste the
richest provinces of France. Du Guesclin, w-ho had been
commissioned by Charles V. to get rid of them eithei by
violent or by gentle means, induced them to take service
with him against the Moors, whom he professed himself
anxious to drive out of Spain. His real motive, however,
was to help Henry of Transtamare, who was then at issue
with his brother Peter the Cruel for the throne of Cas-
tille. As the “ compagnies” were passing Avignon, they
demanded from the Pope, then living there, a reversal of the
sentence of excommunication, formerly pronounced against
them, and a black-mail of 200,000 florins. The Pope re¬
fused to grant either request; but when he saw the com-
pao-nies” laying waste the country, and carrying their de¬
vastations into Avignon itself, he gave them his blessing
and half tjie required amount of gold. Du Guesclin, with¬
out difficulty, placed his friend, Henry of Transtamare, on
the throne of Castille; but the dethroned Don Pedro invok¬
ing the assistance of the Black Prince, once more took the
field, and in the engagement w'hich followed, Du Guesclin’s
armv was annihilated. Seeing resistance useless, he surren¬
dered to his noble captor, saying, “ J’ai du moins la gloire
de ne remettre mon epee qu’ au plus vaillant prince de la
terre.” When the subject of his ransom was mentioned,
“ I am but a poor knight,” said Du Guesclin. “Then I shall
only ask you for a hundred francs, or less, if you choose,”
said the chivalrous Englishman. Du Guesclin, however, de¬
clining to rate himself so meanly, offered 100,000 gold florins.
“ It is too much,” said the Black Prince, “and if it be true
that you are a poor knight, whence will you get the means?”
“ The kings of France and Castille are my friends,” said he,
GUI
Guiana. “ and will not allow me to want for anything; and there
^are, besides, a hundred Breton chevaliers who would sell
their lands to make up the sum.” He was no sooner free
than he took the field again in the interest of Henry, routed
and slew Don Pedro; and after many bloody encounters
with the Moors, seated his friend securely on the Castillian
throne. His last exploit in the service of France was to
drive back the English from the walls of Paris, which they
had threatened ; and he afterwards re-annexed to the French
crown many places that had long groaned under the English
yoke. He failed, however, in some enterprises in Brittany ;
and his enemies having maligned him to the king—who was
foolish enough for a moment to doubt the honour of the
warrior who had saved France and his throne—Du Guesclin,
stung by the affront, resolved to quit his country and seek
an asylum with his friend Henry of Castille. On his way
into exile, he found his old brother-in-arms, Saucerre, en¬
gaged in the siege of Randam. The governor of the town,
reduced to the last extremity, offered to surrender, if he
were not relieved within fifteen days. In this interval Du
Guesclin fell sick and died (July 13, 1380), and the next
day the governor of Randam, marching out of the town at
the head of his garrison, laid the keys of the gate on the
breast of the dead knight.
The name of Du Guesclin is still held in veneration by
the French. His bravery, his gentleness, his generosity, and
his modesty, have all contributed to make him one of the
most popular heroes of France. His name is generally as¬
sociated with that of Bayard, as the two last examples of
all knightly virtues and accomplishments.
GUIANA, Guyana, or Guayana, an extensive terri¬
tory in the north-eastern part of South America, compre¬
hending in its widest acceptation all that extent of country
lying between the rivers Amazon and Orinoco, between
Lat. 3. 30. S., and 8. 40. N., and Long. 50. 22., and 68. 10.
W. It is bounded on the N. by the Orinoco and the At¬
lantic, E. by the Atlantic, S. by the Amazon and the Rio
Negro, and W. by the Orinoco and the Cassiquiare. Its
greatest length from E. to W. is about 1200 miles, and its
greatest breadth about 850 miles ; estimated area 700,000
square miles. This vast territory is divided into Brazilian (for¬
merly Portuguese) Guiana, Venezuelan (formerly Spanish)
Guiana, and Colonial Guiana. The two former, compris¬
ing about five-sixths of the entire region, are now included
within the limits of their respective countries; while Colo¬
nial Guiana is that to which the general term of Guiana is
now commonly applied. It is subdivided into British, Dutch,
and French Guiana.
Guiana, British, the most westerly of the three colonies,
is bounded on the N. and N.E. by the Atlantic, E. by
Dutch Guiana, from which it is separated by the River Co-
rentyn, S. by Brazil, and W. by Venezuela. It lies be¬
tween N. Lat. 0. 40. and 8. 40., and W. Long. 57. and 61.,
and has an estimated area of 76,000 square miles ; but the
possession of much of this has been disputed by Brazil and
Venezuela. It is divided into three counties, Demerara,
Essequibo, and Berbice, so named from the three principal
rivers which drain them. Demerara, situated between the
other two, occupies the centre of the seaboard for nearly
90 miles. To the N.W. the county of Essequibo stretches
along the coast towards the swamps and forests of the
western frontier; and to the S.E. lies the county of
Berbice.
The entire coast of British Guiana is low, and generally
bordered with a sandy flat extending far out to sea, so that
vessels drawing more than 12 feet of water cannot approach
within 2 or 3 miles of land. The rivers, too, deposit at their
mouths large quantities of mud and sand, and are thus in¬
accessible to vessels of large size. Extending from low-
water mark to a distance of 5 or 6 miles inland, is a tract
of rich alluvial soil of recent formation. This is succeeded
YOL. XI.
GUI 81
by a flat narrow reef of sand running exactly parallel with Guiana,
the present line of coast. Here remains of stranded vessels ,r ^ >
and anchors eaten through with rust have been found, in¬
dicating that within a comparatively recent period it had
been washed by the waves of the Atlantic. Running pa¬
rallel to this reef, at irregular distances, varying from 10 to
20 miles, is a second and higher range, composed of coarse
white sand; and which at a period more remote probably
formed the sea-limit. In the wet seasons the intermediate
tract between these two reefs becomes the bed of extensive
savannahs ; for the creeks being then unable to carry off the
torrents of rain which fall, overflow their level banks, and
inundate the surrounding country to the depth of 5 or 6 feet.
On the return of dry weather the waters gradually subside,
leaving behind them a thick layer of decayed grasses and
aquatic plants which had floated and flourished on their sur¬
face, and these in time produce a vegetable mould of con¬
siderable thickness. Beyond the second reef are swampy
plains, intersected by sand-reefs, and extending to the
mountainous regions of the interior. The high land does
not rise immediately from the plain to a great elevation, but
begins with a range of sand hills of from 50 to 200 feet
above the plain. Behind these the high land stretches out
in level or undulating plains, rising here and there into
eminences. About N. Lat. 5., a mountain chain, an off-set
of the Orinoco Mountains, and composed of granite, gneiss,
and other primitive rocks, runs from W. to E. through this
territory, forming large cataracts where it is crossed by the
rivers, and rising frequently to the height of 1000 feet above
the sea. About a degree farther south is the Pacaraima
chain, which, in like manner, runs from W. to E., and is of
primitive formation. Its highest point, called by the natives
Roraima, in N. Lat. 5. 9. 30., W. Long. 60. 47., is 7500
feet above the level of the sea. The plains south of this
range are in general level, and form extensive savannahs,
covered with grasses and plants. The Sierra Acarai is a
densely-wooded chain of mountains, forming the southern
boundary of Guiana, and the watershed between* the basins
of the Amazon and the Essequibo. This chain rises to the
height of 4000 feet. The Conocou or Cannucu Mountains,
running S.E. and N.W., connect the Pacaraima with the
Sierra Acarai.
The principal river of British Guiana is the Essequibo,
which rises in the Sierra Acarai, and after a course of at
least 600 miles, discharges itself into the ocean by an es¬
tuary 20 miles in width, in N. Lat. 7., W. Long. 58. 40. In
the estuary of the Essequibo are a group of beautiful islands
partially cultivated, the principal of which are Varken or
Hog Island, about 21 miles in length by 3 in breadth,
Wakenaam and Leguan, each about 12 miles by 3, and
Tiger Island, about half that size. The entrance is difficult
and dangerous, even for vessels of small size, on account of
the banks of mud and sand. Its course lies through forests
of the most gigantic vegetation. In N. Lat. 3. 14. 35., it
forms a great cataract, named by Schomburgk, King Wil¬
liam’s Cataract. In N. Lat. 3.57. 30., and W. Long. 58. 3.,
it receives the Rupunoony, which has a course of about 220
miles. At various points of its course it forms rapids and
cataracts which impede its navigation. About 60 miles
from its mouth occur the last of these, the Falls of Etabally,
after which it pursues its course through the low alluvial
plain. In this part of its course it receives the united waters
of the Cuyuni and the Massaroony. The Demerara or
Demerary rises probably near N. Lat. 5., and after a north¬
ward course, nearly parallel with the Essequibo, of more than
200 miles, it enters the Atlantic near N. Lat. 6. 50., W.
Long. 58. 20. It is navigable for 85 miles, and at its mouth
at Georgetown it is more than a mile and a half across.
Farther east runs the Berbice, whose source is probably
about N. Lat. 3. 40. It joins the Atlantic by an estuary
5 miles in width, 10 miles N. of New Amsterdam, and in
L
82 GUI
Guiana, N. Lat. 6. 21., W. Long, 57. 12. It is navigable for 165
miles from the sea, by vessels drawing 7 feet water. The Co-
rentyn which forms the eastern boundary of British Guiana,
and probably has its source in the Sierra Acarai, flows
generally northward and falls into the Atlantic in N, Lat. 6.,
W. Long. 57- It is navigable for boats for 150 miles. The
mineral productions of Guiana are necessarily but imper¬
fectly known. Clays of various kinds, including excellent
pipe-clay, are found near the coast. The chief rocks are
granite, porphyry, gneiss, clay-slate, sandstone, &c. Traces
of iron are found in various parts; and gold has been re¬
cently (in 1852) discovered in considerable quantities on the
Upper Essequibo.
The climate of Guiana is more healthy than that of most
places in the West Indies. Its salubrity has been much
increased since the occupation of the country by Europeans,
the gradual clearing and cultivation of the surface having
done much to mitigate those diseases so fatal in a low,
marshy, and hot region. The hurricanes so destructive in
the West Indies are unknown here, and gales are unfre¬
quent. Thunder-storms occur only during the rainy sea¬
sons, but like the few occasional shocks of earthquakes, are
not attended with danger. The year is divided into two wet
and two dry seasons. The long rainy season sets in about
the middle of April, when light showers begin to fall. The
rain increases till the middle of June, when it falls in tor¬
rents; in the beginning of July these heavy rains begin to
decrease ; and in August the long dry season begins, and
continues till November. December and January consti¬
tute the short rainy season, and February and March the
short dry season. The winds during the rains are gene¬
rally westerly; in the dry season they blow mostly from the
ocean, loaded with moisture, and thus render the heat less
oppressive than it would otherwise be. The thermometer
seldom rises above 90°, and rarely falls below 75° Fahr.
The mean annual temperature at Georgetown is 81° 2'; the
total annual fall of rain averages about 100 inches.
The vegetation of Guiana is most luxuriant. The inte¬
rior is thickly wooded with valuable timber, with the excep¬
tion of the swamps of Berbice and the savannahs. The
trees are of great size, and many of them are valuable for
their timber or their fruits, or as dyewoods. Medicinal
plants, including quassia, gentian, the castor-oil plant, and
many others, are abundant. Arnotto, so extensively used
in the colouring of cheese, grows wild in profusion on the
banks of the Upper Corentyn. That largest of the water
lilies, the Victoria Regia, was first discovered here by Mr
Schomburgk on the banks of the Berbice. The hai-arry,
an indigenous plant deserving of notice, is a papilionaceous
vine, the root of which contains a powerful narcotic, and is
commonly used by the Indians in poisoning the waters to
take the fish, which are not thereby deteriorated,
The domestic animals are the same as those in England,
and the wild animals are those common to tropical South
America generally. Black cattle here attain a larger size
than in Europe, but their flesh is not so tender nor so fine
flavoured. The wool of the sheep is converted into hair.
Game, chiefly deer, range the upper savannahs. Tigers,
little inferior in size to those of Asia, but different in charac¬
ter, being rarely known to attack man, abound; as do also
jaguars, which prey upon the herds of wild cattle and horses
that graze on the extensive plains among the mountains.
Among the other animals are the tapir, armadillo, agouti,
ant-bear, sloth, and a great variety of monkeys. Lizards,
snakes, and alligators are numerous. There are several
kinds of parrots, mackaws, and humming-birds; also the
flamingo, Muscovy duck, toucan, spoonbill, and vampire bat.
Troublesome insects are numerous, as might be expected
from the swampy nature of the coast districts. The rivers
and coast abound with a great variety of fish.
The cultivated portion of British Guiana is merely a nar-
A N A.
row strip along the sea-coast, and for a few miles up the Guiana,
rivers, including a portion of the islands of Essequibo. The ^
whole surface of the coast lands being on a level with high-
water mark, when these lands are drained and cultivated
they consolidate and become fully a foot below it, so that
the estates require to be protected from inundation by dams
and sluices. Each estate has therefore a strong dam or em¬
bankment in front; while a similar erection at the back or
inland boundary, as well as on each side, is requisite to keep
off the immense body of water accumulated on the savannahs
during the wet seasons, and which, if not repelled, would
rush down to the sea, carrying everything before it. The
state of his dams, therefore, requires the planter’s unremit¬
ting attention ; not the slightest hole or leakage is allowed
to exist in them, and by law their wilful injury is considered
felony. One inundation destroys a sugar estate for eighteen
months, and a coffee one for six years. “ The original
cost of damming and cultivating is fully paid by the first
crop, and the duration of the crops is from 30 to 50 years;
so that though great capital is required for the first outlay,
the comparative expense of cultivation is a mere trifle com¬
pared with that of the West India Islands, notwithstand¬
ing that the expense of works, buildings, and machinery may
be treble or quadruple, being built on an adequate scale for
half a century of certain production,” (Geog. Jour., vol. iv.,
323.) Inside and at the foot of these dams are trenches 12
to 18 feet wide, and 5 feet deep, running round the whole
plantation, and into these, smaller trenches and open drains
convey the water that falls upon the land. These large
trenches discharge their contents into the sea through one
or more sluices, which are opened as the tide ebbs, and shut
against the returning flood.
% The staple productions of the colony are sugar, coffee,
and cotton. From an official table of the exports of British
Guiana from 1826 to 1851, we find that in 1827, 15,904
bales of cotton were exported; but from that period this
cultivation gradually gave place to sugar, and in 1844 ceases
to appear in the table as an article of export. Since 1851,
however, it seems to have received more attention, for
among the exports from British Guiana into the United
Kingdom in 1854, we find 1093 cwt, of cotton. Coffee,
from upwards of 9,500,000 lbs. in 1830, gradually fell off to
only 3198 lbs. in 1851. As to sugar, making a due allowance
for the difference of seasons, the quantity exported remained
pretty steady from 1826 to 1837, the year preceding the
termination of the apprenticeships,—averaging about 66,000
hogsheads; but in the year following that event it fell
down to nearly half its former average, being in 1839 only
3827 hhds. in 1846 it had sunk as low as 26,201 hhds.,
owing in a great measure to a protracted drought through
a great part of that season. In 1851, 43,034 hhds. were
exported. In proportion to the sugar obtained the quan¬
tity of molasses is large, owing partly to the defects of
the common process of preparation, but chiefly to the fact
that the soil is so rich an alluvium, and so abundant in
alkaline and earthy saline matter. Little of the molasses
is boiled down into sugar in the colony; it is chiefly made
into rum, or sold to the refiners, by whom it is much
prized. In 1851 the quantity of molasses exported was
9530 puncheons. Although the rum produced in this co¬
lony does not equal in character that of Jamaica, it yet
occupies a respectable place in the market. The quantity
exported in 1851 was 15,848 puncheons. With respect to
the cultivation of the sugar cane, by reason of the lowness
of the land and the plan of drainage in use—namely, that
known as the open-drain and round-bed method—the system
of cultivation remains exactly as in the times of slavery,
every part of the operations of culture being performed by
manual labour. The plough and other implements have
been tried, but cannot succeed in effecting a cheap and
effective tillage till a system of covered drainage is resorted
GUIANA.
83
Guiana, to. It is said that “ were the system of drainage improved
so as to admit of cattle and implemental labour, and were
a mixed system in which the rearing and feeding of cattle
formed a part, and a judicious system of manuring adopted,
there is good reason to believe that three times our present
return would be secured, and at little greater cost than the
present.” Among its other cultivated products are Indian
corn, rice, tobacco, indigo, yams, sweet potatoes, and arrow-
root. According to the governor’s report for 1851, “the
revenue has been flourishing, population augmenting, edu¬
cation spreading, crime diminishing, and trade increasing.”
The commercial state of the colony is still flourishing. In
1853 the value of imports from Great Britain was L.456,803;
from British colonies, L.134,817 ; and from foreign coun¬
tries, L.255,563—being in all L.847,183. Exports to Great
Britain, L.958,616; to British colonies, L.26,856; to foreign
countries, L.29,472—in all, L.1,014,944. Shipping, tonnage
of, in 1853: inwards, from Great Britain, 42,815; from
British colonies, 50,579; from United States, 17,822; and
from foreign states, 13,772—in all, 124,988 : outwards, to
Great Britain, 49,339; to British colonies, 28,323; to
United States, 5814; to foreign states, 25,630—in all,
109,106. In 1854 the computed real value of exports to
Great Britain was L.1,636,267; of imports therefrom,
L.492,646—of which L.460,867 was the computed real
value of the manufactures and produce of the United King¬
dom. The exports to Britain in 1854 included sugar,
898,240 cwt.; molasses, 39,035 cwt.; rum, 3,360,920
gallons; and coffee, 3664 lb. The revenue in 1853 was
L.250,017, being L.32,002 above that of 1852; and the
expenditure, L.236,557, or L.9487 above that of the pre¬
vious year.
The constitution of Guiana still retains many traces of
its Dutch origin. The government is vested in a governor
and a court of policy ; the latter composed of ten members,
five being government officers (the governor, chief-justice,
colonial secretary, attorney-general, and collector of cus¬
toms), and five elected from the colonists by the College of
Justice. This college is composed of seven members chosen
for life by the inhabitants possessing the right of suffrage.
The unofficial members of the court of policy serve for
three years, and go out by rotation. The general legislative
business is carried on by the court of policy, but it has no
power of imposing taxes, that being reserved for the <£ com¬
bined court,” composed of the court of policy and six repre¬
sentatives, termed “ financial representatives,” chosen by
the people for two years, and who are annually summoned
to “ combine ” with the court of policy for the purpose of
transacting the financial business of the colony. In the com¬
bined court every member, whether a representative or a
member of the court of policy, has an equal vote. The
governor not only has a casting vote as president of the
court of policy, but an absolute veto on all laws passed by
a majority. The qualification for seats in the two legisla¬
tive chambers are of four kinds; either, 1st, ownership of 80
acres of land, of which 40 must be in cultivation ; or, 2dly,
ownership of houses or land worth 1200 dollars per annum;
or, 3dly, a leasehold interest in one or other of these, and
to the same amount for a term of at least 21 years; or,
4thly, the possession of an income from any other source
of 1440 dollars clear. Neither ministers of religion nor
schoolmasters can, however, be chosen for either of the
chambers. For electoral purposes the colony is divided
into five districts. Electors must be in possession of an in¬
come of 600 dollars, or pay 20 dollars per annum of direct
taxes, with some other minor qualifications.
The supreme civil court consists of a chief judge, two
puisne judges, a secretary, registrar, and accountant. The
supreme criminal court is composed of the three civil judges
and three assessors chosen by ballot. The colony is also
divided into nine judicial districts, each under the charge of
a stipendiary magistrate appointed and removeable only by Guiana,
the secretary for the colonies, assisted by unpaid justices
holding their commissions from the governor. Courts are
held in each district two or three times a week.
The population of British Guiana is composed of abori¬
ginal tribes and foreign settlers. The aborigines consist
of six tribes of Indians, a copper-coloured, lank-haired race,
and evidently members of the one great family which is
spread over the entire continent of America. When slavery
existed these were found useful allies and auxiliaries of the
planters in capturing runaway negroes who had taken re¬
fuge in the “ bush.” They still enjoy British protection
from the officers charged with the superintendence of
rivers and creeks, who, while they look after the rights
of the crown on ungranted lands, at the same time pre¬
vent acts of oppression or injustice on the part of the
woodcutters and squatters towards the native Indians; and
also, as far as possible, all quarrels among the different
tribes and families. Nor is their spiritual welfare neglected.
Numerous schools and missions have been established by
the bishop for their instruction in the remotest parts of his
diocese.
The census taken on 31st March 1851 gives the following
results:—
Natives of British Guiana 
Natives of Barbadoes 
Natives of other W. I. Islands...
African Immigrants 
Madeirans  
British, Dutch, & Americans...
Coolies from Hindostan   
Unknown 
Total.
Demerara. Essequibo. Berbice. Total.
51,044
3,644
2,756
6,336
6,204
1,486
4,284
15,776
794
1,077
3,368
1,301
269
2,332
8
19,631
487
520
4,547
423
320
1,066
9
86,451
4,925
4,353
14,251
7,928
2,088
7,682
17
75,767 24,925 27,003 127,695
The population of Georgetown, the capital (25,508), and
of New Amsterdam (4633), are included in Demerara and
Berbice respectively. Under the head Natives of British
Guiana are comprised 2000 aborigines living near the cul¬
tivated parts of the territory; those beyond the settled dis¬
tricts are estimated at 7000.
Religion was here in a very neglected state till 1827,
when British Guiana was included in the see of Bishop
Coleridge ; and shortly after this it was divided into parishes.
In 1838 an archdeaconry was constituted, and there were
then 13 clergymen of the Church of England in the colony.
In 1842 the number had increased to 28, and the colony
was erected into a bishopric, with a salary of L.2000 per
annum attached. In 1851 there were 112 churches and
chapels in British Guiana; of these 41 belonged to the
Church of England, 15 to the Church of Scotland, 19 to
the London Missionary Society, 15 to the Wesleyans, 6
to the Plymouth Brethren, 3 to the Roman Catholics,
and 12 to other bodies. The numbers connected with each
denomination were—Church of England, 39,787; Church
of Scotland, 11,664; Wesleyans, 8438; London Missionary
Society, 15,502 ; Roman Catholics, 9938 ; dissenters, whose
denominations not ascertained, 13,639; Hindus and Mo¬
hammedans, 7037; not given, 21,710. The number at¬
tending public worship, by the religious census of 1851, was
33,034; of whom 10,210 were of the Church of England.
The schools in the colony in 1852 connected with religious
bodies, were 118; other schools, 32; the number of enrolled
scholars, 10,877.
It is generally believed that this portion of South America
was discovered by Vicente Yanez Pinzon, a Spanish navi¬
gator, in 1499. In 1580 the first settlement was formed
by the Dutch on the rivers Pomeroon and Essequibo, and
they afterwards established themselves in other places. The
English began to form settlements about 1630 in the neigh¬
bourhood of the rivers Berbice and Surinam. Most of
Guiana, however, remained in the hands of the Dutch till
84 GUI ' " ’
Guiana. 1796, when it surrendered to the English. It was restored
to the Dutch in 1802 ; but was again taken by the English
on the breaking out of the war in 1803, and has since re¬
mained in their possession. In 1831 Demerara, Essequibo,
and Berbice were formed into one colony, under the name
of British Guiana. In 1834 slavery ceased in the colony,
but parliament at the same time decreed that the negroes
should undergo an apprenticeship—handicraftsmen and do¬
mestic servants for four years, and agricultural labourers for
six. The inconvenience and trouble resulting from this
system was so great that in 1838 an ordinance was passed
by the local legislature discharging from their apprentice¬
ships all those who by the imperial act were liable to serve
for a further period of two years. The number of slaves
for whom compensation was claimed was 82,824 ; and their
value, according to an appraisement based on the average
sales of the eight preceding years, was L.9,489,559. The
amount of compensation actually paid was L.4,494,989.
The imperial weights and measures were, by an ordinance
passed in 1851, substituted for the Dutch weights and mea¬
sures formerly in use.
(See R. H. Schomburgk’s Description of British Guiana; Various
articles in the London Geographical Journal; Parliamentary Re¬
ports ; Demerara after Fifteen Years of Freedom, by a Landowner;
Martin’s British Colonies; Reisen in Britisch Guiana, von Richard
Schomburgk ; The History of British Guiana, comprising a general
description of the Colony, its climate, geology, staple products, and
natural history, by H. G. Dalton, M.D., 2 vols., London, 1855.)
Guiana, Dutch, or Surinam, lies between British and
French Guiana, being separated from the former on the
W. by the River Corentyn, and from the latter on the E.
by the Maroni; on the N. it has the Atlantic, and on the
S. Brazil. It lies between N. Lat. 1. 30. and 6., and W.
Long. 53. 30. and 57. 30., being about 300 miles in length
from N. to S., and 260 in extreme breadth. Area, about
38,500 square miles. In physical geography, climate, pro¬
ductions, &c., it differs but little from British Guiana. The
principal river is the Surinam, which flows northward through
the centre of the territory, and falls into the Atlantic after a
course of nearly 300 miles. It is navigable for large ships
for about 4 leagues from its mouth. Along the coast
and on the banks of the rivers are many settlements and
plantations ; and the higher parts of the country are occu¬
pied chiefly by the Maroons, the descendants of runaway
negroes. In the last century they were very troublesome
to the colonists, but they have now adopted more settled
habits. Slavery has been recently abolished here by the
Dutch government, but, in lieu of compensation, the slaves
remain apprenticed and work without wages to their pro¬
prietors for twelve years. The colony is ruled by a gover¬
nor appointed by the crown, and a council elected by the
freeholders. Justice is administered by a supreme court,
courts of minor jurisdiction, and a court of inheritance and
orphans. The receipts in 1850 amounted to L.89,485 ;
the expenditure to L.85,564. On 273 plantations, consist¬
ing of 366,548 acres, 48,815 acres were under cultivation.
The chief productions are sugar, rum, molasses, coffee,
cacao, and cotton. Its chief trade is with Holland. Im¬
ports in 1851, L.171,395 ; exports, L.236,162. At the close
of 1850 the colony numbered 61,080 inhabitants—of whom
12,401 were Europeans and creoles, 8000 bush negroes,
1000 Indians, and 39,679 slaves. Of the religious sects,
the Moravians amounted to 17,933, and the Jews to about
680. The live stock consisted of 168 horses, 59 mules,
5564 cattle, 3155 sheep, 454 goats, and 4664 hogs. The
army consists of 610 men of all arms; and the navy of
11 vessels, chiefly small. Paramaribo, the capital, is situated
on the right bank of the Surinam, about 10 miles from its
mouth. It is built in the Dutch style, with wide and straight
streets planted with orange trees ; and the houses are gene¬
rally two storeys in height, and built of wood. Pop. about
GUI
20,000. A little north of the town is the fort of Zeelandia, Guibert.
where the governor resides, and where are also most of the
government establishments.
Guiana, French, is the smallest and most eastern of the
three colonies. It lies between N. Lat. 2. and 6., and W.
Long. 51. 30., and 54. 30.; being bounded on the N. and
N.E. by the Atlantic, E. and S. by Brazil, and W. by Dutch
Guiana. It is about 250 miles in length from N. to S., and
varies in breadth from 100 to 150 miles. Area, 27,560
square miles. It has a coast line of 200 miles, extending
from the Maroni to the Oyapoc. The low alluvial tract
along the coast is of great fertility. The mountain chains
run E. and W., and are almost wholly of granite, but do
not attain a great elevation. The country is abundantly
watered; and the coast-lands appear to be less unhealthy
than in British Guiana. The island of Cayenne, at the mouth
of the Oyak, is about 30 miles in circumference, and is
separated from the continent by a narrow channel. The
roadstead at the mouth of the Oyak, though small, is the
best on the coast, having everywhere from 12 to 13 feet
of water. The capital, Cayenne, is situated on the northern
side of this island, and contains 5220 inhabitants. The new
town is well built, and has good streets; the government
house is in the old town. The harbour is protected by a fort
and several batteries. The colony is divided into two dis¬
tricts, Cayenne and Sinnamary, and fourteen communes.
The government is vested in a governor, a privy council,
and a colonial council composed of sixteen members elected
by the colonists. The cultivated lands are estimated to be
about ^jth of the whole territory. Besides the staples of
British and Dutch Guiana, its productions comprise pepper
(including Cayenne, which is so called from the island of
that name), cloves, cinnamon, and nutmegs. Trade is chiefly
with France and its colonies. In 1854 the official value of
the imports into France from French Guiana was L.20,000;
exports, L.l92,000. The French first settled in Cayenne
in 1604; the British and Portuguese captured the colony
in 1809, but restored it to the French in 1814, in whose
possession it still remains. It has recently been made a
place of banishment for French political offenders, and in
1852, 2500 of these were sent out. Pop. about 22,000, of
whom about 15,000 are emancipated slaves.
GUIBERT, Jacques-Antoine-Hippouite, Count de,
a well-known writer on tactics, was born at Montauban, on
the 12th of November 1743. Before he had completed his
fourteenth year, he accompanied to Germany his father,
who acted as major-general to the army commanded by
Marshal de Broglie; and he served, either as captain in the
regiment of Auvergne, or as an employe in the staff, during
the six campaigns of the war of 1756. He also displayed
great zeal in raising and training the Corsican legion, of
which he was appointed colonel-commandant in 1772. The
year following he published his Essai General de Tactique.
But not wishing to abide, in his own country, the explosion
which such a work was calculated to produce, he set out for
Germany, which opened to him a vast field of instruction.
He repaired to Prussia, and although a species of celebrity
had preceded him, he had still considerable difficulties to
encounter. Among these were certain prepossessions of
Frederick, who judged severely the theoretical attainments
and views of the young tactitian, and who besides was not
by any means satisfied with Guibert’s views of the Prus¬
sian system. With this view he addressed a letter, in ex¬
planation and in defence, to the Prussian monarch, who
was so well pleased with the composition that he received
the writer with particular distinction. Ever since the year
1772 Guibert had conceived the design of also entering on
the career of literature; and, from year to year, after his
return from Prussia, compositions of his, either in the shape
of tragedies, or of panegyrics on the great men of France,
procured him much reputation in the salons, where they
G U I
Guicciar- were generally read by the author. He was, however, re-
dini. called to his original occupation, by the appointment of the
Count de Saint-Germain to the department of war; and
having been honoured with the confidence of that minister,
he had the rare merit of not abandoning him in his dis¬
grace. In 1776 he was made colonel-commandant of the
regiment of Neustrie ; in 1782, brigadier-general; in 1788,
marechal-de-camp, or major-general; and next inspector of
infantry in the province of Artois. In 1787 he was ap¬
pointed member and reporter of the council of administra¬
tion in the department of war. But as Guibert, in the dis¬
charge of his functions, combined his own peculiar ideas
with those which the deliberations of the council rendered
common, the whole appeared to emanate from the reporter,
whose proper duty it was merely to give expression to the
views of the council; and it was consequently against him
that all the complaints and accusations of the discontented
were directed. We have already seen that no species of
ambition was foreign to Guibert. Accordingly, in 1789,
he aspired to become a member of the states-general of the
kingdom, and thereby prepared for himself the bitterest
mortification which he had ever yet experienced. His pre¬
tensions, both as a military man and a writer, had provoked
censure, and even excited hostility. He was accused of
having attempted to subject officers to imprisonment in irons;
proposed to introduce the cane as an instrument for chas¬
tising the common soldiers; and recommended the detes¬
table barbarity of hamstringing deserters. Guibert replied
by a most formal denial of these imputations, but met with
no credit; and in the assemblage of the bailliage of Bour-
ges, the people went so far as to refuse him a hearing. In¬
consolable at this injustice, Guibert retired from public life;
and, after a short illness, died on the 6th of May 1790, in
the forty-seventh year of his age.
His works are,—Essai General de Tactique, already mentioned,
Liege, 1773, in one vol. 4to, and two vols. 8vo; Eloge de Catinat,
Edinburgh (Paris), 1775, in 8vo; Connetable de Bourbon, a tragedy;
La Mart des Gracques, a piece in three acts; Anne de Boulen, the
best of his dramas; Eloge Historique de Michel de VHapital, Chan-
celier de France, 1777; Defense du Sysieme de Guerre Moderne, ou
Refutation complete du Sysieme de M. de Mesnil-Durand, par Vauteur
de VEssai General de Tactique, Neufchatel, 1779, in two vols. 8vo:
Discours de reception d VAcademic, 1786; Eloge dn Roi de Prusse,
London (Paris), 1787, in 8vo; Letter addressed to the National
Assembly, in the name of the Abbe Raynal, Marseilles, 1789, in 4to ;
Traite de la Force Publique, Paris, 1790, in 8vo, the last production
which he acknowledged ; Journal d’un Voyage en Allemagne fait en
1773 par Guibert, Paris, 1803, in two vols. 8vo; (Euvres Militaires
de Guibert, published by his widow, Paris, 1803, in five volumes
8vo; Voyages de Guibert dans diverses parties de la France et en
Suisse, fails en 1775, 1778, 1784, et 1785, ouvrage posthume, Paris,
1806, in 8vo; A volume of Eloges, including that of Claire-Fran-
<;oise de VEspinasse, Paris, 1806, in 8vo.
But of all the works of Guibert, that by which he is best
known is his Essay on Tactics, so often quoted and referred
to under the head Army. (j. b—e.)
GUICCIARDINI, Francisco, a celebrated Italian his¬
torian, was born at Florence in 1482. His ancestors had
held the most distinguished offices in the Florentine repub¬
lic. Simon Zanuccio Guicciardini was gonfalonier of jus¬
tice in 1302 ; his grandfather, an able politician and a great
warrior, beat the Genoese near Sarzano in 1412, and de¬
feated the troops of Sixtus IV. in 1478; and Pietro, the
father of the historian, acquired a great reputation by his
talents for the conduct of public affairs. Francisco Guic¬
ciardini was originally intended for the bar, to which he
was at length called; and so great was his success that,
at the age of twenty-three, he became professor of juris¬
prudence at a time when all the chairs in Italy were occu¬
pied by the ablest jurisconsults. His inclination, however,
leading him to public affairs, he quitted his chair, and in
lol2 was appointed ambassador to Ferdinand king of Ara¬
gon. Having succeeded in gaining the favour of that
GUI 85
prince, he thus secured a powerful protector to the Floren- Guicciar-
tine republic. Pope Leo X., a discriminating judge of
real merit, called Guicciardini to his court, loaded him with
honours, and named him governor of Modena and Reggio,
at the same time conferring on him unlimited powers. In
this capacity he also served under the pontificate of Adrian
VI. ; nor did his firmness, his beneficence, and his equity,
fail to secure him the attachment of the people over whom
he had been placed. But as Romagna was dreadfully dis¬
tracted by the irreconcilable factions of the Guelphs and
Ghibelins, Clement VII., on succeeding to Adrian VI., sent
thither Guicciardini, who in a little time re-established tran¬
quillity in that unhappy country, caused the most rigid jus¬
tice to be enforced, founded useful establishments, opened
new roads, and ultimately rendered himself the idol of all
parties. Being afterwards appointed lieutenant-general to the
Holy See, he acquired much glory by his defence of Parma,
when besieged by the French ; and after the death of Gio¬
vanni de’ Medici, the Florentine republic chose him to suc¬
ceed that famous captain in the command of the black bands,
the elite of the Italian troops. But as Clement VII. required
a man of tried ability and courage, he obtained the consent
of the Florentines to retain Guicciardini some time longer in
his service. The city of Bologna was about to escape from
the domination of Rome; the senate had raised the stan¬
dard of revolt; the great family of the Pepoli openly aspired
to the supreme power; the vindictive passions were in¬
dulged without restraint, and assassinations multiplied.
Guicciardini, in the capacity of governor, presented himself
in this city, whither his renown had preceded him. His
severe deportment, his activity, his eloquence, tranquillized
the people, disarmed the senate, and deprived the Pepoli ot
all hope of obtaining the object they had in view. By his
talents, prudence, firmness, and justice, Bologna, which
would otherwise have been lost for ever, was saved to the
patrimony of St Peter. After this expedition, Guicciar¬
dini, notwithstanding the entreaties of Clement, returned
to his own country, where he lived in retirement, being
wholly occupied with the composition of his history, which
he commenced about the end of 1534. But this did not
prevent him from rendering the most important services to
Florence. His counsels moderated the prodigality and
ambition of Alessandro de’ Medici; and, at the suggestion
of Naples, he effected an advantageous arrangement be¬
tween this prince and Charles V. Alessandro having been
assassinated in 1536 by one of his near relatives Lorenzino
de’ Medici, Cardinal Cibo immediately assembled the coun¬
cil, when it appeared that all the other members were in¬
clined for a republican government. But Guicciardini per¬
ceiving that by this means the country would become a prey
to civil war, declared in favour of a monarchical government;
and as his persuasive eloquence at length overcame the pre¬
dilections of the council, Cosmo de’ Medici was proclaimed
sovereign of Florence. From this moment, Guicciardini took
no further concern in public affairs ; and after having passed
four years in study and retirement, he died in May 1540.
The memory of this able and excellent person is endeared
to men of letters by his History of Italy, Florence, 1561,
in folio, or two vols. in 8vo. The original edition, though
much sought after, is incomplete ; that of Venice, 1567, in
4to, is augmented by four books, viz., from seventeen to
twenty inclusive; and that of Venice, 1738, in two vols.
folio, has, besides, a life of the author by Manni, with a
fragment containing some passages previously inedited.
But the first complete edition is that of Friburg in Brisgau
(Florence), 1775, 1776, in four vols. 4to, printed from an
autograph manuscript in the Magliabecchi library, under
the auspices and care of the canon Bonso Pio Bonsi, who
has supplied the defects of former editions, and otherwise
discharged his editorial duties with fidelity and talent. The
most correct and complete edition is that by Professor
86 GUI
Guicciar- Rosini of Pisa, 10 vols. 8vo, 1819-20, prefaced by an essay
dini. on Guicciardini’s life and writings. The history has been
translated into English by Chevalier Austin Parke God¬
dard, 10 vols. 8vo, Lond., 1753-61. The History of Italy
commences in 1490, and terminates in the month of Oc¬
tober 1534. It consists of twenty books, sixteen of which
are, in the opinion of the best critics, of superior merit;
but the last four are little more than draughts of me¬
moirs, death having prevented the author from bestowing
on them all the care and attention which the subject re¬
quired. The historian commences by giving an exposition
of the tranquil condition of Italy before the breaking out
of the troubles which desolated its finest provinces. He
then proceeds to describe the bloody wars which the
French carried on in that country, under three successive
kings. By these the face of Italy was almost entirely
changed ; the popes aggrandized themselves by the ruin of
several petty states ; Naples and Milan, torn from their
respective princes, recognised the domination of Charles
V.; and Genoa, which had thrown itself into the arms of
France, recovered its liberty under the protection of the
same monarch, who, on the other hand, gave a sovereign
to the republic of Florence. If, in this revolution, the
greater part of the princes of Italy maintained themselves,
they owed their preservation to their own weakness, and a
timely submission to a conqueror whom fortune seemed
to lead on, by rapid strides, towards universal monarchy.
Such, in a few words, is the grand spectacle presented by
the History of the Wars in Italy, a production which has
immortalized the name of Guicciardini. The hatred of
vice, which breaks out in every page of his work, satisfies
the reader as to the probity of the historian, who was,
moreover, concerned in most of the events which he re¬
lates, and performed a brilliant part both in the cabinet
and in the field. His style, sometimes nervous and sub¬
lime, sometimes lively and rapid, always noble, perspicuous,
and appropriate to the subject, fixes the attention and hur¬
ries along the mind of the reader. His reflections, equally
judicious and profound, show the wise republican, the able
politician, the enlightened philosopher; as the friend of
humanity and justice, he unsparingly attacks the abuses of
the sovereign power, and vindicates that virtue which the
great so often profane for the gratification of their interests
and passions. He has left us faithful portraits of the cele¬
brated men of his time; he has represented with equal
genius and accuracy the force and manners of the nations
which figure in his history ; and he has made us acquainted
with the real interests of the princes of Ins time, as well as
with the origin of those jealousies which then divided the
powers of Europe. Guicciardini has been reproached with
the length of the harangues which he puts into the mouths
of his characters; but these he has enriched with so much
eloquence, with thoughts so new and profound, with images
so just and striking, that they are always interesting, and
never felt as impeding the progress of his narrative. He
has also been accused of prejudice against the French ;
yet he never exaggerates their losses in battle ; and Father
Daniel, in his history, has merely copied the narrative of
Guicciardini. If the latter, like several French authors, has
traced an unfavourable portrait of Charles VIII., he has,
on the other hand, done ample justice to the equity and
the virtues of Louis XII., the valour and prudence of La
rremouille, and the brilliant qualities of Gaston de Foix
and Francis I.; whilst, in speaking of the Italian and French
militia, he always declares in favour of the latter. These,
and other facts of a similar description, which might easily
be produced or referred to, are sufficient to show that the
charge of partiality is groundless, and that what has been
mistaken for prejudice is nothing but the severity of truth.
Guicciardini is also the author of Advice and Counsel in
matters of State, Antwerp, 1527, in 8vo.
GUI
GuicciAiiDixi, Luigi, nephew of the preceding, was born Guicciar-
at Florence, in the year 1523. He held different employ- dini
ments under Alessandro de’ Medici and his successor Cosmo . II
II.; then he travelled, and remained a long time at Ant- ulSnes-
werp, where he obtained the favour of the Duke of Alva;
but having reflected on this general’s system of govern¬
ment, in a work which he published {Memoirs), he was
thrown into prison, whence he was liberated only through
the intercession of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. The re¬
mainder of his life presents no event worthy of notice, and
seems to have been chiefly passed in the composition of his
works. These are Memorie, Sic., or Memoirs of what passed
in Savoy from 1530 to 1565, Antwerp, 1565, in 4to. Rac-
colia dei Detti e Fatti notabili, 1581, in 8vo ; Descrizione,
&c., or Description of the Low Countries, Antwerp, 1567,
in fob; Ore di Recreazione, Florence, 1600, in 12mo.
Luigi Guicciardini died in 1589.
GUIDO ARETIN. See Aretino.
Guido Rent, one of the most famous and distinguished
painters of the Italian school, was born at Bologna in 1575.
He was trained first by Denis Calvart (see Calvart), and
finally by the Caracci; but having had the misfortune to
excite the jealousy and suspicion of the latter, he deemed
it expedient to remove to Rome, where he studied specially
Raffaelle and Caravaggio, whose works had the strongest
influence in moulding his yet unformed style. A commis¬
sion from the Pope Paul V., was among the first earnests
of his future distinction; but as he had great difficulty in
getting payment for his work, he quitted Rome in disgust,
and retired to his native town, where he extended his al¬
ready wide reputation. He afterwards returned to Rome,
where he seems to have contracted habits of gambling and
dissipation. To repair his losses, he seems to have begun
the practice of painting swiftly and carelessly ; but his spirits
gave way, and he sank into a sort of lethargy, from which
nothing could rouse him. He died in great poverty in 1642.
Guido’s personal beauty was so striking, that when in the
atelier of the Caracci, he often sat to Ludovico, whose
favourite pupil he was, as a model for an angel. His own
pieces are distinguished by a grace, lightness, elegance, and
delicacy, that will secure for him a lofty niche in the artistic
temple of fame. For a detailed criticism of his works, see
Painting ; and Lanzi’s Storia Pittorica della Italia.
GUIDONES, a company of priests established by Charle¬
magne at Rome, to conduct and guide pilgrims to Jerusa¬
lem, to assist them if they felt sick, and to perform the last
offices to them if they died.
GUIENNE, or Guyenne, an old province in the S.W.
of France, the capital of which was Bordeaux. In 1790 it
was divided into the departments of Gironde, Landes, Dor¬
dogne, Lot, Aveyron, and Lot-et-Garonne.
GUIGNES, Joseph de, a learned orientalist, born at
Pontoise on the 19th of October 1721, was, in 1736, placed
under the celebrated Fourmont by his cousin M. le Vaillant,
professor in the university. Being endowed with the hap¬
piest dispositions, and directed by an able master, he, in a
short time, acquired a knowledge of Chinese, and of the
different idioms of the East. When Fourmont presented
to the king his Chinese Grammar, in the year 1742, the
young De Guignes accompanied him, and was received in
the most flattering manner by the monarch, who immediately
conferred on him a pension. On the death of his master,
which took place in December 1745, De Guignes succeeded
him at the Royal Library in the office of secretary-interpre¬
ter of the eastern languages. The Memoir on the Origin
of the Huns having given the learned world a foretaste of
the talents and erudition of De Guignes, he was admitted a
member of the Royal Society of London in 1752, and an
associate of the Academy of Belles-Lettres the following
year. About the same time he was also appointed royal
censor, and attached to the Journal des Savans. These
GUI GUI 87
Juignes. different favours were the just recompense of the important
jr labours in which M. de Guignes was engaged. The first
two volumes of his History of the Huns appeared in 1756 ;
and in 1757 the chair of Syriac in the Royal College having
become vacant by the death of Jault, De Guignes was ap¬
pointed to succeed him. Upon this occasion he pronounced
a Latin discourse, the principal object of which was to prove,
what certainly needed little demonstration, that the kings
of France were much more friendly to letters than the
princes of Asia. In 1769 he became keeper of the anti¬
quities in the Louvre, and, in 1773, pensionary of the Aca¬
demy of Belles-Lettres; in 1774 he resigned the chair of
Syriac, not choosing to consent to the re-union of the Royal
College with the university; and, lastly, in 1785, he was
named one of the committee appointed by the academy for
the publication of Notices of Manuscripts. The Revolu¬
tion did not deprive De Guignes of his pensions, which, not¬
withstanding his great labours, had never been demanded
by him; but it deprived him of his moderate allowance as
pensionary of the academy, keeper of antiquities in the
Louvre, and redacteur of the Journal des Savans. Faith¬
ful to his principles, and to the cultivation of letters, how¬
ever, he made no remonstrance, declined accepting any
favour, and consoled himself for the sufferings of his country,
and the personal privations he experienced, by applying
with greater assiduity to his favourite pursuits. These he
continued, without intermission, until his death, which took
place at Paris on the 19th of March 1800, De Guignes
left a son, who had been consul at Canton, and who, on his
return to France, published an account of his voyage in three
volumes 8vo, and a Chinese Dictionary. The following is
a list of the printed works of the father :—
Abrege de la Vie d'Etienne Fourmont, with a notice of his works,
Paris, 1747, in 4to; Memoire Historique sur VOrigine des Huns et
des Turcs, Paris, 1748, in 12mo; Histoire Generate des Huns, des
Turcs, des Mogols, et des autres Tartares occidentaux, avant et de-
puis J. G. jusqu’d present, preceded by an introduction containing
historical and chronological tables of the princes who have reigned
in Asia, Paris, 1756, 1758, in five vols. 4to; Memoire dans lequel
on prouve que les Chinois sont une colonie Egyptienne, Paris, 1759,
1760, in 12mo; The Ghou-king, or sacred book of the Chinese, with
a translation corrected from that of Father Gaubil, and most useful
notes, Paris, 1770, in 4to ; An edition of the Eloge de Monkden and
of the Art Militaire des Chinois, 1770, 1771 ; Twenty-eight papers
in the Memoires of the Academy of Inscriptions. These papers or
memoirs may be divided into three classes; the first of which has
for its object to develope more fully various points which are only
treated cursorily in the History of the Huns ; the second includes
the papers intended to establish his system of the Egyptian origin
of the Chinese; and the third comprehends those of a miscellaneous
character, such as the memoir on the commerce of the French in
the Levant before the Crusades, that on the Oriental Zodiac, and
observations on the origin and antiquity of the Indians, as well as
on the geography of their country. Besides the works mentioned
above, De Guignes left several manuscripts, particularly, Notices
d'Ecrivains Arabes; Memoire sur le Commerce des Chinois avec les
Russes; Histoire de la Chine, translated from the Chinese Annals,
and divided into three parts; Memoires Historiques et Geogra-
phiques sur VAfrique, d'apres les auteurs Arabes. Such were the
works which occupied the life of this scholar. Considered as a
learned man, he may be said to have possessed vast knowledge, and
to have employed it in the most useful manner. Although he can¬
not be called an elegant writer, his style is easy and clear; and
even the paradoxes which he defended prove, by his ingenious ap¬
proximations and original views, that he was endowed with a lively
imagination and extraordinary sagacity.
In his history, the object of De Guignes was to collect facts
rather than to digest them according to a rigorous chronology;
and the disorder which, in this respect, reigns in his work, proceeds
partly from the multitude of sources whence he derived his infor¬
mation, and partly from the vice of the oriental writers amongst
whom the irregular method of computing dates renders it impossi¬
ble to restore the precise chronology of events. On this ground
the writers in the Journal de Trevoux attacked the History of
the Huns. De Guignes replied to this criticism, in a letter in¬
serted in the Journal des Savans for 1757, and also at the end of
the fifth volume of his History. The journalists rejoined; and the
dispute terminated by a note appended to the same volume, in which Guild
the author refers to the Annales Chinoises. The History of the
Huns has been translated into German by Daenhert, who appears Guillim.
to have done ample justice to the original. (j. B—E.) V,*
GUILD (from the Saxon guildan, to pay), signifies a
fraternity or company, because every one was gildare, that
is, had to pay something towards the charge and support of
the company. As to the origin of guilds or companies in
Britain, it was a law among the Saxons that every freeman of
fourteen years of age should find sureties to keep the peace,
or be committed. This led to the formation among neigh¬
bours of associations, each consisting of ten families, which
became bound for one another, either to produce him who
committed an offence, or to make satisfaction to the injured
party; and that they might the better do this, they raised a
sum of money amongst themselves, which they put into a
common stock, and when one of their pledges had committed
an offence, and fled, then the other nine made satisfaction
out of this stock, by payment of money, according to the
offence. Because this association consisted of ten families,
it was called a decenary; and hence arose other kinds of
fraternities. But as to the precise time when these guilds
had their origin in England there is nothing certain to be
found ; since they were in use long before any formal license
was granted to them for such meetings. It seems to have
been about the close of the eleventh century, according to
Anderson {History of Commerce, vol. i., p. 70), that merchant-
guilds, or fraternities, which were afterwards styled corpo¬
rations, came first into general use in many parts of Europe.
Madox {Firma Burgi, chap, i., sect. 9) thinks they were
hardly known to our Saxon progenitors, and that they might
probably have been brought into England by the Normans,
although they do not seem to have been very numerous in
those days. The French and Normans might perhaps have
borrowed them from the free cities of Italy, where trade
and manufactures flourished at a much earlier period, and
where such communities appear to have been first in use.
These guilds are now companies or associations having laws
and orders made by themselves, in virtue of authority from
the prince to that effect.
Guild, in the royal burghs of Scotland, is still used for
a company of merchants, who are freemen of the burgh.
Every royal burgh has a dean of guild, who is the next
magistrate below the provost.
Guild, Gild, or Geld, is also used by ancient writers to
signify a compensation or mulct for an offence.
Guild-Hall. See London.
GUILDFORD, a municipal and parliamentary borough,
and market-town of England, county of Surrey, on the right
bank of the Wey, 29 miles S.W. of London. It is the chief
town of the county, is governed by a mayor, four aldermen,
and twelve councillors, and returns two members to parlia¬
ment. It stands on the declivity of a chalk down, at the foot of
which flows the Wey, here crossed by a bridge of five arches.
The town consists chiefly of one long, wide, and well-built
street, and is divided into three parishes, each of which has
a parish church. It has a fine old town-hall, a county-hall,
theatre, market-house, county gaol, house of correction,
union workhouse, hospital, grammar-school, blue-coat and
other schools, &c. The Guildford Institute, formed in 1844,
has a museum, library, and reading and lecture rooms. It
has an iron-foundry, and paper, powder, and corn mills on
the Wey. Guildford was a residence of the Anglo-Saxon
kings; and traces of an ancient palace are still to be found.
On an eminence on the south side of the town stands the
ruined keep of a castle of Norman date. A considerable
trade is carried on by means of the Wey, in corn, malt,
timber, &c. Market-days Wednesday and Saturday. Pop.
(1851)6740. Electors, 648.
GUILLIM, John, acelebrated heraldric writer, was born
in Herefordshire about the year 1565. Having completed his
88 GUI
Guillotine, education at Brazen-nose College, Oxford, he became amem-
her of the College of Arms in London ; and he was made
rouge-croix pursuivant, in which post he died in 1621. He
published, in 1610, a work entitled the Display of Heraldry,
folio, which has gone through many editions. 1 o the fifth,
which appeared in 1679, was added a Treatise of Honour Civil
and Military, by Captain John Logan, which is generally
considered the standard work on the subject it discusses.
GUILLOTINE, an instrument for inflicting capital
punishment by decapitation. It consists simply of two up¬
right posts, surmounted by a cross-beam, and grooved for
the purpose of guiding an oblique-edged knife, the back of
which is heavily weighted to make it fall swiftly and with
force, when the cord by which it is held aloft is let go. It
takes its name from Joseph Ignace Guillotin, a physician
in Paris, who was a member of the French National As¬
sembly at the time of the Revolution, and proposed its
adoption by the Assembly. In a decree of March 20, 1792,
its adoption was proclaimed. It is a mistake to suppose
that Guillotin was the inventor of this instrument, as is often
alleged. Centuries before his day it had been in use in
many parts of Germany, in England, Scotland, and Italy.
By the Italians it was called Mannaia; and an engraving of
it, as used in Italy, may be seen in the Questiones Symbo-
licce of Achilles Bocchius, printed at Bologna in 1555. It
is also minutely described by Father Labat in his Voyage
en Italie. In the Chronique de Jean d!Auton, first pub¬
lished in 1835, there are some curious details of an execu¬
tion that took place at Genoa in 1507, with a machine, of
which the guillotine is only an ingenious adaptation. In
the museum of the Antiquarian Society of Edinburgh is
preserved to this day the rude guillotine, or Maiden, by
which the famous Regent Morton was decapitated. In the
Description of Tweeddale, Pennicuik alludes to this event
in the following terms :—“ This mighty earl, for the plea¬
sure of the place and the salubrity of the air, designed here
a noble recess and retirement from worldly business, but
was prevented by his unfortunate and inexorable death,
three years after, anno 1581, being accused, condemned,
and executed by the Maiden at the cross of Edinburgh, as
art and part of the murder of King Henry, Earl of Darnley,
father to King James VI., which fatal instrument, at least
the pattern thereof, the cruel regent had brought from
abroad to behead the Laird of Pennicuik, who, notwithstand¬
ing, died in his bed, and the unfortunate earl was himself
that handselled that merciless maiden who proved so soon
after his own executioner.”
Though Dr Guillotin gave his name to this engine of
death, he had in reality nothing to do with it beyond bring¬
ing it under the notice of the National Assembly. The
real mover in the affair was the famous surgeon Antoine
Louis, but his designs would never have been carried out
but for the mechanical ingenuity of a young German by
name Schmitt, then residing in Paris, who, after a great
many trials and experiments, succeeded in making the guil¬
lotine, as it now works. The first execution with the new
machine took place at Paris, April 25, 1792. A curious
question has been started in connection with the use of
the guillotine. The celebrated anatomist Sommering, de¬
nounces it as too rapid in its operation, and maintains that
sensation does not cease immediately after the head of the
sufferer has been severed from the body. Among other in¬
stances he adduces that of Charlotte Corday, whose face
seemed to blush with indignation, when the executioner,
holding up the head to the public gaze, struck it with his
fist. This subject is fully discussed in the Moniteur for
November 1795, and in Sedillot’s Deflexions historiques et
Physiologiques sur le supplies de la Guillotine, and in the
Anecdotes sur les Decapites.
It is sometimes, though erroneously, stated that Dr Guil¬
lotin, like Phalaris, was the first to hansel the work of his
G U I
own hands. He survived the Revolution, and died in Guima-
1814. raen8
GUIMARAENS, a fortified city of Portugal, province jl
of Entre-Douro-e-Minho, 28 miles N.E.of Oporto, between v uinea’
the rivers Sollio and Visela, in N. Lat. 41.25., and W. ”
Long. 8.15. It is well built on the acclivity of a hill. The
chief manufactures are leather, paper, hardware, cutlery,
cottons, linens, &c. Hot sulphurous springs, with a tem¬
perature of 164° Fahr., have retained their celebrity, and
have been much frequented here since the foundation of
this city in 500 B.C. It was made the capital of Portugal
by Henry of Burgundy, in 1107 a.d. ; and Alfonso I., as
well as Pope San Domaso, were born here. The population
is now nearly 10,000.
GUINEA, the name assigned to a large tract of country
on the W. coast of Africa, commencing at Cape Verga, in
about 10° N. Lat., and terminating with the Cameroon
Mountains in the Gulf of Biafra. These are the limits
more commonly given to what is called Guinea; by some
they are greatly extended, so as to comprise the whole of
the Portuguese settlements south of the equator, under
the name of Southern Guinea, while the coast north of the
equator is called Northern Guinea.
The term Guinea is not of African origin, or at least not
among those to whom it is applied. There is, according to
Barbot, a district of country north of the Senegal known by
the name of Genahoa, the inhabitants of which were the
first blacks that the Portuguese encountered in their explora¬
tions along the coast in the fifteenth century ; and they ap¬
plied this name indiscriminately afterwards to all the black
nations which they found farther south. In the two suc¬
ceeding centuries it was applied in a more restricted sense
to that portion of the coast which is now better known as
the Gold and Slave Coasts; owing to the fact, perhaps, that
this region for a time offered a larger number of slaves for
the foreign market than any other part of the country. The
natives here acknowledge this term as applied to themselves,
but it was undoubtedly borrowed in the first instance from
the Portuguese.
The physical aspect of the country, as might be inferred
from the large extent we have under consideration, is very
variable, but is characterized everywhere by excessive rich¬
ness of natural scenery. In the region of Sierra Leone,
Cape Mount, and Cape Mesurado, the eye rests on bold
headlands and high promontories covered with the richest
tropical verdure. In the vicinity of Cape Palmas there are
extended plains, slightly undulating, and covered with al¬
most every variety of the palm and palmetto. On the coast
of Drewiss the country rises into table-lands of vast extent,
and apparently of great fertility. The Gold Coast presents
every variety of hill and dale ; and as we approach the equa¬
torial region we are saluted by mountain scenery of unri¬
valled beauty and surpassing magnificence.
The inhabitants consist chiefly of the following tribes:—
The Vais, the Manou or Kru, the Kovakeras or Avekroom,
the Inta, the Dahomey, Ashanti, and the Benin. There are
no large or extended political organizations, with the excep¬
tion, perhaps, of the kingdoms of Ashanti and Dahomey, and
neither of these has a larger population or greater extent of
territory than the smaller kingdoms of Europe. For the most
part, the people live together in independent communities, of
not more than eight or ten villages, and with an aggregate po¬
pulation of from 2000 to 25,000 or 30,000. In these different
communities they have no written forms of law, but are go¬
verned for the most part by certain traditional usages that
have been handed down from generation to generation.
Nominally, monarchy is the only form of government ac¬
knowledged among them; but, when closely scrutinized,
their systems show much more of the popular and patriarchal
than of the monarchical element. They are essentially a
pagan people ; but in their religious notions and idolatrous
GUI
GUI
89
Guinea, worship they differ very much from each other. There are
> many decided traces of the Jewish origin. Among these
may be specified the rite of circumcision, which, with the
exception of the Kru or Manou family, is, we believe, uni¬
versal ; the division of the tribes into families, and in some
cases into the number of twelve ; bloody sacrifices, with the
sprinkling of blood upon their altars and door-posts; the
observance of new moons; a formal and specified time for
mourning for the dead, during which period they shave their
head and wear tattered clothes; demoniacal possessions,
purifications, and various other usages of probable Jewish
origin.
Respecting the natural products and trading capabilities
of the country, the articles exported consist chiefly of ginger,
gum, mendobi (Guinea grains, a species of seed), palm-oil,
some ivory, a wood used for dyeing called camwood, and
which is worth in England about L.15 sterling a ton. Ves¬
sels visiting that coast take on board—at Sierra Leone, or on
the coast of Malagueta, between Cape Mesurado and Cape
Palmas—some black sailors, called krumen, who are of
great use in doing the heavy work on board, and for boat
service; thus saving the European seamen from exposing
themselves too much to the sun’s rays, &c. The services
of these krumen are recompensed with two or three pieces
of cotton cloth per month each. Their chief food is rice,
which may be purchased at a very cheap rate on the coast
of Malagueta; the price of a “kru” (a measure of capacity
weighing about 30 lbs.) being a fathom and a half of cotton
cloth, or any other article of proportionate value.
On the coast of Malagueta (Grain Coast), the articles
received principally in barter are rice and millet; also ivory,
palm-oil, and camwood, especially at Monrovia, the capital
of Liberia. At Sierra Leone, the pepper-tree (called mala¬
gueta) is cultivated on an extensive scale, and its fruit—
Guinea pepper—after being dried, is purchased in largequan-
tities by the Americans, and imported into the United States.
English muskets, gunpowder, rum, and tobacco, are the
principal articles of traffic on the whole of the coast as far
as Onim at the bottom of the Bight of Benin.
At Jaque Lahoo and Jaque Jaque, two considerable
towns, situated at the extremity of the bight formed by
Cape Palmas and Cape Three Points, commences the trade
in gold-dust; here also a considerable quantity of palm-
oil and some ivory are found. After passing these towns,
the European settlements commence. The first are Great
Bassam and Assine, belonging to France, and situated at
the mouths of the rivers of the same names. Five leagues
to the west of Cape Three Points, is the small Dutch fort
of Axem; and on the other side of the same cape is the
English port of Dick’s Cove.
From Cape Lahoo to Acora, and to all the European
settlements on the coast, the monetary standard is the “ ake”
(ackie) of gold-dust, which weighs half a dram English, and
is worth nearly 5s. The kru on this part of the coast is
almost double that assigned to it on the coast of Malagueta
—averaging L.50, more or less.
Between Dick’s Cove and the castle of St George of
the Mine (S. Jorge da Mina) are situated the small forts of
Serunde, Sanca, and Commendo; after which we come to
the first large European settlement, viz., the castle of
St George of the Mine, belonging to Holland. The castle is
a Portuguese structure, and was formerly the most impor¬
tant of the Portuguese colonies on this coast. Next to it
is Cape Coast Castle, belonging to England, and situated
in sight of the former. The next place is Annamaboo, a
small English fort, formerly abandoned, but where for some
years past trade has been again in some degree developed.
To this fort succeed others in ruins, as Winebah and Assam.
Millet is found in abundance at these places, as well as palm-
oil and gold-dust.
Proceeding along the coast, we come to the great English
VOL. xr.
settlement of Acora, where there are at present two for- Guinea
tresses. The first, that of St James, was built by them ||
many years since; the second, that of Christianburg, was Guipuzcoa.
purchased from Denmark, together with all its possessions
on that coast, in the year 1850. Then follow the small
settlements of Ningo ; after passing which, Cape St Paul,
a little to the east of Rio da Volta (“ Return River”), is
doubled.
From Cape St Paul to Onim or Lagos, many negro towns
or villages are met with stationed along the coast. These
communicate with each other by means of the lake situated
at no great distance inland from the beach; and then the
ford converges to the principal points, which are Quita,
Popo-pequeno, Ajuda, Porto Novo, and Onim.
The trade which formerly flourished at all these places
was that in slaves; but for some years past that in palm-
oil, or de7i-den, has greatly developed itself, the quantity
produced amounting annually to more than 7000 tons, which
are shipped to England, America, and France.
On this section of the coast there are no European esta¬
blishments, properly so called; but at Ajuda, Porto Novo,
and Onim, there are factories ; and Europeans are also re¬
sident in the country, and traffic with vessels, as they do at
those establishments.
The trade of the Benin, Brass, Bonny, Calabar, and Ca¬
meroon Rivers, is all in palm-oil, and carried on exclusively
by the English.
The whole coast has been arbitrarily divided into five
parts:—
1. The Sierra Leone district, from Cape Verga to Cape
Mesurado.
2. Malagueta, Pepper or Grain Coast, from Cape Me¬
surado to Cape Palmas.
3. The Ivory Coast, from Cape Palmas to Cape Three
Points.
4. The Gold Coast, from Cape Three Points to the
River Volta.
5. The Slave Coast, or Benin district, from* the River
Volta to the Cameroons. (a. p.)
Guinea, New. See Australasia.
GUINEA, a gold coin formerly struck and current in Bri¬
tain, and so denominated because the gold of which the first
specimens were struck {temp. Car. II.) was brought from
tiie coast of Guinea; and for a like reason it originally bore
the impression of an elephant. The value of the guinea
varied greatly at different periods, but latterly it was worth
21 shillings. Its weight was 5 dwts. 9‘4125 grs. On the
introduction of the sovereign—first coined in 1817—the old
guinea coinage was gradually superseded. See Coinage,
and Money.
Guine^-FowI. See index to Ornithology.
Guinea-Pig. See index to Mammalia.
GUINGAMP, a town of France, capital of a cognominal
arrondissement in the department of Cotes-du-Nord, on the
right bank of the Trieux, 17 miles W.N.W. of St Brieuc.
It was formerly surrounded by walls, part of which still exists.
It has an old parish church with a tower and spire, and
several other good buildings; also manufactures of ging¬
hams, to which it gives name ; of linen fabrics, thread, lea¬
ther, hats, &c.; and some trade in wine, brandy, cattle, and
agricultural produce. Pop. (1851) 6718.
GUIPUZCOA, the most easterly of the four Basque
provinces of Spain, bounded on the W. by Biscay, S. by
Alava, E. and N.E. by Navarre, N.E. by the Bidasoa, the
mutual boundary between it and France. Its form is nearly
that of a right-angled triangle, having the hypothenuse to¬
wards the S.E., and its area is nearly 600 square miles. Its
coast is so much indented, that it contains no fewer than
nine harbours—none of which, however, are very important.
From the immense variety of surface in mountain, hill,
and valley, the scenery of this small province is highly
M
90 GUI
Guis- picturesque and romantic. Lofty mountains—partly clothed
borough with evergreen forests, and partly barren—shoot out from
I] the Pyrenees, and spread over the whole surface. In this
Guise, province commences the Cantabrian ridge, to which belongs
the Alzanja, over which the great road of the Romans was
conducted. To the coast belong the Cabo San Antonio,
and the Cabo de Higuera ; and numerous small bays, form¬
ing good harbours—Orio, Zarauz, (juetaria, Zumaya, Deva,
Motrico, Fontarabia, Le Passage, and San Sebastian. The
streams are all short, rapid, unnavigable, and fall into the
Bay of Biscay ; the principal of these are the Deva, Urola,
Oria, Urumea, Lezo, and Bidassoa. The soil—especially
in the lower valleys—is very fertile, and is cultivated very
carefully; but, from the nature of the surface, agricultural
labours are prosecuted with considerable difficulty. The
climate, though moist, is mild, pleasant, and healthful; and
the inhabitants often attain to a great age. The frequency
of rain preserves the freshness of the verdure throughout
most of the year; but thunder-storms often occur during
December and January. The chief wealth of the province
arises from its mineral stores and excellent fisheries, which
supply the neighbouring provinces of Alava, Navarre, part
of Castile, and Aragon, with excellent sea-fish. The grain
raised falls considerably short of what is necessary for home
consumption. The minerals chiefly wrought are iron, of
excellent quality, being smelted with wood; argentiferous
lead, copper, marble, and gypsum. The people are remark¬
able for their fine physical form, and bold, manly spirit; and,
notwithstanding the simplicity of their manners, the promi¬
nent features of their character are industry, honesty, bene¬
volence, gallantry. They are fond of games requiring bodily
strength and exertion, in which even their women join. But
they especially delight in dancing; and their great favourite
amusements are their national dance, the zorcico, and a
kind of bullfight called novillos. Tolosa is the capital. San
Sebastian as a seaport has a good trade, and gives name to
the province of San Sebastian since the administrative divi¬
sion of 1822. The other principal towns are Fuenterabia
or Fontarabia, a small fortress on the Bidassoa, close to the
French frontier; Mondragon, where are rich iron mines;
Salinas, on the Deva, has a salt-work (whence its name)
which produces about 1000 tons per annum. La Isla de los
Faisanes, an island in the Bidassoa, is celebrated as the place
where the “ Peace of the Pyrenees” was concluded in 1659
between France and Spain. Though the Spaniards name
this island “ Isle of Pheasants,” yet these birds are now quite
unknown there. The population of Guipuzcoa in 1849 was
141,752.
GUISBOROUGH, or Gisborough, a market-town of
England, North Riding of Yorkshire, at the foot of the
Cleveland Hills, not far from the mouth of the Tees, and
40 miles N. of York. It consists chiefly of one wide and
handsome street, having many good houses. It has a hand¬
some town-hall, under which the market is held ; a church,
a free grammar-school, and an hospital for old men and
women. The first alum-works in the kingdom were esta¬
blished here about 1600. An Austin priory was founded
here in 1129, of which some remains still exist. Market-
day Tuesday. Pop. (1851) 2062.
GUISCARD, Robert (1015-1085), Duke of Apulia and
Calabria, one of the most famous captains of his age, rvas the
son of the Norman Tancred Hauterville. His life, exploits,
and character, are given in great detail in chap. Ivi. of Gib¬
bon’s Decline and Fall. See also Naples.
GUISE, a town of France, department of Aisne, on the
left bank of the Oise, 13 miles N.W. of Vervins. It ranks
as a fortified town of the third class, being surrounded by
walls, and having a strong citadel. Pop. 3500.
GUISE, or Guyse. The family of Guise, which plays
a distinguished part in certain eras of French and Scottish
history, was sprung from the royal house of Lorraine. It
GUI
did not become known in France till the sixteenth century, Guitar,
when Claude, son of Rene II., Duke of Lorraine, driven
from home by an elder brother, entered the French army,
distinguished himself on many battle-fields, and was des¬
perately wounded at Marignan in 1515. For these services
he was made Duke of Guise in Normandy and a peer of
France by Francis I. He died in 1550, leaving, by his
wife Antoinette de Bourbon, a large family, of which three
members became especially notable. These were Marie,
married to James V. of Scotland, and mother of Mary
Queen of Scots; Francis, renowned as a soldier; and
Charles, the Cardinal of Lorraine. For the history and
character of Marie de Guise, see Scotland. Francis, sur-
named “ le Balafre,” from a scar on his face left by a wound
received at the siege of Boulogne in 1545, was the noblest
of his race. He was brave, generous, and gentle-hearted,
and wras as able a commander as a valiant soldier. He
greatly distinguished himself in the wars between France
and Spain, and retook Calais from the English, almost the
last relic of their ancient conquests in France. Under
Francis II. his power, which in the last reign had been
counterpoised by that of the Montmorencys, became almost
absolute, The Calvinists and the Prince of Conde made
an effort to overthrow it; but this attempt, known in his¬
tory as the conspiracy of Amboise, was defeated by the
vigilance of the duke. Soon after this he had himself ap¬
pointed lieutenant-general of the kingdom, while the parlia¬
ment voted him the title of “ conservateur de la patrie.”
His first step was to take vengeance on the conspirators,
wffiich he did in a manner bordering on cruelty. Under
Charles IX. his influence was checked, to a certain extent,
by that of Conde and Coligny. The unfortunate affair at
Vassi was the signal for a general war of religion in France ;
and shortly after the battle of Dreux (1563), in which the
duke had distinguished himself, he was assassinated by Pol-
trot de Mere}7, a Calvinist nobleman, who regarded him as
the most dangerous enemy of the Reformed faith. He was
succeeded in his title and estates, and the leadership of his
party, by his son Plenry, who, like himself, enjoyed the sur¬
name of “ le Balafre ” This son inherited all the talents,
but few of the virtues of his father, except his courage. He
seconded his uncle, the Cardinal of Lorraine, in carrying out
all the schemes of the “ Ligue,” which, under the pretence
of protecting the Catholic faith, was to serve the ulterior pur¬
pose of concentrating all the power of the kingdom in the
hands of the Guises and their party. To prove his since¬
rity in the cause of the faith, Henri de Guise helped to carry
out the massacre of St Bartholomew, planned the murder
of Coligny, and hunted down the defeated Huguenots with
pitiless cruelty. His successes at length made him insolent
and overbearing even at court; and the king (Henri III.)
forbade him ever to appear there again. Upon this the duke
armed his retainers, and endeavoured to raise Paris in rebel¬
lion against its sovereign. This day, the 12th of May 1588,
is famous in French history as the “ Journee des Barricades.”
The king fled, and summoned a meeting of the states-
general at Blois. He found the deputies almost all in the
interest of his revolted subject, and was obliged to make the
most humiliating concessions to retain even the semblance
of royalty. After enduring for a few months more the in¬
solence of his too-powerful vassal, Henry had him privately
assassinated, December 23, 1588; and next day the Cardi¬
nal of Lorraine met a similar end. Even this double shock,
however, was hardly sufficient to break the power of the
Guises. Under Henri IV. they had recovered so far as to
be able to organize the League against that prince, and did
not acknowledge his allegiance until he had abjured the
Protestant faith. The dukedom of Guise became extinct
in 1675.
GUITAR (Span. Guitarra), a musical instrument much
used in Spain for accompanying songs. It is supposed to
G U J
Gujerat. be of Arabian origin, and is the last relic of instruments of
the lute kind. There are different kinds of guitars—Spanish,
French, and German; but the one most in use has six strings,
generally tuned E, A, D, G, B, E, which chiefly belong to
the bass register. Music for the guitar is written in the
treble clef, though every note is an octave lower than repre¬
sented. The guitar finger-board is furnished with frets, upon
which the fingers of the left hand press down the strings,
while these are struck by the fingers of the right hand. The
Spanish and French guitars are nearly alike.
GUJERAT, a town of Hindustan, in the Punjab, about
8 miles from the right bank of the River Chenab, and 75
miles N. of the city of Lahore. The place has acquired
celebrity from the victory gained in the vicinity on 21st
Feb. 1849, by a British force, commanded by Lord Gough,
over a Sikh army greatly superior in point of numbers, under
the command of Sirdar Chuttur Singh and Rajah Shere
Singh. The British, notwithstanding their numerical infe¬
riority, gallantly attacked the Sikhs, drove them in succes¬
sion from point to point, put them to disorderly flight, and
captured their artillery and baggage. N. Lat. 32. 35., W.
Long. 74. 8.
Gujerat, Gajrat, or Guzerat, a very large province
of Hindustan, comprising within its limits the dominions of
the Guicowar, besides several British districts, and situated
principally between the 21st and 24th degrees of N. lati¬
tude. It has been computed to be 320 miles long by about
400 broad. On the N. it is bounded by Rajpootana, S. by
the Presidency of Bombay, E. by Central India, W. by
Cutch and the sea. The S.W. quarter of this province is
inclosed on the S.W. and N.E. by the Gulfs of Cutch and
Cambay, and has the form of a peninsula. A considerable
portion, particularly towards the eastern frontier, is hilly,
and much covered with jungle. On the N.W. boundary,
along the bank of the River Banas or Bunass, the country
in some parts produces good pasture; in other parts it is
either an arid plain or a low salt swamp, which, where it is
dried up, is barren and unproductive. The interior is hilly
and rocky; but there are spots, where water is accessible,
that are extremely fertile, especially in sugar and tobacco,
and which yield all sorts of grain, oats excepted; also cot¬
ton, tobacco, indigo, gum, and sugar. The country, not¬
withstanding its smoothness to the eye, is in many parts in¬
tersected by ravines, and much broken by the heavy rains;
and some of these chasms contain, during the season of the
rains, a large volume of water, not to be crossed without the
assistance of rafts or boats; and, accordingly, the natives in
these cases establish temporary ferries. The climate is
reckoned one of the worst in India, being intensely hot
during the greater part of the year, with a heavy thickness
in the atmosphere, which is extremely oppressive. A hot
wind blows fiercely all the day ; and when it ceases at
night, it is followed by a still more close and oppressive
calm. “ I had certainly,” says Bishop Heber, “ no concep¬
tion that anywhere in India the month of March could offer
such a furnace-like climate.” “ It is,” he adds, “ in the
same latitude with Calcutta, and seems to be what Bengal
would be without the glorious Ganges.”1 During the hot
and dry months the surface of the country appears mostly
sand or dust, and in the rainy season a thick mire. In the
N.W. parts, along the banks of the River Bunass, where
there is good pasturage, and in various other parts of the pro¬
vince, they breed excellent horses and camels; and the
cattle are superior to those of any other part of India. Some of
their bullocks, which are in general white, with large bumps,
are sixteen hands high, and will trot in a carriage as fast,
and perform as long a journey, as good horses. This pro¬
vince is traversed by several large rivers, namely, the Bunass,
the Nerbuddah, Tuptee, Mahy, Mehindry, and Sabermatty,
G U J 91
which, being navigable from the sea to a considerable dis Gujerat.
tance up the country, afford great facilities for commerce.
But there are many large tracts which experience a great
scarcity of water ; and the inhabitants are forced to dig
wells, which are in many parts from 80 to 100 feet deep.
In some particular portions of this province not a stone is
to be met with, whilst in some others nothing else is to be
seen.
In so extensive a province, never completely subdued by
any of its numerous invaders, a great diversity of population
may be expected. The population of Gujerat is accordingly
very strangely diversified by numerous sects and castes,
under the various designations of Grassias, Catties, Coolies,
Bheels, Mewassies, Charons, Bhatts, Dheras, and others.
In some parts of the province the Grassias form a nume¬
rous class of landholders, and in others they merely possess
a sort of feudal authority over certain portions of land and
villages. The origin of their rights is a controverted point
of Hindu history, which has never been very satisfactorily
explained. The common account of their title to the land
is, that they were robbers and plunderers, who inhabited the
hills and jungles, and by their incursions the country was
so much infested, that, after the decease of the Emperor Ak-
bar in 1605, the nabobs of Surat ceded to them certain
lands in each village in lieu of all demands. But it is
asserted that, encouraged by this success, they still con¬
tinued their depredations ; and the Zemindars, in order to
purchase peace, agreed to the payment, on certain lands, of
what is called foda, or ready money; and the lands which
are liable to this payment have been continually increasing,
owing to the anarchy which so long prevailed in Gujerat.
The proprietors of these claims never allow them to die out;
and it is seldom that they prosecute them in person, but,
having retired to some secluded residence, they rally round
them a band of desperate adventurers, to whom they farm
out the Grassia claim, and depute them to levy it. Hence
the country, prior to the war of 1817, and the consequent
interference of the British government, was a prey to the
greatest disorders ; it was ravaged by predatory hordes, who
acquired new rights, and in this manner it was plundered,
and the rent of the land misappropriated. These claims
have been involved in such complication and obscurity,
that the British officers have found it impossible to re¬
duce them to any accurate standard of law or justice. On
the rugged margins of all rivers in Gujerat, many of these
Grassias resided in a kind of independence ; and also all
over the Gujerat peninsula, usually denominated Cattywar
by the natives. Their numbers were recruited by crimi¬
nals from the plains, who fled to their haunts for refuge, and
were supposed to amount to one-half of the population N.
of the Mahy River. Attempts made by the Bombay govern¬
ment to extinguish the Grassia claims by a payment from
the public treasury, and thus to prevent the disorders which
they occasioned, have been crowned with success.
Of all the disorderly hordes which infested this country,
the most bloody and ferocious were the Coolies. The most
barbarous were those in the vicinity of the Runn, the salt
morass which bounds the province on the W., and commu¬
nicates with the Gulf of Cutch. These were taught to
despise every approach to civilization ; they are of the most
filthy habits, and consider it a mark of effeminacy to wear
clean clothes ; and the priests and other persons of note ex¬
ceed the laity in dirtiness. They consider cleanliness as in¬
dicative of cowardice. That class of men named Bhatts, or
Bharotts, abound more in Gujerat than in any other pro¬
vince of India. They cultivate the land; but the greater
part of them are recorders of births and deaths, and beggars
or itinerant bards, and very frequently traders. They often
stand forward as security for the public revenue, and gua-
1 Heber, vol. iii., p. 10.
G U J E E A T.
92
Gujerat. rantee observance of agreements and rewards. They always
possess, however, an intimate knowledge of the person for
whom they become security, of his character and resources;
and when they find that they have been deceived, and are
pressed for money for which they have become security,
such is their proud and obstinate character, that they some¬
times sacrifice their own lives, or some aged female or child
of the family, in the presence of the person for whom they
have broken their word. They form, in the rude state of
society which prevails in India, a sort of middlemen between
the contributors and the government; every Grassia, Coolie,
and Bheel having his Bhatt, a class who are rewarded by a
small percentage on the amount of the revenues for which
they have become surety, and for the security which they
afford against the importunity of the inferior agents of go¬
vernment, their persons being regarded as sacred, and their
influence over the persons of the natives very great. They
were chiefly employed under the Mahratta princes, between
whom and the landholders they stood as middlemen, being
bound to the government for the revenue, and acting as a
security to the landholders against the oppressions of the
government. Within the limits of British rule this agency
has been discontinued, being found inefficient as an instru¬
ment of control for the unruly tribes of the country. The
Charons are a sect of Hindus, allied in manners and cus¬
toms to the Bhatts. They are often possessed of large
droves of cattle for carriage, by means of which they carry
on a distant inland traffic in grain and other articles. They
also often hire themselves out as protectors of travellers in
the wildest parts of the country ; and so faithful are they to
their charge, that when a band of predatory horse appears,
these persons take an oath to die by their own hands, in
case those whom they have engaged to protect are plun¬
dered ; and this threat is always found effectual to restrain
those superstitious thieves, who hold the Charons in great
veneration. There is in Gujerat, as in other parts of Hin¬
dustan Proper, a race of people called Ungreas, whose pro¬
fession is that of money-carriers, which they contrive to con¬
ceal in their quilted clothes. Although they are miserably
poor, they may be trusted with large sums of money to carry
many miles off, merely on the responsibility of the superior,
who is frequently richer than the others. They are of all
castes, and in general athletic and well armed ; and they
are of such singular habits, that in performing distant jour¬
neys they form themselves into parties, and fight with des¬
peration to defend a property lor which their only recom¬
pense is a mere subsistence.
The Bheels are generally described as the original in¬
habitants of the country, who have been driven to their
present fastnesses and their miserable way of life by the
invaders of their country, whether Mohammedans or Hin¬
dus. These people were, in the first instance, treated with
extreme severity by the British;1 but in 1825 a mild and
conciliatory course of policy was introduced; and they
have been reclaimed from their barbarous habits and
formed into regiments, subject to such discipline as was
suited to their turbulent character. They also received
grants of land, and freedom from taxes for a numberof years;
and they were in this manner trained to industrious habits.
The Dheras of this province are of a very degraded
caste, and their employment is to carry filth of every de¬
scription out of the roads and villages. They are miserably
poor ; they scrape bare the bones of every animal which
dies within their limits, and share out the flesh, which they
cook in various ways, and (eed upon. They are obliged to
serve travellers as carriers of their baggage to the village
nearest their own. In the course of their business they
are always committing petty thefts, and are much given to
intoxication.
The Vaneeya, or the merchants and traffickers, form a Gujerat.
numerous class in Gujerat. Many of them travel to re-
mote parts of India, where they remain from one to ten
years, after which they return to their wives and children.
Many also finally settle in the towns of foreign countries,
where their descendants continue to speak and write the
Gujerattee tongue. The Jains are also a more numerous
class here than in any of the contiguous provinces, and pos¬
sess many handsome temples adorned with well-wrought
images. Besides its native hordes or castes, Gujerat, along
with Bombay, contains nearly all the Parsees, or fire-
worshippers, to be found in the continent of India, the
feeble remains of the once numerous sect of the Magi. In
all the larger towns are to be found that remarkable race of
men named the Boras, who, though Mohammedans in re¬
ligion, are Jews in features, manners, and genius. They
form a community amongst themselves, and are everywhere
noted for their address in bargaining, minute thrift, and
constant attention to lucre. The washermen are also con¬
sidered as a degraded and cruel class, on account of the
numerous deaths which they involuntarily occasion to the
animalcula in the process of washing.
The province of Gujerat flourished chiefly during the
era of the Mogul government, and even during the most
convulsed periods it carried on a much more extensive
trade than ever it has done since. The principal trade is
with Bombay, and the chief exports are cotton, piece goods,
and grain. The imports are chiefly sugar, raw silk, pepper,
cocoa nuts, and British fabrics. Its manufacturing industry
has decayed, and in general has nearly disappeared, in con¬
sequence of the greater cheapness of British wares. The
principal towns in this province are Surat, Ahmedabad,
Broach, Cambay, Gogo, and the Guicowars capital of
Baroda. Gujerat contains populous districts, but in other
parts the country is extremely desolate. Surat and the
neighbouring country is thickly planted with inhabitants,
and the north-western districts are equally naked and des¬
titute of people. The country has been so much exposed
to the depredations of thieves and banditti from the jungles
and mountains, that, for the sake of security, the great body
of the people live, not in sequestered houses, but in villages;
and these villages are frequently visited by travelling com¬
panies, who exhibit puppet-shows, and histrionical represen¬
tations. They are also occasionally frequented by musi¬
cians, dancing girls, singing men and women, wrestlers,
expert jugglers, dancing bears, goats, and monkeys. In the
remote and savage districts of the country, where there are
no villages, fortifications are numerous ; but in all the parts
to which the British influence extends, they are fast crumb¬
ling into decay. In many parts the people are of savage
and cruel manners ; and amongst the tribe of Jahrejahs the
practice of female infanticide prevails, and the united exer¬
tions of all the British officers and statesmen have been em¬
ployed to prevent it. There is another crime peculiar to
this province, known in the British courts of justice by the
name ofjhansa, which is the writing of threatening letters,
the destroying of gardens or plantations, and the burning of
stacks, in order to extort money, or to enforce a compli¬
ance with any other unjust demand. These offences were
not formerly confined to the Grassias, but were resorted to
in village feuds, even by the heads of villages. But since
the regular administration of justice by the British, such
disorderly practices have become less frequent. There is
a class of persons, the Mahy Kaunta Coolies, who are so
named from their residence on the Mahy River, who are
thieves by profession, and also very ingenious, active, and
courageous. They lurk on the highways, and intercept
families and individuals proceeding to distant pilgrimages
and religious fairs. They frequently visit Surat and other
1 Ileber, vol. ii., p. 496.
G U L
Gulden- large cities in pursuit of their illicit occupation, though,
staedt. from the increasing vigilance of the British police, their
depredations are now more frequently checked. But, be¬
yond the precincts of the British authority, in the northern
and western quarters, and the centre of the Gujerat penin¬
sula, the number of societies of armed and sanguinary
thieves is scarcely credible ; and it is rather surprising that
even the thinly scattered population of the country should
keep its ground amid the many excesses and outrages which
are committed.
There are many remarkable wells and watering-places
in Gujerat. One near Baroda is said to have cost nine lacks
of rupees. There is another at Vadwa, in the vicinity of
Cambay, which, from the inscription, appears to have been
erected in 1482.
The province of Gujerat was first invaded about a.d.
1025, by Mahmood of Ghizni, who subverted the throne of
its native prince, named Jamund, and plundered his capi¬
tal. After the establishment of the Delhi sovereignty,
Gujerat was subject for many years to the Patan con¬
querors. In the fifteenth century it came under the do¬
minion of a dynasty of Rajpoot princes, converted to the
Mohammedan religion, who removed the seat of govern¬
ment to Ahmedabad; and under their rule it flourished
greatly as a maritime and commercial state. This race of
princes was overthrown by the Emperor Akbar in 1572;
and after the death of Aurungzebe in 1707, hordes of Mah-
ratta depredators overran the province, which in 1724 was
finally separated from the Mogul empire.
Until 1818 the Mahratta Peishwaand the Guicowar pos¬
sessed large tracts of country, but at present only the last
remains, the authority and dominions of the other having
devolved to the British. The annual revenue of the Gui¬
cowar is estimated at L.668,744. The military establish¬
ment of this prince, in addition to his regular troops,
amounting to 6000 cavalry and infantry, comprises also the
subsidiary force at the disposal of the British government,
which consists of five regiments of infantry, two of cavalry,
and a company of artillery. He also maintains a contingent
force of 3000 cavalry, and a corps of irregulars, known as
the Gujerat irregular horse, commanded by British officers.
In 1802 the British government negotiated with the Gui-
eowar as a sovereign in his own right, and thus secured his
independence of the Peishwa. Under the treaty then con¬
cluded the Guicowar agreed to receive a British subsidiary
force. When, as a result of his first discomfiture, the
Peishwa yielded to the British government his rights in
Gujerat, the Guicowar received an accession of territory,
and a new treaty supplemental to the former was con¬
cluded. Under this treaty the subsidiary force was to be
increased by a battalion of native infantry, of not less than
1000 men, and two regiments of native cavalry. The es¬
tablishment of British authority in this country experienced
very serious obstructions from the intermixture of the ter¬
ritories ceded by the Peishwa with those of the Guicowar;
also from the Nabob of Cambay, and the unsettled tribu¬
taries of Cattywar and Mahy Caunta, and still more from
the lawless habits of a large proportion of the people, es¬
pecially beyond the Mahy River. But, by a wise and con¬
ciliating policy, these difficulties have been surmounted, and
tranquillity has gradually arisen from the confusion which at
first overspread the country. (e.t.)
GULDENSTAEDT, John Antony, a Russian tra¬
veller and naturalist of some celebrity, was born at Riga in
1745, died at St Petersburg in 1781. He took part in
some of the scientific expeditions organized by the Russian
government in the latter half of last century, and distin¬
guished himself especially by his travels in the Caucasus.
His memoirs on the natural history, languages, &c., of these
countries, though they have been long superseded, were
highly esteemed in their day, and even now possess a cer-
G U M 93
tain historical value. His name is associated with that of Gules
the celebrated Pallas, who after Guldenstaedt’s death pub- II
lished an edition of part of his works. Gum.
GULES, in Heraldry, a corruption of the French word
gueules, which in this science signifies red, and is represented
in engraving by perpendicular lines. See Heraldry.
GULF, an arm of the sea. See Geography.
GULF-STREAM. See Atlantic, vol. iv., p. 176.
GULL. See index to Ornithology.
GUM, the hard fleshy substance which invests the teeth
of either jaw. See Anatomy.
Gum (Lat. gummi). This term is applicable solely to
those concrete vegetable exudations which soften or dissolve
in water, and afford a more or less perfect mucilage, but
which are wholly insoluble in alcohol. Gums are thus
distinguished from resins—those fusible and combustible
vegetable substances which are totally insoluble in water,
but which soften and dissolve in ether, essential oils, and
alcohol. Gum, properly so called, is used in large quantities
for a number of purposes in the arts. There are six va¬
rieties of this substance, viz., gum-arabic, gum-senegal,
cherry-tree gum, with that of other stone-fruit trees, gum-
tragacanth, gum of Bassora, or Bazrah, and that extracted
from seeds and roots by boiling water.
Gum-arabic is the purest of these, and consists almost
entirely of the principle called arabine. It forms a clear
mucilage with water, and is clearer, and keeps better if dis¬
solved in cold water than when prepared with warm water,
which is the common method. Gum-arabic is the produce
of several species of Acacia; as tortilis, seval, Ehrenbergii,
vera, arabica. One hundred parts of good gum were found
to consist of 70,40 of arabine, 17'60 of water, and a few per
cent, of saline and earthy matters.
The method of collecting this gum as practised in Mo¬
rocco may be briefly described :—About the middle of No¬
vember, that is, after the rainy season, a gummy juice
exudes spontaneously from the trunk and principal branches
of the acacia-tree. In about fifteen days it thickens in the
furrow, down which it ran either in a vermicular form, or,
more commonly, in the shape of oval and round tears, about
the size of a pigeon’s egg, and of different shades of colour
as they belong to the white or red gum-tree. About the
middle of December the Moors encamp on the border of
the forest, and commence the harvest, which lasts six weeks.
The gum is packed in very large bags of leather, and
brought on the backs of bullocks and camels to certain ports,
where it is sold to French and English merchants. It is
highly nutritious. During the whole time of harvest, of
the journey, and of the fair, the Moors of the desert live al¬
most entirely upon it; and experience proves that six ounces
of gum taken during the twenty-four hours are sufficient to
support a man for a considerable period.
The quantity of gum-arabic imported into Britain in
1852 amounted to 48,484 cwts.; that of gum-senegal to
4267 cwts.; of tragacanth, 1151 cwts. Previously to the
year 1832, the duty on gum-arabic from a British posses¬
sion was 6s. a cwt., and from other parts, 12s.; but the duty
on all gums, from whatever part of the world, was then
equalized, being fixed at 6s.; in 1841 it was further reduced
to Is.; and it was finally repealed in 1845. Of the 48,484
cwts. of gum-arabic imported in 1852, Egypt produced
16,414 cwts.; Morocco, 7131 ; Italy, 3952; East Indies,
16,089; other countries, 4898.
Gum-senegal is also a very pure gum, much resembling
gum-arabic, and is applied to many of the same purposes as
that of gum. It is also much employed in calico-printing.
The tree which yields it is the Acacia Senegal, so named
from the country of the River Senegal in Africa, whence
this gum is procured. Its constituents are arabine 81T0,
water 16T0, with 2 or 3 parts of saline matters.
Cherry-tree gum is an inferior and less soluble kind of
/
94 GUM
Gum-Resin gum? containing 54,90 parts of cerasine, 52-10 of arabine,
Jj 12 of water, and 1 of saline matter,
tzhaimer. Gum-tragacanth, familiarly called gum-dragon, is the pro-
v ^ IL_ i duce of several species of Astralagus, but more particularly
of A. verus and A. gummifer; the former a native of the
north of Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, and the latter of
Mount Lebanon, Arabia, &c. These at least are the chief
sources of the tragacanth met with in commerce. It is
likewise yielded, though less abundantly, by A. creticus
A. aristatus, and some other species. It is imported in
twisted thread-like pieces, or in flattened cakes, is of a
whitish or yellowish colour, devoid of taste and smell, nearly
opaque, and a little ductile. It swells in water, and dis¬
solves in part, forming a very thick mucilage. One hundred
parts of it consist of 53*30 arabine, 33*30 bassorine and
starch, 11*0 water, and from 2 to 3 parts of saline matters.
It is used in medicine as a demulcent, and to form lozenges
and pills, &c. It is also employed to stiffen and to glaze
silks; and the inferior kinds are used by shoemakers to finish
off the edges of their work.
Gum of Bassora, or that brought from Bassora in Arabia,
possesses most of the properties of tragacanth, and gives its
name to the principle called bassorine, which forms a con¬
stituent part of this gum and of tragacanth.
Gum from roots and seeds is extracted by boiling water.
Linseed, for example, yields, by boiling, a gum consisting
of 52*70 arabine, 28*9 insoluble matter, 10*3 water, and
7'11 saline matter.
The substance called British gum, so largely used in ca¬
lico-printing, is noticed under the head British Gum.
Gum-Resin. This term is applied to an inspissated juice
afforded by many kinds of plants, which combines the pro¬
perties of gums and resins, being partly soluble in water,
partly in alcohol. The principal gum-resins are aloes, am¬
moniac, assafoetida, galbanum, gamboge, euphorbium, oliba-
num, scammony, besides a great variety of other concrete
juices. The chief of these are noticed under their respec¬
tive names, as also the resins properly so called.
GUMBINNEN, a town of Prussia, province of East
Prussia, and capital of a government of the same name, on
the Pissa, 70 miles E.S.E. of Konigsberg. The town is
well built, with spacious and regular streets, and fine pro¬
menades, shaded by linden trees. It is the seat of the dif¬
ferent governmental courts, and has a gymnasium, schools
of architecture and midwifery, a public library, and an hospi¬
tal. It has manufactures of woollen and linen stuffs, leather,
and brandy; and some trade in corn. Gumbinnen was only
a small village till 1732, when it was improved and made a
town by Frederick William I., to whom a statue was erected
in the market-place in 1832. Many Protestant families
from Salzburg, driven from their homes, settled here and
contributed to its rise and prosperity. Pop. (1849) 6794.
The government of Gumbinnen has an area of 6312 Eng¬
lish square miles, and is almost one continued flat, exten¬
sively covered with lakes. The cultivated land is fertile,
but a large portion of this government is densely wooded, or
covered with heath and morass. The chief products are
wheat, rye, flax, and hemp; and cattle and sheep are
numerous. Pop. (1849) 614,047, of whom 601,016 are
Protestants.
GUMPELTZHAIMER, Adam, a musician, born at
Trosberg, in Bavaria, in 1560. The year of his death is
not known. In 1581 he was appointed cantor of the school
of Augsburg. He merits historical notice as one of the
early creators of that German style of harmony which was
afterwards employed with such effect by Handel, J. S. Bach,
and others. “ His modulations,” says an eminent critic,
“ were based on the modern system of tonality; and while
they were lively and unexpected, were still smooth and na¬
tural.” I here are several published collections of his Spi¬
ritual Songs for Four Voices.
GUN
GUN. See Gun-making, and Rifle. Gun
GUN-COTTON. Cotton is one of the numerous forms ||
of lignine, a compound of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen; but Gun'
when it is subjected to the action of nitric acid, nitrogen, <-!otton'
which exists in most explosive bodies, enters into its compo-
sition. The action of nitric acid on lignine had long attracted
the attention of chemists; but the nearest approach to the
formation of gun-cotton was made by Pelouze, who, in 1838,
writes in the Comptes Rendus of the properties of a sub¬
stance named Xyloidine, from £v\ov, wood, discovered by
Braconnet in 1833:—“ It is very combustible, taking fire
at 356° Fahr., burning with great rapidity; and almost with¬
out residue. This property has led me to an experiment,
which I think susceptible of some application, especially
in artillery. By plunging paper in nitric acid of sp. gr. 1*5,
leaving it there the requisite time for the acid to permeate
the paper, which is usually accomplished in two or three
minutes, then withdrawing it, and, lastly, washing it in water,
we obtain a kind of parchment impermeable to moisture,
and extremely combustible.” In 1846, Schonbein exhi¬
bited to the British Association at Southampton specimens
of cotton, which appeared to be as explosive as gunpowder;
but it was not till April 1847, on the enrolment of the pa¬
tent, that the method of preparing this cotton was known,
although, in the interval, Otto of Brunswick, Morel of Paris,
and Bottger of Frankfort, published recipes for making ex¬
plosive cotton. Schonbein’s method consisted in mixing
three parts of sulphuric acid, sp. gr. 1*85, with one part of
nitric acid, sp. gr. 1*45 to 1*50; and when the mixture had
cooled down to between 50° and 60° Fahr., clean rough
cotton in as open a state as possible was immersed in the
acid; when well soaked, the excess of acid was drawn or
poured off, and the cotton pressed lightly in order to sepa-
rate the principal portion of the acid. The cotton was
then covered over and left for half an hour, when it was
pressed and thoroughly washed in running water to get rid
of all free acid. After being partially dried by pressure, it
was washed in an alkaline solution made by dissolving one
ounce of carbonate of potash in a gallon of water. The
free acid being thus got rid of, it was put into a press, the
excess of alkaline solution was expelled, and the cotton left
nearly dry. It was then washed in a solution of pure nitrate
of potash, one ounce to the gallon, and being again pressed,
was dried at a temperature of from 150° to l700. It was
stated, that three parts of the gun-cotton thus prepared were
equal in force to eight parts of Tower-proof gunpowder.
Cotton gains considerably in weight by the above treat¬
ment, but it is scarcely changed in colour or in general
appearance, if the process has been carefully conducted : it
is, however, harsh to the touch, and gives a crepitating
sound when pressed by the hand. It differs from common
cotton by its electric excitability, the slightest degree of
friction causing it to be powerfully attracted and repelled
by other bodies ; and also by its action on a ray of polarized
light, which it does not depolarize like ordinary cotton. It
explodes at a temperature of from 350° to 400°, with such
rapidity as to interfere with its practical application, for if
applied to the purposes of artillery, it may burst the gun
before it has time to move the shot, and some of the pro¬
ducts of its combustion make it also objectionable for fire¬
arms. Among these products water may be mentioned,
and, should the cotton not have been well washed, nitrous
acid. Another great impediment to the use of gun-cotton
is its hygrometric condition, for if exposed to a damp at¬
mosphere, it will in an hour or two absorb a considerable
portion of moisture. Many attempts have been made to
apply it to mining purposes on account of its enormous force,
and the small quantity of smoke which it produces ; but the
objections to its use are numerous, the most fatal objection
being its liability to spontaneous ignition.
Nevertheless, gun-cotton continues to be an objectof great
GUN
Gundamuk interest on account of its application to the beautiful art of
II photography. When the cotton is prepared in such a way
Gundwana as t0 burn s]owiy; jt js not liable to spontaneous ignition,
and in this state it is perfectly soluble in sulphuric ether,
which the more explosive cotton is not. If the ethereal
solution, called collodion, be poured on the surface of cold
water, a paper is produced, which is prepared for the use
of the photographer. This paper is a very active electric,
and is perfectly soluble in ether. Collodion has also been
made use of in surgery, by applying the ethereal solution to
a wound, when a thin delicate artificial skin is formed by it,
which perfectly excludes the air.
In the preparation of gun-cotton, nitric acid is the active
agent in the formation of xyloidine: the sulphuric acid has
no direct action on the lignine, its use being to retain the
water abstracted from the cotton, and prevent the solution
of the compound which takes place to a greater or less ex¬
tent in nitric acid alone. The purity and exact strength
of the acids are matters of great importance. Mr Hadow
found that the best mixture for producing collodion wool is
obtained by mixing 89 parts by weight of nitric acid, sp. gr.
1 *424, with 104 parts by weight of sulphuric acid, sp. gr. 1 ’833.
On trying the effect of various re-agents on gun-cotton,
Mr Hadow found that it could be perfectly restored to the
original cotton, without loss of form, by means of an alco¬
holic solution of hydro-sulphuret of potassium. On this,
and other points connected with the chemistry of gun-cot¬
ton, we must refer to Mr Hadow’s paper, published in the
Transactions of the Chemical Society. (c. T.)
GUNDAMUK, a walled village of Afghanistan, on the
road from Jelalabad to Cabool, 28 miles W. of the former.
Here, on its retreat from Cabool, in 1842, the remains of
the British force, amounting to about 100 soldiers and 300
camp followers, were massacred, and only one man escaped.
GUNDUCK, a large river of Hindustan, flowing from
the Himalaya Mountains, and falling into the Ganges. Its
source is presumed to be in the territories of a native chief,
named the Moostang Rajah, now tributary to the Rajah of
Nepaul. After a course of about 200 miles, it sweeps round
the base of the Maddar Mountain, where the river is per¬
fectly clear, and broader than the Thames at Chelsea, with
banks of abrupt rocks alternating with levels covered with
stately forests. In the upper part of its course the river is
called Salgrami, from a curious species of stones found in
its bed and held sacred by the inhabitants. They are
mostly round, and perforated in one or more places with
worms, which the Hindus, in their degraded superstition,
believe to have been done by Vishnu in the form of that
reptile ; and the stones are prized in proportion to the num¬
ber of perforations or spiral curves in each. These stones
are called Salgrams. A few grains of gold are occasionally
separated from the sand of the Gunduck. From the Mad¬
dar Mountain the course of the river is in a south-easterly
direction for the further distance of 200 miles, when it falls
into the Ganges, at the town of Hajeepoor, opposite the
city of Patna, in N. Lat. 25. 39., W. Long. 85. 16.
GUNDWANA, a large province of Hindustan, in the
Deccan, extending from the 19th to the 25th degree of N.
latitude. The tract may be considered as comprising part
of the British territory of Saugor and Nerbudda with the
districts of Singrowlee, Chota Nagpore, and Sirgooja, the
petty native states on the S.W. frontier of Bengal, the
Cuttack Mehals and the northern portion of Nagpore. It
is estimated to be 400 miles in length, by 280 in average
breadth. Gundwana, in its most extensive sense, includes
all that part of India within the above-mentioned boun¬
daries which remained unconquered by the Mohammedans
up to the reign of Aurungzebe. But Gundwana proper is
GUN 95
limited to four districts, named Gurrah-Mundela, Chotees- Cundwana*
gur, Nagpore, and Chandah, and it stretches S. along
the E. side of the Wurda and Godavery, to within 100
miles of the mouth of the latter. The greater part of
this province is a mountainous, unhealthy, and ill-watered
country, covered with jungle, and thinly inhabited ; and to
its poverty and other bad qualities its independence may be
ascribed. A continued chain of moderately elevated hills
extends from the southern frontier of Bengal almost to the
Godavery, and by these the eastern was formerly separated
from the western portion of the Nagpore dominions. This
province contains the sources of the Nerbudda and the
Soane, and is bounded by the Wurda and Godavery ; but a
want of water is still the general defect, the streams by
which it is intersected, namely, the Mahanuddy, Caroon,
Hatsoo, and Silair, being inconsiderable, and not navigable
within its limits. The Goands, or the hill tribes, who took
refuge in the mountains and fastnesses from the invaders
of the country, are the original inhabitants of the country,
and still retain all their primeval habits of barbarism. The
country which they inhabit is a mere wilderness, its inhabi¬
tants scarcely rising above the level of beasts. Their habits
are loose and disorderly, and they frequently descend from
the mountains which they inhabit to plunder the plains be¬
low, from which they were originally driven. In the course
of the last century they have acquired an increasing appe¬
tite for salt and sugar, and the desire to procure these
articles has operated as a stimulus to their industry, and
tended more than any other circumstance to promote civi¬
lization amongst them. These Goands are Hindus of the
Brahminical sect ; but they retain many of their impure
customs, and abstain from no flesh except that of the ox,
cow, and bull. The more fertile tracts of Gundwana were
subdued at an early period by the Bhoonsla Mahrattas, who
claimed as paramount over the whole. The inhabitants
were rendered nominally tributary ; but it was found impos¬
sible to collect any revenue from them without a detach¬
ment, so that in fact the collection of the revenue was rather
like a plundering expedition, the cost of which always ex¬
ceeded the profit. During the war against the Pindarees
in 1818, when the British troops invaded the territories of
Appa Saheb, the Rajah of Nagpore, their operations were
greatly facilitated by the insurrection of the hill tribes, who
occupied the passes into the Nagpore territories. For a
long series of years it was the policy of the rajah of this ter¬
ritory, a descendant of Sevajee, to interfere as little as pos¬
sible with the neighbouring powers. At length, in 1803,
Ragojee Bhoonsla was induced, in an evil hour for himself,
to depart from this system of neutrality, and to join Scindia
in a confederacy against the British. He was soon reduced,
however, by the defeats which the confederates sustained
at Assye and Argaun, to sue for peace, as the price of which
he ceded a large portion of his dominions to the conquerors,
namely, the province of Cuttack, including the pergunnah
and port of Balasore. After the death of this rajah, whose
sole object seemed to be to amass treasure, and who, for
this purpose, laid the country under heavy contributions,
and even joined with the Pindaree plunderers, the throne,
contested by various competitors, was at last secured by
Appa Saheb, his nephew, who, in the war against the Pin¬
darees, joined the coalition against the British power, and
was involved in ruin along with his other allies. A treaty
of peace was concluded with him, which he violated; and
he was finally deposed in 1818, and the grandson of the late
rajah put in his stead. The latter prince, after a reign of
35 years, died in 1853 ; and leaving no issue, the dynasty
became extinct, and the kingdom of Nagpore was incorpo¬
rated with the British empire. (E-T-)
96
G U N-M A K 11ST G.
Gan- The term gun-making is applied to the manufacture of
waking. sman arms generally—including the fowling-piece, the mus-
v—*' ket, the rifle, and the pistol. The rifle, being an arm of
peculiar construction, and having properties distinct from
those of other fire-arms, is treated separately. (See Rifle.)
The parts of a gun are the barrel, the lock, the stock, and
the furniture.
]. Of Barrels.—Gun-barrels being made for various
purposes and for different classes of purchasers (some of
whom are willing to pay the highest price for the most per¬
fect weapon, while others desire the cheapest article), vary
considerably in the quality of their material, the mode of
their construction, and the amount of labour expended on
them. The material is in general iron, but steel is used
to some extent in the preparation of the best and highest-
priced barrels for sporting guns, and also, in the form of
cast-steel, for a new species of rifle-barrel that has been
used in America with the greatest success, and which re¬
cently has been introduced into this country both at Bir-
mingham and Glasgow.
In the selection of iron for barrel-making, two qualities
are absolutely essential—tenacity and elasticity. The first
that the barrel may not burst under the explosive action of
the powder, which does not expand gradually, but strikes
suddenly like a hammer; the second that the barrel may
not bulge, and also that it may preserve a certain sharpness
of reaction requisite for the good shooting of the piece. It
is therefore of the first importance that the iron should be
of the best description that can be procured. Common iron,
such as is used for the heavier ivorks of ordinary manufac¬
ture, is so large and loose in the grain, that it could not
stand the shock of explosion; and the gun-barrel makers
from an early period have made strenuous endeavours to
improve the quality of the metal, which in their hands has
been brought to a higher state of perfection than in any
other art. The finest iron ever used in this or any other
country has probably been produced by the gun-makers in
their attempts to work the metal up to its limits of excel¬
lence. The more iron is drawn out and forged under the
hammer the more its quality improves, provided it is not
burnt; and this circumstance induced barrel-makers to
select the materials that had already undergone the utmost
amount of work by fire and anvil. Hence arose the manu¬
facture of gun-barrels from stubs or horse-shoe nails, which
were not only made from rods of the best iron, but heated
and hammered into their peculiar form, and afterwards cold-
hammered to render them smooth, and to give the turn to
the point which brings the nail out of the hoof. The stub
was therefore the article that had most hammering expended
on it, and was the best material for the manufacture of gun-
barrels. So great was the superiority of the iron, that since
stubs have ceased to be employed—either from the scarcity
of the nails, or from the fact that inferior metal was em¬
ployed in their manufacture—the efforts of barrel-makers
have been directed to the production of an iron that should
equal the stub ; it being considered the standard of excel¬
lence to which all iron employed for good barrels should be
made to approach more or less nearly. The barrels of the
best sporting guns are now made of a mixture of iron and
steel, which passes under the name of laminated steel. These
barrels are of excellent quality, and shoot better than iron
barrels on account of the elasticity of the metal.
When the iron is selected, whether of ordinary or supe¬
rior quality, it is clipped by a pair of shears worked by steam
into pieces the size of stubs. These are then washed to oun-
retnove dirt, and cleansed in dilute acid to remove rust, making.
They are then placed in a drum which revolves rapidly on
a shaft, and the pieces are rolled and tumbled over each
other till they become as bright as silver. They are now
carried to the air-furnace, where they are heated almost to
a state of fusion, so that they adhere together into a ball
called a bloom of iron. From the furnace the ball, wei<rhin£r
about 40 lbs., passes to the forge-hammer, where it is drawn
into a bar; and the bar then passes to the rolling-mill,
where it is reduced to the requisite size for the manufacture
of the barrels.
Iron barrels in Britain being made exclusively at Bir¬
mingham, we describe the process as at present practised
by the Birmingham forgers. When the forge fire is first
lighted it will not make what are termed best barrels. It
requires to be burning and at work for several hours before
it comes into working order for the fine twist barrels, and
consequently the men begin by welding a number of the
commonest and cheapest barrels. To each fire there are
three men, the foreman and two assistants. They begin
by making rolled barrels, which are the simplest in construc¬
tion and most common in quality. A rolled barrel is merely a
strip of iron folded up lengthwise like a boy’s pea-shooter,
and welded along the joint. The fore-part of the barrel,
however, being required of less thickness than the breech
end, these barrels are usually made of two lengths or tubes.
The strips or plates of iron are heated and beat in a groove
until they form a tube half closed. They are then heated
again and closed with the edges overlapping. The edges are
then welded on a mandril, and when a certain number of
pieces are prepared the men proceed to weld together the
two pieces of each barrel. The end of the breech part is
opened a little on the beam of the anvil, the end of the fore¬
part is introduced, and the joint completed.
The fire being in proper order for the finer kinds of work,
the welders proceed to forge twisted barrels, which differ
from plain barrels in the circumstance that the grain of the
iron, instead of running longitudinally, runs diagonally across
or round the barrel, making a more perfect, stronger, and
safer tube, neither so liable to burst nor to bulge. If we
take a strip of paper half-an-inch broad and roll it diagonally
round a ruler, we have a representation of the construction
of a twisted barrel; and the joint that is welded, instead of
being straight from end to end of the piece, is a spiral that
makes a certain number of turns, according to the breadth
of the rod of iron employed in the process. For the finest
barrels the rod is nearly square, being T6^ths of an inch in
breadth, and x6^ths in thickness. For very common barrels
the rod is rather a ribbon of iron, being an inch or more in
breadth. The latter will make only six turns in six inches
of length, the former wall make about fifteen or sixteen
turns in six inches. The one makes a diagonal or open
twist, the other a transverse or close twist; and in general
the quality of a barrel may be ascertained by observing
whether the twist be close or open, as only the best mate¬
rials and the best workmanship are employed on the closest
twisted guns.
The welders now take a rod four feet long and turn it into
the form of a corkscrew (except that the turns lie close
together), by means of two iron bars, one fixed and the
other loose, the loose bar having a notch to receive the end
of the rod. When inserted, the bar is turned by a handle
until the whole of the rod is twisted, leaving a short end on
G U N-M
Gun- which to weld a new rod. A sufficient number of pieces
making, being prepared, the piece intended for the breech end is
J heated to a welding heat for about three inches, and jumped
close by striking the end on the anvil. It is then hammered
in a groove to make it round. One piece being welded,
another is joined on by a single stroke of the hammer. The
process continues till the barrel is of the required length,
when it is again heated, a mandril introduced, and the tube
is hammered in a groove. When cold, it ought to be cold-
hammered to condense the iron and give the close grain
that produces elasticity.
A patent has recently been taken out for making twisted
barrels by machinery. A strip or ribbon of iron is first
taken, bevelled at the edges, and slightly concave on the
under side. This strip of metal is coiled round a mandril
and welded at one heat, and the process combines rapidity
with economy. Best barrels, however, are still made by
the hand-hammer.
The plain barrel and the twisted barrel are those most
commonly in use—the former for military and export pur¬
poses, the latter for sporting purposes. But another kind
of barrel is made, being a combination of both. This is
called the plated barrel, and is used for heavy rifles. Twisted
iron being dearer than plain iron, the plated barrel has only
a thin ribbon of twist rolled round a plain tube. If well
made it is quite safe, and is perhaps as good for a rifle as if
the twist were through the whole thickness of the metal ;
but it is to some extent an imposition, at least when sold
as a genuine twisted barrel.
The Damascus barrel, so attractive from its handsome
appearance, is made of iron and steel. Alternate bars of
iron and steel are placed on each other in numbers of six
each, after which they are rolled into rods fths of an inch
square. The rods are heated throughout their whole length,
and the two ends put into the heads of a description of lathe
worked by a handle. It is then twisted like a rope, or, as
Colonel Hawker says, wrung as wet clothes are. Three of
the rods are then placed together, and welded with the
twists or figures running in opposite directions, and from
these rods the barrel is welded in the same manner as a
twist barrel. The Damascus barrel is beautiful in figure,
and shoots well, but is greatly inferior in strength to the
stub or best iron barrel. It is much used on the Continent
for double rifles and for the double guns with one barrel
rifled, but in Britain it has ceased to be esteemed, except
for a few fancy articles.
Tdoring of Barrels.—When a barrel is forged and welded
it is taken to the boring-bench and secured on a sort of
carriage that can travel the requisite length. A. boring-bit
of suitable size is fixed into a revolving spindle, and the
point introduced into the end of the barrel. The bit is
worked by steam, water, or hand, and is pressed forward by
a weight until it has passed through the tube. During this
operation a stream of water plays on the barrel to keep it
cool. Bits of larger size are then used till all the blacks
and scales are bored out, and the tube rendered of the pro¬
per calibre. (See Boring).
From the boring-bench it passes to the grindstone. The
stones are of very large size, and revolve at a terrific rate ;
and the workmen have a method of allowing the barrel to
turn in their hands at half the rate of the stone. By this
means they produce a fine surface, and remarkable accu¬
racy of form. Best barrels are turned after being ground ;
inferior barrels are struck up with a large smooth or fine
cut file. They are then tapped in a temporary way, the
proof-plug screwed in, and in that form they are sent to the
proof-house. The London proof-house, however, requires
the barrels to be fitted with their permanent breeches, and
double barrels to be soldered together.
W hen barrels are turned they are fixed in the lathe—
usually self-acting—by means of plugs or mandrils, made
VOL. XI.
A K I N G. 97
perfectly true, and of various diameters, to fit different Gun-
bores. These are placed on the centres of the lathe, and a making,
carrier is fastened on the plug that projects from the breech
end of the barrel. The leading screw that travels the
slide-rest is then set at the angle to which the barrel is to
be turned, and the tool proceeds until the whole exterior of
the tube is finished.
The next process is breeching, of which there are three
kinds—common-plug breeching, chamber-plug or mortar
breeching, and patent breeching. The first is used for the
plainest and cheapest guns. The second is a slight im¬
provement on the first, and consists in making a small
ante-chamber in the body of the plug, so that the grains
composing the main body of the charge of powder may be
ignited simultaneously. These breeches are neither so
convenient, nor do they generate as much force as the
patent breech. They are screwed to the stock instead of
being hooked to the break-off, and consequently the barrel
cannot be removed from the stock without considerable
trouble. The patent breech, the invention of Mr Henry
Nock, is one of the greatest improvements ever made in
fire-arms, and is the only form of breeching suitable for
fowling-pieces and other guns of a superior description. Its
great advantage is its superior strength and neatness ; and
the circumstance that the touch-hole, whether for a flint or
percussion gun, passes into the solid breech, and not through
the breeching-screws. It also permits the barrel to be re¬
moved from the stock by the sliding of a single bolt, which
can be withdrawn by the finger.
Double Barrels.—Double barrels are made of two single
barrels, flattened a little by the file on one side, and sol¬
dered together, with a rib on the top-side, along which aim
is taken, and a rib on the under-side, to which the pipes for
the ramrod are attached. Some makers have had a prac¬
tice of brazing the breech-ends of double guns for about
five or six inches ; but this practice is altogether to be con¬
demned, as the heat required for brazing is so great that it
softens the metal, and deprives it of the elasticity and den¬
sity produced by hammer-hardening. The other portion
of the jointing being effected by soft solder, there is also a
danger that the solder does not come perfectly up to the
brazed portion, and that the barrels may rust away in a place
that is out of sight, and perhaps may ultimately burst in
consequence of the defect. The patent breeching of a double
gun is an extremely ingenious piece of work. The breech
of the left barrel, after being tapped, is screwed into its
place, and a cutting tool with a directing plug is in¬
troduced into the right barrel. The tool is then turned
either by a lathe or brace, and removes the metal so as
to form the concave breech. The other breech is then
turned to the exact size, and forms the cylindrical or convex
breech.
The Proof of Barrels.—Whatever care may have been
taken in the forging of barrels, it is requisite that they
should undergo a proof before use, as defects may exist
•which are imperceptible to the eye. This is done under
the authority of the government—an act of parliament
having been passed in 1813, and another in 1815, to insure
the efficient proving of barrels, and to inflict penalties on
any maker who should “ rib, stock, or finish a barrel that
has not been duly proved.” The proof-houses are situated
at London and Birmingham, and to these two establish¬
ments all barrels must be sent, with the exception of those
belonging to the East India Company, which has a proof-
house of its own in London. A recent and most judicious
regulation requires that barrels should be proved a second
time, vjhen percussioned, as serious accidents are supposed
to have arisen from makers reducing the barrels by re¬
boring them after they had been proved and stamped. The
proof consists in firing the barrels with a very heavy charge
of powder, over which is a wadding of paper, then a leaden
N
98
GUN-MAKING.
Gun- ball to fit the bore, then another wadding of paper. If the
making, barrels burst, bulge, or exhibit any perceptible flaw, they
1 are at once rejected ; if not, they are washed in the water,
impregnated with saltpetre, in which former barrels have
been washed. They then stand for a day, and cracks or
fissures become apparent by the saltpetre crystallizing on
the defective weld. The Birmingham makers have an in¬
genious plan of filing out a crack, and hammering in a
piece of wire to conceal the defect, and such barrels are sold
at a lower price.
The following table exhibits the proof charges of powder
for the respective calibres :—
Proof Scale.
No. of Balls
to the pound
avoird.
No. 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Weight of
Powder for
proof.
oz. drs.
11 0
5 5
3 8
2 11
2 2
1 12
1 8
1 6
1 2
1 1
No. of
Balls to the
pound.
No. 11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Weight of
Powder for
proof.
oz. drs.
1 0
1 0
0 15
0 14
0 14
0 13£
o m
o m
0 11
0 10
No. of
Balls to the
pound.
No. 21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Weight of
Powder for
proof.
oz. drs.
0 10
0 9
9
8J
8J
n
No. of
Balls to the
pound.
No. 31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
Weight of
Powder for
proof.
oz. drs.
0 7i
7i
7
7
7
7
7
6i
No. of
Balls to the
pound.
No. 41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
Weight of
Powdej" for
proof.
oz. drs.
0 6
6
6
6
5}
5*
51
5i
5h
The powder used is the best round granulated government powder.
Gun Locks.—Next in importance to the barrel of the
gun is the lock, which has undergone many successive im¬
provements, and has now arrived at a state of remarkable
excellence and efficiency. It commenced as the match¬
lock, still used by some of the eastern nations, was improved
into the wheel-lock, which generated sparks by the revolu¬
tion of a notched wheel of steel, then became the snap-
hance, which is the foundation of the common flint-lock,
was then changed into the ordinary flint-lock, with a single
hammer and pan ; and finally has resulted in the percussion-
lock, which ignites the charge by means of a copper cap,
containing detonating powder. The percussion-lock has so
completely superseded the flint that the latter may be termed
antiquated; and, though still used, is no longer manufac¬
tured. It is unnecessary, therefore, to describe more than
the percussion-lock. The merit of applying detonating
powder as a substitute for flint in the discharge of fire¬
arms belongs to the Rev. Mr Forsyth, minister of Belhelvie,
a parish in Aberdeenshire. Fig. 1 is a representation of the
original percussion-lock. It is ingenious ; and if it would
work with safety and efficiency, would be even preferable
to the lock used in the present day ; but it is unsound, and
liable to accidents. It has a magazine, a, for containing
the detonating powder. This magazine revolves round a
roller, b, the end of which is screwed into the breech of the
barrel. A small hole is opened in the roller, through which
the priming-powder passes. This hole communicates with
a channel which leads to the chamber of the gun. Right
above the little hole in the roller is the pan for containing
the priming. The magazine is provided with a steel punch,
the under end of which is right above the pan, ready to ignite
the priming when struck on the upper end by the cock, d,
in firing the gun. When the punch is struck down into the
pan it is raised up again to its former position by a spiral
spring. Every time the gun is fired the magazine is turned
round, so as to drop a priming of detonating powder into
the pan. It is then turned back again, and the steel punch
is found in the position ready to fire the gun when the
trigger is drawn. The defect of this lock was, that the
magazine containing the detonating powder was apt to ex¬
plode ; but if the principle could be carried out with safety
it would form a self-priming lock—a great desideratum both
for military and sporting purposes.
Another form of lock, called the tube-lock, fired the
charge by means of a tube containing detonating powder in¬
troduced into the side of the breech. Another form was
the patch-lock, which gave fire by means of a patch of de¬
tonating powder on the face of the hammer. Another form,
used in America, gave fire by means of a small globe of de¬
tonating powder crushed into the touch-hole, and struck by
a steel point. All these forms, however, have given way to
the copper cap, which appears to have the suffrages of all
the best gun-makers. Other forms must at present be re¬
garded rather as fancy articles than as belonging to ordinary
gun-making.
Fig. 2 represents one of the best British locks, as re¬
ceived by the gun-maker from the lock-maker—the hammer
Big. 2.
being afterwards supplied by the former in making up the gun.
Fig. 3 represents the separate pieces of the same lock,
technically called the works. A, the lock-plate ; B, the
Big. 3.
GUN- M A K I N G.
99
Gun- tumbler; C, the bridle ; D, the swivel; E, the main-spring ;
naking. F, the scear, on the projecting branch of which the trigger
—/ acts; G, the scear-spring, which resists the pull of the
finger, and keeps the scear in the notch of half-bend or full-
bend. Fig. 2 represents the pieces in position when the
hammer is down. This is termed a bar-lock, on account of
its being fitted under a projecting bar at the breech end of
the barrel. The works, however, may be partially re¬
versed so as to place the lock in the hand of the stock, in
which case the lock is termed back-actioned. The back-
actioned lock was popular some years since; but the general
opinion of makers and sportsmen seems to have decided so
completely in favour of the bar-lock, that no other is now
made in the ordinary way of business.
Very common locks, such as those applied to the old
muskets, were made with a hook instead of a swivel. Such
locks have a dull, heavy action, and never work with the
lively motion of the swivel-locks. The swivel, although
apparently a mere means of connecting the main-spring
with the tumbler, is a very important part of the mechanism.
If well hung, it has the effect of making the heaviest pull
or greatest force of the main-spring—not when the hammer
is on full-bend, as might be supposed from the circumstance
that the more a spring is bent the greater its force—but
when the hammer is down on the nipple. This, in fact, is
one of the principal tests of a well-made lock; and an expe¬
rienced finger will at once detect a bad lock, from the mere
circumstance that the pull increases instead of decreases as
the hammer is drawn up. For military purposes it has not
been customary to use the swivel-lock, except for the most
recently-made rifles ; but it is poor economy on the part of
the government to arm a soldier with an inferior weapon,
when the extra cost would not amount to more than a couple
of shillings for each musket or rifle.
Some locks, especially those intended for rifles where a
hair-trigger is used, have a detant—that is, a small piece of
moveable steel attached to the tumbler in such a way that
when the lock is on half-bend the detant lies behind the
point of the scear. When the lock is on full-bend the de¬
tant lies in front of the scear, and projects beyond the half¬
bend notch, so as to carry the scear clear of the notch even
if there be no pressure on the trigger. With a detant the
lock cannot be let down from full to half-bend without
being let down past the notch, and drawn up again—an ad¬
vantage which insures that the scear shall be securely in¬
serted into its proper place, and shall not hang on the edge
of the notch, where it might slip and produce accidents.
The detant is not generally used for sporting fowling-
pieces, but it has advantages even for those guns.
Many safety-locks have been invented, in the hope of
obviating the distressing accidents caused by the improper
use of fire-arms, but not one has ever obtained the approba¬
tion ofthe mass of sportsmen or gun-makers. The true safety-
lock is caution. Habitual caution in the use of arms is pre¬
ferable to any mechanical device, which, while inefficient in
the hands of a careless bungler, has the additional disadvan¬
tage of inducing the want of caution. All sorts of complicated
devices are to be avoided in fire-arms. Those who use
them must learn that the only security from accident is the
most careful and constant, prudence, and the habitual con¬
viction that caution must never be relaxed. The practice
of caution can be acquired by attention, and it is one of the
first requisites of all who handle arms. A ship of war, for
instance, is filled with the most tremendous materials of de¬
struction, yet very few accidents occur, even in the gigan¬
tic navy of Great Britain. The reason is that one and all
are taught habitual caution—systematic prudence reduced
to one of the ordinary rules of life. So it should be with
the sportsman; and no man ought to be trusted with arms
who cannot acquire an intelligent and vigilant habit of
using his weapon with careful prudence. What are termed
self-acting safeties are, in general, devices, not for obviating
accidents, but for extending the reputation or traffic of the
inventor. A common bolt, however, which can be moved
by the finger, and which checks the lock by bolting into
the back of the tumbler, is a simple and useful appliance,
and might be more generally used. In crossing a fence,
jumping a ditch, or passing through a hedge—the occasions
on which accidents frequently occur—the bolt prevents the
discharge of the gun. Sportsmen do not generally use the
bolt, except to rifles. In this perhaps they err, as it may
safely be affirmed that bolt-locks would have prevented
many of those accidents caused by twigs catching the trig¬
gers, or by some impediment coming in contact with the
hammers that have improperly been left down on the caps,
when, if they are not forced up to the half-bend, the gun
is fired, and perhaps a catastrophe takes place. The dis¬
advantage of the bolt is, that if the sportsman neglect to
unbolt his lock, and a bird rises, he pulls hard, and risks
breaking the scear. On the whole, however, the balance
is in favour of the bolt, which is the only safety appliance
that can be thoroughly recommended for general use. At
the same time it is quite possible that a simple safety-lock
may yet be devised ; and, perhaps, this desideratum may
be found in some method of locking the trigger in such a
manner that the check shall be relieved at the moment of
firing. There have been plans of this kind, but too com¬
plicated for general use.
The trigger, although not a constituent portion of the
lock, is connected with the lock mechanism. The plain
trigger is merely a piece of iron or steel hung upon a pin
so as to press up the branch of the scear and relieve the
tumbler. The introduction of a slight spring called the
trigger-spring was one of the refinements which have now
brought the best British guns up to such an admirable
state of perfection. This spring prevents the triggers from
hanging loose or rattling, and it brings them forward to the
finger. Much ofthe excellence of a fowling-piece depends
on the manner in which the triggers are hung.
The hair-trigger, used for pistols and rifles, is a construc¬
tion by itself, and when well made is a remarkably neat
piece of mechanism. Its object is to discharge the gun
with the slightest possible pressure of the finger on the
trigger. It can be made to any degree of fineness, and is
called a /<a«V-trigger, because, when finely set, a single hair
will discharge the piece. It is then, of course, dangerous,
as a jar or shake might produce an accident. It requires
the most careful manipulation, and at all times is rather a
critical appendage to fire-arms. Above all, it requires to
be well made, an inferior hair-trigger being positively worth¬
less. No part of a gun requires more perfect materials and
workmanship, and therefore every purchaser of a weapon
fitted with a hair-trigger should make sure that it is a good
one. There can be no doubt that the hair-trigger is an
advantage for rifle-shooting, where extreme accuracy is re¬
quired, and where the pull on the common trigger is apt to
diverge the gun from the line of aim, but it is so delicate
in action that it can only be used safely in experienced
hands. The principle of a hair-trigger is to make a spring
do the work of the finger—the spring being set beforehand,
so that when we wish to fire we have only to detach the
spring and it strikes up the scear. When we fire a gun we
do not take a hammer in our hand and strike the percussion-
cap ; we draw up the hammer of the lock to full-bend, and
the main-spring exerts the required force. And so with the
hair-trigger, we first set its spring, and when we wish to fire,
the spring relieves the tumbler and discharges the gun.
Hair-triggers are made single or double. With the former
there is only one trigger to the gun, which can be used either
with or without the hair. To set it, we press it forward until
it locks into a catch. W ith the latter there are tw o triggers,
the foremost of which is the common trigger, while the
Gun¬
making.
100
G U N-M A K I N G.
Gun- other, nearest the hand, sets the hair. 1 he advantage of
making. the double construction is, that we can put the gun to the
■ »shoulder and direct the line of fire before setting the hair-
trigger. The double trigger is most used on the Continent.
In Britain the single is most in vogue.
Gun-Stocks.—Gun-stocks are made almost exclusively
of the wood of the walnut tree, which appeals to combine
in a higher degree than any other wood the qualities of
soundness, strength, durability, and beauty of appeal ance,
without excessive weight, hardness, or brittleness. Other
woods have been tried to a considerable extent, but the
walnut holds its ground without a rival. Birds’-eye maple,
rosewood, the root of ash, &c., may be occasionally used
according to the fancy of a purchaser, but no wood except
the walnut enters as a general material into the manufac¬
ture of gun-stocks. The English wood is considered pre¬
ferable to the French or German, being closer in the grain,
finer in the texture, and generally of a more handsome
figure. Before Joseph Manton improved the manufacture
of fowling-pieces, the stocks were made too short; and after
he had designed a new pattern of sterling excellence, other
makers fell into the extreme of length, and made the stocks
absurdly long. The rule is for each purchaser to suit him¬
self, without being overstretched by a long stock, or obliged
to bend the head inconveniently to a short one. In Britain
stocks are made plain; on the Continent they are frequently
ornamented by elaborate carving sometimes of great excel¬
lence. The stocks of Lebeda of Prague are models of ele¬
gance ; and as this system of ornamenting fire-arms was a
national peculiarity, it is perhaps to be regretted that the
French and Belgians are departing from their own style
and merely imitating the English patterns. In the Great
Exhibition there was a brace of pistols stocked in ivory, the
carving of which alone would probably cost from L.50 to
L.100. The Americans stock their rifles differently from
the British. They use much less wood, thin off the butt, and
do not now carry the stock forward under the barrel. The
heel or end of the butt is also hollowed out to fit the arm,
as the American rifle-shooters fire from the upper part of
the arm, and not from the shoulder as is customary in Bri¬
tain. A pistol-hand is a handsome, and perhaps useful ad¬
dition to the gun-stock. A very experienced gun-maker in¬
formed the writer of this article that he had never seen a
broken stock that had a pistol-hand. Musket stocks have
not hitherto been made by machinery in Great Britain or
on the continent of Europe, except in Belgium, where the
experiment failed. In America they are made in the fol¬
lowing manner:—A stock is taken in the roughly-sawn state,
and placed in a machine, in which it revolves. This first
machine cuts out the portions on which the banding is
placed. The stock is then taken to another machine,
which, by a revolving drill, cuts the groove for the barrel
down to the breech, and at the breech a cutter squares the
groove at a right angle. Another machine turns the hold
of the stock ; another drills out the portion where the lock
is fitted; another cuts the placing for the trigger-guard
plate. Other machines cut the placings for the rest of the
furniture, and the stock is so far finished as only to re¬
quire a slight rasping to complete it. The parts are thus
so perfect that a lock taken out of a heap will fit any stock
with sufficient accuracy for military purposes. Altogether,
sixteen different machines are required for forming the stock,
and the operation occupies about half-an-hour.
Gun-Furniture.—The portions of a gun other than the
barrel, the lock, and the stock, are termed gun-furniture.
They consist of the heel-plate, which covers the butt; the
break-off, into which the breeching hooks ; the trigger-
plate ; the trigger-guard; the hammers; the escutcheons
and bolt which fasten the barrel into the stock ; the cap or
tip of the stock ; the tops, worms, and caps of the ramrod ;
and the screws necessary to put the gun together. Iron
furniture of the best quality is made under the hammer,
but a large proportion of the inferior furniture is stamped,
not forged. The stamped or pressed articles are used for
cheap guns, but they never possess the strength and solidity
of the forged work. In the manufacture of gun-furniture—
a scroll-guard for instance—the forgers exhibit marvellous
dexterity, and turn out the article so accurately shaped that
it requires little more than to be cleaned up with the file.
Pistols.—Pistols, although not generally manufactured by
the same parties, are made in much the same manner as guns,
with this exception, that where they are made in pairs the two
barrels are forged and bored in one piece, and afterwards cut
through the middle. This method saves labour, and insures
that the calibres of the two barrels shall be exactly similar.
The Gun Trade.—The manufacture of guns may be
divided into two great branches. The wholesale trade,
which includes military arms and the commoner classes of
export arms, and the retail trade, which includes the fowl¬
ing-pieces and rifles of an expensive character used by
sportsmen. The wholesale trade is carried on almost ex¬
clusively at Birmingham, which is now the only place in
Great Britain where gun-barrels are forged. Formerly
fine barrels were made in London ; but the metropolitan
forgers found that they could not compete with the local
advantages of Birmingham, and the manufacture of barrels
has centred exclusively in the latter town. Gun-furniture
is also made at Birmingham ; and gun-locks, especially
those of the best quality, are made at Wolverhampton,
where the lock-filers have acquired a high reputation for
the excellence of their productions. For military muskets
it has hitherto been customary for the government to con¬
tract with the Birmingham makers ; but a large establish¬
ment is now in progress at Enfield, where muskets are to
be made by machinery, on the plan adopted by the Ameri¬
can government, and introduced into this country by Colonel
Colt, who manufactures his revolvers by machines not pre¬
viously used in Britain, and which bid fair to revolutionize
the wholesale manufacture of arms. Inferior guns are
finished at Birmingham, and sent out for sale. They are
retailed by ironmongers and other traders, who are not gun-
makers, and have no knowledge of the quality of the wares
further than the price they pay, and the character of the
wholesale merchant from whom they purchase. Many of
these guns are of fair sound quality, and may be used for
boating and rough work, but many also are blemished,
being made up from articles that have been cast on ac¬
count of what are termed faults. A barrel, for instance,
that has a crack in it will be mended by hammering in a
small piece of wire, and neither the salesman nor the pur¬
chaser is able to detect the artifice. The fine or best-gun
trade, which is carried on at London, Birmingham, Edin¬
burgh, Dublin, and the provincial towns, is of an entirely
different character from what is termed the sale-shop trade.
The master gun-maker is here an artist, and not merely a
salesman. He receives his barrels from Birmingham, his
locks from Wolverhampton, and the furniture he partly pur¬
chases from the forgers, partly makes at home. His business
is to screw the gun together ; but this technical term includes
everything of importance, except the production of the raw
material on which he works. He purchases the very best
materials, as the price of these does not constitute nearly so
large an item as the after-work to be expended on them.
He subjects them to the closest inspection; and in proceeding
to make up the gun he discovers the quality of every indi¬
vidual part. His position in the gun-trade is much the same
as that of the British watchmaker who receives his ma¬
terials from Clerkenwell, or of the Parisian watchmaker, who
receives his from Geneva. The making of the watch is a
different art from the making of the plates, wheels, and
cases. And so with gun-making. The gun-maker is the
artist who superintends the production of the finished work.
GUN-MAKING.
101
Gun-
naking.
This branch of the gun manufacture has rapidly increased
within the last few years. A London gun was formerly-
esteemed as superior to all others; and in the days of Jo¬
seph Manton, Henry Nock, Durs Egg, &c., it was no doubt
superior to any piece that was made elsewhere in Britain.
But the making of fine guns has extended to almost every
part of the kingdom, and Birmingham now produces sporting
guns of the very best quality, while Edinburgh has become
celebrated for the accuracy of its rifles, and for the extreme
finish of its higher class of fire-arms. An Edinburgh gun is
now in every respect equal to the best guns of the metropolis.
When guns are stocked and screwed together, their bar¬
rels are browned to prevent them rusting. There are seve¬
ral methods of browning, and each maker has little modifi¬
cations of his own. The following is the recipe for the wash
with which barrels are stained:—
\ oz. strong nitric acid,
\ oz. blue-stone,
1 quart of water.
I oz. muriate tincture of steel,
1 oz. spirits of wine,
J oz. muriate of mercury,
These are well mixed and allowed to stand a month to
amalgamate. The oil or grease is carefully removed from
the barrels by lime, and the mixture is laid on lightly with
a rag or sponge every two hours, and scratched off with a
steel scratch brush every morning until the barrels are dark
enough. The acid is then quenched by pouring boiling
water on the barrels. Inferior barrels are stained by a dif¬
ferent process. Muriate of mercury is dissolved in a wfine-
glassful of spirits of wine, and this solution is mixed with a
pint of water. Some of the mixture is then poured on a
small quantity of whitening, and laid on the barrel with a
sponge; as soon as dry it is brushed off, and a fresh coat
laid on. This is continued till the colour is dark enough,
which is generally in about two days. Hot water is then
applied, and the barrels are suddenly immersed in cold
water to heighten the colour. Another method, called
smoke-brown—although the colour produced was a grey¬
ish black—was also employed, and is strongly recommended
in Mr Greener’s Treatise on the Gun ; but it is apt to in¬
jure the barrels unless performed with the utmost dexterity
and care. It has therefore fallen out of use, except for a
few rifle barrels. The plan is to anoint the barrels with a
little vitriolic acid, which is then washed off, and the iron
rubbed dry. They are then passed through the flame of the
forge-fire until covered with a sooty covering, then allowed
to stand in a damp cellar till rust is produced—after which
they are scratched with the wire brush. The process is re¬
peated until the colour becomes permanent. This stain looks
well and stands well, but is not suited for general use.
In finishing a gun, the hammers, break-off, lock-plate,
and breeches are case-hardened by the ordinary mode of
case-hardening iron. The heel-plate and trigger-guard are
blued, and the screws, which ought always to be of steel,
are tempered. The stock is stained and oiled—or varnished
and polished in the same manner as a coach pannel. The
latter mode best resists rain and moisture, and is to be pre¬
ferred where the varnish is good. Few of the ornamental
arts of this country have made more progress than that of
gun-engraving. Where formerly there were merely a few
scrolls and some rude attempts at a sporting dog or game
bird, we now find the gun-furniture ornamented with ela¬
borate work of the most tasteful design and most careful
execution. As the British taste, however, rejects fan¬
ciful ornament, the engraving is almost exclusively in lines
cut with the graver, whereas the Germans employ the me¬
thod called cutting out, the ground being cut away, and
the figures left in relief. The latter mode produces re¬
markably handsome work.
The American Rifle.—The American rifle having at¬
tained to great celebrity from the unusual accuracy of its
fire, we may describe one of the most recent construction.
It is rather remarkable that in the Great Exhibition of 1851
there should have been no specimen of this weapon publicly G“n"
exhibited. The barrel is made of cast steel thoroughly an- ^Ina in&'
nealed, and is cut or planed outside into an octagonal shape. ^
The barrel is 2 feet 8 inches long, and is fitted with a load¬
ing muzzle—its weight ten pounds. I he patent breech is
made of wrought iron, case-hardened, and is joined to the
break-off by a hook, with the addition of a half-lap joint
secured by a square-headed screw. 1 his mode of fastening
does away with the wood in front of the breech. I he false
or loading muzzle is put on by means of four steel pins
about £th inch in diameter, and fth inch long, and the
holes for these pins are drilled before the muzzle is cut off.
When the muzzle is cut it is held in its place by a cramp,
and the rifling is cut through both muzzle and barrel. A
small globe of steel is fixed on the upper part of the muz¬
zle to prevent the front sight being seen when the muzzle
is on the barrel, so that there shall be no danger of firing it
away. The bore of the barrel is scarcely fths of an inch,
or about 90 round balls to the pound. The conical balls
called pickets are 43 to the pound. The bore is then
worked out with lead and emery until quite true. It
is then cut with a gaining or graduated twist, starting at
the breech with one turn in 6 feet, and ending at the muz¬
zle with one turn in 3 feet 6 inches. There are six cuts
or creases, and the sides of the lands are cut square to their
surface. It is then freed from the breech to within fl¬
inches of the muzzle, so as to reduce the friction. The lock
has back-action, and a single hair-trigger. The stock is of
black walnut, straight from butt to break-off, and there
forms a considerable angle with the barrel. A globe-sight
is fixed into the stock just behind the break-off, and a bead-
sight at the muzzle. The price of such a weapon in Ame¬
rica is from 50 to 200 dollars. With such a weapon, and
a telescope sight, Capt. W. Tisdale of Utica made ten con¬
secutive shots at 220 yards, and each shot on the average
measured less than one inch from the centre of the bull’s-
eye—the whole string being 9§ inches. The whole of the
ten shots would have gone into a small-sized playing-card.
A feat of this kind is probably unparalleled in Great Bri¬
tain, and it may draw the attention of our own makers to
the propriety of diminishing the calibre, and increasing the
speed of the ball. The loading-muzzle used by the Ame¬
ricans is intended to prevent the wearing of the true muz¬
zle ; but the superiority of American rifle-shooting is rather
to be attributed to the smallness of the ball, and the great
velocity with which it travels. The greater the velocity the
straighter is the flight—that is, the course of flight has less
elevation and depression than when a heavier ball is used.
In the British service the old smooth bored musket is
rapidly giving way to the new Enfield rifled musket, a
weapon of tremendous power and range. This is the arm
commonly spoken of as the Minie rifle, but it is no longer
a Minie. Minie’s principle was to introduce an iron cup
into the butt of an elongated ball on the supposition that
the cup being driven into the lead by the force of the pow¬
der, would expand it and make it fit the rifle-grooves, there¬
by procuring the advantage of loading without hammering
or forcing the ball into the muzzle. The principle wras ex¬
cellent, and has wrought a revolution in the small arm de¬
partment of the service, but the mode of carrying it out by
means of the iron cup was defective. I he cup was fre¬
quently driven not into but through the ball, leaving the
lead in the barrel. It was then found that the iron was
superfluous, and that if the lead was hollowed out or cupped,
it would expand quite sufficiently. Such is the ball now in
use for the military rifle, and Mr Pritchett received an
award of L.1000 from government for its production.
The cost of these muskets as made by contract, has been
L.3, 9s. O^d. As made at Enfield the cost has been
L.3, 4s. 7£d.; but if made by machinery, and an order given
for 1,000,000, Col. Colt offered to supply them at 30s. In
102 G 0 N-M
Gun- the opinion that this price was not too low, Col. Colt was
making, borne out by Mr Anderson, chief engineer in the royal ar-
senal at Woolwich, and by the celebrated engineer Mr
Nasmyth. The contract price of the musket in the United
States is from 10 to 12 dollars—from L.2 to L.2, 10s. The
price at which the Belgian rifled musket is made in the go¬
vernment factory is 42 francs, and a musket of the same
pattern could be made in this country at 36s. or 37s.
That the rifled musket used in the British service is one
of the most powerful weapons ever invented in the depart¬
ment of small arms, is unquestionable, but it requires im¬
provement. As made at present it has several drawbacks.
After being fired even a small number of shots, it is so dif¬
ficult to load that the men using it have complained that
they could not send the charge home. From the method
of stocking also it has been found impossible to draw the
ramrod in wet weather. The pull on the trigger is consi¬
derably too great for accurate shooting, and the method of
forging the sight-supports on the barrel instead of using a
slide-sight prevents the guns from being correctly regulated.
These are serious disadvantages, and they require the re¬
newed attention of the military authorities. It is well known
that a good sporting rifle can be fired 100 or 150 times
without cleaning. It is therefore a reproach to the military
weapon that 20 or 25 shots have been found to disable it.
The guns, however, are of admirable workmanship, and
only require some slight improvements to render them the
best small arms in any service.
The following is the account of the sum voted by the
House of Commons for the supply and repair of small arms
in each year from 1842-43 to 1854-55, and of the sum ac¬
tually expended.
Year. Amonrit voted. Amount expended.
1842- 3  L.180,000 L.114,660 15 6
1843- 4   136,000 118,936 19 7
1844- 5   90,000 111,336 11 9
1845- 6   84,379 117,317 13 8
1846- 7   120,000 135,377 7 6
1847- 8   120,000 134,769 2 10
1848- 9  !   140,000 139,365 8 0
1849- 50.!  120,000 122,885 15 0
1850- 1   90,000 88,979 12 4
1851- 2   76,000 37^664 0 8
1852- 3   78,000 61,639 18 10
1853- 4   135,800 *26,931 4 0
1854- 5   161,400
* This account is incomplete.
The following table shows the total supply of arms made
in London for the Government and East India Company
from 1841 to 1850 Since the latter date the government
contracts have been almost entirely withdrawn from the
metropolis, on account of a trifling difference in price ; and
the excellent body of workmen formerly assembled in
London have betaken themselves to other trades or to other
localities:—
Dates. E. India Company. Government. Total.
1841  20,150 7,660 27,810
1842  36,353 12,926 49,279
1843   34,880 12,270 47,150
1844  25,362 13,496 38,858
1845  49,623 12,539 62,162
1846  50,880 16,336 67,216
1847   57,214 18,378 75,592
1848  55,068 23,862 78,930
1849  71,381 26,366 97,747
1850  26,025 13,607 39,632
Total of ten years, 584,376, or an average of 58,437 for each year.
Revolvers.—Among the arms recently introduced into
this country and manufactured to a large extent is the
revolver or repeating pistol. The principle is not new, as
revolvers of a construction nearly similar to those now in
use are to be found in the museums of old arms. To Col.
Samuel Colt of the United States belongs the merit of re¬
viving this species of weapon ; and he has a patent, dated
A K I N G.
1836, for his pistol, which is universally known as Colt’s Gun-
revolver. Messrs Deane, Adams, & Deane of London have making.
also a patent for another form, which differs from Colt’s in
several essential particulars. Revolvers have long been
made in this country, but they were made of a large mass
of metal bored into the required number of barrels, the
whole of the barrels being of the same length. This weapon
was so clumsy as to be almost useless. The new revolver
is made with one single barrel of the full length, and a re¬
volving chamber only long enough to contain the charge,
and bored into five or six compartments. This chamber is
made of cast steel, and is so fitted that it can be removed
by drawing a bolt. This gives the advantage of enabling
a spare chamber to be used, which can be kept ready
loaded, and the number of shots is thus doubled. With a
5-shot pistol and two chambers 10 shots can be fired with¬
out re-loading. In introducing the revolver in America,
Col. Colt expended a very large amount of money without
reaping a return until 1849-50, when the disturbed state of
Florida and Texas, and afterwards the Mexican war, esta¬
blished the reputation of his arms. In his evidence before
a select committee of the House of Commons in 1854, he
mentioned the curious fact that, while he was supplying
the American government with pistols at 25 dollars each,
the soldiers were selling them to traders at 75 to 150 dollars,
and sometimes as high as 200 dollars each. He has now
a manufactory at Hartford, in America, where, in 1853, he
turned out about 50,000revolvers ; and another manufactory
at Vauxhall, London, where he employs between 200 and
300 workmen, and where he could produce nearly 1000
pistols per week, made almost entirely by machinery. The
difference between a Colt and a Deane & Adams pistol is,
that the Colt has a lever ramrod under the barrel, which is
part of his patent, and that the hammer requires to be drawn
up every time the pistol is fired. The Deane & Adams, on
the contrary, has a lever at the side, and can be fired by
merely drawing the trigger. A recent improvement of Mr
Adams has produced a pistol that will fire either by draw¬
ing up the hammer or by pulling the trigger, and this pistol
is considered the most perfect that has hitherto appeared.
Another form, and one of great merit, has a spur under
the trigger-guard, and the arm can only be fired wrhen the
spur is pulled by the middle finger, while the trigger
is pulled by the fore finger. Between the merits of these
weapons it is difficult to institute an impartial comparison.
It may, however, be laid down as a general maxim, that
every pistol that will fire by merely drawing the trigger is
a dangerous weapon. The trigger may be drawn by acci¬
dent, as in the case of the late lamented Dr Hector Gavin,
who was shot by one of these weapons, to the regret of the
service and the nation. It may perhaps be said, however,
that Colt’s pistol is more safe in its construction—Deane
and Adams’s more effective in competent hands. But all
the revolvers require to be handled with caution.
Another objection to any arm that fires merely by the
draw of the trigger is, that if the main-spring be strong
enough to explode the percussion cap with certainty, it be¬
comes too strong for the finger, and the shooter swerves
from his aim. If, on the contrary, it is so weak as to pull
easily, there is no certainty that the cap will explode except
under the most favourable circumstances. In very dry
weather, and with good caps, it may explode every time it
is struck by the hammer; but in damp weather, or with in¬
ferior caps, the arm misses fire, and the shooter is disap¬
pointed, or it may even be that his life is endangered.
There is thus a compensation of advantages in each weapon,
and a selection must be made according to the purpose for
which the arm is intended. Repeating rifles, on the same
principle as the pistols, are manufactured and used in the
United States, but they have not yet been adopted in
Britain. (p. e. d.)
103
GUNNERY
Gunnery. Is the art, in a restricted sense, of determining the motions
■*or ranges of projectiles discharged from cannon, mortars,
howitzers, and other kinds of artillery ; and, in a more
general sense, of determining not only the motions of such
bodies, but also the arrangements by which they are ren¬
dered effective instruments of war.
i
I.—THEORY OF GUNNERY.
The use of fire-arms had been long known before any
theory concerning them was attempted. Nor is this re¬
markable, as the theory of the motion of projectiles depends
on a knowledge of certain laws of nature which were not
discovered till many years afterwards. It was different as
regards the improvement of those defensive arrangements
which had been found sufficient in the earlier times to afford
protection against the more ancient engines of war, or, on
the other hand, to cover those who were called upon to use
them. The architects of the middle ages (see Fortifica.-
tion) quickly saw the necessity of modifying the forms and
proportions of the ancient walls which then surrounded
fortified towns, and rendering them more suitable both for
the use and for the resistance of the newly-discovered artil¬
lery adapted for the use of gunpowder. The Cavaliere
Saluzzo of Turin has indeed shown, from the archives of
his native town, that Giorgio Martini, Architetto Senese,
undertook the task of remodelling the ancient walls of
castles and of towns even before the commencement of
the sixteenth century, as Martini died in 1506. In his
plans the profiles of the old castle are not much altered;
but the trace is greatly modified, so as to produce a more
perfect reciprocal or flanking defence, either by a combi¬
nation approximating to something like the bastioned trace,
or by capannati—so called from their resemblance to a
woodman’s hut—in the ditch, a work in principle the same
as the caponnieres subsequently invented by Diirer. No¬
thing, perhaps, is more calculated to exhibit the military
spirit which pervaded the Italian architects, sculptors, and
others, as well as those of the military profession, than the
list of Italian authors on the art of war, in the corps papers
of the Royal Engineers, which was drawn up by an accom¬
plished lady, Mrs Lennox Conyngham, from an inspection of
the libraries of Rome alone. In that list appears the name of
Nicholas Tartaglia, who was the first author who wrote pro¬
fessedly on the flight of cannon-shot. In 1537 he pub¬
lished a book at Venice, entitled Nova Scientia ; and after¬
wards another, printed at the same place in 1546, in which
he treats of these motions. His discoveries were but few,
on account of the imperfect state of mechanical knowledge
at that time. He determined, however, that the greatest
range of cannon was with an elevation of forty-five degrees;
and he likewise ascertained, contrary to the opinion of prac¬
titioners, that no part of the track described by a bullet is
a right line, although the curvature is in some cases so
small that it is not attended to. He compared it to the sur¬
face of the sea, which, though it appears to be a plane, is
yet undoubtedly incurvated round the centre of the earth.
He also assumes to himself the invention of the gunner’s
quadrant, and often makes shrewd guesses as to the results
of untried methods. But as he had not opportunities of
observing practice, and founded his opinions solely on specu¬
lation, he was condemned by most of the succeeding writers,
though often without any sufficient reason. The philoso¬
phers of those times also intermeddled in the questions which
hence arose; and many disputes on motion occurred, espe¬
cially in Italy, where they continued till the time of Galileo, Gunnery,
and probably gave rise to his celebrated Dialogues on Mo-
tion. These were published in the year 1638 ; but in the
interval, and before Galileo’s doctrine was thoroughly estab¬
lished, many theories of the motion of military projectiles,
and many tables of their comparative ranges, at different
elevations, were published; all of them egregiously falla¬
cious, and utterly irreconcileable with the motions of these
bodies. Many of the ancients, indeed, indulged in specula¬
tions concerning the difference between natural, violent,
and mixed motions; but when they did so, scarcely two of
them could agree in their theories.
It is strange, however, that during all these contests so
few of those who were intrusted with the charge of artillery
thought it worth while to bring these theories to the test of
experiment. Mr Robins informs us, in the preface to his
New Principles of Gunnery, that he had met with no more
than four authors who had treated on this subject. The
first of these is Collado, who has given the ranges of a fal¬
conet carrying a three-pound shot to each point of the gun¬
ner’s quadrant. But, from his numbers, it is manifest that
the piece was not charged with its customary allotment of
gunpowder. The results of his trials were, that the point-
blank shot, or that in which the path of the ball did not
sensibly deviate from a right line, extended 268 paces. At
an elevation of one point (or 7^° of the gunner’s quadrant),
the range was 594 paces ; at an elevation of two points, 794
paces ; at three points, 954 paces ; at four, 1010; at five,
1040; and at six, 1053 paces. At the seventh point, the
range fell between those of the third and fourth ; at the
eighth point, it fell between the ranges of the second and
third; at the ninth point, it fell between the ranges of
the first and second ; at the tenth point, it fell between the
point-blank distance and that of the first point; and at the
eleventh point, it fell very near the piece. The paces
spoken of by this author are common steps.
The year after Collado’s treatise, another appeared on the
same subject, by one Bourne, an Englishman. His eleva¬
tions were not regulated by the points of the gunner’s quad¬
rant, but by degrees; and he ascertained the proportions
between the ranges at different elevations and the extent of
point-blank shot. According to him, if the extent of the
point-blank shot be represented by 1, the range at 5° eleva¬
tion will be 2§, at 10° it will be 3J, at 15° it will be 4£, at
20° it will be 4^, and the greatest random will be 5£. This
last, he tells us, happens in a calm day, when the piece is
elevated to 42° ; but according to the strength of the wind,
and as it favours or opposes the flight of the shot, it may be
from 45° to 36°. He has not informed us with what piece
he made his trials, though from his proportions it seems to
have been a small one. This, however, ought to have been
attended to, as the relation between the extent of different
ranges varies extremely according to the velocity and density
of the bullet.
After him, Eldred and Anderson, both Englishmen, pub¬
lished treatises on this subject. The first published his
treatise in 1646, and gave the actual ranges of different
pieces of artillery at small elevations, all under ten degrees.
His principles were not rigorously true, though not liable
to very considerable errors; yet, in consequence of their
deviation from the truth, he found it impossible to make
some of his experiments agree with his principles.
Before proceeding further with the history of gunnery,
or passing the epoch at which the writings of Galileo had
prepared the way for a sounder knowledge of its principles
104
GUNNERY.
Gunnery, it is only an act of justice to Nicholas Tartaglia to record
what he actually either knew or conjectured on the subject.
The second of his works, published, as before stated, in
1546, was translated into English by Mr Cyprian Lucar,
and published in London in 1588. It consists of three
books of Colloquies concerning the Arte of Shooting ; and
the motive for writing it is thus stated by Tartaglia in his
dedication of the book to King Henry VIII., in the lan¬
guage of Lucars translation :—“ It was never my profes¬
sion, not at any time have I delighted to shoot in any har-
chibuse, hande-gunne, or in any other small or great piece
of artillerie, nor doe intende to shoote hereafter in any of
them ; but one only question which a skilfull gunner in
1531 did aske of me in Verona provoked mee at that
tyme to thinke thereupon, and by that occasion to finde
out the order and proportion of shootes or markes neare
hand, and also at markes far off, according to the va¬
riable elevation of the piece which doth shoote, whereof
I should never have had any care, if that gunner had not
with his saide question stirred me up to deale in the same.”
The idea having been thus raised in his mind, Tartaglia
was stimulated by the threatened war with the Turks to Gunnery
publish, in 1537, a short Treatise of Shooting in Gunnes, >. .
to the ende (as he observes) that my devises in the same
might bee considered of. This book, he says, did no good ;
and as he continued to be asked many questions by men of
station and learning, as well as by gunners, on the subject,
he determined to answer all such queries in his second book,
which is therefore arranged in the form of dialogues between
Tartaglia and the Duke of Urbino, the Prior of Barletta, the
Lord of Achaia, bombardiers, gunners, and gun-founders.
1. In the third Colloquie of the 1st Book he lays down
as a proposition, that “ a pellet doth never range in a right
line except it be shot out of a piece right up towards
heaven, or right downe towards the centre of the world.”
In proving this proposition, Tartaglia assumes that the
effective weight of the pellet, or ball, is diminished in pro¬
portion as the velocity is increased, and vice versa ; and
hence that the ball is less drawn to the earth at the first
part of its flight than it is at the last. The explanation of
the fact is therefore founded iipon erroneous principles,
but the reasoning from it is good; for Tartaglia says :—
“ If now it be supposed that in any portion AB of the tra¬
jectory of the ball, the ball moves in a right line, divide
AB in two equal parts at E ; now, as the velocity is greater
in AE than it is in EB, the ball will be less urged to the
ground in the first than it is in the second half, and hence
that the line EB cannot be as nearly straight as AE ;
or, subdividing again AE into two parts at F, FE will be
more removed from a straight line than AF; and so on—
proving that no part of the trajectory could be absolutely
straight.” Considering the imperfect knowledge of the time,
i.
this demonstration was perhaps as much as could be ex¬
pected, as it distinctly recognises the principle, that weight
or gravity continued to draw the ball to the earth from the
first to the last moment of its motion under the impulse of
the propelling force, and hence that it could not at any mo¬
ment move in a straight line.
2. Point-blank.—Tartaglia, in removing the scruples of
his imaginary auditors, explains in the most satisfactory
manner the different acceptations of this term, as now ap¬
plied in the British and French service.
Fig. 2.
In this cut it is assumed that CD is, by a proper arrange¬
ment of sights at the breech and muzzle, made parallel to
the axis of the gun ; and hence, that the line of aim, CDE,
is parallel to FG, or to the axis of the gun produced; in
which case it is manifest that the ball could not arrive at
G, but would come to the ground at I, which point, pro¬
vided GI be equal to the height of the axis of the gun above
the ground, marks the point-blank range of the British artil¬
lerist, or the lateral space passed over by the ball in the time
it takes to fall to the ground. For convenience sake, the
axis is supposed to be horizontal, and the range is also taken
on a horizontal plane.
Fig. a
If the sights are so arranged that one shall be higher from
the axis of the piece than the other, the line of sight or aim
will no longer be parallel to the axis, but, when prolonged,
will make an angle with, or intersect it. If the muzzle
sight be the higher, always estimating from the axis, the
intersection will take place behind the breech, and the line
of the axis will be depressed below that of sight; if, on the
contrary, the breech sight be the higher, the intersection
will take place in front of the muzzle, and the line of the
axis will be elevated above that of sight. The latter is the
case when the line of natural aim, or sight, is used, or that
passing through the highest point of the breech-ring and
the low sight, or highest point, of the muzzle-ring. The
case is analogous to that of fig. 3, where FG represents the
GUNNERY.
105
junnery. line of the axis produced, CDL the visual line, and HI the
true line of flight or trajectory. Now, it is evident from
this drawing that the shot intersects the line of vision just
at K, and hence that if the mark M chanced to be nearer
the gun, though on the visual line, it would not be struck,
at least in the centre, by the ball, which, in this part of its Gunnery,
course, would be below that line. After passing K, the
line of flight rises above the visual line, but in its descent,
meets it again when I and L coincide, and if the mark M
is placed at that point the ball will strike it.
idion.
K
This is better shown in fig. 4, where the visual line CDL is
represented horizontal—the axis, therefore, being elevated
by the angle made by the intersection of the axis prolonged
and the visual line. In this case, then, the ball rises and
intersects the visual line at I, and again on its descent at L,
proceeding on to N, so that the mark M would be struck if
placed anywhere on the trajectory from L to N ; and when
the line CD is tangent at once to the muzzle and breech of
the gun, or passes through any fixed and invariable marks
or sights placed for the purpose on the summit of the base
and muzzle rings, it becomes the natural line of aim or sight;
and if placed horizontal, as in the figure, determines the
point-blank range, or the distance from the gun of the
second intersection L of the trajectory with the natural line
of sight.
In the excellent treatise on artillery by Didion, chef
d'escadron of the French artillery, the meaning of the term
but-en-blanc, or point-blank, and the range corresponding
to it, are stated as above, and, as observed by Didion, the
point K of fig. 3, or I of fig. 4, being, from the ordinary con¬
struction of guns, so near to the muzzle (in a 68-pounder
about seven feet), may be considered as corresponding with
the actual point of intersection of the axis of the gun with
the line of sight, the point of second intersection only
being therefox-e of practical importance as determining the
range.
It is very necessary to keep in view the two differ¬
ent interpretations of point-blank and point-blank range
which have been here explained, in comparing the pub¬
lished xanges of English, as well as American and foreign
guns, as will be perceived from the following state¬
ment :—
Griffiths {Artillerists Manual, 6th edition, 1854) gives—
“ The point-blank range of iron 32, 24, 18, and 12-pound¬
ers, with solid shot, as varying from 380 to 260 yards;
fi'om which to 1200 yards every ^ degree increases the
range 100; and from 1200 to 1500 every ^ degree in¬
creases the range about 50 yards; and the point-blank
range of brass medium 12, 9, and heavy 6-poundex*s, with
solid shot, at 300 yards, and from which to 700 yards,
every ^ degree elevation increases the range 100 yards;
from 700 to 1000 every ^ degree increases it 75 yards,
and from 1000 to 1500, each £ degree increases it 50
yards.
Captain Mordecai, in the Ordnance Manual of the United
States Army, 1850, gives the following ranges :—
Charge.
1-25 lbs.
2-5 lbs.
Elevation. Yards.
0
1
2
3
4
5
0
1
130'
2
3
4
5
318
674
867
1138
1256
1523
347
662
785
909
1269
1455
1663
to ^
.2
U2 CJ
Charge.
6 lbs.
8 lbs.
Degrees
Elevation. Yards.
0 412
1 842
1 30' 953
2 1147
3 1417
4 1666
5 1901
1 883
2 1170
3 1454
4 1639
5 1834
It may be observed, that both in the American and Eng¬
lish service the word “ dispart” is used, and means the natu¬
ral tangent to the angle of natural sight or aim, the length
of the gun measured from the rear of the base ring to a line
raised vertically at the highest point of the swell of the
muzzle, or at tlxe permanent mark or sight fixed there, being
the radius; and hence the angle of dispart is synonymous
with the angle of natural sight, an angle which in English
iron ordnance varies in construction from 1° to 2° 30', and
in the French service varies also, as shown in the annexed
table, extracted from Piobert.
Now, Griffiths states the point-blank range of the 12-
pounder iron, with 4 lbs. of powder, as 360 yards ; and in the
following table, it will be observed that the point-blank x-ange
of the French 12-pounder, a gun which would be equivalent
VOL. XI.
to a 14-pounder English, is given as 650 metres, equal
to 710 yards. In like manner Captain Mordecai gives the
point-blank range of the 12-pounder American field-gun,
with 2 lbs.5oz.,as 347yards; whereas the French 12-pounder
106
GUNNERY.
Gunnery, with a similar charge (see following table) gives 540 than 1°, as Captain Mordecai gives the range of 1° as 662 Gunnery
v-—metres, or 600 yards nearly. The French point-blank yards, though the angle of dispart of the French siege
range in the first case corresponds to an elevation of 1° of 12-pounder is 1° 9' 4", that of the 12-pounder field-gun
English practice, and in the second to an elevation of less being 0° 59' 39".
Range Table of French Siege and Garrison Guns fired with different Charges.
Hausses pour les dis¬
tances  
Canon de 24.
f 600
500
• 400
300
200
Forties de but en blanc. 1
Canon de 16 J
m.
’•600
Hausses pour les dis-
■““» ? z
.200
Portees de but en blanc. )
Canon de 12 J
m.
(600
Hausses pour les dis-
  j 800
(.200
Portees de but en blanc.
Tc.
0,20.
360
230
60
460
341
246
131
m.
80
385
315
223
140
68
m.
109
k.
0,30.
415
322
202
109
m.
90
350
265
191
120
55
m.
120
221
165
104
62
18
m.
162
k.
0,40.
mm.
376
284
207
128
57
m.
120
169
115
65
20
m.
160
135
94
57
25
-4
m.
214
k.
0,50,
mm.
284
205
141
81
28
m.
150
233 162
114
73
37
1
m.
200
88
60
33
8
-15
m.
265
k.
0,60.
mm.
216
152
101
52
9
m.
180
119
80
48
18
-12
m.
240
63
41
18
-3
-22
m.
314
k.
0,70.
mm.
168
115
75
33
-3
m.
210
92
60
33
3
-20
m.
280
47
27
7
-10
-27
k.
0,80.
mm.
132
89
56
20
-13
TO.
240
73
47
20
-8
-25
TO.
319
36
17
0
-16
-31
360 400
k.
0,90.
mm.
104
70
40
9
-20
TO.
269
58
36
10
-15
-29
TO.
356
27
10
-6
-20
-33
k.
1,00.
mm.
85
55
28
1
-25
TO.
298
47
26
2
-19
-32
TO.
390
20
4
-10
-23
-35
k.
1,20.
56
33
10
-12
-34
TO.
353
32
11
- 8
-24
-36
TO.
449
10
- 3
-15
-27
-37
k.
1,40.
k.
1,60.
mm. mm.
38
436 468 523
18
-1
-22
-39
TO.
405
21
0
-15
-28
-39
TO.
500
4
- 8
-19
-30
-39
TO.
567
mm.
24
7
- 9
-29
k.
1,80.
-43 -45
455
12
- 7
-19
-31
-42
TO.
545
0
-12
-22
-32
mm.
15
- 1
-16
-32
5
-11
-23
-34
-44
TO.
585
- 3
-14
-24
-33
-40 -41
603
k.
2,00.
mm.
8
- 7
-21
-35
-47
504 546
- 1
-14
-26
-37
-46
TO.
620
- 5
-16
-26
-34
-42
k.
2,50.
TO.
630 650
mm.
- 3
-18
-31
-40
-50
TO.
628
- 8
-19
-29
-39
-48
TO.
675
k.
3,00.
mm.
-12
-24
-35
-45
-53
TO.
680
Tiers du
poids du
boulet.
mm.
-17
-30
-40
-49
-56
TO.
720
-10
-21
-31
-40
-49
TO.
690
-16
-26
-34
-42
TO.
650
This Table is for guns in perfect condition; when much used the hausses must be augmented. The Hausse-de-Mire corre-
in millimetres1*11186114 BCale °f British ordnance> the degrees being replaced by the natural tangents of the required elevations
Cyprian The term dispart is of ancient use, and Lucar (1588)
“ iwi-t ”lays doWn as 0ne °f hi.S maxims>tllat “ every gunner, before
P • he shootes, must trulie disparte his peece, or give allow¬
ance for the disparte ; and when he dispartes a peece, he
ought to set the said dispart in the midst and uppermost
part of mettall over the mouth of the peecea caution
equally necessary at the present day, as every gunner ought
to make himself acquainted with the dispart of his gun, and
with the range corresponding to it, and then familiarize his
eye with that distance, which would thus become a base of
comparison for ranges within and without.
3. Mode of action of gunpowder. Resistance of the air.—
As the real nature of the products of combustion, as well
as of combustion itself, is a comparatively recent discovery,
the exact theory of its action was not to be expected from
Tartaglia, and yet he gives a very reasonable account of it.
In the 22d Colloquie, in which a gunfounder inquires why
guns generally burst at the breech, Tartaglia answers to
this effect, that the great exhalation proceeding from the
saltpetre acts against the ball, and as it is difficult to put it
at first in motion, though easy to keep up the motion when
once given, should the gun be too weak in that part it will
yield to the force of the windie exhalation and burst; but
if the metal be sufficiently strong, and the ball be moved,
there will be no fear of bursting, unless by anv accidental
cause the motion of the ball be arrested, when the gun may
burst, as it sometimes does, near the muzzle ; “ for, so soone
as the pellet is in moving, that exhalation will continue with
ease if no other let do happen, but so soone as the pellet
commeth to the mouth of the peece, it finds all the aire
without the peece, and by how much the pellet, together
wit i the said exhalation that thrusteth it to assault the aire,
commeth more swiftly, by so much the more united and
with a greater force, doth the aire oppose itselfe very strongly
to resist that sudden moving, and thereupon, in that place,
another difncultie or strife riseth betweene the exhalations
within (which thrusteth forth the pellet), and the aire with¬
out,—that is to say, the exhalation would goe out of the
concavitie, and the aire without doth resist the same; but in
the end, the exhalation within being of a greater force, and
getting the victorie, breaketh forth and teareth in pieces his
said enemie. And then the mouth of the peece being, as
it were, in the middest of the strife, doth alwaies suffer very
much ; and this is the cause that the peece, lacking his due
thicknesse on the said place, or for some other unknowne
fault, doth there easily breake.”
4. The length of the gun should be duly proportioned to the
charge.—It had been supposed that the longer the gun the
greater would be its range, but Tartaglia in the 11th, 12th,
and 13th Colloquies, points out that though the long cul-
vering of these days had a greater range than the shorter
cannon, it required a correspondingly greater charge—that of
the culvering being f ths of the weight of the shot, and that
of the cannon onlyfkls; and further reasons, that for any given
charge there is one length only which can give the maxi¬
mum range, as if too short, part of the powder will be ex¬
pelled before ignition, and so much power be lost; and if
too long, the ball would be in the gun after the total ignition
of the powder, and be checked in its progress by friction
against the bore—the proper limit of length being that which
will place the ball exactly at the mouth at the moment when
all the powder shall be on fire, and the windie exhalation
be at its maximum, “ for on that instant all the expulsive
vertue of the powder begins to worke on the pellet in the
chiefe of his furie or force, and after that vertue expulsive
hath wrought on the pellet, the said pellet, finding nothing
to let or resist his range {except the aire), will flie more
farther than if the concavitie of the peece had beene more
longer or more shorter.” Notwithstanding the partial im¬
perfection of the reasoning, this was a curious approxima¬
tion to the truth, as regards the exact proportion of the
charge “ for giving the maximum velocity” to the length
GUNNERY.
Gunnery, of the gun ; and though Tartagliadid not treat of the more
general question of the inexpediency of increasing both
charge and length beyond a certain point, he gave the ex¬
planation of the fact when he stated that the air resists the
more, the more violent the action of the expulsive exhala¬
tion. Had he known the lawr of that resistance, he would
have probably perfected the explanation by showing that
ultimately the resistance would become so great as to require
enormous strength in the gun to resist the concussion.
Robins (1742) explains the relation of the length of the
bore to the charge and velocity communicated to the ball,
by construction thus:—“ Let AB
represent the axis of the piece;
draw AC perpendicular to it, and
to the asymptotes AB and AC de¬
scribe any hyperbola LEF, and draw
BF parallel to AC; find out now
the point D where the rectangle
ADFG is equal to the hyperbolic
area DEFB, then will AD represent that height of the
charge which communicates the greatest velocity to the
shot; whence AD being to AB as 1 to 2’71828, as appears
by the table of logarithms, from the height of the line AD
thus determined, and the diameter of the bore, the quantity
of powder contained in the charge is easily known.
“ If, instead of this charge, any other fitting the cylinder
to the height AI be used, draw IH parallel to AC, and
through the point H, to the same asymptotes AC and AB,
describe the hyperbola HK ; then the greatest velocity will
be to the velocity communicated by this charge AI in the
subduplicate proportion of the rectangle AE to the same
rectangle diminished by the trilinear space HKE.” This
explanation depends upon the proposition relative to the
determination of the velocity of the ball with a given charge
to be subsequently referred to, but Robins’ reasoning is
here anticipated in order to place the result in opposition
to that of Tartaglia.
Hutton (1812). In his tracts published in this year,
Hutton details the experiments in gunnery carried on by
himself and Major Blomfield, Royal Artillery (afterwards
General Lord Blomfield), and other able artillery officers,
for several years in the Warren, now arsenal of Woolwich.
Some of these had been previously published in 1786 in a
quarto volume of tracts, and a previous set, made in 1775,
in the Philosophical Transactions for 1778—Dr Hutton
having been awarded the annual gold medal of the Royal
Society for his paper containing the results of the experi¬
ments, and the deductions drawn from them.
Some of these experiments were directed to the deter¬
mination of the relation between the charge of pow'der, the
length of the bore, and the resulting velocity. The experi¬
ments w'ere made with five guns of the same calibre, being
intended to discharge a ball of 16 oz. weight, but of lengths
varying from 30*3 inches to 82-3; the lengths of the bores
varying from 28*53 to 80*80 inches, gun No. 5 being in¬
tended to be reduced in length by cutting off successive
portions after a certain number of rounds of practice, so as
to test the effect, on the velocity, of a variation in the length
of the bore. The deductions are thus stated by Dr Hutton:—
“ ls<. The law determined by the previous experiments
between the charge and the velocity of ball is again con¬
firmed—namely, that the velocity is directly as the square
root of the weight of powder, as far as to about the charge
of 8 oz. (half the weight of the ball used) ; and so it would
continue for all charges were the guns of an indefinite
length. But as the length of the charge is increased, and
bears a more considerable proportion to the length of the
bore, the velocity falls the more short of that proportion.
“ 2d. That the velocity of the ball increases with the charge,
to a certain point, which is peculiar to each gun where it is
greatest; and that by further increasing the charge, the
107
velocity gradually diminishes, till the bore is quite full of Gunnery,
powder. That this charge for the greatest velocity is greater —
as the gun is longer, but not greater, however, in so high a
proportion as the length of the gun is; so that the part of
the bore filled with powder bears a less proportion to the
whole in the long guns than it does in the shorter ones;
the part of the whole which is filled being, indeed, nearly in
the subduplicate ratio of the length of the empty part.
“ ?>d. It appears that the velocity continually increases
as the gun is longer, though the increase in velocity is but
very small in respect to the increase in length, the velocity
being in a ratio somewhat less than that of the square roots
of the length of the bore, but somewhat greater than that
of the cube roots of the length, and is, indeed, nearly in
the middle ratio between the two.
“ \th. It appears from the ranges determined by these ex¬
periments that the range increases in a much less ratio than
the velocity, and, indeed, is nearly as the square root of the
velocity, the gun and elevation being the same. And when
this is compared with the property of the velocity and
length of gun in the foregoing paragraph, it appears that
we gain extremely little in the range by a great increase in
the gun, the charge being the same. And. indeed, the
range is nearly as the 5th root of the length of the bore;
which is so small an increase as to amount only to about
^■th part more range for a double length of gun.”
The comparison of these results of experiments made at
a time of vastly advanced knowledge, with the statements
of Tartaglia, must, notwithstanding some of their imperfec¬
tions, justify a very high estimate of the position which he
would have held amongst writers on gunnery had he lived
after the discoveries of Galileo and Newton.
In 1638 Galileo printed his Dialogues on Motion. In these
he pointed out the general laws observed by nature in the pro¬
duction, resolution, and composition of motion, and was the
first who described the action and effects of gravity on falling
bodies. On these principles he determined that the flight
of a cannon-shot, or any other projectile, would be in the
curve of a parabola, except in as far as it was diverted from
that track by the resistance of the air. He has also pro¬
posed the means of examining the inequalities which thence
arise, and of discovering what sensible effects that resistance
would produce in the motion of a bullet at a given distance
from the piece.
Though Galileo had thus shown that, independently of the
resistance of the air, all projectiles would, in their flight, de¬
scribe the curve of a parabola; yet those who came after
him seem never to have imagined that it was necessary to
consider how far the operations of gunnery were affected by
that resistance. The subsequent writers indeed boldly as¬
serted, without making the experiment, that no considerable
variation could arise from the resistance of the air in the
flight of shells or cannon-shot. In this persuasion they
supported themselves chiefly by considering the extreme
rarity of the air compared with those dense and ponderous
bodies; and at last it became an almost generally esta¬
blished maxim, that the flight of these bodies was nearly in
the curve of a parabola.
In 1674, Mr Anderson, before mentioned, published his
treatise on the Nature and Effects of the Gun ; in which he
proceeds on the principles of Galileo, and strenuously as¬
serts that the flight of bullets is in the curve of a parabola;
undertaking to answer all objections which could be brought
to the contrary. The same thing was also undertaken by
Mr Blondel, in a treatise published at Paris in 1683, where,
after long discussion, the author concludes that the varia¬
tions from the resistance of the air are so slight as scarcely
to merit notice. The same subject is treated of in the
Philosophical Transactions (No. 216, p. 68) by Dr Halley;
and he also, swayed by the great disproportion between the
density of the air and that of iron or lead, thinks it reason-
108 GUNNERY.
Gunnery. ab]e f0 believe that the resistance of the air to large metal
shot is scarcely discernible; although in small and light shot
he owns that it must be accounted for.
But though this hypothesis went on smoothly in specu¬
lation, yet Anderson, who made a great number of trials,
found it impossible to support it without some new modi¬
fication. For, though it does not appear that he ever exa¬
mined the comparative ranges of either cannon or musket
shot when fired with their usual velocities, yet his experi¬
ments on the ranges of shells thrown with small velocities,
in comparison of those above mentioned, convinced him
that their whole track was not parabolical. But, instead of
drawing the proper inference from this, and concluding
that the resistance of the air was of considerable efficacy,
he framed a new hypothesis, which was, that the shell or
bullet, at its first discharge, flew to a certain distance in a
right line, from the end of which line only it began to de¬
scribe a parabola. And this right line, which he calls the
line of the impulse of the fire, be supposes to be the same
in all elevations. Thus, by assigning a proper length to
this line of impulse, it was always in his power to reconcile
any two shots made at different angles, let them differ as
widely as we may please to suppose. But this he could
not have done with three shots; nor, indeed, does he ever
tell us the result of his experiments when three ranges were
tried at one time.
When Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia was published, he
particularly considered the resistance of the air to projectiles
which move with small velocities; but, as he never had an
opportunity of making experiments on those which move
with such prodigious swiftness as shots and shells, he did
not imagine that a difference in velocity could make such
differences in the resistance as are now found to take place.
Sir Isaac found, that in small velocities the resistance was
increased in the duplicate proportion of the swiftness with
which the body moved; that is, a body moving with twice
the velocity of another of equal magnitude, would meet with
four times as much resistance as the first; with thrice the
velocity, it would meet with nine times the resistance ; and
so on. This principle itself is now found to be defective
with regard to military projectiles; though, if it had been
properly attended to, the resistance of the air might have
been reckoned much more considerable than was commonly
imagined. So far, however, were those who treated this
subject scientifically from giving a proper allowance for the
resistance of the atmosphere, that their theories differed
most egregiously from the truth. Huygens alone seems
to have attended to this principle. In the year 1690 he
published a treatise on Gravity, in which he gave an ac¬
count of some experiments tending to prove that the track
of all projectiles moving with very swift motions was widely
different from that of a parabola. All the rest of the learned
acquiesced in the justness of Galileo’s doctrine, and erro¬
neous calculations concerning the ranges of cannon were
accordingly given. Nor was any notice taken of these errors
till the year 1716. At that time Ressons, a French officer
of artillery, distinguished by the number of sieges at which
he had served, by his high military rank, and by his abili¬
ties in his profession, presented a memoir to the Royal
Academy, importing that, “although it was agreed that
theory joined with practice did constitute the perfection of
eveiy art, yet experience had taught him that theory was
°c ^tt^e serv‘ce use of mortars; that the works
of Blondel had justly enough described the several parabolic
lines, according to the different degrees of the elevation of
the piece; but that practice had convinced him there was
no known theory for the effect of gunpowder; for, having
endeavoured, with the greatest precision, to point a mortar
agreeably to these calculations, he had never been able to
establish any solid foundation upon them.”
Fiom the history of the academy, it does not appear
that the sentiments of Ressons were at any time contro- Gunnery
verted, or any reason offered for the failure of the theory i -
of projectiles when applied to use. Nothing further, in¬
deed, was done till the time of Benjamin Robins, who, in
1742, published a work en\\i\e({ Neiv Principles of Gun¬
nery, in which he has treated particularly, not only of the
resistance of the atmosphere, but of almost everything else
relating to the flight of military projectiles, and, indeed, ad¬
vanced the theory of gunnery much nearer perfection than
it had ever before attained.
The first thing considered by Mr Robins, and which is
indeed the foundation of all other particulars relative to
gunnery, is the explosive force of gunpowder, which he
determined to be owing to an elastic fluid similar to our
atmosphere, having its elastic force greatly increased by
the heat; and further, that the elasticity or pressure of the
fluid produced by the firing of gunpowder is, coeteris pari¬
bus, directly as its density.
“ As different kinds of gunpowder produce different
quantities of this fluid in proportion to their different de¬
grees of goodness, before any definite determination of this
kind can take place, it is necessary to ascertain the parti¬
cular species of powder that is proposed to be used : hence
Mr Robins determined, in all his experiments, to make use
of government powder, as consisting of a certain and inva¬
riable proportion of materials, and therefore preferable to
such kinds as were made according to the fancy of private
persons.
“ 1 his being settled, we must further premise these two
principles,—1. That the elasticity of this fluid increases by
heat and diminishes by cold, in the same manner as that of
the air. 2. That the density of this fluid, and, consequently,
its weight, is the same with the weight of an equal bulk of
air, having the same elasticity and the same temperature.”
By exploding powder in a receiver connected with a mer¬
curial gauge, Robins determined that an ounce of powder
produced, on explosion, nearly 575 cubic inches of gaseous
fluid possessing the same elasticity as common air; and,
making allowance for the increase of elasticity due to the
heat of the receiver and of the red-hot iron used for ignit¬
ing the powder, that the gas, when reduced to the actual
temperature, would have filled 460 cubic inches. Now, to
determine the ratio of the bulk of the gunpowder to the
bulk of this fluid, remembering that 17 drams avoirdupois of
gunpowder fill 2 inches, the proportion 16:17:: 460 :488f
gave the number of cubic inches of an elastic fluid
equal in density with the air produced from 2 cubic inches
of powder; “ whence the ratio of the respective bulks of the
powder and of the fluid produced from it, is nearly as 1 to
244.
“ If this fluid, instead of expanding when the powder was
fired, had been confined in the same space which the pow¬
der filled before the explosion, then it would have had, in
that confined state, a degree of elasticity 244 times greater
than that of common air; and this independent of the great
augmentation which this elasticity would receive from the
action of the fire at that instant.
“ Hence, then, we are certain, that any quantity of pow¬
der, fired in a confined space, which it adequately fills,
exerts, at the instant of its explosion, against the sides of
the vessel containing it, and the bodies it impels before it,
a force at least 244 times greater than the elasticity of
common air, or, which is the same thing, than the pressure
of the atmosphere ; and this without considering the great
addition which this force will receive from the violent de¬
gree of heat with which it is affecied at that time.”
1 he augmentation of the elasticity of air by temperature
to the extent of “ the extremest degree of red-hot iron, Mr
Robins investigated by heating to an incipient white heat a
portion of a musket barrel six inches long, closed at one end
and drawn out at the other conically, to an aperture of one-
GUNNERY.
Gunnery, eighth of an inch in diameter. The aperture was first closed
^ -mJ by a wire, and the conical end of the tube after being heated
was plunged into water, and the whole left to cool to the ordi¬
nary temperature of the air, when, the wire being removed,
the water rushed in to fill the space now left vacant by the
again contracted air. By the average of three experiments
he determined the weight of the water which entered the
barrel, and knowing the quantity or weight of water which
would fill the whole, the difference between the two was the
weight of water which would fill the portion of the barrel
occupied by the cooled air. The proportion between the
space occupied by the air before expanded by heat, and the
same air when expanded by an incipient white heat, was
determined by these experiments to be as 194^ to 796.
“ As air and this fluid appear to be equally affected by
heat and cold, and consequently have their elasticities equally
augmented by the addition of equal degrees of heat to each ;
if we suppose the heat with which the flame of fired pow'der
is endowed to be the same with that of the extreme heat
of red-hot iron, then the elasticity of the generated fluid
will be greater at the time of the explosion than afterwards,
when it is reduced to the temperature of the ambient air,
in the ratio of 796 to 194^ nearly. It being allowed then
(which surely is very reasonable) that the flame of gun¬
powder is not less hot than red-hot iron, and the elasticity
of the air, and consequently of the fluid generated by the
explosion, being augmented in the extremity of this heat,
in the ratio of 194^ to 796, it follows, that if 244 be aug¬
mented in this ratio, the resulting number, which is 999^,
will determine how many times the elasticity of the flame
of fired powder exceeds the elasticity of common air—sup¬
posing it to be confined in the same space which the pow¬
der filled before it was fired. Hence then the absolute
quantity of the pressure exerted by gunpowder at the mo¬
ment of its explosion may be assigned ; for, since the fluid
then generated has an elasticity of 999^, or, in round num¬
bers, 1000 times greater than that of the atmosphere; and
since common air by its elasticity exerts a pressure on any
given surface equal to the weight of the incumbent atmo¬
sphere with which it is in equilibrio, the pressure exerted
by fired powder before it dilated itself is 1000 times greater
than the pressure of the atmosphere ; and, consequently, the
quantity of this force, on a surface of an inch square, amounts
to above six tons weight, which force, however, diminishes
as the fluid dilates itself.”
The method adopted by Robins for determining the
elastic force of the gas produced by the ignition of gun¬
powder, when reduced to the ordinary temperature of the
air, was independent of the actual nature of the gas, and
therefore unaffected by the erroneous views then entertained
respecting it. In fact, the weight of the gases, instead of
being only three-tenths of the weight of the powder, is
about six-tenths of that weight; and by the estimate of Gay
Lussac, the proportion between the space occupied by the
gases and by the powder would be nearly double that adopted
by Robins. Gay Lussac obtained from 100 grammes of
powder 50 litres of gas, and as the 100 grammes, of density
0*9, would have occupied one-ninth of a litre, the elastic
force of the gas, when compressed in that space, would be
50 x 9 = 450 : and Captain Boxer, reasoning upon the
known composition of gunpowder and the theoretical re¬
sults of its decomposition as a definite chemical compound,
makes it 317^; but as experience has shown that these re¬
sults are by no means confined to the theoretical products,
it is probable that the determination of Gay Lussac is very
near the truth. In like manner, the estimate of the tempe¬
rature produced by the ignition of gunpowder has been
variously stated, as well as the resulting elastic force: thus
Gay Lussac assumes the temperature at 1000° Cent., or
1832 Fahr., and the resulting elastic pressure as 2137 at¬
mospheres; Piobert assumed a temperature more than double
109
that stated by Gay Lussac, and arrived at a pressure of Gunnery.
7500 atmosphere; but, as observed by Senderos (1852),
it is impossible to determine with accuracy in this manner
the impulsive force of the gases produced from the ignition
of gunpowder, though, without doubt, it greatly exceeds that
stated by Robins, as will be pointed out hereafter.
Having thus determined the force of the gunpowder, Mr
Robins next proceeds to determine the velocity with which
the ball is discharged, adopting in the solution of this pro¬
blem, the two following principles, neither of which is strictly
correct,—1. That the action of the powder on the bullet
ceases as soon as the bullet leaves the piece. 2. That
all the powder of the charge is fired and converted into
elastic fluid before the bullet is sensibly removed from its
place.
“ The first of these,” says Mr Robins, “ will appear mani¬
fest when it is considered how suddenly the flame will ex¬
tend itself on every side, by its own elasticity, when it is
once got out of the mouth of the piece; for by this means
its force will then be dissipated, and the bullet no longer
sensibly affected by it.
“ The second principle is indeed less obvious, being con¬
trary to the general opinion of almost all writers on this
subject. It might, however, be sufficient for the proof of
this position, to observe the prodigious compression of the
flame in the chamber of the piece. Those who attend to
this circumstance, and to the easy passage of the flame
through the intervals of the grains, may soon satisfy them¬
selves that no one grain contained in that chamber can con¬
tinue for any time uninflamed, when thus surrounded and
pressed by such an active fire. However, not to rely on
mere speculation in a matter of so much consequence, I
considered that if part only of the powder is fired, and that
successively; then, by laying a greater weight before the
charge (suppose two or three bullets instead of one), a
greater quantity of powder would necessarily be fired, since
a heavier weight would be a longer time in passing through ^
the barrel. Whence it should follow that two or three
bullets would be impelled by a much greater force than one
only. But the contrary to this appears by experiment;
for, firing one, two, and three bullets laid contiguous to
each other with the same charge respectively, I have found
that their velocities were not much different from the reci¬
procal of their subduplicate quantities of matter; that is, if
a given charge would communicate to one bullet a velocity
of 1700 feet in a second, the same charge would commu¬
nicate to two bullets a velocity of from 1250 to 1300 feet
in a second, and to three bullets a velocity of from 1050 to
1110 feet in the same time. From hence it appears, that
whether a piece is loaded with a greater or less weight of
bullet, the action is nearly the same. The excess of the
velocities of the two and three bullets above what they
ought to have been by this rule (which are that of 1200
and 980 feet in a second), undoubtedly arises from the
flame, which, escaping by the side of the first bullet, acts
on the surface of the second and third. Now this excess
has in many experiments been imperceptible, and the velo¬
cities have been reciprocally in the subduplicate ratios of
the number of bullets, to sufficient exactness ; and where
this error has been greater, it has never arisen to an eighth
part of the whole; but if the common opinion was true,
that a small part only of the powder fires at first, and other
parts of it successively as the bullet passes through the
barrel, and that a considerable part of it is often blown out
of the piece without firing at all, then the velocity which
three bullets received from the explosion ought to have
been much greater than we have found it to be.”
“ With respect to the grains of powder which are often
blown out unfired, and which are always urged as a proof
of the gradual firing of the charge, there may perhaps be
some few grains in the best powder of such an heteroge-
110
GUNNER Y.
Gunnery, neons composition as to be less susceptible of firing ; which,
I think, I have myself observed; and these, though they
are surrounded by the flame, may be driven out unfired.”
Such were the reasonings of Mr Robins; but however
rapid the ignition of gunpowder, it is still progressive; and
without doubt the ball moves before the whole impulse of
the powder from its complete ignition has been received,
and it is equally certain that some portion, however small,
of the powder is generally thrown out unburnt. Were it
not indeed for the movement of the ball before the full de¬
velopment of the elastic force of the gases, accidents from
the bursting of guns would be frequent, as may be judged
from the consequence of any impediment in the way of the
movement of the ball, or from accidentally leaving it at a
distance from the charge. Senderos observes—“ The full
force of gunpowder, with the intensity it possesses, is not
used in fire-arms, but only a small part of it. It is un¬
doubted that the transmission of any force requires time.
The projectile opposes a resistance proportioned to its mass
or inertia, and as soon as the force has become sufficient
to overcome that resistance, the projectile begins to move,
and allows the gases to expand into a larger space, thus
losing density and caloric before they exert their full force
on the gun.”
“ These postulates being allowed to be just, let AB, fig. 6,
represent the axis of any
piece of artillery; A the
breech,and B the muzzle ;
DC the diameter of its
bore, and DEGC a part of
its cavity filled with powder.
Suppose the ball that is to
be impelled to lie with its
hinder surface at the line
GE; then the pressure
exerted at the explosion
on the circle of which GE rig- 6.
is the diameter, or, which is the same thing, the pressure
exerted in the direction FB on the surface of the ball is
easily known from the known dimensions of that circle.
Draw any line FH perpendicular to FB, and AI parallel
to FH; and through the point H to the asymptotes IA
and AB, describe the hyperbola KHNQ; then, if FH re¬
presents the force impelling the ball at the point F, the
force impelling the ball at any other point, as at M, will
be represented by the line MN, the ordinate to the hyper¬
bola at that point. For when the fluid impelling the body
along has dilated itself to M, its density will be then to
its original density in the space DEGC reciprocally as the
spaces through which it is extended—that is, as FA to
MA, or as MN to FH ; but it has been shown that the
impelling force or elasticity of this fluid is directly as its
density, therefore, if FH represents the force at the point
F, MN will represent the like force at the point M.
“ Since the absolute quantity of the force impelling the
ball at the point F is known, and the weight of the ball is
also known, the proportion between the force with which the
ball is impelled and its own gravity is known. In this pro¬
portion take FH to FL, and draw LP parallel to FB ; then,
MN the ordinate to the hyperbola in any point will be to
its part MR, cut off by the line LP, as the impelling force
ot the powder in that point M to the gravity of the ball;
and consequently the line LP will determine a line propor¬
tional to the uniform force of gravity in every point; whilst
the hyperbola HNQ determines in like manner such ordi¬
nates as are proportional to the impelling force of the powder
in every point; whence, by the 39th Prop, of lib. i. of Sir
Isaac Newton’s Principia, the areas FLPB and FHQB
are in the duplicate proportion of the velocities which the
ball would acquire when acted upon by its own gravity
through the space b B, and when impelled through the same
space by the force of the powder. But since the ratio of
AF to AB and the ratio of FH to FL are known, the ratio
of the area FLPB to the area FHQB is known ; and thence
its subduplicate. And since the line FB is given in mag¬
nitude, the velocity which a heavy body would acquire when
impelled through this line by its own gravity is known;
being no other than the velocity it would acquire by falling
through a space equal to that line: find then another velo¬
city to which this last-mentioned velocity bears the given
ratio of the subduplicate of the area FLPB to the area
FHQB; and this velocity thus found is the velocity the
ball will acquire when impelled through the space FB by
the action of the inflamed powder.
“ Now, to give an example of this: Let us suppose AB,
the length of the cylinder, to be 45 inches; its diameter
DC, or rather the diameter of the ball, to be fths of an
inch ; and AF, the extent of the powder, to be 2|th inches;
to determine the velocity which will be communicated to a
leaden bullet by the explosion, supposing the bullet to be
laid at first with its surface contiguous to the powder.
“ By the theory we have laid down, it appears, that at
the first instant of the explosion the flame will exert, on
the bullet lying close to it, a force 1000 times greater than
the pressure of the atmosphere. The medium pressure of
the atmosphere is reckoned equal to a column of water 33
feet in height; whence, lead being to water as 11*345 to 1,
this pressure will be equal to that of a column of lead 3*49
inches in height. Multiplying this by 1000, therefore, a
column of lead 34,900 inches (upwards of half a mile) in
height, would produce a pressure on the bullet equal to
what is exerted by the powder in the first instant of the
explosion; and the leaden ball being fths of an inch in
diameter, and consequently equal to a cylinder of lead of
the same base half an inch in height, the pressure at first
acting on it will be equal to 34,900 x 2, or 69,800 times
its weight; whence FL to FH is as 1 to 69,800; and FB
to FA as 45 — 2f, or 42§ to 2f, that is, as 339 to 21 ;
whence the rectangle FLPB is to the rectangle AFHS as
339 to 21 x 69,800, that is, as 1 to 4324. And from the
known application of the logarithms to the mensuration of
the hyperbolic spaces, it follows that the rectangle AFHS
is to the ax*ea FHQB as *43429, &c., is to the tabular loga¬
rithm that is, of which is 1*2340579: whence
the ratio of the rectangle FLPB to the hyperbolic area
FHQB is compounded of the ratios of 1 to 4324—and of
*43429, &c., to 1*2340579; which together make up the
ratio of 1 to 12263, the subduplicate of which is the ratio
of 1 to 110*7; and in this ratio is the velocity which the
bullet would acquire by gravity in falling through a space
equal to FB, to the velocity the bullet will acquire from
the action of the powder impelling it through FB. But
the space FB being 42§ inches, the velocity a heavy body
will acquire in falling through such a space is known to be
what would carry it nearly at the rate of 15*07 feet in a
second; whence the velocity to which this has the ratio of
1 to 110*7 is a velocity which would carry the ball at the
rate of 1668 feet in one second. And this is the velocity
which, according to the theory, the bullet in the present
circumstances would acquire from the action of the powder
during the time of its dilatation.
“ Now this velocity being once computed for one case,
is easily applied to any other; for if the cavity DEGC left
behind the bullet be only in part filled with powder, then
the line HF, and consequently the area FHQB, will be di¬
minished in the proportion of the whole cavity to the part
filled. If the diameter of the bore be varied, the lengths
AB and AF remaining the same, then the quantity of pow¬
der and the surface of the bullet which it acts on will be
varied in the duplicate proportion of the diameter, but the
weight of the bullet will vary in the triplicate proportion of
Gunnery.
GUNNERY.
Ill
Gunnery, the diameter; wherefore the line FH, which is directly as
i ^ the absolute impelling force of the powder, and recipro¬
cally as the gravity of the bullet, will change in the reci¬
procal proportion of the diameter of the bullet. If AF, the
height of the cavity left behind the bullet, be increased or
diminished, the rectangle of the hyperbola, and conse¬
quently the area corresponding to ordinates in any given
ratio, will be increased or diminished in the same propor¬
tion. From all which it follows, that the area FHQB,
which is in the duplicate proportion of the velocity of the
AB
impelled body, will be directly as the logarithm(where
AB represents the length of the barrel, and AF the length
of the cavity left behind the bullet); also directly as the
part of that cavity filled with powder, and inversely as the
diameter of the bore, or rather of the bullet; likewise di¬
rectly as AF, the height of the cavity left behind the bul¬
let. Consequently the velocity being computed as above,
for a bullet of a determined diameter, placed in a piece of
a given length, and impelled by a given quantity of powder,
occupying a given cavity behind that bullet; it follows,
that by means of these ratios, the velocity of any other bul¬
let may be thence deduced; the necessary circumstances
of its position, quantity of powder, &c., being given. Where
note, that in the instance of this supposition, we have sup¬
posed the diameter of the ball to be f ths of an inch ; whence
the diameter of the bore will be something more, and the
quantity of powder contained in the space DEGC will
amount exactly to twelve pennyweights, a small wad of tow
included.
“ In order to compare the velocities communicated to
bullets by the explosion, with the velocities resulting from
the theory by computation, it is necessary that the actual
velocities with which bullets move should be discovered.
The only methods hitherto practised for this purpose, have
been either by observing the time of the flight of a shot
through a given space, or by measuring the range of a shot
at a given elevation; and thence computing, on the para¬
bolic hypothesis, what degree of velocity would produce
this range. The first method labours under this insur¬
mountable difficulty, that the velocities of these bodies are
often so swift, and consequently the time observed is so
short, that an imperceptible error in that time may occa¬
sion an error in the velocity thus found of 200, 300,400, 500,
or 600 feet, in a second. The other method is so fallacious,
by reason of the resistance of the atmosphere (to which ine¬
quality the first is also liable), that the velocities thus as¬
signed may not perhaps be the tenth part of the actual ve¬
locities sought.
“ The simplest method of determining this velocity is
by means of the instrument (the Ballistic Pendulum), re¬
presented in fig. 7, where ABCD re¬
presents the body of the machine com¬
posed of the three poles B, C, D,
spreading at bottom, and joining to¬
gether at the top A ; being the same
with what is vulgarly used in lifting
and weighing very heavy bodies, and
is called by workmen the triangles.
On two of these poles, towards their
tops, are screwed on the sockets R, S;
and on these sockets the pendulum
EFGHIK is hung by means of its
cross-piece EF, which becomes its
axis of suspension, and on which it
must be made to vibrate with great
freedom. The body of this pen¬
dulum is made of iron, having a broad
part at bottom, and its lower part is covered with a thick
piece of wood GKIH, which is fastened to the iron by screws.
Something lower than the bottom of the pendulum there is
rig. 7.
a brace OP, joining the two poles from which the pendulum Gunnery,
is suspended; and to this brace there is fastened a con- w^
trivance MNU, made with two edges of steel, bearing on
each other in the line UN, something in the manner of a
drawing-pen ; the strength with which these edges press on
each other being diminished or increased at pleasure by
means of a screw Z going through the upper piece. There
is fastened to the bottom of the pendulum a narrow ribbon
LN, which passes between these steel edges, and which
afterwards, by means of an opening cut in the lower piece
of steel, hangs loosely down, as at W.
“ With this apparatus, if the weight of the pendulum be
known, and likewise the respective distances of its centre of
gravity and of its centre of oscillation from its axis of sus¬
pension, it will thence be known what motion will be com¬
municated to this pendulum by the percussion of a body of
a known weight moving with a known degree of celerity,
and striking it in a given point; that is, if the pendulum be
supposed at rest before the percussion, it will be known
what vibration it ought to make in consequence of such a
determined blow; and, on the contrary, if the pendulum,
being at rest, is struck by a body of a known weight, and
the vibration which the pendulum makes after the blow is
known, the velocity of the striking body may from thence
be determined. Hence, then, if a bullet of a known weight
strikes the pendulum, and the vibration which the pendulum
makes in consequence of the stroke be ascertained, the velo¬
city with which the ball moved is thence to be known.
“ Now the extent of the vibration made by the pendu¬
lum after the blow, may be measured to great accuracy by
the ribbon LN. For let the pressure of the edges UN on
the ribbon be so regulated by the screw Z, that the motion
of the ribbon between them may be free and easy, though
with some minute resistance ; then, settling the pendulum
at rest, let the part LN between the pendulum and the
edges be drawn strait, but not strained, and fix a pin in that
part of the ribbon which is then contiguous to the edges :
let now a ball impinge on the pendulum ; then the pendu¬
lum swinging back will draw out the ribbon to the just ex¬
tent of its vibration, which will consequently be determined
by the interval on the ribbon between the edges UN and
the place of the pin.
“ The weight of the whole pendulum, wood and all, was
56 pounds 3 ounces; its centre of gravity was 52 inches
distant from its axis of suspension, and 200 of its small
swings were performed in the time of 253 seconds ; whence
its centre of oscillation is 62f d inches distant from that axis.
The centre of the piece of wood GKIH is distant from the
same axis 66 inches. In the compound ratio of 66 to 62^d,
and 66 to 52, take the quantity of matter of the pendulum
to a fourth quantity, which will be 42 lbs. ^ oz. Now geo¬
meters well know, that if the blow be struck on the centre
of the piece of wood GKIH, the pendulum will resist to
the stroke in the same manner as if this last quantity of
matter only (42 lbs. oz.) was concentrated in that point,
and the rest of the pendulum was taken away: whence,
supposing the weight of the bullet impinging in that point
to be the ^th of a pound, or the 7J^th of this quantity of
matter nearly, the velocity of the point of oscillation after
the stroke will, by the laws observed in the congress of such
bodies as rebound not from each other, be the ^J^th of the
velocity the bullet moved with before the stroke; whence
the velocity of this point of oscillation after the stroke be¬
ing ascertained, that multiplied by 505 will give the velo¬
city with which the ball impinged.
“ But the velocity of the point of oscillation after the
stroke is easily deduced from the chord of the arch through
which it ascends by the blow; for it is a well-known pro¬
position, that all pendulous bodies ascend to the same height
by their vibratory motion as they would do if they were pro¬
jected directly upwards from their lowest point, with the
112
GUNNERY.
Gunnery. sarne velocity they have in that point; wherefore, if the
versed sine of the ascending arch be found (which is easily
determined from the chord and radius being given), this
versed sine is the perpendicular height to which a body
projected upwards with the velocity of the point of oscilla¬
tion would arise; and consequently what that velocity is,
can be easily computed by the common theory of falling
bodies.
“ For instance, the chord of the arch, described by the
ascent of the pendulum after the stroke measured on the
ribbon, has been sometimes I7^th inches; the distance of
the ribbon from the axis of suspension is 71 ^th inches;
whence reducing 17jth in the ratio of 71 ^th to 66, the re¬
sulting number, which is nearly 16 inches, will be the chord
of the arch through which the centre of the board GKIH
ascended after the stroke ; now the versed sine of the arch,
whose chord is 16 inches, and its radius 66, is 1‘93939 ; and
the velocity which would carry a body to this height, or,
which is the same thing, the velocity which a body would
acquire by descending through this space, is nearly that of
3£th feet in Is.
“To determine then the velocity with which the bullet
impinged on the centre of the wood, when the chord of the
arch described by the ascent of the pendulum, in conse¬
quence of the blow, was 17£th inches measured on the rib¬
bon, no more is necessary than to multiply 3|th by 505,
and the resulting number, 1641, will be the feet which the
bullet would describe in Is, if it moved with the velocity it
had at the moment of its percussion ; for the velocity of the
point of the pendulum on which the bullet struck, we have
just now determined to be that of 3£th feet in Is; and we
have before shown that this is the s|6th of the velocity of
the bullet. If then a bullet weighing -^th of a pound strikes
the pendulum in the centre of the wood GKIH, and the
ribbon be drawn out I7^th inches by the blow, the velocity
of the bullet is that of 1641 feet in Is. And since the
length the ribbon is drawn is always nearly the chord of the
arch described by the ascent (it being placed so as to differ
insensibly from those chords which most frequently occur),
and these chords are known to be in the proportion of the
velocities of the pendulum acquired from the stroke ; it fol¬
lows that the proportion between the lengths of ribbon
drawn out at different times will be the same with that of
the velocities of the impinging bullets; and consequently,
by the proportion of these lengths of ribbon to I7^th, the
proportion of the velocity with which the bullets impinge,
to the known velocity of 1641 feet in Is, will be determined.
Hence then is shown in general how the velocities of bul¬
lets of all kinds may be found out by means of this instru¬
ment.”
Mr Robins then gave several precautionary rules for
securing precision in the experiments, and guarding against
accidents, amongst which were the two following :—
“ The weight of the pendulum and the thickness of the
wood necessary to prevent the bullets from being shivered
by striking directly on the iron, must be in some measure
proportioned to the size of the bullets which are used. A
pendulum of the weight here described will do very well
for all bullets under three or four ounces, if the thickness
of the board be increased to seven or eight inches for the
heaviest bullets. Beech is the toughest and properest wood
for this purpose.
“ I he powder used in these experiments should be ex¬
actly weighed; and that no part of it be scattered in the
barrel, the piece must be charged with a ladle, in the same
manner as is practised with cannon ; the wad should be of
tow, of the same weight each time, and no more than is
just necessary to confine the powder in its proper place;
the length of the cavity left behind the ball should be de¬
termined each time with exactness; for the increasing or
diminishing that space will vary the velocity of the shot,
although the bullet and quantity of powder be not changed. Gunnery.
The distance of the mouth of the piece from the pendulum 'wv^/
ought to be such, that the impulse of the flame may not
act on the pendulum ; this will be prevented in a common
barrel charged with half an ounce of powder, if it be at the
distance of 16 or 18 feet: in larger charges the impulse is
sensible farther off; I have found it to extend to above 25
feet; however, between 25 and 18 feet is the distance I
have usually chosen.”
With this instrument, or others similar to it, Mr Robins
made a great number of experiments on barrels of different
lengths, and with different charges of powder. He has given
us the results of sixty-one of these; and having compared
the actual velocities with the computed ones, his theory
appears to have come as near the truth as could well be ex¬
pected. In seven of the experiments there was a perfect
coincidence ; the charges of powder being 6 to 12 penny¬
weights, the barrels 45, 24'312 and 7*06 inches in length.
The diameter of the first (marked A) was f ths of an inch ;
of the second (B) was the same; and of D, *83 of an inch.
In the first of these experiments, another barrel (C) was
used, whose length was 12*375 inches, and the diameter of
its bore f inch. In fourteen more of the experiments, the
difference between the length of the chord of the pendu¬
lum’s arch shown by the theory and the actual experiment,
was -j^th of an inch over or under. This showed an error
in the theory, varying, according to the different lengths of
the chord, from Tj-Xth to ^th of the whole ; the charges of
powder were the same as in the last. In sixteen other ex¬
periments the error was -f^-ths of an inch, varying from -g^th
to ^th of the whole ; the charges of powder were 6, 8, 9,
or 12 pennyweights. In seven other experiments the error
was T3o ths of an inch, varying from g^d to -^d of the whole ;
the charges of powder 6 or 12 pennyweights. In eight
experiments the difference was xV^ls °f an int;h, indicat¬
ing an error of from ^d to g^d of the whole; the
charges being 6, 9, 12, and 24 pennyweights of powder.
In three experiments the error was -^oths, varying from
gVth to x^j-th of the whole; the charges 8 and 12 penny¬
weights of powder. In two experiments the error was
T6oths, in one case amounting to something less than g^d,
in the other to of the whole ; the charges 12 and 36
pennyweights of powder. By one experiment the error
was /ofliSj and by another Y^fhs > the first amounting
to TVh nearly, the latter to almost £th of the whole; the
charges of powder 6 or 12 pennyweights. The last error,
however, Mr Robins ascribes to the wind. The two re¬
maining experiments varied from theory by T3 inches,
somewhat more than Jth of the whole; the charges of
powder were 12 pennyweights in each; and Mr Robins
ascribes the error to the dampness of the powder. In
another case he ascribes an error of xVhs to the blast of
the powder on the pendulum.
From these experiments Mr Robins deduces the follow¬
ing conclusions:—“ The variety of these experiments, and
the accuracy with which they correspond to the theory,
leave us no room to doubt of its certainty. This theory,
as here established, supposes that, in the firing of gun¬
powder, about x^jlhs of its substance is converted by the
sudden inflammation into a permanently elastic fluid, whose
elasticity, in proportion to its heat and density, is the same
with that of common air in the like circumstances : it far¬
ther supposes that all the force exerted by gunpowder in
its most violent operations is no more than the action of
the elasticity of the fluid thus generated ; and these prin¬
ciples enable us to determine the velocities of bullets im¬
pelled from fire-arms of all kinds, and are fully sufficient
for all purposes where the force of gunpowder is to be es¬
timated.
“From this theory many deductions may be made of
the greatest consequence to the practical part of gunnery.
GUNNERY. H3
Gunnery. From hence the thickness of a piece, which will enable it
to confine, without bursting, any given charge of powder,
is easily determined, since the effort of the powder is
known; and from it we are taught the necessity of leaving
the same space behind the bullet, when we would, by the
same quantity of powder, communicate to it an equal de¬
gree of velocity ; since, on the principles already laid down,
it follows that the same powder has a greater or less degree
of elasticity, according to the different spaces it occupies.
The method which I have always practised for this purpose
has been by marking the rammer; and this is a maxim
which ought not to be dispensed with when cannon are
fired at an elevation, particularly in those called by the
French batteries a ricochet.
“ From the continued action of the powder, and its man¬
ner of expanding described in this theory, and the length
and weight of the piece, one of the most essential circum¬
stances in the well' directing of artillery may be easily as¬
certained. All practitioners are agreed that no shot can
be depended on, unless the piece be placed on a solid plat¬
form ; for if the platform shakes with the first impulse of
the powder, it is impossible but the piece must also shake,
which will alter its direction, and render the shot uncer¬
tain. To prevent this accident, the platform is usually
made extremely firm to a considerable depth backwards;
so that the piece is not only well supported in the beginning
of its motion, but likewise through a great part of its re¬
coil. However, it is sufficiently obvious that when the
bullet is separated from the piece, it can be no longer af¬
fected by the trembling of the piece or platform ; and, by a
very easy computation, it will be found that the bullet will
be out of the piece before the latter hath recoiled half an
inch.
“ If the whole substance of the powder was converted
into an elastic .fluid at the instant of the explosion, then,
from the known elasticity of this fluid assigned by our the¬
ory, and its known density, we could easily determine the
velocity with which it would begin to expand, and could
thence trace out its future augmentations in its progress
through the barrel: but as we have shown that the elastic
fluid, in which the activity of the gunpowder consists, is
only the substance of the powder, the remaining
/g-ths will, in the explosion, be mixed with the elastic part,
and will, by its weight, retard the activity of the explosion ;
and yet they will not be so completely united as to move
with one common motion; but the unelastic part will be
less accelerated than the rest, and some will not even be
carried out of the barrel, as appears by the considerable
quantity of unctuous matter which adheres to the inside of
all fir e-arms after they have been used.”
Mr Robins then investigates the cause of these irregu¬
larities in the expansive motion of the fluid by experiments ;
but before referring to them, it is right to observe, as has
been before stated, that in British gunpowder, consisting of
75 parts of nitre, 15 of charcoal, and 10 of sulphur, the
potassium of the nitre and the sulphur are the only consti¬
tuents which unite to form a solid residuum, the sulphate of
potassium, and that their weight being about 39 lbs. per cent.,
the remaining 61 lbs., or T67ths of the whole, form gaseous
elastic products.
“ The experiments made use of for this purpose were of
two kinds. The first was made by charging a barrel A with
12 pennyweights of powder, and a small wad of tow only; and
then placing its mouth 19 inches from the centre of the pendu¬
lum. On firing it in this situation, the impulse of the flame
made it ascend through an arch whose chord was 13'7 inches ;
whence, if the whole substance of the powder was supposed to
strike against the pendulum, and each part to strike with the
same velocity, that common velocity must have been at the
rate of about 2650 feet in a second. But, as some part of the
velocity of the flame was lost in passing through 19 inches of
VOL. XI.
air, I made the remaining experiments in a manner not liable Gunnery,
to this inconvenience. v in- ^ v
“ I fixed the barrel A on the pendulum, so that its axis might
be both horizontal and also perpendicular to the plane HK ;
or, which is the same thing, that it might be in the plane of the
pendulum’s vibration ; the height of the axis of the piece above
the centre of the pendulum was 6 inches, and the weight of
the piece, and of the iron that fastened it, &c., was ll-A- lbs.
The barrel in this situation being charged with 12 penny¬
weights of powder, without either ball or wad, only put toge¬
ther with the rammer; on the discharge the pendulum ascended
through an arch whose chord was 10 inches, or, reduced to an
equivalent blow in the centre of the pendulum, supposing the
barrel away, it would be 14'4 inches nearly. The same experi¬
ment being repeated, the chord of the ascending arch was 10T
inches, which, reduced to the centre, is 14-6 inches.
“ To determine what difierence of velocity there wras in the
different parts of the vapour, I loaded the piece again with 12
pennyweights of powder, and rammed it down with a wad of
tow weighing 1 pennyweight. Now, I conceived that this wad,
being very light, would presently acquire that velocity with
which the elastic part of the fluid would expand itself when
uncompressed; and I accordingly found that the chord of the
ascending arch was by this means increased to 12 inches, or at
the centre to 17'3; whence, as the medium of the other two
experiments is 14-5, the pendulum ascended through an arch
2'8 inches longer, by the additional motion of 1 pennyweight
of matter, moving with the velocity of the swiftest part of the
vapour; and, consequently, the velocity with which this penny¬
weight of matter moved was that of about 7000 feet in a second.”
Mr Robins here adduces some experiments to obviate a
possible objection by showing that the confinement of the
powder was not necessary to ensure its total ignition and
the full development of its elastic force, and “ that the push
of the recoil, arising from the expansion of the powder alone,
is found to be no greater when it impels a leaden bullet be¬
fore it than when the same quantity is forced without any
wad to confine it;” and then proceeds as follows:—
“Again, that this velocity of 7000 feet in a second is not
much beyond what the most active part of the flame acquires
in expanding, is evinced from hence, that in some experiments
a ball has been found to be discharged with a velocity of 2400
feet in a second, and yet it appeared not that the action of the
powder was at all diminished on account of this immense cele¬
rity ; consequently, the degree of swiftness with which, in this
instance, the powder followed the ball without losing any part
of its pressure, must have been much short of what the powder
alone would have expanded with had the ball not been there.
“From these determinations may be deduced the force of
petards, since their action depends entirely on the impulse of
the flame; and it appears that a quantity of powder properly
disposed in such a machine may produce as violent an effort as
a bullet of twice its weight, moving with a velocity of 1400 or
1500 feet in a second.”
However ingenious the researches of Mr Robins into this
important element of gunnery—the velocity with which
the gases produced by the ignition of gunpowder expand—
they have not been admitted by some as satisfactorily solving
the question ; and yet Hutton, although, by a combination
of experiment and calculation, he had deduced a velocity
varying from 3000 to 5000 feet, after correcting one of
the quantities in his formula, at first assumed too high, ar¬
rived at a conclusion very nearly the same as the experi¬
mental one of Robins. The determination, indeed, of the
velocity of the elastic gases is attended with much difficulty,
as is that (as before pointed out) of the initial force with
which these gases act upon the projectile they are intended
to propel. Robins considered this force to be about 1000
atmospheres; but Hutton found it to vary, according to
the charge and the length of gun, from 1700 to 2300, and
he therefore considers it as fairly represented by about 2000
atmospheres, and his results were confirmed by those of Dr
Gregory, who made it 2250. Now, Hutton’s formula for
determining the ultimate velocity of the ball, and conse-
p
114
GUNNERY.
Gunnery, quently of the gas then pressing against and urging it for-
ward, is  
V=46-7,v/!^xlog. J =467 dJUE. x logjL •
P + W a P + W o,
where a represents the height or length of the charge,
including cartridge, or of the space behind the ball, b the
whole length of the gun-bore, h the length of the portion of
the cylinder or bore which would be filled with the powder,
d the diameter of the ball or of the bore, n the ratio of the
first force of the fired powder to the pressure of the atmo¬
sphere as 1, w the weight of the ball, and p a quantity
having some fixed relation to the weight of the charge;
and if in this formula the weight of the ball be made 0, V
becomes the value of the velocity of the expanding gas.
But here enters a difficulty, as it is not easy to determine
what proportion of the weight of the powder ought to be
assumed for p, from the uncertainty of the actual condition
of the gases and of the solid residuum, at the moment of
decomposition of the powder. Supposing an equal density
to exist throughout the bulk of the gases, and that the solid
residuum is diffused equally through them, p should be, as
Hutton at first assumed it, of the weight of the powder;
but, as it is more probable that the rear portion of the gas
is much more condensed than the front portion, and, conse¬
quently, that the centre of gravity of the whole gas has
moved through a still less space, p must be taken less than
and in this manner Hutton found that the velocity of
the gases, when p was taken as ^ of the weight of the
powder, became between 7000 and 8000 feet per second;
and when taken from 3000 to 5000—results sufficient in
themselves to prove how impossible almost it must be to de¬
termine theoretically the velocity of the gases. In investi¬
gating the decomposition of gunpowder, there are two points
to be taken into consideration—the velocity of ignition, and
the velocity of combustion ; or, in other words, the time re¬
quired to burn each grain of powder, on the one hand, and
the time necessary for communicating ignition, as the flame
is conveyed by the expanding gases with great rapidity from
one grain to another. Piobert has endeavoured to estimate
the velocity of combustion independently of that of ignition
by forming a kind of bar with a paste of pow'der, 1 foot 2
inches in length, and about -j^ths of an inch square, the
bar being smeared with fine hog’s lard, and placed vertically
on a plate with water. This bar, weighing 330 grammes,
was ignited at the top, and required 29’2 seconds for com¬
bustion, being at the rate of *486 of an inch per second.
By other experiments of the same author, powder inclosed
and slightly compressed in a tube fths of an inch in dia¬
meter and open at one end, burnt at the rate of *3 of an
inch per second, or, when strongly compressed, at the rate
of *4 to -6 of an inch per second. From these statements it
is evident that, however rapid the combustion of powder, it
is not instantaneous; and that the great object is to facili¬
tate the transmission of the flame through the powder so
as to render the ignition of the whole as nearly simultaneous
as possible. The process of granulating powder for this
purpose was early introduced, as Luis Collado, before men¬
tioned, expressly points out the greater force of powder when
grained as compared to that of its meal; and Cyprian Lucar
explains the mode of graining or “ corning” the powder by
passing it through sieves after having broken up the cake
which had been first formed in the incorporating process.
The size of the grain is an important element, and ought to
be so arranged as to reduce the time of combustion to the
minimum consistent with a due rapidity of ignition; and
more particularly so as the denser the powder the greater
quantity of gas must be produced at the same space, and
the greater therefore the elastic force developed; whilst,
as regards the grain itself, anything which increases its
density must increase the velocity of ignition and diminish
that of combustion, whilst the rapidity of combustion in¬
creases as the grains are more porous and less smooth. Gunnery
These observations sufficiently demonstrate that the combus-
tion of the charge cannot be effected in less time than that
required for the combustion of a grain ; but in this respect
it must be remembered that the combustion proceeds from
the circumference to the centre, and therefore requires only
half the time as compared with Piobert’s experiments. Ifj
then, each grain were y^th of an inch in diameter, the com¬
plete combustion would be effected in -j^th of a second ; and
if -g^th, in ^Lth of a second; but long before that time the
quantity of gas evolved must have been sufficient to move
the ball, its ultimate velocity depending on the time it re¬
mains in the bore, or, in other words, on the more complete
combustion of the powder, as well as on the continuance of
the action of the gases produced.
“ In many of the experiments already recited the hall was
not laid immediately contiguous to the powder, but at a small
distance, amounting, at the utmost, only to 1^ inch. In these
cases the theory agreed very well with the experiments. But
if a bullet is placed at a greater distance from the powder—
suppose at 12, 18, or 24 inches—we cannot then apply to this
ball the same principles which may be applied to those laid
in contact, or nearly so, with the powder; for, when the sur¬
face of the fired powder is not confined by a heavy body, the
flame dilates itself with a velocity far exceeding that which it
can communicate to a bullet by its continued pressure ; conse¬
quently, as, at the distance of 12, 18, or 24 inches, the powder
will have acquired a considerable degree of this velocity of ex¬
pansion, the first motion of the ball will not be produced by
the continued pressure of the powder, but by the actual per¬
cussion of the flame; and it will therefore begin to move with
a quantity of motion proportioned to the quantity of this flame,
and the velocities of its respective parts.
“ From hence, then, it follows, that the velocity of the bullet,
laid at a considerable distance before the charge, ought to be
greater than what would be communicated to it by the pressure
of the powder acting in the manner already mentioned ; and
this deduction from our theory we have confirmed by manifold
experience, by which we have found that a ball laid in the bar¬
rel A, with its hinder part 11J inches from its breech, and im¬
pelled by 12 pennyweights of powder, has acquired a velocity
of about 1400 feet in a second ; when, if it had been acted on
by the pressure of the flame only, it would not have acquired
a velocity of 1200 feet in a second. The same we have found
to hold true in all other greater distances (and also in lesser,
though not in the same degree), and in all quantities of pow¬
der ; and we have likewise found, that these effects nearly cor¬
respond with what has been already laid down about the velo¬
city of expansion and the elastic and unelastic parts of the
flame.
“ From hence, too, arises another consideration of great con¬
sequence in the practice of gunnery ; which is, that no bullet
should at any time be placed at a considerable distance from
the charge, unless the piece is extremely well fortified ; for
a moderate charge of powder, when it has expanded itself
through the vacant space, and reaches the ball, will, by the
velocity each part has acquired, accumulate itself behind the
ball, and thereby be condensed prodigously; whence, if the
barrel be not extremely firm in that part, it must, by means
of this reinforced elasticity, infallibly burst. The truth of this
reasoning I have experienced in an exceeding good Tower
musket, forged of very tough iron ; for, charging it with 12
pennyweights of powder, and placing the ball 16 inches from
the breech, on firing it the part of the barrel just behind the
bullet was swelled out to double its diameter, like a blown
bladder, and two large pieces of 2 inches long were burst out
of it.
“ Having seen that the entire motion of a bullet laid at a
considerable distance from the charge is acquired by two dif¬
ferent methods in which the powder acts on it, the first being
the percussion of the parts of the flame with the velocity they
had respectively acquired by expanding, the second the con¬
tinued pressure of the flame through the remaining part of the
barrel, I endeavoured to separate these different actions, and
to retain that only which arose from the continued pressure of
the flame. For this purpose I no longer placed the powder at
the breech, from whence it would have full scope for its ex-
*
GUNNERY.
Gunnery, pansion ; but I scattered it as uniformly as I could through the
. -mJ whole cavity left behind the bullet; imagining that by this
v means the progressive velocity of the flame in each part would
be prevented by the expansion of the neighbouring parts : and
I found, that the ball being laid 11£ inches from the breech,
its velocity, instead of MOO feet in a second, which it acquired
in the last experiments, was now no more than 1100 feet in
the second, which is 100 feet short of what, according to the
theory, should arise from the continued pressure of the powder
only.
“ The reason of this deficiency was, doubtless, the intestine
motion of the flame ; for the ascension of the powder thus dis¬
tributed through so much larger a space than it could fill, must
have produced many reverberations and pulsations of the
flame ; and from these internal agitations of the fluid, its pres¬
sure on the containing surface will (as in the case of all other
fluids) be considerably diminished ; and in order to avoid this
irregularity, in all other experiments I took care to have the
powder closely confined in as small a space as possible, even
when the bullet lay at some distance from it.
“ With regard to the resistance of the air, which so remark¬
ably affects all military projectiles, it is necessary to premise,
that the greatest part of authors have established it as a cer¬
tain rule, that while the same body moves in the same medium,
it is alw'ays resisted in the duplicate proportion of its velocity ;
that is, if the resisted body move in one part of its track with
three times the velocity with which it moved in some other
part, then its resistance to the greater velocity will be nine
times the resistance to the lesser. If the velocity in one place
be four times greater than in another, the resistance of the
fluid wall be sixteen times greater in the first than in the se¬
cond, &c. This rule, however, though pretty near the truth
when the velocities are confined within certain limits, is ex¬
cessively erroneous when applied to military projectiles, where
such resistances often occur as could scarcely be etfected, on the
commonly received principles, even by a treble augmentation
of its density.
“ By means of the machine already described, I have it in
my power to determine the velocity with which a ball moves
in any part of its track, provided I can direct the piece in such
a manner as to cause the bullet to impinge on the pendulum
placed in that part; and therefore, charging a musket barrel
three times successively with a leaden ball three-fourths of an
inch in diameter, and about half its weight of powder, and tak¬
ing such precaution in weighing of the powder and placing it,
that I was assured, by many previous trials, that the velocity
of the ball could not differ by twenty feet in a second from its
medium quantity, I fired it against the pendulum placed at 25,
75, and 125 feet distance from the mouth of the piece respec¬
tively ; and I found that it impinged against the pendulum, in
the first case, with a velocity of 1670 feet in a second ; in the
second case, with a velocity of 1550 feet in a second, and in
the third case, with a velocity of 1425 feet in a second ; so that,
in passing through fifty feet of air, the bullet lost a velocity of
120 or 125 feet in a second ; and the time of its passing through
that space being about ^d or ^th of a second, the medium
quantity of resistance must, in these instances, have been about
120 times the weight of the ball, which (as the ball was nearly
tVth of a pound) amounts to about 10 lbs. avoirdupois.
“ Now, if a computation be made according to the method
laid down for compressed fluids in the 38th Proposition of
Newton’s Principia, supposing the -weight of water to that of
air as 850 to 1, it will be found that the resistance to a globe
of three-fourths of an inch diameter, moving with a velocity of
about 1600 feet in a second, will not, on these principles, amount
to any more than 4£ lbs. avoirdupois; whence, as we know
that the rules contained in that proposition are very accurate
with regard to slow motions, we may hence conclude, that the
resistance of the air in slow motions is less than that in swift
motions, in the ratio of to 10 ; a proportion between that
of one to two and one to three.
“ Again, I charged the same piece a number of times with
equal quantities of powder, and balls of the same weight, tak¬
ing all possible care to give to every shot an equal velocity;
and firing three times against the pendulum placed only 25
feet from the mouth of the piece, the medium of the velocities
with which the ball impinged was nearly that of 1690 feet in a
second : then removing the piece 175 feet from the pendulum,
I found, taking the medium of five shots, that the velocity with
115
which the ball impinged at this distance was 1300 feet in a Gunnery,
second; whence the ball, in passing through 150 feet of air,
lost a velocity of about 390 feet in a second: and the resis¬
tance computed from these numbers comes out something more
than in the preceding instance, it amounting here to between
11 and 12 pounds avoirdupois ; whence, according to these ex¬
periments, the resisting power of the air to swift motions is
greater than to slow ones, in a ratio which approaches nearer
to that of 3 to 1 than in the preceding experiments.
“ Having thus examined the resistance to a velocity of 1700
feet in a second, I next examined the resistance to smaller ve¬
locities ; and for this purpose I charged the same barrel with
balls of the same diameter, but with less powder, and placing
the pendulum at 25 feet distance from the piece, I fired against
it five times with an equal charge each time; the medium velo¬
city with which the ball impinged was that of 1180 feet in a
second; then, removing the pendulum to the distance of 250
feet, the medium velocity of five shots, made at this distance,
was that of 950 feet in a second ; whence the ball, in passing
through 225 feet of air, lost a velocity of 230 feet in a second;
and as it passed through that interval in about ^ths of a second,
the resistance to the middle velocity will come out to be near
33J times the gravity of the ball, or 2 lbs. 10 oz. avoirdupois.
Now, the resistance to the same velocity, according to the laws
observed in slower motions, amounts to ^ths of the same quan¬
tity ; whence, in a velocity of 1065 feet in a second, the resist¬
ing power of the air is augmented in no greater proportion
than that of 7 to 11 ; whereas we have seen in the former ex¬
periments, that to still greater degrees of velocity the aug¬
mentation approached very near the ratio of 1 to 3.
“ But farther, I fired three shot, of the same size and weight
with those already mentioned, over a large piece of water ; so
that their dropping into the water being very discernible, both
the distance and time of their flight might be accurately ascer¬
tained. Each shot was discharged with a velocity of 400 feet
in a second; and I had satisfied myself, by many previous
trials of the same charge with the pendulum, that I could rely
on this velocity to ten feet in a second. The first shot flew 313
yards in 4J seconds, the second flew 319 yards in 4 seconds,
and the third 373 yards in 5£ seconds. According to the theory
of resistance established for slow motions, the first shot ought
to have spent no more than 3‘2 seconds in its flight, the second
3-28, and the third 4 seconds; whence it is evident that every
shot was retarded considerably more than it ought to have been
had that theory taken place in its motion; consequently the re¬
sistance of the air is very sensibly increased, even in such a
small velocity as that of 400 feet in a second.
“ From the computations and experiments already men¬
tioned, it plainly appears that a leaden ball of jths of an inch
diameter, and weighing nearly 1^ ounce avoirdupois, if it be
fired from a barrel of forty-five inches in length, with half its
weight of powder, will issue from that piece with a velocity
which, if it were uniformly continued, would carry it near 1700
feet in a second. If, instead of the leaden ball, an iron one,
of an equal diameter, was placed in the same situation in the
same piece, and was impelled by an equal quantity of powder,
the velocity of such an iron bullet would be to that of a leaden
one reciprocally in the subduplicate ratio of the specific gravities
of lead and iron ; and supposing that ratio to be as three to two,
and computing on the principles already laid down, it will ap¬
pear, that an iron bullet of 24 lbs. weight, shot from a piece of
ten feet in length, with 16 lbs. of powder, wrill acquire from the
explosion a velocity which, if uniformly continued, would carry
it nearly 1650 feet in a second.
“ This is the velocity which, according to our theory, a can¬
non ball of 24 lbs. weight is discharged with when it is impelled
by a full charge of powder ; but if, instead of a quantity of
powder weighing two-thirds of the ball, we suppose the charge
to be only half "the weight of it, then its velocity will on the
same principles be no more than 1490 feet in a second. The
same would be the velocities of every lesser bullet fired with
the same proportions of powder, if the lengths of all pieces
were constantly in the same ratio with the diameters of their
bore ; and although, according to the usual dimensions of the
smaller pieces of artillery, this proportion does not always
hold, yet the difference is not great enough to occasion a very
great variation from the velocities here assigned, as will be ob¬
vious to any one who shall make a computation thereon. But
in these determinations we suppose the windage to be no more
116
GUNNERY.
Gunnery, than is just sufficient for putting down the bullet easily:
whereas, in real service, either through negligence or unskil¬
fulness, it often happens that the diameter of the bore so much
exceeds the diameter of the bullet, that great part of the in¬
flamed fluid escapes by its side ; whence the velocity of the shot
in this case may be considerably less than what wre have as¬
signed. However, this perhaps may be compensated by the
greater heat which in all probability attends the firing of these
large quantities of powder.
“ It has been already shown, that the resistance of the air
on the surface of a bullet of three-fourths of an inch diameter,
moving with a velocity of 1670 feet in a second, amounted to
about ten pounds. It hath also been shown, that an iron bullet
weighing twenty-four pounds, if fired with sixteen pounds of
powder (which is usually esteemed its proper battering charge),
acquires a velocity of about 1650 feet in a second, scarcely dif¬
fering from the other ; whence, as the surface of this last bullet
is more than fifty-four times greater than the surface of a bul¬
let of three-fourths of an inch diameter, and their velocities are
nearly the same, it follows, that the resistance on the larger
bullet will amount to more than 510 pounds, which is near
twenty-three times its own weight.
“ Now, the prodigious resistance of the air to a bullet of
twenty-four pounds weight, such as we have here established it,
sufficiently shows how erroneous must that hypothesis be, which
neglects, as inconsiderable, a force amounting to more than
twenty times the weight of the moving body ?” We now pro¬
ceed to state the postulates which contain the principles of the
modern art of gunnery as found on the parabolic hypothesis.
They are as follow :—•
“1. If the resistance of the air be so small that the motion
of a projected body is in the curve of a parabola, then the axis
of that parabola will be perpendicular to the horizon, and con¬
sequently the part of the curve in which the body ascends will
be equal and similar to that in which it descends.
“ 2. If the parabola in which the bod}' moves be terminated
on a horizontal plane, then the vertex of the parabola will be
equally distant from its two extremities.
“3. Also the moving body will fall on that horizontal plane
in the same angle, and with the same velocity with which it
was first projected.
“4. If a body be projected in different angles but with the
same velocity, then its greatest horizontal range will be when
it is projected in an angle of 45° with the horizon.
“ 5. If the velocity with which the body is projected be
known, then this greatest horizontal range may be thus found.
Compute, according to the common theory of gravity, what
space the projected body ought to fall through to acquire the
velocity with which it is projected; then twice that space will
be the greatest horizontal range, or the horizontal range when
the body is projected in an angle of 45° with the horizon.
6. The horizontal ranges of a body, when projected with
the same velocity at different angles, will be between them¬
selves as the sines of twice the angle in which the line of pro¬
jection is inclined to the horizon.
“7. If a body is projected in the same angle with the hori¬
zon, but with different velocities, the horizontal ranges will be
in the duplicate proportion of those velocities.”
These postulates, which contain the principles of the para¬
bolic theory of gunnery .would, if applied without reference
to the resistance of the air, lead to great errors in practice ;
“ for it has been already shown, that a musket-ball of three-
fourths of an inch in diameter, fired with half its weight of
powder, from a piece 45 inches long, moves with a velocity of
near 110 ) feet in a second. Now, if this ball flew in the curve
of a parabola, its horizontal range at 45° would be found by
the fifth postulate to be about seventeen miles. But all the
practical writers assure us that this range is really short of half
a mile. Diego Ufano assigns to an arquebuss, four feet in
length, and carrying a leaden ball of 1^ oz. weight (which is
very near our dimensions), a horizontal range of 797 common
paces, when it is elevated between 40 and 50 degrees, and
charged with a quantity of fine powder equal in weight to the
bail. Mersennus also tells us, that he found the horizontal
lange of an arquebuss at 45° to be less than 400 fathoms, or
oOO yards . whence, as either of these ranges is short of half an
.hnglish mile, it follows, that a musket-shot, when fired with a
reasonable charge of powder at the elevation of 45°, flies not
one thirty-fourth part of the distance it ought to do if it moved
in a parabola. Nor is this great contraction of the horizontal
range to be wondered at, when it is considered that the resist¬
ance of this bullet when it first issues from the piece amounts
to 120 times its gravity, as has been here experimentally de¬
monstrated : or in the case of an iron bullet of 24 lbs. weight
which, fired from a piece of the common dimensions, with its
greatest allotment of powder, has a velocity of 1650 feet in a
second, as already shown, if the horizontal range of the shot
at 45° be computed on the parabolic hypothesis by the fifth
postulate, it will come out to be about sixteen miles, which is
between five and six times its real quantity ; for the practical
writers all agree in making it less than three miles.”
In a similar manner, Robins pointed out that even with
very moderate velocities the path of flight materially differs
from a parabola, and that the highest point of flight is much
nearer the place where the projectile falls to the ground than
to that from whence it was at first discharged,—the de¬
scending curve being shorter and more inclined to the
horizon than the ascending, as may be seen even in the
figures of Tartaglia, cuts 1, 2, 3, 4 ; but it is not, at the pre¬
sent day, necessary to urge farther that the parabolic theory,
though the necessary basis of theoretic gunnery, cannot of
itself be applied in practice except when the initial veloci¬
ties are less than 200 or 300 feet per second, when the re¬
sistance of the air becomes comparatively very small.
Mr Robins also first pointed out the fact, that from certain
deviating forces which act upon the ball, it does not pursue
that simple curved path which would be the result of the
combined action of gravity and of the ordinary resistance of
the air, both of which forces, acting in a vertical plane, have
no tendency to produce lateral deflection, or to cause the
ball to pursue a path of double curvature, or, as he ex¬
presses it, “ to move on the surface of a cylinder the axis
of which is perpendicular to the horizon.” Didion thus
states the causes of deviation :—“ They are,” he says, “ of
two kinds, namely, those which act on the projectile whilst
still in the bore of the gun, so as to modify its direction and
initial velocity, and which also produce a movement of rota¬
tion, as first observed by Robins, which becomes the cause
of other deviations in the projectile; and, secondly, those
which act upon the projectile during the whole time of its
flight. The first deflect the projectile from the direction
of the axis of the gun in proportion to the distance ; the
others may be considered accelerating forces, variable as
each discharge, and even during the flight of a projectile,
being distinct from gravity, which is constant, and from the
resistance of the air, which is tangential to the trajectory of
the projectile,—these two latter forces producing by their
action what may be called the normal trajectory. Amongst
the causes of deviation, some act in a permanent manner
and produce effects which may he anticipated beforehand.”
Deviation from the hall striking against the interior of the
bore.—Solid balls, as well as hollow projectiles made of cast-
iron, have always a diameter somewhat less than that of the
bore of the gun for which they are intended. In conse¬
quence of this, the elastic gases escaping above the ball,
which rests on the lower surface of the bore, press it down,
producing much friction and a rotatory motion in the ball,
whilst the gases pressing it behind produce a movement of
translation. This pressure in bronze guns soon produces a
depression or hollow, and the ball in consequence rises at
an angle a little more elevated than the axis of the piece ;
and should the gun be short enough, this would be the final
direction of the ball on leaving the gun ; but, in general,
such is not the case, and the ball will strike the upper part
of the bore and be deflected downwards, when the result
will be a depression of the true line of direction; or should
it rebound again, an elevation—an effect which must increase
as the gun becomes more worn. This deviation would be
one merely in a vertical direction, were there not other
causes tending to combine a lateral deviation with it, such,
for example, as irregularities in the form and density of the
Gunnery.
GUNNERY.
117
Gunnery, projectile, as well as difFerences in its position as respects
the charge, by which it happens that the resultant of the
action of the gases is not exactly in the vertical plane, and
the direction of the ball on leaving the gun diverges a little
from that plane. The vertical deviation, though not always,
is generally in elevation. From French experiments, it
appears that with guns this deviation on an average amounts
to 0° 3^', and in howitzers to 0° 10|'—one-quarter of the shots
from guns having an elevation of more than 8^', and about
one-quarter a depression below the axis of 1^' ; whilst in
howitzers one-fourth of the shells were elevated more than
15^', and one-fourth 5^ above the axis—the remaining half,
as also in the guns, falling between these extreme numbers.
In a horizontal direction, half of the shots deviated from the
vertical plane passing through the axis more than 4^', either
to the right or left, the others diverging less.
Robins and Lombard both determined experimentally
the fact of deviation; the latter by placing a board screen
marked by a horizontal and vertical line, at a short distance
from the gun, and the intersection of the lines corresponding
to the axis prolonged—the deviations of the ball when pierc¬
ing the screen being thus at once exhibited ; and Robins—■
who may be considered the author of experimental gunnery
—by paper screens, as well as by board targets. The ar¬
rangement of screens which Mr Robins deemed the best
he thus describes :—
“ The apparatus was as follows. Two screens were set up
in the larger walk in the Charter-house garden ; the first of
them at 250 feet distance from the wall, which was to serve
for a third screen ; and the second 200 feet from the same wall.
At 50 feet before the first screen, or at 300 feet from the wall,
there was placed a large block weighing about 200 lbs. weight,
and having, fixed into it, an iron bar with a socket at its extre¬
mity, in which the piece was to be laid. The piece itself was
of a common length, and bored for an ounce ball. It was each
time loaded with a ball of 17 to the pound, so that the windage
was extremely small, and with a quarter of an ounce of good
powder. The screens were made of the thinnest tissue paper;
and the resistance they gave to the bullet (and consequently
their probability of deflecting it) was so small, that a bullet
lighting one time near the extremity of one of the screens, left
a fine thin fragment of it towards the edge entire, which was
so very weak that it was difficult to handle it without break¬
ing. These things thus prepared, five shots were made with
the piece rested in the notch above mentioned; and the hori¬
zontal distances between the first shot, which was taken as a
standard, and the four succeeding ones, both on the first and
second screen, and on the wall, measured in inches, were as
follows:—
First Screen.
1 to 2 1-75 R.
3 10 L.
4 1-25 L.
5 215 L.
Second Screen.
3- 15 R.
15-6 L.
4- 5 L.
51 L.
Wall.
16-7 R.
69 25 L.
15-0 L.
19-0 L.
“ Here the letters R and L denote that the shot in question
went either to the right or left of the first.
“ If the position of the socket in which the piece was placed
be supposed fixed, then the horizontal distances measured above
on the first and second screen, and on the wall, ought to be in
proportion to the distances of the first screen, the second screen,
and the wall, from the socket. But by only looking over these
numbers, it appears that none of them are in that proportion ;
the horizontal distance of the first and third, for instance, on
the wall being above nine inches more than it should be by this
analogy.
“ If, without supposing the invariable position of the socket,
we examine the comparative horizontal distances according to
the third method described above, we shall in this case discover
divarications still more extraordinary ; for by the numbers set
down it appears that the horizontal distances of the second and
third shot on the two screens, and on the wall, are as under :—■
First Screen. Second Screen. Wall.
11-75 18-75 83-95
Here, if, according to the rule given above, the distance on
the first screen be taken from the distances on the other two,
the remainder will be 7 and 72-2 ; and these numbers, if each Gunnery,
shot kept to a vertical plane, ought to be in the proportion of ^
1 to 5 ; that being the proportion of the distances of the second
screen, and of the wall, from the first: but the last number
72-2 exceeds what it ought to be by this analogy by 37'2 ; so
that between them there is a deviation from the vertical plane
of above 37 inches, and this too in a transit of little more than
80 yards.
“But farther, to show that these irregularities do not de¬
pend on any accidental circumstance of the balls fitting or not
fitting the piece, there were five shots more made with the
same quantity of powder as before, but with smaller bullets,
which ran much looser in the piece. And the horizontal dis¬
tances being measured in inches from the trace of the first
bullet to each of the succeeding ones, the numbers were as
under:—
First Screen. Second Screen. Wall.
1 to 2 15-6 R. 31-1 R. 94-0 R.
3 6-4 L. 12-75 L. 23-0 L.
4 4-7 R. 8-5 R. 15-5 R.
5 12-6 R. 24-0 R. 63 5 R.
Here, again, on the supposed fixed position of the piece, the
horizontal distance on the wall between the first and third will
be found about 15 inches less than it should be if each kept to
a vertical plane; and like irregularities, though smaller, occur
in every other experiment. And if they are examined accord¬
ing to the third method set down above, and the horizontal
distances of the third and fourth, for instance are compared,
those on the first and second screen, and on the wall, appear to
be thus:
First Screen. Second Screen. Wall.
11-1 21-25 38-5
“ And if the horizontal distance on the first screen be taken
from the other two, the remainders will be 10-15 and 27*4 ;
where the least of them, instead of being five times the first,
as it ought to be, is 23-35 short of it; so that here is a devia¬
tion of more than 23 inches.
“ From all these experiments, the deflection in question
seems to be incontestibly evinced. But to give some farther
light to this subject, I took a barrel of the same bore with that
hitherto used, and bent it at about three or four inches from
its muzzle to the left, the bend making an angle of three or
four degrees with the axis of the piece. This piece thus bent
was fired with a loose ball, and the same quantity of powder
hitherto used, the screens of the last experiment being still con¬
tinued. It was natural to expect, that if this piece was pointed
by the general direction of its axis, the ball would be canted
to the left of that direction by the bend near its mouth. But
as the bullet, in passing through that bent part, would, as I
conceived, be forced to roll upon the right-hand side of the
barrel, and thereby its left side would turn up against the air,
and would increase the resistance on that side, I predicted to
the company then present, that if the axis on which the bullet
whirled did not shift its position after it was separated from
the piece, then, notwithstanding the bend of the piece to the
left, the bullet itself might be expected to incurvate towards
the right; and this, upon trial, did most remarkably happen.
For one of the bullets fired from this bent piece passed through
the first screen about 1J inch distant from the trace of one
of the shots fired from the straight piece in the last set of ex¬
periments. On the second screen, the traces of the same bul¬
lets were about 3 inches distant; the bullet from the crooked
piece passing on both screens to the left of the other ; but com¬
paring the places of these bullets on the wall, it appeared that
the bullet from the crooked piece, though it diverged from the
track on the two screens, had now crossed that track, and was
deflected considerably to the right of it; so that it was obvious,
that though the bullet from the crooked piece might first be
canted to the left, and had diverged from the track of the other
bullet with which it was compared, yet by degrees it deviated
again to the right, and a little beyond the second screen crossed
that track from which it before diverged, and on the wall was
deflected 14 inches, as I remember, on the contrary side.
By this arrangement of several parallel screens it became
evident that the ball did not always pursue the simple direc¬
tion of the deflection it had received on leaving the bore,
but from a cause acting during the flight was again deflected,
sometimes, as in the curious experiment of the bent barrel,
118 GUNNERY.
Gunnery. in an opposite direction to that of the original deflection.
With his usual acumen Mr Robins assigned this effect to
its true cause.
“ The reality of this doubly curvated track being thus de¬
monstrated, it may perhaps be asked, What can be the cause
of a motion so different from what has been hitherto supposed ?
And to this I answer, that the deflection in question must be
owing to some power acting obliquely to the progressive mo¬
tion of the body ; which power can be no other than the re¬
sistance of the air. If it be further asked, how the resistance
of the air can ever come to be oblique to the progressive motion
of the body, I farther reply, that it may sometimes arise from
inequalities in the resisted surface, but that its general cause
is doubtless a whirling motion acquired by the bullet about its
axis ; for by this motion of rotation, combined with the pro¬
gressive motion, each part of the bullet’s surface will strike
the air very differently from what it would do if there was no
such whirl; and the obliquity of the action of the air arising
from this cause will be greater, as the rotatory motion of the
bullet is greater in proportion to its progressive one.
“ This whirling motion undoubtedly arises from the friction
of the bullet against the sides of the piece ; and as the rota¬
tory motion will in some part of its revolution conspire with
the progressive one, and in another part be equally opposed to
it, the resistance of the air on the fore part of the bullet will
be hereby affected, and will be increased in that part where
the whirling motion conspires with the progressive one, and
diminished where it is opposed to it; and by this means the
whole effort of the resistance, instead of being opposite to the
direction of the body, will become oblique thereto, and will
produce those effects already mentioned. If it was possible to
predict the position of the axis round which the bullet should
whirl, and if that axis was unchangeable during the whole
flight of the bullet, then the aberration of the bullet by this
oblique force would be in a given direction, and the incurva¬
tion produced thereby would regularly extend the same way
from one end of its track to the other. For instance, if the
axis of the whirl was perpendicular to the horizon, then the
incurvation would be to the right or left. If that axis was
horizontal, and perpendicular to the direction of the bullet,
then the incurvation would be upwards or downwards. But
as the first position of this axis is uncertain, and as it may
perpetually shift in the course of the bullet’s flight, the de¬
viation of the bullet is not necessarily either in one certain
direction, or tending to the same side in one part of its track
more than it does in another, but more usually is continually
changing the tendency of its deflection, as the axis round which
it whirls must frequently shift its position to the progressive
motion by many inevitable accidents.
“ That a bullet generally acquires such a rotatory motion
as here described, is, I think, demonstrable; however, to leave
no room for doubt or dispute, I confirmed it, as well as some
other parts of my theory, by the following experiments:—
“ I caused the machine to be made, represented fig. 8,
BODE is a brass barrel, move-
able on its axis, and so ad¬
justed by means of friction-
wheels, not represented in L
the figure, as to have no
friction worth attending to.
The frame in which this bar¬
rel is fixed is so placed that
its axis may be perpendi¬
cular to the horizon. Ihe axis itself is continued above
the upper plate of the frame, and has fastened on it a light
hollow cone, AFG. From the lower part of this cone there is
extended a long arm of wood, GH, which is very thin, and cut
feather-edged. At its extremity there is a contrivance for
fixing on the body whose resistance is to be investigated (as
here the globe P); and to prevent the arm GH from swaying
out of its horizontal position by the weight of the annexed
body P, there is a brace, AH, of fine wire, fastened to the top
ot the cone which supports the end of the arm.
“ Round the. barrel BCDE there is wound a fine silk line,
the turns of which appear in the figure ; and after this line has
taken a sufficient number of turns, it is conducted nearly in a
horizontal direction to the pulley L, over which it is passed,
and then a proper weight M is hung to its extremity. If this
weight be left at liberty, it is obvious that it will descend by Gunnery
its own gravity, and will, by its descent, turn round the barrel \
BCDE, together with the arm GH, and the body P fastened
to it. And whilst the resistance on the arm GH and on the
body P is less than the weight M, that weight will accelerate
its motion : and thereby the motion of GH and P will increase,
and consequently their resistance will increase, till at last this
resistance and the weight M become nearly equal to each other.
The motion with which M descends, and with which P re¬
volves, will not then sensibly dift'er from an equable one.
Whence it is not difficult to conceive, that, by proper obser¬
vations made with this machine, the resistance of the body P
may be determined. The most natural method of proceeding
in this investigation is as follows : Let the machine first have
acquired its equable motion, which it will usually do in about
five or six turns from the beginning; and then let it be ob¬
served, by counting a number of turns, what time is taken up
by one revolution of the body P ; then taking off the body P
and the weight M, let it be examined what smaller weight wTill
make the arm GH revolve in the same time as when P was
fixed to it; this smaller weight being taken from M, the re¬
mainder is obviously equal in effort to the resistance of the
revolving body P ; and this remainder being reduced in the
ratio of the length of the arm to the semidiameter of the bar¬
rel, will then become equal to the absolute quantity of the re¬
sistance. And as the time of one revolution is known, and
consequently the velocity of the revolving body, there is hereby
discovered the absolute quantity of the resistance to the given
body P moving with a given degree of celerity.
“ Here, to avoid all objections, I have generally chosen,
when the body P was removed, to fix in its stead a thin piece
of lead of the same weight, placed horizontally; so that the
weight which was to turn round the arm GH, without the body
P, did also carry round this piece of lead. But mathematicians
will easily allow that there was no necessity for this precau¬
tion. The diameter of the barrel BCDE, and of the silk string
wound round it, was 2-06 inches. The length of the arm GH,
measured from the axis to the surface of the globe P, was
49-5 inches. The body P, the globe made use of, was of paste¬
board ; its surface very neatly coated with marbled paper. It
was not much distant from the size of a 12-lb. shot, being in
diameter I'o inches, so that the radius of the circle described
by the centre of the globe was 51-75 inches. When this globe
was fixed at the end of the arm, and a weight of half a pound
was hung at the end of the string at M, it was examined how
soon the motion of the descending weight M, and of the re¬
volving body P, would become equable as to sense. With this
view, three revolutions being suffered to elapse, it was found
that the next 10 were performed in 27fs, 20 in less than 55s,
and 80 in 82|s; so that the first 10 were performed in 27ia,
the second in 27is, and the third in 27^s.
“ These experiments sufficiently evince, that even with half
a pound, the smallest weight made use of, the motion of the
machine was sufficiently equable after the first three revolu¬
tions.
“ The globe above mentioned being now fixed at the end of
the arm, there was hung on at M a weight of 3i lbs.; and ten
revolutions being suffered to elapse, the succeeding 20 w'ere
performed in 21-J8. Then the globe being taken off, and a
thin plate of lead, equal to it in weight, placed in its room ; it
was found, that instead of 3^ lb. a weight of one pound would
make it revolve in less time than it did before, performing now
20 revolutions after 10 were elapsed in the space of 19s.
“ Hence then it follows, that from the 3^ lbs. first hung on,
there is less than 1 lb. to be deducted for the resistance on the
arm ; and consequently the resistance on the globe itself is not
less than the effort of 2J lbs. in the situation M : and it ap¬
pearing from the former measures, that the radius of the bar¬
rel is nearly s’Bth of the radius of the circle described by the
centre of the globe, it follows, that the absolute resistance of
the globe, when it revolves 20 times in 21^s (about 25 feet in
a second), is not less than the 50th part of two pounds and a
quarter, or of 36 ounces; and this being considerably more
than half an ounce, and the globe nearly the size of a 12-lb.
shot, it irrefragably confirms a proposition I had formerly laid
down from theory, that the resistance of the air to a 12-lbs.
iron shot, moving with a velocity of 25 feet in a second, is not
less than half an ounce.
“ The rest of the experiments were made in order to con-
GUNNERY.
Gunnery, firm another proposition, namely, that the resistance of the air
i ^ j within certain limits is nearly in the duplicate proportion of
the velocity of the resisted body. To investigate this point,
there were successively hung on at M, weights in the propor¬
tion of the numbers 1, 4, 9, 16; and letting 10 revolutions
first elapse, the following observations were made on the rest.
With -J lb. the globe went 20 turns in 54|*, with 2 lbs. it went
20 turns in 274*, with 4£ lbs. it went 30 turns in 27|‘, and
with 8 lbs. it w7ent 40 turns in 27^*. Hence it appears, that to
resistances proportioned to the numbers 1, 4, 9, 16, there cor¬
respond velocities of the resisted body in the proportion of the
numbers 1, 2,3, 4 : which proves, wdth great nicety, the pro¬
position above mentioned.
“ With regard to the rotatory motion, the first experiment
was to evince, that the whirling motion of a ball combining
with its progressive motion wTould produce such an oblique re¬
sistance and deflective power as already mentioned. For this
purpose a wooden ball of 4J inches diameter was suspended by
a double string about eight or nine feet long. Now, by turn¬
ing round the ball, and twisting the double string, the ball
when left to itself would have a revolving motion given it from
the untwisting of the string again. And if, when the string
was twisted, the ball wras drawn to a considerable distance from
the perpendicular, and there let go, it would at first, before
it had acquired its revolving motion, vibrate steadily enough
in the same vertical plane in which it first began to move;
but when, by the untwisting of the string, it had acquired a
sufficient degree of its whirling motion, it constantly deflected
to the right or left of its first track, and sometimes proceeded
so far as to have its direction at right angles to that in which
it began its motion ; and this deviation was not produced by
the string itself, but appeared to be entirely owing to the re¬
sistance being greater on the one part of the leading surface
of the globe than the other. For the deviation continued when
the string wras totally untwisted, and even during the time that
the string, by the motion the globe had received, was twisting
the contrary way. And it was always easy to predict, before
the ball was let go, which way it would deflect, only by consi¬
dering on which side the whirl would be combined with the
progressive motion; for on that side always the deflective
power acted, as the resistance was greater here than on the
side where the whirl and progressive motion were opposed to
one another.”
Mr Robins also applied the whirling machine to the ex¬
perimental illustration of the great difference of resistance
offered by the air to the passage of bodies of equal surfaces,
and even meeting the air at the same angle of obliquity,
but of different forms ; the difference being so great, that
though in one of them the resistance is less than that of a
perpendicular surface meeting the same quantity of air, yet
in another it shall be considerably greater.”
“ To make out this proposition, I made use of the machine
already described ; and having prepared a pasteboard pyramid,
whose base was 4 inches square, and whose planes made angles
of 45° with the plane of its base, and also a parallelogram 4
inches in breadth, and 5^ in length, which was equal to the
surface of the pyramid, the globe P was taken off from the
machine, and the pyramid was first fixed on; and 2 lb. being
hung at M, and the pyramid so fitted as to move with its ver¬
tex forwards, it performed twenty revolutions after the first
ten were elapsed in 33*. Then the pyramid being turned so
that its base, which was a plane of 4 inches square, went fore¬
most, it now performed twenty revolutions with the same
weight in 385s. After this, taking off the pyramid, and fixing
on the parallelogram with its longer side perpendicular to the
arm, and placing its surface in an angle of 45° with the hori¬
zon by a quadrant, the parallelogram, with the same weight,
performed twenty revolutions in 43^*.
‘ ‘ Now here this parallelogram and the surface of the pyra¬
mid are equal to each other, and each of them met the air in
an angle of 45°; and yet one of them made twenty revolutions
in 33*, whilst the other took up 43|*. And at the same time
it appears that a flat surface, such as the base of a pyramid,
which meets the same quantity of air perpendicularly, makes
twenty revolutions in 38^*, which is the medium between the
other two.
119
“ But to give another and still more simple proof of this Gunnery,
principle, there was taken a parallelogram 4 inches broad and
8|th long. This being fixed at the end of the arm, with its
long side perpendicular thereto, and being placed in an angle
of 45° with the horizon, there was a weight hung on at M of
3^ lbs. with which the parallelogram made twenty revolutions
in 4Of*. But after this, the position of the parallelogram was
shifted, and it was placed with its shorter side perpendicular
to the arm, though its surface was still inclined to an angle of
45° with the horizon ; and now, instead of going slower, as
might have been expected from the greater extent of part of
its surface from the axis of the machine, it wrent round much
faster ; for in this last situation it made twenty revolutions in
35f*, so that there were 5* difference in the time of twenty re¬
volutions ; and this from no other change of circumstance than
as the larger or shorter side of the oblique plane was perpen¬
dicular to the line of its direction.”
In the seventy-third volume of the Philosophical Trans¬
actions, several experiments on this subject, but upon a
somewhat larger scale, as the arms of this modification of
the whirling machine were about 6 feet long, are related
by Lovell Edgeworth, Esq. They confirm the accuracy of
Mr Robins’ statements.
These are the principal experiments made by Mr Robins
in confirmation of his theory, and which not only far exceed
everything that had been previously done, but point out
the only method by which the art of gunnery may be still
further improved. It must be observed, however, that in
this art it is impossible we should ever arrive at absolute
perfection; that is, it can never be expected that a gunner,
by any method of calculation whatever, can be enabled to
point his guns in such a manner that the shot shall hit the
mark if placed anywhere w'ithin its range. Aberration
which can by no means be either foreseen or prevented,
will take place from a great number of different causes. A
variation in the density of the atmosphere, in the dampness
of the powder, or in the figure of the shot, will cause varia¬
tions in the range of the bullet, which cannot by any means
be reduced to rules, and consequently must render the event
of each shot very precarious. The resistance of the atmo¬
sphere simply considered, without any of those anomalies
arising from its density at different times, is a problem which,
notwithstanding the labours of Mr Robins and others, has
not been completely solved ; and, indeed, if we consider the
matter in a physical light, we shall find that without some
other data than those which are yet obtained, an exact so¬
lution of it is impossible. Professor Robinson, for example,
the original writer of this article, proceeded at this point
to investigate another difficult and obscure point connected
with the resistance of the air to bodies passing with great
velocity through it.
An objection has been made to the mathematical philo¬
sophy, to which in many cases it is most certainly liable,
that it considers the resistance of matter more than its ca¬
pacity of giving motion to other matter.- Hence, if in any
case matter acts both as a resisting and a moving power,
and the mathematician overlooks its effort towards motion,
founding his demonstrations only upon its property of re¬
sisting, these demonstrations will certainly be false. It is
to an error of this kind that we are to attribute the great
differences already noticed between the calculations of Sir
Isaac Newton, with regard to the resisting force of fluids,
and what actually takes place upon trial. Ihese calcula¬
tions were made upon the supposition that the fluid through
which a body moved could do nothing else but resist it;
yet it is certain that the air (the fluid with which we have
to do at present) proves a source of motion, as well as re¬
sistance, to all bodies which move in it.
To understand this matter fully, let ABC represent a
crooked tube made of any solid matter, and a, h, two pis¬
tons which exactly fill the cavity. If the space between
these pistons be full of air, it is plain they cannot come
GUNNERY.
120
Gunnery, into contact with each other, on account of the elasticity
of the included air, but will remain at some
certain distance, as represented in the figure.
If the piston b be drawn up, the air which
presses in the direction C& acts as a resisting
power, and the piston will not be drawn up
with such ease as if the whole was in vacuo.
But though the column of air pressing in the
direction C6 acts as a resisting power on the
piston b, the column pressing in the direction
Aa will act as a moving power upon the piston
a. It is therefore plain, that if b be moved
upwards till it comes to the place marked c?, the other will
descend to that marked c. Now, if we suppose the piston
a to be removed, it is plain that when b is pulled upwards
to d, the air descending through the leg AaCB will press
on the under side of the piston b, as strongly as it would
have done upon the upper side of the piston a, had it been
present. 1 herefore, though the air passing down through
the leg CB resists the motion of the piston b when drawn
upwards, the air pressing down through the leg AB forwards
it as much ; and accordingly the piston b may be drawn up
or pushed down at pleasure, and with very little trouble.
But if the orifice at A be stopped, so that the air can only
exert its resisting power on the piston Z>, it will require a
considerable degree of strength to move the piston from b
to d.
If now we suppose the tube to be entirely removed (which
indeed answers no other purpose than to render the action
of the air more evident), it is plain that if the piston be moved
either up or down, or in any other direction we can imagine,
the air will press as much upon the back part of it as it re¬
sists it on the fore part; and, consequently, a ball moving
through the air with any degree of velocity, ought to be
as much accelerated by the action of the air behind, as it is
retarded by the action of that before. Here then it is na¬
tural to ask, if the air accelerates a moving body as much
as it retards it, how comes it to make any resistance at all ?
\ et certain it is that this fluid does resist, and that very
considerably. To this it may be answered, that the air is
always kept in some certain state or constitution by another
power which rules all its motions, and it is this power un¬
doubtedly which gives the resistance. It is not to our pur¬
pose at present to inquire what that power is, but we see
that the air is often in very different states ; one day, for in^
stance, its parts are violently agitated by a storm, and an¬
other perhaps they are comparatively at rest in a calm. In
the first case, nobody hesitates to own that the storm is oc¬
casioned by some cause or other, which violently resists any
other power that would prevent the agitation of the air. In
a calm the case is the same ; for it would require the same
exertion of power to excite a tempest in a calm day as to
allay a tempest in a stormy one. Now it is evident that all
projectiles, by their motion, agitate the atmosphere in an
unnatural manner, and consequently are resisted by that
power, whatever it is, which tends to restore the equilibrium,
or bring back the atmosphere to its former state.
If no other power besides that above mentioned acted
upon projectiles, it is probable that all resistance to their
motion would be in the duplicate proportion of their velo¬
cities ; and accordingly, as long as their velocity is small,
we find that generally it is so. But when the velocity comes
to be exceedingly great, other sources of resistance arise.
One of these is a subtraction of part of the moving power,
which, though not properly a resistance, or opposing another
power to it, is an equivalent thereto. This subtraction arises
from the following cause :—The air, as we have already ob¬
served, presses upon the hinder part of the moving body by
its gravity, as much as it resists the forepart of it by the
same property. Nevertheless the velocity with which the
air presses upon any body by means of its gravity is limited;
and it is possible that a body may change its place with so Gunnery,
great velocity that the air has not time to rush in upon the ^
back part of it in order to assist its progressive motion.
When this happens to be the case, there is in the first place
a deficiency of the moving power equivalent to fifteen
pounds on every square inch of surface, at the same time
that there is a positive resistance of as much more on the
fore part, owing to the gravity of the atmosphere, which
must be overcome before the body can move forward.
This deficiency of moving power, and increase of resist¬
ance, do not only take place when the body moves with a
very great degree of velocity, but in all motions whatsoever.
It is not in all cases perceptible, because the velocity with
which the body moves frequently bears but a very small
proportion to the velocity with which the air presses in be¬
hind it. Thus, supposing the velocity with which the air
rushes into a vacuum to be 1200 feet in a second, if a body
moves with a velocity of 40 or 50 feet in a second, the force
with which the air presses on the back part is but ^th at
the utmost less than that which resists on the fore part of it,
which will not be perceptible ; but if, as in the case of bul¬
lets, the velocity of the projectile comes to have a consider¬
able proportion to the velocity wherewith the air rushes in
behind it, then a very perceptible and otherwise unac¬
countable resistance is observed, as we have seen in the
experiments already related by Mr Robins. Thus, if the
air presses in with a velocity of 1200 feet in a second, and
if the body changes its place with a velocity of 600 feet in
the same time, there is a resistance of fifteen pounds on the
fore part, and a pressure of only 7^ on the back part. The
resistance therefore not only overcomes the moving power
of the air by 7^ pounds, but there is a deficiency of other
7£ pounds owing to the want of half the pressure of the at¬
mosphere on the back part, and thus the whole loss of the
moving power is equivalent to 15 pounds; and hence the
exceeding great increase of resistance observed by Mr
Robins beyond what it ought to be according to the com¬
mon computations. The velocity with which the air rushes
into a vacuum is therefore a desideratum in gunnery. Mr
Robins supposes that it is the same with the velocity of
sound ; and that when a bullet moves with a velocity greater
than that of 1200 feet in a second, it leaves a perfect vacuum
behind it. Hence he accounts for the great increase of re¬
sistance to bullets moving with such velocities; but as he
does not take notice of the loss of the air’s moving power,
the anomalies of all lesser velocities are inexplicable on his
principles. Nay, he even tells us that Sir Isaac Newton’s
rule for computing resistances may be applied in all veloci¬
ties less than 1100 or 1200 feet in a second, though this is
expressly contradicted by his own experiments already
mentioned.
Though for these reasons it is evident how great diffi¬
culties must occur in attempting to calculate the resistance
of the air to military projectiles, we have not yet even dis¬
covered all the sources of resistance to these bodies when
moving with immense velocities. Another power by which
they are opposed, and which at last becomes greater than
any of those hitherto mentioned, is the air’s elasticity. This,
however, will not begin to show itself in the way of resist¬
ance till the velocity of the moving body becomes consi¬
derably greater than that by which the air presses into a
vacuum. Having therefore first ascertained this velocity,
which we shall suppose to be 1200 feet in a second, it is
plain that if a body moves W’ith a velocity of 1800 feet in
a second, it must compress the air before it; because the
fluid has neither time to expand itself in order to fill the
vacuum left behind the moving body, nor to rush in by its
gravity. This compression it will resist by its elastic
power, which thus becomes a new source of resistance, in¬
creasing, without any limit, in proportion to the velocity of
the moving body. If now we suppose the moving body to
B
Fig. 10.
GUNNERY.
121
Gunnery, set out with a velocity of 2400 feet in a second, it is plain
> j t]iat there is not only a vacuum left behind the body, but
the air before it is compressed into half its natural space.
The loss of motion in the projectile therefore is now very
considerable. It first loses 15 pounds on every square
inch of surface on account of the deficiency ot the mov¬
ing power of the air behind it, then it loses 15 pounds
more on account of the resistance of the air before it;
again, it loses 15 pounds on account of the elasticity of the
compressed air; and lastly, it loses another 15 pounds on
account of the vacuum behind, which takes off the weight
of the atmosphere, that would have been equivalent to one-
half of the elasticity of the air before it. The whole re¬
sistance therefore upon every square inch of surface mov¬
ing with this velocity is 60 pounds, besides that which
arises from the power tending to preserve the general state
of the atmosphere, and which increases in the duplicate
proportion of the velocity, as already mentioned. If the
body is supposed to move with a velocity of 4800 feet in a
second, the resistance from the elasticity of the air will then
be quadrupled, or amount to 60 pounds on the square inch
of surface, which, added to the other causes, will produce
a resistance of 105 pounds upon the square inch ; and thus
the resistance from the elasticity of the air would go on
continually increasing, till at last the motion of the projec¬
tile would be as effectually stopped as it it were fired against
a wall. This obstacle, therefore, we are to consider as really
insuperable by any art whatsoever, and therefore it is not
advisable to use larger charges of powder than what will
project the shot with a velocity of 1200 feet in a second.
To this velocity the elasticity of the air will not make great
resistance, if indeed it makes any at all; for though Mr
Robins has conjectured that air rushes into a vacuum with
the velocity of sound, or between 1100 and 1200 feet in a
second, yet we have no decisive proof of the truth of this
supposition. At this velocity, indeed, according to Mr
Robins, a very sudden increase of resistance takes place;
but this is denied by Mr Glenie, in his History of Gun¬
nery (p. 48, 50), who supposes that the resistance proceeds
gradually ; and, indeed, it seems to be pretty obvious that
the resistance cannot very suddenly increase, if the velocity
be only increased in a small degree. Yet it is certain that
the swiftest motions with which cannon-balls can be pio-
jected are very soon reduced to the standard; for Mr
Robins informs us, that “ a 24-pound shot, when discharged
with a velocity of 2000 feet in a second, will be reduced to
that of 1200 feet in a second in a flight of little more than
500 yards.”
In the seventy-first volume of the Philosophical L rans-
actions, Count Rumford has proposed as new a method of
determining the velocities of bullets, by measuring the
force of the recoil of the piece. As in all cases action and
reaction are supposed to be equal to one another, it appeals
that the momentum of a gun, or the force of its recoil back¬
wards, must always be equivalent to the force of discharge
in the opposite direction ; that is, the velocity with which the
gun recoils, multiplied into its weight, is equal to the velocity^
of the bullet multiplied into its weight ; for every particle ot
matter, whether solid or fluid, that issues out of the mouth
of a piece, must be impelled by the action of some power,
which power must react with equal force against the bot¬
tom of the bore. Even the fine elastic invisible fluid which
is generated from the powder in its inflammation cannot
put itself in motion without at the same time reacting
against the gun. Thus we see pieces, when they are fired
with powder alone, recoil as well as when their charges are
made to impel a weight of shot, though the recoil is not in
the same degree in both cases. It is easy to determine the
velocity of the recoil in any given case, by suspending the
gun in an horizontal position by two pendulous rods, and
measuring the arc of its ascent by means of a ribbon, as in
VOL. XI.
the Ballistic Pendulum ; and this will give the momentum Gunnery,
of the gun, its weight being known, and consequently the '
momentum of its charge. But in order to detei mine the
velocity of the bullet from the momentum of the recoil, it
will be necessary to know how much the weight and velo¬
city of the elastic fluid contribute towards it.
That part of the recoil which arises from the expansion
of the fluid is always very nearly the same as stated by
Robins, whether the powder is fired alone, or whether the
charge is made to impel one or more bullets, as has been
determined by a great variety of experiments. If, there¬
fore, a gun, suspended according to the method prescribed,
is fired with any given charge of powder, but without any
bullet or wad, and the recoil is observed, and if the same
piece is afterwards fired with the same quantity of powder,^
and a bullet of a known weight, the excess of the velocity of
the recoil in the latter case, over that in the former, will
be proportional to the velocity of the bullet; for the dif¬
ference of these velocities, multiplied into the weight of
the gun, will be equal to the weight of the bullet multi¬
plied into its velocity. Thus, if W is put equal to the
weight of the gun ; U = the velocity of the bullet when
fired with a given charge of powder without any bullet;
Y = the velocity of the recoil when the same charge is
made to impel a bullet; B = the weight of the bullet, and
(V-U)W
v = its velocity ; it will be v = ' g •
To determine how far this theory agreed with practice,
an experiment was made with a charge of 165 grains of
powder, without any bullet, which produced a lecoil of 5 5
inches ; and in another, the recoil was 5'6 inches, the mean
of which is 5-55 inches, answering to a velocity of IT358
feet in a second. In five experiments with the same charge
of powder, and a bullet weighing 580 grains, the mean was
14-6 inches ; and the velocity of the recoil answering to the
length just mentioned, is 2*9880 feet in a second ; conse¬
quently V - U, or 2*9880 - 1*1358, is equal to 1*8522 feet
in a second. But as the velocities of recoil are known to
be as the chords of the arcs through which the barrel
ascends, it is not necessary, in order to determine the velo¬
city of the bullet, to compute the velocities V and U; but
the quantity V — U, or the difference of the velocities of
the recoil when the given charge is fired with and without
a bullet, may be computed from the value of the difference
of the chords by one operation. Thus the velocity answei-
ing to the chord 9*05 is that of 1*8522 feet in a second,
which is just equal to V — U, as was before found.
In this experiment the weight of the barrel with its cai-
riage was just 47;jlbs*’ 1° which jjths of a pound were to
be added on account of the weight of the rods by which it
was suspended ; thus making W = 48 lbs., or 336,000
orains. The weight of the bullet was 580 grains ; whence
B is to W as 580 to 336,000—that is, as 1 to 579*31 very
nearly. The value of V — U, answering to the experi¬
ments before mentioned, was found to be 1*8522; conse
quently the velocity of the bullet = v was T8522 x 5 <9*31
- 1073 feet, which differs only by 10 from 1083, the velo¬
city found by the pendulum.
The velocities of the bullets may be found from the
coil by a still more simple method, f or the velocities of
the recoil being as the chords measuied upon the nbbon,
if c is put equal to the chord of the recoil expressed in
English inches, when the piece is fired with powder only,
and C = the chord when the same piece is charged with a
bullet; then C - c will be as V - U ; and consequently
as (V ~ U) which measures the velocity of the bullet,
B
the ratio of W to B remaining the same. If, therefore, we
suppose a case in which C — c is equal to one inch, and the
velocity of the bullet is computed from that chord, the velo-
Q
GUNNERY.
122
Gunnery, city in any other case, wherein C — c is greater or less than
one inch, will be found by multiplying the difference of the
chords C and c by the velocity answering to the difference
of one inch. The length of the parallel rods by which the
piece was suspended being 64 inches, the velocity of the
recoil, = C — e = 1 inch measured upon the ribbon, is
0'204655 parts of a foot in one second, which in this case is
also the value of V — U ; the velocity of the bullet, or v,
is therefore 0204655 x 57031 = 118'55 feet in a second.
Hence the velocity of the bullet may in all cases be found by
multiplying the difference of the chords C and cby 118‘55,
the weight of the barrel, the length of the rods by which it is
suspended, and the weight of the bullet, I'emaining the same;
and this whatever the charge of powder made use of may
be, and however it may differ in strength and goodness.
The exactness of this second method will appear from the
following experiments. On firing the piece with 145 grains
of powder and a bullet, the mean of three sets of experi¬
ments was 13-25, 13-15, and 13-2; and with the same
charge of powder without a bullet, the recoil was 4-5, 4-3, or
4-4. C — c, therefore, was 13-2 — 4'4 = 8-8 inches; and
the velocity of the bullets, = 8-8 x 118-35 = 1045 feet in
a second ; the velocities by the pendulum coming out 1040
feet in the same space of time.
In the far greater number of experiments to determine
the comparative accuracy of the two methods, a surprising
agreement was found between the last-mentioned one and
that by the pendulum; but in some few the differences
were very remarkable. Thus, in two where the recoil was
12-92 and 13-28, the velocity, by computation from the
chords, is 1030 feet per second ; but in computing by the
pendulum it amounted only to 900 ; in these, however, some
inaccuracy was suspected in the experiment with the pen¬
dulum, and the computation from the recoil was most to be
depended upon. In another experiment, the velocity by
the recoil exceeded that by the pendulum by no less than
346 feet; the former showing 2109, and the latter only
1763 feet in a second.
These differences Count Rumford partly ascribed to the
possibility of error in measuring the arc of ascent of the pen¬
dulum in his experiments, as the bullet was very light, con¬
sisting of a leaden casing over a plaster of Paris nucleus,
and the movement of the pendulum very small in conse¬
quence ; an error, therefore, of -j^th of an inch, if made in one
of the experiments, being sufficient to account for 120 feet
in a second of the difference in the velocity. The resistance
also of the air in the passage of the ball from the barrel to
the pendulum, distant 12 feet, was another supposed cause
of the difference, as Count Rumford assumed, that in this
passage, performed in the T^d part of a second, the ball lost
335 feet of its velocity, and therefore struck the pendulum
with a corresponding diminished force ; but even after allow¬
ing for these causes of irregularity between the results of
the two methods, he still found large differences, and was led
to discover and admit that they were the consequence of the
fracture of his balls by the concussion of firing. Indeed,
Count Rumford afterwards observes,—
“ As allowance has been made for the resistance of the air
in these cases, it may be expected that the same should be done
in all other cases ; but it will probably appear, upon inquiry,
that the diminution of the velocities of the bullets on that ac¬
count was so inconsiderable, that it might safely be neglected :
thus, for instance, in the experiments with an ounce of powder,
when the velocity of the bullet was more than 1750 feet in a
second, the diminution turns out no more than 25 or 30 feet
in a second, though we suppose the full resistance to have
begun so near as two feet from the mouth of the piece ; and in
all cases where the velocity was less, the effect of the resistance
was less in a much greater proportion ; and even in this in¬
stance there is reason to think that the diminution of the velo-
. city, as we have determined it, is too great; for the flame of
gunpowder expands with such amazing rapidity, that it is
scarcely to be supposed but that it follows the bullet, and con- Gunnerv
tinues to act upon it more than two feet, or even four feet, i ^
from the gun ; and when the velocity of the bullet is less, its " v^/
action upon it must be sensible at a still greater distance.”
And hence it must be admitted that these experiments did
not permit of a satisfactory comparison of the two methods
of determining the recoil.
As Mr Robins considered that the whole of the powder
of the charge is ignited before the ball begins to move, and
that the gas proceeding from it is instantaneously produced,
he came to the conclusion that the velocities of balls of the
same size, though ofdifferent weights, would be reciprocally as
the square roots of the weights; but Count Rumford proved
that the ignition, even of the powder, was not instantaneous;
and though Dr Hutton’s experiments found this law to
hold good, he considered this agreement to be the result of
compensating circumstances, and states his own opinion that
the correct law is nearly the reciprocal sub-triplicate ratio.
Count Rumford also pointed out that Robins’ estimate of
the force of gunpowder—1000 to 1, as regards the pressure
of the atmosphere—was too low, his own experiments making
it 1308 to 1, an estimate still further raised by Hutton, as
has been before stated, to 2000 to 1 or even 2230 to 1.
At this part of the subject it is necessary to point out
the extraordinary importance of the labours of Robins, who
was assuredly the pioneer of modern gunnery, and with
whom commenced, as Sir Howard Douglas justly observes,
a new era in the theory of gunnery. This success was due
to the introduction of experimental proof; and simple as the
means adopted were, they cannot be too highly prized for
their efficiency. Didion quotes from the Histoire de VAca¬
demic des Sciences de Paris (1707), a passage respecting
the younger Cassini, which shows that he had adopted before
Robins a practical application of the principle of “ mea¬
suring the velocity of a projectile by that which it impresses
upon a larger mass against, or into, which itis fired”—though
with the object rather of testing the influence of the wad
and of the disposition of the charge, than of measuring the
velocity. Cassini’s machine is described as a piece of wood
armed at one end by a thick plate of cast-iron which was to
resist the balls fired against it from the same musket, always
placed at the same distance. The piece of wood was move-
able so as to yield more or less to the shock, the extent of
movement being marked or measured by the machine.
This simple plan was better fitted for measuring compa¬
rative than absolute results, and can scarcely, as suggested
by Didion, have influenced Robins in his invention of the
ballistic pendulum, first used in 1740, and the object of
which was to measure the velocity of musket balls and the
resistance of the air. To enlarge the sphere of inquiry, Dr
Hutton, professor of mathematics at the Royal Military Aca¬
demy, was subsequently authorized by the Master-General
of the Ordnance to carry on several series of experiments,
from 1775 to 1791, conjointly with Major (afterwards Sir
Thomas) Blomefield, with a pendulum tbrmed of pieces of
wood clamped by iron, and weighing first 657 lbs. and then
2300 lbs., being intended to receive balls of 1 lb., 3 lbs., and
6 lbs. weight; and under the same authority, other series
were undertaken in 1811, and from 1815 to 1818, the latter
being entrusted to Dr Gregory, who had become professor
of mathematics, and was associated with General Miller and
Colonel Griffith—the weight of the pendulum being 7000
lbs., and the ball fired against it 12 lbs. These experiments
deserve especial notice, not merely from their great im¬
portance, as determining essential elements in gunnery, but
also from the evidence they afford of the active scientific
spirit of some of the artillery officers of those days, and the
example they set before the officers of the present. Nor
were these experiments allowed to be carried on without
turning them to account as a means of instruction—Dr Hut¬
ton carrying with him to the practice-ground his students
GUNNERY.
123
Gunnery, of the first class of the gentlemen cadets. His words are—
^ “ On this occasion I took out with me, and employed the
first class of gentlemen cadets belonging to the Royal Mili¬
tary Academy, namely, Messieurs Bartlett, Rowley, De
Butts, Bryce, Wm. Fenwick, Pilkington, Edridge, and
Watkins, who have gone through the science of fluxions,
and have applied it to several important considerations in
natural philosophy. These gentlemen I have voluntarily
offered and undertaken to introduce to the practice of these
interesting experiments, with the application of the theory
of them, which they have before studied under my care.
For though it be not my academy duty, I am desirous of
doing this for their benefit, and as much as possible to assist
the eager and diligent studies of so learned and amiable a
class of young gentlemen, who, as well as the whole body
of students now in the upper academy, form the best set of
young men I ever knew in my life; nay, I did not think it
even possible in any state of society in this country, for such
a number of gentlemen to exist together in the constant
daily habits of so much regularity and good manners, their
behaviour being indeed perfectly exemplary; and I have
no hesitation in predicting the great honour and future ser¬
vices which will doubtless be rendered to the state by such
eminent instances of virtue and abilitiesand lie added in
a note, dated 1812, “ At this distance of time, and long be¬
fore, the world has had the satisfaction to find, that this pre¬
diction has been most amply and accurately fulfilled in every
instance,”—a truth which will be admitted by all who still
remember many of these names.
These remarkable words of a man who had raised him¬
self, not only by talents of a very high order, but by un¬
blemished character, to a position of great respectability
and of high responsibility, deserve attention at this moment,
when it is proposed to remodel the institution of which Dr
Hutton was the distinguished professor of mathematics.
By associating with him the gentlemen he has named, he
took the first step towards the formation of a Class of Appli¬
cation ; and this is really what should be done with the
academy. Years ago a practical class was formed as
supplementary to what is called the theoretical class; but
such distinctions are not only erroneous but injurious, as
theory and practice cannot be safely separated at any time,
or at any period of a professional course. The gunner may,
indeed, be taught much which is required from him practi¬
cally ; but the officer must be taught theoretically, and with
him the subsequent training ought not to be merely prac¬
tice, but the application of theory to practice. It is to men
instructed at the Royal Military Academy in the highest
branches of dynamics that we should look for the future im¬
provement of our means of offensive and defensive warfare ;
and it is to be hoped, therefore, that the absurd distinctions
between “ theoretical” and “ practical” classes will be aban¬
doned ; that the principle of “ application” will be the cha¬
racteristic of the reformed academy or college ; and that its
professors will be again associated with the officers of artil¬
lery in carrying on further experiments for the improve¬
ment both of the science and of the art of gunnery.
It has been already stated that Benjamin Thomson, Esq.
(afterwards Count Rumford), furnished a paper to the
Royal Society in 1781 containing various experiments
made partly for the determination of the most advantageous
situation for the vent in fire-arms, and partly to measure the
initial velocity of bullets when discharged from them. In
these experiments he merely employed, as Robins had done,
a musket barrel; but in determining the velocity he used
the recoil of the barrel itself, as well as the motion of the
pendulum against which the ball was impelled. The former
method Mr Thomson called “ a new method but it had
been previously pointed out by Robins, who also appears
to have suggested the idea of applying it in the “eprouvette,”
for testing the comparative force of different samples of gun¬
powder, again proposed by Thompson, and subsequently so Gunnery,
beautifully carried into effect by Hutton, who, in 1783, v—
commenced his experiments with five brass one-pounders,
cast expressly for the purpose, suspending the guns by a
framework, and by additional weights, bringing them all up,
including the weight of the suspending frame, to one weight
—917 lbs. The weight of the ballistic pendulum was 559
lbs., and distance between the gun and ballistic pendulums
was 35^ feet, the axis of the gun being point-blank, or hori¬
zontal. The first set of experiments was designed for the
purpose of testing “ the comparative strength of the different
barrels of powder, by firing several charges of it, without
balls or wads.” So that in this case the gun pendulum be¬
came an eprouvette. It was found that the pendulum was
considerably affected by the explosion of the powder, and in
consequence a paper screen was afterwards interposed be¬
tween the gun and ballistic pendulums. The recoils were
found to be in a higher proportion than the charges of pow¬
der, as will be seen from the following statement of the re¬
sults of four experiments :—
Oz. of
Powder.
1. 2...
2. 4...
3. 8...
4. 16...,
Recoil
in inches.
... 4-5
,.. 10-8 <
,.. 24-7 <
,.. 53-3;
Proportions. Second Prop. Third do.
2-40.
229 <
2-16 '
•954 .
•944 '
•99
So that the first proportions, as ratios between the recoils,
all exceed that of the charges as 1 to 2, approximating,
however, to it with the increase of charge ; and that the
ratios between the successive ratios of recoil are nearly
equal as shown in the 5th column. Dr Hutton then car¬
ried on several series of experiments for determining the
velocities of the ball, both by the recoil of the gun and the
vibration of the ballistic pendulum ; and in his account of the
experiments of 1786, he gives the following tabular view of
the results, the velocities being given in feet per second :—
Comparison of the Velocities by the Gun and Pendulum.
Gun, No.
Gun, No.
Charge, 2 oz.
Velocity by
Gun. Pendulum.
830
863
919
929
780
835
920
970
Charge, 8 oz.
1445
1521
1631
1669
1430
1580
1790
1940
50
28
- 1
-41
15
_ 59
-159
-271
Charge, 4 oz.
Telocity by
Gun. Pendulum,
1135
1203
1294
1317
1100
1180
1300
1370
Charge, 16 oz.
1345
1485
1680
1730
1377
1656
1998
2106
Dif.
35
23
- 6
-53
- 32
-171
-318
-376
So that it appears that here, also, as in the experiments of
Count Rumfbrd, the recoil by the gun gave frequently a
result very much in deficit of that given by the pendulum.
The guns were those previously mentioned, all of the same
calibre but of different lengths, the balls weighing a little
more than 1 lb., and being all reduced by calculation, as
regards the results, to a uniform size.
Dr Hutton concluded, from these results, that the velo¬
cities, determined from the two different ways, do not agree
together, and that the method of determining the velocity
of the ball from the recoil of the gun is not generally true ;
and, consequently, that the effect of the inflamed gunpowder
on the recoil of the gun is not exactly the same when it is
fired without a ball as when it is fired with a ball. The
difference also does not appear to be regular, neither in
different guns with the same charge, nor with different charges
with the same gun. That with small charges the velocity
by the gun is greatest; that the velocity by the pendulum
124
GUNNER Y.
Gunnery, continues to gain upon that by the recoil as the charges in-
crease, and ultimately exceeds it more and more, as the
charge of powder is increased.
Experiments in 1788 and 1789 were made with brass
3-pounders—one short and the other very long—so as to
observe the effect both of length of gun and of weight of
powder; the charges being 4 oz. and 16 oz. The weight of
the pendulum was 1426 lbs. Amongst other results it was
ascertained, that firing with 16 oz. of powder, or ^ the weight
of the ball, the long gun gave an initial velocity to its ball of
584 feet per second, and the short gun a velocity of 1371 feet
per second; so that the velocity by the long gun exceeds that
by the short by between the 6th and 7th part of the latter;
the lengths of the guns being 40 inches and 69^ inches.
In 1789 experiments were also made with a long 6-
pounder, and in 1791 these were resumed with a new pen¬
dulum weighing 1630 lbs.; the weight of the gun being
1370 lbs., and the weight of the gun with its framework for
suspension 1618 lbs. Afterwards a medium 6-pounder and
a light 6-pounder were also used with successive pendulums
weighing 1861 lbs. and 2119 lbs.; so that it may be said,
without hesitation, that Dr Hutton’s general experiments
were by far the most important which had ever been made.
The velocities of the ball as discharged by the long gun,
after some slight corrections made with a view of reducing
the numbers to something like a regular series, but not such
as to materially affect their absolute values, are as follows :—
Distance
between
gun and
pendulum
30
115
200
285
Charge, 3 lbs.
Velo¬
city.
1813
1748
1686
1627
Dif.
65
62
59
Charge, 2 lbs.
Velo¬
city.
1676
1618
1562
1508
Dif.
Charge, 1§ lb.
Velo¬
city.
1506
1454
1404
1356
Dif.
52
50
48
Charge, 1 lb.
Velo¬
city.
1306
1259
1214
1171
47
45
43
with a velocity of 1600 feet per second, with a force of Gunnery,
nearly 222 lbs.,—results of great importance. i
In France, similar experiments had been made at Metz, in
1839 and 1840, with the French 24,12, and 8-pounders, and
their howitzer of 22 c., or 8^ inches. For these experi¬
ments, however, a considerable change had been effected
in the instrument, as shown in fig. 10. Instead of a mass of
wood, requiring frequent renewal, as in the English pendu¬
lum, a more permanent receiver was substituted, which,
being filled with some material moderately penetrablfe, can
be used without limitation.
The ballistic pendulum, then (fig. 10), consists of a conical
vase of cast-iron, A, called the ballistic receiver, and sus¬
pended by four rods, B B, B' B', to an axis, C, 16 feet above
it. The two rods, B B, embrace the front, and B' B' the
rear of the receiver; and further, the two rods on the same
side of the receiver approximate together at the top, so as
to be connected with the one end of the axis, whilst the two
©n the other side are connected with the other end. The
rods are bound together by four cross pieces, D, D,' E, E',
and by three ties, F, F', C, which render the whole system
rigid. The ties, which unite together the rods below, are
seen in H, K, and K', the whole being secured by a screw-
bolt, L, below, and another, M, above ; the bolt, L, carrying
a moveable weight formed of discs of lead, N, and kept in
position on the bolt by the springs, O. This weight, the
position and magnitude of which can be changed, serves
either to depress (if necessary) the centres of gravity and
oscillation of the receiver, and to render its axis horizontal.
The axis, C, is of iron, and is shaped at its extremities, P,
into knife-edges, slightly curved, and resting on the steel
plates or bearers, Q, Q, the upper surface of which is formed
into two planes, meeting in a curve of double the radius
of that which forms the bearing of the knife-edges. The
bearers, Q, Q, rest on cast-iron plates, R, R, which are firmly
A table which shows that,
with equal increments in the
distance from the pendulum,
there is a gradual diminution
in the loss of velocity corre¬
sponding to the mean velocity
at the middle of that incre¬
ment; thus, when the mean
velocity is 1780, the loss of
velocity per second is 65 feet;
when 1656, 59; when 1590,
56; when 1480, 52; when
1380, 48; when 1282, 47;
when 1190,43,—all agreeing
very well in the correspond¬
ing decrease of the effect of
the resistance of the air on
the velocity of the ball, ex¬
cept the two means 1380 and
1282, which are too near each
other in their results.
The velocities gained by
the ball fired from the me¬
dium 6-pounder, at 30 feet
distance, were—for 2 lbs. of
powder, 1585 feet; 1^ lb.,
1460; 1 lb., 1260 ; i lb., 877.
The velocities gained by the
ball fired from the light 6-
pounder, at 30 feet distance,
were—for 3 lbs. of powder,
1624; 2 lbs., 1558; 1^ lb.,
1440 ; and, by calculation, Dr
Hutton determined that a 6-
1b. ball, moving with the velocity of 1200 feet per second,
was resisted by a force equal to 115 lbs.; and when moving
Fig. 10.
fixed upon two piles or piers of masonry. The receiver,
SSS, is shaped within as a truncated cone, the bottom of which
GUNNERY.
125
Gunnery, is rounded off, and it is sufficiently long to prevent the pro-
^ v iectile from passing entirely through the sand with which
it is filled ; it is formed of cast-iron, and strongly bound by
hoops of forged iron. The front is covered with a thin sheet
of lead to prevent the sand from being shaken out, and this
sheet is marked by a horizontal and by a vertical line, the
intersection corresponding to its axis; and the actual posi¬
tion of the shot when entering the receiver can be therefore
readily determined by reference to these lines.
It will be readily supposed that this ingenious contrivance
would not be effectual at the long distances required for
firing to determine the resistance of the air, as the ball would
frequently strike the exterior rim of the receiver instead of
penetrating within it. On account of this practical defect
another pendulum, fig. 11, has been contrived.
dulum, is that of England, the country of Robins and Hutton. Gunnery.
It is surely time that we should awaken from this sleep, and
cease to be satisfied with the results obtained, or the
honours acquired by these illustrious men.
In respect to velocities below 300 feet per second, it was
found difficult to test them by the ordinary form of ballistic
pendulum, as the balls dropped from it without penetrating.
This defect might have been avoided by arrangements
similar to those of the receiver form of pendulum; but in
the meantime Robins’ whirling machine was applied to this
object. Robins’ own experiments have already been alluded
to. In 1763 were published experiments made in France by
Borda, with a machine similar in principle to that of Robins,
though differently arranged (fig. 12). In this, a horizontal
axis, AB, carries a small cylinder, round which winds a
126
GUNNERY.
Gunnery, of determination—such as the initial expansive force of the
gases produced by the combustion of gunpowder, and the
complicated resisting force of the air—that it has been
found absolutely necessary to determine these elements, or
the proximate results depending on them, such as the velo¬
city of the projectile, by direct experiments. The following
deductions have been made from experiments, and may
therefore be considered as principles of the science:—
1. Two pieces of the same bore, but of different lengths,
being fired with the same charge of powder, the longer will
impel the bullet with a greater velocity than the shorter;
but the increase in velocity is very small in comparison
to the increase in length—the velocities being in a ratio
somewhat less than that of the square roots of the length of
the bore, but greater than that of the cube roots of the same,
nearly, indeed, in the middle ratio between the two.
2. The range increases in a much lower ratio than the
velocity, the gun and elevation being the same; and com¬
paring this with the proportion of the velocity and length
of gun in (1.), it is evident how little is gained by a great
increase in the length of the gun with the same charge of
powder. In fact, the range is nearly as the 5th root of the
length of the bore, so that the increase amounts only to
about a 7th part more range for a double length of gun.
3. If two pieces of artillery, different in weight, and formed
of different metals, have yet their cylinders of equal bores
and equal lengths ; then with like charges of powder and
like bullets they will each of them discharge their shot with
nearly the same degree of velocity.
4. It is easy to perceive that the velocity will not be in¬
creased for any given gun, by increasing the charge beyond
a certain degree ; because when the barrel is almost full of
powder the ball quits the piece before the charge has given
it the full velocity; and on the other hand when the charge is
very small, it is too weak to give the ball a sufficient impulse.
Hence it follows, that in every gun there is a charge which
will give the greatest velocity to the ball, and that by either
increasing or diminishing it, the motion of the ball will be
diminished. Dr Hutton further gives the following results
of his theoretical and experimental investigations :—■
Table of Charges for the greater Velocities. 
Length of
bore in
calibres.
Length of
charge in
calibres.
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
26
28
30
32
34
36
38
40
42
44
46
48
60
52
54
56
58
60
0-63
1-20
172
2-20
2- 64
305
3- 43
3- 78
411
4- 42
4- 71
499
5'25
5- 50
5-73
5- 96
6- 17
6-37
6-56
6-75
6- 93
7- 10
7-27
7-43
7-58
7-72
7- 86
8- 00
8-13
8-26
Proportion of
length of bore
to length of
charge.
Weight of
powder in 100
parts of
weightof ball
3-171
3-333
3-488
3-636
3-788
3- 934
4- 082
4-233
4-380
4-525
4-671
4-810
4- 952
5- 091
5-235
5-369
5-510
5-651
5-793
5- 926
6- 061
6-197
6-328
6-460
6-596
6-736
6- 870
7000
7- 134
7-264
12
23
33
42
50
58
65
71
78
84
90
95
100
105
109
113
117
121
125
128
132
135
138
141
143
146
149
152
155
157
Greatest velo¬
city of ball by
each gun.
810
1122
1348
1529
1681
1813
1929
2033
2127
2213
2292
2366
2434
2498
2558
2614
2668
2719
2767
2813
2857
2899
2939
2978
3015
3051
3085
3118
3150
3181
Now, then, in the 32-pounder of 56 cwt., the bore of Guimen-
which is about 17 calibres in length, the charge would oc-
cupy somewhat less than ^th of the length of "the bore, and
would weigh nearly fths of the weight of the ball, the ex¬
treme velocity being about 2080 feet per second.
5. The resistance of the air acts upon projectiles in a
twofold manner ; for it opposes their motion, and thus con¬
tinually diminishes their velocity ; and diverts them from
the regular track they would otherwise follow, under cer¬
tain conditions of the form and motion of the projectiles,
which will be hereafter discussed.
6. That action of the air by which it retards the motion
of projectiles, though formerly neglected by writers on ar¬
tillery, is yet, in many instances, of an immense force ; and
hence the motion of these resisted bodies is totally different
from what it would otherwise be.
7. This retarding force of the air acts with different de¬
grees of violence, according as the projectile moves with a
greater or less velocity ; and within moderate limits as to ve¬
locity, the resistances observe this law—that to a velocity
which is double another, the resistance within certain limits
is fourfold ; to a treble velocity, ninefold; or as the squares
of the velocities.
8. The exponent of the power of the velocity expressing
the resistance gradually increases as the velocity increases;
and when the shot moves at the rate of 1400 or 1500 feet
per second, at which rate a perfect vacuum will be found
behind the ball, as air is assumed to rush into a vacuum at
a velocity of only from 1200 to 1300 feet per second, that
exponent attains a maximum, being then 2'125; beyond
such velocity the exponent decreases.
9. The greater part of military projectiles will, at the time
of their discharge, acquire a whirling motion round their
axis, by rubbing against the insides of their respective
pieces ; and this whirling motion will cause them to strike
the air very differently from what they would do had they
no other than a progressive motion. By this means it may
happen that the resistance of the air is not always directly
opposed to their flight, but frequently acts in a line oblique
to their course, and thereby forces them to deviate from the
regular track they would otherwise describe. It will be
seen presently that the deviation is explained on a different
principle.
H). The principal operations in which large charges of
powder appear to be more efficacious than small ones, are
the ruining of parapets, the dismounting of batteries covered
by stout merlons, or battering in breach ; for in all these
cases, if the object be but little removed from the piece,
every increase of velocity will increase the penetration of
the bullet.
11. Whatever operations are to be performed by artillery,
the least charges of powder with which they can be effected
are always to be preferred.
12. Hence the proper charge of any piece of artillery is
not always that allotment of powder which will communicate
the greatest velocity to the bullet; nor is it to be determined
by an invariable proportion of its weight to the weight of
the ball; but, on the contrary, it is such a quantity of pow¬
der as will produce the fitting velocity for the purpose in
hand; and, instead of bearing always a fixed ratio to the
weight of the ball, it must be different according to the dif¬
ferent business which is to be performed.
13. Robins, following out these rules, states that no field-
piece ought at any time to be loaded with more than £th,
or, at the utmost, ^-th of the weight of its bullet in powder,
nor should the charge of any battering piece exceed tW of
the weight of its bullet; but these proportions are not ad¬
hered to strictly in modern practice, llg/tt field-pieces being,
however, fired with so small a charge as |th.
14. If balls have equal weights but different diameters,
and move with equal velocities, the x'esistance varies nearly
GUNNERY.
127
■unnery. with the surfaces or with the squares of the diameters, in-
creasing a little above that proportion when the diameters are
considerable. Hence, if the velocities are also different, the
resistance is proportional to the surface and to the square of
the velocity; or r representing the semi-diameter of the
shot, and v the velocity, the resistance varies with r2 v1.
15. If balls have equal diameters and different weights or
densities, the resistances vary directly as the squares of the
velocities, and inversely as the weights; or, w representing
the weight, the resistance varies with —.
w
Great irregularities in the motion of bullets are, as we
have seen, owing to the whirling motion on their axis, ac¬
quired by the friction against the sides of the piece. The
best method hitherto known of preventing these is by the
use of pieces with rifled barrels. These pieces have the
insides of their cylinders cut with a number of spiral chan¬
nels ; so that it is in reality a female screw, varying from
the common screws only in this, that its threads or rifles
are less deflected, and approach more to a right line ; it
being usual for the threads with which the rifled barrel is
indented, to take little more than one turn in its whole length.
The numbers of these threads are different in each barrel,
according to the fire of the piece and the fancy of the work¬
man ; and in like manner the depth to which they are cut
is not regulated by any invariable rule.
From the whirling motion communicated by the rifles,
it happens, that when the piece is fired, the indented zone of
the bullet follows the sweep of the rifles, and thereby, be¬
sides its progressive motion, acquires a circular motion round
the axis of the piece ; which circular motion will be con¬
tinued to the bullet after its separation from the piece ; and
thus a bullet discharged from a rifle barrel will revolve
round an axis coincident with the line of its flight. By this
rotation on its axis, the aberration of the bullet, which
proves so prejudicial to all operations in gunnery, is almost
totally prevented. The reason of this may be easily un¬
derstood from considering the slow motion of an arrow
through the air. For example, if a bent arrow, with its
wings not placed in some degree in a spiral position, so as
to make it revolve round its axis as it flies through the air,
were shot at a mark with a true direction, it would constantly
deviate from it, in consequence of being pressed to one side
by the convex part opposing the air obliquely. Let us now
suppose this deflection in a flight of 100 yards to be equal
to ten yards. Now if the same bent arrow were made to
revolve round its axis once every two yards of its flight, its
greatest deviation would take place when it had proceeded
only one yard, or made half a revolution ; since at the end
of the next half revolution it would again return to the
same direction it had at first; the convex side of the arrow
having been once in opposite positions. In this manner it
would proceed during the whole course of its flight, con¬
stantly returning to the true path at the end of every two
yards; and when it reached the mark, the greatest deflec¬
tion to either side that could happen would be equal to what
it makes in proceeding one yard, equal to Tooth part of the
former, or 3*6 inches—a very small deflection when com¬
pared with the former one. In the same manner, a can¬
non-ball which revolves not round its axis, deviates greatly
from the true path, on account of the inequalities on its
surface; which, although small, cause great deviations by
reason of the resistance of the air, at the same time that
the ball acquires a motion round its axis in some uncer¬
tain direction occasioned by the friction against its sides.
But by the motion acquired from the rifles, the error is per-
petually corrected in the manner just now described ; and
accordingly such pieces are much more to be depended on, and
will do execution at a much greater distance than the other.
16. Deviations.—It has been shown that Robins pointed
out the deviations wdiich are occasioned in the course of
projectiles by a rotation in them, produced by any acciden- Gunnei y.
tal cause, on an axis not coincident with the line of flight;
and in the last two paragraphs reference has been made to
the artificial means adopted by rifling, or grooving, the bores
of the barrel of muskets, to give to the projectile an initial
rotatory movement round an axis coincident w'ith the line
of flight, and thereby to avoid such extraneous cause of de¬
flection. Robins made many experiments with rifles, to
show that the accuracy of fire at great distances thus ob¬
tained is their principal advantage, and that they have not
an advantage over the unrifled barrel as regards either ex¬
tent of range or penetrative power ; the increased force sup¬
posed to have been gained by more completely shutting in,
as it were, the elastic gases, and thus avoiding the loss by
windage, being counterbalanced by the great friction of the
ball in its passage through the bore. Robins also suggested
the use of an ovoid, or egg-shaped ball; but in this respect
the indications of Newton as to the form of the solid body
which, in passing through a fluid, would experience less re¬
sistance than a body of equal magnitude and of any other
form, have gradually led to the adoption of the modern elon¬
gated balls. Sir Howard Douglas has given a very clear view
of the subject, and his remarks will be here quoted :—
“ The body is a solid of revolution, and the differen-
dz^
tial equation is ?/ = e ^ in which c is a constant, y
is any ordinate, and dx, dy, dz, are elementary portions,
EF, ED, DF, respectively,
in the sectional figure.
“ The two ends A and B
of the solid are both plane
surfaces, as DF = dz is^T
greater than EF or ED —
dx, dy, and therefore the
numerator of the fractions
must always be greater than Fig. 13.
the denominator, and y cannot become 0, or coincide with
H. That the minimum of resistance should be obtained
from an elongated shot of this, or any form approximat¬
ing to it, it is necessary that the axis AB should always
be kept in the direction of the trajectory, an object which
is accomplished by producing a rotatory motion round
that axis, the ball being discharged from a rifled bore.
Were it not that such a rotation were produced, the axis
would perpetually deviate from the direction of the path and
even turn over.”
The advantages of this form of shot are, that when rota¬
tory on their longitudinal axis, and moving with their
smaller extremities in front, they experience less resistance
from the air than spherical projectiles of the same diameter.
To this form alone are to be referred the long range, with
the great momentum and penetrating power of the projec¬
tiles for rifle muskets, which have been recently introduced
into British and foreign military services. Sir Howard
Douglas describes also the cylindro-conical and cylindro-
conoidal balls used in the iron-rifled guns, invented in 1846
by Major Cavalli of the Sardinian artillery, and Baron
Wahrendorff, a Swedish noble. The entire lengths of these
projectiles were—of the cylindro-conical 16f inches, and of
the cylindro-conoidal 14f inches, their greatest diameter be-
ing 6^ inches. They were made to act upon the grooves of
the bore by two projections, one on each side, making each
an angle with the axis of the shot of 7° 8'. If hollow, the
weight was about 62 lbs., and if solid about 101^ lbs.,—the
hollow projectiles being burst on the principle of a percus¬
sion shell. These guns are loaded at the breech. The dif¬
ficulty of forming a convenient and efficient rifled cannon
has indeed been so great, that it may be considered to re¬
main as yet an unsolved problem in the ordinary way;
but Mr Lancaster has adopted a different principle, and pa¬
tented an ingenious invention for causing a shot to rotate
128
GUNNERY.
Gunnery, on its axis throughout the range, by firing it from a cannon
having an elliptical bore of small excentricity. The 68-
pounder gun has been bored up to the elliptic section,
and the shell, as shown in Plate IL, fig. 18, adopted—the
transverse section of the shell being elliptical. It is well
known that several of Lancaster s guns were in operation dur¬
ing the last remarkable campaign, though no official account
of the result of their practice has yet been published ; but
that at Shoebury-Ness is considered on the whole satisfac¬
tory, both as to extent of range and precision in firing, more
especially at the longer ranges, since the 68-pounder, one of
the best guns in the service, maintains an equality in short and
medium ranges. The major axis of the ellipse of the bore
does not continue parallel to one fixed line, but makes a re¬
volution of about ^th of the periphery in its length, and the
elliptic shot, following necessarily the course of this helix, is
caused to rotate on its long axis. Much precision is required
in putting the ball into the gun, but this is attained by a
very simple machine lately adopted by Mr Lancaster for the
purpose, and which does away with any chance of mistake.
Turning again from these modes of correcting irregular
rotation,by inducing a regularone in the direction of the line
of the trajectory, to the consideration of the deviations pro¬
duced by any irregular rotation, it may be first premised,
that not only vertical but also lateral deflections must be
the result of such rotations. Irregular rotations may be
produced, as suggested by Robins, by a rolling motion in
the bore ; or this may be the result of unequal density in
the different portions of the ball, causing the centres of
gravity and of figure not to coincide. Thus, for example,
Fig. 14.
if the centre of gravity, g, be above the centre of figure, C,
in A of the four circular sections, the resultant of the pro¬
jecting forces will cause the front of the shot to turn from
below upwards; if below, as in B, from above downwards ;
if to the right, as in C, from the left to the right; and if to
the left, as in D, from the right to the left. In all these
cases the deflection will be in the direction of the rotation,
namely, it will be upwards in A, producing an increase of
range, downwards in B, or diminishing the range, to the
right in C, and to the left in D.
I hese theoretical deductions have been fully confirmed
by experiments, both in England and France.
At the instance of Sir Howard Douglas, experiments were
made both by the navy on board the “ Excellent” gunnery
ship, and by the ordnance at Shoebury Ness, with a view to
ascertain not only the nature of these deflections, but also the
practicability of making a useful application of the principle
of eccentric projectiles as a means of increasing the range:—
Excellent, July 18, 1850.—With a 32-pounder gun of 56
cwt.—the quantity of metal removed from one side of the
shot being 1 lb.
Charge 8 lbs. Elevation 2° 7i'.
Position of centre of
gravity with respect
to centre of shot.
On the right,
On the left,,..
Upwards, 
Downwards,..
Inwards, 
Outwards, 
Concentric, ...
Range
in
yards.
1032
1163
1433
980
1150
1097
1160
Deflection
in yards.
6 right
7 left
7 R. 3£ L.
5 R. 3 L.
4J right
4§ right
4 R. 3 L.
Charge 10 lbs.
Elevation 3° SO7.
Range
in
yards.
1474
1479
1991
1499
1608
1428
1624
Deflection
in yards.
20 right
24f left
20 R. 6 L.
2 R. 6J L.
6} R.
9 R.
1 R.
In these the deflections are also given in yards, being Gunnery
the mean of all the rounds under similar circumstances;
hence, of course, where some were deflected to the right
and others to the left, the mean of each set is given. Tt
will be observed that with the lesser charge and elevation
a difference of 453 yards is produced in the range by shift¬
ing the centre of gravity from above to below the centre of
figure, and with the higher charge and elevation, a differ¬
ence of 492 yards. The lateral deflections, however, are by
no means so considerable, amounting in the one case to 6 + 7
= 13 yards,and in theotherto 20+ 24§ = 44§yards. With
an 8 inch-gun, 9 feet long, and weighing 65 cwt., the quan¬
tity of metal removed from one side of the shot being 5 lbs.
5 oz., the difference between the ranges, according as the
centre of gravity was placed above or below the centre of
figure, was 189 yards when fired with a charge of 10 lbs.,
and elevation of 2° 30', and 378 with the same charge and
an elevation of 5°. W ith a 32-pounder, charge 8 lbs., and
elevation 12°, 1 lb. of metal being removed from one side,
the difference 938 yards; and with another 8-inch gun, the
quantity of metal removed from one side being 3 lbs., the
charge 10 lbs., and elevation 10°, the difference was 1132
yards. The experiments of Shoebury Ness were similar
in their results,—the eccentric hollow shot in those of 1851
giving an increase of range, as compared with concentric
shot, varying, according to the absolute range and elevation,
from 145 yards in a range of 1700 yards, and an elevation
of 4°, to 559 in a range of 2465 yards, and 8° of elevation ;
621 in a range of 3184 yards, and 12° of elevation ; 749 in
a range of 3709 yards, and 16° of elevation; 939 in 4137
yards, and 20° of elevation ; 706 in 4605 yards, and 24° of
elevation; 916 in 4650 yards, and 28° of elevation; and
670 in 4866 yards, and 32° of elevation—the ranges stated
being those of the concentric shot, and the range of the eccen¬
tric being obtained by adding to the other the differences here
stated—the highest range being that of the eccentric shot
with 28° of elevation, which amounted to 5566 yards, or
about 3^ miles. The lateral deflections in the long ranges
were very great—the extreme to the left being 361 yards,
and the extreme to the right 255 yards; but it is remark¬
able that some of the deflections of the concentric shot were
quite equal, and some even exceeded those of the eccentric
shot.
Captain Boxer, in his Treatise on Artillery, gives more
copious details of the practice at Shoebury Ness, but the
above extracts are sufficient for the present purpose. Simi¬
lar experiments were made at Metz in 1839, with common
and eccentric shells of 11 inches diameter, and the results are
given by Didion in the following table :—
Nature of
gun.
Weight of
charge
in lbs.
Weight of
shell
in lbs.
Range in Yards.
With
common
shell.
Eccentric centre
of gravity.
Below.
Above.
Siege-
Coast .
Coast.
31b
31b
5 oz.
5 oz.
61b.l0oz.
58f
66
61*
58f
66
61*
58J-
66
61*
774^
9503
1279-3
566*
599*
778!
799*
1172*
1221#
1039
1029*
1272
1103*
1703
1444
All these experiments lead to the same conclusions, that
when applied in such cases as the above on accurate prin¬
ciples for the express purpose of obtaining an increase of
range, the eccentric shot, and more especially shells, may
be sometimes used with advantage, but that, as a general
rule, the great practical difficulties of ensuring certainty in
their use in the field must negative their application;
GUNNERY.
Gunnery, and that, on the contrary, the surest way of obtaining cor-
rect practice is to take care that the shot and shell shall
be correctly concentric, and thus extraneous causes of
rotation and of uncertain deflections be avoided as much as
possible, the direction of that deflection being always the
same as that of the rotation of the front of the ball.
It has been already observed that Robins was the first
to attribute the usual deviation from the true path of a pro¬
jectile, to the disturbing influence of the movement of rota¬
tion which in general accompanies the movement of trans¬
lation. Robins and Lombard considered that this deflection
was principally the result of the friction of the surface of
the ball against the layer of air of unequal density ad¬
jacent to it. Poisson investigated the effect of this rota¬
tion, in combination with a movement of translation, con¬
sidering every point of the surface as subjected to a resist¬
ance ; one portion of which is normal, being the resistance
of the fluid or air, properly so called, and the other tangential,
being due to friction. When the bullet is perfectly spheri¬
cal and homogeneous, and on leaving the bore rotates round
one of its diameters, the rotatory motion continues during
the whole flight in the same direction and round the same
axis which remains constantly parallel to itself. The velo¬
city of rotation diminishes in the inverse ratio of the pro¬
duct of the diameter by the density of the ball, but by an
extremely small quantity. The deviation, either vertically
or laterally, so far as it is due to simple friction, must neces¬
sarily be in an opposite direction to that of rotation, as re¬
gards the anterior hemisphere; but as this theoretical deduc¬
tion is opposed to the results of experience, Didion states
that the friction arising from rotation does not account
either for the direction or amount of deflection. Didion
explains the deflection in this way,—assuming the axis of
rotation to be vertical, and the moving of the anterior
hemisphere from right to left, he says that all the points
situated on the right hemisphere move by rotation in the
same direction as the centre of gravity moves by translation ;
whilst those on the left hemisphere move in an opposite
direction to that of the centre of gravity, and hence, that the
first have a greater velocity in respect to the air than the
last, and as the displacement of the air is consequently less
easy, the density of the fluid and the pressure resulting
from it, are greater on the right than on the left hemisphere.
This explanation appears to imply that the rotation is
supposed to add to the normal resistance, whereas the force
exercised at any point of the surface, as a result of rotation,
can only be tangential. Captain Boxer’s explanation, which
indeed is also that of Professor Magnus, appears, there¬
fore, to be the correct one, in which he deduces the in¬
creased resistance of the air on the right hemisphere as a
result of friction ;—-for example, the air meeting the front of
the ball, tends to rush past it both to the right and left, but,
pressing with great force against the ball, it is resisted in its
passage on the right by the friction consequent on rotation,
which is here opposed to the motion of the air, whilst it is
assisted in its passage to the left by the friction, the motion
being then in the same direction. Of course, the amount
of deflection must depend both on the velocity of transla¬
tion and the velocity of rotation ; and hence, when the for¬
mer becomes 0—the centre of gravity continuing at rest,
and the pressure on the anterior and posterior hemispheres
being then the same—there can be no deflecting effect pro-
tluced by rotation. In all these explanations, however, it
appears to have been overlooked that, supposing a ball to
acquire a motion of rotation within the bore by friction,
such friction is only a fraction of the pressure exerted upon
the ball in its passage, and, consequently, that the ball must
receive a primary impulse of deflection the moment the
centre of gravity of the ball leaves the muzzle of the gun.
lo remedy these evils by rifling of any description, it is
necessary that the projectile should be caused to rotate
VOL. xr.
129
either on the greater or less axis of inertia, as these are the Gunnery,
only axes which can remain permanent in space, and that
this axis should be coincident with the line of flight. It is
very difficult to ensure an exact coincidence of the centre
of gravity with the axis of figure corresponding apparently
with one or other of these axes; and hence it is that the
centre of gravity, moving spirally round the axis on its
passage through the rifled bore, receives a certain deflecting
influence corresponding to the direction of the spiral groove
as it leaves the muzzle—such deflection, however, being
necessarily constant as to direction. The experiments of
Robins and Hutton had, as before explained, for their ob¬
ject to determine the two most important elements of
gunnery, namely, the velocity of the ball on leaving the
gun, and the resistance to its progress afforded by the air.
Professor Robinson basing his investigation on the deduc¬
tions made from these experiments, such as that the velocities
communicated to balls of the same weight being nearly as
the square roots of the weights of the charges ; with shot
of different weights, fired with the same quantity of powder,
the velocities are reciprocally as the square roots of the
weights, and when the weights of shot and powder are both
different, the velocities are directly as the square roots of the
powder, and inversely as the weights of the shot nearly,—
proceeds to the important question of determining the
ranges, the velocities being known, and lays down as pre¬
liminaries the following rules of Robins, the second of
which, as has been shown, cannot be admitted ; for although
an exact duplicate ratio does not represent the ratio of in¬
crease in high velocities, there is no such sudden increase
as supposed by Robins above the velocity of 1100 feet per
second.
1. “Till the velocity of the projectile surpasses that of llOOfeet
in a second, the resistance may be reckoned to be in the dupli¬
cate proportion of the velocity, and its mean quantity may be
reckoned about half an ounce avoirdupois on a 12-pound shot,
moving with a velocity of about 25 or 26 feet in a second.
2. “ If the velocity be greater than that of 1100 or 1200 feet
in a second, then the absolute quantity of the resistance in these
greater velocities will be near three times as great as it should
be by a comparison with the smaller velocities. Hence, then,
it appears, that if a projectile begins to move with a velocity
less than that of 1100 feet in l", its whole motion may be sup¬
posed to be considered on the hypothesis of a resistance in the
duplicate ratio of the velocity. And if it begins to move with
a velocity greater than this last mentioned, yet if the first part
of its motion, till its velocity be reduced to near 1100 feet in
l", be considered separately from the remaining part in which
the velocity is less than 1100 feet in 1", it is evident that both
parts may be truly assigned on the same hypothesis ; only the
absolute quantity of the resistance is three times greater in the
first part than in the last. Wherefore, if the motion of a pro¬
jectile, on the hypothesis of a resistance in the duplicate ratio of
the velocity, be truly and generally assigned, the actual motions
of resisted bodies may be thereby determined, notwithstanding
the increased resistances in the great velocities. And, to avoid
the division of the motion into two, I shall show how to com¬
pute the whole at one operation, with little more trouble than
if no such increased resistance took place.
“To avoid frequent circumlocutions, the distance to which
any projectile would range in a vacuum on the horizontal plane
at 45° of elevation, I shall call the potential random of that
projectile ; the distance to which the projectile would range in
vacuo on the horizontal plane at any angle different from 45°,
I shall call the potential range of the projectile at that angle;
and the distance to which a projectile really ranges, I shall call
its actual range.
“ If the velocity with which a projectile begins to move is
known, its potential random and its potential range at any
given angle are easily determined from the common theory of
projectiles ; or, more generally, if either its original velocity,
its potential random, or its potential range, at a given angle,
are known, the other two are easily found out.
“ To facilitate the computation of resisted bodies, it is neces¬
sary, in the consideration of each resisted body, to assign a cer-
R
GUNNERY.
130
Gunnery, tain quantity, which I shall denominate F, adapted to the resist-
ance of that particular projectile. To find this quantity F to
any projectile given, we may proceed thus*.'—First find, from
the principles already delivered, with what velocity the pro¬
jectile must move, so that its resistance may he equal to its
gravity. Then the height from whence a body must descend
in a vacuum to acquire this velocity is the magnitude of F
sought. But the most concise way of finding this quantity F to
any shell or bullet is this : If it be of solid iron, multiply its
diameter measured in inches by 300; the product will be the
magnitude of F expressed in yards. If, instead of a solid iron
bullet, it is a shell or a bullet of some other substance ; then,
as the specific gravity of iron is to the specific gravity of the Gunnery
shell or bullet given, so is the F corresponding to an iron bullet v
of the same diameter to the proper F for the shell or bullet
given. The quantity F being thus assigned, the necessary com¬
putation of these resisted motions may be dispatched by the
three following propositions, always remembering that these
propositions proceed on the hypothesis of the resistance being
in the duplicate proportion of the velocity of the resisted
body. How to apply this principle, when the velocity is so
great as to have its resistance augmented beyond this rate,
shall be shown in a corollary to be annexed to the first propo¬
sition.
Actual
ranges
express¬
ed in F.
0-01
002
0-04
0-06
0-08
0-1
0-12
0-14
0T5
0-2
0-25
0-3
0-35
0-4
0-45
0-5
0-55
0-6
Correspond¬
ing potential
ranges ex¬
pressed in F.
0-0100
0-0201
0-0405
0-0612
00822
0-1034
0-1249
0-1468
0-1578
0-2140
0-2722
0-3324
0-3947
0-4591
0-5258
0-5949
0-6664
0-7404
Actual
ranges
express¬
ed in F.
0-65
0-7
0-75
0-8
0-85
0-9
0-95
1-0
1-05
1-1
1-15
1-2
1-25
1-3
1-35
1-4
1-45
1-5
Correspond¬
ing potential
ranges ex¬
pressed in F.
0-8170
0-8964
0-9787
1-0638
1-1521
1-2436
1-3383
1-4366
1-5384
1-6439
1-7534
1-8669
1- 9845
2- 1066
2-2332
2-3646
2-5008
2-6422
Actual
ranges
express
ed in F.
1-55
1-6
1-65
1-7
1-75
1-8
1-85
1-9
1- 95
2-
2-05
2-1
2-15
2-2
2-25
2-3
2-35
2-4
Correspond¬
ing potential
ranges ex¬
pressed in F.
2-7890
2- 9413
3- 0994
3-2635
3-4338
3-6107
3-7944
3- 9851
4- 1833
4-3890
4-6028
4- 8249
5- 0557
5-2955
5-5446
5- 8036
6- 0728
6-3526
Actual
ranges
express¬
ed in F.
2-45
2-5
2-55
2-6
2-65
2-7
2-75
2-8
2-85
2-9
2- 95
3- 0
3 05
31
315
3-2
3 25
3-3
Correspond¬
ing potential
ranges ex¬
pressed in F.
6-6435
6- 9460
7- 2605
7-5875
7- 9276
8- 2813
8- 6492
9- 0319
9-4000
9-8442
10-2752
10- 7237
11- 1904
11- 6761
12- 1816
12- 7078
13- 2556
13-8258
Actual
ranges
express
ed in F.
3-35
3-4
3-45
3 5
3-55
3-6
3-65
3.7
3-75
3-8
3-85
3-9
3- 95
4- 0
4-05
4-1
4-15
Correspon d-
ing potential
ranges ex¬
pressed in F.
14- 4195
15- 0377
15- 6814
16- 3517
17- 0497
17- 7768
18- 5341
19- 3229
20- 1446
21- 0006
21- 8925
22- 8218
23- 7901
24- 7991
25- 8506
26- 9465
28-0887
Actual
ranges
express¬
ed in F.
4-2
4-25
4-3
4-35
4-4
4-45
4-5
4-55
4-6
4-65
4-7
4-75
4-8
4-85
4-9
4-95
5 0
Correspond¬
ing potential
ranges ex¬
pressed in F.
29- 2792
30- 5202
31- 8138
33- 1625
34- 5686
36- 0346
37- 5632
39- 1571
40- 8193
42-4527
44-3605
46-2460
48-2127
50-2641
52-4040
54-6363
56-9653
“ Prop. I.—Given the actual range of a given shell or bullet
at any small angle not exceeding 8° or 10°; to determine its
potential range, and consequently its potential random and
original velocity.
“ Solution. Let the actual range given be divided by the F
corresponding to the given projectile, and find the quote in the
first column of the preceding table: then the corresponding
number in the second column multiplied into F will be the po¬
tential range sought: and thence, by the methods already ex¬
plained, the potential random and the original velocity of the
projectile is given.
‘ ‘ Exam. An I8-pounder, the diameter of whose shot is about
5 inches, when loaded with two pounds of powder, ranged at
an elevation of 3° 30' to the distance of 975 yards.
“ The F corresponding to this bullet is 1500 yards, and the
quote of the actual range by this number is -65; corresponding
to which, in the second column, is *817; whence, "817 F, or
1225 yards, is the potential range sought; and this, augmented
in the ratio of the sine of twice the angle of elevation to the
radius, gives 10,050 yards for the potential random: whence
it will be found that the velocity of this projectile wras that of
984 feet in a second.
“ Cor. 1. If the converse of this proposition be desired ; that
is, if the potential range in a small angle be given, and thence
the actual range be sought; this may be solved with the same
facility by the same table : for if the given potential range be
divided by its correspondent F, then opposite to the quote
sought in the second column there will be found in the first
column a number which, multiplied into F, will give the actual
range required. And from hence it follows, that if the actual
range be given at one angle, it may be found at every other
angle not exceeding 8® or 10°.
“Cor. 2. If the actual range at a given small angle be given,
and another actual range be given, to which the angle is sought;
this will be determined by finding the potential ranges corre¬
sponding to the two given actual ranges ; then the angle cor¬
responding to one of those potential ranges being known, the
angle corresponding to the other will be found by the common
theory of projectiles.
“ Cor, 3. If the potential random deduced from the actual
range by this proposition exceeds 13,000 yards, then the ori¬
ginal velocity of the projectile was so great as to be afifected by
the treble, or at least much greater, resistance described above ;
and consequently the real potential random will be greater than
what is here determined. However, in this case, the true po¬
tential random may be thus nearly assigned. Take a fourth
continued proportional to 13,000 yards, and the potential ran¬
dom found by this proposition, and the fourth proportional thus
found may be assumed for the true potential random sought.
In like manner, when the true potential random is given greater
than 13,000 yards, we must take two mean proportionals be¬
tween 13,000 and this random; and the first of these mean
proportionals must be assumed instead of the random given, in
every operation described in these propositions and their corol¬
laries. And this method will nearly allow for the increased
resistance in large velocities, the difference only amounting to
a few minutes in the angle of direction of the projected body,
which, provided that angle exceeds two or three degrees, is
usually scarce worth attending to.
“ Of this process takfe the following example :—A 24-
pounder fired with 12 pounds of powder, when elevated at
7° 15', ranged about 2500 yards. Here the F being near
1700 yards, the quote to be sought in the first column is
1-47, to which the number corresponding in the second column
is 2-556; whence the potential range is near 4350 yards, and
the potential random thence resulting 17,400. But this being
more than 13,000, we must, to get the true potential random,
take a fourth continued proportional to 13,000 and 17,400 ;
and this fourth proportional, which is about 31,000 yards, is
to be esteemed the true potential random sought; whence the
velocity is nearly that of 1730 feet in a second.
“ Scholium. This proposition is confined to small angles,
not exceeding 8° or 10°. In all possible cases of practice, this
approximation, thus limited, will not differ from the most
rigorous solution by so much as what will often intervene from
the variation of the density of the atmosphere in a few hours’
time; so that the errors of the approximation are much short
of other inevitable errors, which arise from the nature of this
subject.
“Prop. II.—Given the actual range of a given shell or
bullet at any angle not exceeding 45°; to determine its poten¬
tial range at the same angle, and thence its potential random
and original velocity.
“ Solution. Diminish the F corresponding to the shell or
bullet given in the proportion of the radius to the cosine of
fths of the angle of elevation. Then, by means of the pre-
GUNNERY.
131
Gunnery, ceding table, operate with this reduced F in the same manner
t J ; as is prescribed in the solution of the last proposition, and the
result will be the potential range sought; whence the poten¬
tial random and the original velocity are easily determined.
“Exam. A mortar for sea-service, charged with thirty
pounds of powder, has sometimes thrown its shell, of 12fth
inches diameter, and of 231 lbs. weight, to the distance of two
miles, or 5450 yards. This at an elevation of 45°.
“ The F to this shell, if it were solid, is 3825 yards; but as
the shell is only fths of a solid globe, the true F is no more
than 3060 yards. This, diminished in the ratio of the radius
to the cosine of fths of the angle of elevation, becomes 2544.
The quote of the potential range by this diminished F is 1’384 ;
which, sought in the first column of the preceding table, gives
2'280 for the corresponding number in the second column;
and this multiplied into the reduced F, produces 5800 yards
for the potential range sought, which, as the angle of eleva¬
tion was 45°, is also the potential random; and hence the ori¬
ginal velocity of this shell appears to be that of about 748 feet
in a second.
“ Cor. The converse of this proposition, that is, the de¬
termination of the actual range from the potential range
given, is easily deduced from hence by means of the quote
of the potential range divided by the reduced F; for this
quote, searched out in the second column, will give a corre¬
sponding number in the first column, which, multiplied into
the reduced F, will be the actual range sought.
“ Also, if the potential random of a projectile be given, or
its actual range at a given angle of elevation ; its actual range
at any other angle of elevation, not greater than 45<>, may
hence be known. For the potential random will assign the
potential range at any given angle ; and thence, by the method
of this corollary, the actual range may be found.
“ Exam. A fit musket-bullet fired from a piece of the stan¬
dard dimensions, with -Jth of its weight in good powder,
acquires a velocity of near 900 feet in a second ; that is, it has
a potential random of near 8400 yards. If now the actual
range of this bullet at 15° was sought, we must proceed thus :
“ From the given potential random it follows, that the
potential range at 15° is 4200 yards ; the diameter of the
bullet is fths of an inch : and thence, as it is of lead, its pro¬
per F is 337'5 yards, which, reduced in the ratio of the radius
to the cosine of fths of 15°, becomes 331 yards. The quote of
4200 by this number is 12’7 nearly; which being sought in the
second column, gives 3-2 nearly for the corresponding number
in the first column; and this multiplied into 331 yards (the
reduced F) makes 1059 yards for the actual range sought.
“ Exam. 2. The same bullet, fired with its whole weight in
powder, acquires a velocity of about 2100 feet in a second, to
which there corresponds a potential random of about 45,700
yards. But this number greatly exceeding 13,000 yards, it
must be reduced by the method described in the third corollary
of the first proposition, when it becomes 19,700 yards. If now
the actual range of this bullet at 15° be required, we shall from
hence find that the potential range at 15° is 9850 yards ;
which, divided by the reduced F of the last example, gives for
a quote 29-75 ; and thence following the steps prescribed above,
the actual range of this bullet comes out 1396 yards, exceed¬
ing the former range by no more than 337 yards ; whereas the
difference between the two potential ranges is above ten miles.
Of such prodigious efficacy is the resistance of the air, which
for so long a time was treated as too insignificant a power to be
attended to in laying down the theory of projectiles.
“ Schol. I must here observe that as the density of the at¬
mosphere perpetually varies, increasing and diminishing often
by ^th part, and sometimes more, in a few hours ; for that
reason I have not been over rigorous in forming these rules,
but have considered them as sufficiently exact when the errors
of the approximation do not exceed the inequalities which
would take place by a change of ^th part in the density of the
atmosphere. With this restriction, the rules of this proposi¬
tion may be safely applied in all possible cases of practice.
That is to say, they will exhibit the true motions of all kinds
of shells and cannon-shot, as far as 45° of elevation, and of
all musket bullets fired with their largest customary charges,
if not elevated more than 30°. Indeed, if experiments are
made with extraordinary quantities of powder, producing
potential randoms greatly surpassing the usual rate, then in
large angles some farther modifications may be necessary.
And though, as these cases are beyond the limits of all prac- Gunnery,
tice, it may be thought unnecessary to consider them; yet, to
enable those who are so disposed to examine these uncommon
cases, I shall here insert a proposition which will determine
the actual motion of a projectile at 45°, how enormous soever
its original velocity may be. But as this proposition will
rather relate to speculative than practical cases, instead of sup¬
posing the actual range known, thence to assign the potential
random, I shall now suppose the potential random given, and
the actual range to be thence investigated.
“ Prop. III.—Given the potential random of a given shell or
bullet; to determine its actual range at 45°. ,
‘ ‘ Solution. Divide the given potential random by the F cor¬
responding to the shell or bullet given, and call the quotient
q, and let l be the difference between the tabular logarithms
of 25 and of q, the logarithm of 10 being supposed unity;
then the actual range sought is 3-4 F =p2£F—^-F, where the
double sign of 2ZF is to be thus understood; that if q be less
than 25 it must be —2£F ; if it be greater, then it must be
+ 27F. In this solution q may be any number not less than 3,
nor more than 2500.
“ Cor. Computing in the manner here laid down, we shall
find the relation between the potential randoms, and the
actual range at 45°, within the limits of this proposition, to be
as expressed in the following table:—
Actual Range
at 45°.
Potential
Randoms.
3 F 1-5 F
6 F 2-1 F
10 F 2-6 F
20 F 3-2 F
30 F 3-6 F
40 F 3-8 F
Actual Range
at 45°.
Potential
Randoms.
50 F 4-0 F
100 F 4-6 F
200 F 5-1 F
500 F 5-8 F
1000 F 6-4 F
2500 F 7-0 F.
“ Whence it appears, that, when the potential random is
increased from 3 F to 2500 F, the actual range is only increased
from 1| F to 7 F ; so that an increase of 2497 F in the poten¬
tial random produces no greater an increase in the actual range
than 5^ F, which is not its ^J^th part; and this will again be
greatly diminished on account of the increased resistance which
takes place in great velocities. So extraordinary are the effects
of this resistance, which was once considered inconsiderable.
“ That the justness of the approximation laid down in the
second and third propositions may be easier examined, I shall
conclude these computations by inserting a table of the actual
ranges, at 45°, of a projectile which is resisted in the duplicate
proportion of its velocity. This table is computed by methods
different from those hitherto described, and is sufficiently exact
to serve as a standard with which the result of our other rules
may be compared. And since whatever errors occur in the ap¬
plication of the preceding propositions, they will be most sen¬
sible at 45° of elevation, it follows, that hereby the utmost
limits of those errors may be assigned.
Potential Actual Range Potential Actual Range
Randoms. at 45°. Randoms. at 45°.
•1 F -0963 F
•25 F -2282 F
•5 F -4203 F
•75 F ....-5868 F
TO F -7323 F
1-25 F -860 F
1-5 F -978 F
1- 75 F 1-083 F
20 F 1-179 F
2- 5 F 1-349 F
30 F 1-495 F
3- 5 F 1-624 F
4- 0 F 1-738 F
4- 5 F 1-840 F
5- 0 F 1-930 F
5- 5 F 2015 F
6- 0 F 2097 F
6- 5 F 2169 F
70 F 2-237 F
7- 5 F 2300 F
8- 0 F 2-359 F
8- 5 F 2-414 F
9- 0 F 2-467 F
9-5 F 2-511 F
10- 0 F 2-564 F
11- 0 F 2-651 F
13-0 F 2-804 F
150 F 2-937 F
200 F 3-196 F
25-0 F 3-396 F
30-0 F 3-557 F
40-0 F 3-809 F
500 F 3-998 F.
These remarkable tables and rules of Professor Robinson
do not appear to have been noticed by foreign writers.
Hutton makes use of them with some modification in the
following manner. First, he determined the greatest ter¬
minal velocity which a ball would acquire in falling through
the air as exhibited in this table :—
GUNNERY.
132
Gunnery.
Weight of
ball in
lbs.
Diameter in
inches.
Terminal
velocity v in
feet.
Height a
due to v in
feet.
Times of
finding
falling.
1
2
3
4
6
9
12
18
24
32
36
42
1- 923
2- 423
2- 773
3053
3- 494
4- 000
4- 403
5- 040
5- 546
6- 106
6-350
6-684
247
277
297
311
333
356
374
400
419
440
449
461
948
1193
1371
1503
1724
1970
2174
2488
2729
3010
3134
3304
7- 72
8- 66
9-28
9-72
10- 41
11- 12
11- 69
12- 50
1309
13- 75
14- 03
14-50
And these form a table for determining the elevation which
will give the greatest range, the initial velocity being given,
and the size and nature of the shot known ; which table,
he states, is a modification of that of Professor Robinson,
founded on an approximation of Sir Isaac Newton.
Table of Elevation, giving ike greatest Range.
Initial velocity
divided by ter¬
minal or v.
Elevation.
Range divided by
a, or height due to
terminal velocity.
0-6910
0-9445
1-1980
1-4515
1-7050
1- 9585
2- 2120
2-4655
27190
2- 9725
3- 2260
3 4795
3-7330
3- 9865
4- 2400
4-4935
4- 7470
5- 0000
44 0
43 15
42 30
41 45
41 0
40 15
39 30
38 45
38 0
37 15
36 30
35 45
35 0
34 15
33 30
32 45
32 0
31 15
0-4110
0-6148
0-8176
1-0210
1-2244
1-4278
1-6312
1- 8346
2- 0379
2-2413
2-4447
2-6481
2- 8515
30549
3- 2583
3-4616
3.6650
3-8684
To use these tables, divide the initial velocity by the
terminal velocity peculiar to the ball, as given in the third
column of the first table, and look for the quotient in the
first column of the second table, against which, in the second
column, is found the elevation which will give the greatest
range ; and in the third, a number which, being multiplied
by a of the first table, gives the range nearly as exhibited
by the following example :—
Let a 24-lb. ball be discharged with a velocity of 1640
feet per second. By the first table, the terminal velocity
of a 24-lb. ball is 419, and the altitude producing this ter-
1640 *-
minal velocity, or a, 2729, hence =3‘92 nearly. Now
opposite in the second table stands 34° 15' as the
angle which would give the greatest range, and the corres¬
ponding number in the third column, 3*0549, being multi¬
plied by 2729 gives 8336 feet for the greatest range, being
rather more than a mile and a half. As it is not customary
nor ordinarily practicable to discharge guns at these eleva¬
tions, these tables can seldom be applied in service; though
in the recent campaign it might have been useful to consult
them when guns either damaged, or otherwise useless for
their ordinary practice, were discharged with great effect at
high elevations by either sinking them partially in the earth
or by suspending them.
Dr Hutton therefore computed the following table for
shells—making allowance for the difference in the terminal
velocity consequent on the difference between the specific
gravity of the filled shell and the corresponding solid iron
ball—to replace the first of the former tables :—
Table of Dimensions, fyc., of Mortar Shells.
Diame¬
ter of
mortar.
4- 6
5- 8
8
10
13
Diameter
of shell.
4- 53
5- 72
7-90
9-84
12-80
Weight
of shells
empty.
lbs.
8-3
16-7
43-8
85-5
187-8
V/eight
of shells
filled.
lbs.
9
18
47
91J
201
Weight
of equal
solid.
lbs.
12f
25J
67
130
286
Ratio of
shell to
solid.
1-42
1-42
1-42
1-42
1-42
Terminal Altitude
velocity, adueto
or v. | velocity.
ft.
318
356
420
468
534
ft.
1580
1980
2756
3422
4430
Gunner
Using this table, then, instead of the former, and assum¬
ing, in the case of a 13-inch shell, that it is projected with
a velocity of 2000 feet per second, which is about a maxi¬
mum, we find in the seventh column, opposite the 13-inch
shell, 534 ; hence — 3*746 ; and opposite 3*7330 in
the other table will be found 35° as the angle which gives
the greatest range, and 2*8518 in the third column which,
multiplied by 4430, the altitude opposite the 13-inch shell,
gives 12,632 feet, or almost 2% miles, for the greatest range.
The French, however, fired shells at the siege of Cadiz a
distance of more than 3 miles, the cavity of the shell being
filled up with lead, and Hutton therefore investigated what
would be the range of a 13-inch shell if so filled, and found
that the range would be 16,005 feet, or 3 miles and 165
feet, the corresponding angle being 37° 20'. Such projec¬
tiles, however, were more formidable in appearance than in
reality, as they seldom burst, and when they did the explo¬
sion was inconsiderable. Dr Hutton makes also another
very important reference to the discoveries or reasonings
of Professor Robinson, who first pointed out that “ balls of
equal density, discharged at the same elevation, with velo¬
cities proportional to the square roots of these diameters,
will describe similar curves; because then the resistance
will be in proportion to the momenta or quantities of motion,”
—thus v being as V d, v'2 will be as d ; consequently d2 v2
will be as d\ but the resistance y is nearly as d2 v1, d being
the diameter and v the velocity, and hence y is as d\ or as
the momentum which is as the magnitude of the mass, or
as e?3. In this case, then, the horizontal velocity at the
vertex, opposite the curve, will be proportional to the termi¬
nal velocity; and the ranges, heights, and all other similar
lines will be proportional to d—a principle which may be of
considerable use ; for by means of a proper series of experi¬
ments on one ball, projected with different velocities and
elevations, tables may be constructed by which may be as¬
certained the motions in all similar cases.
Dr Hutton gives the following table, deduced partly from
theory and partly from experiment, which may be applied
on the above principles :—
Table of the Motions of a 2A-lb. Shot projected at
45° elevation.
Velocity per
second.
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
2200
2400
2600
2800
3000
3200
Range in
vacuo.
415
1658
3731
6632
10362
14922
20310
26528
33574
41450
50155
59688
70050
81241
93262
106111
Range in
the air.
320
1000
1391
1687
1840
1934
2078
2206
2326
2438
2542
2640
2734
2827
2915
2995
Range cor¬
rected.
330
1019
1419
1719
1878
1978
2129
2264
2391
2510
2622
2726
2823
2916
3002
3086
Height the
hall rises to.
100
300
400
464
515
561
606
650
694
738
778
816
852
887
922
996
GUNNERY.
133
Gunnery. Now, bearing in mind Professor Robinson’s proposition
if it be required to find the dimensions of the path de¬
scribed by a 12-lb. shot, discharged with a velocity of 1600
feet per second, and at an elevation of 45°. Here, as the
curves are similar, and their corresponding lines propor¬
tional to the diameters of the shot, when discharged with
velocities proportional to the square roots of the diameters,
the velocity of a 24-lb. ball, corresponding to the 1600
feet of a 12-lb. ball, is first found in the table. Then, as the
diameters of the two balls are 4'403, 5-546, the pro¬
portion will be V 4-403 : V 5-546:: 1600 : 1796, the cor¬
responding velocity of the 24-lb. ball, opposite to which
in the table are the corresponding ranges and height,
2386 and 692 ; therefore, as 5"546: 4"403 :: 2386: 1894
yards the range, and 5"546: 4-403 :: 692 : 549 yards the alti¬
tude. In like manner, the table may be used for determin¬
ing the ranges of mortar shells ; as, for example, a 13-inch
shell, projected with the velocity of 2000 feet per second, at
45° elevation. First, the diameter of the shell being 12-8,
the proportion is ^12-8: :: 2000 : 1317 : but as the
weight of the shell, filled in the ordinary way, is less than that
of a corresponding solid shot, this velocity must be reduced
in the same manner as was done in page 132, with reference
to a previous table; namely, as 178: 149-4 :: 1317: 1105,
the corresponding velocity of the 24-pounder, to which in the
table answers the range 1930 ; and finally, as 5-546 : 12-8 ::
1930: 4455 yards, or about 2^ miles.
The difficulty of establishing fixed rules for the ranges
of projectiles, an object of great practical importance, will be
appreciated from what has been stated; a difficulty, indeed, Gunnery,
due not only to the mathematical perplexity of the question
as regards the determination of the trajectory of the projectile
in a resisting medium like the air—a question which has exer¬
cised the ingenuity of the most profound mathematicians, in¬
cluding Euler, Borda, Poisson, Legendre, and many others—
but also to the uncertainty of the law of the air’s resistance
in relation to the velocity ofthe projectile. By the experiments
of Robins, Hutton, and others, with the ballistic pendulum,
the velocity close to the gun’s mouth, and at short distances
from it up to about 250 feet, was determined, and thence the
loss from the resistance of the air in passing through such
small spaces deduced; but experiments have not as yet been
multiplied sufficiently to express the terms of resistance in
formulae which will meet the circumstances of all projectiles.
The resistances, too, at low velocities have been generally
determined by the whirling machine, which does not strictly
represent the circumstances of rectilineal motion; in the
latter the resistances vary, with equal velocities, as the sur¬
faces ; whereas, in the circular motion, the co-efficient of
resistance requires to be increased as the surfaces increase.
From the present accuracy of fire of rifled muskets much
knowledge might be acquired of the resistances to a small
ball, by firingat a properly constructed pendulum, at different
distances up to 800 yards ; and though it cannot be expected
that the precision of fire of larger projectiles will ever allow
this distant use of the ballistic pendulum, still the compa¬
rison between the loss of velocity in great and small bodies
might be founded on much better data than at present.1
TABLES OF ORDNANCE.
Length, Weight, fyc. of Iron and Brass Mortars and of Carronades.
Nature of
Ordnance.
13-in.
10-in.
8-in.
54-in.
4f-in.
68-pr.
42-pr.
32-pr.
24-pr.
18-pr.
12-pr.
6-pr.
Iron Mor.
Do.
Iron Mor.
Do.
Do.
Brass Mor.
Do.
Carronade.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Length.
in.
m
3- 65
9-62
7- 53
1-23
31
0-71
10-1
1-12
8- 873
4- 7o
1
6- 36
7- 44
cals.
4-08
3- 05
4- 56
3-15
3-15
2-5
2-81
7-2
7-2
7-2
7-2
7- 2
6-7
8- 7
cwt.
100
36
52
18
9
11
1
36J
22
17
13
10
6f
13
13
10
10
8
5- 62
4- 52
8-05
6- 79
6-25
5- 68
5-16
4-52
3-6
ft o
12-84
12-84
9-84
9-84
7-86
5- 595
4- 454
7-86
6- 765
6-177
5- 595
5-099
4-454
3-55
Charge.
Serv. Proof.
lbs.
20
9
94
4
2
01
01
5
31
2H
2
H
1
o+s
lbs.
20H
9
91
4
2
01
0^
13
9
8
6
4
3
n
1810
1790
1780
1778
1773
Weight of Carriage.
Beds.
Wood.
cwt. qrs. lb.
1 0 10
0 3 5
Iron.
cwt. qrs. lb.
35 2 20
17 3 16
8 3 3
Block Trail.
cwt. qrs. lb.
Iron.
cwt. qrs. lb.
11 3 0
10 3 20
9 2 10
8 12
1 Several ingenious methods have indeed, from time to time, been proposed to measure the velocity by determining the time of the
ball’s transit through a definite space ; thus, for example, the revolving machine of Grobert, which consists of two circular discs of card¬
board about 6J feet in diameter, connected together by an axis 13 feet long, to which a rotatory motion is given by means of a band
passing over a pulley on the centre of the axis, and connected with a proper combination of wheels to produce the necessary velocity
of rotation. The two discs are divided into 360° each by radiating lines, and the axis being placed in the prolongation of the line of
flight, the ball passes through both discs whilst rotating with a considerable and uniform velocity ; and the angle between the two per¬
forations, as shown by the lines, affords the means of determining the velocity, thuslet ? be the angle, t the time of a revolution
(p 300 cL
360*~ the time of passing the distance d between the two discs, and the velocity v=. . Now if t be xV^li of a second, or the
machine revolves ten times in a second, and v be assumed=1200 feet, <p would be 39°. Don Tomas de Morla had previously proposed
a wheel or cylinder, rotating on the top of a vertical axis, the ball being so discharged as to pass as nearly as possible through a diameter of
the cylinder when the angle between the two opposite perforations afforded the means of determining the time of passage and the velocity;
but neither of these methods are sufficiently exact for the purpose. Professor Wheatstone, some years ago, proposed the electro-magnetic
cronograph to the artillery committee, but his proposition was not then favourably entertained, though it is now again under conside¬
ration. The mode in which it has been tried on the continent is as follows:—Two screens or targets of metallic wire twisted continu¬
ously into a net-work, which the ball cannot pass through without breaking, are set up, the wires being of course coated so as to pre¬
vent metallic contact between the parts of the net: each screen, by means of a connecting wire, forms part of the conducting
circuit between a voltaic battery and an electro-magnet, which suspends a marker or pencil over a cylinder made to revolve uniformly
with the necessary velocity. Now, when the ball passes through the first “ target net” the circuit is broken, and the pencil instantly
falls upon the cylinder, and makes a recording mark upon it. When the ball passes through the second “net” the connection of the
second electro-magnet is in like manner broken, and by the fall of its pencil a similar mark, though on a different point, is made upon
the cylinder. The time of revolution of the cylinder being known, the angle between these two marks, as in Grobert’s and Morla’s
machines, determines the time of the ball’s passage between the two targets, and hence the velocity of the ball. Though it is said this
system has not as yet been perfectly successful, it may now be reasonably expected, from the increased knowledge of electro-magnetic
phenomena, and the improvement of electro-magnetic apparatus, that it will be speedily rendered so.
134
GUNNERY.
V I
Gunnery.
Length, Weight, fyc., of Iron and Brass Guns and Howitzers, and the Weights of their Carriages.
Gunnery.
Nature of
Ordnance.
10-in. Iron Gun
8-in. Iron. Gun
68-pr. Iron Gun j
56-pr. Iron Gun j
42-pr. Iron Gun <
32-pr. Iron Gun
24-pr. Iron Gun
18-pr. Iron Gun
12-pr. Iron Gun j
9- pr. Iron Gun j
6-pr. Iron Gun j
12-pr. Brass
9-pr. do.
6-pr. do.
3-pr. do.
3-pr. do.
10- in. Iron How.
8-in. do.
5|-in. do.
32-pr. Brass How.
24-pr. do.
12-pr, do.
4?-in. do.
Service.
L., Land
S., Sea.
L. & S.
L. & S.
L. & S.
S.
s.
L.
L.
S.
s.
L.
L.
L.
L.
L.
L.
L. & S.
L. & S.
S.
L. & S.
S.
L. & S.
Priv.
S.
L. & S.
S.
s.
L.
L.
L.
L.
L.
S.
L. & S.
L. & S.
L.
L.
L.
L.
L.
L.
L.
L.
Salute
do.
do.
L.
L.
L.
L.
L.
L.
L.
L.
L.
L.
L.
L.
Lengths.
Feet & Cali-
inches. bres.
ft. in.
10 6
9 4
9 0
8 10
8 0
6 8-5
10 10
10 0
9 6
11 0
10 0
10 0
10 0
9 6
9 7
9 6
9 0
8 0
9 0
8 6
8 0
8 0
7 6
8 0
7 0
6 0
5 6
9
8
7
6
8
7
7
5
7
7
6
6
5 11-4
5 0
1 10-6
cals.
12-0
12-0
13-3
13- 05
11-82
9-9
16- 15
14- 78
14-0
176
16-0
17- 21
17-21
16- 43
17- 95
17-78
17- 0
14- 96
16-94
16-06
15- 11
1511
14- 17
12- 38
11- 43
10-16
19-57
18- 54
13- 4
18- 52
1814
16- 24
13-92
12- 76
23- 14
22-06
19- 46
15- 57
24- 28
21- 42
20- 0
15- 71
24-53
22- 9
19-62
16- 76
17- 0
16-33
16-4
12-3
6-0
6-0
7-16
10-0
9-8
9-8
5
cwt.
112
85
65
60
52
50
112
95
87
98
87
84
75
67
64
56
46
48
50
45
42
41
40
32
25
25
50
48
33
42
38
22
20
15
34
33
29
21
28
26
25
17
21
20
17
17b
13b
6
3
2b
40
20
15i
17b
12b
6b
10-0
100
805
8-12
7-65
6-97
6935
6-41
635
6-41
6-37
6-355
63
5-823
5-292
5-17
4-623
4-2
3-668
4-625
4- 2
3- 668
2-913
2-91
100
8-0
5- 68
6- 3
5-72
4- 58
4-52
O ©
C8 co a»
5 o™
9-85
7-925
7-86
7-925
7-48
6-765
6377
5-611
5-099
4-527
4-099
3-567
4-527
4- 099
3- 567
2-815
9-84
7-86
5- 595
6- 177
5-595
4- 454
4-454
Charge.
Serv. Prf.
lbs.
16
12
10
10
8
8
20
16
14
16
14
14
14
lOi
10
10
6
8
8
8
6
6
6
5
4
4
8
8
6
6
6
3
3
2
4
4
4
3
3
3
3
2i
2
2
2
4
2b
n
lbs.
25
20
20
20
16
14
30
28
25
28
25
25
25
23
21b
21b
12
21i
18
16
14
12
12
10
9
9
18
18
12
15
15
7
7
5
12
12
12
10
9
9
9
8
6
6
6
5
3j
2
1
1
7
4
6
4
2b
lb
1
1828
1827
1810
1790
1788
1806
1782
1810
1812
1825
1800
1820
1820
cwt. qr. lb.
13
Weight of Carriages.
Sliding. Common. Iron.
>. cwt. qr. lb. cwt. qr.
11 2 8
16 0 26
18 2 22
18 2 22
13 1 10
13 1 10
12 Y 23
12 1 23
12 1 23
10 0 18
10 0 18
10 0 18
9 16
9 1
9 1
12 2 0
15 2 14
16 3 13
15 1 2
15 1 2
15 1 2
13 2 23
13 2 23
13 2 23
12 3 1
12 3
12 3
11 2
11 2
11 2
10 1 3
10 1 3
10 1 3
9 0 20
9 0 20
9 0 20
16 0
14 0
lb.
25 1 10
26 1 4
23 1 22
23 1 22
23 1 22
21 2
21 2
21 2
19 0
19 0
19 0
17 0
17 0
17 0
15 Y
15 1
15 1
14 S’
14 3
14 3
25 1
18 1
15 1
Travelling.
Siege. Field,
cwt. qr. lb,
27 0 13
cwt. qr. lb. cwt. qr. lb. cwt. qr. lb.
26 2 23
20 O' 10
26 2 23
20 0 10
20 0 10
16 1 0
12 O' 22
ll’Y 6
31 2 10
24 0 13
11 2 23
12 2 8
12 1 8
9 1 25
4 3 0
4 1 8
13 3 2
12 2 3
9 3 14
5 12
Ship Gun.
Common. Sliding
9 0 10
9 0 10
8 0 11
10 2 14
8 3 24
8 3 24
7 3 0
7 2 11
7 2 11
6 1 1
6 0' 4
6 0 4
5 3 24
4 3 0
9 3 0
8 3’ 0
12 2 0
12 0 24
9 2
9 2
7 2
7 2
5 10
4 3 21
4 3 21
3 0 18
CONSTRUCTION OF GUNS.
In reference to the preceding tables of guns, it is necessary
to consider the very important questions connected with
their construction. In the first place, it is evident that there
should be some relation between the expansive forces of the
gases developed by the ignition of the charge of gunpowder,
and the tenacity of the metal cylinder or gun which has to
resist them ; and here again it is necessary to know whether
the gases act simply by pressure or by shock. That the
action ot the gases at the first moment of their development
is analogous to a shock, or percussive force, is the general
belief at present; and indeed, when it is considered that
all the particles of matter constituting the retaining tube or
gun are in a, state of rest, or in a passive condition, when, by
the almost instantaneous development of the gases, they
are suddenly exposed to the action of a repulsive force ca¬
pable of impressing on the particles of the gases a velocity
of 7000 feet per second, it can scarcely be doubted that
they must be affected very much in the same way as they
would have been if exposed to the action of a percussive
force; though, of course, when once the shock had been
transmitted through the solid substance, and the whole of
its resisting forces had been called into action, the gases, if
brought into a state of rest, would act by simple pressure.
Tinmhermans charged a musket barrel with 1 ‘2 oz. of pow¬
der, and then in successive discharges increased the resist¬
ance each time by adding 1, 2, 3, &c., balls, until the barrel
burst, when it was found that whenever the resistance ex¬
ceeded a certain limit all the barrels swelled out in a nar¬
row annular space, forming a defined border somewhat in
front of the end of the charge. Now, it seems certain that
if the gases had acted by pressure only, the whole of the
bounding cylinder of the bore behind the charge should
have swollen out equally, and not have been restricted in
the extension of the calibre to the space of a simple
ring; from which it was inferred that the gases, acting
by shock against the ball, were thrown back by its resist¬
ance against the narrow space described. In like manner,
Tinmhermans reasons from Swedish experiments made in
GUNNERY.
135
Gunnery. 1831, in which it appeared that iron guns in which the end
of the bore was hemispherical, afforded much more resist¬
ance than those ending in a plane surface; that this was
due to the difference in the shock consequent on the diffe¬
rence of form in the bodies exposed to the action of the
fluids.
Admitting, however, as has been done, the analogy in
the mode of action of an almost instantaneously deve¬
loped repulsive force on the walls of the cylinder, which re¬
strains the expansion of the gases which exercise that force,
to that of a shock or percussion, the experiments cited do
not appear sufficient to establish a perfect identity in such
actions. Without doubt, in such a case, time is necessary
to enable the resisting body to bring into play its tenacity,
and it resists, therefore, at first by the simple cohesive force
which binds its particles together, and in this consists the
analogy between the action of gunpowder and a percussive
force. In considering the first experiment, it must be re¬
membered that at two positions of the bore the destructive
action of the gunpowder may be considered greater than at
any other—namely, at the section transverse to the axes and
immediately in front of the bottom of the bore, as the gases
are then acting in two directions perpendicular to each
other, namely, against the bottom of the bore or in the
direction of the axis, and against the walls of the bore or
perpendicular to the axis, thus tending to drag apart the
breech from the rest of the gun ;—and again at a transverse
section somewhat in front of the charge, as the friction of
the ball tends in a minor degree to produce a similar effect,
and still more so when several balls or other projectiles are
used, so as to check the progressive motion of the mass, and
to augment the dragging effect of the friction. In this
latter case, as the expanding gases would be also checked
in their progressive motion, an accumulation would for the
instant take place immediately behind the balls, and thus
produce an augmented pressure on the sectional ring cor¬
responding to that position, the result being, as in the cited
experiment, an annular or local expansion rather than a
general one.
On the principle of pressure, however, it does not appear
difficult to obtain a reasonable approximation to the required
thickness of the containing tube, following the reasoning of
Senderos. Let R be the radius of the exterior of a tube
or gun barrel, r the radius of the interior, tt the proportion
between the diameter of a circle and the circumference;
then the surface of pressure against the base of the tube
acting to produce fracture, at the circumference 27rr, will be
the area of that circle, or irr1. The surface of pressure,
equal to the other, but acting longitudinally, will be a rec¬
tangle, one side of which is the diameter of the tube, or 2r,
and the other a portion of the length of the tube /, such as
will make the two surfaces of pressure equal, or irr1 — 2r/,
and hence /=—. Now, the surface of resistance nna
£
direction perpendicular to the axis will be represented by
the area of the annular space represented by tt (R2-r2),
and the surface of resistance in a longitudinal direction, by
the areas of the two surfaces, one at each end of the diame¬
ter corresponding to the two fractures along l, that is by
21 (R —r). Now, comparing these two together, the resist¬
ances being proportional to the surfaces of fracture, they
will be as tt (R2 — r2) : 2/ (R — r) ; or substituting the value
of /, as (R2 — r2) : r (R — r), and making R — r = o? as
d (R + r): dr = d (d + 2r) \ dr = d + 2r: r •, which shows
that the resistance to fracture in a transverse direc¬
tion, or perpendicular to the axes, is always much greater
than that in a longitudinal direction, being indeed four
times as great when d = 2r, or one calibre—not, however,
making the comparison with a transverse section close
to the bottom of the bore, for the reasons before stated.
The pressures and resistances may now be compared to- Gunnery,
gether, and for this comparison the tenacities of wrought
iron and of the best bronze have been stated by Senderos
as 4234 and 3872 atmospheres respectively, and the co¬
hesive force of cast iron as 1358. According to the ex¬
periments of Navier, these numbers should be 4164^-,
2475, and 1307, and by others the cohesive strength of
wrought and of cast iron have been stated at 4166 and 1266
atmospheres. With these data, equalizing the pressure
tending to produce fracture in a longitudinal direction—that
is, to force one half of the cylinder to separate from the
other in two longitudinal fractures of the length /—to the
force of cohesion resisting fracture, P representing the
pressure and C the tenacity or cohesion—we have, as
before explained, 2rl P = 2/ (R — r) C, or r P = (R — r) C,
or r P = e? C. But C in English cast iron is 1266 and
OOQA
P = 2230 ; hence r 2230=d 1266, or rf = P76r,
1266
or about |ths of a calibre, which is the thickness adopted
for shell guns, but flhs less than the thickness of the heavy
iron guns.
It must, however, be remembered that the cohesive forces
stated ought not to be admitted in practice, as they are
liable to be affected by heat and other causes ; and hence,
if only tjd be deducted from the cohesive force, d would
become = 2*6 r, or lT3oths calibre, which is greater than
the maximum thickness adopted, or that at the breech.
With bronze of 2475 tenacity, and reducing by one-third,
the thickness would be about fths calibre, the adopted
thickness being §ths. With wrought iron, taking the English
estimate, and deducting ^d, the thickness should be about
x66ths of a calibre—the actual thickness of metal at the
breech of an artillery carbine being very nearly that deduced
from theory, or £th of a calibre. It is not to be wondered
that this great saving in thickness or in weight of metal has
so often led to trials of wrought iron for guns, though the
great difficulty of forging such large masses has hitherto
checked the extension of its use ; and further, it will be
shown that a certain weight is absolutely necessary for a
gun, and that the use of wrought iron, therefore, is only
desirable when peculiar lightness or peculiar strength are
indispensable.
General Construction of Iron and Brass Guns.
Nature of ordnance.
A.B. A.C.
/ 68-pr., 42-pr.,
32-pr., &c., new
construction....
10& 8-in. shell guns
32-pr. old pattern..
24
18
Lengths in parts of A.F.
©
rt o
£ °
'ZU
c3 | 2
® u g
a c
o “E
2 E £
B.C.
£ + 1 cal.
175
f + 1 cal.
t^+I cal.
■fV + l cal.
fV + 1 cal.
i'V "i-1 cal.
Lengths
in parts
of D.F.
s
E.F.
Thick¬
ness in
calibres.
14
LV
Itc-
1A
1A
1A
1A
t
l
U
Form, Weight, and Length.—Having arrived at a tole¬
rable knowledge of the thickness of metal necessary to re¬
sist the first shock of the gunpowder, it becomes compara-
136
GUNNERY.
Gunnery, tively easy to resolve most of the other elements of con-
struction. By the law of Mariotte, for example, the pres¬
sure of gases varies directly with their densities, or inversely
with the spaces they occupy; and hence the pressure, when
the gases have expanded so as to occupy twice the space,
will he one-half; or three times the space, one-third ; and so
on. This law appears to have been practically followed from
an early period, as the external form has been made more
or less conical, and generally indeed such as to constitute
three truncated cones, corresponding to the first reinforce,
second reinforce, and chase of our ordnance, though some¬
times the two first have been united either into one cylinder
or one truncated cone, which is an arrangement more con¬
sonant to theory. In considering the portion of the bore
to which the greatest thickness of metal should be extended,
it is necessary to know the position of the ball at the mo¬
ment when the gases developed are in the highest state of
condensation, and this has been assumed by many to be
when the ball has moved forward a length equal to its own
radius ; and farther, to assume the greatest length of charge
ever intended to be used with the gun, which therefore
need not exceed either that of the proof charge, or of the
charge which would produce the greatest initial velocity
in a ball. In the 24-pounder the proof charge is f ths of
the weight of the ball, in the 32-pounder about |£ths, the
42-pounder about fths, the 56-pounder i, the 68-pounder
about -j^ths, the 18-pounder -fths, and the 12-pounder and
smaller guns equal to the weight of the ball. In the 68-
pounder the charge for producing the maximum velocity
by the table of Hutton would be 43^ lbs., whereas the proof
charge may be taken at 28 lbs. On the former supposition,
the length of the cylinders exposed to the maximum action
of the gunpowder would be 27-| + 4 inches = 31^, or 2 feet
7J inches, which would extend about half-way from the
termination of the first reinforce to the trunnion ; and it may
be remarked, in reference to this point, that the fracture's
on the bursting of a gun extend longitudinally, in somewhat
irregular or curved lines, rather beyond the trunnions—the
breech being partly broken off near the bottom of the bore
on the one end, and the chase being separated from the
other part of the gun on the other. With the length of
the 68-pounder of 95 cwt., the whole volume of the bore,
as compared to that of the maximum velocity charge, is not
quite 4 to 1 ;—so that if 3 to 1 be adopted, the thickness at
the muzzle ought to be fths of a calibre. If, then, without
regard to ornament, the gun were constructed upon the
simple principle of a cylinder extending from the extre¬
mity of the breech to the point on the second reinforce
above intimated, and from that point to the extremity of
the muzzle as a truncated cone, the 68-pounder of 15 ca->
libres would weigh 103 cwt., being the mean between
the two heavier 68-pounders, one of which is 112 cwt.
and the other 95 cwt., whilst the ratio between the weight
of the ball and the weight of the gun would be 1 :170. °
As the weight must therefore depend, first, on the thick¬
ness of metal necessary to resist the greatest expansive force of
the gunpowder intended to be applied; and secondly, on the
length of gun—an element in itself depending on the charge
to be used, and the initial velocity to be given to the ball —
it becomes necessary to determine the length to be adopted,
which is generally stated in calibres as well as in feet and
inches. In the early periods of artillery every founder
seemed to adopt his own fancy, and hence the variety of
guns was not only great as regards the calibre, but also in
reference to the length of guns of the same calibre. Some
of the guns were of either monstrous size or form. Luis
Collado, mentioning a culverine mounted at Naples, and
filing a ball of 48 lbs. weight, which was47 calibres in length,
and the double cannons founded by order of the Castellan
of Milan, Don Alonso Pimento!, which were 130 calibres
in length ; and he mentions that in his time at Milan no less
than 200 varieties of ammunition were required for the Gunnery,
service of the artillery of the castle alone. The following ^ ir —^
table of Venetian guns in the beginning of the sixteenth
century is a further example of this apparently capricious
multiplication of species :—
1 \th Colloquy, 1st Book of Tartaglia.
Description.
Culvering...
Culvering...
Culvering...
Culvering...
Culvering...
Culvering....
Culvering...
Cannon  
Cannon  
Cannon  
Cannon  
Cannon  
Cannon  
Faulcon 
Faulconet ...
Saker 
Saker 
Saker 
Aspidi 
Passavolante
Cortaldi.
Cortaldi.
Length.
5i
6f
3
9f
6
m
10J
0
6f
84
3
104
24
0
o
24
6
9|
3
3
6f
104
54
Weight.
cwt.
10
13
25
31
39
76
13
14
23
52
73
5
2
8
12
7
7
16
52
36
32
26
16
9
lbs
10
22
18
9
0
8
0
3
15
0
14
1
13
3
23
20
20
21
10
7
0
10
21
23
Weight
of ball.
lbs.
10-6
9-3
13-2
19-9
331
33-1
79-4
13’2
13-2
199
33-1
66-2
79-4
4-0
2-0
7-9
7-9
6-6
7-9
10'6
165-5
99-3
66-2
66-2
29-8
19-9
Remarks.
Iron ball.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Lead.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Iron.
Marble stone.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
This great variety of pieces of artillery was classed, ac¬
cording to Collado, by the early writers under three heads
—1st, Those for long ranges; 2d, Those for battering; 3d,
Those for throwing one or more stone balls. The first, of
32 calibres, comprised muskets, falconettes, medium sacers
and sacers, aspics, medium culverins, culverins, &c. The
second, or battering cannon,, are distinguished as quarter
guns, medium guns, simple common guns, reinforced and
bastard guns, the serpent, double guns, basilisks, &c.
These varied in length from 18 to 28 calibres. The third
genus included the ancient bombards, mortars, and brass
guns, with detached chambers which were fixed to the
guns after being charged, as well as the guns for firing stone
balls. They were heavier than those of the preceding
genera, but were proportionally shorter, not exceeding s|
calibres in length. This attempt at classification was not,
however, adhered to by all the founders of guns, and hence
it became absolutely necessary to take some step to lessen
the confusion. At the beginning of the seventeenth cen¬
tury, therefore, Christobal Lechuga attempted to reduce the
vast number of existing guns to six different calibres only, and
shortly afterwards Don Juan Bayarte fixed the number, which
were afterwards called guns of regular calibre or of ordi¬
nance. This great progressive step of the Spanish artil¬
lery was imitated by the other European Powers, by whom
the species, dimensions, and calibre of the guns to be re¬
tained were established by regulations of state, and were
hence called ordnance. Cannon may naturally be divided
into two great classes—namely, guns for firing solid shot, and
mortars for firing shells or hollow projectiles; but an inter¬
mediate genus, partaking of the characters of both, has been
interposed, namely, the howitzer, which is manipulated like
a gun, but is used for the discharge of hollow projectiles.
Lechuga adopted at first the calibres of 40, 24, and 12-poun¬
ders, calling the two latter medium and quarter guns, but
afterwards added the 16, 8, and 2-pounders. The 40-poun¬
der was rejected by Diego Ufano and Bayarte, and subse-
GUNNERY.
runnery. quently the calibres fixed by the French Ordinance of 1752
were adopted in Spain—namely, the 4, 8, 12, 16, and 24-
pounders for land service, and the 6, 12, 18, 24, 32, and 36-
pounders for the marine; but the 4-pounder was subsequently
abandoned. Gribeauval was the great reformer in 1765 of
the French artillery, when, for siege and fortress guns in brass,
24, 16, 12, 8, and 4-pounders were retained, and for field
guns the 12, 8, and 4-pounders; but in the eleventh year of
the Republic the list was reduced to the 24-pounder, short;
12-pounder, long and short; 6-pounder, long, short and light
or field, mountain; 3-pounder; and 24-pounder howitzer;
and, as is well known, the present Emperor of the French
has put upon trial a still more simple arrangement, having
invented a howitzer gun something like the Licorne of the
Russians, and thus endeavoured to reduce calibres to a
minimum. In our own service the list of guns shows
that there is still a superfluity of species, or rather varieties,
and that many must be considered merely experimental; as,
for example, of the 68 and 42-pounder, and still more of
the 32 and 24-pounder: but some of these have already
been practically abandoned.
Not only does the powder, as it progressively burns,
continue by successive shocks to act against the ball, but
also the gases, as they expand, continue to act upon it,
though with a regularly diminishing force. This variable
but diminishing accelerating force is opposed to the resist¬
ance of the ball from friction in the bore, which is uniform,
and by the resistance of the air, which is variable, but increas¬
ing as the velocity of the ball increases. Whenever, there¬
fore, the sum of the retarding forces has become equal to that
of the accelerating forces, it is evident that no further ad¬
vantage can be obtained by the action of the gases, and hence
that the limit of length has been attained. Capt. Boxer
cites the experiments of Col. Armstrong (1736), who endea¬
voured to determine this question by the ranges obtained.
He used a brass 24-pounder, 10 feet 6 inches long, which was
shortened by 6 inches after each trial, and the mean ranges he
obtained were—for the length of 10 feet 6 inches, 2502 ; for
10 feet, 2512§; for 9 feet 6 inches, 2564^; for 9 feet,
2617f; for 8 feet 6 inches, 2514; and for 8 feet, 2453f ;
from which it appeared that the greatest ranges were ob¬
tained from the gun of 9 feet, or 18j calibres. Dr Hutton’s
experiments, before noticed, with the ballistic pendulum,
showed that, as regards the initial velocities, they continue
to increase with the length of the bore, but in a much less
proportion. By Piobert’s first quoted series of experiments, or
those made in Hanover in 1785, cited also by Capt. Boxer,
it appeared that with a charge equal to half the shot’s weight,
no advantage in point of range was obtained by increasing
the length beyond 18 to 24 calibres; and by his second
series of 1801, beyond 18 or 19—though in the trials with
a 6-pounder, the 15 calibre and 12 calibre guns were very
little inferior to the 18 calibre. Capt. Boxer, whilst re¬
marking on the uncertainty as to the absolutely best length
of gun, as exhibited even in these extensive experiments,
points to a curious law observed in examining these ranges
by Mr J. F. Heather, M.A., one of the very able mathe¬
matical masters of the Royal Military Academy—namely,
that the ranges obtained from guns of 12, 15, and 19
calibres are relative maxima, being greater than those of
the guns of intermediate lengths; and he adds that the
Hanoverian experiments point to another such maximum
in guns of 23 calibres. Reflecting on the experiments of
Hutton, and on the general theory of the accelerating and
retarding forces already noticed, it seems impossible to
connect such alternations with the action of the gases, and
they can only be accounted for by some modifying cause,
such as the zig-zag motion of the ball within the bore,
causing it to range further, or vice versa, according as the
last rebound may discharge it in a direction passing above
or below the axis of the piece. Although, perhaps, not fully
YOL. XI.
137
conclusive, and still meriting further and very careful ex- Gunnery,
periments, it may for the present be assumed that there is
little reason for exceeding 19 calibres in length, or for going
below 12, so far as the effective working of the gun, as mani¬
fested in its range, is concerned. The lesser number of cali¬
bres is best fitted for guns of large calibre, and the greater
number for those of small calibre. Assuming then, as has
been done, 15 calibres for the 68-pounder, and resolving the
gun into two parts—a cylinder and a truncated cone—with
a reinforce in rear of the charge, another at about half a ca¬
libre in front of it, and a third at the muzzle, a simple and
apparently an effective gun would be obtained of moderate
weight; and the same would be the result with other guns.
In the particular case of the 68-pounder, as the proof charge
is about -|ds of the charge which gives the greatest initial ve¬
locity, the length of the cylinder, or breech section, might be
diminished, and the muzzle or chase, or conical section, in¬
creased, by which the weight would be diminished ; but as
a general rule, the other appears the most satisfactory, as the
proof charge is usually fds of the weight of the ball.
Impossible to diminish the weight of the gun beyond a
certain limit.—It would be wrong to pass from the import¬
ant subject of the construction of guns without noticing
the necessity of securing the carriage of the gun from too
severe a shock; and this can only be done by bestowing
upon the gun itself a considerable weight, or by interposing
springs, which must be very difficult if not impossible in
practice. This will be readily understood from the follow¬
ing considerations. Let W be the weight of the gun, and
w that of the carriage, and WV the momentum of the gun,
on first receiving the shock, and before it has acted on the
carriage; now, in hard bodies, when one in motion strikes
another at rest, the whole quantity of the motion of
the two bodies after the shock will equal that of the first
before the contact; hence, taking v as the common velocity
of the gun and carriage after the shock, or velocity of recoil
of the compound body, (W + w)v== W V. Further, the mo¬
mentum of the gun on receiving the first shock of the
powder cannot be altered by diminishing its weight, as the
velocity would increase in the same proportion ; and suppos¬
ing W' and V' the new weight and velocity, W' V' = W V ;
and in like manner as (W' + w) would then be less than
(W + w), so v', or the velocity of (W' + w) would be greater
than v, and in consequence viv, or the momentum communi¬
cated to the carriage itself, greater than vw, or the motion
communicated when the gun weighed W. Every diminution,
therefore, in the weight of the gun increases the shock upon
the carriage. And if to preserve the amount of recoil within
a reasonable limit, and to increase the power of resistance of
the carriage, its weight should be increased as much as that
of the gun had been diminished, say by #, then the momen¬
tum of the gun and carriage would be the same as before ;
and the velocity, as in the first assumption, v. But this
would be composed thus (i?W — vn) + (viu + vn) ; so that the
carriage would have received the shock of the additional
force represented by vn, and have suffered accordingly, as
it is impossible to transfer the momentum of the gun to the
gun and carriage without some portion of it being lost in
destructive action upon the carriage, a portion which will
necessarily increase as the amount of the force expended on
the carriage is increased. The greater, therefore, the weight
of the gun as compared to that of the carriage, the less will
be the loss of force in the transmission of momentum, and
of course the less injury done to the carriage. This being
considered, it is evident that though by the use of wrought
iron, the weight of the gun might be diminished by nearly
§ds, it would be impossible in ordinary guns so far to di¬
minish the weight without the introduction of other means
to protect the carriage from injury. In field guns, where
the recoil is of less importance than mobility and durability,
wrought iron seems the very best material which could be
s
138
G U N N E K Y.
Gunnery. use(j. an(]} jn manner? where the object is not a great
range but a large calibre, as in flank guns, it might be ad¬
visable to replace such guns as short 24-pounders, by
wrought-iron 68-pounders, or by cast-iron guns of large
calibre but diminished thickness of metal, strengthened by
wrought-iron hoops, as in the gun of Captain Blakeley, R.A.
Hereafter, more may be expected; and a travelling 68-pounder
constructed of a wrought-iron cylinder, sliding on a cast-iron
bed, but checked in its motion by springs or buffers—the
bed itself being supported on the carriage—the gun, or
cylinder, being carried separately from the bed and carriage ;
guns of such large calibre might then enter into ordinary
siege equipments. The monster gun of the Mersey Foun¬
dry is of wrought iron, but as its weight will be 24 tons 7
cwt., and the weight of its solid shot 300 lbs., it is rather a
triumph of forging than an example of diminished weight,
the proportion of the weight of gun and shot being 180 to
1. It is only further necessary briefly to state the pro¬
portions between the weights of the ball and of the gun,
or between the weights of the charge of powder and of the
gun, most generally adopted. In Spain the proportion be¬
tween the weights of the gun and the charge in long guns
is between 800 and 947 to 1 ; and in short, or field guns,
about 480 to 1 ; or between the gun and ball from 234 to
313 to 1 ; and in short or field guns, about 142 to 1. In
France the proportion in the naval 36-pounder is as 214 to
1 ; in the 30-pounder, 221 to 1 ; and in brass guns about
160 to 1. In the United States, from 299 to 1 in the iron
12-pounder, to 201 to 1 in the 42-pounder; but in their
12-feet and 10-feet columbiads, the heaviest of their ordnance,
as they weigh 15,400 lbs. and 9240 lbs. respectively, the pro¬
portion is as 137 to 1. In brass guns it is as 147 to 1. In our
own service, in the three forms of 68-pounder, the longest of
which weighs 112 cwt., the proportions are 184, 166, and
143 to 1 ; in the 42-pounder, between 224 and 179 to 1;
in the 32-pounder, between 223 and 140 to 1 ; in the 24-
pounder, 233 and 154 to 1; in the 18-pounder, 261 and
124 to 1 ; omitting some of the very light and bored-up
guns, which can only be considered exceptional cases. In the
brass guns, the proportion in the light 6-pounder is 112 to 1;
and in the 9-pounder and 12-pounder medium, 168 to 1.
So that, taking the guns really effective for all purposes,
the weights of brass and iron ordnance are nearly propor¬
tional to their respective tenacities. In the Spanish guns,
however, the weights of the garrison and siege guns of
bronze are as great in proportion to the ball as our iron
guns—a striking illustration of the necessity, with the present
system of carriage, of retaining a due weight for the gun.
In addition to the bearing of the effective action of the
powder, &c., on the length of the gun, as before explained,
it is well to bear in mind that there is a minimum limit
in lespect to those guns intended to fire through embra¬
sures, as it is necessary that the muzzle should enter at
least 2 feet into the embrasure to prevent its rapid destruc¬
tion by the concussion consequent upon the discharge. If,
then, the trunnions be placed at fths of the whole length of
the gun from the muzzle, and the radius of the wheel of the
travelling carriage be 2 feet 6 inches, the minimum length
is given by this simple equation, f-ths x-2 feet 6 inches =
2 ; or x='l feet 10^ inches. So that 8 feet may be taken
as the minimum in this respect.
I reponderance.—If the axis of the trunnions of a gun were
fixed in the line passing through its centre of gravity, great
instability would be the result, and consequent uncertainty
of fire, as the shock of the ball against the bore would be
sufficient to disturb its equilibrium; and the ball would
be liable to disturbance, even before firing, from many
accidental causes, when the front of the gun could be so
fsilyrnovcd vertically. The weight of metal, therefore,
behind the trunnions always exceeds that before, and this
excess is called “ preponderance.” In the Spanish ord¬
nance this excess in garrison and siege guns is xYth ; in Gunnery,
field guns, -jY-th; and ^-th or ^-th in howitzers, excepting v, —
the mountain howitzer, in which it is about TYth of the
weight of the whole piece. Piobert gives the preponder¬
ance in the heavier guns as 8 or 9 times the weight of the
projectile; in field guns as 12 to 13 times; and in how¬
itzers as 6 to 7£ times that weight. Tinmerhans deduces
from general practice a preponderance varying from x£xths
to xWhs of the weight of the gun. In the British artillery
the preponderance is very various, being Jjth, J^th, ^th,
rrth, Toth, ith, £tb, j-th—the result in some measure of the
great number of pieces of the same calibre, though it is
evident that it ought to be reduced in most cases, as excess
of preponderance in heavy guns greatly increases the labour
of adjustment. The position also of the axis of the trun¬
nions is, as represented by the circles on the figures of Plate
II., below the axis of the gun, a position which causes a
rotation on the trunnion, and hence a pressure upon the
elevating screw, which is useful also in securing steadiness.
MANAGEMENT OF GUNS.
Laying a gun includes two operations—pointing and ele¬
vating. By pointing is understood the placing it in such a
position that the axis of the piece shall be exactly in the
vertical plane passing through the object aimed at; and by
elevating a gun is understood the placing it at such an angle
above the horizontal line as will counteract the force of
gravity, and thus cause the ball to strike the object aimed at.
When a gun is both pointed and elevated, it is said to be laid.
The line-of-metal is a visual line extending from the summit
of the base-ring to the swell of the muzzle. Its position
is ascertained by placing the trunnions perfectly horizontal,
and then finding the highest point both on the base-ring
and the swell of the muzzle, when the line joining those two
points will be the line-of-metal. But in consequence of
the conical shape of guns, this line has an inclination to the
axis of from one to two or more degrees, which is called
the dispart. In pointing a gun, the line-of-metal is first laid
in a line with the object; then, if the trunnions are horizon¬
tal, the axis of the piece and object will be in the same ver¬
tical plane ; but if the trunnions are not perfectly so, the
continuation of the line-of-metal will cross that of the axis
of the piece, and the shot will be thrown to that side of
the object on which the lowest trunnion is. As the axis
of the gun would not be in the same horizontal plane
as the object when the gun had been pointed by the line-
of-metal, but elevated above it by the angle of dispart, a
dispart sight is placed either on the muzzle, or, accord¬
ing to General Millar’s plan—which is now universally
adopted in heavy guns—on the second reinforce; so that the
visual line becomes parallel to the axis of the gun, and when
laid point-blank, however much one trunnion may be lower
than the other, the shot cannot be thrown more than the
thickness of metal to the right or left; but when elevated
it is subject to the error pointed out. A gun is said to be
point-blank when the axis of the piece is in a line with
the object fired at, without having any elevation or depres¬
sion, or when the axis is parallel to the horizon; it is de¬
sirable also that the platform should, if possible, be laid
horizontal. Ihe elevation required to strike any object is
found by ascertaining its distance. For this purpose sets of
tables have been constructed from actual practice (see
Tables at the end), by reference to which the different
sorts of shot and shells may be projected with the greatest
accuracy.
A scale made of brass, and called a tangent scale, in
French, hausse, being marked with the different lengths of
the tangents for the several degrees, slides up and down in
the breech. By means of this the elevation may be given
without any reference to the difference between the level
GUNNERY.
junnery. of the gun and the object fired at, and it may be elevated
and pointed at the same time. In guns which have dis¬
parts, the tangent scale only comes into use at a greater
angle than that of the dispart of the gun. Degrees are
therefore marked upon the base-ring, beginning at the
quarter sight, by means of which the gun may be elevated
at any less angle than that of the dispart.
The ‘21 of an inch is the tangent of one degree to every
foot of the gun’s length, from the base-ring to the swell of
the muzzle ; and therefore, if the distance in feet between
those two points, or between the base ring and the sight, be
multiplied by *21, the product will be the tangent of 1°
in inches, which, when the dispart is subtracted from it, will
give the length of the tangent scale above the base-ring at
one degree of elevation for that particular gun, or when
the dispart exceeds the tangent of 1°, and is subtracted
from the natural tangent of 2° on the scale, the length of
the scale at 2°: when, however, a middle sight is used, the
elevation can of course be given by the tangent scale from
0° upwards to about 5°. If the scale be applied to the
quarter sight of the gun, of course the dispart need not
be subtracted.
Elevating guns at sea has always been attended with
difficulty and uncertainty. To effect this, the following
method has been proposed:—Let the trunnion of a gun be
divided by lines passing through its centre, parallel and per¬
pendicular to the axis of the piece, and the lower limb be
divided into degrees, &c.; a plumb suspended from the
centre of the trunnion will cut the degree of elevation or
depression the gun is pointed at, which of course is always
varying, from the motion of the ship. If the axis of the
piece, therefore, be parallel with the deck, the degree of
the inclination of the deck and gun will at the same time be
ascertained, and the gun will be fired at the moment when
the plumb-line cuts the proper degree marked upon the
lower ring of the trunnion. Great accuracy may thus be
attained at sea.
A scale has of late years been sometimes used for iron
guns, marked with the number of yards range instead of de¬
grees ; and this has been found very useful to men who
might not perhaps understand the tangent scale. It would
unquestionably be very useful to mark approximately on the
tangent scale opposite the degrees the number of hundred
yards of range ;—thus, for example, in the 9-pounder, 1° = 4,
2° = 5, &c.; and in the 24-pounder, of 50 cwt, 1° = 7^,
2° = 11^, 3° =14^, 4° =16^, 5° = 18^ hundreds, &c.; and
this is indeed the more necessary where there are several
varieties of the same gun differing as to length from each
other, as it becomes almost impossible to commit to memory
the ranges corresponding to the elevation in each species; and
great loss of time, and chance of confusion, would be avoided
by thus avoiding the necessity of a reference to printed
tables of ranges in the field. In marking the tangent scale,
regard should be had to the mean rise of the ball on leaving
the gun, referred to in treating of deviations, or else allow¬
ance should be made for it. Another mode occasionally used
by the French is by the depression of the breech, and is thus
effected: A line being drawn through the centre of the trun¬
nion to the extremity of the button of the cascabel, the length
of this line becomes a radius for determining the lengths of
the natural tangents corresponding to the degrees of a new
tangent scale; and these being marked on a long rule, the
zero point being the point of contact of the rule and button,
when the rule is resting on the platform, and the axis of the
piece is horizontal, and the degrees or tangents being num¬
bered from 0° downwards—a very convenient mode when
in night-firing at a breach, for example, it is only necessary
to secure the elevation. It may be here observed, that by
using the middle sight in our iron guns, it becomes impos¬
sible to use the angle of dispart. This might be avoided by
perforating the sight, and thus enabling the gunner to use
139
the angle of natural aim, which angle, with its correspond- Gunnery,
ing range, ought to be marked on each gun.
Another method, when it is required to fire continually
at the same object—for instance, a breach—is, after dis¬
charging a few rounds, to observe some object which the gun
points to when at the proper elevation, and always point
at that object. This is called pointing at a false object.
The modes of pointing and elevating here described are
used in guns, howitzers, and carronades. In respect to the
first of these it will be observed, that since Colonel Paix-
hans proposed his canons a bombes, the tendency has been
to return back to guns of large calibre, for a long time
almost abandoned, and only partially revived in carronades ;
and this change is unquestionably one of great importance
to the defence, and will be equally so to the attack, when
the difficulty of transporting such heavy weights has been
in some degree overcome. In our service at present the
heaviest solid shot proposed to be used is that of 68 lbs., and
there are three varieties of it, as shown by the table, of which
perhaps the 112 cwt. and the 95 cwt. (or Dundas gun) are
the best; but for throwing hollow shot—differing from shells
by being cast concentric—or shells, there is a 10-inch as
well as an 8-inch gun, these guns corresponding in their
object with the canon-obusier of the French. Plate II., fig.
1, represents the 68-pounder, and fig. 2 the 8-inch gun—a
shell gun, as it is commonly called, the length and weight
being greatly inferior to the 68-pounder, though nearly of
the same calibre. The shell guns are admirably fitted for
coast batteries, as their moderate weight renders them more
easily manageable than the 68-pounder, whilst the magni¬
tude of their calibre, whether hollow shot or shells be used,
renders their fire very destructive to ships. It is to be ob¬
served also, that in coast batteries space alone requires con¬
sideration ; whilst in ships weight is an equally essential
element, as a vessel which could carry on her broadside
only eleven 8-inch guns, might be armed with fourteen
32-pounders; and as Sir Howard Douglas therefore rea¬
sons, the magnitude of the fractures being taken as the
squares of the diameters, or as 704 to 506, whilst the number
of shots will be as 11 to 14, the actual spaces opened or
fractured will be as 7744 to 7084, or considerably in favour
of the 8-inch gun ; but, on the other hand, the fire of the 32-
pounder would be spread over a much larger space, and be
more destructive as to the men; so that it is probable Sir
Howard is justified in considering that the greater number of
shots from the 32-pounders more than counterbalances the
greater space of fracture from the fire of the 8-inch guns.
Another reason which induces Sir Howard to object to the
too exclusive arming of ships with 8-inch guns is, that the
32-pounders may commence double-shotting at 400 yards;
whereas the 8-inch guns cannot commence effective firing
with two shots at a greater distance than 200 yards; so that
between 400 and 200 yards the 32-pounder armament would
have the advantage. On land, however, the number of guns
would be the same in either case ; and the 8-inch gun,
mounted on the dwarf-traversing platform (Plate III., fig.
1), is deservedly a favourite, being associated either with
the 68-pounder for longer ranges, or with the 32-pounder.
(Plate II., fig. 3.) It will be observed that the shell
guns (fig. 2) are chambered on the Gomer principle;
but this system of construction will be further noticed in
treating of howitzers. For field batteries the favourite
brass gun of our service is the 9-pounder (Plate II., fig. 4,
and Plate III., fig. 7), but these are associated with the 24-
pounder brass howitzer (Plate II., fig. 7); so that in the same
battery two different calibres are in use, and consequently
two different classes of ammunition. The present Em¬
peror of the French has done away with this complex con¬
struction of batteries, and has adopted one form of gun—
namely, the 12-pounder howitzer gun—fitted for discharging
three kinds of projectiles—namely, solid shot, shells, and case
140
GUNNERY.
unnery.^ shot, and thus requiring only one form of carriage. The
principles upon which this great simplification has been
adopted have been described by Captain Fave of the French
artillery, whose work has been well translated by Captain
Hamilton Cox of the Royal Artillery. They are the prin¬
ciples frequently referred to in the preceding pages—namely,
that though a greater initial velocity may be obtained by a
greater charge, the resistance of the air so rapidly diminishes
high initial velocities, that the ultimate ranges and the ulti¬
mate momentum are very little superior to those obtained
from a considerably less initial velocity. This is illustrated
by a reference to Piobert’s tables, by which it appears that
a 12-pounder, discharged with a velocity of 1610 feet per
second, corresponding to a charge of ^d the weight of the
ball, retained a velocity of 1516 at a distance of 164 feet,
having therefore lost in that short space a velocity of 94 feet
per second; whilst, by experiments made at Metz in 1836
and 1840, a 12-pounder shot, fired with a charge of ^th, had
an initial velocity of 1516 feet per second ; so that the ball
propelled with a charge equal to ^-th the weight of the ball
on leaving the gun was much in the same condition as to
velocity as the ball propelled with ^d at 164 feet from it—
the two trajectories from these respective points being the
same. It is indeed only where great momentum is required
at a short distance from the gun that great charges become
effective; and for the purposes of field guns there seems
great ^ strength in the reasonings which have led to the
adoption of the 12-pounder howitzer gun by the French,
as, in addition to what has been stated, a French battery is
equally effective when called upon to fire shot, shell, or case ;
whereas, in the compound British battery, the howitzers are
so much deducted from its strength when solid shot firing
is lequiied; and, in like manner, the guns are a loss when
howitzer firing becomes the most valuable. The calibre of
a 9-pounder would be too small for fulfilling all the pur¬
poses of shot and shell; and hence the French have wisely
adopted the 12-pounder, and might perhaps have gone even
higher in calibre, reducing the weight of their gun by a cor¬
responding reduction in the weight of the charge.
Howitzers. This form of ordnance is of later date than
the mortar, which will be presently noticed, and was de¬
signed for the purpose of firing shells in the field, for which
object it was necessary that it should be mounted upon a
cairiage, so that it combines in itself the functions of the
gun and mortar. As the charges for the service required
fiom howitzers are small, so are their comparative weight;
for example, whilst the 24-pounder gun of 18£ calibres weighs
48 cwt., and is charged with 8 lbs. of powder, the 24-pounder
howitzer weighs only 12 J cwt., and is charged with only 2^
lbs. of powder; and in like manner, whilst the 8-inch shell
gun of 13 calibres weighs 65 cwt., the 8-inch howitzer
weighs only 20 cwt. The use of such small charges renders
it necessary to adopt chambers—that is to say, spaces either
entirely or in part of less diameter than the bore itself, as
the small cartridge containing the charge could not be so
placed in a large bore as to prevent great irregularities in
the relative position of the cartridge and ball. Chambers of
various forms have been at different times contrived; and,
according to the principles adopted by Piobert, their rela¬
tive values may be thus stated, taking into account the posi¬
tion of the vent, or of the point of the charge at which
the inflammation is first set on foot;—1st, Spherical, coni¬
cal, or pyramidal, when the vent communicates with the sur¬
face of the first and base of the two last, and the trunco-
comcal ranks with these when fired at its greater base.
Cylindrical, when fired by the lateral surface. 3d, Cylin¬
drical, when fired from either base. 4th, Trunco-conical,
when fired from its lesser base. 5th, The spherical, coni¬
cal, or pyramidal, when fired at the exact centre of the first
or vertices of the other two : or, merely classifying the forms
in general use—1st, spherical; 2d, cylindrical; 3d, trun¬
co-conical. The Gomer form in which the truncated cone
is terminated by a spherical end, is that used in the howit¬
zers (Plate II., fig. 6), and the mortar (Plate II., fig. 9), as
well as in the shell-gun. In the carronade (fig. 5) the
chamber is cylindrical, being terminated by a spherical end;
and such was its form in the great Antwerp mortar (fig.
10). It may also be added, that by adopting a chamber a
greater thickness of metal is obtained around the charge in
ordnance which are comparatively thin from their lightness.
Experiments were made in France at Strasburg, Douay, and
Toulouse, to ascertain whether the lodgment in the bore pro¬
duced by the pressure of the gases on the ball, an important
consideration in brass guns, could be lessened or obviated by
a peculiar position of the vent. One was placed in the pro¬
longation of the axis, the cascabel being suppressed so as to
fire the charge in the centre of its extreme end ; the second
in a line, making an angle of 30°, with the vertical drawn
from the extremity of the axis, and the third in the usual
way. The destructive effect of the charge in producing a
depression in the bore was found to be nearly in the propor¬
tion of 6 to 1 as regards the two first and the last, the diffe¬
rence between the two first being very small. Experiments
were also made in France in 1817 to determine the best posi¬
tion of the touch-hole, or vent, of muskets, as regards the
charge, the musket being suspended as a pendulum, and the
ball being discharged against a ballistic pendulum ; but the
results, though exhibiting a maximum effect of the ball at a
position of the vent corresponding to a distance of one line
in front of the bottom of the charge, were so nearly equal to
it in several other positions that they would not justify the
peculiar selection of any one, unless dictated by convenience
in other respects. In artillery it is only necessary to arrange
it in a position which will ensure the ready conveyance of fire
to the charge, and it is therefore usual to form the vent at
an angle of 15° with a vertical from the axis, and termin¬
ating at two or three lines in advance of the bottom of the
charge—this slight inclination facilitating the breaking of
the cartridge by the pricker, which might otherwise slip
between the cartridge and the bore.
Howitzers were, according to Senderos, first made in
Germany, and subsequently improved by the English and
Dutch, but were not used in France till a later period, as
they did not appear in the ordinance of 1732, though after¬
wards adopted and introduced in the celebrated system of
Gribeauval. In the British service the 12-pounder how¬
itzer is associated with the 6-pounder gun in the horse ar¬
tillery, the 24-pounder with the 9-pounder gun in the field
batteries, and the 32-pounder may be associated either with
the 12-pounder gun*in the reserve for positions, or with the
18-pounder guns, shouldabrass gun of that calibre be adopted
in our field service, as it has long been in that of Austria.
I he 10-inch howitzer (Plate II., fig. 6), and the 8-inch are
used in sieges ; and the small howitzer (fig. 8), analogous
to the Coehorn mortar, for mountain service.
Carronades.—The carronade, invented, or rather improved,
by Mr Gascoigne, was, in June 1779, approved as a standard
navy-gun, and ten of them were appointed to be added to
every ship of war. The carronade is made so short that
it is worked with its carriage in the ship’s port. (See Plate
IE, fig. 12.) It is correctly bored ; and the shot so nearly
fills the calibre that the least possible impulse of the pow¬
der is lost by the escape of gas between the cylinder and the
shot, which last is also thereby more truly directed in its
flight. The bottom of the cylinder is terminated by a cham¬
ber ending in a hemisphere, to which the end of the car¬
tridge is not liable to stick, and in which the smallest charge
of powder envelopes the shot, exhausting upon it nearly
the whole of its impelling force. There are sights cast
upon the vent and muzzle, to point the gun quickly to an
object at 250 and 500 yards distance ; and there is a ring
cast upon the cascabel, through which the breechin-rope
Gunnery.
G U N N E E Y. 141
Gunnery, is reeved, the only rope used about these guns. This gun
. ^ ^ / has some advantages over others of light construction. It
is so extremely light, that the smallest ships can carry al¬
most any weight of shot (the 12-pounder weighing under
five hundredweight, and the other calibres in proportion),
and that without being attended with the inconveniencies
imputed generally to light guns, since it cannot injure its
carriage, or jump out of its station in the port upon recoil;
and it never becomes heated.
Though the carronade cannot throw its shot to an equal
distance with a longer gun, yet, from the adaptation of the
shot to its cylinder, with a charge one-twelfth part of the
weight of its ball, at very small elevations, it will project its
shot to triple the distance at which ships usually engage,
with sufficient velocity for the greatest execution, and with
all the accuracy in its direction that can be attained with
guns of greater lengths ; but it has its disadvantages, as for
example, by adopting so small a windage, or difference be¬
tween the diameters of the bore and shot, a windage which
would have been impracticable in long guns, it often hap¬
pened that the shot, although fitted for the long guns, when
rusted would not enter the carronades; and the advantage,
therefore, consequent on less windage ought not to exist,
as the windage of guns and carronades should be the same,
being reduced as much as possible, consistent with facility
of loading and the use of hot shot; the windage in iron
guns need not, indeed, exceed 'lo inch, and Sir Howard
Douglas recommends T4 inch for heavy guns, and '1 inch
or’ll inch for the 9-pounder downwards. And further,
carronades are liable in some positions to fire the rigging
or the hammocks either by the flash or by the vent fire, an
evil which might be remedied, as Sir Howard Douglas
suggests, by giving the 24 and 32-pounder carronades a
somewhat longer bore, and adding “ something to the
flash-rim.”
The serious results of the too general adoption of car¬
ronades in our ships of war during the last American War
on the Lakes, where the Americans obtained such great
advantage by the use of their long and heavy guns, fully
justify Sir Howard Douglas in his final remarks on this
description of ordnance :—The defects of carronades,
and the danger of employing this imperfect ordnance,
are now generally felt and admitted; that ordnance, how¬
ever, rendered important service in its time, for it taught
us practically the great value of a reduced windage, the
advantages of quick firing, and the powerful effects pro¬
duced at close quarters by shot of considerable diameter
striking a ship’s side with moderate velocityand these
remarks are in some measure applicable, though in a minor
degree, to the bored-up guns, in which it has been attempted
to obtain increased calibre with diminished weight by ream¬
ing or boring out guns of originally lesser calibre, as may
be seen on inspection of the table of iron ordnance.
The fire of artillery may be divided into two classes—
horizontal (or at angles near the horizon), and vertical.
Horizontal fire may be subdivided into horizontal direct,
and enfilade. Direct fire is that used in the field or at
sieges, where the gun is discharged directly at the ob¬
ject with a full charge. The enfilade fire is that which
is not directed against the front of a line but along its pro¬
longation, and the most important form of it is the ricochet
fire, which is not confined to any particular charge or
elevation; each must vary according to the distance and
level of the object to be fired at, and particularly the
spot on which it is intended it shall make the first bound.
Firing en ricochet was first invented by Marshal Vauban,
at the siege of Ath ; and it is principally used in sieges
for enfilading the face of a work, by sweeping or bound¬
ing along it. Vertical fire is that which is thrown from
mortars at elevated angles. It was much used at the siege
of the citadel of Antwerp in 1832 ; still more, perhaps,
at the late siege and defence of Sevastopol, and became Gunnery,
the principal fire at the attack on Sveaborg. Coehorn, who
was opposed to Vauban, the author of ricochet fire, was
a great advocate of vertical fire, as was also Carnot.
Mortars.—Mortars have succeeded to the ancient bom¬
bards, and were at first intended for discharging either one
very large ball of stone or a shower of smaller stones. As
they are now intended for the projection of shells only, they
are designated, not by the weight of the hollow projectile,
which is subject to considerable variation, but by its diameter
in inches, as 13-inch, 10-inch, 8-inch iron mortars, ando^-
inch and 4§-inch brass mortars, of the British Service—the
5|- being also called the “ Royal,” and the 4f the Coehorn,
having been invented by that celebrated engineer, and in¬
tended to be used against “ sap-headsand, indeed, from
its portability, to be carried to any point, either in the
defences of the place or in the trenches, from which the
nearest portions of the approaches, or of the counter-ap¬
proaches of the enemy could be most efficiently molested.
(See Plate II., fig. 11.) The projectile used is the shell
or “bombe” of the French, which is thickened at the end
next the powder, or at the point of greatest shock, and also
about the hole in the shell intended to receive the fuze,
or, in the earlier periods of artillery, the match for igniting
the bursting powder. It is also provided with loops to faci¬
litate the operation of lifting and placing it in the mortar,
in which respect, as well as in having the “ culot,” or thicken¬
ing at the bottom, it differs from the “ obus,” or howitzer
shell of the French. The object is twofold; first, as a
simple projectile, in which character it acts by the explo¬
sion of the bursting powder within, which shatters the
shell, and causes its splinters to fly about and act as so
many distinct projectiles; and, second, as a mine. In the
first case, only that quantity of powder necessary for ex¬
plosion need be carried, but in the second, the effects
depend on the quantity, and hence it is that in a previous
article the advantage of very large shells has been strongly
urged. The difficulty of constructing mortars for propel¬
ling very large shells is undoubtedly very great; but should
Mr Mallett succeed with his proposed 36-inch mortar,
formed of flat rings bound together by longitudinal bars of
wrought iron, the problem will be solved, and the effect
of the explosion of 480 pounds of powder, sunk deep into
the ground, or penetrating, by the weight—probably 3000
lbs.—of the charged shell through the roof of a magazine or
casemate, may readily be conceived. The weight of this
mortar and its bed will be 45 tons, and the weight of the
heaviest piece when asunder about 15 tons. Mr Mallett is
sanguine as to its success. See Cannon for examples of
the former use of wrought iron in the manufacture of ord¬
nance in France and Spain, both at remote and recent
epochs; the St FMenne Company having submitted an
8-pounder to the most severe trials, and offered, in 1813, to
supply the government with 24-pounders of forged iron at
the rate of eight per diem.
The mortar is made much shorter than guns, in order to
facilitate loading (see PI. II,, fig. 9). It is chambered co¬
nically, or on Gomer’s construction, so that the shell fits
into the chamber, and does away with windage, an advan¬
tage which cannot be fully secured by that form of cham¬
ber in guns or howitzers fired horizontally, or nearly so.
The great Antwerp mortar (fig. 10) had a cylindrical cham¬
ber, but it was only partially successful from the defects in
the casting of its shells (fig. 17). Senderos states that the
art of projecting shells was a happy invention of the latter
end of the fifteenth century, and that the difficulty which first
attended it, as well as the amount of subsequent improve¬
ments, may be judged by the fact that the celebrated artil¬
lerist Don Antonio Gonzales, for a long time afterwards,
deemed it necessary to set fire to the charge and to the fuze
of the shell separately, which was called serving it with two
142 GUNNERY.
Gunnery, fires, a tedious and dangerous process. Until lately it was
's—‘v-*-'' usual in loading the mortars to lift up the heavy shells by
means of handles provided with hooks adapted to seize upon
the loops of the shell; and with such weighty masses as the
13-inch shell, the firing could only be slow and gradual,
which, after all, must always be the most effective fire. It
is now customary to use a “ derrick,” as in PI. II. fig. 14, for
this purpose; this simple form being that of Sergeant Forrest,
Royal Artillery, represented here as in use, but drawn back
when not in use. The navy use also mechanical means, and
in consequence the firing against Sveaborg was so rapid and
continuous that many of the mortars were destroyed by it.
Fig. 13, PI. II., represents also another modern arrangement,
namely, the suspension of the large sea mortar, according
to the plan of Captain Julius Roberts of the Royal Marine
Artillery. The figure explains that by the rotation of the
circular platform below, ready means are obtained of point¬
ing the mortar in any direction ; and as the mortar revolves
round the horizontal axis on firing, it is hoped that the ill
effects of recoil will be avoided. In anticipating the results
of this arrangement it must be remembered that as the
mortar is at an angle of 45°, one half of its momentum will
be expended in the direction of recoil, and that the other
half must act with a most powerful shock on the axis. Some
were tried in the Baltic, but the results are not yet conclu¬
sive, though several new mortar-boats are fitting with them.
The moment of bursting is regulated by the fuze fixed
into it, as seen in figs. 15, 16, and 17, PI. II. Fuzes may
be either concessive, percussive, or time fuzes. The ob¬
ject of the two first is to cause the shell to burst im¬
mediately on striking an object; of the latter, to cause it
to burst after a certain time, as determined by the length
of the burning composition in the fuze. The concussive
fuze is provided with an internal mechanism, so adjusted
that though it resists the shock of firing, or even that of a
short graze, it shall yield to the shock of impact, the concus¬
sion shaking the burning composition into the loaded cavity
of the shell, and causing it to explode. The percussion
fuze or shell depends for its ^plosion on a chemical com¬
position of highly explosive character, which bursts the shell
at the moment of striking, without being previously ignited.
Captain Moorsom’s percussion fuze is well known as the
British type of this class of fuze, just as Captain Boxer’s
now is of the time-fuze. The time-fuze is divided into
metal and wooden fuzes, the former being used in the navy,
and regulated to burn according to the specific use, 20",
7", and 2"; the object of percussion or concussion fuzes
being to replace especially these short-timed fuzes. The
wooden fuze now so admirably constructed by Captain
Boxer, and which has so entirely replaced the old fuzes,
which required to be cut in the field to the proper length, has
been figured and explained in art. Artillerv. The com¬
position-bore is now made eccentric, so as to allow more
thickness for the two powder channels. Two rows of holes
are made, one into each powder channel, the bottom hole in
each row being continued into the composition-bore—each
hole of one row, corresponding to the centre of the space be¬
tween a pair of holes of the other, admitting therefore of sub¬
division without too much weakening the fuze by bringing the
holes of one row close together. By a simple boring-bit a
communication between any one hole required for the special
length or range, and the composition of the bore, is readily
made. The fire, therefore, is communicated from the com¬
position of the fuze, when it has burnt down to this perfora¬
tion, to the rifle powder in the powder channel: see Ar¬
tillery for further explanation : and it may be observed
that Captain Boxer has since extended the principle, with
the necessary modification, to fuzes for mortars.
As mortars are not fired through embrasures but behind
epaulements, they are directed by pointing rods, placed in
the proper line upon the epaulement; the mortar being
brought into line with them by means of a plumb-line held Gunnery,
by a gunner standing behind the mortar, on which the line v 
of metal has been marked, the line being placed in the vertical
plane passing through the two pointers. Other modes of
pointing both guns and mortars will doubtless be hereafter
introduced, as the great improvement of artillery practice at
long x-anges will require the use of telescopic sights, and the
introduction of the collimating principle, a fact which has
not escaped the attention of artillery officers. The eleva¬
tion is given by the gunners’ quadrant.
Besides the ordinary projectiles, shot and shells, grape
and case shot are fired from guns ; the first being a number
of balls tied or quilted together like a bunch of grapes, and
the other a cylindrical tin case filled with balls. They are
not calculated for long ranges, but are very destructive at
short ranges from 200 to 400 yards either against advanc¬
ing troops, or fired from the flanking defences of a fortress
along the ditch. The Shrapnel shell, or spherical case, is,
however, a projectile of still greater value, as it can now be
used at almost any range. They can be fired from either
gun, howitzer, or mortar ; but the object is to fire them from
the two first, as, on bursting, the balls which fill them fly
forwards with the then velocity of the shell, and being spread
by the resistance of the air, deal out destruction equivalent
to the action of many muskets in addition to that effected
by the splinters of the shell. The practice of putting balls
into shells, in addition to the bursting powder, is by no
means modern ; for Lucar (1588), after explaining the mode
of charging shells, and causing them to burst by means of
a piece of gunner’s match fixed in the match or fuze hole,
says—
“ Also you may, if you will, put into the saide hollow baule or
pellet certaine square or rounde pieces of lead, or divers shorte
pypes of iron like unto pocked dogges full charged with gunpowder
and pellettes, and fill up the rest of the concavatie with fine gun¬
powder, and having annointed it with turpentine, and roled it in
fine gunpowder,.shoote it out of a peece of artillery, with a trayne
laid to the mouth.”
This was in every respect a Shrapnel shell, the mode of
firing being consequent upon the early idea that the fuze
required to be separately ignited. Shrapnel, however, re¬
vived this forgotten projectile, and by giving it an effective
form, became its second inventor; as Captain Boxer may
now be considered its third, as by the total separation of the
balls from the bursting charge, he has done away with the
failures by premature bursting consequent on the ignition
of the powder by friction against the balls, and rendered it
possible to use it with high charges, and for all ranges—
the Shrapnel still becoming the true counterpoise to the
improved Minie rifle ball, and restoring to artillery its supe¬
riority over musketry. Carcasses, or shells filled with a
highly inflammable composition which escapes in several
directions through the holes (3 or 4) made in them for that
purpose, may be fired from mortars or guns : they are also
a very old invention.
Rockets.—The history, principle, and possible importance
of these projectiles have been fully discussed in art. Artil¬
lery, where it was shown that almost every country but that
of Congreve, who had first introduced into modern Europe
war rockets, had paid great attention to their improvement.
In France also they have latterly been much improved; and
it has been found possible to use a short stick instead of
the long one seen in PI. II., fig. 19. In our own arsenal also,
the subject has been taken in hand by Captain Boxer, and
mechanical means adopted for insuring precision in the bore,
and in the position and form of the vent with every pros¬
pect of success. But with every respect for these laudable
and skilful efforts, it would be unjust to deny to Mr Hale
the merit of having first in this country invented machinery
of a most beautiful description for the manufacture of rock¬
ets, and for doing away with the stick entirely. Mr Hale’s
GUNNERY.
143
lunnery. contrivance consists in causing the rocket to rotate on its
axis during its flight; and, as in the case of an elongated
shot, to move steadily with the point foremost. For this
purpose the burning material issues from five orifices made
near the neck, obliquely to the axis of the tube, the effect of
which is, that the body of the rocket is made to rotate when
it is also propelled. Sir Howard Douglas adds to his de¬
scription of these rockets that the contrivance is very in¬
genious, and may be expected to produce advantageous
results. He, however, adds that, at low angles, they had
been found liable to failure, being subject, on a graze, to be
deflected from their original direction much more than or¬
dinary rockets, and that unless this cause of failure could
be removed they would be of little use against troops in
the field, that is to say, in horizontal firing or plane battle¬
fields. He also observes, that “ in other respects also the
success of the Hale rocket may be doubted ; the stick
rocket continues its flight, directed by the stick, after the
composition is burnt out; but the Hale rocket loses its di¬
recting power as soon as the composition is consumed, be¬
cause the rotation then ceases, and nothing can be expected
from the rocket beyond the distance it has reached when
the composition ceases to burn” (which is sooner than in the
common rocket, as the composition is more powerful). This
objection, however, does not appear well founded, as the
object of giving a sufficiently rapid rotation has been effected
before the composition has been burnt out, and the rotation
then continues as in any other rotating projectiles. Mr Hale
also promises to realize Congreve’s anticipations, by throw¬
ing up bundles of rockets hooped together and rotating in
mass, to the amount of 400 lbs. It is time that these in¬
ventions should be subjected to some decisive trial, and
either adopted into the service, or, if found defective, rejected
on sound and scientific reasons. The rocket stands of Mi-
Hale are most ingenious and effective, and strongly contrast
with the rude apparatus figured in PI. III., fig. 13,—the wag¬
gon for conveying them being represented in fig. 14.
In respect to the other figures of PI. III., their names suffici¬
ently explain their object—the two upper figures exhibiting
the mode of firing over a high genouillere, or a low barbette,
by means of a dwarf traversing platform ; and the other of
firing over a parapet by means of a high one ; and this figure
is represented of iron, as generally used in our colonies, and
in times of peace—cast iron carriages being inadmissible in
actual warfare, as they are so easily injured by shot, and are
not repairable.
RANGES AND PENETRATION.
Before closing this article it is necessary to say a few
words on these important points in practical gunnery, as, in
fact, the main object of the science is to insure that the
gunner shall so throw the shot or shells that they shall either
strike or explode at some defined point, and also that the shot
shall have force sufficient at that point to perform the work
required from it,—as, for example, if the residual velocity
of a Shrapnell shell were almost 0 at the time of its explo¬
sion, the balls would fall almost harmless on the ground,
just as the balls would do when fired from a mortar, as pro¬
posed by Carnot (see Fortification). The trajectory of
a projectile would be in vacuo, as before stated, a parabola,
and therefore easy of computation, supposing the initial
velocity known. As, however, all military projectiles are
projected in the air, and are resisted in their motion by
that elastic fluid, the trajectory is not a parabola; and that
simple theory can only in rare cases be applied to practice,
or in cases where the velocity is less than 300 feet per
second. It is, however, necessary for the clear understand¬
ing of the phenomena of projectiles to know at least the
formulae which represent the results of the parabolic theory,
and they are therefore given as follows:—
Let V be the initial velocity in the direction of projection ; Gunnery,
the angle of projection above the horizontal plane;
x and y the horizontal and vertical co-ordinates to
the curve of the trajectory at any point P, esti¬
mated from the commencement of the curve, or
point of departure as the origin ;
t the time of flight to that point, v the horizontal
velocity at it, and v the velocity in a vertical
direction ;
8 the angle of inclination of the tangent at that
point with the horizon ;
X the whole horizontal range, or horizontal co¬
ordinate, when y becomes again 0 as it was on
departure ;
Y the greatest height of ascent, or when is a maxi¬
mum ;
T the whole time of flight;
H the height, falling from which a body would ac¬
quire a velocity equal to V.
■rr ■ , ar2
x= vt cos <£, y=x tan <b — 7-77 5—: ;
^ ^ 4 H cos2 d>
t = y—-—^5 V2=2 gH, or V = V 2 gH, g being the ve¬
locity acquired in falling through 1 second by the force
of gravity (32*2 feet nearly).
X = 4 H sin cos <£ ; Y = H sin2 ;
dx • •
and as v=—r- = V cos <b, which is constant, it is evi-
dt
dent that v, or the horizontal velocity at every point
of the curve is constant; v sincj> — gt, and the
velocity in the direction of the curve = VV + (F)2=
VV--2 Ygt sin + g2 t\ or =~^-
T
4 H sin d>
~V ’
Since cos (f> sin <£ is
the same for any given angle and its complement, it
is evident that there are two angles of elevation, </> and
90° — which with the same initial velocity give the
same range. The elevation remaining the same, the hori¬
zontal ranges being = 4 H sin p cos p = 2 H sin 2 p,
it is evident that the initial velocities, or H, remain¬
ing the same, those ranges vary with sin 2 <p, and such
range is therefore the greatest when sin 2 <p is greatest,
or when <p is 45°.
As the influence of the resistance of the air in modifying
the motions of a projectile is less in proportion as the pro¬
jectiles are greater, the true range of a musket, as com¬
pared to the theoretic, being 1 to 18, with field and siege
guns the range in vacuo exceeds that in the air, as 3-05,
2-80, 2-69, 2*47 to 1 respectively, the proportion diminish¬
ing as the projectiles become greater; so that it might be
reasonably anticipated, that with still heavier and larger
projectiles, whether shot or shells, the approximation of the
real range to the theoretical one, on the parabolic theory,
would be still closer; but unfortunately there is here a dif¬
ficulty, as the initial velocity of shells fired from mortars at
high angles has not yet been determined experimentally,
and the ranges therefore cannot be satisfactorily calculated.
Supposing, however, the ranges observed, the times of flight
may be calculated, and compared with the same times ob¬
served, and this has been done in France with the 8^ and
11-inch mortars. In the 85 inch, fired at 45°, the ranges
being 375, 688, 1254, 1960 yards respectively (the charges
varying from £ lb. to 2^ lbs.), the differences in time were
l"-4, l"-6, 0"-7, 1"6. In the 11-inch fired at the same
angle, the ranges being 505, 803, 1238, 1701, 1922 yards,
and the charges varying from 1 lb. to 3£ lbs., the differences
in time are l"-3, l"-5, F'-S, 2",2, 4"T, or between j^th
144
GUNNERY.
Gunnery^ an(j an 0£ tjie w^0]e t;mej excepting in the last case,
where it amounts to about ^th. When fired at an angle of
30°, the difference in the times vary from -j^th to yth of
:he whole times, the time observed always exceeding the
time calculated; the retardation being due to the resistance
if the air. In the case, therefore, of shells, the movement
approximates much more closely to the parabolic motions
than in either cannon or musket balls. The velocity indeed
of the 11-inch deduced from the range and theoretic time,
would be about 435 feet per second ; and Griffiths gives
500 feet as the velocity of the 10-inch fired with 3 lbs. charge.
These examples taken from Didion, prove that a limited
use may be made of the parabolic theory in respect to the
motion of shells when fired with such moderate velocities;
but it is totally inapplicable to the case of guns; and the
labours of the most able mathematicians have been applied
to the solution of the difficult questions involved in the de¬
termination of the trajectory of the projectile in the air,
when moving with such great velocities.
For elevations not exceeding 10°, Poisson’s formula is—
w = tan <p - 0 —o- - 2^-1);
J 8 Wh cos2 (p
x and y being the horizontal and vertical ordinates at
any point of the curve, the origin being in the axis of the
bore at the muzzle of the gun, the angular elevation of
the gun, h the height due to the initial velocity of the
shot, r its semi-diameter, e = 2‘7l828 the base of the
Napierian logarithms, and the
co-efficient of the
square of the velocity in the expression for the retardative
force of the resistance of the air, S being the density of the
air or medium, S' that of the shot, and q a fraction which
must be determined by experiment, and which, though
doubtful, may be assumed as 0-225. It can be simplified for
small elevations and short ranges, by developing e2^ in
series, neglecting all above the fourth term, and substitut¬
ing the result, when the formula becomes—
y — x tan <p — -7-5- 5— (f /h?+ 1) ; or
J ^ 4 A cos2 d)y6 '
(| Aa?+1);
y = x tan <p — n -t™
^ r 2 V2 cos <p
V being the initial velocity.
Didion has given other formulae of considerable simpli¬
city, but as they require for their practical application the
use of the tables of values of several co-efficients, which he
has calculated and published in his admirable treatise already
so frequently referred to, they will be better studied in that
work.
In ranges corresponding to 1° of elevation, which in the
larger natures would give about 700 yards, the cosine may
be taken as equal to radius, or 1 ; and hence, as Captain
Boxer points out, the equation becomes—
tXp1
y = x tan (f &r+l).
The time of describing any portion of the trajectory is
expressed by the equation t=  - - 1); and
A V2 gh cos q>
when X, or the whole range, is substituted for x, T, the
whole time of flight.
Sir Howard Douglas also gives an empirical formula from
the Aide Memoire Navale for deducing the ranges of shot
from the maximum range determined by experiment, the
elevation being between 10° and 30°.
Let R represent the range at 30°, considered the maxi¬
mum, then X = R (sin 3
It will be observed that in all these formulae, and it must
be so in every formula, everything depends on the accurate
determination of the initial velocity, and a correct knowledge
of the nature and amount of resistance opposed by the air
to the motion of the projectile. The mode of determining Gunnery,
the former experimentally has been already pointed out;
but as it may be necessary to determine by calculation the
initial velocity of one ball from the experimentally deter¬
mined velocity of another, Piobert has proposed the follow¬
ing empirical formula:—
7 los (1 + w)
T^ul)
V being the initial velocity sought of the ball whose weight
is W, and v the experimentally determined velocity of the
ball whose weight is w, the charge p being the same in
each case. Major Mordecai, of the United States army, has
found this rule to agree with his experiments when the
charges do not exceed one-third of the weight of the ball,
and the gun is at least 16 calibres in length, but does not
consider it sufficiently accurate for higher charges. Tak¬
ing
■As (1 + ^)
= M as a factor, Major Mordecai found
that with a 32-pounder, the charge being one-third, and the
windageOTS inch, M = 5200; with a24-pounder, the charge
being one-third, and the windage 0-14, M = 5400.
A British empirical formula is V = 1600^/ — ; p being
the charge, w the weight of the ball, and a a co-efficient
depending on experiment, and varying, according to Hut¬
ton, with the length of the gun between 2T and 2*5, as also
with the ratio of the weight of the charge to that of the shot.
General Millar, by experiments in 1817, has also shown
that it increases as the windages decrease, being 2-8 with
a windage of 0-202 of an inch, and 3-55 with a wind¬
age of 0-075; whilst from experiments made at Deal in
1839, and on board the “Excellent” from 1837 to 1847,
the mean values of a are 3‘2 for a windage of 0-233; 3‘4 for
0*2 ; 3"6 for 0-175 ; 4-4 for 0T25; and 5* for 0-09 ; and when
the windage is 0, a becomes 6"66. The velocity, therefore,
with a windage of only 0T25 being to that without windage
as 1 to 1-23, the loss from that small windage being one-
fifth nearly of the whole velocity, a convincing proof of the
propriety of reducing the windage of all balls to that quan¬
tity which will admit their ready introduction, allow for the
chance of rust, and for their expansion when used as hot
shot, which in the largest balls is about f^th of the calibre,
or in an 8-inch shot, 0-114 of an inch; so that 0-15, proposed
by Sir H. Douglas, would be amply sufficient. With car-
ronades, in which the windage varied from 0'061 to 0-078,
the mean value of a was 4"5.
The initial velocities and ranges being known by experi¬
ment, the co-efficient for the resistance of the air, may be
, „ , . , 3 V2 sin 2 —Aw
obtained from the equation  •
The velocity at known distances from the gun may be re-
V
presented by r =
= Ve-
or, according to the for¬
mula of the French School at Metz, as quoted by Sir H.
Douglas : v - jr——^^ vy. v the velocity at the
point sought, V the initial velocity, and x the distance,
or horizontal co-ordinate, being expressed in English feet,
a = 0-0007; y varying with the nature of the shot, but in a 32-
pounder is equal to 0-0001034; this formula being founded
on the assumption that the resistance of the air is partly pro¬
portional to the square, and partly to the cube of the velocity.
The penetration of shot, the velocity at the point of con¬
tact having been determined by one or other of the above
GUNNERY.
Gunnery, formulae, may be thus represented: P =
QzPrS'
3pg
P being the
depth penetrated, v the velocity of the shot at the instant
of striking, r the semi-diameter, S' the density of the shot,
and g = 32’2 feet, the force of gravity ; p a co-efficient of
resistance, to be determined by experiment on various sub¬
stances.
When the resisting substance is the same, P varies as
rv2^, or when the density of the shot is the same as rv2;
the penetration in this case then varying as the diameter of
the shot and the square of the velocity. From Poncelot’s
hypothesis that the resistance of a material struck by a shot
is proportional to the square of the shot’s diameter; and
from the Gavre experiments, P, in respect to value, may
be represented by this formula (Sir H. Douglas having
modified it so as to represent P in English feet) :-
P = 4-612 rd
log jl +
d representing the
For firm earth
1076696 \
specific gravity of the shot; water being 1.
this may be multiplied by l-64 ; for sand and gravel, by
1-3 ; for loose earth, by 3-21 ; for sound masonry, by 0’41.
In the previous formula the specific gravity may be also
substituted for the density when it becomes P = ^ as
d=gS. ZP9
Terminal Velocity.—When a body descends in air from
a state of rest, its velocity increases for a time by the action
of gravity upon it; but the resistance of the air increases
as the velocity increases, and hence it must at length be¬
come equal to the accelerative force of gravity which is
constant, after which the body will move uniformly with
the velocity acquired, or with the terminal velocity, making
therefore, kv1=g, '?;2—>
or
v= \/and with shells
v \/ v
$9
the weight of a solid shot to that of a shell
'A2qd 8
being as 1-42 to 1 ; q being = 0,225, as before stated.
As the terminal velocities vary with the square roots of
the diameter of the shot, the density being the same,
and the terminal velocity of a shot 2 inches in diameter,
as deduced from Hutton’s tables, being 248 feet per second ;
that of a 24-pounder is 415-53, or
: V5-612:: 248 : 415-53 ;
and that of a shell of the same diameter would be
415-53
—=-415-53 x 0-8392 = 348-71.
Vl-42
General Duchemin has given the following formulae for
the loss of velocity by windage : V being the initial velo¬
city, V” the velocity lost, s the diameter of the vent, C the
calibre of the gun, C' the calibre of the shot, C — C' = Cthe
windage, a = 3"5, a constant, and /S = 0m "182857, a constant
also of the same species as C and C:—
In using this formula for English feet, it is only necessary
to represent C, s, and C~ in decimals of a foot, and to
make /? = 0-599955 ; or if these terms are given in inches,
to make /3= 7-199458.
Duchemin has also given the following empirical formula
for the charge of greatest effect —
M =
34gr-0423
3C3 V a<$ ; a being = ^
(0m -0513)3
or the number of times the calibre is contained in the length
of the bore, and C and S' as before. This formula may be
used for the charge in English weights and measures by
using 0-1683, or 2 -0198 instead of 0m"0513, according as
C is represented by a decimal of a foot, or in inches—and
replacing 34^-0423 by its value 75-0973 in English pounds.
Many other usual formulae might be extracted from va-
YOL. XI.
rious authors, but those given will be sufficient for the reader,
and indeed for most purposes of general study. Those
who desire to obtain a still more accurate knowledge of the
dynamical theory of projectiles, should turn to the admira¬
ble work of Didion ; and those who wish to know still more
fully its bearing on the purposes of war, whether in our ma¬
rine or land armaments, should read the excellent work of
Sir Howard Douglas, now arrived at its third edition, which
is unquestionably the best book on the subject in our lan¬
guage. The work of Captain Boxer (of which the first
part only has as yet been published) preparing as a course
book for the Royal Military Academy, is even now deserv¬
ing a careful perusal, and will, when finished, render refer¬
ences to writers on foreign artillery unnecessary. Sir Howard
Douglas was originally an officer of artillery, and has ever since
retained a feeling for his first service, which has led him to
apply the powers of a highly scientific mind towards its im¬
provement. Captain Boxer is an officer of artillery, and
now occupies his right position as a man of science at the head
of the Royal Laboratory: let, indeed, the system now main¬
tained by Lord Panmureof appointing to such posts only men
of science be continued, and the Royal Artillery will soon
supply officers fitted to fill the posts of its manufacturing
establishments with honour, and thereby to advance the in¬
terests of their country.
Of other works I need only name the excellent Spanish
treatise of Senderos, so often quoted in this essay.
Valuable, however, as the investigations of science always
are, and essential also as they must be for perfecting the
theory, and thereby also the practice of gunnery, it is
manifest that the calculation of formulae could never
be undertaken in the field; and hence that the results
of the labours of the calculator must be placed in such a
form as to be readily consulted at the moment they are
required. Tables, therefore, have been formed for that
purpose, such as those of the French, and those of the
English service, which close this article. The latter, for
heavy guns, have been carefully digested by Lieutenant-
Colonel Lefroy, R.A., from the results of both land and sea-
practice ; the sea being that of the “ Excellent,” the in¬
structional gunnery-ship at Portsmouth. The tables for
field-guns are those of Col. Burn, R.A., as printed and
published by him on cards for the general and convenient
use of the members of his profession. They represent,
therefore, our practical knowledge up to the present day;
but they must not be considered as results finally and fully
determined. Far from this, as every day ought to do some¬
thing for their improvement, and will do so when the im¬
portant establishment at Shoebury-Ness has been rendered
fully efficient in all its details. It is bad economy to stint
such an establishment in anything necessary for its effi¬
ciency ; or by denying those instruments which have be¬
come familiar in foreign arsenals, to make it only a school
of drill, instead of an important element in the great school
ofinstruction, which, beginningat Woolwich, should end here.
It has been already remarked that the electro-magnetic
cronograph for determining the time of flight of a projec¬
tile through various points of its trajectory, was submitted
by Wheatstone to the select committee at Woolwich ;
but as yet it has not been applied at Shoebury-Ness. It is
true that this mode of determining the time of flight has
not always succeeded ; but the causes of failure do not ap¬
pear difficult of removal; and a government establishment is
assuredly the right place for experiment.
This article, then, is closed with a fervent wish that the
spirit of inquiry, which is beginning to spread over our ar¬
tillery, will be fostered, and the thirst for professional know¬
ledge, which now animates so many of its officers, will be
encouraged and rewarded ; and that ere long our artillery
will be as distinguished for its science, as it has always been
for its discipline and valour.
T
146
GUNNERY
/
G linnery.
ENGLISH TABLES OF RANGES.
Tables of Ranges of Iron Ordnance. From the Handbook
of Field Service of Lieut-Colonel I. H. Lefroy, F.R.S.,
Royal Artillery.
IRON ORDNANCE.
Ranges of 10-inch and 8-inch Guns.
Remarks.—The ranges for the 10-inch gun are the mean of the
two scales of Colonel Burn, one 8 feet, the other 5 feet above the
plane. The same data must he nearly correct for the shell of STA
lbs. The times are interpolated from the “ Excellent’s” Tables,
1852; which, however, allow about O'5° greater elevation for the
same ranges. Height of gun above plane B 6'5 feet.—“ Excellent”
not stated.
The ranges for the 8-inch gun, hollow shot of 47 lbs. are inter¬
polated by projection, from the mean of 137 rounds fired at Shoe-
bury Ness, 1850-2; for the sea service, hollow shot of 56 lbs. and
shell of 50 lbs.; the first, with each charge, is from Colonel Burn,
the second from the u Excellent.”
For the Shrapnel shell, from Colonel Burn.
Ranges of 68, 56, and 42-Pounders.
Gun.
112
112
95
95
87
98
98
87
84
84
67
75
lbs.
20
20
14
16
16
14
14
14
Elevation.
P. B.
400
340
310
318
300
303
350
298
310
490
290
380
310
400
317
300
257
980
833
s.
2-25
700
707
s.
20
680
682
s.
20
850
742
s.
20
710
930
753
s.
20
900
821
s.
2-25
940
775
s.
20
730
775
s.
2 0
6‘8-Po under Gun.
1400 1760 1980 2240
1247 1558 1737 2035
s.
3 25
1070
1074
s.
30
1050
1055
s.
2-75
1250
1070
s.
3 0
1080
s.
4-25
1430
1401
s.
4-25
1360
1360
s.
4-25
s.
5 25
1710
1712
s.
5-5
1650
1652
s.
50
s.
6-25
1930
1926
s.
65
1900
1904
s.
6-5
Id. Shells.
1560 1840 2100
1420 1724 1984
s.
4-5
1350
s.
5-25
1610
s.
6-5
1850
56-Pounder Gun.
1340 1720
1267 1663
s.
30
1310
1234
3-25
s.
4-25
1660
1516
s.
4-25
2000 2200
1890 2067
s.
5-75
1940
1793
s.
5-25
s.
650
2100
2010
s.
6-50
42-Pounder Gun.
1340 1620 1840 2050
1183 1500 1792 2002
s.
30
1120
1170
s.
3 0
s.
425
1420
1510
s.
4'c
s.
55
1660
1713
s.
525
s.
6-5
1880
1958
s.
6-5
2480
2307
s.
7-75
2130
2144
s.
7-5
2140
2162
s.
7-25
2350
2200
s.
7-5
2080
2400
2260
s.
7-75
2310
2193
s.
7-25
2250
2190
s.
7-25
2110
2190
s.
8 0
2840
2640
s.
9-7
2520
2559
s.
90
2490
2440
s.
90
2690
2540
9-5
2450
2740
2557
s.
9-5
2580
2630
925
2590
2663
8-5
2500
2603
s.
10 0
The data above, printed in ordinary type, are from Lieutenant-
Colonel Burn’s Cards; those in darker type, from the Tables of the
“ Excellent.” The differences, like those shown in the Tables of
the 8-inch gun, deserve notice, but are not attributable to a diffe¬
rence in the height of the plane, which, when given, is from 5 feet
to 8 feet. A similar discrepancy between the naval and land ser¬
vice tables in the French service led to an investigation of the sub¬
ject, by a committee, at Gavre, 1843, which came to the practical
conclusion, that the mean deviations at sea do not differ cet. 'par.
from those on land (Douglas, 3d edit., 146). Officers will readily
decide, from their own experience, which data, under their particu¬
lar circumstances, are to be relied on.
gunnery.
GUNNERY.
147
Ranges of 32 and 24-Pounders.
cwt.
64)
56 J
58
58
56
56
46
32
50 a
45 b
42 c
56
56
56
56
50
48
Range in Yabds.
P.B.
370a
390
400
340
200
340
290
346b
333
326
380
350
250
355 <
360
350
32-PotJNDER Gun—Solid Shot.
779 1160 1460 1690 1910 2110
790
850
700
530
700
640
747
s.
20
716
s.
20
700
s.
20
780
720
580
If
750
•2
1160
1250
1040
820
1026
960
1173
30
1040
30
1026
s.
30 40
1480
1560
1360
1100
1300
1250
1435
s.
40
1320
s.
40
1300
1760
1860
1620
1340
1560
1510
1698
s.
525
1600
s.
5'25
1566
s.
5'25
Id. Shells.
1170
1040
900
1470
1320
1180
1700
1520
1420
2000
2090
1830
1540
1760
1720
1900
s.
6‘25
1800
s.
6'25
1710
s.,
6'25
1910
1720
1640
ia. Shrapnel.
IT
1000
•4
3°
1200
•6
4°
1450
•8
5°
1550
•9
2220
2290
2020
1720
1940
1900
2127
s.
7'25
2026
s.
7'25
1890
7'25
2100
1920
1820
5F
1660
1-0
24-Pocnder Gun—Solid Shot.
752 1120 1420 1645 1835 1910
763
735
600
750
1123
1135
980
1486
1413
1640
1593
1850
1828
1960
1980
Id. Shrapnel.
1000
If
•4
1200
1400
4°
•8
1500
5°
•9
2460
2570
2650
2340
2060
2250
2191
2453
s.
8'75
2340
s.
8'75
2250
s.
8'75
2450
2220
2100
2230
2240
2220
2760
2840
2930
2640
2430
2430
2777
s.
100
2697
s.
100
2576
s.
100
2750
2500
2300
2435
2630
2600
(a) Mean of two. b : the guns differ effectively by 4 inches of length:
the rest that follow also B.
(b) The data that follow are for the 32-pounder guns in general use in
the navy. Tables of “ Excellent.”
(c) Mean of two b, not differing more than 15 yards from what is here
»iven, at any range.
CARRONADES.
Range in yards.
2° 3°
Carronades.
68-Pr.
42 „
32 „
24 „
18 „
12 „
5-0
3-5
2-5
2-0
1-5
1-0
270
230
220
200
180
150
500
430
380
360
340
310
730
700
600
580
550
520
940
900
800
770
745
715
1100
1050
975
950
920
890
1260
1200
1170
1120
1050
970
The above are the Tables of the “ Excellent.” The ordi¬
nary charges for land service are T\jth the weight of the shot.
68-Pr.
42 „
32 „
24 „
18 „
12 „
cwt.
36
22
17
13
10
6
lbs.
5-66
3-5
2-66
2-0
1-50
1-00
P. B.
450
400
330
300
270
230
650
600
560
500
470
400
890
860
830
780
730
490
Carronades
1000
980
900
870
800
740
1100
1020
970
920
870
810
1280
1170
1080
1050
1000
870
Ranges of 18, 12, and 9-Pounders.
Gunnery.
cwt.
42 )
38 J
38
38
421
38/
22
42
Elevation.
P.B.
330 a
380 6
350 c
260
230
190
323
s.
11
680
700
600
•2
600
570
543
500
511
s.
1-72
18-Pounder Solid Shot.
1020 11340
960'1200
1580 11770
1430 11650
Id. Shrapnel.
900
•4
993
900
850
800
1150
•6
1335
1078
1030
1380
•8
1558
1300
1260
1590
1-0
1770
1586
1540
10-Inch Howitzer.
709 934 1073 1270
s.
3-45
s.
355
s.
4-10
4-87
1920
1860
1780
1-2
1920
1668
1620
2130
7°
1950
1-4
2130
1841
1790
(1406)
s.
(5-62)
(1848)
s.
(7-82)
2310
(а) Burn.
(б) A table verified by considerable practice by the late Col. Colquhoun,
R.A., at the siege of Bilboa, December 1836.
(c) The Tables of the “ Excellent.”
MORTARS.
At 45°.
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
550
600
650
700
750
800
850
900
950
1000
1050
1100
1150
1200
1300
1500
1700
2000
2400
2900
charge, fuze.
1 12
1 15
2 1
2 11-5
2 13-5
3 0
3 11
3 14
4 0
4 5
4 15
5 10
1-8
1- 9
2- 0
2-1
2-2
2-3
2-4
2-45
2-5
2-55
2-6
2-65
2-7
2-75
2-8
2-85
2-9
charge, fuze.
1 10
1 11
1 12
1 13
1 14
2 0
2 1-5
2 2-5
2 4-0
2 6-5
3 0
4 0
1
1
2-0
2'
2
2-3
2-4
2-45
2-5
2-55
2-6
2-65
2-7
2-75
2-8
2-85
2-9
3-4
charge. fuze.
lb. oz. dr
0 9 8
0 9 12
0 10 12
0 12 8
0 13 12
0 14 10
0 15 4
0 15 14
0 10
1 4
2 0
2 12
3 8
4 0
4 12
5 4
6 0
inch.
1-8
1- 9
2- 0
2-1
2-2
2-3
2-4
2-45
2-5
2-55
2-6
2-65
2-7
2-75
2-8
2-85
2-9
5J-lnch brass.
chrge. fuze
oz. dr.
4" 8
4 12
5 0
5 4
5 8
5 12
6 0
6 4
6 8
6 12
7 1
7 6
7 11
8 0
8 6
inch.
iV65
1-7
1-75
1-8
1-85
1-9
1- 95
2- 0
21
2-2
2-3
2-4
2-45
2-5
2-55
at 15°
fin/ 350
6 0 (0-7
7 0 /400
1 u \0-75
7 8
/ 450
\0-8
8ft/
8 0 \0-85
4j-inch brass.
chrge. fuze.
oz. dr.
2 0
2 3
2 6
2 9
2 12
3 0
3 4
3 8
3 12
4 0
4 5
4 10
4 15
inch.
1-55
1-6
1-65
1-7
1-75
1-8
1-85
1-9
1- 95
2- 0
2-1
2*2
2-3
at 25°
0 m°
extreme ranges for
land service.
13-inch mortar weighs 36 cwt.; bed, 49 cwt.
10  25   16-5...
8  9   7*5...
Brass 51  T4  10 ...
4f  0*9  0-75
The sea-service 13-inch mortar weighs 101 cwt.; bed, 83*5 cwt.; and,
with charge of 20 lbs., ranges 4200 yards. The sea-service 10-inch
mortar weighs 52 cwt.; bed, 55‘5 cwt.; and, with charge of 10 lbs.,
ranges 4000 yards.
148
GUNNERY.
Gunnery,
BRASS ORDNANCE.
Gunnery.
Memorandum of Ranges of Guns, &c, at High Elevations.
l.—The 68-Pounder Carronade used as a Mortar and fired at 45°.
With a charge of 8 lbs. of powder threw its shell (of
8 inches diameter and 44 lbs.), Sutton Heath, 1810.. .3500 yards.
2. A 2^-Pounder of 6J Feet at 45° Ranged as follows :—
With a charge of    ^ 3500 yards.
Ditto ditto  4 ••• 3700 ...
Ditto ditto  6 ... 4000 ...
3 A 2A-Pounder of 9J Feet at 45° Ranged as follows:—
With a charge of  6 lbs. 4500 yards.
Ditto ditto  8 ... 4300 ...
4. An 18-Pounder of 9 Feet at 40° Ranged as follows :—
With a charge of....,  3 lbs. 3700 yards.
Ditto ditto  4£... 4000 ...
Ditto ditto  6 ... 4200 ...
These data may sometimes be useful in annoying an enemy from
some very distant spot.
5. Range of Iron Mortars at 45°
13-inch mortar, land service, charge  9 lbs.
13-inch, sea service, charge. 10
Ditto
Ditto ditto.
Ditto ditto.
Ditto ditto.
Ditto ditto.
Ditto ditto.
Ditto ditto.
Ditto ditto.
Ditto ditto.
ditto 12 ,
,14
.16
.18
.20
.25
.25
.28
.30
2800 yards.
2800 ...
3400 ...
3500 ...
3900 ...
4100 ...
4400 ...
4700 ...
4850 ...
4500 ...
4500 ...
6. 10-Inch Land Service at 45°
Charge  6 lbs.
10-inch sea service at 45°  5 ..
Ditto ditto  8 ..
Ditto ditto 10 ..
Ditto ditto 12 ..
Ditto ditto 20 ..
2400 yards.
2800 ...
3400 ...
3500 ...
3800 ...
4500 ...
TABLES OF BRASS GUNS,— Continued.
Ranges of Brass 9-Pounder Gun.
Length.
feet.
6
cal.
17
Cal.
4-2
Weight.
cwt.
13J
Charge.
Proportion
of Spherical
Case
lbs.
3
(legs
PB
°i
01
Of
1
li
ii
if
2
21
2f
2f
3
yards.
300
400
500
600
700
775
850
925
1000
1050
1100
1150
1200
Spherical Case.
Range.
From To
yards.
640
800
930
1050
1160
1260
1360
1455
1550
1640
1725
1805
1885
1960
2030
2095
2165
yards.
920
1060
1180
1290
1390
1480
1570
1655
1740
1820
1895
1965
2035
2100
2160
2215
2275
Com. Case.
W
degs.
PB
0i
0i
Of
1
H
yards.
150
175
200
225
250
275
300
Ricochet.
o z.
7
6
5
7
6
5
degs.
5
6f
Ji
yards.
500
500
500
600
600
600
Ranges of Brass Light 6-Pounder Gun.
GUNNERY.
119
Gunnery.
Tables of Brass Howitzers. From the Cards of Colonel Burn, R.A.
Ranges of 12-Pounder Howitzer.
Ranges of 24-Pounder Howitzer.
Gunnery.
Length.
ft. in. cals.
3 9-2 10
m.
4-58
Weight.
cwt.
6i
Common Shells.
Fuze. Elev Range.
•1
•11
•2
•2J
•3
■3i
•4
•4J
•5
■5i
•6
■7
•7|
•8
•81
•si
•8f
•9
deg.
1
If
If
2
21
I
3
$
3$
31
4
s
?
51
51
5|
yards.
400
450
500
550
600
650
700
750
800
850
900
950
1000
1025
1050
1075
1100
1125
1150
1175
Spher. Case.
Fuze. Elev Range.
yards.
450
500
550
600
650
700
750
800
850
900
950
1000
1025
1050
1075
1100
1125
1150
1175
1200
Charge.
lbs.
li
Car. cafs.
lbs. oz.
8 13
C. Case.
Elev Range.
deg.
PB
Oi
01
Of
1
11
11
n
2
Charge Elev Range
yards.
100
125
150
175
200
225
250
275
300
6
8
10
deg.
yards
600
600
600
Length.
ft. in. cals.
4 8-6 10
Cal.
5-72
Common Shells.
Fuze. Elev Range.
•1
’ll
•2
•21
•3
•34
•4
•44
•5
•51
■6
•64
•7
yards.
250
300
350
400
450
500
550
600
650
700
750
800
850
900
950
1000
1025
Weight.
Charge.
cwt.
121
lbs.
21
lbs oz.
16 9i
Spher. Case.
Fuze. Elev Range
•1
•U
•2
•21
•3
•31
•4
•41
•5
•51
•6
•61
•7
•71
•8
I*
•91
Elev Range,
yards.
450
500
550
600
650
700
750
800
850
900
950
1000
1050
1100
1125
1150
1175
1200
C. Case.
deg.
PB
Oi
01
Of
1
li
11
If
2
$
21
Charge Elev Range
yards.
150
175
200
225
250
275
300
325
350
375
400
Ricochet.
6
9
8
10
11
HI
12
14
9
12
1 lb.
deg.
7t
4f
9
74
6
51
5i
5
7f
6i
4f
yards.
400
500
600
FRENCH TABLES OF RANGES.
Land-Guns fired with Charges equal to One-third the weight of the Ball.
Field-Guns fired with Charges equal to One-third the weight of the Ball.
Let
a be the number of metres,
then a + TV « - £ it • tV • t5?) «=the number of yards nearly ;
and 3 « + i 0 + tW « + i • tV i « + i i a=the number of feet.
Thus:—
1582 metres— or,
158-2
1740-2
10-28
1729'92 yards
3
1582
3
4746
395.5
39-55
7-91
1-58
9
5189-76 feet.
5190-54 feet.
(j. F. P.)
GUNPOWDER.
Gun¬
powder.
The invention of gunpowder is popularly ascribed to
Barthold Schwartz, a German monk and alchemist; and the
" date of the discovery is further supposed to have been in
1320. The prior claims of our countryman Roger Bacon—
whatever they be—are, however, unquestionable, as this sub¬
stance is described in his writings about the year 1270, or
fifty years before the time of the supposed discovery of
Schwartz. But even Bacon has as little title to this inven¬
tion as his supposed rival; nor, indeed, when we examine
his own description of this then wonderful compound, do we
perceive that he makes any claim to have been the disco¬
verer. On the contrary, he quotes it as a well-known sub¬
stance, in common use all over the world for making squibs to
amuse children. So pertinacious are vulgar errors. The pas¬
sage in Bacon stands as follows :—“ Ex hoc ludicro puerili,
quod fit in multis mundi partibus, scilicet, ut instrumento
facto ad quantitatem pollicis humani, ex violentia salis qui
salpetrae vocatur, tarn horribilis sonus nascitur” (this is the
description of a parchment cracker) “ in ruptura tarn modicae
pergamenae, quod fbrtis tonitru rugitum et coruscationem
maximam sui luminis jubar excedit.”1 Thus the claim is
shifted without difficulty from Bacon, and, as Dutens thinks
he can show, is removed to Magnus Graecus, whose manu¬
script he quotes, and from which he presumes that Bacon
derived the invention ; although, by his own showing, Bacon
need not have consulted an obscure writing for an invention
of general notoriety. The title of the manuscript in question
is as follows :—C! Incipit Liber Ignium a Marco Graeco per-
scriptus, cujus virtus et efficacia est ad comburendum hostes,
tarn in mari quam in terraso that even the military uses
of gunpowder were then known. In the same manuscript
are contained directions for making a rocket, which we do
not quote on account of its length ; but it is such as to prove
that the nature of this fire-work was understood. It is even
remarkable that he recommends particularly the charcoal of
willow wood, which in modern times has been found to be
amongst the best for making gunpowder.
Thus far, although we have not fixed the date of the
invention, we have carried it, not only beyond Bacon, but
even beyond his supposed predecessor; as he himself does
not pretend to be the inventor, but the compiler, of a Liber
Ignium, or treatise on Pyrotechny. If, in attempting to
ascend still higher, the evidence becomes more rare and
more obscure, there are still insuperable facts to prove that
its antiquity is far greater, however impossible it may be to
approximate to the date of the invention, far less to assign
that which seems buried amongst the obscurities of oriental
learning. The question of gunpowder, as applied to artil-
lery, is a separate one; but there is abundant reason to
believe that this compound was not only used in some form
or other as an explosive and combustible substance, but was
even applied to military purposes ; it may be, in the shape of
rockets or other fire-works, which, for objects of amusement
at least, have been familiar to the Chinese beyond all record.
I he earliest date to which we can refer the knowledge of
gunpowder, in defect of a sufficiently remote acquaintance
with oriental history, is 355 before Christ; although, from
the very nature of this evidence, it follows that it was then
not only known to the eastern nations, but that it must have
long been so ; since, even at that early period, it was applied
to warlike purposes. In the code of Hindu laws, indeed,
where it is mentioned, it is referred to a period which oriental Gun-
antiquaries have considered as coincident with the time of powder.
Moses. But the evidence to which we more particularly
allude is found in a passage of the Life of Apollonius Tya-
naeus, by Philostratus; the purport of which is, that Alex¬
ander was unwilling to attack the Oxydracae—who lived
between the Hyphasis and the Ganges—because they were
under the care of the gods, and overthrew their enemies with
thunder and lightning, which they shot from their walls. The
same tale is told of the repulses experienced in this country
by Hercules and Bacchus.
The next of these early dates, in which also our evidence
is imperfect, is 212 before Christ; but the establishment of
the truth of the last would render this one more credible.
In the defence of Syracuse by Archimedes, Vitruvius relates
that one of his engines threw large stones with a great noise ;
a description which does not apply to any of the mechanical
artillery of the ancients. On a notice so superficial, we
must not, however, lay too much stress; but it would ap¬
pear that the earliest knowledge of gunpowder is capable of
being traced from the East, through the intervention of the
Arabs, and thence into Europe; and, indeed, the military
use of rockets in the armies of India ascends to a period
beyond record.
Of the earliest period at which it was known in China,
we have, in defect of their own evidence, the testimony of
Uffano, an Italian author, who affirms that not only gun¬
powder, but ordnance, was in use in that nation in the year
85 of our era; and that cannon were, in his day, remaining
from the most ancient times, in some of the maritime pro¬
vinces, made both of iron and brass. Hence some writers
presume that the Chinese communicated the invention to
the Indians ; whilst it has also been said, but on no sufficient
authority, that they themselves received it from Tartary—
a nation respecting which we know little or nothing, and
in which we should not be inclined to look for an early ac¬
quaintance with the arts. This, however, refers to a date so
late as 917; so that, if there is any dependence to be placed
on the Indian and Chinese hypothesis, the Tartars must
themselves have borrowed the invention from those to whom
they are said to have lent it.
There is after this a long blank; and the first author on
the subject that we have discovered is in 1249, twenty years
before the date of Bacon’s narrative. This is an Arabic
writer, in the Escurial collection, who is translated by Casiri.
His description is such that it may apply both to rockets and
to shells. In the former case it only proves the knowledge
of the detonating compound; the latter, were it proved,
would show that they were also acquainted with the use of
ordnance, although it is not impossible but that such pro¬
jectiles might have been thrown by mechanical artillery.
As the invention of gunpowder has been popularly attri¬
buted to Bacon and to Schwartz, so the use of ordnance has
been referred to the time of the field of Cressy, or 1346. To
pass over the Chinese hypothesis on this part of the subject,
we shall find that cannon were known at least as early as
1312. This we derive from the source quoted by Casiri;
from Arabian writers, who describe the use of ordnance in
1312 and 1323 ; whilst, if Barbour is to be trusted, Edward
HI. was also provided with some pieces of artillery in 1327;
and Fere Daniel asserts that cannon were known to the
„ w0011’ w o was apparently afraid of revealing too much, conceals one of the ingredients under the veil of an anagram. He writes 
unmeaning1' Sa./S.petrai wlone caP ub™, et sulphuris, et sic facies tonitrum et coruscationem, si scias artificium.” The italics are
,, ? 1° ei1r ])r,e^fnt form) bat the letters may he so combined as to make carbonum pulvere, or powdered charcoal. The passage
an/a i thUS ir<£ But’ nevertheless, take of saltpetre, with pounded charcoal and sulphur, and thus you will make thunder
ana iigntmng, it you know the mode of preparing them.”
GUNPOWDER.
151
Gun- French in 1338. We need not carry this discussion lower;
powder, though, in favour of the oriental origin of this invention, we
^ i would still remark, that artillery was much in use in the
Mediterranean when it was still but little used elsewhere ; as
by the Venetians against Genoa in 1380, and by Alphonso
XI. in his wars against the Moors.
In a work, published at Paris in 1845, entitled Du Feu
Gregeois, des Feux de Guerre, et des Origines de la Poudre
d Canon, the authors (MM. Reinaud and Fave) endeavour
to connect gunpowder with the celebrated Greek fire which
the Greeks of the Lower Empire and the Arabs used at the
beginning of the mediaeval epoch ; and they even endeavour
to establish a Chinese origin for the Greek fire. So long
back as 200 years B.C., the Chinese appear to have used
various incendiary compositions under the names of “de¬
vouring fire,” “ earth thunder,” &c. Now, the Greek fire
was introduced from the East into Constantinople in the
year 673, and it greatly assisted the Greeks of the Lower
Empire in gaining many battles. Its composition was kept
secret under the severest penalties, but the engines of war
with which it was used are described by contemporary
writers, and these are said so closely to resemble the Chi¬
nese engines, as to leave no doubt of their common origin.
In the treatise of Marcus Graecus, which our authors ascribe
to some period between the ninth and twelfth centuries,
the composition of a combustible compound as used by the
Greeks is given, and tends also to confirm the common ori¬
gin. The historians of the Crusades refer to the terror
experienced by the Christians at the incendiary resources
of the Arabs, but it is only the Western historians who speak
of the Greek fire ; while, in a manuscript discovered by M.
Reinaud, containing a treatise on Pyrotechny by one Hassan-
Abramman, the author speaks of Chinese fires, or employs
Chinese epithets to them. MM. Reinaud and Fave state
that, from the eighth to the ninth centuries of the Christian
era, the Arabs had frequent intercourse with the Chinese.
They admit the difficulty of ascertaining when fire-arms were
first used in Western Europe. Either the Crusaders may
have learnt the use of them from the Eastern Arabs, or the
secret of the Greek fire may have been revealed at the
taking of Constantinople in 1204; but there is no doubt,
they assert, that Albertus Magnus and Roger Bacon ob¬
tained their information from the earlier work of Marcus
Graecus, and hence these two writers have been wrongly
regarded as the inventors of gunpowder. Roger Bacon
hints that religious scruples rather than ignorance prevented
the nations of Eastern Europe from generally adopting the
use of the Greek fire. These scruples appear, however,
gradually to have yielded. Froissart mentions it, and later
writers refer to it, either under the name of Greek fire, or
by some analogous name, and the substance referred to
generally agrees with the recipe given by Marcus Graecus ;
hence our authors conclude that the art of making the Greek
fire has never been lost, but has simply been superseded by
better contrivances. Fave thinks that the reason why gun¬
powder was not known as a means of propulsion, arose from
the impurity of the ingredients. He has no doubt that salt¬
petre, sulphur, charcoal, and other matters, were employed
for deflagration, and, being impure or badly mixed, the
compound would burn rather than explode. He conjectures
that gunpowder, as such, was first used in the western parts
of Europe, especially in Hungary and the neighbouring
countries. In a Latin MS. in the Imperial Library at
Paris (No. 7239) the use of powder in mines is referred to.
This MS. was brought from Constantinople in 1687, and
contains a treatise on the implements of war, and a map
evidently constructed between 1395 and 1396, and M. Fave
assumes the MS. to be of the same date.
Composition of Gunpowder.
The present composition of the Chinese gunpowder cor¬
responds so nearly with our own, that the difference is Gun-
nearly insensible ; but whether it had arrived at that degree powder,
of perfection in their ancient periods, we have no means of
knowing. Neither can we judge of its nature and power as
known to the Arabs. But in our own country it was late
in arriving at its present state of perfection; nor do the
various proportions given by one of our earliest writers on
the subject argue much in favour of their chemical know¬
ledge. Peter Whitehorne, who wrote in 1573, gives nume¬
rous proportions, without seeming to be well aware of their
respective values; and, respecting some of them, it is easy
to see that they were scarcely fit for squibs, much less for
the purpose of projecting shot. Such is nitre, sulphur, char¬
coal, equal parts ; whilst, in the very opposite extreme, we
have nitre 12 parts, sulphur and charcoal, of each 3 parts ;
and, still worse, nitre 27 to 3 of the other two ingredients ;
or nitre 48 parts, with 7 of sulphur and 3 of charcoal. Here,
such as these compositions are, want of experience can
scarcely be pleaded, as they are not better than those given
by Nye in 1380. In France also, the composition, at no
very remote period, was—nitre 50, sulphur 16, charcoal 34;
from which it varied to, nitre 67, sulphur 13, charcoal 20;
and to nitre 84, sulphur 8, charcoal 8; these differences
being supposed to be necessary for the larger cannon, and
the smaller progressively, the last being their musket
powder.
But as we cannot afford space to describe the gradual
progress of improvement in the composition of gunpowder,
we will state the proportions at present in use in different
nations. They do not materially differ from each other,
although it is unquestionable that they are not all of equal
power.
Royal Mills at Waltham Abbey
France, National Establishment,
French, for sportsmen  
French, for mining  
United States of America  
Prussia  
Russia  
Austria (musket) 
Spain   
Sweden  
Switzerland, round powder 
Chinese 
Nitre. Sulphur. Charcoal.
,.75 10 15
.75 12-5 12-5
.76-9 9-6 135
.62 20 18
.75 125 12-5
.75 11-5 13-5
.73-78 12-63 13-59
.72 16 17
.76-47 12-75 10-78
.76 9 15
.76 10 14
.75-7 9-9 14-4
Without any knowledge of the law of definite propor¬
tions, and even before that law was known to exist, each
nation had experimentally hit upon nearly the best propor¬
tions of the three ingredients, namely, 1 equivalent of nitre,
1 of sulphur, and 3 of charcoal; or 75 per cent, of nitre,
11*77 of sulphur, and 13*23 of charcoal. In practice the
proportions used for the manufacture of 100 lbs. of gun¬
powder are—saltpetre 77^ lbs., sulphur 10^ lbs., charcoal
16 lbs. = 104 lbs., the extra 4 lbs. being allowed for waste.
The proportions in the commercial gunpowder of Eng¬
land vary indefinitely, according to the views of the manu¬
facturer respecting the markets, the price, and other matters.
Cheapness being the leading object where it is only made
for sale, and the nitre being the only expensive article, the
proportion of this is diminished, and those of the other two
ingredients increased. The worst is made for the Guinea
trade ; and, if we are not misinformed, that for the Canada
trade is nearly as bad, whilst the next upwards in the scale
is that sold to Turkey. We have never met with any spe¬
cimen in which there was less than 62 of nitre ; but we
have reason to believe that some of the inferior kinds do
not contain more than 50. For the use of miners it is also
made with a low proportion of nitre, producing advantages
in mining not intended by the makers, whose only object is
to manufacture a cheap article. But the proportions of all
the commercial powders are very inconstant, even when
furnished bond fide to the government.
152 GUNPOWDER.
Gun- It is not for want of experiments if greater uniformity
powder, has not been attained in these compositions, and if all adhere
to their own. Baptista Porta was one of the first who made
accurate investigations on this subject; and, as long ago as
the sixteenth century, he fixed on the proportions now used in
France. Beaume fixed on 80 of nitre, 5 of sulphur, and 15
of charcoal; while Morveau and the Committee of Public
Safety assumed three proportions, viz., 76, 77, and 80 of
nitre, 9, 7, and 5 of sulphur, and 15, l7, and 15 of charcoal
respectively. Chaptal gives the proportions 77, 9, and 14;
and Proust 78, 9, and 13. It is easy to account for these
differences of opinion, when we recollect the numerous ac¬
cessary circumstances which modify or vitiate the results
obtained from practice. With the very same power it is
scarcely possible to procure uniform results, as is well known
to artillerists ; and hence, from practice alone, unless after
an enormous number of trials, no certain conclusions can be
drawn. It will, indeed, appear that, under various propor¬
tions, the effects may really be the same ; because, as the
force of powder depends partly on the quantity of gas gene¬
rated, and partly on the heat to which it is raised, any defi¬
ciency on the one hand may be compensated by an increase
on the other. Thus, as the greater quantity of gas is pro¬
duced by the largest proportion of charcoal, the greater heat
is caused by augmenting that of the sulphur. In all the
trials that have been made in this country, no reason has
been found for varying from the proportion 75 nitre, 10 sul¬
phur, and 15 charcoal; and the same is used for arms of all
calibres, the only difference for the respective arms being
made in the sizes of the grains.
It is proper, on this subject, to state, that whilst the ex¬
plosive power depends fundamentally on the quantity of gas
that is permanently generated, that gas is almost entirely
produced by the combustion of the charcoal; the nitre being
the cause of that combustion, and furnishing one part of the
generated gas from its decomposed acid, as it does the other
by converting the charcoal into carbonic acid. Were no¬
thing else required, therefore, to produce the effect, the best
powder would consist of nitre and charcoal alone, as the
sulphur consumes a considerable part of the oxygen of the
nitric acid, without adding anything to the permanently
elastic gas. But as there are two other important elements
in this problem, namely, the rapidity of the inflammation
and the heat, the sulphur becomes an indispensable ingre¬
dient ; whilst, by expanding the gas at the moment of ex¬
plosion, it more than compensates for the diminution of per¬
manent bulk which it causes. Perhaps, on this compound
view of the subject, M. Beaume’s composition is really the
best, abstractedly considered, as the nitre is sufficient to burn
the whole of the sulphur and the charcoal also, and as both
the degree of heat and the quantity of gas seem to be best
balanced for the intended effect. But a composition of this
accurate nature requires equal accuracy of mixture and
manufacture ; and as that is scarcely attainable on the great
scale, it is found better so to increase the sulphur and char¬
coal as to ensure the total decomposition of the nitre, this
being further an object of economy.
Sportsmen, as well as artillerists, ought to know that the
fouling of their barrels after firing is in a direct ratio of the
weakness and badness of their powder; and this effect is
most completely obviated by using M. Beaume’s, or any
similar mixture. Not only does the feebleness of such
powder prevent the barrel from being swept clean at the ex¬
plosion, but as the foulness consist? chiefly in a mixture of
the carbonate and sulphate of potash with charcoal, that be¬
comes necessarily greatest wherever the nitre is reduced in
quantity for the purpose of introducing the cheaper ingre¬
dients. The analysis of powder, at least as far as that in-
gre lent is concerned, is so easily made, that every one who
ee s an interest in his success as a sportsman should exa¬
mine what he uses, as the very worst mixture can be ren¬
dered beautiful to the eye by a minute grain and a high Gun-
polish. powder.
The British government use but one proportion for all
services. As far as artillery and musketry are concerned,
we do not consider this as of much moment; or that any
material object would be obtained by using different ones
proportioned to the respective calibres. But we consider
that they commit a great error in adopting the same for
the mining service; and that some of the failures caused
in our wars, in attempting to blow up wxirks or demolish
bridges, have been produced by the very excellence of the
powder—in short, by its too great strength. To take the
case of common blast-mining as a simple one, and to put
the extreme case of all: If it be attempted to spring a rock
by the powder of chlorate of potash, either the plug will be
blown out, or a very narrow space round the mine will be
broken. With the best musket or cannon powder the same
effects, but in a less degree, follow. H ere the miners’ powder,
which seldom contains as much as sixty per cent, of salt¬
petre is effectual; and, what is more, it is rendered still
more active by being damp from careless keeping, or from
remaining some time in the mine before it is fired. Mathe¬
maticians will immediately see the solution of this apparent
incongruity, by recollecting that the element of time is an
ingredient in the problem. With too great a velocity the
parts of the general mass nearest to the acting force are
disintegrated; so that not only is the force expended in
this act, but the gas thus escapes from the opening. With
a power acting more slowly, the whole mass, or a much
larger one at least than in the first case, is moved ; and thus
the rock is widely shaken, although not blown into the air.
It will be found practically, that the further the fragments
are dispersed, the less is the effect; and thus the mine
which is most dangerous to the workmen is also the least
efficacious.
It is from this variation respecting the power of gun¬
powder, hitherto unattended to, from confounding impulse
and pressure, to which at least it bears a certain relation,
that so many different opinions have been entertained re¬
specting the force of powder in particular cases. Hence
also have arisen various projects for increasing its efficacy ;
amongst which quicklime has been repeatedly recom¬
mended. In mining it does actually increase the effect,
though not the force. On the contrary, it diminishes the
force ; and it is from that very cause that it is more effectual
in mining or shaking a rock. The same object can be ob¬
tained by a mixture of saw-dust; but it must also be re¬
membered that this will not happen unless good powder be
used. Ordinary miners’ powder will not often bear this
kind of dilution. It is easy now to apply this principle to
military mining, where the object is to produce as exten¬
sive a shock as possible. Mathematicians have calculated
the globes of compression for certain charges; but it will
be found that these vary so much, according to the
strength of the material, that the conclusions cannot be de¬
pended on. This, however, is a very important problem,
because the destruction of a work depends on the area of
the base of the paraboloid, or whatever else the figure be,
which the explosion produces. We cannot, however, enter
further on this subject, as it would lead us beyond our
limits.
On the Choice and Examination of the Materials.
Nitre, as it is imported from India, whence all that is
used in this country is procured, is mixed with much dirt
and with some salts, consisting chiefly of the nitrates and
muriates of lime, and of muriate of potash. As the deli¬
quescent salts, in particular, are extremely injurious from
their property of attracting moisture, it is most important
that the nitre to be used in gunpowder should be thoroughly
GUNPOWDEE.
153
Gun- refined.1 For this purpose rain-water ought to be used if
powder, possible, and if not, such river or other waters as are found,
on trial by the appropriate tests, to contain the least quantity
of saline matters. The nitre is first boiled, and the grosser
impurities separated by filtering through hempen bags, after
which it is crystallized. After draining, one washing is
sufficient to render the first crystallization sufficiently pure;
but the subsequent ones require repeated solution and crys¬
tallization before all the foreign salts can he separated.
The loss which rough nitre sustains in refining is termed
the refraction. But we need not dwell on this subjects
We shall only add, that no nitre ought to be used unless it
will stand the tests of nitrate of silver and of carbonate of
potash, without exhibiting a precipitate.
It is held necessary that the nitre should be thoroughly
dried; and, accordingly, much unnecessary labour is be¬
stowed on this subject, since it must be moistened in the
mill when the composition is submitted to the rollers.
The only real use in drying it is to enable the workman
more easily to allot the true weight, which might equally
well be done by an average and an experiment. We
should scarcely have noticed this, but that the French
manufacturers boast much of the superiority which they
derive from reducing the nitre to minute crystals, by agi¬
tating the solution. In the royal mills it is further the
practice to fuse the nitre into large cakes. By this method
it is speedily dried, easily stored away, and protected from
depredation. These advantages are held to be sufficient
to compensate for the expense; but it ought to be remem¬
bered that there is a degree of hazard in the process, as, if
the salt should be overheated, it might be so far decom¬
posed as to have a portion of potash united with it.
Sulphur, as it is received from Sicily, the great empo¬
rium of this commodity, is mixed with a considerable pro¬
portion of lime, whilst a portion of it is also combined with
that substance, forming calcareous hepar, or sulphuret of
lime. From this and the grosser accidental matters it is
purified by melting ; the sulphuret and the earth subsiding
to the bottom of the mould, so as to admit of being me¬
chanically separated. This residue, yielding no more pure
sulphur by that process, is afterwards submitted to distilla¬
tion. When the sublimed material is to be used, it re¬
quires previous washing, till it be entirely freed from the
sulphuric acid adhering to it, and it may be tested for this
purpose by means of the muriate of barytes. The fused
sulphur, if doubted of, may be submitted to combustion,
and the residue noted; but a little deficiency in the purity
of this ingredient is of no moment.
With respect to the charcoal, there is considerably more
nicety required than is generally imagined. The soft
woods have been preferred from time immemorial, since
even in the receipt of Magnus Graecus, formerly quoted,
the willow is mentioned. The poplar and many others
have been used abroad; but in this country those com¬
monly adopted are the white willow and the alder. Even
among these soft woods there is a considerable difference,
as our own experiments have shown ; and in them it was
proved that the greatest explosive power, cceteris paribus,
was produced by the wood of the Rhamnus frangula, com¬
monly called black dogwood, as we shall show more particu¬
larly hereafter. The hard woods are invariably rejected,
and with justice; though the reasons for this practice,
which are derived from the presence of salts in these, are
not the causes of their inferiority, certainly not the only
ones. It is nevertheless true that no wood which contains
carbonate of potash, or other deliquescent salts, is fit for the
purpose, and for the most obvious reasons. This is the
case in the oak, elm, fir, and other trees. But there is
another reason for the badness of these kinds of charcoal,
the cause of which is not so obvious, although it is evi¬
dently connected with their hardness. To us it appears to
depend on the small proportion of hydrogen combined with
the carbon in these charcoals, compared to that which exists
in the produce of the softer woods. Even these can be re¬
duced to the same state by overheating. Thus the hydro¬
gen is dissipated, and the charcoal becomes so hard as to
scratch steel; in which case, however obtained, it is always
unfit for powder.
As this subject is yet obscure, from our imperfect ac¬
quaintance with the true nature of charcoal, and with the
modifications of which it is susceptible, it becomes neces¬
sary to have recourse to experiment, for the purpose of
determining, at any rate, the proximate cause of this dif¬
ference in the explosive powers of the several kinds.
Various trials have accordingly been made, as well by our¬
selves as by the French chemists ; and, for brevity’s sake,
we add the most important results in the subjoined table.
We are not informed of the process which was adopted by
the French for measuring the gas ; but in our own we had
recourse to the pneumatic apparatus, using it in the man¬
ner which is described in another part of this article for col¬
lecting the total produce of the combustion of gunpowder.
The mixture, in the French experinients, consisted uni¬
formly of 60 parts of nitre and 12 of the charcoal sub¬
mitted to trial. In our own they were varied, and the re¬
sults taken from those in which the combustion of the
charcoal was completed, and the quantity of gas the greatest.
As no more nitrous acid could be decomposed than there
was coal present to burn the oxygen, it is plain that in these
the results are correct.
Gun¬
powder.
Prop.
Parts Solid
Gas. Residue.
French Hemp stalks 62 12
... Asphodel  62 20
... Vine  64 20
... Peartalks  62 21
... Spindle tree
(Euonymus
europens ... 66 28
Prop.
Parts Solid
Gas. Residue.
French Fir  66 30
. Chestnut  66 36
. Hazel  66 33
. Lamp black... 54 44
. Coke  54 45
. Filbert  72 30
These results are such as to prove that there are important
differences in the produce of gas ; but, with regard to prac¬
tice, they are of very little value, as few of the substances
submitted to trial could be used. To admit of comparison
between our own experiments and these, we shall reduce
our proportions to the same standard, by taking our scale
from the filbert at 72. We neglect the residue, knowing
that it proves nothing, as the results are uncertain, in con¬
sequence of the irregular absorption of water, and partly
from the impossibility of collecting the solid and the gaseous
matters both from one charge.
Gas.
Filbert    72
Oak 61, 63
Mahogany 58
Elm   62
Willow, Salix alba ... 76,78
Alder 74, 73
Black dogwood, Rkam-
nus frangula  80, 82, 84
Gas.
Oak bark 58
Animal charcoal... 50, 46, 42, 40
Coke 52, 48
Lamp black 54, 52
Oak charcoal over¬
heated  54, 56
Willow ditto  59, 64,66
These various results, and some others which we have
thought it unnecessary to record, may, in a certain degreej
depend on inaccuracies in the experiment; but in the
greater number they arise from real differences in the char¬
coals from the same substance, produced, as we before in¬
sinuated, by overheating. This is apparent in the two cases
above cited of oak and willow ; but in some trials, the dif¬
ferences were even greater. Coke and animal charcoal are
particularly liable to vary.
1 Were it not for its hygroscopic properties, nitrate of soda might be advantageously substituted for nitrate of potash in the manufac¬
ture of gunpowder, on account of its containing a much larger amount, by weight, of gas-forming ingredients.
VOL. XI.
U
154
GUNPOWDER.
Gun- It is evident from the preceding table that the best char-
powder. coals for gunpowder must stand in the following order:
Black dogwood, willow, alder, filbert. From the French
tables, in which we do not, however, place much confi¬
dence, we may add, consecutively, hazel and the spindle
tree; but our own trials raise these to 70 at least in the
scale. Such, at present, are the results of these trials as
to the best charcoal; but we are by no means satisfied
that we have yet found out the best wood for this purpose.
The experiments are laborious; yet we think the subject
deserving of more attention than has yet been bestowed on
it. With respect to coke and animal coal, they stand very
low in the scale, as the over-hardened wood charcoals do ;
and, in all cases, there is a direct relation between the pro¬
duce of gas and the facility of combustion under ordinary
circumstances.
To satisfy ourselves by trials of a more direct nature, and
more applicable to practice, we chose a method derived
from the flight of rockets, as less liable to disturbance from
collateral causes than any practice with pieces of ordnance.
The rockets were of compound dimensions, and were all
made Avith the same proportions, and driven by the same
hand, so as to ensure all possible uniformity, the only varia¬
tion being in the nature of the charcoal. The vertical ele¬
vations were taken by two quadrants at the same time, and
all the flights that deviated from the perpendicular rejected.
The mean vertical ascent of a great number of those made
Avith willoAv, alder, and dogwood, was 480 yards; but between
these three charcoals, the differences were so great as to
give various results, which may be represented by the fol¬
lowing numbers :—Dogwood, 515, 550, 525 ; willow, 470,
480, 490; alder, 455, 460, 470.
Greater accuracy is not attainable in this way, as may
easily be conceived by those who know by how many col¬
lateral circumstances a rocket is influenced; but these trials
are quite sufficient to justify the general inference made
from the experiments in the pneumatic apparatus.
It has been held that the charcoal for gunpowder ought
to be made in cylinders or retorts by distillation; and this
expensive process is consequently adopted. It is doubtful
if this is not a mistake of the causa pro non causa. Pit
charcoal, being made in coppice woods, is always the pro¬
duce of oak ; and it is probable that this wood, if charred
in close vessels, would be even worse than it is now. There
is more danger of overheating in the retort than in the pit,
while the Avood is not better burned; and hence, by a care¬
less management of the process, even the charcoal of willow
or alder may be rendered as bad as that of oak. Consider¬
ing these various circumstances, charcoal requires to be sub¬
mitted to three tests. It ought to act as little as possible,
mechanically, even on copper; it ought to exhibit no salts
on being treated with boiling distilled water and tested ;
and it ought to be thoroughly burned. The best test of
this latter circumstance is its giving out no smoke when
heated.
A new and economical method of distilling charcoal was
invented by Sir William Congreve. Subsequently, but
without any knoAvledge of what had been done, the same
process was suggested in America by Dr Bollman, to whom
Aye are indebted for the cheap method of purifying pyro-
lignous acid, and rendering it a substitute for common vine¬
gar. In this process the retorts or cylinders are ranged in a Gun-
i’oav, a gas pipe from each being conducted to the bottom of powder,
the next in succession. By means of a fire under the first
alone, the distillation of the whole may be conducted toge¬
ther ; the gas which issues from that one being sufficient to
char the next, and so on in succession to the end of the chain.
The acid is collected in this case, as in others, by means of a
separate pipe arising from a lower point in the retort.1
Before we dismiss this important department of the gun-
poAvder manufactory, we must refer to the property which
charcoal possesses of absorbing and retaining Avater, and
which Ave have ascertained to be different in the different
kinds of wood. It is from this hygrometric power that gun¬
powder attracts moisture, even Avhen the nitre has been per¬
fectly purified ; a circumstance which materially interferes
with its rapidity of inflammation, and consequently with its
strength. But as the various hygrometric powers of differ¬
ent charcoals have not been properly examined, Ave can
communicate no information on this subject which is worth
recording.
Manufacture of Gunpowder.
Grinding.—The first part of the process consists in pul¬
verizing all the ingredients separately, after which they are
Aveighed and mixed in a general and rude manner before
being submitted to the mill. In some countries a pestle
engine is used, or a stamping-mill; but it is subject to more
hazard and inconveniences than the grindinsr-mill which is
adopted in this country. This is formed on the model of
the common bark-mill, and with two rollers at different dis¬
tances from the axis, so as to cover the whole bed. The
weight of each roller is commonly about three tons, and they
are generally made of limestone, although iron cylinders
have been adopted in some works, with the gudgeons work¬
ing in gun metal. The bed, which is surrounded by a
wooden margin, is of the same materials ; and the Avhole
house is built of slight-framed wood, to diminish the evils
that might arise from a casual explosion. A wooden rake
follows the rollers, for the purpose of bringing the mixture
under the cylinder; and the motion is communicated either
by water or by the power of horses.
The mixture being distributed on the stone, to the amount
of forty or fifty pounds, is moistened with distilled or rain¬
water, but so as not to be wetted. It is barely sufficient to
prevent the dust from flying. According to the velocity,
the grinding is perfected in a space of time varying from
three to seven hours; and it depends on the inspector to
determine by trial for each velocity when the mixture is
perfect. After that, time is a sufficient measure. The re¬
moval of the mill-cake, as it is called, requires caution, as
it is commonly at this time that the explosions take place.
These, indeed, will generally be produced if the bed and
cylinder should come into contact while they are moved
round slowly, to enable the materials to be taken out; the
friction, under so great a weight, even of the purest lime¬
stones, or of iron, being sufficient to inflame gunpowder.
To prevent this risk, a thick piece of hide is carried before
the cylinder as the powder is removed, and by this plan the
contact is prevented.
Pressing, Granulating, and Prying.—The mill-cake
thus completed is gunpowder, and may be granulated. But
In the manufacture of the best kinds of sporting poAvder, a plan has been introduced in France for carbonizing the wood by means
of high-pressure steam, producing what is called charbon roux, on account of its rusty-red colour. In the Annates de Chtmie et de Phy¬
sique for 1848, will be found a memoir on this subject by M. Violette, in which he insists upon the importance of preparing the charcoal
n-om the same kind of wood at a uniform heat, since it varies greatly in its properties according to the temperature at which it is made.
+'em0 ^fmPerat'ure °f 250° C. and below, the wood is but imperfectly carbonized; at 300° C. and about, the red charcoal is produced;
a4 3.j0 L. and beyond, black charcoal is formed. The advantages of the red over the black charcoal are its greater yield, from 40 to
4-. per cent, of charcoal being obtained; while at from 350° to 400° C., only from 26 to 30 per cent, were obtained, and the force of
the powder made from red charcoal is greatly augmented. From 25 to 30 kilogrammes of wood can be carbonized in two hours, and
six c arges can be passed through the apparatus per day. The super-heated steam effects the carbonization with .great facility, and the
temperature can be exactly maintained by means of a bath of tin or fusible metal.
155
G U N P 0
Gun- it is yet not so firm as it can be rendered by further pres-
powder. sure ; and that property is very essential to its durability in
travelling. For this reason, it is further condensed by pres¬
sure of about 7o tons per superficial foot, by means of Bra¬
mah’s hydraulic engine ; for which purpose the mill-cake
powder is placed on the bed or follower of the press, and sepa¬
rated at equal distances by sheets of copper, so that, when
taken out, it is in the form of thin solid cakes, termed
cake : this is equal in hardness to that of many stones, and
its specific gravity is also increased. By being divided into
cakes of an inch or more in thickness, it can be more easily
broken into pieces for the granulating engine.
The press-cake is crushed between hollowed rollers of
different successive gauges, and is next passed to the granu¬
lating engine. This consists of a number of sieves made
of strong vellum, perforated by punched holes, and supplied
with top and bottom covers, like those used by druggists.
A platform, to which a horizontal circular motion is commu¬
nicated by machinery, receives a number of these, which
are fixed in it. The lumps of the press-cake are introduced
into each of these, together with two flatted spheroids of
lignum vitse or other hard wood. During the rotatory mo¬
tion the lumps become thus broken into smaller fragments,
which fall through the holes, together with the dust; the
grained powder, as it is called, is received by hair-cloth
sieves, which allow the dust to pass into a receptacle below.
It remains to separate the grains according to the sizes
that are required ; and for military purposes these are three :
one for large ordnance, another for musketry, and a third
for pistols. The powder generally used by sportsmen is of
still finer grain than the last. The separation is performed
by means of wire gauze, or strong silk gauze, of different
apertures; the sieves being commonly cylindrical, and turned
by the machinery. At the same time the dust is separated,
and afterwards returned to the press.
The last operation is known by the name of glazing, a
term literally true in the case of sportsmen’s shooting-
powder. But the real object of this operation is to take off
all those acute angles from the grains, which would other¬
wise be ground off in travelling, and thus produce great in¬
conveniences, by introducing dust into the casks. This
process is performed by causing the separate classes of
grains to revolve in cylinders so constructed as only to let
the dust through ; and the mutual friction of the grains pro¬
duces the desired effect. When it is required to give the
powder a brilliant surface, as is the case with fine sports¬
men’s powder, the cylinder is lined with a woollen cloth;
and sometimes, if a high polished gloss is desired, some black
lead is introduced into it. But these are matters of mere
ornament.
Although the powder thus completed appears dry to the
touch as well as to the sight, it contains a considerable
quantity of water. This must be separated by drying. In
hot climates exposure to the sun is sufficient; but in most
cases artificial heat is required. In France a complex pro¬
cess was adopted hy passing heated and dry air through a
closed chamber, with the intention of diminishing the risk
of explosion ; but, with any moderate degree of care, it may
be done in any manner. In some of the older works the
stove in use was a closed room with air-holes above, heated
by means of an iron cupola or large pot, to which a fire was
applied outside of the building; the temperature being
regulated by a thermometer fixed in the door, and indi¬
cating the heat externally. In this room the powder was
exposed in flat trays round the circumference. Lately, the
method by steam pipes has become generally adopted ; and
in this way every possible security, real as well as imagi¬
nary, is obtained.
Analysis of Gunpoivder.
It is often useful, and frequently indispensable, to analyse
W D E R.
gunpowder. This process will, indeed, generally supersede Gun-
the necessity oiproving by the usual methods, as it is al- powder.
wrays certain that a specimen of gunpowder, well made, will '
produce the best proof. It is particularly convenient in the
case of gunpowder purchased from merchants, or by con¬
tract ; as, from the several causes which may easily be con¬
jectured, such an article may be deficient in the quantity or
in the quality of the saltpetre, or in both. It is useful,
moreover, in the case of damaged powder, returned from
military and naval service ; as we can determine by these
means whether it has been wetted by rain or by sea water,
or whether any portion of the nitre has been washed out.
Powder thus damaged by fresh water only, and otherwise
uninjured, may be committed to the mill and restored at a
very trifling expense. If the saltpetre is diminished, it
can thus also be restored ; but, on the contrary, if the
damage has been produced by sea-water, it becomes neces¬
sary to destroy the powder for the purpose of extracting the
nitre.
By washing the powder, previously weighed in a filter,
with hot distilled water, the nitre is dissolved, and admits
of being crystallized and weighed. The tests, nitrate of
mercury and carbonate of potash, may then be used to de¬
termine its purity. Thus it may be ascertained whether,
in a new sample, the nitre is in sufficient proportion, and
whether it has been well purified ; and in a damaged one,
whether the injury has arisen from fresh or from salt water.
It only remains to examine the proportions of the charcoal
and sulphur ; the sulphur may be dissolved out by means
of bisulphide of carbon, evaporating and weighing; the
charcoal that is left may also be weighed, but it is scarcely
necessary to perform the latter part of this analysis, as the
manufacturers are under no great temptation to assume a
wrong proportion of sulphur and charcoal, although the joint
quantity of the whole may be in excess.
Analysis of Gunpoivder after Explosion.
To a certain extent, at least, an analysis of gunpowder
after explosion is necessary, for the purpose of procuring
data whence its force may, a priori, be calculated. The
rest is only matter of curiosity, and we have borrowed the
determination from the experiments of the late Mr Cruick-
shank. As far as this analysis may differ from that of others,
it must be recollected that the separation of mixed gases is
not a very easy problem. The mere collection of the total
gaseous products is easy ; and had the same method been
followed by Robins and others, less difficulty would have
been found in their computations. Had Count Rumford
and others adopted so simple an expedient, they would not
have had recourse to the expansive force of steam, or of the
air contained within the charge, for an explanation of the
cause and nature of the force.
By ramming a hundred or one hundred and thirty grains
of powder into a narrow metallic tube, furnished w ith a long
handle, it is easily caused to burn under water, as the com¬
bustion is slow and safe when it is thus condensed ; and
this quantity is sufficient for any purpose of experiment.
The tube being plunged under the water with its mouth
downwards, under the bell-glass of the pneumatic apparatus,
the powder may be lighted without any loss. I his is done
by introducing into that part of the tube above the charge,
which is purposely left empty, a crooked wire heated to
redness. After the hot wire and the tube in this position
are immersed under the bell, the former is brought into
contact with the charge. To prevent the water from ab¬
sorbing any portion of the carbonic acid, sulphuric acid may
be added to it, as well as many other matters too obvious
to mention ; or else it may be heated. Thus the gaseous
product may be collected and examined at leisure, by the
means which chemistry furnishes, and which our limits will
not permit us to detail.
156
GUNPOWDER.
Gun- To collect the solid product, it is most convenient to use
powder, a glass vessel, on account of the certainty of obtaining the
produce, which is, in great part, carried up in smoke, and
adheres to the receptacle in which the powder is burnt. But
we need not describe the numerous modes in which this
object can be attained; and shall only add, that to diminish
the hazard, the powder employed for this purpose may be
wetted without affecting the results.
The chief gaseous results of the analysis of gunpowder
are carbonic oxide, carbonic acid, nitrogen, and sulphurous
acid; while the solid residue consists of carbonate and sul¬
phate of potash, sulphuret of potassium and charcoal. The
maximum gaseous volume is produced by the formation
of carbonic oxide and sulphurous acid with the liberation
of nitrogen. With 1 equivalent of nitre, 1 of sulphur, and
3 of charcoal, the nitre yields 5 proportionals of oxygen,
of which 3, combining with 3 of charcoal, furnish 3 of car¬
bonic oxide gas, and the remaining 2 convert 1 of sulphur
into sulphurous acid gas, and the single proportional of
nitrogen is disengaged alone. Hence the gaseous volume
produced by 130 grains of gunpowder, equal in bulk to
7o-5 grains of water, or ^th of a cubic inch will, at the
atmospheric temperature, be as follows :—
Grains. Cubic inches.
Carbonic oxide    42 141-6
(Sulphurous acid  32 47‘2
Nitrogen  14 47‘4
236-2
being an expansion of 1 volume in 787*3. But as the
temperature of the gases at the moment of formation must
be incandescent, this volume must be estimated at three
times the above amount, or considerably more than 2000
times the bulk of the solid.
This theoretical account does not, however, quite agree
with the products obtained by experiment, especially as
regards the evolution of carbonic acid, and the residuary
sulphuret of potassium. Professor Graham has therefore
given the following view of the results of the deflagration
as being more consistent with experiment:—
Before Combustion. After Combustion.
3 Carbon. 3 carbon \ „ , . .,
, a >3 carbonic acid.
fb oxygen /
Nitrate of potash. < nitrogen —nitrogen.
Ipotassiumv , , , . , .
Sulphur. sulphur ^ sulphuret of potassium.
The sulphuret of potassium, on coming into contact with
the air, becomes converted into sulphate of potash, thus
giving rise to the white smoke that lollows the explosion of
gunpowder.
Gunpowder ignites at a temperature of 600° Fahr. It
is not readily ignited by flame, as may be shown by putting
a heap of it on a cork, contained in a saucer, and then
pouring in ether or spirits of wine; the latter on being
ignited will surround the gunpowder with a copious flame,
and not fire it for a considerable time. A piece of gun¬
cotton may be placed on a heap of gunpowder and fired
without igniting the powder. Gunpowder may even be
sprinkled on the top of gun-cotton, and be scattered about
by its explosion without igniting; but this is partly due to
the greater rapidity of action of gun-cotton. (See Gun¬
cotton.)
On the Sizes and Forms of the Grains in Gunpowder.
vai'iety in the effects of gunpowder, arising from
differences in the sizes and forms of the grains, has been
an object of much inquiry. The conditions of the problem
are somewhat complicated. Within certain limits, which
gunpowder made of nitre cannot exceed, rapidity of inflam¬
mation is essential to the production of a full effect. Not
to inquire into other causes, without this property, a part of
the charge is rendered useless by being blown out un- Gun-
burned ; an accident not uncommon on ordinary occasions, powder.
This may also happen from the form of the piece and that
of the charge; it will occur in a long charge or in a short
piece, or, most of all, when both are united. Hence varia¬
tions in the effect of gunpowder, which are independent of
its quality, and which will render computations founded on
that circumstance alone deceptive. As we have not room
to dwell on this subject as it deserves, we must refer our
readers to Robins and others who have written on it.
Now, this rapidity of inflammation may be attained, in
some measure, in two ways; by intense heat, and by faci¬
lity of transmission of the flame. But if a charge is con¬
siderable, no intensity of heat can compensate for the ab¬
sence of the second condition. To put an extreme case :
If the eight-pound battering charge of a 24-pounder were
a single grain or lump, it requires little thought to perceive
that the shot would have quitted the gun before the charge
was half burned. Hence granulation is as necessary for
ensuring the full effect as it is for convenience. And thus,
also, we are led to the cause of the bad consequences of
hard ramming. A charge very thoroughly rammed, and
lighted at the anterior end, would burn like a fuse or a
squib; if lighted by a touch-hole, it will be blown out like
a shot. Thus the rapidity of the inflammation is secured
by multiplying as much as possible the intervals for the
passage of the flame, or by diminishing the size of the
grains. Yet there is a limit even to this; and as that can
only be determined by experiment, it is from such trials
that the grain for the smallest charges has been fixed. As
the charge, however, increases in dimension, the volume
of flame and the intensity of the heat produced admit of a
grain of greater bulk, or one containing, in a given dimen¬
sion, a smaller number of intervals. Much refinement on
this subject being, however, unnecessary, one size is used
for all ordnance ; wdiilst an inferior size is made for muskets,
and one still less for pistols. The powder manufactured
for fowling-pieces is also of the smallest size.
But there is a further element concerned in this ques¬
tion ; and that is, the different specific gravities of the dif¬
ferent sizes of powder, or, what is especially to the purpose
here, the different spaces occupied by the different sizes.
The same measure which contains 172 grains of the smallest,
contains 180 of the medium, and 195 of the largest. If
powder be measured instead of weighed, it is evident that
there will be one-ninth more of the large than of the small
grained in a given charge. If weighed, the larger will
occupy about one-ninth less space. In either case the
greater force will be excited by the large-grained, pre¬
suming that the inflammation is perfect. When it is weighed,
as is the correct practice, it will not be very difficult to cal¬
culate the difference; as the force of the expanding fluid
is in a certain inverse ratio of the space in which it is con¬
fined.
To increase the rapidity of inflammation, the French
have manufactured spherical powder. The principle of the
process is similar to that used by confectioners in making
comfits. Angular grains are rolled in machinery adapted
to that purpose, in powder dust slightly moistened; and
thus small globules are formed. This grain is less liable
to wear in travelling, from the absence of angles; but it
is at the same time more tender, and less able to bear pres¬
sure than pressed powder. Nor do the French experi¬
ments, either by the eprouvettes or the tables of practice,
prove its superiority; on the contrary, the average results
of its comparison with ordinary powder are unfavourable
and this also was observed in our own trial. Hence it has
not been adopted in Britain.
Proving of Gunpowder.
To ascertain, by practical trials, the strength of gun-
GUNPOWDER.
157
Gun- powder, is not merely a matter of curiosity, but of absolute
powder, necessity. As the force in battering ordnance, and the
range in mortar and howitzer practice, are regulated by the
quantity of the charge, it is obvious that no regular prac¬
tice in the field, or consistent results, will be obtained,
unless the standard of strength in the powder is both known
and invariable. This is particularly the case with mortar
practice against small works or redoubts, or against the
enemy’s trenches; and also with howitzer practice against
moving columns in the field. An invariable standard is,
unfortunately, impossible; but it is always something to
approximate to it. In military arrangements, a proof is
also requisite, for the most obvious reasons, when powder
is purchased from merchant manufacturers; not only that
a minimum standard of strength may be fixed, but that, as
far as is possible, the various qualities furnished may be re¬
duced by mixture to a uniform standard.
It is usual, in the first place, amongst the workmen, as
wrell as the merchants, to form a judgment of the quality of
gunpowder by the aspect and firmness of the grain; and
the latter, indeed, is a quality which is indispensable, if it
is to be exposed to much land-carriage. The nicety of
tact required for this is, however, only to be attained by
practice, as in all other species of sampling. The moisture
is judged of by weighing, and by subsequent drying and
comparison. The quantity of this is a question of profit
and loss in the purchase. But it is more important to
ascertain its hygrometrical powers, by exposure to moisture
after drying. That is the best which gains least weight by
this operation; nor, in any case, should the absorption of
water amount to fth per cent. It is also a common practice
to try it by what is termed fiashing ; but this only serves
to show whether it has been thoroughly ground ; if not, the
charcoal will produce sparks.
The trial of force is made by eprouvettes of different
constructions, or else by practice. The most common
eprouvette is a short chamber, provided with a gun-lock,
the orifice of which is closed by a cover, connected with a
graduated and ratchet wheel and spring. The quantity of
the wheel’s revolution is the esteemed measure of the force.
But, often as this machine has been varied and improved,
the results are so irregular, that it may fairly be considered
as useless. Various other instruments for this purpose have
been invented and tried; but, without figures, we could
not render their constructions intelligible. Regnier’s does
not materially differ from the preceding in its principles;
and the results are equally unsatisfactory. His hydrostatic
one appears to be still worse. We may say the same of
that described by Saint-Remy, and of another recommended
by the Chevalier d’Arcy; and, of the whole, we would re¬
mark that the leading fault is want of simplicity. In a case
like the explosion of gunpowder, where so many disturbing
forces are always at hand to vitiate the true results, we
cannot be too careful in eliciting all unnecessary causes of
disturbance. If there is any one class of machinery in which
simplicity is indispensable, it is that which belongs to gun¬
powder, under any of its relations.
We consider, however, that, as an eprouvette, Dr Hut¬
ton’s pendulum is as free from exception as any machine
can be. The disturbing forces are nothing, or as little as
possible ; the charging and firing admit of great uniformity;
and, on trial, the consistency of the results justifies the ex¬
pectations formed from its simplicity. In this pendulum,
the barrel is fixed upon the bob, and the force of the gun¬
powder is therefore measured, not, as in Robins’, by the
impulse of a shot, but by the recoil. The indication of the
extremity of the arc of vibration is made by a hand con¬
tinuous with the pendulum rod, which moves an index fur¬
nished with a spring sufficiently strong to retain it at that
point of a graduated arc where it was left by the movement
ot the hand. The barrel used for this purpose is an inch
in diameter, and is charged with two ounces of powder put
in loosely, without wadding or ball. In this, as in all other
cases of eprouvettes, the standard of strength is arbitrary;
and, for service, is assumed from the best average of gun¬
powder manufactured by government. The goodness of
particular specimens is estimated by their agreement, or
otherwise, with this standard.
Notwithstanding, however, the apparent accuracy of this
method, artillery officers, both in France and in England,
are not satisfied with it as a method of proving powder for
service. It is perhaps right that practical men should, in a
matter of so much importance, rely only upon such a
method of proof as agrees best with the particular objects
for which the material is intended. Yet it should also be
recollected, that all Robins’ conclusions respecting the force
of gunpowder were drawn from experiments made on his
ballistic pendulum, and that the much more accurate ones
of Dr Hutton, on which we now rely, were the results
of the practice with that pendulum which we have just
described.
The method of proving, then, adopted both in France
and England, consists in real practice from a mortar at short
ranges. In France a mortar is used of which the diameter
is 0T91 metres, or nearly eight inches English, and that of
the touch-hole somewhat less than two lines. The diameter
of the ball is 0T895 metres, and the windage consequently
is ’0015. The weight of the ball is about sixty pounds.
A troublesome verification of the diameter of the bore, of
the vent, and of the shot, is made for each day’s practice.
The mortar is condemned when the diameter is enlarged to
0T92, or if that of the vent becomes *0005 more than it
ought to be. A difference of windage, amounting to *0002
metres more than what is allowed, condemns the shot, or,
as it may happen, the whole apparatus.
All these verifications are so tedious, and the wear of the
mortar, the vent, and the shot, so rapid, that it becomes in¬
convenient and impossible to follow them so nicely in prac¬
tice when there is much business. It is, therefore, found
more convenient to make a standard trial for each day’s
proof, and to refer all the others to this one ; instead of
trying to preserve what becomes impossible in practice, an
absolute and invariable range.
The English proof-mortar nearly corresponds with the
French, it being of the eight-inch calibre, and of brass.
The shot is turned and polished so as to be true, and to
have at the commencement the least practicable windage.
During the progress of use, as the windage increases from
the wear both of the bore and of the shot, the range be¬
comes contracted ; a circumstance which also follows from
the enlargement of the vent, in consequence of which a
greater proportion of the generated air escapes at that aper¬
ture. But, from the practice adopted with us, these varia¬
tions are of no moment, till the range becomes contracted
so as to render it expedient to replace the shot or the
mortar, or both.
The quantity of powder that is used is four ounces, and
the mortar being elevated to forty-five degrees, the range
is measured in each trial. If the standard range for the day
is 225 yards, the powder that gives a range of only 200 is
rejected. The chief precautions requisite to procure fair
results in this comparative method, are, to take care that
the level of the platform and the elevation of the mortar
are subject to no accidents ; that the powder be fairly placed
in the chamber ; that the priming tube always reaches to
the same depth within the charge; and that the mortar be
brought to the same temperature at each experiment. For
this purpose, it is to be cooled with water.
Musket powder is submitted to a different species of
proof, founded on the same views of rendering the proof
for each kind as nearly corresponding as possible with the
purposes for which they are designed. A barrel fitted with
Gun¬
powder.
GUNPOWDER.
158
Gun- a turned steel ball, and with as little windage as possible, is
powder, used for this purpose. The ball is discharged at the dis-
tance of a few yards only, against a compound butt, made
of elm planks an inch thick, soaked in water, and separated
at a short distance from each other. The extent of the
penetration is the proof of the strength of the powder; and
the trials in this case also are referred to a standard experi¬
ment made each day. Before concluding this subject, we
must add, that trials are also made for the purpose of ascer¬
taining the hygrometrical property of the powder to be
purchased or issued. This is done by exposing a quantity
for a given time in a box perforated with holes, and in a
damp room, and then submitting it to the same proof.
Powder from Chlorate of Potash.
To increase the strength of gunpowder has been a fa¬
vourite project with inventors at all times; most of them
forgetting that the same end can be attained, as far as it is
attainable, by augmenting the charge, and that neither the
one nor the other is practicable without an entire reforma¬
tion of the whole system of artillery. Could the force of
powder be increased one-half, for example, it would be
necessary to condemn almost every gun in use; and not
only every gun, but every carriage, breeching, ringbolt,
nay, we might almost add, every ship in the service. And
supposing a new species of ordnance to be invented to suit
the new powder, it would require at least one-half as much
more of weight in guns and mortars ; the same in gun-car¬
riages, with additional strength in every object concerned
about them. In the field, in the same manner, an increased
number of horses would be required. This view presumes
that the object is, what in fact it always has been with in¬
ventors on this subject, to gain additional force or range.
If the purpose is only that of being enabled to reduce
the quantity, and thus diminish the bulk and trouble of
transportation, it is so trifling an object as scarcely to be
worth attaining. With regard to the main intention, or
that of gaining greater range and force, it is only neces¬
sary to say, that the powder is already too strong for the
artillery.
As soon as chlorate of potash was known, it became ob¬
vious that it would not answer the same purpose as nitre,
but, from its more energetic action, produce a more rapid
combustion. It was first proposed and made by M. Ber-
thollet in 1786, and was long known under the name of
oxymuriate of potash; but an accident having happened
from it at Essone, by which many people lost their lives, it
was abandoned. The proportions used were 80 of chlorate,
5 sulphur, and 15 charcoal. Afterwards they attempted to
make a modified compound, by using only a proportion of
it with the nitre; bnt after vai’ious trials of this kind, the
whole project was abandoned.
We have repeated Berthollet’s method, at different times,
and on a very large scale, without accidents ; but we con¬
sider that the proportion of oxymuriate is too large, or at
least that it is larger thah is necessary. A better propor¬
tion appears to be 75 of chlorate, 5 sulphur, and 20 char¬
coal. As this compound is very easily exploded by friction,
it is necessary to be extremely cautious throughout the
whole process, particularly in the granulations; nor is it
safe to make more than one pound at a time. Of course,
it may be mixed in wooden mortars, as it requires no large
apparatus.
The great objection to its use is the facility with which it is
inflamed by friction, or by a hard blow. It is also more expen¬
sive than nitre. It also corrodes the barrels very quickly. Gun-
In fowling-pieces it is, however, of use ; being the detonat-
ing priming of Forsyth’s and Manton’s gun-locks.1 We may
add, that very good powder may be made from this salt
and charcoal alone, in the proportion of eighty to twenty ;
but the grain is not very compact, and it is subject to the
same faults as the former.
The action of this powder on the shot in a charge is very
capricious, and far from intelligible. In the French trials,
it was found to give ranges sometimes double and some¬
times triple those of common powder, using the same weights.
In various experiments made in this country, the ranges
were double in a majority of comparisons, when moderate
charges were used. But, by increasing the charges be¬
yond this, the ranges, instead of increasing in the same
ratio, began to contract; double the quantity producing but
a moderate increase in the range, and a third proportion
making an addition still less than the preceding. This,
however, agrees with Robins’ experiments on common gun¬
powder ; and he has accounted for it by what he calls
the triple resistance; proving, as he thinks, that whenever
the initial velocity exceeds 1142 feet in the second, a va¬
cuum is formed behind the shot, which, by increasing the
resistance before it, speedily reduces the velocity to what
it would have been with a smaller charge. We need say
no more respecting a compound, the use of which is not
likely to be ever extended beyond its application to the
detonating gun-locks.
A white gunpowder has been prepared by mixing chlo¬
rate of potash with yellow prussiate of potash and sugar.
Keeping and Restoration of Powder.
Powder for service, whether by sea or land, is kept in
barrels, containing each one cwt., the size of which is nearly
thaUpf a ten-gallon cask, and they are hooped with copper.
It being difficult to keep dry casks water-tight, as indeed
it was not thought necessary that they should be so, much
powder was always rendered useless on service by wet.
Lately copper linings have been very properly introduced,
and the casks are now water-tight. As great quantities of
powder, however, always have been, and always must be,
returned unserviceable, it is an important object to be able
to restore it, or render it useful, in the most economical
manner.
Sometimes the grain is merely adhering, and can be
shaken loose again ; and this effect is not unfrequent even
in magazines on shore. Such powder, when dried by re¬
storing, appears to be sufficiently perfect; but it will be found
that it is increased in bulk, and has become spongy and ten¬
der. On examination by the magnifying glass, it will also
be perceived that the nitre is partially separated. Powder
which has once undergone this change is deteriorated, yet
is still fit for all ordinary purposes. It is not strong enough,
however, to bear travelling; and should it be required for
that purpose, it ought to be re-milled, and granulated over
again.
" When the casks have been opened on service, before
being returned, it is necessary to examine carefully whether
they do not contain nails, or other foreign matters, an acci¬
dent not uncommon. In such a case it is unsafe to commit
them to the mill, and they must be reserved for extraction.
When the powder has been so wetted as to be nearly
formed into lumps, it is first necessary to examine, by the
test of nitrate of mercury, whether the damage has been
done by fresh or salt water. If by the latter, it must
1 Percussion caps for muskets are filled with a mixture of equal parts of fulminating mercury and chlorate of potash, fixed by a var¬
nish : caps for cannon are charged with two parts of chlorate of potash, two of native sulphuret of antimony, and one of powdered glass:
the last ingredient takes no part in the chemical action but serves to promote friction. Fulminating mercury and collodion are also
being tried for caps.
GUNPOWDER.
159
Gun- also be sent to the extracting house. If it has been very
powder, thoroughly wetted, even by fresh water, it will often be
found that some of the saltpetre has been washed away. In
this case it must be analyzed, so far at least as to determine
the proportion of saltpetre wanting, which must be added
to it in the mill. In the process of extracting, nothing
more is necessary than to boil the powder in pure water,
and to filter the solution through thick woollen bags. The
crystals are purified exactly as in the case of rough nitre.
This is a wasteful process, however, and, in all cases where
it is possible, re-milling is to be preferred.
Accidental Explosions in Powder Manufactories.
This is a subject which deserves far more attention than
it has yet received; and we can only regret that our re¬
searches do not enable us to add more to the present suspi¬
cions as to the causes of these, than the little which follows.
That want of sufficient care is the general source of these
disasters is, however, certain; as certain merchants’ mills
have been celebrated for them, whilst in others, as well as
in those belonging to the government, they have been
extremely rare. Such accidents may take place in any part
of the works; but they are most frequent, as well as least
injurious, when they happen in the mills, the quantity of
powder in these never exceeding fifty pounds. It ought at
least to be an invariable rule to remove each charge to the
pressing-house as soon as it is completed.
We have already hinted at the cause of the explosions in
the mills, when they happen at the time of removing the
powder from beneath the stones. As stamping-mills are
not used in this country, it may be thought superfluous to
remark, that, in these cases, this accident sometimes hap¬
pens from attempting to remove, by a mallet and chisel, the
lumps of powder which adhere to the pestles. It is one
of the inconveniences attached to that mode of grinding.
But it is also proper to observe, that the mills are some¬
times blown up whilst working; and, from some examina¬
tions which we have made, we have little doubt that this
has arisen from fragments of the stones falling off, and being
bruised together with the powder. We indeed consider
metallic rollers as every way safer than stone ones; since
they can only produce fire in case of friction in contact
during the removal of the charge. If iron be held objec¬
tionable, it is easy to face them with a sheet of copper; but
it is proper to recollect that even thus the chances of ex¬
plosion from friction are not removed. It is a great mis¬
take to suppose that the absolute hardness of any metal is
indispensable to the production of explosion in gunpowder.
A blow sufficiently powerful, or friction caused by sufficient
weight and rapidity, will compensate for the absence of this,
in very soft metals, as well as in many other substances
which do not readily give fire. Limestone we consider to
be a very objectionable substance. Excepting that of Car¬
rara, we know of none, either primary or secondary, which
does not contain much silica; often, indeed, particles of
quartz sand. In the secondary calcareous rocks it is uni¬
versal, nor is even the finest white marble of Carrara always
exempt, as is well known to sculptors. But the softness
even of the purest limestones is no defence ; as the friction
between these is still more capable of setting fire to gun¬
powder than that of iron. The readiest way of putting
these different substances to the test is by experiments in
fulminating silver ; as the irritability of this substance en¬
ables us to ascertain the facts with a moderate and conve¬
nient force.
We know of no explosions in the stove, except in one
noted instance, when it was pretty well ascertained to have
been produced by a workman, who had determined on sui¬
cide in this manner. In the steam stove it can never hap¬
pen from overheating; but, as the floor must necessarily be
dry when the workmen enter to remove the powder, in- Gun-
stead of being wet, as it always is in the other houses, it powder,
requires additional care respecting the feet of the people
employed. The only method that is quite safe, in all
houses and magazines, is to oblige the workmen to labour
barefooted. The heavy leather slippers in common use
are far from safe ; as, from not fitting well, they are fre¬
quently dragged along; in which w'ay they may easily en¬
tangle particles of sand. It ought to be known to all pow¬
der-makers, that the breaking of a fragment of quartz, or
the sufficient friction of two grains between copper, or even
wood, is capable of igniting gunpowder. This is more par¬
ticularly the case when the finer charcoals are used ; as it
is this which is the susceptible ingredient.
Explosions in the pressing and gramdating houses have
happened much too often, nor have the causes been ascer¬
tained. As there is a considerable quantity of powder al¬
ways present here, these are of a very serious nature. It
would be proper that these two buildings should always be
separated, and, in the usual way, by a work of earth. The
old granulating houses are far from safe, as the cranks and
other parts of the moving machinery are contained within
the house, which is always filled with the dust of the pow¬
der. It is trusting too much to the attention of persons,
whom practice renders habitually careless, to expect that
they will always keep the parts oiled. It is easy to remedy
this evil by entirely separating the working machinery from
the granulating engine, which may be suspended and steadied
by ropes, so as to avoid all chance of friction.
In the pressing house there seem to be two sources of
danger, both of which may be obviated. It is easy for
powder to become entangled among the threads of the
screw; and the consequence of this must be obvious.
This would be remedied by adopting Bramah’s press.
We also think that the sudden condensation of air entan¬
gled among the fragments in the pressing box may be suf¬
ficient to produce fire. Whether this be the case or not, it
will always be prudent to make the first pressure as slowly
as possible, that the air may be allowed to escape.
We have observed three other causes of accident,
though neither of them belong properly to the manufac¬
turing houses. It is, nevertheless, very important that
they should be generally known. Charcoal, in certain
cases, is liable to take fire spontaneously, and that even in
the lump. This is a case exactly analagous to the pyro-
phorus of Homberg; and it unquestionably arises from the
same cause, namely, the presence of a portion of potassium.
It is an accident which, we imagine, can only happen to
charcoal made in retorts ; as, in the pit method, the potas¬
sium could scarcely be expected to escape combustion.
The precautions hence requisite, respecting the stowage
of charcoal, and the place of the distilling houses, must be
evident. When in a state of powder, and under pressure,
it also has been known to inflame ; and, possibly, from the
same cause.
We are not aware that it is usual to keep many waggons
and powder-cart tilts about powder magazines; but we do
know that this has happened, and with the effect of pro¬
ducing fire. It ought to be generally known, for many
other reasons, that fresh painted canvas, stowed close, is
subject to spontaneous combustion.
Lastly, it has frequently been observed that fire was
struck in closing up the powder barrels, as well on board
ships as in magazines ; an accident which was supposed im¬
possible, since both copper hoops and hammers are exclu¬
sively used. We at length discovered that this accident
had arisen from using cast rivets, in the surface of which
the sand of the mould had become entangled. Hence the
obvious necessity of using none but forged copper rivets ;
and since the adoption of these in the government stores,
this accident has been unknown. (c. t.)
160 GUN
Gilns GUNS, a free town of Hungary. See Koszegh.
II ; GUNTER, Edmund, an ingenious English mathematician
^nter s and mechanist, was born in Hertfordshire about the year 1581.
t ca e* t He was educated at Westminster, and afterwards at Christ
Church College, Oxford, where he graduated. Though he
took holy orders in 1614, mathematics, which had been
his favourite study from his youth, continued to engross his
attention, and in 1619 he was chosen to the chair of astro¬
nomy in Gresham College, where he remained till his death
in 1626. Of Gunter’s written works the chief are his Canon
Triangulorum, a table of logarithmic sines and tangents,
extended to seven decimal places, and forming a sort of
complement to the logarithms of natural numbers by his
colleague Brigg. His practical inventions are detailed below
under their respective heads.
Gunter’s Line, a logarithmic line, usually laid down
upon scales, sectors, &c. It is also called the line of lines
and line of numbers ; being only the logarithms graduated
upon a ruler, which therefore serves to solve problems in-
strumentally in the same manner as logarithms do arith¬
metically. It is usually divided into 100 parts, every tenth
of which is numbered, beginning with 1 and ending with
10; so that if the first great division, marked 1, stand for
one-tenth of any integer, the next division, marked 2, will
stand for two-tenths, 3 for three-tenths, and so on ; and the
intermediate divisions will in like manner represent hun¬
dredth parts of the same integer. If each of the great di¬
visions represent 10 integers, then will the lesser divisions
stand for integers ; and if the greater divisions be supposed
to be each 100, the subdivisions will be each 10.
Use of Gunter’s Line. 1. To find the product of two
numbers. From 1 extend the compasses to the multiplier;
and the same extent, applied the same way from the mul¬
tiplicand, will reach to the product. Thus, if the product
ol 4 and 8 be required, extend the compasses from 1 to 4,
and that extent, laid from 8, the same way, will reach to 32,
their product. 2. To divide one number by another. The
extent from the divisor to unity will reach from the divi¬
dend to the quotient. Thus, to divide 36 by 4, extend the
compasses from 4 to 1, and the same extent will reach from
36 to 9, the quotient sought. 3. To three given numbers,
to find a fourth proportional. Suppose the numbers 6, 8,
9; extend the compasses from 6 to 8 ; and this extent, laid
from 9 the same way, will reach to 12, the fourth propor¬
tional required. 4. To find a mean proportional between
any two given numbers. Suppose 8 and 32 ; extend the
compasses from 8, on the left-hand part of the line, to 32
on the right; then bisecting this distance, its half will reach
from 8 forward, or from 32 backward, to 16, the mean pro¬
portional sought. 5. To extract the square-root of any
number. Suppose 25. Bisect the distance between l on
the scale and the point representing 25 ; then the half of
this distance, set off from 1, will give the point represent¬
ing the root 5. In the same manner the cube root, or that
of any higher power, may be found by dividing the distance
on the line between 1 and the given number into as many
equal parts as the index of the power expresses; then one
of those parts, set from 1, will find the point representing
the root required.
Gunter’s Quadrant, an instrument made of wood, brass,
or other substance, containing a kind of stereographic pro¬
jection of the sphere, on the plane of the equinoctial; the
eye being supposed to be placed in one of the poles; so
that the tropic, ecliptic, and horizon, form the arcs of circles ;
but the hour-circles are other curves, drawn by means of
several altitudes of the sun for some particular latitude every
year. 4 his instrument is used to find the hour of the day,
the sun s azimuth, &c., and other common problems of the
sphere or globe; as also to take the altitude of an object in
degrees.
Gunter’s Scale (generally called by seamen the Gunter)
G U R
is a large plane scale, usually 2 feet long by about 1^ inches Guntoor
broad, and engraved with various lines of numbers. On ||
one side are placed the natural lines (as the line of chords, Gurwal.
the line of sines, tangents, rhumbs, &c.), and on the other
side the corresponding artificial or logarithmic ones. By
means of this instrument, questions in navigation, trigono¬
metry, &c., are solved, with the aid of a pair of compasses.
GUNTOOR, one of the districts in Hindustan, on the
western side of the Bay of Bengal, called the Northern Cir-
cars. It is situated principally between the 15th and 17th
degrees of N. Lat., and lies immediately N. of the Carnatic,
and S. of the River Kistnah or Krishnah, which separates it
from Masulipatam. It is the most southerly of the Northern
Circars, and comprehends an area of about 3500 square
miles, exclusively of the mountainous district on the W.
This district was the jaghire of Bassalut Jung, the brother of
the nizam, when Lord Clive obtained, in 1765, the Northern
Circars from the Mogul, on which account he was allowed
to retain it during his life; but after this it was to devolve
to the Company. He died in 1782, but the country was
not taken possession of by their agents till 1788. It is a
low, flat country, better calculated for growing rice than the
more valuable grains. Its principal seaport is Mootapilly;
and its chief town is Guntoor, the population of which
is estimated at 20,000. The Guntoor territory now forms
one of the districts under the Madras presidency, into which
the Northern Circars were divided when the present Madras
judicial and revenue system was established. Guntoor, the
capital, is in E. Long. 80. 30., N. Lat. 16. 18.
GUNWALE (pronounced gunnel), the uppermost wale
of a ship or boat, or that piece of timber which finishes the
upper part of the hull. The raised work above this is called
the bulwark.
GURNEY, Elizabeth, better known under her married
name of Mrs Fry, was born in 1780 at Earlham, in Nor¬
folk. While still a girl she was noted for the benevolence
of her disposition, which manifested itself even when, on
reaching womanhood, she mingled freely in the gay and
brilliant society which her wealth and birth opened to her.
Before her marriage, however, which took place in 1800,
she had retired from the gay frivolities of the fashionable
world, of which she had been so fond. Settling in London,
she found there a field wide enough even for her wide sym
pathies. She began her career of active benevolence among
the dregs of the capital, by visiting them in their disease-
stricken and poverty-stricken homes, and alleviating their
miseries according to their several wants. She then extended
her visits to the wards of hospitals; and at last found courage
to do what few other English ladies of that day could boast—
to entrust herself within the precincts of a jail. She there
found men, women, and children recklessly huddled toge¬
ther ;—from the comparatively innocent young girl impri¬
soned on suspicion of a petty theft, to the murderer awaiting
his execution ;—and certain, if they entered the jail with no
deep stain on their souls, to leave it familiarized with every
known form and degree of vice and crime. The reformation
that Mrs Fry accomplished in this sink of iniquity is as well
known as the means she employed to effect it; and the title
of “ the female Howard,” which rewarded her philanthropy,
by no means too strongly expressed her deserts. To carry
out her benevolent designs more thoroughly, she visited the
principal jails in Scotland, France, Prussia, Holland, and
Denmark; and, from a study of the various systems em¬
ployed in these countries, obtained some valuable practical
hints for the more effective working of her own schemes.
The care and labour entailed upon her by her pious philan¬
thropy proved at length too much for her enfeebled constitu¬
tion, and she died, at length, of sheer exhaustion, at Rams¬
gate, Oct. 11, 1844. Her death was felt throughout Europe
to be a loss to humanity.
GURWAL, a native state of Northern Hindustan, under
G U K
Gurwal. the protection of the British government, at the foot of
the Himalaya Mountains, principally between the 30th and
31st degrees of N. Lat. The great Himalaya range
separates it from Thibet on the N., on the S. it has the
Deyrah Doone, on the E. the district of British Gurwal,
and Bussahir on the W. It comprehends an area of 4500
square miles. This country formerly included the province
of Kemaon, and the district now known as British Gurwal, to¬
gether with the Deyrah Doone ; and in 1814 the Ghoorkhas
had possession of the whole tract, which extended northward
to the dependencies of China. Since the country was con¬
quered by the British, it has been distributed into distinct
portions, the British government having retained possession
of the Deyrah Doone, the passes of the Ganges and Jumna,
at either extremity of that valley, as also the country di¬
rectly eastward of the Alacananda and Mandakini; which
last tract has been annexed to Kemaon, and the remainder
restored to the expatriated rajah. The present boundaries,
therefore, of his territories are the Alacananda, from Rudra-
prayag until its conjunction with the Bhagirathi, and thence
to the plains by the united streams of the Ganges, and above
Rudraprayag, where the Alacananda receives the Mandakini
by the latter river, which has its source on the hills in the
north-eastern angle of the province. This country being
the commencement of the Himalaya Mountains, presents,
to the southward, towards Lolldong, an assemblage of hills
jumbled together in many forms and directions—sometimes
in chains lying parallel to each other, but of no great extent,
and often connected at their termination by narrow ridges
running across the valleys at right angles. The summits of
all are usually narrow, and of various shapes, and the dis¬
tance between each other short; and so confined are the
valleys, that it is scarcely possible within their narrow limits
to accommodate a corps of 1000 men. These ranges are
occasionally covered with trees ; others are naked and stony,
affording shelter for neither birds nor beasts. On the eastern
borders of this province, amongst the lower ranges of the
mountains, are extensive forests of oak, holly, horse-chest¬
nut, and fir ; and beds of strawberries are also seen (denoting
the temperate nature of the climate), which equal in flavour
those of Europe. From Lolldong to the Ganges the country
forms, with very little interruption, a continued chain of
woody hills, which extend eastward to an indefinite extent.
The elephant abounds in these forests, but is greatly inferior
in size and strength to the Chittagong elephant, on which
account it is seldom domesticated. On the eastern borders
there are hill pheasants among the mountains, which seldom,
however, venture into the valleys, unless compelled by heavy
falls of snow. A small portion of the country is only culti¬
vated, a great proportion being left in the undisturbed pos¬
session of the wild animals. Gurwal is tolerably well watered
by the head streams of the Ganges. The Bhagirathi and
Alacananda, whose junction forms this great river, are the
largest streams in the country. The Bilhang, which falls
into the Bhagirathi, the Mandakini, the Pinden, the Man-
daioki, the Birke, and the Dauli, all of which join the Ala¬
cananda, may be considered as streams of the second order.
Most of these streams have their sources in the Himalaya
Mountains ; the Dauli rises on these mountains, and is one
of the remotest sources of the Ganges. None of them are
fordable ; and they are crossed by rope and platform bridges,
at the most convenient points of communication, the rocks
and stones which encumber their channel preventing the
use of boats. The roads are merely footpaths, carried along
the slope of a mountain in the direction of the principal
streams and water-courses. Those leading to Bhadrinath
are annually repaired for the accommodation of pilgrims,
who congregate in great numbers at this sacred resort; but
they are almost impracticable for cattle. This province
abounds with celebrated places of worship, which have been
held sacred for many ages, although the conversion of the
vox.. XI.
G U S 161
inhabitants to the Brahminical faith is not of any very an- Gurwal
cient date. Four of the five places noted for the holy junc- II
tions of rivers, and celebrated for their sanctity, are within Gustavus-
the limits of this province. v'—v-"""
Gurwal was a dependent province on some of the neigh¬
bouring and more powerful hill states until the reign of
Mohiput Shah, who declared himself independent, and built
Serinagur, where he resided. His son was his successor,
and he was succeeded by his uncle’s son, who considerably
extended the Gurwal territories to the north, penetrating
into Thibet, and exacting a tribute from the rajah of Deba.
Gurwal was subdued by the Nepaulese about the year 1803;
when Purdumin Shah, the rajah, an indolent and unwarlike
prince, at the head of 12,000 men, was defeated and slain at
Gurudwara. On the occurrence of this event the inhabitants
of Gurwal discontinued all resistance to the Nepaulese, who
made ruthless use of their victory. After the country was
conquered by the British in 1814, part of his dominions,
with a revenue of L.10,000, was restored to the rajah’s son.
But Serinagur, the chief town, is within the territory re¬
served by the British ; the rajah has consequently fixed his
residence at Barahaut, where the details of his civil govern¬
ment are conducted by his own officers, and he is under the
protection of the British government. The district over
which he rules was estimated by the Nepaulese, when they
were in possession of the country, to contain 25,720 inha¬
bitants ; a very scanty population for so extensive, and in
many places so fertile, a tract of country. Under later
authority the population is estimated at 100,000.
Gurwal, British. See Kemaon.
GUSTAVUS, Erickson, better known as Gustavus
Wasa, founder and first king of the dynasty of Wasa, was
born in 1490, at the Castle of Lindholm, in Sweden. On reach¬
ing manhood, he found his country pining under the cruelty
and tyranny of the Danes, and himself, from his connection
with the old royal house, an object of peculiar suspicion.
To save his life, he fled first to Liibeck, and afterwards to
Dalecarlia, where he wrought for a time as a miner in the
iron-works of Fahlun. Leaving the mines, he began a kind
of vagabond life, wandering in the most remote and unknown
parts of Sweden, till at length he came to Rattwik, where
he formed the scheme of rescuing his country from the hated
yoke of the stranger. Going about from house to house, he
roused the peasants to a sense of their wrongs, and at length
seduced them into open rebellion. In 1521 he had collected
an army of 15,000 men, and taken the stronghold of Hes-
teras. Town after town yielded on his advance, and Stock¬
holm—thrice besieged in vain—at last fell into his hands,
and the bloodthirsty Christian of Denmark was obliged to
return in disgrace to his own kingdom. Gustavus was now
solicited to accept the Swedish crown, but he steadfastly
refused ; and it was not till 1527 that he could be persuaded
to mount the throne. He reigned with admirable success
for more than thirty-three years, and his name is still held
in reverence by his countrymen, in whose memories he
holds much the same rank that Alfred does in that of every
Englishman.
Gustavus Adolphus was the grandson of Gustavus
Wasa, and was born Dec. 9, 1594. He was only seven¬
teen years of age when he began to reign, but even at
that early age gave indications of the great military talents
which afterwards made him famous. He successfully re¬
pelled the attempt of his relation, Sigismund of Poland, upon
the Swedish crown, and defeated his ally, the Czar of Russia.
Through the mediation of England and Holland, peace was
concluded on terms as honourable as they were advan¬
tageous to Gustavus. The Thirty Years’ War was at this
time devastating Germany. The atrocities committed by
Tilly and the imperial troops upon the Protestants of Bo¬
hemia determined Gustavus to come to their rescue. His
history from this time till his death on the bloody field of
x
162 GUT
Giistrow Lutzen, Nov. 1, 1632, is the history of Europe. His suc-
II cess was unchecked by a single reverse of importance ; and,
Guita a(. Leipzig^ an(l afterwards at the Lech, he routed the elite
erc a', of the imperial army, and finally slew Tilly himself. Even
^ at Lutzen, where he fell (not without suspicion of murder by
the hand of a near relative of his own), the Swedes drove
the Austrians in route from the field, though commanded
by Wallenstein, the greatest soldier of his day. Gustavus
Adolphus is one of the most faultless names on the roll of
kings. He was simple, wise, and brave. So long as he
lived Sweden was the best governed kingdom in Europe.
His military talents enabled him, while a mere youth, to
beat the most skilful and practised veterans of the empire,
such as Tilly, Pappenheim, and Wallenstein. In all his
triumphs, however, his mind never lost its balance ; nor was
he ever hurried away, in the heat of passion, to the com¬
mission of any ungenerous or cruel deed. His clemency
was that of a Christian, rather than a Protestant; and though
he upheld and promoted the Reformed faith, he refused to
steel his heart against such as preferred to walk in the old
paths. His humanity was not that of the sects. The Ger¬
mans, whom he had come over to assist, felt but did not
lament his death. He had helped them too effectively, and
restored their fortunes only too successfully. They had
already begun to feel themselves too much in his debt, and
had latterly received him with cold unfriendliness. But long
before the war came to a close they had reason bitterly to re¬
gret the untimely end of the champion of their faith. (For the
details of Gustavus Adolphus’ life, see Sweden. For Gus¬
tavus III. and Gustavus IV. also see that same article.)
GtjSTROW, a town of Northern Germany, grand duchy
of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, on the left bank of the Nebel,
20 miles S. of Rostock. It is the capital of the circle of
Wenden, or old duchy of Giistrow, and the seat of a court of
chancery and several government boards. Its walls have
been converted into promenades, and the old castle is now
used as a house of correction. The cathedral and some of
the churches are handsome buildings. Giistrow is a place
of some commercial importance, having several breweries,
distilleries, and factories of various kinds, and some trade in
corn. Pop. 9100.
GUTENBERG, or Guttembeeg, Johann (whose real
name w'as Gensfleisch), was born at Sorgenloch, near Mentz,
in 1397. It is now generally admitted that to him is due
almost the entire credit of inventing the art of printing by
moveable types. The respective claims of Fust, Gutenberg,
and Schoeffer, are fully discussed under Fust.
Gutenberg, after a life of much suffering and hardship,
died at Mentz in 1468, in great poverty. Posterity has done
him the justice denied him by his contemporaries. The sta¬
tue by Thorwaldsen, erected in his honour at Mentz in 1837,
furnished an example which has since been followed by many
towns in Germany. The Gutenberg Society keeps his name
in memory by an annual festival. No books are extant
that are known for certain to have been printed by Guten¬
berg. The famous Mazarin Bible, Donatus’ Grammar,
and the Catholicon of Janua, are believed to have issued
from his press. (See Printing.)
GUTTA PERCHA. This valuable substance has only
been known in Europe within the last twelve years. It is
the concrete juice of a large tree {Isonandra gutta) grow¬
ing in certain parts of the Malayan Archipelago—hitherto
chiefly obtained from Singapore. The first specimen of the
inspissated juice which appeared in England wTas presented to
the Society of Arts in 1843, but two or three years elapsed
before a just sense of the importance of the substance began
to gain ground. In 1845 the importation of gutta percha
into England amounted to only 20,600 lb.; in 1848 it had
reached 3,000,000 lb.; in 1852 it amounted to 30,580,480
lb. a rate of increase which gives serious cause to doubt
whether the supply will long beadequate to meet the demand;
GUT
for it is unfortunately the case that the trees which yield Gutta
gutta percha are not only limited in their growth to certain Percha.
districts, and less abundant in quantity than india-rubber '’—v-'-
trees, but they have been subjected for several years to the
barbarous and wasteful mode of cutting down the trees for
the sake of the sap. Whatever European industry may be
able to do in checking this destructive system, and extending
the cultivation of the gutta percha tree, there is yet reason
to doubt whether this slow-growing tree can be reared in
sufficient quantities to counterbalance the havoc already
made. The Isonandra gutta belongs to the natural order
Sapotaceae, and is the only tree which yields gutta percha.
It rises to the height of 60 or 70 feet, and the trunk is
3 or 4 feet in diameter. The tree flourishes in alluvial soils,
at the foot of hills, and sometimes forms the chief part of
the jungle in such situations. The foliage is of a pale green
on the upper part, and covered with reddish-brown hairs
beneath. The wood is soft, fibrous, spongy, pale in colour,
and traversed by longitudinal receptacles or reservoirs filled
with the gum, forming ebony-black lines. This gum has
many of the properties of india-rubber, but it has also spe¬
cial properties of its own which admit of its being applied
to uses for which caoutchouc is not adapted. It possesses
the same indestructibility by chemical agents which makes
india-rubber so valuable, and it has also the peculiarity of
becoming soft and plastic on being plunged into boiling
water. In this state it can be moulded into any desired
form, which form it permanently retains on cooling. The
great convenience and utility of such a substance could not
fail to strike the natives of the countries in which it is pro¬
duced ; and accordingly, we find that, long before gutta
percha became known to Europeans, it had been fabricated
by the Malays into whips, basins, jugs, shoes, &e., thus at
length exciting the attention of travellers, and leading to the
introduction of some of these articles into Europe under the
name of india-rubber, or, earlier still, of mazer-wood.
The honour of having drawn attention to its real nature
and uses is due to Drs D’Almeida and W. Montgomerie.
The latter, writing from Bengal, remarked on the ordinary
name of the plant thus:—“ The word is a pure Malayan
one—gutta meaning the gum or concrete juice of a plant,
vx\<\. percha the particular tree from which this is procured.
The eh is not pronounced hard like k ; but like the ch in
the English word.perch” In 1843 Dr Wm. Montgomerie,
of the Indian Medical Service, observing certain Malay
knife and kris handles, inquired the nature of the material
from which they were made; and from the crude native
manufacture inferred at once the extensive uses to which
the gutta percha might be put in the arts of Europe. He
purchased a quantity of the raw material, sending from Sing¬
apore part of it to Bengal, and part to Europe, and suggest¬
ing some of the uses to which he thought it might be ap¬
plied. The quantity sent to England secured to him at
once, as the discoverer, the gold medal of the Society of
Arts. The surgical uses of gutta percha were early dis¬
covered by Dr Oxley of Singapore, who declared it to be
“ the best and easiest substance ever discovered for the
management of fractures, combining ease and comfort to the
patient, and very much lessening the trouble of the surgeon.”
Gutta percha arrives in lumps or blocks of several pounds’
weight, but these often contain impurities, such as stones,
earth, &c., introduced by the Malays for the sake of increasing
the weight. The purification and preparation of this sub¬
stance on a large scale are conducted as follows:—The
lumps of gutta are subjected to the action of a vertical
wheel, on the face of which are fixed three knives which,
as the wheel revolves at the rate of 300 revolutions per mi¬
nute, cut the lumps into thin slices. These are then softened
in hot water, and thrown into a rotating machine, where they
are further reduced by the action of jagged teeth. From
this machine they again fall into water, and are further
GUT
Gutta cleansed. They are then kneaded into a paste in hot water,
Serena ancj roiie(l between heated cylinders. The mass has now
Guttural become uniform in texture, and is either rolled out into
^ sheets between steel rollers, or is passed in the mass through
heated iron cylinders; after which it is ready for use.
Gutta percha is scarcely affected by boiling alcohol, but it
dissolves nearly completely in benzine and in spirit of tur¬
pentine with the aid of heat, and also in naphtha, coal-tar,
sulphuret of carbon, and in chloroform. Its solution in sul-
phuret of carbon or in chloroform may be almost entirely
deprived of colour by filtering, the process being conducted
under a glass jar, in order to prevent loss by evaporation.
If this solution be exposed in a flat dish to the air, the sol¬
vent will evaporate, leaving a solid cake of white gutta
percha, which retains all the properties of the common
gutta; and it may be melted by a gradual increase of tem¬
perature without acquiring any perceptible colour.
The purposes to which gutta percha is applied are too
numerous for recapitulation. Only a few of the more im¬
portant uses can be here mentioned. It resists the action
of water, and is at the same time a bad conductor of elec¬
tricity ; it is therefore employed for inclosing the metallic
wires used in the electric telegraph. The efficiency of the
submarine telegraph is largely due to this valuable substance.
Various other maritime uses have been found for it in
the construction of buoys, life-boat apparatus, &c. Manu¬
facturers and agriculturists have applied gutta percha to use
in bands and straps for machinery, tubes, buckets, &c. Ar¬
chitects have accepted its aid in the interior ornamental
work of houses, such as cornices, centres for ceilings, &c.
Scientific men are aided in their electrical experiments by
its high insulating power. Miners, railway officials, and
others, find the value of speaking tubes made of this sub¬
stance ; deaf persons are also greatly benefited by its power
of conducting sound. Stereotype plates have been made
in gutta percha. A mould is taken by pressure of a page
of type with woodcuts in gutta percha; from this moilld a
cast is obtained on a cylinder of gutta percha, and from this
last the printing is carried on. The dentist employs gutta
percha in fixing or stopping teeth. The chemist is in¬
debted to it in the preservation and conveyance of acids
which corrode glass or metallic vessels. It is also exten¬
sively used in the manufacture of waterproof clothing, wa¬
terproof shoes, &c.
Within the last few years a substitute for gutta percha
has been discovered in the juice of the muddar (Asclepias
giganted), a common plant in India, which also affords a
valuable kind of hemp. Care is required in the collection
of the milky juice, on account of its exceedingly acrid na¬
ture ; but when exposed to the air it hardens into a sub¬
stance closely resembling gutta percha, and having many
of its valuable properties. It is, however, unfitted for elec¬
trical purposes,.for it is found to conduct electricity as freely
as a piece of untanned hide. (c. t.)
Gutta Serena (amaurosis), obscurity of vision depending
on a morbid condition of the optic nerve—its root, its
course, or its termination.
Gutta Trap, a substance evidently allied to gutta percha
and caoutchouc, employed at Singapore in the manufacture
of bird-lime. It is the inspissated juice of an artocarpus ;
and it is highly probable that there are several similar vege¬
table productions, such as the mangegatu (Ficus indica),
from Visagapatam, which might advantageously be intro¬
duced into commerce, and employed in the arts for pur¬
poses similar to those for which caoutchouc and gutta percha
are now so extensively employed.
gutta;, in Architecture, little conical-shaped orna¬
ments, somewhat resembling drops; used in the Doric
entablature, immediately under the triglyph and mutule.
GUTTURAL {V,2X. guttur), a term applied to letters or
sounds formed as it were in the throat.
GUY 163
GUTTY, in Heraldry, charged or sprinkled with drops. Gutty
GUY, Thomas, the founder of Guy’s Hospital in South- II
wark, was originally a bookseller, and afterwards a stock- Guyon-
broker in London. He made the bulk of his fortune by
the South Sea Scheme in the memorable year 1720. He
died four years later, leaving L. 18,793 for the building of
an hospital to be called by his name, and L.219,499 for its
endowment. Guy, during his life-time, had no other re¬
putation than that of an intensely avaricious and selfish man.
He left almost all his large fortune, however, in charities,
a fact which confirms, while it seems to contradict the
judgment of his contemporaries.
Guy, a rope used to steady any weighty body while it is
being hoisted or lowered ; also, a tackle to confine a boom
forward to prevent the sail from gybing. Guy likewise de¬
notes a large rope extending from the head of the main¬
mast to that of the fore-mast, to sustain the tackle used for
loading and unloading a ship.
Guy’s Cliff, in Warwickshire, a great cliff on the west
side of the Avon, 1 mile N. of Warwick. Here in the time
of the Saxons there was a hermitage, to which Guy, earl of
Warwick, is said to have retired from the world. This her¬
mitage was kept up till the reign of Henry VI. when Richard
Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, established there a chantry,
in which he erected a statue in memory of the famous Guy,
at the same time raising a roof over the adjacent springs.
GUYON, Madame, whose maiden name was Jeanne
Bouvier de la Motte, was born at Montargis in 1648. She was
educated successively in two of the convents of her native
city. On leaving school in her twelfth year, she displayed
a strong disposition to that quietism which she afterwards
brought into fame and for a time into fashion. In her six¬
teenth year she was married to M. Guyon, a man of wealth,
by whom she had five children, and who left her a widow at
the age of twenty-eight. Disengaging herself from the care
of her children, and thus snapping all her home-ties, she be¬
gan a sort of proselytizing journey through the country, in
the course of which she composed her Moyen Court et
tres-facile pour V Oraison ; Le Cantique des Cantiques, in¬
terprets selon le sens Mystique ; and Les Torrents ; works
that have now indeed ceased to excite much interest, but
which were at first praised and abused alternately, in terms
so strong as to make their author known if not famous.
Madame Guyon, having completed her “ mission,” returned
to Paris in 1686, but her views were coldly received by the
dignitaries of the church, who even thought it expedient to
confine her in a convent, while her confessor, La Combe,
was sent to the Bastille. The influence of Madame de
Maintenon soon procured the release of the innocent and
pious mystic. The first convert of note to the new gospel
was Fenelon, then an abbe; but it soon came to number
disciples even at the court of Louis the Great. It was vi¬
gorously opposed by Bossuet, who saw in it nothing but a re¬
vival of the gnostic heresy condemned by the church some
thirteen centuries before. But it was as resolutely defended
by Fenelon, who showed that Madame Guyon’s views dif¬
fered but little from those of St Therese, St Francois de
Sales, and other mystics whom the church approved. But
Bossuet had no sympathy with anything that he could not
clearly and readily understand ; and the beatific contempla¬
tions and holy raptures of Fenelon and Madame Guyon were
in his eyes no better than flat heresy. Some extravagan¬
ces committed by the more zealous of the sect determined
him to crush them and their doctrines by force. Madame
Guyon was arrested ; and the bishops were ordered to for¬
bid the reading of her works, which Bossuet set himself to
expose and refute. Fenelon’s defence of his friend in his
Maximes des Saintes, merely aggravated her disgrace and
involved himself in it. The good bishop was banished from
the court, and his book sent to Rome for condemnation by
the head of the church. •But Bossuet’s zeal overshot the
164
GUY
GUY
Guyton de mark. Many persons were disgusted with his fierce into-
Morveau. lerance, and took part with his opponents, whom they called
his victims ; while the Pope himself, instead of putting the
Ma-xirnes on the Index, merely passed upon them a censure
so gentle as to be almost equivalent to an approval. On her
release from the Bastille in 1701 or 1703, Madame Guyon
seems to have gone into retirement with one of her sons at
Diziers near Blois, where she spent the remainder of her
days in the exercise of every pious and charitable act. She
died June 9, 1717, at the age of sixty-nine.
Had Madame Guyon been a little more worldly-wise, she
might have escaped many of the sorrows and misfortunes
she had to undergo. But she often allowed her zeal to get
the better of her discretion, and used language which some
people called that of a fanatic, others of a madwoman.
Her mental structure was singularly ill-balanced, the emo¬
tional part being developed at the expense of the purely
intellectual. Her capacity of intense feeling was great, and
sometimes bore her up in poetic flights of no mean aim.
Witness her Hecueil de Poesies Spirituelles, the best of
which are familiar to most English readers in the ex¬
quisite translations of Cowper. This collection, however,
which shows the author’s strength, shows no less clearly
the author’s weakness. And one does not know whe¬
ther to laugh or be angry, when he meets such stanzas as
these:—
Grand Dieu, pour te servir,
Je suis dans une cage;
Ecoute mon ramage, &c.
* * >k *
Dieu possedant notre fond,
Kien ici-bas ne nous touche;
Je suis comme une souche;
C’est lui qui vous repond!
Had the Catholic Church exhibited in Madame Guyon’s
case the wisdom which it generally shows in absorbing the
influence of its more erratic votaries, the mystic might have
been soon forgotten. But she was not only a mystic but a
persecuted one, and has thus continued to enjoy a considera¬
tion greater perhaps than she deserves. There is no great
harm in her writings, and her life was confessedly stainless
and unimpeachable. She often in her ecstacies gives ex¬
pression to ideas which might be defined as heresy, if they
could be defined at all, but she never either openly at¬
tacked any dogma of the church, or proved by her daily life
that she was an unworthy member of it. None of her works
have any value but those already mentioned.
It is by no means proved that the Vie de Madame Guyon, ecrite
par elle-meme, which was printed after her death, is entirely of her
composition. It seems indeed to have been composed from diffe¬
rent memoirs furnished by herself, first, to the official or judge of
the bishop’s court, Cheron, and then to the Bishop of Meaux at the
time of the conferences of Issy. These materials, collected by a
redacteur still more mystical than herself, appeared at Cologne,
1720, in three vols. 12mo. The verses of Madame Guyon, or at
least those which are attributed to her, were collected and published
at Amsterdam, 1689, in five vols. 8vo, under the title of Recueil de
Poesies Spirituelles. This lady is also believed to have been the
author of Cantiques Spirituels, ou Emblemes sur VAmour divin, in
five volumes ; and La Bible traduite en Frangais, avec des Expli¬
cations et des Reflexions qui regarde la Vie interieure, Cologne, 1715,
in twenty vols. 8vo. Her treatise on Spiritual Torrents, after hav¬
ing been long circulated in manuscript, was printed, for the first
time, in her Opuscules Spirituels, Cologne, 1704, in 12mo, with a
preface describing her person. Besides these, her Lettres Spiri¬
tuelles form four vols. in 8vo ; so that her works extend in all to
thirty-nine volumes, which, however, are scarcely read now-a-days.
(See Fen^lon.) j j
GUYTON DE MORVEAU, Baron Louis Bernard,
a celebiated chemist, and an advocate of great eminence,
was the son of Antoine Guyton de Morveau and Marguerite
de Saulle his wife, and was born at Dijon, Jan. 4, 1737.
His father was of a respectableJ’amily, and filled the situ¬
ation of professor of the civil law in the University of Dijon. Guyton de
He was fond of building ; and from the artificers who were Morveau.
frequently employed about his house, young Guyton appears
to have derived, almost in his infancy, a taste for mechani¬
cal pursuits, which led to an astonishing development of
premature talent. For when he was only seven years old,
he prevailed on his father to purchase, for his amusement,
a clock which was greatly out of repair, and, as is said, he
actually put it together and remedied its defects, without
any assistance, so effectually, that it continued to go ex¬
tremely well for fifty or sixty years afterwards. The next
year he was equally successful in cleaning and repairing a
watch belonging to his mother. His education was con¬
ducted in the ordinary manner at a provincial school or col¬
lege, which he left at sixteen. Upon his return home he
applied, for a short time, to botany, and he was soon after¬
wards admitted as a student of law' in the University of Di¬
jon, where he remained for three years, and then removed
to Paris, in order to continue his studies at the bar. In
1756, he paid a visit to Voltaire at Ferney; and he seems
to have imbibed from this personage a taste for satirical
poetry, which he soon afterwards displayed, upon the oc¬
currence of a trifling accident, in a ceremony relating to a
popular Jesuit of the day. Amongst his posthumous papers,
he also left some unfinished sketches of tragedies, which are
said not to have been deficient in poetical merit.
At the age of twenty-four, when he had made some progress
in the practice of his profession as an advocate, his father
procured for him, at the price of 40,000 francs, the appoint¬
ment of advocate-general of the parliament at Dijon, so that
he had no further solicitude for the acquisition of an income
adequate to his competent subsistence. His health was then
considered as delicate; but the fears which were entertained
for it proved to be completely groundless.
In January 1764, he was made an honorary member of
the Academy of Sciences at Dijon, then lately established
under the patronage of the Prince of Conde. This occur¬
rence seems to have had considerable influence on the pur¬
suits which occupied his leisure hours ; and he soon became
by far the most distinguished ornament of the academy
which had paid him this compliment. His particular ap¬
plication to chemistry arose in a great measure out of an
accidental emulation with Dr Chardenon, who afterwards
very liberally undertook to assist him in the cultivation of
this branch of science. He studied the works of Macquer
and of Beaume, and he was furnished by the latter with the
materials necessary for the establishment of a small labora¬
tory for his own use.
With regard to the more general cultivation of literature
and science, he displayed considerable talent in a memoir
on public instruction, together with a plan for a college,
which he presented to the parliament of Burgundy, insist¬
ing, with great force and success, in opposition to Diderot,
on the importance of early education in modelling the cha¬
racter of the human mind. About the same time he also
wrote a prize essay, an Encomium on Charles V. of France,
surnamed the Wise, which was afterwards inserted in the
collection of his Discourses, published in three volumes.
In July 1767 he visited Paris with a view to the advance¬
ment of his scientific pursuits, and excited the admiration
of the most celebrated chemists of the day, by the facility
which he had acquired in the manipulation of his experi¬
ments. He entered, after his return, into the investigation
of the great question respecting the oxidation of metals,
though he did not succeed in removing the difficulties which
then embarrassed it. In 1769, he pronounced, at the open¬
ing of the parliament, an elegant oration upon morals. He
was soon afterwards engaged in some experiments respect¬
ing the communication of heat to different substances, the
results of which, though not published, were of some im¬
portance to the theory of temperature. At the request of
GUYTON DE MOEVEAU.
165
Guyton de his friend Dr Durande, he undertook to inquire into the
Morveau. nature of biliary calculi, which he found to be readily solu-
v—ble in ether; and it appears that a combination of ether
and oil of turpentine proved of advantage to several of
Dr Durande’s patients, who were suffering from these con¬
cretions.
In the year 1773 he was employed in an interesting in¬
vestigation of the mutual adhesion of the surfaces of solids
and fluids, a class of phenomena of which the mathematical
theory was never at all understood, until the publication of
an essay on the Cohesion of Fluids in the Philosophical
Transactions, soon after the beginning of this century, in
which the laws of capillary action are extended to a com¬
plete analogy with all the experiments of M. de Morveau,
as well as those of Taylor and Achard of a similar nature.
He succeeded, about the same time, in discovering a mode
of destroying the contagious vapours of pestilential diseases,
by fumigation with the muriatic acid gas; he afterwards
found the oxymuriatic acid, or pure chlorine, still more
effectual; and it does not appear that the nitric acid, since
proposed in England, has any advantages over either of
these substances.
M. de Morveau’s anxious desire to co-operate in the pro¬
motion of chemical knowledge induced him to make a new
exertion in its favour, by undertaking, in 1776, to deliver
a public and gratuitous course of lectures as a regular pro¬
fessor of the science, authorized by the approbation and en¬
couragement of his brother magistrates at Dijon. He soon
afterwards wrote some essays on the peculiar characters of
carbonic acid; and he strenuously combated the popular
prejudice which prevailed against the introduction of con¬
ductors for preserving buildings from lightning. He es¬
tablished a large manufactory of nitre, which was after¬
wards conducted by M. Courtois, the father of the famous
discoverer of iodine. From chemistry he naturally di¬
verged into the study of mineralogy; in 1777 he made a
tour through the province of Burgundy, with a view to the
examination of all its productions; and he actually dis¬
covered a rich lead mine, though, for want of coal, it was
impossible to derive much benefit from it. He also found
a white variety of the emerald in the same province, as well
as some combinations of baryta, and he invented a new
method of obtaining the pure baryta from its sulphate.
He had long been intimately acquainted with the Count
de Buffon and with Malesherbes, both persons distinguished
by elegance of taste, the one in science, the other in gene¬
ral literature. In 1779 and 1780 he enlarged his connec¬
tions among the men of letters resident at Paris; and he
was induced by Panckoucke, the bookseller, to undertake
the chemical department of the Encyclopedic Methodique ;
but it was six years before the Dictionary of Chemistry ap¬
peared ; the articles relating to pharmacy and metallurgy
were supplied by Maret and Duhamel. In the progress of
this work he found himself compelled to disbelieve the ex¬
istence of phlogiston as a distinct principle of inflammabi¬
lity, though at the beginning he had defended the doctrines
of the old school. But he soon became one of the most
zealous advocates of the new theory ; and he contributed
very much to its general introduction by the active part
which he took in the arrangement of a new nomenclature.
His proposals were at first thought objectionable by many
of the members of the Academy of Sciences ; but they soon
became generally adopted throughout Europe; and the
system was without doubt of great use for a time, as far as
it assisted the memory and the imagination in retaining the
discoveries and comprehending the theories which had so
much of novelty to make them interesting. Among the
original matter contained in the Dictionary, were some re¬
searches on the nature of steel, which coincided in their
results with those of Monge, Vandermonde, and Berthollet,
made about the same time, but published somewhat earlier.
The whole volume w'as received in the most flattering man- Guyton de
ner by all the lovers of chemistry; but it was not till 1791 Morveau.
that the author’s ambition was gratified by the award of the
Academy of Sciences, adjudging him a prize of 2000 francs,
which had been allotted to the most useful work which
should appear in the course of the year. The prize, how¬
ever, he begged to offer to the exigencies of the state, which
w'ere then very urgent. The Dictionary was afterwards ably
continued by M. de Fourcroy.
In the meantime he condescended to appear as the trans¬
lator of the Opuscula of Bergman, which he illustrated by
notes. The example was followed by Madame Picardet,
and by others of his friends, who were zealous for the pro¬
motion of science; so that the French chemists were by
these means speedily made acquainted with the labours of
all their contemporaries in different parts of the world. In
the year 1787 M. de Morveau applied his speculations to
a practical purpose, in establishing a manufactory of soda
from common salt, exposed to the atmosphere, with a large
proportion of lime, the soda slowly efflorescing as a carbo¬
nate. It was in the same year that, having published his
Collection of Pleadings, he finally resigned his office at the
bar, in order that the whole of his time might be devoted
to the pursuit of science.
His next undertaking was of a more adventurous nature;
for, in April 1784, he ascended with the President de Virly
in a balloon; and he repeated the experiment in the month
of June, hoping to be able to direct his aiirial course at
pleasure. The balloon appears to have been about 30 feet
in diameter; and, when we consider the action of the wind
upon a surface of such extent, we must be aware that every
attempt to oppose or modify it must have been perfectly
futile. He was visited soon afterwards by the ingenious
and lamented Mr Tennant, who went to Dijon purposely
to become acquainted with him, and who had an opportu¬
nity of performing some original experiments in his labo¬
ratory. He was made a member of the Royal Academy of
Medicine at Paris in 1786, as a compliment to the merits
of his labours for the preservation of the public health. He
received a visit, in the succeeding year, at once from La¬
voisier, Berthollet, and Fourcroy, together with Monge and
Vandermonde; and our countryman, Dr Beddoes, who was
then travelling in France, had the good fortune to join this
interesting party, all of them deeply engaged in the discus¬
sion of the great chemical questions which were then un¬
decided. In April 1788, M. de Morveau was placed on the
list of the foreign members of the Royal Society of London;
and the same mark of respect was also paid him at different
times by almost all the scientific societies of Europe.
In September 1791 he was unfortunately elected a mem¬
ber of the Legislative Body ; and having also been made
solicitor-general of his department, he could no longer con¬
tinue the chemical lectures which he had delivered with¬
out intermission for fifteen years, and he resigned his chair
to Dr Chausier. It must not be omitted by an impartial
biographer, that, on the 16th of January 1793, he thought
himself compelled to vote with the majority, for the death
of the king; and it is a poor compensation for this fatal
error that, in the same year, he resigned a pension of two
thousand francs a year, in favour of that republic to which
he had already sacrificed the best feelings of humanity. He
afterwards became a commissary of the assembly and was
attached to the army of the Netherlands. In this capacity,
besides many other instances of personal courage, he is said to
have rendered essential service to his countrymen, by the
construction of a balloon, in which he ascended, together with
some of the staff of General Jourdan, in order to observe
the motions of the enemy during the battle of Fleurus.
After his return to Paris he was appointed professor of
chemistry in the Ecole Poly technique, and he was an effec¬
tive co-operator in the first establishment of that useful in-
i
GUYTON DE MORVEAU.
166
Guyton de stitution. In 1795 he was again chosen a member of the
Morveau. Council of Five Hundred ; and he was appointed by the
government one of the forty-eight members of the National
Institute, then recently embodied. He had for some time
been a correspondent, but was never a member, of the Aca¬
demy of Sciences. His political engagements terminated
in 1797, when he resolved once more to devote him¬
self exclusively to science. In 1798, he fulfilled the duties
of director of the JZco/e Poly technique during the absence
of Monge, who was in Egypt, and for whom he insisted
that the salary should be reserved. The following year,
Bonaparte, then first consul, made him a general adminis¬
trator of the mint. He received the cross of the Legion
of Honour in 1803, and obtained, twro years afterwards, still
higher rank in the order, particularly as an acknowledgment
for the public benefits which had been derived from his
methods of fumigation. In 1811 he was elevated to the
dignity of a baron of the French empire.
From 1798 to 1813, he continued his labours as profes¬
sor of chemistry in the Polytechnic School; he then ob¬
tained leave to retire, but he survived only a few years, and
died of a paralytic affection, or rather of a total decay of
strength, the 21st of December 1815, at a period when the
political changes in the kingdom would have exposed him
to annoyances and perhaps hardships, which would have been
very severely felt at so advanced an age. In stature he was
rather below than above the middle size; his conversation
was animated and copious, his manners courteous and oblig¬
ing; he was full of anecdote, and always ready to commu¬
nicate whatever information he possessed. He married, late
in life, Madame Picardet, the widow of an academician of
Dijon, whose tastes and pursuits were congenial with his
own, and who had distinguished herself by translating several
works of science and of literature from the different languages
of the north of Europe. As to his numerous publications, a
bare catalogue of these will be amply sufficient to show the
extent of his researches and the variety of his pursuits. It
is the more necessary to do justice to his diligence and per¬
severance, as we cannot easily point out any one important
discovery or invention that can be considered as commen¬
surate with the high promise of his early infancy. The ar¬
ticle Acid of the Dictionary, and the Methodical Nomen¬
clature, must be ranked as the best of his productions ; but
the character of both these is rather useful than splendid.
1. LeRat Iconoclaste, poeme heroi-comique, 12. Dijon, 1763. 2.
Meraoire sur I’Instruction publique, 12. Dijon, 1764. 3. Eloge du
President Jeanin, Paris, 1766. 4. On the effect of air in combus¬
tion; Mem. Acad. Dij. i., 1769, p. 416. 5. Maniere d’eprouver les
charbons de pierre, Dijon, 1769. 6. Reflexions sur la boussole a
double aiguille, Dijon, 1771. 7. Hauteurs barometriques, Dijon,
1771. 8. Consultation juridico-cbimique sur le charbon fossile,
Dijon, 1771. 9. Plaidoyer sur Pcpoquede demence d’un testateur,
Dijon, 1772. 10. Digressions Academiques, 12. Dijon, 1772. 11.
On a cold effervescence; Mem. Ac. Dij. ii., 1771, p. 183. 12. On
the displacement of a wood, and on a cavern, p. 225. 13. Defense
de la volatilite du phlogistique, 12. Paris. 1772. 14. Reflections
surle parallele du phlogistique et du causticum, Dijon, 1773. 15.
On the coal of Montcenis in Burgundy; Journ. Phys. ii., p. 445.
16. On platina, and its alloy with steel, vi., p. 193. 17. Discours
Publics, 3 vols. Dijon and Paris, 1775. 18. On a fossil tooth ; Journ.
Phys. vii., p. 414; Mem. Ac. Dij. 1785, i., p. 102. 19. On the crys¬
tallization of iron; Journ. Phys. viii., p. 348, ix., p. 303; Mem.
Sav. Etr. ix., p. 513. 20. Elemens de Chimie theorique et pratique,
4 vols. 12 Dijon, 1777; a clear and elegant compendium. 21. On
metallic crystallizations; Journ. Phys. xiii., p. 90. 22. On a sin¬
gular petrifaction, xv., p. 89. 23. On some properties of man¬
ganese, xvi., p. 156. 24. On the red selenite of Montolier, xvi., p.
443. 25. Opuscules de Bergman, 2 vols. 8. Dijon, 1780, translated,
with notes. 26. On simple earths, especially absorbents; Journ.
Phys. xvii., p. 216, xviii., p. 68. 27. On the improvement of co¬
lours used in painting; Mem. Ac. Dij. 1782, p. 1. 28. On the con¬
gelation of sulphuric acid, p. 68. 29. On some ores of copper, p.
100. 30. On baryta, p. 159; Journ. Phys. xviii., p. 299. 31. On
biliary concretions, in Durande’s Memoir; Mem. Ac. Dij. 1782, i.,
p. 199, p. 26. 32. On the manufacture of nitre, p, 1,16. 33. On
an ore of lead, p. 41. 34. Lettre a M. J. Z. sur 1’influence de I’gdu- Guyton de
cation publique, Dijon, 1782. 35. On a sulphuret of zinc; M. Ac. Morveau.
Dij. 1783, i., p. 37. 36. On an incombustible coal, p. 76. 37. On ^
a spirit lamp for experiments, p. 159. 38. On the acetate of bis-
muth, p. 187. 39. On the karabic or succinic acid, ii., p. 1. 40.
On an areometer for sugar boilers, p. 52. 41. On a meagre lime¬
stone of Brion, p. 90, fit for terras. 42. On the mephitic gas con¬
tained in water, 1784, i., p. 85. 43. On the alteration of gold boiled
in nitric acid, ii., p. 133. 44. On the natural dissolution of quartz ;
Swed. Trans. 1784; Mem. Ac. Dij. 1785, i., p. 46, 60. 45. On
sugar and its acid, p. 90. 46. Description de Paerostat de PAca-
demie, Dijon, 1784. 47. Plaidoyers sur plusieurs questions impor-
tantes, 4. Dijon, 1785. 48. On the conversion of iron into steel,
and on plumbago; Journ. Phys. 1786, 308. 49. Encyclopedic Me-
thodique, chimie, vol. i., 4, Paris, 1786, with Maret and Duhamel,
noticed Ann. Chim. vii., p. 24. 50. Methode de Nomenclature
chimique, 8. Paris, 1787, by de Morveau, Lavoisier, Berthollet, and
De Fourcroy. 51. On the reduction of an oxyd ; Ann. Chim. i., p.
106. 52. On adamantine spar, p. 188. 53. On the expansion of
gases, p. 256. 54. On adhesion, vii., p. 32. 55. On the affinity of
mercury with metals, p. 42. 56. On some pneumatic apparatus, p.
50. 57. On the alteration of solutions heated in glass vessels, ix.,
p. 3. 58. On saturation and supersaturation, x., p. 38. 59. On a
gravimeter, xxi., p. 3. 60. On a French hyacinth, containing zir-
conia, p. 72. 61. Notice of a scientific institution at Erfurt, xxii.,
p. 81. 62. Extract of a work on the agriculture and arts of Spain,
p. 310. 63. Report of the labours of the society at Rouen, p. 320.
64. Notice of Nicholson’s Journal, xxiii., p. 173. 65. On a native
sulphate of strontia, p. 216, 66. On the saltpetre of commerce, p.
225, xxv. 231. 67. On the acid and ores of tin, xxiv., p. 127. 68.
Extract from Nicholson, p. 156. 69. On basaltic prisms, p. 160.
70. On a micaceous ore of iron, p. 161. 71. Notes on Nicholson, p.
175. 72. On the manufactory of soap, p. 199. 73. On pumice
stone, p. 200. 74. On obtaining fire and water for chemical expe¬
riments, p. 310. 75. On platina, xxv., p. 3. 76. On sugar, p. 37.
77. Note from Nicholson, p. 69. 78. On the combustion of the
diamond, p. 76. 79. On alcarrazas, or cooling jars, p. 167. 80.
On the water of Caldas, p. 180. 81. On nomenclature, p. 205. 82.
On the composition of salts, from Kirwan, with tables, p. 282, 292,
296. 83. On the conducting power of charcoal for heat, xxvi., p.
225. 84. On the action of fused nitre on gold, silver, and platina,
xxvii., p. 42. 85. On tempering steel, p. 186. 86. On odorous
emanations, p. 218. 87. On the precipitation of silica by lime,
xxvii., p. 320. 88. On iron and cast steel, from Clouet’s experi¬
ments, xxviii., p. 19. 89. On the natural productions of Spain,
from Fernandes, p. 311. 90. On the succinic acid, xxix., p. 161,
91. On the destruction of contagious matter, p. 209. 92. On arti¬
ficial coolings, p. 291. 93. On the application of gas to wounds, p.
305. 94. On the fusibility of mixed earths, and on their mutual
action, p. 320. 95. On a peculiar crystallization of quartz, xxx.,
p. 117. 96. On the action of metallic substances on vegetable co¬
lours, and on lacs, p. 180. 97. On the combustion of a diamond,
xxxi., p. 72. 98. Notice of Reuss’s mineralogical dictionary, p.
177. 99. On the affinities of the earths, p. 246. 100. Note on the
silica found by Davy in the epidermis of vegetables, p. 276. 101.
On the conversion of iron into cast steel by a diamond, p. 328;
the diamond weighed thirteen grains. 102. On the conversion of
diamond into charcoal, and on the disoxigenization of sulphur,
xxxii., p. 62. 103. Comparison of the French and German weights,
p. 225. 104. Extract of Thenard’s memoir on antimony, p. 257.
105. Chemical news, p. 328. 106. Account of Libes’s theory of
elasticity, xxxiii., p. 110. 107. On the colouring principle of the
lapis lazuli, xxxiv., p. 54, supposed to be a sulphuret of iron com¬
bined with earth. 108. Note on adhesion, p. 199. 109. On the
theory of crystallization, Journal de 1’Ec. Polyt. i., p. 278. 110.
Analysis of a chalcedony, p. 287. 111. On the composition and
proportions of salts, M. Inst. Sc. ii., p. 326. 112. On anomalies in
affinities, p. 460, v., p. 55. 113. On the composition of the alcalis,
Hi., p. 321 ; supposing them to contain lime. 114. On a metal
proper for small coins, vii. ii., p. 80. 115. On the measurement
of high temperature, and on expansion, ix. ii., p. i.; a thermometer
of platina. 116. On the tenacity of ductile metals, and on the dif¬
ferent densities of lead, x., p. 267; Extract Ann. Chim. Ixxi., p.
189. To return to the Annaks de Chimie, in which he continued
to be an active co-operator to the close of his life, we find a multi¬
plicity of his essays and abstracts in the latter volumes. 117. On
lime and mortar, xxxvii., p. 253. 118. Report on the tartaric acid,
xxxviii., p. 30. 119. On a lamp, p. 135. 120. On Woodhouse’s
opinion of phlogiston, p. 272, 121. On a cold combustion of the
carbonic oxyd, xxxix., p. 18. 122. Treatise on the means of disinfect¬
ing the air ; Extr. Annales Chimie, xxxix., p. 74, in Dutch by Luits-
chius, noticed Ann. Chim. xlvi., p. 105. 123. On the analysis and
synthesis of earths, p. 171. 124. On a stove, xli., p. 79. 125. On
bell-metal, p. 167. 126. On an instrument for examining gold
G W A
Gwalior, coin, xlii., p. 23. 127. On Burkitt’s apparatus for distillation, p.
j 191. 128. Note on propolis, p. 195. 129. Extract from Nicholson,
" p. 205. 130. On Davy’s eudiometer, p. 301. 131. On some alloys
of iron, xliii., p. 47. 132. On the dilatation of gases, p. 153, 154,
156. 133. On prussic precipitates, p. 185. 134. On colcothar for
polishing, p. 331. 135. Extract from Nicholson, xliv., p. 21. 136.
On Mitchell’s nomenclature, p. 305. 137. On fumigation, p. 286;
xlvi., p. 113; li., p. 311 ; lii., p. 347; Ivi., p. 103, 114; Ixii., p.
113; Ixiv., p. 183. 138. On a pyrometer of platina, xlvi., p. 276.
139. On a native carbonate of magnesia, xlvii., p. 85. 140. Extract
of a vocabulary, p. 93. 141. Italian novelties, p. 203, xlviii., p. 98,
186. 142. On a verificator for louis d’ors, xlvii., p. 291. 143. On
an alloy of gold and platina, p. 300. 144. Extract from Winterl,
p. 312. 145. From Chenevix on the eye, xlviii., p. 74. 146. On
a sulphate of magnesia, p. 79. 147. On a proposal for washing
with sea water, p. 108. 148. Note of Hatchett’s memoir on alloys,
1., p. 113. 149. Extract from Christobal’s chemistry of the arts,
1111., p. 115. 150. Report on the effect of disagreeable odours on
the health, liv., p. 86; not necessarily noxious. 151. Report on
chimneys, lv., p. 5. 152. On a sculptured flint, Iviii., p. 75. 153.
On filtering stones, and on specific gravities, lx., p. 121. 154. Ex¬
tract on galvanism, Ixi., p. 70. 155. On a supposed antique eme¬
rald, p. 260. 156. On nitrous ether, p. 282. 157. On the qualities
of glass, Ixii., p. 5. 158. Extract on pottery, p. 213. 159. On
galvanism, as affecting minerals, Ixiii., p. 113. 160. On chimneys,
Ixiv., p. 113. 161. Extract on diamond, Ixv., p. 84. 162. On a
hygrometer for gases, Ixviii., p. 5. 163. On oxydation in a vacuum,
Ixix., p. 261. 164. On carbonate of potass as a medicine, Ixx., p.
32. 165. On a crystallization of the diamond, p. 60. 166. On
Curaudau’s pyrotechny, Ixxi., p. 70. 167. On glass making, Ixxiii.,
p. 113. 168. On an ore of platina from St Domingo, p. 334. 169
On pyrometry, Ixxiv., p. 18, 129. 170. On potass and magnesia
as medicines, Ixxv., p. 204. 171. On laminated platina, Ixxvii., p.
297. 172. On oxymuriatic acid as a medicine, p. 305. 173. On the
effects of continued heat on pyrometrical bricks, Ixxviii., p. 73.
174. On the pseudacorus as a substitute for coffee, p. 95 ; Ixxxvi.,
p. 63. 175. On coffee as a substitute for bark, Ixxviii., p. 203. 176.
Official instructions for preventing contagion, IxxxiL, p. 205. 177.
On a lime wash for walls, Ixxxiii., p. 285. 178. On the diamond,
Ixxiv., p. 20, 233. 179. On the non-existence of sugar in diabetes,
p. 225. 180. On an indigenous tea, p. 333. 181. On Reid’s pen¬
dulum, Ixxxv., p. 183. 182. On sugar boiling, p. 192. 183. On
the diamond, Ixxxvi., p. 22. 184. On chemical police, p. 105 ; xc.,
p. 101. 185. On measures of zinc, Ixxxvi., p. 113. 186. On a
meagre lime, Ixxxviii., p. 19. 187. On biliary calculi, p. 84.
188. On the solution of calculi in the bladder, Ixxxix., p. 92.
189. On phosphorescent urine, p. 182. 190. On Album graecum,
p. 325. 191. On pyrometry, xc., p, 113, 225. 192. On mag¬
nesia as a medicine, xci., p. 224, 285. 193. On tempering steel,
xcii., p. 85. 194. On putrefaction, p. 160. 195. On poisons,
from Brodie, xciii., p. 5. 196. On the oxalic acid as a poison, p.
199. 197. On the effect of the phosphoric acid upon turmeric,
xciv., p. 223; like that of other acids. 198. On fumigations, xcv.,
p. 321; xcvi., p. 5. 199. On a solvent for biliary calculi, p. 103 ;
from Durande’s paper. (Life by Dr Granville, Journ. R. Inst.
1817.) (T. Y.)
GWALIOR, a strong and very celebrated fortress of
Hindustan, in the dominions of Scindia, in an elevated situa¬
tion on a hill, one mile and a half in length, but in few
places exceeding 300 yards in breadth. At the north end
the sides are so steep as to be nearly perpendicular, and its
height is 342 feet. It has several reservoirs of good water,
and a small river runs close past it. A stone parapet ex¬
tends all round the slope of the hill, behind which are col¬
lected piles of round stones, which form an excellent de¬
fence, and it was judged unassailable until it was stormed
in 1780 by Major Popham. The town, which stands at
the bottom of the hill, is large and populous, and contains
many good houses of stone, which is furnished in abundance
by the neighbouring hills, that form an amphitheatre round
the town and fort at the distance of from one to four miles.
The town carries on an extensive trade with the Mahratta
and British territories, and derives also considerable bene¬
fit from the Mohammedan pilgrims, who visit the tomb of
Ghose al Alum, a celebrated religious person, who is in¬
terred within the fort. Gwalior is of such antiquity that its
origin is lost in remote tradition. It must have been at all
times a military post of great consequence, both from its
central situation, and its peculiar position, which in the esti-
G W A 167
mation of the natives rendered it impregnable. It is first Gwalior,
mentioned in authentic history in the year 1023, when it
was summoned by Sultan Mahmoud of Ghizni. It was
taken by the Mohammedans in the year 1194, and was used
as a state prison, in which several princes met their death
from opium or the dagger. On the decline of the Mogul
empire, it was taken by the Mahrattas, and afterwards by
the British, as mentioned above, in 1780. It was subse¬
quently taken possession of by Scindia ; and during the war
of 1804 it again surrendered to the British troops after a
breach was made in the walls. It was not, however, taken
possession of by them, and by the treaty with Scindia in
1805 it wras ceded to that chief. Finally, in January 1844,
after the battle of Maharajpoor, it was occupied by the
Gwalior Contingent, a military force commanded by British
officers, and thus may be regarded as having been virtually
placed within the power of the British government. The
Gwalior territories, or the possessions of the family of Scin¬
dia, of which this town forms the capital, have a singularly
irregular outline, and consist of several detached districts,
the principal of which is bounded on the N.E. by the
Chumbul, dividing it from the British districts of Agra and
Etawah. The area of the whole territory extends over
33,119 square miles, and supports a population of upwards
of three millions. The founder of the ruling family was
Ranojee Scindia, who, from an humble station in the service
of the Peishwa, rose to distinction and power, and became
a chief of considerable importance. He was succeeded in
1750 by his natural son Madhajee Scindia, whose earlier
feats in arms gave little promise of his future military suc¬
cesses. At the great battle of Paniput in 1761 his followers
with difficulty escaped the general carnage, and their leader
received a desperate wound which rendered him lame for
life. From this period, however, his fortunes appear in the
ascendant, and the growth of his power is thus described by
Sir John Malcolm :—“ Madhajee Scindia took full advan¬
tage of the dissensions that occurred at Poona, after the
death of Ballajee (1761), to usurp as far as he could the
rights and lands of the head of the empire to the north of
the Nerbudda. The detail of the progress of this system
of spoliation of both friend and foe is not necessary ; suffice
it to say, this able chief was the principal opposer of the
English in the war they carried on in favour of Ragobah.
He was the nominal slave, but the rigid master of the un¬
fortunate Shah Allum, emperor of Delhi—the pretended
friend, but the designing rival of the house of Holkar—the
professed inferior in all matters of form, but the real supe¬
rior and oppressor of the Rajpoot princes of Central India ;
and the proclaimed soldier, but the actual plunderer of the
family of the Peishwa.” In 1782 the British government
recognized Madhajee as an independent sovereign ; and at
the period of his death in 1794, his dominions extended from
the River Taptee on the S. to the northern limit of the dis¬
trict of Delhi, and from the Gulf of Cambay on the W. to
the Ganges in the E., including Candeish, a portion of the
Deccan, the greatest part of Malwa, the districts of Agra
and Delhi, and the central and finest part of the Doab. He
was succeeded in his possessions by his grand-nephew
Dowlut Rao Scindia, then in the fifteenth year of his age.
Dowlut Rao, joining his forces with those of the Rajah of
Berar, the allied chiefs in 1803 invaded the territory of the
Nizam, which was under the protection of the East India
Company, and on the 23d September in that year the Mah¬
ratta army was surprised at Assye by a British force com¬
manded by General Sir Arthur Wellesley, subsequently
the illustrious Duke of Wellington, and after a prolonged
and fiercely contested battle, was totally defeated. The
overthrow of Scindia’s military resources was completed by
the subsequent defeat which the confederated Mahrattas
received from Sir Arthur Wellesley at Argum, in Berar,
and from Lord Lake at Allyghur, Delhi, and Laswaree, in
168 GYM
Gybing Northern Hindustan. At the close of the year 1803, Dow-
11 lut Rao acceded to a treaty dictated by the British govern-
Gymna- ceding, on the left bank of the Jumna, all his forts,
sium- territories, and rights in the Doab ; and on the right bank
of the river, all his forts, territories, rights, and interests in
the countries which are to the northward of those ot the
rajahs of Jeypore and Joudpore. Mugut Rao, the succes¬
sor of Dowlut Rao Scindia, dying childless in 1843, was suc¬
ceeded by Ali Jah Jyajee Scindia, who being a minor, the
widow of the deceased prince became regent. A period of
anarchy ensued, and disturbances took place, which, extend¬
ing rapidly towards the adjacent territories, compelled the
British government to resort to arms for the purpose of ob¬
taining security for the future tranquility of the common
frontier. On the 21st December 1843 the British army,
led by Sir Hugh Gough, commander-in-chief, accompanied
by Lord Ellenborough, governor-general, commenced cross¬
ing the Chumbul, near the town of Dholpore, and on the
29th came in front of the Mahratta army about 15 miles
north-east of Gw'alior, and in a position supported by the
neighbouring villages of Maharajpoor and Chonda. After
an obstinate engagement, in which the Br itish suffered very
severe loss from the well-served artillery directed against
them, the Mahrattas were dislodged from all points of their
position, and the survivors of the carnage retreated to Gwa¬
lior, having lost 56 pieces of artillery, and all their ammu¬
nition waggons. The total loss on the side of the British
was 106 killed, 684 wounded, and 7 missing. The num¬
bers engaged were nearly equal—about 14,000 on each side.
Simultaneous with the march of the commander-in-chief
from Dholpore was that of Major-General Grey with an
army of about 8000 or 9000 men from Bundlecund. Cross¬
ing the River Sinde at Chandpore, this force marched to Puni-
aur, 12 miles S.W. of Gwalior, and there, on the same day,
encountered a Mahratta army estimated at 12,000 strong,
with 24 guns. The Mahrattas, after a severe struggle, were
defeated with the loss of all their artillery, and a great num¬
ber of men. The loss on the part of the British was 25
killed and 189 wounded. Shortly after a treaty was con¬
cluded, the main provisions of which related to the seques¬
tration of a portion of Scindia’s dominions for the mainten¬
ance of a contingent force, to be commanded by British
officers, for the protection of the Gwalior territories. The
young Rajah having attained his majority, assumed the reins
of government in 1853. The town of Gwalior is in N. Lat.
26. 13., E. Long. 78. 15.
GYBING, the shifting of the boom of a fore-and-aft sail
from one side of the mast to the other, either to alter the
course of the vessel suddenly, or to accommodate the sail
to a change of wind.
GYGES. See Candaules.
GYMNASIUM, in Antiquity, the name given to any
place set apart for healthful or invigorating physical exer¬
cises. The gymnasium took its name from the fact that
such as frequented it exercised either naked (yv/ivob) or clad
only in a light tunic. The Greeks and Romans both at¬
tached much importance to the gymnasia, which formed
an integral part of their systems of education ; and the
Greeks bestowed more time and attention on the gymnastic
training of their youth than on all the other departments
put together. There was no such thing as a Greek city of
any size or importance which did not boast at least one
gymnasium. Athens had three great public gymnasia—
the Academia, Lyceum, and Cynosarges, besides numerous
private ones on a smaller scale. Solon considered these
institutions of so much importance as to draw up a special
code of laws for their management. Their administration
was entrusted to a gymnasiarch, whose duties were to watch
and control the youth, place them under proper teachers,
conduct the periodical games and festivals, and pay the
athletes whom he trained for them. In Athens the num-
G Y M
ber of gymnasiarchs appears to have been ten, but it is not Gymna-
known how they took duty, whether in rotation or other- slum
wise. Inferior in station, but not in real importance to the II
gymnasiarchs, were the “ Sophronistae,” or teachers of wis- G^t™nas'
dom, who seem, however, to have watched over the moral
rather than the physical development of the youth during
their attendance at the gymnasium. Their number, like
that of the gymnasiarchs, seems to have been also ten.
Next in rank to them came the gymnastae and paedotribae,
who had all the practical part of the teaching to do, and
who assigned to the youth kinds of exercise adapted to the
physical capabilities of each, which it was part of their bu¬
siness to study and know. The officers whose duty it was
to prepare the youth for the day’s exercise by anointing
them with oil and then besprinkling them with dust, were
called “ aliptae,” or anointers. The exercises taught appear
to have been pretty much the same over the whole of
Greece, though they seem to have been carried out with
somewhat different views. Thus the Spartans looked on
them rather as a sort of initiation into the sterner realities of
warfare, while the Athenians not only made them subserve
this end, but also used them as a means for imparting grace
to the action and movement of the limbs. The chief
games of the gymnasium were foot races, jumping, leaping,
quoits, wrestling, boxing, dancing, the pancratium, &c.,
while the younger pupils practised also with balls, tops, and
a variety of other games similar to those in vogue among
the youth of modern times.
Remains of gymnasia have been unearthed at Naples,
Ephesus, and many other cities. From these, Vitruvius
reconstructed his plan of the gymnasium, of which an en¬
graving will be found in Newton’s translation of that writer’s
works.
From these descriptions we learn that the Gymnasia were
not single edifices, but a group of buildings capacious enough
to contain many thousands of people, and consisting of
twelve different parts, viz.—1. The exterior porticoes, where
the philosophers, rhetoricians, mathematicians, physicians,
and other virtuosi, read public lectures, and where they also
disputed and rehearsed their performances ; 2. The ephe-
heum, where the youth assembled very early, to learn their
exercises in private, without any spectators ; 3. The cory-
ceum, apodytcrion, or gymnasterion, a kind of ante-cham¬
ber, where they stripped, either to bathe or exercise ; 4.
The elceothesium, alipterion, or unctuarium, appointed for
the anointings, which either preceded or followed the use
of the bath, wrestling, pancratia, &c.; 5. The canisterium,
or conistra, in which they covered themselves with sand or
dust to dry up the oil or sweat; 6. The palcestra, properly
so called, where they practised wrestling, boxing, pan¬
cratia, and other exercises; 7. The sphceristerion or tennis-
court, reserved for exercises in which balls were used ; 8.
Large unpaved alleys, which comprehended the space be¬
tween the porticoes and the walls with which the edifice
was surrounded ; 9. The xysti, or porticoes for the wrestlers
in winter or bad weather; 10. Other xysti or open alleys,
allotted for summer and fine weather, some of which were
quite open, and others planted with trees; 11. The baths,
consisting of several different apartments ; and, 12. The sta-
dium, a large space of a semicircular form, covered with
sand, and surrounded with seats for the spectators.
Gymnasium, in its modern use, sometimes signifies a
school for gymnastic exercises ; but on the Continent, par-
ticularly in Prussia, the higher schools, intended to give
immediate preparation for the universities, are called gym¬
nasia.
GYMNASTICS, in the general acceptation of the term,
denotes every exercise which tends to develope and invi¬
gorate the bodily powers ; such as walking, running, riding,
fencing, rowing, skating, dancing, and many others. In a
narrower sense gymnastics includes those manly and health-
GYMNASTICS. 169
Gymnas- ful games which have been encouraged by all high-minded
tics. nations as calculated to improve the physical strength, and
to keep alive the martial spirit ot" their inhabitants. In a
yet more limited sense, the term gymnastics has been em¬
ployed to denote that modern system of bodily exercises,
some account of which will be given in this article.
The elements of a system of gymnastics are to be found
in most nations from the earliest times. In the infancy of
society, when the individual was valued according to his
personal strength and prowess, it was only natural that the
utmost care should be bestowed on those arts which most
surely led to distinction. All education then consisted chiefly
in the practice of such exercises as were best calculated to
develop muscular strength, and make the tenure of life as
secure as possible. Thus the first gymnastic exercises, both
of those nations that have reached the highest civilization,
and of those that are now dying out in their primitive bar¬
barism, were the same, viz., running, leaping, swimming,
and the throwing of missiles. These exercises were at a
very remote period systematized and reduced to a science
by the Greeks in the manner described in the article Gym¬
nasium.
With the invention of gunpowder gymnastic exercises
began to be neglected. Rosseau in his Emile was the first
to call attention to the injurious consequences of such in¬
difference ; and it is in a large measure to his eloquent ap¬
peals that gymnastics have in recent times been made to con¬
stitute an integral part of school education. The good effects
of this innovation have in no country been more strikingly
exemplified than in Germany. When many parts of that
country groaned under the iron yoke of Napoleon, Jahn and
his followers, encouraged by the Prussian minister Stein,
were establishing turn-pldtze or gymnastic schools, from
which issued the well-trained youth who in due time drove
the French legions across the Rhine.
The propriety of employing training to develop the
powers of the body is now almost as readily acknowledged
in most countries as the necessity of education to cultivate
the faculties of the mind. But nothing is privileged from
abuse ; and empiricism, which has brought so many other
things into disrepute, has unluckily fastened upon gym¬
nastics. In the Encyclopedic Moderne we find the subject
divided into—1. Gymnastiquecivileet industrielle; 2. Gym-
nastique militaire, terrestre et maritime ; 3. Gymnastique
medicate; and, 4. Gymnastique scenique oufunambulique.
Nor is this all. Each of these divisions is subdivided into
four or five branches, as if the subject, forsooth, admitted
of the most systematic arrangement. Thus, under the
head of Gymastique medicate, are included, first, Gymnas¬
tique hygienique, ou prophylactique, pour conserver une
sante robuste ; secondly, Gymnastique therapeutique, pour
le traitement des maladies; thirdly, Gymnastique analep-
tique, ou des convalescens ; fourthly, Gymnastique ortho-
pedique, qui a pour but la guerison des defor mites.
This affectation of method is exceedingly absurd, inasmuch
as it confounds with the exercises themselves certain hy¬
pothetical uses, and assumes as the very basis of the classi¬
fication results which have not been satisfactorily ascer¬
tained. But however this may be, the importance of gym¬
nastics, in another point of view, cannot possibly be dis¬
puted. If persevered in, they are calculated to develop
every muscle of the trunk, arms, and legs, to its utmost ex¬
tent ; they give the student the most perfect command of
his whole bodily frame; they are the best preparatives for
the elegant and manly accomplishment of fencing; and they
afford excellent training for the amateurs of running, leap¬
ing, wrestling, and sparring. Nor are the advantages de¬
rived from such exercises confined to the soldier or the
sailor; their usefulness is experienced in many other si¬
tuations of life. But their importance can only be fully
known when we are called upon in emergencies of unex-
VOL. XI.
pected danger—amidst fire, shipwreck, the destruction of Gymnas-
bridges, or the fall of buildings—to evince the superiority tics,
resulting from that presence of mind and fertility of re-
sources which are conferred by the consciousness of phy¬
sical strength and nerve, and by the habit of acting and
moving where other men would be instantly paralysed.
Lastly, clear heads and light hearts, the natural concomi¬
tants of health, are the rewards of a judicious and moderate
prosecution of gymnastics.
The elementary exercises in gymnastics are performed
by means of the horizontal pole, the parallel bars, the masts
or poles, the ropes, the triangle and trapezium, the ladder,
the wooden horse, the inclined plane, and the flying course
or giant’s steps. The pupils, after being prepared by a
course of comparatively gentle but active exertion, proceed
to take lessons on the horizontal pole ; the principal use of
which is to develop the strength of the hands and arms,
though many other exercises are performed on it. The
parallel bars are usually made circular, and vary from six
to eight feet in length, and from three to four inches in dia¬
meter ; they are fixed about two feet apart, and placed at a
height of from three to four feet from the ground. Cap¬
tain Clias gives sixteen movements in this apparatus, and
Colonel Amoros thirty-eight; but it is obvious that the
lessons are susceptible of great variety, and that the inte¬
rest may be increased by fixing the bars occasionally at
the height of six or seven feet from the ground. The ex¬
ercises on the masts or poles are varied by the latter being
placed in different positions, either vertically or angularly,
and by the introduction of rope-ladders or knotted ropes.
The ropes are used sometimes plain, sometimes with large
knots in them, and sometimes with a bar across. They are
placed vertically, horizontally, and angularly, to give variety
to the exercises, which is also increased by loosening and
tightening them. The triangle and trapezium are two of
the most amusing instruments in modern gymnasiums; and,
from the lightness of their construction, and their being
constantly in motion, give an appearance of ease and grace
to all the evolutions performed on them. The invention
of the triangle has been claimed by Captain Clias, though
of right it belongs to the mountebanks of Italy, who em¬
ployed it to amuse the public long before this celebrated
gymnast was heard of; the trapezium owes its origin, or at
least its introduction into the schools, to Colonel Amoros.
The wooden ladder is usually fixed firmly between two walls,
with the lower end just high enough for the pupils to reach it
with both hands. Sometimes it is also placed perpendicu¬
larly with one end resting on the ground ; but the exercises
admit of more variety when it is placed in the position first
described. The distance between the bars in the perpen¬
dicular ladder is commonly from eight to twelve inches ;
but when its position is inclined, the spaces should always be
wide enough to admit of the pupil passing easily through
them. The rope ladder is susceptible of still greater variety
of position, and the bars are usually placed closer together,
as few movements beyond the different modes of ascending
and descending are practised upon them. The wooden
horse is for exercise in vaulting and leaping, and may be
raised or lowered upon its stand so as to suit the progress of
the different classes. The inclined plane is ordinarily a
deal plank of 25 or 30 feet in length, and about 2 feet in
breadth ; it admits of some highly useful exercises, tending
to strengthen the hands, arms, chest, abdomen, legs, and
feet. The flying course, or giant's steps, is an amusing
exercise, but affords no advantages which are not attained
by the apparatus already described. For the detail of the
exercises performed, with figures illustrative of the differ¬
ent positions, we refer to the works of Clias, Amoros, and
Roland.
Almost all the advantages which are generally supposed
to result from gymnastic exercises, may be attained by the
Y
170 G Y M
Gymnoso- practice of our own national games, which, if not in every
phists. case British in their origin, are peculiarly so by their adop-
tion and continued improvement. They merit notice, there¬
fore, first, by reason of their nationality, and because, for
the most part, they require in an eminent degree the union
of strength, perseverance, and courage. 1st, Wrestling,
though conspicuously introduced into all foreign works on
the present system of gymnastics, is little more than theo¬
retically known on the Continent; whereas, in some of
the English counties, the practical wrestlers are unrivalled.
We therefore claim this as one of our national games, and
venture to affirm that its champions will not hesitate to
enter into competition with any foreign gymnasium. 2d,
Boxing is an exercise which brings the body into active
and healthy exertion, increasing the elasticity of the limbs,
improving the play of the lungs, and giving great firmness
on the legs and power to the arms. Quickness of eye, and
accuracy in measuring distances, are also acquired by the
practice of boxing; by which, be it observed, we mean
sparring, as practised by gentlemen, that graceful imitation
battle, which differs as widely from the brutalizing exhibi¬
tions of prize-fighting, as the cestus with which Dares dashed
out the teeth of Entellus differs from the well-stuffed gloves
of a modern master. 3d, Biding, walking, and running, are
exercises requiring strength, perseverance, and activity;
and, as a nation, our recorded equestrian and pedestrian
feats may challenge Europe. We have, indeed, heard of
three Frenchmen, Gervois, Labat, and Stumon, who are
said to have run a French league in ten minutes, an exploit
which surpasses anything in our sporting annals; but the
story is too improbable to be admitted without strong con¬
firmation. 4th, Archery, one of our most ancient and manly
recreations, is still kept up in many parts of England and
Scotland; and although its champions would no doubt cut
but a sorry figure in competition with the Eockesley of
Ivanhoe, or even with him whose grandsire “ drew a good
bow at Hastings,” yet the spirit of emulation has produced
no mean degree of excellence in this graceful and healthy
exercise. 5th, Cricket is so indisputably our own, that
nothing need be said upon the subject, except that it is
yearly becoming a greater favourite in Scotland, where
formerly it was seldom played. 6th, Singlestick has now
but a small number of admirers, and its professors are of
course still more limited. 7th, Putting the stone, and throw¬
ing the hammer, fall more appropriately under the head of
Scottish gymnastics. In the Highlands of Scotland there
are instances of celebrity in throwing the hammer descend¬
ing from father to son for generations, as a family charac¬
teristic. This is most graphically described in the account
given by Sir Walter Scott of the contest between Norman
nan Ord and Hal o’ Wynd, who is represented as a perfect
prince amongst the gymnasts of an age when such accom¬
plishments were in the highest repute. It may be added
that at the present day the Scottish national games are kept
up with great spirit, and that clubs have been instituted in
various parts of the country, for the purpose of encouraging
them, by awarding medals, and other honorary distinctions,
to such as excel in these pastimes. (j. b—e.)
GYMNOSOPHISTS, an appellation bestowed by the
Greeks on the Indian philosophers in ancient times, be¬
cause, according to tradition, they went naked, or nearly
so. I hey were also called Wpaypavai, that is, Brachmans
or Brahmins. (See Brahmins, vol. v., p. 271.) They were
of two parties, Indian and Ethiopian. The former dwelt
in the woods, where they lived on the wild products of the
earth. I he Ethiopian Gymnosophists are said to have dis¬
charged the sacred functions in the manner of the Egyptian
priests, and had colleges and disciples of different classes.
The Gymnosophists were remarkable for their contempt of
death, and are said to have practised suicide in the most
deliberate manner, by casting themselves into the flames.
GYP
It is probable, however, that this was an act of devotion Gymnotus
with a view to merit immortality. In this way did Calanus
sacrifice himself in the presence of Alexander the Great; Gypsies.
and likewise did Xarimarus at Athens when Augustus was
there. The little acquaintance of the ancients with the
Indies gave rise to many wonderful stories respecting the
Gymnosophists. They appear in general to have been
wise and learned men, to judge from their maxims and dis¬
courses as recorded by historians. They kept up the dig¬
nity of their character to such a degree that they main¬
tained an independent position even in the courts of their
princes. They maintained the immortality and transmigra¬
tion of the soul, and placed the chief happiness of man in a
contempt of the gifts of fortune and of the pleasures of
sense.
GYMNOTUS, a genus of fishes, of which one species
is the electric eel. See index to Ichthyology, and Elec¬
tricity.
GYNfECEUM, among the ancient Greeks, denoted the
apartment of the women (always in the innermost part of
the house), where they employed themselves in spinning,
weaving, and needlework. At Rome, under the emperors,
there was a particular establishment of gynmcea, which were
a kind of manufactories in which women were employed
to make clothes and furniture for the imperial household.
Hence the term has sometimes been applied in modern
times to silk factories and others where females are asso¬
ciated in considerable numbers.
GYONGYOS, a market-town of Hungary, county of
Heves, at the foot of Mount Matra, 44 miles N.E. of Pesth.
It has four Roman Catholic churches, a Franciscan monas¬
tery, and a gymnasium ; manufactures of woollen cloth,
leather, hats, brandy, &c., and an active trade in cattle and
agricultural produce. Good wine is produced in the vici¬
nity. Pop. 15,000.
GYPSIES, or Gipsies, a remarkable race of Asiatic origin,
found in almost every country of Europe, in most parts of
Asia, and in the interior of Africa, and characterized for the
most part by their vagabond course of life. The word gypsy
is a corruption of E-gypti-an—the common designation of
the vagrant race in old English statutes, in accordance with
this prevalent belief, founded on their own assertion, that they
came from Egypt. Their first appearance in Europe was
about the year 1417; and though all evidence is opposed
to their being of an Egyptian stock, it seems not impro¬
bable that some at least of this scattered race may have
sojourned for a time in Egypt in their migration from the
East. A very circumstantial and elaborate account of this
singular race is given by Grellmann, in his Histor. Versuch
uber die Zigeuner, which has been translated into English
by Mr Raper, under the title of Dissertation on the Gipsies,
Lond. 1787, 4to. “ The Egyptian descent of these people,”
says Grellmann, “ is not only destitute of proofs, but the
most positive evidence is found to contradict it. Their
language differs entirely from the Coptic; and their cus¬
toms are very different from those of the Egyptians. They
are indeed to be found in Egypt; but they wander about
there as strangers, and form a distinct people, as in other
countries.” He afterwards proceeds to show that they are
sprung from the lowest class of Indians, namely, the de¬
graded Pariahs; or, as they are called in Hindustan, Sudras.
The emigration from their country he conjectures, with
much apparent probability, to have been occasioned by the
devastating expedition of Timour Beg, in the years 1408-9,
when that savage conqueror ravaged India, destroying all
who offered resistance to his arms ; while those who fell into
the enemy’s hands were made slaves, of whom, however,
100,000 were put to death. In the universal panic occa¬
sioned by these cruelties, it is conjectured that a large
number of the terrified inhabitants saved themselves by
flight; but at this point Grellmann frankly acknowledges
GYPSIES. 171
Gypsies, that he is unable to trace the route by which the fugitives
passed from Hindustan to Europe.
The gypsies are variously designated in different coun¬
tries : thus, in France they are called Bohemiens, as coming
thither from Bohemia; in Spain, Gitanos—a designation
expressive of their crafty character; in Portugal, Ciganos;
in Germany, Zigeuner ; by the Italians, the Walachiatis;
and the Turks, Zingari, Zigani, or Zingani, and Chinganehr
These various appellations would appear to have, for the
most part, a common origin ; and this perhaps is to be found
in the word Tchingani, the name of a tribe met with by
Lieutenant Pottinger in Beloochistan, near the mouth of
the Indus, and who are described as resembling the gypsies
in many of their peculiar customs. The gypsies, too, call
themselves Pharaon. or Sinte, which corresponds to Sinde,
the Hindu name for the inhabitants of Hindustan.
The language of the gypsies, though a kind of lingua-
franca, being formed out of fragments and corruptions of
many tongues, has, nevertheless, a marked oriental cast.
Most of the words are of Indian origin, and are found, in
part, with little variation, in the Sanscrit, the Malabar, and
the Bengal languages ; and many words have been adopted
from the different nations among whom they sojourn. Bishop
Heber relates that he met with a camp of gypsies on the
banks of the Ganges, who spoke the Hindu language as
their mother tongue; and he also found the same people
in Persia and Russia. Their persons and customs also bear
a striking resemblance to those of the Hindus.
There can scarcely be a doubt, that at one period a very
considerable number of the gypsy race passed into Europe
from Egypt; and, indeed, history informs us that when the
Sultan Selim conquered Egypt, a.d. 1517, many of the in¬
habitants refused to submit, to the Turkish yoke, and re¬
volted under one Zinganeus (whence their Turkish appel¬
lation of Zingani); and being at length subdued and ba¬
nished, they agreed to disperse in numerous small parties
over different countries, where their supposed skill in the
black art procured them a favourable reception in that age
of general superstition. Their numbers were quickly mul¬
tiplied by the accession of persons who imitated their lan¬
guage, manners, and complexion, and betook themselves
to the practise of chiromancy, begging, and pilfering, so
that the gypsy race came to be regarded as a nuisance in
most of the states of Europe. Accordingly, they were ex¬
pelled from France in the year 1560, and from Spain in
1591. But in 1531 they are described by statute 22d Henry
VIII., c. 10, as “an outlandish people calling themselves
Egyptians, using no craft nor feat of merchandise, who have
come into this realm, and gone from shire to shire, and
place to place, in great companies, and used great, subtle,
and crafty means to deceive the people ; bearing them in
hand that they by palmistry could tell men’s and women’s
fortunes ; and so many times by craft and subtility have
deceived the people of their money, and also have commit¬
ted many heinous felonies and robberies.” They are, there¬
fore, directed to avoid the realm, and not to return under
pain of imprisonment, and forfeiture of their goods and
chattels; and it is further declared, that upon their trials
for any felony which they may have committed, they shall
not be entitled to a jury de medietate lingua:. It was after¬
wards enacted, by statutes 1st and 2d Philip and Mary, c.
4, and 5th Eliz. c. 20, that if any such persons shall be im¬
ported into the kingdom, the importer shall forfeit L.40.
And if the Egyptians themselves remain one month in the
kingdom, or if any person being fourteen years old, whether
natural-born subject or stranger, who has been seen or found
in the fellowship of such Egyptians, or having disguised him
or herselt like them, shall remain in the same one month at
one or several times, it is felony without benefit of clergy.
Sir Matthew Hale tells us that on one occasion at the Suf¬
folk assizes, no less than thirteen persons were executed
upon these statutes a few years before the Restoration. Gypsies.
These are the latest instances of condemnation under these i ^
statutes ; yet the last sanguinary act itself was not repealed
till 23d Geo. III., c. 54.
In Scotland the gypsy tribe seem to have enjoyed some
share of indulgence; for a writ of privy seal, dated 1594,
supports John Faw, lord and earl of Little Egypt, in the
execution of justice on his company and folk, conform to
the laws of Egypt, and in punishing certain persons therein
named, who had rebelled, robbed him, absconded, and re¬
fused to return home. James’s subjects are commanded
to assist in apprehending the fugitives, and in assisting Faw
and his adherents to return to Egypt. There is another
writ in his favour from Mary Queen of Scots, 1553; and
in 1554 he obtained a pardon for the murder of Nunan
Small; so that it appears he had remained long in Scot¬
land, and perhaps spent some time in England. From him
this kind of strolling people received in Scotland the name
of the Faw Gang.
In the reigns of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, the gypsy
tribe were marked out for general persecution in England;
yet their numbers do not appear to have diminished greatly
in consequence. They are spread over all Europe; and
about the year 1830, their total number was estimated at
about three quarters of a million. It is in the south of
Spain, however, that these strolling people appear in greatest
numbers. They are also numerous in Hungary, Transyl¬
vania, and Moldavia; and are found in still greater numbers
in Bessarabia, near Constantinople, and throughout Turkey.
For nearly four centuries have these people wandered
through the world; and in every region, and among every
people, whether barbarous or civilized, they have continued
equally unchanged by the lapse of time, the variety of
climate, or the ibrce of example. Their singular physiog¬
nomy, and their peculiar manners, are the same in every
country ; their complexion receives no darker shade from
the burning sun of Africa, nor any fairer tincture from the
temperate climes of Europe. As to religion they have none;
though from motives of policy they generally profess the
established faith of the country in which they live. Many
attempts have been made to educate and civilize them ; but
they seem singularly unsusceptible of religious impressions.
In the neighbourhood of civilized life they continue bar¬
barous; are content to live in tents or in holes in the earth,
and wander in companies from place to place as fugitives and
vagalxmds. In Transylvania the gypsies have a form of
constitution, being in a manner governed by chiefs, whom
they distinguish by the Sclavonian title of waywode. To this
dignity every one is eligible who is of a iamily descended
from a former waywode; but the preference is usually given
to those who have the most wealth, or who are of a large
stature, and not past the meridian of life.
In appearance, the gypsies are of a brownish or olive
complexion, with jet black hair and dark eyes, and very
white teeth. In Spain many of the gypsy girls are con¬
sidered beauties,—a fact dependent not a little, it is pro¬
bable, on the intermixture of Spanish blood. They are also
noted for the symmetry of their limbs, which distinguishes
even the men, whose general appearance, however, is shy
and repulsive. Seldom tall or powerful in frame, they possess
much elasticity and activity, and their physiognomy denotes
carelessness and levity. In mild climates they dispense with
tents, and congregate in companies in forests and deserts.
In cold countries they find shelter in caves, or build huts
sunk in the earth, and cover them with sods laid on poles.
In Spain, and also in Hungary and Transylvania, there are
some gypsies who follow trades. They are innkeepers, far¬
riers, and dealers in horses; smiths, nail-makers, tinkers,
and menders of old pots and kettles; makers of wooden
spoons, spindles, &c.; and occasionally they engage in the
labours of the field. They have a certain degree of natu-
172 GYP
Gypsum, ral talent for music, and are often respectable performers
on the violin, flute, Jew’s-harp, &c. Iheir skill in this art
is confined to instrumental music, particularly of the dance
kind. In many places the gypsies support themselves by
rope-dancing and tricks of legerdemain; while the women find
occupation in fortune-telling, the interpretation of dreams,
and the like. In the earlier part of life, particularly in
Spain, the women are dancers ; and when they grow older,
they invariably practise fortune-telling and chiromancy. In
warm countries the gypsy children go perfectly naked for
the first few years of their life, yet are objects of much so¬
licitude to their parents, by whom they are carefully in¬
structed in lying, thieving, and all kinds of knavery, and
regarded with a degree of blind affection that seems to
border on animal instinct. The gypsies have a passion for
rings, trinkets, and all kinds of ornaments, and frequently
adorn themselves in the most heterogeneous fashion. In
England the females are generally distinguished by a cloak,
gray or red, and a coloured kerchief tied around the head.
Their domestic utensils are few, consisting usually of a pan,
a dish, a kettle, and a silver cup. They frequently possess
horses and pigs; and in England every gypsy company
has one donkey or more for the conveyance of their effects.
The gypsies, like the Pariahs, are very disgusting in many
of their customs; such as, for instance, that of eating the
flesh of animals that have died of disease. A murrain, ac¬
cordingly, is to them a welcome event. They are fond of
brandy; and both sexes are excessively addicted to the use
of tobacco, which they regard as a luxury to be obtained at
almost any sacrifice. There is no species of roguery they
will not practise in order to obtain money: for instance, it
is a common trick among the Transylvanian gypsies to have
their children baptized repeatedly, at different places, for
the sake of the present usually bestowed by the godfather
on such occasions on the poor parents of the child. They
marry very early : boys of fourteen and girls of twelve are
often man and wdfe; nor is the closest propinquity any bar
to their union. But in these matches the wily gypsy care¬
fully avoids the legal forms that might prevent a separation
in case he should tire of his mate—a thing of very common
occurrence. They never marry any but of their own race.
Such is their natural depravity, that they have a real enjoy¬
ment in cruelty; so that they were formerly employed in
preference as executioners. At the same time their cowardice
is notorious. They have occasionally been taken into the
armies in Hungary and Transylvania, but have always been
themselves very indifferent soldiers.
Besides Grellmann’s work already cited, the reader may
consult with advantage Mr Marsden’s paper on the Gypsy
Language, in vol. vii. of the Archceologia; Captain Richard¬
son’s paper on the Natas, in vol. vii. of the Asiatic Re¬
searches; Bischoff’s Deutsch-Zigeunerisches Worterhuch,
of which the preface contains an excellent summary of the
history and present state of this singular people ; Hoyland’s
Historical Survey of the Gypsies ; see also the graphic de¬
scriptions of gypsy life, as contained in Scott’s Guy Man-
nering, and in Borrow’s Gypsies in Spain.
GYPSUM, or Sulphate of Lime (yifyos of the Greeks;
Gypsum of Pliny and Vitruvius), is an abundant mineral, in
some of its forms, in many countries. It is known in Bri¬
tain and other places by the name of alabaster ; but this
designation is also applied to a granular carbonate of lime,
seemingly deposited from water, which, by way of distinc¬
tion, is named oriental alabaster. The aXd/Sao-Tpov of the
ancient Greeks, however, and the alabastrum of the Latins,
vras certainly sometimes applied to designate our gypsum,
as may be seen in Theophrastus and in Pliny.
Gypsum occurs crystallized and amorphous. The purest
sort is crystallized, and yields on analysis, sulphuric acid 46,
lime 33, water 21 per cent. The primitive form of its
‘crystals is a right oblique prism, which is variously modified.
G Y U
Its specific gravity is from 2*20 to 2*40. It is so soft as to Gyro-
be easily scratched by the nail. mancy
Gypsum occurs in all the geological formations, especially »
in the secondary, and is found crystallized, granular, fibrous, . ^ a‘
compact, and earthy. When crystallized, it is distinctly "
foliated ; and when the folia are large, it is termed selenite,
from its reflecting a moon-like lustre.
Crystallized gypsum chiefly occurs at Bex in Switzer¬
land ; at Salzburg in the Tyrol; in New Castille, especially
between Tembleque and Aranjuez; in Bohemia, France,
New York, Nova Scotia; at Shotover in Oxfordshire, and
at Chatley in Essex.
Granular and compact gypsum are the kinds used in
sculpture, and occur snow-white near Volterra in Tuscany,
in Spain, the Hartz, and other parts of Germany; in France,
and in the salt formation of Cheshire. Fibrous gypsum is
found at Ilfeld in the Hartz, in New Castille, Aragon;
and in England in Cheshire and Derbyshire. Earthy gyp¬
sum occurs abundantly in New Castille and Aragon in
Spain, at Salzburg, in Norway, and in various parts of
North America. It is found in great quantity in the en¬
virons of Paris, along with a compact gypsum, in both of
which the bones of the palseotherium, anoplotherium, and
other extinct mammals were discovered by Cuvier. The
gypsum beds of Paris contain 17 per cent, of carbonate of
lime; and this sort has been named Montmartrite, from
the locality where it occurs. This sort of gypsum forms
the best plaster of Paris, as it resists the weather better
than the purer gypsums.
There is another species of gypsum which contains no
water of crystallization, and is therefore termed anhydrite.
This mineral has a higher specific gravity than the common
gypsum, and occasionally exhibits a fine pale blue colour.
It occurs chiefly at Bex, at Sulz on the River Neckar, in
Styria; at Bleyberg in Carinthia; in Upper Austria, and in
Galicia.
Gypsum occurs in beds in gneiss and in mica-slate, and
also in greywacke-slate; but its chief deposits are in the
red clays of the secondary formation. It is found also in the
tertiary formations ; and even appears to be now forming,
by the decomposition of iron-pyrites in contact with calca¬
reous strata. It therefore must be considered as a member
of all the great geological series of rocks.
Gypsum is important in an economical point of view. It
is employed both in America and in Europe, as a top-dress¬
ing tor meadow-lands with much advantage ; but its princi¬
pal use is for the formation of plaster of Paris. For this
purpose it is burnt to expel its water of composition ; and
then when its powder is mixed with water, it forms a semi¬
liquid paste, that rapidly sets or dries by the absorption of
the water ; during which process a considerable heat is
extricated, as was long ago remarked by Pliny. This ex¬
trication of heat is owing to the water giving out its latent
heat on its condensation in the gypsum.
This property of rapid consolidation renders gypsum
very available for taking casts of works of art, or objects
of nature, as of sculptures, plants, and animals. It is
much employed in architectural ornaments ; and in Spain
and France in the construction of vaults and floors. In
smaller quantity it is employed in the glazing of porcelain ;
but its chief uses are for making casts, as a mortar, and in
agriculture.
GYROMANCY, a kind of divination performed by
walking or turning round in a ring or circle.
GYULA, a market-town of Hungary, county of Bekes,
on the White Koros, which is here navigable, and divides
the town into two portions—Magyar and Nemelt—in one
of which only Hungarian, and in the other only German, is
spoken. It has several oil mills, a castle, and an active
trade in cattle and wine, which is extensively grown in the
the districts. Pop. 15,000.
173
H.
H TT the eighth letter of the English alphabet. It is pro-
11 perly a guttural aspirate semi-vowel, and indicates a
laarlem. breathing or forcible emission of the breath. Ben Johnson
styles it “ rarely other than an aspiration in power, though
a letter in forme.” By Bishop Wilkins, again, it is regarded
as a guttural vowel, or sound formed in the throat by a full
emission of the breath. Our H in form is the same as
the uncial Greek eta (H); but it properly represents the
H of the Chaldee, Syriac, and Hebrew alphabets, which is
also the eighth letter in each. H is sometimes mute in
English, as in hour, honour, honest, hospital, &c.; or when
united with g, as in right, fought, &c. H, as an old Latin
numeral letter, denotes 200; and with a dash above it,
(h) 200,000. In Latin, as an abbreviation, H stands for homo,
hcrres, hora, fyc.; thus, H. X*>. — hceres bonorurn ; HA. =
Hadrianus ; HH = hceredes ; H. AQ. = hie acquiescit.
HAARLEM, Haerlem, or Harlem, a city of Holland,
province of North Holland, on the Spaaren, 11 miles W. of
Amsterdam, with which, as well as with Leyden, it com¬
municates by railway. Haarlem was formerly a place of
seme strength. In 1572 it held out against a Spanish force,
under the son of the Duke of Alva, for seven months, when
terms of capitulation were offered to the besieged, and ac¬
cepted. The Spaniards, however, had no sooner obtained
possession of the town than they practised every species of
cruelty upon the inhabitants, 2000 of whom were either put
to the sword or tied in pairs and thrown into the lake. It
was retaken by the Dutch in 1577. Part of the old fortifi¬
cations still exist, including a venerable gateway on the
high-road to Amsterdam. The town itself is well built and
clean, but dull; and is traversed by numerous canals, which
also connect it with all the principal towns of Holland. It
has a fine market-place, round which are some of the finest
buildings in the city. There are in all 15 churches belong¬
ing to various sects, including the cathedral of St Bavon,
which is the largest church in Holland, and is celebrated
for its organ, one of the largest and finest in the world.
This instrument was built by C. Muller of Amsterdam in
1738, and has 8000 pipes and 60 stops. The Stadhuis and
the Prinzenhof are among the finest edifices in the town.
The latter has been converted into a museum of arts, anti¬
quities, &c. In the market-place is a statue to Laurenz
Janszoon Roster, whom the Dutch maintain to have been
the inventor of printing. Haarlem is the headquarters of
the Dutch establishment of national education, and the seat
of the principal training seminary for schoolmasters in that
kingdom. It has numerous literary and scientific institu¬
tions, including a botanic garden and public library. There
are also extensive cotton factories and bleaching works, as
well as manufactures of linen, silk, velvet, ribands, thread,
&c. Excellent walks occupy the site of the ancient ram¬
parts, and the neighbourhood is adorned with gardens and
villas. In the S. outskirts of the town are famous nursery-
gardens {Bloemen Twin), where hyacinths, tulips, and other
flowers, which constitute an important branch of trade in
Haarlem, are reared. Pop. (1850) 25,778.
Haarlem Meer, or Lake of Haarlem, which has recently
been drained, lay S.E. of the towm, and was 14 miles long by
10 miles broad. It had been formed by an inundation in the
end of the sixteenth century, wThich transformed four small
lakes into one sheet of water, laid waste several villages, and
destroyed much property. It continued gradually to gain upon
the land, and in the beginning of the eighteenth century it
covered an area of 45,000 acres. The people of Holland saw
with much alarm the rapid extension of its boundaries, and at
an expense of about L.33,000 succeeded in partially arresting
its progress ; but the annual cost of repairs to the works of de¬
fence had for a considerable period amounted to between L.3000
and L.4000. Various schemes had been proposed for the
drainage of the lake, but it was not till 1839 that effectual
means were taken for that object. On the 9th of November 1836
a furious hurricane from the west had driven the waters of the
lake upon the city of Amsterdam, and inundated upwards of
10,000 acres of low land in the neighbourhood ; and on the
25th of December following another hurricane impelled the
water in the opposite direction upon the city of Leyden, the
lower parts of which were submerged during 48 hours, and
19,000 acres of land covered with water. The enormous loss
occasioned by these two storms determined the government on
the drainage of the lake. The first business was to dig a canal
round the lake for the reception of the water, and to accommo¬
date the great traffic which had hitherto been carried on by
means of it. This canal was made 38 miles in length, 130 feet
wide on the west side, and 115 feet on the east side of the lake,
and 9 feet deep. All the inlets into the lake were then closed
by large earthen dams ; and various works were executed to
facilitate the flow of water into the sea. These preliminary
works occupied till 1845. To give some idea of the magnitude
of the undertaking, it may be mentioned that the area of water
inclosed by the canal was rather more than 70 square miles,
and the average depth of the lake was 13 feet l-44 inches. The
water had no natural outfall, being below the lowest possible
point of sluiceage ; and, including rain water, springs, &c.,
during the time of drainage, it was calculated that probably
1000 million tons would have to be raised by mechanical
means. After drainage too, the site could only be kept dry by
mechanical power, so that the annual drainage might amount
to 54,000,000 tons, to be raised on an average 16 feet, and it
might happen that as much as 35,000,000 tons of that amount
would have to be raised in one month. A gigantic steam-engine
of a peculiar construction, designed by Messrs J. Gibb and A.
Dean of London, was erected and found to answer the highest
expectations. It could raise 112 tons of water at each stroke,
and was capable of discharging 1,000,000 tons in 25-£- hours;
while the consumption of fuel was only one-sixth part of the
average consumption of ordinary draining engines. To describe
this engine briefly;—it consists of two steam cylinders, one of
84 inches diameter placed within another of 144 inches diame¬
ter, both fitted with pistons, the outer being of course annular.
The two pistons are united to a great cross head or cap, which
is furnished with a guide rod or spindle—both pistons and
cross-head being fitted with iron plates, and, together with parts
of the engine attached, having an effective weight of nearly 90
tons. The engine-house is a circular tower, on the walls of which
are arranged eleven large cast-iron balance-beams, which radiate
from the centre of the engine. Their inner ends, furnished
with rollers, are brought under the circular body of the great
cap, and their outer ends are connected to the pistons of eleven
pumps, each of 63 inches diameter ; the stroke of both ends is
10 feet, and the discharge from the pumps is 66 tons of water
per stroke. The action of the engine is very simple ; it is on
the high-pressure-expansive-condensing principle. The steam
is admitted first beneath the small piston ; and the dead weight
of 90 tons is lifted, carrying with it the inner end of the pump
balances, and of course allowing the pistons to descend in the
pumps. The equilibrium valve then opens, and the steam in
the cylinders passes round to the upper surface of the small
and annular pistons, puts the former in a state of equilibrium,
and presses with two-thirds of its force upon the annular piston,
beneath which a vacuum is always maintained ; thus the down
stroke of the engine, and the elevation of the pump pistons
and water, is produced by the joint action of the descending
dead-weight in the cap and pistons, and the pressure of steam
on the annular piston. The steam is expanded from six to
eight times its original volume. The engine has two air-pumps
of 40 inches diameter, and 5 feet stroke each. The total weight
of iron employed for the engine-pumps, &c., is 640 tons ; and
the cost of the machinery and buildings was L.36,000. The
water is lifted by the pumps into the canal, from which it
passes off1 towards the sea-sluices. Two other engines of equal
Haarlem.
174 H A B
tt i i t t size and power were afterwards constructed by Messrs Harvey
i| of Hayle and Messrs Fox and Co. of Perran, in Cornwall, the
Habeas makers of the previous one. The pumping commenced ^in
Corpus. May 1848, and the lake was rendered dry by 1st July 1852.
v ^ The first sale of the highest lands along the banks took place
on 16th August 1853, when 784 hectares brought in 575,000
florins, or 733 florins per hectare. A second sale took place the
same month, when 1273 hectares were sold for 742,450 florins,
or 583 florins per hectare. Six sales have subsequently taken
place, so that now 12,634 hectares (31,218 acres) have been
sold for 5,973,953 florins (L.497,829). There are still (1856)
4200 hectares for sale, and 32 hectares reserved for villages ; so
that altogether 16,866 hectares, or 41,675 acres, have been re¬
claimed. The 12,643 hectares sold since 1853 have all this
year produced their first or second crops.
The entire expense of drainage from 1839 to 31st December
1855 was 8,981,344 florins (L.748,445), which it is calculated
will be entirely covered by the price of the reclaimed land.
HABAKKUK {embraced or embracing), one of the
twelve minor prophets of the Old Testament. Of his his¬
tory we have only apocryphal accounts ; but from the desig¬
nation (iii. 19) we may conclude that he was of the tribe of
Levi, and officially connected with the musical service of
the temple. The burden of his prophecy is in regard to the
invasion of Palestine by the Chaldseans, which, though in¬
credible when he wrote, was to happen in less than a gene¬
ration after his time. Accordingly, his period may be fixed
as between 650 and 627 b.c., not very long before the ad¬
vent of Jeremiah, and at a still shorter interval before
Zephaniah. His style is artistic, but, at the same time,
pure. The canonicity of the book is undoubted. (Delitzsch,
Der Prophet Ilabakuk, Leipzig, 1843.)
HABEAS CORPUS, in English Law, a celebrated
writ, deriving its name, like other writs, from the formal
words contained in it. This writ is used for various pur¬
poses ; but the chief of these, being that which is always
understood by Habeas Corpus without further explanation,
is the release or bailing of a person who considers himself
illegally imprisoned, or entitled to be discharged upon bail.
Of the various other kinds made use of by the courts at
Westminster, for removing prisoners from one court into
another for the more easy administration of justice,—1st,
The habeas corpus ad respondendum is issued when a man
has a cause of action against one who is confined by the pro¬
cess of some inferior court, in order to remove the prisoner,
and charge him with this new action in the court above;
2d, The habeas corpus ad satisfaciendum issues when a pri¬
soner has had judgment against him in an action, and the
plaintiff is desirous to bring him up to some superior court
to charge him with the process of execution ; 3d, The simi¬
lar writs ad prosequendum, testificandum, deliberandum,
&c., issue when it is necessary to remove a prisoner, in order
to prosecute or bear testimony in any court, or to be tried in
the proper jurisdiction in which the fact was committed;
4th, The common writ ad faciendum et recipiendum, issues
out of any of the courts of Westminster Hall, when a per¬
son is sued in some inferior jurisdiction, and is desirous to
remove the action into the superior court; commanding the
inferior judges to produce the body of the defendant, to¬
gether with the day and cause of his caption and detainer
(whence the writ is frequently denominated a habeas corpus
cum causa), to do and receive whatsoever the court shall
consider in that behalf. But the great and efficacious writ,
in all manner of illegal confinement, is that of habeas corpus
ad subjiciendum, directed to the person detaining another,
and commanding him to produce the body of the prisoner,
with a specification of the day and cause of his caption and
detention, ad faciendum, subjiciendum, et recipiendum, to
do, submit to, and receive whatsoever the judge or court
awarding such writ shall consider in that behalf. This is a
high prerogative writ, and, therefore, by the common law,
issues out of the Court of Queen’s Bench, not only in term-
H A B
time, but also during the vacation, by a fiat from the Chief- Habeas
justice, or any other of the judges, and runs into all parts CorpusAc
of the Queen’s dominions except Scotland; for the sove-
reign is at all times entitled to have an account why the
liberty of any subject is restrained, wherever that restraint
may be inflicted. If it issues in vacation, it is usually re¬
turnable before the judge himself who awarded it, and he
proceeds by himself thereon ; unless the term should inter¬
vene, and then it may be returned in court. Indeed, if the
party were privileged in the Courts of Common Pleas and
Exchequer, as being an officer or suitor of the court, a
habeas corpus ad subjiciendum might also have been
awarded from thence ; and if the cause of imprisonment
were palpably illegal, they might have discharged him.
But if he were committed for any criminal matter, they
could only have remanded him, or taken bail for his appear¬
ance in the Court of King’s Bench, which occasioned the
Common Pleas to discountenance such applications. But
since the mention of the King’s Bench and Common Pleas
as co-ordinate in this jurisdiction, by statute 16th Car. I.,
cap. 10, it has been held that every subject of the kingdom
is equally entitled to the benefit of the common-law writ in
either of those courts at his option. It has also been said,
and by very respectable authorities, that the like habeas
corpus may issue out of the Court of Chancery in vacation ;
but upon the famous application to Lord Nottingham by
Jenks, notwithstanding the most diligent searches, no pre¬
cedent could be found where the chancellor had issued such
a writ in vacation, and therefore his lordship refused it.
In the Court of Queen’s Bench it was, and still is, neces¬
sary to apply for it by motion to the court, as in the case of
all other prerogative writs, such as certiorari, prohibition,
mandamus, and the like, which do not issue as of mere
course, without showing some probable cause why the extra¬
ordinary power of the crown is called in to the party’s assis¬
tance. For, as it was argued by Lord Chief-Justice Vaughan,
“ it is granted on motion, because it cannot be had of course,
and there is therefore no necessity to grant it; for the court
ought to be satisfied that the party has a probable cause to
be delivered.” And this seems the more reasonable, be¬
cause, when once granted, the person to whom it is directed
can return no satisfactory excuse for not bringing up the
body of the prisoner. So that, if it issued of mere course,
without showing to the court or judge some reasonable
ground for awarding it, a traitor 6r felon under sentence of
death, a soldier or mariner in the service of the crown, a
wife, a child, a relation, or a domestic, confined for insanity
or other prudential reasons, might obtain a temporary en¬
largement by suing out a habeas corpus, though sure to be
remanded as soon as brought up to the court. And there¬
fore Sir Edward Coke, when Chief-justice, did not scruple
(in 13 Jac. I.) to deny a habeas corpus to one confined by
the Court of Admiralty for piracy, there appearing, upon his
own showing, sufficient grounds to confine him. On the
other hand, if a probable ground be shown that the party is
imprisoned without just cause, and therefore has a right to
be delivered, the right of habeas corpus is then a writ of
right which “may not be denied, but ought to be granted
to every man that is committed, or detained in prison, or
otherwise restrained, though it be by the command of the
king, the privy council, or any other.”
Habeas Cokfus Act is the famous act of 31st Car. II.,
cap. 2, which is frequently considered as another magna
charta of the kingdom. It enacts—1. That on complaint and
request in writing by or on behalf of any person committed
and charged with any crime (unless committed for treason
or felony expressed in the warrant), or as accessary, or on
suspicion of being accessary, before the fact, to any petit-
treason or felony, plainly expressed in the warrant, or unless
he is convicted or charged in execution by legal process,
the Lord Chancellor, or any of the twelve judges in vaca-
H A B H A C 175
Habeas tion, upon viewing a copy of the warrant, or affidavit that a
jarpusAct. copy is denied, shall, unless the party has neglected for two
terms to apply to any court for his enlargement, award a
habeas corpus for such prisoner, returnable immediately
before himself or any other of the judges ; and, upon the
return made, shall discharge the party, if bailable, upon
giving security to appear and answer to the accusation in
the proper court of judicature. 2. That such writs shall be
indorsed, as granted in pursuance of this act, and signed by
the person awarding them. 3. That the writ ol habeas
corpus shall be returned and the prisoner brought up, within
a limited time according to the distance, not exceeding in
any case twenty days. 4. That officers and keepers ne¬
glecting to make due returns, or not delivering to the pri¬
soner or his agent, within six hours after demand, a copy of
the warrant of commitment, or shifting the custody of a pri¬
soner from one to another without sufficient reason or autho¬
rity (specified in the act), shall, for the first offence, forfeit
L.100, and for the second offence L.200, to the party
grieved, and be disabled to hold his office, o. That no per¬
son, once delivered by habeas corpus, shall be re-committed
for the same offence, on penalty of L.500. 6. That every
person committed for treason or felony shall, if he requires
it the first week of the next term, or the first day of the
next session of oyer and terminer, be indicted in that term
or session, or else admitted to bail, unless the crown witnesses
cannot be produced at that time ; and if acquitted, or if not
indicted and tried in the second term or session, he shall be
discharged from his imprisonment for such imputed offence ;
but that no person, after the assizes shall be opened for the
county in which he is detained, shall be removed by habeas
corpus until after the assizes are ended, but shall be left to the
justice of the judges of assize. 7. That any such prisoner
may move for and obtain his habeas corpus as well out of
the Chancery or Exchequer as cut of the King’s Bench or
Common Pleas; and the Lord Chancellor or judges deny¬
ing the same, on sight of the warrant, shall, on oath that the
same is refused, forfeit severally to the party grieved the sum
of L.500. 8. That the writ of habeas corpus shall run into the
counties palatine, cinque ports, and other privileged places,
and the islands of Jersey and Guernsey. 9. That no inhabi¬
tant of England, except persons contracting, or convicts
praying to be transported, or having committed some capital
offence in the place to which they are sent, shall be sent
prisoners to Scotland, Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, or any
places beyond the seas, within or without the British do¬
minions, on pain that the party committing, his advisers,
aiders, and assistants, shall forfeit to the party grieved a sum
not less than L.500, to be recovered with treble costs, shall
be disabled from holding any office of trust or profit, shall
incur the penalties of praemunire, and shall be incapable of
the royal pardon.
This is the substance of that great and important statute,
which extends only to the case of commitments for such
criminal charges as can produce no inconvenience to public
justice by a temporary enlargement of the prisoner ; all
other cases of unjust imprisonment being left to the habeas
corpus at common law. But even upon writs at the common
law it is expected by the court, agreeably to ancient prece¬
dents and the spirit of the act of parliament, that the writ
should be immediately obeyed, without waiting for any alias
or pluries ; otherwise an attachment will issue. By these
admirable regulations, judicial as well as parliamentary, the
remedy is now complete for removing the injury of unjust
and illegal confinement; a remedy the more necessary, be¬
cause the oppression does not always arise designedly, but
sometimes from the mere inattention of government. For
it frequently happens in foreign countries, and has happened
in England during the temporary suspension of the statute,
that persons apprehended upon suspicion have suffered a long
imprisonment merely because they were forgotten.
In Scots Laic, the form corresponding tofhohabeas cor¬
pus is called “ Running Letters.”
HABERDASHER, a dealer in such wares as silks, rib¬
bons, cotton and woollen fabrics, &c. The word has inge¬
niously been derived from the Saxon hob vihr das, i.e.,
Will you buy this ? but its etymology is very doubtful.
HABERGEON, a coat of mail, or piece of defensive
armour, descending from the neck to the middle, and formed
of little iron rings linked into each other. It is also written
haberge, hauberge, haubere, haubert, hautber, hautbert, and
hauberk. Spelman derives it from the ancient French hault,
high, and berg, armour or covering; Du Cange and Skinner
from the Belgic hals, or Teutonic haltz, neck, and bergen,
to defend.
HACHETTE, Jean Nicolas Pierke, an eminent French
geometer, was born at Mezieres, May 6, 1769 or 1770. His
father was a barber, and without the means of educating his
son. The genius of the youth, however, was speedily re¬
cognised by Monge, then living at Mezieres. By his kind¬
ness the young Hachette was sent to the university of Reims,
where he studied so successfully, that at the age of twenty-
three he defeated all his fellow candidates in the concours
for the professorship of hydrography at Collioure and Port-
Vendre. When the polytechnic school was opened in 1794,
Hachette was attached to the professional staff, with the de¬
partment of descriptive geometry, and trained some of the
very best geometers of his age and country, such as Pois¬
son, Arago, Fresnel, and many others. He held this office
till the restoration of the Bourbons, who deprived him of it
and expelled him from the Institute. The Revolution of
1830 reinstated him in his offices and honours, of which he
retained peaceful possession till his death, four years later,
Jan. 16, 1834. Hachette’s character as a man stood as
high as his scientific fame. His personal worth was of that
solid and unostentatious kind, more common in England
than in France, though appreciated quite as fully in the
latter as in the former country. His high sense of duty,
his simplicity, and his quiet benevolence, endeared him to
all who enjoyed the privilege either of his instructions or of
his private friendship. His services to science lay chiefly
in the field of descriptive geometry, with which he was pro¬
foundly acquainted, both in its theory and its practical ap¬
plication to the arts, especially in the construction of ma¬
chinery. To him is due the merit of having given to
machinery that impulse, in virtue of which France has in
that department advanced so rapidly and so far since his
day‘
Hachette’s principal works are his Deux Supplements a la Geome-
trie Descriptive de Monge, 1811 and 1818 respectively ; Diemens de
Geometrie d Trois Dimensions, Paris, 1817 ; Collection des Epures de
Geometric d Trois Dimensions, &c., 1795 and 1817 ; Applications de
Geometric Descriptive, Paris, 1817; Traite de Geometrie Desci iptive,
&c., Paris, 1822; Traite Elementaire des Machines, Paris, 1811;
Correspondance surVEcole Polytechnique, 1804—1815. llachette also
contributed many valuable papers to the leading scientific journals
of the day.
Haber¬
dasher
II
Hacket.
HACKET, John, D.D. (1592-1670), bishop of Lich¬
field and Coventry, was educated first at Westminster and
afterwards at Trinity College, Cambridge. In the civil war
he espoused the royal cause with an indiscreet zeal that got
him into trouble when victory sided with the parliament.
At the Restoration, however, he was promoted to the bishop¬
ric of Lichfield and Coventry, which he held till his death.
Hacket’s name will be long remembered in the history of
church architecture in Britain. He restored, with skill and
success, the cathedral of Lichfield, which had been seriously
damaged in the iconoclastic fury of the Puritans. With
indefatigable zeal he set himself to collect subscriptions for
its repair, which seems to have cost about L.20,000. Of
this sum he contributed himself nearly one-tenth. As an
author, Hacket is only known to have written Loyola, a
comedy which was twice acted before James II. After his
176 - H A C
Hackney death appeared a Century of Sermons on several remarkable
Faddino- sukjectsi an(^ a Life of Archbishop Williams. All these
ton wor^s are now forgotten.
v ^ HACKNEY, a suburb of London, parish of St John,
Hackney. See London.
HACKNEr Coaches. See Coach. The term is derived
from the French haquenee, a strong kind of horse formerly
lent out on hire for short journeys in France, and afterwards
employed to draw a plain vehicle for the accommodation of
several travellers together. This vehicle was called coche-
a-haquenee, whence the term hackney-coach.
HACQ.UETON, a stuffed jerkin, generally of leather,
formerly worn under armour.
HADDINGTON, a royal burgh of Scotland, and county
town of Haddingtonshire, or East Lothian. It stands on
the left bank of the Tyne, about 17 miles from Edinburgh,
on the post road between that capital and Berwick-upon-
Tweed. Haddington is a town of great antiquity, but the
exact date of its origin is unknown. It is first mentioned
in the records of the 12th century as part of the demesne
of the Scottish king. It was created a burgh by David L,
who held it, along with a church and mill, and other appur¬
tenances of a manor. Ada, wife of Henry the son and heir
of this monarch, received this burgh as her dower, and was
very attentive to its interests. In 1178 she founded here
a convent of Cistercian nuns, and endowed it with the lands
of Clerkington. After her death, the burgh became the
property of her son, William the Lion, whose son, Alexan¬
der II., was born here in 1198. In 1216 Haddington was
burnt, along with the neighbouring burgh of Dunbar, by an
invading army under John, king of England. Being rebuilt
with wood, it was again burnt to the ground in 1244. Some
attributed the fire to the work of an incendiary, for it was
remarked that six other Scottish towns were burnt on the
same night. In 1355, it was reduced to ashes for the third
time by Edward HI. of England, and the monastery of
Haddington, with the splendid church of the Franciscans
or Grey Friars, destroyed. The choir of this church, from
its great elegance, and from the number of lights kept con¬
stantly burning in it, was commonly called the Lamp of
Lothian {Lucerna Laudonice). The year after the battle
of Pinkie, 1548, Haddington was seized and strongly forti¬
fied by the English. An allied army of Scotch and French
laid siege to it, and, after a memorable defence, it was eva¬
cuated by the English in October 1549. In 1598 this
town was again consumed by fire; but in this instance the
fire was entirely accidental.
Haddington, being built on low ground, little above the
level of the Tyne, has repeatedly suffered from inundations
of that river. In 1358, in 1421, and in 1673, the Tyne rose
to a great height, and did much damage to the town and
neighbourhood. But the greatest inundation took place on
the 4th of October 1 775, when the river rose 17 feet above
its usual level, overwhelmed the suburb of Nungate on the
east bank, and laid a great part of the town under water.
Had the highest flood occurred during the night, the loss
of life would have been very great. A tablet, recording
the providential deliverance of the town, is still to be seen
on one of the corners of the main street.
The ancient walls and fortifications of Haddington have
now quite disappeared. Some of the old houses possessed
by the nobility when Haddington was a royal residence, still
exist, but in a very dilapidated state. The palace of the
Scottish kings is said to have stood near the West Port, on
the spot now occupied by the new county buildings, erected
in 1833. 1 he town consists of a Main or High Street,
stretching from east to west, and forming a portion of the
post road to Berwick. It is a spacious and handsome street,
and possesses some elegant buildings. Parallel to it, on the
noith, runs the Back Street, having two cross streets at its
eastern extremity. 1 he town-house is a respectable and
HAD
commodious fabric, with a fine spire 150 feet high, built in
1831. A few years ago, a large new prison for the town
and county, on the most approved principles, was built on
ground closely adjoining the county buildings ; the old pre¬
mises, which were connected with the town-house, having
been found quite insufficient.
There are two bridges over the Tyne, one, of great anti¬
quity, connecting the town with the suburb of the Nungate;
and the other, called Waterloo Bridge, built in 1817, on
the south of the town, giving access to the Bolton and Sal-
ton road. In the Nungate the ruins of an ancient chapel
dedicated to St Martin still exist. The ancient and splen¬
did monastery of the Franciscans was long the chief archi¬
tectural glory of Haddington. It was 210 feet in length,
and was surmounted by a noble square tovrer 90 feet high.
The tower and principal parts of the building still stand,
though partly in ruins. In 1811, the chancel or west end
of the cross was repaired, and now forms the present parish
church. For 200 years Haddington has been a collegiate
charge, and has possessed the services of two ministers of
the Established church. It has also two Free churches,
twro churches of the United Presbyterians, an Independent
church, and an Episcopal chapel.
Haddington being in the centre of a highly cultivated
district has long possessed an excellent wreekly corn market,
which is held on Friday. It is one of the ruling markets
for grain in Scotland, and is resorted to by dealers from all
parts of the country. A large and commodious corn exchange
lias been lately opened for the transaction of business.
Several woollen manufactories have been tried in Hadding¬
ton, but without success. There are several tanneries and
breweries, and a few other branches of business, such as are
usually found in a county town. The following banks
have branches in Haddington :—Bank of Scotland, British
Linen Company, Western Bank of Scotland, and City of
Glasgow Bank. '
Under the late Burgh Reform Acts, the government of
Haddington is vested in a provost, three bailies, a dean of
guild, a treasurer, and twelve councillors. The ordinary sheriff
court during session meets every Monday and Thursday.
The Small-Debt Court is also held on Thursday. Monthly
Justice of Peace Courts are also held on the second Tues¬
day of each month. The Quarter Sessions are held on the
first Tuesdays of March, May, August, and October.
The Burgh or Grammar Schools of Haddington, under
the patronage of the magistrates, have usually enjoyed a
high reputation. The celebrated Edward Irving was once
one of its master's. There are four good libraries in the
town, one of which was founded about the year 1717. Mr
Samuel Brown, a native of the town, was the means of in¬
stituting in 1817 “ The East Lothian Itinerating Libraries,”
which have done much good throughout the county. There
is also a good reading-room, a savings bank, several branch
banks, a town mission, and an infant-school. The United
East Lothian Agricultural Society and the East Lothian
Horticultural Society have their seats in Haddington. The
population of the burgh and parish amounted in 1821 to
5255, in 1831 to 5883, in 1841 to 5452, and in 1851 to
5525. Haddington unites with Dunbar, North Berwick,
Jedburgh, and Lauder, in sending a member to parliament.
Its electors in 1855 amounted to 205.
Haddington claims the honour of being the birthplace
of John Knox; but it will, perhaps, be always disputed whe¬
ther that great reformer was born in the Giffordgate of
Haddington, or in the village of Gifford, 4 miles to the S.
of the town. It is certain, however, that he spent his early
life in Haddington, and was educated at its Grammar School.
The Rev. John Brown, author of the Dictionary of the
Bible, and other popular religious works, was a dissenting
minister in Haddington, and there spent the greater part of
his useful and laborious life. It may also be mentioned that
Haddin?
ton.
II A D
Hadding- Alexander II., king of Scotland, was born here in 1198.
tonshire. Andrew Maitaland, a native of Haddington, was married
in 1657, and had nine children, whose united ages amount
to 738 years.
Haddington gives the title of earl to the Hamiltons of
Byres and Tyninghame.
The quantity and value of grain sold in the Haddington
grain market, from September 22, 1854, to September 21,
1855, were as follows :—
Q.rs. Value. Highest Average.
Wheat 26,923 L.97,127 9 5 85s. IGd.
Barley 24,419 42,357 1 2 39 1
Oats 20,548 32,237 6 5 35 6
Beans  4,889 11,543 3 6 54 1
For the ancient and modern history of Haddington, see
The Lamp of Lothian, by James Miller, author of St Bal-
dred of the Bass, and the History of Dunbar.
HADDINGTONSHIRE, or East Lothian, a county in
Scotland, lying between N. Lat. 55. 47. and 56. 5., and W.
Long. 2. 25. and 3. 2. It is bounded on the N. and E. by
the Firth of Forth and German Ocean, S. by Berwickshire,
and W. by Edinburghshire, or Mid-Lothian. Its boun¬
daries are somewhat irregular, but its extreme length from
W. to E. may be about 25 miles, and its extreme breadth
about 17. According to the ordnance survey of this
county recently completed, its area is as follows :—Land,
173,298 acres; water, 190; links, 149 ; foreshore, 5505—
total, 179,142 acres, or 280 square miles. Of the “land”
portion fully four-fifths are considered to be arable, and
even under cultivation. The remaining portion, which is
only fit for pasture, is almost exclusively composed of the
Lammermoor district, which bounds the county from Soutra
on the S.W. to Cockburnspath on the N.E. With the ex¬
ception of this hilly district on the S., the whole county is
highly cultivated, as there is no considerable forest, marsh,
or heath, to resist the plough. Few counties in Scotland
present such a fair and unbroken picture of agricultural
wealth and activity.
When viewed from the ridge of the Lammermoors, Had¬
dingtonshire appears to slope gradually to the Firth of Forth
and the German Ocean ; but, upon a nearer survey the de¬
clivity is found to consist of nearly parallel ridges, running
from W. to E., and most of them extending nearly the
whole length of the county. Towards the termination of
these ridges on the E. there is an extensive and very fertile
plain, stretching northwards along the sea-coast. In the low
country, North Berwick Law, and Traprain Law, near the
centre of the county, are very conspicuous objects, from their
regular cone-like appearance. The Garlton Hills, a range
of moderate height to the north of the town of Haddington,
although not picturesque in themselves, command some of
the finest views in the county.
The soil of Haddingtonshire is very varied, but clay and
loam, nearly in equal proportions, though of various quali¬
ties, extend over about two-thirds of the county. A great
deal of both descriptions is not naturally very fertile,
much of the clay, in particular, being shallow, and lying on
a wet bottom. Tracts of moorish soil are also found in
some districts, as in the parish of Gladsmuir. Yet, on the
whole, the soil of this county is highly favourable for agri¬
cultural purposes. What part of it is naturally not good is
very susceptible of improvement, and has actually been
greatly improved by judicious drainage, and a superior style
of agriculture.
Ihe climate of Haddingtonshire is undoubtedly one of
the best in Scotland, especially for the production of grain
crops. In point of dryness it is much above the average ;
and from the absence of swamps or morasses, and the ex¬
tensive agricultural drainage, it is remarkably free from fogs
and noxious exhalations. In certain districts where ague
was once very common, that disease is now unknown, and
VOL. XI.
HAD
the salubrity of the air has greatly increased. The amount
of rain that falls in the lower parts of the county, especially
around Dunbar, is considerably less than in most other
counties of Scotland ; and to this cause is ascribed the su¬
perior quality of the wheat and other kinds of grain. The
harvest in the eastern districts, and along the coast north¬
ward, is in general early, and is often ended before the har¬
vest in the higher tracts is well begun. Snow, which some¬
times lies for months in the Lammermoors, seldom lies long
in the lower grounds, and near the coast disappears for the
most part as rapidly as it falls. In the winter and spring
months the prevailing winds are from the N. and E.; in
summer, when the weather is dry, from the E.; and in
autumn from W. to S. and S.E. The N.W. wind brings
storms in winter, and from that quarter, as well as from the
S.W., come the high gales which are sometimes so injurious
to the standing corn in autumn.
The streams in Haddingtonshire are inconsiderable in
number and extent. The Tyne, which is the largest,
rises in Mid-Lothian, and enters this county on the W.
near Ormiston, passes Haddington, and falls into the sea at
Tyninghame, between Dunbar and North Berwick. There
are also the Whitadder, the Dye, the Fasney, the Money-
nut, and Bothwell Water, all flowing in a south-easterly
direction. The only lake of any importance in this county
is Pressmenan, in the parish of Stenton, and that is an arti¬
ficial one. It is about a mile and a half in length, and is
very narrow ; but it is surrounded with beautiful woods, and
affords excellent fishing.
Coal is found in great abundance and of fair quality in
five of tbe western parishes of this county, namely, Preston-
pans, Pencaitland, Ormiston, Tranent, and Gladsmuir.
It appears from old charters that the monks of Newbattle
wrought coal in the parish of Prestonpans so early as the
first part of the thirteenth century. This is understood to
be the first recorded instance of coal being wrought in Scot¬
land. Limestone is also very abundant, and is more equally
diffused over the county. Marl is found at Salton and other
places, but its use is superseded by the application of lime.
Sandstone, or freestone, well adapted for building purposes,
is quarried in Garvald, Pencaitland, Tranent, and many
other places. Ironstone has been found in the parishes of
Humbie, Oldhamstocks, and Tranent; but it is only of late
that iron has been manufactured in this county with any
success. A furnace for the smelting of iron ore has been
recently erected at West Bank, parish of Gladsmuir, and the
iron manufactured has proved to be of excellent quality.
In the Lammermoors, near the junction of the Fasney
with the Whitadder, granitic rocks appear ; but the preva¬
lent rocks over the county are those of a secondary charac¬
ter. Old red sandstone appears on the northern slope of
the Lammermoors. Traprain Law, in the centre of the
county, is composed, at its base, of a slaty clinkstone, and
towards the summit, of a greenstone, slightly granulated
with hornblende. North Berwick Law, a conical hill, rising
immediately above the town of North Berwick to the height
of 612 feet, is another of those bold eminences of the trap
order, which break the monotony of the East Lothian
landscape. The Bass Rock presents a singular specimen
of a mass of trap rock rising up abrupt and perpendicular 350
feet from the surface of the sea. This trap rock, according
to the continental geologist M. A. Boue, is a compact clink¬
stone, and according to Mr J. Nicol, “a fine granular green¬
stone or clinkstone.” Hugh Miller pronounces it to be “ of
an intermediate hybrid species,” partaking of the character
both of clinkstone and greenstone. (See The Bass Rock,
its Civic and Ecclesiastical History, Geology, &c. &c.)
According to the recent trigonometrical survey the
heights of the principal eminences in this county are as fol¬
lows :—Lammerlaw 1732 ft., Lammermin 1692, Spartleton
1500, Doon Hill 583, Traprain Law 586, Garlton Hill 573.
177
Hadding¬
tonshire.
178
HADDINGTONSHIRE.
Hadding- These measurements, some of them materially differing from
tonshire. those given by the ordinary authorities, must be held to be
correct.
The British antiquities of Haddingtonshire are neither
very numerous nor very important. In various parts of the
Lammermoors, stone circles of Druidical origin are found.
The remains of hill forts and circular camps are also found
at Garvald, Carfrae, Priestlaw, Spott, and other places.
Urns composed of clay, and supposed to be of a funereal
character, are not unfrequently discovered on the higher
grounds. Tall upright single stones are to be seen stand¬
ing in various places. There is one, for example, in a field
near Linton, and another at Broomhouse, near Spott.
The battle-field of Dunbar, where Cromwell defeated the
Covenanting army, under General Leslie, in 1650; and
the battle-field of Prestonpans, where the royal forces were
defeated by the Highland army in 1745, are the only spots
of historical interest.
Haddingtonshire contains some fine ruins of ancient castles.
The castle of Dunbar, perched upon two bold rocks that
overhang the sea, is now a complete ruin, but it still forcibly
speaks to the eye of the warlike character of former ages.
Tantallon Castle, in the parish of North Berwick, is also
close upon the sea, and with its immense piles of masonry
still standing, undoubtedly forms one of the most magnifi¬
cent ruins in Scotland. Dirleton Castle, near the beautiful
village of that name; Hailes Castle, in the parish of Pres-
tonkirk, on the south bank of the Tyne, famed in the history
of Queen Mary; and Innerwick Castle, four miles east of
Dunbar, are also interesting ruins.
There are many seats of the nobility and gentry in East
Lothian. Of these, the principal are Yester House, the
seat of the Marquis of Tweeddale ; Gosford House and
Amisfield, seats of the Earl of Wemyss ; Tyninghame
House, the seat of the Earl of Haddington ; Ormiston
Hall, a seat of the Earl of Hopetoun ; Saltoun Hall, the
residence of Andrew Fletcher, Esq., a descendant of the
celebrated patriot; Archerfield and Beil, seats of Mr and
Lady Mary Hamilton-Nisbet; and Whittingham House,
the seat of James M. Balfour, Esq.
This county has long enjoyed the benefit of excellent
roads and other means of transport; while its small but
useful seaports have been of great service to its agriculture.
The first Scottish turnpike act was obtained in 1750 for
the formation of a road through the county. In an agri¬
cultural point of view East Lothian occupies an important
position among the other counties of Scotland. There
are very few small farms, and, except in the hill districts,
the largest seldom exceed 500 imperial acres. On land
of a medium quality, a farm of 300 acres is considered
to be of an average size. Farms are commonly held on
leases of 19 or of 21 years, and these leases are generally of
a fair and equitable character. In some instances of late
the tenant has the power to kill game on his farm, a privi¬
lege which is attended with the best consequences. In the
article Agriculture, Appendix A, vol. ii., p. 368, will be
found a detailed account of the agricultural condition and
prospects of this county.
At various periods attempts have been made to introduce
different manufactures into Haddingtonshire, but with no
permanent success. At the present time no manufactures
of importance are carried on in the county ; and various
attempts made to introduce the manufacture of cotton, mus¬
lin, &c., have proved entirely abortive. The breweries of
Prestonpans and Belhaven are still famous; but the once
extensive potteries of the former place have now dwindled
away. I lie principal towns are Haddington the county
town, Dunbar, North Berwick, Tranent, and Prestonpans.
T. hese are described under their respective names.
Haddingtonshire has given birth to not a few eminent
men, and is associated with the history of many more. It
is well known that John Knox, the renowned Scottish Re- Haddin^-
fbrmer, was a native of this county, being born, according tonshire.
to some authorities, at Haddington; or, according to others
including his distinguished biographer, Dr M‘Crie, at
Gifford, a village four miles to the south of Haddington.
Dr Witherspoon and the Rev. Marcus Dods were natives of
Gifford. Fletcher of Salton, and Lord Belhaven, who distin¬
guished themselves at the period of the Union, are East Lo¬
thian celebrities. George Heriot, the founder of Heriot’s Hos¬
pital in Edinburgh, was a native of the parish of Gladsmuir.
Dunbar, the poet, is said to have been born at Salton in
1465; and Gilbert Burnet, afterwards Bishop of Salisbury,
was minister of the same parish from 1665 to 1669. Prin¬
cipal Robertson was for several years minister of Gladsmuir,
where he wrote his History of Scotland. Blair, the author of
The Grave, and John Home, the author of Douglas, were
successively ministers of A thelstaneford. Skirving, the
painter, was also a native of Athelstaneford. The pious
Colonel Gardiner, who fell in the Battle of Prestonpans,
1745, near his own mansion, Bankton House, was buried in
Tranent Churchyard. A handsome obelisk has lately been
erected to his memory, near the spot where he fell, which
is within a few yards of the North British Railway.
The county is divided into twenty-five parishes, which
are all ecclesiastically embraced in the presbyteries of Had¬
dington and Dunbar, except Ormiston and Fala, which
belong to that of Dalkeith. The poor are supported by
assessment under the recent act, and the rate seldom ex¬
ceeds in any parish a shilling in the pound. In 1853 the ex¬
penditure on the poor in the twenty assessed parishes amounted
to L.8127; the total expenditure in the whole county was
L.9360. In 1854 the total expenditure was L.9999.
The charitable educational foundations in this county
are the following:—Schaw’s Hospital, in the parish of Pres¬
tonpans, founded by James Schaw of Preston, for the edu¬
cation and maintenance of poor boys, and opened in 1789,
now admitting 24 boys; Stiell’s Hospital, in the parish of
Tranent, founded by George Stiell, builder in Edinburgh,
which maintains a few boys and girls as boarders, and gives
free education to 140 day scholars, the revenue amounting
at present to L.900 a year ; an endowment of 20,000 merks
bequeathed by Bishop Burnet to his old parish of Salton,
towards the enlargement and support of a library for the use
of the minister, also for clothing and educating thirty poor
children, and otherwise relieving the necessities of the pa¬
rochial poor.
The following tables—compiled from the returns lately
procured through the agency of the Highland and Agricul¬
tural Society of Scotland—will show the present state of
the agriculture of Haddingtonshire :—
Acres in Tillage.
Year.
1853
1854
1855
Average.’*
107,269
98,977
101,528
15,339
16,881
17,472
Barley.
12,809
12,086
10,856
16,802
15,668
16,692
Beans
and
Peas.
4,809
3,956
4,100
Pota¬
toes.
4,246
6,442
6,451
Turnips.
15,342
16,063
This average merely represents the gross number of acres in
tillage, or arable, returned by the enumeration.
Stock of various kinds.
1853
1854
1855
Horses.
4450
4171
4481
Milk Cows.
2377
2130
2069
Other
Cattle.
Ewes, Gim
mers, and
Hogs.
7576
5390
5508
36,979
42,551
Tups, We¬
thers, and
Wether
Hogs.
29,597
33,881
t 86,853
Swine.
5580
5702
4676
t Returns differently made in 1855.
HAD
HAD
179
Hadding¬
tonshire
II
Hadeln.
Year.
1853
1854
1855
Gross Produce.
qrs.
50,341
67,525
61,427
Barley.
qrs.
67,079
70,629
55,382
Oats.
qrs.
94,823
94,990
95,592
Beans and
Peas.
qrs.
16,734
13,011
15,283
Turnips.
tons.
203,154
228,599
245,370
Potatoes
tons.
23,976
33,821
43,306
Number of Steam, Water, and Horse Engines applied to
Agricultural purposes in the county in 1853.
Engines.
Steam-engines
Water-engines
Horse-engines..
Total.
Number.
185
81
107
373
Horsepower.
1053
436
499
1988
The following are the statistics of religious worship and
education in Haddingtonshire, as ascertained by the govern¬
ment census of 1851. Pop. of county, 36,386.
Peligious Worship.
Denominations.
Places of
Worship.
Sittings.
Attendance, March 30, 1851
Morning.
Afternoon.
Established Church.
U. P. Church 
Free Church 
Episcopal Church...
Independents 
Latter Day Saints...
16
7
15
1
1
1
7,718
3,205
5,837
300
100
4305
1805
3570
120
92
44
790
1729
1461
50
100
44
Total.
41
17,160
9936
4174
Education.
Schools.
Public Day Schools..
Private Day Schools.
Total.
No. of
Schools.
52
18
70
Belonging to the Schools.
Both Sexes.
4009
837
4846
2264
439
2703
1745
398
2143
Sabbath Schools
supported by
No. of
Schools.
Belonging to the Schools.
M.
Established Church,
U. P. Church  
Free Church  
Other Bodies  
23
5
20
2
1261
290
1139
74
606
159
532
45
655
131
607
29
Total
50
2764
1343
1422
(See Somerville’s Survey of East Lothian; Hepburn’s
View of the Agriculture of East Lothian (1794); Beauties
of Scotland, vol. i; General Report of Scotland ; Playfair’s
Description of Scotland, vol. i.; Chalmers’ Caledonia, vol.
ii.; The Bass Rock; its History, Geology, &jc., Edinr.
1848; Miller’s Lamp of Lothian, or History of Hadding¬
ton ; Miller’s History of Dunbar.)
HADDOCK. See index to Ichthyology.
HADELN, a district of the kingdom of Hanover, com¬
prising about 110 square miles of rich marsh land, near the
mouth of the Elbe. It contains two market-towns and
twelve parishes, with about 20,000 inhabitants. It is chiefly
remarkable for the privileges it enjoys of a very slight fixed
taxation, and a freedom from the quartering of troops, which
have been granted on account of the great expenditure in¬
curred by erecting and keeping up dikes, to prevent the ir¬
ruption of the sea. It produces abundant crops of corn,
beans, rapeseed, flax, and garden fruits, and fattens many
oxen. The chief town is Altenbruck, which contains
2500 inhabitants.
HADERSLEBEN, Danish Haderslev, a seaport-town
of Denmark, duchy of Schleswig, and 48 miles north of the
town of that name. It stands in a pleasant valley on the
Hadersleben Fiord, which is about 9 miles in length, and
communicates with the Little Belt. It has three churches,
a gymnasium, and some trade, but the harbour is accessible
only to small vessels. Pop. 6156.
HADES, in Grecian Mythology, the lower world or
kingdom of the dead. Etymologically, the word signifies
the unseen or invisible world. The older Greek authors
originally used the word to signify the king of this
region, whom they afterwards called by the more euphe¬
mistic name of Pluto. This latter name was adopted by
the Romans, and identified by them with Dis, Orcus, &c.
Llades as Pluto was the son of Saturn, and the brother of
Jupiter and Neptune. When the three brothers were par¬
celling out the world into three kingdoms, that of the invi¬
sible world fell to the lot of Pluto, who is always described
as the most terrible of the gods. He was as inexorable as
the Fates, and as cruel; and no shade that entered his por¬
tals ever escaped from them. In accordance with these
gloomy attributes, the victims offered in his honour were
always black, and the worshipper in sacrificing them always
turned away his head. There are few legends in the old
mythology whose interest centres in this deity, if we except
those of the rape of Proserpine, and the helmet which made
the god invisible, and from which perhaps he got his name.
HADHRAMAUT, a province of Arabia. See vol. iii.,
p. 356.
HADLEIGH, a market-town of England, county of
Suffolk, on the Bret, a tributary of the Stour, 9 miles W.S.W.
of Ipswich. It was formerly a corporate town, and a place of
considerable trade, but it has lost its charter; and its trade,
which was chiefly in cloth, has declined. Silk-spinning is
carried on to some extent, but the inhabitants are chiefly
employed in agriculture. The church is a large and hand¬
some building, with a tower and spire. Dr Rowland Tay¬
lor, rector of Hadleigh, was burned here in the reign of
Queen Mary, the spot being marked by a stone with this
inscription,—“ 1555. Dr Taylor, in defending that was
good, at this plas left his blode.” Market-dav, Monday.
Pop. (1851) 3338.
HADLEY, John (  1744), a distinguished English
astronomer, of the details of whose life almost nothing is
known. He was a member and afterwards a vice-president
of the Royal Society, to whose Transactions he made some
valuable contributions. He was the inventor of the sex¬
tant which bears his name, or at least the first who made it
practically useful at sea ; for the idea had been long before
struck out by Hooke and perfected by Newton. Some
important changes and improvements have since been made
upon it by Mayer and Borda.
HADRIANOPOLIS, in Ancient Geography, the name
of several cities founded by the Emperor Hadrian, by whose
name they were called. The largest and most important
of these was that in Thrace, at the confluence of the Hebrus
and Tonzus, which seems to have occupied the site of the
more ancient city of Uscudama. It stood in the midst of a
country of remarkable fertility, and its commerce and manu¬
factures soon raised it to great importance. Its arms
were noted over the East. It was besieged by the Goths
in 378, but it soon recovered the shock, and was for many
centuries the largest city in the Eastern Empire after the
capital. (For its modern history, see Adrianople.) There
were three other minor towns of this name, one in Bithynia,
another in Phrygia, and a third in Ulyricum, half-way be¬
tween Nicopolis and Apollonia. The name of the last was
changed into Justinopolis by the Emperor Justinian, who
fortified and repaired it.
Haders¬
leben
II
Hadriano-
polis.
180 HAD
Hadrianus HADRIANUS, P. Olius, was born at Rome, a.d. 76;
II died at Baiae, a.d. 138. He succeeded Trajan as Emperor
v Hafiz' , of Rome in a.d. 117, and reigned for twenty-one years.
See Roman History.
HADRUMETUM, or Adrumetum, and Adrumetus,
in Ancient Geography, a city and seaport on the coast of
Africa Propria. It was a Phenician colony of more ancient
date than Carthage itself, to which it afterwards became
subject. The adjoining country was of amazing fertility,
and was sheltered from the sands of the desert by an amphi¬
theatre of hills. The town itself was strongly fortified.
Hannibal, when recalled from Italy, passed through it on
his way to the scene of his last battle at Zama. Like most
cities of Northern Africa, Hadrumetum suffered severely at
the hands of the Vandals, but it was afterwards restored by
Justinian, in whose honour it was called Justiniana or Justi-
nianopolis. Considerable doubts have been entertained as to
its site, but modern geographers have identified it with Susa,
where extensive and splendid ruins were seen and described
by the Arab geographer, Abu Behri of Cordova. Traces of
these ruins were observed by the African traveller Barth,
who describes them in his Wanderings among the Coast-
lands of Carthage and Cyrene. See also Shaw’s Travels
in Barbary.
HAEMOPTYSIS {alga, blood, iTTvav, to spit), the cough¬
ing up of blood from the lungs. Its florid colour, frothiness,
and comparatively small quantity, serve to distinguish it from
blood coming from the stomach, which is generally darkened
by admixture with the gastric juice, See.
HAEMORRHAGE, or H^emorrhagy (from alga, blood,
and prjyvvgi, to burst), a flux of blood arising from the rup¬
ture of a bloodvessel. The Greeks restricted the use of
this term to a discharge of blood from the nose; but in
modern use it is extended to a flux of blood from the nose,
lungs, intestines, See. The word is often spelled hemorrhage.
HAEMUS, the ancient name of the Thracian mountain
range now known as the Emineh Dagh, or Balkan. See
Balkan.
HAERETICO Comburendo, a writ which anciently lay
against an heretic, who, having once been convicted of
heresy by his bishop, and having abjured it, but afterwards
falling into it again, or into some other, is thereupon com¬
mitted to the secular power. See Heresy.
HAERLEBEKE, or Harlebeke, a town of Belgium,
province of West Flanders, and arrondissement of Courtrai,
on the Lys, and on the railway between Courtrai and Ghent,
3 miles N.E. of the former town. It has some woollen ma¬
nufactures. Pop. (1851) 4677.
HAFF, or Stettin Haff, a lagoon in the Prussian pro¬
vince of Pomerania, lying N. of Stettin, and communicating
with the Baltic by several mouths. It is about 30 miles
in length from E. to W., by about 12 miles in breadth ; and
is divided into the Great and Little Half. It receives the
Oder, lima, Ucher, and Peene rivers.
HAFIZ, Shems Eddin Mohammed, one of the most
elegant and popular poets of Persia, was born at Shiraz
about the beginning of the fourteenth century. Neither the
date of his birth nor that of his death is accurately known.
He was carefully trained in law and the doctrines of the
Koran, but he seems to have devoted the better part of his
life to the service of the muses. A pleasant tradition de¬
scribes how he first donned their livery. There is a place
called Pirisebz, at a little distance from Shiraz; and it was
a popular belief that a youth who should pass forty consecu¬
tive nights there without sleep would become an eminent
poet. Hafiz made the experiment, and on the morning after
the fortieth night an old man in a green mantle (who was
no other than Khizr in person) came forward, and, present¬
ing him with a brimming cup of nectar, rewarded his perse¬
verance with an inspiring draught. From this time he
devoted himself to poetry, and with such success, that the
H A F
Sultan of Bagdad hearing of his fame, invited him to his Hafiz,
court. The poet, however, does not seem to have accepted
the invitation, or, if he did, it was only for a short time.
When Shiraz fell into the hands of Tamerlane, the poet
was summoned into the presence of the conqueror. In one
of his lyrics the poet had said—
“ 0 pride of Shiraz, nymph divine,
Accept my heart, and yield me thine ;
Then were its price all Samarcand,
The wealth Bokhara’s walls command,
That pretty mole of dusky dye
Thy cheek displays, I’d gladly buy.”
Tamerlane, believing that the poet meant to cast a slight
on the chief cities of his empire, reproached him with his
promise to exchange Samarcand and Bokhara for the favours
of his mistress. “ It is that very generosity,” said the poet,
“ that has made me so poor as you now see me.” The date
of Hafiz’s death is variously given. Daulet-Shah places it in
1389. The poet was suspected of having been an unbeliever,
and even at heart a Christian ; and it was only with con¬
siderable difficulty that his friends obtained a decent burial
for his body. A splendid monument over his grave is in¬
scribed with a half-enigmatical legend which seems to con¬
firm the testimony of Daulet-Shah as to the date of his
death.
Hafiz is the Anacreon of Persia. His poetry, w.hich is
wholly lyrical, is devoted to the praises of wine and flowers,
and nightingales and female beauties, for all of which Shiraz
was famous. From these themes, however, he passes with
startling rapidity to the gravest moralizing on the chances
and changes of life, and the instability of all human things.
The more strict of his co-religionists regard his works as, on
the whole, dangerous in their tendency; while those who
defend the poet maintain that they are not to be interpreted
in a literal, but in an allegorical sense. The probability is
that both are right; and that the poet—by turns a devotee
and a debauchee—gave to the ode the cast of thought
that happened to prevail at the moment when it was written.
Sir William Jones, who strongly advocates the allegorical
method, confesses that many of the odes can only be inter¬
preted in a literal sense. The sect of the Sufis, with whom
Hafiz had identified himself towards the close of his life,
refuse to make even this concession ; and some of their best
commentators have striven elaborately to prove their point.
The best of the Turkish critics, Ferydoun and Soudy, have
taken the same view.
The works of Hafiz were collected after his death. This
collection, called the Byvan, was undertaken by Seid-
Kacem-Anvary, himself a distinguished author. According
to the best MSS. the Byvan contains 571 odes or ghazels.
The edition of Hafiz published at Calcutta in 1791, however,
only contains 557 of these ghazels, and seven Kassydehs, or
Elegies. The first European who called attention to the
poetry of Hafiz was the celebrated orientalist Hyde, in his
Syntagma Bissertationum. But it was not till Rewaski
and Sir William Jones almost simultaneously published, the
former his Specimen Poeseos Asiaticce, Sec., at Vienna in
1771, and the latter his Commentarii Poeseos Asiaticce,
that the curiosity of the scholars of the West was fairly
roused. The whole Byvan has since been translated into
German by Von Hammer, Tubingen, 1812. Richardson,
the author of the Persian Dictionary, published A Specimen
of Persian Poetry, or Odes of Hafiz, with an English trans¬
lation and paraphrase, chiefly from the Specimen Poeseos
Asiaticce oS V>a\'on Rewaski; Lond. 1774. Nott has pub¬
lished Select Odes of Hafiz, translated into English verse ;
Lond. 1787: and Hindley a somewhat similar work in 1800.
{Biograph. Univers. ; Ersch. and Gruber’s Encyclopadie.
Wilken’s Chrestomathia Persica, Leipzig, 1805, contains
the life of Hafiz by Daulet-Shah ; which is also to be found
in Silvestre de Sacy’s Notices et Extraits des Manuscrits
HAG
nagarcnes de la Tnhliotheque du Roi, vol. iv. Much valuable informa-
II tion on the life and writings of Hafiz is to be found in the
Hague. pages 0f the Asiatic Journal, passim.)
v*—^ HAGARENES, or Hagarites, the descendants of
Ishmael the son of Hagar. They were also called Ish-
maelites; but these appellations have in later times been
lost in the general one of Saracens, or Arabians. They
dwelt, according to Pliny, in Arabia Felix; Strabo places
them in Arabia Deserta ; while other writers have assigned
them to Arabia Petrsea. (Comp. Psalm Ixxxiii.; 1 Chron.
v. 10.) See Arabia, vol. iii., p. 361.
HAGEN, a town of Prussia, capital of a cognominal
circle in the Arensberg government, Westphalia, 26 miles
from Arensberg. It has manufactures of woollen, linen, and
cotton stuffs ; leather, paper, hats, and iron ware. In the
vicinity is an alabaster quarry. Pop. (1849) 5238.
HAGERSTOWN, a town in the United States of North
America, capital of Washington county, state of Mary¬
land, near the W. bank of the Antietam Creek, 9 miles
from the Potomac River, and 65 miles W.N.W. of Balti¬
more. It is the southern terminus of the Franklin rail¬
way, is well built, and a place of considerable trade. Pop.
(1850) 3884. There are several villages of this name in
the United States.
HAGGAI, one of the minor prophets, whose history is
unknown. He was the first of the three prophets who
prophesied in Palestine after the Captivity, and, as Ewald
conjectures, it is probable that he had seen the first temple.
His style is rather prosaic, with a somewhat artificial rhythm
and frequent use of interrogation.
HAGIOGRAPHA (sacred writings), a term applied to
designate those books of Scripture, which, according to the
Jewish classification, held the lowest rank in regard to in¬
spiration. These are the books of Ruth, Psalms, Job, Pro¬
verbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Lamentations, Daniel,
Esther, Ezra, and Chronicles. This is the common order,
but not universally followed. There are few if any traces
of this division till after the Christian era.
HAGUE, The (Dutch ’5 Gravenhage, French La Haye),
a large and beautiful city of Holland, the usual residence
of the court, and the seat of the States-General, or Dutch
parliament. It is the capital of the province of South Hol¬
land, standing 2 miles from the sea, 37 miles S.W. of Am¬
sterdam, and 13 miles N.W. of Rotterdam, and connected by
railway with both of these cities. The Hague originated
in a hunting seat, which, as early as 1250, became a palace
of the Counts of Holland. It takes its name ’sGravenhage
(Counts’ Hedge) from the house originally forming part of
the inclosure surrounding the Counts’ Park. It became the
seat of the government and continued so till the erection of
Holland into a kingdom by Bonaparte when Amsterdam was
substituted. On the return of the Prince of Orange in 1813
it was restored to its former position. Though it was thus
early a place of importance, yet it was only a mere village,
having neither walls nor corporation till Louis Bonaparte,
in the early part of this century, conferred on it the rank
and privileges of a city. It is still unfortified, being sur¬
rounded only by a moat crossed by drawbridges. The
streets are regular and spacious, and several of them are tra¬
versed by canals and planted with rows of trees. The
houses are large and stately ; and altogether the Hague
is considered one of the finest cities in Holland. It
is neither a trading nor manufacturing town, the inha¬
bitants being chiefly people of means, or dependent on
the court and government establishments. The principal
streets are the Voorhout—lined with trees and bordered
with handsome hotels—the Prinssengracht, Kneuterdijk, and
Noord Einde. The Vijverberg (hill of the fish ponds) is
a square or place with avenues of trees forming a shady
promenade on the one side, and on the other a spacious
basin of water. On one side of the Vijverberg stands the
H A 1 181
Binnenhof, an irregular building of various dates, with a Haguenau
handsome Gothic hall, the only remaining portion of the [I
original residence of the Counts of Holland. The States- v uman.^
General hold their meetings in the Binnenhof, part of which
is also occupied by the government offices. The National
Museum occupies the former palace of Prince Maurice, an
elegant building of the seventeenth century. In the lower
story of the building is the Royal Cabinet of Curiosities,
several apartments being entirely occupied with objects of
curiosity from China, Japan, and the Dutch colonies—those
from Japan being peculiarly interesting and varied. One
division is devoted to historical relics of distinguished per¬
sons. The picture-gallery in the same building is almost
entirely confined to the works of the Dutch masters, but it
contains some of the finest of these. The Royal Library
contains about 100,000 vols., and has also an extensive and
valuable collection of medals and gems. The royal palace
is an unpretending building in the Grecian style, consisting
of a centre and two wings forming three sides of a square.
The palace of the Prince of Orange is a large but plain
edifice. The splendid collection of pictures belonging to
the late king was sold by auction in 1850. There are
many valuable private collections of pictures at the Hague,
and numerous learned and benevolent associations. It has
also fourteen churches, two synagogues, orphan asylum,
theatre, and state prison. In the neighbourhood of the town
are numerous elegant villas. The summer palace of the royal
family, known as the House in the Wood, stands in a finely
wooded park in the outskirts of the town. The water in
the canals at the Hague is more stagnant than in almost
any other part of Holland, and hence frequently arise offen¬
sive smells. Huygens, the inventor of the pendulum clock,
and William III. of England, were natives of this town.
Pop. (1850) 72,467.
HAGUENAU, a town of France, department of Rhin-
Bas, and arrondissement of Strasbourg on the Moder, 15
miles N. of Strasbourg. It was originally fortified by Fre¬
derick Barbarossa, and is still surrounded by old walls and
a ditch. Its principal edifice is a fine old Gothic church.
It has a cavalry barrack, civil and military hospitals, a
synagogue, and a female penitentiary ; manufactures of
woollen cloth, earthen-ware, soap, &c.; and oil, madder,
and cotton mills. Pop. 10,500. The adjacent forest of
Haguenau is one of the largest in France.
HAHNEMANN, Samuel, the founder of Homoeopathy.
See Homceopathy.
HAICTITES, a Mussulman sect, who attempt to unite
their faith with the religion of Christ, and expect his second
coming to judge the world; quoting from the Koran these
words—“ O Mohammed, thou shalt see thy Lord, who will
come in the clouds.”
HAIL, the natural phenomenon of vapour condensed
and congealed by sudden and intense cold in the higher
regions of the atmosphere. See Electricity, vol. viii.,
p. 586, and Physical Geography.
HAILSHAM, a small market-town of England, county
of Sussex, 58 miles S. by E. of London. It has a large
church, with an embattled stone tower, and a market is held
every alternate Wednesday. Pop. of parish (1851) 1825.
HAINAN, a large island in the Chinese Sea, lying S.
of the province of Canton, to which it is annexed, and se¬
parating the Gulf of Tonquin from the Chinese Sea. It is
separated from the southern extremity of the province of
Canton by the strait of Luichan, 15 or 16 miles wide, and
lies between N. Lat. 18. 10. and 20. 54., and E. Long. 108.
25. and 111. It is about 150 miles in length by 100 in
breadth, and has an area of above 12,000 square miles.
The interior of the island is mountainous: some parts of
it rise above the snow line, and it is inhabited by abori¬
ginal tribes. The Chinese inhabitants are mostly descend¬
ants of emigrants from Fokien, and are agricultural, trad-
182 H A I
Hainault ing, or piratical in their vocation, according to circum-
|| stances. The soil is mostly sandy, but some of the plains,
Hair, particularly on the W. coast, are of great fertility. Tim-
her constitutes its most valuable product, the sides of the
mountains being covered with extensive forests of sandal,
rose, braziletto, ebony, and other trees. Its other products
are chiefly rice, sugar, tobacco, indigo, cotton, sweet pota¬
toes, and various fruits. Wax also forms an important article
of export; it is produced by an insect called the pelatchung,
or white wax insect, when laying its eggs. Hainan is di¬
vided into 13 districts. The capital Kiungchanfu is a very
populous town, at the mouth of the Limu River, on the
Luichan, and has an excellent harbour. Several of the
other towns are very populous. The island is said to con¬
tain about 1,500,000 inhabitants.
HAINAUL r, or Hainaut (German Hennegaii), a fron¬
tier province of Belgium. See Belgium.
HAINBURG, or Hamburg, a town of Austria, on the
right bank of the Danube, 27 miles E.S.E. of Vienna. It
is a place of some trade, and has the largest imperial to¬
bacco manufactory in Austria. Pop. about 4000.
HAINICHEN, a town of Saxony, circle of Leipzig and
bailiwick of Nossen, on the Little Striegitz, 40 miles S.E.
of Leipzig. The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in the
manufacture of woollen and cotton stuffs and in bleaching.
The poet Gellert was born here. Pop. (1849) 5855.
HAIR, the delicate filamentous processes which consti¬
tute the covering of the skin in mammals generally; and
which likewise appear in animals of the lower orders, indeed
in all animals that have a true epidermis. It is distinctly
developed in the soft-skinned insects, such as butterflies
and caterpillars, spiders, bees, &c.; and occurs in tufts in
certain parts of the crustaceous animals, as on the feet,
jaws, &c. Hair, in its mechanical nature, may be regarded
as a condensed form of cuticle. The feathers of birds may
be considered as analogous to hair; while the only two classes
of animals that are wholly devoid of any kind of hair are the
fishes and reptiles. The variety in the conformation of hair is
very great, ranging from the finest wool to the quills of the
porcupine, or the horn of the rhinoceros, which last is
nothing more than an assemblage of many hairs in one
compact mass.
But it is to hair, commonly so called, and more particu¬
larly to that of man, that we would now direct attention. The
human skin is entirely covered with hairs of different degrees
of fineness, except on the palms of the hands and the soles
of the feet. Each hair originates in the cellular membrane
of the skin, from a small bulbous root, which, by the inter¬
vention of its vessels, connects it with the corion in which
it is imbedded. A small portion of the lower end of the
hair is hollow, and contains a pulpy matter which is in¬
tended for its nutrition; but this cavity never, in common
hairs, extends as far as the external surface of the skin.
I'he hair, in a healthy state, is insensible; the pain which
is felt on its extraction arising from the nerves which sur¬
round the root; yet when in the abnormal condition of
what is called plica polonica, it becomes sensitive to a high
degree, and even bleeds when cut. Among many of the
lower animals the hair (though insensible in itself) serves
as a very delicate medium of sensation. The slightest touch,
even that produced by a human hair, is sufficient to make
such animals as cats contract their skin, and by a tremu¬
lous motion of their bodies rid themselves of anything ad¬
hering to it.
Ihe form of the human hair is rarely cylindrical. It
appears to be so only in the straight hairs. In curled hair
the transverse section is elliptical; and occasionally it ex¬
hibits a bean-like form, arising from a furrow that passes
lengthwise down one side of the hair. The flattened form
seems in general to be necessary to the curling of the hairs,
while the cylindrical figure is opposed to it. In the crisp
H a I
woolly hair of the negro a very marked flattening is observed,
the hairs being sometimes as much as two-thirds broader in
one direction than in the other. In the wool of the sheep,
which appears to approach the cylindrical form, the phe¬
nomenon of curling is probably due to the transverse ine¬
qualities with which the surface of the hairs is furrowed.
Human hair possesses a very remarkable degree of strength,
compared with its small diameter, is considerably extensile,
and highly elastic. Saussure found that a human hair, when
freed from grease by maceration in an alkaline solution,
formed a very delicate hygrometer, from its property of
elongating on absorbing moisture. The colouring matter
of the hair appears to reside in an oily fluid, analogous in
its nature to that which is contained in the rete mucosum
of the skin; and according to its colour arises the diversity
of black, brown, fair, and x-ed hair, and their several shades.
Grayness is induced by a deficiency of this fluid, whether
arising from age, sickness, or excessive mental emotion,
such as grief, or sudden terror. The hair of the head, in
particular instances, has been known to attain a length of
seven or eight feet. Though hair, in a healthy state, grows
only on the external parts of the body, instances have oc¬
curred in which it has been formed inside the body in
diseased parts. It is also a curious fact that hair will some¬
times continue to grow for a certain period after death.
As the hair is a very conspicuous object, and susceptible
of much graceful adornment, its arrangement has always
been one of the most important duties of the toilet. In
scarcely anything has the caprice of fashion been more
strikingly displayed than in the various forms which the
tastes of different nations and ages have prescribed for dis¬
posing this natural covering of the head. The ancient
Greeks allowed their hair to grow to a great length; and
their natural fondness for this attribute of beauty has been
perpetuated by their poets and sculptors alike. The early
Egyptians again, who were proverbial for their habits of
cleanliness, removed the hair as an incumbrance. All classes
among that people, including the foreign slaves, were re¬
quired to submit to this custom (Gen. xli. 14) ; and in place
of nature’s covering they made use of wigs, the reticulated
texture of the ground-work on which the hair was fastened
allowing free ventilation, while the hair effectually pro¬
tected the head from the sun (Wilkinson, Anc. Egyptians,
iii. 354). The Hebrews, on the other hand, esteemed fine
hair as a great beauty, and particularly deprecated baldness.
Though among the males it was usually kept short, the
Hebrew women gloried in their luxuriant tresses, plaiting
them and adorning their heads with ornaments of gold and
silver and precious stones (Isaiah iii.) The misfortune of
Absalom shows that men sometimes indulged in the effe¬
minacy of long hair; and Josephus relates (Antiq. viii. 7),
that Solomon’s horse-guards daily strewed their heads with
gold dust, which glittered in the sun. Artificial hair was
used not only by the Egyptians, but also by the Greeks, the
Carthaginians, and especially by the Romans, among whom
the sale of human hair, particularly the blond hair of Ger¬
many, was an ordinary species of traffic. Dyeing the hah-,
too, was much practised by the Romans; and a kind of
gold dust was used by ladies who did not adopt borrowed
locks. The Roman ladies (as inferior in this respect to the
Greeks as in all matters of taste) delighted to pile up the
hair tower-like on the top of the head, while they had several
rows of curls arranged formally round the sides, and some¬
times pendant curls in addition. Fashion also regulated the
style of wearing the hair among men in the later times of
Rome. A boy’s hair, for instance, was cut for the first
time at seven years of age, and again at fourteen. On the
introduction of Christianity, the apostles and fathers of the
church launched severe invectives against the vanity and
extravagance displayed in the dressing of the hair, upon
which all the resources of ingenuity and art were exhausted
1
H A I
Hair, to set it off to advantage, and load it with the most dazzling
n > finery. The mimic skill of the friseur was frequently called
into requisition to represent fanciful devices, such as diadems,
harps, wreaths, emblems of public temples and conquered
cities, or to plait it into an incredible number ol tresses,
which were often lengthened by ribands so as to reach to
the feet, and loaded with pearls and clasps of gold.
From the great value attached to a fine head of hair, there
arose a variety of superstitious and emblematical obser¬
vances—such as shaving parts of the head, or cropping it in
a particular form ; parents dedicating the hair of infants to
the gods; young women theirs at their marriage ; warriors
after a successful campaign; sailors after deliverance from
a storm; hanging it on consecrated trees, or depositing it
in temples; burying it in the tombs of friends, as Achilles
did at the funeral of Patroclus ; besides shaving, cutting
off, or plucking it out, or allowing it to grow in sordid negli¬
gence, in token of affliction or calamity.
Among the northern nations, as the Danes, Gauls, and
Anglo-Saxons, long and flowing hair was held in great esti¬
mation ; and the cutting it off was inflicted as a punishment
for various offences. Pope Anicetus (a.d. 155) forbade the
clergy to wear long hair—an injunction obeyed not without
much reluctance on the part of many. Long and flowing
hair was so universally esteemed that the tonsure of the
clergy was regarded as an act of mortification and self-
denial. Some of them who affected the reputation of su¬
perior sanctity, inveighed with great bitterness against the
long hair of the laity ; and this continued long to be a topic
of declamation among the clergy, who even represented it
as one of the greatest crimes, and a certain mark of repro¬
bation. Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, went so far
as to pronounce sentence of excommunication against all
who wore long hair. Serlo, a Norman bishop, acquired
great honour by a sermon he preached before Henry I.,
a.d. 1104, against long and curled hair, by which the king
and all his courtiers were so deeply affected that they con¬
sented to resign their flowing ringlets, of which they had
been so vain. The prudent prelate gave them no time to
change their minds, butimmediately pulled a pair of shears out
of his sleeve and performed the operation with his own hand.
When Julius Caesar vanquished the Gauls he made them
cut off their hair in token of subjection, the cropped head
being the badge of slavery. Among the Frankish kings it
was long, says Gregory of Tours, the peculiar privilege
of the blood royal to have flowing locks; while for all other
persons there were gradations in the length and peculiar
cut of the hair according to rank, from the noble down to
the close-cropped slave. When a prince was excluded from
the right of succession to the crown, his long locks were
shorn to denote that he was reduced to the condition of a
subject. From the time of Clovis the French nobility wore
the hair short; but as they grew less martial they allowed
it to grow longer. Long hair was the prevailing fashion at
the court of Francis I., when that king, proud of the wound
on his head, appeared with short hair, and thereupon that
style became general. Long hair again came into vogue in
the reign of Louis XIII.; and as curling was found incon¬
venient, wigs became fashionable. 1 hen followed the reign
of hair-powder, periwigs, and perukes of enormous dimen¬
sions, which, together with many other things no less pre¬
posterous, were swept away in the tide of the great French
Revolution.
Hair manufactures.—The various uses to which hair is
applied are familiar to every one. The most valuable kind
is human hair. It is procured chiefly from the north of
France, Belgium, and Germany. The lighter coloured hair,
which bears the highest value, is the production of Ger¬
many; the darker shades are imported from France, where
a peasant girl will sell the hair off her head without any
sense of degradation; whereas in England this traffic is re-
H A K 183
sorted to only by females of the lowest class. Indeed so Hair
common is the practice in France, that agents are employed jjak'! t
to traverse certain districts annually at a particular season v '
for the purpose of collecting the crops of human hair which
are assiduously cultivated for the sake of the purchase-
money, or its equivalent in gewgaws. The wholesale price
of human hair varies from 30s. to 60s. per lb., and occa¬
sional specimens are of much higher value. A head of hair,
such as is bought of the peasant girls in the districts above
named, weighs from to If pounds.
The hair used for weaving consists of the long hair from
horses’ tails. It is procured principally from South America
and from Russia. All the black and grey hair is dyed for
the manufacture of black hair-cloth for covering furniture.
The white is reserved for dyeing of the brighter hues, such
as green, claret, crimson, &c. The quality of the cloth, as
well as the brilliancy and permanency of the colours, de¬
pend in a great degree on the nature of the warp, which
may be either of cotton, linen, or worsted. In the manu¬
facture of hair-cloth, either plain or damasked, the weaver
uses a sort of hook-shuttle, which he passes between the
threads of the warp, or shed, towards his left hand; tlm
assistant, or “ server,” places a single hair over the end of
the hook, and the weaver draws it through the warp. The
placing of the hairs one by one renders this a tedious ope¬
ration, and one that does not admit of the application of
machinery, which is so advantageously employed in fabrics
where the shot or weft consists of a continuous thread.
Hair or Down of plants. See Botany, vol. v., p. 75.
Hair-Powder, a substance used to whiten the hair,
consists generally of pulverised starch, with the addition of
some perfume. This mode of disguising the colour of the
hair has fallen into almost complete desuetude, yet the
old tax of L.l, 3s. 6d. a-year is still exacted from every
one using hair-powder.
HAKE, a kind of fish, the Gadus merluccius, common
in the English seas and the Mediterranean, and often pre¬
pared as stock-fish. See index to Ichthyology.
HAKLUYT, Richard, a celebrated naval historian,
descended from an ancient family at Eton or Yetton, in
Herefordshire, is supposed to have been born in London
about 1553. He was educated at Westminster School ;
and thence, in 1570, he removed to Christ Church College,
Oxford, where he applied himself particularly to the study
of cosmography, and read public lectures in that science.
When Sir Edward Stafford was sent ambassador to France
in 1583, Hakluyt attended him, probably in the capacity of
chaplain. He was at this time master of arts and professor
of divinity. In 1585 he obtained the royal mandate tor
the next vacant prebend of Bristol, to which preferment he
succeeded during his residence at Paris. Constantly at¬
tentive to his favourite cosmographical inquiries, Hakluyt,
in searching the French libraries found a valuable manu¬
script history of Florida, which had been discovered about
twenty years before by Captain Laudoniere and others ;
and this he caused to be published in the French language
at his own expense. Soon afterwards he revised and pub¬
lished Peter Martyr’s book De Orbe Novo, with marginal
notes, a comprehensive index, and a map of New England
and America. After five years’ residence in France, Hak¬
luyt returned to England in 1588; and in 1605 he was
appointed prebendary of Westminster, which, with the rec¬
tory of Wetheringset in the county of Suffolk, seems to
have been the summit of his preferment. He died in 1616,
and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Hakluyt was an
indefatigable and faithful historian, and his various collec¬
tions are curious, instructive, and interesting, and now com¬
mand very high prices. His works are—A Collection of
Voyages and Discoveries, in one small volume; History of
Florida ; The principal Navigations, Voyages, and Dis¬
coveries of the English Nation, made by Sea or over Land
184 HAL
Hal to the farthest distant Quarters of the Earth, at any time
i] within the compass of these 1500 years, in three vols. folio ;
Halcyon. j]ie JJiscoreries 0f the World, from the first Original to
s—-v—^ the year 1555, written in the Portugal tongue by Antonio
Galvano, corrected, much amended, and translated into
English, by Richard Hakluyt; Virginia richly valued,
by the Description of the Main Land of Florida, her next
neighbour, written by a Portugal gentleman of Elvas, and
translated by Richard Hakluyt. Besides these, he left
several manuscripts which were printed in Purchas’s collec¬
tion.
HAL, a town of Belgium, province of South Brabant, on
the Senne and the Charleroi Canal, 10 miles S.S.W. of
Brussels. It has a fine old Gothic church of the four¬
teenth century, with a famous miracle-working image of
the Virgin. The high altar of sculptured marble is said to
be unequalled in the Netherlands. Pop. (1851) 7392.
HALAS, a market-town of Hungary, district of Little
Cumania, on Lake Halasto, 80 miles S.S.E. of Pesth. It
has a considerable trade in corn, wine, and cattle, and about
10^000 inhabitants.
HALBERSTADT, a town in the Prussian province of
Saxony, government of Magdeburg, and capital of a circle
of the same name, on the Holzemme, a tributary of the
Bode, 29 miles S.W. of Magdeburg, with which it commu¬
nicates by railway. This is a very ancient town, and was
the seat of a bishop as early as 814. The cathedral is a
remarkable edifice, chiefly in the pointed Gothic style,
erected between 1235 and 1491, except the lower part or
the west front, which is older. It contains some valuable
paintings and antiquities ; and the collection of episcopal
and priestly robes, from the twelfth to the sixteenth cen¬
tury, is perhaps the finest in northern Europe. The church
of Our Lady is a building in the Byzantine style, dating
from the beginning of the eleventh century, and has re¬
cently been restored. The town proper is surrounded by
walls, outside of which are several suburbs. It has in ge¬
neral an antique appearance, and contains some old cu¬
riously ornamented timber-framed houses. Halberstadt is
the seat of a superior court of justice, and has a gymnasium,
normal school, school of obstetrics, deaf-mute institution,
orphan asylum, public library, theatre, &c. It carries on a
considerable trade, and has manufactures of woollen cloths,
gloves, carpets, leather, starch, tobacco, and beer. Pop.
(1849) 19,840.
HALBERT, or Halberd, an ancient military weapon
now rarely to be seen except in armoui’ies, or on ceremonial
occasions. It was designed both for cutting and thrusting,
being a kind of combination of the spear and battle-axe,
with great variety in the shape of the head, but always ter¬
minating in a point or blade, and having a shaft five or six
feet in length. The halbert was formerly borne by ser¬
geants of foot and artillery, and by the guards of the great
officers of the army ; and there were also companies of hal¬
berdiers to protect the colours. This weapon was likewise
known as the Danish axe ; having passed from the Danes
to the Scots, and from them to the English Saxons, from
whom it passed to the Normans ; though Meyrick {Hist,
of Anc. Arm.) supposes it to have been a Swiss invention,
borrowed by the French under Louis XL, and first used by
the English in the reign of Llenry VIII. This apparent dis¬
crepancy, however, may perhaps be annulled on the supposi¬
tion of the use of weapons not very dissimilar at different
periods under other names. The word halbert is formed
from the Teutonic hal, hall, and bard, a hatchet, as being
the. weapon appropriated to warders. Vossius fancifully
derives it from the German hallebaert, a compound of hel,
clarus, splendens, and baert, axe.
IIALCA ON, the ancient name of the alcedo or king¬
fisher.
Halcyon Days, in Antiquity, a name given to seven
HAL
days before and as many after the winter solstice; because Haldane,
at this season the halcyon, invited by the calmness of the - .
weather, laid its eggs in nests built close by the brink of
the sea; and hence the phrase halcyon days is expressive
of times of peace and tranquillity.
As late they love : their nuptial faiths they show..
Now little birds ingender, parents grow :
Seven winter dayes with peacefull calrae possest,
Alcyon sits upon her floating nest.”—Sandy’s Ovid. Met. b. xL
HALDANE, Robert and James Alexander, were the
sons of Captain James Haldane of Airthrey, and Katherine,
daughter of Alexander Duncan, Esq. of Lundie, and sister
of Lord Duncan, the hero of Camperdown. Robert was
born in 1764, and his brother in 1768. Two weeks before
the birth of the latter their father died, and they did not
long enjoy the benefits of a mother’s care. In 1774 she
also was removed ; but during the short period in which she
was allowed to exercise her maternal duties, she discharged
them with admirable fidelity and tenderness ; and her pious
instructions made a deep and indelible impression on their
youthful minds. The charge of the orphans now devolved
upon their maternal grandmother and uncles, who did all they
could to supply a mother’s place. Under their direction, the
education of the boys was carried on first at Dundee, and
subsequently at the High School and University of Edin¬
burgh, where they proved themselves to be possessed of
excellent abilities, and made respectable progress in their
studies. At the age of seventeen both Robert and James
went to sea, and from this point we shall notice the leading
events of their lives separately. In 1780 Robert entered
the royal navy, served in the Foudroyant under Captain
Jervis, afterwards Earl St Vincent; and during the me¬
morable night engagement with the Pegase, distinguished
himself so much by his ability, energy, and intrepidity,
that Captain Jervis wrote his uncle a letter of congra¬
tulation, predicting the eminence of his nephew. At the
peace in 1783 Robert retired from the navy. He was
then in his twentieth year.. In 1785 he married Katherine
Cochran Oswald, second daughter of the late George
Oswald, Esq. of Scotstown, and soon after settled on his
beautiful estate of Airthrey, in the neighbourhood of Stirling,
in the improvement of which he spent the most of his time
for several years. The stirring events of the French Re¬
volution also occupied much of his attention. He disap¬
proved of the war with France in which. Britain was en¬
gaged, and gained himself many enemies by stating this
boldly at a meeting of the freeholders of the county of Stir¬
ling. He was afterwards often charged with holding the
most violent and democratic views ; but these charges were
wholly without foundation. It is true, however, that he did
sympathize with the revolutionary movements of the French,
and expected benefits to flow from them which were never
realized. And he tells us that the disappointment he felt
on this account contributed in no small degree to hasten and
mature a vital change that was going on in his own mind,
and led him to confess and submit to that Supreme Power
by whose influence alone individuals and nations can be
regenerated. The forms of religion he had indeed never
cast off; but it was not till now that he was awakened to
a clear perception of its impressive and momentous realities.
No sooner were these opened to Jus view than he, with
characteristic energy, devoted himself to the pursuit of
truth, sincerely desirous to find and follow it wherever
it led him. He read much, and thought deeply, on the
evidences of Christianity, and carefully studied the records
of divine revelation. The issue of his studies was a pro¬
found conviction that the Christian religion was from above.
He now resolved to consecrate his time, talents, and
wealth to the advancement of Christianity. His motto was,
“ Christianity is everything or nothing. If it be true, it war¬
rants and commands every sacrifice to promote its influence^
HAL
Haldane. If it be not) then let us lay aside the hypocrisy of professing
.i j to believe it.” A report of the Baptist missions which fell
into his hands, excited his sympathy toward the heathen
population of India. A vast missionary scheme was formed
on their behalf, several eminent missionaries were appointed,
and this staff was to be supplemented by catechists and
schoolmasters, and provided with a printing establishment.
The entire expense was undertaken by Mr Haldane ; and
in order to supply the requisite means, and be ready to de¬
part without delay, his fine estate was sold. But the East
India Company refused to sanction the scheme, and he was
therefore obliged most reluctantly to abandon it. Other
fields of usefulness, however, were open to him, and to these
he turned. At his expense many chapels were hired, and
many erected, throughout Scotland ; and many pious young
men supported and educated for the ministry. Nor was
the exercise of his Christian philanthropy confined to his
own country. In 1816 he visited the Continent for the
same end; and first at Geneva, and then at Montauban, was
occupied night and day in expounding the gospel to all who
would listen, and especially to those who either were ministers
or were under training for that profession. These pious la¬
bours were attended with remarkable success. After a sojourn
on the Continent of nearly three years Mr Haldane returned
to Scotland, and spent the remainder of his days either in
Edinburgh or on his estate of Auchengray, which he had
purchased in 1809. In all good works he continued to the
last to manifest unwearied zeal and undiminished liberality ;
and from whatever quarter divine truth was assailed, it
always found in him an able and uncompromising cham¬
pion. In December 1842 this good man rested from his
labours. His writings were numerous ; the chief are—his
work on the Evidences and Authority of Divine Revelation,
and his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans.—We
now resume the narrative of James Haldane’s life. In
1785 he went to sea, and entered the East India Company’s
service, with which his family had been connected for
several generations. He was an enthusiast in his profes¬
sion, and became an intrepid and skilful seaman. After the
completion of his fourth voyage in 1793 he was appointed
captain of the Melville Castle, and had the sure prospect
of soon acquiring an ample fortune. In the same year he
married the only daughter and child of Major Joass of Cul-
leonard in Banffshire. Instead of putting to sea imme¬
diately as was intended, the Melville Castle was unexpec¬
tedly detained for months. Meanwhile he was led to study
the Bible more carefully than he had ever done before.
He then, under deep religious impressions, threw up his
naval command with all the worldly advantages which it
promised, and settled in Edinburgh. Like his brother,
whatever he did, he did with all his might. The low
state of religion in his own land, and the prevalence of
error and immorality, he most earnestly began to coun¬
teract. They distributed tracts, opened Sabbath-schools,
and proclaimed the Word of God to all who would hear
them, first in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, and then
throughout all Scotland. As a preacher James Haldane
met with the greatest success. He attracted large au¬
diences wherever he went; and there were few towns,
or even villages, of his native country to which his mis¬
sionary labours did not extend. In churches or halls,
when accessible, or, if not, in the market-place or adjoin¬
ing field, and often in the face of obloquy, dei’ision, and
under the most violent threats and opposition, he calmly
and resolutely persevered in his work. Besides these
itinerant labours, he discharged gratuitously the duties of
pastor to a congregation in Edinburgh, to which he was
ordained in 1799. This charge he held till his death.
As a minister he was a bright example of fidelity and
zeal, and always ready to lend his aid in the promotion of
every good work. But his labours were not confined to
VOL. XI.
HAL
one locality. With James Haldane, as with his brother
Robert, the field to be cultivated was the world ; and wher¬
ever a door of usefulness was open, his voice and pen were ^
ready to be employed. His zeal and activity remained un-
diminished; and when above fourscore he still preached to
his congregation with great regularity. In 1849, the jubi¬
lee of his pastorate was celebrated. In 1851 he rested from
his labours. Though Baptists from conviction, the Haldanes
gave no unseasonable or exaggerated prominence to the
peculiarities of their denominational views; but, both by
example and precept, made the great fundamental truths
of the gospel the grand centre of union among all true
Christians. The record of their lives is one of the most
interesting of Christian biographies, and, if its lessons and
example have their due influence, may be one of the most
profitable. (w. b.)
HALDE, Jean Baptiste du, was born at Paris, Feb.
1, 1674, and having entered into the society of Jesus, he
was at length appointed to succeed Father Legobien, who
had been intrusted with the duty of arranging the letters
they received from different quarters of the globe. He was
also for some time secretary to the famous Father Letellier,
confessor to the king of France. He died Aug. 18, 1 743.
Du Halde is represented as a man of mild and amiable
character, and as remarkable alike for his unaffected piety
and unwearied industry. He was the author of some Latin
poems of no great value; but is still remembered for the
following works:—Lettres Edijiantes et Curieuses ecrites
des Missions Etrangeres, which he edited with great ability
from the ninth to the twenty-sixth volume inclusive, and
which have been translated into English and German.
Description Geographique, Historique, Chronologique, Po¬
litique, et Physique, de 1*Empire de la Chine et de la Tar¬
taric Chinoise, Paris, 1735, in four volumes large folio, with
figures and an atlas by D’Anville. This work, the first in
which China is described with so much exactness and detail,
is at the same time a beautiful monument of French typo¬
graphy. The description contained in this work and in the
Lettres Edijiantes has furnished materials to almost all the
modern writers who have treated of that vast empire, and
has contributed materially to advance the science of geo¬
graphy. (l B—E.)
HALE, Sir Matthew, Lord Chief-Justice of England,
was born on the 1st of November 1609, at Alderley in
Gloucestershire. His father had been a barrister, but having
retired from practice, resided upon a small estate he had
purchased there. His paternal ancestors appear to have
been in the middle rank of life, his grandfather having been
a clothier at Wotton-under-Edge; but on his mother’s side
he was connected with the noble family of the Poyntzes of
Acton. The future chief-justice having had the misfortune
to lose his parents when he was only in his fifth year,
was placed by his guardian under the care of the Rev. Mr
Staunton, vicar of Wotton-under-Edge, by whose tuition
he became strongly embued with the religious principles of
the Puritans. At school he was distinguished by great
diligence, and acquired, it is probable, those habits of sedu¬
lous application to study, which in subsequent years se¬
cured his reputation and advancement. Having acquired
a considerable stock of classical learning he was sent to the
University of Oxford at the age of sixteen, and became a
student of Magdalen Hall under the tuition of Obadiah
Sedgwick, a classical scholar of high attainments, and whose
religious sentiments were in accordance with those of his
former instructor. Here he devoted himself with great
steadiness for several terms to the study of the philosophy
of Aristotle and the theology of Calvin, with a view to holy
orders. Suddenly, however, the diligent and devout student,
of whose future eminence in the church his friends had
formed the highest anticipations, became smitten with a
love of military glory, and resolved to abandon the peaceable
2 A
185
Halde
p
Hale.
186
HALE.
Hale.
profession he had apparently chosen for that of arms. From
- this purpose he was happily diverted by an unexpected in¬
cident. Before proceeding to the Low Countries to take
service under the Prince of Orange, he found himself in¬
volved in a legal action which threatened to deprive him of
his patrimony. It became requisite for him to proceed to
London, in order before his departure to give instructions
for the defence of his rights. His leading counsel was the
celebrated Sergeant Wilde, one of the ablest advocates then
at the bar, and this great lawyer must have perceived in
the acuteness and sagacity of his youthful client a peculiar
fitness for the legal profession; for, understanding that he
was bent upon a military career, he laboured with great
earnestness to induce him to renounce his purpose and de¬
vote himself to the study of law. In this he was at length
successful, and Hale became a member of the honourable
society of Lincoln’s-Inn on the 8th of November 1629.
No sooner did the future chief-justice make choice of the
profession on which his talents and character were one day
to reflect so great a lustre, than he resumed his habits of
intense application. Day after day, month after month, for
the long period of eight years he underwent an amount of
intellectual labour almost incredible. The rules which he
laid down for himself, and which are still extant in his hand-
writing, prescribe sixteen hours a-day of close application,
and prove not only the great mental power, but the extra¬
ordinary physical strength he must have possessed, and for
which, indeed, during his residence at the university, he
had been remarkable. Some idea of his ardour in the ac¬
quisition of knowledge may be formed from the fact that,
during the period allotted to his preliminary studies, he not
only read over and over again all the year-books, reports,
and law treatises in print, but at the Tower of London
and other antiquarian repositories, examined and carefully
studied the records from the earliest period to his own time,
in order to acquire a familiar acquaintance with the history,
the principles, and the practice of English jurisprudence
during every reign since the foundation of the monarchy.
Even the Common-place Book, which he composed as the
result of his study and research, may, according to Lord
Campbell, u be considered a corpus juris, embracing and
methodizing all that an English lawyer on any emergency
could desire to know.” But Hale did not confine himself
to the law alone, although the manner in which he devoted
himself to that study might well have occupied his whole
time. It was his maxim, that to be master in any profes¬
sion is impossible without an acquaintance with other
sciences. He dedicated, therefore, no small portion of his
time to the study of pure mathematics, to investigations in
physics and chemistry, and even to anatomy and architec¬
ture ; and there can be no doubt that the value of many of
his decisions arose not more from his legal knowledge than
from his extraordinary proficiency in other departments of
human learning.
The high character Hale acquired while a law student
produced the result which was to be expected. No sooner
was he called to the bar than he found himself in full prac¬
tice; and so completely did he justify the expectations of
his friends that in a very few years he was at the top of his
profession. The period at which he entered on public life
was to be in many respects the most eventful in the history
of the English nation, and occurrences were to take place
which should result in the establishment of those great po¬
litical principles on which the liberty and prosperity of the
people depend. Hale rose in reputation amid the struggle
of parties whose obstinacy could not fail sooner or later to lead
to aviolent collision; and as he had not openly espoused either
side, both were eager to obtain his support. He declared
himself neutral, however, resolved to follow the example of
ompomus Atticus, by so acting as to retain the esteem of
all parties without being exclusively devoted to any. This
line of conduct has been censured by Hale’s biographer,
Lord Campbell, as “ cowardly and selfish but a little con- *>
sideration will readily prove that the censure is not merely
too severe, but that it is undeserved. Hale felt that his
strength lay not in being a political partizan, but an inter¬
preter of the laws of his country. He was too good a his¬
torian, and too sagacious a philosopher not to foresee the
necessary result of the impending conflict; and thus in be¬
coming neutral, he probably felt that he adopted a course
which enabled him to do the largest amount of good to his
country, as well as escape a struggle wholly adverse to his
favourite pursuits, and in which he could not engage so as
to benefit the party he should attempt to support. Perhaps,
too, it may have appeared to him that to keep free from
those violent prejudices so apt to distort and confuse the
judgment would render him more likely to be useful either
as an advocate or a judge.
Hale was counsel in some of the most celebrated trials
recorded in English history. It has been said—although
not with certainty—that he was engaged for the Earl of
Strafford; but he was certainly counsel for Archbishop Laud,
Lord Maguire, Christopher Love, the Duke of Hamilton,
and others. He was ready to plead on the side of Charles I.
when that king was brought to trial before his people; but
he was not called upon to do so—his majesty having, by
Hale’s advice, refused to submit to the court.
The parliament having gained the ascendancy, Hale signed
the Solemn League and Covenant, and was a member of
the famous Assembly of Divines at Westminster in 1644.
His early education, it may be presumed, rendered the
views of that assembly by no means disagreeable to him;
but he was, nevertheless, moderate in his opinions as to
church government; and although he would undoubtedly
have preferred a Presbyterian form, he had no serious ob¬
jection to the system of modified Episcopacy proposed by
Archbishop Usher.
Consistently with his desire to remain neutral, Hale took
the engagement to the Commonwealth as he had done to the
king, and in 1653, having been already elevated to the rank
of sergeant, became a judge in the Court of Common Pleas.
Two years afterwards he sat in Cromwell’s parliament as
one of the members for Gloucestershire. After the death
of the Protector, however, he declined to act as a jud^e
under Richard Cromwell, although he represented Oxford
in Richard’s parliament.
Immediately upon the restoration of Charles II., Hale
proceeded to Whitehall, and was graciously received by
the king. Very soon afterwards he was appointed Chief
Baron of the Exchequer; and, owing to his extreme hu¬
mility, received, with great reluctance, the honour of knight¬
hood at the hands of his sovereign. After holding the
office of Chief Baron for eleven years, he was raised to the
higher dignity of Lord Chief-Justice. Many interesting
anecdotes are related of him which place his character in a
most amiable light, and exhibit his marvellous fitness for the
difficult office he so worthily filled. On an impartial review
of his life, indeed, it is not surprising that Lord Campbell
should thus refer to him—“ He is certainly to be considered
the most eminent judge who ever filled the office (of Chief
Baron) ; and being promoted to be Chief-Justice of England,
he gave new dignity to the supreme magistracy which had
been illustrated by Gascoigne, by Fortescue, and by Coke.”
Nor are evidences wanting of the sterling piety by which he
was animated. During his long laborious career he never
forgot the duties of religion, or failed to illustrate, wherever
he had an opportunity by his conduct and conversation, the
great principles of Christianity. He was the intimate friend
of those great ornaments of the Established Church, Barrow,
Tillotson, Wilkins, and Stillingfleet, as well as of the vene¬
rable and learned Baxter, the great leader of the Noncon¬
formists ; while to all of them, and indeed to all the great
Hale.
HAL
Hales, and good men of his day, he was the object of love and
veneration.
On attaining his sixty-seventh year, the venerable chief-
justice found his health so indifferent that he resigned his
office; and in Feb. 1676 bade a final adieu to London,
betaking himself to his native place, and making his progress
thither by easy journeys. On arriving at Alderley, the air
of the country and the scenes of his early life for a while
revived him, but the relief was only temporary. His disease
assumed an aggravated form, and he died on the 25th of
Dec. in the same year, having endured his lingering illness
with the faith and patience of a saint. He had been twice
married, and had outlived all his children but his eldest
daughter and his youngest son.
Lord Hale was the author of several works on philoso-
sophical and religious or devotional subjects, but (as is
much to be regretted) not upon law—the subject on which
he was above all his contemporaries capable of writing.
In 1673 he published an essay on the Gravitation of Fluid
Bodies ; this was followed soon after by a treatise on the
Torricellian Experiment and the Weight of the Air. He
had likewise printed two volumes of Contemplations, con¬
sisting of a variety of papers of a religious character; and
ultimately he sent to the press his work on The Origination
of Mankind. This latter work was not published till after
his death. He likewise attempted to write poetry, but, it
must be admitted, with little success. The studies of a
great lawyer are not those that favour the imaginative faculty,
so valuable to the votary of the muses. (r. w. f.)
HALES, Stephen, D.D., a distinguished physiologist,
was born in 1667 at Beckesbourn in Kent. He was edu¬
cated at Bennet College, Cambridge, of which, in 1702, he
became a fellow. In 1710 he was made perpetual curate
of Teddington, near Twickenham, then rector of Porlock
in Somersetshire, and afterwards of Faringdon in Hamp¬
shire. Despite these preferments, however, he continued
to reside at Teddington. In 1718 he became a member
of the Royal Society, to whose Transactions he contributed
a large number of ingenious and valuable papers. In 1753,
on the death of Sir Hans Sloane, he was chosen foreign
associate of the French Academic des Sciences. He died
at Teddington in 1761.
Soon after his election into the Royal Society, Hales
published his Vegetable Statics, or an Account of some
Statical Experiments on the Sap in Vegetables, and has
thus the honour of having made the first discoveries in what
has since become the great science of vegetable physiology.
The work was soon translated into French, Italian, German,
and other continental languages, and is still an authority on
the subject which it treats. In 1733 he published, under
the title of Hcemastatics, a similar essay on the circulation
of the blood. But the most important services which he
rendered to his country were rather those of a practical phi¬
lanthropist than of a merely scientific observer. One of
the most useful of his inventions was his “ ventilator,” with
which he solved the difficult problem of introducing abun¬
dant supplies of pure and fresh air into jails, hospitals,
mines, and the holds of ships. In 1749 one of these ven¬
tilators was fairly tested in the Savoy prison, where the an¬
nual average of mortality had been from fifty to a hundred
victims. From 1749 till 1752 inclusive, however, only four
persons died within the jail, though in 1750 the number of
prisoners was 240. Of these four, one died of small-pox
and another of delirium tremens. The advantages of Hales’
ventilators were thus so fully established that they were im¬
mediately adopted by the French government, and applied
with success in a far greater number of cases than the in¬
ventor had ever contemplated. In 1752 another of these
machines was fitted up in Newgate, and the mortality im¬
mediately fell in the proportion of 7 to 16. Hales’ other
inventions were all of an equally practical and useful charac-
HAL 187
ter. They had reference chiefly to such objects as preserv- Halesowen
ing meats for long sea-voyages, distilling sea-water, cleaning II
and preserving corn, &c. He also gained the Copley gold Halicar-
medal for his essay on the medicines for dissolving the stone v nassus',
in the bladder. *
HALESOWEN, a market-town of England, county of
Worcester, in a pleasant valley 7 miles W.S.W. of Bir¬
mingham. It consists chiefly of one main street, crossed
by several inferior ones. The parish church is a fine build¬
ing, surmounted by a beautiful spire, and containing several
interesting monuments, one in memory of Shenstone the
poet, who is buried in the adjacent cemetery. The inha¬
bitants are chiefly employed in the manufacture of nails
and the coarser kinds of hardware. Market-day, Monday.
In the vicinity is Leasowes, the birthplace and residence of
Shenstone. Halesowen was formerly celebrated for its
monastery, of which some remains still exist. Pop. (1851)
2412.
HALES WORTH, a market-town of England, county
of Suffolk, 100 miles N.N.E. of London. By means of the
Blyth and a navigable canal it communicates with the sea
at Southwold, about 9 miles distant. It carries on a con¬
siderable trade in agricultural produce; hemp is largely
grown in the vicinity ; and the inhabitants are chiefly em¬
ployed in spinning yarn, or as maltsters. Market-day, Tues¬
day. Pop. (1851) 2529.
HALF-PAY. See Commission, Military; and Nayy.
HALIBUT. See Holibut, index to Ichthyology.
HALICARNASSUS, a city of Caria, on the coast of
Asia Minor, opposite to the island of Cos, founded by a
colony of Trcezenians (Strabo), who were joined by a party
of Argeians under the command of Melas and Arvanias
(Vitruv. ii. 8). We are told by Herodotus (i. 144), that it
originally belonged to the Dorian Hexapolis, and that it lost
this privilege because Agasicles, one of its citizens, carried
off the tripod, which had been adjudged to him in the games
in honour of the Triopian Apollo, instead of dedicating it
to the god, as had always been the custom. The other
cities, indignant at this breach of the law, met and declared
Halicarnassus unworthy of participating in their privileges;
and from that time the Dorian confederacy consisted of five
cities, and was called Pentapolis. We have no means of
discovering at what period this event took place ; but about
the year 500 b.c. we find Halicarnassus subject to Lygdamis,
whose daughter Artemisia commanded a squadron of ships
in the fleet of Xerxes, and behaved so nobly in the battle of
Salamis, 480 b. c. (Herod, viii. 87.) It was probably during
the reign of her son, called Lygdamis, that Herodotus, un¬
willing to witness the tyrannical acts of a despot, aban¬
doned his native city and retired to Samos. A consider¬
able period now elapses, in which we know nothing of the
history of Halicarnassus; but about 350 b.c. we find it
under princes of Carian extraction. Hecatomnus is men¬
tioned by Strabo (xiv. 656) as king of the Carians ; and he
left three sons, Mausolus, Hidrieus, and Pixodarus, and two
daughters, Artemisia and Ada, who were married to the
two elder brothers. On the death of Mausolus, his wife
and sister became queen. She is best known in history as
the builder of that celebrated monument in honour of her
husband, which she called from him mausoleum, and which
was reckoned one of the seven wonders of the world. She
was succeeded by her second brother Hidrieus, whose sister
and wife Ada was driven from the kingdom by her brother
Pixodarus. At this period Alexander the Great arrived
with his forces in Caria, and having razed Halicarnassus
to the ground, restored Ada to the sovereignty of Caria.
It seems to have been rebuilt, but never to have regained
its former degree of splendour. Cicero speaks of his
brother restoring Halicarnassus (ad. Q. Fr. i. 8), and Taci¬
tus (Ann. iv. 55) tells us that the people of this place were
anxious to erect a temple to Tiberius. It was the birth-
188 HAL
Halieutics place of Herodotus, and of Dionysius, author of the Roman
II Antiquities. Its ruins are still found at Boudroun. The
Halifax. course 0f tfie old walls is still pointed out, and traces of the
mausoleum are yet to be seen. (See Hamilton’s lie-
searches, &c.)
HALIEUTICS ('AAicvriKa, from dAteus, a. fisherman),
the name given to treatises on fishing, or the art of fishing;
as the Halieutics of Oppian.
HALIFAX, a municipal and parliamentary borough and
market-town of England, West Riding of Yorkshire, 36
miles W.S.W. of York. It stands on a gentle acclivity
rising from the Hebble, a tributary of the Calder, and is
almost entirely surrounded by hills. Though in some parts
the streets are narrow and irregular, the improvements of
late years have been so great that the town generally pre¬
sents a new and handsome appearance. A few old plaster
houses with carved oak framework, of the reign of Henry
VIIL, still remain, otherwise the buildings are of stone
supplied from quarries in the neighbourhood. The town
is well-paved and lighted with gas, and is plentifully sup¬
plied with water. It has a number of elegant buildings,
principally of modern date. The parish church of St John
is a large and handsome edifice of Gothic architecture,
erected at different dates, and surmounted by a highly or¬
namented tower 117 feet in height. Trinity Church,
erected in 1795, is a handsome Grecian building with
Ionic pilasters, and an elegant tower with dome at its
west end. St James’s, built in 1831, is in the pseudo-
Gothic style, with turrets at the west end. Besides the
Episcopal places of worship there are chapels belonging to
the Independents, Baptists, Wesleyan and other branches
of Methodists, Quakers, Unitarians, and Roman Catholics.
It has a number of day, evening, and Sunday schools, in¬
cluding a national, Lancasterian, and a grammar school.
There are a number of literary and scientific as well as
of charitable institutions. The infirmary is a large and ele¬
gant building, with excellent accommodation, and affording
medical and surgical aid to outdoor as well as indoor pa¬
tients. There are also public baths, assembly-rooms, thea¬
tre, savings bank, and mechanics’ institute. The Piece
Hall is a magnificent quadrangular structure occupying more
than two acres of ground, and having 315 rooms for the
lodgment of goods which are open for sales once a-week.
Halifax derives its importance from the manufacture of
cloth, which was commenced here in the beginning of the
15th century. It now ranks next to Leeds and Bradford
as a seat of the woollen and worsted manufactures. The
principal staples are shalloons, camlets, figured vestings,
moreens, bombazines, crapes, russets, serges, baizes, coat¬
ings, broad and narrow cloths, kerseys, cottons, and silks.
A considerable number of persons are employed in making
machinery. The situation of Halifax is also favourable to
the development of its industry, having canal communica¬
tion with the River Calder and the Rochdale Canal, and
being connected by railway with Manchester and Leeds.
According to an old law, the magistrates of Halifax were
invested with the power of inflicting capital punishment on
any thief taken “ hand-habend,” “ back-berend,” or “ con-
fessand,” to the value of 13^d. The execution took place
on the first market-day after conviction, by means of an in¬
strument somewhat resembling the guillotine. Halifax is
governed by a mayor, ten aldermen, and thirty councillors,
and returns two members to Parliament. The parish of Hali¬
fax is one of the largest in the kingdom, having an area of
75,740 acres, and containing (1851) 149,257 inhabitants.
Pop. (1851) of borough, 33,582. Registered electors, 1200.
Halifax, a city and seaport of British North America,
on the S.E. coast of Nova Scotia, of which it is the capital.
It stands on the declivity of a hill about 250 feet in height,
and rises gradually from the S.W. side of a deep inlet of the
sea, called Halifax Harbour. It is about two miles in length
HAL
by nearly a mile in breadth, and consists mostly of wide and Halifax,
regular streets. “ The appearance of Halifax from the
water, or from the opposite shore, is prepossessing and ani¬
mated. The front of the town is lined by wharfs, along¬
side which vessels of all sizes, and variously rigged, are in¬
cessantly loading or discharging their cargoes. Warehouses
rise over the wharfs, as well as in different parts of the
town ; and dwelling-houses and public buildings rear their
heads over each other as they stretch along and up the sides
of the hill. The spires of different churches, the building
above the town in which the town-clock is fixed, a rotunda-
built church, the signal-posts of Citadel Hill, the different
batteries, the variety of style in which the houses are built,
some of which are painted white, some blue, and some red;
rows of trees showing themselves in different parts of the
town; the ships moored opposite the dockyard; the esta¬
blishments and tall sheers of the latter; the merchant ves¬
sels under sail, at anchor, or alongside the wharfs; the
wooded and rocky scenery of the background ; with the
islands, and the small town of Dartmouth, on the E. shore,—
are all objects which strike most forcibly on the view of a
stranger.” (M‘Gregor’s Hr it. America, i. 325.) The
houses are mostly of wood plastered or stuccoed, and have,
in many cases, an imposing and elegant appearance; but a
number of the private houses and the public buildings are
of stone. The government house is a solid, sombre-looking
structure at the south end of the town, and the admiral’s
house is a plain stone building at the north end. The province
building, near the centre of the town, is a magnificent
structure, 140 feet long by 70 broad and 45 high, with a fine
Ionic colonnade. It comprises chambers for the council
and legislative assembly, the supreme court, and the various
provincial offices. The dockyard is one of the largest and
best stored in the British colonies, and covers an area of 14
acres. The harbour extends inland from the Atlantic for
15 miles, terminating in a beautiful land-locked expanse of
water called the Bedford Basin, and capable of accommo¬
dating the whole British navy. The entrance to Halifax
harbour is well lighted, and buoys are placed upon all the
shoals. A fine deep channel stretches up behind Halifax,
called the Northwest Arm, which renders the site of the
city a peninsula. On the west side of the entrance to the
harbour, on a small island off Sambro Cape, is Sambro Light¬
house, with a fixed light 210 feet high. A detachment of
artillery, with two 24-pounders, is stationed here for firing
at regular intervals during the dense fogs which are preva¬
lent on this coast. After passing Sambro light, the course
for large vessels is between the mainland on the W. and
Macnab’s Island on the E.; on a point projecting from the
latter a lighthouse has recently been constructed. Opposite
the town the harbour is rather more than a mile in width,
whence it gradually narrows to about one-fourth of that
width, and then suddenly expands into a magnificent basin.
The harbour is accessible at all times, and is rarely impeded
by ice. It is defended by forts and batteries. Halifax is
the seat of a considerable fishery. Its principal trade is with
Great Britain, the British colonies, and the United States.
In 1852 the total exports from Halifax valued L.588,206, of
which L.20,167 went to Britain, L.144,480to British West
Indies, L.234,842 to British North America, L.l 19,385 to
United States, and L.69,332 to other countries; the total
imports during that period valued L.939,864, of which
L.399,277 came from Britain, L.l 1,496 from British West
Indies, L.l62,955 from British North America, L.218,817
from United States, and L. 147,319 from other countries.
The imports are chiefly British manufactures and native
products of the West Indies and United States; the ex¬
ports, dried and pickled fish, timber, cattle, agricultural and
dairy produce, fur, whale and seal oil, &c. Mail-steamers
run every alternate week between Liverpool, Halifax, and
Boston, and there is regular communication, by steamers
HAL
Halifax and sailing vessels, with all the great ports of the United
|| States, British America, and the West Indies. A canal has
Hall, been cut across the country from Halifax to the basin of
Minas at the bottom of the Bay of Fundy. In 1790 Hali¬
fax contained only 700 houses and 4000 inhabitants. In
1817 it was declared a free port, and had then 1200 houses.
In 1844 it had 22,000 inhabitants, and in 1852, 26,000.
HALIFAX, Marquis of. See Savile, Sir George.
HALIMASS (Saxon, halig, holy, and the feast of
All Souls. See Hallowmass.
HALL, a town in the Austrian province of Tyrol, circle
of the Lower Inn, on the left bank of that river, by means
of which it communicates with Vienna. It occupies a pic¬
turesque situation between two mountains, is surrounded by
walls, and has a fine old Gothic church. It has very exten¬
sive salt-works, with some linen and cotton factories. Pop.
about 5000. There are several smaller towns in Germany
of this name.
Hall, or Suabian Hall, a town of Wiirtemberg, circle
of Jaxt, on the Kocher, 35 miles N.E. of Stuttgard. It
was formerly a free imperial city, and is surrounded by
strong walls, defended by towers and ditches. It has a
town-hall, seven churches, a gymnasium, and two public
libraries. It is chiefly famous for its extensive salt-works,
supplied from saline springs in the vicinity. Sugar, soap,
starch, are its other products. It has also a large trade in
cattle. Including the three suburbs, it has about 6500 in¬
habitants.
Hall, in Architecture, a large apartment at the entrance
of a house or palace.
Hall is also applied to an edifice where courts of justice
are held, as Westminster Hall, in connection with which
are the courts of Queen’s Bench, Chancery, Common Pleas,
Exchequer, the Rolls Court, and the Vice-Chancellor’s two
courts.
HALL, Captain Basil, a distinguished British travel¬
ler and miscellaneous writer, was born at Edinburgh in 1788.
His father was Sir James Hall of Dunglast, a man still re¬
membered for his Essay on the Origin, Principles, and
History of Gothic Architecture, and for his ingenious re¬
searches into geology, with a view of establishing the theory
of Plutton in opposition to that of Werner. Basil Hall en¬
tered the navy in 1802, and rose gradually to be post-cap¬
tain in 1817. In the course of his many voyages, he set
himself to observe the manners and customs of the peoples
whom he visited, as well as the physical peculiarities of the
countries which they inhabited, and in this way collected
the materials for a very large number of scientific papers
which he contributed to various journals and encyclopaedias.
Perhaps the most interesting of his works is his Voyage of
Discovery to the Western Coast of Corea and the Great
Loo-Choo Island, in the Japan Sea, which had a very wide
and rapid circulation. His Travels in North America were
equally popular, less through their intrinsic merits, than from
the violence with which they were assailed by the American
press for their very partial and unfriendly view of American
society. Various other works of travel followed these from
Captain Hall’s pen, but of inferior interest and merit. His
last, which appeared in 1841 under the title of Patchwork,
had not been long published w hen its author was seized with
insanity, from which he was only relieved by death in 1844.
Hall, Edward, the author of the Chronicle known by his
name, was born in London about the close of the fifteenth
century. He was educated at Cambridge, and became a
fellow of King’s College there, but afterwards removed to
Oxford. He then studied law at Gray’s Inn, and became
first a common serjeant, and finally under-sheriff of London.
Before his death, which happened in 1547, he had been
appointed one of the judges of the sheriff’s court.
Hall’s Chronicle, first printed by Berthelette in 1542, is
nowr extremely rare. It is entitled, “ The Union of the two
HAL 189
Noble and Illustrate Families of Lancaster and York,” and Hall,
was dedicated to Henry VIII. Grafton continued the work
from the point at which Hall had broken it off, and brought
it down to the end of the reign of Henry VIII., and pub¬
lished two editions of it during his life. Another appeared
in London in 1809 among the English Chronicles. Though
the work is mentioned approvingly by Peck, Hearne, and
other antiquaries, its intrinsic value does not appear to be
very great.
Hall, Joseph, the learned and pious Bishop of Nor¬
wich, was born in 1574 at Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicester¬
shire. He was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge,
of which he afterwards became a fellow. Entering the
church, he was, in 1617, appointed dean of Worcester; in
the following year took part in the synod of Dort as one of
the English deputies ; nine years later was promoted to the
see of Exeter ; and in 1641 translated to that of Norwich.
The latter years of Hall’s life were spent in misery and
gloom. His fervent piety and zeal seemed to identify him
with the Puritan movement, though there was not then liv¬
ing a more ardent upholder of Episcopacy than he. He had
given practical proof of that zeal and devotion by his able
defences of the liturgy and discipline of the Church ; but
he had held out against the Arminianism of Laud, and thus
exposed himself to the malignant and wanton attacks of that
primate and his crew. “ I plainly told the Archbishop of
Canterbury,” he said, “ that rather than I would be obnox¬
ious to those slanderous tongues of his misinformers, I would
cast up my rocket. I knew I went right ways and would ■
not endure to live under undeserved suspicions.” In the ,,
January of 1642, Hall having joined the prelates who pro¬
tested against the validity of all laws made during their ?
forced absence from parliament, was committed to the \
Tower. It was proposed to prosecute them all for high >
treason, and the impeachment was actually begun, but the :
prosecution wras finally dropped, and Hall was set at liberty, •'
though only after finding bail for L.5000. On returning
to Norwich he enjoyed comparative quiet for a short time ;
but in the following year his revenues were sequestrated,
and even his personal property destroyed or pillaged. In
1647 he retired to Higham, near Norwich, where he rented
a small farm, and passed his remaining years in the exer¬
cise of such charity and hospitality as his scanty means al¬
lowed. He died there in 1656, in the eighty-second year
of his age.
Bishop Hall’s works have been published in various forms,
folio, quarto, and octavo. The last complete edition, that
of Pratt, appeared in 1808 in 10 vols. 8vo. The great bulk
of these writings is controversial, and therefore of a merely
temporary interest. Some of them, however, and those
probably to which the author himself attached least impor¬
tance, well deserve consideration, if not perusal. Of these
may be mentioned his Satires, written partly when he was
a student at College, and afterwards republished under the
title of Virgidemiarum Sixe Bookes, i. e., six books of bun¬
dles of rods. These satires are described by W arton as
marked by a classical precision to which English poetry had
yet rarely attained. “ They are replete with animation of
style and sentiment. The characters are delineated in strong
and lively colouring, and their discriminations are touched
with the masterly traces of genuine humour. The versifi¬
cation is equally energetic and elegant, and the fabric of
the couplets approaches to the modern standard. His
chief fault is obscurity, arising from a remote phraseology,
constrained combinations, unfamiliar allusions, elliptical
apostrophes, and abruptness of expression.” Of Hall’s prose
works, the best are those on practical religion, such as his
Contemplations, his Art of Divine Meditation, and his
Enochismus or Treatise on the Mode of Walking with
God. All these works exhibit originality of thought, ex¬
ercised clearly and systematically on the highest truths,
190 H A
Hall. which are never thrown into the back ground, however, by
the wonderfully fine images employed to illustrate them.
His appeals are all plain, direct, and practical; and his
knowledge of human nature was great, for he had studied
it at a time when it took little pains to disguise its worst
features. He loved to condense his shrewd observations
into pithy apophthegms which alternate in strange though
pleasant contrast, with trains of seer-like meditation and
bursts of fervent prayer and thanksgiving. His friend Sir
Henry Wotton thought to compliment him when he called
him the “ English Seneca,” unconscious that he was asso¬
ciating the name of Hall with that of a man to whom he was
in all respects immeasurably superior.
Hall, Robert, one of the most celebrated writers and
preachers England has produced, was born at Arnsby, near
Leicester, May 2, 1764. His father was the minister of
the Baptist congregation in that place, and the author of
several religious publications, one of which obtained con¬
siderable popularity. His character has been sketched by
his more celebrated son, from whose testimony, as well as
that of less partial witnesses, he appears to have been a man
of no little ability and worth. Nor was Robert Hall less
happy in his other parent—his mother being a woman of
excellent sense and eminent piety. He lost her when he
was but twelve years of age (1776); his father lived to re¬
joice in his son’s dawning fame. He died in 1791.
Robert was the youngest of fourteen children. His in¬
fancy, like that of Newton, Locke, and Pascal, in whom
the flame of life flickered as if it would go out almost as
soon as kindled, while in the two last it but flickered all
their days—was extremely sickly, and for some years there
was hardly any hope of rearing him. As if to remind us
how little we can anticipate the course of life, a full pro¬
portion of the great minds that have astonished and adorned
the world, have come into it as if under sentence of im¬
mediately quitting it, with the worst possible promise of
the great things they were destined to achieve.
Robert Hall’s childhood was (as we shall presently see)
unusually precocious—far more so than even that of most
of the sons of genius; nor was the promise of the bright
dawn, so often delusive, clouded as the day went on. It
is said that he learned to talk and to read almost at the
same time ; his letters were assuredly learned in a strange
school and from strange books, that is, in a graveyard,
and from tombstones. The grave-yard was adjacent to
his father’s house, and thither his nurse used to carry
him for “ air” and “ exercise.” Whether a cemetery be the
best place for childhood to take its “ airings” in, or epitaphs
the best spelling-book, may be doubted ; but it was at all
events a singular introduction to literature.
Even at the dame’s school, where he received his first
formal instructions, he betrayed his passion for books, and
was often found, when school was over, in the above favourite
but solemn “ study”—the churchyard—engaged in solitary
reading, though no longer poring over the tombstones. He
pursued the same extra-official course of reading at his next
school, which was kept by a Mr Simmons, at a village four
miles from Arnsby. He used to procure, it appears, from
his father’s library, books for these play-hour readings, and,
doubtless, got more from his self-prompted studies than
from any of his regular lessons. But the character of this
‘£ select library for the young” may well surprise us, and,
if the fact were not well authenticated, his choice of favourite
authors would seem incredible. Jonathan Edwards’ Trea¬
tise on the Freedom of the Will, and Butler’s Analogy,
were, it seems, among these amusing solatia” of his lei¬
sure hours ; and Dr Gregory assures us that it is “ an as¬
certained fact,” that when he was about nine or ten, he
had read and re-read these works with “ an intense interest.”
Before he was ten, another incident evinced the tendencies
of his mind to literature ; he had composed, it seems, many
L L.
little essays, and often “ invited his brother and sisters to Hall,
hear him preach.” Similarly, when he was once disposing i '
in imagination (as children sometimes will) of his father’s ^
“ goods and chattels” before the worthy man’s death, he
willingly agreed that his brother should have “ the cows,
sheep, and pigs,” but “ all the boohs'’ were to come to
him.
His early promise of eloquence, conjoined with religious
sensibility, seemed to point to the sacred office; and, in
fact, his father indulged at a very early period some antici¬
pations that the pulpit was his destination. At eleven he
was removed to a school at Kettering, where the same bril¬
liant talents were evinced, but not very wisely developed.
His master, flattered by having such a prodigy, sometimes
invited him to display his precocious powers of oratory
before a “ select audience,”—a folly which the sound
judgment of Robert Hall loudly and justly condemned in
after life. From this school he was removed to another
of greater note at Northampton, kept by the Rev. John
Ryland, a man of eccentric, but, like many others of the
same family, of unusually vigorous intellect. The energy
of Mr Ryland’s character, and his original and impressive
modes ot teaching, seem to have given him a remarkable
ascendancy over the minds of his pupils,—and there can
be no doubt that Robert Hall’s intellect was greatly and
healthfully stimulated under his judicious training. Here
he remained about a year and a half, and then, having de¬
cidedly expressed his predilections for the ministry, and
pursued some preparatory theological studies under his fa¬
ther’s roof, he repaired to the Baptist Academy at Bristol.
This was in 1778, when only in his fifteenth year.
During his stay at Bristol he seems to have made rapid
progress in all the studies which constituted the academic
curriculum. His attention to the principles and practice of
composition was very marked, though, as Dr Gregory ob¬
serves, the few remains of his juvenile compositions exhibit
“ more of the tumultuary flourish of the orator than he would
have approved after his twentieth year.” This is a com¬
mon case; for a severe taste is, even in the highest
genius, of slow growth, though in Robert Hall perhaps as
rapid as it ever was in any man.
His debut as a public speaker gave but little promise
of the brilliant career which awaited him. On being ap¬
pointed to deliver an address (as the students were accus¬
tomed to do in rotation) at the vestry of Broadmead Cha¬
pel, he, after a brief but fluent exordium which excited the
expectations of his auditors, suddenly, but completely lost
his self-possession, and covering his face in an agony of
shame, exclaimed, “ Oh! I have lost all my ideas.” His
tutor confident (as Sheridan said after his own ignominious
first appearance), that it was in him, and determined, as was
Sheridan, that it should come out of him, appointed him to
deliver the same address the following week; not very
judiciously, perhaps, considering the laws of association,
and how apt is a sensitive mind, like a spirited horse, to
shy and falter at the same spot. Sad to say, he again failed,
and failed completely. Yet the incident was of value to
him. While there was little fear lest a transient morti¬
fication like this should permanently depress a powerful
mind, fully conscious of its powers,—indeed, such minds are
generally stimulated rather than depressed by obstacles,—
it had a salutary effect on his moral nature. In relation
to the sacred office he seems at this time, as Dr Gregory
observes, to have been too little sensible of its higher pur¬
poses, and too ambitious of achieving intellectual eminence;
perhaps also too conscious of his powers to achieve it. Some
feeling of this kind is indicated by his own words, uttered
after his second failure,—“ If this does not humble me, the
devil must have me !” Many other young orators who have
afterwards attained eminence, have encountered similar
disaster in their first attempts. The singularity in Robert
H A
Hall. Hall’s case is that he had not been hardened to self-posses-
 sion byhisprevious juvenile appearances before those “select
audiences,” which his injudicious schoolmaster had so early
taught the young Roscius to confront.
In the autumn of 1781, after staying three years at the
Academy, he went, as an exhibitioner under Dr Ward’s
will, to King’s College, Aberdeen, where he remained till
1785. Several of the professors there were men of note,
especially Gerard and Leslie, while Marischal College could
boast of the prelections of Campbell and Beattie. Hall pur¬
sued his studies in the departments of classics, philosophy,
and mathematics, with like distinguished success; being
the first man of his year in all the classes. But the great
charm of his residence at Aberdeen was the society of Mac¬
intosh, who, though a year younger, had entered college a
year earlier. The friendship which ensued, and which only
death dissolved, was equally beneficial to both parties. With
some points of dissimilarity there were more of resemblance.
The instant regards of Mackintosh, according to his own
statement to Dr Gregory, were strongly attracted by Hall’s
ingenuous frankness of countenance, the mingled vivacity
and sincerity of his manner, and the obvious signs of great
intellectual vigour. He says he first became attached to
Hall “ because he could not help it.” But daily intercourse,
in which they studied together without rivalry, and inces¬
santly disputed without anger,—a true test of genuine
attachment,—cemented their first casual predilections into
a lasting friendship. “ After having sharpened their
weapons by reading, they often repaired to the spacious
sands upon the sea shore, and still more frequently to the
picturesque scenery on the banks of the Don, above the
old town, to discuss with eagerness the various subjects
to which their attention had been directed. There was
scarcely an important position in Berkeley’s Minute Phi¬
losopher, in Butler’s Analogy, or in Edwards On the
Will, over which they had not thus debated with the utmost
intensity. Night after night, nay, month after month for
two sessions, they met only to study or to dispute, yet no
unkindly feeling ensued. The process seemed rather—like
blows in that of welding iron—to knit them closer together.”1
Though they both, doubtless, often fought for victory, thev
yet always thought at the time that it was for truth ; ‘and as
Sir James strikingly said, “ Never, so far as he could then
judge, did cither make a voluntary sacrifice of truth, or
stoop to draw to and fro the serra Aoyo/xa^ta?, as is too often
the case with ordinary controvertists.” From these “ dis¬
cussions, and from subsequent meditation upon them,” Sir
James declared that he had “learned more as to principles
than from all the books he ever read.”2
In addition to their discussions over Berkeley, Edwards,
Butler, and other philosophers, they read large portions of
the best Greek authors together—especially Plato. Such
complete intercommunion of minds in the same studies—
such mutual reflection of lights and constant collision of
argument—must have been of incalculable benefit to both.
By this sort of student-partnership, when, as in this case,
minds are congenial, the results of reading may be more
than doubled. During the last years of Hall’s academic
course, his friend was no longer at college, and his mind
sought no “ new mate.” He spent the time in solitary
study, and, as appears by his own confession, was much
engaged in devotion and religious meditation. He took
his degree of A.M. in 1785.
The six months’ vacation of the two last sessions at
Abeideen had been spent in assisting Dr Evans at Broad-
rnead Chapel, Bristol. He now formally entered on the
o ce of assistant-preacher, and about the same time was
appomted to the classical tutorship in the Bristol Academy.
I his office, assumed at the early age of twenty-one, he dis-
L L. 191
charged with great credit to himself and benefit to his Hall,
pupils for more than five years.
Of his preaching at this early period, an interesting
account is given by Dr Gregory, to which we can only refer
the reader. His favourite model for a short time was the
original but eccentric Robinson of Cambridge, and, fasci¬
nated with his manner, he resolved, not very judiciously, to
imitate it. One so original was little fitted to be an imi¬
tator of any body, and his good sense soon reclaimed him
from his error. The account he gave to Dr Gregory of
the mode in which he was cured of this folly is character¬
istic. “ I was,” he says, “ too proud to remain an imitator.
After my second trial, as I was walking home, I heard one
of the congregation say to another, ‘ Really Mr Hall did
remind us of Mr Robinson!’ That, sir, was a knock¬
down-blow to my vanity; and I at once resolved that if
ever I did acquire reputation it should be my own reputa¬
tion, belong to my own character, and not be that of a like¬
ness. Besides, sir, if I had not been a foolish young man,
I should have seen how ridiculous it was to imitate such a
preacher as Mr Robinson. He had a musical voice, and
was master of all its intonations. He had wonderful self-
possession, and could say ivhat he pleased, ivhen he pleased,
and hoiv he pleased; while my voice and manner were
naturally bad ; and, far from having self-command, I never
entered the pulpit without omitting to say something that
I wished to say, and saying something that I wished un¬
said : and, beside all this, I ought to have known that for
me to speak slow was ruin” “ Why so ?” “ I wonder
that you, a student of philosophy, should ask such a ques¬
tion. You know, sir, that force or momentum is conjointly
as the body and velocity ; therefore, as my voice is feeble,
what is wanted in body must be made up in velocity, or
there will not be, cannot be, any impression.”3
It seems that he sometime afterwards met Robinson in
London, and young as he was, opposed in a public com¬
pany some of the heresies which Robinson had then em¬
braced. This he did so successfully that the latter, pro¬
voked out of his temper and good breeding, spoke with
disdain of “juvenile defenders of the faith.” Hall was
tempted to reply that “ if he ever rode into the field of con¬
troversy he would at least not borrow Dr Abbadie’s boots,”
—a sarcasm in which there was a double sting, inasmuch
as Robinson had at this time abandoned the very views
which he had once “borrowed” Abbadie’s arguments to
defend.
An unhappy misunderstanding with his colleague in
1789, and which threatened the peace of the church at
Broadmead, led to Hall’s leaving Bristol. Before the close
of his connection with that congregation, suspicions of
heterodoxy on some points had been excited; and in reply
to certain inquiries he gave a frank and explicit statement
of his views. To one or two singularities of opinion, which
he afterwards abandoned, he pleaded guilty. He avows he
was at this time a “ materialist,” but declares that his sen¬
timents did not affect his theology, and that he wished his
materialism “ to be considered a mere metaphysical specu¬
lation.” It may be observed that in the same document,
in which he fully avows his belief in the divinity of Christ,
he makes no mention of his belief in the personality of the
Holy Spirit—a doctrine of which at this time he was not con¬
vinced. YWs materialism he altogether abandoned in 1790;—
to the ordinary Trinitarian views he did not give his unqua¬
lified adhesion till some years later (1800).
From Bristol Mr Hall went (1790) to Cambridge, to the
congregation over which Robinson formerly presided.
After a twelvemonth’s trial of the place, he was invited to
the pastorate, and accepted it. As no small portion of the
congregation had been in various degrees infected with the
1 Gregory’s Memoir, p. 15.
Ibid., p. 15.
3 Ibid., pp. 21, 22.
192
HALL.
Hall. errors of their former minister, it has been well conjectured
by Dr Gregory that the very immaturity of Hall’s senti¬
ments on certain points was an advantage rather than other¬
wise. They listened to him when they would not have lis¬
tened to a man of more strongly marked orthodoxy. As
Hall gradually approximated to the sentiments generally
held by his co-religionists, he led his congregation with
him ; and at length, by the force of his preaching, the in¬
fluence of his splendid reputation, and the still better influ¬
ence of his persuasive life and character, overcame all
opposition to his ministry, and thoroughly weeded out the
errors that had infested his flock.
In 1793 he published his celebrated Apology for the
Freedom of the Press. The account of its origin is amus¬
ing. It seems that on this occasion he was “ importuned
into controversy,” which, in spite of his unrivalled polemical
powers, he ever avoided if possible. “ And so, in an evil
hour,” says he, “ I yielded. I went home to my lodgings
and began to write immediately; sat up all night; and,
wonderful for me, kept up the intellectual ferment for
almost a month ; and then the thing was done. I revised
it a little as it went through the press, but I have ever since
regretted that I wrote so hastily and superficially upon
some subjects brought forward, which required touching
with a master hand, and exploring to their very founda-
■ tions.”1 The estimate he formed of the production was, it
must be confessed, sufficiently modest; for, as an exhibition
ft of intellectual vigour, it is certainly equal to almost any-
f thing he ever produced. It may be conjectured, indeed,
from the more cautious political tone in his later publica-
f tions, and the far different terms in which, like his friend
p Sir James, he learned to speak of the French Revolution,
that, had he written at a later period, he would have modi-
**• fied some of his statements, though he always declared his
adhesion to the “ essential principles ” asserted. The
reasons he assigns in the above extract, but, still more, his
I ingenuously expressed regret for the “asperities” in which
he had occasionally indulged in this piece, would not permit
* him in his later years to consent to its republication, till
* the booksellers left him no alternative. An earlier tract,
entitled Christianity Consistent with the Love of Free¬
dom, was impudently pirated, on paper which bore the
ivatermark of 1818, with a title-page which bore the year
1791! It was, as Dr Gregory says, “ a very skilful imita¬
tion in paper, type, and date.”
An anecdote here may be worth relating, as showing
how completely at this time he had resiled from Socinian-
1 ism, into which it had been once suspected he was fast
2 lapsing. His spirited eulogium on Dr Priestley rekindled
* the hopes of some of that gentleman’s partisans, and ren¬
dered on some occasions Mr Hall’s “ denial ” of any of the
imputed tendencies “imperative.” “ On one of these occa-
•u sions,” says Dr Gregory, “ Mr Hall having in his usual
terms panegyrized Dr Priestley, a gentleman who held the
i doctor’s theological opinions, tapping Mr Hall upon the
shoulder, said, ‘ Ah ! sir, we shall have you among us soon
I see.’ Mr Hall, startled and offended by the rude tone of
' exultation in which this was uttered, hastily replied, ‘ Me
” amongst you, sir! Me amongst you ! Why, if that were
the case, I should deserve to be tied to the tail of the great
red dragon, and whipped round the nethermost regions to
all eternity.’”2
In 1801 appeared one of the most eloquent and original
of all his productions—the sermon on Modern Infidelity.
A curious account of its preparation for the press is given
by Dr Gregory. Like most of Hall’s sermons, it was de¬
livered almost entirely unwritten, though the matter, of
course, had been profoundly meditated. The torture to
which composition exposed him from the mysterious dis¬
ease in his back, quite indisposed the preacher to under- Hall,
take the labour of preparing the sermon for the press. It's—
was therefore procured in fragments from his dictation as
he lay on the floor (a few paragraphs or pages at a time),
and passed through the press, as his biographer assures us,
without the author’s having seen a line of it. Of its merits
it is superfluous to speak ; as a luminous defence of some
of the first principles of all religion, and a philosophical
expose of the anti-social tendencies of infidelity, it has
never been surpassed. It raised Hall’s reputation to the
highest pitch ; excited the admiration of men of all ranks
and opinions ; conciliated the esteem of those who had been
offended with the Apology; crowded his chapel with throngs
of university students ; and, perhaps a still better proof of its
success, exposed him to the rabid attacks of atheism and
its champions.
Two other discourses of surpassing excellence appeared
in the course of the great struggle with France. One was
entitXed. Reflections on War, preached onoccasionof the “ge¬
neral thanksgiving,” at the transient peace of Amiens (1802).
This, as Dr Gregory surmises, was the only sermon Hall
ever delivered memoriter, and the embarrassment he felt
in some passages was sufficient to prevent him from ever
repeating the attempt. The other was delivered on the
renewal of the war (1803), and was entitled Sentiments
proper to the present crisis. In spite of one or two rhe¬
torical flights, scarcely admissible in a Christian pulpit, it is
deservedly considered one of the most extraordinary effu¬
sions of his eloquence.
During the latter years of his residence at Cambridge
this powerful and brilliant mind was more than once tran¬
siently eclipsed. These accesses of mental disease were
doubtless attributable to many causes ; partly to solitude,
partly to excessive study, partly to the severe and harassing
suffering in his back and the sleepless nights which it oc¬
casioned, partly to a severe disappointment, but principally,
no doubt, to that which exacerbated all other causes of
mischief—the exquisitely strung and sensitive mind which
is too often, as Dryden long ago observed,
. . . . “ to madness near allied,
And thin partitions do their bounds divide.”
Just before his first attack (Nov. 1804) his severe suf¬
ferings from his old complaint induced his medical advisers
to recommend his living a few miles from Cambridge, and
using horse exercise. Equestrian exercise would seem a
questionable remedy, considering the local symptoms of his
mysterious disease, though country air might doubtless be
beneficial. But whatever advantage this might secure was
more than counterbalanced, it is to be feared, by the soli¬
tude to which his secluded residence doomed him, and which
probably much contributed to his mental attack. The retreat
chosen for him was at Shelford, four miles from Cambridge.
There he was engaged in solitary study and meditation
during the whole day, and often deep into the night. The
first melancholy attack took place in Nov. 1804.
To the delight of his congregation, who had proved, by
their provident care of him, their attachment to his ministry,
he was able to resume his public functions in April 1805.
As it was feared that the associations of Shelford might
prove prejudicial, he was recommended to change his
residence, and, most injudiciously as it seems to us, he was
again advised to reside in a remote village. He took a house
at Foulmire, nine miles from Cambridge. Solitude once
more proved his bane, and another attack soon supervened.
After a year spent under judicious medical care at Bristol,
he recovei’ed sufficiently to engage in occasional village
preaching, and to apply moderately to study. But it was
thought prudent that he should quit Cambridge altogether,
and he accordingly sent in his resignation.
1 Gregory’s Memoir, p. 33.
2 Ibid., p. 35.
H A
Hall. Mr Hall spent about fifteen years at Cambridge. Of his
^ t residence there—his studies, his modes of preparation for
the pulpit, his social habits—an interesting account will be
found in Dr Gregory’s Memoir, to which only a reference
can here be made. His biographer naturally dwells with
partial minuteness on this period of Hall’s history, as that
in which he became intirnate with him, and enjoyed unre¬
stricted daily intercourse. It was that period also in which
Mr Hall achieved his great public reputation, and produced
his most brilliant, if not his most useful, publications.
Leicester was the next scene of Hall’s labours, whither
he removed in the year 1806, and where he resided nearly
twenty years, longer by some years than at any other place.
In the limits of this brief article there is no space for details,
nor is it necessary. He lived as retired as his reputation
would allow him to be. If fame came, it came unsought;
if the world intruded upon him, as it often did, and often
inconveniently, he gave it a courteous welcome, but was
still better pleased when it left him to his studies and his
flock. But much as he loved privacy, privacy for him was
no longer solitude ; in 1808, after a somewhat singular
courtship, he married, and, as it turned out, most happily.
This event largely contributed to his welfare ; and it is
observable that no symptoms of mental disease afterwards
appeared. In relation to what he himself would consider
the great purpose of his life,—the successful prosecution of
his ministry,—the years spent at Leicester were the best of
his life. However obscure might seem his lot, it was yet
most happy ; for he was eminently useful, and universally
beloved. His chapel was twice enlarged to accommodate
the increasing crowds who thronged to hear him. Occu¬
pying a central spot in the kingdom, he was frequently im¬
portuned to preach, on public occasions, in all directions of
the compass ; and, so far as his incessant and painful mala¬
dies permitted, he complied with such requests ungrudgingly.
From time to time, and quite as frequently as the same
physical infirmities allowed, he also gave the public the
benefit of his pen. Besides several reviews, tracts, and
other pieces, he published, during his residence at Leices¬
ter, some of his most celebrated sermons ; two of them—
on the Discouragements and Supports of the Christian
Minister, and on the lamented Death of the Princess
Charlotte—are among the most striking efforts of his elo¬
quence. He here also published the largest, and in some
respects most valuable of his writings—those on the Terms
of Communion. These treatises are equally distinguished
by acuteness of logic and catholicity of sentiment. It has
been sometimes lamented that he should not have given his
consummate logical powers a more ample theme. But, in
fact, his genius has made the theme ampler than it seems.
Not only have these pieces exerted a wide influence in
liberalizing the opinions and practice of his own denomina¬
tion, but they abound in reasonings and sentiments of prac¬
tical application to every church in Christendom, and can¬
not be read by any thoughtful Christian without making
him feel something of that noble expansion of soul which
animated their author ; without making him sigh for the day
when “every middle wall of partition,” which jealous bigotry
has interposed to the inter-communion of those who re¬
ciprocally acknowledge each other to be Christians, may be
“ broken down.”
On Dr Ryland’s death (1825), Mr Hall was invited to
Bristol, and, after a severe struggle, consented. It is
scarcely a figure to say that he tore himself away from his
congregation at Leicester. On the last occasion of cele¬
brating the Lord’s Supper, he sat down, overcome with his
emotions, and, covering his face with his hands, “ wept
L L. 193
aloud.” To see the “ strong man thus bowed,” dissolved Hall,
the people also in tears;—and so they parted; his flock, as
the Ephesian elders from Paul, “ sorrowing most of all for
the words that he spake, that they should see his face no
more.”
Mr Hall was in his sixty-second year when he removed
to Bristol, and it was his last change; thus terminating his
labours where he began them. He was fast approaching the
close of his career. The mysterious and intractable malady
which had so long tormented him, which had rendered his
days and nights so “ wearisome,” became more urgent, and
doses of opium almost fabulous produced little effect. The
indirect effects of his complaint,—forbidding exercise, in¬
ducing plethora, and impeding the circulation,—produced
that diseased condition of the heart which was the imme¬
diate cause of his death. The close of his life was a scene
of frightful tortures, the sum of which, added to the almost
constant pain in which his life was passed, must have been
tantamount to many martyrdoms. The pages in Dr Gregory’s
“ Life” which depict his last sufferings, and the triumph
of patience over them, form some of the most sorrowful, and
yet also some of the brightest, in the records of Christian
biography. Deep were the clouds which gathered round
his sunset, but they were all penetrated and transfigured
by the glory of the descending luminary ; and even he who
doubts whether Christianity be true, can surely hardly
read the closing scenes of this great and good man’s life
without feeling, that since humanity is thus subject to
suffering, it is much to have such consolations. His death
took place, February 21, 1831. After detailing the appear¬
ances presented by the post-mortem examination, the emi¬
nent physician, Dr Prichard, adds,—“ Probably no man
ever ivent through more physical suffering than Mr Hall f
he was a fine example of the triumph of the higher powers
of mind, exalted by religion, over the infirmities of the
body. His loss will long be felt in this place, not only by
persons of his own communion, but by all that have any
esteem for what is truly great and good.”2
The mind of Robert Hall was of that select order which
are equally distinguished by power and symmetry ; where
each single faculty is of imposing dimensions, yet none out
of proportion to the rest. His intellect was eminently
acute and comprehensive ; his imagination prompt, vivid,
and affluent. This latter faculty, indeed, was not so exube¬
rant (as Foster justly remarks) as that of a Burke or a Jeremy
Taylor; nor could it have been so, without marring the
harmony just mentioned. His reasoning was close as that
of almost any controvertist of any age, but expressed in all
the charms of a most chaste and polished style;—severe logic
clothed in the most tasteful rhetoric. His talents for the
successful prosecution of abstract science—especially meta¬
physical and ethical—were of a very high order; but they
were conjoined with strong practical sense, keen powers of
observation, and a vivid sensibility. His memory was tena¬
cious, and his aptitudes for the acquisition of knowledge,
generally, far beyond the ordinary measure; but in him, as
in all very vigorous minds, diversified Knowledge was but
the material and aliment of original thought, and was sub¬
ordinated to that Wisdom which insists that it shall be the
handmaid, not the mistress of intellect. His sense of the
beautiful and the ludicrous seemed nearly equally vivid;
and graceful imagery and pointed wit animated alike his
writings and his conversation. His style is the very impress
of all this amplitude and variety of endowments. It is mas¬
culine and compact, for a robust logic and strong sense
form the basis of it; energetic and vivacious, for it is ani¬
mated by imagination and sensibility ; polished and elegant,
* No wonder; for, to say nothing of the agonies of the closing scene, it was found that the “ right kidney was entirely filled with a
large sough-pointed calculus;” and this Dr Prichard justly concludes to have been the cause of the dreadful torture that had harassed
Mr Hall through life. 2 Gregory’s Memoir, p. 134.
VOL. XI. - 2 B
194 H A
Hall, for taste, exquisite, sometimes even to a morbid fastidious-
ness, presided over it.
On the whole, minds of greater power in several given
directions, or of more absolute originality in some one, may
be readily pointed out; some too more strongly characterized
either by rugged strength or imaginative exuberance ; but
seldom indeed has a mind appeared so variously dowered
with all the choicest gifts of strength and grace in happy
unison.
It has been well said of his style by a critic in the Quar¬
terly Review, that it is “ constructed after no model; it is
more massive than Addison’s, more easy and unconstrained
than Johnson’s, more sober than Burke’s.” This is, in fact,
one of its surpassing excellencies; it is eminently beautiful,
but for that reason has no predominant features; it is the
just image of the happy conjunction and equilibrium of
the author’s powers;—music in which no excess in any of
the parts mars the harmony.
If his more elaborate productions have a fault at all, it is
the result of that very sensitiveness of taste to which refer¬
ence has been made. In polishing to an extreme of fasti¬
dious elegance, he has perhaps here and there pared away
a little of the energy of his style. For this reason it has
even been conjectured that some of his strictly extempora¬
neous effusions—extemporaneous as to the language—
to which he gave utterance in the all but preternatural
dilation of mind, which sometimes characterized his elo¬
quence in its prime, transcended in force and beauty his
most deliberate compositions, produced as these always were
amidst bodily sufferings little favourable to the free action
of his faculties. In truth, his extemporaneous command of
all the resources of language (equally seen in the pulpit and
in conversation) was one of his most extraordinary endow¬
ments, and perhaps, to the degree in which he possessed it,
almost unique. Some may have been as copious in their
diction, others as precise ; but he conjoined both excel¬
lencies in equal measure, and added to them, what is more
rare, an astonishing command of construction; so that he
could throw the rapid and voluble words, which seemed to
come at will, into the most apt and elegant collocations.
This singular gift of extemporaneous speech put the
copestone on all his other excellencies as an orator. The
general structure of his mind, his robust reasoning faculties,
his vigorous though ever ministering imagination, his keen
sensibility, and his vehement passions, pointed in the same
direction, and fitted him to be a great public speaker. Such
he would have become under any circumstances ; but it was
his rare gift of extemporaneous language which enabled him
to combine the immense advantages of unwritten composi¬
tion with a freedom from all its usual defects ; to clothe, not
extemporaneous thoughts indeed,—on which no man should
reckon, though after careful preparation such thoughts may
come unbidden,—but carefully meditated matter, in all the
graces of the most eloquent language. His usual mode of
preparation for the pulpit is thus described by Dr Gregory :
—“ The grand divisions of thought—the heads of a sermon
for example—he would trace out with the most prominent
lines of demarcation; and these, for some years, supplied
all the hints that he needed in the pulpit, except on extra¬
ordinary occasions. To these grand divisions he referred,
and upon them suspended all the subordinate trains of
thought. The latter, again, appear to have been of two
classes, altogether distinct; outline trains of thought, and
trains into which much of the detail was interwoven. In
the outline train the whole plan was carried out and com¬
pleted as to the argument; in that of detail the illustrations,
images, and subordinate proofs were selected and classified;
and in those instances where the force of an argument or
the probable success of a general application would mainly
L L.
depend upon the language, even that was selected and ap¬
propriated, sometimes to the precise collocation of the
words. Of some sermons, no portions whatever were
wrought out thus minutely; the language employed in
preaching being that which spontaneously occurred at the
time: of others, this minute attention was paid to the ver¬
bal structure of nearly half: of a /e?e, the entire train of
preparation, almost from the beginning to the end, extended
to the very sentences. Yet the marked peculiarity con¬
sisted in this, that the process, even when thus directed to
minutiae in his more elaborate efforts, did not require the
use of the pen, at least at the time to which these remarks
principally apply.”1
So perfect was the form in which he could give expres¬
sion to a train of thought, that (as already intimated) it may
even be surmised that his spoken style often surpassed, in
all the essential excellencies of eloquence, that of the most
admired and elaborate of his published discourses; the
former having all the advantages of a more idiomatic dic¬
tion and more colloquial construction, yet without the sa¬
crifice of the precision and elegance which distinguish the
latter. His frequent paroxysms of pain must at all events
have tended continually to distract his mind, and diminish
the glow of feeling when in the act of composition; and
hence the extreme reluctance with which he undertook the
task. On the other hand, under the excitement of public
speaking, the consciousness of painful sensations was less
vivid, and sometimes vanished, as appears from one of his
own curious but most sad confessions. He tells us that
he did not know that he was ever perfectly free from the
consciousness of distressing sensations in his back except
now and then for a few minutes in the pulpit.
The same felicities of extemporaneous speech which
marked his pulpit efforts were observable in private. His
conversation possessed a vivacity, affluence, and elegance
very rarely equalled. His repartees were particularly happy,
and, as has been well remarked, strongly remind one of the
manner of Johnson. Some of the pungent sayings, full of
mingled wit and wisdom, which Dr Gregory has recorded,
make one regret that some Boswell was not always at hand to
preserve those brilliant but evanescent effusions of his genius.
Many have lamented that he did so little (compared with
some other men) by his pen. In truth, however, consider¬
ing his constant sufferings and the dreadful toil which com¬
position imposed upon him, his six octavos entitle him to
be considered even a voluminous writer.
Though, like most other men of powerful minds, he was
fonder of thinking than reading, his acquisitions were va¬
rious, and, in several branches of study, profound. It may
be added that his ardour in the pursuit of knowledge fol¬
lowed him to the last, of which Dr Gregory gives us a sin¬
gular example. He says that he found him one morning,
in the closing years of his life, lying on the floor with an
Italian grammar and dictionary, deep in the study of that
language. To this he had been stimulated by an article in
the Edinburgh Review, in which an elaborate parallel had
been instituted between the genius of Dante and that of
Milton. With this critique he had been, he said, much de¬
lighted, and wished to judge for himself of the accuracy of
the views propounded. Among the many triumphs achieved
by Mr Macaulay’s genius, it may be doubted whether any
was ever more signal than that nearly his first “Essay” in¬
duced a mind like that of Robert Hall to study a new lan¬
guage at the age of threescore, just to verify the justice of
the criticisms.
It has been justly remarked by Mr Foster, in his admi¬
rable critique on Robert Hall as a “ preacher ” (well worthy
of universal perusal), that his eloquence in later years lost
somewhat of the fire which characterized the oratory of
1 Gregory’s Memoir, pp. 57, 58.
HAL
Halle, his youth and manhood. But what was lost in this respect
was gained in tenderness and pathos, in elevation of Chris¬
tian sentiment and depth of Christian feeling.
It is the crowning glory of Robert Hall that all his great
powers were consecrated to the noblest purposes ; subordi¬
nated to objects better worth living for than intellectual power
or intellectual fame. His sacred ambition was for the for¬
mation, in himself and others, of the Christian character. To
moral self-culture he sought, as all ought to do, but so few
really do, to consecrate every endowment of his intellect. Of
the possession of high powers he could not but be conscious ;
and of the temptations they involved he was also profoundly
sensible. His life shows us that he had learned how to
make them keep their place. Naturally impetuous, im¬
patient, choleric, he sedulously watched over these in¬
firmities in temper, and became remarkable for humility
and simplicity; full of ambition, he submitted to cast
down “every proud imagination;” in his youth fiery
and pugnacious, he learned in his later years to hate
controversy, and exercised in an eminent degree that
charity towards all good men of all parties, which made
him say in one of his sermons, “ He who is good enough
for Christ is good enough for me.” In his manners he
was as unsophisticated as a child, and in his conduct full
of generosity and benevolence. His patience and fortitude
were eminently displayed in the uncomplaining endurance
of those frightful sufferings which made his life a perpetual
martyrdom ; while his faith and humility were evinced no
less in his admission that none of those pangs could have
been spared. It has been well said by a writer in the
Quarterly Review, “ It is impossible to read the works of
this extraordinary man without perceiving that his passions
in his youth were turbulent in the extreme—that the ener¬
gies of his mind were then scarcely under his own control
—that years of reflection and dear-bought experience were
wanting to him, above all men, in order to tame his spirit
—that, like Milton’s lion, he was a long time before he could
struggle out of earth. 41 presume,’ says he, in one of
his letters, 4 the Lord sees I require more hammering and
hewing than almost any other stone that was ever selected
for his spiritual building, and that is the secret of his dealing
with me.’ ” In a word, he exhibited the traits of the ge¬
nuine Christian—his character shining with a more lustrous
light as he advanced in years, 44 growing brighter and
brighter to the perfect day.”
The character to which he chiefly aspired himself, he
was equally anxious to aid in forming in his fellow men,
and to this consecrated his genius as an object well worthy
of it. Hence his contentment with a lot far more obscure
than he could easily have attained in any department of
secular life ; and hence, with Paul, he accounted it his chief
glory to be a 44 Christian Minister.” (h. r.)
HALLE, a city of Prussian Saxony, government of
Merseburg, on the Saale, 20 miles N.W. of Leipzig, with
which, as well as with Magdeburg and Eisenach, it is con¬
nected by railways. Halle is surrounded by old walls, and
irregularly built, with little to attract the eye of the stranger.
It is chiefly celebrated for its university, which once ranked
among the foremost in Germany. It was founded in 1694,
and in 1815 was united with that of Wittemberg. It still
continues to maintain a high character, particularly as a
school of Protestant theology. It has faculties of theology,
law, medicine, and philosophy ; and in session 1853-54
had 71 professors and teachers, and 650 students. Con¬
nected with it are a number of scientific institutions, as a
botanic garden, observatory, museum, library of 90,000
vols., theological and philological seminaries, chemical labo¬
ratory, anatomical theatre, cabinet of minerals, &c. Three
hospitals connected with the medical school afford the stu¬
dents ample opportunities of seeing practice. There are a
number of other educational institutions in Halle, the chief of
H A L 195
which is the Frankesche Stiftung, founded by A. W. Franke Hallein
in 1698. It comprises schools for the education of children II
of both sexes, in various stations of life, though chiefly of v HaUer’ ^
the poorer classes, to the number of 2220; a laboratory, v'*-
where medicines are prepared and distributed ; and a Bible
press, which has sent forth some millions of copies of the
Scriptures at a cheap rate. In the inner court of the build¬
ing a fine bronze statue of the founder by Rauch was erected
in 1829. Its cost was defrayed by public subscription, to
which the King of Prussia largely contributed. St Mary’s
Church is a Gothic building of the sixteenth century; St
Maurice’s is a building of the twelfth, and was restored in
1840. In the market-place is a singular structure, 250 feet
high, called the Red Tower. The old Castle of Moritzberg,
formerly the palace of the Archbishops of Magdeburg, was
mostly destroyed in the Thirty Years’ War, and the only
remaining wing is now used as a Calvinistic church. Out¬
side the walls is an elegant monument to those Germans
that fell at the battle of Leipzig in 1813. The salt springs
in the neighbourhood of the town produce annually about
280,000 cwt. of salt. The labourers employed in them are
a peculiar and distinct race called Halloren, said to be de¬
scendants of the Wends, who anciently peopled this country.
Halle, besides several suburbs, comprises the towns of
Glaucha and Neumarkt, each of which has its own magis¬
trates. Pop. (1849) 33,848.
HALLEIN, a town of Upper Austria, circle of Salzburg,
on the river Salzach, near the foot of the Diirrenberg, and
9 miles S. of Salzburg. It has very extensive salt works,
producing annually about 400,000 cwt. of salt. Pop.
5000.
HALLELUJAH or Halleluiah. See Alleluia.
HALLER, Albert Von, one of the most illustrious
physiologists of the 18th century, was born of a patrician
family at Berne, October 16, 1708. He was a very pre¬
cocious child, one of the few precocious children whose
after life did not belie the promise of their early childhood.
He was sickly and feeble, and disabled by the rickets from
taking part in boyish sports. At the age of four he used
to read and expound the Scriptures to his father’s servants.
At eight he had redacted some 2000 biographies from the
Dictionaries of Bayle and Moreri. At nine he wrote in
Greek the exercises that his school comrades were writing
in Latin, and before his 15th year he had constructed voca¬
bularies in Greek and Hebrew, and had written tragedies,
comedies, and even an epic of 4000 lines in the manner of
Virgil. When some of these youthful productions were in
danger of perishing in a fire, the author, to the great dan¬
ger of his life, rushed in and saved them. Afterwards, how¬
ever, when time had matured his taste, he made a bonfire
of them of his own accord. Choosing medicine as a profes¬
sion, he began his studies at Tubingen under Camerarius
and Duvernoy, but in a short time he exchanged Tubingen
for Leyden, where Boerhaave and Albinus were then at
the zenith of their fame. In 1727 he graduated, having
chosen for the subject of his thesis Coschwitz’s discovery
of a salivary duct, which he proved to be nothing more than
a blood-vessel. After graduation he visited London, where
he formed the acquaintance of Sir Hans Sloane, Cheselden,
Pringle, and other leading physicians and observers. From
London he removed to Paris, where he continued his stu¬
dies under Ledran and Winslow, after which he quitted Paris
for Basle, where he perfected himself in mathematics under
John Bernouilli. After an absence of five years he returned
to his birth-place, where he was appointed keeper of the
public library, and, soon after, physician to the infirmary.
At the very moment when he was contributing elaborate
Latin papers to a scientific journal at Nuremberg, he showed
the versatility of his powers in a volume of poems which he
published at this time. These various works made him
known to George II. of England, who had just organized
196 HAL
HAL
Haller, the university of Gottingen. Haller was offered the second
■“■‘v-™"’' medical chair, which comprised botany, anatomy, and sur¬
gery, and after some hesitation he accepted it. The town
of Gottingen wTas at this time in a state of the most ruinous
disrepair ; and the carriage of the new professor, as he was
driving through the streets, was upset, and his wife was
killed. He was devotedly attached to her and bewailed her
death in an ode, the finest he ever wrote. All thoughts of
his personal afflictions, however, were soon dissipated by the
work which he chalked out for himself. The quantity of
work that he passed through his hands during the seventeen
years that he held his chair in Gottingen is amazing, even
though its quality be left out of account. He organized all
sorts of schools, made botanical excursions into the Harz,
edited and wrote prefaces for countless works, contributed
largely to many scientific transactions, took part in number¬
less discussions, and collected materials to be digested and
published during his retirement. The honours he received
from the various sovereigns of Europe were numerous and
flattering, but he steadily resisted all the efforts made by
England, Prussia, Austria, France, and Holland, to entice
him away from his native country. In 1753 he retired to
Berne, where he was invested with numerous offices, lu¬
crative but easy. The remainder of his life was spent in
scientific inquiries, the active fulfilment of his official duties,
and the exercise of every charity. He died in October
1777.
Haller’s works comprise in all upwards of two hundred
treatises, bearing upon nearly every department of medical
science,—and establishing his claim to the title of the father
of modern physiology. He was, in truth, the first who was
bold enough to discard the old chemical and mechanical, as
well as the old metaphysical explanations of the laws which
govern the animal economy. Basing his whole system on
a thorough knowledge of anatomy, and the structure of each
individual organ as found in the dead body, he strove to
evolve the powers that showed themselves in action in the
living frame. These powers—and they are the dominant
idea in Haller’s physiological works—he limited to two, ir¬
ritability and sensibility. The former of these has its seat
in the muscular fibre, and differs wholly from the latter,
which resides in the nervous system. The differences in the
manifestations of these two powers he illustrated by detach¬
ing a muscle from the frame and stimulating it. He found
that when pricked or otherwise stimulated, such a muscle
showed its irritability by contracting, though it was not sen¬
sible ; whereas a nerve when stimulated was found to re¬
main perfectly unmoved, though the muscles with which it
communicated were thrown into violent action. From this
he inferred that irritability does not lie in the nerves, which
cannot be supposed able to communicate a power they do
not possess. The germ of this idea Haller seems to have
taken from Gorter and Glisson, but in his hands this irrita¬
bility became a new law, to which he referred almost all
the animal functions ; and the chief error he seems to have
fallen into regarding it is, in having distinguished it too ab¬
solutely from the nervous power on which it always depends.
The controversies to which his works gave rise contributed
powerfully to advance the science of physiology, to which
many valuable additions were soon made, among others, the
important fact, which Haller either overlooked or denied, but
which was proved beyond a doubt by Bichat, that every
tissue has a life peculiar to itself {vie propre), and that a
special stimulus is required to show the action of each par¬
ticular organ. Haller had evolved this idea as early as 1739,
and had announced it in the Primce Linece Physiologies,
published in 1747; but it was not till the appearance of his
Elementa Physiologies Corporis Humani, 1757-1766, that
he made known his doctrine in all its entirety. This work,
the greatest on its subject that saw the light in the 18th
century, is nearly as remarkable for the elegance and beauty
of its style as for the value and novelty of the ideas it con- Halley
tains. A posthumous supplement to this work appeared in ||
1782. From 1771 till his death, Haller was engaged in
publishing his Bibliothecce Anatomies, Chirurgics, Botanicce, whlstle.
MeeLicines Practices, et Histories Naturalis, which make up
in all 10 quarto volumes, but were only completed after
Haller’s death. His Opera Minora, comprising the most
valuable of his contributions to the various scientific perio¬
dicals, were published at intervals between 1762 and 1768.
His leones Anatomises, which he himself reckoned among
his best works, occupy 46 plates, and present valuable draw¬
ings of many of the organs, more especially of the arteries.
(Zimmerman’s Life of Haller ; Art. by Cuvier in the Biog.
Univers, ; Eloges of Haller, by Tscharner, Baldinger,
Heyne, Condorcet, and Vicq. d’ Azyr.) See also the art.
Physiology.
HALLEY, Edmund. See art. Astronomy, vol. iii., p.
804, and the fourth Preliminary' Dissertation, prefixed to
this work.
HALLOWELL, a village in Kennebec county, state of
Maine, North America. It stands on an acclivity on the
right bank of the Kennebec river, and on the Kennebec
and Portland Railroad, 58 miles N. by E. of Portland. It
carries on a considerable trade, and vessels drawing 9 feet
of water can come up to the wharves. A fine kind of gra¬
nite is found in the vicinity, and largely exported. Pop.
(1850) of township, 4769.
HALLOWMAS, the Feast of All Souls; or the time
about All Souls’ and All Saints’ Day, viz., the 1st and 2d
of November, and thence to Candlemas, or 2d of February.
HALMOTE, or Halimote, the Saxon name for what
is now called a court-baron, the word implying a meeting
of the tenants of the same hall or manor. The name is still
retained at Luston and other places in Herefordshire.
HALMSTAD, a maritime laen of Sweden, bounded on
the W. by the Kattegat, and on the other sides by the laens
of Goteborg, Wenersborg, Jonkoping, Wexib, and Chris-
tianstad. Area, 1900 square miles. The coast is in some
parts sandy, in others bold and rocky, and is much indented,
forming several considerable bays. The eastern part is
mountainous, but the western is generally level and -sandy.
The soil is poor, stony, and ill cultivated, so that about one-
third of the corn required for food has to be imported. The
fisheries and cattle-rearing chiefly engage the attention of
the inhabitants. Pop. (1850) 51,382. The capital is of
the same name, and stands at the mouth of the Nissa, 76
miles S.S.E. of Gothenburg. It has some trade in deals,
pitch, and tar, an important salmon fishery, and about 1900
inhabitants.
HALO. See Corona; Chromatics, section ii.; Me¬
teorology.
HALSTEAD, a market-town in the county of Essex, on
an acclivity rising from the river Colne, 46 miles E.N.E.
of London. The town, though irregularly built, has a neat
appearance, and the streets are generally wide and clean.
The parish church, a fine Gothic building in the perpendi¬
cular style, has been recently almost wholly rebuilt. The
Church of the Holy Trinity is also a handsome building, in
the early English style, erected in 1844. Halstead possesses
a grammar and other schools, mechanics’ institute, savings
bank, market-house, and several charities. Market-day,
Friday. Manufactures of silk and velvet and straw-plaiting
are chiefly carried on. Pop. (1851) 5658.
HALTERES (aAr-^pes), in the gymnastic exercises of
the Greeks and Romans, were certain masses of lead, iron,
or stone, held in the hands in leaping, to give impetus to
the body; or swung to and fro in much the same manner
as our dumbbells. Galen {Be Tuend. Valetud., lib. i., v., and
vi.) recommends this kind of exercise for purifying the hu¬
mours of the body.
H A L T WTHIS TLE, a market-town of England, county of
II A M
Halys Northumberland, on the left bank of the South Tyne, 34
|| miles W. of Newcastle, on the Newcastle and Carlisle Rail-
Ham. way_ ft js pleasantly situated, but is irregularly built and
—poor. The chief manufacture is baize. Market-day, Thurs¬
day. Pop. (1851) 1420.
HALYS, now the Kizil Irmak, or Red River, the
largest stream in Asia Minor, rises in Pontus, not far from
Nicopolis. Traversing in a S.W. direction the south of
Pontus and the north of Cappadocia, it reaches the Mons
Argceus. It there turns to the north, traverses Galatia in a
N.W. course as far as the town of Gangra on the frontier
of Paphlagonia. Passing Gangra, the river flows in a N.E.
direction into the Euxine Sea, separating Galatia and Pon¬
tus from Paphlagonia. Its mouth is about 50 miles distant
from Sinope. As the Halys was by far the largest river in
Asia Minor, a common division of that country was Asia
cis-Halyn and Asia trans-Halyn. The whole length of the
river is about 500 miles, but it is not well adapted for regu¬
lar navigation by ships of any considerable size. In summer,
indeed, it is so shallow that it may be crossed in almost any
part of its course by wading. When swollen by the rains
it brings down large quantities of alluvial soil, which dis¬
colours the waters of the Black Sea for 6 or 7 miles from
the embouchure. A considerable delta has in this way
been formed at the mouth of the river.
HALYWERCFOLK, in our old writers, the Saxon term
for persons who enjoyed land by the pious service of repair¬
ing some church or defending a sepulchre. It was likewise
applied to certain persons in the diocese of Durham who
held their lands by the tenure of defending the corpse of
St Cuthbert.
LIAM. 1. The youngest son of Noah. Having pro¬
voked the wrath of his father by an act of indecency to¬
wards him, the latter cursed him and his descendants to be
slaves to his brothers and their descendants. To judge,
however, from the narrative, Noah directed his curse only
against Canaan (the fourth son of Ham) and his race, thus
excluding from it the descendants of Ham’s three other
sons, Cush, Mizraim, and Phut. How that curse was
accomplished is taught by the history of the Jews, by whom
the Canaanites were subsequently exterminated. The ge¬
neral opinion is, that all the Southern nations derive their
origin from Ham (to which the Hebrew root DPI) hot, not
unlike the Greek AWlottcs, lends some force). Cush is sup¬
posed to have been the progenitor of the nations of East
and South Asia, more especially of South Arabia, and also
of Ethiopia; Mizraim, of the African nations, including the
Philistines and some other tribes which Greek fable and
tradition connect with Egypt; Phut, likewise of some Afri¬
can nations; and Canaan, of the inhabitants of Palestine
and Phoenicia. On the Arabian traditions concerning Ham,
see D’Herbelot, Dictionnaire Universal.
2. A poetical name for the land of Egypt. In the Egyp¬
tian language XHMI, or KHME, signifies black. Plutarch
also calls Egypt Chemia: rrjv Alyvirrov iv rois /AdAiara
fJieAdyyciov ovaav, wenrep to p.eXav tov b^Oakjxov, Ji.fjp.Lav
KaAovmv.
In Gen. xiv. 5 occurs a country or place called Ham,
belonging to the Zuzim, but its geographical situation is
unknown.
HAM, a Saxon word signifying a place of dwelling, a
house, a village, or town; as in the word hamlet, and in
such names as Waltham, Buckingham, Nottingham, &c.
It is the same as the Scottish hame for home.
HAM, a town of France, department of Somme, in a
marshy plain 15 miles S.S.E. of Peronne. It is chiefly
celebrated for its strong fortress, used as a state prison. In
1830 Prince Polignac and the other ministers of Charles X.
were incarcerated here ; and more recently Louis Napoleon,
the present Emperor of France. Pop. of town, about 2000.
HAM, the thigh of a beast, particularly of a hog; but
HAM 197
more particularly applied to the thigh of that animal when Hamadan
cured. The process of curing is performed either by steep- II
ing in brine, or by rubbing in bay-salt. It is usual to rub Hamburg'
a little powdered saltpetre over the hams before salting;
and they are often flavoured with brown sugar or treacle.
Wet salting requires about three weeks, and dry salting a
week longer. Hams are also made of mutton and beef.
The final operation is that of smoking.
HAMADAN, or Amadan. See Ecbatana.
HAMADRYADES (formed of dp.a, together, and 8pm?,
dryad, from Spfg, oaK), in Antiquity, certain deities believed
by the ancients to preside over woods and forests, and to be
inclosed under the bark of oaks. The Hamadryades were
supposed to live and die with the trees to which they were
attached, as is observed by Servius on Virgil {Eclog. x.,
ver. 62), after Mnesimachus, the scholiast of Apollonius,
who mentions other traditions relating to the same subject.
The poets, however, frequently confound the Hamadryades
with the dryads, naiads, and rural nymphs in general. See
Dryads.
HAMAH, a city of Syria, on both sides of the Orontes,
which is here crossed by four bridges, 110 miles N. by E.
of Damascus. It is the Hamath of Scripture, and the Epi-
phaneia of the Greeks. The kingdom of Hamath lay be¬
tween Zobah on the E. and Rehob on the W.; and, like
Dan, is used to denote the northern boundary of the Holy
Land, as in 1 Kings viii. 65, “ from the entering in of
Hamath unto the river of Egypt.” The entering in, or
entrance in, of Hamath, was a mountain pass forming its
approach from the south, and was the passage from the
northern extremity of the land of Israel into Syria. Amos
(vi. 2) styles it Hamath the Great. Toi was king of Ha¬
math at the time when David conquered the Syrians of
Zobah. In the time of Hezekiah the town along with its
territory was conquered by the Assyrians. Abulfeda, the
Arabian geographer, who was prince of Hamath in the
fourteenth century, states that this “ is reckoned one of the
most pleasant towns of Syria. The Orontes flows round
the greater part of the city on the east and north. It boasts a
lofty and well-built citadel. Within the town are many dams
and water-machines, by means of which the water is led off
by canals to irrigate the gardens and supply private houses.
It is remarked of this city and of Schiazar, that they abound
more in water-machines than any other cities in Syria.”
This description is in a great measure still correct. It is
surrounded by walls and otherwise well defended; but, as
in most Syrian towns, the streets are narrow, irregular, and
dirty. Being on a great caravan route between Asia and
Africa, it has an active commerce. It has manufactures of
silk and cotton fabrics, gold and silver thread, &c. Pop.
about 44,000.
HAMAXOBII, or Hamaxobitas (dga^a, a carriage or
chariot, and /3io?, life), an ancient people of Sarmatia Euro-
paea, who inhabited the southern part of Muscovy, and lived
in tents made of leather and fixed on carriages, so as to be
ready for travelling at all times.
HAMBATO, or Ambato, a town of South America, state
of Ecuador, department of Quito, 75 miles S. of the town
of that name, and at the N.E. foot of mountain Chimborazo,
8860 feet above the level of the sea. Pop. about 10,000.
HAMBURG, a sovereign state of the Germanic Con¬
federation, consisting of, 1. The city of Hamburg, and a
small adjacent territory between Plolstein and Hanover;
2. Of several islands in the river Elbe ; 3. Of several scat¬
tered portions of land in Holstein and Lauenberg; and 4.
Of the bailiwick of Ritzebuttel and the island of Neuwerk,
on the coast of the North Sea, between the Elbe and the
Weser, altogether, about 150 square English miles, with a
population of 211,000 inhabitants.
The city of Hamburg is situated on the north bank of
a branch of the river Elbe, in N. Lat. 53. 34., E. Long. 9.47.,
198
HAMBURG.
Hamburg, about 50 miles from the North Sea, and nearly an equal
distance from the Gulf of Liibeck, in the East Sea. A
few miles above the town the Elbe divides into two main
branches, called the North Elbe and the South Elbe, and
these, again subdividing, form a number of fertile islands,
occupying a breadth of about five miles in front of the town.
Between these islands and the city the North Elbe has a
breadth of from 1000 to 1200 feet, and the windings of its
banks and sub-branches form several havens that constitute
the harbour ; but there are no docks. The city, however,
is intersected by the river Alster, and a number of canals,
that carry the merchandize from the ships to the very ware¬
houses of the merchants. The River Alster, from Holstein,
forms two lakes, or large basins, on the north-east side of
the town, one outside, and the other within the walls. The
latter called the Binnen Alster, is an ornamental piece
of water, which, in German eyes, gives Hamburg an ap¬
pearance of beauty few cities in Europe can boast of.
The city consists of five distinct portions, two of which,
called the Altstadt and the Neustadt, are within the walls,
divided from each other by the Alster; a third, called the
Hamburger-Berg, or the suburb of St Paul—the most plea¬
santly situate part of the town—extends northward along the
river to the Danish frontier, where it is divided from Altona
by a ditch eight feet wide; the fourth portion, called the
suburb of St George, lies in the north-east quarter; and
the fifth, a new suburb, called the Hammerbrook, has been
laid out on a marshy track in the east or south-east quarter.
The city proper was formerly surrounded by strong fortifi¬
cations, consisting of numerous bastions, curtains, and out¬
works ; but, since the peace of 1814, these have been all
demolished, and the ground they occupied has been laid
out in walks and gardens. Their outline, however, is
still marked by a wet ditch, 120 feet wide, with JO to 12
feet of water. Besides these walks there are, within the
the town, two promenades, the one called the Jungfernstieg
(young ladies’ walk), along the south side, and the other,
called the New Jungfernstieg, along the west side, of the
Binnen Alster basin.
Until the fire in 1842 the Altstadt of Hamburg con¬
sisted of narrow, crooked, and dirty streets, lined with
large, lofty, and gloomy houses, inhabited even by the
better classes, while the lower classes wrere densely crowd¬
ed into courts, closes, and cellars. At that time, how¬
ever, about a third part of the city was destroyed, and
advantage has been taken of tbe calamity to introduce va¬
rious improvements in the new buildings, to widen the
streets, to establish water-works, form sewers, and fill up
ditches. The public buildings are not worth notice as ob¬
jects of architectural or artistic interest. The council-house
and the bank, both destroyed at the time of the fire, have
been rebuilt in better style, and the church of St Nicholas,
also destroyed, is now being restored, from a design in the
Gothic style by an English architect. The finest building
is the church of St Michael, erected between 1762 and
1786, which has a tower of 460 feet in height, affording an
extensive view over the adjoining country, and along the
Elbe, almost as far as the sea. The exchange, likewise, is
a fine building in the Adolphe Platz. The charitable in¬
stitutions are numerous, and some of them on a magnifi¬
cent scale. The orphan-house provides for the mainten¬
ance and education of 600 children, and the apprenticing
of them to useful trades. The great hospital in the suburb
of St George is capable of containing about 5000 sick, and
the yearly cost of supporting it is about L. 17,000. The
schools are well conducted; there is a gymnasium or high
school, and a Johanneum, an establishment of the same kind,
a sort of college, both scientific and practical. There are
French and German theatres, and every means is taken
to satisfy the prevailing taste for music and dancing.
The manufacturing industry of Hamburg is very con¬
siderable. The principal branches consist of sugar-refin- Hamburg,
ing, spinning-mills, hat-making, linen, silk, and velvet v,-
weaving, calico-printing, snuff and tobacco manufacture,
whalebone-cutting, and gold and silver smithery ; but it
is as the commercial entrepot and shipping port of Nor¬
thern Germany that Hamburg is most distinguished. From
its position on the tideway of a river navigable for more
than 500 miles from the sea, it enjoys a prodigious inter¬
nal trade. Communicating by water with a great part of
Prussia, and with the whole of Saxony and Bohemia, it
supplies these countries with all the colonial and other
foreign productions that they require, and exports in return
their raw and manufactured produce. With the East Sea
it is connected by canals; and now, it is connected also
with Kiel, Wiemar, and Rostock, by railways through
Holstein and Mecklenburg, and by other railways with
Berlin, Magdeburg, Brunswick, and Hanover, and other
parts of Germany. The value of the merchandise im¬
ported from all parts of the world, in 1853, amounted to
L.32,828,590 ; and in 1854, to L.39,247,322. The value
of the exports for the same two years was respectively
L.31,186,268, and L.36,463,665. Hamburg is consequently
a great centre of money transactions, which are managed
by a large number of private bankers. The trade is con¬
ducted entirely by silver, deposited by its owners in the
Bank of Hamburg, and transferred by means of checks.
This bank possesses no capital, and therefore neither dis¬
counts bills nor makes advances on any sort of securities. It
is purely a place of deposit; and its expenses are paid by a
charge on the transfers. The amount of bullion in its vaults
is reckoned at about L.4,000,000. The number of sea¬
going vessels that arrived and cleared out in 1854, with
their tonnage and crews, are stated in the following table :—
From and To
Europe....
America..
Asia 
Africa ....
Australia.
Totals..
Arrived.
No. of Burden in
Ships. tons.
4427
416
39
13
1
4896
742,155
139,083
19,290
3,276
300
904,104
Crews.
34,878
5,037
627
142
10
40,694
Departed.
No. of
Ships.
4326
473
17
13
50
4879
Burden in
tons.
702,723
152,862
6,528
3,822
25,079
891,014
Crews.
33,660
5,466
254
152
759
40,291
The number of ships belonging to Hamburg at the end
of 1854 was 456, with a burden of 159,867 tons.
Hamburg has now regular communication by steam-ships
with London, Hull, Grimsby, Newcastle, Leith, West Hartle¬
pool, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Gothenburg, and Bergen.
The government of Hamburg was formerly very aristo¬
cratic ; but the great commotion of 1848 produced a
change of the constitution. The government is now vested
in a senate of fifteen members, of whom seven must be
well acquainted with law and finance, and six with com¬
merce. There is also a council of burgesses, consisting of
192 members, who appoint a civic committee of twenty
members, to assist the senate on urgent and important busi¬
ness. The senate names from its own body, for its presi¬
dent, a first and a second burgomaster, who serve for a year,
and who, if re-elected, cannot remain in office more than
two years consecutively. The manner of election to these
councils is very complicated, and far removed from popular
suffrage and control. The public revenues are derived
from various sources, and the budget for 1855 stood thus:
Receipts.
From State property ...L.29,015
... Indirect taxes  262,659
... Direct taxes   60,115
... Sundry receipts ... 50,124
... Special receipts ... 3,867
Total LAOS,780
Expenditure.
Ordinary L.420,161
Extraordinary   15,800
L.435,961
Excess of expenditure 30,181
L.405,780
II A M
Hamel The amount of the public debt was L.4,828,477. The
|| military force is very small; and the Hamburg contingent
Hameln. t0 t]ie Federal army is only 1947 men.
The city and suburbs contained, in 1853, 161,390 in¬
habitants, of whom the greater part were Lutherans, not
more than a tenth part being Catholics, Calvinists, Jews,
Mennonites, and of other sects. They are divided into
three classes. The first consists of the Handelstand or
Traffickers, subdivided into Kaufleute, or mercantile people,
and Kramer, or retail dealers. The second class consists
of the learned, such as ministers of religion, schoolmasters,
lawyers, and medical practitioners. The third class consists
of artizans and day labourers, the paid officers of the state,
soldiers, servants, strangers, and Jews. Any one may be
a merchant who chooses, but the Kramers form a corpora¬
tion or guild. The officers of the state are not allowed to
carry on trade; but those who are invested with honorary
offices may continue their business. Of the lawyers it is
not required that they should have gone through a regular
course of study; but all who become members of the
courts or the senate must be doctors of law. Strangers
cannot possess any real property, or follow any civil profes¬
sion ; and the Jews, though there are nearly 10,000 of them
resident in the city, cannot properly become citizens.
Early in the ninth century a castle was erected by Char¬
lemagne on the spot where Hamburg now stands, and the
place soon became of importance. In the reign of Otto
IV. (1215) it was constituted a free city of the empire, and,
in the year 1241, a commercial treaty between Hamburg
and Lubeck formed the foundation of the powerful Hansea¬
tic League. Shipping and trade formed always the principal
objects of attention with the citizens, and they soon made
their city one of the principal trading towns in the north.
In 1536 the Hamburgers joined the league of Schmalkald,
and the Reformed religion became fully established. Their
independence was often threatened by the kings of Den¬
mark, till, in 1768, all differences were settled, and, for a
considerable sum of money, their imperial privileges fully
acknowledged. During the period of French intrusion,
Hamburg suffered most severely. Its trade was ruined by
the English blockade, and the citizens were impoverished
by forced loans to their foreign rulers. In 1810 Hamburg
was annexed to the French Empire; and in 1813-14 it
was in possession of a French army, under Marshal Davoust,
who withstood a siege from the Allies till 31st May 1814,
when it was freed from its oppressors. In 1815 it was ac¬
knowledged as one of the free cities and sovereign states of
the German Confederation. Since that time its trade has in¬
creased enormously, and its population has more than doubled.
The principal place of note in the territory of Hamburg
is Cuxhaven, a town of about 1000 inhabitants on the sea-
coast, outside of the mouth of the Elbe. It is noted for
its lighthouse, and harbour. South-east of the city is
a low alluvial tract, called the Vierlander, consisting, as
the name implies, of four distinct portions, divided by
rivers. They are said to rival the Egyptian Delta in fer¬
tility, and are inhabited by people of very primitive man¬
ners and habits, who marry only among themselves, and
regard strangers with jealousy. They are said, however,
to be very wealthy, finding in the city a ready market for
all their produce.
HAMEL, Jean Baptiste du. See Duhamel.
HAMELN, a town of Hanover, principality of Calen-
berg, on the river Weser, at its confluence with the Hamel,
25 miles S.W. of Hanover. It is surrounded by old walls
scarcely defensible, and was formerly protected by Fort
George on the opposite side of the river; but this fort was
destroyed by the French in 1806. The Weser is here
crossed by an iron suspension bridge 500 feet in length,
supported by a pier erected on an island in the middle of
the river. Hameln is interesting as containing many wooden
H A M 199
houses of the old German style. Being the capital of a Hame-
cognominal bailiwick, it is the seat of several courts and secken
public offices ; and from the river being here navigable, it jjarJL
carries on a considerable trade. The navigation was im- v ami onj
proved by the construction of a large sluice here in 1734,
by George II. A salmon-fishery and various branches of
manufacture are carried on. Pop. 6500.
HAMESECKEN, or Hamesucken. Burglary, or noc¬
turnal housebreaking, was, by the ancient English law,
called Hamesecken, as it is in Scotland to this day.
HAMILCAR, the name of a number of persons who dis¬
tinguished themselves in the history of Carthage. By far
the most eminent of the name was Hamilcar Barca, the
father of Hannibal. The details of his exploits are given
under Carthage.
HAMILTON, a municipal and parliamentary borough
and market-town of Scotland, county of Lanark, about a
mile from the junction of the Avon with the Clyde, and 10
miles S.W. of Glasgow. The town originated in the fifteenth
century, under the protecting influence of the lords of
Hamilton, who constituted a place called the Orchard, be¬
tween this point and the Clyde, the principal messuage of
the barony, and which is still the chief seat of the Hamil¬
ton family. In 1451, a collegiate church was founded in
the vicinity; but in 1732, the new church was built.
The town of Hamilton occupies a rising ground, com¬
manding fine views of a rich and highly picturesque country,
and consists of several streets of well-built houses, some¬
what irregularly dispersed. The proprietors, alive to the
value of their grounds for feuing purposes, have published
various competing plans for villas. This, together with its
ready access with Glasgow by railway (half-an-hour’s ride),
and the amenity of the locality, are rapidly converting Ham¬
ilton into a suburb of Glasgow. The staples of trade are
silks and cambrics. Many of the females are engaged in
tambour or sewed muslin work. Both coal and ironstone
are found in the parish, and are largely wrought. It is go¬
verned by a provost, two bailies, and twelve councillors;
and unites with Airdrie, Linlithgow, Falkirk, and Lanark,
in returning a member to parliament. Dr Cullen, Pro¬
fessor Millar of Glasgow, Dr Matthew Baillie, and his
sister Joanna Baillie, were natives of Hamilton. Pop.
(1851)9630; registei’ed electors 300. Market-day, Friday.
Immediately east of the town is Hamilton Palace, the
seat of the Duke of Hamilton, premier peer of Scotland.
The pleasure-grounds around the mansion comprise nearly
1500 acres. The present palace was commenced in 1822,
and consists of a large elegant building in the style of the
Temple of Jupiter Stator at Rome. The interior is highly
decorated ; and contains one of the most valuable collections
of paintings in Scotland. Within the policies, on the sum¬
mit of a precipitous rock, 200 feet in height, the foot of which
is washed by the Avon, stand the ruins of Cadzow Castle, the
original seat of the Hamilton family. It was conferred on the
chief of that family immediately after the battle of Bannock¬
burn, having been previously a royal residence for at least two
centuries. In the park attached to the castle are still pre¬
served some of the old Scotch breed of wild cattle; they
are milk-white in colour’, excepting their muzzles, horns,
and hoofs, which are black.
Hamilton, a town of Upper Canada, beautifully situated
on Burlington Bay, at the western extremity of Lake On¬
tario. It is well laid out, and contains some fine public
buildings, among which are two market-houses, a custom¬
house, post-office, and theatre. Being the capital of the
district of Gore, it is the seat of the court and public offices
for the district. Hamilton was founded in 1813, and incor¬
porated in 1833. In 1844 it had 5669 inhabitants, and in
1852, 14,112, while in 1854 they were estimated at about
20,000. See Canada, vol. vi., pp. 135-44-52, &c.
HAMILTON, Anthony, Count, author of the Memoirs
200 II A M I
Hamilton, of Count Cramow^, was a cadet of the noble Scottish family
of. that name, and was born in Ireland about 1646. He
was educated in France, but after the Restoration passed
over to London, where he met the Chevalier, afterwards
Count de Gramont. This nobleman, temporarily banished
from the French court, tell in love with Hamilton’s sister,
and engaged to marry her. As soon as his term of exile
had expired he set out for Paris, neglecting to fulfil his en¬
gagement. Anthony and a younger brother of the bride
took horse, and overtaking the fugitive at Dover, asked
him if he had forgotten nothing in London. “ Pardon,
gentlemen,” said the Count, “ I forgot to marry your sister.”
He returned, and the ceremony was performed. Hamilton
made frequent voyages to France to see his sister and her
husband; and on one of these occasions was chosen by
Louis XIV. to figure in Quinault’s ballet of the Triomphe
de VAmour. Exiled with James II., who had warmly be¬
friended him on account of his attachment t© the Catholic
religion, he spent the remainder of his days at St Germains,
where he wrote his delightful works, and where he died in
1720, at the age of about seventy-four.
Of Hamilton’s works, the best and the best remembered
is his Memoires de Gramont. It is indeed the cleverest
book of its class in existence. Though no one who reads
it can fail to see its frivolity, it is impossible to lay it aside
without reading on to the end. The pictures of the court
of Charles II. which it contains, are like the best pieces of
Boucher. Expressing almost nothing, they yet possess
charms and attractions denied to the far more ambitious
efforts of greater minds. Though the grossest indelicacy
is often hid by a mere veil of gauze, and is thus doubly
dangerous, especially to the young reader, there is yet a
grace, a truth to nature, and a gaiety in the work that make
it one of the most pleasant, as it certainly is one of the most
valuable records of the dissolute court of the Restoration.
Hamilton’s other works, once much in vogue, are now for¬
gotten. There have been many editions of the Memoirs
both in France and England. One of the rarest is that
printed by Horace Walpole at the Strawberry Hill press,
of which only 100 copies were thrown off; better still is the
London edition of 1792; but best of all is that of 1811,
with sixty-three portraits, and many notes and illustrations,
some of which are said to have been furnished by Sir W.
Scott. One of the best editions is that of Paris in 4 vols.
8vo, 1812, or 5 vols. in 18mo, 1813.
Hamilton, Elizabeth, the author of some admirable
novels and educational works, was born at Belfast in Ire¬
land, of parents of Scottish extraction. Of her personal
history little is known. She seems to have been a gover¬
ness in the family of a Scottish nobleman, and to have writ¬
ten to the eldest of her pupils, her Letters on the formation
of the Religious and Moral Principle. She died after a
painful illness at Harrowgate, July 23, 1816. After her
death a very well written notice of her literary life and la¬
bours appeared in the Monthly Magazine for Sept. 1816,
which was attributed on good grounds to Miss Edgeworth.
Of all Miss Hamilton’s works the best known, though
not the most valuable, is her novelette, entitled the Cot¬
tagers of Glenburnie. In this work she describes with
graphic force and effect the manners of the lower grades of
the Scottish rural population of her day. The filth, self-
complacency, laziness, and contentedness of the loutish
sluggards that figure in that story are so humorously, so
truly, and withal so kindly described, that the book soon
gained and still enjoys a wide popularity, and has been
really useful in stimulating a great social reformation. Her
other leading works are the following, which we give in
chronological order:—Letters of a Hindoo Rajah, 1796 ;
Modern Philosophers, 1800, a kind of satire on the ad¬
mirers of the trench Revolution, and the dangerous ab¬
surdities of their doctrines when carried out to their legiti-
L T O N.
mate conclusions ; Letters on the Elementary Principles of Hamilton.
Education, 1801-2 ; Life of Agrippina, wife of Germani-
cus, 1804 ; Exercises in Religious Knowledge, 1809; Po¬
pular Essays, 1813. The most valuable though not the
best known of her works, is her Letters on Education, in
which she applies to education, and brings within the com¬
pass of general comprehension the metaphysics of the ques¬
tion, which before her time had seemed reserved for philoso¬
phers only. In the words of Miss Edgeworth, she “shows how
the doctrine of the association of ideas may be applied in
early education to the formation of the habits, of temper,
and to the principles of taste and morals ; she has consi¬
dered how all that metaphysicians know of secretion, ab¬
straction, &c., can be applied to the cultivation of the judg¬
ment and the imaginations of children. No matter how
little is actually ascertained on these subjects, she has done
much in wakening the attention of parents, and of mothers
especially, to future inquiry. She has done much by di¬
recting their inquiries rightly; much by exciting them to
reflect upon their own minds, and to observe what passes
in the minds of their children.”
Hamilton, Gavin, a distinguished Scottish painter, was
born at Lanark in the course of the first half of the eigh¬
teenth century. At an early age he was sent to Rome,
where he studied art under Massuchi. The highest quali¬
ties of a great painter—invention, purity, and correctness of
style, and the secret of colour, he undoubtedly lacked. No
small part of his merit lies in his choice of subject, to which
he was helped by his fine taste and his deep knowledge of
classical literature. His best pieces are designs from the
Iliad, such as “ Achilles beside the dead body of Patro-
clus“ Andromache bewailing the death of Hector
“ Helen and Paris.” Hamilton, however, has rendered
greater services to art by his discoveries of precious frag¬
ments of ancient monuments than by his direct contributions
to it. The latter part of his life was devoted to researches
of this kind, which he prosecuted in various parts of the
Roman States, but especially at Civita Vecchia, Velletri,
Ostia, and above all at Hadrian’s Villa, at Tivoli. The
statues, busts, and bas-reliefs found by him form the most
interesting portion of the Museo Clementine after the trea¬
sures of the Belvidere. Many collections in England,
Germany, and Russia, owe their chief ornaments to his
labours. To one of the best of these—the Townley Gal¬
lery—Hamilton contributed a large number of valuable
marbles, a list of which is given in the Townley Gallery,
published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Know¬
ledge. Fuseli, giving expression to the feelings of all who
knew Hamilton, declares that however great his talents
may have been, they were far surpassed by the generosity,
benevolence, and humanity of his character. The onlv
work known to have proceeded from his pen is his Schola
Ltalica Picture, Rome, 1773, in which he traces the pro¬
gress of the different styles of the Italian school from Da
Vinci down to the Caracci.
Hamilton, Robert, an eminent Scottish writer on politi¬
cal economy and finance, was born at Edinburgh in 1743.
After an excellent education he entered a bank, where he
passed the first years of his youth as a clerk, and thus ac¬
quired a practical knowledge of financial affairs, which he
afterwards turned to good account. In 1760, however, he
changed his views, and, resolving to devote himself to teach¬
ing, was made rector of the Perth Academy, and ten years
later was promoted to the chair of natural philosophy in
Marischal College, Aberdeen. In 1780 he exchanged this
chair for the more congenial professorship of mathematics
in the same university. For some years before his death
in 1829, Hamilton had retired from the active business of
his chair, and quitted his privacy only at rare intervals to
take part in important affairs concerning the college.
Hamilton published a number of minor pieces, but it
/
HAM
Hamilton was not till the appearance of his Essay on the National
Debt in 1813 that he attracted especial attention as a po-
Hamlet. ljtical economist. That work, published under the title of
an Inquiry concerning the Rise and Progress, the Redemp¬
tion and Present State, and the Management of the Na¬
tional Debt of Great Britain, was written with a view to
expose the inadequacy of the sinking-fund system, which
had been received as an axiom in financial science ever since
the days of Pitt. In course of time Hamilton’s views, re¬
garded at first with disfavour, came to be known and adop¬
ted in other countries of Europe than Great Britain. His
other works, such as his Introduction to Merchandise, his
essay on War and Peace, exhibit marks of strong common
sense, and a vigorous understanding; but as they discuss
their subjects solely with reference to the actual state of
things and without allusion to the future, their interest has
long since died away.
Hamilton, Sir William, a diplomatist and patron of the
fine arts, was a native of Scotland, where he was born in
1730. On the threshold of youth he was condemned (to
use his own words) to make his way in the world with an
illustrious name and a thousand pounds. He took the first
step with characteristic caution and boldness, and made his
career in life smooth and easy by marrying in 1755 a lady
of large fortune, with the additional recommendations of
youth, birth, and beauty. Nine years after this Sir Wil¬
liam was made ambassador at Naples, and retained that
office till 1800. After the death of his first wife he mar¬
ried (in 1791) the beautiful but abandoned Emma Harte,
whose name as Lady Hamilton is so painfully associated
wdth that of Nelson. (See Nelson.) Sir William re¬
turned to England in the first year of the present century,
and died there in very reduced circumstances in 1803.
It is not as a diplomatist but as a lover of art that Sir
William Hamilton has a claim to posthumous renown. His
great work, the Campi Phlegrcei, is a noble monument of
mingled art and science. It consists of a series of coloured
engravings executed with admirable taste and spirit, show¬
ing the volcanic action of Vesuvius, and some of the most
remarkable eruptions that occurred in the course of his so¬
journ at Naples. His collection of vases was one of the best
private collections of that day. Engravings and descriptions
of the most valuable pieces are given in the famous A?iti-
quites Etrusques, Grecques, et Romaines, tireesdu Cabinet de
M. Hamilton, edited by d’Hancarville. Many of these are
now in the Townley Gallery in the British Museum. The
interest that Sir William took in art and antiquity is attested
by his contributions to the Philosophical Transactions, his
Observations on Vesuvius, Mount Etna, &c., and his zeal
in furthering and superintending the excavations made at
Herculaneum and Pompeii. He even contributed liberally
out of his private fortune the means of forming the museum
at Portici, and of properly caring for and profiting by the
MSS. and other valuable articles rescued from the buried
cities. The Neapolitan government looked upon his en¬
thusiasm with coldness if not positive suspicion.
Hamilton, William, of Bangour, one of the minor poets
of Scotland, was born in Ayrshire in 1704. He is not so
much remarkable for original or strong powers of mind as
for having been one of the first of native-born Scotchmen
who wrote English verse with elegance, correctness, and
good taste. One of his ballads, however, that entitled
Busk ye, busk ye, my bonny, bonny bride,
is in its own vein little if at all inferior to the best of the
old ballads. Hamilton joined the standard of the young
Chevalier in the ’45, and, after Culloden, was obliged to fly
to the continent. On being pardoned he returned to Scot¬
land, but delicate health drove him once more to France,
where he died in 1754. There have been numerous edi¬
tions of his poems.
HAMLET (from Sax.^am, domus), a little village or small
YOL. XI.
HAM 201
cluster of houses in the country. This word, says Stow, Hamlet
originally meant the seat of a freeholder, comprehending ||
the mansion-house and adjacent buildings. Ilammer-
HAMLET, a prince celebrated in theannals of Denmark, ^ SKU ‘ /
whose name has been rendered familiar by forming the
subject of one of the noblest tragedies of Shakspeare.
Adjoining a royal palace, which stands about half a mile
from that of Kronberg, m Elsinore, is a garden, called
Hamlet’s Garden, and, according to tradition, is the very
spot where the murder of his father was perpetrated. The
house is of modern date, and situated at the foot of a sandy
ridge near the sea. The garden occupies the side of the
hill, and is laid out in terraces. Elsinore is the scene of
Shakspeare’s Hamlet; and the original history from which
our poet derived the principal incidents of his play is
founded upon facts,•-but so deeply buried in remote anti¬
quity that it is difficult to discriminate truth from fable.
Saxo Grammaticus, who flourished in the twelfth century, is
the earliest historian of Denmark who relates the adven¬
tures of Hamlet. His account is extracted, and much al¬
tered, by Belleforest, a French author, an English transla¬
tion of whose romance was published under the title of thq,
Historye of Hamblet; and from this translation Shakspeare
formed the groundwork of his play, though with many
alterations and additions.
HAMM, the capital of a cognominal circle in the Prus¬
sian province of Westphalia and government of Arnsberg,
on the Lippe, at its confluence with the Ahse, 22 miles
N.N.W. of Arnsberg. It is inclosed by walls, but the
ditches that formerly surrounded it have been filled up and
converted into promenades. Hamm was formerly a mem¬
ber of the Hanseatic League : it has a famous gymnasium,
bleach works, manufactures of linen and woollen fabrics,
leather, &c., and an active trade in hams. It is situated at
the intersection of the Cologne-Minden Railway by that be¬
tween Munster and Paderborn. Pop. (1849) 6005.
HAMME, a town of Belgium, province of East Flanders,
18 miles E.N.E. of Ghent, on the right bank of the Durme,
near its confluence with the Schelde. It has breweries and
oil-mills; and some manufactures of linen, soap, cordage,
&c. It also carries on a considerable trade with the sur¬
rounding country. Pop. (1851) including commune, 9684.
HAMMER, a tool used by mechanics, which consists of
an iron head fixed crosswise upon a handle. The hammers
used by blacksmiths are of several kinds; as, the hand-
hammer, which may be wielded with one hand at the anvil;
the up-hand sledge, used with both hands, and seldom
lifted above the head ; the about-sledge, which is the largest
of all, and held by both hands at the furthest end of the
handle, and, being swung at arm’s-length over the head, is
made to fall upon the work with a heavy blow. There is
also the riveting hammer, which is the smallest of all.
Carpenters and other artizans have likewise hammers suited
to their several purposes.
The name of steam-hammer has been given to various
powerful machines worked by steam, for dealing heavy
blows with rapidity and precision. The steam-hammer of
Mr Nasmyth, the introducer of this machine, is particularly
deserving of mention, as greatly economizing time and labour,
and for its successful employment in ironmaking, the forg¬
ing of anchors, pile-driving, &c. See Iron-Making.
HAMMERFAST, a town of Norway. See Lapland.
HAMMERSMITH, a town and parish in the county of
Middlesex, 4 miles W. by S. of London, near the N. bank
of the Thames, which is here crossed by an elegant sus¬
pension bridge. The parish church is a plain brick build¬
ing with a low tower, erected in 1631. A new district
church was erected in 1820. There are also chapels for
Wesleyan Methodists, Baptists, Quakers, and Roman Ca¬
tholics ; two Roman Catholic convents; almshouses ; and »
national and other schools. The parish is studded with
2 c
202
HAM
H A M
Hammock numerous elegant residences, and the neighbouring grounds
II are chiefly occupied by nurseries and market-gardens, which
amprin. furn[sb t]le metropolis with some of the choicest flowers and
vegetables. Pop. of parish (1851), 17,760.
HAMMOCK, or Hamac (Span, hamdca—a word of
Indian origin), a kind of hanging bed which is suspended
between trees or posts, or to hooks. The true Indian
hammock is a long narrow net made of strong cord, and
terminated at each end by small ropes for suspending it.
The hammock used on board ship consists of a piece of
stout canvas, about six feet long and three broad, gathered
at the ends and suspended by cords.
HAMMOND, Henry, a learned divine of the Church
of England, was born at Chertsey in 1605. He was edu¬
cated at Eton, and graduating at Oxford became a fellow
of Magdalene College. Upon taking orders he became
rector of Penshurst in Kent, and in 1643 archdeacon of
Chichester. When the civil war broke out he hastened to join
the king at Oxford, was made canon of Christ Church, and
public orator in 1645. Three years later he was driven from
the university by the parliamentary visitors, and confined for
some time. After regaining his liberty he retired to West-
wood, in Worcestershire, the seat of Sir John Pakington,
where he spent the remainder of his days, dying at the very
moment when the restored head of the Stuart family had
fixed upon him for preferment to the see of Worcester.
Hammond’s works, published in 4 vols. fob, 1674-84,
consist, for the most part, of controversial sermons and
tracts. The best of them are his Practical Catechism, his
Paraphrase and Annotations on the New Testament, and
an incomplete work of a similar nature on the Old Testa¬
ment. Though these, with others of Hammond’s works,
have long since lost any value they may at one time have
had, their author possessed many qualities entitling him to
be remembered long after his works are forgotten. He was
an excellent preacher. Charles I., whose taste on {esthetic
questions was indisputable, pronounced him the most na¬
tural orator he had ever heard. His range of reading was
very extensive, and comprised modern as well as ancient
literature and philosophy. His charities and kindnesses to
the poor were unbounded. Antony-a-Wood says that he
became known as the “ most zealous promoter of alms¬
giving that lived in England since the change of religion,”
and that, consequently, he “ had the disposal of great chari¬
ties reposed in his hand.” With all this wealth, however,
his habits were self-denying and abstemious, and he often
gave away in charity luxuries which might have been of
much service to his own feeble health. His industry was
astonishing. “ No burden was more heavy,” he used to
say, “ or temptation more dangerous, than to have time lie
on one’s hand.” In 1739 a collection of Hammond’s Let¬
ters was published by Peck.
Hammond, James, the son of Anthony Hammond,
the “silver-tongued Hammond,” as he was named by
Bolingbroke, from the persuasive sweetness of his forensic
eloquence, was born in 1710. He was educated at West¬
minster school, and became equerry to the Prince of Wales.
He entered parliament as member for Truro in 1741, and
died the following year. While still a very young man, he
published his Love Elegies, correct and tasteful pastorals
indeed, but cold and vapid. Dr Johnson was not too se¬
vere when he said, “ these elegies have neither passion,
nature, nor manners.” The heroine, whom the author calls
Delia, was a Miss Dashwood, whose scorn of the poet’s love
first drove him mad, and finally sent him to his grave at
the early age of thirty-two. The lady, we are told, sur¬
vived him for seven and thirty years without finding any
one else either to marry or fall in love with her. Dr John¬
son observes that the character which Hammond bequeathed
her was not likely to attract courtship.
HAMPDEN, John, the celebrated leader of the Long
Parliament, was descended from an ancient and honourable
family of Buckinghamshire. His father was the proprietor
of the large family estates, and died while his son was an
infant. His mother was the daughter of Sir Henry Crom¬
well of Hinchinbrook, and the aunt of the great Oliver,
who was thus John Hampden’s cousin-german. After pass¬
ing through the courses of the grammar-school of Thame
and Magdalene College, Oxford, he began the study of the
law at the Inner Temple. In 1619 he married and began
to reside permanently on his estates, leading the same sort of
life as was led by most English squires of the day. When
the king found it necessary to summon a parliament, Hamp¬
den was returned first by the borough of Grampound, then
thrice consecutively by Wendover, and finally entered the
Long Parliament as one of the members for the county
of Bucks. His history from this time till he fell mortally
wounded in the skirmish with Prince Rupert upon Chal-
grove Field, June 18, 1643, is the history of England.
(See Great Britain.) As Hampden comes before posterity
as a party-man and the leader of a party, it is extremely dif¬
ficult to form an estimate of his character such as will re¬
concile the various accounts of him that we possess. His
partizans excite our pity when they set him up as the greatest
man of his age, and as a man in whom were centred and
surpassed the high and valuable qualities of Cromwell, Vane,
Manchester, Hale, and Sidney. Equally absurd is the con¬
duct of those who deny that he possessed great sagacity,
great powers of debate, great courage in war, and great
ability as an administrator and man of practice. He was
not a man of genius, as Cromwell was; but he had great
talents, and a mental constitution as refined as powerful.
His personnel seems to have been a highly interesting one.
He was the only leading man among the Parliamentarians
in whom the Royalist wits could find nothing to assail.
There is no act of his life in which he can be charged with
anything like meanness or want of soul. His patriotism
was at once a principle and a sentiment, and his noble self-
devotion and heroic end prove that it was as strongly ap¬
proved by his judgment as accordant with his sympathies.
After hearing that his wounds were fatal, he quietly con¬
tinued the despatch of some important public business;
which done he calmly awaited his end. His last prayer
was a prayer, not for himself only, but for his country
which even in the agonies of death occupied his thoughts:
—“ Lord Jesus, receive my soul. O Lord, save my coun¬
try. O Lord, be merciful to .” His death was that
of a Christian as well as a hero. (See Carlyle’s Crom¬
well; Nugent’s Memorials of Hampden; Hume, Hist.
Engl. ; Clarendon, Hist. Rebel.; Macaulay, Hist. Engl. ;
and Essay on Hampden reprinted from Edinburgh Re¬
view?)
HAMPSHIRE, Hants, or county of Southampton
(anciently Hamtechare), a maritime county of England on
the shores of the English Channel, bounded on the N. by
Berkshire, E. by the counties of Surrey and Sussex, S.
by the English Channel, and W. by Wiltshire and Dorset¬
shire. It is of an irregular quadrilateral form, and is about
46 miles in extreme length from N. to S., by 41 in extreme
breadth. This is exclusive of the Isle of Wight, which
is comprised in the county, and is about 23 miles long from
E. to W., by 14 broad from N. to S. The entire area is
1,070,216 acres, or 1672 square miles. Hampshire, in its
general aspect, presents a beautiful variety of gently rising
hills and fruitful valleys, adorned with numerous seats and
pleasant villages, and interspersed with extensive woodland.
In comparison with many other counties it has but little
waste land, but at the western extremity, bordering on
Dorsetshire, a small portion of sandy heath is scarcely pro¬
ductive of anything but pasture for sheep. A considerable
tract, extending from Winchester to the northern extre¬
mity of the county, is down-land, principally used forsheep-
Hamp.
shire.
HAMPSHIRE.
Hampshire, pasture, but when brought under the plough is very fertile
in barley, turnips, clover, and sainfoin. This county con¬
tains a great extent of woodland. The New Forest, so
well known from its association with William the Conqueror,
contains about 92,000 acres, but within its boundary a large
portion of the land is highly cultivated and very fertile.
The abundance of trees of large dimensions, the open
glades between, and the variety of foliage and underwood,
render the scenery of the district highly delightful. The
oaks, many of which are of some hundred years’ growth, are
the characteristic feature of the forest. They do not grow
to a great height, but swell to large dimensions in the trunk,
and shoot out strong crooked branches, which give them a
very picturesque appearance, and add to their value as
naval timber, being well adapted for use as knees in ships
of the largest size. The beech trees also grow to a very
great size, and contribute to the beauty as well as the
profits of the forest.
The other principal forests are those of Alice Holt and
Woolmer, situated within a short distance of each other,
near the eastern border of the county, and extending over
about 15,500 acres ; of which nearly one-half belong to the
crown, and afford excellent oak timber. Bere Forest, also,
in the south-east, a few miles to the north-east of the Ports-
down Hills, and about five miles from Portsmouth, contains
about 16,000 acres, but its timber has been much neglected.
In these forests there is abundance of deer belonging to the
crown, some of which are annually killed, and distributed
(according to ancient prescription) among the various officers
of the government and the royal household. The greater
part of the county is inclosed, and even the down-lands are
so in a great measure.
The principal rivers of Hampshire are the Itchen, the
Avon, the Boldre, the Tees, and the Anton. The Itchen
rises near Alresford, flows by Kingsworthy, Winchester, and
Twyford, and falls into the Southampton Water. This river
has been navigable from Winchester to Southampton as
early as the Conquest. The Avon has its source in Wilt¬
shire, enters the county near Breamore, passes by Fording-
bridge and Ringwood, and after being joined by the Stour,
a small Dorsetshire river, which only passes through about
six miles of Hampshire, empties itself into Christchurch
Bay. The Boldre takes its rise in the New Forest, and,
after collecting the waters of several brooks during its course
through the forest, it falls into Lymington Creek. The
Tees or Test rises in the neighbourhood of Whitchurch,
and, after receiving the Anton and numerous small brooks,
passes by Stockbridge and Romsey, and forms the head of
the Southampton Water. The other rivers are the Exe,
Hamble, and a few small tributaries of the Thames, which
water the northern portions of the county.
The canals of the county are but two—Basingstoke and
Andover. The Basingstoke Canal was begun in 1778, to
communicate between that town and London. It is 37
miles in length, and terminates near Guildford in the River
Wey. It passes through a tunnel, nearly three-quarters
of a mile in length, under Grewell Hill, near Odiham.
This canal was not completed till 1794, when it had cost
L.l00,000 ; and the tolls are not yet sufficient to pay
the interest. The Andover Canal was begun in 1789, at
that town. Its termination is at Redbridge, and it is
useful to convey coals and other heavy commodities to
the centre of the county. It is continued by a branch to
Salisbury.
Several railways traverse the county. There is com¬
munication with London by means of the South-Western
Railway, which enters Hampshire at Farnborough, passing
by Winchester, and from thence to Southampton, a branch
diverging from Bishopstoke to Gosport, and again to Ports¬
mouth via the South Coast Railway, by a branch from Fore¬
ham. The South Coast Railway also affords to the south-
203
eastern portion of the county ready access to London,through Hampshire.
Brighton. This line enters the county at West Boarne, ^
passes by Havant and a few other unimportant places, into
Portsmouth. A branch from Reading and the Great
Western Railway joins the South-Western at Basingstoke,
and the Guildford and Reigate branch of the South Coast
Railway communicates with Alton. A line called the Direct
Portsmouth Railway, commenced in August 1853, is in
course of construction. The projectors ot this line intend
to form a junction with the South Coast Railway at Havant,
whence it is to pass along the eastern border of the county to
Godaiming, and thence by the Woking Junction and South-
Western Railway to London. This line, when completed,
will shorten the distance between London and Portsmouth
by 22 miles. Southampton communicates with Dorchester
by the Dorchester Railway, which passes by Ringwood, and
with Salisbury by a branch line passing through Romsey.
At present Plymouth and other parts of the south-west of
England can only be reached by the Great Western Rail¬
way, a most tedious and circuitous route ; but other lines
have been projected, which will make a material alteration
in this respect. The towns of Southampton and Portsmouth
are in communication with London by means of the electric
telegraph, which is also in operation between Southampton
and Dorchester.
The soil is very various, but in almost every part it
rests on a calcareous subsoil. The uplands are generally
appropriated to breeding sheep, and hence the culture of
turnips has been much extended. After the turnips are
eaten off the land, barley is usually sown, and with it clover,
or other artificial grass-seeds. To the clover succeeds some¬
times wheat or oats, and, when the land is somewhat heavier
in texture, occasionally beans ; but in few parts of England
are the rotations of crops more diversified. The average
produce of corn on these high lands is not more than
16 bushels of wheat, 22 of barley, and 24 of oats, to the
acre. The ploughing is almost universally performed by
horses, which are of a very excellent breed. On much of
the stiffer lands four of these strong horses are thought ne¬
cessary ; but on lighter lands, and with a single-wheeled
plough, sometimes two or three are used, and very rarely
are harnessed abreast of each other. On the higher lands
the hay for winter consumption is generally made from sain¬
foin, a plant which peculiarly flourishes when the subsoil is
calcareous. When it is sown great care is taken to extir¬
pate all weeds, and every other description of grasses, and
thus the crop will usually continue for ten years to be fit for
mowing; and on some soils it has been found to last even
twenty years, and yield abundant crops of hay. There is
no part of England in which this valuable grass is so well or
so extensively cultivated.
The corn lands on the lower levels of the county are much
more productive; but on those districts they have no occa¬
sion for sainfoin, and scarcely for clover, as their rich water
meadows supply them with a sufficiency of hay. Some of
these meadows are perhaps the most valuable of any lands
in this island, and are managed with great skill and atten¬
tion. W here a rapid stream of water can be passed over
them during the whole winter, it seldom becomes frozen;
and the grasses grow during the cold weather, so as to be
fit for pasture at an early period in the spring, before any
traces of vegetation appear in the surrounding fields. This
young grass is a provision for the sheep when no other green
food is to be found, and supplies them to the beginning of
May, when it is allowed to grow, and in six or eight weeks
it is fit to be mowed, and yields an abundant supply of hay.
There is much of this valuable description of land in the
fertile valley that extends from Overton to Redbridge by
Stockbridge.
In the eastern part of the county, bordering on Surrey,
there are extensive hop plantations, the produce of which
204
HAMPSHIRE.
Hampshire. js equal in flavour to those in the adjoining villages of that
county near Farnham.
A parliamentary report on the agricultural statistics of
this county gives the number of acres of arable land, in
October 1853, at 603,219^. Of these 96,228| were in
wheat, 62,380f barley, 57,075^ oats, 1907^- rye, 14,096f
peas and beans, 13,868j tares and vetches, 2801^ potatoes,
83,847 turnips or rape, 388|- carrots, 1515f mangel-wurzel
and beet-root, 355 cabbages, 100,114^ clover, lucerne, &c.,
123,519£ meadow and pasture, 73^ flax, I7llg- hops, 4260
other crops, 39,076^- fallow. The woods or plantations
covered an area of 105,839^ acres, and commons or wastes
occupied 89,630^. There were 24,076 horses, 19,350
milch cows, 13,148 other cattle, 489,227 sheep and lambs,
and 61,860 swine.
The original breed of Hampshire sheep was white-faced,
with horns ; but these have been so often crossed with other
kinds, that few of an unmixed breed are left. Most of the
flocks now are of the Southdown kind; they are found to
be more profitable, both on account of the superior quality
of their wool, and the tendency to fatten with a less quan¬
tity of food than any others. The cows are-not much at¬
tended to, and are not generally of the best kind. The
introduction of the Welsh breed has made some improve¬
ment, but there is room for much more.
The breeding and fattening of pigs has long been a most
important part of Hampshire husbandry. The bacon from
them is the principal animal food of the rural inhabitants.
In the vicinity of the forests the pigs are fed on acorns and
beech-mast; and those so fattened are considered the best,
either for pickled pork, or for bacon. The average weight
of these animals when deemed fit for slaughter is about 440
or 450 lbs., but many of them weigh 800 lbs.
The manufactures of this county are neither numerous
nor extensive, except those carried on at Portsmouth in
connection with the Royal Navy. Besides the ship-build¬
ing in the royal yard, many vessels, both for war and
trade, are built on the River Itchen at Buckler’s Hard,
on the River Boldre, and on the banks of Southampton
Water. The manufacture of woollen goods upon a small
scale is carried on at Andover, Romsey, Alton, and Bas¬
ingstoke. Paper is made at Romsey and at Overton. The
mills at the latter place have supplied the whole of the
thin paper used by the Bank of England for their notes
ever since the reign of George I. Ringwood has been
long celebrated for the excellence of the strong beer
brewed there, but the quantity has declined of late years.
On the sea-shore at Lymington, and on the island of Hay-
ling, near Havant, some salt is made by the evaporation of
sea-water. The quantity depends on the degree of heat
which prevails during the summer season, as the first part
of the process of evaporation is performed by the heat of
the sun alone ; the brine is afterwards conveyed to iron
pans, and the process completed by artificial heat. But as
coal is the only fuel, the process is expensive, and prevents
the proprietors from competing with the northern manu¬
facturers of salt.
The foreign commerce of the county was inconsiderable
until the formation of the Southampton Docks, and the con¬
sequent rise of that place as a commercial port. Its com¬
merce even now can by no means be compared with that
of several other counties—Southampton being principally
used as a steam-packet station. That port, however, im¬
ports much wine from Portugal, which, before the introduc¬
tion of the bonding system, used to be deposited in the
islands of Guernsey and Jersey, to save the interest upon
the amount of the duties. It also carries on a considerable
commerce with the Baltic. At Christchurch there are a
fevv vessels fitted for the Newfoundland fishery.
i he most considerable towns, with their population, ac¬
cording to the census of 1851, are:—
Basing* Jr.“.  4PJ75an,p.h«.
Lymington  4,166
Ringwood   3,933
Alton   3,300
Fordingbridge   3,178
Towns. Pop.
Portsmouth and Portsea 72,126
Southampton  34,092
Winchester 12,079
Pareham  5,843
Romsey  5,649
Andover  5,195
These will be found described in their alphabetical order
in other parts of this work.
Aldershott, a little village on the borders of Surrey, has
become of late a place of some note, by the formation of a
military camp on Aldershott Heath. The camp is con¬
structed at the base of a range of hills on the left of the
road leading from the town of Farnham. It is at present
formed entirely of wooden huts, but permanent barracks are
in course of construction. When completed, the huts will
afford accommodation for 20,000 militia, and the barracks for
10,000 regulars, consisting of cavalry, infantry, and artillery.
The cost of the whole erections will be upwards of L.300,000.
The antiquities of this county are very numerous, and
may be contemplated in the1 ruins of numerous castles, ab¬
beys, and shattered towers, which add not a little to the
beauty of the scenery. The most remarkable are Calshot
Castle, Netley Abbey, Hurst Castle, Porchester Castle, and
Beaulieu Abbey. Antiquities of more early date, of ancient
British or of Roman origin, are scattered over the county.
The numerous barrows are ascribed to the former, and
many vestiges of intrenched camps and castles to the latter.
The beauty of the county has attracted to it a greater
number of families of rank and fortune than almost any
other county can enumerate. The principal seats alone
number nearly 300.
By the Reform Act of 1832, this county has, for election
purposes, been divided into the northern and southern parts,
each of which returns two members to the House of Com¬
mons. The place of election for the northern division is
Winchester; and the other polling places are Fareham,
Lymington, Ringwood, and Romsey. By the same law the
boroughs of Whitchurch and Stockbridge were disfran¬
chised ; and the boroughs of Petersfield and Christchurch,
which used to elect two members, now choose only one each.
The towns which nowreturn two members each are Winches¬
ter, Southampton, Andover, Lymington, and Portsmouth,
with which is incorporated the adjacent large town ofPortsea.
The whole population of Hampshire amounted in 1801
to 219,656; in 1811, to 245,080; in 1821, to 283,208; in
1831, to 314,700; in 1841, to 355,004; and in 1851, to
402,033 (199,834 males, and 202,199 females); so that in
half a century the county has nearly doubled the number of
its inhabitants. It appears by the register of burials that
the deaths between 1801 and 1811 were 1 in 46 of the
inhabitants; that from 1811 to 1821 they were 1 in 54;
and from 1821 to 1831 (notwithstanding an increase of
mortality by the cholera) 1 in 56. In these years, there¬
fore, there was a continued and marked decrease in the
rate of mortality ; but within the last few years there has been
a perceptible increase, caused, without doubt, by the great and
rapid augmentation of the population of the large towns. Ac¬
cording to the latest averages, the mortality of the county is
still below that of the whole country, and this we think may
be accepted as a proof of the general salubrity of its climate.
According to the census returns of 1851, there were
then 818 places of worship in the county, containing 214,674
sittings. Of these places of worship, 389 belonged to the
Church of England, 116 to Independents, 69 to Baptists,
190 to Methodists, 13 to Roman Catholics, 7 to Latter-Day
Saints, 6 to Quakers, 6 to Unitarians, and the rest to minor
bodies. There were 1508 day schools, with 57,960 scholars;
of these 487, with 39,906 scholars, were public schools;
and 1021, with 18,054 scholars, were private schools. Of
the public schools, 25 were supported by general or local
taxation, 59 by endowments, and 386 by religious bodies.
II A M
lampstead There were also 576 Sunday-schools; of which 322 be¬
longed to the Church of England, 98 to Independents, 58
Hanau. Wesleyan Methodists, 45 to Baptists, and the rest to
other bodies. Of evening schools for adults, there were
33, with 677 scholars.
HAMPSTEAD, a village in the county of Middlesex,
4 miles N.W. of London, Its pleasant situation, on a con¬
siderable eminence commanding extensive views, and the
salubrity of its atmosphere, render it a favourite place of re¬
sidence and of resort. The hill, on the southern slope of
which the village stands, is the loftiest site near the metro¬
polis, being 443 feet above the level of the Thames, or 36
feet higher than the cross of St Paul’s. The extensive heath
on the summit of the hill covers an area of about 280 acres.
The streets are, mostly narrow and tortuous, lined with
houses of all kinds, from the mere cottage to the spacious
mansion. The parish church, erected in 1747, and enlarged
in 1844, is a building in the Italian style, having accommo¬
dation for 1600 persons. East of the town is a mineral
spring which was in high repute during the seventeenth
century, at which time Hampstead was a fashionable water¬
ing-place. In the vicinity are numerous villas. Pop. of
parish (1851) 11,986.
HAMPTON, a village in the county of Middlesex, on
the N. bank of the Thames, 12 miles W.S.W. of London.
The parish church is a handsome edifice having a square
tower at its western end. There are numerous elegant
villas in the vicinity. Hampton Court Palace, a deserted
abode of royalty, stands close to the river about a mile
from the village. It was originally erected by Cardinal
Wolsey, and presented by him to his royal master Henry
VIII., who made some additions to it. The original edi¬
fice consisted of five quadrangles, of which only two now
remain, but a third was erected by Sir C. Wren for Wil¬
liam III. The western quadrangle has undergone little
alteration since Wolsey’s time, and is a good specimen of
Tudor architecture. The middle quadrangle, called the
Clock Court, from a curious astronomical clock placed over
the gateway, is of mixed style, the massive character of the
old building being marred by the improvements of Kent in
1732. The northern side is wholly occupied by the length
of the hall, and on the opposite side is the incongruous
colonnade of Sir C. Wren. The third quadrangle was erected,
as already said, for William III., under whom also the gardens
and park were laid out in their present form. The king s
entrance in the Clock Court leads to the grand staircase and
state apartments. Hampton Court contains an extensive
and valuable collection of pictures, including a large collec¬
tion of portraits of persons connected with English history,
by Holbein, Lely, Kneller, West, &c.; and the celebrated
cartoons of Raffaele, seven in number, representing some of
the most striking incidents recorded in the New Testament.
Hampton Court became the favourite residence of Henry
VIII. Edward VI. was born here, and here his mother
Jane Seymour died. James I. and his son Charles L,
Cromwell, Charles II., James II., William HI., Queen Anne,
and George II. made this their occasional or more permanent
residence. It is now open to the public free of charge, and part
of it is occupied by persons of rank in reduced circumstances.
HAMSTER. See index to Mammalia.
HANAPER, formerly an office in Chancery, but abo¬
lished by 5 th and 6th Viet. c. 103. It was under the direction
of a master, his deputy and clerks, and answered in some
measure to the Roman fiscus. (See Fisc.) It received the
name of Hanaper from the wicker baskets or hampers (//awa-
peria) in which the writs were anciently kept. Writs re¬
lating to the subject were deposited in these hanapers; while
those concerning the Crown were kept in a little sack or
bag; whence another office of the same court took the name
of the Petty or Little Bag.
HANAU, a town of Germany, capital of a cognominal
HAN
pi'ovince, in the electorate of Hesse-Cassel, on the Kinzig,
near its junction with the Main, 12 miles E. of Frankfort-on-
the-Maine, with which it is connected by railway. It con- v
sists of an old and a new town ; the former is ill-built, with
narrow and irregular streets, but in the latter the buildings
are of a better class, and the streets are generally broad and
regular. Its ancient castle in the old town is now the seat
of the Wetteravian Society of Natural History. The mar¬
ket-place in the new town is a large oblong parallelogram
with handsome fountains in the four corners, and the large
town-hall at one end. Hanau possesses four Calvinistic
churches, a Roman Catholic church, synagogue, hospital,
theatre, gymnasium, and several scientific and literary asso¬
ciations. This is the principal commercial and manufacturing
town in the electorate. Its industrious products comprise
silks, ribands, cottons, carpets, leather, gloves, stockings,
hats, tobacco, gold and silver wares, musical instruments,
carriages, &c. It has also a large trade in wine, timber, casks,
carriages, &c. Here, on 30th October 1813, Napoleon, in
his retreat from Leipzig, totally defeated a very superior
force composed of Bavarians and other allied troops, under
Marshal Wrede. Near Hanau are the electoral palace of
Philippsruhe and the watering-place of Wilhelmsbad. The
province of Hanau has an area of 535 square miles, and
contained 124,328 inhabitants in 1854.
HANCES, Hanches, Haunches, or Hanses, in Ar¬
chitecture, certain small intermediate parts of arches be¬
tween the crown and the spring at the bottom, being probably
about one-third of the arch, and placed nearer to the bottom
than the top, which are likewise denominated the spandrels.
HAND. See Anatomy, vol. iii., p. 33, &c.; also, Sir
Charles Bell’s treatise On the Hand.
Hand, a measure of four inches, or a handsbreadth ; used
in measuring the height of horses. The term is also used
to denote the fore-foot of a horse.
Imposition, or laying on of signifies the confer¬
ring of holy orders ; a ceremony in which the hands are laid
on the head of a person as a sign of a mission, or of a power
given him to exercise the functions of the ministry belong-
fng to the order. The apostles began to appoint mission¬
aries by the imposition of hands.
HANDEL, George Frederic, the most illustrious of
musical composers, was born at Halle, in Upper Saxony,
Feb. 24, 1684. His father was an eminent physician of the
same place, and upwards of sixty years old when this son,
the issue of a second marriage, was born. From his very
childhood Handel discovered a passion for music which
could not be subdued by the commands of his father, who
intended him for the profession of the law. Notwithstand¬
ing that he was forbidden to touch a musical instrument,
the boy found means to get a little clavichord conveyed
secretly into one of the attics of the house. To this room
he constantly repaired when the family had retired to rest,
and, by his assiduous labours at the midnight hour, made
considerable progress in his favourite pursuit.
It happened, when Handel was about seven years old,
that his father had occasion to pay a visit to a son by a for¬
mer wife, who was then serving as attendant to the Duke
of Saxe-Weissenfells. Handel implored that he might be
permitted to accompany him; and, on being refused, he
followed the carriage some way on the road, till he overtook
it. His father at first chid him for his disobedience ; but,
yielding to his solicitations, at last took him into the car¬
riage. During his stay at the ducal residence, he continued
to show the same irresistible inclination for music. He could
not be kept away from harpsichords, and he contrived to
gain admission into the organ gallery at church, and to play
when the service was over. Upon one of these occasions
the duke, who happened to leave the chapel later than usual,
was attracted by the uncommon style in which the instru¬
ment was touched. Inquiring who played, he heard to his
205
Hances
Handel.
206 HAN
Handel, astonishment that it was a boy of seven years of age. The
duke immediately desired to see young Handel, and was so
much pleased with his precocious genius, that he prevailed
upon his father to allow him to follow the bent of his in¬
clinations. He made the boy a present, and told him that
if he was attentive to his studies he should not want en¬
couragement.
On his return to Halle, Handel was placed by his father
under Zachau, organist of the cathedral church of that city ;
a man of considerable abilities, and proud of his pupil. By
the time he was nine years old, our young musician was not
only able to supply his master’s place at the organ, but be¬
gan to study composition. At this early period of his life,
he wrote a service, or spiritual cantata, every week, for
voices and instruments, and continued this labour for three
years successively. He also composed sonatas for the oboe,
which was his favourite instrument.
Handel appears to have studied in his native city till he
was about the age of fourteen. He then, as Zachau him¬
self acknowledged, far excelled his master; and it was re¬
commended to his father to send him to Berlin. Thither
he accordingly went in 1698. The opera at Berlin was
then in a very flourishing state, under the direction of Buo-
noncini and Attih'o. Handel distinguished himself in this
city as an astonishing musician for his years, and gave ear¬
nest of such great talents that the elector of Brandenburg
offered to take him into his service, and send him to Italy
to complete his studies. But his father declining this ho¬
nour, from a spirit of independence, Handel returned to
Halle. Not long after this, his father died, and Handel not
being able to go to Italy on account of the expense, removed
to Hamburg, in order, by his musical talents, to procure a
subsistence.
Mattheson, an able musician and voluminous writer on
music, who resided at Hamburg, tells us that Handel arrived
there in the summer of 1703. “ Here,” says Mattheson,
“ almost his first acquaintance was myself, as I met him at
the organ of St Mary Magdalen’s Church, July the 30th,
whence I conducted him to my father’s house, where he was
treated with all possible kindness as well as hospitality ; and
I afterwards not only attended him to organs, choirs, operas,
and concerts, but recommended him to several scholars.
At first he only played a ripieno violin in the opera orches¬
tra ; and being naturally inclined to indulge in a kind of
dry humour, pretended unusual ignorance, in a manner that
made the most serious people laugh, though he preserved
his own gravity. But his superior abilities were soon dis¬
covered ; for the harpsichord player of the opera having
been absent for a time, Handel was persuaded to take his
place, and on this occasion showed himself to be a great
master, to the astonishment of every one, except myself,
who had frequent opportunities of knowing his abilities on
keyed instruments.”
Mattheson and Handel became intimate acquaintances,
and did not allow any professional rivalship to interfere with
their friendship, until the occurrence of the following ad¬
venture. Mattheson had composed an opera called Cleo¬
patra, which was performed in Hamburg, and in which he
acted the part of Antony himself, and Handel played the
harpsichord. Mattheson was accustomed, upon the death
of Antony, which happened early in the piece, to preside
at the harpsichord in the character of composer ; but one
evening Handel refused to indulge his vanity by relinquish¬
ing this post to him. This occasioned so violent a quarrel
between them, that, on going out of the house. Mattheson
gave him a blow on the face ; upon which both immediately
drew their swords, and a duel ensued in the market-place,
before the opera-house. Luckily the sword of Mattheson
broke against a metal button on Handel’s coat, or, as some
allege, a score of music which he carried under it, which
put an end to the fight.
DEL.
^This rencontre happened upon the 5th of December Handel
1704 ; but, as a proof of a speedy reconciliation, Mattheson
mentions, that on the 30th of the same month, he accom¬
panied the young composer to the rehearsal of his first
opera of Almira, at the theatre, and performed the princi¬
pal part in it; and that afterwards they became greater
friends than ever. Whilst he remained at Hamburg,
Handel composed his opera of Nero, oder Die durch Blut
und Mord erlangte Liebe, which was very successful. He
also produced two operas entitled Florinda, and Dafne, and
wrote innumerable songs, cantatas, and pieces, for the
harpsichord. His style, Mattheson allows, was greatly im¬
proved by his constant attendance at the opera ; and he was
esteemed a more powerful player on the organ than the
famous Kuhnau of Leipzig, who was at this time regarded
as a prodigy.
Handel having now acquired, by his operas at Ham¬
burg, a sum sufficient to enable him to visit Italy, he set
out for that seat of the muses. He stayed some time at
Florence, where he composed his opera of Rodrigo. From
this city he went to Venice, where, in 1709, he produced
his Agrippina, which was received with acclamation, and had
a run of thirty nights. Here he met w ith Domenico Scar-
letti, Gasparini, and Lotti. He next visited Rome, where
he had an opportunity of hearing compositions and perform¬
ers of the first class. At Cardinal Ottoboni’s, by whom
Handel was greatly caressed, he had frequently the ad¬
vantage of hearing the celebrated Corelli perform his own
works. During his stay at Rome, our young composer
produced a serenata entitled II Trionfo del Tempo ; after
which he went to Naples, where he set Acis and Galatea
in Italian.
Handel returned to Germany about the beginning of the
year 1710, and was made Kapellmeister to the elector of
Hanover, afterwards George I. He does not appear, how¬
ever, to have remained long in the service of the elector,
but bent his course to London, where a passion for dramatic
music had already manifested itself in several awkward
attempts at operas, and to which place he had received in¬
vitations from several of the nobility he had seen in Italy
and Hanover. His reception in England was flattering to
himself and honourable to the nation, at this time no "less
successful in war than in the cultivation of the arts of peace.
To the wit, poetry, literature, and science, which marked
this period of our history, Handel added all the blandish¬
ments of a nervous and learned music, which he first brought
hither, planted, and lived to see grow to a very flourishing
state. The first opera he wrote in England was Rinaldo,
taken from Tasso’s Gierusalemme, which at once estab¬
lished his reputation. He afterwards produced his Pastor
Fido, Theseus, and, in 1715, Amadis da Gaula. In all
of these, Nicolini and Valentini, the first Italian singers
that appeared in England, performed. When the peace of
Utrecht was brought to a conclusion, Handel was employed
to compose the Hymn of Gratitude and Triumph on the
occasion. I he grand Te Deum and Jubilate he produced
was composed with such force, regularity, and instrumental
effect, as to excite universal delight.
On the arrival of George I. Handel was honoured with
the most flattering marks of royal favour from the kino-
and queen, who added largely to the pensions previously
conferred on him by Queen Anne.
We now come to the busiest and most glorious period of
Handel’s life. His great natural powers had been highly
improved by cultivation ; his genius for composition was un¬
bounded ; he stood at the head of his profession, esteemed
alike by the sovereign, the nobility, and the public, of a
gi eat and powerful nation, at a period of its greatest happi¬
ness and prosperity. Such were Handel’s circumstances,
when the Royal Academy, or an association for the estab¬
lishment of an Italian opera in England, was formed.
HAN
Handel. Handel was appointed director and composer, engaged
, i gino-ers, and, although he had to contend with several
rivals, at length, by the superior grandeur and invention of
his operatic music, distanced them all. About this period
of his career Handel unfortunately became involved in a
quarrel with the vocalist Senesino, the particulars of which
we pass over. The result was to break up the academy ;
and it not only proved injurious to the fortune of our com¬
poser, but was the cause of infinite trouble and vexation to
him during the rest of his life. From the institution of
the academy till its dissolution in 1729, Handel produced
about thirty operas. The greater part of these had im¬
mense success ; yet such was the influence of opposition
and neglect, that none of his operas composed subsequently
to 17-40, although actually his highest achievements in
operatic composition, w'ere received with the admiration due
to their merit.
Following the narrative of Burney in his sketch of
Handel’s life, we leave his dramatic transactions, and come
now to notice the sacred dramas or oratorios of this great
musician. The oratorio of Esther wras the first he com¬
posed ; and in 1733 Deborah was given to the public. It
was during these early performances of oratorios that Handel
first played his organ concertos, a species of music wfliolly
of his own invention, in which he usually introduced an
extempore fugue, a diapason-piece, or an adagio, displaying
not only great fertility and readiness of invention, but the
most perfect accuracy and nicety of execution. In 1735
he produced Acis and Galatea, and Alexander’s Feast;
in 1738, Israel in Egypt; and in 1739, EAllegro ed il
Penseroso. In 1740 the oratorio of Saul was performed
at the theatre in Lincoln-Inn Fields; and from this period
Handel almost entirely devoted his labours to the service
of the church. The profits arising from the performance
of his oratorios were not sufficient to indemnify his losses ;
and it remains a stigma upon the taste of the nation, that
the Messiah at first proved neither successful, nor remuner¬
ative to the composer. Chagrined with repeated disap¬
pointments, Handel went to Ireland, in order, as Burney
remarks, “ to try w hether his oratorios would be out of the
reach of prejudice and enmity in that kingdom.” In allusion
to this, Pope wrote his well-known lines, supposed to be
addressed by the poet personifying the Italian opera, to the
goddess of Dulness.
“Strong in new arms, lo, giant Handel stands,
Like bold Briareus, with his hundred hands;
To stir, to rouse, to shake the soul he comes,
And Jove’s own thunders follow Mars’ drums,
Arrest him, empress, or you sleep no more :—
She heard, and drove him to the Hibernian shore.”
After remaining about nine months in Ireland, where his
exertions were successful, Handel returned to London, and
produced Samson and the Messiah, w hich latter w'ork was
now received with universal applause. This truly sublime
oratorio was performed annually at the laudable and bene¬
volent instigation of the author, and under his direction, for
the benefit of the Foundling Hospital; and the produce of
these performances, from the year 1749 to the year 1777,
amounted to nearly L. 10,300. Although the Messiah was
performed almost always to crowded houses, the other ora¬
torios were but thinly attended. This was ow ing no less
to the capriciousness of public taste than to the extraordi¬
nary hostility of some of his powerful adversaries. The
king, however, continued his steady patron, and attended
his oratorios when they were neglected by the rest of the
court.
Towards the close of his life Handel was afflicted with
blindness, which, however, did not affect his faculties, as he
continued to play to the last with his wonted vigour. “ To
see him, however,” says Burney, “led to the organ after
this calamity, at upwards of seventy years of age, and then
HAN 207 .
conducted towards the audience to make his accustomed Handspike
obeisance, was a sight so truly afflicting and deplorable to II
persons of sensibility, as greatly diminished their pleasure ^ aD ey^
in hearing him perform.” It was remarked, that with many “ v_,u-
parts of his music he was unusually agitated, particularly
with that affecting air in Samson, “ Total eclipse—no
sun, no moon,” which so peculiarly applied to his own
situation. The last oratorio he attended and superintended
was upon the 6th of April, and he expired on Friday the
13th, or Good Friday 1759, the very day he had seriously
wished that event should happen, “ in hopes,” as he said,
“ of meeting his good God, his sweet Lord and Saviour, on
the day of his resurrection,” meaning the Easter Sunday
following.
The musical powers of Handel can perhaps be best ex¬
pressed by Arbuthnot’s reply to Pope, who seriously asked
his opinion of him as a composer. “ Conceive,” said he,
“ the highest you can of his abilities, and they are much
beyond anything you can conceive.” He excelled in almost
every style of composition. The church, the theatre, and
the chamber, were equally adorned by his talents. The
best of his Italian operas are superior in variety and inge¬
nuity to those of all preceding and contemporary composers
throughout Europe. In his full, masterly, and admirable
organ fugues, upon remarkably natural and pleasing sub¬
jects, he has surpassed the most renowned writers in this
difficult and elaborate species of composition; and every
judicious and unprejudiced musician, when he hears or
peruses the noble, majestic, and sublime oratorios and an¬
thems of Handel, must allow, with readiness and rapture,
that they are unacquainted with any thing equal to them
among the works of the greatest masters that have existed
since the invention of counterpoint. (Memoirs of the Life
of G. F. Handel, 1760. Consult Townsend’s Account of
the Visit of Handel to Dublin.) (a.h.)
HANDSPIKE, a wooden bar or lever used on board
ship in working the windlass.
HANG-CHAU-FOU, an important city of China, ca¬
pital of the province of Che-kiang, on a plain near the River
Tsientang, about 40 miles from its mouth, and 140 miles
S.E. of Nanking. It is surrounded by high and strong
walls, said to be 9 miles in circumference; and adjoining
it are very extensive suburbs. The Governor-General of
Che-kiang and Fu-kien resides in this city, and also the
governor of the province, which, with their courts and
troops, in addition to its great trade, render this one of the
most important and richest cities in the empire. A portion
of the space within the walls is divided oft" for the accom¬
modation of a garrison of 7000 troops. The Grand Canal
has its southern termination here in a large irregular basin.
The streets are well paved ; and the shops and warehouses
are large and well stored with goods. There are numer¬
ous rich temples and elegant public buildings ; and alto¬
gether this city presents the appearance of great wealth
and splendour. It is noted for its silk manufactures, which
employ a large portion of its inhabitants. The population
is said to be about one million.
HANGO HEAD, a promontory on the north coast of
the Gulf of Finland, at its mouth, in N. Lat. 59. 46. 20.;
E. Long. 22. 58. In 1714 the Swedes were defeated in a
naval engagement by the Russians off this point; and on
5th June 1855, an English boat’s crew, while landing Rus¬
sian prisoners under a flag of truce at the village of Hango,
were attacked by troops under cover, when ten or twelve
men w ere killed, and the others captured.
HANLEY, a town of England, county of Stafford, near
the centre of the pottery district, 16 miles N. of Stafford.
It is indebted for its rise and present importance to the
potteries, which afford employment to nearly its entire po¬
pulation. The parish church is a handsome building, with
a fine tower 100 feet in height. The township of Hanley
208
H A N
HAN
Hannibal, is, for local purposes, united with that of Shelton into one
v—-v-*-' market-town, which, in 1851, contained 25,369 inhabitants.
Hanley is included in the parliamentary boundaries of Stoke-
upon-Trent.
HANNIBAL, a Carthaginian general, son of Hamilcar
Barcas, was born 247 b.c., in the eighteenth year of the
first Punic War, the same year in which his father first took
a prominent part in public affairs. His family was one of
the most distinguished in Carthage, and, claiming to be de¬
scended from the ancient kings of Tyre, it ruled its native
city with almost regal power. The history of Hannibal
forms an epoch in the destinies of Rome. We can have
little difficulty in forming a true estimate of his character
when we know that, almost unaided by his countrymen, he
sustained for upwards of sixteen years a struggle for the
empire of the world with a nation which had hitherto been
victorious in every contest it had undertaken, and had at
its disposal the resources of the greater part of Italy. It
was the last struggle which the republic of Rome main¬
tained for existence ; and there was none which called forth
more conspicuously the energies of her mighty warriors, or
displayed more fully their unconquerable perseverance and
undaunted bearing in the most untoward circumstances.
If Hannibal had been properly supported by his country¬
men at home, the star of Rome would probably have set
for ever, and Carthage would then have stood forth as the
conqueror of the world, and the source of civilization. The
key to all Hannibal’s proceedings is to be found in his hatred
of the Romans, a feeling indelibly impressed upon his mind
by his father when he made him swear at the altar of his
country that he would pursue the Romans with unrelenting
hatred. a
The military education of Hannibal must have com¬
menced from boyhood, but of his early years we have no
detailed account. He was eighteen years of age on his fa¬
ther’s death (229 b.c.), and probably spent the greater part
of the next eight years in the camp of his brother-in-law
Hasdrubal, who had succeeded to the command of the troops
in Spain on the death of Hamilcar, and who pursued the
same line of policy as his predecessor, in trying to obtain
entire possession of the resources of Spain as a means of
attacking Rome. Private revenge cut off Hasdrubal in the
midst of his career (221 b.c.), and the soldiers by acclama¬
tion raised Hannibal to the vacant command. The ap¬
pointment vvas. ratified by the senate at home, and from this
moment Hannibal regarded Italy as his province, and war
with Rome as the only object worthy of his attention. The
conciliatory measures of Hasdrubal had succeeded in unit¬
ing the greater part of the nations of Spain to the domi¬
nions of Carthage ; and those who still maintained indepen¬
dence Hannibal determined to reduce at once by the energy
and activity of his proceedings. He led his troops into the
country of the Olcades, a people who seem to have been
situated in the mountainous district of Cuenca, near the
sources of the River Xucar; and having taken their chief
city, he entirely defeated them. He was equally successful
in his attack on the Vaccaei, a people inhabiting the country
round Salamanca; and having subdued all the nations south
of the River Ebro, except the Saguntines, he was prepared
, t0 complete his conquests by the reduction of their city.
I he attention of the Romans, which had latterly been
much occupied with the affairs of the north of Italy, was
now drawn tovvards Spain, and they became alarmed at the
proceedings of Hannibal. An embassy from Saguntum
roused them to active measures, and deputies were hurried
off to remonstrate with Hannibal for his interference, con-
trary to treaty, with an ally of the Roman people. Poly¬
bius enters into a discussion whether we ought to consider
this attack °n Saguntum as the real cause of the second
I umc War, and wisely, we think, decides that it was merely
the pretext. \\ e must go farther back, and search more
deeply, to discover the real motives which induced the Car¬
thaginians to support Hannibal in his attack on Rome. It
was the unfair advantage that had been taken to wrest from
them Sardinia, that had made an indelible impression on
the minds of the Carthaginians; and the Barcine faction,
which was now headed by Hannibal, used all its influence
to keep alive the national feeling of hatred to Rome.
There was indeed a party for peace, headed by Hanno, but
their feeble voice was drowned amidst the din of warlike
preparations. Hannibal was already busily engaged in the
siege of Saguntum, a city situated on the east of Spain,
about one mile from the sea, and the ruins of which are
still to be seen near Murviedro {JMuri Veteres), when the
Roman deputies made their appearance, and demanded an
audience. This was refused by Hannibal, under pretence
that he could not guarantee their personal safety in the
midst of so many barbarous nations; and the deputies found
themselves obliged to continue their journey to Carthage.
Here they were not more successful, and immediately re¬
turned to Rome to hasten the preparations for war. Mean¬
while Hannibal continued the siege of Saguntum, which
was defended with all the obstinacy for which the Spaniards
have ct er been distinguished; but it was at last taken, after
a brave resistance of eight months, and delivered over to all
the horrors of pillage. Thus the way was cleared for an attack
on Italy; and though the Romans had evidently never
imagined it possible that such a daring measure would for
a moment be entertained, it is quite clear that Hannibal,
from the first day of his command, had resolved to put it
into execution without delay. The Romans intended that
Spain should be the scene of action; but Hannibal boldly
determined to attack them in the very centre of their power,
on the plains of Italy.
Hannibal spent the winter of 219 b.c. in preparations for
his gigantic undertaking, and omitted nothing which he
thought likely to forward his object. He allowed many of
his soldiers to visit their homes, as it might be their last op¬
portunity ; he drew up instructions for the use of his bro¬
ther Hasdrubal, who he intended should govern Spain in
his absence; and prudently secured the maintenance of
peace in both Africa and Spain, by an exchange of the
troops of the two countries. Neither did he neglect to
make himself acquainted with the feelings of the people
through whose territory he must pass in his way to Italy,
and sent secretly to Cisalpine Gaul to secure the co-opera¬
tion of the disaffected tribes as soon as he should make his
appearance amongst them. He discovered also that the
passage across the Alps was practicable, though it might be
attended with great difficulty.
Having thus made his preparations, Hannibal began his
march from Carthago Nova, now Carthagena, in the be¬
ginning of spring 218 B.c., with an army of 90,000 foot and
12,000 horse. As the River Ebro had been made by treaty
the boundary between the Roman and Carthaginian'portion
of Spain, he found all the tribes at the foot of the Pyrenees
ready to dispute his passage, and he did not reduce them
without a considerable diminution of his forces. He found,
besides, many of his Spanish soldiers frightened at the
dangers which lay before them, and, making a virtue of ne¬
cessity, he sent a considerable portion of them back. The
troops that passed the Pyrenees were thus reduced to 50,000
foot and 9000 horse; but they were mostly men whose
bodies were inured to hardships by a long course of war.
Hannibal had reached the banks of the Rhone before the
Romans were aware that he had moved from Carthagena;
and Publius Scipio, who had been dispatched with sixty°ships
towards Spain, was much surprised to find, on reaching the
mouths of the Rhone, that Hannibal was in that neighbour¬
hood. He landed his troops, and prepared to attack Hannihal;
but the energy of that general had anticipated his intention,
and the first slopes of the Alps were already ascended be-
Hannibal,
HANNIBAL.
Hannibal, fore Scipio moved from his position. The road which Han-
nibal pursued across the Alps is a much disputed point, but
this is not the place to enter at any length into such a sub¬
ject. We feel more confidence in the statements of Poly¬
bius—who tells us (iii. 48) that he had examined the passages
of the Alps with great care—than in those of Livy, who,
though admirable for the beauty of his style, has no preten¬
sions to geographical accuracy. Yet, even from Polybius,
all that we can gather with certainty is, that Hannibal passed
the Alps to the north of the River Isara (Isere), and descended
into the Insubrian territory in Italy. It was therefore across
the Alpes Graiae (Little St Bernard) that he passed, and not
the Alpes Cottiae (Mount Genevre), as Livy, and Strabo
(iv. 209) evidently think. But be this as it may, Hannibal
succeeded in crossing the Alps in fifteen days, though not
without great difficulty, and the loss of many of his troops.
He found, on examination, that he had not more than
20,000 infantry and 6000 cavalry. The whole journey
from Carthago Nova had occupied five months.
Scipio had no sooner convinced himself that Hannibal
was serious in his intention of crossing into Italy than he
hurried back with part of his troops, and, to the astonish¬
ment of Hannibal, was ready on the banks of the Po to op¬
pose his progress. It was necessary for Hannibal that a
conflict should immediately take place, to confirm the wa¬
vering minds of the Gauls; and the battle fought on the
banks of the River Ticinus, in which he defeated Scipio, and
compelled him to retire beyond the Po, was the signal for a
general rising. Hannibal pursued Scipio across the river,
and found that he had taken up his position on the banks of
the River Trebia, near to Placentia (Piacenza). Scipio now
saw that his true policy was to weary out Hannibal, and to
give him no opportunity of attacking ; but the Roman gene¬
ral was wounded, and could take no active part in the pro¬
ceedings. His colleague, Tiberius Sempronius, elated by
some partial success, ventured beyond the intrenchments,
and the result was the speedy and complete defeat of the
Romans. Placentia soon afterwards fell into his hands;
and thus, within a couple of months, the whole of the north
of Italy was at his disposal. The Romans heard this intel¬
ligence with great dismay, but took active measures to main¬
tain the contest. The two consuls now took a position
where they could watch the proceedings of Hannibal, who
would naturally advance to the south as soon as the rigour of
the winter months had abated. Accordingly, in the be¬
ginning of spring, 217 B.c., Hannibal crossed the Apennines
into Etruria, by a road, the position of which has been as
much disputed as that by which he passed the Alps. We
are satisfied with Vaudoncourt, who has minutely examined
this point, that he crossed the Apennines by the road which
leads from Parma to Pontremoli and Sarzana; and that the
marshes, where Hannibal had nearly lost his life, are those
now called Paludi di Fuccechio, a little above the place
where the Arno falls into the sea.
Hannibal found the consul Flaminius posted at Arretium,
a city situated on the slopes of the Apennines, and ready
to dispute his advance. He laid waste the country on every
side, and drew Flaminius into an ambuscade which he had
laid for him on the banks of the Thrasymene Lake, where
the consul fell, and his whole army was defeated. The road
to Rome was now open to him; and it has often been mat¬
ter of surprise that he did not march directly upon the city,
and by one bold stroke put an end to the war. We have
no means of knowing the reasons which deterred him from
this obvious proceeding; but he turned to the east, at the
city of Spoletium (Spoleto), and proceeding through Umbria
and Picenum, where he seems to have met with no resist¬
ance, he entered the rich province of Apulia, where he
wintered. The following year, 216 b.c., he found himself
opposed by the cautious policy of Fabius; and though
Hannibal used every means to provoke the Roman general
VOL. XI.
209
to action, his temper and prudence were proof against every Hannibal,
attack. Towards the end of the year, however, Hannibal v—-
again asserted his superiority; and the battle of Cannae,
fought at a small village of Apulia, on the banks of the
Aufidus, on the 2d of August, was as celebrated a defeat as
the Romans had ever sustained. Fortune now again seemed
to point the way to Rome; and it seems impossible not to feel
convinced that Hannibal committed an unpardonable blun¬
der in not attacking the city itself. He wintered at Capua,
and the enervating luxury of that district is said to have en¬
tirely changed the character of his soldiers. The progress of
Hannibal was by no means so rapid as might have been
anticipated from his victories. Many of the cities of
Campania made a successful resistance; and the obstinacy
with which they maintained their alliance with the Romans
proves that the sway of that people must have been by no
means burdensome. It appears to us that the failure of
Hannibal was chiefly owing to the small number of his
troops, which did not enable him to garrison the cities
which he took, or to station bodies of men in various parts
of the country to repress insurrectionary movements. Nor
do the Carthaginians seem to have entered into the contest
with that spirit which the greatness of the prize might have
fully justified. Had the number of his men enabled him
to follow up his victories by active measures, there can be
no doubt that Rome must have fallen into his hands.
The next year produced no action of any importance on
either side, though Hannibal gradually lost ground. He
pressed earnestly for reinforcements; and his brother Has-
drubal crossed the Alps with a considerable body of troops,
207 B.c., which might again have changed the aspect of
affairs. Fortune, however, had deserted him ; for Hasdru-
bal fell in an engagement on the banks of the River Metau-
rus, and his army was entirely defeated. Hannibal was now
left to his own resources, and he was obliged to confine
himself to defensive measures. Meanwhile Scipio had com¬
menced his career of conquest in Spain, and had subdued
the whole country as far as Gades. He crossed into Africa,
and, assisted by Masinissa, attacked the Carthaginians in
their own territory. Hannibal was thus obliged to return
to the defence of his country, 203 B.c., after he had main¬
tained his footing in Italy for sixteen years. The battle of
Zama, fought in Africa, 202 b.c., in which Hannibal was
completely defeated, left nothing for the Carthaginians but
humble submission to the conqueror. Peace was granted,
though on hard conditions ; and Hannibal now took an ac¬
tive part in the domestic arrangements of his country. He
attempted to reform the numberless abuses which had crept
into the constitution ; but he at the same time excited the
enmity of the great body of the aristocracy, who were ready
to seize the first opportunity of banishing him. They ac¬
cused him to the Romans of keeping up an active commu¬
nication with Antiochus, king of Syria, then supposed to be
preparing war against them ; and when the Romans sent
three commissioners to take cognizance of the affair, Han¬
nibal did not choose to await the result, but fled towards the
east, and reached Tyre in safety. Here he stayed a few
days, and was received with much honour ; whilst at Car¬
thage his property was confiscated, and his house razed
to the ground. He then proceeded to Ephesus, where he
was kindly welcomed by the king, and consulted as to the
best mode of attacking the Romans. With Antiochus he
remained several years, though his advice was by no means
always listened to. At last, when Antiochus was defeated,
190 b.c., the king was unable any longer to protect him
from the vengeance of his enemies. He therefore fled first
to Crete, and afterwards to Prusias, king of Bithynia, where
he resided several years, and assisted him in his war against
Eumenes, king of Pergamus, the ally of the Romans. Here,
too, the vengeance of his enemies reached him. Ambas¬
sadors from Rome demanded that he should be given up ;
2 D
210 HAN
Hanno. and as Prusias was ungenerous enough to accede to the
^ r- v -a J demand, Hannibal resolved to free himself from all further
persecution, and swallowed poison, which he always carried
with him. In what year he died is a point in which the
ancients do not agree. According to Atticus (apud Nep.
Hannib., c. 13), and Valerias Antias (apud Liv. xxxix. 56),
and Cassiodorus, it was 183 B.C., the same year in which
Philopcemen and the elder Scipio died. Polybius, however,
makes it 182, and Sulpicius 181 b.c. Thus died the most
celebrated of the Carthaginians, the only man who could
have saved his country from ruin, and restored it to its
ancient glory.
HANNO, a Carthaginian, celebrated for a voyage of
discovery along the western coast of Africa; but at what
period it was made is not known with any degree of cer¬
tainty. The different writers who have examined the point
have fixed him at various periods between 1000 and 300
B.c.; but we are inclined to agree with Rennel, who thinks
he must have lived about 570 b.c. The principal object
of this expedition is set forth in the journal, which begins
with these words:—“It w^as decreed by the Carthaginians
that Hanno should undertake a voyage beyond the Pillars
of Hercules, and found Libyphcenician cities. He accord¬
ingly sailed with sixty ships, of fifty oars each, and a body
of men and women to the number of 30,000, and provisions
and other necessaries.” It is much to be regretted that this
curious remnant of antiquity should have been exceedingly
brief, and that it should not have come down to us in its
original form, for it is evidently a mere abstract of a larger
work. Some, indeed, have endeavoured to strip it of all
pretensions to credit, and to rank it with the Arabian tales ;
but though some of the stories may have the appearance of
fable, such as Jieri/ torrents and women covered ivith hair,
the facts, which are susceptible of verification, either by the
test of geography or a comparison with the descriptions of
travellers, are of too consistent a nature to allow us to doubt
that the voyage was really undertaken. It would appear
that the first city was founded at no great distance from the
Strait of Gibraltar, the rest to the north of Cape Bojador.
This voyage extended a little to the south of Sierra Leone ;
but we must refer the reader to the writers who have exa¬
mined the subject for a detailed account of his geographical
statements. The title of the Periplus is, An Account of the
Voyage of Hanno, Commander of the Carthaginians, round
the parts of Libya beyond the Pillars of Hercules, which
he deposited in the Temple of Saturn. It has been pub¬
lished by Hudson (Geogr. Min., vol. i.), and Falconer (Ox¬
ford, 1797), with an English translation and explanations;
also by Rluge, Hannonis Navigatio, textum critice recogn.
et adnotat. illustravit, Leip. 1829. The following authors
have also published commentaries on the voyage, viz.,
Bochart, Campomanes, Dodwell, Bougainville, Gosselin,
Heeren, and Rennell.
Hanno, a senator of Carthage, who headed the party op¬
posed to the warlike policy of the Barcine faction. He
was first appointed to the command of the troops in the in¬
terior of Africa, and was successful in reducing Flecatom-
pylos, with the adjoining country. When the mercenary
troops which had been employed in the first Punic War
became clamorous for their arrears of pay, and at last ven¬
tured to make open war on Carthage, Hanno was appointed
to the command of the forces to be employed against them.
His talents, however, seem to have been by no means fitted
for the field, and affairs assumed such a threatening aspect
under his mismanagement, that the Carthaginians began to
be alarmed for the very existence of their state. They
therefore appointed as his colleague Hamilcar Barcas ; but
the enmity which existed between the generals completely
neutralized the good that might have been derived from
their abilities. At last, however, the dangerous position
of affairs compelled them to forget their differences, and to
HAN
unite cordially in resisting their common enemy. (Polyb. Hanover
i. 73-88.)
He continued during his whole life to be the advocate of
peace, in opposition to the ambitious policy of Hannibal;
and when that general sent his brother Mago, after the battle
of Cannae, to obtain reinforcements, Hanno exerted all his
influence to prevent this request being granted, and even
proposed that Hannibal should be given up to the Romans.
(Liv. xxi., 3, 9 ; xxiii., 13.)
HANOVER, a kingdom in Germany, formed out of the
duchies which formerly belonged to several families of the
junior branch of the house of Brunswick. In the course of
the revolutionary war, under the influence of France, the
dukedoms of Bavaria, of Saxony, and of Wirtemburg had
been raised to the rank of kingdoms ; and when the over¬
throw of Bonaparte was accomplished, the dukedoms which
had composed the electorate of Hanover were thought by
the allied powers of sufficient consequence to be elevated
to the same dignity, as, with the additions then made to
them, they were nearly equal in extent and population to
the other portions of Germany whose rulers had received
that rank. It accordingly assumed that grade in 1814,
under George HI., and was acknowledged as such by all
the powers of Europe.
The obscurity in which antiquity has involved the early
history of nations can only be in a slight degree cleared up
by tracing the origin of the families that maintained the
continued rule over them. The ruling family of Hanover
has been traced, by the combined efforts and researches of
Muratori and Leibnitz, to an Italian origin, in the dark ages,
that is, to the princely house of Este ; and by Gibbon, from
that house up to the descendants of Charlemagne. A
Marquis of Este, in the eleventh century, married Cuniza
or Cunegonda, an heiress of a princely family in Bavaria,
whose son received the name of Guelph, derived from his
maternal ancestors, and inherited their dominions, including
the dukedom of Bavaria. The grandson of this Guelph,
named Flenry the Black, and his son named Flenry the
Proud, acquired by marriage new and extensive dominions
on the banks of the Elbe and the Weser; and Henry the
Lion, the most powerful prince of his age, was the first of the
race who assumed the title of Duke of Brunswick. Under
this Henry, who distinguished himself as a great warrior, an
uncle wrested from him the southern portion of his terri¬
tory in Bavaria and Suabia, and left him, at the conclusion
of most bitter hostility, in the possession of the northern
portion of it. He made the city of Brunswick the capital
of his dominions, and, being in possession of the rich silver
mines of the Hartz, was enabled to extend his power over
the tribes of Northern Germany, inhabiting Holstein, Meck¬
lenburg, and nearly the whole coast of the Baltic Sea.
Henry the Lion was twice married. By his first wife he
left no family; and, although by his second wife, who was
Maud, the daughter of Henry II. of England, he had several
sons, none of them left any issue except William, and under
Otho, the only son of William, took place the partition of the
house—Brunswick and Luneburg being divided into two
dukedoms. The latter branch received the Hanoverian por¬
tion as a fief from William Sigefred, bishop of Hildesheim.
After the death of Otho, and of his two sons Otho and
William, who successively followed, the male line became
extinct in 1369. Otho, elector of Saxony, who had mar¬
ried a daughter of William, was, by the influence of the
emperor of Germany, Charles IV., invested with the govern¬
ment. He died without issue, having by his testament
bequeathed the dukedom to his uncle Wenceslaus, elector
of Saxony—a bequest which was contested by Torquatus
Magnus, duke of Saxony, but at length was terminated in
a compromise, by which Bernard, the eldest son of Tor¬
quatus, obtained the dominion, and reigned until 1434.
After several successions, the power became vested in
HANOVER.
211
Hanover. Ernest of Zell, who first introduced the Lutheran religion into
V '] his states, and died in the year 1546. The succession since
has been,—William, who died in 1592; Ernest, in 1611 ;
Christian, in 1633; August, in 1636; Friedrich, in 1648;
Ernest Augustus, bishop of Osnaburg, who was made an
elector of the German empire in 1692, and died in 1698;
George Louis, who, after the death of his uncle George
William, inherited the dukedom of Zell in 1705, and suc¬
ceeded to the crown of Great Britain by the title of George
I. in 1714. He died in 1727, since which period the suc¬
cession continued the same as in that kingdom, until the
death of William IV. in the year 1837, when, by the
salique law, the crown descended to the Duke of Cum¬
berland.
The accession of the electors of Hanover to the throne
of Great Britain, though it led ultimately to a great exten¬
sion of territory, did, on the other hand, subject the elector¬
ate to sufferings and oppression during the wars between
Great Britain and France. At the commencement of the
Seven Years’ War, a French army invaded it; and the
forces under the Duke of Cumberland, being unequal to its
defence, were compelled, by the convention of Kloster-
Severn, to abandon the country to the invaders. By the
peace of 1763 it was again restored to its ancient sovereign.
At the renewal of hostilities after the treaty of Amiens,
Hanover was once more seized upon by the French, and
by them delivered over to the king of Prussia, who ruled it
till after his defeat at Jena. It was then incorporated as part
of the kingdom of Westphalia, erected in favour of Jerome
Bonaparte. This rule was terminated by the battle of
Leipsic, by which Hanover, with the rest of Germany, was
delivered from French domination, and returned to its an¬
cient sovereigns, with the addition of the provinces of Hil-
desheim, Osnaburg, East Friesland, Goslar, and some other
territories. On the other hand, Hanover gave up the an¬
cient duchy of Lauenburg, which was transferred to Den¬
mark, and some portions or bailiwicks,—a part to Prussia,
and a part to the Duke of Oldenburg.
The kingdom of Hanover lies between N. Lat. 51. 18. and
53. 52., and E. Long. 6. 43. and 11. 45.; and is bounded
on the N. by the German Ocean, N.E. by the Elbe, which
separates it from Denmark, Hamburg, and Mecklenburg,
E. and S.E. by Prussia and Brunswick, S.W. by Hesse-
Cassel and Prussia, and W. by Holland. The boundaries
include the duchy of Oldenburg, which almost completely
separates Hanover into two large portions, the connection
being maintained by a narrow stripe of land, not more than
6 miles in width, S. of the duchy. A small portion in the
S. is separated from Hanover proper by the interjection of
part of Brunswick. The entire area amounts to about
9,464,446 acres, or 14,788 square miles, as follows :—
Provinces.
Hanover ...
Hildesheim
Liineburg...
Stade  
Osnabruck
Aurich 
Clausthal...
Extent in
English Acres.
1,483,698
1,102,089
2,769,562
1,674,368
1,540,649
737,968
156,112
9,464,446
Population in
Dec. 1852.
349,958
367,883
338,764
279,834
251,965
185,129
35,720
1,819,253
Number of
Dwelling-houses.
48,445
52,042
43,835
44,031
41,027
30,024
3,392
262,796
The chief cities are Hanover, Hildesheim, Liineburg,
Emden, Osnabruck, Gottingen, Zell, Clausthal, and Goslar.
The province of Hildesheim is somewhat mountainous,
and that of Clausthal, containing the Harz, is wholly so,
as well as some parts near Gottingen. The other provinces
form a part of that extensive plain which commences on the
shores of the German Ocean, and terminates on the fron¬
tiers of Russia. The whole plain is a sandy soil, resting on
a bed of granite, and is generally sterile, except on the Hanover,
banks of the various rivers that water it, or near the cities,
where cultivation has been improved by artificial means. The
most fruitful part of the kingdom is on the banks of the
Elbe and near the German Ocean, where, as in Holland,
rich meadows are preserved from being immersed in water,
by broad dykes and deep ditches, constructed and kept in
repair at great expense.
The most remarkable mountains are those of the Harz
Forest, three-fifths of which are in this kingdom, and two-
fifths in the duchy of Brunswick. These mountains are not
a part of any chain, but rise from a plain in an isolated group,
the highest points of which are nearly in the centre. (See
Harz Mountains.) They are covered with extensive forests.
On their lower sides the trees are of the deciduous
kinds, but the summits are exclusively covered with pines.
These mountains abound with minerals of almost every
kind, and the principal employment of the inhabitants con¬
sists either in mining, or in manufacturing the iron and
copper into domestic utensils. Some of the mining and
manufacturing towns, as Clausthal, Andreasberg, Celler-
feld, and several others, are from 1700 to 1900 feet above
the level of the sea ; and their population would suffer most
severely from the cold of the severe winters, but for the
abundance both of wood and fossil coal with which they
are supplied.
The whole of the kingdom of Hanover dips towards the
north, and the courses of all the rivers are in that direction.
These are, first, the Elbe, which borders a large part of the
dominion, and receives into it the Ohre, which x-ises in the
province of Liineburg; the Aland and the Jeetze, which
come out of Prussia, and are navigable before they terminate
in the Elbe; the Ilmenau, which becomes navigable at Liine-
burg; the Este, which is navigable to Buxtehude; the Liihe,
navigable to Hornburg; the Schwinge,by which vessels reach
Stade ; the Oste, which passes Harburg, and is navigable
to Kirchosters;. and the Medem, which runs through the
Hadeln-land, and admits large vessels as high as Otterndorf.
Second, the Weser, which enters the dominions of Hano¬
ver at Miinden, being there formed by the junction of the
Fulda and the Vv erra. It is navigable for barges from the
spot at which its name commences ; and it receives, in its
course, the Hamel, the Aller, the Oertze, the Leine, the
Bohme, the Eyther, the Wiimme, which in the lower part
of its course takes the name of Lesum, the Geeste, and the
Hunte; all of which are Hanoverian rivers, and continue
their united courses till they are lost in the German Ocean
near Bremen. Third, the Ems, a river rising in the Prus¬
sian province of Westphalia. After entering Hanover, it
receives the waters of the Aa, the Hase, the Else, and the
Leda. Before reaching the sea, it falls into the Dollart
near Emden, which is the principal seaport in the kingdom.
It is navigable for flat-bottomed vessels from Rheina down¬
wards, and for sea-going ships from Plalte and Weener.
About 1,200,000 thalers (L.180,000 sterling) have been
expended in improving the navigation, and it has become
in consequence a very important channel for the inland
trade of the country. Fourth, the Vecht, a river of short
course, rising in the Prussian province of Westphalia, and
terminating in the Zuyder Zee. Its principal importance
is derived from a navigable canal, which commences at the
city of Munster, and is the channel of some trade through
the Vecht to Amsterdam.
Though Hanover is generally a sandy soil, it has some
small fresh-water lakes. The Dummersee, in Diepholtz,
is about 12 miles in circuit. The Steinhudermeer, in
the province of Kalenburg, is about 4 miles long and
2 broad ; and the Dollart, at the mouth of the Ems, which
is rather an estuary than a lake, is 12 miles across.
The canals are all of short course. The Aurich Canal,
between Aurich and Emden, is 15 miles long ; the Bremen
212 HANOVER.
Hanover. Canal, between the Oste and the Schwinge, serves both
for draining and for transport; the Papenburg Canal, be¬
tween Papenburg and the Ems, is unimportant.
The climate varies considerably with the nature of the
country. In the low-lying districts near the coast it is
moist and foggy, but the winters are not so severe as in the
interior. Hurricanes are not unfrequent on the sea-coast
during winter. In spring the prevailing winds are the
N.E. and E., in summer the S.W. The mean annual
temperature of the kingdom is about 46° Fahr.; at Liine-
burg it is 48°; at Gottingen, 46° ; but in the Harz dis¬
trict, only 43°. The average annual fall of rain is about
23’5 inches, but it varies greatly in different parts of the
kingdom.
Though agriculture constitutes the most important branch
of industry in the kingdom, it is still in a very backward
state. The greater part of the soil is indeed of very infe¬
rior quality ; but much that is susceptible of cultivation is
still lying waste. The farms are generally very small,
nearly one-half of them being under seven acres; while
about three-fifths of the land is in the hands of small pro¬
prietors, comparatively few of whom possess the capital ne¬
cessary for adequate cultivation. The best cultivated lands
are those belonging to the crown, or nobility; and here
considerable advances have recently been made. The best
agriculture is to be found in the districts of Hildesheim,
Kalenberg, Gottingen, Grabenhagen, on the banks of the
Weser and Elbe, and in East Friesland and Bremen. In
the hill country the three-field system prevails; but the
low marsh lands have a system peculiar to themselves.
The usual rotation is, first a fallow, on which the land is
cultivated for potatoes, peas, or flax ; then follows winter
corn, either rye or wheat, but generally the former; and
to these succeeds summer corn, either barley or oats. Of
the entire area of the country about 28'98 per cent, is ara¬
ble, P76 in gardens and orchards, 16,92 in meadow or
pasture land, 13-88 in forests, 34'75 in heath, moor, &c.,
and 3-71 in roads, rivers, buildings, &c. Barley and oats
are largely cultivated and exported in considerable quan¬
tities to England. Wheat is grown on the richer soils,
but the quantity raised is not equal to the demand. Po¬
tatoes are universally cultivated, and constitute the chief
food of the poorer classes. Rye is generally grown for
bread. Flax, for which much of the soil is admirably
adapted, is extensively cultivated, and forms an important
article of export, chiefly, however, in the form of yarn.
Hemp, tobacco, turnips, and hops are also among its pro¬
ducts.
The rearing of cattle is extensively carried on. The
number of horned cattle in Hanover is estimated at about
950,000, of horses at 300,000, and of sheep at 1,650,000.
East Friesland is especially noted for its breeds of cattle
and horses. Bees are reared very extensively in the heaths
of Liineburg. Large flocks of geese are kept in the moist
situations; their flesh is salted for winter domestic con¬
sumption, and their feathers are preserved for sale.
Manufacturing industry prevails less in Hanover than in
the other states of Germany. Linen yarn and cloth are the
principal branches. Woollen cloths are made to a consi¬
derable extent in the southern part of the kingdom, and this
branch of trade has lately been increasing. In the west,
stockings and gloves are made. Cotton-spinning has also
increased, but is still insignificant; and the same may be
said of silk. Potteries, tile works, and tobacco-pipe works
are numerous. There are nine glass-houses, and fifty-two
paper-mills which produce yearly about 20,000 balls of paper.
Wax is bleached to a considerable amount, and there are nu¬
merous tobacco factories, tanneries, breweries, vinegar works,
and brandy distilleries, the produce of which last has of late
very much increased. East Friesland produces gin. The
most thriving branch of industry, however, is that of metal
wares. The whole population of the Harz lives by the Hanover,
mining and forging of metals, excavating coal, and manu- ^
facturing wooden articles. Foundries and forges, and
works of iron, copper, brass, wire, silver and lead, vitriol and
sulphur, are in the utmost activity. These mines and asso¬
ciated works support about 35,000 persons. About 20,000
workmen were very recently employed in the Harz, and the
yearly value of the produce was 5,000,000 thalers (L.750,000
sterling).
The latest returns give the following quantities for one
year, for Hanover and Brunswick together :—Gold, 82 oz.;
silver, 375,833 oz. ; iron, 377,812 cwt.; copper, 540;
vitriol, 5400; quicksilver, 540; coal, 2,160,000; salt,
842,000.
As may be supposed from the small quantity of surplus
production, the trade of Hanover is not extensive. The
principal port, Emden, has some export and import trade ;
but from the state of the roads between that place and the
more populous parts of the kingdom, more of its trade
passes through Flamburg and Bremen than through that
city. Besides the more considerable articles made from
flax, its honey, wax, feathers, and large quantities of timber,
are sent to Hamburg and Bremen. Wool, horses, and
cattle, wheat and other grain, butter and cheese, tobacco,
and mineral productions, are among the chief exports.
Hops, rape-seed, oil-cake, fruit, hams, and sausages, form
also articles of export of small amount. The imports con¬
sist pincipally of English manufactures, colonial produce,
fruits, wines, jewellery, and silks. As the roads to the
great fairs of Leipsic and Frankfort pass through Han¬
over, the transit of goods for these used to create a pretty
large commission trade, and give employment to many
waggons, horses, and men, as well as to the barge owners.
These, however, are now in some degree superseded by
railways, the city of Hanover having become a central
station, from which these diverge in different directions to
Hamburg, Brunswick, Hildesheim, Bremen, and Minden.
Hanover has joined the Zollverein or General Customs
Union from 1st January 1854.
Hanover is a hereditary monarchy in the house of Guelph,
with a salique law, which prevents the throne being filled by
a female. In case the present branch becomes extinct, the
heir of the duchy of Brunswick will succeed. In the seve¬
ral provinces that formerly composed the electorate, the pro¬
vincial states were vested with functions much the same
as those of the old States-General of France, and the central
government communicated with these states separately.
In 1814, when the territory was augmented, the same
arrangement was extended to the newly acquired province.
Various efforts were subsequently made to form a general
constitutional government for the whole territory of the
kingdom, resulting in what has been called the Constitu¬
tion of 1819. Under this constitution the provincial states
continued to subsist in their original forms, superintending
the affairs of their several provinces; but there was super-
added a States-General, divided into chambers—the first
consisting of three princes, three counts, two Catholic bishops,
three Protestant abbots, thirty-five deputies of the Hitter-
schaft, or higher landed gentry, the presidents of the board
of taxes, and others; the second, of the deputies of the
towns, universities, smaller landed proprietors, &c. This
continued, with some alterations, till 1833, when it was
superseded by a reformed constitution granted by King
William I. At his decease, however, in 1837, this consti¬
tution was repudiated by his successor, King Ernest, who
called an assembly of the States, as under the constitution
of 1819. Under the pressure of the great movement of
1848, the Ritterschaft resigned their most important privi¬
leges, and were replaced in the upper chamber by the great
funded proprietors ; but under the subsequent re-action, the
concessions then made by the crown have been partly re-
HAN
Hanover, called, and the constitutional question remains still unde-
.. j termined. In 1851, the Federal Diet invited all the Ger¬
man governments to modify such of their fundamental laws
as might seem calculated to foster revolutionary notions;
and the government of Hanover has shown itself quite
ready to follow out the spirit of the invitation. The Ritter-
schaft, have been constantly endeavouring to recover their
privileges, and have made applications for this purpose to
the Federal Diet, which, in March 1855, resolved that, as
the constitutional arrangements in the kingdom of Hanover
were in many respects contrary to the fundamental federal
laws, the Hanoverian government should be invited to bring
its institutions into harmony with the federal system ; and
in case of obstacles arising to the required modifications,
the Diet reserved to itself the power of interfering ac¬
cording to law. On 16th May 1855, the king issued an
ordonnance in conformity with this resolution, making several
modifications of the constitution, but reserving the power of
carrying the order of the Diet more fully into effect. In
December 1855 he abolished the right of trial by jury for
political offences.
The sovereigns of Hanover were, like most others in
Germany, the largest landed proprietors in their dominions.
Their lands, however, royalties, and other branches of crown
revenue, have been given up by the crown, and now form
a branch of the general revenue of the kingdom. The
budget for the year 1855-6 stood thus :—
.Receipts—Prom the Royal domains L.247,592
... ... Imposts  767,280
... ... Forest and mines of the Upper
Harz   7,239
... ... ... Lower Harz   6,598
... ... Coal-mines  6,515
... ... Salt-works  2,900
... ... Limestone of Liinehurg  2,895
... Tolls  48,299
... ... Posts  25,557
... ... Railways  133,208
... ... Tolls and pontage of the Board
of Roads  30,116
... ... Lotteries  7,963
... ... Interest of active capital  17,401
... ... Other miscellaneous receipts  5,374
Total receipts L.1,308,937
Total estimated expenditure  1,247,046
Surplus   L.61,891
Public debt at 16th January 1855 L.2,324,331
Railway debt  3,616,813
Total debt   L.5,941,144
Interest on debt...L.148,817, 13s. 2d.
The military establishment, consisting of the usual pro¬
portions of infantry, cavalry, artillery, and engineers, amount¬
ed altogether to 24,107 men.
The prevailing faith is Lutheran ; the Lutherans in 1852
numbering 1,494,033 adherents. The Calvinists amounted
to 95,220, chiefly in the provinces of Aurich and Osna-
briick. The Roman Catholics are chiefly confined to the
provinces of Osnabriick and Hildesheim, and amounted
to 217,367. The Jews numbered 11,562, and other sects
1071. Education receives a considerable amount of atten¬
tion, and is placed under a special board of direction.
First among its educational institutions is the university of
Gottingen, which is usually attended by about 700 students.
(See Gottingen.) The other institutions are similar to those
in the continental countries where education is best con¬
ducted, including primary and secondary schools, gymnasia,
industrial, normal, and grammar schools. The scholars at¬
tending the various schools amount to about 220,000.
There are also several medical, midwifery, and veterinary
HAN 213
schools, and a school of mines and forestry at Clausthal. Hanseatic
The charitable institutions are numerous. League.
Hanover, the capital of the kingdom of the same name,
is built on an extensive sandy plain on the Leine, which
here receives the Ihme, and is from this point navigable to
the Weser. The river flows through the town, dividing
it into two parts, between which communication is main¬
tained by several bridges. The old town, on the right
bank of the river, is very irregularly built, and the streets
are narrow, crooked, and dirty. The new town, on the
opposite side of the river, is much superior in appearance,
and contains several handsome streets. The walls sur¬
rounding the town, having become useless as a means of
defence, were, in 1780, partly levelled and laid out in
streets, and the remainder converted into a handsome es¬
planade. Outside the town are two suburbs, the Linden
and the Gartengemeinde. The most interesting of the
public buildings are the royal palace, with opera-house at¬
tached ; the viceroy’s palace ; the house of assembly of the
states; mint; arsenal; royal stables, with the famous
breed of Hanoverian horses; the new theatre, built in
1851 of Italian architecture ; and the town-hall and record
office, containing a library of about 40,000 volumes, besides
a valuable collection of MSS., chiefly given by Leibnitz.
The Waterloo column, 162 feet high, surmounted by a
figure of Victory, was erected in memory of the Hanoverians
who fell at the battle of Waterloo. An open rotunda in¬
closing a marble bust has been erected in memory of Leib¬
nitz. "There are four Lutheran, one Roman Catholic, and
three Calvinistic churches, and a Jewish synagogue. The
educational institutions comprise the Georgianum (a col¬
lege for educating sons of the nobility), a lyceum, a nor¬
mal, a trade, and numerous elementary schools. Among
the charitable institutions are an orphan asylum, blind asy¬
lum, almshouse, and several hospitals. The inhabitants
derive their chief support from the presence of the court
and nobility. Some manufactures are carried on, but
chiefly on a small scale. The transit trade, however, is
considerable—the town being connected by railway with
Hamburg, Bremen, and Brunswick. In the vicinity are
the royal palaces of Mont Brilliant, the summer residence
of the present king, and Herrenhausen, with their famous
gardens. Pop. (1852), including suburbs, 49,909.
Hanover, a village of Grafton county, state of New
Hampshire, North America. It stands on an elevated plain
about half a mile E. of Connecticut River, and 55 miles
N.W. of Concord. In connection with Dartmouth College,
founded here in 1769, there is a flourishing medical school
instituted in 1797. Among the eminent men who have
been educated at Dartmouth College may be mentioned
the late Daniel Webster. Pop. 2352.
HANSEATIC LEAGUE, the name given to an asso¬
ciation, formed in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, of
the principal cities in the N. of Germany, Prussia, Po¬
land, &c., for the better carrying on of commerce, and for
their mutual safety and defence ; and which contributed, in
no ordinary degree, to introduce civilization and good
government into the north.
Hamburg, founded by Charlemagne in the ninth cen¬
tury, and Liibeck, founded about the middle of the twelfth
(1140), were the earliest members of the League. They
early formed an intimate political union, partly with the view
of maintaining a safe intercourse by land with each other,
and partly for the protection of navigation from the pirates,
with which every sea was at that time infested. There is
no very distinct evidence as to the period when this alliance
was consummated; some ascribe its origin to the year 1169,
others to 1200, and others say 1241. But the most pro¬
bable opinion seems to be, that it grew up by slow degrees,
and was perfected according as the advantages derivable
from it became more obvious. Such was the origin of the
214
HAN
HAN
Hanseatic Hanseatic League, so called from the old Teutonic word
League, hansa, signifying an association or confederacy.
From the beginning of the twelfth century, the progress
of commerce and navigation in the north was exceedingly
rapid. The countries which stretch along the Baltic from
Holstein to Russia, and which had been occupied by bar¬
barous tribes of Slavonic origin, were then subjugated by
the kings of Denmark, the dukes of Saxony, and other
princes. The greater part of the inhabitants being exter¬
minated, their place was filled by German colonists, who
founded the towns of Stralsund, Rostock, Wismar, &c.
Prussia and Poland were afterwards subjugated by the
Christian princes and the knights of the Teutonic order.
So that, in a comparatively short period, the foundations of
civilization and the arts were laid in countries whose bar¬
barism had ever remained impervious to the Roman power.
The cities that were established along the coast of the
Baltic, and even in the interior of the countries bordering
upon it, eagerly joined the Hanseatic confederation ; and
previously to the end of the thirteenth century it embraced
every considerable city in all those vast countries extending
from Livonia to Holland, and was a match for the most
powerful monarchs.
The Hanseatic confederacy was at its highest degree of
power and splendour during the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries. It then comprised from 60 to 80 cities, which
were distributed into four classes or circles. Liibeck was
at the head of the first circle, Cologne of the second,
Brunswick of the third, and Dantzic at the head of the
fourth. The supreme authority of the League was vested
in the deputies of the different towns assembled in congress.
In it they discussed all their measures ; decided upon the
sum that each city should contribute to the common fund;
and determined all questions relative to their common in¬
terests. The meeting of congress was most frequently held
at Liibeck, which was considered as the capital of the
League ; but sometimes congresses were held at Hamburg,
Cologne, and other towns. They met once every three
years, or oftener if occasion required. Any one might be
chosen for a deputy; and besides merchants, the congress
comprised clergymen, lawyers, artists, &c. When the de¬
liberations were concluded, the decrees were formally com¬
municated to the magistrates of the cities at the head of
each circle, by whom they were communicated to those be¬
low them ; and the most vigorous measures were adopted
for carrying them into effect. One of the burgomasters of
Liibeck presided at the meetings of congress ; and during
the recess the magistrates of that city had the sole, or at all
events the principal, direction of the affairs of the League.
Besides the towns already mentioned, there were others
that were denominated confederated cities or allies. The
latter neither contributed to the common fund of the League,
nor sent deputies to congress. Even its members were not
all on the same footing in respect to privileges—an arrange¬
ment that was a fruitful source of internal commotions.
As the power of the confederated cities increased, they
began to aspire to the monopoly of the trade of the north,
and to exercise the same dominion over the Baltic that the
Venetians exercised over the Adriatic. For this purpose
they succeeded in obtaining, partly in return for loans of
money, and partly by force, various privileges and immuni¬
ties from the northern sovereigns, which secured to them
almost the whole foreign commerce of Scandinavia, Den¬
mark, Prussia, Poland, Russia, &c. They repressed piracy
by sea and robbery by land ; introduced among the inhabi¬
tants conveniences and enjoyments unknown to their an¬
cestors, and inspired them with a taste for literature and
science ; they did for the people round the Baltic what the
Phoenicians had done in remoter ages for those around the
Mediterranean, and deserve, equally with them, to be placed
in the first rank among the benefactors of mankind.
The kings of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, were fre¬
quently engaged in hostilities with the Hanse towns; but
their efforts to abolish the privileges the League had ac¬
quired in these countries served, for more than two cen¬
turies, only to augment and extend its influence.
“ The astonishing prosperity of the confederated cities
was not wholly the effect of commerce. To the undisciplined
armies of the princes of the north, the cities opposed, be¬
sides the inferior nobles, whose services they liberally re¬
warded, citizens accustomed to danger, and resolved to de¬
fend their liberties and property. It was chiefly, however,
on their marine forces that the cities depended. They em¬
ployed their ships indifferently in war or commerce, so that
their naval armaments were fitted out at comparatively small
expense.”1
The extirpation of piracy was one of the objects which
had originally led to the formation of the League. Owing,
however, to the barbarism then so universally prevalent,
and the countenance openly given by many princes and
nobles to those engaged in this infamous profession, it was
not possible wholly to root it out. But the vigorous efforts
of the League to abate the nuisance served to render the
navigation of the North Sea and the Baltic comparatively
secure, and were of signal advantage to commerce. Their
exertions also to protect shipwrecked mariners from the
atrocities to which they had been subject, and to procure
the restitution of shipwrecked property to its legitimate
owners, were in no ordinary degree meritorious ; and con¬
tributed not less to the advancement of civilization than to
the security of navigation.
To facilitate and extend their commercial transactions,
the League established various factories in foreign coun¬
tries ; the principal of which were at Novogorod, London,
Bruges, and Bergen.
Novogorod, situated at the confluence of the Volkof with
the Imler Lake, was for a long period the most renowned
emporium in the north-eastern parts of Europe. During
the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, it formed
the entrepot between the countries to the east of Poland and
the Hanseatic cities. Its fairs were frequented by people
from all the surrounding countries, as well as by numbers
of merchants from the Hanse towns, who engrossed the
greater part of its foreign trade, and furnished its markets
with the products of distant countries.
But in the latter part of the fifteenth century, Ivan Vas-
silievitch, czar of Russia, asserted his right to the princi¬
pality of Novogorod, and supported his pretensions by a
formidable army. Having entered the city at the head of
his troops, Ivan received from the citizens the charter of
their liberties, which they either wanted courage or inclina¬
tion to defend. But notwithstanding the despotism to which
Novogorod was subject during the reigns of Ivan and his
successors, it continued for a considerable period to be the
largest, as well as most commercial, city in the Russian
empire.
But the scourge of the destroyer soon after fell on this
celebrated city. Ivan IV., having discovered, in 1570, a
correspondence between some of the principal citizens and
the king of Poland relative to a surrender of the city into
his hands, took the most inhuman revenge. The crime of
a few citizens was made a pretext for the massacre of 25,000
or 30,000. Though it never recovered from this blow',
Novogorod continued to be a place of considerable trade
until the foundation of Petersburg, which immediately be¬
came the seat of the commerce of which it had previously
been the centre.
The merchants of the Hanse towns, or Hansards, as they
Hanseatic
League.
1 L'Art de verifier les Dates, 3rae partie, tom. viii., p. 204.
HANSEATIC LEAGUE. 215
lanseatic were then commonly termed, were established in London
League, at a very early period, and their factory was of considerable
magnitude and importance. They enjoyed various privileges
and immunities ; they were permitted to govern themselves
by their own laws and regulations ; the custody of one of
the gates of the city (Bishopsgate) was committed to their
care ; and the duties on various sorts of imported commo¬
dities were considerably reduced in their favour. These
privileges naturally excited the ill-will and animosity of
the English merchants; and the Hansards were every now
and then accused of acting with bad faith, and obstructing
the commerce of the English in the Baltic. The Hansards
were in consequence exposed to many indignities ; and
their factory, which was situated in Thames Street, was not
unfrequently attacked. The League exerted themselves
vigorously in defence of their privileges; and having de¬
clared war against England, they succeeded in excluding
our vessels from the Baltic, and acted with such energy,
that Edward IV. was glad to come to an accommodation
with them. In the treaty for this purpose, negotiated in
1474, the privileges of the merchants of the Hanse towns
were renewed, and the king assigned to them, in absolute
property, a large space of ground, with the buildings upon
it, in Thames Street, denominated the Steel Yard, whence
the Hanse merchants have been commonly denominated the
Association of the Steel Yard. The property of their esta¬
blishments at Boston and Lynn was also secured to them ;
and the king engaged to allow no stranger to participate in
their privileges. One of the articles bore that the Hanse
merchants should be no longer subject to the judges of the
English Admiralty Court, but that a particular tribunal
should be formed for the easy and speedy settlement of all
disputes that might arise between them and the English.
And it was further agreed that the particular privileges
awarded to the Hanse merchants should be published as
often as the latter judged proper, in all the seaport towns
of England, and that such Englishmen as infringed upon
them should be punished. In return for these concessions,
the English acquired the liberty of freely trading in the
Baltic, and especially in the port of Dantzic and in Prussia.
In 1498, all direct commerce with the Netherlands being
suspended, the trade fell into the hands of the Hanse mer¬
chants, whose commerce was in consequence very greatly
extended. But, according as the spirit of commercial enter¬
prise awakened in the nation, and as the benefits resulting
from the prosecution of foreign trade came to be better
known, the privileges of the Hanse merchants became more
and more obnoxious. They were, in consequence, consi¬
derably modified in the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry
VIII., and were at length wholly abolished in 1597.
The different individuals belonging to the factory in Lon¬
don, as well as those belonging to the other factories of the
League, lived together at a common table, and were en¬
joined to observe the strictest celibacy. The direction of
the factory in London was intrusted to an alderman, two
assessors, and nine councillors. The latter were sent by the
cities forming the different classes into which the League was
divided. The League endeavoured at all times to promote
as much as possible the employment of their own ships. In
pursuance of this object, they went so far, in 1447, as to
forbid the importation of English merchandise into the con¬
federated cities, except by their own vessels. But a regula¬
tion of this sort could not be carried into full effect; and the
irritation produced by the occasional attempts to act upon it,
contributed materially to the subversion of the privileges
which the Hanseatic merchants had acquired amongst us.
The principal factory of the League was at Bruges, which
became, at a very early period, one of the first commercial
cities of Europe, and the centre of the most extensive trade
carried on to the north of Italy. The art of navigation in
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was so imperfect,
that a voyage from Italy to the Baltic and back again could Hansy
not be performed in a single season ; and hence, for the
sake of their mutual convenience, the Italian and Hanseatic Hanway-
merchants determined on establishing a depot or storehouse
of their respective products in some intermediate situation.
Bruges was fixed upon for this purpose, and, in conse¬
quence, speedily rose to the very highest rank among com¬
mercial cities. It was at once a staple for English wool; for
the woollen and linen manufactures of the Netherlands; for
the timber, hemp and flax, pitch and tar, tallow, corn, fish,
ashes, &c., of the North; and for the spices and Indian
commodities, as well as their domestic manufactures im¬
ported by the Italian merchants. The vivifying effects of
this commerce were everywhere felt; the regular intercourse
opened between the nations in the north and south of Eu¬
rope made them sensible of their mutual wants, and gave a
wonderful stimulus to the spirit of industry. This was par¬
ticularly the case with regard to the Netherlands.
From the middle of the fifteenth century, the power of
the confederacy, though still very formidable, began to de¬
cline. This was not owing to any misconduct on the part
of its leaders, but to the progress of civilization, the
general diffusion of the arts, and the establishment of the
authority of government. In addition to these circumstan¬
ces, the interests of the different cities of the League
became daily more and more opposed to each other. Lii-
beck, Hamburg, Bremen, and the towns in their vicinity,
were latterly the only ones that had any interest in its
maintenance. When the Zealanders and Hollanders be¬
came sufficiently powerful at sea to be able to vindicate
their right to the free navigation of the Baltic by force of
arms, they immediately seceded from the League; and no
sooner had the ships of the Dutch, the English, &c., begun to
trade directly with the Polish and Prussian Hanse towns,
than these also embraced the first opportunity of withdraw¬
ing from it. The fall of this great confederacy was really,
therefore, a consequence of the improved state of society,
and of the development of the commercial spirit in the dif¬
ferent nations of Europe. It was most serviceable so long
as those for whom its merchants acted as factors and car¬
riers were too barbarous, too much occupied with other
matters, or too destitute of the necessary capital and skill,
to act in these capacities for themselves. When they were
in a situation to do this, the functions of the Hanseatic
merchants ceased as a matter of course ; and at the middle
of the seventeenth century the cities of Liibeck, Hamburg,
and Bremen, were all that continued to acknowledge the
authority of the League. They still, indeed, preserve the
shadow of its power ; being acknowledged in the act for the
establishment of the Germanic confederation, done at
Vienna in 1815, as free Hanseatic cities. (M‘Culloch’s
Treatises on Economical Policy, 8vo. Edin. 1853.)
HANSY, a town of Hindustan, in the British district
of Hurreeana, under the jurisdiction of the lieutenant-
governor of the north-west provinces, situated on the
edge of the canal cut from the River Jumna about the year
1353 by Sultan Feroz Shah, and restored by the British
government in 1825. It is a very ancient town, and con¬
tains the tomb of a Mohammedan saint called Sheikh Jem-
mal. It was taken by the Mohammedans early in 1035,
and has experienced many revolutions. Towards the end
of the eighteenth century it was the capital of the short¬
lived principality erected by the adventurer George Thomas,
which is now incorporated with the British dominions.
Pop. of town, 9112 ; Lat. 29. 6., Long. 76. 3.
HANWAY, Jonas, a social reformer and philanthropist
of the last century, was born in 1712 at Portsmouth. He
served his apprenticeship to a merchant in Lisbon, and in
1743 became partner in an English firm in St Petersburg.
Flis business led him to travel into Persia, and on his
return he published An Historical Account of the British
216 H A E
Harbours. Trade over the Caspian Sea, See., in 4 vols. 4to—a work of
no high literary aims, but of great practical use to the mer¬
cantile men of the day. The work had great success ; and
Hanway, encouraged by the result, continued for the re¬
mainder of his life to use his pen, though chiefly for the
sake of the many charitable and philanthropic schemes
which he either set on foot himself or took a strong interest
in. He founded the Marine Society and the Magdalen
Charity, both still in existence, and in their respective
spheres doing much good; and strenuously promoted the
Sunday-schools, then in their infancy. His great services
were at length to meet their reward. In 1762 a deputation
HARE
Are either natural or artificial. Some parts of the Bri¬
tish coasts are amply provided with natural bays and creeks,
while in other parts the accommodation and shelter for ship¬
ping have been entirely supplied by artificial means. Thus,
Ireland and the west coast of Scotland are plentifully inter¬
sected by excellent deep water bays and anchorages ; but on
the east and south-west shores of Britain there are but few na¬
tural harbours. Cromarty Bay is 200 miles distant from the
Firth of Forth, which is the nearest southern natural harbour;
while there are no less than 400 miles between the Firth of
Forth and the Thames, which may be considered as the next
really unexceptionable harbour of refuge. On the west coast
there are about 200 miles of coast between the nearest na¬
tural harbours of Holyhead and Loch Ryan. The construc¬
tion of artificial places of refuge becomes therefore a very
important matter in a country where every winter’s lists of
shipwrecks and loss of life, remind us how much nature has
left for art to accomplish. For the most complete body of
evidence regarding the ports of Britain, we cannot do better
than refer to the volumes of Reports by the Tidal Harbour’s
Commission, for the completeness of which the public is
mainly indebted to the zeal of Captain Washington, the
present indefatigable Hydrographer to the Admiralty.
The designing of harbours constitutes confessedly one of
the most difficult branches of civil engineering. In making
such designs, the engineer, in order to avail himself of the
advantage which is to be derived from past experience, must
endeavour to the best of his power to institute a comparison
between the given locality and some other, which he sup¬
poses to be in paricasu. Perfect identity, however, in the
physical peculiarities of different stations, seldom if ever
exists, and all that can be done is to select an existing har¬
bour, which appears to be as nearly as possible similarly
circumstanced to the proposed work.
Force of In considering the subject of the construction of har-
waves. hours in exposed situations, the first and most important sub¬
ject deserving our attention is the destructive action of the
element with which we have to deal,—what are its energies
when excited by storms, and what the direction of its forces
on the barriers which have been raised to control it ?
Smeaton, in his history of the Eddystone, wLen speaking
of the objection that might be raised against the necessity
for using joggles in the masonry of that building, says,
“ When we have to do with, and to endeavour to control
those powers of nature that are subject to no calculation, I
trust it will be deemed prudent not to omit in such a case
anything that can without difficulty be applied, and that
would be likely to add to the security.” This statement of
our greatest marine engineer, indicates the propriety of care¬
fully collecting any facts that may help us to a more accu¬
rate estimation of those forces which he regarded as being
subject to no calculation.” We shall therefore state a few
facts which have been recorded of the destructive power of
the waves in inland lakes, and in the open ocean.
The writer has seen at Port Sonachan, in Loch Awe, where
the fetch is under 14 miles, a stone weighing a quarter of a ton,
H A R
from leading merchants of London was successful in ob-Harbours i
taining for him from government a commissionership of the
navy. The name of Hanway often occurs in the social
history of these times. Fie was a handsome man, and
knew that he was so ; indeed at St Petersburg he used to
be called “ Le bel Anglais.” He took great care of his per¬
son, and on one occasion became the talk of the town for
carrying about an umbrella with him ; and as that curious
engine did not come into vogue till about thirty years later,
its first supporter had much ridicule and banter to encounter.
His whims on the subject of tea are well known. Hanway
died September 5, 1785.
OURS
torn out of the masonry of the landing slip and overturned.
Mr D. Stevenson, in his Engineering of North America, de¬
scribes the harbours in Lake Erie as reminding him of those
on our own sea-girt shores, and mentions having seen one
stone weighing upwards of half a ton which had been taken
out of its bed in the pier at Buffalo, moved several feet and
overturned. The Comte de Marsilli, in his Histoire Phy¬
sique de la Mer, published at Amsterdam in 1725, states that
the highest wave observed by him on the shores of Langue¬
doc in the Mediterranean Sea, where the breadth isaboutGOO
miles, was 14 feet 10 inches. At the mouth of a harbour
on the German Ocean, with a fetch of about 600 miles, the
writer had observed for him the height of the waves during
south-easterly gales, and on one occasion the result was 13i
feet from the crest of the wave to the trough of the sea!
In deeper water, and with a north-easterly gale there is no
doubt that the waves of the German Ocean will attain a
height considerably greater than this. In November 1817
the waves of the German Ocean overturned, just after it
had been finished, a column of freestone 36 feet high and
17 feet base. The diameter at the place of fracture was
about 11 feet. In the Atlantic Ocean, Dr Scoresby stated,
in a communication to the British Association in 1850, that
during several hard gales he had measured many waves of
about 30 feet, but the highest was 43 feet from the hollow
to the crest. Waves of such magnitude could scarcely,
however, reach our artificial harbours from the shallowness
of the water near the shore. To these facts it may be added,
that we know (from the testimony of an eye-witness) of a
block of 50 tons weight being moved by the sea at Barra-
head, one of the Hebrides ; and what is far more extraordi¬
nary, we know, and can vouch for the fact, that blocks of 9
tons weight have been quarried, or broken out of their beds
in situ, on the top of the Bound Skerry of Whalsey in Zet¬
land, which is elevated 85 feet above the level of the sea.
The Bound Skerry and neighbouring rocks, which are in
the German Ocean, certainly furnish by far the most won¬
derful proof that has yet been discovered, of the great force
which is developed by the billows of the ocean when sud¬
denly checked by opposing rocks.
The writer has stated (in the Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin¬
burgh) that, from the observations which he had made with
the marine dynamometer (a self-registering instrument de¬
signed by him for the purpose), he had found the force of
the waves of the German Ocean during hard gales, to be
It? ton per superficialfoot at the Bell Rock, and of the At¬
lantic Ocean to be 3 tons per superficial foot at the Skerry-
vore Lighthouse. But these results may still be far short of
the maxima. As the marine dynamometer has been often
found useful in indicating the force of the waves in situations
where harbours were to be built, it may be proper to give
such a description of it as will enable any one to have it made.
DEFD is a cast-iron cylinder, which is firmly bolted at
the projecting flanges G, to the rock where the experiments
are to be made. This cylinder has a circular flange at D.
L is a door which is opened when the observation is to be
HARBOURS. 217
Harbours, read off. A is a circular disc on which the weaves impinge.
10 50 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 inches.
l-i.A—1—-I—1—h=-l—1- ~i -1-1-4-l~-l
Fig. 1. '
through a circular plate C, which is screwed down to the
flange D, and also through holes in the bottom EF. With¬
in the cylinder there is attached to the plate C a powerful
steel spring, to the other or free end of which is fastened
the small circular plate K, which again is secured to the
guide rods B. There are also rings of leather, T, which slide
on the guide rods and serve as indices for registering how
far the rods have been pushed through the holes in the bot¬
tom, or, in other words, how far the spring has been drawn
out by the action of the waves against the disc A.
Line of jn comparing an existing harbour with a proposed one, in
maximum or(jer tQ ascertain the dimensions which are necessary to
exposure. jngure perhaps the most obvious element is wdiat
may be termed the line of maximum exposure, or, in other
words, the line of greatest fetch or reach of open sea,
which can be easily measured from a chart. But though
possessed of this information, the engineer still does not
know in what ratio the height of the wave increases in re¬
lation to any given increase in the line of exposure.
As this inquiry is one of great moment in the practice of
marine engineering, and has not been in any way investi¬
gated, the writer has for some time back been making oc¬
casional observations on the subject, when favourable cir¬
cumstances occurred. These observations have been but
limited in extent, and cannot be regarded as deserving of
confidence unless in cases where the two harbours are not
far different in their lines of exposure. So far as these
experiments have gone, the waves seem to increase in
height most nearly in the ratio of the square root of their
distances from the windicard shore.
It does not follow, however, that the line of maximum
exposure is in every case the line of maximum effective
force of the waves; for this must depend not only on the
length of reach, but also on the angle of incidence of the
waves on the walls of the harbour. What may be termed
the line of maximum effective exposure is that which, after
being corrected for obliquity of impact of the waves, pro¬
duces the maximum result, and this can only be taken
from the chart after successive trials. Let x = the greatest
force that can assail a pier, h — height of waves which pro¬
duce (after being corrected for obliquity) the maximum
effect, and which are due to the line of maximum effective
exposure. Sin a = sine of azimuthal angle formed between
directions of pier and line of maximum effective exposure,
radius being unity. Then x cc h sin2 a when the force is
resolved normal to the line of the pier ; but if the force is
resolved again in the direction of the waves themselves, the
expression becomes x cc h sin3 a. *
It should not be forgotten, in connection with this sub- Harbours,
ject, that there are various qualifying elements to which N—'
special attention requires in some cases to be given. The
waves, for example, may often be noticed, when approach¬
ing the land obliquely, to alter their direction when they
get close to the shore (in consequence of the depth chang¬
ing), so as to strike it more nearly at right angles to the
general line of the beach. In this way a swell from the
ocean may enter a bay wdiich is not directly exposed to it.
It should also be observed, that the lines of exposure cannot
be directly compared if the depths of the water through
which they pass are materially different.
The tides, too, exert in many places a very decided effect thee°illes
on the nature of the billows, in some places causing waves
of an unusually dangerous character, while at others they
are found to run down the sea. If a marine work is situated
in a race or rapid tide-way, such, for example, as those
called “roosts” in Orkney and Shetland, the masonry will
be exposed to the action of a very trying and dangerous
high-cresting sea. As an example of this, we may refer to
Port-Patrick in Wigtonshire, where the violence of the
waves is, we have no doubt, much due to the rapidity of the
tides. If, on the other hand, the race or roost runs in such
a direction as to be entirely outside of the harbour, and at
some distance off, it will have a decided tendency to shelter
the works, and to act as a breakwater. Thus it appears,
from observations specially made for the writer at Sum-
burgh Head Lighthouse in Shetland during a south-westerly
storm, that so long as the Sumburgh roost (one of the most
formidable in those seas) was cresting and breaking heavily,
one could have easily landed in a small boat at a creek or
bay called the West Voe; but no sooner did the roost dis¬
appear towards high water than there came in towering bil¬
lows that totally submerged cliffs of very considerable height.
The study of the modifying and intensifying effects of tide-
currents on the waves of our British seas seems to have
been entirely neglected in the late discussions regarding the
merits of vertical and sloping walls, which will be referred
to in another section of this article.
We think it right to mention that we consider as er¬
roneous the opinion expressed by a writer in the Edinburgh
Philosophical Journal—that the cause of races or roosts is
the meeting of two rapid currents ; neither do we believe
that they are occasioned by the projection of rocks from
the bottom of the sea as many sailors suppose.
From careful inquiries, as well as from actual personal
experience, of such formidable breaking waters as the Boar
of Duncansbay, and the Merry Men of Mey in the Pentland
Firth, and several others, we are of opinion that the true
cause is the swell of the sea encountering a tidal current
running in a direction more or less opposed to that of the
waves. While it is obvious that two rapid tides may meet
each other without any dangerous effects, it is also quite
true that when two tides meet each other in a rough sea,
as in coming round such islands as Stroma or Swona in the
Pentland Firth, the effect of their union being to increase
the current at that place, there will be produced a highly
dangerous sea; but the fact of their meeting, though calcu¬
lated to aggravate, is not, we think, the primary cause. The
races which occur in open seas, as, for instance, off headlands
and turning-points of the coast, are certain portions of those
seas in which the waves break to a greater or less extent,
although the water may be very deep, and there may be no
wind at the time. At all such places it will be found that
there are rapid tides. The roosts on the west coast of
Orkney or of the Pentland Firth, for example, are worst
with ebb tides and westerly swells, because the Atlantic
swell and current of ebb are opposed. Those again on the
east coast are worst with flood tides and easterly swells from
2 E
YOL. XI.
* For experimental results vide, article Hydrodynamics.
218
HARBOURS.
Harbours, a similar cause. Thus at the east end of the Pentland
Vs—Firth the Boar of Duncansbay is well known to rage with
easterly swells and a flood tide ; whereas, at the west end
of the same firth, the Merry Men of Mey are equally well
known to be worst with ebb tide and a westerly swell, at
which time no boat could enter them without the risk of
being overturned. The dangerous surf which exists at the
mouths of some rivers is, we believe, not solely due to the
want of depth at the bar, but also to the meeting of the out¬
ward current with the waves of the sea.
When a swell encounters a rapid opposing current, the
onward motion of the waves seems to be arrested, and their
width becomes visibly decreased. They get higher and
steeper, crest, and at last break, sometimes very par¬
tially, and at other times almost as they would on a shelving
beach. It appears to us possible that several waves may
ultimately combine in such disturbed waters into one moun¬
tainous billow ; for the wave that has partially broken may
have its onward motion so much checked as to allow the
wave behind to overtake it, and having thus coalesced, they
may, as one large wave, acquire a superior velocity, so as
to overtake those in front, and be farther augmented by
the union of other waves which have been reflected from
the shore.
It is to this cause we are inclined to refer such wonderful
effects as that to which we have already alluded, where blocks
of 9 tons weight were quarried out of the solid rock at an ele¬
vation of 85 feet above the sea. Were such violent action
common to all the shores of the German Ocean, instead of
being restricted to one or two similar places, half of our east¬
ern seaport towns would, without any doubt, be washed into
the sea during the first stormy winter. As a further proof
of the great effect of the tides in exasperating the waves, we
may mention that the time when most damage is done to sea-
works which are in tolerably deep water, is from one to two
hours before and after high water, which nearly corresponds
to the time when the tide runs strongest outside. We have
found this to hold true at many different parts of the coast,
but will only refer to one well-marked instance. At Peter¬
head harbour, which projects prominently into the sea on an
isthmus, the tides, at but a short distance seaward of the har¬
bour, run very rapidly. On the 10th January 1849 there
was a very heavy sea, and a crowd of people were down,
about two hours before high water, helping to secure the
whalers and other vessels in the harbour, when three suc¬
cessive waves carried away 315 feet of a bulwark, founded
9| feet above high-water springs, which had stood for many
years. One piece of this wall, weighing 13 tons, was moved
50 feet. After this outbreak of the sea the waves became
more moderate, until about tivo hours after high water, by
which time the large whalers had taken the ground, when
other three enormous waves again swept over the harbour,
submerging the quays to the depth of from 6 to 7 feet of
solid water, by which sixteen people were drowned. These
waves filled the harbour to such a depth as to set all the
whalers afloat again, and they continued so for several
minutes, until the excess of water had run out through
the harbour mouth.
These gigantic waves were, in our opinion, clearly the
result of some such action as has been attempted to be de¬
scribed. We should not have dwelt at such length on this
subject were it not that we might again refer to the facts
when we come to treat of the subject of vertical and sloping
walls for harbours of refuge, where it is of importance to show
that even in the deepest water, the waves are not purely oscil¬
latory, but that wherever there is a tide-way the waves will
more or less partake of the qualities of waves of translation.
Another circumstance affecting the exposure of any
marine work is the depth of water in front of it. The great
mountainous billows so commonly met with in the Atlantic
Ocean cannot be generated in the shallower waters of the
Relation
between
height of
waves and
depth of
water.
German Ocean, unless perhaps in such peculiar circum- Harbours
stances as have just been adverted to. It becomes, there- v^—
fore, of great consequence to ascertain the maximum pos¬
sible wave in a given depth of water.
Mr Scott Russell, whose observations on what may be
called the marine branch of hydrodynamics are of such
great value, has stated that if waves be propagated in a
channel whose depth diminishes uniformly, the waves will
break when their height above the surface of the level fluid
becomes equal to the depth at the bottom below the sur¬
face (p. 425 Brit. Assoc. Hep. on Waves). This state¬
ment, the meaning of which seems doubtful, Mr Russell else¬
where (Instit. Civ. Eng., p. 136) defines thus : “ The author
has never noticed a wave so much as 10 feet high in 10
feet water, nor so much as 20 feet high in 20 feet water,
nor 30 feet high in 5 fathoms water ; but he has seen waves
approach very nearly to those limits.” It is presumed that
the datum here referred to is the mean level of the surface
of the sea. We have had no opportunities of verifying
these observations; but as the subject is very important—
because the depth of water in front of a work may be said
to be the ruling element which determines the amount of
force which it has to resist, whatever be the line of maxi¬
mum exposure, w'e shall simply state what has come within
our own knowledge and observation. We have repeatedly
seen at different parts of the coast breaking waves of from
4 to 5 feet, measuring from hollow to crest, in from 7 feet
8 inches to 10 or 11 feet of water, measuring from the bot¬
tom up to the mean level; and on one occasion we were
told of waves which were estimated at 9£ feet in 13 feet
water. It must, however, be borne in mind that these ob¬
servations, and we conceive also those of Mr Russell,
apply only to common waves of the sea, or those short,
steep, and superficial waves which are due to an existing
wind, and not to the ground swells which are almost con¬
stantly to be found in the open ocean, and which may be
the result of former gales, or are the telegraph, as Mr ' i
Russell terms them, of those which are yet to come.
From what has been stated, it would appear that in most
cases the heaviest waves should assail any tide-work at high
water. This, however, as mentioned in the last section,
is not always the case, the greatest damage being often
found to occur at the time when the tide runs strongest.
Mr Leslie found that the Arbroath Harbour-works were
in general less severely tried by the very heaviest waves
than by a class of waves somewhat smaller than these, owing
to the outlying rocks, which, from the small depth over
them, had the effect of tripping up the heavier seas, and
thus destroying them before they reached the harbour, while
the depth was sufficient to allow the smaller waves to pass
over the shoals unbroken. In some cases of severe exposure
the waves might to some extent be reduced by dropping
very large stones outside of the harbour, so as, by forming
an artificial shoal, to cause them to crest and break.
One great difficulty connected with the subject of the
generation of waves still remains unsolved, viz ,—What are
the minimum line of exposure and area of sea which are com¬
patible with the existence of a ground swell ? This ques¬
tion, we fear, cannot be answered in the present state of
our knowledge.
Deep Water Harbours.
Harbours of refuge are distinguished from tidal harbours Profile of
mainly by the superior depth of water which they possess, breakwater
and the larger area which they inclose. The requisitesbou^of
are shelter during storms, and easy access for shipping at refuge,
any time of tide. There has been much discussion as to
w hether piers for harbours of refuge should be vertical or
sloping. Col. Jones, R.E., has especially advocated the
superior meiits of the vertical wall; and the discussions on
his plan at the Institution of Civil Engineers, and the able
HAKE
larbours. protest by Sir Howard Douglas, will be found, from their
interest and importance, to merit a careful perusal.
The principle which is asserted is, that oceanic waves in
deep water are purely oscillatory, and would occasion no
impact against vertical barriers, which would be the most eli¬
gible, as they would only have to encounter the simple hydro¬
static pressure due to the height of the advancing billow,
and would reflect the waves without causing them to break.
Were it even admitted that the waves were purely oscil¬
latory, and were reflected by a vertical barrier, would no
force, it may be asked, be expended when the motion of the
particles was reversed ? The reflection of a wave is equi¬
valent to the nearly instantaneous creation of a wave in the
opposite direction, for which a very considerable force must
surely be required.
We believe, however, that from the effect of tide cur¬
rents, to which we have already referred, and perhaps from
other causes whose action seems to have been overlooked by
the advocates of the upright wall, any form of barrier, in
whatever depth it may have been erected, must be occa¬
sionally subjected to heavy impact. We conceive that the
possibility of waves of translation being generated in the
deepest w ater has been already established, if we succeeded
in satisfying the reader of the truth of the following asser¬
tions :—First, That waves break in deep water during calm
weather; a fact which is apparent to the eye and familiar to
all sailors : and, secondly, and negatively, That to leeward of
those races or portions of broken water, which certainly do
notreflect the incoming waves, there is comparatively smooth
water both at sea and on the adjoining shores, until such time
as the strength of the tide is exhausted, and the roost has
disappeared, when violent action is again fully manifested.
It may be argued that these are extreme cases, and
that such high velocities in the current of the tide are
seldom met with. This objection has, no doubt, truth in
it; but still the tendency is shown, and though the velo¬
cities may be less in other quarters, there may yet be quite
enough to destroy the condition of stagnation which the
oscillatory theory assumes. The breaking of waves at sea,
and the existence of races, seem to prove beyond question
that waves of translation are possible in the deepest water.
Is it not also a probable case that waves which have been
reflected by a vertical wall, and have (irrespective of the
question of tide currents) combined with the advancing
waves, may then become waves of translation, possessing
all the elements which endanger the stability of a sea work ?
Or, again, how much more damage would result to a vertical
wall than to a slope of loose stones, from the sinking of the
foundations, or from their getting underwashed by the re¬
action of the waves ? It therefore appears that the method
generally resorted to of forming deep water harbours of
masses of rubble stone with long slopes, so as to form an
artificial beach for the waves to spend on, is, in most cir¬
cumstances, the best and cheapest kind of construction. We
incline, however, to the adoption of an upright wall, founded
on the rubble as a basis (similar to that at Cherbourg, about
to be described), in preference to long paved slopes, as there
is always experienced a great difficulty in founding the toe
of such talus walls among the loose rubble. When pitched
slopes are adopted, great benefit will be found to accrue
from leaving at the bottom or toe of the slope a w ide fore¬
shore. Much, however, depends on local peculiarities in
selecting the best design for any work ; and the nature of
the bottom is all-important. Where the bottom is soft, a
vertical wall can hardly, if ever, be attempted.
In making these remarks, we must not be understood as
condemning the adoption of vertical walls in cases where the
foundation is good. All that we assert is the opinion, that
waves of translation do exist in deep water, and therefore
that harbours of refuge will prove failures unless they are
built in such a manner as to resist the impact of those waves
OURS. 219
of translation. The Cherbourg breakwater has been often Harbours,
referred to as a successful instance of the application of a C..- v-»_ ^
vertical wall, and has been contrasted with the Plymouth
breakwater, which has a long slope. But this appeal is quite
fallacious, as the profile of that work is, as already hinted,
of a composite character, consisting of a talus wall sloping
at the rate of 10 horizontal to 1 perpendicular, surmounted
by a plumb wall; so that whatever merit may be supposed
to belong to the vertical profile is entirely nullified at
Cherbourg by the long talus wall in front, on which the
violence of the waves is much broken. Moreover, the hea¬
viest waves at Cherbourg come from the N.W., and do not
assail the breakwater at right angles to its direction, but come
more nearly end on to the work, so as to a great extent to
run along the outer wall. The N.W. waves are propagated
from the Atlantic, while the waves which are most trying
to the work come from the N., in which direction the line of
exposure is only about 21 leagues. These facts we obtained
during a recent visit to Cherbourg, undertaken for the spe¬
cial purpose of ascertaining the physical characteristics of
the place. The attempt to make out a parallelism between
Plymouth, which faces the Atlantic directly, and Cher¬
bourg, which is comparatively land-locked, cannot, in our
opinion, stand the test of a candid inquiry.
Other comparisons may be referred to which have been
advanced on equally untenable grounds. Thus, the old pier
of Dunleary, which is vertical, and has stood well, has been
compared with the talus walls of Kingstown Harbour, which
now protect Dunleary, and which have often received much
damage. The all-important element of depth of water has
been in this instance entirely overlooked ; for at Kingstown
there is a depth of 27 feet, while Dunleary is all but dry.
An able writer on the same questio vexata, in comparing
different sea walls in the Firth of Forth, has, in like man¬
ner, not sufficiently adverted to the great differences in the
depths opposite the works to which he refers.
An important advantage of the sloping wall is the small
resistance which it offers to the impinging wave, but it
should also be borne in mind that the weight resting on the
face stones in a talus wall is decreased in proportion to the
sine of the angle of the slope. If we suppose the waves
which assail a sloping wall to act in the horizontal plane,
their direct impulse, when resolved into the force acting at
right angles to the sloping surface of the talus wall, will be
proportional to the sine of the angle of incidence. The ef¬
fective force when estimated in the horizontal plane, will
be proportional to the square of the sine of the angle of in¬
cidence. But if we assume the motion of the impinging
particles to be horizontal, the number of them which will be
intercepted by the sloping surface will be also reduced in
the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence, or of elevation
of the talus wall. Hence the tendency of the waves to pro¬
duce horizontal displacement of the wall, on the assumption
that the direction of the impinging particles is horizontal,
will be proportional to the cube of the sine of angle of ele¬
vation of the wall.
If it farther happens that there is obliquity of action in
the azimuthal as well as in the vertical plane arising from
the relative direction of the pier and of the waves, there
will be another similar reduction in the ratio of the squares
or cubes of the angle of incidence according as the force is
resolved into that at right angles to the line of the pier, or
to that of the direction of the waves.
Let <p = vertical angle of incidence or angle of elevation
of wall;
<p' = azimuthal angle of incidence ;
f = horizontal force exerted on unit of surface at
right angles to the line of harbour wall;
h = height of greatest assailing waves;
f oc h (sin <P sin <p')3.
220
H A R B
Harbours. The above expression assigns, we think, too great a
v ir- ^ redaction, as the motion of the particles may not be hori¬
zontal, and no account is taken of the effects of friction
against the rough surface of the masonry. Experiments are
therefore wanting to determine the constant for correcting
the theoretical results due to this expression. For further
information on this subject, we refer the reader to the article
on Hydrodynamics.
Parabolic Mr Scott Russell recommends the parabolic curve as that
profile. best suited for the profile where the object is to break the
waves, and not to reflect them, as is the case in sloping
breakwaters. This curve possesses, according to Mr Rus¬
sell, the advantages of superior strength, of economy in the
materials, of breaking the wave early, and of continuing an
uniform action over the longest period of time. When the
tide is low, the toe of the slope, which springs out of the
foreshore and forms the vertex of the parabola, would, we
fear, be found rather weak, and perhaps difficult to form. On
the whole, we rather incline in such cases simply to throw
in the materials, and to allow the sea to form its own slope.
According to Sir John Rennie (Account of Plymouth
Breakwater), rubble breakwaters with slopes formed at the
angle of repose, were adopted by the Greeks in the moles of
Tyre and Carthage, and by the Romans at Athens and
Halicarnassus. The same design was also followed at Ve¬
nice, Genoa, Rochelle, Barcelona, and other places. In this
kingdom the first example on a large scale which we find
is at Howth. Kingstown, Holyhead, and the noble break¬
water at Plymouth, were afterwards carried out on the same
principle, and chiefly under the directions of the late Mr
Rennie. The great national harbours of refuge at present
in progress in this country, according to Mr Rendel’s de¬
signs, at Holyhead and Portland, are on a similar principle ;
while those under Messrs Walker, Burgess, & Cooper, at
Dover, Alderney, and Jersey, are more nearly vertical.
On the best Forms of Walls for Tidal Harbours.
Having now considered the few facts of which we are in
possession regarding the disputed nature of the impulse of
the waves in deep waters, we shall direct the reader’s atten¬
tion to their effects in shallow water. Those in deep water
were chiefly whole waves, and regarded by many as being
purely oscillatory, while those in shoal waters are breaking
waves, and therefore regarded by all as waves of transla¬
tion. We have hitherto been considering breakwaters
erected in deep water, and which were constantly exposed
to the waves ; we now turn to piers and sea-walls which are
placed within the range of the surf, and which are exposed
to its force for a limited period only, being sometimes left
nearly, or altogether dry by the receding tide.
The impulse of the waves against a sea-wall or pier may
be resolved practically into four directions :—1st, The di¬
rect horizontal force which tends to shake loose, or carry
before it, the blocks of which the opposing masonry consists.
This force may also blow up the pitching, or overturn the
inner or quay-wall by condensing the air, or pressing upon
the water which occupies the interstices of the rubble. We
know two cases in the German Ocean wdiere, in conse¬
quence of want of width in the pier, coupled, in one instance,
with insufficient workmanship, the inner or quay-walls were
observed first to bulge and fall, before the sea-wall was in¬
jured. One of these piers measured 26 ft. 4 in., and the
other 24 ft., on the roadway. 2d, The vertical upward force
which may act on any projecting stone or protuberance. 3d,
The vertical downward force of the water which results
either from the wave breaking upon the toe of a talus wall,
or from the wave passing over the parapet, and falling upon
the pitching behind, so as to plough it up. 4th, The back-
draught which tends by reaction from the wall to plough up
the soft bottom, and thus to undermine the lower courses of
the work, or perhaps by suction to pull out the facework. We
OURS.
may conclude from the above that the points which require Harbours,
to be carefully attended to are—1st, The contour and quality v ^
of masonry of the wall itself; 2d, The parapet, which, if
not of sufficient height, or built in a proper direction, leads
to damage in the pitching behind it; and 3d, The founda¬
tion-courses, in the design and construction of which, if
similar precautions be not attended to, underwashing of the
bottom may in some situations take place, so as to leave the
lowest courses without protection.
We shall in the first place consider how far those remarks Buildings
are applicable where the bottom is solid rock. Such a on a rock
supposition will render unnecessary any precautions arising foundation,
from the wasting of the bottom, and, cceteris paribus, there
does not seem to be any reason for preferring a talus to a
vertical wall. The question of preference in such a case
will in the main depend upon the kind of material which
can be obtained. Should the stone be scarce or costly,
and the quality such as to warrant the introduction of
masonry of the best description, the vertical wall may be
found to be the most economical. Where freestone is to
be used, it is not only desirable that it should be got in large
blocks, but that the face stones should possess considerable
hardness. This precaution is particularly necessary in se¬
lecting the stones for the lower courses, and especially
where the beach consists of hard gravel. For the same rea¬
son, it is highly important that all stones which are subject to
decay from atmospheric influence should be either entirely
rejected or assembled in the upper courses of the parapet.
Where the materials are abundant, but of an unworkable
nature, a long talus wall will generally be found most eco¬
nomical. For such walls the rate of slope must depend
very much upon the exposure of the place, and upon the
plentifulness of rubble-stone hearting. The easily-dressed
and naturally flat-bedded materials, which the stratified
rocks of the secondary formation very often furnish, are
especially applicable for the construction of vertical walls;
while the uncouth blocks of the primary and igneous for¬
mations are better suited for talus walls. Such rocks as
gniess, the schists, basalts, greenstones, amygdaloids, and
the tougher kinds of granite, are best fitted for this purpose.
With some of those rocks the angularity of the pieces, and
the excessive difficulty of dressing, render it necessary to
assemble them without almost any alteration of their shape,
by an adaptation of their salient and re-entrant angles, so
as to make a kind of random rubble face-work. In this
kind of work, mortar is very seldom employed. The parapet
generally consists of squared masonry, surmounted by a
heavy cope, and it should in every case be set in good
lime mortar.
Where the materials are light and of small sizes it is de¬
sirable to equalize the action of the sea over the whole
work, and not to concentrate it against any particular place.
Mr Russell states that the cycloidal form was recommended
for this purpose by Franz Gerstnerof Bohemia. The only
instance with which we are acquainted of the adoption of
this curve was in a sea-wall erected at Trinity, near Edin¬
burgh, by the late Mr Robert Stevenson, in 1822.
It has been already stated that, irrespective of the quality Buildings
of the masonry, the two points in the structure which are on soft or
weaker dangerous are the top and bottom of the wall.sandyfoun-
With a rocky bottom the risk of failure at the foundations dations.
is removed; on the other hand, where the shore consists of
rotten rock, moving shingle or sand, it is obvious that pro¬
vision must be made for both those sources of evil. In
fact, if we consult the history of harbours, we shall find that
by far the most frequent cause of damage is the reaction of the
sea against the shore.
The general slope of a fragmentary beach must depend
upon the size and nature of the particles and the force of
the sea. The dissimilarity between the slopes of a beach
near the levels of high and low water, arises from a decrease
larbours.
Founda¬
tions in
clay.
HARBOURS.
221
in the force of the waves, owing to their being broken be¬
fore they reach the high-water mark. The great object,
therefore, is to design the profile of our wall so as to
alter as little as possible the symmetry of the beach.
Where isolated rocks or large boulders are seen pro¬
jecting above the surface of a sandy beach, there will
generally be formed around them hollows, correspond¬
ing in depth to the kind of obstruction which the rocks
present. The principal point in the design, therefore,
must be to avoid great and sudden obstructions to the
movement of the water. The best form which could be
adopted in any situation would of course be the same as the
cross section of the beach itself, but this would answer no
possible purpose; and, as the wall is to consist of heavy
blocks of stone instead of minute particles of sand, it is clear
that a much steeper slope may be adopted than the profile
of conservancy of the coast, provided the lower part of the
slope be flattened out so as to meet the sand at a low angle.
The action of a bulwark is to arrest the waves before
they reach the general high water mark, and to change the
horizontal motion of the fluid particles to the vertical plane,
or to compel the waves to destroy themselves on an artifi¬
cial beach consisting of heavy stones. To prevent under¬
washing, the two following requisites should therefore be
as far as possible secured :—1st, The foundation courses or
bottom of the wall should rise at a very small angle with
the beach, so that their top surfaces may be coincident with
the profile of conservation of that portion of the beach out
of which the wall springs; 2d, The outline of the wall should
be such as to allow the wave to pass onwards without any sud-
len check till it shall have reached the strongest part of the
wall, which should be as far from the foundation as possible.
Those two requisites show clearly how inapplicable a ver¬
tical wall must in most cases be for a sandy beach. Instead
of altering the direction of the wave at a distance from its
foundation, the whole change is produced at that very point,
and unless the wall be founded at a great depth, its destruc¬
tion is all but certain. Where the materials are costly, but
admit of being easily dressed, we are disposed to think that
horizontal, or nearly horizontal wall connected with a
vertical one by a quadrant of a circle may be found suitable.
Such a form will prevent to a considerable extent the danger
of reaction by causing an alteration in the form of the wave
at that part where the wall is strongest and at the greatest
distance from the toe or curb course. Where the materials
are abundant and of a rougher nature, a cycloidal wall, with
vertical and horizontal tangents somewhat similar to that
erected at Trinity, to which we have already referred, may
be adopted with advantage.
A special caution may not be out of place regarding
clayey bottoms. Many are apt to suppose that there can
be no better foundation than clay ; and it is indeed true that
some kinds of hard clay form a satisfactory subsoil. But
there are others of a softer kind, and permeated by sandy
beds, which are extremely treacherous. If there be the
slightest dip seawards, there is always a risk of any pier
that may be built on such a base slipping bodily into the sea.
This holds especially true of inland lochs, where the sides
very often slope suddenly. In one instance, the particulars
of which we got on the spot shortly after the accident, a pier
built on a clayey beach, sloping below low water at the
rate of 1 in 12^, suddenly began to move, and after tw7o
hours it had slipped seawards 150 feet, and had by that time
descended bodily a height of 34 feet, the top of the pier be¬
ing then no less than 23 feet below low-water spring tides.
Construction of Harbours.
Our space will not admit of our going much farther into the
subject of the construction of harbours than the few remarks
we have already made. A knowledge of such matters may
to some extent be acquired by a careful perusal of the pub¬
lished histories of marine works; but, after all, it must be Harbours,
confessed that the only valuable teacher in this wide prac-
tical field is experience. It is, in truth, impossible to lay
down any general rules of guidance as to matters of this
kind. All that can be done within our space is to notice very
briefly some of the more important methods of working.
And first, with regard to that invaluable piece of apparatus,
the diving-bell, we would refer to the article on the subject Diving-
in this work, and to Smeaton’s Account of Ramsgate Har- bell.
hour, published in 1721, where it was first applied by him
to harbour works. The diving-helmet is a most useful and
convenient modification of the diving-bell, and is now very
generally employed.
Of late years Mr Walker has introduced from France the Beton.
use of beton as a substitute for backing. Ihis artificial
concrete is sometimes used in enormous masses. We have
seen at Cherbourg blocks of 50 tons prepared in boxes,
w'hose sides and tops are removed after the concrete has
set, in order to be again similarly employed. The propor¬
tions used at Cherbourg by M. Rebeille w ere two of sand or
fine gravel, to one of Portland cement.
We may also mention that the method of assembling stones Edge work,
on their edges, instead of on their beds, which formerly was
in use in some old Scottish harbours and sea-walls, as at St
Andrews, Prestonpans, &c., deserves to be more generally
known and adopted, from its superior strength.
The proposal of Mr Bremner, of Wick, for putting inMr Brem-
the foundations of low-water piers also merits notice. Mr °®^sspon'
Bremner proposes to construct, in some adjoining place
of shelter, enormous pontoons of timber, on which the
under parts of the work are built, and afterwards floated
to the desired spot in favourable weather, and carefully
grounded. Such a plan might, we have no doubt, be found
economical and useful in some situations.
Mr Rendel has introduced an improved method of assem- Mr lien-
bling the pierres perdues or rubble used in the construction del’s me-
oflarge breakwaters; this method he employed at Millbay
Pier, near Plymouth, in 1838, in a depth of 38 feet; andthe^?.grres
he is at present carrying out the same principle on a still perdMe*.
larger scale, in the construction of the breakwaters at
Holyhead and Portland. The improvement consists in
depositing the rough materials from stagings of timber
elevated a considerable height above high water. I he
stones are brought on the staging in waggons, through the
bottoms of which they are discharged into the sea. The
principle on which the stagings are designed is that of
offering the smallest possible resistance to the sea, the un¬
der structure consisting of nothing more than single upright
piles, there being only one line of piles for each roadway.
Mr Rendel, in a letter kindly communicated to us, states, Harbours
“ l use no timber braces of any kind, as these offer more at
resistance to the sea than strength to the staging. At Port-
land, however, where any accident would be a serious evil, bead.
owing to our employing convicts in the quarries, we stay
the piles with iron guys, fixed to Mitchell’s screw moorings,
and also truss the outer piles in each row with iron rods.
We also fix the piles in the ground with a screw.
“ At Holyhead, however, we only attach to each pile
boxes filled with small stones, for the purpose of getting them
into a vertical position, and use no stays or guys of any kind.
“ The superstructure consists simply of balks of timber,
with rails laid on them to carry the waggons. The piles
are placed in rows 30 feet apart, and the ease and certainty
with which the staging is constructed is such that a length
of 30 feet, including the screwing in of the piles, the laying
down of the roadways, and all minor works necessary to
make them fit to carry the waggons, never occupies more
than one working day and a half, and often less. The length
of the piles that we are now using varies from 84 to 90
feet, the depth of water at both Holyhead and Portland
being about 11 fathoms.
222
HARBOUES.
Harbours. <£ Of the strength of the stage you may judge from its
carrying on each roadway as much as three waggons, weigh¬
ing in the gross 12 tons each.
“ The advantages of the staging are obvious. It contri¬
butes greatly to the consolidation of the stone, it makes a
greater length of breakwater to be under construction at
the same time, and it enables the deposits to be carried on
without interruption, almost in the heaviest weather. As
an instance of this, I may remark that my resident at Port¬
land informs me that the waggons and locomotives were
engaged yesterday at a time when such a sea was running
that large bodies of spray were thrown 55 feet above the water
level. As a proof of the facilities which the stage affords
for rapidity of construction, I should state that we have
deposited this year at Holyhead, where free labour is em¬
ployed, nearly one million tons of stones. The loss from
accidents to the stage is comparatively small on its first
cost, and when spread over the cost of the whole works it is
a mere trifle. I find the sea-slopes are, in the deep water
and exposed parts, from 5^ or 6 to 1 between 6 feet above
high-water and from 12 to 15 below low-water, from which
point they rapidly become about 1 to 1. The inside
slopes are never more than 1^ to 1, and seldom more than
1 to 1. The materials are excellent for our purpose.”
Harbours Mr Walker has also kindly contributed some facts con-
of refuge nected with the construction of the great works now going
at Alder- on uncjer the direction of Messrs Walker, Burgess, and
Dover and’ ^00Per at Jersey, Alderney, and Dover. At Alderney,
Plymouth. w^icl1 is a very exposed place, the base, up to 12 feet below
low-water, is formed by stones thrown, or rather dropt in
from barges. Up to low-water the work is all done by
diving-helmets. The wall is faced with granite, backed
with blocks of beton made of sand, shingle, and Portland
cement. Above low-water it is faced with stone of the
island, a kind of millstone-grit, and is backed with blocks of
rubble set in Roman cement. The millstone-grit is raised
in very large blocks. The profile is to consist of a quay,
an esplanade, and a parapet.
Jersey is much the same as Alderney, but the pell-mell
work is carried to low-water, having nearly vertical walls of
conglomerate built above. Dover has nearly vertical walls,
faced with granite from the very bottom, which is now 45
feet below low-water. This work was done with diving-bells.
Sir J. Rennie, in his Account of the Plymouth Breakwater,
says, “ From the bottom to within 8 feet of low-water springs,
we find that the slope is 2^ or 3 to 1. Here the effect
of the waves is comparatively small, being neutralized by
the mass of water. From thence to low-water of spring-
tides the slope increases from 3 or 4 to 1, but between low-
water of spring-tides and high-water, when the effect of the
waves is greatest, there we found that the rubble would not
lie at less than 5 to 1, whilst, on the inside, the slope stands
generally at from 1-J or 2 to 1.”
The above interesting details regarding these national
works show, from the variety which they exhibit, how diffi¬
cult it is to lay down any general rules for the construction
of harbours, and confirm the principle that each work must
be judged otper se.
Miscellaneous Observations.
The reduc- The ultimate object of constructing harbours is, by lower-
heRrht of6 ^ ^ie liei&ht t^ie waves> to preserve the tranquillity of
waves after ^ area °.f water which is inclosed by the piers ; and this
passing property is variously possessed by harbours of different
into har- forms, and depends much upon the relative widths of the
hours, and entrance, and of the interior, the depth of water, the shape
the proper of the entrance, and the relation between the direction of
entrance hs opening, and that of the line of maximum exposure.
I he only formula of which we are aware is that by the
writer of this article {Bdin. New Phil. Journal, 1853),
which gives an approximation to the reductive power, or
is, in other words, a numerical form of expressing how Harbours,
much a wave of given height becomes reduced, after it has ^
entered a harbour. Though the results obtained by the
formula may not be absolutely correct, this will be no ob¬
jection where the object is merely to obtain a comparative
value, as, for example, in comparing one design for a har¬
bour with another.
When the piers are high enough to screen the inner
area from the wind, where the depth is uniform, the width
of entrance not very great in comparison with the width of
the wave, and when the quay walls are vertical, and the
distance not less than 50 feet,—let
H = height in feet of waves in the open sea.
x = reduced height of waves in feet at place of observa¬
tion in the interior of the harbour.
b = breadth of entrance to harbour in feet.
B = breadth of harbour at place of observation in feet.
D = distance from mouth of harbour to place of observa¬
tion in feet.
This formula has been found to give good approxima¬
tions at several harbours where the heights of the waves
were registered. When H is assumed as unity, x will re¬
present the reductive power of the harbour.
In situations where the highest waves cross the harbour Decrease in
mouth at an oblique angle, a farther reduction is due to height of
this cause. We have been unable to find any observa-'vvavesfrora
tions that have been made on this subject by others, and J)ateila^ de‘
for want of better, we shall give three observations made ectlon•
under our directions at Latheronwheel harbour:—
Angle of
obliquity.
0°
50°
140°
Distances Height of ware
run through after passing
by waves. through angle.
16 feet. l-00
32 ... 0-68
68 ... 0-21
These must, however, be regarded as but approxima¬
tions. It is obvious that as the wave may be deflected
through more than 360°, the curve representing the reduc¬
tion must be a spiral; but more observations are wanted
to determine of what kind.
Booms are logs of timber placed across the mouth of a Booms for
harbour or the entrance to an inner basin or dock, having entrance,
their ends secured by projecting into grooves cut in the
masonry on each side of the entrance. The booms are
dropped into those grooves to the number of from 10 to 20,
or as many more as will insure close contact of the lowest
one with a sill-piece placed in the bottom of the harbour,
without which precaution the swell is found to enter the
harbour from below the booms. By this contrivance, which
forms a temporary wall, the waves are completely checked
and prevented from spreading into the interior basin. The
longest booms we have seen are about 45 feet, and in some
places, as at Hartlepool and Seaham in Durhamshire, they
are taken out and in by steam power.
Though perfectly successful in their tranquillizing effect
(provided they are kept in contact with the sill piece at the
bottom), booms are not suited for the mouths of harbours
where there is much traffic, as the shipping and unshipping
of so many logs of timber can hardly take less than a quar¬
ter of an hour—a delay which might in many cases be at¬
tended with serious consequences.
It is very desirable, and in some cases essential, that Stilling
there be either a considerable internal area, or else a se- basin for
parate basin opposite the entrance for the waves to destroy tbe waves’
or spend themselves. Such a basin should, if possible, be
made so as to preserve a portion of the original shore for
the waves to break upon, and when circumstances render
this impossible, there should at least be a flat talus of 2
or 3 to 1. Talus walls of 1 to 1, or steeper, will not al¬
low the waves to break fully, but will reflect them in such
HARBOURS.
223
Harbours, a manner as might in some cases make the entrance
difficult or even dangerous of access, and the berthage within
unsafe. There are many instances of harbours being mate¬
rially injured by the erection of a quay wall across a beach
where the waves were formerly allowed to expend their force.
It may be observed that when there is an inner harbour
or stilling basin, the elliptical form seems to be the most
promising. Let one focus be supposed to be on the middle
line of the entrance and to coincide with the point from
which the waves in expanding into the interior radiate as
from a centre (which they do approximately), and if the
other focus is situated inland of high-water mark, the waves
will tend to reassemble at the landward focus, and on their
way will be destroyed by breaking on the beach. This ap¬
pears from the well-known property of the ellipse, that if
two radii vectores be drawn from the two foci to any point
in the curve they will make equal angles with the tangent
at that point; and as the angles of incidence and reflection
of a wave from any obstacle are practically equal, each wave
will be nearly concentrated at the focus opposite to that
from which it emanated.
Svil of in- Another cause of disturbance in harbours, which is often
lTdee" n0t sufficient]y cons'dered, is the indiscriminate deepening
'ningatthe entrance without a proportionate enlargement of the
mtrance of in^ernai area, or the execution of other works for counter-
larbours of acting the effect. As the depth of the water is more and
mall re- more increased, waves of greater height become possible at
iuctive the entrance, so that larger waves gain admission to the in-
'ower* terior. The writer has had repeated proofs of this in the
course of his practice. At the port of Sunderland Mr D.
Stevenson recommended the removal of nearly the whole
of the south stone pier, and the substitution of works of open
framework in order to tranquillize the interior. These works,
which have been quite successful, were rendered necessary by
, . dle frequent dredging of the channel at and near the entrance,
couring Preservahon of the depth of harbours where there
is a tendency to deposit is often attended, with great diffi¬
culty and expense. Where the deposit of silt is confined
to the space between high and low water marks, the scour-
ing by means of salt or fresh water is in general compara¬
tively easy, but where there is a bar outside of the entrance
the case becomes most materially changed. The efficacy
of the scour, so long as it is not impeded by encountering
stagnant water, is kept up for great distances but soon comes
to an end on its meeting the sea. Probably the only way in
which this difficulty might to some extent be obviated would
be by conducting the water in iron pipes to the bar, a plan
which the author proposed in 1843 for Hynish harbour, but
the expense was considerable and the success doubtful. The
same plan was proposed by Mr Alexander Swan for Kirk¬
caldy some years later. When the volume of water liber¬
ated is great compared with the alveus or channel through
which it has to pass, the objection based on the stagnancy
of the water originally occupying the channel does not hold
to the same extent as when the scouring is to be produced
by a sudden finite momentum. In the one case the scouring
power depends simply on the quantity liberated in a given
space of time, while in the other it depends on the propel¬
ling head and the direction in which the water leaves the
sluice. Mr Renders scheme for Birkenhead was on the
former principle. The first example of artificial scouring
in this country seems to be due to Smeaton who used it
effectually at Ramsgate in 1779.
At Bute Docks, Cardiff, designed by Sir W. Cubitt, the
access to the outer basin is kept open most successfully by
means of artificial scouring on a gigantic scale. The en¬
trance was cut through mud banks for a distance of about
three-fourths of a mile seaward of high-water mark. The
initial discharge when the reservoir is full, is stated to be
2o00 tons per minute. The writer has known even so limited
a discharge for an hour to two as one ton a minute, pro¬
duce very useful effects in keeping a small tidal harbour Harbours,
clear of sand.
Many proposals have from time to time been made for Floating
mooring in the open sea floating frameworks of timber with break-
the view of sheltering the space inclosed by them. The waters*
objections to floating breakwaters are so great and obvious
that there seems little chance of their ever being much used.
From what was stated on the subject of booms, it will be
recollected that it is a requisite that they should fit closely
to a sill piece at the bottom, otherwise the run is found to
extend into the harbour. From what will be afterwards
stated regarding the liability of timber to speedy destruction
from the marine worm, and to iron by chemical action,
it is obvious that floating structures of wood, connected by
iron and moored by iron chains, cannot possibly be of long
duration. If to all these sources of evil we add the risk of
their being broken by the sea we think the case may be
almost regarded as hopeless. No doubt green-heart might
be employed so as to resist the ravages of the worm, but its
high specific gravity and its great expense would prove bars
to its employment.
In some situations where there is a long shallow beach, Suspension
a harbour or pier of timber or masonry may be made at or P1®1,3,
near the low-water mark, which may be connected with the
shore by means of a suspension bridge. The inducements
to adopt the suspension principle are its economy, and the
free passage it affords to the currents which in this way are
prevented from forming accumulations of sand, silt, or
gravel. These advantages are, however, much reduced
by the great wear and tear consequent upon the perish¬
able nature of the structure. The late Sir Samuel Brown
erected two chain piers, the one at Brighton, and the other
at Newhaven, near Edinburgh, both of which are still in
existence.
In every situation where it is easily practicable to make Advan-
two entrances to a harbour, it will be found well worth the entrances™
extra expense, provided they can be so placed that the one to ahar^
shall be available when the other has become difficult of hour,
access. In harbours which have but one mouth, vessels
are often detained for a great length of time by the con¬
tinuance of the wind in the direction which throws a heavy
sea into the entrance. Whereas if there are two entrances
situated as we have supposed, vessels are at once able to
take their departure by the sheltered side. At the port of
Peterhead, the north and south harbours were some years
ago united by a canal, according to the writer’s plans, and
there the advantage has been of the most marked descrip¬
tion. Vessels can now clear out as soon as loaded, either
by the north or south mouth, according to the state of the
sea. Some caution is necessary, however, as the run is apt
to extend from the one harbour to the other unless there
be a considerable area.
There is generally much prudence required in the altera- IIarl?oar
tion or repairs of existing marine works. The risk of hav- rePairs'
ing the whole structure destroyed by a gale coming suddenly
on while there is an open breach in the works, must be
obvious; and in one instance, where the exposure of the
place was great, and the evil was a hidden one, the writer
could not recommend the facework being disturbed. The
cause of failure in this instance was supposed to be the de¬
cay of the backing, which having deprived the face-stones
of support allowed them to be driven inwards by the force
of the waves. Instead of removing the facework, the only
recommendation that could be given was to inject the whole
pier with fluid cement, so as, if possible, to render the mass
monolithic. An alternative of this kind is obviously of very
doubtful success, and can be regarded as nothing short of a
last resort, for there is but a small chance of getting the in¬
jected fluid to permeate the whole mass of the pier. The
system of permeating the masonry with fluid matter could,
however, be employed with more chance of success in the
224
HARBOURS.
Harbours, formation of a pier, while each course lies open to view, of the facework by a mason who intended to replace them by Harbours.
In 1844, at a harbour that had stood for very many years, others, when a sudden gale came on, and nearly the whole
two or three faulty stones had been incautiously taken out of the work was levelled with the beach.
Register of Height of Waves for 1852 observed at Lybster, Caithness-shire. ^
g Jan. Feb. March. April. May. June. July. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nor. Dec. S
Fig. 2.
Timber
piers.
As an example of the suddenness with which our eastern
coast is visited by gales, and as indicating graphically the re¬
lative eligibility of the summer and winter months for car¬
rying on harbour works, we give the accompanying dia¬
gram of the heights of waves, as observed for the writer,
by Mr William Middlemiss, resident engineer at Lybster
harbour.
In landlocked bays, where a deep-water landing-place is
all that is required, and where the bottom is sandy or soft,
timber may be employed with great advantage. Even in
exposed situations, timber can also be used, but the fatal
disadvantage attending its employment in most places where
there is no admixture of fresh water, is the rapid destruction
occasioned by marine worms.
The damage occasioned to harbours in this way is noticed
by Semple in his treatise On Building in Water in 1776, and
very probably by much earlier writers. Indeed, the ravages
of the Teredo navalis are very ludicrously described by
Hector Boece in his Croniklis of Scotland, printed at Edin¬
burgh circa 1536. In the Atlantic Ocean the Teredo na¬
valis, and at many places in the German Ocean the Lim-
noria terebrans, are the animals which are found to de¬
stroy any structure of timber which is exposed to the water.
They are found to eat most rapidly between the bottom and
low-water mark, but above low-water the damage is not so
great; and what is singular, they do not appear to exist at
all below the bottom where the pile is covered with sand.
These observations do not, however, quadrate with Mr
Hartley’s at Liverpool, for he found the parts which were
alternately wet and dry to decay faster than the parts which
were constantly immersed. Even solid limestone is often
destroyed by the persevering efforts of another marine ani¬
mal called the Pholas.
The late Mr R. Stevenson made several experiments on
the ravages of the Limnoria terebrans at the Bell Rock in
1814, 1821, 1837, and 1843, by fixing pieces of different
kinds of timber to the rock, and getting regular reports on
their decay. From those experiments it appeared that
green-heart, beef-wood, and bullet-tree, were not attacked
by the worms, while teak stood remarkably well, although
suffering at last. The kyanizing fluid and other prepa¬
rations have been tried, but were not found to be of per¬
manent service. In addition to these experiments on tim¬
ber, no fewer than 25 different kinds and combinations of iron
were tried, including specimens of galvanized irons. Al¬
though separate specimens of each were tried in places where
they were always under water, and also in places where they
were alternately wet and dry, yet all the ungalvanized speci¬
mens were found to oxidize with much the same readiness.
The galvanized specimens resisted oxidation for three or
four years, after which the chemical action went on as
quickly as in the others.
The following Table shows the different hinds of Wood which were made the
subject of experiment at the Bell Rock in 1814,1821, 1837,1843, with their
relative durabilities.
Kind of Timber.
Decay
first ob
serred.
Un¬
sound
and
quite
de¬
cayed.
Quite
sound
for
Kemarks.
Green-heart 
Teak-wood 
Do 
Do 
Treenail of locust 
Beef-wood 
Treenail of Bullet-wood..
African Oak 
Do. do 
English Oak 
Do. do 
British Oak 
English Oak, kyanized...
American Oak 
Do. do 
Do. do., kyanized
Italian Oak....: 
Dantzic Oak  
Scotch Oak 
Baltic Oak 
Plane Tree 
Do 
British Ash 
Ash 
English Elm 
Do. do 
Scotch Elm  
American Elm 
Canada Rock Elm ...
Honduras Mahogany
Do. teak treenails.
Beech 
Do 
Do. Payne’s patent pro
Cedar of Lebanon 
Scotch Pir, teak treenails
Do. from Lanarksh.
Do. do.
Do. locust treenails
Memel Eir 
Riga Fir 
Dantzic Fir 
Norway Fir 
Baltic Red Pine 
Do. kyanized
Pitch Pine 
Do 
Virginia Pine, 
Yellow Pine 
Red Pine 
Cawdie Pine 
American Yellow Pine...
Do. locust treenails
American Red Pine..
Do. do. kyanized
Larch 
Polish Larch  
Birch,Payne’s patent pro
5 6
4 7
4 11
5 6
1 1
2 4
1 6
4 7
2 11
1 6
4 3
2 11
1 6
3 0
2 11
2 11
1 1
1 1
2 1
1 6
1 1
1 6
1 6
1 1
1 1
1 1
2 4
0 8
2 4
2 4
2 4
1 1
0 10
yrs. mo.
12 0
5 0
10 0
3"'l
4 7
5 0
10 0
4 7
5 0
3" 6
2 6
4" 3
1 6
5 0
5 0
5 0
3 1
yrs. mo.
13 0
13 0
3 0
13 0
5 0
1 10
Affected in one corner.
("Nearly sound 7£ years
t after being laid down.
f Nearly sound 7£ years
L after being laid down.
^Decaying but slowly 5 yrs,
< and 7 months after being
(_ laid down.
f Much decayed when first
1 observed.
{D ecaying but slowly 5 yrs.
and 7 months after being
laid down.
{Nearly sound 3i yrs. after
being laid down. Washed
away 6 months later.
r A little holed at one end
I underneath.
‘ A good deal decayed when
first observed.
( Going fast when first ob-
served.
( A good deal gone 18 mths.
J after being laid down.
) Swept away by the sea 7
l months afterwards,
f A good deal decayed when
i first observed.
f Going fast when first ob-
I served.
II A R B
Harbours. Green-heart timber is now generally had recourse to in
v ^ / places where the worms are destructive. It appears to have
been first used by Mr J. Hartley of Liverpool, who published
in the Minutes of Institution of Civil Engineers an account
of its virtues in 1840, as ascertained at the Liverpool Docks.
Its cost is considerably greater than memel or than most of
the other timbers generally used. Memel logs for the
inner piles of piers might perhaps, from their not being ex¬
posed to abrasion from ships, be clad with green-heart plank¬
ing at those parts which are exposed to the worm. Copper
sheathing and scupper nailing are often and successfully em¬
ployed as protections for piles in exposed situations. Bream¬
ing or scorching the wood, and afterwards saturating it with
train oil, also forms a partial protection.
It is much to be regretted that timber is so expensive in
this country, and that some simple and economical specific
against the worm has not been discovered for protecting
memel and the cheaper kinds of pine. The grand desidera¬
tum in harbour works, which is the leant of continuity in
the structure, would then be supplied. It follows, from the
known laws of fluids, that each individual stone in a pier
which is equally exposed throughout its whole length, is
subjected to a force which it can only resist by its own in¬
ertia, and the friction due to its contact with the adjoining
stones. The stability of a whole hydraulic work may there¬
fore be perilled by the use of small stones in one part of the
fabric, while it is in no way increased by the introduction
of heavier stones into other parts. By the use of long logs
of timber carefully bolted together a new element of strength
is obviously obtained. A pier could be erected almost tree
of sea risk if constructed of rectangular or other shaped
prisms, consisting of logs of timber treenailed and bolted
together, so as to form boxes, say 10 feet square and 30 or
40 feet long. The interior of the boxes would be filled
with rubble or beton. The first layer would be arranged
across the pier, so as to fit the irregularities of the bottom,
and above that, they might be arranged lengthways of the
pier, so as to form its outer and inner walls, the space be¬
tween being filled with common rubble or beton.
Deposit of In many ports the original depth has been decreased by
silt, sand, the deposit of silt, sand, and gravel. This is, indeed, a
&c., and great evil, and one which unfortunately is most difficult of
sea-bars. cure> g0 obscure and apparently capricious are the causes
which lead to the formation of shoals, that in the present
state of our knowledge it would be little short of quackery
to lay down any general rules for the guidance of the en¬
gineer. In fixing on the site for a harbour, all existing ob¬
structions should be examined to ascertain whether there be
a tendency to deposit, and the works should be kept as far
as possible from places where the tendency is most strongly
developed. The agents which occasion bars at the mouths
of harbours are the waves, the tide currents, and land streams
where they exist. Rivers are often more pernicious than
beneficial in their effects, especially where they intersect a
gravelly soil; but in some cases the descending gravel may be
successfully intersected by the erection of weirs from which
the accumulations must be from time to time removed.
We agree with Sir H. De la Beche in believing that the
bars at the mouths of rivers are most generally formed by
the constant tendency of the waves to preserve the conti¬
nuity of the beach profile. It is therefore not to be won¬
dered at, that heavy gales should distort and fill up the nar¬
row trench which the back waters cut in gravelly or sandy
beaches. The erection of breakwaters on each side has un¬
doubtedly a good effect in protecting the channel, but still
a bar is very apt to form outside of the breakwaters. In
some cases the depth of the track might probably be main-
VOL. XI.
OURS. 225
tained by driving, on each side of the mid-channel, dwarf Harbours,
piles to which continuous walings should be attached so as
to confine the current at low-water. The timber frame¬
work should not project more than a foot or two above the
bottom, which in some cases might be planked. This, how¬
ever, is but a hint, and has, so far as the author is aware,
never been tried. The principle on which the proposal is
based is that of contracting the low-water channel to a
smaller width than that of the high-water channel, and thus
by fixing the low-water track, to prevent a tortuous channel.
The same principle was adopted by the writer with success
in controlling and fixing the meanderings of a gravelly river,
which is subject to very sudden and heavy freshes.
The want of sufficient funds occasions a great national Advan-
loss in the construction of our harbours. The history of a tages of go-
large majority of those ports which have been erected by vernjnent
private or local enterprise, presents but a record of the build- menting
ing of piers at one period when the funds were small, and iocai funds,
of taking them down at another when the trade had in¬
creased and more room and accommodation were required.
Want of funds often prevents the original works from being
carried within deep water, and in consequence the most
expensive part of the protecting breakwater is often put
down just in the very place which has afterwards to be con¬
verted, at great expense, into a deep water access or berth-
age. Sometimes, indeed, a whole line of pier is, from mo¬
tives of economy, placed in such a manner as to interfere
most materially with what might have been by far the best
and safest berths for shipping, so that in the further exten¬
sion of the works a great part of the old harbour has to be
demolished. Want of a proper marine survey has also often
led to very serious errors in the position of the piers.
To such an extent has this system prevailed, that were
an engineer called on to value many of our works as they
exist at present, his estimate, however fairly and fully made
out, would fall lamentably short of the actual cost. This esti¬
mate would proceed on a measurement of what he sees, while
the actual cost would include the building of piers and jetties
which had long since ceased to exist. For these reasons we
conceive there could hardly be a more advisable expenditure
of the public money than by a system of grants for supple¬
menting the local funds on a liberal scale. With such aid
the authorities on the spot would be enabled to protect and
improve the existing physical advantages which the shores
possess, by preventing the construction of proposed improve¬
ments on too narrow a scale. But a comparatively slight
increase of the means would, in instances of which the
writer is aware, have inclosed a great extra area, and
secured a deeper access with superior internal tranquillity,
the want of which now cripples the trade, and is the subject
of lasting regret to all frequenting the harbours.
For other subjects connected with harbours vide articles
on Docks, and Ports.
Reference maybe made to Brit. Assoc. Rep. 1850 (Scoresby);
Min. Inst. Civ. Eng. 1848 (Rankine) ; Do. 1847 (Scott Russell);
Do. 1844 (Bremner); Smeaton’s Reports, passim. Rep. Com. on Waves
by Brit. Assoc., J. S. Russell, Lond. 1848. Researches on Hydrody¬
namics, J. S. Russell,—Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xiv. 1837. Ac¬
count of Experiments on Force of Waves of Atlantic and German
Oceans, Thomas Stevenson,—Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xvi.
1845. On Reduction of Height of Waves after passing into Harbours,
T. Stevenson,—Edin. New Phil. Journ., 1852. Account of the Ply¬
mouth Breakwater, by Sir J. Rennie, London 1848. Belidor’s Ar¬
chitecture Hydraulique, Paris. Semple’s Treatise on Building in
Water, Dublin, 1776. Royal Tidal Harbour Commissions Reports
(Captain Washington), London 1845-6. The Article on Tides and
Waves in the Encyclopcedia Metropolitana, by G. B. Airey, Astrono¬
mer Royal. Report by Commissioners of Harbours of Refuge, with
the Protest, by Sir Howard Douglas. (t. s.)
2 F
226 H A R H A R
Harburg HARBURG, a seaport town of Hanover, province of
II . Liineburg, on the left bank of the southern branch of the
Hardouin. £jbej 0ppOSite Hamburg which stands on the right bank
of the northern branch of that river. The distance between
Harburg and Hamburg is about 4£ miles, and regular steam
communication is maintained between them at least six or
eight times a day. Harburg communicates also with Ha¬
nover by railway, and carries on a considerable trade, chiefly
transit, between Hamburg and the countries south of the Elbe.
It has manufactures of linen, hosiery, soap, starch, refined
wax, leather, See. It is a place of some strength, being sur¬
rounded by walls, and defended by a citadel. Pop. 5500.
HARDERWYK, a town of Holland, province of
Guelderland, on the Zuyder Zee, 30 miles E. of Amster¬
dam. It is fortified on the land side, and has a barrack, a
Calvinistic and a Roman Catholic church, two orphan
asylums, and a gymnasium. The inhabitants are chiefly
engaged in fishing and in the corn trade. Pop. 4400.
HARDICANUTE, Hardecanute, or Hardiknute,
the eldest son of Canute the Great, by Emma the “ Flower
of Normandy,” whom he had married after the death of
her first husband, Ethelred II. At the time of Canute’s
death, Hardicanute, his eldest legitimate son, happened to
be absent in Denmark, which country had been entrusted
to him as his father’s viceroy, and his half-brother Harold
usurped the throne. Hardicanute being of an easy and self-
indulgent nature, remained quietly in Denmark, giving him¬
self no concern about his political interests. At the in¬
stance of his mother Emma, however, he had just begun
to fit out a fleet for the purpose of recovering his rights,
when a deputation of English barons brought him the news
that the usurper was dead, and that the crown was in his
gift. His reign extended over little more than two years;
and was not distinguished by any event of importance. He
spent his time chiefly in eating and drinking, in both of
which he indulged to excess. His inglorious career was
terminated by a stroke of apoplexy, June 8, 1042.
HARDNESS, that property in bodies by which they
resist abrasion from the impression of any other substance.
The method pursued in constructing tables of the hardness
of different substances is by observing the order in which
the articles tried are capable of cutting or scratching one
another. The following table, extracted from Magellan’s
edition of Cronstedt’s Mineralogy, was taken from Quist,
Bergman, and Kirwan :—
Hard- Spe.
ness. grav.
Diamond from Ormus 20 3'7
Pink diamond  19 3-4
Bluish diamond 19 3-3
Yellowish diamond ...19 3'3
Cubic diamond  18 3-2
Ruby  17 4-2
Pale ruby, from Brazil 16 3-5
Ruby spinell 13 3‘4
Deep blue sapphire ...16 3-8
Ditto paler 17 3-8
Topaz 15 4,2
Whitish ditto 14 3’5
Bohemian ditto 11 2 8
Emerald 12 2'8
Garnet  12 4'4
Agate 12 2-6
Onyx  12 2 6
A similar but shorter table
diamond is rated at 10.
Hard- Spe.
ness. grav.
Sardonyx  12 2-6
Occidental amethyst ..11 2'7
Crystal  11 2 6
Carnelian  11 2 7
Green jasper  11 2-7
Reddish yellow ditto... 9 2-6
Schoerl  10 3 6
Tourmaline  10 3‘0
Quartz  10 2-7
Opal  10 2-6
Chrysolite  10 3‘7
Zeolite    8 2-1
Fluor   7 3-5
Calcareous spar   6 2-7
Gypsum  5 2,3
Chalk  3 2-7
; now generally used, in which
HARDOUIN, Jean, better known as Pere Hardouin,
one of the most learned, and at the same time most singu¬
lar men whose names are to be found in the history of let¬
ters, was born at Quimper, in Brittany, in 1646. His
youth gave little promise of his future distinction, and it
was with difficulty that he was admitted into the order of
the Jesuits. After the usual preliminaries he went to Hardwicks
Paris to complete his theological studies. He there under- ||
took to edit the Natural History of Pliny for the series ®are*
of the Delphin Classics. In trying to determine the posi-
tions of the towns mentioned by Pliny, he became sensible
that a knowledge of medals would assist him in clearing up
different points of ancient geography; and with this view
he immediately applied to the study of numismatics, in
which he soon rendered himself profound. His edition of
Pliny was completed in five years, and, when it appeared,
made his name known to all Europe. This work, which,
according to Huet, would have occupied any five ordinary
scholars fifty years, met with so flattering a reception, that
Father Hardouin could not enjoy his success with modera¬
tion. The commendations which poured in upon him from
all quarters intoxicated him with pride ; and he no longer
spoke of other antiquaries, except with the utmost contempt.
The latter in their turn depreciated his merits, and exag¬
gerated his faults. Hardouin replied with bitterness, and
at length had recourse to the wildest paradoxes in his at¬
tempt at self-defence. In one of his works, La Chrono¬
logic expliquee par les Me dailies, he ventured to maintain
that ancient history had been entirely recomposed by the
monks of the thirteenth century, and that the only genuine
remains of Latin antiquity were the works of Cicero and
Pliny, the Georgies of Virgil, and the satires and epistles
of Horace. In 1708 his ecclesiastical superiors compelled
him to retract this opinion, but his retractation made no real
change in his views. He died at Paris, September 3, 1729, in
the eighty-third year of his age. His principal works are :
Nummi antiqui Populorum et Urbium illustrati, de re monetaria
veterum Romanorum ex Flinii Secundi sententia, Paris, 1684, in
4to ; Antirrheticus de Nummis antiquis Coloniarum et Municipiorum
ad Jo. Foy-Vaillant, ibid. 1689, in 4to ; G. Flinii Secundi Histories
Naturalls, libri xxxvii., Paris, 1689, in five vols. 4to; S. Joannis
Chrysostomi Epistola ad Ccesarium monachum, notis illustrata, Paris,
1686, in 4to; Chronologies ex Nummis antiquis restitutes specimen
primum, Paris, 1696, in 4to; Opera Selecta, Amsterdam, 1709,1719,
in folio; Conciliorum Collectio Regia Maxima, Paris, 1715 and the
following years ; Apologie d'Ilortiere, ou Von explique le veritable
dessein de VRiade, et la Theo-mythologie, Paris, 1716, in 12mo; Opera
Varia Posthuma, Amsterdam, 1733, in folio; Commentarius in Novum
Testamentum, Amsterdam, 1742, in folio; Prolegomena ad censuram
Scriptorum veterum, London, 1766, in 8vo; and a very great number
of Dissertations, chiefly on Medals, in the Memoires de Trevoux.
HARDWICKE, Earl of. See Yorke, Sir Philip.
HARE. See index to Mammalia.
HARE, Julius Charles, M.A., an eminent clergyman
and dignitary of the Church of England, was born at
Herstmonceux, in the county of Sussex, on the 13th of
September 1795. His father, the Rev. Robert Hare, who
was a younger son of Bishop Hare, held, along with the
family living of Herstmonceux, the rectory of Barton Stacey,
and in his later years was a prebendary of Winchester.
His mother was a daughter of Dr Shipley, Bishop of St
Asaph. Their family consisted of four sons, of whom the
subject of this notice was the third. The oldest, Francis,
and the youngest, Marcus, died early, and without having
acquired distinction ; the second, Augustus William, who
became a fellow of New College, Oxford, and rector of
Alton Barnes, Wiltshire, though prematurely cut off in 1834,
has secured for himself a permanent reputation, partly as the
associate of his younger and more famous brother in one of
his most widely circulated publications, partly by two volumes
of sermons published after his death, and of which a very
impartial and competent critic has said, that “ for an illite¬
rate audience—an audience of rustics—they appear in point
of diction perfect models of what discourses ought to be.” 1
The Rev. Robert Hare died while his sons were yet
young. Their early education was superintended by their
mother, a woman of cultivated mind, and who added to an
1 Edinburgh Review, vol. Ixxii., p. 86.
H A
Hare, energy derived from her father, a grace and beauty of cha-
racter peculiarly her own. To her and to her sister, Lady
Jones, widow of the celebrated orientalist, the subject of
this notice owed much of his early training. Of hisjuvenile
life a considerable portion was spent on the Continent, and
there, it is presumed, were laid the foundations of several
peculiarities both of style and sentiment by which he was
afterwards characterized. After passing through the usual
course at the Charter-house, he was removed to Cambridge,
in 1812, where he remained, with a brief interval, for twenty
years. He became a Fellow of Trinity College in 1818,
and in 1822 he assumed the duties of assistant-tutor of the
college. During his residence at Cambridge he was en¬
gaged in amassing that treasure of classical and philological
learning which formed the basis of his intellectual furniture,
and in forming that habit of mind and tendency of thought
by which he was afterwards peculiarly distinguished. To
this the study of German literature, and of the writings of
Coleridge and Wordsworth, contributed, along with that of
the literary treasures of ancient Greece and Rome. Nor
were there wanting the plastic influences of congenial so¬
ciety and the collision of kindred minds, for Trinity Col¬
lege numbered then among its members, who were Mr
Hare’s contemporaries, not a few whose names have since
added splendour to the ancient glories of that foundation.
We have Mr Hare’s own testimony to the effect that he
owed “ the building up of his mind, and much happiness for
more than twenty years, to the friends he found amongst
the members of Trinity College;”1 and one of the most
distinguished of these friends has recorded that when Mi-
Hare left Cambridge it was to his “ great sorrow and that
of many more.”2
Whilst at Cambridge, Mr Hare published a work in two
volumes, under the title of Guesses at Truth, by Tivo
Brothers. Part of this work, which consists of apophthegms
and reflections in various departments of knowledge, was
contributed by his elder brother, but the greater part was
furnished by himself. There, too, he, in conjunction with
his friend the Rev. Connop Thirlwall, now Bishop of St
David’s, executed the translation of the first two volumes of
Niebuhr’s History of Home, of which vol. i. was published
in 1828, and vol. ii. in 1832. He also united with the same
friend and some others in publishing the Philological Mu¬
seum, a periodical of which only two volumes were com¬
pleted, but which contributed much to introduce a pro¬
founder habit of studying ancient literature than had pre¬
viously for several generations characterized English scholars.
To this journal Mr Hare contributed largely, both by trans¬
lations from the German and by original articles. Among
the latter are some intended to vindicate those departures
from the ordinary mode of spelling some words in which he
indulged, and the uncouth appearance of which, together
with some roughnesses of style, led a facetious critic to de¬
signate him punningly Julius Hirsutus.
The family living of Herstmonceux having become va¬
cant in 1832 by the death of his uncle, Mr Hare quitted
Cambridge to assume the duties of rector of that parish.
Before entering upon these, however, he availed himself of
the opportunity to pay a visit to the Continent, in the course
of which he spent some time at Rome. Here commenced
his intimacy with the Chevalier Bunsen, an intimacy which
was afterwards ripened into the most cordial friendship when
the latter came to reside in England as the representative
of the Prussian court. When he published his great work
on Hippolytus and his Age, the learned diplomatist dedi¬
cated part of it to Mr Hare, “ as a monument of a life-long
friendship ; ” and in the body of the work he addresses him
thus, “ My dearest friend, together with whom for nearly
R E. 227
twenty years I have had the happiness of thinking and in- Hare,
quiring, and in whose love of truth I have found no less
comfort than in your erudition and critical judgment.” 3
At Herstmonceux, Mr Hare devoted himself with laud¬
able fidelity to the duties of his office. He laboured to ac¬
commodate his style of thinking and speaking to his rustic
auditors, with a perseverance deserving of all praise, though
without, we fear, any large measure of success; at any
rate, if the two published volumes of his Parish Sermons
may be taken as a specimen of his ordinary teaching, the
peasantry of Herstmonceux must possess a taste for “ painful
preaching” exceeding even that of the Puritans, if they did
not many a time weary for the close of his discourse. Nor
did he much excel in the more private duties of a parish mi¬
nister. The truth is, he was not quite in his place in such a
sphere. His habits and the peculiar cast of his mind fitted
him rather for the study than the pulpit, and for intercourse
with the learned and the thoughtful than for acting the part
of a teacher or a comforter of the illiterate. He had col¬
lected a magnificent library, to which he went on continually
adding, until it had covered nearly all the inside walls of
his rectory ; and it was his delight to pursue, amidst these
treasures of literature, with painstaking minuteness, re¬
searches into those departments to which he had addicted
himself, and which, besides philology, embraced history,
philosophy, and theology. The stores thus accumulated he
delighted also to communicate to all who were privileged to
enjoy his friendship, though it must be confessed that the
stream sometimes came forth with a volume and a rapidity
that made it impossible for less capacious minds to sustain
themselves under it. As a preacher he was more in his place
at Cambridge, where he delivered the two courses of ser¬
mons afterwards published under the title of The Victory of
Faith, 8vo, 1840, and The Mission of the Comforter, 2 vols.
8vo, 1846 ; but even with such an audience there was some¬
thing in his style of thought and expression that stood in
the way of his success; and it is even recorded that on one
occasion the spirit of undergraduate impatience found ut¬
terance, and his sermon “was closed amidst the audible
scrapings and shufflings of a multitude of invisible feet on
all sides of the eloquent preacher.”4 When in 1840 he
was appointed Archdeacon of Lewes, a still more congenial
and suitable sphere was secured to him for the exercise of
his peculiar powers, in the periodical charges which it formed
part of his official duty to deliver to the clergy of that arch¬
deaconry ; though it must be confessed that even here also
the acceptibility and usefulness of his addresses were not
a little marred by that excessive prolixity which was the
besetting sin of his written discourses. “If I had been one of
his clergy,” said an eminent prelate, after looking over one of
his published charges, “ and been charged in that style, I
should have been like a gun—I should have gone off.”
Sometime after settling at Herstmonceux, Mr Hare mar¬
ried a sister of his friend and former pupil, the Rev. F. D.
Maurice. This union was a source of unfailing happiness
to him, as well as in some respects of spiritual enlighten¬
ment and comfort. An internal disorder, to which he was
subject, and under which his strength gradually sank, ren¬
dered invaluable the society and the tender care of such a
partner. To her it was given to “cast a steady sunshine
over his life” during its latest years. These years were years
of unremitting toil, though also of frequent suffering and
progressive decay. He delivered his last charge to his
clergy in the autumn of 1854 ; he spoke with difficulty, and
all could see that the hand of death was upon him ; but he
lingered on till the 23d of January 1855, when he peace¬
fully expired in the arms of his wife. He was buried at
Herstmonceux on the 30th of the same month.
1 Dedication of The Victory of Faith. 2 Whewell’s Dedication of Four Sermons on the Foundation of Morals.
3 \ ol. i., p. 330, 2d edit. 4 Quarterly Review, No. 193, p. 14.
223 H A R
Harem The works of Archdeacon Hare are chiefly theological
I! and controversial. His translation of Niebuhr, and his con-
Harfleur. trjkutions to the Philological Museum, constitute the whole
of what he did of a purely literary character, it we except
some early and unacknowledged translations flom the Grei-
man, and a few portions of the Guesses at Truth. His
theological writings consist almost exclusively ot sermons
preached either in the ordinary course of parish duty or on
special occasions. The most important in every point of
view is his Mission of the Comforter, a series of discourses
on John xvi. 7-11, followed by an immense mass of notes.
His published charges are numerous, and relate to almost
all the more prominent topics of public interest affecting
religion which have been before the mind of the public
during the last fourteen years of his life. Besides these,
most of which are of a controversial character, he was the
author of several publications on controverted topics ; and
at the time of his death he was engaged on the revisal of
the largest and perhaps the weightiest of these, his Vindi¬
cation of Luther, which had first appeared as a note to the
Mission of the Comforter. So many of these controversial
publications were devoted to the vindication of others, that
he used to say playfully that he should one day collect them
all in one volume, under the title of “ Vindicia? Harianse,
or the Hare with many friends,”1 a witticism which, though
not original, was one to which he had a hereditary right, the
title of the old fable having been jocularly applied by the
famous Duchess of Gordon to his relative, James Hare.
His Life of Sterling may be regarded as coming under the
head of these friendly vindications.
As a writer, Archdeacon Hare is distinguished by breadth
of view, copiousness and accuracy of learning, massiveness of
conception, and an earnest but not very dexterous handling
of his materials. His writings have been defrauded of their
proper influence and imputation, partly by his orthographical
peculiarities, principally by his rugged and operose style.
Though thoroughly, almost fastidiously, English in respect
of words and idioms, his style was German rather than
English in respect of the construction of sentences. This
was especially unfavourable to him as a controversialist.
The great defect of his writings in this department is their
want of point. An intelligent reader cannot but see that
the true answer which the side espoused by the writer
demands is there, but it is so involved in the mass of mat¬
ter that it fails to tell as it otherwise might. In spite of
such drawbacks, however, these writings contain such a vast
amount of sound and wise thinking, are so pervaded by
an almost boundless learning, and indicate such a truth-
loving, just, and earnest spirit, that they cannot fail to se¬
cure for their author a permanent place among the theolo¬
gical writers of his age and country.
As a churchman, Archdeacon Hare belonged to what
has been called the Broad Church, not so much from any
latitudinarianism on the part of those composing it, as from
the eclectic tendency of their theological studies. With the
spirit of this party he was deeply imbued. He sought truth
wherever it was to be found, and he embraced it when
found with a simple and loving spirit, standing aloof alike
from Puseyite and Evangelical, he sought to admire what
might be good in either party, or to learn from either
whatever it had to teach that was true. On the cardinal
truths of Christianity his opinions, as expounded in his writ¬
ings, are very much those of the Evangelical Arminian
school; though on some points, such as the nature of the
atonement, his views seem vague and indefinite. See
Quarterly Review, No. 193, and British and Loreign and
Evangelical Review, No. V. (w. l. a.)
HAREM. See Constantinople, Turkey.
HARFLEUR fHarfloricum), a small town of France,
H A R
department of Seine-Inferieure, on the Lezarde, about a Harihara
mile from its confluence with the Seine, and 4 miles E.N.E. II
of Havre, on the railway between that town and Paris. It ^ equip,
has a fine Gothic church, surmounted by a beautiful tower
and spire ; and has some manufactures of earthenware, and
a sugar refinery. In the middle ages it was an important
fortress and harbour. It was taken in 1415 by the English,
who expelled the inhabitants and re-peopled the town. In
1433 it was recovered by the French ; in 1440 it was again
stormed by the English, but was about ten years afterwards
finally captured from them by Charles VII. of France.
The fortifications have been demolished, and the harbour is
now dried up. Pop. about 1700.
HARIHARA, a town and fortress of Southern Hindus¬
tan, at the N.E. quarter of the native kingdom of Mysore,
on the S.E. bank of the Toombuddra River. In the fort •
there is a celebrated temple of Vishnu, and among the in¬
habitants there are many of low caste. Ihe British can¬
tonment here is situate on an extensive plain, 1500 yards
from the river, towards which the ground gently slopes.
The water of the river is good, but the distance renders it
inconvenient to resort to it for a supply, so that it is gene¬
rally obtained from wells, being usually found at a depth
of about 40 feet. The elevation of the cantonment above
the sea is about 1900 feet. The place being formerly
situated on the confines of two countries, has often changed
masters. After the defeat of Ram Rajah, and the destruc¬
tion of the Bijanagur sovereignty, it became subject to the
Adil Shahee dynasty of Bejapore. On the destruction of the
dynasty by the Moguls, it fell into the hands of the nabob of
Savanoor, from whom it was afterwards taken by the rajah of
Ikery, who was expelled by the Mahrattas; and these, after a
period of fifteen years, were driven out by Hyder. On
the death of Tippoo, and the division of his country, it
was one of the districts ceded to the British, and is now
included in the state of Mysore. E. Long. 75. 51., N.
Eat. 14. 31.
HARINGTON, Sir John, an English poet, was born
at Kelston, near Bath, in 1561, instructed in classical learn¬
ing at Eton School, and thence removed to Cambridge,
where he took his degree in arts. At the age of thirty, he
published a translation of the Orlando Furioso, which,
though executed without spirit or even accuracy, enriched
our poetry with new stores of imagery and romance. Har-
ington was knighted in the field by Essex, to the great dis¬
pleasure of the queen, who wished all such honours to ema¬
nate from herself; and in the reign of King James he was
created a knight of the Bath. He was a favourite of Prince
Henry, to whom he presented a manuscript, directed chiefly
against married bishops. This production was intend¬
ed for the private use of the prince ; but being afterwards
published, it raised a great clamour against the author, who
had otherwise incurred suspicion, if not odium, by support¬
ing Raleigh in his suit for the manor of Banwell, belonging
to the bishopric of Bath and Wells, on the presumption that
the actual incumbent had incurred a prcemunire by marry¬
ing a second wife. Sir John died in 1612. His epigrams,
which were the most popular of his works, though possess¬
ing little poetical merit, appeared first in 1618, and after¬
wards in 1625. The Nugce Antiquce, a miscellaneous col¬
lection of his works, was published in 1792, and again in
1804, with illustrative notes and a memoir of the author.
HARLEQUIN, in the Italian comedy, a buffoon dressed
in parti-coloured clothes, and answering to our merry-an¬
drew or jack-pudding. Harlequin has also been introduced
upon our stage, and is one of the standing characters in the
modern pantomime. The term, according to Menage, took
its origin from a famous Italian comedian who appeared at
Paris in the time of Henry III., and, from frequenting the
1 Quarterly Review, No. 193, p. 24.
H A R
Harley, house of M. de Harlay, was called by his companions
Harlequino, little Harlay.
HARLEY, Robert, Earl of Oxford, was born in 1661.
His father, Sir Edward Harley, was the head of a great
Puritan family in Herefordshire, who had distinguished
himself in the long parliament, and commanded a regiment
under Essex, but who, when Cromwell and his party had
crushed every thing that stood in their way, had gone into
opposition, and when at length the Restoration was mooted,
did his best to promote it. For his services he was made
governor of Dunkerque. His son, Robert, entering par¬
liament at the Revolution as member for Tregonyin Corn¬
wall, and afterwards for Radnor, distinguished himself at
first as an intolerant and vindictive Whig. It was soon
noticed, however, that his favourite companions were men
■ whose political creed was exactly the opposite of his own.
He called himself a Whig of the old stamp, and professed
to hold kings generally in abhorrence. The cavaliers hated
the reigning king, whom they called a usurper: and thus
it was that Harley combined with them in thwarting
William whenever occasion offered. He was thus cautiously
paving the way for a change which he had long meditated.
After the general election of 1690, he began gradually,
though almost imperceptibly, to identify himself with the
Tory party, with whom he now voted almost regularly.
Though a man of mean capacity, and a poor speaker, he
yet possessed many qualities which made him a valuable
partizan,—indefatigable industry, a large extent of reading,
especially of the antiquarian kind—and as, unlike most of the
political celebrities of that day, he had no very scandalous
vices, his moral weight was a great deal higher than it
deserved to be. As was natural he soon rose; he was
made speaker under the Tory administration of Godolphin
in 1701 ; in the next parliament he was re-appointed, and
held the office till he was made Secretary of State in April
1704. His elevation he is known to have owed in good
part to the intrigues of Mrs Masham, whose marriage
Harley had brought about, and who requited the favour by
exerting on his behalf her interest with the Queen. That
influence was now daily on the ascendant; and the once
colossal power of the Marlboroughs was waning fast. An
accident, however, once more changed the aspect of affairs.
A clerk of Harley’s was detected in a treasonable corre¬
spondence with the French Court, and was condemned to
death. The popular outcry was strong against Flarley,
who may perhaps at this time have been innocent; and
Marlborough and Godolphin, taking advantage of it, com¬
pelled the Queen to dismiss her favourite. His disgrace,
however, was of short continuance, for, aided again by the
favour of Mrs Masham, Flarley was in 1710 made Chancel¬
lor of the Exchequer, in room of Godolphin, who resigned
in that year with all his followers, and left the field open to
an administration completely Tory. The influence of Mrs
Masham was now supreme with Anne, and the whole Marl¬
borough clique was discarded from court, as well as from
office. Very opportunely for Flarley’s interests, an unsuc¬
cessful attempt made upon his life by a French agent, call¬
ing himself the Marquis de Guiscard, quieted the doubts of
the Tories, who had again begun to doubt his loyalty. Two
months after the outrage on his person, Harley was made
Lord High Treasurer, and was rewarded with the earldom
of Oxford and Mortimer, and invested with the Garter.
But by far the most memorable act of his administration
was the peace of Utrecht, concluded May 5, 1713. This
had hardly been effected when Harley and Bolingbroke,
who had hitherto acted in concert, and to whom the credit
of the peace, such as it was, was chiefly due, turned into
open rivalry the secret jealousy which had been fermenting
between them for some time before, and began to plot each
other’s ruin. Harley, thinking himself independent of Mrs
Masham, ceased to pay court to her as before. Flis rival
H A R 229
took advantage of the mistake, and procured his dismissal Harlingen
July 27, 1714; but did not long enjoy his triumph, for the II
Queen’s death a few days after terminated the public *larmonia‘
career of both. It was not known then, though the re-
searches of Sir James Mackintosh have now put it beyond
a doubt, that both Harley and Bolingbroke had been latterly
in treasonable correspondence with the court of Versailles.
It is not unlikely that that charge might have been made
good had the trial been proceeded with when both were
impeached in the August of 1715. But Bolingbroke
escaped to France ; and Harley, after pining for about two
years in the Tower, was acquitted and set at liberty. After
this he retired into private life to enjoy the society of his
literary friends, and his books and MSS., to which he was
deeply attached. He died May 21, 1724. The brilliant
analysis of Harley’s character given by Macaulay {Hist.
Eng., vol. iv., pp. 463-4-5), does not seem to account suf¬
ficiently for the power which Harley attained, and the in¬
fluence he exercised among the men who surrounded him,
who were nearly all alike unprincipled.
Harley, as has been already said, loved books and the so¬
ciety of men of genius and leaiming. He even aspired himself
to shine as a wit and poet; but his works, both in prose and
verse, have small chance of immortality. He was the author
of a letter to Swift On Correcting and Improving the
English Tongue; an Essay on Public Credit, which he
seems to have little understood in practice ;—for he orga¬
nized government lotteries, granted monopolies, &c.;—and a
Vindication of the Rights of the Commons of England.
For an account of his splendid collection of books and MSS.
see Museum, British.
HARLINGEN, or HAARLINGEN, a fortified seaport
town of Holland, province of West PYiesland, on the en¬
trance to the Zuyder-Zee, 16 miles W. of Leeuwarden, with
which it is connected by a canal. It is intersected by nume¬
rous canals, bordered with trees, and the streets are generally
regular and clean. It has a neat town-hall, six churches,
a synagogue, an orphan asylum, and numerous schools.
There is a good harbour, but on account of sandbanks at
its entrance it is not accessible to large vessels. Harlingen
has manufactures of sail-cloth, gin, bricks, paper, salt, and
an extensive foreign trade. Among its exports are cattle,
butter, cheese, fruit, vegetables, flax, hemp, and wool.
Pop. (1850) 8591.
HARM ATT AN, the name of a dry hot wind which
blows periodically from the interior of Africa towards the
Atlantic Ocean. It prevails in December, January, and
February, and is usually accompanied by a haze which
often obscures the sun for several days together. It has a
withering effect on vegetation, and even affects the human
body so as to cause the skin to peel off. See Physical
Geography.
HARMODIUS, whose name is always associated with
that of his friend Aristogeiton, was regarded by the Athe¬
nians, after the expulsion of the Pisistratids, as one of their
noblest patriots. The circumstances, however, which led
them to the murder of Hipparchus were entirely of a per¬
sonal, and not of a political nature ; and when divested of
all the romance attached to them by the song and ballad
writers of Greece, prove that the friends are entitled to
rank no higher than common assassins. The real relations
subsisting between them are fully described by Thucydides,
Book vi., chap. 54.
HARMONIA, in Grecian Mythology, the wife of Cad¬
mus, was the daughter of Mars and Venus, or, as others
say, of Jupiter and Electra. On the day of her marriage
all the gods came from Olympus to witness the ceremony.
The necklace and the peplus, or robe, which her husband
presented to her on that occasion obtained a sad renown
in the old mythology, from the evils they brought upon all
who wore them. Polynices, into whose hands it passed,
230 H A R H A R
Harmonica used it to bribe Eriphyle to disclose the retreat of her
II husband, Amphiaraus, who had hidden himself that he
Harmostas. mjght escape from the Theban expedition, in which it had
been foretold that he would perish. He did perish, and
his son Alcmaeon, hearing how his fate had been accom¬
plished, slew his mother Eriphyle. The fatal necklace
next passed to Arsinoe, then to Pronous, and Agenor, and
was finally dedicated in the temple of Minerva at Delphi
by Amphoterus and Acarnan, the sons of Alcmaeon. Even
then, however, it did not lose its powers of working mischief.
The tyrant Phyllus stole it from the temple, and gave it to
his mistress, who wore it for a time. Her son, however,
was struck with madness, and in a frenzy set fire to the
house in which his mother was. She was burnt to death,
and all her treasures were consumed in the same fire which
destroyed herself.
HARMONICA, a musical instrument, consisting of a
number of glass cups fixed upon a revolving spindle, and
made to vibrate by friction applied to their edges. Mr
Puckeridge, an Irishman, is said to have been the first to
use a set of drinking-glasses, fixed on a table, and tuned to
form a scale by putting more or less water into each. They
were made to sound by passing a wet finger round their
edges. These were improved by Mr Delaval, and still
further by Dr Franklin, and were called “ the musical
glasses.” Their tone is sweet and melancholy, and of a
peculiar timbre, which produces a painful efiect on the
nerves of some persons. It appeal’s, however, that the use
of musical drinking-glasses was described in a work (Matke-
matische und Philosophische Erquickstunderi) published
by G. P. Harsdorfer, at Nuremberg in 1677. What was
called a harpsichord-harmonica, in which finger-keys like
those of a pianoforte were used instead of direct contact
of the fingers with the revolving glasses, was invented
by Rollig at Vienna, and Klein at Presburg. Another
harmonica was invented by the Abate Mazzucchi, who em¬
ployed the friction of a hair-bow to produce the sounds of
the glasses. A stringed harmonica was invented at Augusta,
in 1788, by John Stein, an eminent organ-builder. It
consisted of a double stringed (wired) pianoforte, combined
with a sort of spinet, to be used together or separately. Its
effects are said to have been remarkable. (g. f. g.)
HARMONICS. See Acoustics, vol. ii., p. 107.
Harmonics (acute), their production and ratios. See
Music, §§ 1 and 2.
HARMONIUM, a musical instrument recently con¬
structed by Alexandre of Paris. It has a key-board, like a
pianoforte, and the sounds (which resemble those of organ-
pipes) are produced by thin plates of metal, fixed at one end
and free at the other, and which are caused to vibrate by
means of a current of air from bellows. It is so constructed
as to play either legato or staccato passages, and can swell
or diminish the sounds at pleasure. Many years ago an
instrument of the very same kind, called an Eolodicon, wtis
invented by Eschenbach, and constructed by Voigt, a mu¬
sical-instrument maker at Schweinfurt in Franconia. It
was a handsome-looking instrument, and easily transportable,
weighing only about 150 pounds. Its tones were beautiful,
and it had the great advantage of never getting out of tune.
The Eolophone is an instrument of a similar kind. (g. f. g.)
HARMONY, in Music. See Music, § Harmony.
HARMOST7E, in English Harmosts, were the magis¬
trates sent by the Lacedaemonians after the Peloponnesian
War to administer the government among the towns which
at that time fell into their power. The limits of their pow’er
and the length of their tenure of office do not seem to have
been very strictly defined. Though their commission, there¬
fore, w'as to prepare the conquered cities for the re-enjoy¬
ment of their ancient liberties, they were never called to give
any account of their government, wdiich wTas generally more
harsh and oppressive than that of the Spartans themselves.
HARO, anciently Castrum Bilium, a secular town of Haro
Spain, in the province of Burgos, and bishopric of Calahorra. ||
It contains two parish churches, one Augustinian convent, Rarpe.
one hospital, and one house of refuge; and is the centre v'*
of one of the most beautiful and fertile spots in Spain. Pop.
6235.
HAROLD I., surnamed Harefoot, was the second son
of Canute the Great, by Alfgiva. On his father’s death he
usurped the English throne, which had been bequeathed to
Hardicanute, and held it till his death in 1040. Nothing
whatever is known with certainty about his character. The
very reasons of his surname are disputed, some maintain¬
ing that he owed it to his swiftness of foot; others to the
fact that his foot was covered with hair.
Harold II., the last Saxon king of England, was the
second son of Godwin, Earl of Kent, and succeeded to the
throne on the death of Edward the Confessor, January 5,
1066. His history is that of his country, and is given in
minute detail in art. England. His life has afforded the
materials for one of the best of Sir E. L. Bulwer’s historical
novels,—that of Harold.
HARP, a stringed instrument of music, traceable to a
very remote antiquity, as is shown by the harps painted on the
walls of tombs at Thebes, and described in Bruce’s Travels,
and in the splendid French work Description de VEgypte.
Jones and Parry have written upon the Welsh harp, Bunt¬
ing upon the Irish harp, and Gunn upon the harp of the
Scottish Highlanders. The modern double-action harp of
Sebastian Erard has a compass of six octaves, from E to E,
with all the semitones, and even quarter tones. For some
observations on the harp, and especially the Irish harp and
its scale, see G. F. Graham’s Dissertation prefixed to
Wood’s Songs of Ireland. 1854.
HARPAGINES (apirayf), in Antiquity, grappling-irons
which were flung with violence against the rigging of an
enemy’s ship, and, when entangled there, were used to
drag the ship within reach, so that it might be boarded to
more advantage, or destroyed.
HARPE, Jean Francois de la, a distinguished French
litterateur of the eighteenth century, was born at Paris in
1739. Some Sisters of Charity found him abandoned by
his parents in the Rue de la Harpe, whence he took his
name. They took care of his early years, till he was ad¬
mitted as a bursar into the College d’Harcourt, where he
distinguished himself by his zeal and success in his studies.
On leaving it he wrote a pasquinade against the masters,
and was especially severe on his own old tutor, from whom
he had experienced nothing but kindness. This ingrati¬
tude landed him in the house of correction at For 1’Eveque,
where he was detained for some months. Society was now
closed against him, both by the accident of his birth and
his own misconduct, and he betook himself to literature as
the only career open to him. In 1763 he produced his
tragedy of Wartvick, which had great success on the stage.
Grimm characterized it very truly when he said of it, “ On
dirait que c’est le coup d’essais d’un jeune homme de
soixante ans. J’ aimerais bien mieux y remarquer plus d’in-
egalite et de force et moins de sagesse.” His other works
in the same vein, Timoleon, Pharamond, and Gustave
JVasa, were total failures. On the strength of his War¬
wick, La Harpe had married in 1764, and he now went to
Ferney and lived there with Voltaire, who described him
as “ un four qui chauffe toujours, et ne cuit jamais.” A
quarrel w4th the patriarch of French literature, however,
once more drove him to Paris, where he earned a preca¬
rious livelihood by writing eloges and essays on subjects
open to competition, as well as a large number of dramas
and translations from the Greek and English. In 1770 La
Harpe became editor of the Mercure de France, and in¬
volved himself in quarrels with many fellow-litterateurs from
the bitterness and personality of his criticisms. These qua-
EAR
Harper’s lities were especially manifest in his correspondence with
Ferry the Grand Duke Paul of Russia, in which he dwells with
II acrid bitterness on all his rivals, while he expatiates with
^on3™' an amusin£ self-complacency on his own merits. But the
1 n' , work which above all the rest has preserved La Harpe’s
name, is his Lycee, ou Cours de Litterature. Till within
a few years past, the dearth in French literature of what
are called ouvrages de haute critique, maintained La Harpe’s
work in its high place ; but it is now being gradually super¬
seded. Even still, however, it is a useful guide to students
of French literature, of which it traces the history from the
earliest times to the beginning of the nineteenth century.
The first part of the work is of little value, and the portion
devoted to contemporary writers is worse that valueless.
Malebranche professed to see all things in God; in the
men of his time La Harpe could see nothing except through
the distorting prism of his vain and intolerant jealousy.
Grimm said of him in 1779,—“La Flarpe has much more
wit than knowledge, much less wit than talent, and much
less imagination than taste.” It is unfortunate that circum¬
stances have always forced him to waste his time in speak¬
ing evil of his neighbours, and in defending himself from
the enemies whom he thus raised up against himself every
day. When the Revolution broke out, it had no more
ardent supporter than La Harpe. But when on his refusal
to countenance the extremes to which the republicans were
going he was cast into prison, his views experienced a com¬
plete change, and he became a staunch supporter of church
and crown. His new politics he soon found more dangerous
than his old, and he was at length forced to fly for his life.
After the 18th Brumaire, he resumed his lectures at the
Lycee, which he continued till within a short time of his
death. His boldness of'speech displeased the First Consul,
who appointed him his future residence at Orleans. La
Harpe, however, soon after returned to Paris, where he
died February 11, 1803.
HARPER’S FERRY, a village in the state of Virginia,
North America, at the confluence of the Shenandoah with
the Potomac, where the united stream breaks through the
Blue Ridge, 53 miles N.W. of Washington. The scenery
is highly picturesque, and the river is here spanned by a
fine bridge about 800 feet in length. There is here a na¬
tional arsenal containing from 80,000 to 90,000 stand of
arms, and an armoury employing 250 person, and produc¬
ing annually about 10,000 stand of arms. Pop. (1850)
1747.
HARPINGS, the fore-part of the wales which en¬
compass the bow of a ship, and are fastened to the stem,
being thicker than the after-part of the wales, in order to
strengthen the ship in this place, where she sustains the
greatest shock of resistance in plunging into the sea, or
dividing it, under a great pressure of sail.
HARPOCRATES, in Ancient Mythology, the son of
Osiris, who has been identified with Horns, the Egyptian
god of the sun. He was the god of mystery and silence,
and, on that account, used to be represented as having been
born with his finger on his mouth. Flis worship was widely
spread throughout Greece, and even in Rome itself, where
at one time his worship was interdicted by the senate on
account of the excesses which marked the mysterious festi¬
vals. He filled in the Egyptian mythology the place which
Apollo occupied in that of Greece. His statue stood at
the entrance ot most of the Egyptian temples. The figure
was that of a naked youth crowned with an Egyptian mitre,
holding in one hand a cornucopia, and sometimes a lotus
flower, sometimes a quiver.
HARPOCRATION, Valerius, a grammarian of Alex¬
andria, in Egypt, respecting whose personal history nothing
is known. Even the period during which he flourished is
doubtful. Some have considered him to be the Greek in¬
structor of the Emperor L. Verus, mentioned by Julius
H A R 231
Capitolinas {Life of Verus, c. 2), while others have made Harponully
him live so late as a.d. 360, because several passages are II
found in his work taken from Athenseus, who is supposed to HarPyiae-
have flourished about a.r. 300. Harpocration is the author
of a very valuable lexicon on the ten orators, which contains
a great deal of information on the law, history, antiquities,
and general literature of Athens. The value of this work
is much enhanced by the fact that all the authorities from
which it has been compiled are lost. Suidas and the author
of the Etymologicum Magnum have both borrowed from
this work. Harpocration is also the author of a work en¬
titled Av8rjpwv 'Swayoryr], a “ Collection of Flowery Extracts”
from various authors. The first edition of the lexicon was
published along with Ulpian’s Scholia to the Philippics of
Demosthenes, by Aldus, Ven. 1503. Of subsequent edi¬
tions, the best is that of Dindorf, Leipsic, 1824, 2 vols.; on
which no improvements of much value will be found in the
more recent one published by Bekker at Berlin in 1833.
HARPONULLY, a district in the S. of India, bounded
on the N. by the Toombuddra River, and situated be¬
tween the 14th and 16th degrees of N. Lat. It is a
fertile country, and not so hilly as some of the adjacent
districts ; and it possesses the strong fortress of Ouchimad-
roog. The rajah of this district was tributary to the kings
of Bejanagur and Bejapore, to the Moguls, and the Mah-
rattas; in 1774 he became tributary to Hyder, and in 1786
he was completely subdued by Tippoo, and sent prisoner to
Seringapatam. On the capture of that city, Harponully was
assigned to the nizam as a portion of his division of Tippoo’s
territory, and by him assigned to the British in 1800. It
is now included in the Bellary collectorship, and is yearly
improving in value. Harponully is 170 miles N.N.W. from
Seringapatam. E. Long. 76. 2., N. Lat. 14. 47.
HARPOON, or Harping-Iron, a spear or javelin used
for striking whales, &c. lihe gun-harpoon is a weapon used
for the same purpose, but it is fired from a gun instead of
being thrown by the hand. It is formed entirely ot
metal, and has a chain attached to it, to which the line is
fastened. See Scoresby’s Arctic Pegions.
HARPSICHORD, a musical instrument in which the
sounds are produced by stretched wires. The spinet and
virginals, &c., preceded the harpsichord, which was an im¬
provement on them ; and all of these were derived from the
harp. Each was really a horizontal harp inclosed in a so¬
norous case; the wires being struck by jacks moved by
finger-keys. In the beginning of the eighteenth century the
pianoforte was invented as an improvement upon the harpsi¬
chord. Instead of the jacks armed with crowquills which
struck the harpsichord wires, hammers covered with pre¬
pared leather were used in the pianoforte. Mason, the
English poet and amateur musician, introduced great im¬
provements in the mechanism of the keys and hammers.
Clementi, Broadwood, and other makers in London, have,
since then, so greatly improved the pianoforte as to justify
its being considered, in its latest form, almost an English
instrument. See Pianoforte.
HARPYLE, or Harpies, in Grecian Mythology, fabulous
monsters sometimes employed by the gods as the ministers
of their vengeance. About their numbers and their pa¬
rentage very various accounts are given. They are usually
represented as two, or at most three in number; and as
being the daughters of Neptune and Terra, or of Typhon.
They are described as living in the islands called the Stro-
phades, at the entrance of Orcus. They were originally
represented as maidens, wfith wings and long flowing hair,
and great swiftness of flight. They gradually became
changed, however, into hideous monsters, of fierce and
loathsome aspect, and living in an atmosphere that exhaled
an intolerable stench. The most celebrated myth with
which they are identified is that of the blind Phineus, who
no sooner sat down to a meal than these foul creatures came
232
Harque-
buss
II
Harring¬
ton.
H A R
swooping down and carried it off in their claws. In the
midst of his distress the Argonauts came to his house, and
he promised to aid them in their quest if they would rid
him of his tormentors. The Boreades Calais and Zetes
attacked them, and would have slain them had they not pio-
mised to molest Phineus no more. „
HARQUEBUSS, an old species of gun, of the length ot
a musket, and cocked by means of a wheel. It carried a
ball that weighed Ig'd1 oz' larSel" s01% called the great
harquebuss, used in fortresses, carried a ball of about 3^-
ounces. It is sometimes styled arquebuse, and haquebut.
HARRIER, a kind of hound, endowed with an acute
sense of smell, and used in hunting hares. See Hound.
HARRINGTON, a small seaport town of Cumberland-
shire, 5 miles N. of Whitehaven, of which it is a sub-port.
It is of modern date and neatly built. The harbour has 8
feet water; and at the pier-head is a fixed light 44 feet
high, seen 11 miles off. Its chief exports are coal and lime.
It has a station on the Whitehaven Junction Railway. Pop.
of parish (1851) 2169.
HARRINGTON, James, the author of the Oceana,
was sprung from an ancient family in Rutlandshme, and was
born in 1611. In his eighteenth year he entered Trinity
College, Oxford, as a gentleman commoner. His tutor was
the famous Chillingworth. At the close of his university
career (during which he lost his father) he set out to travel
on the Continent. He visited France and Italy, but most
of his time was spent at the Hague, where he enjoyed the
friendship of the Prince of Orange, who, when Harrington
returned to England, entrusted to him the care of his in¬
terests there. On reaching home Harrington retired into
the seclusion of private life, chiefly for the purpose of
working out his thoughts on the philosophy of politics ; but
in 1646 he was appointed groom of the bed-chamber to
Charles I., then the prisoner of his own subjects. The king
enjoyed greatly his society and conversation ; but on his
removal to the Isle of Wight was deprived of his pleasant
companion, who was put into confinement for refusing to
swear that he would not help the king to escape if he made
the attempt. His devotion to his royal master was such,
that on the day of his execution he went with him to the
block. After Charles’s death Harrington once more with¬
drew into private life, and devoted his time to his Oceana.
He made no secret of the purport of this work, which was
avowedly republican in its tendency; and the author soon
became an object of marked suspicion both with the Royalists
and the leading men of the Commonwealth. When the
Oceana was passing through the press it was seized by
order of Cromwell, but restored to its author at the instance
of the Protector’s favourite daughter Mrs Claypole, whose
sympathies Harrington had enlisted by an ingenious ruse,
of which a full account is given in his Life by I oland. 1 he
leading principles of the Oceana are, that the natural
element of power in states is property, and that of all kinds
of property that in land is the most important, as it possesses
certain characteristics which distinguish it in its natural and
political action from all other property. Carrying out this
principle, he insists on what he calls an equal Agrarian law
as the basis of his imaginary republic. Another feature of the
Oceana not to be overlooked is the plan of the vote by bal¬
lot, which Harrington advocates with great power. Many
answers to the Oceana soon appeared. The most memorable
of these was Baxter’s Holy ComrnomceaIth, which, however,
was publicly burned at Oxford in 1683, along with the
political writings of Hobbes and Milton. Harrington de¬
fended himself against these attacks both by his pen and by
propagating his doctrines through the medium of the “Rota,”
a club which he instituted, and where he nightly lectured
and discoursed on the advantages of his republic. At the
Restoration this club was dissolved, but its founder was
seized and thrown into prison as a conspirator. He vehe-
II A II
mently denied the truth of the charges brought against him, Harriot,
but it was in vain that he applied either for his freedom or
a public trial. His mind at last gave way, and his liberty
was then restored. By skilful treatment his health was re¬
established, but his faculties never recovered their tone.
He now married, but survived his marriage for only a short
time, dying September 11, 1677, at the age of sixty-six.
Hallam, in his Literature of Europe (iv. 367), remarks
of Harrington, “ In general it may be said of him that
he is prolix, dull, pedantic, yet seldom profound; but
sometimes redeems himself by just observations.” This is
true of the style of the Oceana-, but it is extremely unjust
to the ingenuity, truth, and depth of many of Harrington’s
views on political philosophy. It is not fair to deny him
the praise, undoubtedly due, of having expounded and
illustrated the views he adopts more clearly than any pre¬
ceding writer. Harrington’s complete works were pub¬
lished in 1700 by Toland ; and a more complete edition in*
1737 by Birch.
HARRIOT, Thomas, an eminent mathematician, was
born at Oxford in 1560. After the usual preparatory train¬
ing, he entered St Mary Hall as a commoner, and took his
bachelor’s degree in 1579. He then distinguished himself
by his skill in the mathematics, and became preceptor in
that science to Sir Walter Raleigh. In 1585 he accom¬
panied the first colony sent out to Virginia; and having
surveyed that country, ascertained its natural productions,
and observed the manners and customs of the aboriginal
population, he published an account of it, which was after¬
wards reprinted in Hakluyt’s Voyages. On his return to
England, after an absence of two years, he resumed his
mathematical studies with such zeal and success, that
Henry, Earl of Northumberland, the liberal and enlightened
protector of the learned, assigned him a yearly pension of
L.120. The same nobleman also pensioned Robert Hues,
known by his Treatise on the Globes, and Walter Warner,
who is supposed to have communicated to Harvey the first
hint concerning the circulation of the blood. Both these
persons were mathematicians; and, in 1608, when the earl
was committed to the Tower for life, they, along with Har¬
riot, were his constant companions, and usually styled his
magicians. They had a table at the charge of the earl, who
constantly conversed with them, to beguile the tedium ot
his confinement as did also Sir Walter Raleigh, who was
then a prisoner in the Tower. Harriot lived for some time
at Sion College, and died at London on the 2d of July 1621,
at the age of sixty, after having suffered much from a can¬
cer in the lip, occasioned by a habit he had contracted of
holding in his mouth instruments of brass often charged
with verdigris. He was universally esteemed on account
of his learning. A manuscript of his entitled Ephemeris
Chrysometria is preserved in Sion College; and his Artis
Analyticce Praxis ad AEquationes Algebraicas resolvendas
was published at London in 1631, folio. Descartes has
been charged with taking from this book many improve¬
ments in algebra, which he afterwards published to the
world as his own ; but notwithstanding all that has been
said by Wallis in his account of the discoveries of Harriot,
and by Zach in the Astronomical Ephemeris for 1788,
there seems to be no good ground for the charge ; and it
would even appear that much that incontestibly belongs to
Vieta or Descartes has been ascribed to Harriot. Mon-
tucla has reduced to their just value the services of the
English mathematician, and shown that these, when truly
estimated, are sufficiently important to entitle him to a place
in the second rank, amongst those men who have contri¬
buted to the progress of the mathematical sciences. (See
Dissertations Third and Fourth, prefixed to this work.)
From some papers of Harriot, discovered in 1784, it appears
that he had either procured a telescope from Holland, or
divined the construction of that instrument; and that he
H A R
H A R
Harris.
coincided, in point of time, with Galileo in discovering the
.✓ spots on the sun’s disc.
HARRIS, James, a distinguished English writer on the
subject^of grammar, was born at Salisbury on the 20th of
July 1709. He received his early education at Salisbury,
whence he was removed to Oxford at the age of sixteen ;
and having passed the usual number of years as a gentle¬
man commoner at Wadham College, he was entered at
Lincoln’s Inn as a student of law, though not intended for
the bar. When he had attained his twenty-fourth year,
his father died; and this event having at once freed him
from all control, and placed him in the possession of an in¬
dependent fortune, enabled him to exchange the study of
law for other pursuits more congenial to his taste. The
decided bent of his mind had always been towards the
Greek and Latin classics, which he preferred to every other
kind of reading; and to the study of these authors he now
applied himself with unremitting assiduity during a period
of fourteen or fifteen years. The first fruit of this length¬
ened course of application was a volume which he published
in 1744, containing three treatises ; one on Art, another on
Music, Painting, and Poetry, and a third on Happiness.
These treatises are illustrated with a variety of learned
notes and observations; and one of them, that upon Art,
has been commended by Lord Monboddo as containing
“ the best specimen of the dividing or diaeretic manner, as
the ancients called it, that is to be found in any modern
book. But the work by which he is best known is his
Hermes, a philosophical inquiry concerning universal gram¬
mar, which appeared in 1751, 8vo. “Those who would
enter deeply into the subject” (of universal grammar), says
Dr Lowth, “ will find it fully and accurately handled, with
the greatest acuteness of investigation, perspicuity of appli¬
cation, and elegance of method, in a treatise entitled
Hermes, by James Harris, Esq.; the most beautiful example
of analysis that has been exhibited since the days of Aris¬
totle.” To this eulogium, however, the philosophical gram¬
marians of the present time are not by any means disposed
to subscribe. Without questioning the learning displayed
in the Hermes, we may venture to affirm, that the arrange¬
ment of the parts of speech into substantives, attributives,
definitives, and connectives, is entirely arbitrary ; that no¬
thing whatever is gained by this departure from the ordi¬
nary classification, excepting perhaps to impart to the work
an appearance of originality, which, upon examination, will
be found to vanish; that, though professing to treat the
subject of grammar in a philosophical manner, Mr Harris is
in reality the slave of authority; and that there is no quality
for which his work is less distinguished than that rigid an¬
alysis which Bishop Lowth has somewhat hastily given him
credit for. This, we think, has been fully established in
the article Grammar of the present work, to which accord-
ingly the reader is referred for more ample information.
Mr Harris’s attention seems to have been first directed to
this subject by the Minerva of Sanctius, to which he has
confessed himself indebted for much valuable information ;
but it is somewhat remarkable, that with the treatise of
Apollonius {He Constructione Orationis) also before him,
he should not have avoided the narrow and confined views
which he has adopted on particular points, or should have
missed principles which would have served to guide him
Rnough the intricacies in which he is frequently entangled.
Mr Harris s other productions are, Philosophical Arrange¬
ments, published in 1775, being part of a larger work which
he had meditated, but did not complete, on the peripatetic
logic; Philological Inquiries, printed in 1780, but not
published till 1781, containing not so much a regular system,
as a summary of the conclusions to which the philosophy of
the ancients had conducted them in their critical inquiries.
After severe suffering from illness, Mr Harris expired
233
on the 22d of December 1780, in the seventy-second
VOL. XI.
year of his age. In 1801, his son, Lord Malmesbury, Harris
published an edition of his works in two volumes quarto ; f|
prefixed to which is a biographical sketch of the author from Harrison,
the pen of the editor.
Harris, a district of the Outer Hebrides, comprehending
the southern part of Lewis, and the small islands surround¬
ing it, of which Bernera, Scalpey, Scarp, Anabich, Tarrin-
sey, Pabbey, Ensey, and Killigrey, are inhabited. The
mainland of Harris is separated from the rest of Lewis by
an isthmus about 6 miles across, formed by the harbours of
Loch Resort on the W., and Loch Seaforth on the E.
coast. It is about 20 miles in length, but of very unequal
breadth, being deeply indented by arms of the sea; its
general breadth, however, is from 6 to 8 miles. The sur¬
face is bleak, rocky, and unproductive; but on the shore
are patches of cultivated land, and the valleys afford tolerable
pasturage. Pop. of parish or district (1851) 4250.
Harris, Sound of, a navigable channel between Harris
and North Uist. It is 9 miles in length by from 8 to 12
in breadth, and is studded with rocks, shoals, and islets.
HARRISBURG, a city in the United States of North
America, capital of Pennsylvania, and the seat of justice of
Dauphin county, is situated on the E. bank of the Sus¬
quehanna River, 100 miles W. by N. of Philadelphia. It
stands on an elevated plain between the mer and Paxton
Creek. The state buildings occupy an eminence in the
north part of the town. The capitol is an extensive brick
building, 180 feet long by 80 feet wide, having a circular
portico in front, supported by 6 Ionic columns, and sur¬
mounted by a dome. On each side of the capitol is a
smaller building, uniform in design, and containing the exe¬
cutive chamber, the state treasury, &c. Harrisburg also
contains a state arsenal, county-prison, bank, savings’ bank,
about twelve churches, Masonic hall, and a Lancasterian
school. Among its manufactories are two extensive iron
furnaces, a rolling mill, and several breweries and potteries.
One daily and eight weekly newspapers are published here.
The Pennsylvania railway is here connected with the Lan¬
caster and Harrisburg railway. Harrisburg was founded
in 1785, was incorporated in 1808, and in 1812 it became
the capital of the state. Pop. (1853) about 8500.
HARRISON, John, the inventor of the gridiron pen¬
dulum, an ingenious recoil escapement, and the going fusee,
was born in 1693 at Paul by, near Pontefract in Yorkshire.
His father was a carpenter, and the son wrought for some
time at the father’s trade, eking out his gains by occasionally
surveying land, and repairing clocks and watches. In 1700
he removed with his father to Barrow in Lincolnshire, and
spent much of his time in devising improvements on the
machinery of watches. In 1714 government had offered a
leward of ten, fifteen, and twenty thousand pounds respec¬
tively for a method of determining the longitude at sea
within 60, 40, or 30 miles. In 1735 Harrison presented
himself before the Board of Longitude at London, with an
instrument, which he submitted for inspection to Halley,
Grahame, and others. At their instance Harrison was sent
in a royal ship to Lisbon to test it, and by it he corrected
the reckoning a degree and a half. The commissioners
rewarded him with L.500 to enable him to carry on his ex¬
periments, which, after some failures, resulted in his pro¬
ducing an instrument so accurate that in the course of a
voyage to Jamaica and back it was found to have gone
wrong by less than two minutes. Harrison accordingly
claimed the reward of L.20,000, which, after a second
voyage to Jamaica, and other tests, was finally paid down
to him in 1767. Harrison died in 1776 at the age of eighty-
two. Till his death he never got over the defects of his
early training. He could express himself with perfect
clearness and precision on the subject of his art, but, like
most uneducated men, he utterly failed when he tried to ex¬
press his thoughts in writing. This is manifested in his
2 G
234 H A R
Harrogate Description concerning such Mechanism as will afford a nice
|| or true Mensuration of Times. (Hutton s Math. Diet.;
Harte. Bioq. Brit.; see also art. Clock and Watch Work.)
^ HARROGATE, or Harrowgate, a small town and
watering-place in the West Riding of Yorkshire, 20 miles
W. of York. It is indebted for its rise and importance to its
medicinal springs, and is now one of the principal watering-
places in the north of England. It consists of two scattered
villages, called High and Low Harrogate, situated about a
mile from each other, and possessing ample accommodation for
visitors. The season commences in May, and continues till
September. The springs of Harrogate are both chaly¬
beate and sulphureous. Of the former the oldest is Tewit
Well, which was discovered about 1576. The Old Spa,
situated on the Stray, was discovered by Dr Stanhope pre¬
viously to 1631. The Starbeck chalybeate is about midway
between Harrogate and Knaresborough. The Saline
chalybeate at Low Harrogate was discovered in 1819.
The sulphureous springs are the Old Sulphur Wells at
Low Harrogate; the Crown Sulphur Well, in the pleasure
grounds of the Crown Hotel; and the Knaresborough or
Starbeck Spa, nearly halfway between Harrogate and
Knaresborough. Harrogate possesses public baths ; as¬
sembly rooms ; reading rooms and libraries; mechanics’in¬
stitute ; and a bath hospital for poor invalids, with accommo¬
dation for about 100 patients. Pop. (1851) 3678.
HARROW ON THE HILL, a village in the county
of Middlesex, 10 miles N.W. of London. Harrow owes its
celebrity to its free grammar school, founded in 1571 by
John Lyon, a wealthy yeoman of this parish. The primary
object of this school was the gratuitous instruction of boys
belonging to the parish of Harrow, but it is now’ principally
attended by sons of the nobility and gentry, and is in high
repute as an educational institution. Among the celebrated
men who have been educated here may be mentioned Sir
William Jones, Dr Parr, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Lord
Byron, and Sir Robert Peel. The number of scholars in
1853 was about 390. It has four exhibitions of 50 guineas
each to either university, and two of the same value, founded
by the late Mr Sayer, to Caius College, Cambridge. On
the summit of the hill on which the village stands is the
parish church, surmounted by a tower and spire. Pop.
(1851) 4951.
Harrow, an agricultural implement. See Agriculture,
vol. ii., p. 272.
HARRY, Blind, or Harry the Minstrel, whose his¬
tory is an exact modern parallel of the traditionary account
of Homer, flourished in the fifteenth century. All that
is known of him (and it is very little) is derived from Major
the historian, who says of him—“ Henry, who was blind
from his birth, composed in the time of my youth the whole
book of William Wallace, and embodied all the traditions
about him in the ordinary measure, in which he was well
skilled. By the recitation of these in presence of the great,
he procured, as indeed he deserved, food and clothing.”
Blind Harry’s w'ork is in eleven books, and contains a great
many animated and picturesque descriptions, especially of
war and battle pieces. Sir Walter Scott turned his know¬
ledge of Blind Harry to good account; though he does not
seem to have attached the same importance to it as to
Barbour’s Bruce.
HART, a stag in its sixth year. See Mammalia.
HARTE, Walter, the historian of Gustavus Adolphus,
was born about the beginning of the eighteenth century.
He was educated at Marlborough School, and afterwards at
Oxford, where he graduated in 1720. He early enjoyed the
friendship of Pope, who is said to have contributed largely to
his Essay on Satire, 8vo., 1730; and to his Essay on Beason,
fol. 1735. He afterwards became vice-principal of St Mary
Hall, and, through the influence of Lord Chesterfield, to
whose natural son he had been tutor from 1746 to 1750,
H A R
canon of Windsor. In 1759 he published his History of Hartford
Gustavus Adolphus, in two vols. 4to. This work, though ||
devoid of order, and harsh and pedantic in style, yet ex- Hartlepool,
hibits great research and great ability. Harte, who is said v——v—-'
to have been a man of excessive vanity, left London on the
day of the publication of his book, that he might be out of
the way of the great praise it was to receive; and he was
ashamed to return when he found how very ill it had suc¬
ceeded. His only other productions are some Sermons,
and the Amaranth, a poem which, as he informs us, was
written for his private consolation under a lingering and
dangerous state of health, and which is marked by a very
serious cast of feeling. He died at Bath in 1774.
HARTFORD, a city in the United States of North
America, capital of Hartford county, Connecticut. It
stands on the right bank of the Connecticut River, at the
head of the sloop navigation, and 112 miles N.E. of New
York. It is connected with East Hartford on the opposite
side of the river, by a covered bridge 1000 feet in length.
The city is for the most part compactly built, principally of
brick and freestone. The state house, erected in 1792, is
a Doric edifice, with two porticos, and a dome from
which a magnificent view of the city and surrounding
country is obtained. Besides the legislative halls, it con¬
tains apartments for the several courts of the state and
county, and numerous public offices. Hartford is the semi¬
capital of the state, the legislature meeting alternately here
and at New Haven. The city hall fronting the market
square is a handsome Grecian building. There were here
in 1852 twenty-one churches of various denominations,
many of them large and elegant edifices. The educational
and literary institutions are numerous and important.
Trinity College, an Episcopalian institution, founded in
1824, has about eighty students, and a library of 15,000 vols.
The Wadsworth Athenaeum is an elegant granite edifice
in the Gothic style, having apartments for the Connecticut
Historical Society, with its library of 5000 vols., ancient
documents and MSS., and valuable collection ot historical
relics ; the Young Men’s Institute, with lecture room, and
library of about 10,000 vols.; a picture gallery, &e. 1 he
American asylum for the deaf and dumb, the first in¬
stitution of the kind in the United States, was organised
in 1817 by the late Rev. T. H. Gallaudet, LL.D. The
average number of pupils is about 200. Ihe lunatic asy¬
lum, founded in 1822, had during the year ending April 1,
1853, 321 patients. Hartford is situated on the great line
of railways connecting the New England with the Middle,
Southern, and Western States, and also on the line of the
Providence, Hartford, and Fishkill railway. The more im¬
portant articles of manufacture are railway carriages, fire¬
arms, and hardware. The value of its manufactures, for
year ending June 1850 was about L./23,8/8. Ihe city is
divided into six wards, and is governed by a mayor, elected
biennially, six aldermen, chosen annually, and a common
council of twenty-four members, also chosen annually.
Hartford was permanently settled in 1635 ; but previous to
that time the Dutch had explored the Connecticut, and
erected a fort on what is still called Dutch Point in the
S.E. part of the city. It was created a city in 1784.
Pop. (1850) 17,966, estimated in 1853 at about 22,000.
HARTLAND, a market-town of England, county of
Devon, 46 miles W.N.W. of Exeter. It is about 2 miles
from the Bristol Channel, where there is a landing quay
lying under the cliffs, much frequented by fishing vessels.
The parish church stands about a mile from the town, near
the sea. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in fishing or
in agriculture. Of Hartland Abbey (founded by Githa,
wife of Earl Godwin) some portions of the cloisters still
remain. Market-day, Saturday. Pop. of parish (1851), 2183.
HARTLEPOOL, a seaport and market-town of Eng¬
land, county of Durham, a few miles N. of the mouth of
H A R
Hartley the River Tees, and 17 miles S.E. of Durham. It stands
on a small peninsula, jutting out into the sea, and formed
Hartley, partly by a pool called the Slake, which is dry at low water.
David. -pjie Normans called the place Hart-le-pol (the pool or
slake of Hart), whence the modern name. A monastery,
which is mentioned by Bede, was founded here at a very
early period. Hartlepool is mentioned as a harbour of some
consequence as early as 1171. In the thirteenth century it
belonged to the Bruces of Annandale, in Scotland, the pro¬
genitors of the royal family of that name. It was erected
into a borough by John, a.d. 1200. When Bruce declared
his pretensions to the Scottish crown his English possessions
were forfeited, and Hartlepool was granted to the Cliffords,
in whose possession it long remained. It suffered severely
from the Scots in 1312, and again in 1315, a year after the
battle of Bannockburn. It was se zed by the insurgents
in the northern rebellion under the Earls of Northumberland
and Westmoreland, in the time of Elizabeth. During the
civil war it was taken by the Scottish army in 1644, and
retained by them till 1647. Blartlepool was, during the
thirteenth century, fortified by walls, which inclosed it on
every side except on the east, where it was sufficiently pro¬
tected by high cliffs. Considerable portions of these walls
still remain. The old haven is now disused. The present
harbour—formed by a pier run out on the south side of the
town—is easily accessible in rough weather to laden vessels
under 100 tons. Extensive docks have recently been con¬
structed here. One, opened in 1847, contains 8 acres ; and
another, opened in 1852, contains 14 acres. The harbour
has also been enlarged from 13 to 44 acres ; and plans have
been made for two more large docks, should the trade re¬
quire it. A graving dock has also been formed at the west
end of the new dock, capable of containing a vessel of the
largest class. Hartlepool thus enjoys great facilities for
trade, which its extensive railway connection opens up to
it. Its coal trade is very great; fishing is extensively carried
on; and it is much frequented in summer for sea-bathing.
The vessels registered as belonging to the port on 31st
Dec. 1854 were :—Under 50 tons—sailing, 2, tonnage 30 ;
steam 4, tonnage 88: above 50 tons—sailing 164, tonnage
35,210; steam 3, tonnage 1080. The vessels that entered and
cleared at the port in 1854 were :—Coasting trade, inwards,
sailing vessels 368, tonnage 29,264; steam 2, tonnage 42:
outwards, sailing vessels 6256, tonnage 827,926 ; steam 51,
tonnage 20,604. Colonial trade, inwards, sailing vessels,
British 25, tonnage 4281 ; foreign 8, tonnage 1054: out¬
wards, British 91, tonnage 17,088; foreign 24, tonnage
10,570. Foreign trade, inwards, sailing vessels, British
399, tonnage 72,056; foreign 696, tonnage 79,135: steam
vessels, British 55, tonnage 17,119; foreign 1, tonnage
235: outwards, sailing vessels, British 540, tonnage 100,653;
foreign 1543, tonnage 166,898: steam vessels, British 53,
tonnage 16,521; foreign 1, tonnage 235. Pop. (1851) 9503.
HARTLEY, a township and small seaport of England,
county of Northumberland, 4 miles S.S.E. of Blyth. The
harbour, about half a mile from the town, is accessible to
vessels of 300 tons. A colliery, and glass and bottle works,
afford employment to most of the inhabitants. Pop. of
township (1851), 1627.
HARTLEY, David, the celebrated author of the
Observations on Man, was born August 30, 1705, at
Armley, in Yorkshire. His father was a clergyman, and
he was himself destined for the church, but, after graduat¬
ing at Cambridge, and becoming a fellow of Jesus College,
he changed his views, and studied medicine. He practised
as a physician successively at Newark, Bury St Edmunds,
London, and Bath, where he died, Aug. 25, 1757, in the
fifty-third year of his age. He was twice married, and had
issue by both his wives. His character, as delineated by
one of his own children, is so interesting, that we give the
extract entire:—“ From his earliest youth his mental am-
H A R 235
bition was pre-occupied by pursuits of science. Flis hours Hartshorn
of amusement were likewise bestowed upon objects of taste II
and sentiment. Music, poetry, and history, were his favourite Hf1,11-
recreations. His imagination was fertile and correct, his ^ sIIIce3-
language and expression fluent and forcible. His natural
temper was gay, cheerful, and sociable. He was addicted
to no vice in any part of his life, neither to pride, nor to
sensuality, nor to intemperance, nor ostentation, nor envy,
nor to any sordid self-interest; but his heart was replete
with every contrary virtue. The virtuous principles which
are instilled in his works were the invariable and decided
principles of his life and conduct.” All extant records of
the great philosopher agree in the main with this account
of one who had the best means of knowing and appreciating
his private worth. It is no wonder that the society of such
a man should have been courted by the leading thinker's
and writers of that time, as we know it to have been by
Law, Butler, Warburton, and Hoadley (all bishops), Jortin,
Young, Hooke, and many others. Hartley began the com¬
position of his great work when he was twenty-five years
of age ; and, after working on it for sixteen years, published
it, after certain delays, in 1748, in 2 vols. 8vo. It was re¬
published in 1791, with notes and additions translated from
the German of H. A. Pistorius, and a sketch of his life by
his son. The Observations on Man are very fully discussed
in the Second Preliminary Dissertation (pp. 378 to
386), by Sir James Macintosh, prefixed to this work.
HARTSHORN, Spirit op, a volatile alkali of a very
penetrating odour, and an efficacious remedy in nervous
affections. It is an impure ammonia, and derives its
name from the deer’s horns from which it was formerly
prepared, and to which very wonderful medicinal vir¬
tues were ascribed; but it is now obtained by the de¬
structive distillation of bone of any kind. The salt of
hartshorn—an impure solid carbonate of ammonia, formed
at the same time—is sometimes used as a remedy in fever.
Under the name of hartshorn shavings, the scrapings or rasp¬
ings of deers’ horns are variously employed in medical practice.
Deers’horns, when boiled in water, yield a strong and very nu¬
tritive jelly, though inferior, perhaps, to that afforded by ivory.
HARUN AL RASCHID, the famous Caliph of Bag¬
dad, holds in oriental history very much the same place
that his contemporary, Charlemagne, holds in the history
of Europe. His love of peace and justice, of literature and
the arts, was only equalled by his skill and success in war.
His reign is the golden age of the Mohammedan dominion,
and furnished the materials for some of the best stories
in the Arabian Nights. He died in 808, after a reign of
twenty-two years. See Bagdad.
riARUSPICES, an order of priests among the Romans.
Their name is derived, according to Donatus (Ter. Phorm.
iv. 5), from haruga, a victim, though others have referred
its origin to the word ara, an altar. Dionysius (ii. 22)
explains it as a corruption of the Greek word iepouKOTros,
inspector of the victims, and states that Romulus appointed
three, one from each tribe. This number was gradually
increased, till it became an important body in the state, was
regarded as a collegium, and its president was called Sum-
mus Haruspex, or Magister Publicus. In the flourishing
period of the republic it enjoyed great influence from the
explanation it was called on to give of omens, which were
taken at the commencement of any important undertaking;
but in proportion as the doctrines of the Greek philosophers
spread amongst the Romans, the Haruspices gradually lost
their influence, at least amongst the higher ranks. Cato
used frequently to say that he was surprised the Haruspices
did not laugh when they met one another in the street.
(Cic. Nat. Div. i. 26.) The Emperor Claudius made an
attempt to revive their importance, and the Pontifices re¬
ceived an order to report as to the best way of accomplishing
this object; but how far he succeeded we have no means of
i
236 H A R
Harvest discovering. (Tacit. Ann. xi. 15.) Alexander Severus
II appointed fixed salaries to the members of this body, and
Harvey. teachers, who should instruct the young in the arts of sooth-
saying (Lamprid. 44); and they continued in this state till
Constantine put an end to their functions, by forbidding,
under the penalty of death, the continuation of their super¬
stitious practices. (Codex Theodos. 9, tit. 16.) The duties
of the Haruspices were to examine the entrails of victims
sacrificed, and thence to derive omens of futurity. They
also attended to the flame, the smoke, whether the victim
came to the altar willingly, stood quietly, fell by one stroke,
and many other circumstances of the same kind. Their
knowledge of this art was derived from the Etruscans ; and
in early times the young nobility used to be sent to Etruria
to be instructed in this art. (Cic. Div. i. 2, 41.)
HARVEST (probably from a Saxon word signifying
herb feast), that season of the year when the corn is reaped
and gathered into barns.
HARVEY, William, the discoverer of the functions of
the heart, and of the mode of circulation of the blood, was
born at Folkstone, in Kent, on the 1st April 1578. He was
the eldest of seven sons and two daughters. His father,
a Kentish “ yeoman,” must have been in some degree
wealthy, as his sons were brought up to pursuits for the
successful practice of which capital is necessary. Five of
the younger brothers were Levant merchants of wealth
and standing in the city of London. John, the second son,
was attached to the court as king’s footman, was one of the
king’s receivers for Lincolnshire, and sat in Parliament as
member for Hythe ; and William, the eldest, went to Cam¬
bridge to be educated for the practice of physic.
At the age of ten years Harvey went to the gram¬
mar-school at Canterbury, where he was doubtless initiated
into a knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages. He
remained there five or six years; and at the age of sixteen
was entered a pensioner of Cains’ College, Cambridge, the
31st May 1593. At nineteen he took his B.A. degree,
and left Cambridge to study medicine at the University
of Padua, then of wide celebrity as a medical school. Here
he had the advantage of cultivating the medical sciences
under the ablest masters of the day, inasmuch as amongst
the eminent men there congregated were the celebrated
Fabricius of Aquapendente, Julius Casserius, and J. T.
Minadorus. To the first-mentioned Harvey doubtless owed
his philosophic spirit of inquiry, and that inductive method of
research which led him to the greatest discovery in physiology.
Having passed five years at Padua, Harvey, then aged
twenty-four (1602), graduated as doctor of medicine, and
received his academic authority to practise and to teach his
science and art. In the same year he returned to Eng¬
land, and graduated again in his own University of Cam¬
bridge. His next step was to commence practice, and set¬
tle for life. To these ends he took up his residence in
London, and married the daughter of Dr Lancelot Brown,
a physician of the day. In both these steps he was pro¬
bably guided by a wise discretion, feeling assured that a
professional father-in-law, and five brothers, influential and
esteemed city merchants, would be valuable aids to him in
getting into practice. He was now in his twenty-sixth year.
Harvey’s connection with the Royal College of Physi¬
cians of London seems to date from the earliest period of his
professional career, for his name is on the roll of candidates
for the fellowship of the college in 1604; and three years after¬
wards (1607) he was duly admitted a fellow of the college.
In the beginning of 1609, the health of Dr Wilkinson,
physician to St Bartholomew’s Hospital, beginning to fail,
Harvey, being in his thirty-second year, sought the rever¬
sion of the office, as was then customary, and in support
of his application brought forward testimonials of fitness
from the president of the College of Physicians, Dr Adkin-
son, and “ diverse others doctors of the auncientest” of the
H A R
college, together with the king’s letters commendatory.
His application was granted, and Dr Wilkinson having v
died in the course of the year, he was formally elected to
the vacant office (which he filled for thirty-four years), on
the 14th October 1609. At the time of his election, the
steward of the hospital was bound under an obligation to
Harvey for a debt of L.52, 10s., due to his brother John,
at that time attached to the court, and had law proceedings
taken against him for the recovery of the money.
From this time may be dated Harvey’s rise to distinc¬
tion. In 1615 he was appointed to deliver the course of
lectures on anatomy and surgery at the College ot Physi¬
cians founded by Dr Richard Caldwal, and in the month
of April of the following year fulfilled the duties of his
office. It is generally thought that in this first course he
presented an exposition of his views of the circulation of the
blood, and which continued to be one of the subjects of the
lectures on anatomy which he delivered for several successive
years at the college. It was not, however, until the year
1628 that he published, at Frankfort, in 4to, his Exercitatio
Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus,
dedicating it to the king.
About this time he must have become connected with
the court more closely as physician-extraordinary to James
L, an office he filled during the remainder of that monarch’s
reign. Five or six years after his death (1632) he was
appointed physician to his successor, Charles I. Previously
to this, 1630, he had been sent by the king to travel with
the Duke of Lennox, at which time he resigned the office
of treasurer to the Royal College of Physicians.
Charles I. gave his royal patronage to Harvey’s scientific
researches, as well as to his practical skill. He seems to
have taken great interest in the former, for he had several
demonstrations made before him by Harvey of the punctum
saliens in the embryo chick and deer, and to have shared
Harvey’s anatomical researches on the does he placed at the
disposal of the latter.
From this time Harvey’s movements were closely con¬
nected with those of the court. In 1633 he accompanied
Charleson hisjourney into Scotland, and in 1636 hewentwith
Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, whose physician he was,
on his embassy extraordinary to the Emperor of Germany.
It was on this occasion that, in May of this year, he gave
a public demonstration of the circulation at Nuremberg, to
satisfy the doubts of the distinguished Professor of Nurem¬
berg, Casper Hoffmann, but who, however, remained incredu¬
lous. In 1639 he accompanied Charles on his first hostile
expedition into Scotland, and again in the following year.
He was also present with his king at the battle of Edge-
hill. During the fight he had the prince and the Duke of
York entrusted to his care, and he told Aubrey that he
withdrew with them under a hedge, and took a book out of
his pocket to read; but he had not read very long before a
bullet of a great gun grazed on the ground near him, and
made him remove his station.
After the battle of Edge-hill, Harvey went with the
king to Oxford. Here he busied himself with his researches
into generation ; for Dr George Bathurst of Trinity College
had a hen to hatch eggs in his chamber, which he and
Harvey opened daily. He was received and entertained
at Oxford with great distinction, and honoured with the
degree of M.D. In 1645 he was made warden of Merton
College, in place of Sir Nathaniel Brent, who had left his
college to join the popular party. In the following year
Oxford surrendered to the parliamentary forces, and Brent
was reinstated. While Harvey was at Oxford a motion
was made in the House of Commons, February 12, 1644,
for the appointment of Dr Micklethwayte as his successor in
the office of physician to St Bartholomew’s Hospital, on the
ground that Harvey had “withdrawn himself from his charge,
and is retired to the party in arms against the Parliament.”
Harvey.
EAR
Harvey. Harvey returned to London in 1646, after the surrender
of Oxford, and seems to have followed the fortunes of his
king no longer. He was now sixty-eight years old, and
had little taste, doubtless, for the varied fortunes of civil
broil. His wife was probably still alive, and to her repose
would be grateful; and having no children he seems to
have avoided the responsibilities of house-keeping by hav¬
ing his own apartments furnished with his own furniture at
the houses of two of his surviving brothers, Eliab and
Daniel. In 1649 (if Aubrey’s statement is to be believed)
he visited the Continent, travelling as far as Italy, ac¬
companied by his friend, Dr Ent, an accomplished physi¬
cian and scholar. In the beginning of 1651 he published
his second great work—namely his Exercitationes de Gene¬
rations Anirnalium, 4to, London. The year after, when
Harvey was looked upon by common consent as the most
distinguished anatomist and physician of the age, the Col¬
lege of Physicians placed a statue of him in their hall, with
the following inscription :—
GULIELMO HARVEIO
VIEO MONUMENTIS SUIS IMMORTAL!
HOC INSURER COLLEGIUM MEDICORUM LONDINENSE
POSUIT.
QUI ENIM SANGUINI MOTUM
UT ET
ANIMALIBUS ORTUM DEBIT.
MERUIT ESSE
STATOR PERPETUUS.
About this time Harvey commenced a handsome addition
to the college buildings, comprising a common hall and
library, the latter of which he furnished with books. In
1654 he was elected to the chair of president of the
College of Physicians, but declined to serve on the ground
of his age and infirmities. He continued, however, to de¬
liver his lectures till within a year or two of his death. He
died on the 3d June 1657, of paralysis, having completed
the eightieth year of his age.
Harvey was a ripe and finished scholar, and an inductive
philosopher of a class as high as his illustrious contemporary
and patient, the Lord Chancellor Bacon. He was acquainted
with all the men of letters and of science of his day—
Hobbes, Boyle, Dryden, Cowley, &c.; and although the
treatment he experienced by his contemporaries has often
been quoted by empirics as an instance of the martyrdom
which men of genius and of original views have to encounter,
it does not appear that his views were met with any unusual
hostility from the great body of the learned. It is true one
or two foreign anatomists indulged in some foolish abuse;
and, if we may believe Aubrey’s tattle, he “ knew several
practitioners in this town that would not have given three¬
pence for one of his bills [prescriptions] ; and that a man
could hardly tell by his bills what he did aim at.” But, in
opposition to this gossip, we have it on record that Harvey
was not only physician to the Court, but also had the con¬
fidence of many of the most distinguished among the nobles
and men of eminence of the time. He lived to see his dis¬
coveries universally acknowledged, and to be deeply re¬
vered by his brethren.
His moral character was of the highest, and may be
judged of by what he has himself enjoined on the College
of Physicians. Having endowed it handsomely with his
paternal estate, he left funds for a meeting and collation
once a month, and for a general annual feast of all the fel¬
lows, at which should be delivered an oration in comme¬
moration of the benefactors to the college, and u an exhorta¬
tion to the members to study and search out the secrets of
nature by way of experiment, and for the honour of the
profession to continue mutually in love.” The College of
Physicians of London would have enjoyed a fairer fame,
and British medicine a higher reputation, if that body had
more faithfully followed the example and written precepts
HAS 237
of their immortal benefactor. Harvey had refined feelings Harwich
and a strong sense of duty. He returned not railing for ||
railing when he encountered his depreciators in controversy. Hasling-
He was faithful to his sovereign, devoted to science, sedu- den-
lous for the advancement of his profession, munificent to his
college, kind and considerate to his relatives. The public
voice of his day fully acknowledged his merits, and its ver¬
dict has never been questioned. (t. l.)
HARWICH, a municipal and parliamentary burgh and
seaport town of England, county of Essex, on the extremity
of a tongue of land projecting into the estuary of the Stour
and Orwell, 15 miles N.E. of Colchester. It consists of
three principal streets, well paved and lighted with gas.
The church of St Nicholas is a large brick edifice, in the
perpendicular style, with stone buttresses and steeple, erected
in 1821. There are also chapels for Independents, Wes-
leyan-Methodists, and Baptists ; a grammar school; town-
hall ; gaol; theatre ; assembly-rooms ; baths ; and custom¬
house. Shipbuilding and the fisheries are extensively
carried on ; and Roman cement is largely manufactured
from a stone dredged at the mouth of the harbour. In
summer it is much frequented for sea-bathing. The har¬
bour is one of the best on the E. coast of England, being
at once safe and capacious, and having water sufficient to
float the largest ships of war. The entrance is, however,
encumbered with rocks, and dangerous without a pilot. It
is marked by two lighthouses, and is defended by a strongly-
garrisoned fort and battery. It has been made a harbour
of refuge. On 31st December 1854, the vessels registered
as belonging to the port were—under 50 tons, 66, tonnage
1974 ; above 50 tons, 53, tonnage 5068. During that year
519 vessels of 37,069 tons entered, and 425 of 19,896 tons
cleared, in the coasting trade; 1 vessel of 28 tons entered,
and 11 of 535 tons cleared, in the colonial trade; and 70
vessels of 5869 tons entered, and 169 of 9494 tons cleared,
in the foreign trade. Harwich is governed by a mayor, 4
aldermen, and 12 councillors, and returns 2 members to
parliament. Pop. (1851) 4451.
HARZ, or Hartz Mountains, the most northerly range
in Germany, run E.S.E. and W.N.W., between N. Lat. 51.
30. and 52., and E. Long. 10. and 11. 30. They are 55
miles long by 19 broad, and cover an area of above 1000
square miles. The water-shed between the basins of the
Weser and the Elbe divides the whole range into two parts;
the eastern is called the Lower Harz, and the western the
Upper Harz. The range exhibits a collection of irregular
heights, chiefly covered with pine; on the Lower Harz
are also found ash, elm, oak, and beech. The chief sum¬
mit is the Brocken or Blocksberg, 3740 feet above the level
of the sea. Snow lies upon the higher parts of the range
during eight months of the year. The chief mineral dis¬
trict is the Upper Harz ; it contains lead, silver, and copper
mines, affording work for between 15,000 and 20,000 la¬
bourers annually. Geologically, the Harz mountains con¬
sist of granite and mica slate, which underlies graiiwacke,
clay-slate, limestone, gypsum, &c.
HARZGERODE, a town of Central Germany, duchy
of Anhalt-Bernburg, 7 miles S.W. of Ballenstedt. It has
an old castle, built in 1552, and a forest school. In the
vicinity are silver, copper, vitriol, and iron-works, including
the Victor Frederick silver-works, and the Magdesprung
iron-works. Pop. 2500.
HASLEMERE, a small town of England, county of
Surrey, 8 miles S.S.W. of Godaiming. It is an ancient
borough, and, previous to the passing of the Reform Act, by
which it was disfranchised, it returned two members to par¬
liament. The parish church is an ancient edifice with a
low square tower. Pop. of parish (1851) 955.
HASLINGDEN, a market-town of England, Lanca¬
shire, 7 miles S.E. of Blackburn. Part of it stands on the
slope, and part at the foot of a hill; the latter being the
238 HAS
Hasselquist newer portion. The houses are mostly of stone. The
II parish church is a large and handsome edifice of modern
Hastings. with the exception 0f tiie tower, which belonged to
/ 1 a previous building. It contains a fort of the time of
Henry VII., as well as several monuments. There are
chapels connected with Independents, Methodists, and other
dissenting bodies; national and other schools; and a me¬
chanics’ institute with library. The woollen manufacture
was till lately the staple of the town, but it has now in a
great measure been superseded by that of cotton. The
silk manufacture is also carried on here. In the vicinity are
quarries of building stone and slate, and several coal mines.
Market-days, Wednesday and Saturday. Pop. (1851) 6154.
HASSELQUIST, Frederic, a Swedish naturalist, and
one of the most distinguished of all Linnaeus’ pupils, was
born in 1722, at Taern-Valla, in E. Gothland. His father,
who was vicar of the parish, died, leaving his family quite
unprovided for; but a kind uncle had the young Hasselquist
educated with his own children. After the death of this
good friend, he was sent in 1741 to the university of Upsal,
where his taste for the study of nature was fostered and de¬
veloped by Linnaeus. In 1747 he published an essay, De
Viribus Plantarum, in which with equal boldness and ability
he exposed the popular ideas of the medical virtues of many
plants, and defended the old but then discarded doctrine of
“ like forms, like virtues.” It is to this defence of Hassel-
quist’s that the doctrine in question mainly owes the steady
foot-hold it has ever since his day maintained. His scien¬
tific abilities, backed by the influence of Linnaeus, now
procured for him one of the scholarships for enabling students
to travel, and Hasselquist set out for the Holy Land, the
natural history of which was at that time very imperfectly
known. After visiting part of Asia Minor, Egypt, and
Palestine, he turned his face in the direction of home ; but
his constitution, naturally weak, gave way under the fatigues
and anxieties of travel, and he died at Smyrna, Feb. 9, 1752,
at the early age of thirty. His collections reached home in
safety, and, five years after his death, the results of his
wanderings in the east were published by Linnaeus under
the title of Iter Palestrinum, a work which contains a world
of information on almost every department of the natural
history of the countries visited by Hasselquist, and which
has not even yet been superseded as a book of reference.
The work is divided into two parts, the first consisting of
the traveller’s journal and letters, and the second of his
remarks on the botany, zoology, and mineralogy of the coun¬
tries he passed through, with observations on the prevalent
diseases and their cure, and the state of industry, commerce,
and the arts. The amount of genuine and solid labour and
ability displayed in this work will prevent it from ever being
totally superseded. Its author’s name is consecrated in his
favourite science by having been given to the Hasselquistia
cordata, an oriental umbelliferous plant of the order of
Apiaceae. His travels were translated into English in 1766.
HASSELT, a town of Belgium, capital of the province
of Limburg, on the Demer, 15 miles W.N.W. of Maestricht.
It is the seat of the principal provincial courts, and is toler¬
ably well built. It has several churches and chapels; a
court-house, 2 hospitals ; almshouse ; college ; and several
primary schools. The chief manufactures are linen, leather,
tobacco, gin, beer, and salt. It is likewise a place of con¬
siderable trade. Pop. of commune (1851) 9784.
HAST A, or Hast a Pura, among medallists, a headless
spear, or rather a long kind of sceptre, occasionally given
to all the heathen deities. The hasta pura is supposed to
be a symbol of the goodness of the gods, and of the con¬
duct of providence, which is equally mild and forcible.
HASTATE See Army ; § Roman Army, vol. iii.
HASTINGS, a parliamentary and municipal borough
and market-town of England, county of Sussex, 64 miles
from London by the road, and 74 by the Hastings branch
HAS
of the South-Eastern railway ; in official proceedings ranks Hastings,
as the first of the Cinque Ports. Hastings lies on the sea-
coast at the mouth of the Bourne, a small stream which in¬
tersects the town. An amphitheatre of hills and cliffs
shelters it on every side except the S., where it lies open
to the sea. Its climate is thus both mild and equable, and an¬
nually attracts a large number of invalids. During the
bathing season great crowds of visitors flock to the town,
for whose comfort every provision has been made in the
shape of hotels, libraries, baths, and promenades. The town
originally consisted of two main streets, separated by the
Bourne, but since it became a favourite summer resort
many handsome streets and squares have been added to it.
It has also been lighted with gas and paved, and the sewer¬
age, at one time notoriously bad, has of late been much
improved. The principal public buildings are the ancient
parish churches of All Saints and St Clements, the town-
hall, custom-house, and gaol. There are also chapels be¬
longing to the Roman Catholics, Baptists, Independents,
Methodists, and other sects. Besides two endowed schools,
there are British, national, and infant schools. The per¬
manent residents in the town are chiefly engaged in fishing
and boat-building, in both of which they are reputed to have
much skill; but much of the prosperity of Hastings now
depends on the influx of summer visitors. Of late years
these have so much increased in number that for their accom¬
modation houses have been built over the whole ground
extending between Hastings and the little town of St
Leonards. A few years ago, St Leonards was only a small
village about a mile distant from Hastings, but it is annually
increasing with great rapidity, and as its population is in¬
cluded in that of its larger neighbour, it is now considered
as forming a part of it. The most striking part of the town
is the Marina, a handsome street with a covered colonnade
looking towards the sea. The united parades of Hastings
and St Leonards are not surpassed, if indeed they are
equalled, by any other sea-walks in England. The scenery
in the neighbourhood of the town is charmingly picturesque.
Among the places of interest in the vicinity may be men¬
tioned Bulverhithe, where William the Conqueror landed
from France ; the ruins of the old fortress on the high cliffs
overhanging the town on the W.; and Battle Abbey,
which, though it takes its name from the fight of Hastings,
is 7 miles distant from the town. (See Battle.) The
corporation consists of a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 coun¬
cillors. The borough returns two members to parliament.
Pop. of parliamentary borough (1851), 17,011 ; of muni¬
cipal, 16,966; number of registered electors, 976.
HASTINGS, Warren, the real founder of the English
empire in Hindustan, was a scion of an old and noble but
impoverished family of Worcestershire, and was born Dec.
6, 1732. The best part of his education he got at West¬
minster School, where he had Vincent Bourne for his
teacher, and Churchill, Colman, Lloyd, Cumberland, and
Cowper among his school-fellows. Though he was the
cleverest lad of his standing, and would infallibly have dis¬
tinguished himself at the university, it was determined that
he should begin life for himself without delay; and interest
having been made on his behalf he obtained a writership in
the service of the East India Company, then beginning to
struggle into existence. His first residence in India lasted
for fourteen years. He went out in 1750, and he returned
home in 1764. During that period he was sometimes en¬
gaged on diplomatic missions into the interior, but most of
his time was spent in commercial enterprises. His oppor¬
tunities of displaying his abilities were consequently few ;
and though he did not then attain any high rank in the ser¬
vice, he was silently educating himself for the great destiny
that awaited him. He made himself a thorough master of
the Persian and Hindustani languages, and probed to their
subtlest depths the characters of the people that spoke these
HAST
Hastings, tongues. To this knowledge of their languages and them-
selves Hastings owed in great measure his power over the
natives, and the final triumph of his administration. At the
close of the fourteenth year of his service, Hastings returned
home with a fortune so very small and so unlike those that
were then made in India, that nothing more is required to
prove that he must have been strictly just in his dealings
with the natives. His desire was to spend the remainder
of his days in the calm retirement of home, but partly by
over-liberality to his relatives, and partly by mismanage¬
ment of his own, his little fortune melted away altogether;
and at the end of four years he was glad to return to India,
with the appointment of member of council of Madras.
Three years later he exchanged this subordinate office for
the chief-magistracy of Bengal, from which in 1774 he was
promoted to the governor-generalship of British India. It
was not long before he was called upon to show what was
in him. The struggle upon which he now entered, and
from which in the end he came forth a victor, was begun,
not for conquest but for existence; and this, though it is far
from excusing, at least palliates the extreme measures to
which he had recourse. The conquests of Clive, though
they had greatly extended the territorial limits of the Com¬
pany’s possessions, were a source of weakness rather than
strength, for they had not yet been consolidated, and from
their position served as a tempting bait to the cupidity of
the famous Hyder Ali, the able and daring rajah of Mysore.
To baffle this dangerous antagonist, and the alliances which
he formed in the East; to out-manceuvre the tactics of his
colleagues at the council-board, who hated and did their best
to thwart him ; to carry on the internal administration ; and,
above all, to remit regular dividends to England—to do all
this, and at the same time maintain even the semblance of
fair and scrupulous dealing, was plainly beyond mere human
powers. It was no wonder, then, that rumours grew rife
in England of cruelty, tyranny, and extortion carried on to
an extent that made the blood run cold to hear of; and as
little wonder that the directors of the Company were afraid
to stem the tide of public opinion that ran so strong against
the man to whom they owed the most part of their wealth
and power. But all their anxiety to procure his removal
was unable to move the proprietors, on whose support Hast¬
ings calculated in all his subsequent career. His conduct
was now marked by an obstinate spirit of independence.
He did not scruple to disobey the orders sent from Eng¬
land ; reduced his refractory colleagues to silence or assent;
and, with the title of a servant, swayed really a more de¬
spotic and irresponsible power over a greater population
and a wider extent of country than any sultan or rajah in
the Indian peninsula. In 1785 he resigned his high office
and returned home. He was well aware that he would be
called upon to give an account of his stewardship, and he
did not shrink from the result. His trial is the most me¬
morable in the annals of modern jurisprudence. Proceed¬
ings began in the session of 1786, and were not brought to
an end before the spring of 1795. The serious business of
the impeachment was entrusted to Burke, who was sup¬
ported in the conduct of the case by the most eminent Whig
notabilities of the day, Fox, Grey, Sheridan, and others.
The counts of the indictment were finally reduced to four,
the oppression and final expulsion of the rajah of Benares ;
the maltreatment and robbery of the Begums of Oude;
the acceptance of presents of immense value ; and conniv¬
ance at unfair contracts and reckless expenditure of the
public revenues. The prosecution was opened by Burke
in a speech of extraordinary eloquence and power, which
extended over three days. He was succeeded by Fox, who
in his turn gave place to Sheridan. The speech of that
brilliant wit was said by the ablest among those who heard
it to have been the best that was ever delivered in the Eng¬
lish House of Commons. It certainly was one of the most
I N G S. 239
telling, for it caused so much excitement that no other Hastings,
speaker could obtain a hearing, and the debate was ad- i -
journed. Other speakers took up the cue, and the prose¬
cution extended over the entire sessions of 1788, 1789, and
1790, engrossing no fewer than 72 days. The defence was
longer still, and was skilfully protracted till April 17, 1795,
on which day the accused was acquitted by an overwhelm-
ing majority. An acquittal had been expected, and the
voice of the nation approved it. The defendant had come
before his judges, well aware that the feeling against him
was strong. He now left the bar of the Lords with an
equally unreasonable feeling in his favour. It was believed
that his accusers had, of set purpose, retarded the course of
justice, though by far the larger share of the blame or merit
of the delay was due to Hastings himself, who foresaw the
reaction in the public mind which eventually took place.
He was now regarded as an oppressed and persecuted man,
and therefore an object of sympathy and compassion. The
bitter invective of which the prosecutors made so liberal a
use was adduced to prove that their hostility was that of
personal and malignant rancour. The expenses of the case
were enormous. This defence cost Hastings upwards of
L.76,000, and he had sworn in his trial that at no period
had he ever been worth more than L. 100,000. His friends
of the India House felt that his claims upon them were
strong, and proposed to settle on him an annuity of L.5000.
Some delay occurred in passing this proposal, and Hastings
was reduced to such straits that he could hardly pay his
weekly bills. His allowance was at length fixed at L.4000
a-year, and the company lent him L.50,000 more for 18
years free of interest. This ought to have sufficed for the
ex-governor to live in luxury, but he was a bad manager,
and he had frequently to apply to his old supporters for aid,
which was always liberally granted. The last 24 years of
Hastings’ life were spent at Daylesford, in Worcestershire
—an estate which had been lost to the family by the un¬
thrift of his ancestors, and which, from his earliest years he
had determined to regain. He amused himself with em¬
bellishing his grounds, and endeavouring to naturalize in
England some of the animals and vegetables of India. The
peerage, which he not unnaturally looked for as the reward
of his services, and of which it was said that the patent had
even been made out, was from some unexplained cause or
other withheld, and Hastings never rose beyond the rank of
privy-councillor, to which he was raised shortly before his
death, which happened Aug. 22, 1818, when he was in his
eighty-sixth year. It was proposed that he should be buried
in the abbey of Westminster, but permission was refused ;
and his dust was consigned to its last resting-place in the
chancel of the parish church of Daylesford, in earth which
already held the bones of many chiefs of the house of Hast¬
ings. “ On that very spot, probably,” writes the most elo¬
quent chronicler of his strange career, “ four-score years be¬
fore, the little Warren, meanly clad and scantily fed, had
played with the children of ploughmen. Even then his
young mind had revolved plans which might be called
romantic. Yet, however romantic, it is not likely that they
had been so strange as the truth. Not only had the poor
orphan retrieved the fallen fortunes of his line ; not only
had he repurchased the old lands, and rebuilt the old dwell¬
ing ;—he had preserved and extended an empire ; he had
founded a polity; he had administered government and
war with more than the capacity of Richelieu; and had
patronized learning with the judicious liberality of Cosmo.
He had been attacked by the most formidable combinations
of enemies that ever sought the destruction of a single
victim ; and over that combination, after a struggle of ten
years, he had triumphed. He had at length gone down to
his grave in the fulness of age—in peace, after so many
troubles ; in honour, after so much obloquy.”
Those who look on his character without favour or male-
240
Hat.
HAT HAT
volence will pronounce that in the two great elements of all fore, and had very broad brims, resembling what are now Hat-mak-
socialvirtue—-in respect for the rights of others, and in sym- occasionally called Quakers’ hats, the protrusive encum- ing.
p ithy for the sufferings of others—he was deficient. His brance of which soon suggested the convenience of their ' ^
principles were somewhat lax. His heart was somewhat being turned up in front; fashion dictated the upbendingof
hard But while we cannot with truth describe him as another side or flap, and ultimately a third, so that by this
either a righteous or a merciful ruler, we cannot regard progress, in 1704, the regular three-cocked hat became the
without admiration the amplitude and fertility of his intel- order of the day, when feathers ceased to be usually worn,
lect • his rare talents for command, for administration, and Near the middle of the eighteenth century, a round-edged
for controversy ; his dauntless courage ; his honourable but flat-topped and full-brimmed hat got into very general
poverty ; his fervent zeal for the interests of the state ; his use, and the flat and other cocked hats now dwindled almost
noble equanimity, tried by both extremes of fortune, and into a mere distinction of real or assumed rank. Twenty-five
never disturbed by either. years after this, a very near approach to that of the present
(Essay on Warren Hastings, by T. B. Macaulay ; Me- times became fashionable, and, within ten years, altogether
moirs of the Life of Warren Hastings, by G. R. Gleig, M. A.; superseded the ordinary use of the cumbrous and antique cock.
Mill’s History of British India, which last contains a very Plumes, jewels, silk loops, rosettes, badges, gold and
full and impartial statement of Hastings’ case, and able silver bands and loops, have at various periods ornamented
summing up of the evidence of both sides, and a sentence this article of dress ; metal bands and loops being now es-
qualified, yet, on the whole, favourable to him, who, as he was teemed proper only to naval and military “ men of honour,”
the first, was also the ablest of all the men to whom the desti- and the humble liveried attendants on state, rank, and offi-
nies of our great empire in the East have ever been entrusted.) cial dignity. The opera or soft-folding hat is the only relic
HAT is a term of Saxon derivation, from haet, a cover at present in general use of the hats worn by our grand-
for the head. It is sometimes called castor, from its being fathers, although it is not improbable that the mutations of
made of the fur of the castor or beaver. As a piece of fashion may re-introduce the elegant Spanish hat as the
dress, the period of its introduction is not certain, although precursor perhaps of various other styles, as well as the
it may with great probability be referred to the early dis- cocked hat, which are not yet entirely discarded,
tinctions of Roman Catholic dignitaries. Froissart chro- In the Great Exhibition of 1851 several very novel styles
nicies, that it was “ saide to the cardynals, Sirs, advyse you of hat were introduced by British exhibitors. It is remarked
if ye delyvere us a Pope Romayne, we be content, or els in the Jury Report respecting them that “in an article of
we woll maike your heddes reeder than your hattes befashion and of such constant use as hats, it does not appear
from which, and from many other documents, it appears to be easy to change the habits and tastes ,of the wearers,
that at this period, as well as for some centuries after, hats or to induce them to adopt a new costume,
were generally of a scarlet or red colour5 and made of u a Until recent times hats weie chiefly produced by the art
fine kinde of haire matted thegither.” A “ hatte of biever,” of felting, an art which some persons suppose to have been
about the middle of the twelfth century, was worn by some practised by the nations of antiquity. It is thought that
one of the <4nobels of the lande, mett at Clarendom ; ” and Iciuci cocictct^ used for soldieis cloaks and for Lacedemonian
Froissart describes hats and plumes which were worn at hats, was felted wool, but others state that it was only
Edward’s Court in 1340, when the Garter order was insti- knitted wool. In Roman Catholic countries St Clement is
tuted. In the Diary of Henry’s secretary, there is “ ane the reputed inventor of felt. This personage is said to have
scarlet beever hatte” presented on new’ year’s day 1443. put carded wool into his sandals to piotect his feet duiing a
Even at this early period hats were of various shapes, both pilgrimage, and that the effect of the moisture, warmth, and
in the crowns and the brims; the latter being chiefly broad, friction converted the wool into a felted cloth. The hatters
sometimes narrowing towards the back, and a little bent up annual festival is on the 23d November, St C ements ay.
and scooped in front. In Henry’s privy purse expenses, Hat-making embraces two distinct kinds of manufac-
during his congress with Francis I. in 1520 or 1521, there ture, viz., of felted, and covered hats ; the covering of the
is “peid for a hatte and plume for the king, in Boleyn, latter being generally plush. Felted hats comprehend two
xv8.;” and in Wolsey’s inventory, taken on his resigning classes, differing chiefly in the materials used in making,
the great seal to Sir Thomas More, there are no fewer the processes being nearly identical. The lower class is
than five mentioned. The fashion of this article was then marked by inferior ingredients, unmixed with beaver, and
much more diversely capricious than even now, as will ap- embraces wool, plated, and short nap hats.. Wool hats aie
pear from an extract from Stubbs’ Anatomic of Abuses, made entirely of coarse native wool and hair stiffened with
published about 1585 : “ Sometimes they use them sharpe glue. Before the emancipation act these hats were largely
on the crowne, pearking up like the spire or shaft of a exported for negroes’ wear; but the manufacture is now
steeple, standing a quarter of a yard above the crowne of almost extinct. Plates have a nap or pile r^dher finer than
theire heads ; some more, some lesse, as please the fanta- their body, and are sometimes vmterproof ^mxowod. Short
sies of their inconstant mindes. Othersome be flat, and naps are distinguished from plates by additional kinds of
broade on the crowne, like the battlements of a house, wool, viz., hare’s back, seal, neuter or nutria, musquash (Mus-
Another sorte have rounde crownes, sometimes with one covy cat), and are all waterproof stiffened,
kind of bande, sometimes with another; now black, now The second class may be said to comprehend two orders,
white, now russed, now redde, now grene, now yellow ; now called stuff and beaver hats. The first includes mott ed
this, now that; never content with one colour or fashion and stuffbod.es. The latter term is not used generally as
two daies to an end. And as the fashions be rare and all stuffs are understood to be of this sort ^mottled is
strange, so is the stuffe whereof their hattes be made divers not expressed. Mottled bodies axe ma.de chiefly of fine
also ; for some are silk, some of velvet, some of taffetie, Spanish wool, and inferior rabbit down or coney wool,
some of sarsnet, some of wool, and, which is more curious, Stuff bodies comist ofthe best hare, Saxony, and red wools,
some of a certaine kinde of fine haire ; these they call bever mixed with Cashmere hair and silks. Stuffs are napped,
hattes, of xx. xxx. or xl. shillings price, fetched from be- that is, covered with pile of mixed seal, neuter, hare-back,
yonde the seas, from whence a great sorte of other vanities inferior beaver, and musquash. Beaver hats are or ought
doe come besides ; and so common a thing it is, that every to be, napped with beaver only; the lower priced qualities
servyng man, countreiman, and other, even all indifferently, with brown wooms taken from the back ; the more valuab e
doe weare of these hattes.” About the beginning of 1700, kinds with cheek and white wooms, such being the finest
the crowns of hats were mostly round, much lower than be- parts of the f ur found on the belly and cheeks of the beaver.
H A T-M A K I N G.
I he manufacture of a beaver hat involves a number of
curious and interesting processes, the most important of
which is felting, or the art of combining animal fibres in
such a wray as to form, without weaving, a thick compact
cloth. The felting property of animal fibres depends on
their peculiar structure, which, as revealed by the micros¬
cope, appears to be notched or jagged at the edges with
teeth directed from the root towards the extremity. Wool
in the yolk, or with the natural grease adhering to it, does
not readily felt, the jagged portions being smoothed over or
filled up with the oil; but when the fibres of clean wool or
hair are made to undergo a gentle friction under the in¬
fluence of moisture and heat they readily felt together.
Several of the furs mentioned above (see also Fur
Trade) are used for hats. The beaver has been so assi¬
duously hunted during many years that it is now becoming
a rarity, and the fur of other animals is substituted for it.
The coypu furnishes nutria skin; the musquash or musk¬
rat, the hare, and the rabbit, yield fur for the nap of the hat,
while the body is made of lamb’s wool, or of the woolly
hair of the llama or vicuna.
A beaver hat, properly so called, has a body or founda¬
tion of rabbits’ fur, with a beaver nap, although the beaver,
for the reason above stated, is often mixed with a more
common fur. Such a hat has a pleasant softness and plas¬
ticity, and readily moulds itself to the shape of the head,
presenting a marked contrast to the hard, horny, silk hat,
which has nearly superseded it. Still, however, there must
always be certain persons who, not objecting to the price,
will continue to keep alive this the most interesting branch
of the hat manufacture, and it is our duty to describe its
processes.
The beaver hat, with the body of rabbits’ fur and a beaver
nap, may be regarded as the highest achievement of the
hatter. A cheaper kind has the body of lambs’ wool, and
the nap of some fur cheaper than beaver. Such is the plate
hat, so called from an analogy with plated metal goods, the
exposed surface being of the more valuable material upon
an inferior base or foundation. A notice of the mode of
preparing a plate hat will sufficiently show the nature of the
processes concerned in the manufacture of a beaver hat.
In preparing this fur plate, the hatter weighs out an ounce
of beaver down, a quarter of an ounce of musquash, and a
quarter of an ounce of cotton wool, which last ingredient
serves the temporary purpose of preventing the surfaces of
the beaver from felting together instead of adhering to the
body. These three substances are spread out and combined
possible, and one half laid aside, whilst the other is ao-ain
bowed. In this second operation, partly by the bow¬
ing, but chiefly by the gathering, or patting use of the
basket, the stuff is loosely matted into a conical figure, about
fifty by thirty-six inches, called a bat. In this formation
care is taken to work about two-thirds of the wools down
towards what is intended for the brim, which being effected
greater density is induced by gentle pressure with the bas¬
ket. It is then covered with a wettish linen cloth, upon
which is laid the hardening shin, a piece of dry half-tanned
horse hide. On this the workman presses or bakes for seven
or eight minutes, until the stuff adheres closely to the damp
cloth, in which it is then doubled up, freely pressed writh
the hand, and laid aside. By this process, called basoning
(from a metal plate or bason, used for like purposes in
making wool hats), the bat has become compactly felted and
thinned toward the sides and point. The other half of the
flocked stuff is next subjected to precisely the same pro¬
cesses ; after which, a cone-shaped slip of stiff paper is
laid on its surface, and the sides of the bat are folded over
its edges to its form and size. It is then laid paper-side
downward upon the first bat, which is now replaced on the
hurdle, and its edges are transversely doubled over the
introverted side-lays of the second bat, thus giving equal
thickness to the whole body. In this condition it is re-in¬
troduced between folds of damp linen cloth, and again har¬
dened, so as to unite both halves, the knitting together of
which is quickly effected. The paper is now withdrawn •
and the body, being folded into three plies, is removed to
the plank or battery room.
241
Hat-
making.
by the operation of bowing. The bow or stang, ABC, is
about seven feet long, and is usually of ash: A is called
the breech, and C the cock. The stang is suspended by a
string over the bench where the operation is performed.
It stretches a single cord of cat-gut, D, which the workman
vibrates by means of a wooden pin, E, furnished with a half
knob at each end. Holding the bow in his left hand, and
the pin in his right, he causes the vibrating string to come
in contact with the heap of tangled fur, which does not
cover a space greater than that of the hand. At each vi-
tttiHUitrtt ^rat‘on some of the filaments start up to
the height of a few inches, and fall away
from the mass, a little to the right of the bow,
1 their excursions being restrained by a concave
irame of wicker-work F, called the basket.
in the course of a few minutes the fibres
„ -u ii are comPletely separated, and spread over a
considerable space. They are then divided as nearly as
VOL. XI. J
• The battery consists of an open iron boiler or kettle A,
with shelves B, C, partly of mahogany and partly of lead,
sloping down to it. The liquor in the battery is of a scald¬
ing heat, and consists of pure soft water, about half a gill of
oil of vitriol as an astringent, and a full handful of oatmeal
to correct its corrosive tendencies. Herein the body is
imbued, and then withdrawn to the plank to partly
cool and drain, when it is unfolded, rolled gently with
a pin tapering towards the ends, turned, and worked
in every direction, to toughen, shrink, and at the same
time prevent adhesion of its sides. Stopping or thick¬
ening the thin spots which now appear on looking through
the body, is carefully performed by dabbing on additional
stuff in successive supplies from the hot liquor, with a brush
frequently dipped into the kettle, until the body be shrunk
sufficiently (about one half}, and thoroughly equalized,
v} hen quite dried, stiffening is performed with a brush
dipped into a glutinous pulpy composition, and rubbed into
the body ; the surface intended for the inside having much
more laid on it than the outer, while the brim is made to
absorb many times the quantity applied to any other part.
I his viscous matter contains proofing, or those ingredients
which render the hat waterproof.
On being again dried, the body is ready to be covered,
and is once more taken to the battery. The first cover of
beaver or napping, which has been previously bowed, is
strewed equally over the body, and patted with the brush
2 H
;
242
Hat¬
making.
H AT-M AKIN G.
charged with the hot liquor, until incorporated; the cm*
ends only inserting themselves. The body is now put into
a coarse hair-cloth dipped and rolled in the hot liquor, un¬
til the beaver is quite worked in. Ihis is called rolling off,
or ruffing. A stripe for the brim, round the edge of the
inside, is treated in like manner, and is thus prepared for
the second cover, which is applied and worked in similarly ;
the rolling, &c., being continued until the whole has become
incorporated, and a clean, regular, close, and well-felted
hood is the result. The dry hood, after having the nap beat
up and freed, is clipped to the desired length by means of
shears, or by the clipping machine, which is preferable on
account of its performing the work with greater speed and
regularity. ^Vhen the nap is thus disposed of, the hood is
soaked in the battery kettle, then drawn down on a block
to the size and shape wanted, and firmly tied at the bot¬
tom with a cord, around which the brim is left in a frilled
condition.
Dyeing is the next step. A suit, or six dozen, all mounted
on the crown-blocks and hung round a circular frame, are put
into the dye kettle, and allowed to remain three-quarters of
an hour in the liquor, which is kept as near as possible one
degree below the boiling point. These being taken out and
set&in the yard to cool, another suit is introduced for a like
period ; and the various suits are so treated at least twelve
times in successive order. Each of the first four steepings
of every suit is accompanied by about 7 lbs. of coppeias,
and 2 lbs. of verdigris. The body is then washed and brushed
out in changes of hot water, until it ceases to give off
colour. When thus thoroughly cleansed, it is steamed
on a block, shaped as the hat is wished to be when com¬
plete ; and in the finishing shop, by heavy (21-pound)
heated irons and moisture, the frilled brim is shrunk until
rendered quite level, the nap gently raised all over with a
fine wire card, and brushed and ironed smooth in a uniform
direction. Machinery is sometimes employed for these pur¬
poses. The tip, a thin lath sheet, is then fitted and stuck
to the inside of the crown, and robbined or secured all round
the edges by stripes of prepared paper. When thus got
down, it is sent to the picker, who with tweezers extracts
the hemps, vulgarly called “ grey hairs,’ or the coarse hairs
that have escaped the search of the machine used in blow¬
ing the beaver, so as to separate them from its fine parts.
This being carefully accomplished, the hat is transferred to
the finisher, who, with a plush cushion or velure, a brush,
and hot iron, imparts to it a bright sleeky lustre. The
shaper then rounds the brim with a knife and notched seg¬
ment to the breadth wanted ; and shapes it in varied styles
by means of a hot iron and damp, with about a foot length
of rope, over which the curl is laid. The trimming is next
done, when the tipper off corrects the twists, smooths the
ruffled nap caused by trimming, and papers it up with tissue
and cartridge, which completes it for the retailer.
Dye-stuffs for a gross of beaver hats.—About 180 gallons
of pure soft water, 1^ cwt. of best Campeachy logwood, 8
lbs. of oxide of copper, and 30 lbs. of copperas. It is to be
observed, however, that some put the chips, others only the
juice, of the logwood into the dye-kettle. Galls are now
disused. Stiffening stuffs—Makers differ in the propor¬
tions, but the ingredients are shell-lac, rosin, mastic, san-
darach, and elemi, all churned until dissolved. A quantity
of this is then melted over steam, sieved, put in hot, and
well mixed. Cleaning stuffs.—These are now seldom consi¬
dered necessary. Half a pound of borax, diluted in five
gallons of water, into which the stiffened nap is dipped, and
then well brushed.
The trade is now almost exclusively occupied in the manu¬
facture of silk hats, which forms a distinct branch ; and
scarcely in any respect in its earlier stages, resembles the
beaver hat manufacture. The hat body may consist of
wool, stuff', willow, straw, cambric, woollen cloth, or calico:
linen or calico are very common. For the latter material Hat-
the body is moulded on an oval block generally made up of making,
five segments; a piece of calico is first folded round the V'*''
block and the edges secured with a solution of shell-lac or
some adhesive compound. The surface of the calico is
next coated with the shell-lac solution, and another layer of
calico is wound round and coated as before, the edges of the
top being turned down to form a portion of the crown ;
other layers of calico are similarly put on, until the desired
thickness is attained. The crown consists of disks of ca¬
lico, and the brim is formed by attaching an oval piece
of calico to a piece of twilt; the centre of the oval is
now cut away to the size of the hat, and the brim
thus formed is secured to the hat body by cementing one
of its loose edges to the inside, and the other to the outside
of the body, the brim being further secured by a strap of
calico, called a band-robbin, saturated with cement, and
passed round near the juncture. The tip being fitted and
robbined, the whole of the exterior is covered with cement,
and when quite dry, the proper width of the brim is adjusted^
by means of a gauge and a knife, the gauge consisting of
the segment of an oval attached to a straight rod at right
angles with the longer axis, and furnished with notches for
the reception of the back of the knife at the proper distance.
The body is now ready for covering with silk plush, which
is woven like velvet and has a nap or shag on one side; it
is partly supplied to this country from Lyons, whence this
kind of hat is called a French hat, but it is also manufac¬
tured at Banbury, Coventry, and in Spitalfields. It is cut
into threes, namely, a circular piece for the crown of the
hat, a rhomboidal piece for the side, and a long slip for the
brim. The latter is cut of greater width than is sufficient
to cover both sides of the brim, and the two ends are sewn
together ; the crown and the side piece are also sewn to¬
gether, the sloping opening at the side being left unsewn.
The hat body being smoothed with sand-paper, the strip for
the brim is put on, wetted with a sponge, and the adhesion
completed by means of a hot iron, the moisture and heat
temporarily dissolving a portion of the shell-lac. In fitting
on the brim-strip the workman is furnished with a brass wire
attached to a rope stirrup; this wire serves him as a third
hand, for he can gather up under it, and hold fast the va¬
rious puckers that are formed, while both hands are at liberty
to make the required adjustment, and when once he is sa¬
tisfied, the wet sponge and the hot iron fix his work. The
superfluous portions above the wire are either cut off, or,
for the under part of the brim, are turned inside the hat and
attached to the body. The cover of plush is next drawn
over the body and nicely adjusted ; it is attached by mois¬
ture and heat as already described, and the diagonal line
formed by the union of the parts is concealed under the
nap. Some skill is required to cover a hat body neatly;
but this being done, the plush is smoothed by a carding
comb, a box-wood dummy, and a velvet cushion. After the
hat has been trimmed and lined by women, the brim re¬
ceives its shape, and the body itself may also be considera¬
bly modified by the aid of a stove-heat. Loose or imper¬
fect filaments are now removed by means of a steel picker,
the hat is once more polished up, and being packed in paper
is ready for the market.
The exports in 1854 of hats manufactured in the United
Kingdom amounted to 138,060 dozen ; the declared real
value of these being L.252,102. In the same year the quan-^
tity imported of silk plush for hats was 144,116 lbs.; of
which the computed real value was L.86,469. The duty
on imported hats (at one time as high as 10s. 6d. each), was
reduced in 1853 to Is.
Hats, Straw. The manufacture of straw hats and bon¬
nets has only existed for about a century in Great Britain ;
yet it has attained great perfection, and has become an
important branch of industry. In no other part of the
H A T
Hats. world, except North America, is the custom of wearing
bonnets so universal as among the women of this country.
A constant demand is thus created for the article; and to
this may partly be attributed the progress of the home ma¬
nufacture. Large importations were formerly made of the
beautiful straw hats of Leghorn and Tuscany, which were
celebrated two centuries ago; but this commerce, being
disturbed by political troubles, gradually declined, while
our own manufacture from indigenous grasses received en¬
couragement. Still the fine rich colour of the Tuscan
straw, its smoothness, and beauty, caused it to be much
valued, and imported hither to be worked up by our own
people after the Italian method. By this method a broad
flat plait is produced in the following manner :—A certain
number of straws, frequently thirteen, equal in colour and
fineness, are tied together at one end. They are then divided
into two bundles, six turned to the left and seven to the
right. The seventh, or outer straw, on the right, is then
turned down, and brought under two straws, over two, and
under two. There are now seven straws to the left, where
the outer straw is again taken and turned down under two,
over two, and under two. Thus, backwards and forwards,
the plaiting proceeds, until a straw is used up. Another
straw is then put in under the short end in the middle
of the plait, and is fastened by the crossing of the other
straws over and under it. This kind of plait is formed
in pieces of great length, which are adjusted, according
to the Italian method, in large coils, so as to form flats,
as they are called, the edges being cleverly knitted to¬
gether by a thread, which is run strait along in the interior,
and entirely concealed. The demand for this kind of plait
is now very limited, the fashion having been superseded by
fancy straw-plaits like those of Switzerland, which are now
produced in such great variety in this country. The chief
seats of manufacture of British straw-plait are the counties
of Bedford, Hertford, and Buckingham, and in these and
some other counties a population of about 70,000 persons
is said to be employed in this trade, producing a yearly
return which has been reckoned at from L.800,000 to
L.900,000. In the end of the last century, straw-plaiting
was successfully introduced into the Orkneys and other parts
of the N. of Scotland. In the case of British-grown straw,
the process is as follows :—The best and whitest straws are
selected, cut into equal lengths, bleached by exposure to
fumes of burning sulphur, and split lengthways into several
segments. The splitting is performed by means of a wire,
having four, six, or eight sharp, cutting edges, which is
passed up the middle of the straw. The slips of straw are
then softened in water, and are in a convenient state for plait¬
ing. As the plait is formed it is passed between wooden
rollers to make it flat and hard. The hat or bonnet is
formed by winding this plait on a wooden shape in a spiral
direction, leaving a little overlap, which is sewed to the part
beneath, and then pressed with a hot iron. At the present
time, however, the taste for fancy bonnets has lessened the
demand for simple straw bonnets of this kind. Various new
materials—Brazilian grass, whalebone, shavings, &c.—are
introduced into the manufacture ; and mixtures of straws,
British and foreign, are invented to gratify the love of
novelty. This manufacture is healthy and domestic, and
is of great value as an employment for women and children.
The description of straw used, which is cultivated solely for the
purposes of the manufacture, and not for the grain, is the Triticum
turgidum, a variety of bearded wheat, which seems to differ in no
respect from the spring wheat grown in the vale of Evesham and
other parts of England. (Trans, of Soc. of Arts.) After undergoing
a certain preparatory process, the upper parts of the stems (beino-
first sorted as to colour and thickness) are formed into a plait of
^i?neija^ ^^r^eer| straws, which is afterwards knitted together at
the edges into a circular shape called a “ flat,” or hat. The fine¬
ness of the flats is determined by the number of rows of plait which
compose them, counting from the bottom of the crown to the edge
H A T 243
of the brim, and their relative fineness ranges from about No. 20 Hatch
to 60, being the rows contained in the breadth of the brim, which ||
is generally eight inches. They are afterwards assorted into first, Hather-
second, and third qualities, which are determined by the colour leigh.
and texture ; the most faultless being denominated the first, whilst v t
the most defective is described as the third quality. These qualities v
are much influenced by the season of the year in which the straw
is plaited. Spring is the most favourable, not only for plaiting,
but for bleaching and finishing. The dust and perspiration in
summer, and the benumbed fingers of the workwomen in winter,
when they are compelled to keep within their smoky huts, plaiting
the cold and wet straw, are equally injurious to the colour of the
hats, which no bleaching can improve. The flats are afterwards
made up in cases of ten or twenty dozen, assorted in progressive
numbers or qualities, and the price of the middle or average num¬
ber governs the whole. The Brozzi make bears the highest repute,
and the Signa is considered secondary ; which names are given to
the flats, from the districts where they are plaited. Florence is
the principal market, and the demand is chiefly from England,
France, Germany, and America; but the kinds mostly required
are the lower numbers; the very finest hats, particularly of late,
being considered too expensive by the buyers. (c. T.)
HATCH, in Mining, an opening into a mine, or in
search of one. The term hatches is also applied to the
earthen dams used in Cornwall to prevent the water that
issues from the stream-works and tin-washes from running
into the fresh rivers.
Hatch, or Hatches, properly the grate or frame of
cross-bars laid over a ship’s deck, now denominated “hatch-
bars.” The lid or cover of a hatchway is also called hatches.
Hatch is sometimes applied to the opening in the ship’s
deck ; but this is properly called the hatchway.
HATCHEL, a tool (of various degrees of fineness) used
for dressing and combing flax and hemp. It resembles a
card, consisting of sharp-pointed iron pins or teeth set regu¬
larly in a board.
HATCHMENT, a corruption of atchievement, in Her¬
aldry, the coat-of-armsof a person dead, usually placed on the
front of a house, by which the rank of the deceased may be
known; the whole being distinguished in such a manner as to
enable the beholder to know whether he was a bachelor, a
married man, or a widower. There are similar distinctions for
women.
HA LCHWAY, a square or oblong opening in the deck of
a ship, affording a passage into the hold, or from one deck to
another. Hatchway is also applied to the passage through
a falling door in the top of a house. In ships, the main¬
hatchway is placed before the mainmast, and is the largest
in the ship ; the fore-hatchway is a little abaft the foremast,
or at the break of the forecastle; and the after-hatchway
between the mainmast and the mizzen.
HATFIELD, or Bishop’s Hatfield, a market-town of
England, county of Hertford, on the side of a hill, 19 miles
N.N.W. of London. The parish church is a handsome
edifice, with an embattled tower and spire ; but the most
remarkable edifice here is Hatfield House, the magnificent
seat of the Marquis of Salisbury, erected in the beginning
of the seventeenth century. The old house was the resi¬
dence of Prince Edward, afterwards Edward VI., imme¬
diately before his accession. Princess (afterwards Queen)
Elizabeth lived here, under the charge of Sir T. Pope,
during the latter part of the reign of her sister Mary. Hat¬
field was, soon after the accession of James L, made over,
in exchange for Theobalds, to Sir R. Cecil, afterwards Earl
of Salisbury, in whose family it has since remained. The
gateway and end of the old palace are still standing.
The present building was erected by Sir R. Cecil. In
November 1835 the left wing was destroyed by fire, on
which occasion the Dowager Marchioness of Salisbury
perished in the flames. The grounds are beautifully laid
out. Market-day, Wednesday. Pop. of parish (1851) 3862.
HAPHERLEIGH, a market-town of England, county
of Devon, on a branch of the Torridge, 28 miles W.N.W.
of Exeter. It is mean and irregularly built, and the inha-
244 HAT
Hatras bitants are chiefly engaged in agriculture. Some are still
II engaged in the woollen manufacture, though this branch of
Ilaiiy. jnc|ustry jias 0f ]ate years declined. Market-day, Friday.
V Pop. of parish (1851) 1710.
HATRAS, a town of Hindustan, in the district of Al-
lyghur, under the jurisdiction of the lieutenant-governor of
the N.W. provinces. At the commencement of the Mah-
ratta war, in 1817, the hostile demeanour of the petty
chief of this place was fraught with danger, and it became
necessary to dislodge him. Dya Ram, who held the place
at that time was accordingly summoned to surrender the
fort. Trusting in the defences, which had been strength¬
ened in imitation of those of the neighbouring fort of Al-
lyghur, by preparing a covered way and raising a glacis, the
occupant refused compliance; whereupon, on the 23d Feb¬
ruary 1817 the town was breached and evacuated, and on
the 1st March fire was opened on the fort from forty-five
mortars and three breaching-batteries of heavy guns. At
the close of the same day a magazine in the fort exploded,
and caused such destruction that Dya Ram, terror-struck,
abandoned the place in the course of the night. The popu¬
lation of this town, which is the chief mart for the cotton
produced in the province, is returned at 20,504. N. Lat. 27.
36., E. Long. 78. 9.
HATTEMISTS, a modern Dutch sect, who adopted
the principles of Pontian Van Hattem. They believed in
uncontrollable necessity, denied human depravity and the
distinction between good and evil, as well as that Christ
made expiation for sin. They made religion to consist in
suffering cheerfully whatever happens by the will of God,
who punished men not for, but by their sins. Their founder
seems to have broached his system principally under the
influence of Spinoza.
HAUBERK, a coat of chain or of ringed mail, with wide
sleeves reaching a little below the elbow, and having a hood.
In France this species of armour was a mark of dignity,
and appropriated to knights, esquires being restricted to a
simple coat of mail, without the hood and the hose of mail.
HAUKSBEE, or Hawksbee, Francis, an ingenious
natural philosopher of the eighteenth century. His contri¬
butions to science are noticed particularly in the historical
part of the article Electricitv, and in the Fifth Dissertation
prefixed to this work.
HAUNCH, the hip, or that part of the body between the
ribs and thigh.
HAURIANT, in Heraldry, a term applied to fishes
when placed upright, as if sucking in the air.
HAUTBOY (Ital. Oboe), a wind instrument of the reed
kind; of a pleasing and rather melancholy timbre. An¬
ciently there were hautboys of different sizes. For the
compass and use of the modern hautboy, see Music. In
some organs there is a stop called the hautboy-stop, con¬
sisting of reed-pipes.
HAUY, Rene Just, an eminent French mineralogist,
was born at St Just, in the department of Oise, Feb. 28th,
1743. His parents were in an humble rank of life, and
were only enabled by the kindness of friends to educate
their son. He was sent to Paris to the College of Navarre,
and afterwards to that of Lemoine, where he finished his
course amid incredible privations and difficulties. He
escaped from these, when, in 1764, he was himself appointed
one of the teachers in the first of the above-named colleges.
He began to devote his leisure hours to the study of botany,
but an accident directed his attention to another field in
natural history. Happening to let fall a beautiful specimen
of calcareous spar belonging to a friend, he discovered, by
examining the fragments, the geometrical law of crystalliza¬
tion. (See Crystallization.) Daubenton and Laplace
immediately recognized the scientific value of the discovery,
which, when communicated to the Royal Academy, secured
for its author a place in that society. When the Revolution
H A V
broke out, Haiiy was thrown into prison, and his life was Havana
even in danger, when he was saved by the intercession of ||
Geoffroy St Hilaire. Under Napoleon, he became professor IIavel.
of mineralogy at the Museum of Natural History. He also
obtained other scientific preferment, of which he was de¬
prived by the feeble and fanatical government of the Re¬
storation, though his royalism had been a serious bar to his
promotion under the Empire. His latter days were conse¬
quently clouded by the poverty which had threatened to
blight his early career. But the courage and high moral
qualities which had helped him forward in his youth did
not desert him in his old age; and, as France is a country
where poverty does not necessarily entail neglect or con¬
tempt, Haiiy lived cheerful and respected till his death,
June 3, 1823. The following are his principal works:—
Essai d’une Theorie xur la Structure des Cristaux, 1784, in 8vo;
Exposition raisonnee de la Theorie de VElectricite et du Magnetisme,
d'apres les Principes d’uEpinus, 1787, in 8vo; De la Structure con-
sideree comme Oaraciere Distinctif des Mineraux, 1793, in 8vo; Ex¬
position abregee de la Theorie de la Structure des Cristaux, 1793, in
8vo; Extrait d’vn Traite Elementaire de Mineralogie, 1797, in 8vo;
Traite de Mineralogie, 1802, 4 vols. in 8vo, et planches in 4to;
Traite Elementaire de Physique, 1803, in 12mo, deuxieme edition,
in 1806, 2 vols. 8vo; Tableau Comparatif des Resultats de la Cris-
tallographie, et de VAnalyse Chimique relativement a la Classification
des Mineraux; Traite des Pierres Precieuses, 1817, in 8vo; Traite
de Cristalographie, 1822, 2 vols. with engravings. M. Haiiy also
contributed papers to various scientific journals, particularly the
Journal d'Histoire Naturelle, Annales de Chimie, the Journal de
Physique, the Magasin Encyclopedique, the Annales du Museum
d'Histoire Naturelle, and the Journal des Mines. He also communi¬
cated several memoirs to various other scientific journals.
HAVANA (Habana), the capital of Cuba, and the
most important commercial city in the West Indies, is si¬
tuated on the northern side of the island, in N. Lat. 23. 8. 15.,
W. Long. 82. 22. 5. It stands on the W. side of the en¬
trance of a magnificent land-locked harbour, capable of ac¬
commodating with safety 1000 vessels. The entrance,between
the Moro and Punta castles, which protect it, is 1500 yards
long, by, and at its narrowest point, 350 wide; and has a
depth of 8 fathoms water. A continuous series of batteries
run along both shores ; and the town is defended by walls, a
strong citadel, and fortifications on the neighbouring heights.
The streets of the city are narrow and dirty, but straight,
and cross each other at right angles. In the matter of
cleanliness, however, a great improvement has lately taken
place. The houses are constructed of stout masonry, gene¬
rally of one storey, and many of the private residences are
costly and magnificent structures. The suburbs are con¬
siderably larger than the town itself, and are better laid out;
that of Regia is on the opposite side of the harbour. Among
its most conspicuous buildings are—the cathedral (in which
the remains of Columbus now lie), the government palace,
admiralty, post-office, royal tobacco factory, and the casa de
beneficiencia. There are numerous churches, convents,
and schools in the city, a university, ecclesiastical seminary,
theatre, and other places of public amusement. Havana
is connected by railway with Batabana, Matanzas, &e.
Pop. (1850) 150,561. See Cuba.
HAVANT, a small market-town in Hampshire, at
the head of Langston harbour, 21 miles E. by S. from
Southampton. The principal building is the church, a cruci¬
form edifice, surmounted by a tower ; some portions of it are
very old. There is also a district church, dedicated to St
John ; a Baptist, and an Independent meeting-house. Ha¬
vant possesses no trade, and no manufacture beyond that
of a little parchment. Market-day, Saturday. Pop. of
parish (1851), 2416.
HAVEL, a navigable affluent of the Elbe, rising in se¬
veral lakes in the S.E. part of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, flows
through several lakes in its course, and joins the Elbe below
Havelberg. The chief towns on its banks are, Oranienburg,
Spandau, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Plane, Rathenow, and
H A V
Havercamp Havelberg. Its chief affluents are—on the left, the Spree,
Haverhill £[uthe’ an(l Stremme ; on the right, the Rhin and the
v ! Dosse. It is about 180 miles in length, is navigable for boats
through its entire extent, and for ships from Fiirstenberg.
HAVERCAMP, Sigibert, a distinguished Dutch
scholar, was born at Utrecht in 1683. He succeeded Gro-
novius as professor of Greek at Leyden, and held at the
same time the chairs of rhetoric and history. He was un¬
doubtedly a learned man and a laborious scholar, but his
works, which were written for the most part hastily and
carelessly, are now forgotten. The most important of
them are his—
Editions of the Apologetica of Tertullian, 1718, in 8vo; of Lucre¬
tius, 1725, in 2 vols. 4to; of the History of Josephus, 1726, in
2 vols. folio ; of Eutropius, 1729, in 8vo ; of Orosius, 1738, in
iTaq °-f SQllust’ 1742> in 2 vols- 4t°; and. lastly, of Censorinus,
1743, in 8vo; Dissertationes de Alexandri Magni numismate quo
quatuor summa orbis terrarum imperia continentur, et de nummis
contorniatis, Leyden, 1722, in 4to; Thesaurus Morellianus, Amster¬
dam, in 2 vols. folio; Universal History explained by Medals in
Dutch, Leyden, 1736, in 5 vols. folio, incomplete; Sylloge Scrip-
torum qui de Linguas Grascce vera et recta pronunciatione Commen-
taria reliquerunt, Leyden, 1736-1740, in 2 vols. 8vo; Introductio
in historiam patrias a primis Hollandice comitibus usque ad pacem
Ultrayect. et Radstad (1714), Leyden, 1739, in 8vo; Introductio in
Antiquitates Romanas, ibid. 1740, in 8vo; Museum Wildianum in
duas partes divisum, Amsterdam, 1740, in 8vo ; Museum Vilebrochi-
anum, ibid. 1741, in 8vo; Bronze Medals, large and small, in the
Cabinet of Queen Christina, Hague, 1742, in folio.
HAVERFORDWEST, in Welsh Hwlffordd, a mar¬
ket-town, seaport, and parliamentary and municipal borough
of Wales, in Pembrokeshire, and the capital of that county.
It stands on a declivity descending to the banks of the West
Cleddan. Some of the streets are wide and handsome ; but
in the older parts of the town they are narrow, and gene¬
rally very steep. Viewed from a little distance, the aspect
of the town is very picturesque. The majority of the shops
and houses have an air of wealth and comfort, arising from
the fact that many persons of independent means have been
attracted to the town by its character for cheapness. The
piincipal public buildings are the Guildhall market-house;
the three parish churches; the various dissenting chapels ;
a Free school; an almshouse; and a large union poor-
house. A literary and scientific institution was established
in 1847; and one newspaper, the Pembrokeshire Herald,
is published weekly.
Haverfordwest was at one time strongly fortified, but all
traces of its walls and towers have long since disappeared.
On a rock overhanging the river was a strong castle, built
in the reign of Stephen by Gilbert de Clare, first Earl of
Pembroke. In the insurrection of Owen Glyndwr, it was
successfully defended against the French troops in the
Welsh service. In the civil war of the 1 7th century it was
held by the royalists. The only remaining vestige'of the
castle is the keep, which has been largely added to, and
converted into the county gaol. In the neighbourhood of
the town are the ruins of a priory, dating from the 12th
century, and dedicated to St Mary and St Thomas.
On the N. side of the river is the suburb of Prendergast,
where are the remains of a very ancient mansion, formerly
occupied by a family of that name. The river itself is
navigable at spring tides as far as the quay, where there is
a custom-house, subordinate to that of Milford. The town
exports in some quantity coal, oats, butter, and cattle. The
on y manufactory of importance is a large paper-mill. The
market held on Tuesday and Saturday is one of the largest
"rn a e>S ’ ^le ’n ParRcular is very abundant.
I he assizes and quarter-sessions for Pembrokeshire are held
ln,£auer ,West, which> with the contributory boroughs
of F ishguard and Harberth, returns one member to parlia-
eleCt0rs <1851) 6865 P°P- 6580.
r , q ffi, o - aJmal1 market-town of England, county
of Suffolk, 25 miles N. of Chelmsford, and 59 miles from
H A V
London. It was formerly a place of greater importance
than at present, and had considerable manufactures of
checks and fustians, which have now dwindled away. The
weaving of silk, cotton, &c., is still to some extent carried
on. I he parish church is a large and ancient edifice. Pop.
of parish (1851) 2535.
Haverhill, a flourishing village in the United States
of North America, Massachusetts, on the N. bank of the
Merrimac River, at the head of its navigation, and about 15
miles from the ocean. It stands on the Boston and Maine
railways ; and has manufactures of boots and shoes, woollen
goods, bricks, silver-ware, hats, &c. Pop. (1853) about
3500.
HAVRE, LE, or Havre de Grace, the principal com¬
mercial seaport on the west coast of France, and a sub-pre¬
fecture and chief town of the department of Seine-Inferieure.
It stands on the N. bank of the estuary of the Seine, in
N. Lat. 49. 29. 14., and W. Long. 0. 6. 38.; by railway
143 miles from Paris, 127 from Poissy, 108 from Mantes,
55|- from Rouen, and 32 from Yvetot. It is the port of the
Seine and of Paris, and one of the most thriving maritime
towns of France. It is quite modern in its construction, chiefly
builton alow alluvial tract of ground, and divided into two parts
by its outer port and basins. It has no fine buildings or
historical monuments; its streets run chiefly in straight lines
and at right angles with one another ; and they are grouped
round the basins or docks which communicate by lock-gates,
and are placed so as to form a triangle entered from the
outer port.
Havre is a fortified town of the third rank; a mari¬
time prefecture, with a tribunal of the first instance and of
commerce; an exchange and a chamber of commerce; a
hydrographic school of the first class ; a maritime arsenal,
&c. The mouth of the harbour, formed in the flat alluvium
of the Seine, is kept open by the aid of a reservoir of water,
regulated by sluices. During only four hours each tide can
vessels enter the port, which is left dry at low water. The
three old docks are capable of containing from 200 to 300
vessels; the third, the Bassin de Vauban, the largest of all,
situated outside the walls, and finished in 1842, is a mag¬
nificent work with a fine masting machine, and warehouses
of the best construction. At the extremity of the reservoir
has been constructed a fifth dock for steamers.
Napoleon said that “Paris, Rouen, and Havre, formed
only one city, of which the Seine was the highway.” This
briefly accounts for the prosperity of Havre. It is the
place of import of all foreign articles required for the supply
of the French capital, as well as of cotton for the manufac¬
turers of Rouen, Lille, St Quentin, and Alsace, which cities
again export through Havre their manufactured goods.
Like Liverpool, it is the point of communication between
the continent of Europe and America; and a great trade
has been here carried on with the United States since the de¬
claration of their independence. Though Havre is much
inferior in size to Marseilles, Bordeaux, or Nantes, the other
great mercantile ports of France, yet it yields to none of
them in activity. Its imports, though only half the weight
of those of Marseilles, nearly equal them in value. The
chief imports from America by Havre are coffee, indigo,
hides, peltry; but above all, cotton for the Rouen and
Mulhausen factories. From Spain are imported wine, oil
barilla, and timber; from Sweden and Norway, deals,
planks, masts, pitch, and tar.
I he manufactures of Havre are not numerous or exten¬
sive. They consist mostly of chemicals, starch, oil, tobacco,
tar, cordage, sailcloth, cables, earthenware, furniture, and lace.
I he Havre station of the Paris, Rouen, and Havre railway
covers an area of 36 acres. Pop. (1851) 26,410.
In 1509 Louis VII. founded Havre; and Francis I. took
* r-UrUer sPe?*a^ Pr°tection, bestowing upon it the name
of Franciscopolis; but a chapel dedicated to Notre-Dame
246 H A W
Haw de Grace ultimately conferred on it its present name. The
li French East India Company and the Companies of Senegal
Hawick. and Quinea made it their entrepot and the chief seat of
their commercial operations. In 1 759 (during the Seven
Years’ War) preparations were made here for an invasion of
England, which led to the bombardment of the place by
Admiral Rodney. In 1794 and 1795 it was again bom¬
barded bv the British.
In 1485 Henry of Richmond embarked at this place for
Milford Haven and Bosworth Field with 4000 men, fur¬
nished by Charles VIII., to aid his enterprise. The town
was delivered over to the keeping of Queen Elizabeth by
the Prince de Conde, leader of the Huguenots, in 1562,
and the command of it was entrusted to Ambrose Dudley,
Earl of Warwick; but the English were expelled within a
year, after a most obstinate siege, the progress of which was
pressed forward by Charles IX. and his mother, Catherine de
Medici, in person.
Havre is the birthplace of Bernardin de St Pierre, author
of Paul and Virginia ; and of Mademoiselle Scudery, and
of Casimir Delavigne.
HAW, in farriery, an excrescence resembling a gristle,
growing under the nether eyelid and eye of ahorse, which,
if not timely removed, destroys it.
Haw, a small parcel of land, as a Hemphaw, or Beanhaw,
lying near the dwelling-house, and enclosed for these uses.
But Sir Edward Coke, in an ancient plea concerning
Feversham in Kent, says hawes are houses.
HAWAII. See Polynesia.
HAWARDEN, a small market-town of North Wales,
Flintshire, 12 miles W.N.W. of Chester. It consists of
little more than one street, about half a mile in length.
The collieries, potteries, and iron-works in the vicinity afford
employment to the inhabitants. Hawarden Castle is a
handsome modern edifice, with an extensive park, in which
are the ruins of the ancient castle, supposed to have been
built by the Britons. Pop. of parish, which is extensive
(1851), 6203.
HA WASH, a river of Abyssinia. See Abyssinia.
HAWES, Stephen, the author of the Pastime of
Pleasure, flourished in the reign of Henry VII. Little is
known of his personal history, except that he was a native
of Suffolk, and that he styled himself “ gentleman and grome
of the chamber to the famous prynce and seconde Solomon,
Kynge Henrye the Seventh.” He is known to have been
a great favourite with the king, who took much pleasure in
his recitations from the old English poets. A common
admiration of the literature of France, in which both were
proficients, cemented their feelings of mutual esteem. The
dates of Hawes’ birth and death are alike unknown. The
Pastime of Pleasure, for which he is chiefly remembered,
is a long and somewhat tedious allegory; exhibiting, how¬
ever, more invention than any similar work of that day.
The poem describes the life and adventures of the Prince
Graunde Amour, who is enamoured of La Bel Pucell, and
who, to make himself worthy of her, studies, in the Tower of
Doctrine under the Ladies Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric,
Arithmetic, and Music. He then visits the Tower of
Geometry, and finally that of Chivalry ; and, after proving
his valour by various exploits, he at length gains the hand
of La Bel Pucell, with whom he spends the rest of his life.
The details of the allegory are wrought out with very con¬
siderable skill, and the poem is useful as showing the ad¬
vancement of the language towards that perfection which
it reached under the master-minds of the Elizabethan era.
HAWICK, a town in the county of Roxburgh, Scotland,
10 miles S.W. from Jedburgh, the county town, and 53
miles S.S.E. from Edinburgh by the Hawick branch of the
North British railway. It stands on the S. bank of the
Teviot, and is divided into nearly equal parts by a wild and
irregular stream, the Slitrig, which has been known to rise
HAW
more than 20 feet above its ordinary level, sweeping away Hawick,
houses, and leaving the foundation rock without a vestige
of building-material or soil. Hawick is of undoubted anti¬
quity, being mentioned in the Chronicles of Melrose as early
as 1214; and the name itself is of Saxon derivation. But
the strongest testimony to the early settlement of the spot
is afforded by an artificial mound at the upper end of the
town, called the Moat, having 312 feet circumference at the
base, an elevation of 30 feet, and a nearly level top of 117
feet in circumference. Its origin is entirely lost; but Mr
Jeffrey, whose acquaintance with the historical memorials
of the Scottish border is perhaps unparalleled, throws out
the conjectures, in his History and Antiquities of Rox¬
burghshire, that “ the children of the Gadeni may have
used it as a burying-place for their dead, and their descend¬
ants afterwards have converted it into a moathill; or it may
have been used from a very early period as a place for en¬
acting as well as administering laws. . . There can be
no doubt (he adds) that in later times the flat top of the
Hawick Moat was used by the judge of the day for hearing
the rude suitors of the district.” Another illustration of
past modes of life in the district is afforded by the building
now used as the Tower Inn, which was at one time a for¬
tress of the barons of Drumlanrig, from one of whom the
town charter (circa 1537) was derived. Eight years after
this baronial grant, the corporate privileges were confirmed
by Queen Mary, who was gratified with the hospitality she
received here. The government of the town is vested in
two bailies and a council; the former being elected annually
by the burgesses, the latter consisting of fifteen life mem¬
bers and fourteen representatives of incorporated trades.
The bold and enterprising spirit which characterized the
borderers prior to the union of the Scottish and English
crowns is now specially distinctive of the inhabitants of
Hawick; and having, about the middle of last century,
embarked in the manufacture of wool beyond the wants of the
district, they have steadily developed a trade that at the
present time gives employment in the town to a capital of
L. 180,000 and to 3689 hands. The carpet manufacture
was the first attempted (1752), and was soon followed by
the manufacture of inkle and cloth ; but these have given
way to the hosiery manufacture, which was first set on foot
by Bailie Hardie in 1771. The bailie employed 5 men and
6 women, who produced annually, from 4 looms, about
2400 pairs of coarse stockings. Twenty years later (1791),
14 men, 51 women, and 8 looms, turned out 3500 pairs
lambs’ wool and 600 pairs cotton stockings—the population
of the town being 2320. About the commencement of
this century machinery was introduced ; and in 1816 there
were 7 mills, 44 engines, 100 hand jennies, and 510 stock¬
ing frames, from which 1044 operatives worked up 288,000
lbs. wool into 328,000 pairs of stockings. The subsequent
progress of the trade may be seen in the following table;
the statistics for 1838 and 1850 being taken from the
Annals of Hawick, by James Wilson, town-clerk ; those for
tl 856 being made up from returns obtained from the several
manufacturing houses:—
1. Carding Mills... |
2. Engines or Scrib- 1
bling Machines )
3. Spinning Jennies...
4. Annual consump- 1
tion of Wool... f
5. Quantity of Yarn )
Manufactured... )
1838.
11 (1 partly
by steam)
2,595,888 lbs.
value £65,000
854,462 lbs.
1850.
11 (6 water
and steam)
106 engines or
53 sets
2,016,000 lbs.
value £142,100
1,209,600 lbs.
1856.
12
60 sets.
74 pairs.
2,116,357 lbs.
value £264,544
1,617,768 lbs.
6. Number of Stock- )
ing Frames  f
7. Number of Stock- 1
ingsmade }
8. Articles of Under- )
Clothing  )
9. Number of Weav- )
ing Looms J
1209
1,049,676 pairs
12,552
226
1200 1611
SI
... 5 1,670,168
120,000 563,104
268 332
*
Hawk
10. Number of Opera- )
fives  j
11. Quantity of Soap ]
consumed  j
12. Annual Amount
of Wages 
13. Value of Property
employed in Ma¬
nufactures  
14. Value of Manu¬
factures  
15. Quantity of Coal
consumed  
H A
1838.
1788 (besides
females)
102,899 lbs.
£48,726
£101,861
£140,000
w
1850.
3465
207,378 lbs.
£81,650
£185,616
£280,904
10,000 tons
1856.
3689
191,397 lbs.
£81,689
£178,604
£333,217
4261 tons.
As the policy of the Duke of Buccleuch, to whom nine-
tenths of the soil of the parish belongs, is adverse to manu¬
factures, this steady growth of the staple trade of the town
has only been accomplished in the face of great difficulties in
regard to mill sites. Though the chief manufacture is in ar¬
ticles of hosiery, there are also produced tweeds, shawls,
blankets and flannels; and the preparation of leather, and the
manufacture of gloves and candles, are carried on exten¬
sively. On Thursday there is a weekly market, principally
for grain ; and several fairs and hiring markets are held dur¬
ing the year. The trade of the town is assisted by branches
of the British Linen, Commercial, and National banks, be¬
sides which there is a savings’ bank. A newspaper, a literary
institution, two reading-rooms, a trades’ library, and some
minor libraries, are evidences of the mental activity of the
people ; and their religious character may be judged of by the
fact that there are 10 places of worship, with accommodation
for the entire population of the town. These places of
worship are,—2 Established, 1 Free, 3 United Presbyterian,
1 Episcopal, 2 Congregational, 1 Baptist, 1 Roman Catho¬
lic, and 1 Quaker. The ancient buildings of the town are fast
disappearing, and in their stead are rising handsome modern
buildings. The principal street is broad, well paved, and
clean ; and two bridges crossing the Slitrig render inter¬
communication easy, whilst an excellent bridge across the
Teviot gives access from the country. Pop. of parish
(1801), 2798; (1841), 6573; (1851), 7801 ; of town
(1851), 6683. (w. e—s.)
HAWK. See index to Ornithology.
HAWKER (German hoker), an itinerant retailer of
wares of any kind. Hawkers and pedlars are classed to¬
gether, and are subject to the same regulations ; but the
former are supposed to carry on business on a larger scale
than the latter. The legislature has always regarded this
class of dealers with some degree of suspicion ; and accord¬
ingly stringent enactments have been made from time to
time with a view to prevent the dishonest practices so com¬
mon in itinerant trading. All hawkers and pedlars must take
out an annual license, the duty on which amounts to L.4 ;
and for each horse, ass, or other beast employed by them
in the transport of goods, there is an additional duty of L.4.
H AWKESBURY, a river of New South Wales, formed
by the junction of the Nepean and Grose, and falling into
Broken Bay 20 miles N. of Sydney. It has a course of
about 130 miles, and is navigable for vessels of 150 tons to
Windsor', 40 miles from the sea in a direct line, but up¬
wards of a 100 by the windings of the river.
HAWKESWORTH, John, LL.D., a distinguished
litterateur of the eighteenth century, was born in London
in 1715, or, as some say, in 1719. He was apprenticed first of
all to a clockmaker, and afterwards to an attorney, but ended
by adopting the profession of letters. In 1744 he succeeded
Dr Johnson as redactor of the parliamentary debates for
the Gentleman’s Magazine. Eight years later he started,
in company with Johnson, Bathurst, and Warton, a periodi¬
cal which he called the Adventurer. This journal had a
great success, and ran to 140 numbers, of which 70 were
from the pen of Hawkesworth himself. It aimed at a high
standard of moral teaching ; and as it was believed to exer¬
cise a wholesome influence, its editor was rewarded by the
HAW 247
Archbishop of Canterbury with the degree of LL.D. This Hawking,
distinction turned his head for a time, and his overbearing
conduct alienated some of his best friends, Johnson in the
number. The doctor was not unwilling to renounce his
old ally, who had been honoured, as he believed, at his ex¬
pense ; and in truth Hawkesworth was nothing more than
an imitator of Johnson, though he certainly was a good
imitator. After producing some fairy tales and minor pieces,
which had great success at Drury Lane, Hawkesworth pub¬
lished in 1761 an edition of Swift, with a life prefixed, to
which Johnson bore most honourable testimony in his
Lives of the Poets. This and other pieces of literary work
which he executed gained him so much credit that he was
selected to redact Captain Cook’s papers relative to his first
voyage. This work appeared in 1773, in 3 vols. 4to, and.
comprised a good narrative of the previous voyages of
Byron, Wallis, and Carteret, with maps, charts, &c. The
compiler received from government L.6000 as the reward
of his labours, and the work was at first warmly received
by the critics. It was soon discovered, however, that in
his preface the editor had expressed some ideas apparently
at variance with the established religion, especially on the
subject of a special providence. Hawkesworth was now
suspected of having aimed a secret blow at Christianity, and
his simple and naive descriptions of savage life were repre¬
sented as dangerous and immoral. I he real truth, how¬
ever, was, that his success had made him many enemies
among the critics who were jealous of his rise ; and the
epigrams and pasquinades of which he became the subject
were in reality a tribute to his genuine merits. It is said,
though with no great, show of reason, that the severity with
which his work came at length to be treated shortened his
days. He died in November 17, 1773, and was buried at
Brnmlev in Kent, where a monument has been erected to
his memory.
HAWKING, the practice of taking wild-fowl by means
of hawks. The method of reclaiming, manning, and bring¬
ing up a hawk to this exercise is cs\\q& falconry.
Falconry is of high antiquity; but at what period hawks
were first trained to this sport does not appear. 1 he Asia¬
tics seem to have been acquainted with it from beyond the
date of history. In the time of Ctesias foxes and hares
were hunted in India by means of rapacious birds ; and we
are told by Aristotle that “ in Thrace they go out to catch
birds with hawks.” Also in another work, ascribed to Aris¬
totle, the same account is to be found, with two remarkable
additions—namely, that, the hawks appear when called, and
that they brought whatever they had seized to the fowlers,
who rewarded them with part of the spoil. (Z)e Mirabilibus
Auscultate c. 128.) Whether or not the sport of hawking
was practised by the Greeks has been much controverted;
but it seems probable that they employed the rapacity of
some of the feathered tribe in hunting and fowling.
The original Britons, with a fondness for the exercise of
hunting, had also a taste for that of hawking, and every
chief maintained a considerable number of birds for that
sport. To the Romans this diversion was scarcely known
in the days of Vespasian, but it was introduced immediately
afterwards. Most probably they adopted it from the Bri¬
tons ; but we know certainly that they greatly improved it.
In this state it appears among the Roman Britons in the
sixth century. Gildas, in a remarkable passage in his first
epistle, speaks of Maglocunus, on his relinquishing the sphere
of ambition, and taking refuge in a monastery, and prover¬
bially compares him to a dove, which hastens away at the
noisy approach of the dogs, and with various turns and
windings takes her flight from the talons of the hawk.
In after times hawking was the principal amusement of
the English. A person of rank scarcely stirred out with¬
out his hawk on his hand ; and in old paintings this is the
criterion of nobility. Harold, afterwards king of England,
248
HAWKING.
Hawking.
when he went out on a most important embassy into Nor¬
mandy, is painted embarking with a bird on his hand, and
a dog under his arm; and in an ancient picture of the
nuptials of Henry VI. a nobleman is represented in much
the same manner. In those days, “ it was thought suffi¬
cient for noblemen to winde their horn, and to carry their
hawk fair, and leave study and learning to the children
of mean people.” The former were the accomplishments
of the times. Spenser makes his gallant Sir Tristram
boast,
“ Ne is there hawk which mantleth her on pearcb,
Whether high tow’ring, or accoasting low,
But I the measure of her flight doe search,
And all her prey, and all her diet know.”
In short, this diversion was, in the good old times, the
pride of the rich, and the privilege of the poor. No rank
of men seems to have been excluded from the amusement.
We learn from the book of St Alban’s that every degree
had its peculiar hawk, from the emperor down to the holy-
water clerk. Vast was the expense which sometimes at¬
tended this sport. In the reign of James I. Sir Thomas
Monson is said to have given L.lOOOfor a cast of hawks.
We need not wonder, then, at the rigour of the laws tend¬
ing to preserve a pleasure which was carried to such an ex¬
travagant pitch. In the 34th of Edward III. it was made
felony to steal a hawk; and to take its eggs, even in a per¬
son’s own ground, was punishable with imprisonment for
a year and a day, besides a fine at the king’s pleasure. In
Queen Elizabeth’s reign the imprisonment was reduced to
three months ; but the offender was to find security for his
good behaviour for seven years, or lie in prison till he did so.
Such, then, was the enviable state of the times of old England.
During the whole day the gentry gave their attention to
the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field ; in the even¬
ing they celebrated their exploits with the most brutish sot¬
tishness ; and the inferior classes, by the most unjust and
arbitrary laws, were made liable to capital punishments, to
fines, and loss of liberty, for destroying the most destruc¬
tive of the feathered tribe.
According to Olearius, the diversion of hawking is more
followed by the Tartars and Persians than ever it was in
any part of Europe. “ II n’y avoit point de hutte,” says he,
“ qui n’eust son aigle ou son faucon.”
The larger falcons are used to pursue antelopes, bustards,
cranes, &c.; the smaller and less powerful birds are em¬
ployed to fly at pigeons, partridges, quails, and the like.
The gyrfalcon, which is one-third larger than the peregrine,
is imported from Tartary, and sold at Constantinople,
Aleppo, and Damascus.
The falcons or hawks which were in use in this kingdom
are still found in Wales, and in Scotland and its isles. The
peregrine falcon (a species very generally diffused over the
world) inhabits the rocks of Caernarvonshire. The same
species, with the gyrfalcon, the gentil, and the goshawk, are
found in Scotland, and the lanner in Ireland. But we may
here notice that the Norwegian breed were, in old times, in
high esteem in England, and were thought bribes befitting a
king. Jeoffrey Fitzpierre gave two good Norway hawks to
King John, to obtain for his friend the liberty of exporting
a hundredweight of cheese ; and Nicholas the Dane stipu¬
lated to give the king a hawk every time he came into
England, that he might have liberty to traffic throughout
the king’s dominions. Hawks were also made the tenures
by which some of the nobility held their estates from the
crown. Thus Sir John Stanley had a grant of the Isle of
Man from Henry IV. to be held of the king, his heirs, and
successors, by homage and the service of two falcons, pay-
able on the day of his or their coronation. And Philip
de Hastang held his manor of Combertoun, in Cambridge¬
shire, by the service of keeping the king’s falcons.
Hawking, though an exercise now much disused, fur¬
nishes a great variety of significant terms which still obtain
in our language. Thus, the parts of a hawk have their pro¬
per names, the legs, from the thigh to the foot, are called
arms ; the toes, the petty singles ; the claws, the pounces ;
the wings, the sails ; the long feathers of the wings, the
beams ; the two longest, the principal feathers ; and those
next thereto, the flags; the tail, the train; the breast
feathers, the mails ; and those behind the thigh, the pen¬
dant feathers. When the feathers are not yet full grown,
the falcon is said to be unsummed; when they are com¬
plete, it is summed. The craw or crop, is called the gorge ;
the pipe next the fundament, where the faeces are drawn
down, the pannel; the slimy substance lying in the pannel,
the glut; the upper and crooked part of the bill, the beak ;
the nether part, the clap; the yellow part between the
beak and the eyes, the sear or cere ; the two small holes
therein, the nares.
As to the furniture, the leathers, with bells buttoned on
the legs, are called bewits; the leathern thong by which
the falconer holds the hawk, is called the lease or leash ;
the little straps, by which the leash is fastened to the legs,
jesses; and a line or packthread fastened to the leash, in
disciplining the bird, a creance. A cover for the head, to
keep the falcon in the dark, is called a hood ; and a large
wide hood, open behind, to be worn at first, is called a
rufter hood. To draw the strings, that the hood may be
in readiness to be pulled off, is called unstriking the hood;
the blinding a hawk just taken, by running a thread
through her eyelids, and thus drawing them over the eyes,
to prepare her for being hooded, is called seeling ; a figure
or resemblance of a fowl, made of leather and feathers, is
called a lure; the resting-place, when off the falconer’s
fist, is called the perch ; the place where the meat is laid
is called the hack; and that in which the bird is set, whilst
the feathers fall and come again, the mew.
Anything given to a hawk, to cleanse and purge the
gorge, is called casting ; small feathers given to make the
bird cast, are called plumage; gravel given to help to
bring down the stomach, is called rangle; the throwing
up of filth from the gorge after casting, is called gleaming ;
the purging of grease, or other matter, enseaming ; being
stuffed is called gurgiting ; inserting a feather in the wing
in lieu of a broken one, is called imping; giving a leg,
wing, or pinion of a fowl to pull at, is called tiring. The
neck of a bird the hawk preys on is called the hike ; and
what the hawk leaves of its prey is called the pill or pelf.
There are also proper terms for the several actions of the
bird. When a hawk flutters, as if striving to get away,
either from the perch or hand, it is said to bate; when,
standing too near, they fight with each other, it is called
crabbing; when the young ones quiver and shake their
wings in obedience to the elder, it is called cowring;
when the bird wipes its beak after feeding, it is said to
feak; when it sleeps, it is said to jouk; from the time of
exchanging the coat, till the bird turn white again, is call¬
ed intermeicing : treading is called cawking ; when the hawk
stretches one wing after the legs, and then the other, it
is called mantling; the dung is called muting; when the
hawk mutes a good way behind, it is said to slice ; when
it does so directly down, instead of jerking backwards, it
is said to slime, and if it be in drops, it is called dropping ;
when the bird as it were sneezes, it is called suiting; when
it raises and shakes itself, it is said to rouze; and when,
after mantling, it crosses its wings together over its back,
it is said to warble.
When a hawk seizes, it is said to bind; when, after
seizing, it pulls off the feathers, it is said to plume ; when
it raises a fowl aloft, and at length descends with it to the
ground, it is called trussing ; when, being aloft, it descends
to strike the prey, it is called stooping; when it flies out
too far from the game, it is said to rake; when, forsaking
Hawking.
HAW
lawking. the proper game, it flies at pyes, crows, and the like, it is
^ > called check ; when, missing the fowl, the bird betakes it¬
self to the next check, it is said to fly on head. The fowl
or game it flies at is called the quarry ; the dead body of
a fowl killed by the hawk is called a pelt. When the bird
flies away with the quarry, it is said to carry; when, in
stooping, it turns two or three times on the wing, to recover
itself ere it seizes, it is cd\\e& canceliering; when it hits the
prey, yet does not truss it, it is called ruff. The making
a hawk tame and gentle, is called reclaiming; the bring¬
ing one to endure company, manning; an old stanch
hawk, used to fly and set example to a young one, is called
a make-hawk.
The reclaiming, manning, and bringing up a hawk to
the sport, cannot easily be brought under any precise set
of rules. It consists in a number of little practices and
observances, calculated to familiarize the falconer to his
bird, and the latter to the falconer.
When the hawk comes readily to the lure, a large pair
of luring bells are to be put on; and the more giddy-head¬
ed and apt to rake out the hawk is, the larger must the
bells be. Having done this, and the bird being sharp-set,
ride out in a fair morning, into some large field unencum¬
bered with trees or wood, with the hawk on your hand;
then having loosened the hood, whistle softly, to provoke
her to fly; "unhood, and let the bird fly with its head into
the wind; for by that means it will be the better able to
get upon the wing, and will naturally climb upwards, fly¬
ing in a circle. After the hawk has flown three or four turns,
then lure her with your voice, casting the lure about your
head, having first tied a pullet to it; and if your falcon
come in and approach near you, cast out the lure into the
wind, and if she stoop to it, reward her.
You will often find, that when she flies from the hand,
she will take stand on the ground. This is a fault which
is very common with soar-falcons. To remedy it, fright
her up with your wand; and when you have forced her
to take a turn or two, take her down to the lure, and feed
her. But if this does not succeed, then you must have
in readiness a duck seeled, so that she may see no way
but backwards, and that will make her mount the higher.
Hold this duck in your hand, by one of the wings, near
the body; then lure with the voice to make the falcon
turn her head ; and when she is at a reasonable pitch, cast
your duck up just under her; when, if she strike, stoop,
or truss the duck, permit her to kill it, and reward her
by giving her a reasonable gorge. After you have prac¬
tised this two or three times, your hawk will leave the
stand, and, delighted to be on the wing, will be very obe¬
dient.
It is not well, for the first or second time, to show your
hawk a large fowl; for it frequently happens that a large
bird escapes from the hawk, which gives the falconer trouble,
if it do not also involve the loss of the hawk. But if she
happens to pursue a fowl, and, being unable to recover it,
gives it over, and comes in again directly, then cast out a
seeled duck ; and if the bird stoop and truss it across the
wings, permit her to take her pleasure, rewarding her also
with the heart, brains, tongue, and liver. But if you have
not a quick duck, take her down with a dry lure, and let
her plume a pullet and feed upon it. By this means a
hawk will learn to give over a fowl that rakes out, and on
hearing the falconer’s lure, will make back again, and know
the better how to hold in the head.
If your hawk be a stately high-flying one, it ought not
to take more than one flight in a morning. When she is
at the highest, take her down with your lure : and when
she has plumed and broken the fowl a little, feed her, .by
which means you will keep her a high-flyer, and fond of the
lure.
So much for the technicalities of hawking, which, from
VOL. XI.
HAW 249
change of times and manners, has now in a great measure Hawkins,
fallen into disuse, though frequent attempts have been made 'wv-w
in England during the last few years to revive it. The
reader will find some admirable descriptions of this national
sport in the novels of Scott, who, on this as on many other
subjects, has brought the past as it were before us, render¬
ing us familiar with its habits, customs, and amusements,
and engaging our sympathy in favour of the feelings, no¬
tions, and even prejudices, with which these were associated.
Among the most celebrated treatises on this subject, once
so universally interesting, may be mentioned The Book
of St Albans by Juliana Berners, 1486; La Faucon-
nerie, by Charles d’Esperon, Paris, 1605 ; Latham On
Falconry, 1658.
HAWKINS, Sm John, a celebrated English seaman,
was born at Plymouth about 1520. From his father, who,
like himself, was a sailor, he learned the advantages of the
trade with Africa. After spending his youth in trafficking
with Spain and Portugal he visited the coast of Guinea,
embarked a cargo of negroes (obtained partly by force and
partly by purchase), and made a large fortune by selling
them to the Spaniards of Hayti. He made a second voyage
to the same place on the same errand in 1564, and with
equal success. His third and last voyage (1567), however,
was very unfortunate. He was attacked by the Spaniards
in the port of St John de Ulloa, and only saved two ships
of all his squadron. How different the sentiment was re¬
garding the slave-trade in those days and in our own, may
be learned from the fact that Queen Elizabeth approved
all that Hawkins had done, allowed him to assume as his
crest a demy-Moor in his proper colour, bound with a cord,
and made him treasurer of the navy. In 1588 he was made
vice-admiral of the Victory, and fought with such distinc¬
tion against the Spanish Armada, that he was knighted by
the queen. In 1595 he accompanied Drake on an expe¬
dition against the Spanish colonies in the West Indies, but
he quarrelled with his colleague, and died Nov. 21st, with-
outagain distinguishing himself. There are some very inter¬
esting notices of Hawkins in Hakluyt, and also in Purchas.
Hawkins, Sir John, the historian of music, was born
in London in 1719. His father was a builder and surveyor,
and it was intended that the young Hawkins should adopt
the same profession ; ultimately, however, he was apprenticed
to an attorney. At the expiry of his apprenticeship he
began business for himself, and by industry and integrity,
soon raised himself to wealth and station. In his earlier
days he had been a hard student, and now in virtue of his
acquirements he was admitted into the best literary
society in London. Dr Johnson himself (in whose life by
Boswell there are numerous and not always very respectful
notices of Hawkins) admittedhim into his favour, and helped
forward his literary views. Hawkins was at this time a
frequent contributor to the Gentleman!s Magazine and
other periodicals. His well-known taste for music gained
him admittance into the Madrigal Society. In 1753 he
married a lady who brought him a considerable fortune,
which subsequent events so much increased, that in 1759
he retired from business and settled at Twickenham. He
distinguished himself greatly as a county magistrate, and
was so valuable a public servant, that in 1772 he was re¬
warded with knighthood by the king, to whom he had been
presented as “ the best magistrate in his dominions.” Four
years after this event appeared his General History of the
Science and Practice of Music. The literary merit of this
work is unquestionably very small, but its value as a store¬
house of useful learning on the subject of music is very
considerable. But Dr Burney, the rival historian of music,
believing that Hawkins was trenching on a province which
he considered peculiarly his, had put all the machinery of
the press in operation before Hawkins’ work appeared.
When at last it was published it met with nothing but
2 i
250 HAW
Hawlbow- abuse from the entire press, and its sale was completely
line stopped. The next age did Hawkins the justice denied him
jja dn own’ anc^ work now fetches a higher price than
v ay t when it was first published. The valuable musical library
which he had amassed in the composition of this history,
he made over to the British Museum. In 1760 Hawkins
undertook an edition of Walton’s Complete Angler,
which has been frequently reprinted; but his only other
work of any value, besides his History is his Life of
Dr Johnson, which is rather a tribute to that great man’s
memory than a requisite to his fame. Hawkins himself
died, May 21, 1789, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
(See the Memoirs and Anecdotes of Lsetitia M. Haw¬
kins; Boswell's Life of Johnson, &c.)
HAWLBOWLINE, a small island in Cork harbour.
See Cork County.
HAWSE, the situation of the cables before a ship’s stem,
when she is moored with two anchors out forward, viz., one
on the starboard, and the other on the larboard bow. This
term also denotes any small distance a-head of a ship, or
between her head and the anchors employed to ride her ;
as, a vessel sails athwart the hawse, or anchors in the hawse
of another vessel.
Haavse-Holes, the holes in the bows of a ship on each
side of the stem, through which the cables pass.
HAWSER, a large rope, intermediate between the
cable and tow-line of the ship to which it belongs. It is
used for various purposes, as warping, for a spring, &c.
HAY, or as it is often called, Welsh Hay, or The Hay,
a small market-town of Wales, in the parish of Hay, hun¬
dred of Talgarth, and county of Brecknock. It stands on
the River Wye, near the point where the counties of Rad¬
nor, Brecknock, and Hereford converge. The town is well
lighted and paved, and contains, besides various dissenting
meeting-houses, a handsome parish church, rebuilt in
1838 in the early English style. It has also British and
national schools, and a savings bank. The vestiges of a
Roman camp near the church point to an ancient origin.
The castle of Hay, a very old building, was destroyed by
Henry II.; afterwards restored, and finally dismantled by
Owen Glyndwr. Between two and three miles from the
town is Clifford Castle, the birth-place of the celebrated
Jane Clifford, better known as the “fair Rosamond,” the
favourite of Henry II., who built for her the maze at Wood-
stock, where she perished by the cruel jealousy of Queen
Eleanor. There are six annual fairs at Hay, besides a
weekly market on Thursday. Pop. (1851) 1238.
HAYDN, Francis Joseph, a celebrated musical com¬
poser, born at Rohrau, a small town fifteen leagues from
Vienna, in 1732. His father was a Cartwright, and his
mother before her marriage had been cook in the family of
Count Harrach, the lord of the village. Haydn’s father
had a fine tenor voice, and played a little on the harp. On
holidays, after church, he used to accompany his wife whilst
she sung; and, when only five years old, Haydn was wont
to stand by his parents and join the concert in his own way,
with two pieces of w'ood, one of which served for a violin
and the other for a bow. When loaded with years and
honours, the great symphonist would often recall the music
of this domestic performance ; so deep an impression had its
simple strains made on his soid. A cousin of the Cartwright,
whose name was Frank, a schoolmaster at Haimburg, came
to Rohrau one Sunday, and assisted at the trio. He re¬
marked that the child, then scarcely six years old, beat the
time with astonishing exactness and precision. Frank was
well acquainted with music, and proposed to his relations to
take little Joseph to his house and teach him. They accepted
the offer with joy, hoping to succeed more easily in get¬
ting Joseph into holy orders if he should understand
music. Chance brought to Frank’s house Reuter, maestro
di capella of St Stephen’s, the cathedral church of Vienna.
II A Y
He was in quest of children to recruit his choir. The Haydn,
schoolmaster soon proposed his little relation to him; and a
when he came, Reuter gave him a canon to sing at sight.
The precision, purity of time, and spirit with which the
child executed it, surprised him; but he was more espe¬
cially charmed with his voice, which was naturally sonorous
and delicate. He only remarked that he did not shake,
and asked him the reason with a smile. The boy smartly
replied, “ How should you expect me to shake, when my
cousin does not know how to do it himself?” “Come
here,” said Reuter, “ and I will teach you.” He then took
the young Hadyn between his knees, showed him how
he should rapidly bring together two notes, hold his breath,
and agitate the palate. The child immediately made a
good shake. Reuter, enchanted with the success of his
scholar, took a plate of fine cherries, which Frank had
ordered for his illustrious brother professor, and emptied
them all into the child’s pocket. The delight of the young
musician may be readily conceived. Haydn often men¬
tioned this anecdote, adding with a smile, that he fancied
he had these beautiful cherries in his mouth whenever he
happened to shake.
Young Haydn was now placed in the hands of Reuter,
and accompanied him to Vienna. Haydn, in afterwards
speaking of his studies under this master, said he did not
remember to have passed a single day without practising
sixteen or eighteen hours daily, and this he did of his own
accord, for the children of the choir were not compelled to
practise more than two hours. It was by this unwearied
assiduity, aided by the inspirations of his genius, that Haydn,
almost in the dawn of life, laid the foundation of his future
eminence.
Mozart at twelve years of age composed a successful
opera; but, less fortunate, Haydn at thirteen produced a
mass, which his worthy master ridiculed. Convinced, after
comparing his work with the compositions of others, that
Reuter was right, and that nature without art was like an
eagle unfledged, Haydn resolved to apply himself to the
study of counterpoint. But Reuter did not teach compo¬
sition ; and none of the masters in Vienna were so gener¬
ous as to instruct an unknown and unpatronized boy. But
to this misfortune Haydn perhaps is indebted for his origi¬
nality. Under a master he might have avoided some of
the errors he has fallen into when he subsequently ivrote
for the church and for the theatre ; but, upon the whole, he
would certainly have been less original. He purchased the
theoretical works of Mattheson, Fuchs, Emanual Bach, and
Kirberg, which he studied most assiduously, labouring alone,
and exercising every scientific intricacy ; and so great was
the pleasure he experienced in his pursuits, that, poor as he
was, shivering with cold, and oppressed with sleep, seated
by the side of an old worn-out harpsichord, he declared him¬
self never to have been happier at any period of his life.
At eighteen Haydn’s voice broke, and he left the class of
soprani at St Stephen’s. Obliged to seek for a lodging,
chance threw him in the way of a poor peruke-maker named
Keller, who received him as a son. Haydn, in the quiet
obscurity of his new dwelling, was enabled to pursue his
studies without interruption. His residence here had, how¬
ever, a fatal influence on his future fortune. Keller had
two daughters, and his wife and he arranged that one of
them should marry Haydn, Avho, absorbed in his studies,
and thinking little about love, made no objection to the
proposal. He adhered to his engagement honourably in
after life, but the union was an unhappy one.
Haydn now began to compose short sonatas for the piano¬
forte, which he sold at low prices to his few female pupils.
He also wrote minuets, allemands, and ivaltzes for the lii-
dotto. By performing in concert with two of his friends a
serenata in the streets, he attracted the attention of Curtz,
the director of the theatre of Carinthia, who employed him
HAYDN. 251
Haydn, to write music, which was performed with the happiest suc-
v. j cess. But Haydn’s talent was not for the stage ; he chose
his own proper ground when in his twentieth year, and pro¬
duced six trios, which, from their striking originality, at
once brought him into notice. Shortlyafter this he published
his first quartett, which every musical amateur soon had by
heart. Leaving the house of Keller, Haydn went to lodge
with Martinez, and became acquainted with Metastasio the
poet, who taught him Italian, and instructed him in the
fine arts.
Haydn struggled long against want, but at last his genius
brought him into notice, and he received employment from
Prince Antony Esterhazy, and his successor Nicholas, for
whom he composed a number of pieces for the baryton, an
instrument now scarcely ever used. Haydn did not forget
his promise to his benefactor Keller; and being now in
better circumstances, he married his daughter Ann, from
whom he afterwards separated on account of her bad tem¬
per and conduct.
Placed now at the head of a full and excellent orchestra,
and attached to the service of a rich patron, Haydn found
himself in that happy union of circumstances which gives
opportunity to genius to display all its powers. From this
moment his life was uniform and fully employed. He rose
early in the morning, dressed himself very neatly, and
placed himself at a small table by the side of his piano¬
forte, where the hour of dinner usually found him still seat¬
ed. In the evening he went to rehearsals, or to the opera
which was performed in the prince’s palace four times every
week. Sometimes, but not often, he devoted a morning to
hunting. The little time he had to spare on common days
was divided between his friends and Mademoiselle Boselli,
a singer of eminence. Such was the course of his life for
more than thirty years ; and this can alone account for the
prodigious number of his productions in instrumental music,
church music, and operas. In fifty years he produced no
less than 527 instrumental compositions, and in the whole
of these pieces he has never copied or imitated himsell, but
when it was his intention to do so.
Haydn wrote his best music with some labour, not from
any w'ant of ideas, but from the extreme delicacy of his taste,
which he could with difficulty satisfy. A symphony would
sometimes cost him a month, and a mass perhaps two. His
manuscripts of one piece sometimes contain passages enough
for three or four pieces. But although it seemed labour, it
was not so; for he was wont to say that he never felt so
happy as when at work. Nothing troubled him till the death
of his patron, Prince Nicholas, in the year 1789, and the
subsequent demise of his favourite Boselli; circumstances
which induced him to come to England, upon the solicita¬
tions of Salomon. This musician was about to give concerts
in London, and offered Haydn L.50 for each performance,
which terms he accepted. Haydn was then fifty-nine years
old, and he resided in England upwards of a year, and
brought out there some of his finest instrumental pieces.
From England Haydn went to Germany, but he re¬
turned for a short time in 1794, and was complimented with
the diploma of Doctor of Music from Oxford. He afterwards
went to Austria, and did not return again to England. He
was in his sixtieth year when he commenced his Creation,
to which he devoted two years. When urged to hasten its
completion he calmly said, he had been a long time about
it because he intended it to last a long time. It was finished
in 1798, and performed in Vienna with enthusiastic appro¬
bation. All Germany rang with its praises ; in a few weeks
it was printed, and spread over Europe with a rapidity be¬
fore unheard of. Two years later he composed his oratorio
of the Four Seasons ; of which he used to say “ It is not
another Creation, and the reason is this : in that oratorio the
actors are angels, in the Four Seasons they are peasants.”
This work terminated his musical career; the labour of it
exhausted him, and he complained that he was forced to Haydn,
seek ideas which used to come to him formerly unsought.
He wrote, however, subsequently afewquartetts, and arranged
nearly 300 Scotch songs, a work which produced him about
600 guineas. At last he grew so weak, that a vertigo seized
him the moment he sat down to the piano. He now seldom
quitted his house and garden at Gumpelsdorf, and he be- •
came feeble in mind and body. On the morning of the
31st of May 1809 he died, aged seventy-eight years and two
months. He was privately interred at Gumpelsdorf, for
Vienna was at that time in the occupation of the French.
Haydn’s heir was a blacksmith, to whom he left the bulk of
his fortune. His manuscripts were purchased by Prince
Esterhazy. He left no posterity. Cherubini, Pleyel, Neu-
komm, and Weigl, may be considered as his disciples.
Haydn, in his symphonies, stands first in the list of the
greatest instrumental authors. In sacred music he opened
a new path, by which he placed himself on a level with the
most celebrated composers for the church. In theatrical
music he was least successful. In that department he was
only an imitator. His instrumental music consists of cham¬
ber symphonies for a greater or less number of instruments,
and of symphonies for a full orchestra. The first of these
divisions comprehends duets, trios, quartetts, sestetts, oc-
tetts, and divertimentos; sonatas, fantasie, variations, and
capricci. In the second are contained the symphonies
for the grand orchestra, concertos for different instruments,
serenades, and marches.
The allegros of his symphonies are in general full of life
and spirit. They generally begin with a short, easy, and
intelligible theme. Gradually, and by a procedure full of
genius, this theme, repeated by the different instruments,
acquires a character of mingled heroism and gaiety. There
is more variety in the slow movements; in these the lofty
style is majestically displayed. The phrases or musical ideas
in his andantes and adagios are finely and nobly developed.
Sometimes the composer is carried away by his copiousness
and power ; but this excess of vigour does not exclude pas¬
sion and sentiment. His minuets are admirable, being rich
in harmony and accumulated beauties. The general cha¬
racter of Haydn’s instrumental music is that of romantic
imagination. “ Haydn,” says Carpani, “ e V Ariosto della
musica. Passeggia il suo genio per tutte le regioni dell’ arte.
La sua immaginazione apre i tesori d’ogni bellezza, e ne
dispone a sua voglia.” As a composer of symphonies and
quartetts, he may be considered as the first who moulded
them into that form which Mozart, Beethoven, and others,
have adopted. The famous seven instrumental pieces called
Die Siehen Worte des Heglandes am Kreuze were esteemed
by the composer as his best works.
The oratorio of the Creation is replete with grandeur,
sublimity, and beauty. The Seasons, with less sentiment
and learning than the Creation, is equally admirable as an
expressive and delightful composition. The ideal part of
Haydn’s masses is brilliant and dignified ; the style is noble
and full of fire. His Agnus Dei is full of tenderness; the
Amens and Hallelujahs breathe all the reality of joy; the
fugues display all the exultation of an enraptured mind.
(Ze Hay dine de Carpani.) (a. h.)
Haydn, John Michael, a younger brother of Francis
Joseph Haydn, was born at Rohrau in September 1737.
After learning the elements of music, and how to play on
the harp and harpsichord, in his father’s house, he entered
the imperial chapel at Vienna as a chorister. His voice
had the remarkable compass of three octaves, from the
lowest contralto F up to highest soprano F in alt. The
emperor and empress were so much pleased with his singing,
that they took him under their protection. He next studied
organ-playing and composition; and, by a constant exa¬
mination of classical compositions, without lessons from any
master, he soon acquired skill as an organist and composer.
252 HAY
Haydon. In 1763 he was appointed music director in the chapel of
the Bishop of Grosswardein, in Hungary; and in 1768
chapel-master to the Bishop of Salzburg, with the small
salary of 300 florins, together with board and lodging.
Afterwards this salary was raised to 600 florins. In the first
year of his residence at Salzburg he married the daughter
of Lipp, the organist. She bore him a daughter, who died
in her third year; and the loss of this child deeply affected
him for the rest of his life. At Salzburg he opened a school
of composition, in which several distinguished artists were
taught. In 1801 Prince Esterhazy gave him the title of
his chapel-master, with a pension ; but he still continued to
reside at Salzburg. Pie died there, on 10th August 1806.
He was considered by his brother Joseph as the best com¬
poser of church music of his time in Germany. He refused
to allow any of his works to be published in his lifetime.
Since his death, a number of his church compositions, and
several of his symphonies, &c., have been published in Ger¬
many. Some pleasing specimens of his music are contained
in Latrobe’s Selections. (g. f. g.)
HAYDON, Benjamin Robert, historical painter and
writer, was descended from an old Devon family, the Hay-
dons of Boughwood, Cadby, and Woodbury. He was
an only son and was born January 26, 1786. His mother
was the daughter of the Rev. Benjamin Cobley, rector of
Dodbrook, Devon, whose son, General Sir Thomas Cobley,
signalized himself at the siege of Ismail. His father was a
man of great lite/ary taste, and was well known and es¬
teemed amongst all classes in Plymouth. Haydon, at an
early age, gave evidence of his taste for study, which was
carefully tbstered and promoted by his mother. At the age
of ten he was placed at Plymouth grammar school where
his love of study and painting was still further developed
by the principal, himself a man of refined taste and great
artistic acquirements. At the age of fourteen he was sent
to Plympton St Mary school. He completed his education in
this school where Sir Joshua Reynolds also had acquired all
the scholastic knowledge he ever received. On the ceiling
of the school-room was a sketch by Reynolds in burnt
cork, which it used to be Playdon’s delight to sit and con¬
template. Whilst at school he had some thought of adopt¬
ing the medical profession, but he was so shocked at the
sight of an operation that he gave up the idea. A perusal
of Albinus, however, inspired him with a love for anatomy;
and Reynolds’ discourses ai’oused within him his smoul¬
dering taste for painting, which, from his earliest childhood,
had been the absorbing idea of his mind. Sanguine of suc¬
cess, full of energy and vigour, he started from his parental
roof May 14, 1804, for London, and entered his name as a
student of the Royal Academy. He began and prosecuted
his studies with such unwearied ardour that Fuseli wondered
when he ever found time to eat. At the age of twenty-
one (1807) Haydon exhibited, for the first time, at the
Royal Academy, “ Repose in Egypt,” which was bought
by Mr Thomas Hope the year after. This was a good in¬
troduction to the young artist, who shortly after received
a commission from Lord Mulgrave and an introduction to
Sir George Beaumont. In this year also he finished his
well-known picture of “ Dentatus,” which, though it brought
him a great increase of fame, involved him in a violent and
life-long quarrel with the Royal Academy, whose com¬
mittee had hung the picture in a small side-room instead of
in the great hall. Haydon saw in this act an attempt to crush
him by depriving him of his due; and his subsequent con¬
duct was disastrous chiefly to himself. In 1810 his diffi¬
culties began, though he wras still receiving from his father
an allowance of L.200 a-year. Bad luck also attended his
struggles for professional advancement; for, though he put
his name down for admission into the academy, he did not
obtain a single vote. His disappointment was embittered
by the controversies in which he now became involved with
H A Y
Leigh Hunt, with Sir George Beaumont, for whom he had Haydon.
painted his famous picture of “ Macbeth,” and Mr Payne v^
Knight, the last of whom had denied the beauties as well
as the value of the Elgin Marbles. The “ Judgment
of Solomon,” his next production, gained him L.700, besides
L.100 voted to him by the directors of the British Insti¬
tution, and the freedom of the borough of Plymouth. Suc¬
cess rewarded his efforts. West wept on beholding the
“ Pale Fainting Mother; ” and Miss Mitford addressed to him
one of her best sonnets. To recruit his health and escape
for a time from the cares of London life, Haydon joined
Wilkie in a trip to Paris ; he studied at the Louvre; and
on his return to England produced his “ Christ’s Entry into
Jerusalem,” which afterwards formed the nucleus for the
American Gallery of Painting, which was erected by his
cousin John Haulland of Philadelphia. With such profes¬
sional renown as he had now acquired, Haydon again as¬
pired for admittance into the Royal Academy, and was
again unsuccessful. Amid the trials and difficulties of this
period of his life, he found time to write a long and elabo¬
rate essay on Painting for the Encyclo’pcedia Britannica.
This essay has been twice reprinted. (See article Paint¬
ing.) Whilst painting “ Lazarus,” his pecuniary diffi¬
culties increased, and for the first time, he was arrested
but not imprisoned, the sheritf-officer taking his word for his
appearance. Amidst all these harassing cares he married. In
1823, Haydon was lodged in the King’s Bench, where he
received the most consoling letters from the first men of
the day. Whilst a prisoner he drew up a petition to Par¬
liament in favour of the Elgin Marbles, which was presented
by Mr Brougham. He also produced the picture of the
“ Mock Election,” the idea of which had been suggested by
an incident that happened in the prison. The king (George
IY.) gave him L.500 for this picture, and Haydon was en¬
abled to purchase his release. Haydon’s other pictures were—
1830, “Eucles,”and <;Punch;” 1831, “Napoleon at St He¬
lena,” for Sir Robert Peel; 1832, “Xenophon, on his Retreat
with the ‘Ten Thousand,’ first seeing the Sea at Thebes ;”
“Waiting for the Times” purchased by the Marquis of Staf¬
ford; “The First Child;” “ Reading the Scriptures ;” “ Fal-
staff;” and “Achilles playing the Lyre.” In 1834 he com¬
pleted the “ Reform Banquet,” for Lord Grey—this painting
contained 197 portraits ; 1843, “ Curtius Leaping into the
Gulf;” and “Uriel and Satan.” When the competition took
place at Westminster Hall, Haydon sent two Cartoons,
“The Curse” and “Edward the Black Prince,” but had
not the good fortune to succeed with either. He then
painted “ The Banishment of Aristides,” which was exhi¬
bited with other unfinished productions under the same roof
where Tom Thumb was then making his debut in London.
The exhibition was unsuccesful; and the artist’s difficulties
increased to such an extent that whilst employed on his last
grand effort, “ Alfred and the Tidal by Jury,” overcome by
debt, disappointment, and ingratitude, he wrote, “ Stretch
me no longer on this rough world,” and put an end to his ex¬
istence, June 22, 1846, in the 61st year of his age. He left
a widow and three children, who, by the generosity of their
father’s friends, were rescued from their pecuniary difficulties,
and comfortably provided for; amongst the foremost of these
friends were the late Sir Robert Peel, LeComte A.D‘Orsay,
Mr Justice Talfourd, and Lord Carlisle. Haydon began his
first lecture on painting and design in 1835, at the Mechanics’
Institution, and afterwards visited all the principal towns in
England and Scotland. His delivery was energetic and
imposing, his language powerful, flowing, and apt, and
abounded with wit and humour; and to look at the lecturer,
excited by his subject, one could scarcely fancy him a man
overwhelmed with difficulties and anxieties. It has been
said that the height of Haydon’s ambition was to behold
the first buildings of his country adorned with historical
representations of her former glory. He lived to see the
HAY
Have, La. acknowledgement of his principles by government in the
. J ) establishment of schools of design, and the embellishment
of the new houses of parliament, but in the competition
of artists for the carrying out of this object. The Com¬
missioners (amongst whom was one of his former pupils)
considered he had failed; and whilst employed in a series
of gigantic paintings, which were executed to show to the
world the falseness of their judgment, he ended his life,
as we have before mentioned. Haydon was well versed in
all points of his profession; and his Lectures which were
published shortly after their delivery, showed that he was
as bold a writer as he was a painter. Although many of
his early productions in portrait-painting were truthful and
striking (even at the early age of eighteen, he had given
evidence of great talent), Haydon never pursued this branch
of his art, except as a means for enabling him to carry out
his ideas of high art. To form a correct estimate of Hay¬
don, it is only necessary to read his autobiography. He
there solves the mystery of his own life as unconsciously
and as fully as Montaigne and Rousseau. It is one of the
most natural books ever written. The author seems to
have daguerreotyped his feelings and sentiments without
restraint as they rose in his mind, and his portrait stands in
these volumes limned to the life by his own hand. His
mind was a peculiarly ill-regulated one. It was not go¬
verned by any ruling principle; his love for his art was ra¬
ther a passion than a principle. He went to London to
seek his fortune, believing, as young men will, in patrons.
He found patrons difficult to manage ; and not having the
tact to lead them gently, he tried to drive them fiercely.
He failed of course; abused patrons and patronage, and in¬
termingled talk of the noblest independence with acts of
the grossest servility. It was to himself, and to himself
only, that he owed his frequent disappointments and his
wretched life. He was self-willed to perversity, but his
perseverance was such as is seldom associated with so much
vehemence and passion as belonged to him. With a large
fund of genuine self-reliance, he combined a vanity so
boundless that it would have been ludicrous if it had not
been pitiable. To the very last he believed in his own powers,
and in the ultimate triumph of art, though he seems to have
hoped for art only through himself as its successful cham¬
pion. In taste and judgment he was alike deficient, in
everything at least that concerned himself. Hence the
boisterous and exaggerated tone of self-assertion which he
assumed in his advertisements, catalogues, and other ap¬
peals to the public. He proclaimed himself the apostle
and martyr of high art, and believed himself to have on
that account, a claim on the sympathy and support of the
nation. It must be confessed that he often tested severely
those whom he called his friends; and few men s friends
ever stood the test so well. All the money that he bor¬
rowed and begged, he, no doubt, intended to repay; and there
is no reason why he should not have fulfilled his intention,
as his contemporary and fellow-sufferer, Etty, did. Had he
possessed even ordinary prudence, he might have reached the
haven sooner and more quietly even than the other. Every
reader of his autobiography will be struck at the frequency
and fervour of the short prayers interspersed throughout the
work—“ the begging letters despatched to the Almighty,
as they have been called. Haydon had an overwhelming
sense of a personal, overruling and merciful providence,
which influenced his relations with his family, and to some
extent with the world. Whatever he may have been as
an artist and a citizen, his conduct as a husband and as a
father is beyond all praise.
HA YE, La, a small town of France, department of
Indre-et-Loire, on the Creuse, 30 miles S. of Tours. It is
only remarkable as being the birth-place of Descartes : the
house in which he first saw light is still carefully preserved.
Pop. about 1500.
HAY 253
HAYLE, a small seaport of Cornwall, on the inner basin Hayle
of St Ives’ Bay, 5 miles S.E. of St Ives. It has two large II .
iron foundries and steam-engine factories. It carries on an v a^tl' t
active trade, and the harbour is accessible to vessels of 200 ■"
tons.
HAYLEY, William, the friend and biographer of Cow-
per, was born at Chichester in 1745. After graduating at
Cambridge he embraced the profession of the law ; but find¬
ing it little congenial to his tastes he abandoned it, and re¬
tired to his patrimonial estate of Earthem in Sussex. His
intention was to spend the remainder of his days in rural
quiet, with such a seasoning only of literary activity as
might defy ennui, and give a zest to his life. In his retire¬
ment he made the acquaintance of Cowper, and this ac¬
quaintance soon ripened into a friendship that remained
close and unbroken till the great poet’s death. Hayley
himself survived till November 20, 1820. During his life¬
time Hayley was held in high estimation, partly for his
literary qualities, which were not wholly contemptible, but
more for his position in society, his taste and acquirements,
which were both considerable, and his fortune which was
large. In his prime, too, there was no one to dispute the
poetic laurel with him ; the great of the eighteenth century
had died out, and those of the nineteenth had not yet been
acknowledged; and thus the French proverb became true
in his case, which says,—“ Au royaume des aveugles les
borgnes sont rois.” His best piece is his Triumph of Tem¬
per, which still enjoys a share of popularity ; but he also
wrote with ease and elegance the Vers de Societe, so much
in vogue in his day. His prose essays on Painting, His¬
tory, Epic Poetry, and Sculpture, are quite above medio¬
crity, and he did a real service to literature by his Life of
Coivper. His life of himself, from which the foregoing de¬
tails are chiefly taken, is a sufficiently readable work.
HAY-MAKING. See Agriculture, chap, viii., Her¬
bage and Forage.
HAYNAU, or Hainau, a town in the Prussian pro¬
vince of Silesia, government of Liegnitz, and 9 miles
W.N.W. of the town of that name. The inhabitants are
chiefly employed in woollen and linen weaving. In the
vicinity are some good veins of fuller’s earth. Pop. (1849)
4187.
HAYTI, Haiti, San Domingo, or Hispaniola, one of
the largest and most fertile of the West India islands, ex¬
tending in length from E. to W. about 390 miles, and in
breadth from 60 to 150 miles, is situated between N. Lat.
17. 37. and 20. 0., and between W. Long. 68. 20. and 74.
28. It is called Hayti, or the Highland country, by the
natives, from the mountains with which it abounds, espe¬
cially in the northern part. The country was formerly
divided between the Spaniards, who were the earliest Euro¬
pean colonists, and the French. The line of demarcation
which separated these two divisions commenced on the
S. side from the Pedernales or Flint River, and extended
in a waving direction to the River Massacre on the N.
side. The country to the W. of this line belonged to the
French, while that on the E. side formed the Spanish part
of the island. By far the greatest portion of the country
was in the possession of the Spaniards; their division being
reckoned 220 miles in length by 120 in breadth, of which,
though a considerable part consists of mountains, these are
said to be little inferior in fertility to the champaign country,
and to be equally capable of cultivation. The French divi¬
sion is of an extremely irregular figure. The land is deeply
penetrated by the Gulf of Gonaive, and is in some parts 170
miles in length, whilst in others it is not 30. It is nearly of
the same breadth as the Spanish division.
Great part of the coast of this island is rocky and danger- General
ous, affording but an imperfect shelter to vessels overtaken description
by storms. Many of the shipping-places on the southern of the
shore are nothing more than open bays, which lie exposed to
254
H A Y T I.
Ilayti.
Soil and
surface.
the storms and hurricanes of the autumnal months. The
harbour of San Domingo, formerly thought so commodious
and secure, has become too shallow to admit vessels of large
burden. There are, however, besides roadsteads and several
small harbours, the Bays of Neyba and Ocoa on this coast.
Into the former flows the River Neyba, which receives ves¬
sels of 30 tons burden ; its stream, before entering the
ocean, divides itself into various channels, which, annually
changing, confound the pilot, and render the navigation
difficult. Ocoa Bay is a large and convenient watering-
place, with several small rivers falling into it. The entrance
is two leagues across, and it gradually widens to nearly six.
On the E. side of this bay is the safe and capacious port of
Caldera. On the S.E. coast is the great Bay of Samana,
which, in point of size and situation, is one of the most im¬
portant on the island. From Cape Raffael, which forms the
southern point of entrance into the Bay of Samana, to the
opposite side of the island or peninsula of Samana, the dis¬
tance is 18 miles, which is closed in by a bulwark of rocks
and sands, the entrance only being left clear, with a safe
and deep channel between the shore of Samana and several
detached islands. This bay is about 60 miles long, and is
surrounded on every side by a fertile country, suited to all
the purposes of trade. Within the compass of this bay
whole fleets might ride at anchor in perfect security. The
River Yuna, after being joined by the Cambu, and mean¬
dering through the rich plains of La Vega Real, falls into
the Bay of Samana after a course of nearly 100 miles.
Bahia Ecossaise (or Scotch Biiy), which is situated on the
N. side of the peninsula of Samana, is a dangerous rocky
place. Thence to Puerto Plata the coast extends about 60
miles in a N.W. direction, and in this space stands Balsama
Bay, which has only 14 feet depth of water, and is of diffi¬
cult navigation. The harbour of Puerto Plata was first dis¬
covered by Columbus ; the entrance is narrow but safe, and
the neighbourhood is rich in every species of timber trees.
There are several other small harbours and bays on this
side of the island; but the coast is in general rocky and
dangerous.
A country of such magnitude as Hayti, containing moun¬
tains of great height, with valleys of corresponding extent,
necessarily comprises great variety of soil. In general,
however, it is fertile in the highest degree, being everywhere
drained by copious streams, and yielding in abundance every
species of vegetable produce which can minister either to
the luxury or comfort of man. The soil consists principally
of a rich clay, sometimes mixed with gravel, lying on a sub¬
stratum of rock. That part of the island formerly occupied
by the French is mountainous, but fertile and well wooded,
and containing mines both of silver and iron. The Spanish
part of the island is mountainous in many parts ; whilst in
other parts the country is spread out into extensive plains.
These are generally in a state of nature, covered with
herbage, or with woods of immense growth and the most
luxuriant foliage. The mountains intersect the island in
two principal chains from E. to W. From these secondary
and partial ridges diverge irregularly in different directions,
forming beautiful and fertile valleys, with numerous streams.
The highest mountains of the interior, particularly those of
Cibao, rise to the height of 7200 feet above the level of the
sea. To the N. of the capital is the valley called Vega
Real or Royal Plain, which is by far the largest and finest
in the island. Westward it extends to the old French line
of demarcation, and in this part it is drained by the River
^ acki; to the E., where the River Yuna flows for the space
of 50 miles, it projects to the head of the Bay of Samana,
and is drained by numerous smaller streams, which cross it
in various directions. This valley may be said to extend in
length about 140 miles, and in breadth from 20 to 30.
Other plains also, of less extent, but of equal fertility and
of easy access, are everywhere found interspersed among
the mountainous tracts. Westward from San Domingo, Hayti.
along the southern coast, is the valley of the River Banis, ^
extending from Nisao to Ocoa. Here the pasture is good ;
but the country is not so well watered as in the other parts
of the island ; an inconvenience which is sensibly felt by the
cattle during the dry months. Further to the westward and
to the N. other valleys are found; but where the land, as in
this island, is everywhere intersected by ranges of moun¬
tains, it is impossible, in any general sketch, to describe par¬
ticularly that continual succession of hill and dale which
diversifies the face of the country. Eastward from the
capital are those immense plains called Los Llanos, which
stretch out to a vast extent on a dead level. They are
covered with herbage, and the eye wanders unobstructed
over the wide expanse of waving grass, which is occasion¬
ally diversified by natural clumps of shrubs. These plains
occupy almost one-sixth part of the island, extending nearly
to its eastern coast, being a distance of more than 90 miles,
by about 30 wide. They form an immense natural meadow,
covered with pasture for vast herds of cattle, which belong
to more than a hundred different owners.
San Domingo has a hot moist climate; but the heat is Climate,
mitigated by the regularity of the sea-breeze, and by the
contiguity of the mountains. In the plains the thermome¬
ter rises to 96°, sometimes to 99° ; but in the mountainous
tracts it seldom rises above 78°. In the most elevated parts
a fire is frequently necessary. In those situations meat
may be kept for several days, and in the morning hoar frost
is frequent. The seasons, as in tropical countries, are di¬
vided into the wet and the dry. The rains are periodical,
and are heaviest in May and June, when the rivers, which
at other times scarcely supply water for a continued stream,
overflow their banks, and, with an impetuous torrent, sweep
over the neighbouring plains. The climate of San Domingo
is unhealthy to Europeans, owing to these violent heats and
heavy rains ; and hence all metals, however bright their ori¬
ginal polish, soon contract a tarnished appearance. This is
more observable on the sea-coast, which is also more un¬
healthy than the interior of the island. Hurricanes are not
frequent, but in the southern parts of the island violent
gales of wind, generally preceded by a closeness and sultri¬
ness in the atmosphere, frequently occur. These, however,
are not attended with such fatal effects as the hurricanes in
the Windward Islands.
The island of Hayti abounds in rivers and smaller streams, Fivers,
which flow from the mountains in the interior, in different
directions, to the sea. Of these, the principal are the Haina,
the Nigua, the Nizao, the Ozama, the Neyba, the Ocoa,
the Yane, and the Santiago or river of Monte Christi.
Near the S. part of the French line of demarcation is
the beautiful lake of Henriquillo, which is about 60 miles
in circumference ; and though it is about 25 miles from the
sea, its water is perfectly salt, and of the same specific gra¬
vity as that of the ocean. The same fishes are also found
in it, such as the shark, seal, porpoise, &c.
The fertile soil of Hayti is distinguished by the variety Vegetable
of its vegetable productions, many of which are rare and Produc'
valuable. The mahogany tree grows to a great size, and is tlons'
of very fine quality. The manchineel tree affords a beauti¬
ful species of wood, richly veined like marble, and suscep¬
tible of the finest polish. Several species of dye-woods are
produced in the forests. There is a tree called the jagua,
the fruit of which is accounted a delicacy by the natives ;
and of which the juice, as clear as water, makes a stain on
linen which is indelible. Different kinds of guaiacum are
found, as also of several other woods with the same proper¬
ties, which grow unnoticed and nameless in those unex¬
plored forests. The sideroxylon or iron-wood, remark¬
able for hardness, as its name implies, is abundant; and the
oak also, which differs in appearance from the European
oak, frequently furnishes beams of from 60 to 70 feet in
H A Y T I.
255
jeology.
Animals.
length. On the N. side of the island are extensive fo¬
rests of pine, which is much used for the purposes of ship¬
building ; and Brazil-wood is found on many parts of the
coast. The satin-wood of this island is heavier than that
of the East Indies, and it takes so fine a polish that it does
not require to be varnished. The cotton tree is the largest
of all the vegetable productions, and is formed into the
lightest and most capacious canoes. Every variety of the
palm tree is found in the woods, of which they form a prin¬
cipal ornament. The palmetto or mountain cabbage is an
erect and noble tree, which grows to the height of 70 feet,
with esculent leaves at the top. In the congenial soil of this
fertile island the sugar-cane, cotton and coffee plants, grow in
the greatest luxuriance. There is also the calabash, the fruit
of which serves as a substitute for earthenware ; the plan¬
tain, the staff of life in the West Indies; vanilla, which is
found indigenous in the unfrequented woods ; quassia or si-
marouba, which is a tall and stately plant, waving gracefully
in the wind; sarsaparilla, indigo, tobacco, turmeric, ginger
and rice plants. The fruits and nutritive roots of San Do¬
mingo are nearly the same as those of Jamaica; but they
are more abundant, and extremely fine. Of these may be
enumerated the choux caraib, or Indian kale, w ith a variety
of other vegetables that come under the same denomina¬
tion ; the avccato or vegetable marrow, the melon, sapadillo,
guava, pine-apple, bread and jack fruit, mango, nuts, rose-
apple, plums, &c., of many different species. Flowers in
endless variety and splendour adorn the wild scenery of the
woods, and exhale their fragrance in the desert air.
Little is known of the geological structure of the island,
but a limestone containing vestiges of marine shells is the
prevailing formation. Mineral springs exist in several parts.
The most noted in the eastern part of the island are those
of Banica, Yaya, and Pargatal; and in the west the chaly¬
beate of St Rose, the saline of Jean Rabel, and the alka¬
line sulphur waters of Dalmarie. The mineral products are
various and rich, and include gold, platina, silver, quick¬
silver, copper, iron, tin, sulphur, manganese, antimony,
rock-salt, bitumen, jasper, marble, opal, lazulite, chalcedony,
&c. The gold mines of the Chibao Mountains, which, in
the sixteenth century, were very productive, have been
abandoned, and at the present day gold is obtained only
from the washings in the northern rivers. None of the
mines, indeed, are successfully worked, and hence these
sources of wealth are reserved for the industry of future
generations.
The indigenous quadrupeds of this island w'ere confined
to four species, which the Indians called Hutia, Quemi,
Mohuy, and Cory. Of these, all are believed to be extinct
except the first. Elorned cattle, hogs, sheep, goats, horses,
mules, and asses, have been introduced from Europe, and
have multiplied prodigiously in the wild and extensive pas¬
times of the interior. Wild fowl are abundant, consisting of
various species of ducks, pigeons, the flamingo, the wild pea¬
cock, the mimic thrush or mocking bird, the banana bird,
the Guinea fowl, the ortolan, and parrots of various species.
The rivers abound with fish, some of which are very deli¬
cate. Turtle of all kinds are taken, and the land-crab is
much esteemed. The serpents are not dreaded ; but the
centipedes, which are frequent in old buildings, are large
and dangerous. The scorpion is rarely seen; but the
venomous crab-spider, which is equally dangerous, is some¬
times met with.
This island was discovered by Columbus in 1492, and
was soon filled with adventurers, who crowded from Europe
to the new world in search of sudden wealth. The natives
were reduced to slavery by these settlers, who spread them¬
selves over the island, and by their industry the colony in¬
creased rapidly in wealth and prosperity. But as it was
chiefly by the desire of gold that settlers were attracted to
this distant shore, San Domingo was in its turn abandoned
for other countries of greater reputed wealth ; and the Hayti.
country gradually declined, and, instead of yielding a re- ^
venue, became a burden on the mother country. About
the middle of the sixteenth century the island of St Chris¬
topher was taken possession of by a mixed colony of
French and English, who being attacked by the Spaniards,
were forced to fly to the barren isle of Tortuga, where they
established themselves, and grew formidable, under the
well-known appellation of buccaneers. They at last ob¬
tained a firm footing in San Domingo, into which they had
made only predatory incursions ; and by the treaty of Rys-
wick that part of the island of which they had obtained pos¬
session was ceded to the king of France, who acknowledged
these adventurous colonists as his subjects. The French
colony languished for a while under the galling restrictions
imposed on its trade by the mother country; but these be¬
ing removed about the year 1722, it soon attained a high
degree of prosperity, and was in a very flourishing state
when the French revolution commenced in 1789. The
population was composed of three classes,—whites, people
of colour, and blacks. Of these the whites were the favoured
class, who engrossed all public honours and emoluments.
They considered the people of colour as a degraded caste,
with whom it was disgraceful to associate on terms of equa¬
lity. The black slaves ranked lowest in the scale, and they
experienced from both classes all the evils of the most
cruel bondage. A society framed of such hostile elements
contained in its very constitution the seeds of hatred and
contention ; and in the course of the revolution which oc¬
curred in the mother country these were brought into full
activity. The important discussions by which France was
at that time agitated kindled a corresponding sensation in
the colonies ; and the hostile races of the whites and mu-
lattoes were already violently inflamed against each other by
the eagerness of their contests, when the national conven¬
tion, in 1791, passed the memorable decree, giving to the
people of colour the unlimited enjoyment of all the rights
which were possessed by French citizens ; thus at once
breaking down all the distinctions which had prevailed in
the colony, and which were sanctioned by custom and in¬
veterate prejudice. This decree excited loud and general
disapprobation amongst the whites, who immediately adopted
the most violent measures. The national cockade, the badge
of their attachment to the revolution and to the mother
country, was openly trampled under foot, and the authority
of the governor-general and the supremacy of the mother
country were equally set at nought. The several parishes
proceeded to the election of a new assembly, which accord¬
ingly met on the 9th of August, under the title of the
General Assembly of the French part of San Domingo.
The mulattoes in the mean time, alarmed at these proceed¬
ings, were collecting in armed bodies for their defence ; and
the whites were so intent on the meeting of the new co¬
lonial assembly that they offered no opposition to these
assemblages.
Such was the state of affairs between the two hostile j,ijrgtmove.
classes of the whites and the mulattoes, when a new andmentsof
more powerful party, whom all united to oppress, now sud-the ne-
denly combined for their own protection and for the de-groes*
struction of their enemies. On the 23d of August reports
reached the town of the Cape that the negro slaves in the
neighbouring parishes were in arms, and that they were
destroying the plantations and massacring the inhabitants.
This terrible intelligence was confirmed next day in its
full extent by crowds of wretched fugitives from the neigh¬
bouring country, who, having abandoned their property,
were flying to Cape Town from the fury of their savage
enemies. The success of this bold and deep-laid conspi¬
racy spread universal consternation amongst the white in¬
habitants. The citizens in Cape Town were immediately
summoned to arms, and the women and children were at
256 H A Y T I.
Hayti. the same time sent on board the ships in the harbour. Other
^ measures were also adopted to secure the place against
any sudden attack of the infuriated slaves. When these
precautions had been adopted, several small detachments of
troops were sent out to act offensively against the insur¬
gents; but although partial successes were obtained in
these encounters, the general result too fatally demon¬
strated to the white inhabitants their own weakness and the
strength of their enemies. In this destructive war it was
calculated that, about two months after its commencement,
upwards of 2000 white inhabitants were massacred; that
180 sugar plantations, and about 900 coffee, indigo, and
cotton settlements were destroyed, and a thousand families
reduced from opulence to misery. Of the insurgents about
10,000 are supposed to have perished in the field, and some
hundreds by the hands of the public executioner; and the
rebellion, which had been hitherto confined to the northern
parts of the island, now began to spread through the western
districts, where the blacks were aided by the people of
colour, and where, under their united devastations, the
country was laid waste for an extent of more than 30 miles.
At length they approached the town of Port-au-Prince with
the intention of setting it on fire ; and it was with great dif¬
ficulty that a treaty was concluded by which the place was
saved from destruction. This treaty was ratified by the
colonial assembly, which also announced its intention of
granting an extension of privileges to the free people of
colour. But in the mean time the national assembly at
home, under an impression of the ruinous consequences of
their rash concessions to the people of colour, had voted a
repeal of the law which gave them the same privileges as the
whites ; and the intelligence of this repeal reached the co¬
lonies at the time when the colonial assembly was holding
out the expectation of general equality and freedom. The
mulattoes, therefore, when they heard that the national as¬
sembly had repealed their former conciliating act in their
favour, knew no bounds to their indignation. All thoughts
of peace were now abandoned; and the war assumed a dia¬
bolical character of cruelty, each studying to outdo the
other in acts of revenge. On both sides all prisoners were
either massacred without mercy, or reserved for the more
solemn barbarity of a public execution.
The national assembly at home, alarmed by the intelli¬
gence of these disorders, sent out three civil commissioners,
with full powers to settle all disputes. But their authority
soon fell into disrepute. Other commissioners were sent,
and along with them 8000 troops. Unlike their predeces¬
sors, however, they adopted the most arbitrary measures;
and about the beginning of the year 1793 they became
absolute masters of the colony. But their severity at last
provoked resistance to their authority ; and having dis¬
placed the governor Galbaud, an officer of artillery, and
ordered him to France, he, along with his brother, collected
about 1200 seamen, with whom they landed, and being
joined by other volunteers, attacked the government house,
where the commissioners were posted with their force. A
fierce and bloody conflict now took place, which terminated
without any decisive advantage on either side, and next day
the fighting was continued in the streets of the town with
various success. In the beginning of these disorders, the
commissioners had sought to strengthen their party by the
aid of the revolted blacks ; and a body of these auxiliaries,
amounting to 3000, now entered the place, which imme¬
diately became a horrid and revolting scene of conflagration
’ and slaughter. Men, women, and children were massacred
by these barbarians without distinction. The white inha¬
bitants, flying to the sea for protection, were met by a body
of armed mulattoes, by whom they were put to the sword
without mercy; the half of the town was consumed by the
flames; and the commissioners, themselves affrighted at
these disorders, escaped to the sea-shore, whence, under
cover of a ship of the line, they viewed with dismay the Hayti.
wide-spreading mischief.
Ever since the commencement of these unhappy dis¬
orders, the white inhabitants had emigrated in great num¬
bers to the neighbouring islands, and to the United States
of America ; and some of the principal inhabitants having
repaired to Britain, induced the British government, by
their representations, to prepare an armament with a body
of troops to co-operate with such of the inhabitants as were
desirous of placing themselves under its protection. At
this period the military force of San Domingo consisted of
from 14,000 to 15,000 effective troops, and 25,000 free
negroes, mulattoes, and slaves. About 100,000 blacks
had retired to the mountains to enjoy a savage indepen¬
dence, and in the northern districts 40,000 slaves still con¬
tinued in arms. It was in these circumstances that the
island was taken possession of, in September 1793, by a
British force. But though the expedition gained some
partial advantages, the climate soon began to make the
most dreadful havoc among the troops, and prevented
them from achieving any solid success. Toussaint I’Ou-
verture, who was appointed general-in-chief of the black
armies of San Domingo in 1797, proved himself an able
and an indefatigable enemy ; and at length the British
were obliged to evacuate the country in the year 1798.
On the 1st of July 1801 the independence of San Domingo
was formally proclaimed.
But the war in Europe between Great Britain and
France being by this time concluded by the peace of
Amiens, Bonaparte, now chief consul of France, sent out
an armament, consisting of twenty-six ships of the line, and
25,000 troops, under the command of General Leclerc, his
brother-in-law, for the purpose of reducing the revolted
colony of San Domingo. To enter into the details of the
barbarous and bloody war now begun against the unfortu¬
nate inhabitants of San Domingo would not be consistent
with our limits, nor would such a narrative be interesting
to our readers. It will be sufficient to observe that the
numbers and discipline of the force now landed, joined to
the skill of its leaders, overpowered all open resistance in
the field, so that the blacks, after several obstinate conflicts,
and after burning some of the principal towns, were finally
compelled to retire into the inaccessible mountains of the
interior, whence they carried on, under their undaunted
leader, Toussaint, a desultory war against detached parties
of their enemies. Elated by this success, Leclerc now
threw off the mask, and rashly issued an edict proclaiming
the former slavery of the blacks. Toussaint w^as not slow
to profit by this error. Having effected a junction with
Christophe, who had still 300 troops under him, and being
joined by the cultivators in great numbers, who were no
longer deaf to his call, he poured with this collected host
like a torrent over the plain ; and having everywhere forced
the French posts, and driven before him their detached
corps, he surrounded the town, to relieve which the French
general was compelled to hasten to the spot by forced
marches with all the troops he could collect. Here he had
recourse to his former arts, and he was but too successful
in cajoling the negro chiefs, wearied of war, into a suspen¬
sion of arms. Having watched his opportunity, he pri¬
vately seized Toussaint with his family, and embarked him
on board of a frigate for France, where, being thrown into
prison, he expired in April 1803.
This act of cruel treachery spread universal alarm among
the black chiefs; and Dessalines, Christophe, and Cler-
veaux soon appeared at the head of considerable bodies of
black troops. This last contest for the possession of San
Domingo was distinguished by a degree of barbarity which
surpasses belief. The whites and the blacks seemed to
vie with each other in deeds of cruelty and revenge. Re¬
taliation was the plea still used to sanction every enormity,
H A Y T I. 257
Hayti. under which an amount of vengeance was at length accu-
_ mulated on both sides, which nothing short of the utter
extermination of one of the parties could thoroughly satisfy.
The French, however, it was clear, were now gradually
losing ground. About the year 1803 they were confined
within their fortifications by the vigorous movements of
the black armies ; and though reinforcements were received
from France, the French general was forced to enter into
a capitulation with Dessalines, by which he agreed in
1803 to evacuate the whole island. On the 30th Novem¬
ber of that year, the standard of the blacks was hoisted in
Cape Francois ; and the French troops, amounting to 8000,
surrendered themselves prisoners of war to the British squa¬
dron, by which they were closely watched. In 1804 a for¬
mal declaration of' independence was issued, to which were
attached all the names of the generals and chiefs. The
ancient aboriginal name of Hayti was revived ; while Des¬
salines, whose military talents were in great esteem, was
elected governor-general for life ; and in October 1804 he
was crowned emperor with great pomp. In this situation
he began to display all the cruelties of a tyrant, massacring
without mercy the white inhabitants, and committing the
most barbarous depredations. A conspiracy was in con¬
sequence formed against him ; and as he was advancing
against the insurgents at the head of a few troops, he fell
into an ambuscade where he was expecting his own ad¬
vanced guard, and fell pierced with balls. His power was
disputed by various chiefs, of whom those best known and
most successful were Petion and Christophe, the former
ruling over the north of the island, the latter over the
southern districts. Each having a powerful body of ad¬
herents, a civil war wras the immediate consequence of their
rival claims. In this war, which continued for several
years, many battles were fought and many lives were lost;
but the issue of the struggle was still doubtful, when in the
year 1810 a suspension of hostilities took place, though no
formal treaty was signed. From this period civil war ceased
in the island of San Domingo. Christophe was declared
king of Hayti under the title of Henry I. ; and, in imita¬
tion of other monarchs, he created various orders of nobility,
together with numerous officers of state. He assumed to
himself absolute power, and committed the greatest cruel¬
ties, according to the mere caprice of his own arbitrary
will. His tyranny produced general discontent, and at last
an insurrection against him. Being deserted by his troops,
he anticipated his fate by committing suicide on the 20th
of October 1820. Petion died in March 1818, after having
presided over the republic upwards of eleven years. He
was succeeded by General Boyer, who ruled over the nor¬
thern division of the island until the year 1820; when
taking advantage of the death of Christophe, and the con¬
fusion occasioned by that event, he pressed forward with a
considerable force, and took possession of every strong place
in the kingdom; and in this manner the whole French
division of San Domingo was united under one ruler.
The Spanish division of the island had been ceded to
France in 1795 by the treaty of Basle, but it was restored to
Spain by the peace of 1814. The feeble government of the
mother country, however, was no longer able to control the
revolutionary spirit which prevailed in the colony; and in
November 1821 the Spanish governor was arrested by the
insurgent party, headed by a lawyer of the name of Nunez,
and a declaration of independence immediately issued. A
strong party afterwards appeared in favour of a union of the
whole island under one chief. On the 21st of January
1822 the Haytian flag was first displayed in the city of San
Domingo; and on the 9th the keys of the city, and with
them the dominion of the w'hole island, were surrendered
to President Boyer. The independence of the new state
was recognised by France in 1825, on condition that its
ports should be open to the ships of all nations; that French
VOL. XI.
vessels should pay only half duties ; and that 150,000,000 Hayti.
francs, or L.6,000,000, should be paid as an indemnity, in
five equal payments, the first on the 31st December 1825.
Thus, alter a series of struggles, beyond all example bloody
and ferocious, the w hole island of Hispaniola, with its ad¬
jacent islets, became subject to one government, under the
title of the Republic of Hayti.
Boyer continued to reign over the entire island till 1843,
when he was overthrown and driven from the island by a
revolution headed by Riviere, who succeeded him as pre¬
sident. After about four months the Spanish part of the
island revolted, and Riviere marched with an army to re¬
duce it to submission ; but while on this expedition the
other parts of the island revolted against him, and he was
compelled to escape to Jamaica. A succession of presi¬
dents of short duration followed; and on March 1, 1846,
Soulouque, the present emperor, was elected president.
Previous to his election as president, Soulouque (the
present Emperor Faustin) was unknown to fame. Born a
slave, he subsequently obtained his liberty, and became
boots’ cleaner to one of the illustrious black generals. He
gradually rose by energy and undaunted courage, soon ob¬
taining the rank of captain, and subsequently that of gene¬
ral. His ambition was thoroughly aroused by his rapid pro¬
motion, and he secretly resolved to emulate the achieve¬
ments of Napoleon I., whose career he studied as a model,
brooding over his plans for three years. In 1849 he carried
them into execution by a stratagem. In April an alleged
plot to assassinate the president was made the pretext for
arresting all those persons he deemed likely to oppose his
views. Of these he beheaded a great number, and many
fled. In Port-au-Prince, his capital, a petition was got up
on the 20th of August, requesting him to accept the impe¬
rial crown. No one knew where this petition originated,
but it was signed by 354 citizens. This, with two other
petitions, one signed by forty-nine generals, and the other
by all the colonels, was presented to the Chambers on the
24th ; and though it took them by surprise, they adopted
the petitions unanimously. Next morning it was referred
to the senate. Meanwhile a crown and imperial insignia had
been procured and placed on the table in the Senate House.
Soulouque modestly accepted the dignity thus “ thrust upon
him,” and received the salutation of Emperor Faustin I.
The first act of the new emperor was to create a nobi¬
lity ; and dukes, marquises, counts, and barons, were created
in great numbers. Bobo, an escaped galley-slave, was created
prince of the empire ; and all the nobles aimed at super¬
seding Soulouque. Moreover, they all acted as spies upon
one another, thus keeping the emperor well informed of
what was going on. As might have been anticipated,
Prince Bobo was the most violent, and was summoned to
court; but knowing that death was certain whether he
obeyed or refused, he fled.
Soulouque now resolved upon a solemn coronation in
imitation of Napoleon I. Accordingly, on April 4, 1851,
newr uniforms were distributed to the troops, and on the
following Sunday the ceremony of blessing and distributing
eagles took place. On the 17th of April at sunset 101 guns
announced the commencement of festivities in honour of
the coronation. These continued during seven nights and
seven days. On the morning of the 18th Soulouque, imi¬
tating his great model, took with his own hands the crown
from the altar, crowned himself and then his wife Adelina.
The empire is divided into six departments, and these
are subdivided into arrondissements and communes. The
laws are based on the code civil of France. The force of
the Haytian army is stated at 28,000 or 30,000 men, but of
these about one-half only are considered effective.
All the European powers have consuls or consular agents
accredited to Faustin I. He has no male issue, and his
death will be the signal for another revolution.
2 K.
258 II A Y
Hayti. The revenue of Hayti arises chiefly from customs and
port-dues, territorial imposts, sale of lands, &c. In 1850
the customs’ receipts amounted to L.170,000; and in the
same year the expenditure amounted to L.216,856. The
established religion is Roman Catholic ; but other forms of
worship are not prohibited. Church affairs are superintended
by a vicar-general. In 1854 there were in the state 62 schools
and 4 colleges, having in all about 9000 or 10,000 pupils.
The foreign commerce of Hayti is wholly in the hands
of foreign merchants, who are permitted to reside only at
certain ports, under irksome and injurious restrictions. The
foreign commerce does not now exceed L.1,000,000 of an¬
nual value. The exports are chiefly mahogany and other
timber, dyewoods, coffee, tobacco, and cotton. The imports
are British cotton and woollen goods, hardware, cutlery,
fire-arms, gunpowder, glass, earthenware, &c. From France
are imported brandy, wines, silk, and fancy goods. The
population of Hayti is estimated at about 740,000.
The emperor has constituted Cap-Haytian, formerly
Cap-Fran^ais, the capital and seat of government of the em¬
pire. It stands on the N, coast, in N. Lat. 19. 46., and W.
Long. 72.10., and contains about 14,000 inhabitants. The
population of Port-a i-Prince, the former capital, is 30,000.
On the fall of Boyer, the Spaniards asserted their inde¬
pendence, and on the 27th February 1844 proclaimed the
Dominican Republic. Herard Riviere, who succeeded
Boyer, marched with an army of 20,000 men upon San
Domingo, but was defeated at Azua by General Pedro San¬
tana, who compelled the Haytians to retreat within their
own territory. The provincial junta of the new republic
now formed a constitution, and elected Santana president.
He was followed by General Jimenes in 1848. Soulouque,
then president of Hayti, attempted in 1849 to reconquer
the territory with an army of 5000 men, but was signally
defeated at Las Carreras, on the River Ocoa, 21st April
1849, by Santana, who had only 400 men under his com¬
mand. For this victory Santana received the title of “ Li-
bertador de la Patria.” General Jimenes, the president,
not being fitted for his task, and the invading army having
been driven out of the country, Santana was called upon to
I’estore order wdthin the republic, and to force the president
to resign. This effected, Santana directed the affairs of
state until a new election had taken place, by which, upon
his recommendation, Buenaventura Baez was named presi¬
dent. During his administration treaties of recognition and
commerce with Great Britain, France, and Denmark were
concluded. OntheSd July 1853 Baez was banished, and San¬
tana himself raised to the presidency. It may be stated that
Spain hasnotrelinquished her claims upon her former colony.
The Dominican Republic claims for its territory the
whole of the Spanish portion of the island. It is divided into
five provinces, and has an area of about 17,500 square miles.
The Dominicans are almost entirely an agricultural
people. The staples of the S. provinces consist chiefly
of the products of the forests. In Seybo, however, the
raising of cattle is the chief occupation. But by far the
most industrious part is the N., generally called the Cibao,
where the staple article is an excellent quality of tobacco.
The articles of export are mahogany, satin-wood, fustic,
lignum-vitae and brazil-wood ; tobacco, hides, &c. The im¬
ports are chiefly flour and provisions from the United States,
and general merchandise from Europe.
The constitution of the republic is based on that of Ve¬
nezuela. The Congress, which assembles annually, consists
• of fifteen deputies, three from each province, who form the
Tribunado or Lower Chamber, and five senators, one from
each province, constituting the Consejo Conservador or Upper
Chamber. The executive power is vested in a president,
who is elected for four years, and who must be a Domi¬
nican by birth, and at least thirty-five years of age. The
judiciary is exercised by a supreme court and various infe-
n A z
rior and local courts, and the French code has been adopted Hayward
in legal proceedings. In 1852 the revenue amounted to [|
L.76,853, and the ordinary expenditures amount annually Hazlit*:.
to about L.51,300. No foreign debt is owing; but there v-*'
exists a large home debt, on which the currency is based,
and which is of low and fluctuating value. The army
amounts to 12,000 men, and may be raised to 16,000.
The navy consists of three corvettes and five schooners
equipped as war vessels, and mounted with forty-four guns.
The prevailing religion is Roman Catholic, but other deno¬
minations are tolerated. Pop. about 136,500.
The chief seats of commerce are San Domingo city and
Samana, a small town on a peninsula of the same name.
The city of San Domingo is situated at the mouth of the
Ozama, on the southern coast, in N. Lat. 18^, and W. Long.
70°, and is the oldest European settlement in the New
World, having been built by Columbus in 1504. The po¬
pulation is about 14,000, and the town is defended by sub¬
stantial fortifications. The cathedral is more than three
centuries old. The harbour is capacious, but owing to a
bar at its mouth, vessels drawing above 13 feet of water are
obliged to anchor in the open roadstead.
HAYWARD, the person who keeps the common herd
or cattle of a town, and guards hedges and fences.
HAZARD, a game at dice, without tables. It is played
with only two dice; and as many may play at it as can
stand round the largest round table.
Two things are chiefly to be observed, main and chance ;
the latter belonging to the caster, and the former, or main, to
the other gamesters. There can be no main throw above
nine, nor under five; so that five, six, seven, eight, and
nine are the only mains thrown at hazard. Chances and
nicks are from four to ten. Thus four is a chance to nine,
five to eight, six to seven, seven to six, eight to five, and
nine and ten a chance to five, six, seven, and eight; in
short, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten are chances
to any main, if any of these nick it not. Nicks are either
when the chance is the same with the main, as five and five,
or six and twelve, seven and eleven, eight and twelve.
Observe, however, that twelve is out to nine, seven, and
five; eleven is out to nine, eight, six, and five ; and ames-
ace, and deuce-ace, are out to all mains whatever.
HAZAREEBAGH, a town of Hindustan, and the prin¬
cipal place of the district of Ramghur, one of the lower
provinces of Bengal. Upon the subjugation of Sinde by
the British the town of Hazareebagh was selected as the
place of residence for the ex-ameers of that country; but
under subsequent arrangements some of the brothers have
been permitted to remove to Lahore and other localities.
Lat. 24., Long. 85. 24.
HAZEBROUCK, a town of France, capital of a cogno-
minal arrondissement in the department of Nord on the
Beurre, 24 miles W.N.W. of Lille. It possesses several
handsome public buildings, among which are the parish church
with a lofty and elegant spire ; the town-house ; the sub-pre¬
fecture ; and the old Augustine convent, now used as college
lecture-rooms; normal school, hospital, corn market, and to¬
bacco warehouse. Hazebrouck is the seat of a court of pri¬
mary instance, and hasasociety of agriculture, a public library,
and two theatres. The principal manufactures are linen cloth
and thread, soap, leather, beer, salt, oil, and lime. A large
weekly market is held here on Saturday. Pop. (1851) 7539.
HAZEL. See Botany ; nat. ord. Corylacece.
HAZLITT, William, a distinguished critic and miscel¬
laneous writer, was born at Maidstone, April 10, 1778. His
father was a Unitarian minister, who, after holding various
livings in England and America, was finally settled at Wein
in Shropshire, where the young Hazlitt was first sent to
school. In due time he was sent to complete his studies at
the Unitarian College at Hackney. He ought to have de¬
voted himself to theology, as it was intended that he should
H A Z
H E A
259
Hazlitt. adopt his father’s profession ; but finding political and moral
, ^ ^ ^ philosophy more to his taste, he neglected the studies proper
to the place, and ended by deciding on the choice of a new
profession. He determined to become a painter ; and about
the beginning of the century visited Paris, where he studied
with great diligence and some success at the Louvre. On
his return home he began a tour of the provinces, and
painted a large number of portraits. Finding, however, that
he was not likely ever to reach the high standard of art which
he had set for himself, he abandoned art, as he had aban¬
doned the church, and began life once more as a litterateur.
In 1805 he published his first important work,—the only
one, as he himself said, on which he ever prided himself.
It was an anonymous essay on the Principles of Human
Action, and certainly displayed great ingenuity and acute¬
ness, along with some of those crudities of composition
that generally mark a first attempt. More notice was taken
of his Free Thoughts on Public Affairs, published in the
following year. In 1808 he married his first wile, the sister
of Dr, afterwards Sir John Stoddart, and retiring with her
into Wiltshire, supported himself there for several years by
miscellaneous literary labour. By this lady he had several
children, all of whom, with the exception of one son, died in
early childhood. The marriage, however, was in some respects
an unhappy one, and in 1823 the contracting parties were di¬
vorced. In the following year, Hazlitt married the widow of a
Lieut.-Col. Bridgewater who brought him a considerable
fortune.
In 1811 Hazlitt removed to London, where he rented the
house at Westminster that had once been tenanted by Mil-
ton. This circumstance he commemorated on a small tablet
which he erected in the yard at the back of the house, in
his veneration for the poet and patriot. Mr Bentham was
his landlord, and on one occasion nearly drove him mad by
proposing to cut down two beautiful trees that shaded this
tablet, and to convert the little garden from an ornamental
into a merely useful object. In 1813 Hazlitt delivered be¬
fore the Russell Institution a series of lectures on the his¬
tory and progress of English philosophy, some of which
were published after his death among his Literary Remains.
About this time also he became connected with the press,
contributing political and theatrical criticisms to the leading
journals, such as the Times, Examiner, Morning Chronicle,
and others. His political articles were collected and repub¬
lished in 1819 by Mr Hone, who had been encouraged to
take this step by the success that had attended the xepiint
of Hazlitt’s theatrical criticisms, published by Stoddart in
1818, under the title of a View of the English Stage. One
service Hazlitt did to the stage which should never be for-
o-otten. He was the first to discover and proclaim the won¬
derful powers of Edmund Kean, which were at length,
though not till after a severe struggle, recognized by the
world. In 1818 he delivered a series of lectures at the
Surrey Institution on the Comic W riters, the Poets ol Eng¬
land, and the Dramatic Literature of the age of Elizabeth.
These three courses have been published in sepaiate vo¬
lumes, and are well known to all students of English litera¬
ture. His next acknowledged work was his Characters of
Shakspeare's Plays, which displays a refined and philoso¬
phic taste, and abounds in occasional passages of lare elo¬
quence. From this time to his death he continued to con¬
tribute very largely to the periodical press, from the Edin¬
burgh Review downwards. I hough his literary gains were
considerable (averaging about L.600 a year), yet his im¬
prudence in money matters prevented him from making any
provision against old age or infirmity. In 1830 his health
gave way under the unabated pressure of literary toil, and
after suffering for some weeks under a severe dysentery,
he died on the 18th September.
Hazlitt was the author of many works besides those al¬
ready mentioned. Of these the most important were his
Spirit of the Age, in which he passes in review the leading Head-
notabilities of his day, and in his judgments of some of them bor(j.ugh
at least, anticipated the verdict of posterity ; his Plain He Jing
Speaker, 1826; his Table Talk; the Round Table (some i ^
of the essays in which are from the pen of Leigh Hunt) ;
the art. Fine Arts in the Encyclopedia Britannica ; and
the Life of Napoleon, which was published in 1830, shortly
before his death. This last, though by no means the most
popular of his works, is that on which he put out most ot
his mind. Napoleon was his great idol among men, and he
strove by this History to raise a suitable monument to the
glory of his hero. As a historian, indeed, Hazlitt has but
small chance of being acknowledged by posterity. His po¬
litical prejudices were too fierce and active; and his style,
so well adapted for general literary composition, was on that
account unsuited for history. His real title to remembrance
is in his criticisms on art, literature, and literary men. As
a writer, Flazlitt is forcible, terse, and lively. All his writ¬
ings abound in passages of vehement eloquence, alternat¬
ing with brief utterances, pregnant with thought, and strik¬
ing from their simplicity and truth. Though, strictly
speaking, the true sphere of his mind was criticism, it had
yet some of the qualities of the poetic temperament. He
had a fancy so fertile that he sometimes wearies with the
wealth of his imagery and the copiousness of his illustration.
He luxuriates in his command of style so as sometimes to
make the reader wish that his power was less, or his self-
control greater. The perusal of his works convinces his
readers that he is a brilliant, sometimes even a splendid
writer, but it would seem as if he strained himself too inces¬
santly to produce effect, so that while he always dazzles, he
does not always satisfy. As a man he was as much admired
as liked. His temper, naturally irritable, had been soured
by various causes, among others, by over-indulgence in wine.
As soon as he came to know, however, the danger of too
social habits he eschewed drinking altogether, and for the last
sixteen years of his life used no stimulant but tea. His ir¬
ritability often involved him in serious misunderstandings
with his best friends, yet none was ever readier than he to
hold out the hand when the storm had passed. He was a
perfectly honest and brave man, and though a recantation
of his political creed might have carried him on to wealth
and station, he remained to the last as staunch a friend of
the people and the people’s interests as he had been in the
heat of youth.
HEADBOROUGH. See Borseholder,and Tithing.
HE ALFA NG, or Halsfang (Sax. halp, neck, pangen,
to contain), in our ancient customs, the punishment of the
pillory. Also a pecuniary mulct in commutation of the
punishment of the pillory, to be paid either to the king or
the chief lord. Qui falsum testimonium dedit, reddat regi
vel terrce domino healfang.
HEALTH, Board of, a commission appointed by the
English government in 1848 with the view of promoting
the public health in England and Wales, which, in that
and the preceding year had suffered seriously from the inva¬
sion of cholera. As first constituted, the Board of Health
comprised the First Commissioner of Woods and Forests as
president, and two other persons nominated by the Crown.
The board continued on its original footing for only five
years. Under the supervision of this general board, local
boards, appointed on different conditions, in various places,
were empowered to enforce the Public Health Act. In
1854 the constitution of the board was remodelled. Its
duration was made annual, and along with the president
(who was appointed by the Crown with a salary of L.2000)
were associated the principal secretaries of state, and the
president and vice-president of the Board of Trade. The
president, however, has power to act alone, and is in fact a
minister responsible for the department under his charge.
HEARING. See Acoustics ; and Anatomy, § Ear.
260
heat.
Definition The term Heat, in common language, is applied both
Nature of t0 the sensation excited in us by the approximation of a
Heat. warm body, and to the cause of that sensation. To obvi-
atf ^is ambiguity, chemists and other cultivators of physical
science have employed the word caloric to designate the
cause of heat; but as there are few disquisitions in which
this distinction is material to perspicuity, in this article we
shall use either term to signify the cause of the sensation.
SECT. I. NATURE OF HEAT.
One of the first inquiries that suggests itself is, what is
caloric ? Two opinions on this subject have divided philoso¬
phers. The most generally received opinion is, that heat, or
caloric, is a material agent of a peculiar nature, highly atte¬
nuated, and, from its affinity or attraction for all other mat¬
ter, universally distributed amongst the particles of bodies,
in quantities proportional to their mutual attractions, or,
as it has been termed, the capacities of different substances
for heat; whilst its tendency to diffuse itself amongst con¬
tiguous bodies has been explained on the supposition of
its own particles being repellent of each other. The other
opinion, which has been maintained by Bacon, Boyle,
and several other philosophers, considers heat as a mere
quality of matter, and ascribes it to a vibratory movement
among the intimate particles of bodies; an idea which
was adopted by Rumford, to explain his curious experi¬
ments on the excitation and communication of heat by fric¬
tion. This opinion, however, seems vague and unsatisfac¬
tory. If we say that heat is motion amongst the particles
of matter, still we have no explanation of the manner in
which this motion is produced ; for we cannot conceive any
movement without an impulse, nor an impulse without a
material agent. Heat pervades all sorts of matter: it re¬
mains in some circumstances dormant, or, as it is termed,
latent, and may be again elicited from bodies by various
means. Did it consist in vibrations or motions of the par¬
ticles of other matter, it should pervade elastic bodies with
the greatest celerity; which we know not to be the fact.
It will, for instance, pervade a rod of lead, or of the softest
copper, far more readily than an equal length of glass or of
marble. If we mingle together equal quantities of water
at different temperatures, the resulting temperature will be
an exact mean between the extremes. But if heat consist¬
ed in such vibrations, there ought to have been a loss of
heat, as in all other communicated motions. If we mix
together equal quantities of different substances at differ¬
ent temperatures, the resultant temperature is not a mean :
one body has lost more heat than the other has appeared
to gain, or a part of the heat of the one has become latent
in the other, arid that in a constant ratio to the power of
each substance of absorbing heat, as tried by comparing
each with a third body in the same manner. It is very dif¬
ficult to conceive this species of interchange, if heat merely
consisted in vibrations amongst the particles of matter. Still
more difficult is it to conceive how a permanent tempera¬
ture could subsist among a great system of bodies, as the
planets, if heat were nothing more than a vibration of the
particles of bodies ; for the original impulse ought to dimi¬
nish with each communication.
• P°ss^.e> however, to modify this theory, by suppos¬
ing that heat is produced not merely by the motions of the
particles of the heated substance, but by the vibrations or
undulations of a very subtile matter existing in all bodies.
1 ins will approximate the vibratory theory to that which
has been generally considered as its antagonist, will accord Nature of
well with some recently discovered facts, and will assimi- Heat,
late the vibratory hypothesis of heat to the undulations
now so generally received as explanatory of the phenomena
of light,_ to which heat has so intimate a relation.
Caloric, like light, has been proved to be capable of ra¬
diation, of reflection, and refraction, whilst later investi¬
gations have distinctly proved that refracted heat is suscep¬
tible of polarisation. But it is transmitted, reflected, re¬
fracted, and polarised by different substances in a different
manner and degree from light; and hence some have in¬
ferred that light and heat are not the same agent, but are
produced by different kinds of matter. Other philosophers
have regarded them as modifications of the same matter,
depending on the greater celerity or velocity of the undu¬
lations that produce them. Such speculations, however,
are not yet susceptible of any direct proof; and, in the
present state of our knowledge, it is safer to consider light
and neat as produced by different but intimately connect¬
ed agents.
These views lead us to the conclusion that the pheno¬
mena of caloric are owing to the movements of a subtile
matter, universally diffused throughout other bodies, the
particles of which are strongly repellent of each other, and
have an affinity for those of all other bodies, differing in
foice according to each kind of matter. We may further
conceive, that heat or caloric is the cause why the particles
of the most solid bodies are not in absolute contact. If we
diminish the temperature of a bar of iron, for instance, it
shrinks in all its dimensions, i. e. its particles approximate ;
and the more we reduce the temperature, the nearer they
approach. Each particle of matter would seem to be sur¬
rounded with an atmosphere of heat, which remains latent
or quiescent, until disturbed by the approach of bodies of a
diffeient temperature, when the vibrations or undulations
of the subtile matter of heat are induced, by the tendency
of this matter to produce an equilibrium of temperature $
and then we become sensible of the existence of heat.
The subtilty of the matter of heat is such, that we can¬
not ascertain its accumulation in any body by the nicest
balance; its fluidity may be considered as proved by the
ease with which it insinuates itself amongst the particles of
matter ; its affinity for other matter is shown by its being
universally contained in all bodies, in proportions differing
in each kind of substance; its repulsion amongst its own
particles is proved by its tendency to exist in a state of
equilibrium in contiguous bodies.
Our knowledge of the laws which regulate the distribu¬
tion of caloric was very imperfect when we possessed no
other measure of heat than our sensations. The suscepti¬
bility of the sense of touch varies in different individuals,
and in the same individual at different times. We can
even make the same object feel warm and cold to the same
person, by previously cooling one hand, whilst the other is
immersed in a warm fluid. Hence sensation could never
afford any tolerable measure of varying degrees of heat; and
we are indebted for more accurate notions on the subject
to the invention of thermometers. The principle of these
instruments depends on the expansion of solids, fluids, or
gaseous bodies by heat, and their subsequent contraction
on cooling. The construction of these useful instruments
will be desciibed under the article Thermometer. It
will be here sufficient to state, that though the thermo¬
meter affoi ds us indications of the changes in the sensible
heat of bodies, it does not give us any information respect¬
ing then latent caloric, nor the absolute quantity of heat
H E
Diffusion they may contain. This mustbe sought for by other modes,
of Heat, which we shall shortly explain, after we have considered
the modes in which caloric is diffused amongst bodies, and
its general effects on different kinds of matter.
SECT. II. DIFFUSION OF HEAT.
The tendency of heat to diffuse itself equally amongst
bodies is so great, that we are unable permanently to ac¬
cumulate it in any substance. All that can be effected in
this way by the most skilful contrivances, is to produce
some retardation of this dissipation. The mode in which
it is diffused through solids, liquids, and gases, is different,
and demands a separate consideration.
I. Diffusion of Heat by Communication.
1. Diffusion in Solids.—When we place a heated solid in
contact with a colder body, the superabundant, caloric of
the first immediately begins to flow into the latter. The
nearest particles are first heated, and they communicate
a portion of their caloric to the second series, and these
last to a third, until both bodies acquire a common tem¬
perature ; and this equilibrium will be established amongst
all contiguous bodies. If a bar of iron twenty inches
long be heated at one end, it will require four minutes
for the smallest sensible increase of temperature to be
perceived at the other. Biot has endeavoured to ascer¬
tain the rate of this transmission. He employed a bar of
iron several feet in length, and bent into a right angle, at
one end of which a steady heat of 216° Fahrenheit was
applied. Thermometers were placed in holes drilled for
the purpose, at intervals of four inches along the top of the
bar. In four hours all the thermometers became station¬
ary, the difference between the first and second zz 21o-50 ;
between the second and third, = ll°-25; between the
third and fourth, = 7°'25; between the fourth and
fifth, — 5°; between the fifth and sixth, = 4°; between
the sixth and seventh (beyond which no sensible effect
was perceptible), = 1°*75; which, allowing for the un¬
avoidable errors in such investigations, would show, that,
taking the distances in arithmetical progression, the de¬
crease of temperature follows a geometrical ratio in pe¬
netrating solids. In such cases, the heat seems to be
communicated from particle to particle, and is said to be
conducted through the body.
All bodies do not conduct heat with equal celerity. If
we place equal thermometers on equal cubes of metal,
ivory, marble, and glass, heated by the same source, we
shall find that the thermometer placed on the metal will
rise soonest; next, that placed on the marble, then those
on the ivory and the glass. The most dense bodies con¬
duct heat, in general, more readily than rarer bodies ; but
experiment shows that their conducting power is not al¬
ways in the ratio of their density, but probably depends
also on their affinity for caloric. Spongy and light bodies
are found to be extremely bad conductors of caloric.
Silk, cotton, and wool, are especially so; and hence their
utility in preserving our animal heat in cold climates.
Count Rumford made a series of experiments on the con¬
ducting power of different substances of this nature, and
found that raw silk, fur, and eider-down, were remarkably
bad conductors of heat. They give to us the sensation of
warmth, not by communicating heat to our surface, but
because their bad conducting power prevents the waste of
our animal heat by the ambient air. Their stopping the
transmission of heat seems partly to depend on the air
they entangle; for, by twisting them, i. e. by expelling a
portion of the air contained in such bodies, their conduct¬
ing power is increased.
A T. 261
The facility with which bodies conduct heat is not ex- Diffusion
actly in proportion to any of their sensible qualities, but of Heat,
is more nearly in the direct ratio of their density than any
other quality. This may be ascribed to the greater inten¬
sity of the repulsive energy of the atmospheres of calo¬
ric surrounding each particle of dense bodies (by reason
of their greater proximity) conveying each fresh addition
of temperature with greater celerity through such sub¬
stances. But if we conceive “ heat to be a material agent,”
this quickness of conducting power may also be modified
by the different degrees of affinity between caloric and
each kind of matter. However this may be, scarcely any
two substances conduct heat with equal facility. Solids
conduct much more readily than liquids. Of the former,
the best conductors are the metals ; and amongst these, the
very best are gold, silver, platinum, and copper, whilst iron
and lead are among the worst. The rapidity with which
silver conducts away heat is well illustrated by wrapping
a piece of muslin smoothly round a spoon, of that metal,
when the muslin may be held in the flame of a candle or
a lamp, so as to boil water in the spoon, without burning
the muslin.
The following table of the conducting power of differ¬
ent metals and other bodies is given by Despretz (H«n.
Chim. et Phys. xxxvi.) :—
Gold 1000 Tin 303-9
Platinum 981 Lead 179-6
Silver 973 Marble  23-6
Copper 898-2 Porcelain  12-2
Iron 374-3 Clay  11-4
Zinc. 363
2. Diffusion in Liquids.—The extreme slowness with
which liquids conduct heat is shown by a beautiful expe¬
riment of Count Rumford. Freeze a little water in the
bottom of a tube, and then pour water over the ice: by
inclining the tube, the flame of a lamp may be applied to
the surface of the liquid, so as to cause it to boil; and by
slowly moving the flame towards the ice, we may raise the
water to ebullition in successive portions; yet this ebulli¬
tion will almost reach the ice before it shows any signs of
melting. The same fact is exhibited by fixing an air ther¬
mometer in a vessel filled with water to one or two tenths
of an inch above the ball of the thermometer, and pouring
a little aether on the surface of the water. On kindling the
aether, it will burn with a copious flame, without affecting
in the slightest degree the submersed thermometer. This
extreme slowness of liquids in conducting heat induced
Count Rumford to suppose that they were absolute non¬
conductors of caloric; but this inference is not warranted
by his own experiments, and was fully refuted by the in¬
vestigations of Hope, Murray, and Traill, which proved,
that though liquids conduct heat slowly downwards, they
are not absolute non-conductors of caloric.
If, however, we apply heat to the lower part of a ves¬
sel containing any liquid, it rapidly acquires a higher tem¬
perature. This, however, is in a different manner from
conduction. The liquid is heated by the transportation of
its particles in quick succession. In this case the particles
nearest the heating cause become specifically lighter by
receiving heat; they therefore ascend through the fluid,
to which they impart part of their caloric, while their place
is supplied by another series of particles, which become
heated, and ascend in their turn ; and this succession con¬
tinues until, by these rapid changes, the whole body of the
fluid attains its boiling point, if the heat be sufficient for
that purpose. These motions may be rendered visible by
throwing into the vessel a few particles of matter a little
heavier than water, such as powdered amber.
It is by this transportation of their particles that liquids
are principally heated ; and the rapidity with which a piece
of ice melts when it floats in ajar containing hot water, com-
262
HEAT.
THffusion pared to the extreme slowness of the melting of a similar
of Heat- mass of ice fixed in the bottom of a jar, and defended from
the immediate contact of the hot water by a thin film of
ice-cold water, exhibits, in a striking manner, the differ¬
ence between the heating of fluids by transportation and
by conduction.
3. Diffusion in Gases.—The conducting power of gases
is not so easily ascertained, because it is difficult to separate
their conducting power from the effect of radiation of heat
through them. The experiments of Professor Sir John
Leslie and of Dr Dalton, however, decidedly show a diffe¬
rence in the conducting power of gases, which is also more
nearly in the direct ratio of their specific gravity than of
their other properties; hydrogen having the lowest con¬
ducting power, atmospheric air one considerably higher,
and carbonic acid the greatest of all the gases subjected to
this examination.
The difference of bodies in conducting heat is a most
important subject, as on it depends not only many of our
contrivances to concentrate artificial heat, and apply it to
numerous purposes in the useful arts, as the obtaining of
metals from their ores; but on it also depend the methods
of defending our bodies against external cold. The living
system has within itself the power of supporting a nearly
equable temperature, notwithstanding the perpetual ten¬
dency of contiguous bodies to a common temperature ;
but if the naked surface be exposed to the elements in our
climate, the heat of the body would soon be reduced be¬
low what is consistent with health or comfort. To pre¬
serve the animal heat, we surround our bodies with bad
conductors of caloric, such as woollen, silk, or cotton; and
the more imperfectly these defences conduct heat, the less
will our temperature be reduced. Hence the worst con¬
ducting substances are the most suitable garments for a
cold climate ; and, in hot latitudes, the comfort of man re¬
quires that the coverings of his body should be of the kind
that would most rapidly abstract his redundant animal heat.
Nature has beautifully adapted the covering of the lower
animals to the climates they inhabit. The thick fur of the
Greenland bear, the musk ox, and the arctic hare, adapts
them to the rigours of their native climate ; whilst the
short and sleek hair of the antelope, the giraffe, the leo¬
pard, and the lion, proclaims them denizens of the warmer
regions of the earth. Even in the same species inhabiting
a changeable climate, nature adapts their covering to the
season. The glossy sleekness of the horse, and of our do¬
mestic cattle, diminishes toward the close of autumn. The
bear, the fox, and the weasels of northern regions, assume
a longer and more shaggy coat on the approach of winter ;
and the sheep, which in Europe is covered with a thick
fine wool, an extremely bad conductor of heat, in the burn¬
ing plains of Africa is clothed only by a short and coarse
hair, that presents comparatively a small obstacle to the
evolution of animal heat.
In the vegetable kingdom a similar care is bestowed to
defend plants from excessive cold. Plants of cold cli¬
mates, wdiich are perennial, are protected by a consider¬
able thickness of bark; a substance which experiment
proves to be a bad conductor of heat. In high latitudes
they are further defended against the excessive cold of the
climate by a spongy covering of snow, which, until it be¬
gin to melt, is found to be a very bad conductor of heat; and
therefore tends to preserve the juices of plants from being
frozen. Thus trees are more seldom killed by the freezing
of their sap, when a fall of snow has preceded an intense
frost; an accident not uncommon, even in the temperate
climates of the earth, in a long continuance of what is
termed a black frost. Recent voyages of discovery have
also shown that the Esquimaux find the excessive rigour
of their inhospitable climate very endurable in houses built
of frozen snow.
II. Diffusion of Heat by Radiation.
Diffusion
of Heat.
The diffusion of heat by the means already noticed is a '
comparatively slow process, and is limited to bodies in con¬
tact with each other. But heat is capable of being diffused
among bodies not in contact. A heated body suspended in
vacuo emits its excess of heat in all directions ; and in air,
though much of its caloric apparently passes off with the as¬
cending currents which it produces in the ambient air, the
emanations of heat also pass off in directions contrary to these
aerial currents. Thus a person standing before a fire per¬
ceives its warmth, though a light body like a feather will
show that there is a cui'rent of air perpetually flowing toward
the fire. This emission of heat is termed radiation, and is
analogous to the emanations of light from a luminous ob¬
ject ; each point of the heated surface emitting divergent
rays, which are subject to the same modifications as those
of light, by reflection from polished surfaces, and by re¬
fraction through transparent media.
When the rays of heat fall on a bright metallic surface,
they are reflected. As early as 1682, Mariotte showed
that “ the heat of a fire is reflected from a burning mir¬
ror, so as to be sensible in its focus ; but that it is inter¬
cepted by a plate of glass interposed between the mirror
and the fire.” The next important step was made by
Lambert, who discovered that the heat might be so in¬
creased, by employing two concave mirrors and a char¬
coal fire placed in the focus of the one, that a combustible
might be kindled in the focus of the other. But the most
successful cultivator of this branch of science during the
last century was Scheele of Sweden, who proved that me¬
tallic surfaces are the most powerful reflectors of radiant
caloric; that glass is far inferior in this respect; that if
we cover the surface of the metallic mirror with a film of
lamp-black, it does not reflect heat, but actually absorbs
it; that radiant heat is separated from light by interposing
screens of glass ; and that it, passes through air, without
suffering any obstruction from the direction of the aerial
currents through which it radiates.
Saussure and Pictet repeated the experiments of Lam¬
bert. They showed the instantaneous transmission of heat
by radiation ; that it was in such experiments material to
place the heated body and the thermometer in the focus
of each mirror ; and that, a very little beyond the focus, the
effect was trifling, although the thermometer was nearer
the heated body. When the heated body was a red-hot
cannon bullet, combustibles were speedily kindled in the
focus of the other mirror at the distance of several feet.
These researches were greatly extended by Pictet, who
showed that a flask of hot water radiated heat which
could be concentrated in the focus of a metallic mirror,
and thus rendered sensible by a thermometer, showing
that the invisible rays of heat might be reflected, as well
as those emanated from a hot luminous body.
The experiments on radiant heat may be exhibited by
means of a pair of concave mirrors of well-polished tinned
iron, hammered into segments of spheres of about one foot
in diameter ; but still better with mirrors of thick brass
plate, hammered, on Sir John Leslie’s plan, into a parabo¬
lic form. The writer of this possesses a pair twenty-two
inches in diameter, hammered into a parabolic curve with
surprising accuracy, by Mr Alexander Kilpatrick of Edin¬
burgh, with which he has repeatedly melted lead by col¬
lecting the sun’s rays in one of them. This form of mirror
is the best; because the rays which fall on the mirror pa¬
rallel to its axis are reflected, not divergingly, but so as to
meet in the focus of the parabola.
Pictet found the sensibility of the thermometer much
increased by painting its ball black ; and he showed that
glass screens intercepted the rays of caloric from burning
bodies or a heated bullet; but it wras found that the ra-
H E
Diffusion diant heat in the sun’s rays was not intercepted by a plate
of Heat, of glass, or even by a sheet of tin, which completely inter-
cepts heat derived from other luminous bodies.
Such was the state of our knowledge of radiant heat,
when our veteran astronomer, Sir William Herschel, dis¬
covered, toward the close of the last century, that rays of
heat exist, independently of those of light, in the solar
spectrum. When he received the solar rays through a
prism of flint-glass, he found that a row of delicate ther¬
mometers placed in the coloured spectrum were different¬
ly affected at its two extremities. In the violet ray it only
rose 2°, in the red ray it rose 7° ; but his most interesting
discovery was, that half an inch beyond the red ray it was
still hotter. These very important results were fully con¬
firmed by Sir Henry Englefield. In one of Englefield’s
experiments, the following results were obtained :—In the
blue rays, in 3' the thermometer rose 2° ; in the green, in
3' it — 4° ; in the yellow, in 3' it = 6° ; in the middle of
the red, in 2'-5 it = 16° ; in the outer edge of the red,
in 2'-5 it := 17°-5; and beyond the spectrum, in 2'-5 it
— 18°. When the bulbs of the thermometers were pre¬
viously blacked, the full red ray raised the thermometer in
three minutes 22° ; and just beyond the spectrum it rose
33°. Even half an inch beyond the spectrum altogether,
the rise was 6° more than in the red ray.
These experiments show that the refrangibility of the
rays of heat and light are different, and that the former
are less refrangible than the latter.
The experiments of Berard and of Leslie confirmed the
fact, that the point of greatest heat in the solar spectrum
is in the red rays; and Leslie states the result of his ex¬
periments to have made the difference between the violet
and red as one to sixteen; but neither of these philoso¬
phers detected any heat altogether beyond the spectrum.
The conclusions of Herschel have, however, been con¬
firmed by subsequent investigations; and Seebeck has
shown that prisms of different substances produce a dif¬
ferent refraction of the rays of heat. With a hollow prism
filled with water, the greatest heat is in the full yellow
light; with sulphuric acid it is in the orange ; with crown
glass it is in the dark limit of the red.
We may here state, that not long after Herschel’s dis¬
covery, Ritter, Wollaston, and Beckmann, simultaneous¬
ly discovered the existence of other invisible rays in the
solar spectrum, which are only known by their chemical
effects in decomposing some metallic saline compounds,
as the nitrate of silver. Ihese chemical rays are the most
refrangible of all, and exist in greatest abundance^ to¬
ward the violet end of the spectrum, and even entirely
beyond it. Thus the solar spectrum would seem to con¬
sist of three species of rays, the luminous, the calorific,
and the chemical; all differing in their refrangibility, and
in their apparent effects: and if we consider white light
as composed of red, yellow, and blue rays, we have five
kinds of rays in the solar beam, three of which are visible,
and two invisible. In the solar beams these are intimate¬
ly blended, but may be in some degree separated by re¬
fraction through diaphanous prisms. The separation of
the luminous and calorific rays may be made by black
opake bodies, through which the sun’s heat will pene¬
trate without admitting a single ray of light. The sun s
rays, however, pass through all transparent media, with¬
out a separation of light and heat. Glass and ice inter¬
cept the rays of terrestrial heat, the first partially, the
latter wholly ; yet the sun’s rays passing through and
collected in the focus of a lens of glass, produce the most
intense heat; and Scoresby and others have shown, that
a lens of ice will concentrate the sun’s rays, so as to ignite
inflammable substances.
The publication of Sir John Leslie’s Inquiry into the
Nature of Heat, in 1804, forms an important era in the
A T. 263
history of the radiation of caloric. This very original and Diffusion
able philosopher, by the simplicity and delicacy of his ap- of Heat,
paratus, and the ingenuity of his well-devised experi-
ments, did more than has been accomplished by any other
individual to develop the laws which regulate the trans¬
mission and reception of this mysterious agent; and his
work will remain a land-mark in the history of this branch
of physical science. In his experiments, a single mirror
only was employed; and the source of heat generally
used was a cube or square canister of tinned iron placed
before the mirror, at the distance of three or four feet,
whilst the ball of an air thermometer was placed in the fo¬
cus of the mirror. The air thermometer employed by him
was his own modification of that figured by Sturmius.
{Colley. Curios, p. 53, 1676.)
In the instrument of Leslie, termed by him a differen¬
tial thermometer, both limbs of the instrument, as well as
both bails, are equal; and instead of being joined with ce¬
ment, the recipient ball is united by the blowpipe to the
same piece with the sentient ball. These changes give
additional delicacy and accuracy to the instrument; in
which the coloured fluid is sulphuric acid tinged with
carmine.
Leslie’s principal object was the relation of different
surfaces in emitting and receiving calorific rays. Of his
cubical canister, one side was polished, or, as it is termed
by workmen, planished; the second was covered by a
plate of glass; a third with white paper smoothly pasted
on; the fourth was painted with lamp-black mixed with
size. The cubes he used were from four to ten inches,
and were filled with boiling water. When the polished
side was turned toward the thermometer, placed at four
feet from the mirror, the increase of temperature was no
more than 12° ; when the glass side was presented, the
differential thermometer under the same circumstances
rose to 90°; when the papered side was the radiating
surface, the temperature was 98°, and the painted side
indicated 100° ; when the polish of the planished side was
destroyed, by ploughing it in one direction with a fine¬
toothed plane, its propelling or radiating power rose to
19° ; and when scratched in one direction with a fine file,
its effect was as much as 26°. On covering one of the
surfaces smoothly with gold and silver leaf, the effect was
about equal to the surface of polished tin; a plate of po¬
lished iron gave 15° ; a surface of fresh lead 19° ; but
when the same became tarnished, its effect was equal to
45° ; and painting it with red oxide of lead raised it to 80°.
An amalgam of mercury and tin, when fresh, gave no
more than 20°.
Leslie then investigated the relative receiving power of
different surfaces, by coating the sentient ball of the dif¬
ferential thermometer with different substances. When
that ball was smoothly coated with tinfoil, the effect of
the blackened side of the canister was only 20,5, or about
one fifth of what it produced on the naked ball; and he
found, that of either side of the canister the effect was
now just one fifth of that observed with the naked ball.
On the other hand, when the ball was covered with a coat
of china ink, or formed of a black enamel, the effect of
either side of the canister was greatly increased.
The power of surfaces in reflecting heat was also in¬
vestigated. In fact, it was shown by the last series of ex¬
periments with the coated ball; but he proved it also by
varying the reflecting surface. When a glass concave
mirror, two feet in diameter, was substituted for the me¬
tal reflector, the effect of the blackened side of the canis¬
ter on the naked ball was but just perceptible ; and if a
film of china ink be spread over the surface of the mirror,
even this slight effect totally disappears. If, however, the
concave surface of the glass mirror be smoothly coated
with tinfoil, the effect of the black side of the canister
264 H E
Diffusion will be ten times more than with the naked glass surface.
ofHeat.' Removing the silvering from the back of the mirror pro-
duced no effect on its reflecting the calorific rays, neither
was this affected by roughening the back of the mirror.
Hence Leslie infers, that reflection of heat takes place at
the surface of the glass mirror, or principally so.
A polished tin reflector had its power diminished one
third by being coated as smoothly as possible with tin-
foil, evidently by the imperfection of the smoothness of
its surface. Scratching its surface with sand-paper di¬
minishes its effect one tenth ; and he found that the mir¬
ror seemed to have its reflecting power more impaired
when the scratches were all in one direction, than when
they crossed. A film of tallow on the surface of the mir¬
ror reduced the effect of the blackened side from 100° to
8°; but if held before the fire until all that could be thus
removed had run off, the effect of that side rose to 37°.
When the surface of the mirror was covered with a very
thin iridescent film of isinglass, the blackened surface
gave an effect of 80°; but when that film was only y^oo^1
of an inch, the effect was reduced to 15°.
The results of his experiments with other reflecting
surfaces gave the following proportions :—A reflector of
polished brass — 100°, of the same coated with tinfoil rr
83°, of steel = 70°, of fresh lead = 60°, of glass = 10°.
The inference from these investigations is, that the re¬
flecting powder of various surfaces bears some inverse pro¬
portion to their propelling and absorbing powers. The
numerical results of Leslie’s experiments w'ould give the
ratio between metallic surfaces and glass, in reflecting
power as ten to one ; in propelling power as one to eight;
in absorbing power as one to five. It was, however, sup¬
posed that some minute circumstances, of which it is dif¬
ficult to estimate the effect, interfered in the two last pro¬
cesses, and that the propelling and absorbing powers are
equal in all bodies: we shall find this to be incorrect.
One of the most interesting parts of Leslie’s investiga¬
tions was the effect of screens of different kinds, inter¬
posed between the sources of heat and the thermometer.
When he interposed a screen of tinfoil, the effect of the
blackened side of the canister was 0°; a thin sheet of
crown-glass was zr 20° ; a sheet of common writing paper,
placed about two inches from the cube, was r= 23°. If the
screen of any material was placed one foot from the cube,
the effect was only one thirtieth of what it was at the
distance of two inches. From this he inferred, that the
screen prevents all transmission of radiant heat until it
becomes itself heated ; and then it radiates from its other
surface toward the thermometer. This was confirmed
by substituting a plate of ice (a substance the tempera¬
ture of which cannot rise above 32° F.) for the screen,
when the effect was 0°. This view he considered as con¬
firmed by his beautiful contrivance of the double or com¬
pound screen. He coated one side of two plates of glass
with tinfoil; when the coated sides were outermost, the
thermometer did not rise; when the glass surfaces were
outwards, the thermometer rose to 18°. He blackened one
surface of two plates of tinned iron ; when the blackened
surfaces were outwards, the effect was 23° ; but if the
plates were separated from each other, the thermometer
fell back to its former station. When the tinned surfaces
were outermost, the thermometer was not at all affected.
Leslie included his whole apparatus in a trough of wa¬
ter, in such a way as to be able to fill the canister with
hot water after the whole was adjusted ; but there was no
radiation of caloric.
I he inference which this philosopher drew from his in¬
vestigations is, that heat is an elastic substance, extreme¬
ly fluid and active; and he advanced strong arguments
against the theory which ascribes all the phenomena of
heat to vibrations in the particles of matter. (See Inquiry^
p. 139 to 150.) Yet he is disposed to consider the phe- Diffusion
nomena of radiation as depending on certain undulations, «f Heat,
produced by radiating surfaces in the ambient air. This
view has been ably combated by the late Dr Murray, with
the sagacity which distinguished that philosopher. But
the limits of the present article will not allow us to enter
into this part of the subject, for which we must refer the
reader to Leslie’s Inquiry, and Murray’s Chemistry.
The more usually-received theory of radiation is, that
from heated bodies emanate rays of caloric in all direc¬
tions, which proceed through gaseous bodies with little or
no sensible interruption, and with amazing velocity ; that
these rays are absorbed by dark and rough surfaces, and
are reflected by polished bright surfaces.
There is, however, one curious experiment, which is ra¬
ther difficult of explanation, namely, the seeming raeftaft'ora
of cold. The Florentine philosophers of the Academia del
Cimento found, that when a mass of snow was placed in
the focus of one mirror, the thermometer placed in the
focus of the other sunk, or indicated cold. This subject
has been investigated by Pictet and by Leslie. The lat¬
ter observed that his canister, filled with snow, produced
the greatest effect when its blackened side was towards
the thermometer and the mirror, and the least when its
polished side was in that direction. The effect of screens,
in retarding the influence of the cold body, he found ana¬
logous to their effect on the radiation from the hot water.
These facts were considered by Leslie as proving the
existence of what he denominated cold pulses from the snow
towards the mirror, “ on the wings of the ambient air;’*
but the explanation of Pictet appears to account for it
well, without the necessity of inferring the existence of
frigorific particles, which is a highly improbable supposi¬
tion. On this view, radiation is considered as only taking
place amongst bodies unequally heated. He conceived that
bodies at the same temperature do not radiate heat to
each other, because in this state caloric exists in them
all in an equality of tension ; but when a cool body is
introduced, all radiate heat towards it, and consequently
their temperature falls. Hence radiation is nothing more
than the tendency of caloric to establish an equilibrium
of temperature. The rays of heat enter into the snow
from the surrounding matter, and, amongst others, from
the thermometer, which is now a radiating body; and these
collected in the mirror pass in right lines to the snow,
with a celerity in proportion to their absorption by the
cold body. Hence the caloric of the thermometer will
more rapidly leave it when the blackened side of the cold
canister, that is, its most absorbent side, is turned to the
thermometer.
Leslie explains this phenomenon by his theory of
aerial pulsations. He considers the cold surface as ab¬
stracting part of the caloric of the contiguous stratum of
air, which induces a momentary contraction of that por¬
tion ; and this contraction produces pulsations, accompanied
by a discharge of heat, in a continued chain from the
thermometer and the mirror to the snow.
The effect of surface on the refrigeration of bodies, an
important part of the consequences of radiation, has been
ably examined both by Sir John Leslie and Count liumford.
The experiments of both show, that to preserve the heat
of any liquid, a bright metallic vessel is the best; and
Rumfbrd has pointed out many important economical pur¬
poses to which these principles may be applied, Thus,
where it is of consequence to preserve the heat of liquids,
of steam, or of hot air, they should be conveyed in vessels
and tubes of polished metal. On the other hand, if we
wish to have the greatest radiant heat from a stove or
grate, its surface next the room should be dark and rough,
as these are the most favourable for radiating heat into
the apartment. Ihe same principles show why a silver
H E
Diffusion tea-pot makes better tea, and keeps it longer warm, than
of Heat, a china one. # .
One of the most beautiful applications of the principle
of the radiation of heat, is Dr Wells’ explanation of the
phenomena of dew and hoar-frost. Dr Wilson of Glas¬
gow had observed, that bodies upon which dew and hoar¬
frost formed, were always colder than the surrounding air.
This cold he ascribed to these depositions : but an atten¬
tive examination of facts led Dr Wells to draw an oppo¬
site conclusion, and to infer that the coldness of the bo¬
dies was the cause of the deposition of dew and hoar-fiost.
This he successfully established, by proving that, before
any dew formed, the surface on which it condensed was
uniformly cooler than the ambient air. And it was re¬
served for this accomplished man to offer a theory of those
meteors, complete in almost all its parts, and pei fectly sa¬
tisfactory. He ascribed it to the radiation of heat, with¬
out any return from the air to the surface of the earth.
He observed, that it was chiefly in serene, clear nights,
that dew was formed; that exposure to the open clear Srcy
favoured the formation of dew ; and that cloudy skies were
unfavourable to its formation. These phenomena he beau¬
tifully explained on the theory of radiation. The upper re¬
gions* of the atmosphere are well known to be the abodes of
perpetual congelation, as is seen whenever mountains reach
a certain altitude, differing, it is true, in different climates,
but yet invariable over the earth. When we have a clear
atmosphere at night, the surface of the earth lapidly parts
with the heat it had acquired during the day, by radiation
to the superior regions, whence it can receive no heat in re¬
turn. In this case, the empyrean regions act the part of
the snow in the Florentine experiment; and the eaxths
surface may represent the thermometer. But if fleecy
clouds intervene, they act the part of screens, intercepting
the passage of radiant caloric from the earth, and conse¬
quently retarding the nocturnal cooling of its surface. Air
at an increased temperature contains more water than cool
air, and on the reduction of its temperature deposits its
surplus water. Now, as the radiation from the eai th s sui-
face cools it more rapidly than the air during serene nights,
its temperature rapidly falls, as the thexmometer shows,
and the consequence is the cooling of the stratum of air
in immediate contact with the ground, and the deposition
of its superabundant moisture, in the form of dew or hoar¬
frost, according to the celerity and intensity of the refnge-
ration.
This theory is experimentally proved by placing sub¬
stances absorbent of moisture, along with thermometers,
below and above screens, and then noting the tempeiature
and the increase of weight. If, for instance, a light table,
about three feet high, be placed in a garden on a dear
night, and a few grains of wool, previously weighed, be laid
under the table, and as much on its upper surface, with a
thermometer by each parcel of wool, it will be found that
the upper thermometer will indicate the greatest degree of
cold, and the wool on the table will have imbibed much
more moisture than that below. The table, in such expe¬
riments, acts the part of clouds in intercepting the dis¬
charge of radiant heat, and preventing the cooling of the
earth’s surface. The theory agrees with the fact, that dew
is heaviest in our climate in serene nights, after a hot (‘ay;
and that the dews of hot climates are far heavier than with
us, so as, in clear weather, in the south of Europe, to
drench the clothes of persons exposed to the air about sun¬
set. The slight anomalies which sometimes occur in such
experiments are easily explicable by the different conduct¬
ing power of substances in regard to heat, by which the in¬
fluence of radiation may be in some degree modified; but
undoubtedly the principal effect is due to radiation.
The influence of a clear sky in reducing the temperature
of the earth’s surface, and the effect of clouds in preventing
VOL. XI.
A T. 265
this change, are beautifully illustrated by Leslie’s elegant Diffusion
invention, the JEthrioscope. (See, for the description of
the aethrioscope, the article Climate.) This instrument
is so delicate, that it instantly indicates cold on pi esenting
its uncovered ball to the clear sky ; but if a passing oloud
cross the zenith, even momentarily, the movement of the
fluid in its stem immediately shows an increase of tempera¬
ture. If one walk in a clear night, with this instrument in
one hand and a parasol in the other, it may be kept in a
perpetual state of fluctuation, by alternately projecting it
beyond and drawing it under the parasol.
The radiant heat afforded by the sun’s rays is the most
important phenomenon of this class. Light and heat are
in these rays so united, that experiment would seem to
prove the one to be always in proportion to the other.
This is by no means the case with the light and heat of
common combustibles, or what we may term terrestrial, in
contradistinction to solar emanations of light. Phospho¬
rus gives an intense light during combustion, but a feeble
heat^; whilst hydrogen, which has a very feeble light, ex¬
cites a high temperature by its combustion. Solar light
and heat, on the other hand, are uniformly proportional.
There are more marked differences between solar and ter¬
restrial radiant heat. Screens of glass greatly interrupt the
passage of the latter, but do not sensibly intercept that of
the sun. A plate of the most diaphanous ice totally inter¬
cepts terrestrial radiant caloric, but does not impede the
sun’s heating rays. Fhis has, with considerable i eason,
been supposed to depend on the different velocities of the
two species of calorific emanations. Sir John Leslie consi¬
dered “ that the phenomena of solar radiation proved heat
to be only light in a state of combinationr {Essay, 162.)
For thirty years after the publication of Leslie’s Experi¬
mental Inquiry, little appears to have been attempted on
this subject, until within a recent period, when the experi¬
mental researches of Melloni and of Nobili, particularly of
the former, opened a beautiful field of investigation, which
has already been cultivated with success by Professor James
Forbes of Edinburgh. Melloni has, by means of a thermo-
magnetic combination, invented a very delicate test of mi¬
nute degrees of heat, wholly inappreciable by any thei mo-
meter, and has successfully applied it to investigate the
laws of radiant heat. By uniting fifty small bars of anti¬
mony and bismuth into one bundle, about three fouiths of
an inch square, and about IT7 inch in length, and connect-
ino- this with a galvanometer, he obtained an apparatus so
sensible to heat, that the warmth radiating from the hu¬
man hand, at the distance of several inches from the end
of the bars, is indicated by the deviation of the needle of
the galvanometer.
Melloni’s instrument is represented in the adjoining figure,
where a firm sole of wood is seen, provided with a groove,
in which tlie different parts of the apparatus slide to adjust
2 l
HEAT.
266
Diffusion their relative distances. A is the bundle of metallic bars,
of Heat, enclosed in a square case of brass; B is the source of the
heat; C, D are the wires proceeding from the bars, to con¬
vey their thermo-magnetism to the nearly neutralized needle
or galvanometer, which is not here represented; G is the
stage for occasionally supporting various substances, the
effect of which on the calorific rays it is intended to as¬
certain ; FF are screens of brass, moveable on joints, for
cutting off at pleasure the radiant heat, or for obviating
the influence of extraneous sources of heat. In F is a hole
through which the heat radiates to A when the screen is
removed.
This apparatus has been employed by Mellon! to inves¬
tigate the laws of radiant heat; and he has not only con¬
firmed the general results of Leslie, but extended greatly
our knowledge of this mysterious agent.
Melloni found, that the j-adiant and absorbent power of
surfaces were not always proportional, as the following ta¬
bles show.
The radiant power of surfaces of
Lamp black = 100
Carbonate of lead zz 100
China ink zz 85
Isinglass zz 91
Lac zz 72
A metallic surface zz 12
The absorbent power of surfaces of
Lamp black zz 100
Carbonate of lead zz 53
China ink zz 96
Isinglass zz 52
Lac = 52
A metallic surface zz 14
Melloni also found, that the absorbent powers of the
surfaces varied considerably, according to the source of the
radiation, and the temperature of that body. Thus, radia¬
tion from incandescent platinum wire, from copper at 400°
and copper at 100° centigrade, gave the following results.
Incand. Platinum. Copper 400° Copper 100°.
Lamp black....z: 100 100 100
Carb. oflead...zz: 56 89 100
China ink zz 95 87 85
Isinglass zz 54 64 91
Lac zz 47 70 72
Metal, surface zz 13'5 13 13
This experiment proves,
1. That bodies do not always agree in their emitting and
absorbent powers, though generally nearly so.
2. That their absorbent power varies very remarkably
with the origin and intensity of the calorific rays,
3. That they approach each other more and more in
their power of emitting and absorbing rays of heat, when
the temperature approaches that of boiling water ; and that,
when exactly at that temperature, the emitting and ab¬
sorbing powers coincide.
With respect to the reflection of radiant heat, he has
shown, that it is equally reflected by metallic surfaces, from
whatever source it emanates.
But Melloni’s most original experiments are those on the
transmission of radiant heat through various transparent
media.
1. He showed that radiant heat is intercepted in a
greater or less degree by all diaphanous bodies, in propor¬
tion to the lowness of the temperature of the radiating body.
2. That of two bodies unequally diaphanous, it may hap¬
pen that the thickest and least diaphanous may transmit
most radiant heat. Thus he showed that a thin plate of
very transparent alum, placed on the stage G, transmitted
four times less heat than a plate of almost opake quartz,
about 100 times as thick; but he found that in the same
substance the transmission of radiant heat is diminished by Diffusion
the thickness of the plate interposed, and this diminution °f Heat,
is proportional to the lowness of the temperature of the
radiant body.
3. That there are combinations of two media, which al¬
low a notable quantity of light to pass, but totally intercept
radiant heat; whilst others transmit heat, but wholly inter¬
cept light.
4. That in traversing a transparent plate, radiant heat
undergoes certain modifications, variable with the nature of
the plate; a change which renders it more or less suscep¬
tible ultimately of being transmitted through other diapha¬
nous substances. Melloni instances this last property in
glass, in crystallized citric acid, and in alum.
Delaroche had inferred, from his experiments, that it
was a general law of radiant heat, that the permeability of
plates to this agent depended upon the intensity of the
source of the caloric ; and in this way he explained the in¬
stant permeability of glass and ice to the calorific rays of
the sun, whilst they retarded those from terrestrial sources
of heat; but Melloni has discovered one substance which
he found to be equally pervious to heat, from whatever
terrestrial source, whether proceeding from the brightest
flame, or from water far below the boiling point.
The power of penetrating glass and other media in¬
creasing in proportion as the radiating heat approaches
the state of light, had been used by Delaroche as an argu¬
ment for their identity ; but the anomaly of rock-salt de¬
stroys the universality of the supposed law on which the ar¬
gument is founded. Yet Mrs Somerville has ingenious¬
ly employed the unlooked-for analogy between light and
heat, in the equal transmission of the latter, however eli¬
minated, through rock-salt, as an argument for their being
modifications of the same principle. The condition of vi¬
sibility or invisibility, she contends, may depend on the
construction of our eyes, not on the nature of the agent
producing the sensations of vision and of heat.
“ The sense of seeing, like that of hearing, may be con¬
fined within certain limits ; the chemical rays beyond the
violent end of the spectrum may be too rapid, or not suf¬
ficiently excursive in their vibrations to be visible to the
human eye ; and the calorific rays beyond the other end
of the spectrum may not be sufficiently rapid, or too ex¬
tensive, in their undulations, to affect our optic nerves,
though both may be visible to certain animals or insects.”
She has traced the analogies between light and heat
in their reflection by polished surfaces, their refraction
through transparent media, with their concentration by
concave and dispersion by convex mirrors; and since the
publication of her beautiful essay on the connection of
the physical sciences, Professor J. D. Forbes has drawn the
analogy closer, as we shall presently see.
But to return to Melloni. This able philosopher has
shown that radiant caloric is susceptible of refraction ;
and when it arrives at the second surface of the refract¬
ing angle, with a certain obliquity, it is, like light, reflect¬
ed toward the interior of the prism, and issues at the op¬
posite face.
By interposing the same plate of glass, he ascertained
the influence of transmission on the absolute power o*
different radiating surfaces thus :
Before the interposition
of the plate of glass. After ditto.
Lamp-black zz 100 100
Carbonate of lead zz 53 24
China ink zz 96 100
Isinglass zz 52 45
Lac zz 43 30
A metallic surface zz: 14 17
Melloni, however, failed to detect the polarisation of
radiant heat: indeed, he states that the direction in
HEAT.
Diffusion which we slice crystallized bodies does not exert any
ofHept infjueuce Up0n the quantity of radiant heat immediately
transmitted by them ; and adds, that radiant heat is not
polarised by transmission through tourmaline. In this,
however, Melloni was deceived; and it was reserved for
our countryman Professor Forbes of Edinburgh to com¬
plete the analogy between light and heat, by demonstrat¬
ing the polarisation of the latter.
Since the characteristic phenomenon which marks the
polarisation of light is its variable susceptibility as to
reflection or transmission, under circumstances in which
common light would be reflected or transmitted, it will
appear that the correlative fact in the case of heat would
be indicated by a diminished effect on the thermometer,
where the intensity of light, under similar circumstances,
would be a minimum, and vice versa. The importance of
establishing this effect with regard to heat is far greater
than the mere addition of such facts to our knowledge ;
for, as the corresponding facts in the instance of light
have been completely brought into the domain of analysis
by Fresnel, the polarisation of heat must be considered
as almost decisive of its nature.
Mr Forbes employed Melloni’s apparatus ; and by in¬
terposing twro plates of tourmaline, cut parallel to the axis
of the crystal, and mounted on two slips of thin glass, he
made a series of successive observations under the two
conditions of the axes parallel and perpendicular to each
other. Two measures of intensity in the position in which
least light is transmitted were noted, and in the following
table this position is indicated by dark; their mean is
given, which is then compared with the intervening ob¬
servation, in the position of greatest illumination, which
is marked light. *
The source of heat was a small oil lamp placed on the
stage, six inches from the centre of the pile of Melloni’s
apparatus ; the numbers indicate the degrees of the gal¬
vanometer.
Dark.
i
Mean.
4- 5
5- 0
5-2
Light.
5- 2
6*0
6- 0
Ratio.
86 : 100
83 : 100
86: 100
5£
5-4
6-5
83 ; 100
He afterwards obtained the polarisation of heat from va¬
rious luminous and non-luminous sources, such as brass
heated by a spirit lamp to 390° centigrade. The quan¬
tity of heat from different sources, polarised by the tour¬
malines, was as follows :—
With Argand lamp ..z= 16 per cent.
  Oil lamp = 11 do.
  Incandescent platinum..=: 12 do.
  Brass at 390° cent — 3 do.
The most convenient way of polarising heat is by trans¬
mitting it through a bundle of extremely thin laminae of
mica, inclined to the incident ray at the polarising angle ;
mica having the property of transmitting heat very readi¬
ly. The amount of polarisation is indicated by the rela¬
tive quantities of heat reaching the pile, or thermo-mag¬
netic combination of the instrument, through a second
bundle of thin plates of mica, placed alternately in a pa¬
rallel or perpendicular position to the first. With such
an apparatus Mr Forbes demonstrated, in the most deci¬
sive manner, the polarisation of heat; and obtained this
effect, even with water below 200° F. as the source of
heat. The quantity polarised, however, always bears a
proportion to the temperature of the source of the radiant
heat, as is seen by the following tabular results.
Sources of Heat. Rafs of 100 P0flarise(I
by the mica plates.
Argand lamp with a glass chimney 29
Oil lamp with a square wick 24
Alcohol lamp 36
Incandescent platinum 40
Brass heated to about 700° F 22
Mercury in a crucible at about 500° F.... 17
Water under 200° F  6
Mr Forbes next proceeded to attempt the polarisation
by reflection ; and in this also he succeeded by the use of
reflecting surfaces of mica, as in the corresponding case
of light.
The success of these investigations, and the analogy of
light, led him to the more delicate problem of the depo¬
larisation of heat by plates of mica. By interposing a film
of mica between the two bundles of mica plates already
mentioned, having their planes of incidence at right angles
to each other, and marking the difference of the heat
transmitted to the galvanometer, when the principal sec¬
tion of the film of mica was parallel to the plane of primi¬
tive polarisation, or inclined to it at an angle of 45°, he
succeeded in demonstrating the polarisation of the rays of
heat, even when heat without light was employed. In
these experiments, when the principal section coincided
with the plane of polarisation, the depolarising effect was
nils but when it was inclined at the angle of 45°, he ob¬
tained the following proportions in one series of experi¬
ments.
100: 118 — 100: 120—■ 100 : 120 — 100: 113.
The depolarisation is still more marked with incandescent
platinum ; as the results were
100 : 126 — 100 : 138 — 100 :138.
One of the most striking proofs of the depolarising
power of mica is obtained, when the two bundles of mica
plates are crossed, so as to intercept most heat, and we
interpose a very thin plate or film of mica as above men¬
tioned ; then the galvanometer moves towards zero, or the
thin plate evidently stops more heat than it depolarises ;
but if we substitute a much thicker plate of mica for the
film, the instrument will indicate a higher temperature
than when no mica at all is interposed, or the thick plate
depolarises more heat than it intercepts.
These experiments were varied in a great variety of
ways, so as to establish the fact of the depolarisation of
heat; and if we admit that it depends on a similar cause
to the analogous phenomena of light, it follows that the
rays of caloric are susceptible also of double refraction ;
that the two pencils are polarised in opposite planes, and
that they become capable of interference by the action of
the analysing plate.
These curious facts would indicate at least a great si¬
milarity between light and heat; and the concluding ob¬
servations of Professor Forbes’s paper {Edin. Phil. Trans.
xiii.), tend to confirm their identity.
SECT. III. GENERAL EFFECTS OF CALORIC.
The general effects of heat applied to other matter are,
expansion, fluidity, vaporization, and incandescence. The
most general effect of heat, however, is,
1. Expansion.
When a body is heated, it expands in all its dimensions ;
but when the heat is withdrawn, the body returns to its
original size. This is well shown by having a turned rod
of metal, loosely fitted to a gage, to ascertain its length,
and provided with a hole which first allows it, when cold,
to pass through. This expansion is small in solids, but
has been most accurately measured by philosophers, for
267
General
Effects of
Caloric.
268
HEAT.
— _1
— 9 27
— u/lT
  _i
— 524
524
772
j{o
7(1'2
7T9
I
8 17
7^7
7fi 1
677
TlW
i
75 1
54
— 12 48'
— TT^T
  i_
— 1 M 7
— T12 2
General the important purposes of ascertaining with precision the
Effects of true length of the pendulum vibrating seconds in any
Caloric. ]at;tu(ie, and for obtaining a perfect standard of length.
This difficult subject engaged the attention of Ellicot,
Smeaton, Roy, Troughton, Lavoisier, and Laplace. The
later experiments were made b_y the two last-mentioned
philosophers, and were first published by Biot in the fol¬
lowing table, which shows the expansion which different
solids sustain, in passing from the freezing to the boiling
point of water, in fractions of their own lengths.
Steel, not tempered 000107915
Steel, tempered and annealed 0-00123956
Silver, cupelled  0-00190974
Silver of Parisian standard 0 00190868
Copper 000171733
Brass 000187821 =
Tin of Malacca 000193765 z=
Tin of Cornwall 0-001217298 -
Iron, forged 0-00122045 zr
Iron, wire-drawn  0.00123504 —
Gold, pure 0-00146606 —
Gold, standard, annealed 0-00151361 —
Gold, standard, unannealed 0-00155155 =
Platina 0-00085655 =
Lead 0-000284836 =
Mercury, in volume 0-01847746 —
Flint-glass, English 0-00081166
Glass, French, with lead 0-00087199
Glass tube, without lead 0-00089694
Plate glass 0-00089089
A very elaborate and interesting set of experiments on
the expansion of building materials by heat, with a view
to determine how far the changes produced by tempera¬
ture may affect the stability of edifices into which these
different materials enter, were since laid before the Royal
Society, by Alexander J. Adie, Esq. civil engineer. He
exposed square rods of these substances, twenty-three inches
in length, and either half an inch or an inch in diameter,
in a pyrometer of his own invention, to a heat of 212°.
The increments in length were accurately determined by
a microscope-micrometer, attached to the instrument; and
the following table gives the increase of the whole length
produced by 180° of heat, in decimals of an inch :—
Decimals
of an Inch.
Sandstone of Craigleith Quarry, Edinburgh -0011743
Greenstone of Ratho, Edinburgh  -0008089
Arbroath paving flag  -0008985
Caithness paving flag    *0008947
Penrhyn slate  -0010376
Aberdeen gray granite  *00078943
Peterhead red granite  -0009583
Galway black marble -00044519
Carrara white marble  -0011928
Best stock brick  -0005502
Cast iron, half inch square  -00114676
The expansion of solids at different temperatures ap¬
pears to be nearly equable, as far as we can ascertain. The
ratio of their expansion really increases with their tempera¬
ture ; but their whole expansion is so inconsiderable, that
the increasing rate is inapplicable, except in the nicest in¬
vestigations.
The expansion of liquids is much more considerable. In
passing from the freezing to the boiling point of water*, the
expansion of several is as follows:
Mercury  0-00200 = jL-
Water 0-00456 - ^r
A saturated solution of common salt 0-00500 — ^
Sulphuric acid 0-00600 =
Muriatic acid  0-00600 = yy
Oil of turpentine 0-00700 = y1^
iEther 0-00700 = ^
General
Effects of
Caloric.
Alcohol 0*1100 = ^
The inequality of the expansion of fluids by heat has
long been known to form an obstacle to the accuracy of
thermometers. Deluc found, that of all fluids mercury
was the most equable in its expansions, which is proba¬
bly owing to the great distance between its freezing and
boiling points ; for it is found that those liquids which have
a low boiling point are the most irregular in their expan¬
sion at ordinary temperatures ; and hence alcohol is not
a suitable fluid for thermometers.
The expansibility of liquids is not in proportion to their
density ; but it is more nearly in the inverse ratio of their
density than of any other known property.
The expansion of gases by heat is much more consider¬
able than that of the other two forms of matter.
The higher increasing ratio in the expansibility of li¬
quids with their augmenting temperature, than in solids,
led philosophers at first to infer, that the inequalities of
the gaseous bodies, in this respect, would be still more
considerable; but the elaborate researches of General
Roy have disproved this idea; and some experiments of
the late Dr Murray of Edinburgh, and of Dr Dalton, would
rather indicate a decrease in the ratio with the increased
temperature. This, however, may probably be owing to
the imperfection of our best thermometers, and to the
difficulty of estimating the expansions of the glass contain¬
ing the air examined.
Dr Dalton has ascertained that all gases expand equal¬
ly by equal increments of heat; a conclusion which has
been confirmed by Gay-Lussac. They have shown that,
between the freezing and boiling point of water, 100 cu¬
bic inches of atmospheric air expand to 137-50, that with
hydrogen the result was 137-52, with oxygen gas 137-48,
and with nitrogen 137-49; differences so slight as to be
within the probable limits of experimental error.
The force opposed to expansion would appear to be co¬
hesion. Expansion is least in solids where the cohesion
is strongest; it is more considerable in liquids where the
cohesion is greatly weakened; and it is greatest in gases,
in which cohesion is wholly overcome.
The expansion of bodies by heat, and their contraction
on the reduction of the temperature, would show that the
atoms of bodies are not in absolute contact. In fact, we
may suppose them surrounded by atmospheres of heat,
which prevent, by the repulsive energy of caloric, their
absolute contact; whilst the force of cohesion limits the
diffusive influence of the contained caloric. In some, the
superior force of cohesion gives rise to solidity. When
more heat is introduced, the cohesion is weakened, and
the body becomes a liquid ; and a further addition of ca¬
loric destroys cohesion altogether, separates the atoms,
and the body becomes a gas.
The expansion of bodies by heat proves the mutual re¬
pulsion of their particles ; but this limits the repulsive
energy of heat to insensible distances. In 1824, Libri
endeavoured to prove, from the movements of globules
of water along fine wires, that the repulsive power of
heat was exerted also at sensible distances. But his ex¬
periments are not conclusive ; for the motions may have
arisen from the formation of vapour at one end of the
globule. Fresnel attempted to prove this point by bring¬
ing discs of foil or of mica, on the end of a delicately sus¬
pended magnet, into contact with fixed discs in vacuo,
and marking the effect of heat collected from the sun’s
rays. The moveable discs sensibly receded ; but this may
have arisen from some change produced by the heat in
the form of the discs. Professor Forbes has happily ap-
H E
General plied the repulsive energy of heat acting at sensible dis¬
sects of tances, to explain the curious vibrations of the metal bars
Calonc^ in Trevelyan’s experiments. Still more lately Professor
Powell of Cambridge has demonstrated the repulsion of
heat at sensible distances {Phil. Trans, for 1834), by the
changes produced, on the approximation of a heated body,
in the Newtonian coloured rings of plates of glass which
are pressed together. When, for instance, a flat plate is
laid on a slightly convex surface of glass, the rings appear.
On bringing a heated body near the upper surface of the
plates, the rings instantly contract, and again enlarge on
withdrawing the heated body. On repeating the experi¬
ment with the colours formed under the base of a prism
placed on a lens of small convexity, he found the repul¬
sion of heat acting at distances, which Sir J. Herschel has
calculated at -x ^0th of an inch.
Expansion is so general an effect of heat, that there
are only two known exceptions, viz. in clay, and in water
at a certain limited range of temperature. It is well
known that porcelain clay contracts in baking, and ever
afterwards retains its contracted dimensions. It was this
quality which induced Wedgwood to employ its contrac¬
tions as a pyrometer. (See Thermometer and Pyrome¬
ter.) This property, however, seemingly depends on
heat producing in the heterogeneous substance clay, a
more intimate union of its parts, or a partial conversion
of this mechanical mixture into a chemical compound.
The exception of water between 42° and 32° Fahren¬
heit, is, however, real. When water is cooled down from
the ordinary temperature, say 60°, it regularly contracts
by the cooling, until it has attained 42° ; but whilst pass-
ing from that point down to its freezing point, it continues
to expand gradually, until converted into ice.
The important purposes which this constitution of wa¬
ter serves in the economy of nature, the immense quan¬
tity of heat which is by this contrivance saved to our lakes
and other collections of water, are strikingly pointed out
by Count Rumford in his Essays; and this peculiarity in
water has been confirmed by the well-devised experiments
of Professor Hope and Dr Murray.
Many liquids at the moment of congelation expand, from
the crystalline arrangement of their parts. This is fami¬
liarly known in the floating of ice in water, in the burst¬
ing of water pipes by frost, and in the splitting of masses
of rock by the congelation of the water which has insi¬
nuated itself into their fissures. This force is well known
to be enormous, as was shown by the experiments of the
Florentine academicians, of Huygens, and of Major Wil¬
liams at Quebec (see Edin. Phil. Trans.). The same
cause produces the expansion of cast iron at the moment
of becoming solid; and it is to this property that we are
indebted for the sharpness of the casts obtained from this
metal. In these instances we do not find an exception
to the law of contraction by diminished heat. It is wholly
owing to a crystalline arrangement of the particles, by
which interstices are left between them, and consequent¬
ly the solid occupies more space than if solidification took
place without crystallization. Hence lead expands not in
cooling, though cast iron does.
Many operations in the arts depend on the contrac¬
tion of metals as they cool. It is in this way that the
tyers of coach wheels are fitted tightly to the fellies. The
expansion of metals by heat seemed at one time to form
an insurmountable bar to the perfection of the going of
a pendulum clock ; but the ingenuity of an English artist
showed how, by a combination of bars of metals of un¬
equal expansibility, this property might be applied to keep
t le pendulum, at all temperatures, of precisely the same
length. Ibis first produced the gridiron pendulum; and
moie lately the compensation pendulum, with a mercurial
cistern at the end of a metallic rod. Similar principles
A T. 269
have been successfully applied to the balance-wheels of General
pocket chronometers. Effects of
Caloric.
2. Liquefaction, or Fluidity. V-
When solids are heated, they first expand, and then
melt. This is a very general effect of caloric, the ex¬
ceptions to which are disappearing, as we discover new
sources of intense temperature. The oxyhydrogen blow¬
pipe has fused almost all the more refractory substances;
and the sun’s rays collected by immense lenses, or metal¬
lic mirrors, have melted, or even dissipated in vapour,
many bodies, which were long regarded as incapable of
fusion. We are therefore entitled to regard solidity as
the natural state of all matter, and its two other modifi¬
cations as resulting from its union with caloric.
Those bodies always fused at the ordinary tempera¬
tures are no exception to this law, since, by artificial cold,
we have reduced most of them to a solid state. Thus mer¬
cury, at about — 40° of Fahrenheit, becomes a solid metal
with the lustre of silver; and alcohol, which has not yet
been frozen, may be considered as having its melting point
lower than any yet discovered artificial cold. The point at
which bodies become fluid differs widely in different sub¬
stances, but remains uniformly the same in the same fluid
under similar circumstances. Thus ice always melts at 32°.
It was long believed, that when solids began to melt,
they were converted into liquids by a small increase of
heat; and that they might again return to the solid state
by a small diminution of their temperature. An atten¬
tive consideration of the process of liquefaction convinced
the celebrated Dr Joseph Black of the insufficiency of
the commonly-received opinion ; and he promulgated in
1/57 more philosophic views of this subject, which he il¬
lustrated by a beautifully simple experiment.
He introduced equal quantities of water into two thin
glass flasks of the same form and weight. One of them
he froze, by placing it in a freezing mixture; the other
he reduced by similar means to the temperature of 32°,
oi its freezing point, but without allowing it to become
solid. When removed from the freezing mixture, the
flask of ice soon acquired the same temperature as the
ice-cold water, and both were suspended in a room at 47°.
In half an hour the thermometer in the ice-cold water
had risen to 40°, but it required twenty-one half-hours
to raise the temperature of the flask which had been
frozen to the same point. As both were exposed to the
same medium, equal quantities of heat must have been
imparted to each in equal times; but it required twenty-
one times as long to raise the frozen flask 8°, as sufficed
to impart 8° to the ice-cold water. Dr Black inquired
what had become of this quantity of caloric, which was
not indicated by any rise in the thermometer? He in¬
ferred that it had entered into the ice during its lique¬
faction ; and as the quantity so absorbed was not indi¬
cated by the thermometer, he denominated it
Latent Heat.—In repeating the experiment with much
care, he found that a pound of ice required twenty times
as long to rise through 7°, as did as much ice-cold water;
and therefore inferred, that during the conversion of that
ice into water, as much heat disappears, or is absorbed,
as would have elevated a pound of ice-cold water 140°.
This absorption of heat during liquefaction is easily shown.
If we add a pound of boiling water to a pound of ice, the
temperature of the mixture will still remain at 32° but
if to a pound of water at 32°, we add a pound of boiling
water at 212°, the temperature of the mixture will be
found about 122 , or a mean between the extremes of"
temperature.
Similar absorptions of heat take place during the melt¬
ing of tallow, bees-wax, and of the metals.
270
HEAT.
General When liquid bodies congeal, or become solid, their la-
Effeets of tent js agajn given out.
Poss*ble, by nice management, to cool down water
considerably below its freezing point. The principal cir¬
cumstance necessary for this experiment is to leave it
at perfect rest, in an atmosphere from 10° to 15° below
32° (Dalton succeeded in this way in cooling water as low
as 5° without freezing); but on slightly agitating it, the
water suddenly freezes; and if a thermometer has been
suspended in it, the instrument suddenly rises to 32°,
owing to the conversion of latent into sensible heat.
Another experiment shows this fact in a striking point
of view. Into a glass flask introduce a mixture of sul¬
phate of soda and water, in such proportions that it will
form a saturated solution about the point of ebullition.
When this is heated to that point, pour a little oil on its
surface, introduce a thermometer, and remove it from the
fire. When quite cold, drop into it a small crystal of sul¬
phate of soda, and the solution will speedily crystallize into
a solid mass, during the formation of which the thermome¬
ter will be seen to rise, indicating the evolution of sensible
heat, during the conversion of the liquid into a solid.
The absorption of sensible caloric on the liquefaction
of bodies forms the basis of most of the processes by which
we obtain artificial cold. When to some salts, such as sul¬
phate of soda, we add nitrous acid diluted with an equal
part of water, the salt rapidly melts, and the temperature
is reduced to the beginning of Fahrenheit’s scale. Di¬
luted acid added to snow rapidly melts it, and the tempe¬
rature is greatly reduced. A mixture of common salt
and snow, which is the mixture generally employed to
procure ice-cream, will sink the temperature to the be¬
ginning of Fahrenheit’s scale. Dry muriate of lime added
to dry snow will reduce the temperature, during their li¬
quefaction, so low as to freeze mercury. In all these in¬
stances it is the absorption of heat caused by the liquefac ¬
tion, or the conversion of sensible into latent caloric, that
produces the cold.
Dr Black applied his theory of latent heat to explain
many phenomena. The ductility of a body appears to be
owing to the presence of latent caloric; for if we ham¬
mer a piece of iron smartly, it becomes intensely hot, by
parting with its latent caloric, and at the same time has
its ductility greatly impaired. This ductility is onlv re¬
stored by again heating the metal in the fire, by which
it re-acquires latent heat, that may again be forced out by
a repetition of the hammering.
The absorption of heat by bodies whilst melting is an
important law in the economy of nature. Had it merely
been necessary, for the immediate conversion of ice or
snow into water, to raise the atmospheric temperature a
few degrees, the sudden formation of water would have
deluged the earth on every occurrence of a thaw. On
the other hand, had the slightest lowering of the tempe¬
rature of the air below 32° been all that was requisite to
convert water into ice, the sudden expansion of the con¬
gealing juices of vegetables must have burst their sap-ves-
sels, and rent asunder the strongest ornaments of the
forest. But the law of the gradual absorption and ema¬
nation of caloric during these transitions from the solid
to the liquid, and from the liquid to the solid state, pro¬
duces those changes tranquilly and beneficially. The
melting snow gradually augments the sources which fer¬
tilize the valleys; whilst the soil, loosened by the expan¬
sion produced by the previous frost, when softened by the
succeeding thaw, is fitted for the reception of the roots
of plants.
The influence of these processes on climate is not in¬
considerable. The absorption of heat during the lique¬
faction of ice on tropical mountains, sends down into the
heated valleys copious sources of cool water, which by
its immediate contact, and still more by its evaporation, General
assuages the fervour of a broiling climate ; and in high la- Effects of
titudes the caloric, eliminated on the freezing of water, Caloric.
tends to mitigate the rigours of an arctic winter
3. Vaporization.
When liquids are heated, the first effect is expansion ;
but if the application of heat be continued, they assume
the aeriform state, or pass into vapour; and when the ca¬
loric is abstracted, they again assume the liquid form.
When water is heated to 212° Fahrenheit, it boils, and is
converted into an invisible aeriform fluid, which remains
perfectly transparent and colourless as long as its tempera¬
ture is not below 212° ; but what in common language is
called steam, is this elastic fluid partially recondensed
into water, by the loss of a portion of its heat. The invi¬
sible elastic vapour is capable of occupying space and ex¬
pelling atmospheric air, as is shown by corking a flask
when boiling, and opening it under water ; when the flask
will be suddenly entirely filled with the water, which con¬
denses the steam.
Liquids, however, pass also into vapour by a more gra¬
dual process. If exposed to the air, water, for instance,
gradually disappears; and if the process be carried on
under a glass vessel, the included air becomes charged
with moisture, which may be again abstracted from itTby
dry quicklime, or other substance having a strong affinityfor
water. The process by which liquids are thus converted
into vapour is termed Spontaneous Evaporation ; an impor¬
tant operation in nature, as on it depends the charging of
the atmosphere with water, for the formation of clouds,
mist, rain, and dew; all elastic fluids, however, are not
capable of being condensed into liquids by any decrease
of temperature we can command. Thus, no artificial cold
has hitherto been discovered capable of converting at¬
mospheric air into a liquid.
The common property of all aeriform fluids is elasticity,
or the tendency, when forcibly compressed, to resume
their former bulk. Thus, if we throw air, by means of a
forcing pump, into an air-tight cistern, provided with a
small orifice commanded by a stop-cock; on opening the
latter, the air will issue out with great force, until the air
has regained its former volume.
But vapours, or those aeriform bodies which are not
permanently elastic, may, by strong pressure, even whilst
their temperature is above their vaporific point, be con¬
densed into liquids.
The elasticity of all aeriform bodies is increased by aug¬
mentation of temperature. In atmospheric air this increase
has been found equal to ^Joth of its volume for every 1°
Fahrenheit; and the elasticity of steam, or the vapour of
water, is nearly doubled by 30° of increased temperature
above 212.
We are indebted to the celebrated Dr Dalton for accu¬
rate ideas as to the elasticity of aeriform bodies at different
temperatures. He showed that the vapour of water,
under a barometrical pressure of thirty inches at the boil¬
ing point, is just equal to the elasticity of atmospheric air
under the same pressure ; that the ratio of increase is
rather less than a geometrical series, when the tempera¬
ture is taken in an arithmetical progression ; and, what
was less obvious, that the elasticity of all vapours is pre¬
cisely the same with the elasticity of the vapour of water,
at the same number of degrees above the boiling point of
each liquid, ihus water, under a mean barometrical
pressure, boils at 212° ; and the elasticity of its steam at
220°, or 8° above its boiling point, was found by Dalton to
be = STAG inches : alcohol boils at 175°, and the elasticity
of Us vapour at 183°, or 8° above its boiling point, is just
II EAT.
General The bulk of a body is very much increased by its con¬
nects of version into vapour. Dr Black and Mr Watt made expe-
Calonc. rjments to ascertain this increase. They boiled water in
a flask, and, as the last drop was converted into steam,
accurately closed the flask, which was then carefully
weighed; on opening the flask below the surface of wa¬
ter, the quantity of water which rushed in was easily as¬
certained by a second weighing of the flask. The mean
of several experiments showed that water, in the state of
vapour, occupied 1800 times the space it filled as water.
When heat is applied to solids, its first effect is expansion,
next liquefaction, and, lastly, conversion into vapour. A
few solids pass at once into the state of vapour, as carbo¬
nate of ammonia.
Different liquids acquire different degrees of heat for
their vaporization. Thus aether becomes vapour at 104°,
alcohol at 175°, water at 212°, and mercury requires a
temperature about 692°. The vaporific point, however,
remains constantly the same, in the same liquid, under
the same barometric pressure. If, however, we diminish
the pressure, the liquid will boil at a lower temperature.
This is easily shown by the air-pump, in the exhausted
receiver of which aether will boil at a temperature con¬
siderably below the freezing point of water. It is also
strikingly exhibited by the following experiment: If a por¬
tion of water, say two ounces, be boiled in a flask capable
of holding eight or ten, and if it be corked whilst briskly
boiling, a vacuum will be formed on its surface, by the con¬
densation of its vapour, on removing it from the lamp. As
thp steam condenses, the liquid in the flask will begin to
boil more briskly as the flask cools ; and if we pour cold wa¬
ter on this flask, the more will the pressure of the vapour in
the flask be removed, and the more violently will the con¬
tained water boil. If now we pour boiling water on the
flask, more steam will be formed, and the boiling will cease,
but will be again renewed on a second application of the
cold water. This may be alternated for several times if
the flask be well corked.
As the boiling point of liquids varies exactly in the ra¬
tio of the barometrical pressure, it is obvious that the height
of mountains may be ascertained by noting the thermome-
trical degree at which liquids boil on them. A portable in¬
strument, constructed for this purpose, was devised by the
Reverend F. Wollaston.
We cannot heat any liquid beyond its boiling point in
an open vessel. Water placed on the fire soon rises to
212°, but a thermometer plunged in it remains at this
point, however long it boils ; but if the vessel be provided
with a steam-tight cover, the temperature of the liquid may
be much increased, according to the strength of the ves¬
sel. The elasticity of the steam in such cases is enor¬
mous ; and experiments with steam under high pressure
are hazardous, unless the vessel be of great thickness. The
Marquis of Worcester seems to have burst a cannon by
this means; and the frequent explosions of steam-engine
boilers is a familiar instance of the same. Dr Black and
Mr Watt heated water in a strong copper vessel to 400° ;
and in some of Perkins’ experiments lead was melted, it
is said, in water subjected to strong pressure; yet in an
open vessel we cannot heat water to more than 212°.
Dr Black sagaciously and happily applied his doctrine of
latent heat to explain the conversion of liquids into vapour.
He remarked, that when a kettle was placed on the fire it
soon rose to 212° ; but though the same heat continued to
be applied, it rose no higher. In one of his beautifully
simple and conclusive experiments, a vessel containing
some water, at temperature 50°, was placed on a red-hot
iron plate ; in four minutes it began to boil, but it required
twenty minutes to convert the whole into vapour. In the
first four minutes it had acquired an increase of 162° of tem-
271
perature; and as the heat was uniform during the whole General
time of the experiment, it must have received an equal Effects of
quantity of heat during the whole interval; or, during the Caloric,
other sixteen minutes, 810° must have flowed into it, yet
during the whole time a thermometer in it rose no higher
than 212°. Black naturally inferred that this large quan
tity of heat, which disappeared, had entered into the vapour
in a latent form.
A series of experiments were undertaken by him, and
by his friend Mr Watt, from which they inferred, that
when water is converted into steam, it unites with 940° of
heat, which the thermometer does not indicate; or, in
Black’s phraseology, that quantity becomes latent in the
steam. This determination nearly coincides with the ex¬
periments of Lavoisier, who estimated the quantity which
thus disappears at 1000° Fahr.
The absorption of heat during the formation of vapour
is easily demonstrated. A piece of muslin moistened with
any liquid, laid on the bulb of a thermometer, sinks the
temperature; and if that liquid be very evaporable, the
temperature thus produced will be low in proportion. The
evaporation of aether will freeze water under the receiver
of the air-pump ; and the evaporation of the fluid called
sulphuret of carbon is so rapid, that, in a well-exhausted
receiver, it will freeze the mercury in the bulb of the ther¬
mometer.
A liquid may even, by particular management, be frozen
by its own evaporation. This is the principle of Wollas¬
ton’s philosophic toy, called the cryophorus ; and it was in¬
geniously applied to an important practical purpose by the
late Sir John Leslie, viz. the production of ice at a cheap
rate in all climates. The apparatus employed by this phi¬
losopher is a powerful air-pump, which can at once exhaust
from three to six flat receivers about twelve inches in dia¬
meter. These are fitted to different plates, each connected
with the pump, and each provided with its own stop-cock.
A shallow glass dish, nearly the width of the receiver, intend¬
ed to hold a thin stratum of sulphuric acid, is introduced
under each receiver, and a cup of porous earthenware, sup¬
ported on a glass tripod about an inch above the surface of
the acid, is under each receiver. Water is to be poured
into this cup, which is to be placed on its tripod, and the
whole covered by the receiver. By working the air-pump,
each receiver may be exhausted in succession. The with¬
drawing of the atmospheric pressure causes the rapid eva¬
poration of the water, the vapour of which is immediately
absorbed by the sulphuric acid; and thus the vacuum is
sustained. The latent heat necessary for the conversion of
the water into steam or vapour is derived from the water
itself; its temperature therefore falls ; and the absorption
of the vapour by the acid, as quickly as it is formed, keeps
up the vacuum, and speedily reduces the whole water to
the freezing point, when it soon forms a cake of ice. By
a full-sized machine of this kind, about a quarter of an
hour’s labour will set the process in full operation; and
within the period of an hour afterwards six pounds of
solid ice may be obtained. During this process, the water
loses only about one fiftieth of its bulk ; and the acid will
be sufficiently strong for repeated operations of the same
kind.
Leslie showed, that any substance which is powerfully
absorbent of watery vapour, may be substituted for the acid:
and he found that highly toasted oat meal, or well-dried
powder of greenstone, had very considerable power to pro¬
duce ice, when employed instead of sulphuric acid. He
even showed, that by enclosing a globule of mercury in a
small pyriform mass of ice, suspended over the acid in a
good vacuum, the mercury might easily be frozen.
The latent heat of steam may be shown by the large
quantity of water which may be rapidly heated by a small
272 H E
General quantity of steam. The elegant distillatory apparatus figur-
Effects of eci 4Q) jn Henry’s Chemistry readily proves this. In
an experiment with a similar apparatus, the condensation of
one ounce 0f steam heated eight ounces of water from 60°
to 180° ; that is, the whole water gained 120° of tempera¬
ture ; consequently that ounce of steam had lost as much
caloric as would have elevated an ounce of any fluid, capa¬
ble of being so heated, to 960°.
The same phenomena attend the condensation of all
other vapours ; and we are to regard the discovery of Black,
that during the conversion of solids into liquids, or of liquids
into vapours, heat is absorbed, which is again given out on
their recondensation, as a general law, and one of the high¬
est importance, both in its practical application, and in
explaining the phenomena of nature.
With regard to those aeriform bodies which we cannot
condense, or, as they are called in chemical language, per¬
manently elastic fluids or gases, we have every reason to
consider them but as vapours, of which the point of gene¬
ration is so low, that we have not yet found any means of
exhibiting them in their unelastic state. This view is sup¬
ported by analogy, and by recent discoveries. Some of the
gases which a few years ago were reckoned permanently
elastic, have been, by a great pressure, reduced to the state
of liquids. This has been shown in the case of chlorine,
muriatic acid, ammonia, and carbonic acid. It can also be
shown that gases contain latent caloric. Thus, if we sud¬
denly compress atmospheric air in a small tube fitted with
a piston, so much heat is given out as to ignite touchwood.
The sudden expansion of air, too, is always attended with
the absorption of heat. Thus, on discharging an air-gun,
the sudden expansion of the air produces a sensible degree
of coolness in the condenser.
The same facts are shown when chemical action of the
gases with each other produces condensation, or when they
are evolved from their combinations.
The qualities of vapour are applied to many important
purposes in the useful arts ; and, on account of its econo¬
mical fitness, the vapour of water, or steam, is that almost
always employed.
The application of steam to domestic purposes is fami¬
liar to all; and it is frequently employed to communicate
an equable heat, when a temperature above 212° would
be injurious or dangerous. Thus steam, confined in me¬
tallic tubes, is used to dry some delicate articles of manu¬
facture ; and in some instances, where there is risk of ex¬
plosion from even a moderate increase of temperature, the
same contrivance is adopted. Steam has also been em¬
ployed to warm apartments. It is employed to heat the
dye-vats in calico-printing, and other species of dyeing,
and has likewise been used for heating warm baths. For
these last purposes, the steam is usually allowed to escape
into the fluid to be heated by numerous small apertures in
pipes coiled in the bottom of the vessel; which may thus
be made of less costly materials than if it were necessary
to subject it to the fire.
The most important application of steam, however, is as
a moving power in the most stupendous of human inven¬
tions the steam-engine, the perfecting of which has con¬
ferred an enviable immortality on the name of Watt. The
application of this noble discovery to the moving of ma¬
chinery of every sort, from the ponderous hammers of the
forge to the slender needles of the tambouring frame, to
the drawing out and twisting the gossamer filaments of
the cotton factory, to the weaving of cloth with a cele¬
rity that gives the process the air of enchantment, the
winged velocity of the locomotive engine on the railway,
and the stately mechanism which renders navigation inde¬
pendent of the winds, belongs to different branches of prac¬
tical mechanics.
The conversion of liquids into vapour is the foundation
A T.
of the important arts of evaporation and distillation. By Quantity
the first we obtain salts from their solutions ; by the latter, of Heat
the spirituous or more volatile particles of compounds.111 Bodies.
See Evaporation and Distillation.
4. Incandescence.
When the temperature of a body is raised to a certain
pitch, it begins to emit light as well as heat; and this is
termed incandescence, or glowing heat; a designation pre¬
ferable to ignition, which may be confounded with combus¬
tion ; a process totally different from that treated of in this
section, inasmuch as it is accompanied by important che¬
mical changes in the body acted on; whereas incandes¬
cence may be repeated innumerable times with the same
body, merely by raising its temperature. The point at
which this takes place would seem to be the same in all
bodies, and has been approximated by Newton ; but as the
determination depends on the acuteness of the eye, and
the degree of obscurity in the apartment where the experi¬
ment is made, it is not easily fixed. According to his cal¬
culations, a good eye can perceive a body faintly luminous
about 635° Fahrenheit; it shines with a full red in the dark
about 752°, it is luminous in twilight at 884°, and glows in
broad day-light when its temperature has reached 1000°.
The experiments of Irvine, who found that mercury, which
boils at 660°, is not in the slightest degree luminous at that
point, prove that Newton fixed the point of incandescence
too low. On the other hand, the determination of W~edg-
wood appears too high. In general the point of incandes¬
cence may be stated at aboist 800° Fahr. Its lowest pitch
is at first a dull red, which becomes a full red with an
increased temperature, or the least refrangible rays first
meet the eye ; if the heat be increased, these rays become
mingled with the yellow ; and, when the temperature is
raised to the utmost, all the other rays of the spectrum are
evolved in the proportions which constitute white light.
All solids which are not volatilized by heat may be ren¬
dered incandescent; and all liquids may be heated to red¬
ness, provided we can repress their volatility. But it has
been doubted whether gases be capable of incandescence.
Dr Fordyce had remarked that the extremity of the flame
of a blowpipe, which was itself invisible, heated a thin rod
of glass to a white heat; and some experiments of Mr T.
Wedgwood prove that air, heated in a bent tube passing
through a crucible filled with red-hot sand, was not lumi¬
nous, although a gold wire suspended in the heated air
became red. The speculations of Sir Humphry Davy on
flame show that his opinion inclined to consider flame as
luminous gases; but in all such cases there is reason to
consider the light as derived from the combustible. In¬
candescence can be excited by the mere percussion of hard
bodies against each other. Thus, two pieces of quartz
struck together will produce light; the same will take place
with two fragments of porcelain ; and the light produced
by the collision of flint and steel is partly incandescence,
partly a species of combustion of the steel.
It has been supposed that incandescence affords a pro¬
bable evidence of the identity or convertibility of heat into
light. But this is not a legitimate deduction ; for we may
conceive that light and heat, though two distinct fluids,
may have an intimate affinity for each other, or a tendency
to unite, that both may exist united in all matter, that heat
is most easily separated by percussion and friction, but that,
when the percussion is violent, both are given out.
SECT. IV. QUANTITY OF HEAT IN BODIES.
Equal weights of the same body, at the same tempera¬
ture, contain equal quantities of heat; and when their tem-
HEAT.
Quantity peratures are unequal, their heat is in proportion to their
of Heat temperature. But it is very different with dissimilar bodies,
n Bodies. can be shown to contain unequal quantities of heat
at the same temperature. The following is the method of
proving these positions. If we mix a pound of water at
40° with a pound of water at 112°, the resultant is 76°, the
mean between the extremes of temperature.
But if we mingle a pound of water at temperature 112°
with a pound of mercury at 40°, the resultant temperature
will not be 76°, the mean, but 109°. Here the tempera¬
ture of the water has only been diminished 3°, yet that
of the mercury has risen 69°. If we reverse the experi¬
ment, and take water at 40° and mercury at 112°, the
product will be 43°; the mercury losing 69°, whilst the
water only acquires 3° ; or the same quantity of heat
which can elevate the temperature of mercury 23° will
only augment that of water 1°. If a similar experiment
be made with spermaceti oil, Dr Thomson has shown
(System of Chemistry) that the quantity of caloric which
will elevate the temperature of the oil 2° can only raise
that of water 1°.
Dr Black was undoubtedly the first who promulgated
the idea of the absorption of heat during liquefaction and
the formation of vapour ; and this doctrine was publicly
taught in his lectures in Glasgow university from 1757 to
1764. His pupil, Dr Irvine, continued these experiments
at his suggestion, and ascribed the absorption to a change
in the capacity for heat. These experiments were made
between 1765 and 1770 ; and in 1779 Dr Adair Crawford
published his treatise on Animal Heat, in which the capa¬
cities of numerous substances are given, which were cor¬
rected in his edition of 1788, from the results of most ela¬
borate experiments. Professor Wilcke of Stockholm pub¬
lished some valuable experiments on the same subject, in
the Stockholm Transactions for 1781. This philosopher
introduced the term specific heat for what Irvine named
capacity for heat. Various experiments on the same sub¬
ject were made by Lavoisier and Laplace, with the instru¬
ment called a calorimeter, in which the specific caloric was
estimated by the quantity of snow melted by different
substances heated to the same pitch. The subject of ex¬
periment in their investigations was introduced into a
wire cage suspended within a vessel of tinned iron. This
vessel was filled with snow or ice ; and to secure that
snow from being melted by the external air, the vessel
containing it was placed within another exterior case, and
the space between them also filled with snow ; and the
whole covered by a lid, likewise covered with snow. I hus,
if water in passing from 212° to 32° melted one pound of
ice, and the same weight of oil melted a half pound; if
the specific caloric of water be termed L0, that of oil will
be 05.
A considerable series of experiments on this curious
subject were made by Dr Dalton (New System of Chemi¬
cal Philosophy). In these investigations Dalton pursued
a method, also employed by Leslie, namely, to observe
the comparative rates of cooling, as was proposed by
Meyer. This would be preferable to the other modes of
ascertaining the specific caloric, were we sure that the
cooling of bodies is not influenced by other circumstances
than their capacity; but in this method it is difficult to
obviate the effects of radiation and conducting power on
refrigeration. In all these determinations there are to be
found discrepancies inseparable from the difficulties at¬
tending such delicate investigations; but they have suf¬
ficient accordance when we attempt to estimate the ca¬
pacities of solids and of liquids. It is a far more difficult
and delicate problem to determine the specific caloric of
gaseous bodies, from the minute quantities of matter to
be operated on in such experiments, and the difficulty of
obviating the chance of accidental error where the changes
VOL. XI.
273
of temperature are necessarily very minute. Crawford Quantity
found the difference in the specific heat of the gases . of,.Hf.at
rarely to exceed T*nth of a degree of Fahrenheit. He em-
ployed two equal hollow spheres of brass, united by a bar
of the same metal, and furnished with stop-cocks, and an
adapting piece, to be screwed to an air-pump. One of
these was filled with the gas to be tried, and the other
was exhausted of air. Each ball had cemented into it a
very delicate thermometer ; both were heated to the same
pitch by exposure to the same source of heat, conveyed
by cylinders surrounded with warm water. They were
then simultaneously plunged into separate vessels contain¬
ing each equal quantities of cold water, and the elevation of
temperature of the water in both vessels ascertained by
delicate thermometers, indicating as small a change as jjjth
of a degree of Fahrenheit. The temperature communi¬
cated by the vacuum being subtracted from that given
out by the other ball, the difference exhibited the heat
communicated by the included air alone ; and the accu¬
racy of the method was afterwards tested by again com¬
paring them when the exhausted vessel was filled with at¬
mospheric air.
The specific caloric of gases has been again investigat¬
ed by Berard and Delaroche in 1813. They passed a cur¬
rent of each gas, at a given temperature, through a spiral
tube, fixed in a cylinder of thin copper filled with water
and then closed. The temperature communicated, by the
passage of the gases from a gasometer through the spiral,
to the surrounding medium in a given time, being propor¬
tional to the excess of temperature each gas acquires from
the source of heat above that of the medium in the cylin¬
der, the comparative specific heat of each gas may be as¬
certained.
For the success of such experiments the current of gas
must be uniform, and the temperature of the gas, when en¬
tering and escaping from the cylinder, must be accurately
ascertained, as well as that of the water in the copper ves¬
sel.
The conclusions of these philosophers are directly at va¬
riance with those of Crawford, and, indeed, would tend
to overturn some of the most important points of the phi¬
losophy of heat now generally received. But these expe¬
riments, though highly ingenious, are not more satisfactory
than those of Crawford. The only objection to his con¬
clusions is derived from the smallness of the quantities
operated upon in his experiments; but the simplicity of his
apparatus, the delicacy of his instruments, and the appa¬
rent care of his manipulations, more than fully counter¬
balance that objection ; whilst the complexity of the appa¬
ratus of Berard and Delaroche, the acknowledged diffi¬
culty of keeping up an equable current through the spiral
tube, the impossibility of obviating in such investigations
the influence of changes in the medium during the expe¬
riments, and the nicety requisite to ascertain the tempera¬
ture of the entering and escaping currents, present sources
of error of which it is almost impossible to estimate the
amount. On these grounds we may consider the conclu¬
sions of Crawford as not yet overturned.
The deductions of these gentlemen would lead to the con¬
clusion that all the gases, with the exception of hydrogen,
have an inferior specific heat to water ; and they even
make steam inferior in capacity to water in the ratio of 847
to 1000. If this last were true, instead of an absorption of
heat when steam is generated, we should have an extrica¬
tion of caloric from it; and water in the worm-tub of a still,
or in the condensing-bach of a steam-engine, ought not to
increase in temperature. It may be added, that more re¬
cently the conclusions of Berard and Delaroche have been
controverted by Delarive ; and his experiments, as well as
those of Clement, support the opinions of Crawford.
Mr Haycraft (in a paper in Trans. Royal Soc. Edin. x.)
2 M
HEAT.
274
Quantity has endeavoured to show that all gases at the same tempe-
.°1 Heat rature, when perfectly freed from moisture, have the same
inBodies. Specifjc }ieat. an(j t]iat ^en they are saturated with water,
their specific caloric is a certain ascending arithmetical
ratio, in proportion to the quantity of moisture they contain.
These views are rendered not improbable by the well-as¬
certained fact, that the elasticities of all the gases are the
same at the same temperature.
The capacities of bodies are more nearly in the inverse
ratio of their density, than of any other sensible property.
Thus solids in general have less capacity for caloric than li¬
quids, and liquids less than vapours or gaseous bodies. In
the same body a change of capacity accompanies a change
of volume. Thus gases compressed have their capacity
diminished, and heat is extricated ; and when they expand,
their capacity is increased, which is the cause of the cold¬
ness felt on a sudden expansion of the air. Crawford en¬
deavoured to show that this was also the case with liquids ;
but his experiments are scarcely to be relied on as esta¬
blishing that point. The contraction of Wedgwood’s py-
rometrical pieces would seem to diminish sensibly their
capacity for heat. The capacity of bodies is not, however,
exactly in the inverse ratio of their density, which pro¬
bably arises from the effect of density on capacity for heat
being modified by a difference in the force of affinity be¬
tween caloric and various substances. There seems also to
be some relation between capacity and power for conduct¬
ing heat, as the former is nearly in the inverse ratio of the
latter. If these views be correct, we may assume that the
capacity of all bodies for caloric is directly as their volume
and their affinity for heat, and inversely as their conduct¬
ing power and their density.
When a body changes its form of existence, its capacity
for heat is also changed. When a solid is melted, its capa¬
city is increased, and the specific heat of the same sub¬
stance is still further increased when it is converted into
vapour. Thus, according to the best experiments, the ca¬
pacity of ice is 09000, that of water being TOGO, and that
of steam T500.
This important law was applied by Dr Irvine to explain
the liquefaction of solids. Dr Black regarded the lique¬
faction as owing to the absorption of heat; Dr Irvine as¬
cribed this absorption to a change in the capacity of the
body. The first ascribed the melting of the solid to the
absorption of the heat, whilst the other attributed the ab¬
sorption to the change of form. As the change of form
and the absorption or extrication of caloric are in such cases
simultaneous, it is obvious that the question cannot be
decided by direct experiment. It has been objected to
Irvine’s theory that it assigns no cause for the change of
form, whilst Black’s ascribes the change to the ingress of
caloric. On the other hand, Black’s theory does not ex¬
plain why the heat is absorbed. When we heat a solid,
the first effect is expansion, and this expansion keeping
pace with the increasing temperature, a point will be at¬
tained when the expansion has so far overcome the cohe¬
sion of the solid that its particles move freely among each
other, that is, when the body will become liquid. Thus far
the change may be attributed to sensible heat; but the ca¬
pacity of the body for heat has all the time been increasing,
and, to satisfy this increased capacity, sensible heat has be¬
come latent. This appears the simplest view of the sub¬
ject, ascribing the change of capacity to the expansion by
the sensible heat; and the difference between the solid
and fluid states may be conceived to depend on the pre¬
valence of one of two opposing forms, the cohesive attrac¬
tion of the particles of matter for each other, and the repul¬
sive energy of caloric.
Dr Black has supposed that latent heat is retained in
bodies by an affinity superior to that between sensible
caloric and the particles of matter, and liquefaction is as¬
cribed to this more intimate union. This opinion is scarce- Quantity
ly perhaps reconcilable with the immediate effect of mix- .of Heat
ing ice cooled to 20° and water a little above the freez- *n Boclks.
ing point, when the water parts with its latent heat to
raise the temperature of the ice; or with the effect of
mechanical pressure in causing gases to part with their
latent caloric.
Absolute Quantity of Heat in Hodies.
It will be sufficiently obvious, that neither by the ther¬
mometer nor by the capacity of bodies do we determine
the whole heat which they contain at any temperature.
The first is evidently nothing more than an indication of
changes in a scale, of which the two extremes are un¬
known ; the last mode affords us but the relative quan¬
tity of caloric required to elevate the temperature of
other bodies compared to water, but it does not point
out how many degrees any given temperature is above
that point at which a body is deprived of all its heat.
Irvine appears to have first conceived the idea of ascer¬
taining by calculation the absolute zero, or deprivation of
all heat, on the supposition that the whole heat in any
body is proportional to its capacity. If this be granted,
the whole caloric it contains at a given temperature may
be found by ascertaining the quantity of heat it absorbs
when passing from the solid to the liquid state. Thus
ice has the capacity of 9 to water as 10, and, when both
are at temperature 32°, water will contain one tenth more
heat than the same weight of ice ; but this excess is
given out when water freezes, and as much is again ab¬
sorbed when it melts. According to Black’s experiment,
ice absorbs as much caloric, whilst passing into water, as
would elevate an equal quantity of ice-cold water 140°
Fahrenheit. Therefore 10 X 140 r= 1400°, will give
tlie natural zero, or the point of the absolute deprivation
of heat. Almost the same result is obtained by compar¬
ing the capacity of steam and water, viz. TO and T5.
Water, in passing into steam, absorbs 940° of sensible heat,
and 940 X T5 — 1410.
The following general formula, as applicable to this in¬
vestigation, is given by Professor Robison in his notes on
Black’s Lectures. Let the capacity of water be 1. Let
the quantity of water be W, and its temperature be w.
Let the quantity of the body whose capacity is tried be
B, and its temperature be b, and the temperature after
mixture be m. Then the
W x m — w
capacity of B = ~—t-===-. Or if the water be the
1 J B x —«
hottest of the two bodies mixed, the formula is
j,   W x w — m
B X m — b
The accuracy of this conclusion, however, depends on
three points : first, the perfect determination of the spe¬
cific heat of water, and of its two other forms of existence,
to which it is probably impossible to obtain any more
than an approximation ; secondly, on the assumption that
the whole heat of bodies is retained in them by their ca¬
pacity ; and, lastly, on the supposition that while the
body retains its form of existence, its capacity remains
unchanged. Until these points be established, the theory
is but an amusing speculation, in which the estimates of
other philosophers do not materially differ from those of
Irvine. Rumford, from experiments on the heat extricat¬
ed by the combination of hydrogen and oxygen, placed
the natural zero at 1552° Fahrenheit below the freezing
point; Gadolin, from the cold produced by dissolving mu¬
riate of soda in water, inferred it to be at — 1432°.
H E
Variation? SECT. V. VARIATIONS OF TEMPERATURE.
of Tempe¬
rature. 1. Artificial Means of Increasing Temperature.
Caloric may be excited by the sun’s rays collected by
a lens or by a concave mirror, by friction and percussion,
and by chemical action.
1. When we collect the sun’s rays by a lens, it is well
known that combustibles may thus be fired; and if the
lens be large, it produces the most intense temperature
we can command. In the focus of the powerful lens
made in London for Mr Parker (which measured three
feet in diameter, three inches thick at the centre, and
weighed 212 lbs.), the most infusible metals were instant¬
ly melted and dissipated in vapour, and most stony sub¬
stances were vitrified. Another, constructed at Paris, is
described in the Memoires of the French academy. Lenses
of great power have been also made of two curved plates
of glass joined together, and filled with spirit of wine. A
remarkable lens of this sort, formed by bending two plates
of glass on a parabolic mold, and filling the cavity between
them with ninety quarts of spirit, was constructed by
Rossini of Gratz, in Styria. The diameter of the plates
was 3 feet 3 inches, and they were united by a strong ring
of metal. The whole was mounted on a heliostat, which,
with the lens complete, weighed 550 lbs. This fine in¬
strument cost about L.1000, but became, a few years
ago, the property of the French government for L.338.
In its focus a diamond was instantly kindled and dissi¬
pated ; and a piece of platinum, twenty-nine grains in
weight, was melted and thrown into violent ebullition.
Soncave metallic mirrors are capable also of concen¬
trating the sun’s rays, so as to produce a powerful heat.
Mirrors of hammered brass, or tinned iron, are used for
experiments on the radiation of heat. It was by some
combination of mirrors that Archimedes is said to have
fired the Roman fleet at the siege of Syracuse ; and Kir-
cher, having found a description in Tzetzes, of the device
of Archimedes, from which it would seem that the mir¬
rors were placed on hinges, in order to adjust them to a
focus, constructed a compound burning mirror of this
kind possessing considerable power; but Bufibn, by com¬
bining as many as 168 plane glass mirrors, six inches
broad, showed that silver might be fused at the distance
of sixty feet by such an instrument.
2. The capability of friction between two solids to ex¬
cite heat is well known. In Rumford’s experiments wa¬
ter was made to boil by the friction in boring a cannon ;
and the simple experiment of rubbing a smooth metallic
button on a board, by which much heat is produced, is
familiar to every school-boy. The firing of carriage-
wheels, and of difterent kinds of machinery, whose parts,
moving against each other, are not well oiled, is well
known. This extrication of heat takes place in vacuo as
well as in the air, and appears to be owing to the com¬
pression employed forcing the particles of the solid more
closely together, and extricating their latent caloric. Ber-
thollet showed that this extrication of caloric is not unli¬
mited, as Rumford erroneously supposed ; but that, if we
repeatedly compress any body, the quantity of heat extri¬
cated rapidly diminishes by each application of the com¬
pressing force.
Percussion acts in precisely the same manner. A piece
of iron, by smart hammering on an anvil, may become so
hot as to fire combustibles. This process evidently dimi¬
nishes the capacity of the iron for heat, its specific gravi¬
ty becomes greater, and the loss of its latent heat renders
it still and brittle. A similar change takes place in xoire-
metals ; so that, to restore pliability and ductility,
we must subject them to the fire, which restores their la¬
tent heat, and renders them again ductile.
3. Chemical action is a fruitful source of increase of
A T. 275
temperature. If we mingle together equal parts of suL Variations
phuric acid and water, or of alcohol and of water, the°lTempe-
bulk of the mixture diminishes, and heat is given out. The rature-
temperature produced by chemical action will often ignite
inflammables. Thus a drop of sulphuric acid on a mix¬
ture of chlorate of potassa and sugar will set the mixture
on fire. Indeed, the process of combustion, the great
source of artificial heat, is nothing more than the chemi¬
cal union of the oxygen of the air with the combusti¬
ble body. The source of the temperature is the liberation
of the latent heat of the oxygen, on its entering into
union with the carbonaceous matter of the fuel ; and the
increase of the temperature is in proportion to the air con¬
sumed in a given time. If we wish a higher temperature,
we increase the quantity of air that passes through the
fuel; hence the utility of bellows, and of the blowpipe, in
exciting a higher temperature than the spontaneous com¬
bustion of the burning body would afford. See Furnace.
2. Artificial Means of Diminishing Temperature.
There are three methods by which we can cool bodies ;
by placing them in contact with colder substances, by the
evaporation of liquids, and by the liquefaction of solids.
1. The first method is very familiar, and depends on the
tendency of caloric to an equilibrium in contiguous bodies.
2. I he conversion of a body into vapour causes, by the
increase of its capacity for heat, an absorption of caloric.
Thus the evaporation of water from the ball of a thermo¬
meter causes the mercury to fall. If we apply a still more
eyaporable fluid, ether, the fall of the thermometer will be
still lower ; and, if we accelerate this process by an air-
pump, the cold produced will be intense ; the degree of the
absorption of heat, or, in other words, the production of cold,
being in proportion to the quickness of the evaporation.
3. I he most powerful means of reducing temperature is
by what are termed freezing mixtures. All these depend on
the rapid melting of solids by the addition of various sub¬
stances. Many experiments have been made on this sub¬
ject by Lowitz of Petersburg, and bjr Mr Walker of Cam¬
bridge. Salts are the solids most commonly used, and they
are in general either mixed with snow or with acids. Thus,
if we mix common salt and snow together, the temperature
falls to 0 of Fahrenheit. If we pour two ounces of nitric
acid diluted with an equal quantity of water on three ounces
of sulphate of soda, the temperature sinks below the begin¬
ning of Fahrenheit’s scale. Equal parts of strong muriatic
acid and of snow will produce a cold of—30° Fahrenheit;
and the same proportions of diluted sulphuric acid and snow,
it previously cooled down to 20°, will cause the freezing of
mercury, reducing the temperature to — 60°. Dry muriate
of lime and dry powdery snow, in the proportions of two of
the former to one of the latter, if previously cooled by im¬
mersion in salt and snow, will sink the temperature to — 66° ;
and three parts of muriate of lime and twyo of snow, simi¬
larly treated, will reduce the temperature to — 73°.
In all these experiments, it is the sudden conversion of
sensible into latent heat that lowers the temperature of the
mixtures; the substances assume the liquid form, their capa¬
city for heat is increased, and the disappearance of the sen¬
sible heat is manifested by the sinking of the thermometer.
tor the natural variations of temperature and their causes,
see Climate, and Physical Geography.
For various important facts and observations on heat, see Black’s
Lectures on Chemistry, vol. i.; Murray’s System of Chemistry, vol. i.;
Dalton’s Chemistry; Leslie on/Teat; Sur le Feu ; Kumford’s
Essays ; Deluc Sur les Modifications de VAtmosphere ; Saussure Sur
VHygrometrie/ Young’s Lectures on Philosophy ; Biot, Traite de Phy¬
sique,!., Martine on Heat; Crawford on .ffeaf; Irvine’s Essays; J.
and G. Murray s Popular View of Chemistry; Mrs Somerville's Con¬
nection of the Physical Sciences; Phil. Trans., 1754,1777 1783 1788,
^ 1800, and 1801; Edin. Phil. Trans., vi., ix., x., xii.,
xiii.; Ann. de Chim., 3,14, 22, 29,71, and 75; Nicholson’s Journal, 4,
«
276 H E A
Heath 9,11, and 12, 8vo series; Journ. de Physique, 61; Ann. of Phil., 2, &c.;
Manchester Memoirs; Memoires de VAcademic de Geneve, &c.
Heber. The theory of heat which ascribes this agent to motion
among the particles of matter, and which has been distin¬
guished by the name of The Mechanical or Dynamic
Theory of Heat, was adopted by Count Rumford in 1778,
and by Sir Humphrey Davy in 1799. Since that period
it has been very ingeniously maintained by Mayer, in Lie¬
big’s and VT6h\ev,& Annalen for 1842; by Mr Joule, be¬
fore the British Association in 1843; by Mr John Mac-
quorn Rankine ; and by Professor William Thomson of
Glasgow, in the Edinburgh Philosophical Transactions.
The principal fact on which Rumford founded his views
is the high temperature exerted by friction in the boring of
cannon; Davy adduced his experiment of the melting of
H E B
two cakes of ice when rubbed together in vacuo ; Mayer Heberden.
adduces the rise of 1° of the thermometer by the agitation
of water in support of his views ; Joule draws his conclusion
from the heat produced by the friction of water running
through a pipe, which he estimates at 1° for every pound of
water moving with a force equal to raise a weight of 770
lbs. one foot.
Other arguments have been drawn from the still obscurely
understood heating effects of magnetic electricity, and the
analogies between radiant heat and light; to which last the
undulatory hypothesis has been ingeniously applied. The
views are specious, and by some are considered as satisfactory;
so as to have converted the celebrated Melloni to the un¬
dulatory theory, which considers light and radiant heat as
differing only in the length of their undulations, (x. s. x.)
HEATH. See Boxany; nat. ord. Ericacece.
HEATHFIELD, Lord. See Elliox.
HEBE, in Grecian Mythology, the goddess of youth,
and cup-bearer of the gods. She was the daughter of Ju¬
piter and Juno, and is sometimes depicted assisting her
mother in yoking her horses to her chariot. In her func¬
tion of pouring out the nectar at the feasts of the gods, she
was superseded by Ganymede ; but she always retained her
power of restoring the aged to the bloom and vigour of
youth. In Rome she was worshipped under the name of
Juventas, and a temple in her honour existed on the Ca-
pitoline Hill as early as the time of Servius Tullius.
HEBER, Reginald, bishop of Calcutta, was born April
21, 1783, at Malpas in Cheshire. He was sent to the
grammar-school of Whitchurch at the age of eight, and en¬
tered Brazen-nose College, Oxford, at the age of seventeen.
In his first year there (anno 1800) his Carmen Seculare
gained the prize for Latin verse, as did his Palestine in
1803 for English verse. In 1804—the year of his father’s
death—he was elected fellow of All Souls’ College. In
the following year he began his travels in Europe, visiting
Sweden, Norway, Russia, and the Crimea. After an ab¬
sence of more than a twelvemonth, he returned through
Austria and Germany to England. Soon after he took the
degree of M.A. he married Amelia, daughter of William
Shipley, dean of St Asaph, and settled on the living of
Hodnet in Shropshire. In 1812 he began a Dictionary of
the Bible, and published a volume of poems. In 1815 he
was appointed to deliver the Bampton lecture on “ The Per¬
sonality and Office of the Christian Comforter.” In 1822
he was elected preacher at Lincoln’s Inn. On the 16th
June 1823, after having been made D.D. of Oxford by
diploma, he sailed with his family for India, having been
appointed to succeed Bishop Middleton at Calcutta. He
landed at Calcutta on the 10th of October, and shortly
afterwards consecrated the church of St Stephen at Dum¬
dum. His first visitation in the cathedral at Calcutta was
held on Ascension Day 1824. In May 1825 he held a visi¬
tation at Bombay. At Trichinopoly, on the 3d April 1826,
he was found dead in his bath before breakfast, having been
suddenly cut off by an apoplectic fit at the age of forty-three.
Bishop Heber gave early indication of that love for the
classics, in the study of which he afterwards gained such
high honours at college ; for at the age of seven he had
translated Phcedrus into English verse. With a natural
thirst for knowledge, a strong memory to retain what he
once learned, and a glowing fancy, he possessed also the
application necessary to develop these faculties into impor¬
tant results. Not possessing originality in the same degree,
the classics became his model. For the exact sciences he
had not the same relish. Logic, at least as unfolded by
Aldrich, he even disliked. He had a taste for drawing and
natural history. During his European travels he kept a
copious journal of what he saw and read. Hence his volu¬
minous correspondence with his friends contains the results
of his close observations of the manners, customs, and super¬
stitions of the people through whose countries he passed.
He wrote a history of the Cossacks, contributed to the
Quarterly Revievj, and published a complete edition of
Jeremy Taylor’s works, with a life and criticism. As an
author he is most popularly known for his hymns and sacred
pieces. These breathe a strain of the most exalted piety
and Christian fervour; and in this accurately reflect himself.
But it is as the Christian pastor of Hodnet, and the apos¬
tolic Bishop of Calcutta, that Heber is specially entitled to
our regard. From a very early age his mind was imbtied
with feelings of the deepest reverence for God. Prayer
and reading of the Scriptures were attended to by him with
exemplary regularity during the absorbing period of college
life. When he returned from his travels in Europe, after
his unusually brilliant career at Oxford, the path to literary
fame was open to him, yet he preferred devoting himself to
the humbler duties which devolve on the pastor of a parish.
When disease was spreading through the district, Heber
was still to be found at his post, visiting the sick, comforting
the afflicted, relieving the distressed, and making known to
all the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. An amiable
temper, conciliatory manner, a benevolent heart, and a sound
head, accompanied by such faithful discharge of duty, en¬
deared him to all his parishioners.
Modest as he was, it is not remarkable that when he was
offered the vacant bishopric of Calcutta his diffidence led
him twice to refuse such a responsible charge. When, how¬
ever, he did enter upon its duties, his whole energies were
directed to the great work of evangelizing India. He tra¬
velled extensively, planting churches and encouraging the
missionaries. Of his route through the upper provinces, be¬
tween Calcutta and Bombay, a narrative was published in
2 vols. 4to. He also visited the Deccan, Ceylon, and
Madras, carrying out with characteristic zeal the great ob¬
ject of his mission.
HEBERDEN, William, a practical physician of great
celebrity, was born in London in the year 1710. He was
sent at a very early age, near the end of 1724, to St John’s
College, Cambridge. He took his first degree in 1728, and
obtained a fellowship about 1730 ; he became master of arts
in 1732, and took his degree in physic in 1739. He re¬
mained at Cambridge about ten years longer as a practi¬
tioner of physic, and gave an annual course of lectures on
the Materia Medica. In 1746 he became a fellow of the
Royal College of Physicians in London; and two years
afterwards he left Cambridge, having presented to St John’s
College the specimens which had been subservient to his
lectures. He also added to this donation, a few years after¬
wards, a collection of astronomical instruments of some value.
Having determined to establish himself in London, he was
H E B
[eberdeen. elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1769; and was em-
ployed in a very extensive medical practice for more than
thirty years. When he became sensible that his age re¬
quired some indulgence, he resolved to pass his summers at
a house which he had taken at Windsor; but he continued
his practice in the winter for some years longer. In January
1760 he married Mary, daughter of W. Wollaston, Esq.,
by whom he had five sons and three daughters; but he
survived them all, except Dr W. Heberden, and Mary,
married to the Rev. G. Jenyns. In 1778 he was made an
honorary member of the Royal Society of Medicine at Paris.
Dr Heberden’s first publication seems to have been a
short essay on the incongruous composition of the mithridate
and theriac, entitled Antitheriaca, 8vo, 1745. 2. He sent
to the Royal Society an Account of a very large Human
Calculus, weighing more than 2|- lbs. avoirdupois {Phil.
Trans, xlvi., 1750, p.596; Abr. xi., p. 1005). 3. Account
of the Effect of Lightning at South Weald, in Essex {Phil.
Trans, liv., 1764, p. 198). Roth these essays are erroneously
attributed, in Dr Maty’s index, to his brother, Dr Thomas
Heberden of Madeira, who sent several other papers to the
society. Dr Heberden was one of the principal contributors
to the first three volumes of the Medical Transactions, pub¬
lished in a great measure at his suggestion, by the College
of Physicians, in which we find about sixteen of his original
communications. 4. Remarks on the Pump Water of Lon¬
don, 1768. 5. Observations on Ascarides. 6. On Night
Blindness, or Nyctalopia. 7. On the Chicken-Pox. 8. On
the Epidemical Cold of 1767. 9. Queries relating to bark,
camphor, cold, the gout, and apoplexy. 10. On Hectic
Fever. 11. On the Pulse. 12. On a Disorder of the Breast,
the angina pectoris. 13. On Diseases of the Liver. 14.
On the Nettle Rash. 15. On Noxious Fungi. 16. Queries
on sizy blood, on hernia, on damp clothes, on venesection
in hemorrhages. 17. On an Angina Pectoris. 18. On the
Ginseng. 19. On the Measles. 20. Table of the Mean
Heat of the different Months in London {Phil. Trans.
Ixxviii., 1778, p. 86). 21. Commentarii de Morborum His-
toria et Curatione, London, 1802, in 8vo; also in English.
He had long been in the habit of making notes in a pocket-
book, at the bedsides of his patients; and every month he
used to select and copy out, under the proper titles of the
diseases, whatever he thought particularly worthy to be re¬
corded. In the year 1782 he employed himself in digesting
this register into the form of a volume of Commentaries on
the history and cure of diseases, religiously observing never
to depend on his memory for any material circumstance that
he did not find expressly written down in his notes. These
Commentaries were intrusted to the care of his son, Dr W.
Heberden, to be published after his death. We find in them
a greater mass of valuable matter, accurately observed and
candidly related, than in almost any other volume which has
ever appeared upon a medical subject; yet they are but too
likely to chill the ingenuous ardour of many a youthful mind,
and even to lead to a total apathy with respect to the dili¬
gent study of a profession in which so respectable a veteran
was so often disposed to exclaim that “ all is vanity.” There
are, indeed, many instances in which he does not seem to
have been perfectly master of all the instruments of his art:
thus, he appears to have been but partially acquainted with
the virtues and various uses of antimony and ipecacuan, and
to have reasoned very inaccurately on the operation for a
strangulated hernia. But it has been remarked, that the
more experience a physician acquires in his profession, the
more he is in general inclined to approach the opinions of
Dr Heberden, and to esteem his writings.
Notwithstanding that he has been accused of having occa¬
sionally been liable to personal and professional prejudices,
it may safely be asserted that he possessed a singular com¬
bination of modesty and dignity of character. He was not
only a well-intbrmed and accomplished scholar, but a man
H E B 277
of the purest integrity of conduct, of mild and courteous Hebrew
manners, distinguished by genuine piety, and by unaffected Language
benevolence of heart. It is related by one of his biographers, I!
that he bought a sceptical work, left in manuscript by Dr v ebrews«
Conyers Middleton, of his widow, for L.50, in order to burn ” v--- '
it. He was at the expense of publishing another work
of the same author on the Servile Condition of Physicians
amongst the Ancients, as well as an edition of some of the
plays of Euripides by Markland. He had an opportunity of
rendering an essential service to Dr Letherland, a man of
the deepest and most extensive learning and science that
adorned the last century, but of retired habits, and very little
known even in his own profession, though he contributed by
his literary information to the popularity of more than one
of his colleagues. Dr Heberden’s extensive practice made
it inconvenient for him to accept the appointment of physi¬
cian to the queen; and the king, who had always shown
him the greatest esteem and regard, readily adopted his
disinterested recommendation of Dr Letherland as his sub¬
stitute in the situation. He died on the 17th of May 1801,
at the age of above ninety years, having exhibited at the
close of his life the same serenity of mind which he had en¬
joyed throughout its course. {Life prefixed to his Commen¬
taries ; Chalmers’ Biographical Dictionary?) (t. y.)
HEBREW Language. See Philology, § Hebrew
Language; Alphabet, &c.
HEBREWS, Epistle to the. The authorship of this
epistle has been greatly disputed. It has been ascribed to
Luke by Origen, Jerome, and Philastrius ; but, 1st, the simi¬
larity of style between this epistle and Luke’s admitted writ¬
ings is too general to support a claim of authorship. 2nd, Ad¬
mitting Paul to have been the author of the epistle, such
similarity of style as occurs between the epistle and Luke’s
writings could be easily accounted for by the fact that Paul
and Luke were much associated together. 3d, The same
resemblance between Luke and this epistle can be ex¬
tended to the epistles which Paul is admitted to have writ¬
ten. Also Stuart and Eichhorn point out the preponderance
of Jewish feelings, and familiarity with the Jewish schools,
in the epistle over what is found in Luke’s writings. Hence
Luke is not the probable author of the epistle. Barnabas
has been claimed by some as the author This view is sup¬
ported somewhat inconclusively by Ullmann and Wieseler,
the latter of whom has appended a long dissertation on the
subject to his Chronology of the Apostolic Age.
An Alexandrian origin has been claimed by Eichhorn,
Schulz, Bleek, and others, chiefly on account of the close re¬
semblance between this epistle and the writings of Philo, an
Alexandrian Jew. Stuart, however, has shown that there
is nothing in the epistle which could not have been written
by a person wdio had never quitted Palestine. It is alleged
by Bleek that the author of the epistle makes a mistake
about the furniture of the tabernacle (ix. 3, 4) which a Jew
in Palestine would not have made ; but Deyling has shown
that there the mistake belongs only to those who have dis¬
covered it. The claims of Apollos to the authorship of the
epistle fall to the ground with those for an Alexandrian
origin. Apollos was first suggested by Luther, and in this
the Reformer has been followed by Heumann, Bertholett,
De Wette, Bleek, and Tholuck. Clement, Silas, and others,
have also been proposed as the authors of the epistle.
The claims of the apostle Paul are founded—1st, upon
the doctrinal correspondence between this epistle and his
other writings. To him peculiarly belongs the doctrine, that
Judaism was typical and temporary ; while Christianity was
typified and permanent. The glory of the Mediator, both
in his humiliation and exaltation, is described in the Epistle
to the Hebrews in the same manner as in Paul’s admitted
epistles. The w7ord Mediator occurs only in the Epistle to
the Hebrews and in Paul’s epistles; so also the expression
the God of Peace. So obvious are these resemblances in
278 H E B
Hebrides. Hebrews to what occurs in Paul’s epistles, that even those
who deny his claim admit that the author must have been
one of his companions. But, 2d, many of the figures used
in the Epistle to the Hebrews are Pauline : the Christian life
is a struggle, a race; through Christ we have access with con¬
fidence to God; the Word of God \sa.sivord; some Chris¬
tians are only children, and to be fed with milk ; others are
men, to be fed with strong meat. 3d, Peculiarities of style
favour the Pauline authorship. Paul is given to the use of
unusual words in his admitted epistles ; unusual words oc¬
cur in Hebrews ; so of paronomasia, and the tendency “ to
go off at a word” into a long parenthesis ; also the manner of
reference to Old Testament illustrations; and the multiplica¬
tion of these references favours the Pauline origin. 5th, The
concluding personal references of the writer of Hebrews ac¬
cord with the supposition of the Pauline origin of the epistle.
The objections to the Pauline authorship are—1st, the
difficulty of assigning a reason for the suppression of the
name of Paul, were he the author. But the difficulty is
just as great whether Luke, or A polios, or Barnabas, or
any other be supposed to have written the epistle. 2d,
Eichhorn urges that the Epistle to the Hebrews is more
logically reasoned than accords with the Pauline authorship.
It is answered that the reasoning of the Epistle to the Ro¬
mans is as closely logical as that in Hebrews. Tholuck
urges that Paul nowhere calls Christ priest, shepherd,
apostle, &c.; it is replied that Paul applies figurative ap¬
pellations to Christ according to the peculiarities of the par¬
ties addressed. To speak of priests to Gentiles could not
be done without explanation. It was quite otherwise in
addressing Jews, who had a priesthood of divine appoint¬
ment; so of other names.
As to external evidence, the Pauline authorship was uni¬
versally received from the first by the Eastern Church. In
the Western Church, however, it was not so universally
adopted till the fifth century. The general result is—1st,
no better claims can be urged than those of Paul; 2d,
there is no decided obstacle in the way of his claims; and,
3d, both internally and externally the evidence prepon¬
derates in his favour.
The object of the epistle was to convince Jewish Chris¬
tians of the superiority of Christianity over Judaism. It
was written before the destruction of the temple.
HEBRIDES, The, or Western Islands of Scotland,
consist of about 200 islands or islets, lying between N. Lat.
55. and 58. 51., and W. Long. 5. and 7. 52. Their ancient
name was Hehudce or Ebudce, and the alteration was simply
the result of a printer’s error in an early edition of the works
of the venerable Bede, published in Paris. From the census
returns it appears that in 1851 the number of inhabited
islands in the Hebrides was 79, having a population of
116,367 ; from 20 to 30 more are partially inhabited during
the summer and grazing season. The most southern of the
group are situated on the Firth of Clyde—as Bute, Arran,
the Cumbrays, Lamlash, and Inchmarnoch. The geological
formation of these islands includes granite, gneiss, slate, trap,
sandstone, and limestone. Arran is peculiarly rich in attrac¬
tions both to the geologist and botanist, and possesses highly
picturesque scenery. The other islands are usually divided
into the Outer Hebrides, or Long Island, and the Inner He¬
brides. The former consists of the Lewis, Harris, North and
South Uist, Benbecula, Barra, and a number of smaller
islands—the whole length from Barra-Head to the Butt of
Lewis being about 130 miles. The Inner Hebrides include
Islay, Skye, Mull, Jura, Coll, Colonsay, Rum, Tiree, Ulva,
Lismore, &c. The outer range consists almost exclusively
of gneiss rocks, with poor soil and large proportions of moss
and moor. The inner range is composed chiefly of trap and
slate “ a basis,” as is said by a recent authority, “ for the
most part of secondary sandstones and limestone, out of
which have arisen from the fiery nucleus of the earth, enor-
H E B
mous overlying, and, in some cases, overflowing masses and Hebrides,
mountains of trap rocks, chiefly greenstone, sienite, basalt,
hyperstene, and an endless variety of pitchstone, claystone,
and felspar porphyries, with their associated crystals and
minerals.” The magnificent basalt columns and caves of
Staffa are well known. The islands are not rich in minerals.
Iron has been found in several of them, but the want of coal
in sufficient abundance renders it of but nominal value.
Lead exists, and was sometime wrought in Islay. In Skye
and Tiree are marble quarries, which also were worked
for a short time, but are now abandoned. There are ex¬
cellent slate quarries at Easdale, Luing, Seil, Shuna, Lunga,
&c.—a small and intricate group of islands annexed to
Argyllshire, which, from the number of workmen em¬
ployed, the workmen’s houses, and vessels shipping cargo,
present a busy and animated scene. The Outer Hebrides
are almost wholly destitute of wood. For miles the eye
ranges over tracts of dreary moss, though efforts have been
made in Lewis to redeem the sterility of the soil. At one
time the manufacture of kelp from the seaware afforded
employment to the people of Barra, Harris, Lewis, Skye,
&c., but the reduction of the duty on salt and barilla has
nearly extinguished this branch of Hebridean trade. When
Dr Johnson visited Skye in 1773, agriculture was neglected,
and there was scarcely a vegetable grown on the island.
Now arable farms, cultivated with care and skill, and
gardens producing all the fruits and flowers grown in Scot¬
land, are found. The mild and humid climate of the islands
is peculiarly favourable to vegetation, and vast improvement
has been effected. Arable cultivation, however, is in most
districts considered subordinate to grazing and sheep-farm¬
ing. The greater part of the surface consists of mountains
incapable of cultivation. The valleys by which these moun¬
tains are intersected are narrow, and frequently covered
with peat-moss, and the sides of the valleys are often too
steep and rocky to be fit for tillage. But the most formid¬
able obstacle to the profitable pursuit of corn-farming is the
excessive humidity of the climate, which no industry can
overcome, and no skill obviate. The drenching rains and
cloudy skies for which the Hebrides are so notorious, frus¬
trate the efforts of the cultivator in every stage of his ope¬
rations. In winter the finer particles and every soluble and
fertilizing ingredient in the soil are washed away ; in spring
the land cannot be brought to the requisite condition for
receiving the seed; in summer the corn is etiolated and
does not fill, and in harvest the process of ripening is re¬
tarded, and the crop is often little better than' straw. In
truth, the islands are essentially pastoral. Drainage and
artificial manures have done much, and there are farms
in Skye and Islay which may vie with any on the main¬
land, but the general characteristics of the islands are
such as we have described. Rearing of cattle (which is
carried on to a considerable extent) and sheep-farming
seem to be the only sure and profitable occupations. Much
of the land has been converted into sheep-walks, on
which large flocks of Cheviot sheep are now reared, and
sold at the Inverness or Falkirk trysts. The Crinan
and Caledonian canals offer facilities for export and inter¬
communication ; steamboats from Glasgow now visit most
of the islands; and excellent roads, under the charge of a
parliamentary commission, traverse the principal districts.
The impulse which all these combined have given to trade
and production need not be described. The moors and
desolate tracts are often let at high prices to English
sportsmen. Every year the passion for field sports, espe¬
cially deer-stalking, seems to increase, and many Highland
lairds derive a larger revenue from their moors than their
grandfathers did from their whole estates. One great and
permanent interest in the Hebrides is that of the fisheries.
This has never been prosecuted with sufficient spirit or per¬
severance. The Lewis islanders are perhaps the most
HEBRIDES.
lebrides. active ;—of old, Barra was celebrated for its bold seamen
and fishermen, but their descendants are sunk in apathy
and poverty. To Lowland adventurers is left the chief
harvest of these distant seas.
The scenery of the Hebrides may be generally described
as partaking of the wild and sublime. Large masses of
mountains, of all forms, tower up in the interior; and the
coasts, indented by arms of the sea, are rugged and varied
in outline. Skye is now a favourite resort of tourists. The
Bay of Scavaig, Loch Coruisk, Glen Sligachan, and the
Cuchullin Hills, are scenes of almost unexampled grandeur
and picturesque desolation. The Spar Cave, with its lofty
chamber and white translucent stalactite, and the mighty
ocean-temple of Staffa, have no parallels. Spots of great
beauty—green pastoral glens, sheltered bays and lakes, are
interposed amidst the wildest scenes. Even among the
rough rocks of Harris and Barra, enchanting marine views
burst on the spectator. In winter they are terrible ; but
“what can be more delightful,” asks a native of that
solitary coast—the late Professor Macgillivray—“than a
midnight walk by moonlight along the lone sea-beach of
some secluded isle, the glassy sea sending from its surface
a long stream of dancing and dazzling light, no sound to
be heard save the small ripple of the idle wavelet, or the
scream of a sea-bird watching the fry that swarms along the
shores ? In the short nights of summer, the melancholy
song of the throstle has scarcely ceased on the hill-side,
when the merry carol of the lark commences, and the plover
and snipe sound their shrill pipe. Again, how glorious is
the scene which presents itself from the summit of one of
the loftier hills, when the great ocean is seen glowing with
the last splendour of the setting sun, and the lofty isles of
St Kilda rear their giant heads amid the purple blaze on
the extreme verge of the horizon!” We may add that a
sail on a summer day down the Sound of Mull, amidst the
archipelago of islands, gigantic mountain-ranges in the dis¬
tance, and by the shores, perched on projecting rocks and
promontories, the ruins of Dunolly, Dunstaftnage, Duart,
Ardtornish, Mingarry, &c.,—“ chiefless castles breathing
stern farewells,”—is an event never to be forgotten or re¬
membered without emotion.
The original inhabitants of the Hebrides seem to have
been of the same Celtic race as those settled on the main¬
land—the Scoto-Irish, whom Columba, about the middle
of the sixth century, converted to Christianity. Scandina¬
vian hordes then poured in, with their northern idolatry
and lust of plunder, but in time they adopted the language
and faith of the islanders, and were recognised as Earls of
Orkney and Kings of the Hebrides and Isle of Man. The
chief seat of their sovereignty was at Islay. About the
year 1076 or 1096 died in Islay, Godred Crovan, King of
Dublin, of Man, and of the Hebrides. He was succeeded
by Olaus or Olave, and the daughter of Olaus was married
to Somerled, or Sorlet (in Gaelic Somhairle, and corrupted
by chroniclers into Sorli Marlady, &c.), who became the
founder of the dynasty known as Lords of the Isles.1 From
the year 1156 to 1164, Somerled was styled Prince of
Argyll (Regulus Eregeithel) and Lord of Kintyre. After
a rebellion of twelve years against the Scottish monarch,
Malcolm IV., he was slain in 1164, and was succeeded by
his son Reginald, who styled himself Lord oflnchgall (the
Western Isles), and also King of the Isles and Lord of
Argyll and Kintyre. This Reginald, his son, and grand¬
son, were monks of Paisley, and liberal benefactors to the
monastery there. Angus Oig, the fifth of the race of So¬
merled, in 1306, after the defeat of Robert Bruce by John
of Lorn, entertained the king for three days at his castle of
Dunaverty, in South Kintyre. Previous to this many efforts
had been made by the Scottish monarchs to displace the
279
Norwegians. Alexander II. led a fleet and army to the Hebrides,
shores of Argyleshire in 1249, but he died in the island of
Ker rera. On the other hand the Norwegian sovereign was
no less indignant at the independence assumed by the Jarls,
or governors of the islands, and at the indignities offered to
his subjects. King Haco or Hacon sailed with a great
fleet and army to assert his rights. The exact date of his
expedition is ascertained by a fact illustrative of the light
thrown by science on history. The Norwegian chronicler
remarked, that when the king lay with his fleet in Orkney,
“a great darkness grew over the sun, so that only a little
ring was bright round his orb.” The eclipse was calculated,
and found to have taken place on the 5th of August 1263.
Haco’s fleet was shattered by tempests in the Firth of
Clyde, and the portion of his army which landed was de¬
feated at Largs. The discomfited monarch retreated,
passing the narrow strait between Skye and the mainland
(which still bears the name of Kyle-Hacon, or Kyleakin),
and reaching Orkney, died thereon the 12th of December.
Magnus, son of Haco, concluded a peace with the Scots
(1266), renouncing all claim to the Hebrides and other
islands, excepting Orkney and Shetland, and King Alex¬
ander agreed to give him a sum of 4000 merks in four
yearly payments. It was also stipulated that Margaret,
daughter of Alexander (then only four years of age), should
be betrothed to Eric, the son of Magnus—a connection long
remembered and lamented in Scottish song and story.
The race of Somerled continued to rule the islands, and
from a younger son of the same potentate sprung the Lords
of Lorn, who took the patronymic of Macdougall. John
of Isle or Islay, between the years 1346 and 1354, first
adopted the title of “ Lord of the Isles.” He was one of
the most potent of the island princes, and was married to a
daughter of the Earl of Strathern, Steward of Scotland.
His son, Donald of the Isles, was memorable for his rebel¬
lion in support of his claim to the earldom of Ross. The
chiefs of Mackintosh and Maclean joined his standard, but
Donald was defeated or weakened at the battle of Harlaw,
fought in July 1411, and was ultimately compelled to make
submission, and abandon his claim to the earldom. His son
Alexander resumed the hereditary warfare against the
Scottish crown. The sceptre, however, was now in the
firm and unrelenting hand of James I.; and the Lord of
the Isles, after undergoing, with his mother, the Countess
of Ross, imprisonment for a year, was fain to make abject
submission, delivering up his sword on his knees. The son
of Alexander, John of the Isles, soon however appears in an
attitude of sovereignty, treating as an independent prince
with Edward IV. of England. In 1462 was concluded,
between John of Isle, Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles,
and King Edward IV., the treaty of Ardtornish, by which
John, his son Donald Balloch, and his grandson John
of Isle, became bound to assist King Edward and James
Earl of Douglas in subduing the kingdom of Scotland.
The reward promised for this high service was not great.
They were to receive respectively, in time of war, L.200,
L.40, and L.20 yearly; and in time of peace 100 merks,
L.20 and L.10 sterling. The alliance seems to have led
to no active operations, and the island king was adjudged
to be a traitor to his liege sovereign of Scotland, and de¬
prived of his earldom of Ross, which was annexed to the
crown. In the reign of James V. another John of Isla re¬
sumed the title of “ Lord of the Isles,” but was compelled
to surrender the dignity. Lie afterwards laid siege to the
Castle of Ellandonan in Ross-shire, and was slain with an
arrow. The glory of the lordship of the Isles—the insular
sovereignty—had departed. From the time of Bruce, the
Campbells had been gaining the ascendancy in Argyll.
The Macleans, Macnaughtons, Maclachlans, Laments, and
1 Worsaae’s Danes. Origines Parochiales Scotia!, Bannatyne Club, 1854.
280 H E B
Hebrides, other ancient races had sunk before this favoured family.
WThe lordship of Lorn was wrested from the Macdougalls
by Bruce, and their extensive possessions, with Dunstafthage
Castle, bestowed on the king’s relative, Stewart and his de¬
scendants, afterwards Lords of Lorn. The Macdougalls,
at a subsequent period, regained possession of their ancient
residence, Dunolly Castle, but this branch of the house of
Somerled was never reinstated in its former importance.
The Macdonalds of Sleat, the direct representatives of So¬
merled, though driven from Islay and deprived of supreme
power by James V., still kept a sort of insular state in Skye.
There were also the Macdonalds of Clanranald and Glen¬
garry (descendants of Somerled), with the powerful houses
of Macleod of Dunvegan (£*0/ Tormod), and Macleod of
Harris (Siol Torquil), M‘Neill of Barra, and Maclean of
Mull.1 Fierce sanguinary feuds continued throughout the
16th and 17th centuries among these rival clans and their
dependent tribes, and the turbulent spirit was not subdued
till a comparatively recent period. James VI. made an
abortive attempt at the colonization of Lewis. William
III. and Queen Anne attempted to subsidize the chiefs in
order to preserve tranquillity, but the wars of Montrose and
Dundee, and the Jacobite insurrections of 1715 and 1745
showed how futile were all such efforts. It was not till 1748,
when a decisive blow was struck at the power of the chiefs by
the abolition of heritable jurisdictions and the appointment
of sheriffs in the different districts, that the arts of peace and
social improvement made way in these remote regions.
The change was great, and at first not unmixed with
evil. It was no longer the interest of the chief to surround
himself with a host of dependents. His strength lay in
money, not in arms. A new system of management and
high rents were imposed, in consequence of which numbers
of the tacksmen, or large tenants, emigrated to America.
In twenty years, from 1772 to 1792, about 6400 persons
left the country, carrying with them, in specie, at least
L. 38,400. The exodus continued for many years. Sheep¬
farming, on a large scale, was next introduced, and the
crofters were thrust into villages or barren corners of the
land. The consequence was, that despite the numbers
who entered the army, or emigrated to Canada, the standard
of civilization sunk lower, and the population multiplied in
all the islands. The people came to subsist almost en¬
tirely on potatoes and herrings; and in 1846, when the
potatoe blight commenced its ravages, a scene of nearly
universal destitution ensued. The population of Skye,
which Johnson, in 1773, considered too great for the means
of subsistence, had swelled from 15,000 to 24,000 ; and of
these, 8000 (one-third) demanded and received relief from
the Destitution Fund nobly provided by the British nation.
In Tiree there were 1400 people who paid no rent and had
exhausted the fuel on the island. Over the islands, generally,
the proportion of destitution was in the ratio of 70 per cent,
of the population. Temporary relief was administered in
the shape of employment on roads and other works; and
an emigration fund being raised, from 4000 to 5000 of the
people, in the most crowded districts, were removed to
Australia, where labour, and the reward of labour, awaited
them. The condition of the islanders at home is still de¬
plorable. To elevate them must be the work of many
years; and a still more extensive family emigration seems ne¬
cessary as a preliminary step. Education in the English lan¬
guage is also required, to which should be added the prose¬
cution of the fisheries on a better basis, and the colonization
in the Hebrides of east coast fishermen (descendants of the
H E C
industrious and hardy Shetlanders and Scandinavians) in Hebrides
eligible fishing stations. ||
Hebrides, New, a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. Hecat®us
See Australasia (vol. iv., p. 265).
HEBRON, a very ancient city of Palestine, in the tribe
of Judah, 18 miles S. of Jerusalem. Its most ancient name
was Kirjath-arba, i. e, “ the city of Arba,” so called from
Arba, the father of Anak and of the Anakim, who dwelt in
and around Hebron. The patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob resided much at Hebron, and are there entombed.
The ancient city lay in a valley ; and the two remaining
pools, one of which at least existed in the time of David,
serve with other circumstances to identify the modern with
the ancient site. David on becoming king of Judah, made
Hebron his royal residence, and reigned here seven and
a half years. Its modern name is .£7 Khulib, “ the friend”
of God, the title by which the Moslems designate Abra¬
ham. In modern history Hebron is chiefly noted for
the part taken by its inhabitants in the rebellion of 1834,
and the heavy retribution which it brought down upon them.
They gave battle to Ibrahim Pasha near Solomon’s pools,
but were defeated, and retired within the city, which was
taken by storm, and given over to sack and pillage. The
town of Hebron lies low down on the sloping sides of a nar¬
row valley. The houses are all of stone, high and well-
built, with windows, and flat roofs, on which are small domes,
sometimes two or three to each house. The streets are
narrow, seldom more than two or three yards in width. The
bazaars and shops are well supplied with commodities. It
has nine mosques, the principal of which is the massive
structure built over the tombs of the patriarchs. This is
esteemed by the Moslems one of their holiest places, from
which Christians are rigorously excluded. Hebron has
long been noted for the produce of its glass-works, consist¬
ing chiefly of glass lamps, many of which are exported to
Egypt. Pop. variously estimated from 5000 to 10,000.
HEBRUS, now the Maritza, the largest river in Thrace,
rises in the high ground between Mounts Scomius and
Rhodope. It flows in a S.E. direction from its source to
Hadrianople ; from that city to the sea its course is almost
due S. It falls into the Mgaean nearly opposite the island
of Samothrace, and forming at its mouth the Palus Sten-
toris. Unlike most of the rivers in Greece the Hebrus is
navigable for about two-thirds of its course. Small craft
sail up as far as Philippopolis. Its principal tributaries are
the Artiscus (Bujuk-dere), the Agrianes (Ergene), Conta-
desdus (Saradjala), and Tearus (Tekedere). It was at the
source of the Hebrus that Darius erected a pillar with an
inscription to the effect that its waters were the purest and
best, just as he himself was the fairest of men.
HECATASUS, one of the earliest of the Greek histo¬
rians. He was sprung from a noble family of Miletus ; his
father’s name was Hegesander. The dates of his birth and
death are not ascertained ; but he is known to have taken
part in the counsels of the lonians when they were deliber¬
ating to throw off the Persian yoke. He tried to dissuade
his countrymen from this attempt; and as he was well ac¬
quainted with the strength and resources of the Persian
empire, he dwelt on the hopelessness of a contest with so
powerful an antagonist. His advice was neglected, and the
consequence followed which he had predicted. This fixes
his floruit about 500 B.c. Like Herodotus, Hecataeus
seems to have visited foreign countries, and to have described,
from personal observation, their physical characteristics, and
the manners and customs of their inhabitants. His works
1 The M‘Neills were originally of Irish origin. It is related that when the chief dined, a horn was sounded from the battlements of
the castle tower in Barra, and a herald proclaimed, “ Hear, 0 ye people, and listen, 0 ye nations! The great M'Neill of Barra, having
finished his meal, the princes of the earth may dine!” The charters granted hy the Macdonalds ran in a similar mock-heroic strain :—
“ I, Macdonald, give you a right to your farm from this day till to-morrow, and every day thereafter, so long as you have food for the
great Macdonald of the Isles.”
H E C
Hecite
II
Hector.
were of three kinds, historical, genealogical, and geographi¬
cal, and were held in some esteem by the ancients. Hero¬
dotus sometimes refers to him as an authority. The nu¬
merous fragments of his works which have come down to
us have been collected by Creuzer in his Historicorum
Antiquissimorum Fragmenta. (See Memoires de VAca¬
demic des Inscript., tom. vi., p. 475 ; Vossius de Hist. Grcec.,
p. 440; and Ulrici, Charakteristik der antiken Historiogra¬
phic, Berlin, 1833.)
HECATE, in Grecian Mythology, the name of a mys¬
terious goddess, who, in many of her attributes, bore a strong
resemblance to Diana. Her power was at one time so ex¬
tensive that she was identified with several other deities,
such as Proserpine, Ceres, Cybele, and especially Diana or
Artemis. Her statues were set up in cross-roads and in
front of houses. She was worshipped w ith peculiar honours
at Athens and TEgina, where she was regarded as the patron
goddess of the domestic hearth. The sacrifices offered to
her consisted chiefly of black lambs, dogs, and honey. (See
Diana.)
HECATOMB, in Grecian Antiquity, signifies, accord¬
ing to its etymon, an offering of a hundred oxen. Even
before Homer’s time, however, the word had lost its strict
etymological meaning, and was employed to denote gene¬
rally a great public sacrifice. Homer himself {II. vi., 93)
talks of a hecatomb of twelve oxen ; and again {II. i., 315),
hecatombs of oxen and rams; and even {II. xxiii., 146) a
hecatomb of fifty rams. Later writers used sometimes to
reckon even the votive gifts under the hecatomb. (See
Sacrifice.)
IIECATOMBjEON, in Grecian Antiquity, the first
month in the Attic year, answering to the last half of our
July and the first of August. It took its name from the
great festival of the Hecatombje, at which hecatombs were
offered.
HECHINGEN, a city of Germany on the Starzel, 31
miles S.S.W. of Stuttgart. It was capital of the sovereign
principality of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, which was ceded
to Prussia in 1849. Pop. about 3400.
HECLA, a volcano of Iceland. See Iceland.
HECTARE. See France, § Weights and Measures.
HECTOGRAMME. See France, § Weights and
Measures.
HECTOLITRE. See France, § Weights and Measures.
HECTOMETRE. See France, § Weights and Mea¬
sures.
HECTOR, in Grecian Story, the most valiant foe that
the Greeks had to encounter in the siege of Troy. He
was the eldest son of Priam and Hecuba, and of all the
Trojan chiefs was the wisest in coupsel and the bravest in
the field. During the whole continuance of the siege he
was the bulwark of his country, devotedly meeting all risks,
and bravely encountering all odds. He slew some of the
most distinguished leaders of the Grecian host, and fought
on equal terms with Menelaus, Ajax, Diomede, and others.
His last exploit was his conquest of Patroclus, the friend of
Achilles, whom he slew and stript of his armour. The death
of Patroclus roused Achilles from the lethargic indifference
which he had maintained since he had been insulted by
Agamemnon. He sought out the slayer of his friend, and
Hector fell in the encounter. His victorious foe dragged
his corpse three times round the walls of Troy ; but the
body was preserved from injury by the gods. Some of the
scenes in which Hector takes part are among the finest in
the Iliad. Such are his interview with his brother Paris,
and afterwards with his wife Andromache and his son Scam-
andrius at the Scaean gate (book vi.) ; his final combat with
Achilles; and after his death, the interview of his aged
father with that chief concerning the ransom of the slain
hero’s body. The Iliad closes with the description of the
funeral rites and games in his honour.
H E G 281
HECUBA, the daughter of Dymas (Horn. II. ii., 718), Hecuba
or of Cisseus (Eurip.), or of the River Sangarius and Metope H
(Apollodor. iii., 12, 5), was the second wife of Priam, and HeSel-
had by him nineteen sons and a great number of daughters.
Of the sons, the most celebrated were Hector, Paris, Dei-
phobus, Helenus, Polydorus, Troilus ; and of the daughters,
Polyxena, Cassandra, Creiisa, and Laodice. When Hecuba
was pregnant of Paris, she dreamed that she had brought
into the world a burning torch, which reduced her husband’s
palace and all Troy to ashes. This dream was interpreted
to mean that the son she should bring into the world would
prove the destruction of his country. To avoid this, she
exposed Paris as soon as he was born ; but he was saved
by shepherds, and afterwards acknowledged by his parents.
During the Trojan War she witnessed the death of nearly
all her children, and at last saw her husband murdered be¬
fore her eyes. (Virg. JEn. ii.) When Troy was taken,
Hecuba fell to the lot of Ulysses. They set sail and landed
in the Thracian Chersonnesus, where Hecuba learned that
her son Polydorus had been murdered by Polymnestor, the
ancient friend of the Trojans, to whom Priam had sent him.
She proceeded with some Trojan women to the house of
Polymnestor, put to death two of his sons, and tore out his
own eyes. Polymnestor foretold to her that she would be
changed into a she-dog, and would leap into the sea at
Cynosema. The tradition further says, that under this form
she ran for a time howling through Thrace, till she was at
length stoned to death by the inhabitants.
FIEDGEHOG. See index to Mammalia.
HEDJAZ, El, a district of Arabia. See Arabia.
HEDWIG, Johann, a distinguished German botanist,
was born in 1730 at Cronstadt, in Transylvania. He early
lost his father, and was obliged to fight his way as he best
might through his medical course. This he did manfully and
honourably. After graduating at Leipzig he returned home,
only to find that it was not lawful for him to practise with a
foreign diploma in the Austrian dominions. He then re¬
moved to Chemnitz in Saxony; and thence, in 1781, to
Leipzig, where he published his great work on the mosses
under the title of Fundamentum Historice Naturalis Mus-
corum. This work secured him the chair of botany at the
university, when it fell vacant in 1789. He held it till his
death in 1799. Hedwig was an excellent observer; one
of the best, indeed, of last century. In microscopic re¬
searches his skill was pre-eminent. Two valuable qualities
in an observer he combined in a very unusual degree—
memory and keenness of eye-sight. Besides his Funda¬
mentum, he wrote many other scientific works and papers,
nearly all bearing on his favourite study, but none of them
approaching in value the important work with which his fame
is now identified.
HEGEL, George Wilhelm Friedrich, was born at
Stuttgart, on the 27th of August 1770. At the age of
eighteen he entered the University of Tubingen. During
Ifis philosophical and theological curriculum he was the
chosen friend of Schelling, who, though his junior, at this
time far outshone his destined rival. He took his degree
in 1793 ; and for the following eight years was engaged as a
private tutor, partly in Berne, and partly in Frankfurt-on-the-
Maine. During this period he entered deeply into those
theological, historical, and political studies, the results of
which in after-life gave so much lustre to his peculiar system.
But his mind was already becoming more and more exclu¬
sively bent towards philosophy. The death of his father in
1799 having left him in possession of some property, he
gave up private teaching, and in 1801 went to the Univer¬
sity of Jena with the view of qualifying as an academical
lecturer. At this time his earliest publications were issued
(Jena, 1801), viz., his Habilitations-Schrift, De Orbitis
Planetarum; and an essay—Ueber die Differenz des
Fichte'schen und Schelling,schen Systems. Soon after he
2 N
VOL. XI.
282 HEGEL.
Hegel, embarked, along with Schelling, in the publication of the
Crilische Journal der Philosophic. During the six follow¬
ing years he was engaged in the preparation of the earliest
of his larger works, the Pheenomenologie des Geistes
(Bamb. 1807). In 1806 he was made professor of philosophy
at Jena. But the disastrous campaign of that year drove
him to Bamberg, where for two years he was editor of a
political journal. In 1808 he became rector of the Academy
of Nuremberg. During the last four years of his residence
there he issued the second of his great works—Wissenschaft
der Logik (Niirem. 1812-16). In 1816 he was removed to
a chair of philosophy at Heidelberg. Here he published
his Encyclopcedie der Philosophischen Wissenschaften
(Heidel. 1817). In 1818 he at last reached a position where
his genius found full scope and appreciation. He was called
to Berlin, to fill the chair of Fichte; and here he remained
till his death, the acknowledged chief of the German philo¬
sophers. Men of all ranks and professions, even from foreign
countries, flocked to his lectures. A school of zealous dis¬
ciples formed around him. In 1827 a review (.Jahrhucher
fiir Wissenschaftliche Critik) was established as the organ
and advocate of his doctrines ; and through the influence of
the minister Von Altenstein, his scholars came to occupy
many of the professorial chairs in the Prussian universities.
Thus honoured and rewarded, Hegel survived till 1831,
when he was cut off by cholera (14th November), in the
sixty-first year of his age. During this period he had pub¬
lished his Grundlinien der Philosophic des Rechts (Berlin,
1821). Soon after his death a complete edition of his works
was commenced by a number of his scholars. Besides those
published in his lifetime, this issue included his lectures on
the Philosophy of Religion, on ^Esthetics, on the Philo¬
sophy of History, and on the History of Philosophy ; and
also a copious Life of Hegel by Rosenkranz, forming the
last volume of the series. It was completed in 1844, in
18 vols. octavo.
Hegel did not stand alone ; he stood at the culminating
point of German philosophy, towards which there had been
a continuous progress ever since the days of Kant. That
great thinker, in opposition to the reigning sensationalism
of his time, had chiefly devoted himself to the investigation
and vindication of our a priori principles of knowledge ;—of
those principles, regulative and constitutive, analytic and
synthetic, which depend upon experience only (as the spark
in the flintstone depends upon the steel) as the occasion of
eliciting them into conscious recognition, and which, more¬
over, being prior to experience in the order of thought and
of nature, though posterior to it in the order of time, are
necessary in order to the possibility of experience itself.
But while vindicating, with a hitherto unequalled power
and success, the independence of onx a priori knowledge
to experience, Kant left experience itself and its a poste¬
riori products on a very unsatisfactory footing. He held
that the data of the sensory, of perception internal and ex¬
ternal, must be recognized as valid for practical purposes;
but he refused to recognize their truth and validity within
the sphere of speculation. As he was thus confessedly
unable to bridge over the gulf between the internal and
the external, the ideal and the real, his system was one
of virtual idealism. The Gordian knot which Kant thus
failed to untie was boldly cut by the subjective idealism
of Fichte. Beginning with the admitted impossibility of
establishing the existence of an external world, Fichte car¬
ried it out to this conclusion, that for man there is no exter¬
nal world; that as no other thing is known to him, so in
fact no other thing exists for him, but his own mind ; that
self, or the “ egoJ is the universe. The objective idealism of
Schelling was an attempt to deliver the human spirit from the
prison-house of the ego in which it had been thus pent up by
Fichte. The question was, how to find a way out of it to the
knowledge of something beyond. The good old way of com¬
mon sense, external perception, was not to be thought of. Hegel.
Accordingly, Schelling hit upon the old Platonic figment
of intellectual intuition—Anschauung—a state of cognition
in which the soul transcends the ordinary conditions of
thought and limitations of being, and gazes directly upon
the unconditioned, the self-existent, the absolute. This
absolute, the object of intuition, has a real existence beyond
the knowing subject. At the same time subject and object,
ideal and real, though diverse, are identical; they are but
opposite poles of the same universal subject, of the one,
true, indivisible, absolute object—the living soul of the uni¬
verse. Thus the solid footing which Kant had failed to
find for metaphysics was sought by Fichte and Schelling
in the knowledge of the absolute. Fichte assumed this
transcendent reality as existing in man himself; Schelling,
as—phenomenally, at least—manifesting itself ah extra.
Only one step further remained to be taken; that step
was taken by Hegel. He, too, seeks to solve the same
problem by an assumed knowledge of the absolute. But
this absolute with him is not a universal substance, as with
Spinoza; or se/f, as with Fichte; or a universal mind or
subject, as with Schelling. Hegel’s absolute is neither
matter nor mind, neither a substance nor a subject, exter¬
nal nor internal; but a process, even the process of thought
itself. The constitutive principle of his system is the
identity of thought and existence. And it is not merely
that the ideal and the real are identical, as in the system
of Schelling ; it is this relation of identity that is the sole
reality—the absolute itself. And again, it is not merely that
the absolute may be recognized, as by Schelling’s Anschau¬
ung, as uniting in itself the subject and object; it is
this recognition that constitutes the absolute, because it is
only in this conscious recognition that the unity is realized
or brought into being. Thus, the process of apprehending,
and the object apprehended, the absolute thought and the
absolute existence, are one ; all being is represented by the
term absolute idea; this process, thought, or idea, is the
ground of all existence, embracing in its bosom, as its pos¬
sible developments, God, the universe, and man.
Having thus indicated the marvellous results, let us now
revert to the method by which they have been reached.
This is the more necessary in the present case, because
it is its method, or dialectic, which forms the distinctive
peculiarity of the Hegelian system. In fact, Hegel’s aim at
first was, not so much to establish a new system, as to give
scientific form and method to the somewhat loose materials
thrown out by Schelling. Hegel’s genius was severely
systematic; and the Anschauung which his illustrious
friend had invented as an organ of constructive thinking,
was to him only a stumbling-block. It grieved him to see
the absolute arrived at in this arbitrary way—“ shot,” as he
himself expressed it, “out of a pistol.” So, in place of this
intuition, he resolved to substitute a rigidly dialectic method.
With this view, he first of all (in his Phaenomenologie)
instituted an inquiry into the process by which, in point of
fact, man does arrive at the knowledge of the absolute.
This process, both in the individual mind and in that of the
race, he found to embrace three distinct epochs—three suc¬
cessive, progressive, and mutually connected stages of in¬
telligence. The first is that of pure and simple sensational
intuition; in which the subject is barely conscious, being
aware of no object, but merely of a “ here ” and a “ now.”
The second is that of perception or understanding ; in which
the subject and object appear as diverse and contrasted;
in which they are regarded only as opposites or contraries;
in which the thinker regards the objects of his thought as
having an independent existence, and forming a world dis¬
tinct from the thought itself. The third, last, and highest, is
that of absolute thought. Here the point of view is reached
from which man attains to the knowledge of the absolute
The multiplicity of the second epoch or stage now disap-
HEGEL.
283
pears, by being brought back into a unity—a unity which
consists in the recognized identity of the seemingly con¬
trasted opposites. But this recognition is now no longer,
as in the first epoch, a mere undeveloped sensation ; it is
an act of thought, carrying along with it a distinct con¬
sciousness of the seeming or phenomenal diversity of the
things thus brought into one.
But we have not merely thus reached the point of view
from which the absolute is descried, or, in other words, that
absolute thought in which the absolute consists. In so
doing we have also discovered the regulative principle—
that of the identity of contraries—which has presided over
its genetic development. This principle or law is the im¬
manent fate or inborn necessity of thought. By the force
of this law the subject in its first stage is eternally con¬
strained to project itself into an object; and the contrast
thus produced gives birth to the second stage. But by the
same law the thinker or thought is made to seek for the
recognition of the unity of these apparent contraries ; and in
seeking and finding their unity the last and highest stage
of thought is reached. Further, in thus discovering the
development of thought, we have also found the law of the
history of being. For thought and existence are identical.
And therefore the principle of the identity of contraries, in
being the law of thought, is also the law of things; and
thus we have the materials, not only of a logic, but also of a
metaphysic; the faithful application of this one law will
enable us to deduce, from the bare idea of being, a true
history of actual things, a complete system of the universe.
This, in fact, is what Hegel professes to have accom¬
plished. His only postulates are, the identity of thought
and existence as a constitutive, and the identity of contra¬
ries as a regulative principle. This regulative principle
guides him through all the departments of human know¬
ledge, in all their details and ramifications. Everywhere
he finds the same rhythm endlessly repeated, the one un¬
varied trilogy of, first, the idea simply; then, the idea of oppo¬
sites as contrasted ; and then, the contraries returning into
a recognized unity. In thus following out his principle to
its results he has shown wonderful dialectic skill, and at
the same time lighted incidentally upon many views of real
value to true philosophy. Let us illustrate his principle by
its application. By his self-imposed limitation, he feels
compelled to begin with the barren, empty idea of being,
eviscerated of all contents, and in fact equal to nothing;
and from this Seyn = nichts to develop the universe in the
following manner1st, We have pre-supposed the bare
idea, being, or thought (for they are identical), as yet un¬
developed, and recognizing nothing beyond itself. 2d,
The immanent necessity of its own law causes thought to
project itself into externality or objectivity ; and thus gives
to us nature, and the philosophy of nature. 3d, Under
the impulse of the same necessity, the thought, or idea, or
being, is carried to its completed evolution, by a regression
to the primitive unity, but now a unity that is consciously
recognized; and this self-consciousness gives mind, and
the philosophy of mind. Thus the universe is produced ;
and by the same method we arrive at all its varied details.
Speculations so shadowy, unsubstantial, and wildly remote
from men’s living sympathies and interests, might safely
be allowed to pass away unrecorded into their native dream¬
land, if it were not that certain of their practical conse¬
quences, or rather of their practical aspects, invest them
with a deep, and even a tragic interest. We might per¬
haps be disposed to recoil from the view which this system
gives us even of what we are accustomed to speak of as the
material world; for surely to describe nature as being merely
one of the manifestations of thought, is not to explain nature,
but to substitute a shadow in its place. This, however, might
be tolerated, side by side with the ingenious speculations of
our own Berkeley. It is only when we look upon the great
realities of the spirit-world in the light of the Hegelian pan- Hegel,
theistic idealism, that its frightful consequences fully unfold
themselves to our view. In reviewing Hegel’s deduction
of the universe from the abstract idea (or being = nothing),
we naturally inquire, Where is God to find a place in this
system ? In answer to this, we are told that he is in the uni¬
verse, as the soul is in the body, “ all in the whole, and all in
every part.” The absolute thought or existence itself is God;
who, therefore, reaches self-consciousness and personality
only in the person and consciousness of man. This is, in
effect, to affirm that there is no God—i.e., that there is no per¬
sonal, supreme, intelligent being, distinct from and presiding
over the universe ; that creation and providence are not the
actions of a free agent, but the mechanical operation of a
nothing, obeying the constraining power of the law of the
identity of contraries. To say that though God is not a
person, yet he is personality realizing itself in man, is only
to say that the only vestige of divinity in the universe is an
attribute of what we are accustomed to regard as one of God’s
imperfect creatures. And while man is thus seemingly ex¬
alted with one hand into a god, with the other he is reduced
to a phantom. For man is thus not a separate, independent
person, endowed with a free will, and responsible for his ac¬
tions ; he is but the absolute thought in its highest manifes¬
tation, ever moved only by the power of the supreme regula¬
tive principle of all existence. Human history is not the pro¬
gression of the free, but the necessary evolution of thought,
according to the same all-pervading law of the identity of
opposites. And not only is man thus stripped of his dis¬
tinctive attribute, that of freedom and responsibility, he is
at the same time robbed of his distinctive hope, that of im¬
mortality. There is, no doubt, a verbal admission of man’s
immortality, as there is also of God’s personality. For, it is
said, as God finds his personality in man (by being de¬
graded into the finite), so man finds his immortality in God,
by having his being absorbed in the infinite, by sinking
back into unconsciousness. Thus man finds immortality
by ceasing to be, by losing his personality; even as God,
in order to begin to be, in order to find personality, has to
lose his infinity by becoming identified with evanescent
humanity. God is but a shoreless, soulless, thoughtless
ocean of being, ever striving to come into personal exist¬
ence in the consciousness of men. The generations of men,
past, present, and future, are but the separate waves, or
rather, the froth on the crest of the waves of the endlessly
evolving tide, destined, each one in succession, to pass
away into oblivion and nonentity, as they sink back and
are absorbed in the ocean whose heavings gave them a
momentary and phantastic existence. Having thus bereft
humanity of its three grand moving powers—a personal
God, a free will, and a real immortality—it only remained
that Hegelianism should extend its baleful influence into the
sphere of revelation. And this has not been left undone.
While preserving the terminology of orthodox Christianity,
and even while professing to be a devout adherent of the
Lutheran Church, Hegel contrived to torture the Bible
itself until it became a witness for his absolute idealism.
Thus the doctrine of the Trinity is that of absolute thought,
developing itself in the three-fold movement prescribed by
the law of contraries. The fall of man is simply a depar¬
ture of the absolute idea into a state of objectivity or ex¬
ternality ; redemption is a method of restoring the unity
thus lost between the soul and God—i.e., between the phen¬
omenal opposites ; and the church and its ordinances
are the means by which their reunion is symbolized and
realized.
The followers of Hegel have been divided into three par¬
ties. The “ extreme right” endeavour to harmonize the
speculations of the Hegelian philosophy with the doctrines
of Christianity, to philosophize with their master, and be¬
lieve with the orthodox Christian. How this can be effected,
284 H E G
Hegel, or even attempted by a sane mind, it is hard for a British
intellect to fathom. The “ centre” party, again, hold by
the principles of Hegel, and deduce from them their legi¬
timate logical results—among other things, the subversion
of the historical truth of Christianity. But even here we
find evidence of that strange obliquity ot intellectual and
moral vision which, in those of the “ extreme right” we
might regard as a misfortune arising from their false posi¬
tion. One of the “ centre” (Strauss), avowedly in appli¬
cation of the Hegelian principles, has made a formal at¬
tempt to overthrow the authority of the gospels, and reduce
their contents to the rank of mythic fables. Thus far
might have been expected. But what we cannot reconcile
with the supposition of his possessing the feeblest sense of
moral distinction is, that this coryphaeus of infidelity was a
doctor in divinity 1 A third party, the “ extreme left,”
though not shining among the great lights of philosophy,
is yet important because of its extended ramifications in
Germany, in France, and even in Britain. But while this
party have adopted the negative and destructive results of
Hegelianism, they have departed altogether from its real
principles, spirit, and method. Hegel himself would be the
last to recognize as his legitimate offspring the spurious
brood of gross materialistic atheism and red republicanism
which has assumed his name.
The fontal error, from which consequences so disastrous
have flowed, is found in Kant’s refusal to hold as valid for
speculation the products of experience, the data of the sen¬
sory, of perception and reflection. This refusal was grounded
upon the fact that these a joosfen'oW judgments are not, like
the a priori, possessed of the qualities of universality and
necessity. While the German philosophers, down to He¬
gel, were unfolding the results of this one-sided system,
another, and a wiser, though a humbler philosophy, in Scot¬
land, while vindicating as vigorously as they against sensa¬
tionalism, the idealistic, or a priori portion of our knowledge,^
was no less firmly contending for the reality and validity ot
the a posteriori or contingent elements given in perception
and reflection. It was asserted that the only authority, that
of consciousnesss, which we possess for the truth of the a
priori, speaks no less emphatically for the truth of the a pos¬
teriori ; and that, therefore, if upon that authority we ac¬
cept the one as true, we must also accept the other; if we
reject either, we must reject both.
But while a direct refutation of the Kantian error was
thus being prepared in Scotland, an indirect, and perhaps
a more effective one, was being prepared in Germany itself.
In the hands of its own adherents the principle that would
reject our experience, in being carried out to its full legi¬
timate results, found a reductio ad absurdum. Their fun¬
damental principle, that nought is to be held as valid for
metaphysics which does not possess the criterion of ne¬
cessity and universality, renders metaphysic impossible.
For metaphysics is the science of being; and being can
be made known to us only as contingent. All being, all
actual concrete existence—God, the world, man, per¬
sonality, identity, freedom, responsibility—is made known
to us, and can be made known to us, only as logically
contingent; as something that is ; as a matter of fact or
history. Being, therefore, can be revealed to us only a
posteriori through experience—i.e., through the medium
of external and internal perception. And thus, in reject¬
ing experience as a source of knowledge, Kant deprived
metaphysics of all its possible materials. That which
remains, the law of contradiction and the causal judg¬
ment, is purely formal. These a priori principles may
themselves be elaborated into the formal sciences of logic
and induction ; they may give form to matter obtained
through experience ; but they can never themselves give to
us any knowledge of existing things—of an object or objects
to be constructed into a science of the actual. Thus we
H E I
are shut up to a philosophical rationalism, compelled to Hegira
find in our discursive reason itself, not only the principles, 11
but also the constituent elements of our knowledge. It is
vain with Fichte and Schelling, after having dethroned in- ^ erg-
tuitive reason in its normal exercise of perception and re- V*
flection, to seek for the lost materials of knowledge by such
expedients as the a Anschauung”—i.e., the same intuition,
but now, in an arbitrary acceptation, and a confessedly ab¬
normal exercise—the same mind, but now raised to a pre¬
ternatural and extranatural elevation, to which, although the
ascent wTere possible, no mortal could be known to ascend,
nor would be able to bring down the results of his exstatic
vision so as to render them intelligible to the world below.
Hegel clearly saw that this Anschauung was but a make¬
shift. He carried out the rejection of experience to its
legitimate results. In his system alone can rationalism be
consistent with itself. It is only where thought is existence,
where logic is metaphysics, that metaphysics not based on
experience can exist. But as soon as it thus exists it ceases
to be. For in asserting that thought is not only the organ,
but also the whole material and substance of our knowledge
of the actual, we are at the same moment admitting that
this knowledge has no material whatever. And thus the
coryphaeus of idealism is the nemesis of sensationalism;
while carrying a false philosophy to its last extreme Hegel
has vindicated the true ; he has done modern philosophy the
service of furnishing] the most impressive refutation, while
presenting the most completely and consistently developed
exposition, of the German speculative idealism, (j. m/g.)
HEGIRA (from the Arabic hajara, to desert), a Mo¬
hammedan epoch, dating from the expulsion of Mohammed
from Mecca, July 16, a.d. 622. (See Chronology and
Mohammed.)
HEIDELBERG, an ancient and interesting city of
Southern Germany, in the grand-duchy of Baden, and cir¬
cle of the Lower Rhine. It stands in one of the most beau¬
tiful spots in the whole of Germany, on the left bank of the
Neckar (here spanned by a covered bridge of nine arches,
and more than 700 feet in length), about 12 miles above its
confluence with the Rhine at Mannheim ; N. Lat. 49. 25.,
E. Long. 8. 42. The town is picturesquely situated at the
foot of the finely wooded hills which slope towards the river,
while the rising grounds on the opposite bank are covered
with the richest vineyards. To the S. is the Konigstuhl,
or king’s seat, which, since it was ascended in 1802 by the
Emperor Francis, has been called the Kaiserstuhl. On
the top of this hill, which is 2000 feet high, a tower has
been erected, from which charming glimpses of the distant
Rhine are to be had. In fine weather the spire of Stras-
burg Cathedral, 90 miles distant, is plainly visible. The
streets of the town, which diverge nearly all from one cen¬
tral street, the Haupt-strasse, are narrow and gloomy ; and
the interest attaching to the great public buildings is more
historical than artistic. All the splendid monuments of
architecture in which it once abounded have long since pe¬
rished in the many bloody wars, sieges, and conflagrations,
from which the town has suffered so terribly. Of the extant
buildings may be mentioned the church of the Holy Ghost
in the market-place, which is divided by a partition wall,
so that the Catholic and Protestant services are conducted
simultaneously in the different compartments; and the church
of St Peter, the oldest in the town, and memorable as the
scene of the daring exploit of Jerome of Prague, who hung
up on its gate his celebrated thesis, in which he attacked
the doctrines and practice of the Church of Rome. In the
adjoining churchyard is the tomb of the learned Olympia
Morata, whose history in many respects resembles that of the
celebrated Hypatia. There are two other churches of infe¬
rior interest, and a Jewish synagogue. The university, of
which the buildings stand in a small square near the centre of
the town, is, with the exception of that of Prague, the oldest
H E I
[eilbronn. in Germany, having been founded in 1386. The number of
students that flocked to it at one time was very great; but
their annual average is now not more than about 700. In
the departments of law and medicine it still maintains its
ancient renown. Mittermeyer the jurist, and Tiedemann
the anatomist, are acknowledged to rank among the first ol
modern authorities on their respective subjects. Near the
university is the library, which contains 150,000 volumes,
besides numerous and valuable MSS. The famous Pala¬
tine library, sacked and pillaged in the Thirty \ ears’ \\ ar,
was partly restored in 1815 by Pope Pius VII., to whose
predecessors a portion of it had been sent as a present by
the Bavarians. There is a tradition that Tilly the impe¬
rialist general, being in want of straw for his cavalry alter
the storming of the town, used the invaluable MSS. of the
elector’s library to litter his horses. In a suburban build¬
ing, formerly a Dominican convent, are good museums of
anatomy and zoology. By far the most interesting relic of
the past in Heidelberg is the castle, once the residence of the
elector's palatine, and a magnificent combination of the pa¬
lace and the fortress. It is now in ruins, but is sufficiently
well preserved to show the tastes of the different occupants,
who added to it the architectural styles of the successive
centuries, and the horrors of war in the three conflagrations
and ten sieges which it had to undergo. In the beginning
of last century it was rebuilt and restored to its old mag¬
nificence ; but in 1764 it was set on fire by lightning, and
burnt to the ground, and since that time it has continued
to crumble away an untenanted ruin. In one of the cellars
is the famous Heidelberg tun, constructed in 1751, and
able to contain 800 hogsheads of wine. It has never been
filled, however, since 1769. The view to be obtained from
the castle-rock is in its way one of the finest in Europe,
and has afforded the material for many a poet’s song.
The causes of the decay of Heidelberg are not difficult
to trace. In 1622, the era of the Thirty Years’ Mar, it
was taken by Tilly after a month’s siege, and delivered
over to plunder for three days. Eleven years later it was
recovered by the Swedes, who did the town nearly as much
damage as the Austrians had done. But the cruelties and
brutalities of this period were far surpassed by those which
devastated the town at the close of the seventeenth cen¬
tury, when the French under Turenne turned the whole
palatinate into a desert. In 1688 the town was again
stormed and plundered by the trench under Melac, in
comparison with whom the brutal Tilly was a humane
commander and a generous foe. Five years later Melac
was in his turn outstripped and left behind by Chamilly,
whose fiendish excesses have made the French name a
byeword of horror and execration in Germany to this day.
It is matter of wonder that after such a history Heidelberg
should exist at all. It is a place of no commercial acti¬
vity, and is increasing very slowly. Were it not for the
students and the visitors, whom the beauty and cheapness
of the place attract in considerable numbers, the general
stagnation would be complete. Pop. about lo,000.
HEILBRONN, a fortified town of Wiirtemberg, form¬
erly a free imperial city, on the right bank of the Neckar,
26 miles N. of Stuttgart. The most interesting of its
buildings is the church of St Kilian, a Gothic edifice with
a beautiful tower (225 feet high), the lower part of which
was built in the thirteenth century, the upper part in 1529.
The town-hall is an antique building, in which some inte¬
resting ancient records are deposited ; and in the outskirts
of the town is the tower in which Gotz von Berlichingen
was confined in 1525. The house of the Teutonic knights
is now used as a barrack. Heilbronn has a gymnasium,
public library, and a richly endowed hospital. The vicinity
produces a tolerably good wine, and the town itself carries
on an extensive transit trade between Frankfurt and South
Germany. Its chief manufactures are woollen cloths
H E I 285
carpets, tobacco, silver articles, and chemicals. Pop. about Heiligen-
10,000. st^fc
HEILIGENSTADT, a town in Prussian Saxony, capi- HeinJccius#
tal of a cognominal circle in the government of Erfurt, 32 ^ ^ >
miles E.N.E. of Cassel, on the Leine. It has a castle, ^
gymnasium, normal school for Roman Catholics, five
churches, and two orphan asylums. Its chief manufac¬
tures are woollen yarns and wooden clocks. Pop. (1849)
5240. Under the French Heiligenstadt was capital of the
department of Harz.
HEINE, Heinrich, a distinguished German poet and
miscellaneous writer, was born at Dusseldorf, Dec. 13,
1799. His father was a Jewish merchant in that city, in
circumstances so humble that without the aid of a wealthy
brother in Hamburgh he would not have been able to edu¬
cate the future poet. On leaving school in 1819 the young
Heine became a student of law at Bonn, where he wrote
the now forgotten tragedies of Almansa and Ratcliffe, and
some short miscellaneous pieces. In the following year he
removed to Gottingen, which in a little while he exchanged
for Berlin, where he mixed with the fashionable literary
circles. In 1823 he returned to Gottingen, and in due time
he graduated there as doctor of law. He first attracted
notice as an author by his (Pictures of Travel),
begun in 1826 and finished in 1829. His Buck der Lie-
der (Book of Songs), extended his reputation ; and when the
expulsion of the old Bourbons from France in 1830 seemed
to point to Paris as the future centre of political action and
liberty in continental Europe, Heine established himself in
that city, and remained there till his death, Feb. 18, 1856. It
was in Paris that he wrote his Salon, and Romantische Schule,
two collections of poems entitled respectively Neue Gedichte
and Romanzen, and his Vermischte Schriften (Miscellaneous
Works), published in 1854. During the ministry of Guizot
he enjoyed a pension of 4000 francs from the French go¬
vernment.
Since the days of Voltaire there has been no such scof¬
fer as Heine; and were it credible that his cynicism was
wholly genuine, Voltaire might in comparison with him be
almost called an orthodox Christian. Nothing that men
have ever considered sacred or estimable has escaped his sneer.
Christianity of course he mocked at; and when in his latter
years he professed himself a convert to it, it was discovered
from his own Confessions that he had not embraced Chris¬
tianity, but had merely ceased openly to countenance athe¬
ism, because it had grown vulgar. He alternately mocked
and praised every generous and noble sentiment; and he
found an endless subject of scoffing in the diseases that
confined him almost entirely to his bed during the last
eight years of his life. The very agonies of mental and
physical torment that he underwent he seemed to delight
in intensifying by describing them in their minutest details,
and then laughing at them and his own descriptions of
them. His poetry repays perusal better than his prose,
which is often flippant, epigrammatic, and merely smart;
but his poetry is in a style peculiarly his own. “ Other
bards,” says a recent critic, “ have passed from grave to gay
within the compass of one work ; but the art of constantly
showing two natures within the small limit of perhaps three
ballad-verses was reserved for Heine. No one like him
understands how to build up a little edifice of the tenderest
and most refined sentiment for the mere pleasure of knock¬
ing it down with a last line. No man like him approaches
his reader with a doleful countenance, and pours in the ear
a tale of secret sorrow, and when the sympathies are en¬
listed, surprises his confidant with a horse-laugh.” He
ridiculed with merciless sarcasm the very democracy of
which he had been at one time the apostle and the martyr.
HEINECCIUS, Johann Gottlieb, one of the most
learned jurists of Germany, was born at Eisenberg in Sax¬
ony, Sept. 21, 1681. His life is totally unmarked by any
286 II E I
Heinsius. event or incident of importance. He held a chair first of
philosophy and afterwards of law at Halle, from which in
1724 he was transferred to a similar chair at Franeker in
West Friesland. He next migrated to Frankfort-on-the-
Oder, where he remained till 1733, when he once more re¬
sumed his professorship at Halle, where he died in 1741.
A list of his numerous works will be found in the Bibliotheque
Germanique, tom. ii., part 1st. The principal are—Fundamenta
styli cultioris una cum Sylloge exemplorum, Halle, 1719, in 8vo;
Elementa Philosophies Rationalis et Moralis, quibus preemissa Historia
Philosophica, Francfort, 1728, in 8vo; Antiquitatum Romanarum
Jurisprudentiam illustrantium Syntagma juxta seriem Institutionum
Justiniani, Halle, 1718, in 8vo; Elementa Juris Naturae et Gentium,
Halle, 1738, in 8vo; Prcelectiones Academical in H. Grotii de Jure
Belli ac Pads libros, Berlin, 1744, in 8vo ; Prcelectiones Academicae
in Sam. Puffendorf de Officio Hominis et Civis, ibid. 1742, in 8vo;
Historia Juris Civilis Romani ac Germanici, Halle, 1735, in 8vo;
Elementa Juris Civilis secundum ordinem Institutionum, Franeker,
1725, in 8vo; Elementa Juris Civilis secundum ordinem Pandectarum,
Francfort, 1756, in 2 vols. 8vo ; Elementa Juris Cambialis, Amster¬
dam, 1743, in 8vo. The works of Heineccius were collected and
published by Uhl, professor at Frankfort-on-the-Oder, under the
title of Opera ad Universam Jurisprudentiam, Philosophiam, et Lit-
ter as humaniorcs pertinentia, Geneva, 1744—48, in 8 vols. 4to,
reprinted in the same city, with additions, 1771, in 9 vols. 4to; and
to these two editions a supplementary volume was at the same time
added. After the works of Cujas, this collection is perhaps the
most valuable and necessary to a student of jurisprudence. The
commentary of Heineccius on the Julian and Papian laws would
alone suffice to place him in the rank of the greatest jurisconsults ;
and if his authority has decreased somewhat in Germany, which we
believe to be the case, it is because his successors, profiting by his
researches, have been enabled to surpass him. We are also indebted
to Heineccius for editions of the Jurisprudentia Romana et Attica,
Leyden, 1738, in 3 vols. folio, with a learned preface prefixed to
the first volume.
HEINSIUS, Daniel, a distinguished Dutch scholar,
was born at Ghent, of a noble family, in 1580. The Low
Countries were then distracted by civil wars, which com¬
pelled his father to fly with him for safety to England.
After a short residence in that country, the family returned
home, and the young Heinsius was sent to Franeker to study
law. He soon exchanged law for Greek, however, and
removed from Franeker to Leyden to enjoy the tuition of
Joseph Scaliger. After holding some minor appointments
at that university, he was made professor of politics and
history at the age of twenty-five, and, on the death of Paul
Merula, librarian and secretary of the university. His edi¬
tions of the classics made him so famous that his services
were courted by nearly every crowned head in Europe, but
he steadily refused to leave his country, whose historio¬
grapher he had now become. In 1618 he acted as secre¬
tary to the synod of Dort, having already distinguished
himself in the theological controversies of the day. In his
later years he suffered greatly from the failure of his memory.
He died Feb. 23, 1655. His works consist of—Editions
of the Greek and Latin classics, or works of criticism con¬
nected with them, amounting to eighteen in number—Latin
poetry, particularly Iambi ; Auriacus, a tragedy ; Herodes
Infanticida, also a tragedy ; De Contemptu Mortis, a poem
in four books; fugitive pieces under the titles of Extem-
poranea and Juvenilia, and some Greek poems ; Latin ha¬
rangues, which have been collected under the title of
Orationes Varii Argumenti, Leyden, 1615, 1620, in
12mo; Rerum ad Sylvam Ducis atque alibi in Belgio aut
a Belgis anno 1629 qestarum Historia, Leyden, 1631,
in folio. (j. b—e.)
Heinsius, Nicolas, was the son of Daniel Heinsius, and
obtained nearly equal eminence with his father as a scholar.
He was born at Leyden in 1629, and was educated there
by his father, as well as by Grotius, Gronovius, and other
celebrated scholars. In 1642 he visited England previous
to commencing a literary tour through France, Italy, and
Sweden. In 1659, on the invitation of Queen Christina, he
settled at Stockholm, and remained there till his father’s
H E I
death in 1655 recalled him home. After his return to Heir-at-
Sweden he was in 1667 sent as ambassador to the Czar of Law
Moscow, from which he returned with broken health and Jl
spirits. The remaining ten years of his life he spent IIeir.l)y
for the most part in Holland, and died at the Hague, tion11"
October 7, 1681. His principal works were his Claudian, i
with notes, Leyden, 1650, in 12mo, and Amsterdam,
1665, in 8vo ; Ovid, with notes, ibid., 1652, 1661, 1668,
in three vols. 12mo ; Virgil, without notes, Amsterdam,
1676, and Utrecht, 1704, in 12mo; Valerius Flaccus,
without notes, Amsterdam, 1680, in 12mo; Remarks on
Silius Italicus, Petronius, and Phaedrus ; A great number of
Letters, which may be found in the Sylloge Epistolarum of
Burmann, in 5 vols. 4to ; Poemata, the best edition of
which is that of Elzevir, Amsterdam, 1666, in 8vo, dedi¬
cated by the author to the Duke of Montausier. Peter
Burmann the younger also published Nic. Heinsii Adver-
sariorum, libri v., followed by the notes of Heinsius on
Catullus and Propertius ; and the same author also cites
inedited notes of Heinsius on Tacitus, on the dialogue De
Claris Oratoribus, and on the Catalecta veterum Poe-
tarum.
HEIR-AT-LAW, is a person who succeeds to another
by descent. Both in England and Scotland, estates, in the
absence of a different special destination, descend to heirs
in the direct line, however remote. The exclusion of pa¬
rents, until the extinction of all descendants, both direct
and collateral, is almost peculiar to the laws of these king¬
doms. By the Jewish law, on the failure of issue, a father
succeeded to his deceased son, to the exclusion of the
son’s brothers, unless one of them married and had issue
by his widow. By the Roman law, on the failure of chil¬
dren or lineal descendants, the father and mother, or other
lineal ascendants succeeded, together with the deceased’s
brothers and sisters. As a consequence, however, of the
feudal system in Britain, a landed estate descends to sons,
in the order of their seniority—the issue of the elder son
always excluding the immediate younger son, and so on
through the whole sons. It is only in default of such issue
that daughters succeed, and then they succeed equally.
The children of a deceased child in the order now men¬
tioned, represent the parent, and exclude all relatives which
such deceased parent, if surviving, would have excluded.
By this rule the son of an eldest son, and failing him and
his issue, the daughters of an eldest son, equally among
them, and their descendants, exclude the other sons and
daughters of the ancestor, and so on through all the ances¬
tor’s children. On the entire failure of lineal descendants,
the estate goes to collateral heirs—that is, the ancestor’s im¬
mediate younger brothers in the order above mentioned,
and their issue ; failing whom it goes to his sisters equally
and their issue. On the entire failure of collateral de¬
scendants, it goes to the ancestor’s father, then collaterally
to the ancestor’s uncles and their descendants; whom fail¬
ing, to his aunts (the latter equally) and their descendants.
It is only on the failure of all these, that the succession
opens to the grandfather, and next to his relatives. There
is no succession by or through the mother, unless the estate
came from her. In Scotland where an estate is not ac¬
quired by inheritance, it is called conquest; and in all com¬
petitions among brothers or uncles, or their descendants re¬
garding conquest, it is not the immediate younger brother
or uncle, as in heritage, who succeeds, but the immediate
elder brother or uncle.
Heir by Destination, sometimes called “ heir of provi¬
sion,” is a person called to succeed by the will of the pro¬
prietor, either directly, or on the failure of persons to whom
the estate is primarily conveyed. Any absolute proprietor
executing a conveyance of his estate, can regulate the order
of succession; but unless the specified destination be pro¬
tected and enforced by certain legal prohibitions and re-
H E I
H E L
287
Heir- straints, attention to which require all the skill of the prac-
apparent tised conveyancer, a hope of succession is merely created,
II which may be defeated by each heir as he enters on the
Helena. p0?session.
tlKm-apparent is a person so called in the lifetime of
his ancestor, whose right of succession is indefeasible, pro¬
vided he outlive the ancestor; as the right of the next
heir to the throne, or to an estate under a deed of entail,
or under the marriage-contract of his parents.
WTAK-presumptive is one who, if his ancestor should die
under existing circumstances, would be his heir, but whose
right of succession may be defeated by various contin¬
gencies, such as the subsequent existence of a nearer heir,
even though by posthumous birth, or the special convey¬
ance of the estate by the ancestor to a different person.
HELDER, a fortified seaport town on a projecting
tongue of land at the N. extremity of North Holland. It
is separated by the Mars diep from the island of Texel, and
stands 40 miles N. W. of Amsterdam. It commands the
Mars diep, the channel to the Zuider Zee. East of the
town is the fine harbour of Nieuwe diep, accessible to the
largest ships. It is connected with Amsterdam by the
Helder Canal, by means of which the largest merchant
vessels reach Amsterdam without encountering the difficult
navigation of the Zuider Zee. This canal is 50 miles in
length, 125 feet broad at the surface, and 21 feet deep.
The Dutch admiral, Van Tromp, wras killed in an engage¬
ment off Helder in 1693. It was taken by the British
under Sir Ralph Abercrombie in 1799. Pop. about 2900.
HELENA, the daughter of Leda (wife of Tyndareus,
king of Sparta), and of Jupiter, who, under the form of a
swan, had obtained the favours of the queen. In conse¬
quence of this amour she produced two eggs, from one of
which sprang Castor and Clytemnestra (both mortal, as
being children of Tyndareus), and from the other Pollux
and Helena, who were considered immortal, as the offspring
of Jupiter.
From her infancy she possessed that dazzling beauty
which became in the course of time so fatal to her admirers.
About the age of ten she was carried off by Theseus, who
concealed her at Aphidnm, in Attica, under the protection
of his mother TEthra. She was rescued by her brothers,
Castor and Pollux, who discovered her place of conceal¬
ment by means of Academus. They carried off at the same
time /Ethra, who henceforth remained the captive slave of
Helen. This adventure did not prevent her from being
sought in marriage by all the young princes of Greece.
The most celebrated of her suitors were Menelaus, Dio¬
mede, Philoctetes, Idomeneus, Merione, Amphilochus, Pa-
troclus, the two Ajaxes, Teucer, Antilochus, Ulysses, with
others to the number of thirty. Her father, lyndareus,
was alarmed at the number of her suitors, believing that
the preference he showed to one would bring on him the
displeasure of all the rest. He was relieved from this di¬
lemma by Ulysses, on condition he should receive the hand
of his niece Penelope in marriage. His advice w^as to bind
all the princes by an oath that they would yield implicitly
to the will of the princess, and that they would unite to
defend her if any attempt should be made to carry her off
from the arms of her husband. The rivals consented, and
Helen decided in favour of Menelaus, who thus became the
heir apparent, and soon afterwards possessor, of the throne
of Sparta. By her he had a daughter, Hermione, and two
sons, Morrhaphius and Diethus.
Venus had promised to Paris the possession of the most
beautiful of women. At her instigation, he proceeded to
Sparta during the absence of Menelaus, and succeeded in
gaining the affections of Helen, and in inducing her to quit
her husband and her country. It was in vain that Menelaus
sent to Troy to demand back his wife, in vain that the sons
of Atreus threatened that all Greece would march against
Troy. During the celebrated Trojan War she remained Helena, St.
faithful to Paris, and had by him Bunichus, Agane, Idaeus,
and Corythus. On the death of Paris she married Deipho-
bus, the bravest of the sons of Priam after Hector; arid on
the taking of Troy, she is said to have betrayed him in
order that she might ingratiate herself with Menelaus. It
appears that Menelaus forgave her, and that they proceeded
on their way to Sparta, where, according to some, they did
not arrive till the space of eight years had elapsed. Here
they received the visit of Telemachus, who had been sent
by his mother in search of his father Ulysses. And here
the legend of Homer ends. According to Euripides, she
was killed by Orestes, her son-in-law, or she was banished
by her step-sons, Megapenthes and Nicostratus, when she
retired to the island of Rhodes, where she was suffocated
in a bath.
Helena, St, the mother of the Emperor Constantine,
was born of humble parents in Bithynia. The place of her
birth was the little town of Drepanum which her son after¬
wards raised to the dignity of a city, under the name of
Helenopolis. Reasons of state compelled her husband
(Constantius Chlorus) to divorce her when he assumed the
purple in a.d. 292; but she was amply compensated for
this indignity by her son Constantine. After her conver¬
sion to the Christian faith, which seems to have been effected
by her son, she made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where she
is said to have discovered the Saviour’s tomb, and the real
wood of his cross. She exhibited so many virtues and so
much Christian zeal and charity, that in due time after her
death, which happened in a.d. 328, she was canonized by
the church.
HELENA, St, an island in the S. Atlantic, belonging
to Britain ; S. Lat. 15. 55. 26. ; W. Long. 5. 42. 30. It
is about midway between Africa and South America, 1800
miles from the Cape of Good Hope, and 600 miles from the
Island of Ascension. Its extreme breadth is 7 miles ; and
its greatest length 11 miles; its area is 30,300 English
acres. The geology of St Helena is interesting. 1 he
island may be considered as the highest peak of a range of
mountains traversing the S. Atlantic, and is most probably
an extinct tertiary volcano. Geologists have been unable
to fix with exactness its chronological position. The vol¬
canic forces which have produced the complicated distur¬
bances so conspicuous throughout the island, must have
ceased at a very remote period, as it has evidently retained
for ages its existing conformation.
The climate of St Helena, though within the tropics, is
temperate and healthy, and not unfavourable even to Euro¬
pean constitutions. In James’ Town (600 feet above sea-
level), the thermometer seldom rises above 80° ; but in calm
weather the heat reflected from the sides of the valley is
often oppressive. In the open country the temperature is
more uniform and mild, scarcely so hot and never so cold
as in England. During some seasons the highest point of
the thermometer during the summer has been only 72 ^in
the interior ; and the ordinary range during winter from 55
to 56°.
The soil of St Helena is clayey, and in many places of
considerable depth. Vegetation is very luxuriant in the
island, which is abundantly supplied with water from 160
excellent wells.
In some parts of the island iron ore has been found, but
the scarcity of fuel prevents it from being smelted. Gold
and copper have been observed in small quantities. Con¬
crete limestone is excellent in quality and abundant. I he
hills are covered with furze and various indigenous shrubs
and trees. Of the latter the most abundant is the gum-
wood, of which there are three kinds, the common, the bas¬
tard, and the dwarf gum-tree. Other native trees are
stringwood, dogwood, redwood or ebony, and the cabbage-
tree, of which the last two are very durable as building
288 II E L
Helens- timber. Oaks, cypress, and pinaster, have been introduced
burgh the plantations and thrive well. 1 be ferns of St Helena
II are numerous, and the myrtle grows to the height of 30 feet.
Heliacal. The cotton p]ant alg0 thrives Very well. Fruits ripen best
in the valleys near the coast, but every farm produces in
abundance the common fruits and vegetables both of theti o-
pical and temperate zones. The attempts to grow cereals
have not succeeded. Of the 756 species of plants now found
in the island only 52 are natives. The cattle, sheep, and
goats on the island are of English origin.
The greater part of the surface of St Helena is waste¬
land ; but about 160 acres have been reclaimed and brought
into cultivation, 7000 improved as pasture ground, and
28,000 are suitable for grazing sheep and goats. Such
roads as exist are wretched.
In 1851 the total revenue of the island was L.l 7,177, and
total expenditure L.16,427.
The supreme authority is vested in a governor, and a
council composed of the lieutenant-governor, colonial-secre¬
tary, and chief-justice. When the council is not assembled
the whole authority of the board centres in the governor.
St Helena was discovered by the Portuguese in 1501. They suc¬
ceeded in concealing the position of St Helena from other European
nations till 1588, when it was descried and visited by Captain Ca¬
vendish on his way home from a voyage round the world. Soon
after this it became well known to the Dutch and Spaniards. In
course of time it was abandoned by the Portuguese, and taken pos¬
session of by the Dutch, who in turn abandoned it on the establish¬
ment of their colony at the Cape of Good Hope in 1651. On their
departure the English East India Company formed a settlement
upon St Helena, and about ten years afterwards obtained from
Charles II. a charter for its possession. In 1665 the Dutch suc¬
cessfully attacked the island, but in a few months were driven out
of it by the English. Again, in 1672, the Dutch recaptured it,
through the treachery of the planters; but it was almost imme¬
diately recovered by an English squadron, under Captain Munden,
and again restored to the East India Company. As the trade of
the East India Company increased, the importance of the island
became daily more apparent.
But the chief historical interest of St Helena centres in
Longwood House, the residence of the exiled Emperor
Napoleon from 1815 till his death, May 5, 1821. I he
house in which the Emperor lived has been allowed to fall
gradually into decay ever since his body was removed to
France in 1841. (Brooke’s History of the Island of St
Helena; Johnson’s Account of St Helena; Beatson’s
Tracts relative to the Island of St Helena, &c.)
In 1805, the pop. was 3078; in 1823, 4381 (composed
of 1201 whites, 911 in the civil and military establishments,
1074 slaves, 729 free coloured, 442 Chinese, and 24 Las¬
cars); in 1839, 4205; in 1849, the total military force
amounted to about 1500 regular troops, besides four volun¬
teer companies of white and black militia. Soldiers are
sometimes placed at St Helena to undergo a seasoning pre¬
vious to being sent to India; and this island and the Cape
of Good Hope are the principal stations to which captured
slaves are brought, and employed in public works.
HELENSBURGH, a burgh of barony, and a fashion¬
ablewatering-place, Dumbartonshire, Scotland, on the Firth
of Clyde, opposite Greenock. Pop. (1851) 2841.
HELEN US, one of the sons of Priam and Hecuba. He
distinguished himself during the Trojan War by his valour,
and by the gift of prophecy which he possessed. He be¬
came the captive of Ulysses, who afterwards made him
over to Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles. When Neopto-
lemus returned home, he took his prisoner with him, and
assigned Andromache to him as his wife. Helenus after¬
wards became king of a part of Epirus, and was visited
there by Ainseas while on his way to Italy.
HELIACAL, a term applied to a star or planet, with
reference either to its emergence from the light of the sun,
or immergence into it. A star is said to rise heliacally when,
after being in conjunction with the sun, it gets at such a
II E L
Heligo¬
land.
distance from it as to become visible before sun-rising, Heliades
The heliacal setting of a star denotes its entering into the
sun’s rays, and thus becoming lost in the superior splendour
of that luminary.
HELIADES. See Phatthon.
HELIiE A, the chief law-court of Athens, at which state-
offences were tried, and which was probably presided over
by the Thesmothetse.
HELICON, in Ancient Geography, a celebrated moun¬
tain range in Bceotia, lying between the Lake Copais and
the Corinthian Gulf. It was the fabled abode and favourite
haunt of the muses, thence called Heliconides and Heli-
coniades. On the hill-side was a grove sacred to these
deities, not far from which was the celebrated fountain of
Aganippe. About twenty stadia from this same grove was
the still more famous fount Hippocrene (horse’s well), said
to have been made by the foot of the winged horse Pegasus.
The mountain is nearly equal to Parnassus in circumfer¬
ence, but not much more than half as high. Its highest
peak, Paleovuni, is rather less than 5000 feet in height,
while Parnassus is more than 8000. The eastern slopes of
Helicon are well-watered and fertile, and produce a great
variety of trees and fruits. Those on the western side are
less productive.
Helicon owes its celebrity chiefly to its poetical associa¬
tions; and it became famous in Greek poetry, from its neigh-
hood to Ascra, the birth-place of Hesiod, the first and
greatest poet of his class, who was born in Greece Proper.
HELIER, St, the capital of Jersey ; N. Lat. 49. 11., W.
Long. 2. 6. It is situated on St Aubin’s Bay, on the S.
coast of the island, between two rocky heights, on one of
which stands Fort Regent, an irregular fort of great
strength, erected in 1806, at a cost of L.800,000. The
fortress of Elizabeth Castle, capable of containing 600
men, stands on a small rocky island, which, though about a
mile from the shore, is accessible at low water by a long
natural causeway. The port is large, and consists of an
inner and an outer harbour, the latter completed in 1846.
The town of St Flelier is rapidly extending; and in the
outskirts there are many handsome villas. The court-house
in the Royal Square is a plain structure erected in 1647.
In it the “ states assembly” hold their meetings. The pa¬
rish church w as built in 1341. The theatre is a neat build¬
ing, with a light portico. St Helier has a public library
and reading-rooms, baths, savings bank, hospital, and seve¬
ral other benevolent institutions. Shipbuilding is exten¬
sively carried on. The cheapness of living has induced
many persons of limited means to settle here. Pop. (1851)
29,133.
HELIGOLAND, properly Helgeiand, Holt
Lane, a small cluster of islets belonging to Great Britain in
the German Ocean, about 25 miles off the coast of Hol¬
stein, and about the same distance from the mouth of the
Elbe. The group consists of Heligoland (which gives name
to the whole cluster), Sandy Island, and a great number of
banks, reefs, and uninhabited cliffs, of which latter the largest
is called the Monk. The islet of Heligoland is only about
three miles in circumference. It consists of two distinct
parts, the low ground and the rock. The latter, which rises
with an almost perpendicular abruptness to the height of be¬
tween 150 and 200 feet above the sea, consists of a reddish
sandstone, and has a very striking aspect from the sea.
The flats at its foot produce a little corn, and are chiefly va¬
luable for the excellent double harbour which they pre¬
sent. To the east of them is an excellent roadstead, well
sheltered, and capable of accommodating the largest vessels.
Heligoland is said to have been at one time much larger
than it is now ; and Sir C. Lyell, in his Principles of Geo¬
logy, endeavours to prove, that since the year 800 it has
been gradually crumbling away before the action of the
currents. Portions of the island, it is quite true, have been
H E L H E L 289
[eliodorus swept away; but it has also been thought that the famous
|| map by Meyer, which exhibits the island as containing nine
Heliostat. parishes, &c., is a mere fiction. A comparison of the oldest
extant maps of good authority shows, that the amount of
destruction for the whole circumference in the course of
a century does not exceed three feet. The people of Heli¬
goland live chiefly on the rocky part of the island ; a few
fishermen only inhabiting the flats. The native inhabitants
support themselves principally by fishing and piloting.
Though the island has been in possession of the English
since 1807, there are almost no English residents except
the governor and his suite, and the garrison. During the
great continental war, however, when Heligoland became
the depot of a vast quantity of merchandise, which was
thence smuggled into the Continent, the population rose to
upwards of 4000, and the commercial interests of the place
became very considerable. A lighthouse and batteries have
been erected by the English for the protection of the island
and shipping. Heligoland was anciently inhabited by the
Frisii, and it is believed that the famous temple of the
Frisic god Fosete stood on the island. This temple was
destroyed in the eighth century, at the time when the inha¬
bitants embraced Christianity. The existing natives speak
the language of the old Frieslanders, whose customs, man¬
ners, and dress, they have also retained with slight modifi¬
cations. Pop. about 2300.
HELIODORUS, the first and best of the Greek ro¬
mancers, was born at Emesa in Syria, and flourished under
Theodosius at the close of the fourth century. Nothing is
known of his personal history, except that he became bishop
of Tricca in Thessaly, and compelled every married priest
in his diocese to put away his wife as soon as he applied for
ordination. His famous romance, the Althiopica,—so called,
because the scene is laid in ^Ethiopia,—narrates the loves
of Theagenes and Chariclea. The work is interesting, both
because it exhibits the first germs of the great modern art
of novel-writing, and because the story as a story has very
considerable merit. The adventures are, perhaps, too nu¬
merous ; and, besides following in too rapid succession, are
occasionally rather improbable ; yet both the main plot and
the episodes are well managed, the characters are well
drawn, and the scenery is well described. The language,
too, though somewhat deficient in point and terseness, is
natural and pleasing. The JEthiopica was not known to
modern scholars except by repute, till the sack of Ofen in
1526, when a MS. copy from the library of Matthew Cor-
vinus fell into the hands of a German soldier, who carried it
off with him into his own country. It passed into the hands
of Obsopaeus, by whom it was printed at Basle in 1538.
Other MSS. were discovered, and new and more correct
editions followed. The most recent is also the best—that
of Coraes, Paris, 1804.
HELIOMETER (^Aios, sun, and plrpov, measure), the
name given by Bouguer, to a kind of double-image micro¬
meter for measuring the diameters of the stars, and espe¬
cially those of the sun and moon, or any small apparent dis-
^ tance between the heavenly bodies. Mr Savary of Exeter
communicated to the Royal Society, in the year 1743, an
account of a double-image micrometer, from which the 7/e-
liometer proposed by Bouguer, five years afterwards (1748),
does not differ in construction. This instrument is described
under the head Micrometer, in which the various improve¬
ments it has received are given in detail.
HELIOPOLIS, i.e., the city of the sun, in Ancient
Geography, a town in Lower Egypt, on the right bank of
the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, not far from the point
where it diverges from the main stream. See Egypt.
Heliopolis, the classical name of Baalbec in Syria. See
Baalbec.
HELIOSTAT, in Optics, the name given by s’Grave-
sande to an instrument devised by him for the purpose of
YOL. XI.
fixing, as it were, the solar rays during the whole time of Heliotropi
observation—namely, by reflecting them in the same straight II
line by a mirror, to which a proper motion is given by n^i1ca^°'
means of clockwork. The original instrument is described v ' t
in his Phys. Elementa Mathematica; but it has been
greatly improved by Mains and others.
HELIOTROPE {heliotropium), amongst the ancients,
an instrument or machine for showing when the sun arrived
at the tropics and the equinoctial line. This name was
also used generally for a sun-dial.
Heliotrope, a siliceous mineral of a dark green colour,
and variegated commonly with bright red spots, whence
it is called hcematite, or bloodstone. See Mineralogy.
Heliotrope, a genus of plants of the nat. ord. Ehre-
tiacece. H. peruvianum and some other species are much
cultivated on account of their fragrance.
HELIX (eAi£, a wreath or winding), a spiral line. In
architecture, some authors make a difference between the
helix and the spiral. A staircase, according to Daviler, is
helical when the steps wind round a cylindrical newel;
whereas the spiral winds round a cone, and is continually
approaching nearer and nearer its axis. This term is also
applied to the caulicules or little volutes under the flowers of
the Corinthian capital.
HELLANICUS, of Mitylene, the best of the old Greek
logographers, lived and wrote in the fifth century b.c. His
exact era is not known ; but the best authorities place the
date of his birth in B.c. 496, and of his death in b.c. 411.
Nothing is known of his personal history except that he
died at Perperene, a town of Mysia, opposite the island of
Lesbos. His works, which were very numerous, and are
frequently alluded to in the classics, are only known to us
from the fragments that still survive. They seem to have
comprised treatises on mythology, history, and chronology.
Of these the most important were his Atthis, or History of
Attica from the remotest times ; his AEolica, Persica, and
Junonis Sacerdotes. This last-mentioned work is a His¬
tory of Argos arranged chronologically according to the
succession of the priestesses of Juno in the great temple in
that city. It contains, however, besides mere dates, a num¬
ber of traditions and historical events which were afterwards
turned to account by Thucydides. Hellanicus was the first
Greek who can be said to have even tried to rise above the
method of the old logographers, and his success is very par¬
tial. His histories are not so much separate works as de¬
tached and isolated fragments of the same work, which he
had not the skill to work up into an harmonious whole.
Thucydides censures his chronology as incorrect. The
fragments of Hellanicus have been published by Sturz,
Leipzig, 1787; and again in 1826 in the Museum Criti-
cum ; and in Muller’s Fragmenta Historicor. Grcec.
LIELLANODICdB, in Grecian Antiquity, the chief
judges at the Olympic games. They were chosen by lot
from the whole body of the Elean people, to whom the en¬
tire management of the festival belonged. They were ori¬
ginally only two in number, but were afterwards increased
to nine, three of whom superintended the horse-races, three
the pentathlon, and three the other sports. A tenth judge
was next added, and in the 103d olympiad, when the Elean
phylse were twelve in number, the judges were next in¬
creased to twelve, one being chosen from each phyla. In
the war between the Eleans and the Arcadians (104th
olymp.) the former lost a considerable extent of territory,
and the hellanodica? were reduced from twelve to eight. A
few years afterwards, however, their number was increased
to ten, and remained unchanged till the time of Pausanias,
from whom most of our information on the subject of
these umpires is derived. For ten months before the
games began the hellanodicae were trained in their duties
by certain Elean magistrates entitled nomophylaces. Their
duties, which only lasted over one festival, consisted in
2 o
290 H E L
Hellas seeing that the laws were strictly observed by the competi-
II , tors and others who took part in the games, in adjudging the
Helmin- pr;zeS) an{} awarding them to the victors. The hellanodicae
ip ogy.^ yppj-g in high esteem in virtue of their office, and were
allowed to wear a handsome uniform. The best seats at the
games were also reserved for them. All the details of the
arrangements were controlled by them.
HELLAS. See Greece.
HELLE, in Grecian Mythology, was the daughter of
Athamas, king of Thebes, and the goddess Nephele, whom
be had married at the command of Juno. Athamas, how¬
ever, secretly loved the mortal Ino, and at last took her
to bis home as his wife. Dissensions, of course, sprang up
between the wives and their respective families. Athamas
went to Delphi to consult the oracle as to the best means
of restoring domestic harmony. Ino bribed the priestess,
and Athamas was told that it wotild be necessary to sacrifice
Phrixus, the brother of Helle. Thereupon Nephele and
her two children fled for safety towards Asia on the back
of the ram with the golden fleece. Helle, however, had
the misfortune to slip off its back, and the strait into which
she fell was called in her honour, Helles Ponlus or Helles¬
pont, the Sea of Helle. Phrixus, after burying his sister,
held on his way to Colchis.
HELLEBORE a genus of plants of the nat.
ord. Ranunculacece, all of which possess very active purga¬
tive qualities. (See Botany.) The black hellebore was a
famous remedy among the ancient Greeks and Romans,
especially in mania: and so prevalent was the belief in its
efficacy in imparting clearness to the mental faculties, that
the most celebrated philosophers used to prepare themselves
for intellectual labour by drinking an infusion of the leaves
of this plant. The best grew in the island of Anticyra in
the JEgean Sea, and the gathering of it was accompanied
with superstitious observances.
H E L
HELLENISMS are idioms transferred from the verna-Hellenisms
cular into the Greek by the writers of the New Testament. [|
HELLENIS PS [Hellenistoe), a term occurring in the
Greek text of the New Testament, and which in the Eng- thology-
lish version is translated Grecians. The authors of the
Vulgate, indeed, render it Grceci ; but the Port-Royalists,
more accurately, Juifs-Grecs, Grecian Jews—that is, Jews
who spoke Greek, and who are thus distinguished from
the Jews called Hebrews, who spoke the Hebrew tongue of
that time. The Hellenists, or Grecian Jews, were those
who lived in Egypt and other parts where the Greek tongue
prevailed. It is to the Hellenists that we owe the Greek
version of the Old Testament, commonly called the Sep-
tuagint. The Hellenists are properly distinguished from
the Hellenes or Greeks, mentioned in John xii. 20, who
were Greeks by birth and nation, and yet proselytes to the
Jewish religion.
HELLESPONT. See Helle and Dardanelles.
HELLIN (anciently Ilunum), a royal town of Spain, in
the province of Murcia, and capital of a cognominal depart¬
ment in the bishopric of Cartagena. It lies on the slope of
the Sierra de Segura. The parish church is very elegant,
the masonry and marble pavement at the entrance being
worthy of special notice. Near Hellin are the mineral baths
of Azaraque; and the celebrated sulphur mines, at a dis¬
tance of twelve miles, are under its jurisdiction. Hellin was
sacked by the French under Montbrun ; and was the point
where Joseph and Soult united with Suchet after Mar-
mont’s rout at Salamanca. The industry of Hellin is
chiefly confined to the manufacture of earthenware, linens,
cloths, hats, flour, oil, and chocolate. Pop. 8818.
HELMET, a piece of defensive armour for the head. In
heraldry the helmet is placed over a coat-of-arms as its chief
ornament; and, according to its form, position, &c., marks
the quality or dignity of the bearer. See Heraldry.
HELMINTHOLOGY.
(ANNELIDA.)
The title of this article was formerly bestowed on a much
larger group of animated beings than that to which it has
been here restricted. The Linnaean group of Vermes
contained, in fact, the whole of the intestinal and other
worms, the molluscous and testaceous tribes, the Zoophytes
and Infusoria—which now form the natural materials of
many classes. We here apply it exclusively to the Anne¬
lida, or red-blooded vermes, of which the medicinal leech
and earth-worm afford familiar examples. Bruguiere and
others have no doubt conjoined them, in comparatively
recent times, with the intestinal tribes; and it was at one
time our intention (see Animal Kingdom, § Divisions')
to have adopted that arrangement. But we conceive it to
be more in accordance with the principles adopted in our
other systematic articles, to abide by the example of Cuvier,
and, referring the latter to the radiated or zoophytical divi¬
sion, to include in the article Helminthology the Anne
lida alone. In truth, the intestinal tribes exhibit no organs
of respiration, either tracheal or branchial—no traces of
a true circulation—and their nervous system is extremely
obscure. It will therefore become apparent, from the fol¬
lowing definition, how greatly the Annelida differ from the
creatures just named.
I he Annelida or red-blooded worms form the first class
of the articulated or annulose division of the animal kingdom.2
I heir blood, of ared colour, resembling thatof thevertebrated
animals, circulates in a double system of closed vessels,
that is, in arteries and veins. This system, though desti¬
tute of a heart properly so called, is sometimes provided
with one or more distinct fleshy ventricles. Respiration
is carried on through the medium of organs, which are
sometimes external, occasionally developed beneath the
surface of the skin, or sunk more deeply into the interior.
They may all be presumed to breathe by means of bran¬
chiae, although the respiratory system of the so-called
Abranchial Order is still in some respects obscure. The
branchiae or respiratory organs of the greater number are
external, and vary considerably in their size, form, number,
and position. Their body,, of a softish texture, is more or
less elongated, and always divided into numerous rings or
segments, of which the anterior, known under the name of
head, scarcely differs from the others, except by the pos¬
session of a mouth, and of the principal organs of the senses.
None of the Annelida possess articulated members properly
so called, but in room of these many are furnished ivitb
setiferous mammillae, or fleshy projections, bearing bundles
of hairs or bristles, and forming what may be called pedes
spurii, of which the number is extremely various. These
peculiar organs are sometimes composed of two parts, the
one superior and dorsal, the other inferior and ventral.
The muscular power resides in the interior, and is capable
of producing only an undulatory or creeping movement—
3 From sAw/vs, a worm, and Xoyos, a discourse.
For a description of these primary divisions of the animal kingdom, see Animal Kingdom, § Third Primary Division.
HELMINTHOLOGY. 291
Annelida, the locomotive parts being incompetent to sustain the body, other, constituting thus one common space. This cavity Annelida.
y.— ^—1 The organs of the mouth consist sometimes of parts re- is lined by a distinct membrane, which is obviously the 's—
sembling jaws, more or less developed, sometimes of a anatomical analogon of the 'peritoneum, and is filled by a
simple tube. The organs of the external senses are com- fluid which is unquestionably an organic fluid. Dr Wil-
posed of fleshy tentacula, sometimes articulated, and of cer- Hams adduces reasons for regarding it as physiologically
tain blackish points, not existing in all the species, regarded allied to the chyle of the higher animals, and the contain-
as eyes. The nervous system consists of a double gangli- ing cavity as the prototype of the 'peritoneal. This gene-
onic cord, analogous to that of insects, as already described ral splanchnic chamber he therefore names the peritoneal
in our art. Entomology. In regard to their natural habits, cavity, and its liquid the peritoneal fluid, or the chyle-
most of these creatures are aquatic (the Lumbrici or earth- aqueous fluid of the peritoneal cavity. As the peritoneal
worms excepted), and a great majority marine. Some membrane of the Annelida is not vibratory, the oscillations
dwell in holes beneath the waters, others form tubes or tun- of the fluid contents cannot be caused by ciliary vibration,
nels of mud or other matters, or even transude from their This fact is regarded as distinguishing the class from the
own bodies a calcareous secretion, which forms around Echinodermata, of which, in all the species, the peritoneal
them a protecting covering.1 Considered sexually, they space is richly lined with vibratile cilia. The real charac-
are for the most part hermaphrodite, and some require re- ter of this fluid was till recently unknown. Its coagulating
ciprocal communication. principle consists of fibrine, and there can be no doubt that
It will be perceived, even from the preceding brief ex- the greater portion is composed of sea-water. In a few
position, that the Annelida are animals of a very peculiar minutes after removal from the body of the animal, it throws
nature. Although their nervous system coincides with that down an unquestionable coagulum, like the clot of true
of the other articulated classes, and although their bodies blood. The organic corpuscles cohere into groups and
are likewise divided by transverse sections, yet their loco- masses, and sink with the clot. Mechanically and physio-
motive organs are entirely dissimilar to those of the Crus- logically this fluid is immediately essential to the mainten-
tacea, Arachnides, and Insects. Their setiferous mam- ance of life—mechanically, by preventing contact between
millae are merely retractile sheaths; and the hairs or bristles the intestine and integument, thus favouring the circula-
which they inclose are in no way comparable to the f eet of tion of the blood proper; and physiologically, by furnishing
the last-named classes, but are organs of a very different the pabulum out of which the latter fluid is perpetually re¬
nature. newed or reinforced. In the genus Sabella this perito-
The Annelida are few in number compared with insects neal fluid is opalescent and thickly corpusculated ; it does
and other articulated classes, and the greater proportion are not change its colour with that of the true blood, since its
marine. Their possession of red blood is a singular cha- colour is the same in those species which are distinguished
racter in animals so low in the scale, and one not possessed by green blood, as in those of which the blood is red, al-
by the molluscous tribes, which are yet regarded as their though so generally charged with corpuscles. Aphrodita
superiors in other points of organization. Some peculiar!- aculeata is an exception, and exhibits a fluid which, bear-
ties in the circulating fluids of these creatures have been ing no visible morphous substances, seems to depart but
recently described by Dr Williams.2 With the exception slightly from the standard of salt water. The physiological
of one or two species, two distinct and separate fluid ele- character of this fluid is unequivocally manifested in Glycera
ments of nutrition exist in these creatures—one, consisting alba, in which it bears in great abundance blood-red flat-
of the proper and true blood, is contained in closed vessels, tened oval corpuscles, resembling those of the frog. This
and moving in a definite orbit, constitutes a well-marked is the sole instance of an Annelid with coloured corpuscles
circulation ; the other is a liquid mass, filling the open in the peritoneal fluid. The blood proper in this species is
space which, in all species, intervenes between the intes- so faintly red as to be nearly devoid of colour, and is quite
tine and the integument, holding organic corpuscles in sus- incorpuscular.
pension, varying in different species, and performing irre- That the basis of this fluid consists of sea-water is ren-
gular to-and-fro oscillations under the agency of the mus- dered almost certain by the following expedient. If it is
cular contractions of the intestine and integuments. On collected in adequate quantities (say from Arenicola or
these two fluids two separate physiological functions devolve, Terebella nebulosa), and carefully filtered, and the clean
each essential to the maintenance of life in the Annelida, liquor then submitted to evaporation, the crystalline pro-
All the recesses and ramifications of the general cavity of ducts will be found identical with those resulting from the
the body in these animals communicate freely with each evaporation of simple sea-water. Dr Williams infers
1 “ As to the external tube which the Chetopoda (by which term M. de Blainville denominates the setigerous genera of the class
Annelida) often inhabit, although it is frequently sufficiently regular and solid, it cannot however in any manner be compared to the
shell of the Mollusca, not even where there is the greatest approximation, as in Dentalium and Siliquaria. These tubes of the Cheto¬
poda are always simple excretions from their body, which are by no means attached to it, and from which the animal may issue forth
without dying immediately. We begin to observe something of this kind in the mucosity with which certain species line the hole
hollowed in the mud or sand which they inhabit, as in the Arenicolas, and some Lumbrici. This is analogous to the mucous pellicle
of the tube of the Amphitritse and the Sabellae; but in the latter, surrounding this mucosity, is attached externally a stratum, more
or less thick, composed merely of mud or very fine grains of sand, or, in fine, of debris, more or less thick, of shells and larger grains
of sand. These tubes are constantly open at both extremities; there are also some of them more regular, which are completely cal¬
careous. The double opening is a character whereby they are distinguished from tubular shells, the summit of which, on the contrary,
is constantly imperforate. These tribes, however, appear constantly to grow, after the manner of tubular shells, by laminae or strata
extremely thin, placed inside of and out-edging one another. From this result striae, marking the growth, more or less apparent
outside ; but we never remark longitudinal striae on their surface, nor anything indicating the delicate working of the edges of a mouth,
as in the Mollusca. This character alone might suffice to distinguish them from the true tubular shells ; but to this we may add, that
the constant perforation of the summit of the tube of the Chetopoda never allows the animal, in growing and advancing in its tube,
to form partitions there, whereas in the tubular shells the reverse is invariably the case. A final character which distinguishes the
tubes of the Chetopoda is, that they are adherent, and fixed flatly, through a greater portion of their extent, on foreign bodies, which
never takes place with the tubular shells.” (Griffith’s edition of Cuvier’s Animal Kingdom, vol. xiiL, p. 58.) We may add, that the
young of the shell-bearing Mollusca are always born with shells, because that part forms, in fact, a portion of their skin; but there is no
doubt that the young Annelida are produced in an exposed condition, and afterwards proceed, by a voluntary effort, to form their pro¬
tecting habitations.
2 See his excellent and elaborate paper “ On the British Annelida,” published in the Reports of the British Association for 1851.
London, 1852.
292 H E L M I N T
Annelida, that this sea-water, under such circumstances, readily as-
sumes the character of an organic fluid—that is, becomes
vitalized with great facility by the solid organic elements
contained in the peritoneal fluid. Whether the peritoneal
fluid is organically capable of maintaining the nutrition of
the solid structures of the system, cannot be directly proved ;
but it is scarcely susceptible of doubt, from the intricate
manner in which the true blood-vessels afterwards coil in
the midst of the fluid contents of the general cavity, that
the former must absorb from the latter the elements from
which the true blood is afterwards manufactured. It pre¬
sents, in fact, according to our author, the same relation to
the contents of the proper blood system of vessels as the
chyle of the higher animals does to the true blood ; the peri¬
toneal fluid of the Annelida differing from the chyle of the
mammalia only in the fact that the latter is contained in
vessels, while the former rolls in a capacious chamber.
Although we are deeply indebted to M. Milne-Edwards
for his ample exposition of the colour and distribution of
the blood in the Annelida,1 he appears to have overlooked,
if not mistaken, its corpuscular or microscopic character.
“ Mais, du reste,” he remarks, “ examine au microscope, ce
liquide ne m a pas semble differer du sang des autres ani-
maux sans vertebres. Les globules qu’on y voit nager n’ont
pas du tout I’aspect de ceux propres au sang des animaux
yertebres; ce sont des corpuscules circulaires, dont la sur¬
face a une apparence framboisee, et dont les dimensions
varient extremement chez un meme animal.” Mr Wharton
Jones has also figured and described these blood corpuscles
as supposed to exist in the earth-worm and leech.3 Now,
Dr Williams, after the most careful and extended examina¬
tion, states as follows :—
“ In no single species among the Annelida does the blood
proper contain anrj morphic element whatever ! In all in¬
stances, without a single known exception, it is a perfectly
amorphous fluid, presenting under the highest powers of
the best microscope no visible corpuscles or molecules, or
cells whatever; it is a limpid fluid variously coloured, as
originally and correctly described by M. Milne-Edwards, in
different species. No complete distinction into venous and
arterial blood can be observed, and the plan of the circula¬
tion renders such a distinction only partially possible. In
all cases the colouring matter is fluidified, and uniformly
blended with the fluid mass of the blood ; the colour there¬
fore must be developed in the fluid mass, for there exist
here no morphotic elements in the blood itself by which
the separation of the coloured substances from the peritoneal
fluid can be effected, unless indeed the parietes of the ves¬
sels of the blood-proper discharge this eclectic function.
With one exception, namely, that of Glycera alba, in which
they are red, the corpuscles of the peritoneal fluid are in
all species destitute of colour. But it is not at all chemi¬
cally impossible that the coloured ingredients may exist in
this fluid in a colourless state, and that these ingredients,
through entering into new combinations, may become
brightly coloured after transition into the true blood. In
consequence of the impracticable minuteness of the quan¬
tity, no direct chemical analysis of the blood in the Anne¬
lid can be executed. As to the colour, however, analogy
removes all doubt that the red tinge is due to the salts of
iion, and the green to those of copper. In those species in
which the blood is light, yellow, opaque, or lymph-like, it
does not follow that the salts of the coloured minerals are
altogether absent; they may exist under colourless combina¬
tions. I he physiologist cannot view with unconcern the
question, which in this class of animals affects the mode in
which the peritoneal fluid and the blood-proper stand re¬
lated to each other. I hat the former is higher than the
latter in degree of organization, no doubt can exist; but it
H 0 L 0 G Y.
is not quite clear that the true blood is reproduced out of Annelida
the elements of the peritoneal fluid ; since the vessels distri- ^ , 1
buted oyer the parietes of the alimentary canal may take up
some of the immediate products of digestion, before the
latter exude into the general cavity of the body to mingle
with its semi-aqueous contents. Nor can it be affirmed,
from the evidence drawn from its composition, that the pe¬
ritoneal fluid is unfitted to supply the means of nutrition to
the solid structures, into the interior of which in every part
of the body it intimately penetrates. It is more probable,
because more in accordance with analogy, however, to sup¬
pose, that it is a manufactory in itself; that its corpuscles
execute an office by which the mineral substances and proxi¬
mate principles are vitally assimilated; that the corpuscular
elements in the Annelida do in this fluid, what in the higher
animals analogous bodies effect in the blood-proper. From
these facts the physiologist may advisedly say thus much,
that in these animals nature divides the vital fluids into
two separate and distinct orders, on one of which the pre¬
parative and elaborative cell-agency devolves, on the other
the work of solid nutrition. They prove with great clear¬
ness, that the corpuscular elements, either in the blood it¬
self, or, as in this case, in some contributory fluid, are es¬
sential to the preparation of the blood-proper; for when in
the zoological series, as in the higher articulata, this cor-
pusculated fluid disappears, the blood itself becomes cor-
pusculated; or when the peritoneal fluid, as in the Echino-
dermata, becomes less organic, then also morphotic ele¬
ments are developed in the true blood. From these obser¬
vations the inference may be further drawn, that between
these two nutritious fluids there exists a definite physiolo¬
gical balance ; that one is capable of absorbing or merging
into the other, according as the observer ascends or de¬
scends the organic scale. The peritoneal system of fluid
terminates at the standard of the insect, the true blood
system traced downwards terminates at the Echinoder-
mata.”3
The swelling of certain portions of the body in progres¬
sion may be regarded as due to the interior fluids. These
are driven to a given point of the containing cavity, where
they are momentarily imprisoned by the contraction of the
circular integumentary muscles before and behind,—thus
producing a bulging. The muscles of the integument are
then excited to action, and the fluid is forcibly compressed
forwards or backwards, in accordance with the direction of
the muscular agency. This is the mechanical use of the
chyle-aqueous fluids of the peritoneal cavity, the physiologi¬
cal purposes of which have been already explained. AE
most all the Annelida are struck, as it were, by paralysis,
when this fluid is made to escape from its cavity by a punc¬
ture through the external walls. The power of motion is
immediately suspended, and the body becomes flaccid and
passive. The peritoneal fluid is really the fulcrum on
which all muscular action is based, and without it these crea¬
tures cannot make the required contractions with sufficient
effect and precision. But this is not the only mechanical
use which it affords. It prevents that injurious pressure
amid the internal organs which might impede or arrest the
circulation of the blood. In the leech tribe it is the fluid
contained within the stomach that accomplishes this im¬
portant object. “ Nothing in the history of the Annelida,”
says Dr Williams, “can be conceived more wonderful than
the mechanically perfect and facile manner in which Linus
longissimus, a worm of many yards in length, performs the
feat of locomotion, and that too over craggy and rugged
rocks. Without the conjoined action of these internal
fluids, the motor apparatus would be incapable of effort.
1 he Annelida, as a class, may be said to undergo, in
their earlier stages, few, if any, metamorphoses. The young
1 Annales dcs Sciences, October 1838.
2 Phil. Trans , Part II, 1846.
Report, p. 175.
HELMINTHOLOGY.
Annelida, seem at first to be entirely devoid of appendages, but the
body does not in any instance exhibit those peculiar transmu¬
tations so observable in the growth of insects and Crustacea.
In regard to the external parts, we shall here indicate a
few of the most important,—premising, that the characters
mentioned are not universal to the class, but rather confined
to certain races. The head, in such as possess one, is a
small anterior swelling, which bears the antennae commonly
so called, and the eyes, and is distinct from the first seg¬
ment of the body. The Nereids of Linnaeus are regarded
by Latreille as the only Annelida of which the anterior seg¬
ment merits the name of head, or possesses organs fit to be
compared to eyes, more especially to those of the larvae of
insects. The eyes, where such exist, are simple, extremely
small, and appear like blackish points. The organiza¬
tion of the mouth varies greatly in the different orders.
The parts called maxillae by Savigny are hard circumscribed
parts, of a corneous or calcareous nature, to which Latreille
does not accord the name of jaws. The latter author in¬
deed seems to regard the Annelida as a suctorial rather
than a masticating class. Most of them are of carnivorous
habits, and live on the blood of other creatures. The trunk
or sucker is a contractile fleshy portion, constituting the
mouth, and containing the so-called jaws. The latter por¬
tions, however, being adherent to the inner coats of the
sucker, which is itself nothing more than a prolongation of
the oesophagus, can scarcely be regarded as genuine jaws.
Several tribes have their branchiae uniformly spread over
the extent of the body, or over its central portion, while
others (and these usually dwell in tubes) bear those organs
at their anterior extremity. In the erratic species, or such
as are naked, and without fixed dwellings, they are usually
disposed longitudinally along the sides of the body, there
being one for each foot. Blood-vessels sometimes appear
to spread into the setiform processes, and to convert them
into respiratory organs.
We have already stated that Linnaeus placed the Anne¬
lida in his almost unlimited class of Vermes,—a vast and
by no means well-combined group, which the later labours
of Otho Frederick Muller, Pallas, and other naturalists,
failed to cast into a much more natural mould. The great
Swedish naturalist separated the true Annelida from each
other, placing one portion of the group in the order Intes-
tina, and the other in that of Mollusca. In Cuvier’s earliest
work {Tableau Elementaire, &c., 1789), he restricted the
class of worms to the Annelida and intestinal species, a
mode of grouping previously practised by Bruguiere in the
Encyclopedie Methodique. Subsequent investigations in¬
duced the French anatomist to raise the former to the rank
of a separate class, which he named Vers d sans rouge, in
a memoir read to the French Institute in 1802. On this
same group Lamarck {Extrait du Cours, &c., 1812) be¬
stowed the name of Annelides,1 which has since been very
generally adopted. A slight disparity, however, still exists
in the constitution of the class, in the works of Cuvier and
Lamarck, the former including therein the genus Gordius,
which the latter associates with the other Vermes.
But notwithstanding the valuable labours of these and
293
other writers, the external structure of the Annelida cannot Annelida,
be said to have been at all rigorously determined, or viewed
in relation to that of conterminous groups, till we received
the fruits of Savigny’s laborious and most delicate obser¬
vations, originally presented to the Academy of Sciences.2
At that period Blainville was also occupied in the study of
the same group, which, with the exception of the leeches,
forms his class of Setipodes. He published an extract from
his labours in the course of the ensuing year.3 Oken, Leach,
Latreille, Duges, Audouin, Milne-Edwards, and others, have
likewise contributed to our knowledge of this curious and im¬
portant class, in publications, to the majority of which we shall
more particularly allude in the course of the present treatise.
In regard to the geographical distribution of the Annelida,
our data are not yet sufficiently precise and numerous to
admit of any satisfactory generalization. We have already
said, that with the exception of the earth-worms (and even
these require a moist abode), all the known species are
aquatic. We may add, that the great majority inhabit the
saline waters of the ocean. Most of the Naids, however,
occur in fresh water, and some true Nereids are found in
the lakes of North America. Annelida of some kind or
other are met with in all quarters of the globe, and the
species of many genera are very widely distributed; but
others, such as the Amphinomce, for example, are charac¬
teristic of, if not peculiar to, the warmer seas. Undoubtedly
the most magnificent are native to the Indian shores. “ It
is in general on the coasts of the sea, in the midst of Tha-
lassiophytes, in the anfractuosities of madrepores, in the
sand, and particularly in mud, that the Chetopoda are to be
found ; and if some species are more commonly to be met
with in the open sea, as, for instance, the Amphinomae,
named by M. Savigny Pleione vagans, it appears that they
may have been drawn along with marine plants by the cur¬
rents, as is the case with many other animals.”1 Their
natural movements are extremely slow, and may be com¬
pared to those of slugs, although their appendages for loco¬
motion are much more numerous. The Nereides, however,
not only creep in a kind of serpentine manner over the
surface of solid bodies at the water’s edge, but frequently
swim very respectably, either by successive undulations of the
body, after the manner of eels and serpents, or by agitating
theirappendages, and thus making these organs serve as oars.6
The utility, in an economical point of view, of the Anne¬
lida in general, to the human race, is by no means great.
According to Pallas, the inhabitants of some parts of Bel¬
gium eat those portions of Aphrodita aculeata which com¬
pose the mouth ; the Nereides and Arenicolae, as well as
the earth-worms, are extensively employed as baits for fish,
and the medicinal uses of the leech are notorious ; but, with
these, and, it may be, a few other exceptions, little can be
said regarding the direct benefits derivable from this peculiar
class. Its subjects, however, are by no means on that account
the less important in the eyes of the philosophical naturalist.
Several of the Annelida possess a phosphoric property,
from which Linnaeus named a certain species Nereis noc-
tiluca. Others, characterized by the same attribute, were
afterwards described by Sig. Viviani.6
1 From annellus, a little ring. The body of these animals is composed of a series of annuli or rings, a formation which suggested to Lamarck
the general name which they now bear. The substance of these rings is neither horny nor calcareous, but soft and fleshy, and thus so
far differs from the truly articulated tribes in the entire absence of any approach to a hard skeleton, or the consistent covering of insects.
The segments are divided from each other only by a circular band of muscular fibres, the annulations not being perfectly distinct from
each other,—the longitudinal muscles passing over and under the constricting circular bands. Thus, as Dr Williams remarks, these
segmentations of the Annelida are more apparent than actual. In addition to the works mentioned in the course of this article we would
especially recommend Dr Williams’ifeporf already referred to, and of which we have made frequent use. We may moreover refer the
reader to M. de Quatrefage’s elaborate Etudes sur les types inferieurs de Vembranchement des Annelides, consisting of many Memoires pub¬
lished in the Annales des Sciences Nat., S™0 serie, for the years 1848,1850, and 1852. See also Siebold’s Anatomy of the Im/erte&rata (trans¬
lated by Dr Burnett), London, 1854 ; Dr Carpenter’s General Physiology, 5th edit., Ibid., 1854 ; and Mr Kymer Jones’s General Structure
of the Animal Kingdom, 2d ed , Ibid., 1855.
2 Systeme des Annelides, forming a portion of the great French work on Egypt. 3 Bulletin de la Soc. Phil., Mai et Juin 1818.
4 Griffith’s Animal Kingdom, vol. xiii., p. 73. 6 The lateral parts are hence named rames by M. Savigny.
6 Phosphoremia maris quatuordecim lucescentium animalculorum novis speciebus illustrata. Genuae, 1805.
HELMINTHOLOGY.
294
Annelida. The presence or absence of the organs of motion, and
v —^ the position of the branchiae, furnish natural characters of
easy application, which modern zoologists have employed
to signalize the primary groups. Lamarck divides the An¬
nelida into three orders—les Apodes, les Antennes, and les
Sedentaires; and in the system of Cuvier they likewise
form an equal number of orders—les Tubicoles, les Dorsi-
branches, and les Abranches. In both systems the Serpulae
occupy the highest position in the scale. Savigny’s ar¬
rangement of these animals consists of five orders, of which
the author has as yet treated only of four—viz., les Nereidees,
les Serpulees, les Lombricines, and les Hirudinees. He
places the Aphrodites and Nereids at the head of the class.
Latreille is also of opinion that these Annelida, especially
the Nereides, so far as regards their external organization,
are entitled to precedence, and make the nearest approach
to the articulated animals provided with feet, such as In¬
sects and Crustacea.
We shall here, in as far as general arrangement is con¬
cerned, follow the system of Cuvier.1 2
Order I.—TUBICOLiE, Cuv.
Some form a calcareous homogeneous tube, supposed to
result from transudation, like the covering of testaceous
Mollusca, but which does not adhere by any muscular at¬
tachment ; others construct a covering by agglutinating
grains of sand, broken shells, and other debris, by means
of a membrane, likewise the result of transudation ; while a
third group are surrounded by a tube of an entirely mem-
branous or corneous nature.
Genus Serpula, Linn. The body is composed of nu¬
merous segments; its anterior portion is enlarged in the
form of a disk, armed on either side by several bundles of
stiff bristles ; and on each side of the mouth is a fan-shaped
plume of branchiae, usually adorned by lively colours. At
the base of each plume is a fleshy filament, one or other of
which is always prolonged and dilated at the extremity into
a disk of various form, which serves as an operculum, and
closes the overture
of the tube when¬
ever the contained
creature chooses to
retire. Of this ge¬
nus the calcareous
tubes cover, by their
tortuous windings,
the surface of stones,
shells, and other
submarine bodies.
The species are
widely distributed
throughout the seas
of Europe, India,
and America. The
largest are indige¬
nous to the warmer
climates of the
globe. Little is
known of their in¬
stinctive habits or
natural economy.
They are said to
feed on aquatic animalcules, which they seize by means of
their branchial tentacula.
Linnaeus, and most of the naturalists of his time, placed
the Serpulae among the testaceous Mollusca. They now
constitute a numerous genus, of which several species occur
in the European seas. They are very contractile, and are Annelida,
supposed to feed on animalcules. A well-known species, S. i ^
contortuplicata (fig. 1), has rounded tortuous tubes, of about
three lines in diameter. Its operculum is tunnel-shaped,
and its branchiae are often of a beautiful red, or varied
with yellow and violet. Any object thrown into the sea is
apt to be speedily covered by this species.
In tropical seas they usually form their encrusting ha¬
bitations in the midst of corals, lengthening their tubes as
the coral is built up around them. Their extent is some*
times equal to three feet; and the expanded gill-tufts are
of extremely vivid colours, equalling in brilliancy the bright¬
est carnations. Some of the many small species which occur
along our own coasts are also remarkable for the beautiful
tinting of their gills.
Genus Spirorbis, Lam. Branchiae much less nume¬
rous than in the preceding genus (from three to four on
each side), placed anteriorly in a somewhat radiated form.
A pediculated operculum, with a flat summit placed between
the branchiae. Tube testaceous, and rolled after the man¬
ner of a Cornu ammoms.
This genus is composed of very small species, which are
found attached to fuci, shells, and other
marine bodies. They frequently occur in
great numbers, though always separate from
each other. The animals are of a blood-
red colour. We have figured the Sp. nau-
tiloides of Lam. (fig. 2) synonymous with the
Serpula spirorbis of Linn.
Genus Sabella, Cuv. Amphitrite, Lamarck. Body
and fan-shaped branchiae resembling those of the preced¬
ing genus, but both the fleshy filaments adhering to bran¬
chiae terminate in a point, and do not form an operculum ;
they are sometimes even wanting. Their tube is rarely
calcareous, and seems often formed of grains of very fine
clay or mud. Most of the ascertained species are of consi¬
derable size, and are remarkable for the extreme delicacy
and lustre of their plumy branchiae.
One of the most splendid of the genus is figured by Dr
Shaw under the title of Tubularia magnificat It is found
on various parts of the coast
of Jamaica, adhering to the
rocks. It is extremely wary,
and when approached instantly
recedes within its tube, which
on a further alarm also retires
into the rock, so that speci¬
mens can be obtained only by
breaking off portions of the mass.
These, when put into tubs of
sea-water, may be preserved for
months, and the habits of the
animals attentively studied. The
species in question is character¬
ized by a simple undulated tube
of a whitish hue, the tentacula
being varied by beautiful alter¬
nate bands of red and white.
Sab. vesiculosa (fig. 3) is a British
species described by Montagu.3
The internal texture of its tube is
coriaceous, but the outer coat is
invariably covered by coarse
sand, intermixed with fragments
of shells. Considerable variety
exists in the form and aspect of
the genus Sabella.
Fig. 2.
1 llegne Animal fed. 1830), vol. iii. See also the two following works :—Synoptische Uebersicht der Ringehvurmer oder Anneliden; Naeh
Cuvier's Classification. (Mit vielen Abbildgn.) Lithog. gr. imp. fol., Ebend. 1841. Schmidt's Neue Beitrdge zur Naturgeschichte der
Wiirmer, Jena, 1848.
2 Linn. Trans, v., p. 228, tab. 9. 3 Ibid, xi., p. 19, tab. 5.
HELMINTHOLOGY.
innelida. Genus Terebella, Cuv. These, like the preceding,
—t. j inhabit a tube of their own formation, but composed of
coarser materials than that of the generality of Sabellse.
Their body presents much fewer segments, and the head
is otherwise adorned. Numerous filiform tentacula, capable
of great extension, surround the mouth; and on the neck
are placed the branchiae, which are not fan-shaped, but in
the form of little branches.
The animals of this genus, according to Montagu, either
prepare a sheath from the tenacious secretion of their own
bodies, mixed with adventitious matters, or reside in pre¬
pared perforations at the bottom of the sea. Their tubes are
in general so extremely fragile as to be easily destroyed,
and the animals are then found lurking beneath stones, or
forming a new dwelling. Some fabricate their tube in old
shells or stones, to which they adhere by their entire length,
while others fix a tube perpendicularly in the sand. These
tubes are indeed frequently observed to obtrude several
inches above the surface of the soil, and when the waters
flow, the gills and other appendages are stretched forth, and
seem agitated to and fro. The gills or branchial appendages
are extremely sensible, of a fine blood colour, and when
touched they contract so suddenly as to expel the fluid
which they contain, and then they lose their sanguine hue.
The cephalic tentacles form auxiliary organs of respira¬
tion, not for the aeration of the blood-proper, but for that
of the peritoneal fluid already mentioned, by which they are
filled. They exhibit some peculiar features. From their
great length and vast number, they expose a large aggre¬
gate surface to the action of the surrounding medium. The
lower surface of each tentacle is clothed with cilia, and is
thinner than the dorsal aspect. The richly corpusculated
peritoneal fluid enters freely into the hollow axis of all these
tentacles, and is thus brought into contact with the sur¬
rounding waters. The tentacles themselves can grasp a
grain of sand or other minute fragment, at any point of their
length, or, if placed in a linear series, a row of grains. So
perfect is the order of the muscular fibres at the extremity
of each filament, that it is gifted with the twofold power of
suction and ordinary muscular action. When the tentacle
is about to seize upon an object, its extremity is drawn in¬
wards (like a portion of the finger of a glove reversed) in
consequence of the sudden reflex of the interior fluid. By
this movement a cup-shaped cavity is formed, in which the
object is securely held by atmospheric pressure—a power
immediately reinforced by the contraction of the circular
muscular fibres.
In addition to these important purposes, the tentacles of
the Terebellae are also the organs of locomotion. Being
outstretched by the ejection into their interior of the peri¬
toneal fluid—a process effected by an undulatory contrac¬
tion of the body from behind forwards—they are next at¬
tached like so many slender cables to a comparatively
distant surface, and being then shortened, the otherwise
helpless body is hauled forwards. 1 he concentration of the
tentacles and branchiae around the head in this genus, gives
a great development in that quarter to the circulating system.
The generative apparatus conforms in its general arrange¬
ment with that of the earth-worm, and others, in presenting
a segmental repetition, of the ovigerous organs, while the
male portion is grouped together in a lobated mass at the
mesial line. We owe to M. Milne-Edwards a detailed ac¬
count of the development of the young.1 On first leaving
the egg they exhibit no resemblance whatever to their
parents, but might rather be mistaken for the ciliated larvae
of Polypi or Medusae, presenting no vestige of the annular
295
type of form. Ere long, however, their bodies become Annelida,
elongated, and begin to assume a somewhat symmetrical or
two-sided form, consisting of four zones or rudimentary
segments, the posterior of which is continuous, provided with
a ciliary apparatus. A fifth ring next makes its appearance
between the penultimate and terminal joint, while the rudi¬
ments of the mouth and alimentary canal become distin¬
guishable. The growth now advances rapidly, the body
becoming more worm-like as the segments are added be¬
tween the last-formed segment and the terminal one. It
is observable that the originally ultimate segment continues
so to the end. Simple subulate setae, supported by small
fleshy tubercles, begin to appear on both sides, and the larva
is no longer apodous. At this period it resembles a minute
sub-cylindrical worm, and in a few days the cilia entirely
disappear, the body now exhibiting the aspect of one of the
erratic Annelids, in no respect resembling the tubicolous
genus to which it actually belongs, and is ere long trans¬
formed into. This young larva is furnished with a distinct
head, an antennary organ, eyes, and feet, provided with subu¬
late setae; while we afterwards come to know, that the
adult or 'perfect state, as we are wont to term it, have neither
head, eyes, nor antennae, and exhibit feet furnished with
hook-like appendages. Having lost its locomotive cilia,
it now ceases to swim, and begins to inclose itself in a kind
of mucous substance, which gradually solidifies into a cylin¬
drical tube, open at both ends. ‘ The first stage of its exist¬
ence, during which it has led an unfixed or erratic life, now
closes, and it commences a life similar to that of its parents.
The ventral oars, armed with terminal booklets are succes¬
sively developed, as are also the tentacular appendages
around the head ; but it is not till the creature has acquired
some forty pair of feet, that the branchial apparatus begins
to show itself under the form of two simple tubercles, spring¬
ing from the lateral regions of the neck.
Dr Williams states that the number of setiferous feet con¬
stitutes by far the best character for the fixation of the
boundaries of species. Between several of these, as consti¬
tuted by Montagu, thei’e is no actual difference but that
of the age of the observed individuals. Many of the Tere¬
bellae are gregarious, and some are so numerous that the
sea-shore after a storm is seen to be covered with their
fragments. When their tubes are entire, but a small por¬
tion of the body is protruded, with the exception of the long
filiform tentacles, which are thrust about in all directions as
if in search of food. The branchial appendages previously
mentioned as so finely coloured during healthy life, are ob¬
served to lose their brightness from day to day as the ani¬
mals become sickly in confinement.
Terebella gigantea, Mont., the largest of the genus, mea¬
sures sixteen inches in length, and occurs, though rarely,
on the coast of Devonshire.
Genus Amphitrite, Cuv. Pectinaria, Lam. Recog¬
nizable by the golden-coloured bristles ranged in a co¬
ronal or pectinated manner, in one or more rows, on the
anterior portion of the head, where they probably serve
either as a means of defence, for the purposes of locomo¬
tion,2 or for collecting the materials of their dwelling.
Numerous tentacula surround the mouth, and at the com¬
mencement of the back, on either side, there are comb¬
shaped branchiae.
The gills or branchial appendages of this genus are at¬
tached to the anterior part only of the body ; and this is
the case, in fact, with all the tribes that inhabit tubes, because
gills attached to the other parts which are covered, would
be useless for the purposes of respiration.3
i
1 Recherches Anatomiques et Zoologiques faites pendant un Voyage sur les Cotes de la Sidle. Annales des Sdences Nat., 3e sei'ie, Zool
t. iii. (Mars 184:5).
2 Montagu observed Terebella venustula fixing its tentacula, and then, by contracting them, draw its body forward.
3 Griffith’s Animal Kingdom, vol. xiii., p. 86.
296
HELMINTHOLOGY.
Annelida.
Fig. 4.
Certain species construct very light and delicate tubes,
in the form of a lengthened cone, which they carry along
in the course of their travels. Their golden bristles form
two combs, the teeth of which are directed downwards.
Their intestine is very ample, folded several times, and is
usually filled with sand. A well-known European species is
the Amph. auricoma Belgica of Gmelin, of which we have
given two representations
(fig. 4). Its tube measures
about two inches in length,
and is formed of little rounded
grains of various colours.
Other species attach their
tubes to different substances;
and their golden setae form
upon the head several concen¬
tric crowns, from which an
operculum is produced, which
closes the tube when the ani¬
mal is in a state of contrac¬
tion. Each foot is furnished
with a cirrhus, and the body,
terminating posteriorly in a
tube curved towards the head,
is provided with a kind of
muscular gizzard.1 To these
XiAovLgAmph.alveolata, Ellis,
Corail. 37, of which the tubes, combined in a compact mass,
present regularly disposed orifices, resembling the cells of a
piece of honeycomb. Another species, Amph. ostrearia of
Cuvier, forms its tubes on the shells of oysters, and is said to
be extremely injurious to the increase of that valuable mollusc.
Cuvier has placed in this order of Annelida the singular
genus Syphostoma (fig. 6), first made known by Dr Otto
in a dissertation published at Breslau in 1820. It appears to
have two anterior open¬
ings or mouths.2
Here also, but with a
very doubtful claim, the
genus Dentalium (fig. 5)
is allowed to stand. Its
covering is a solid calca¬
reous shell, in the form
of an arched elongated
cone, open at both ends,
and compared by some to
a small tusk of an ele¬
phant. The animal it¬
self does not appear to
be in any way articulat¬
ed, nor to possess lateral
setae. Its body is of a
conical form, like that of
the shell, and is very
smooth and compact.3
It seems now to be
determined that the po-
Fig. 5.
Fig. 6.
sition of this last-named genus in the Cuvierian system was
a misplacement. Dr Williams is very clearly of opinion
that the researches of Deshayes and Savigny, and more
satisfactorily of M. de Blainville and Mr Clark (in Annals
of Nat. Hist, for Nov. 1849), have proved that the Denta-
liada are gasteropodous Mollusca, ranking somewhere be¬
tween Chiton and Patella. In Dentalium, the symmetrical Annelida,
sub-ventral position of the branchiae, the posterior flow of
water which takes place in them, and the resemblance of
the foot to that of some of the bivalves, appear in a striking
manner to prove its connection with the Conchiferce, whilst
by its oesophageal cerebral ganglions, and the completeness
of its circulating system, its affinity to the Gasteropod is es¬
tablished. But neither can it be disputed that the genus
exhibits some peculiar approximations to the Annelida or
annulose tribes; such as the red blood, the vermiform con¬
figuration of the posterior portion of the body, the tubular
figure of the shell, the operation of the operculum, and the
apparent resemblance of the branchia* to those of the Sa-
bellce. All these characters may readily be viewed as pre¬
figuring some of the outward features of the Annelida,
although they are in truth only analogies of an apparent
and superficial nature. The species have therefore been
excluded from the latter class in Dr Williams’ Report. Our
author maintains the close and natural approximation of the
Annelida and Entozoa.
Order II.—DORSIBRANCHIA.
The genera of this order bear their branchiae throughout
the length of their body, or are at least along its middle por¬
tion, and in the various forms of branches, tufts, plates, or
tubercules, in which the sanguineous vessels ramify. The
majority of the species live in the mud, or swim freely in
the sea. A few dwell in tubes.4 *
Those in w'hich the branchiae are most highly developed
are placed at the head of the order.
Genus Arenicola, Lam. Branchiae numerous, compli¬
cated, bush-shaped, and disposed over the intermediate seg¬
ments of the body. Mouth terminal, in
the form of a dilatable fleshy trunk, without
either teeth or tentacula. No apparent
eyes. The posterior extremity wants both
the branchiae and the bundles of setae with
which the other segments are furnished.
There are no cirrhi to any part of the body.
This genus was established by Lamarck,
at the expense of the old genus Lumbricus
of Linnaeus. The best-known species, A.
piscatorum (Lum. marinus, Linn.) or lug-
worm (fig. 7), measures about a foot in
length, and bears thirteen pair of branchiae.
It is of a reddish colour, and, when handled,
stains the fingers of a fine yellow. It in¬
habits moist sand by the sea-shore, and is
much used as a bait by fishermen.
This Annelid lives almost entirely by the
swallowing, of sand, and its position is indi¬
cated by the numerous little coils so fre¬
quent on the sea-shore below high-water
mark. The sand traverses the entire ex¬
tent of the animal’s body, yielding for di¬
gestion and assimilation whatever it may
contain of an organic nature, the residuum
being rejected in the form of sand-coils.
Deglutition, with this species, can only be Fis-7-
performed when the sand is saturated with water. If too
dry, it cannot be swallowed; if too wet, it cannot be seized
by the proboscis.
' Though the lug-worm may seem to inhabit the loose
1 These species form the genus Sabellaria of Lamarck, and Hermella of Savigny. No department of natural history is more darkened
by a confused cloud of synonyms than that which treats of the Annelida. “ Ces perpetuels changements des noms,” says Cuvier,
“ finiront par rendre 1’etude de la nomenclature heaucoup plus difficile oue celle des faits. (Regne Animal, t. iii., p. 195.)
2 See the article Siphostome, in the Diet, des Sciences Nat.
3 See Savigny, Systeme des Annelides, p. 98 ; and Deshayes, Monographic du Genre Dentale, in Mem. de la Soc. d'Hist. Nat. de Paris,
t. ii., p. 321. We may here note, that the genus Dentalium (now classed with the molluscous tribes^ seems to have been equally abundant
in ancient as in modern times,—many of its calcareous tubes being found in a fossil state.
4 Consult Orsted’s Gronlands Annulata, dorsibranchia, Kjdbenhaven, 1813; and by the same author, Beschreibung der Plattuiurmer,
ibid., 1844.
HELMINTHOLOGY.
\nnelida. moist sand, or to perforate it merely mechanically, it is well
^ known to secure the sides of the passage from closing in
by applying to them a glutinous cement, which unites the
particles of sand into a kind of wall or coating. This co¬
vering does not adhere to the body, but forms a surrounding
tube, within which the animal moves with perfect freedom,
and which it leaves behind it as it progressively advances;
so that the passage is kept pervious throughout its entire
length by means of the lining, which may not inaptly be
compared to the brickwork of the shaft of a mine or tunnel.1
As allied to Arenicola, we may here name a singular
Annelid, or sea-worm, called Palolo, of which specimens
were some years ago presented to the British Museum by
the Rev. J. B. Stair.2 It is described by Mr J. E. Gray as
characterized by—“ a cylindrical body, separated into equal
joints, each joint with a small tuft of three or four spicula
on the middle of each side. Head ? Last joint end¬
ing in a couple of tentacles. Eggs globular.” Most of the
specimens examined were unfortunately much broken ; and
as none of the portions possessed a head, Mr Gray very
properly did not describe it. He names the species Palolo
viridis. It is of a green colour, with a row of round black
spots down the middle of the dorsal (?) surface,—one spot
on the middle of each joint. The following is Mr Stair’s
account of its habits and locality :—
“ Palolo is the native name for a species of sea-worm
which is found in some parts of Samoa (the Navigator
Islands), in the South Pacific Ocean. They come regu¬
larly in the months of October and November, during por¬
tions of two days in each month, viz., the day before, and
the day on which, the moon is in her last quarter. They
appear in much greater numbers on the second than on the
first day of their rising, and are only observed for two or
three hours in the early part of each morning of their ap¬
pearance. At the first dawn of day they may be felt by
the hand swimming on the surface of the water ; and as the
day advances their numbers increase, so that by the time
the sun has risen thousands may be observed in a very
small space, sporting merrily during their short visit to the
surface of the ocean. On the second day they appear at
the same time, and in a similar manner, but in such count¬
less myriads that the surface of the ocean is covered with
them to a considerable extent. On each day, after sport¬
ing for an hour or two, they disappear until the next season,
and not one is ever observed during the intervening time.
Sometimes, when plentiful at one island in one month,
scarcely any are observed the next; but they always appear
with great regularity at the times mentioned, and these are
the only times at which they are observed throughout the
whole year. They are found only in certain parts of the
islands, generally near the openings of the reefs on portions
of the coast on which much fresh water is found ; but that
is not always the case.
“ In size they may be compared to a very fine straw, and
are of various colours and lengths, green, brown, white, and
speckled, and in appearance and mode of swimming resemble
very small snakes. They are exceedingly brittle, and if
broken into many pieces, each piece swims off as though it
were an entire worm. No particular direction appeared to
be taken by them in swimming. I observed carefully to
see whether they came from sea-ward or rose from the reef,
and feel assured they came from the latter place. The
297
natives are exceedingly fond of them, and calculate with Annelida,
great exactness the time of their appearance, which is ^
looked forward to with great interest. The worms are
caught in small baskets, beautifully made ; and when taken
on shore are tied up in leaves in small bundles and baked.
Great quantities are eaten undressed, but either dressed or
undressed are esteemed a great delicacy. Such is the
desire to eat palolo by all classes, that immediately the fish¬
ing parties reach the shore, messengers are despatched in all
directions with large quantities to parts of the island on
which none appear.”3
Genus Amphinome, Brug. A pair of branchiae on each
segment of the body, and two bundles of setae, and a pair of
cirrhi to each foot. The sucker is destitute of maxillae.
This genus was formed by Bruguiere from Aphrodita
of Pallas, and Terebellao? Gmelin. Savigny divides it into
three, viz.,—
1st, Gen. Chlceia, containing such as have five tentacula
to the head, and branchiae in the form of tri-pinnate leaves.
Pig. 8.
We have figured as an example a large and beautiful spe¬
cies, C. capillata (fig. 8), remarkable for its long and thick¬
set bundles of setae of a brilliant yellow, and its purple
branchiae. It inhabits the Indian Seas. 2d, Gen. Pleione,
containing those species which, with the same number of
tentacula, have tufted branchiae. 3c?, Gen. Euphrosine,
containing species characterized by bushy branchiae (fig. 9),
of a complicated structure, and strongly developed. The
head is furnished with only a single tentaculum. The
known species inhabit the Red Sea.
Genus Eunice, Cuv.—Leodice, Sav. Branchiae in the
form of plumes, but the mouth or trunk armed with three
pair of corneous maxillae of different forms. Each foot has
two cirrhi and a tuft of setae. The head bears five tentacula
placed above the mouth, and two on the nape of the neck.
Some of the species are furnished with a pair of eyes.
This genus contains a monstrous worm, Eun. gigantea,
Cuv., the largest of all known Annelida. It measures from
four to six feet in length, and its body consists of 448 seg¬
ments. Its colour is ashy grey, with an opalescent reflection.
It inhabits the Indian Seas. Montagu (in Linn. Trans., vol.
xi., pi. 3) has figured and described a species, under the title of
1 Maunder’s Treasury of Natural History, p. 35. 2 Proceedings of the Zoological Society, March 9, 1847.
3 We owe a recent notice of this marine worm (misnamed a/sA) to the Rev. William Harbutt, now officiating under the London Mis¬
sionary Society. The following is an extract of a letter (addressed to Mr R. M. Smith of Edinburgh,) dated Samoa, 9th December
1854 :—“ I remember I promised to send you a few of the singular fish which annually visits our shores, and only on one morning in
the year—the day in which the moon enters her last quarter in November. I should say two days, for on the first day the fish are just
seen, few in number, and for a few minutes ; on the second in great numbers. This year I had an argument with the people here. They
calculated that the fish would appear on the 11th and be taken on the 12th; I, by the almanac, told them the days would be the 12th and
13th, and I proved correct. I was at the fishing, and a busy hour it was.” The specimens transmitted to Mr Smith did not arrive in
very good condition. Palolo seems to be, if not brittle, at least what mineralogists term “ easily frangible.”
YOL. XT. 2 V
298
helminthology.
Fig. 10.
Annelida. Nereis sanguined, but which, from the author’s description
of the jaws, is no doubt referrible to the present genus, or
rather to that subdivision of it called
Marphysa by Savigny, and distin- ■, j ,
guished by the absence of nuchal ten-
tacula. The body is long, slightly de¬
pressed beneath, and its segments ex¬
ceed 270, about 40 of which, at the
posterior extremity, were of a much
paler colour than the others, and ap¬
peared to Montagu as if they had been
lately reproduced. The rest of the
body was of a fine bronze colour, re¬
splendent with changeable prismatic
tints. It is a large species, measuring
fourteen or fifteen inches in length.
Ewi. tubicola (fig. 10) inhabits the
North Sea, and is remarkable for dwell¬
ing constantly in a solid corneous trans¬
parent tube.
After the preceding genera of the
dorsibranchial order, of which the
branchiae are complicated, Cuvier places
those of which the respiratory organs
are reduced to simple laminae, or even
to slight tubercles. In some species,
indeed, the branchiae are represented
by cirrhi alone.
Some exhibit an alliance to the
genus Eunice, in the strength of their
jaws, and the unequal number of
their antennae. Such are the genera
Lysidice and Aglaura of Savigny.
Genus Nereis, Cuv.—Lycoris, Sav. Tentacula of even
numbers, attached to the sides of the base of the head, and
a little further onwards two others bi-articulate, with a pair
of simple tentacula between them. A single pair of max¬
illae in the proboscis. Branchiae composed of small plates, in
which a net-work of sanguineous vessels is disposed. Each
foot is moreover provided with two tubercles, two bundles
of setae, and an upper and under cirrhus.
“ The Nereides,” it is observed in Mr Griffith’s Supple¬
ment, “ most usually live in the excavations of littoral rocks,
in the hollows of sponges, in certain alcyones, in univalve
or bivalve shells, in madrepores, in the interstices of the
radicles of Thalassiophytes, under stones, and in general in
all bodies which present fissures more or less profound.
There are some which bury themselves in mud or sand,
where they excavate a lodge proportional to the dimen¬
sions of their body, and sometimes they line this dwelling
with a mucous matter issuing from their body, in sufficient
abundance to construct a tube or sheath. From this they
put forth a greater or less portion of their body, but rarely
the posterior extremity, so that they may be able to re¬
enter on the slightest indication of danger. They all appear
to feed upon animal substances, whether in the living state,
or in a state of putrefaction more or less advanced. M.
Bose, who has observed the manners of some species on
the coasts of the United States, tells us positively that these
animals feed upon polypi and small worms, on which they
throw themselves, by darting out the anterior part of their
body, which they have first contracted. Otho Fabricius tells
us of some species of Spio, or Nereides with tubes, that they
seize the planariae on which they feed, by means of their
long tentacula.”
The species of this genus have a linear-shaped body,
more or less convex above, and composed of numerous Annelida |
segments. The term Sea Scolopendrae, sometimes applied Vwv^
to them, expresses not inaptly their usual
form. The species represented (fig. 11)
is Nereis tiuntia. N. margaritacea of
Leach is distinguished by its pearly body,
terminated by two long setae. Its head is
tri-lobate, with eight tentacula. This spe¬
cies is common near the Bell Rock, and
is subject to great variation of colour.
Near the preceding Nereids may be
classed several genera of the same slender
form, and with branchiae reduced to simple
plates, or even to threads or tubercles. In
some the maxillae and tentacula are absent.1
Genus Phyllodoce, Sav.2 Tentacula
on the side of the head, in equal numbers,
with four or five smaller ones in advance.
Eyes apparent. Trunk large, and pro¬
vided with a circle of very short fleshy tu¬
bercles. No apparent jaws. Branchiae broad,
and in the form of leaves, thin, flat, and
veined. Body linear, with many segments.
Ph. laminosa, Sav., is almost cylindri¬
cal, and consists of from 325 to 338 seg¬
ments. It is of a brown colour, with re¬
flections of purple and violet. Though
nearly a foot long, it measures only a line and a half in
breadth. It inhabits the shores of Nice. The Nereis la-
melligera atlantica of Pallas3 is probably a Phyllodoce.
Genus Alciopa, Aud. and Edw. Mouth and tentacula
resembling those of the preceding genus, but the feet or
organs of movement present, in addition to the tubercles
which bear the setae and foliaceous cirrhi (branchiae), two bran¬
chial tubercles, which occupy the upper and under margins.
Genus Spio, Fab. Body slender, with two very long
tentacula resembling antennae. Head furnished with eyes.
Branchiae on each segment of the body, in the form of a
simple filament.
The species of this genus occur chiefly in the North Sea.
They are of small size, and dwell in membranous tubes. They
continually agitate their long tentacula. We have figured
as an example the S. crenaticornis of Montagu (fig. 12).4
Fig. H.
Fig. 12.
The tube of this species is extremely tender, being com¬
posed of minute adventitious matter slightly agglutinated.
It is usually attached to Sertularice. In general the feelers
or tentacula are alone displayed; these are kept in constant
motion, and are turned about in all directions, although they
are at the same time capable of instantaneous contraction.
Genus Syllis, Sav. Tentacula of uneven number, and
moniliform, in common with the superior cirrhi of the feet.
The latter very simple, with a single tuft of setae.
Some diversity seems to exist in this genus in regard to
1 Consult Ratlike Da Bopyro et Nere'ide, Rigse, 1837.
2 Not to be confounded with the genus so named by Ranzani (in Mem. di Storia Natur. dec. prima, pi. i., fig. 2-9), at a period pos¬
terior to the publication of Savigny’s work. 3 Nov. Act. Petrop , t. ii., 233, tab. 5.
4 Linn. Trans, xi., tab. 14, fig. 6 (not 3, as in the author’s references to his own figures).
HELMINTHOLOGY.
299
Annelida, the presence or absence of the so-called jaws. The seg-
J ments of the body are very numerous.
S. Monilaris, Sav. (fig.
13) inhabits the Red Sea.
Its body is long (consisting
of 341 segments), slightly
depressed, insensibly nar¬
rowed towards the tail, Fig. is.
which terminates in two slender moniliform threads.
Genus Glycera, Sav. Recognizable by the form of the
head, which bears the shape of a fleshy conical point, re¬
sembling a little horn, and of which the summit is divided
into four scarcely perceptible tentacula. The maxillae are
alleged to vary as in the preceding genus.
Few of the species have been observed in a recent state.
G. unicornis is supposed by some to be identical with the
Nereis alba of Muller and Gmelin. Its native country is
unknown. G. Meckelii of Audouin and Edwards occurs on
the shores of France.1
Genus Nephthys, Cuv. The species of this genus are
distinguished by a trunk resembling that of Phyllodoce, but
they want the tentacula, and have on each foot two bundles
of setae, widely separated, with an intermediate cirrhus.
The only species admitted by Savigny is N Hombergii,
discovered by the gentleman whose name it bears, near
Flavre de Grace.
Genus Lombrinera, Blainv. Tentacula wanting. The
body, which is extremely elongated, bears on each segment
merely a little forked tubercle, from which issues a small
bundle of setae.
To this genus are referrible, among other species, the
Nereis ebranchiata of Pallas,2 and the Lumbricus fragilis
of Muller.3 The latter forms the doubtful genus Scoletoma
of Blainville.
Genus Aricia, Sav. Teeth and tentacula wanting.
Body elongated, with two rows of lamellar cirrhi on the back.
Anterior feet furnished with dentated crests, which are ab¬
sent from the other organs of movement.
Genus Hesione, Sav. Body short, thickish, composed
of few segments, and these not very distinguishable. A
very long cirrhus, probably performing the functions ot
branchiae, occupies the upper part of each foot, which has
also another beneath, and a tuft of setae. The sucker is large,
but unprovided with either teeth or tentacula.
The species, though few in number,
seem pretty widely distributed. H. splen-
dida, Sav.4 (fig. 14) occurs on the coasts
of the Red Sea, and was found by Ma-
thieu at the Isle of France. H.festiva
greatly resembles the preceding, though
of smaller size. It was discovered in
the neighbourhood of Nice, by M. Risso.5
Genus Ophelia, Sav. Body thick
and short, with the segments not very
apparent, and the setae scarcely visible.
For two-thirds of its extent long cirrhi
serve as branchiae. The palate contains
a toothed crest, and the lips are sur¬
rounded by tentacula, of which the two
upper are larger than the others.
O. bicornis, Sav., discovered by Or-
bigny, seems the only species yet dis¬
tinctly known.
Genus Cirrhatulus, Lam. A very long branchial fila¬
ment, and two small tufts of setae on each segment of the
body. These segments are very numerous and closely set, Annelida,
and there is an additional range of filaments on the poste-
rior part of what may be called the neck. I he head, but
slightly apparent, has neither jaws nor tentacula.
To this genus Lamarck (under the name ot C. borealis')
refers the Lumbricus cirrhatus ot Otho habricius.6 Cuvier
considers the Terebella tentaculata of Montagu' as likewise
being a species of Cirrhatulus.
The body of this marine Vermis is long and slender,
and composed of more than 200 annulations, each of which
is furnished with two fasciculi of very minute bristles.
There are no eyes, and the branchiae are obscure. 1‘rom
the sides of the segments issue very long, red, capillary,
appendages, most numerous near the anterior end, the ex¬
treme point of which, however, is destitute ot them, and
becomes acuminated. The mouth is placed on the inferior
face. The posterior end is likewise obtusely pointed.
The length of this animal is eight or nine inches. The
colour of the upper portion is olive green; of the under, dull
orange. While in a state of nature, the filiform appendages
of the sides are in continual motion, appearing like slender
red worms, twisting themselves around the body in all di¬
rections. This curious species was taken from a piece of
timber that had been perforated by Pholades, and was des¬
titute of any natural covering.8 Although Montagu placed
it in the genus Terebella, he expressed his doubts as to the
genus to which it really belonged.
Cirrhatulus Lamarckii, so abundant between tide-
marks on the coast of Swansea, is described by Dr Wil¬
liams as subsisting almost entirely by swallowing clay. Its
long branchial appendages are but slightly, if at all subser¬
vient to the seizing of food. T. he mouth is a small circu¬
lar orifice, situated ventrally a short distance below the
tapering snout in which it terminates, and is well adapted
for the suction of semi-fluid food. The native colours of
this marine worm are beautifully variegated; the brilliant
yellow of the intestine, which begins near the head and
continues to the tail, being relieved by the greenish hue of
the back, and contrasting well with the vermilion thread
which spangles every portion of the body. I his creature
is capable of throwing out from the general cutaneous sur¬
face a considerable quantity of viscid secretion, by which it
is enabled to roll itself within an impenetrable coat of mail.
The mechanical art of applying the surrounding substances
to the body is accomplished by the thready appendages;
and nothing can be more exquisite and admirable than the
perfect, though very rapid manner in which these micro¬
scopic strings accomplish their protecting work. In its
natural state, Cirrhatulus does not seem so much to inha¬
bit channels, as soft semi-fluid clay, in which it is found
beneath stones, near the ebb-mark ol the tide.
Genus Palmyra, Sav. Setae of the upper tufts large,
flattened, fan-shaped, and shining with the brilliancy of po¬
lished gold; under tufts small. Cirrhi and branchiae not
much developed. Body elongated, with two rather long,
and three very short tentacula.
The only known species is P. aurifera, a native of the Isle
of France, from whence it was sent to Paris by M. Mathieu.
Genus Aphrodita, Linn. Distinguished by its two
longitudinal ranges of broad membranous scales, which
cover the back, and beneath which the branchiae, in the
form of little fleshy crests, are concealed.9
The form of these Annelides is usually flattish, and is
shorter and broader than in most of the genera. The in¬
terior contains a very thick and muscular oesophagus, sus-
1 LRJor. de Za .France, Annelides, pi. vi., fig. i. 2 A'bv. AcZ. Pefro^>., t. ii., pi. vi., fig. 2. ^ Zool. Ban., pi. xxii.
4 Ouvrage d'Egypte, pi. iii., fig. 3. 5 Eur. Merida t. iv., p. 418. Fauna Groenlandica, p. 281, fig. 5.
7 Linn. Trans, ix., pi. vi., fig. 2. 8 Ibid., p. 110.
9 In the opinion of some observers, the Aphrodites offer an exception to the characters of their class, in not being possessed of red blood,
but Cuvier has stated his belief (Regne Animal, t. iii., p. 186, note) that that feature is distinguishable in Aph. squamata.
300 HELMINTHOLOGY.
Annelida, ceptible of being in part protruded outwards, like a trunk
or sucker; there is likewise an unequal intestine, furnished
on each side with a great number of branched caeca, of
which the extremities are attached between the bases of
the tufts of setae, which serve as locomotive organs. It is
alleged that the sexes are separate in the Aphroditae, and
that the females are oviparous. At certain periods the
female is certainly found filled with egg-like substances,
which swim in a circumambient liquid, and the male is said
to abound with milt.
The ordinal term of dorsibranchiate scarcely applies to
the majority of the species, so many of which present no
branchial appendages either on the back or elsewhere. They
are exceptional also in this respect, that their blood is
colourless. Respiration is performed on a different prin¬
ciple from that which pervades the other annelids. The
blood-system is in abeyance, while that of the chyle-aque¬
ous is exaggerated, and this fluid of the peritoneal cavity is
in this group the exclusive medium through which oxygen
is absorbed.
Savigny has raised this genus to the rank of a family,
containing three genera, viz., Palmyra, already noticed,
Halithea, and Polynoe.
To the genus Halithea belongs a well-known British
species, Aph. aculeata, Linn. It is of an oval form, six or
seven inches in length, and nearly two inches broad. The
scales of the back are covered, and in part concealed, by a
substance resembling tow, which takes its growth from the
sides. From these sides also spring groups of strong spines,
which partially pierce through the tow-like substance, and
bundles of softer and more flexuous bristles, which shine
with the brilliancy of gold, or exhibit the various tints of
the rainbow, scarcely yielding in beauty, as Cuvier has ob¬
served, either to the lustrous plumage of the humming-bird,
or the sparkling of precious gems. Lower down is a tu¬
bercle, from which spines issue in three groups, and of
three different sizes, and lastly, a fleshy cone. There are
forty of these tubercles on each side; and between the first
two there are a pair of small fleshy tentacula. There are
fifteen pair of broad scales, sometimes pursed, upon the
back, and fifteen small branchial crests on each side. This
curious creature is known along our native shores by the
name of sea-mouse. Two other species, Aph. sericea and
hystrix, are referrible to the same genus.
It appears from Dr Williams’ observations that the true
aphrodite type of respiration occurs in Aphrodita aculeata.
In this species, the actual uses of the “ elytra,” or dorsal
scales, become apparent. Furnished with a peculiar appa¬
ratus of muscles, they exhibit periodical movements of ele¬
vation and depression. Overspread by a coating of felt,
easily permeable by the w^ater, the space beneath the scales,
during their elevation, becomes filled with a large volume
offiltered w'ater, which, during the descent of the scales, is
forcibly emitted at the posterior end of the body. It is im¬
portant to remark that the current thus established laves
only the exterior of the dorsal region of the body. It no¬
where enters the internal cavities, the latter being shut up
by a membranous partition from that spacious exterior en¬
closure bounded above by the felt and the elytra. The
peritoneal chamber is very spacious in this species, and is
filled by a fluid which only in a slight degree contains or¬
ganized particles. The complex and labyrinthic appen¬
dages of the stomach lie floating in this fluid, and in the
chambers which divide the roots of the feet. From this
relation of contact between the peritoneal fluid and the di¬
gestive caeca, which are always filled by a dark green chyle.
Dr Williams regards it as impossible to resist the conclu- Annelida,
sion that the contained fluid is really a reservoir wherein v m- .
the oxygen of the external respiratory current already
referred to, becomes accumulated. From the perito¬
neal fluid the aerating element extends in the direction
of the caeca, and imparts to their contents a higher character
of organization. These contents thus prepared by a so¬
journ in the caeca of the stomach, become the direct pabu¬
lum for replenishing the true blood which is distributed in
vessels over the parietes of those chylous repositories.
Another subdivision of the Linnaean Aphroditae has none
of the flax-like substance on the back—the tentacula are
five in number—and the trunk encloses strong corneous
mandibles (fig. 15). It is named Polynoe by Savigny, and
contains most of the old species described
by Linnaeus, Pallas, Muller, and Otho Fa-
bricius. The Aph. clava of Montagu1 is a
Polynoe. Several other generic groups
have been recently formed by Audouin,
Milne-Edwards, and others, from the
genus Aphrodita.2
In Erichson’s Archives (for January Fi&- 15-
1845), we have an interesting note on the development
and metamorphoses of Polynoe cirrata. It is born under a
larva form greatly resembling the young of a very dissimi¬
lar genus Terebella. The eggs are found in packets on
the back of the mother, and are of a bluish colour. The
larva, of an ovoid form, and greenish colour, bears in front
of its ciliated cincture a cephalic lobe, terminated by a
little bundle of ciliae, and enclosing two blackish eye-shaped
points. The mouth is transverse, and is placed behind the
ciliated collar.
Genus Ch;etopterus, Cuv. Mouth with neither trunk
nor sucker, provided above with a lip, to which are attached
two or three small tentacula. Then follows a disk, fur¬
nished with nine pair of feet, followed by a couple of long
silky bundles like wings. The lamelliform branchiae are
attached rather to the under than the upper portion, and
prevail along the middle of the body.
There is only one species of this singular genus, Ch. per-
gamentaceus, Cuv. which measures from eight to ten inches
in length, and inhabits a tube formed of a substance re¬
sembling parchment. It occurs in the West Indian seas.3
Order III.—ABRANCHIA.
In this the third principal division of the Annelida there
is no apparent external organ of respiration. Certain spe¬
cies, like the earth-worm, seem to respire over the entire
surface; others, like the leech, by interior cavities. We
perceive a circulating system of closed vessels, generally
filled with red blood, and a nervous knotted cord, as
among the preceding groups.4 Some are furnished with
setae, which aid the locomotion, while others are destitute
of these parts; from whence arises a subdivision into two
principal families.
FAMILY I.—ABRANCHIA SET1GERA.
These are furnished with setae, and correspond to the
two genera Lumbricus and Nais of Linn.
Genus Lumbricus, Cuv. Body long, contractile, cylin¬
drical, divided by wrinkles into a great number of appa¬
rent rings. Mouth without teeth, subterminal, bilabiate,
the upper lip larger than the other, advanced. No eyes.
1 Linn. Trans, ix., pi. vii., fig. 3. 2 See Regne Animal, t. iii., p. 207.
For descriptive notices (with figures) of several rare and otherwise interesting British Annelida, consult a series of papers pub¬
lished in the Magazine of Natural History (chiefly volumes 6th and 7th), by an excellent observer, the late Dr Johnston of Berwick.
^ See M. Ant. Duges Sur VAnat. et Phys des Annel. Abranch. in Ann. des Sciences Nat. for September 1828.
HELMINTHOLOGY.
301
Annelida. This genus corresponds to Enterion of Savigny, and
 ) contains the earth-worms and other species. The setae are
rough and short, as if unguiculated. Each segment is
provided with eight of these setae, that is, four on each
side, united in pairs, and forming, by their distribution on
the body, eight longitudinal rows, of which four are lateral
and four inferior. From six to nine of the segments, com¬
prised between the 26th and the 37th, are swollen, and
form towards the anterior and superior portion of the body
a kind of cincture, especially perceptible during the breed¬
ing season. In the interior of these creatures we perceive
a straight wrinkled intestine, unprovided with a caecum,
but receiving in its course several muscular fibres (proper
to the rings of the body), which form an equal amount of
small diaphragms. Some internal whitish glands towards
the anterior of the body are regarded as connected with
the generative system. The nervous cord consists of a
series or infinity of very small ganglia, closely set together.
The circulation of the blood among the Lumbrici is by no
means difficult to detect. We may perceive arising from
the intestinal canal, and from the inner surface of the outer
envelope, an infinite number of small veinous vessels, which
interlace with a great assemblage of arterial ones. These
veins unite in one common trunk, placed longitudinally be¬
neath the belly, and from that trunk proceed five small
canals, which unite in a single dorsal vessel, which may be
regarded as the heart. From the last-mentioned organ
small arteries take their origin, and proceed to form a net¬
work with the veins of the superficies of the body,—thus
completing the circulation. Respiration appears to be car¬
ried on at the surface of the skin, most likely by means of
extremely small internal branchiae.
The appearance of the common earth-worm {Lumoricus
terrestris) is too familiar to
need description in this place.
We shall merely mention, that
beneath the sixteenth seg¬
ment there are two pores, the
uses of which are still un¬
known. The mode of produc¬
tion is likewise still disputed.
M. Montegre1 maintains that
the eggs descend between the
intestine and the outer enve¬
lope, around the rectum, where
they hatch, and are speedily
protruded in the living state.
M. Dufour, on the contrary,2
asserts that they lay eggs re¬
sembling those of leeches3 (fig.
16). The ordinary habits of the
earth-worm are well known.
They inhabit moist earth,
which they pierce in all direc¬
tions, and a quantity of which
they swallow. They also,
however, feed on animal and
vegetable remains, and always
prefer soil imbued with those Fig. ks.
substances. They seek each other’s society chiefly during
the night, and in the month of June. Under the specific
name of terrestris, naturalists have no doubt confounded
many different kinds. Savigny, to whom we owe so much Annelida,
in relation to the Annelida in general, has, since the pub- v
lication of his great work on that class, devoted his atten¬
tion more particularly to the genus Lumbricus, and has as¬
certained the existence of about twenty-two species in the
environs of Paris alone.4
Earth-worms undoubtedly possess a certain reproductive
power, when deprived of portions of their bodies, but not
to the extent of producing perfect individuals from separated
portions. It is easy to conceive that the removal of the
hinder part of the body, which does not contain any organs
essential to life, would not destroy the anterior portion ;
but that the hinder half, when left to itself, should repro¬
duce the mouth, gizzard, stomach, and other important
parts, wras much less likely. On cutting an earth-worm into
two, the anterior portion, according to Mr Rymer Jones, is
generally {bund to survive ; but this is not the case with
the other end, which, although it may show signs of vitality
for a length of time, possesses no power of reproduction,
and eventually dies. The experiments, however, of M.
Duges, certainly go to prove that very important portions
may be removed and reproduced. He cut off from four to
eight of the anterior rings, thereby, of course, removing the
cephalic pair of ganglia, the mouth, and a part of the ceso-
phagus. After the lapse of from ten to thirty days, a
conical vascular protuberance was perceived to sprout from
the bottom of the wound; and in eight or ten days more,
this new portion had become so far developed, that not only
were all the removed rings apparent, but even the mouth and
upper lip had assumed their pristine form, and the creature
began to swallow food, and bury itself beneath the earth.
Dr Williams’ experiments, again, were attended by an en¬
tirely different result. He found that although the anterior
half, after the bisection, did not lose the power of locomo¬
tion, its movements after a few days became much less active
and vigorous. The wounded segment soon began to con¬
tract and wither away; and this process of dissolution, creep¬
ing onwards from segment to segment, the cephalic extre¬
mity, or head itself, soon ceased to live. The tail half loses
at once all power of onward motion, and merely writhes
about on one spot. Its movements become excited, not vo¬
luntary, and it never re-acquires the power of swallowing
earth. The process of decay begins much sooner than in
the other half, and, extending towards the tail, implicates
first one ring, and then another, till the whole is dead.5
The common earth-worm, though apt to be despised and
trodden on, is really a useful creature in its way. Mr Knapp
describes it as the natural manurer of the soil, consuming
on the surface the softer parts of decayed vegetable matters,
and conveying downwards the more woody fibres, which
there moulder and fertilize. They perforate the earth in
all directions, thus rendering it permeable by air and water,
both indispensable to vegetable life. According to Mr
Darwin’s mode of expression, they give a kind of under¬
tillage to the land, performing the same below ground that
the spade does above for the garden, and the plough for
arable soil. It is, in consequence, chiefly of the natural
operations of worms that fields which have been overspread
with lime, burnt marl, or cinders, become in process ot time
covered by a finely divided soil, fitted for the support ot
vegetation. This result, though usually attributed by far¬
mers to the “working down” of these materials, is really
1 Mem. du Mus., t. i., p. 242. 2 -^nn- Sciences Nat., t. v., p. 17 ; and xiv., p. 216.
3 This seeming contrariety may be reconciled by bearing in mind that these creatures are in fact ovo-viviparous, and are sometimes
born in the completed state, sometimes still surrounded by an envelope or egg-like covering. Dr Milliams, however, has recently tes¬
tified to the fact, from experimental observation, that the young escape from the ova before they leave the body of the parent, and are
endowed with independent powers of locomotion.
4 See also M. Morren’s Treatise De Lumbrici terrestris Historia Naturali nee non anatomica. Brux., 1829.
5 Hoffmeister has published some valuable researches regarding the various species of earth-worm, in his work, Devermibus quibusdam
ad genus Lumbricorum pertinentibus, Berol., 1842. To the genus Lumbricus, properly so called, he assigns six species, viz., Lumb. agri¬
cola, rubellus, anatomicus, riparius, olidus, and agilis, all of which occur in North Germany.
HELMINTHOLOGY.
302
Annelida, due to the action of earthworms, as may be seen in the in-
^ i~ — ■> numerable casts of which the initial soil consists. These
are obviously produced by the digestive proceedings of the
worms, which take into their intestinal canal a large quan¬
tity of the soil in which they feed and burrow, and then re¬
ject it in the form of the so-called casts. “In this manner,”
says Mr Darwin, “a field, manured with marl, has been
covered, in the course of 80 years, with a bed of earth
averaging 13 inches in thickness.’
In the genus Hypogceon of Savigny, each segment is
furnished with an additional seta on its dorsal surface, and
the setae are long, spiny, and sharp-pointed. The body in
form and colour greatly resembles that of the common earth¬
worm, but the segments are less numex*ous, not exceeding
106, whereas those of the latter amount to 120 and up¬
wards. The only species with which we are acquainted is
Hyp. hirtum, first observed in the neighbourhood of Phi¬
ladelphia.
Genus Nais, Linn. Body elongated, linear, flattened,
transparent or semi-transparent, and in general provided
with lateral cilise, simple or in tufts. Segments less dis¬
tinctly marked than in the earth-worm.
The synonymy of this genus is very confused, its nature
and attributes obscure, and its position in the system con¬
sequently various, according to the views of different ob¬
servers. The name, borrowed from the heathen mytho¬
logy, was first applied by Muller, and was generally adopted
by contemporaneous, as it has been by succeeding, natura¬
lists. It was written Naias by Bruguiere (in Encyc. Me¬
thod?), an erroneous alteration, in so far as the latter term
had been previously consecrated by Linnaeus to a genus in
botany. Lamouroux increased the confusion by bestowing
the name of Naisa on a polypus genus of the family of
Tubularia, already known by the title of Plumastella ; and
the resemblance of the two names has induced some com¬
pilers to refer to them as synonymous, although they in fact
signify objects belonging to separate classes of the animal
kingdom.
Lamarck and Cuvier, in preserving the name of Nais to
the subjects of our present notice, do not agree regarding
their relations to other groups. The former author places
them in the third or concluding order of his class Vermes
(Vers hispides), thus disposing them between the genus
Gordius and the Epizoarice. His reason for so doing is,
that the structure of the Naides is by no means sufficiently
composite to entitle them to a place among the true Anne¬
lida ; and the fact of their being capable of multiplication
by incision, shows that their nature is somewhat anomalous
in relation to the last-named class. We may bear in mind,
however, that notwithstanding the observations of Trem-
bley and Roesel, their tomiparous generation is doubted by
Bose, and denied by Dr Williams; and, all things consi¬
dered, they may be regarded as more nearly related to the
genera Nereis and Lumbricus than to any other.
The Naides in general are small vermiform creatures, of
a few lines in length, of a reddish colour, though diapha¬
nous, extremely active in their movements, and of a vora¬
cious disposition. They abound in fresh waters, where some
dwell upon aquatic plants,—others beneath stones, or in
perforations in the mud. They prey on minute Crustacea,
such as the genus Daphnia, and on the still minuter ani-
malcular tribes, and are themselves greedily devoured by
the fresh-water polypi, which swallow them up, notwith¬
standing the pointed ciliae with which their sides are armed.
These ciliae, however, and other apparently indigestible por- Annelida,
tions, are afterwards disgorged by the polypi, in the same
manner as owls and other birds of prey reject from their
stomachs little rounded pellets of hair and feathers.
The productive powers of the Naides, by whatever pro¬
cess accomplished, are truly astonishing. They appear in
countless thousands in the waters of marshes after the lapse
of a few hours, prior to which only some solitary individuals
were perceptible. The mouth in these animals is some¬
times a simple cleft, sometimes an opening, accompanied by
two lips. The N. proboscidia of Gmelin, being provided
with a trunk, forms the genus Stylana of Lamarck ; while
certain anomalous species, such as Lumbricus tubifex and
marinus of Muller, constitute the conterminous genus Tubi¬
fex of the former author. They dwell in perforations in the
mud of streams and marshes, and in the sand of the sea¬
shore. We may conclude by observing, that the nervous
system of the Naides is but obscurely known, and that the
ocular points on the heads of certain species, though vaguely
named eyes, cannot with actual certainty be regarded as
organs of vision.
Genus Climena, Lam. Head without tentacula or other
appendages. Body cylindrical, composed of few segments,
somewhat swollen about the middle, and attenuated at
either end. The posterior extremity is truncated and
radiated.
These creatures inhabit fixed tubes of a cylindrical form
and membranous texture, open at both ends. Our illustra-
Eig. 17.
tion represents (fig. 17), a species taken in the
Gulf of Suez, and indigenous to the shores of the Red Sea. Its
tube is composed exteriorly of grains of sand and fragments
of shells, and is usually attached to the interstices of rocks,
or to Madrepores and other productions of the sea.
FAMILY IL—ABRANCHIA ASETIGERA.
This family comprehends such of the abranchial order as
are unprovided with setae, and is constituted by the old ge¬
nera Gordius and Hirudo of Linn., of which all the dis¬
tinctly-known species are aquatic.1 Dr Williams is of
opinion that although all the Annelida may be comprised in
the twofold division of branchiata and abranchiata, such dis¬
tribution would be neither convenient nor unobjectionable.
Several species exist, such as those of the genus Syllis, in
which the soft pedal appendages do not contain any spe¬
cially organized branchial element. But the proposition is
anatomically true, that the Annelida are really divisible into
such as have and such as have not external and apparent
branchial organs. The bipartite arrangement, long since
propounded by M.Dumeril, of Crypto-branchia and Gymno-
branchia, proceeded on this conception ; the former term,
however, being inaccurate, in so far as there is actually no
species in which the branchiae are internal or concealed.
Respiration, according to Dr Williams, in all those desti¬
tute of external appendages, ^performed internally, but not
by any specially constructed organs. The function, under
such circumstances, devolves either upon the general walls
of the alimentary canal or external surface of the body, or
1 We do not exactly know what species of the lower tribes is alluded to by Sir T. S. Raffles in one of his letters descriptive of an
excursion from Bencoolen. “ I must not omit to tell you, that in passing through the forest, we were, much to our inconvenience,
greatly annoyed by leeches; they got into our hoots and shoes, which became filled with blood. At night, too, they fell off the leaves
that sheltered us from the weather, and on awaking in the morning we found ourselves bleeding profusely. These were a species of
intruders we were not prepared for.” Another species of land leech is said to inhabit Madagascar, where it occurs on plants. It seizes
greedily on the legs of the passers by, and sucks their blood.
HELMINTHOLOGY.
Vnnelida. it is enacted by the fluid which, in nearly all the abranchiate
genera (except the leech and earth-worm), occupies the
peritoneal cavity. All the external branchial appendages
may be sub-divided into two chief divisions. In one, the
organ is constructed with special reference to the exposure
of the blood-proper to the agency of the respiratory element;
in the other, the branchia is a mere hollow process filled
with the chyle-aqueous fluid of the cavity just named.
It has been affirmed, as a law of the organization in all
abranchiate Annelida, that the system of the blood-proper is
more developed on the parietes of the intestinal canal than
on the integuments. This fact, whenever the peritoneal
space is obliterated by the adherence of the intestinal
cylinder to that of the integument, transfers the office of
respiration from the latter to the former region; that is, as
is practically demonstrable in the instance of
the large volume of water which is incessantly streaming
throughout the length of the alimentary canal, holding at¬
mospheric air in solution, while it ministers by its organic
particles to the nutrition of the system, contributes also by
the air with which it is mixed to the great purpose of aerat¬
ing the living fluids of the organism.
We may now observe that leeches in general (Hirudines)
are characterized by an oblong body, sometimes depressed,
transversely wrinkled, and furnished with a dilatable cavity
at either extremity—that is, the mouth is surrounded by a
lip, and the posterior end is provided with a flattened disk.
These latter parts are useful as organs of prehension and
locomotion, and also act as suckers. The mouth, placed in
the anterior cavity, is furnished with three jaws.
These useful vermes were probably known in very ancient
times. The Halukah or Gnalukah of the Hebrews appears to
have been one of this tribe, at least the term has been so
translated in our versions of the Proverbs, ch. xxx., v. 15:
“ The horse-leech hath two daughters, crying, Give, give.”
The Greek writers make mention of them under the name
of Bdella. and the Latin authors under those of Hirudo and
Sanguisuga ; but the ascertainment of the precise species
indicated is by no means easy. After the revival of learn¬
ing we have various general notices of their history and
habits, although it was so late as the time of Linnaeus be¬
fore we attained to any knowledge of their specific distinc¬
tions. The Swedish naturalist (in his Fauna Suecicd) de-
k scribed eight species, and numerous additions have been
made in more recent times. For a long period the genus
Hirudo, as founded by Ray and adopted by Linnaeus, ex¬
perienced no sub-division ; but the labours of Leach, Oken,
Savigny, Lamarck, and others, have shown the propriety of
re-arranging a group, consisting no doubt of natural con¬
stituent parts, but composed of beings exhibiting a varied
range of structure, and too much extended for the forma¬
tion of a genus, properly so called.
The structure of these creatures is soft and contractile,
composed of a great number of articulations, and generally
invested by an abundant supply of mucous moisture. The
anterior cavity, which contains the mouth, is named copula
by Savigny, while the posterior disk bears the name of cotyla
in the nomenclature of that author. On the anterior seg¬
ments certain small black points are observable, which are
regarded as fulfilling the functions of eyes. They vary in
number in the different genera, from two to ten. Various
experiments have been made with a view to the ascertain¬
ment of their sense of sight. If we place leeches in a ves¬
sel surrounded by black paper, and permit the light to
enter only by means of a single small orifice, they are by
no means slow in directing themselves to that point;—but
this observation we deem to be in no way conclusive, in as
far as light produces an efficient action and a directing in¬
fluence, not only upon many of the lowest tribes, which
303
we know to be destitute of eyes, but even upon the sub- Annelida,
jects of the vegetable kingdom. M. Moquin-Tandon how- N—
ever asserts, that having placed a small piece of red-coloured
wood in front of Nephelis vulgaris, it evidently turned round
on purpose to avoid it.1 Their perception of the sense of
touch is delicate, although they possess no special or circum¬
scribed organs for its reception. The sense of taste is obvi¬
ous,—that of hearing and of smell imperceptible. No odour
affects them,—no sound seems to produce any influence;
nor can we detect any organs which may reasonably be
deemed the seat of these last-named functions.
The tegumentary system of leeches has been examined
in detail in very few species. In the medicinal leech three
parts are, however, distinguishable—the epidermis, an in¬
termediate layer which is the seat of colour, and the
dermis. The epidermis is extremely fine and delicate, per¬
fectly colourless, and remarkably deciduous, that is to say,
it is frequently renewed, even as often as once in every
four or five days in warm weather. It adheres intimately
to the lower layer, but not by its entire extent—being fre¬
quently free between the rings of which the body of the
creature is composed. When detached we perceive that it
is perfectly transparent at the points which adhered to the
coloured layer, and slightly opake, or even of a whitish
colour where it became unattached in passing from one
segment to another. Under the microscope it is seen to
be pierced by an infinity of small holes, through which a
mucous liquid flows, which lubricates the surface. The
coloured layer, or pigmentum, adheres strongly to the der¬
mis on which it lies. The hues which it exhibits are very
different according to the species,— sometimes they are
dark and uniform, but usually lighter on the under than
the upper surface ; sometimes the ground colour is varied
by spots or streaks of different intensities, while the pig¬
ment, if we may so express it, is occasionally almost colour¬
less, and we may then perceive distinctly through the skin
all the interior organs of the body. The dermis, or deep¬
est layer, exhibits a curious organization ; it consists of a
thickish tunic, presenting an appearance of distinct circular
articulations, which produce the ringed or wrinkled aspect
of the external surface. The spaces which exist between
these rings are covered by the epidermis, and seem intended
to facilitate the varied movements of the animal.
Beneath the skin, of course, are placed the muscles. We
find first a layer of transverse fibres, which adheres inti¬
mately to the dermis. This layer covers other muscles, of
which the direction is longitudinal; and beneath these
we find some more, of which the direction is again trans¬
verse.
The copula or oral sucker is formed by two extensile
lips—the one superior, usually large, sometimes almost
lanceolate ; the other inferior, and less advanced. Within
it are placed the jaws, rarely wanting, and usually three in
number, disposed triangularly, and fixed upon a correspond¬
ing number of little tubercles. Their consistence is slightly
cartilaginous, their form almost lenticular, and their margin,
free and cutting, is sometimes smooth, sometimes furnished
with a double row of dentations, more or less numerous
according to the different kinds. A sort of cartilaginous
ring, which frequently surrounds the base of the tubercles,
indicates the opening of the intestinal canal, which com¬
mences by a species of oesophagus more or less narrow,
presenting occasionally some longitudinal folds, but never
any lateral pouch-like swellings. The ensuing portion or
stomach, on the contrary, usually exhibits throughout its
entire extent expansions more or less perceptible, according
to the state of repletion. In certain species (such as Clep-
sina complanata) these lateral appendages are never effaced,
but constitute permanent cseca. The rectum is generally
1 Monographic de la famille des Hirudinees. Montpellier, 1826, in 4to.
304 HELMINTHOLOGY.
Annelida, separated from the stomach by a valvular contraction. The
anal opening is on the back, at the origin of the posterior
sucker, called cotyla by Savigny. The digestive canal is
throughout composed of two pellucid tunics, and towards its
extremity some muscular fibres are perceptible. Although
the existence of a liver in the leech tribe is not so ascer¬
tained as to be at all generally admitted (indeed it is denied
by some, and doubted by many), yet M. Blainville describes
an apparatus for the secretion of bile, consisting of a cellulo-
membranous tissue surrounding a portion of the stomach
and intestine.1
All leeches are blood-thirsty and voracious, and support
themselves by sucking the life-blood of other animals. Their
powers of digestion and assimilation are, however, extremely
slow; and hence, probably their reluctance to repeat their
operations for behoof of a patient, when their doing so is
neither pleasant nor profitable to themselves. After the
lapse of days, weeks, and even months, portions of the liquid
or solid matters which they may have swallowed are found
to remain in the intestinal canal. The kinds used in medi¬
cine, moreover, offer this peculiarity, that the blood which
they have sucked does not seem to experience any sensible
alteration in their stomach, but maintains its natural colour
and fluidity. If, however, the leech dies, or the blood is
exposed to the air, it speedily coagulates, and becomes of a
blackish brown.
In regard to the bleeding of leeches, M. Olivier {Journal
de Chirurgie par Malgaigne, 1844, Mars., p. 88), has pro¬
posed the following procedure:—When fully gorged, the
creature should be punctured with the point of a lancet in
one of the transverse wrinkles of the back, at the termina¬
tion of the first third of the length of the body, the incision
being made parallel with it, between the vein and artery,
and in a direction from the anterior backwards. The wound
is to be two millimetres in length, and the leech is to be
afterwards placed in lukewarm water; in which, by its own
contractions, which may be assisted by pressure with the
fingers, all the blood which it has sucked escapes through
the wound. It should afterwards be placed in rain or river
water. It is said that, notwithstanding the carnivorous na¬
ture of these creatures, they are benefited by having access
to the plant called Ranunculus aquaticus. The young are
alleged to feed upon its leaves. On contemplating the
singular dental apparatus of the leech, and considering the
nature of the food (we presume minute aquatic animals) on
which it usually subsists, Mr Rymer Jones finds it difficult
to avoid the conclusion that such a structure is rather a
provision subservient to the alleviation of human suffering,
than necessary to supply the wants of the animals them¬
selves. It is certain that in the streams, ponds, and marshes
where they usually inhabit, an opportunity of sucking any
warm-blooded animal, whether man or beast, must be ex¬
tremely rare, so that they can but seldom exercise their
instinctive love of blood. Neither does it appear that the
fluid which they swallow so greedily is fitted to their consti¬
tution ; for, although it is true that it remains for a consider¬
able time in their interior without corrupting, yet it is well
known that the death of the leech is generally caused by the
indulgence of such inordinate repletion, provided the greater
portion of what has been swallowed is not speedily regur¬
gitated through the mouth.
The nervous system of the leech tribe has been described
in some detail by several authors, especially that of San-
guisuga officinalis, Hcemopis vorax, Nephelis gigas, and
Albione muricata. It is composed of a series of ganglions,
extending from the mouth to the extremity of the bod}', Annelida,
and placed, as among the other articulated classes, beneath
the alimentary canal. From each ganglion proceed nervous
threads, which ramify ad infinitum to the other parts.
The circulating system of leeches has been the subject
of still more numerous researches. It is probably more
highly developed among these animals than in any other
Annelida. In this class the presence or absence of a
heart, or heart-like centre, is by no means the true criterion
of its amount of evolution. The quantity of blood relatively
to the size of the body, the degree of capillary subdivision
on the periphery of the blood system, and the propor¬
tion of the latter to the peritoneal fluid, give true indica¬
tions. In the leech there exists no free space between the
intestine and the integument, and so the chylous fluid, which
in nearly all the other Annelida occupies the general cavity
of the body, is transferred into the interior of the lateral
diverticula of the stomach. We shall here briefly notice
the labours of some foreign physiologists. MM. Thomas,2
Cuvier, Carena,3 Moquin-Tandon, Duges4 and Audouin,5
have signalized themselves in this laborious field. All the
species hitherto examined have presented four longitudinal
vascular trunks—one dorsal, another ventral (these two be¬
ing separated by the alimentary canal), and two lateral.
These principal organs communicate with each other, not
only by the capillary vessels which meet and intermingle in
the different parts to which they are distributed, but also by
special branches of considerable diameter, which proceed
directly from one vascular trunk to another. The ventral
vessel furnishes large branches, which, mounting vertically
on either side, embrace the intestinal canal, and open on
the dorsal vessel. Duges names these the abdomino-dorsal
branches. The lateral branches communicate with each
other by means of transverse branches, which pass beneath
the medullary cord. These branches have been well figured
and described by Jean Muller (in Archiv. fur Anat. und
Phys. Jan., Marz., 1828), and Duges names them latero-
abdominal branches. Lastly, these lateral trunks also send
large branches to the dorsal vessel, which bear the designa¬
tion of latero-dorsal branches. In addition to these canals,
which thus establish a direct connection between the prin¬
cipal trunks, each of the latter gives rise to an infinite num¬
ber of small vessels, which carry the blood to the various
parts, and especially to the skin, which may be regarded as
the principal, though not the sole organ of respiration. That
other organ, to which we now allude, consists of certain
pouches, amply provided with blood-vessels, which form a
net-work on their coats, and proceed from the subdivision
of a vessel furnished by the latero-abdominal branches, as
well as of a large vascular pouch or bag called pulmonary
by Duges, and which is derived from the lateral trunk. In
a species of Albione dissected by M. Audouin, the lateral
vessels were perceived to be in direct communication with
the respiratory pouches by means of two branches, one of
which is anterior, the other posterior. He also observed
that numerous branches sprang from the anterior portion of
the dorsal vessel, and proceeded partly to the pouches, and
partly to the lateral trunks. Thus the pouches communi¬
cate at the same time, both with the dorsal and lateral ves¬
sels. In accordance with these views, the process of circu¬
lation is supposed to be as follows :—The lateral trunks are
regarded as great veins, which receive the blood from all
parts of the body, and transmit it to the respiratory pouches,
in which it becomes re-oxygenated; a small portion then
flows back to the lateral vessels, while the greater portion
1 Essai d'une Monographie de la famille des Ihrudinies. Paris, 1827, in 8vo.
2 Mem. pour servir d VIlistoire Nat. des Sangsues. Paris, 1806.
^ Monographie du Genre Hirudo, in Mem. de VAcad, de Turin, tom. xxv.
4 Recherches sur la Circulation, dec., des Annelides Abranches, 1828.
5 Articles Sangsue and Sangsues, in the Dictionnaire Classique d'JIist. Nat.
HELMINTHOLOGY.
Annelida, enters the dorsal vessel, and then the ventral one, both of
v 7 which assist in propelling it to all the other parts of the body,
from whence it returns to the lateral branches, and thence
flows to the respiratory pouches as aforesaid. We must
add, however, that M. de Blainville and others deny that
the pouches or vesicular sacks just mentioned are ot a
pulmonary nature.1 They regard them rather as secreting
glands ; and it is certain that respiration is carried on in great
part through the medium of the skin, or rather that the func¬
tion of breathing falls on the united structure of the intes¬
tine and integument. Various kinds of leeches may be often
seen fixed by their posterior sucker, and swinging them¬
selves to and fro for hours and even days together, their
bodies being at that time more than usually flattened in
order to render the motion more effective. They are
then respiring after the manner of the Naids, by bringing
their cutaneous system into constant contact with a fresh
supply of water. "During this singular process the pulmo¬
nary pouches are almost quite inert, and their sanguineous
vessels scarcely perceptible, while the cutaneous network,
on the contrary, is in full and remarkable activity.
Leeches are hermaphrodites, like others of their class;
but sexual union of separate individuals is indispensable to
the process of fecundation. Although in many of their more
obvious characters they so nearly resemble the Planariae,
they stand too high in the scale to be capable of reproduc¬
tion by excision or the cutting of parts. A variety of opinion
exists among naturalists regarding the mode of production,
whether by eggs or living young. It is probable that such
as do not appear to lay eggs are merely ovo-viviparous, and
bring forth their young alive, after they have been hatched
in the body of the parent. The majority of species in truth
lay oviferous capsules, each containing several germs. Cer¬
tain kinds of Clepsina are distinguished by a small and
peculiar pouch in the abdomen, in which the young seek
protection during infancy. They attain to full size rather
slowly, and the duration of life is considerable, though not
distinctly known. Medicinal leeches have been kept in
life for a period of eight years; and it has been inferred
that if, with the disadvantages of confinement and irregular
supplies of food, they survive so long, their natural term of
life must be much greater. This, however, we regard as
an inconclusive, if not erroneous mode of reasoning; for we
know that among insects and other classes of the more lowly
organized departments of animal life, abstinence, and the
non-fulfilment of their natural instincts, are uniformly found
to prolong their period of existence.
The leech tribe in general is widely distributed over
the earth’s surface, although, as usual, each species has
its own range of localities.2 Our medicinal kinds seem
proper to Europe, although they extend from Russia to the
southern point of Spain. All the species are extremely
sensible of atmospheric changes. They become agitated
305
during high winds, and often bury themselves in the mud Annelida,
during cloudy weather. Some fanciful observers have even
kept them in confinement, that they might serve to in¬
dicate the state of the atmosphere; but we incline to
think that it is fully as useful, and not more troublesome, to
look out of a window than into a phial. On the approach
of cold weather they sink into the mud, and pass the winter
in a state of lethargy.
We shall now proceed to a brief consideration of the
principal genera into which the tribe has been partitioned
by modern naturalists.
Genus Sanguisuga, Sav. Oral sucker consisting of
several segments. Tapper lip almost lanceolate. Aperture
transversal. Jaws three in number, compressed, and each
armed on their cutting edges with two ranges of fine teeth.
Eight or ten black points (regarded as eyes) disposed in a
curved line ; the posterior four more isolate.3 Anal sucker
obliquely terminal.
This genus contains the leeches properly so called, that is,
the medicinal kinds ; and, according to Savigny, consists
of three species. Some recent additions, however, have
been made to these by MM. Moquin-Tandon and Carena.
H. medicinalis (fig. 18) of naturalists is the most common
kind, and that most frequently used for blood-letting purposes.
It occurs throughout the fresh-water marshes
of Europe, and measures from four to five
inches in what may be called its medium
state, although capable of both contraction
and extension within and beyond those limits.
Its body, including the anterior sucker, is
composed of ninety-eight rings, and is of a
deep-green colour on the back, with six red¬
dish bands, three on each side. The two
inner bands are almost spotless ; the two cen¬
tral ones are marked by a chain of small spots
and points of velvet-black; the exterior
bands are marginal, and each subdivided by
a black fillet. The abdomen is of an olive
colour, broadly bordered and spotted with black. r>g-18-
Savigny distinguishes, under the name of S. officinalis (it is
Fig. 19.
the H. provincialis of Carena), another species, likewise used
in medicine, and frequently confounded with the preceding
(fig. 19). It is vulgarly known as \hegreen feeeA, and resembles
3 Cuvier seems to express no very decided opinion on the subject above referred to. “ On voit dans plusieurs en dessous du corps
deux series de pores, orifices d’autant de petites poches interieures que quelques naturalistes regardent comme des organes du respiration
bien qu’ils soient la plupart du temps remplis d’un fluide muqueux” (Regne Animal, t. iii., p. 213). Dr Williams has more recently
shown that the so-called pulmonary vessels are in fact ovario-uterine organs.
2 We observe it stated in several continental works of authority, that leeches are unknown in, or at least not indigenous to, the
western world. We were inclined a priori to doubt the accuracy of this statement, and lately instituted some inquiries on the subject,
in which we were aided by an excellent physiological naturalist, Dr Allen Thomson. We find that in the Dispensatory of the United
States, by Drs Wood and Bache (published at Philadelphia in 1833), there is a description of a true American medicinal leech. These
authors state, that at New York, Boston, and elsewhere, European leeches, that is, the gray and green varieties of the Hirudo medicinalis
of Linnaeus, are chiefly employed, and are imported in great quantities; but that in Philadelphia and the neighbourhood the indigenous
Hirudo decora is used. It is this species which is described in Major Long’s Second Expedition (vol. ii., p. 268). The back is of a deep
pistachio-green colour, with three longitudinal rows of square spots, twenty-two in number, and placed on every fifth ring. The
abdomen is spotted with black. This kind usually measures two or three inches in length, occasionally attaining to the extent of four
or five inches. It is carried to Philadelphia by the country people from Bucks and Berks county. It is said to draw less blood than
the European leech, and does not cut so deeply. About three American do not more than correspond to a single European leech in
their suctorial powers.
3 The eyes of leeches are easily detected by the assistance of a lens, under the form of a semicircular row of black points, situated
above the mouth, upon the sucking surface of the oval disk, a position evidently calculated to render them efficient agents in detecting
the presence of food. According to Professor Muller, they do not exhibit any apparatus of transparent lenses adapted to collect or con¬
centrate the rays of light, but each ocellus, or visual speck, would seem to be merely an expansion of the terminal extremity of a nerve
VOL. XI. 2 Q
306
HELMINTHOLOGY.
Annelida, the common kind in size, and the number of its segments ;
but the colour of the back is not so sombre, and the abdo¬
men is of a more yellow green, and, though bordered with
black, is without spots. The six anterior eyes are very pro¬
jecting, and have more truly the appearance of organs of
vision. The third species mentioned by Savigny is the S.
granulosa. It was brought by M. Leschenhault from
Pondicherry, where it. is used in blood-letting after the
manner of our European kinds. S. obscura and interrupta
are both described by M. Moquin-Tandon as indigenous
to the vicinity of Montpellier; and S. verbena of Carena
occurs in the Lago Maggiore.
With the exception of the last-named species, and that
from Pondicherry, M. Blainville refers all the others to
the H. medicinalis of Linn., of which, according to his
peculiar views, he establishes five varieties; the grey, the
green, the spotted, the black, and the flesh-coloured.
With that love of change for which too many modern
naturalists are remarkable, he names the genus Jatrobdella.
We have already mentioned that leeches are abundant
in all the countries of Europe. France furnishes an im¬
mense supply, and their collection in some of her pro¬
vinces affords the materials of an important branch of
commerce. Some curious details on the subject were
read several years ago to the agricultural society of the
department of Seine-et-Oise. Towards the month of April
or May, according to the nature of the season, the country
people collect the cocoons or capsules formerly mentioned
as containing the eggs. These they find in abundance in
the mud of shallow marshes, and convey them to various re¬
servoirs in other quarters, so as to spread and propagate the
breed. They do not use them commercially till they are
about eighteen months old. Leeches are very numerous
in the lakes and marshes in the neighbourhood of Nantes ;
and their collection is carried on throughout the whole
year, but chiefly during summer.. They are transported
to Paris in linen bags, each containing about 500, placed in
panniers, and surrounded by wet moss. During a favour¬
able season the dealers of Nantes will sometimes receive at
the rate of fifty thousand every day ; and a Parisian drug¬
gist informed M. Audouin, that in the summer of 1820 he
received from Moulins 130,000 for his own share.1 Four
of the principal dealers in London are said to import be¬
tween seven and eight million of medicinal leeches every
year. Many leeches refuse to bite. This generally arises
either from their appetite for food having been recently sa¬
tisfied, or from their being about to change their skins.
It is believed, however, that capricious individuals sometimes
occur, which will not suck at all; and of this it is impos¬
sible to ascertain the cause. Inflammation occasionally fol¬
lows the infliction of the bite, and in this case a vulgar pre¬
judice exists that a horse-leech has been applied. This is
in every way an error, for the horse-leech refuses to fasten
upon the human body. The means used for the preserva¬
tion of leeches in confinement are various. The most com¬
mon mode consists in placing them in a bottle of water
frequently renewed. Some apothecaries find advantage
from placing moss or aquatic plants at the bottom of the
vessel, which aid in freeing them from slime. The chief
dispenser of the marine hospital of Rochefort keeps his
leeches simply in moistened clay, in which the creatures Annelida,
form holes and galleries, where they live happily for years.
Mr Brightwell states that a dealer in Norwich keeps a
stock of about 50,000 in two large tanks of water, floored
with soft clay, in which the creatures burrow. On examin¬
ing these tanks he found many capsules or ova deposits of
the leech, which the owner, ignorant of their nature, stated
to be at times very numerous, but which he neglected, and
indeed generally destroyed.
(The curious in leeches may consult the following works,
in addition to those already quoted:—Histoire Naturelle
et Medicale des Sangsues, See., par T. L. Derheims, 8vo,
Paris, 1825 ; Observations sur la conservation el la repro¬
duction des Sangsues, par Chatelain, 8vo, Paris, 1826;
Monographic des Sangsues Medicinales et Officinales, par
A. Charpentier, Paris, 1838 ; Sur la Multiplication des
Sangsues, par T. B. Hazard, 8vo, Paris, 1841. See
also some observations On the Minute Anatomy of the
Horse leech, by J. E. Quekett, in the Zoologist, pp. 17, 88,
324.)
Genus H^iiopis, Sav. Differs from the preceding
chiefly in the jaws being not compressed, and furnished with
less numerous dentations.
H. sanguisorba, Sav. (Hirudo sanguisuga, Linn.), com¬
monly called the horse-leech, is a well-known species, some¬
what larger than the medicinal kinds, and of a uniform
greenish-black colour. A great diversity of opinion seems
to exist regarding the blood-drawing propensities of this
species. Many allege that it causes wounds extremely
dangerous both to man and beast. Linnaeus asserts that
nine will kill a horse. MM. Huzzard and Pelletier, on the
other hand, maintain that the horse-leech, improperly so
called, never attacks any vertebrated animal whatever ;2
while M. de Blainville again is of opinion that these writers
have mistaken their subject of observation, and have de¬
scribed the black leech (his Pseudobdella nigra), which is
truly characterized by the jaws being nothing more than
folds of toothless skin, and may therefore be inferred to con¬
fine its attacks to the lower orders of creation. We agree
with Cuvier in thinking that the subject deserves a fresh
examination. In addition to the common species, Savigny de¬
scribes three other kinds,—H. nigra, luctuosa, and lacertina.
Genus Bdella, Sav. Dentations of the jaws entirely
wanting. Eyes only eight in number.
As far as we know, this genus consists
of only a single species, the Bd. Nilotica
(fig. 20), found in Egypt, and familiar to
the Arabs under the name oi'Alak. Itap-
pears to have been known to the ancients;
and Herodotus {Hist. lib. ii., cap. 68)
describes it as a parasite of the croco¬
dile. It is of a chestnut-brown colour
above, of a lively red below.
Genus Nephelis, Sav. In this ge¬
nus the eyes are also only eight in num¬
ber, the four anterior being disposed in
a crescent form, the four posterior ranged
on each side on a transverse line. The
jaws are reduced to three simple folds. pig.-20.
Savigny describes three species, N. ndila, testacea, and
derived immediately from the brain, spread out beneath a kind of cornea formed by the delicate and transparent cuticle, behind which
is a layer of black pigment, to which the dark colour of the ocular points is due. We ourselves entertain no doubt that leeches have
eyes, but the evidence (from written authorities) is very contradictory. Weber was the first to show the true nature of the black specks
in H. officinalis (Meckel’s Archives, 1827, p. 301). More recently Wagner (Lehrbuch d. vergleich, Anat. 1835, p. 428) has described, in
the interior of the pigment layer, a transparent body, composed of two parts, which he regards as consisting of a crystalline lens and a
vitreous portion. Brandt has even traced the ten optic nerves from the brain to the eyes {Med. Zool. i., p. 250). On the other hand,
Moquin-fandon, in the revised edition of his work (Monographic des Hirudinees, Paris, 1846), states that these black specks contain
-ther lens nor vitreous humour, although they are light-receiving organs; while Leydig (in Siebold and Kolliker’s Zeitsch. i., 1849,
p. 103) goes so far as to assert, in relation to the alleged eyes of the parasitical genus Piscicola, that they neither receive a nerve, nor
contain a light-refracting body. He regards them as simple ornaments, analogous to the corresponding pigment dots on the pedal
shield, with which they also correspond both in colour and distribution.
1 Diet. Class d Hist. Nat. t. xv., p. 108. 2 Journal de Pharmacie, Mars 1825.
HELMINTHOLOGY.
Annelida, cinerea. The two former occur near Paris ; the last named
✓ is frequent in the marshes of the forest of Fontainebleau. Of
Nephehs tessellata, Muller observes that the female is some¬
times found filled with 300 young. N. vulgaris is frequent
in our fresh waters, and the brown capsules containing the
ova may be found on the underside of the leaves of many
water plants, among the ova of the helices. Mr Brightwell
kept several species through the summer, and carefully ob¬
served the deposition of the ova, and development of the
young. On the 2d of June N. vulgaris deposited one
capsule containing ova, on the 5th another, on the 10th a
third, and on the loth two more, each containing from
seven to ten eggs. On the 22d the young appeared in the
capsule deposited on the 2d, and on the 13th July they
emerged from the capsule, and in six weeks they left it,
fully developed. He detected rotiferous animalcules in
their stomach.
The genus Trochetia of Dutrochet does not seem to
differ from the preceding, except by an enlargement near
the position of the generative system. One species (Geob-
della trochetii of Blainville) comes on shore in pursuit of
earth-worms. Another minor genus has been established
by M. Moquin-Tandon, under the name of Aulastoma.
The jaws are represented by numerous projecting folds.
The eyes are ten in number. We may here also mention
M. Odier’s genus Branchiobdella, of which the jaws are
two in number, and the eyes wanting. It inhabits the
gills of cray-fish.1
In all the preceding groups or genera of leeches, the an¬
terior sucker is but slightly distinguishable from the adjoin¬
ing portion of the body ; but in the two following genera
it is rendered more perceptible by a restriction, and is com¬
posed of only a single segment. In the genus H^emo-
charis of Savigny, the eyes are eight in number, the body
slender, and indistinctly ringed. The species do not swim,
but march after the manner of the surveyors or geometric
caterpillars. They attach themselves particularly to fishes.
The genus Albione of the same author differs from the
preceding in its body being beset by tubercles, and in pos¬
sessing only six eyes. The species inhabit the sea. We
may mention, as an example, the Hirudo muricata of
Linn.
The genus Branchellion of Sav. is distinguished by
what some regard as projecting branchias. The epidermis
is loose and ample, and seems to enclose the animal as in
a sack. The species are parasitical, and attach themselves
chiefly to fish of the torpedo kind. With the leeches, Cu¬
vier also places the genus Clepsina, Sav., which is charac-
307
terized by a broadened body, possessing only a posterior Annelida,
sucker. The anterior portion is a simple orifice, without v ^—/
any appearance of the usual disk. The species make a
near approach to the Planarice, and the one represented
by the annexed cut was described and figured by Mr Kirby,
under the name of Hirudo crenata (fig. 21).2 The de¬
velopment of the ova in this genus has been described by
Grube.3 C. complanata usually deposits from five to seven
ova, enveloped in a very transparent, soft, succular egg-case,
while in C. bioculata there are only three or four, and
in C. marginata only a single ovum
in each capsule. These egg-cases
are glued by a peduncle to water
plants, and continue hanging there¬
to, but the young, when excluded,
attach themselves to the abdomen
of the mother. Other genera, allied
to the preceding in their enlarged
form and absence of the oral disk,
have been established by Oken and
Blainville. Of these, however, we
cannot give account within our pre¬
scribed limits, and we shall therefore
conclude the present treatise by
a short notice of the more distantly
related,
Genus Gordius, Linn. Body
filiform, smooth, or with very slight
transverse markings. Neither bran¬
chiae nor tentacula of any kind.
A wrell-known species of this genus (£?. acquaticus, Linn.)
is distinguished in this country by the name of the hair-eel.
It occurs in springs and marshes, and among moist sand, and
also dwells in mud, which it perforates in all directions. It
is believed by some to be parasitic in the abdominal cavity
of many insects. A list of these latter, so infested, has
been published by Professor Siebold {Entomologische Zeit-
ung. Yahrg. 1843, p. 77). The position of the genus is
variously regarded by different naturalists, and the extreme
tenuity of form in these creatures has probably opposed ob¬
stacles in the way of a precise knowledge of their structure.
I he nervous system being composed of a ganglionic cord,
seems, however, a strong reason for placing them among
the Annelida. We follow the Baron Cuvier in so doing,
although we are aware that Rudolphi and Blainville com¬
bine them with the genus Filaria, which contains the noted
Guinea worm (F. Medinensis), and is usually regarded as
belonging to the intestinal class. (j. w.)
INDEX.
Page
ABRANCHIA... 300
Abranchia Se-
TIGERA 300
Abranchia Ase-
TIGERA 302
Aglaura 298
Albione 307
Alciopa 298
Amphinorae 297
Amphitrite 295
ANNELIDA 290
Aphrodita 299
Arenicola 296
Page
Aricia 299
Aulastoma 307
Bdella 306
Branchellion 307
Branchiobdella ...307
Clepsina 307
Chlceia 297
Cirrhatulus  299
Chastopterous 300
Climena 302
Dentalium 296
Pago Page Page Page
DORSIBRAN- Hair-worm 307 Marphysa 298 Pseudobdella 306
CHIA 296 Halithea 300
Hesione 299 Nais ....302 Sabella 294
Earth-worm 301 Hirudo 303 Nephelis 306 Sanguisuga.......305
Enterion 301 Horse-leech... 306 Nephthys 299 Serpula 294
Eunice 297 Hypogaeon 302 Nereis 298 Spio  294
Euphrosine 297 . Spirorbis 298
Jatrobdella 306 Ophelia 299 Syllis 298
Glycera 299 Syphostoma 296
Gordius 307 Leeches 303 Palmyra 299
Lombrinera 299 Pleione 297 Terebella ,.295
Hasmocharis 307 Lumbricus 300 Polynoe 300 Trochetia 307
Haemopis 306 Lysidice 298 Phyllodoce 298 TUBICOLA3 294
1 Mem. de la Soc. d'Hist. Nat., t. i., pi. iv. 2 Linn. Trans, ii., tab. 29 p. 318,
3 Ztf,r Anatomie und Physiologic der Kiemenwiirmer, Kbnigsberg, 1838.
308 H E L
Helmont HELMONT, Jean Baptiste Van, a celebrated chemi-
II cal inquirer, was born at Brussels in 1577. He was edu-
Ilelos. cated at Louvain, and began the study of natural science
under the Jesuits in that city. Their hard and dry philo¬
sophy, however, had few attractions for a nature so ardent
and imaginative as his. Turning for relief to other systems,
he found no rest except in the mysticism of a Kempis and
Tauler. From them he learned that wisdom is the gift
of the Supreme Being; that it must be obtained by prayer;
and that we must renounce our own will if we wish to par¬
ticipate in the influence of the divine grace. From this
time he began a life of exemplary meekness and humility,
made over his property to his sister, and retired from the
high society in which he had hitherto walked. He sought
relief in the study of medicine; pored over Galen and the
Greeks ; mastered them, and finding their inadequacy,
abandoned them for ever. He then turned to Paracelsus
and the alchemists, and conferred a real boon on humanity
by rescuing chemical science from the erratic absurdities of
the post-Paracelsian alchemists, and applying to it the prin¬
ciples of the newly-discovered induction. He graduated as
M.D. in 1599 ; and, after travelling through France and
Italy, married a rich lady of Brabant, by whom he had
several children. He died in Holland in 1644 in the sixty-
seventh year of his age. Science is under real obligations
to Van Helmont, though at one period of his life he was a
sworn alchemist, and revived the old doctrine of Thales,
that the material particles of the universe consist essentially
of nothing but water. To him is due the invention, or at least
the first application, of the term gas in the sense in which it
is now used. He also discovered that gas was disengaged in
abundance by the application of heat to various bodies, and
during the solution of various carbonates and metals in acids.
His theory of the formation of urinary calculi is also nearly
correct.
The personal character of Van Helmont, as given by his
biographer Lobkowitz, is interesting:—“ He was pious,
learned, famous, a sworn enemy of Galen and Aristotle.
The sick never languished long under his hands, being al¬
ways killed or cured in three days.” His works were pub¬
lished at Amsterdam in 1648 by his son Mercurius, who
aspired to rival his father, and is described on his tomb¬
stone as being nil patre inferior. The best edition of these
is that of Elzevir, 1652.
HELMSLEY, a small market-town of England, North
Riding of Yorkshire, on the Rye, 21 miles N. of York. The
inhabitants are chiefly employed in agriculture and the linen
manufacture. Helmsley Castle, now in ruins, was built in
the time of Edward I. and Edward II., and was taken and
dismantled by Fairfax in the civil war. Pop. of township
(1851) 1481.
HELMSTEDT, or Helmstadt, a walled town of Ger¬
many, duchy of Brunswick, on the high road from Bruns¬
wick to Magdeburg, 20 miles E. of the former city. The
ditches which formerly surrounded the town have been filled
up, and converted into public walks, planted with trees. A
university, founded here in 1575, was suppressed by Jerome
Bonaparte in 1809, and a portion of its library transferred
to Gottingen. The university building is now used as a
court-house. The church of St Stephen and the town-hall
are the principal buildings of the town. It is a place of con¬
siderable trade, and has manufactures of flannel, soap, hats,
spirits, &c. Pop. about 6000.
HELMUND, a river of Afghanistan. See Afghanis¬
tan.
HELOS, in Ancient Geography, the name of several
towns, so called from their position among, or near, fens.
* I he most important town of this name was in Laconia, at
the mouth of the Eurotas, in a plain close to the sea, marshy
yet very fertile. In the Dorian conquest of the Pelopon-
nese Helos was taken, and its inhabitants carried off to
H E L
Sparta, and reduced to slavery. Their name is said to have Helots,
been applied by their masters generally to all the bonds- i
men or helots that fell into their power. This, however, is
a mere etymological fancy. (See Helot.) The name
Helos is still given to the champaign country at the mouth
of the Eurotas; and ruins, said to belong to the ancient
town, are still visible near Bizani. Leake identifies Helos
with Priniko ; but as the remains there do not go further
back than the middle ages, the first supposition is the more
likely to be true.
HELOTS, in Grecian Antiquity, the serfs or bondsmen of
the Spartans. Etymologically the word signifies, beyond
doubt, a captive ox prisoner, and is derived from the root eA
found in cAeiv, ryAwv, and other verbs. A fanciful etymon
of the word is mentioned under the art. Helos. (See
Helos.)
The inhabitants of Sparta were classified under four
general heads,—the Spartan citizens themselves ; the Pe-
rioeci, who enjoyed civil but not political privileges; the
Helots, the serfs or bondsmen, adscripti glehce; and the
Neodamodes, who were Helots liberated by the state in re¬
ward for service in war, and who probably received some
civil rights which entitled them to rank above the Periceci.
Of these classes the Helots were the lowest. They were
looked upon as the property of the state, which, though it
made over their services to individuals, still retained the
right of setting them free, as it might see fit. They were
adscripti glebce.—attached to the soil, and could not be sold
away from it. In time of peace they tilled the land, which
was allocated in the proportion of one lot to six or seven
families. For each lot they paid their masters an annual
rent in kind—82 medimni of barley, and a corresponding
quantity of wine and oil. The domestic servants of the
Spartans were all Helots. In times of war the Helots used
to share in the campaign as light-armed troops, and a cer¬
tain number of them, varying from two to seven, was allotted
to each Spartan hoplite. They were only allowed to serve
as hoplites in great emergencies ; but if they fought well
they were generally rewarded with their freedom.
Much has been said of the cruel treatment to which the
Helots were subjected by their masters ; but it only holds
true of the later history of Lacedaemon, when the number
of Spartan citizens had been so reduced by continual wars
that the Helots became an appreciable power in the state.
There can be no doubt that originally their position was
an enviable one beside that of the slaves in all the other
states of Greece. Every care was indeed taken to distin¬
guish between them and their masters, even in the matter
of dress ; but, as Grote observes, they formed “ a part of the
state, having their social and domestic sympathies developed,
a certain power of acquiring property, and the conscious¬
ness of Greek lineage and dialect—all points of marked
superiority over the foreigners who formed the slave popu¬
lation of Athens and Chios.” But after the Messenian
wars, when their numbers had made them formidable in the
reduced state of the country, there is only too much reason
to believe that no cruelty was held too severe to be prac¬
tised towards them. The evidence is strong that the Cryp-
teia, instituted ostensibly for the purpose of inuring the
Spartan youth to hardship, was in reality intended to reduce
the number of the Helots by assassination. It is known
from Thucydides that the Spartans did not scruple to em¬
ploy this method of keeping their slaves down when they
became too numerous. On one occasion, when the Helots
had rendered the state some great service, their masters, to
try their temper, offered liberty to such as thought they had
deserved it. Two thousand of the Helots, tempted by the
offer, came forward to claim the reward, and were imme¬
diately put to death.
Helots, when emancipated, were known under the name of
Neodamodes, or newly-enfranchised, and took rank next to
H E L
Helsing- the citizens proper. These Neodamodes were again sub-
fors divided into several classes, to which special functions were
II assigned.
Helvetii. Who the Helots were has been matter of much dispute ;
but it seems now agreed that they were the aborigines of
Laconia, who at the time of the Dorian invasion were re¬
duced to slavery by their conquerors. Their numbers were
greatly increased at the close of the second Messenian War
by the incorporation of the conquered Messenians, who were
classed among the Helots, and subjected to all the hardships
of slavery till their restoration by Epaminondas after the
battle of Leuctra.
HELSINGFORS, a seaport town and naval station of
the Russians in the Gulf of Finland, on a peninsula to the
W. of'the River Wanna, 180 miles W. of St Petersburg,
100 S.E. of Abo, and 60 N. of Revel; N. Lat. 60. 10., E.
Long. 24. 57. It is the capital of Finland, the seat of the
principal authorities, and an archbishop’s see. It was
founded by Gustavus I. of Sweden in the sixteenth cen¬
tury, burnt by the Russians in 1728, and again in 1741. In
1742 it was taken by the Swedes under Lewenhaupt. In
1808 it was defended by Admiral Cronstadt against the
Russians ; but after his unaccountable surrender of the for¬
tress of Sveaborg, which defends the entrance to the town,
Helsingfors, with the whole of Finland, was ceded to the
Russians by the treaty of 1809.
Within little more than thirty years the town of Helsing¬
fors has undergone a complete change. It is now regularly
laid out in streets and squares, and adorned with public
buildings. Of these the principal are the senate-house,
governor’s house, university, barracks, hospital, assembly
rooms, and a handsome Lutheran church with four porti¬
coes. Some of these, as well as the quay, are built of
granite.
It was not till the destruction of Abo by fire that Helsing¬
fors rose to importance. In 1819 the government, and in
1827 the university, were transferred from the old to the
new capital. The university comprises 4 faculties, with 22
professors, and about 500 students. The library, which is
kept in the senate-house, amounts to 80,000 volumes, con¬
taining the editions of the classics taken from the monas¬
teries by Charles XII. Besides the library there are mu¬
seums of mineralogy and zoology, botanic gardens, and an
observatory, which commands a fine view.
Its trade in time of peace was considerable in grain, fish,
deal and other wood, iron, &c. The inhabitants manufac¬
ture sail-cloth, linen, tobacco, &c. Pop. 16,000. (For the
fortress of Sveaborg, see Sveaborg.)
HELSTONE, a municipal and parliamentary borough
and market town of England, county of Cornwall, on the left
bank of the Loe or Cober, 15 miles S.W. of Truro, and 276
from London. It was made a borough by King John, and a
coinage town by Edward I. Previous to the Reform Act it re¬
turned two members to parliament. Among its public build¬
ings are the market-house, town-hall, and old coinage-hall.
The church is surmounted by a tower 90 feet in height, form¬
ing a conspicuous object at sea. Helstone has a grammar,
national, and other schools. It is important as being the
centre of an extensive agricultural and mining district.
Market-days, Wednesday and Saturday. At Portleven,
about three miles distant, a considerable export and im¬
port trade is carried on. Shoes are extensively made in
the town. It returns one member to parliament. Pop.
(1851), of parliamentary borough, 7328; of municipal bo¬
rough, 3355 ; registered electors, 400.
HELVELLYNj one of the highest mountains of Eng¬
land, county of Cumberland, about half-way between Kes¬
wick and Ambleside. Height 3055 feet above the level of
the sea. It is easy of ascent, and commands an extensive
view of the lake district.
HELVETII, in Ancient Geography, a warlike and
H E L 309
powerful Celtic tribe in Gaul, inhabiting the country now Helvetius.
represented by the western portion of Switzerland. In the
time of Caesar, when they first became historically impor¬
tant, their country was bounded by the Rhine on the E.
and N., by Mount Jura on the W., and by the Rhone and
the Lake of Geneva on the S. It was divided into four pagi
or cantons, containing in all, according to Caesar, 12 towns
and 400 villages. Of the names of these pagi only two are
known, the Tigurinus and the Verhigenus ; or, as it is some¬
times, though less correctly written, Urbigenus. It is con¬
jectured that the other two were held by the Tugeni and the
Ambrones. The brief history of the Helvetii is known to all
who have read the Commentaries of Caesar. They aspired
to make themselves the sovereign people of Gaul. Their
own territory had become too small for their numbers, and
was inferior in climate and fertility to the rest of the country,
and they were exposed to incessant attacks from their rest¬
less neighbours of Germany. Such were probably the
motives that induced them to leave their homes in a body
and set out in quest of a happier clime, after burning their
towns, villages, and personal property, all but the pro¬
portion of corn which it was decreed that each man
should carry with him. The utter failure of their expedi¬
tion, and the fearful slaughter with which it was accom¬
panied, are described in the first book of the Gallic War by
the great captain who alone, with a few legions, overthrew
the vast host of the Helvetii. Of the 368,000 souls that left
the Helvetian territory, only 110,000 returned to it. Ihe
survivors were compelled to rebuild all the towns and vil¬
lages that had been burnt down ; and as they had lost every¬
thing in the expedition, their neighbours, the Allobroges,
received instructions from the conqueror to assist them with
everything necessary for their support till they were once
more able to support themselves. (The whole question of
the Helvetian expedition is very fully discussed in Smith’s
Diet. Geog. by Mr George Long.)
HELVETIUS, Claude-Adrien, a famous French phi-
losophe of the last century, was born at Paris in 1715. He
was educated at the Jesuit College of Louis-le-Grand in
that city, and while there gave no sign of that talent which
afterwards carried him on to such distinction. While his
class-fellows were busy with their themes, he was assidu¬
ously developing the personal advantages he had received
from nature. He was eminently handsome, was one of the
best fencers and dancers of his day, and was so popular with
the fair sex, that he had good reason to boast, as he often
did, of his bonnes fortunes. After a short apprenticeship
under his uncle M. D’Armancourt, directeur des fermes at
Caen, he obtained, through the influence of the queen Marie
Leczinska (whose physician his father had been), the office
of fermier-general. With the vast fortune thus placed at
his disposal he performed many acts of kindness, selecting
chiefly as the objects of his generosity the struggling littera¬
teurs of the day. He settled an annual pension of 3000
francs on Saurin, and a nearly equal sum on Marivaux. I hese
and countless other acts of generosity he managed with that
delicate tact which carefully avoided to humble or wound
the self-respect of his proteges, whom he always succeeded in
persuading that he was the obliged party. On one occa¬
sion Marivaux, in a hot dispute with his benefactor, lost his
temper and became grossly abusive. When he left the
room Helvetius merely remarked, “ How I would have an¬
swered him, had he not laid me under an obligation by ac¬
cepting my good offices.” This extreme gentleness of heart
showed itself afterwards on a greater scale. When he found
that the faithful discharge of his duties involved an oppres¬
sion of his countrymen similar to that at one time practised
by the English towards their subjects in Eastern India, he
resigned his highly lucrative appointment, after in vain at¬
tempting to reconcile himself to the work by the gentlest
possible exercise of his authority. With his savings he pur-
310 H E L
Helvetius. chased the office of maitre d’holel to the queen ; and as it
v _ —, i did not necessitate a constant residence in Paris, he retired
to the estate of Yore in La Perche which he had purchased.
He took with him his newly-married wife, Mile, de Ligne-
ville, niece of the famous Madame Graffigny. In compli¬
ment to her he had reformed his dissolute habits of life, and
directed into the field of literary enterprise his mind which
still craved morbidly after distinction of any kind. So in¬
satiable indeed was his appetite for applause, that he once
danced on the stage of the opera, under the mask and name
of the famous Javillier. His beautiful figure, graceful car¬
riage, and exquisite dancing, prevented the trick from being
discovered. A higher ambition, however, had seized him
before he retired from Paris. He aspired to scientific and
literary fame. He began with mathematics, which Mau-
pertuis had made the fashion; and his ambition was fired
to rival that philosopher, whom he had seen in the gardens
of the Tuilleries surrounded by a circle of the most brilliant
court beauties, and engrossing their attention despite his
grotesque bearing and strange dress. Then he thought to
rival Voltaire by philosophical epistles, a poem on Happi¬
ness, and a tragedy. The prodigious success of Montes¬
quieu’s Esprit des Lois, published in 1 748, decided him to
raise a monument which he hoped posterity would allow to
stand beside that of his illustrious countryman. Imme¬
diately on his retiring into the country he began the com¬
position of the work that was to divide the praises of future
times with that of Montesquieu. Though he worked at it
with the most conscientious assiduity, he yet found time to
fulfil his duties at court (where he regularly spent four
months of the year), and also towards his own tenantry,
whose condition he did his best to improve, by administer¬
ing justice among them, establishing manufactures, and
teaching improved modes of agriculture. He was very jea¬
lous, however, of his seignorial rights, and was particularly
severe in punishing infractions of the game-laws. The
right of hunting he reserved strictly for himself and his
friends. These duties and pleasures engrossed his spare time
during the seven years he spent on the composition of his
work. At last, in 1758, it was published anonymously under
the title of De VEsprit. The motto from Lucretius pre¬
fixed to the work, indicates its object better than any ex¬
position :—
 unde animi constet natura videndum,
Qua fiant ratione, et qua vi quaeque gerantur
In terris.
The Encyclopedists and their partizans received the book
warmly, and sounded its praises everywhere; but it was
denounced at court by the priests as subversive alike of
good government and sound morality. The first to express
his dissatisfaction with the author and his work, was the
dauphin (the son of Louis XV.), and Helvetius, terrified at
the storm which he had raised, sought to allay the tempest
by a series of recantations, each more humbly penitent than
its predecessor. His apologies, however, were unavailing,
especially as the priest party, then powerful at court, suc¬
ceeded in persuading the court that the De VEsprit was
nothing other than a resume of all the dangerous and im¬
moral tenets of the Encyclopedie. The doctors of the Sor-
bornne took up the question, and formally condemned the
work, which was forthwith burned publicly by the common
hangman, along with some others of an equally obnoxious
cast. 1 he doctrines themselves which excited such general
reprobation were merely those that had been brought into
fashion by the Encyclopedists, expounded with the grossest
literality. He posits as an axiom, that man is purely a crea¬
ture of sensations; that these sensations when they impel
to action, show themselves under different modes called
passions ; that pleasure or pain are the end and object of all
human existence ; and that consequently to seek the former
II E M
and avoid the latter, is the only duty and object of man. Helvoet-
As natural results of these postulates self-interest comes to slius
be the sole principle of all our actions and judgments, and II
virtue and vice only another way of distinguishing the agree- emans-
able or disagreeable, the useful or hurtful qualities of things.
The other parts of Helvetius’s system are of a piece with
those already stated. He maintained that as all men had
received from nature the same physical constitution, they
are naturally on a footing of equality in regard to their in¬
tellectual and moral powers ; that the passions are the only
mode of all development; and that to cultivate these pas¬
sions is to educate the man. It were time thrown away
here to refute a system so irremediably gross and grovelling,
and which, after a brief career of fashion rather than of po¬
pular acceptance, passed away even before its author. It
only remains to say, that as a literary performance, the De
VEsprit is well and consistently argued throughout. The
arguments are enforced by numerous and often apt illustra¬
tions ; while the style is viciously rhetorical. To escape
the storm he had unwittingly raised, Helvetius passed over
to England in 1764, and in the following year visited the
Great Frederic of Prussia, who received him with every
mark of honour and respect. After leaving the Prussian
court Helvetius returned to his own country, where he died,
Dec. 26, 1771. His posthumous work, De VHomme, de
ses facultes intellectuelles et de son Education, may be re¬
garded as a sort of commentary on the work which first
made him famous, though in a literary point of view it is
infinitely superior. Many of the old theories, however, are
rejected, others are greatly modified, and an attempt made
to establish the principles on a better foundation.
There are numerous editions of Helvetius’complete works,
of which may be mentioned those of Liege, 1774 ; London,
1777; Paris, 1794, again in 1796, and a third time in 1818.
They have also been translated into most of the languages
of modern Europe.
HELVOETSLIUS, or Hellevoetslius, a strongly for¬
tified seaport-town of Holland, province of South Holland,
on the right bank of the River Flakkee or Haringvliet, the
largest mouth of the Rhine, 16 miles S.W. of Rotterdam.
It has an excellent harbour and large naval dockyard. Pop.
about 2000. William III. embarked here for England 11th
Nov. 1688.
HEMANS, Mrs, one of the most pleasing of English
poetesses, was born at Liverpool in 1793. Her maiden
name was Felicia Dorothea Browne. Her father was a
Liverpool merchant, who, meeting with some reverse in
business, retired with his family into Wales, where his daugh¬
ter imbibed that love of nature that glows in her works.
Before she was fifteen she published a volume of poems,
which had no great success, but the popularity gained by
her second publication (a poetical volume on The Domestic
Affections which appeared in 1812), encouraged her to per¬
sist in her literary career. In the same year she married
Captain Hemans, but the union was not a happy one; and
though it was never formally dissolved, yet when the Cap¬
tain was obliged by bad health to seek a more genial clime
in Italy, his wife remained at home to educate her children,
and they never met again. In 1819 Mrs Hemans gained
the prize of L.50 offered by a patriotic Scotsman for the
best poem on the subject of Sir William Wallace. Her
next considerable effort was a tragedy entitled The Vespers
of Palermo, which, though produced on the London stage
by John Kemble (he and Young taking the principal parts),
was not successful. It is matter of much regret that she
should have been obliged to waste her powers on occasional
pieces which she produced in great numbers for the perio¬
dicals of the day. But the expenses of her children’s edu¬
cation compelled her to exert herself in this way, and it may
be doubted, even if she had had the leisure necessary for
the production of a great work, whether her powers of mind
HEM
lematine were equal to such a task. The Lays of Leisure Hours,
II National Lyrics, Songs of the Affections, &c., under which
dromiT titleS he-r fu^itive P^ces were republished, all show that
i / iier genius was lyrical and reflective in its character, and
hardly equal to any great narrative or dramatic effort. Her
best pieces, it must be confessed, are those which, from their
shortness, give no scope for the inflation and mannerism
that disfigure most of her more ambitious efforts. These
small poems exhibit much purity of sentiment, a fine vein
of feeling, and a dangerous ease of versification. Her
powers of description are very considerable ; and as Lord
Jeffrey remarked, “ a lovely picture serves as a foreground
to some deep or lofty emotion.” It may be doubted if much
of Mrs Heman’s poetry will be read by posterity. Sir Wal¬
ter Scott hinted that “ there were too many flowers for the
fruitand it is true that her works, though they fill the
ear and the fancy, leave the heart and the intellect unsatis¬
fied. Mrs Hemans’ personal character was in all respects
exemplary and amiable. After various changes of residence
she settled in Dublin, where she died in 1835. There is a
complete edition of her poems, with a biographical memoir
by her sister, 6 vols. Edinburgh, 1839.
HEMATINE, the colouring principle of logwood. See
Dyeing.
HEMEL-Hempstead, a market-town of England, county
of Hertford, 24 miles N.W. of London. It stands on the
acclivity of a hill rising from the small River Gade, and
consists of one main street of considerable length. The
parish church is a cruciform, and partly Norman struc¬
ture, surmounted by a lofty octagonal spire. The town-
hall is a long narrow building with an open market-place
underneath. Market-day, Thursday. Straw-plaiting is ex¬
tensively carried on. In the vicinity are several large paper
mills. Pop. (1851) 2727.
HEMEROBAPTISTS, a sect amongst the ancient Jews,
so called from their bathing every day, as a religious rite
necessary to salvation. Epiphanius, who mentions this as
the fourth heresy among the Jews, classes the hemerobap-
tists doctrinally with the Scribes and Pharisees, with this
exception, that, like the Sadducees, they denied the resur¬
rection of the dead.
HEMERODROMI, in Grecian antiquity, were, as the
name imports, runners or couriers, who could keep running
all day. In a country like Greece, where the roads were
few and bad, the Hemerodromi were indispensable for the
rapid diffusion of important news. Every Greek state made
a point of training a number of these men who could travel
great distances in an incredibly short space of time, and at
every dangerous crisis were stationed on commanding points
to observe and report at head-quarters what it was necessary
for the authorities to know. Some interesting information
concerning these couriers is given by Herodotus. He dwells
at considerable length on the efficiency of those in the ser¬
vice of the Persian kings. The men were called angoroi,
and the service angereion. Instances are on record of the
extraordinary swiftness of foot attained by the Hemerodromi.
A little before the battle of Marathon, Phidippides, a pro¬
fessional courier, was sent to Sparta by the Athenian gene¬
rals with the news of the impending fight, and arrived there
on the second day after leaving Athens,—the distance be¬
tween the two cities being nearly 150 miles. Pliny men¬
tions that Anystis, a Lacedaemonian, and Philonides, a courier
in the service of Alexander the Great, ran from Sicyon to
Llis in one day—a distance of 1200 furlongs. Many other
equally wonderful cases are on record in the classics. Among
the Romans these couriers were known as Cursores ; they
travelled sometimes on foot, sometimes on horseback. Gib¬
bon commends their swiftness and regularity. It is a well-
known fact that running footmen attended the Duke of
i ai boiough in his wars in the Low Countries and in Ger¬
many. (See Coukiek.)
HEM
HEMI, a word employed in the composition of different
terms. It signifies the same with semi or demi, viz., half;
being an abbreviate of i^ucrus, which signifies the same thing.
The Greeks retrenched the last syllable of the word fjfjLurvs
in the composition of words ; and, after their example, we
have done so too in most of the compounds borrowed from
them.
HEMINGFORD, Walter, or, as he is called by Le-
land, Hemingoburgus, one of the old Latin chroniclers of
the fourteenth century, was a canon regular of the Austin
Priory of Gisborough in Yorkshire. His chronicle relates
the history of England from the time of the Norman Con¬
quest till the twentieth year of Edward III. The first three
books of this work (extending from the Conquest to 1273)
were published by Gale in his Scriptores Quinque, and the
remainder by Hearne, at Oxford, 2 vols. 1731. Heming-
ford died in ] 347.
HEMLOCK, the Conium maculatum of botanists, is an
umbelliferous plant possessing narcotic and powerful poison¬
ous properties. It may readily be distinguished from most
other umbelliferous plants by the numerous dark purple
spots which cover its smooth stem and leaf stalks, and by
the strong heavy odour, resembling that of mice, which it
exhales. The poisonous properties reside in every part of
the plant, and are owing to the presence of a peculiar vo¬
latile oleaginous alkaloid, called conia or coneine, capable of
forming salts with acids, which are equally energetic as the
conia itself.
It was long doubted whether this plant furnished the
kwvclov or poison with which the ancient Greeks despatched
their state prisoners, and which the death of Socrates has
immortalized. This obscurity appears to have resulted from
the circumstance that the symptoms observed in cases of
reputed poisoning with the roots of this plant were different
from those attributed to the ancient state poison—a differ¬
ence now explained from other roots having been mistaken
for it. Recent research has now, however, demonstrated that
the action of this plant as a poison closely corresponds with the
description given by Plato of the action of the state poison, so
that no reasonable doubt now exists as to its identity. Hem¬
lock is an energetic poison, especially in the form of its alkaloid
conia, causing rapid death by inducing general paralysis of
the muscles, and consequent stoppage of the breathing, with¬
out bringing on convulsive spasms or insensibility. In me¬
dicine hemlock has been much used in the form of poultices
of the fresh leaves in cancerous affections, and seems to re¬
lieve the lancinating pain by its narcotic action. It is also
applied externally in the form of poultices, extract, tincture,
&c., to glandular tumours, scrofulous sores, &c.; and inter¬
nally it has been administered in cancerous and strumous
affections, enlargements of the liver, spleen, and glands,
chronic catarrh, hooping-cough, neuralgia, hypertrophy of
the heart and other affections attended with an excited state
of the circulation. Its virtues, however, have not been suf¬
ficiently investigated. (j. s—K.)
HEMP, a tough fibre yielded by the large annual plant
Cannabis sativa, of the natural order Cannabinaceae. There
are, however, several other fibres known in commerce to
which the term is more or less commonly applied. For
example—Jute hemp is obtained from Corchorus capsu-
laris and C. olitorius ; Manilla hemp from Musa textilis ;
Brown hemp from Hibiscus canabinus; Pite or Pita hemp
from several species of agave and aloe; Sunn hemp, Madras
hemp, brown Bombay hemp, and Malabar hemp, from Cro-
talaria juncea ; Jubbulpore hemp, from Crotalaria tenui-
folia, and several others.
The true hemp {Cannabissaliva) has been recognised as
a useful plant from a very early period, although probably
not of the same antiquity as flax. Herodotus is the first
writer who mentions it (iv. 74), but he speaks of it in a
manner which show's it must have been then well-known,
311
Hemi
Hemp.
312 H E
Hemp, for he describes the hempen garments made by the Thra-
cians as being equal to linen (flax cloth) in fineness. Its
use for making cordage is noted as early as 200 years b.c.
by Moschion, who mentions that a large ship, the “ Syra-
cusia,” built by Hiero II., was rigged with ropes made from
hemp brought from the Rhone.
The original country of the hemp-plant is not positively
known, but it is generally believed to have been the moun¬
tainous districts in the extreme north of India, whence it
spread westward through Europe, and southward through
the peninsula of India. Its cultivation in each direction
had in all probability a different object; for it is found to
produce under tropical culture an inferior fibre, and a
powerfully intoxicating drug, but in cold and temperate
climates it yields an abundance of strong fibres in great
perfection for textile purposes, and loses its narcotic quali¬
ties. The similarity of its name in various languages is a
strong indication that it has taken the course here indicated ;
thus, in the Sanscrit it is called goni, sana, or shanapu ;
Persic, canna ; Arabic, kanneh or kinnub ; Greek, kanna-
bis ; Latin, cannabis ; Italian, canapa ; French, chanvre
or chanbre ; Danish, kamp or kennep ; Lettish and Lithu¬
anian, kannapes ; Slavonic, konopi; Yxsz, canaib ; Scan¬
dinavian, hampr ; Swedish, hampa ; German, hauf; Anglo-
Saxon, haenep ; and English, hemp. In India other names
are applied, indicative of its intoxicating or narcotic powers ;
thus, according to Dr Royle, it is called the “ increaser of
pleasure,” the “ exciter of desire,” the “ cementer of friend¬
ship,” the “causer of the reeling gait,” the “laughter
mover,” &c.; and he also suggests that it may have been the
nepenthes (“ assuager of grief”) of Homer, given by Helen
to Telemachus.
The intoxicating properties of hemp reside in a peculiar
resinous extract naturally secreted by the plant when grow¬
ing in a hot climate. So remarkable is this peculiarity, that
botanists until lately insisted upon the hemp of India being
a distinct species (C. indica). It is now, however, decided
that there is really no specific difference, the change being
simply climatal.
The secretion is deposited by exudation upon the surface
of the leaves, the slender branches, and the flowers. Ac¬
cording to Dr O’Shaughnessy, it is collected during the hot
season by men clad in leathern dresses, who rush with vio¬
lence through the hemp fields; the resin adheres to their
dresses, from wdiich it is scraped off and kneaded into lumps
which have the appearance of pieces of linseed oil cake in
colour and texture, and a peculiar and by no means agree¬
able smell. In this state it is called “ churrus ;” and there
are evidently several varieties of the substance, as Dr Pe¬
reira describes it as being “ in masses of the shape and size
of a hen’s egg, or of a small lemon, and formed by the ad¬
hesion of superimposed elongated pieces. It has a dull
grayish-brown colour, and not much odour whereas one
specimen in the writer’s collection differs in being in large
shapeless fragments of the colour of amber, with the loose
friable texture of linseed cake, and a heavy unpleasant
odour. Another specimen has a resinous lustre, a dark-
brown colour, and is formed into an elongated oval shape,
but not larger than half a hen’s egg. This is almost odour¬
less, and is probably the momeea or waxen churrus, said to
be collected with great care by the hand, and to be highly
prized. The dried plant, after it has flowered, and from
which the churrus has not been removed, is compressed into
bundles of twenty-four plants each, and is sold in the bazaars
of India under the name of gunjah. The larger leaves and
capsules, without the stalks, are also compressed into irre¬
gular sized masses, which receive the names of bang, subjee,
or sidhee, in India. The hashish of the Arabians consists
of the tops of the small branchlets after inflorescence, care¬
fully gathered and dried. Both this and the two previously
mentioned preparations are extensivelv used for smoking
M P.
and chewing—the gunjah and bang in India and Persia, Hemp,
and the hashish in Africa. When the bushmen of Southern
Africa were brought to England, they passed much of their
time in smoking this narcotic in pipes made of the long
teeth of alligators, hollowed out for the purpose. Its use as
a means of intoxication is said to have given rise to our
word assassin, from the fact that the low Saracen soldiery,
called hashashins, when intoxicated with hashish, were sent
into the camps of the crusaders for the purpose of killing
whomsoever they met, the drug rendering them quite re¬
gardless of the consequences. The physiological effects of
the various preparations above mentioned are most remark¬
able, and are unlike every other narcotic at present known.
It produces inebriation and delirium of decidedly hilarious
character, inducing violent laughter, jumping and dancing.
The writer several times witnessed its effects upon the bush-
men. After inhaling the smoke for some time they rose
and began a very slow dance, which was gradually quick¬
ened until they became perfectly frenzied, and finally fell
down in a state of complete insensibility, from which they
were a considerable time in recovering. Dr O’Shaughnessy
relates some most remarkable effects of the churrus, parti¬
cularly its power in producing a state of true catalepsy.
The same effects do not appear to take place upon
Europeans, but this point has not yet been fairly tried, as
the drug evidently suffers some change in its transmis¬
sion by sea.
But it is not as a narcotic and excitant that the hemp
plant is most useful to mankind ; it is as an advancer rather
than a retarder of civilization, that its utility is made most
manifest. Its great value as a textile material, particularly
for cordage and canvas, has made it eminently useful; and
if we were to copy the figurative style of the Sanscrit
writers, we might with justice call it the “ accelerator of
commerce,” and the “ spreader of wealth and intellect.”
For ages man has been dependent upon hempen cordage
and hempen sails for enabling his ships to cross the seas;
and in this respect it still occupies a most important place
in our commercial affairs.
For its valuable fibre hemp is very largely cultivated in
Europe, but chiefly in Russia and Russian Poland. It un¬
dergoes the same process for decomposing the parts of the
stem as that described in the article on Flax, called water-
retting, by which the cellular tissue of the bark and me¬
dulla is destroyed, and the long fibres of the woody part
are set free. This is not done by simply soaking in the
waters of ponds and streams, for it requires to be dried
both previously and subsequently to the retting process;
after which it is beaten with wooden beetles or mallets,
or by an apparatus called a break or brake worked by a
treddle. Sometimes, however, this laborious operation is
effected by water or steam-power. Some of the finer kinds
of hemp are more carefully prepared; the seed is sown
broad-cast instead of in drills, by which the stems are grown
more slender and the fibres finer; and after the water-ret¬
ting each stem is taken in the hand, and the epidermis is
stripped or peeled off, and the reed or boon is then sub¬
mitted as before mentioned to the breaking process. In
both cases after breaking the stalks are conveyed to the
scutching-mills, where the separation of the fibres is still
further effected by rubbing and striking, after which it is
heckled or hackled—the heckler taking as much as he can
conveniently hold and drawing it through a number of iron
spikes fixed in a board forming a kind of comb.
The process called dew-retting, described in the article
on Flax, is also adopted for very fine varieties of hemp,
such as the white crown Marienburg, and the Italian gar¬
den hemp; and in Russia and Sweden another method
called snow-retting is used. After the first fall of snow
the hemp which has been put up in stacks is spread out over
the snow, and left to be buried by successive falls. It thus
HEM
HEN
313
Hemp, remains covered until the snow disappears, and is then suf-
-mJ ficiently retted.
We have hitherto received the largest quantity of hemp
from Russia—St Petersburg, Memel, and Riga being the
chief ports of shipment; but the late war, which put a stop
to the supply from this source, is likely to produce a bene¬
ficial result to our colonies. The indefatigable exertions
of Dr Royle on behalf of the Indian government have led
to the knowledge of various fibrous substances which are
produced in the greatest abundance in our Indian empire,
several of which are rapidly taking the place of hemp both
in the manufacture of cordage and canvas ; so that having
been forced into a knowledge of our own resources, it is not
probable we shall ever be so dependent upon Russia in fu¬
ture for this necessary article.
The best substitute appears to be the Caloee or Rheea
fibre produced by a plant of the nettle tribe (Urticaceae),
Boehmeria nivea. The Rheea fibre can, it is expected,
be produced very much cheaper than Russian hemp, and
it is nearly twice as strong. Hitherto hemp has had one
great advantage over all other fibres in the manufacture of
cordage, and it remains to be seen whether the Rheea
fibre has this qualification. When a hempen rope is worn
out, if it has not been tarred, it is valuable for making
paper; and if it has been tarred, it is even more useful for
oakum. This is not the case certainly with the fine ropes
of Manilla hemp {Musa textilis), which, though stronger
than the best Russian hemp, are almost useless when worn
out. The same may be said of the admirable coir ropes
now so extensively used for ship’s hawsers and other cord¬
age exposed to water. These ropes are made of the fibres
from the husk of the common cocoa-nut.
The fibre called New Zealand flax, which is procured
from the long sword-shaped leaves of Phormium tenax, a
liliaceous plant, has been much recommended of late ; but
whether from the difficulty of preparing it, or from the in¬
adequacy of the supply, it has not yet become a regular ar¬
ticle of commerce. The epidermis of its leaves is more com¬
pact and harder than that of the stalks of the plants pre¬
viously mentioned, and this may cause great difficulty both
in retting and scutching.
We import hemp from Russia, Italy, Holland, Turkey,
the East Indies, and latterly from the United States. That
from America, however, is of inferior quality and blackish
colour. The East Indian hemp is coarse, and is in small
hanks plaited about the thickness of a man’s arm. The
Italian hemp is very fine, that variety called garden-hemp
being the longest of any kind ; its superiority is supposed
to be the result of spade culture in very suitable soil. It
is also as white and soft as the finest white Russian.
Of the Russian kinds the St Petersburg clean and the
Riga rein (or clean) are the best for general purposes.
The variety called white crown Marienburg is remark¬
ably short, white and soft; it is only fit for fine canvas.
The quantity of hemp imported into the United King¬
dom was—
From Russia.
In 1851  33,229 tons
... 1852  26,857 ...
... 1853  40,320 ...
... 1854  1,044 ...
... 1855  nil.
From other countries.
In 1851  31,441 tons
... 1852  26,551 ...
... 1853  20,619 ...
... 1854  35,927 ...
... 1855  28,010 ...
The price of Russian hemp has ranged from £38 to £90 per ton
during the last five years, the maximum price being caused by
the war. Considerable quantities are also raised in England and
Ireland.
Of the figures just given those relating to Russia may
be depended upon, but those referring to the imports from
other countries are by no means satisfactory ; for owing to
the slovenly manner in which our commercial statistics are
collected by the government, all articles which bear the
VOL. XI.
trade name of hemp are included, such as Manilla hemp, Hems
and very often even jute. ||
There is one other useful quality in the hemp plant; it Henault.
produces an abundance of seed, which not only yields
a valuable oil, but the seed is extensively used in feed¬
ing singing birds. As the hemp is dioecious, only about
one half the plants produce seeds; but these yield it in
such abundance that an acre will yield from three to four
quarters at about 40s. per quarter. As this is independent
of the fibre produced it is a profitable crop in countries
like Russia where the land is not too valuable.
For fuller information upon the subject consult Dr Royle’s
Illustrations of the Botany of the Himalayan Mountains,
and his Fibrous Plants of India ; Dr O’Shaughnessy on
the Preparation of the Indian Hemp or Gunjah ; and the
erudite work Textrinum Antiquorum, by James Yates, Esq.,
M. A. (t. c. a.)
HEMS or Homs, the ancient Emesa or Emissa, a city
of Syria, 90 miles due N. of Damascus. It stands on the
N. E. shore of a small lake formed by the River Orontes,
which affords abundant supplies of water for the irrigation
of the neighbouring districts. Besides a considerable trade,
Hems possesses woollen, cotton, and silk manufactures ; and
its gold and silver thread are in high repute. The mosques,
churches, and bazaars, are numerous and handsome. In
ancient times Hems was celebrated for its splendid temple
of the sun. One of the priests of this temple was, at the
early age of fourteen, made emperor of Rome, under the
name of Heliogabalus. It was in the vicinity of this town
that Zenobia, the renowned queen of Palmyra, was defeated
by the emperor Aurelian, a.d. 272.
HfiNAULT, Charles-Jean-Fran^ois, author of the
Abrege Chronologique de VHistoire de France, and presi¬
dent of the parliament of Paris, was born in that city in
1685, and died there in 1770. His father was one of the
fermiers-generaux, and he himself, partly from his inherited
wealth, partly from his position in the queen’s household,
of which he was controller-general, and partly from his per¬
sonal qualities, was received into the best society of the French
capital. He was in early life gay, witty, graceful in his
manners, a good musician, and a neat song-writer. He
had all, in short, that could make him (what was then the
chief ambition of most Frenchmen to become) a man a-la-
mode. In literature he attained such considerable distinction
by his comedies and fugitive poems, that in 1723 he was re¬
ceived into the French Academy, and afterwards into the
leading literary societies of Europe. After his fiftieth year
he retired into private life, and devoted the remainder of his
days to study and religious exercises. But as the Marquis
d’Argenson remarks, “ his devotion was as free of fanati¬
cism as his writings of pedantry.” His friendship for Vol¬
taire remained undiminished till the close of his life; and it
was a kindly motive that impelled him at the age of eighty
to write seriously to that arch-scoffer, praying him to desist
from his ceaseless pasquinades against Christianity. Henault
will be remembered chiefly for his Abrege Chronologique,
first published in 1744, without the author’s name. Be¬
tween that date and 1756, there appeared numerous edi¬
tions of it; but it was not till the latter year that Henault
proclaimed himself as the author of the book. The Abrege
is a perfect model of its kind, and though it has now fallen
somewhat into disuse, yet that result is rather a reaction
against the excessive praise that wras at first lavished on it,
than a proof that it has been superseded. In the compass
of two volumes, Henault has comprised the whole history
of France from the earliest times to the death of Louis XIV.
His information is, for the most part, drawn from original
sources. The results of deep researches and lengthened
disquisitions on public law are summed up in a few words.
Controverted points of history, on which volumes have been
written, are cleared up sometimes in a single sentence.
2 R
314 HEN
Henbane The moral and political reflections are always short, and
II generally as fresh and pleasing as they are just. A few
Ilenley-on- masterly strokes reproduce the leading features of each age,
Thames. and the cilaracters 0f its illustrious men. Accurate chro-
nological tables set forth the most interesting events in the
history of each sovereign, such as his birth, accession, mar¬
riage, death, &c., and the names of the great men that
flourished during his reign. Interspersed throughout the
work are occasional chapters on the social and civil state of
the country at the close of each era in its history.
Henault’s other works are his Histoire Critique de Vetablisse-
ment des Fran<;ais, dans les Gaules, ouvrage inedit du President
Henault, imprime sur le Manuscrit original icrit de sa Main, Paris,
1801, in 2 vols. 8vo; Lettre du President Henault sur la Regale,
addressee d I’Abbti Velly, originally published in the Mercure de
France; Lettres du President Henault a Marmontel, au sujet dun
Extrait de VAbrege de VHistoire de Be Thou, in the collection of
Fontanieu; Memoire sur les Abreges Chronologiques (Mem. de VAcad,
des Inscrip.) ; Biscours qui a remporte le prix d'eloquence de d'Aca¬
demic Franqaise, 1701, par Henault, Conseiller au Parlement, Paris,
1707, in 4to; Pieces de Thidtre, en Vers et en Prose, a collection
which contains Cornelie Vestale, Franqoise II., the Petite Maison,
the Jaloux de Lui-meme, the Reveil d'Epimenide, and the Temple des
Chimeres.
HENBANE (Hyoscyamus niger), a narcotic plant of
the nat. ord. Atropaceae, the Deadly Nightshade order.
The juice has the property of causing the dilatation of the
pupil of the eye; and it has long been used in medicine as
a sedative and narcotic. It is said that swine can browse
with impunity on this very poisonous plant. See Botanv.
HENERY Isle, a small island lying due S. from Bom¬
bay. It is about 600 yards in circumference, and nearly
of a circular form. It is fortified and well inhabited. In
1790 it belonged to Ragojee Angria, and was a principal
rendezvous of private vessels, though within sight of Bom¬
bay. Near it is another small island named Kenery, which
is also fortified, and of considerable strength. It was taken
possession of and fortified by Sevajee in 1679. In 1790 it
belonged to the Peshwa, and was also the haunt of pirates.
Henery is situated in E. Long. 72. 50., and N. Eat. 18. 42.
HENGIST, the brother of Horsa, was the first Saxon
chief who established himself in England. He reduced the
south-eastern corner of the kingdom, and ruled over Kent
under the title of king. He fixed his residence at Canter¬
bury, where he died in a.d. 488. (See England.)
HENG-KIANG or Siang, a river of China, rising in
the mountains, which separate the province of Honan from
that of Kwang-tung, and falling into the lake of Tung-ting,
after a northward course of about 300 miles.
HENG-TCHOU, a city of China, capital of a cogno-
minal department in the province of Honan, on the Heng-
Kiang River. N. Lat. 26. 55., E. Long. 112. 23. Paper is
extensively manufactured here.
HENLEY-IN-ARDEN, a market-town in the W. of
Warwickshire, on the Alne, 8 miles W. from Warwick, and
102 miles from London. It contains a church of the time of
Edward III., remarkable for its beautiful interior, and the
remainsofan old market-cross. Nails,needles,and fish-hooks
are made here. Market-day, Monday. Pop. (1851) 1143.
Henley-on-Thames, a municipal borough and market-
town of England, Oxfordshire, on the left bank of the
Thames, 22 miles S.E. from Oxford, and 35 from London.
It is pleasantly situated at the foot of the Chiltern Hills.
The principal streets, four in number, are well lighted and
paved. The Thames is here crossed by an elegant stone
bridge of five arches. The church is a handsome Gothic
structure, with a lofty tower, and is supposed to have been
built by Cardinal Wolsey. It has an endowed grammar-
school, founded in 1605 ; united charity and other schools;
reading-room, library, and a number of charitable institu¬
tions. The town-hall is a neat building, supported by
Doric columns ; the under part is used as a market-house.
HEN
Market-day, Thursday. Henley carries on considerable Henna
trade in corn, flour, malt, and timber. It is governed by ||
a mayor, a high steward, 10 aldermen, and 16 burgesses. Henry,
Pop. (1851) 2595.
HENNA, the name of a yellow pigment obtained from
Lawsonia inermis, a plant of the nat. ord. Lythraceae. It
is much used in Egypt, Arabia, Persia, and throughout the
East generally, for staining the nails of the fingers, the
manes and hoofs of horses, &c.; and some have attributed
the yellow tinge of the nails of the Egyptian mummies to the
use of this dye, though probably without sufficient reason.
HENNERSDORF or Seifhennersdorf, a large ma¬
nufacturing village in Saxony, on the Bohemian frontier
circle, 20 miles S.S.E. of Bautzen. Pop. 5600, who are
engaged in the manufacture of linen and nankeen, as well
as in bleaching. Hennersdorf is the name of numerous
small villages in Germany.
HENOTICUM, an edict of the Emperor Zeno, pub¬
lished a.d. 482, and intended to reunite the Eutychians
with the Catholics. It was procured from the emperor by
Acacius, patriarch of Constantinople ; and was in the form
of a letter, addressed by Zeno to the clergy and people of
Egypt and Libya. As it contained a favourable mention of
the council of Chalcedon, it was supposed to favour the
Eutychian party; and after much opposition, was at length
formally condemned by Pope Felix II.
HENRY, the name of a succession of sovereigns in
England, France, and Germany. The English kings of
this name are:—Henry I., surnamed Beauclerc, third son
of William the Conqueror. He succeeded his brother,
William Rufus, and reigned from 1100 to 1135. Henry
II., son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Earl of Anjou, and Ma¬
tilda, daughter of Henry I. He succeeded Stephen, and
reigned from 1153 till 1189. Henry III., son of King
John, reigned from 1216 till 1272. Henry IV. usurped
the throne in 1399, died in 1413. Henry V., his son, suc¬
ceeded him in 1413, and died in 1422. Henry VI. was
crowned in 1422, when only ten months old, and was killed
in the Tower in 1471. Henry VIL, founder of the Tudor
dynasty, came to the throne in 1485, and reigned till 1509.
Flenry VIII. reigned from 1509 till 1547.
Four kings of the name of Henry or Henri have reigned
in France. Henri I., son of Robert, and grandson of Hugues
Capet, reigned from 1031 till 1060. Henri II. succeeded
his father, Francis I., in 1547, and was accidentally killed
at a tourney in 1559. Henri HI., the third son of Henri
II. and Catherine de Medici’, succeeded his brother, Charles
IX., as king of France in 1574, and was assassinated in
1589. Flenry IV., called Flenry the Great and Henry of
Navarre, was virtually king of France from 1589 till his
assassination in 1610.
The German emperors of the name of Heinrich or
Henry are seven, viz.,—Henry I., 919-936; Henry II.,
1002-1024; Henry HI., 1039-1056; Henry IV., 1056-
1105; Henry V., 1111-1125; Henry VL, 1190-1197;
Henry VIL, 1308-1313.
The histories of these sovereigns are given in full under
the special heads of England, France, and Germany.
Henry of Huntingdon, an ancient English chronicler,
was born about the end of the eleventh century, and was
brought up by Alcuinus of Anjou, a canon of Lincoln Ca¬
thedral. After taking orders he was made archdeacon of
Huntingdon. The date of his death is not known. His
History of England, in eight books, extends from the inva¬
sion of Julius Caesar to the accession of Henry II. (a.d.
1154.) It has been nowhere printed except in Savile’s
Scriptores post Bedam, Lond. 1596. In so far as it is a
contemporary history, Huntingdon’s work possesses little or
no value, but in an antiquarian point of view it is one of
the most valuable heir-looms transmitted to us by the twelfth
century. It is interspersed with a good deal of verse, partly
HEN
HEN
315
Henry, original and partly copied. The author himself states that,
taking Bede as his model, he added much from other sources,
and borrowed from the chronicles which he found in ancient
libraries. In vol. ii. of Wharton’s Anglia Sacra is a long
letter from Huntingdon to a friend, full of interesting anec¬
dotes of the kings, prelates, and other notable personages
of his day.
Henry, Matthew^ the author of the celebrated Exposition
of the Old and New Testaments, was born in 1662 at Broad
Oak, a farm-house near Iscoyd, in Flintshire. He was the
son of Philip Henry, one of the 2000 ministers who were
ejected from their livings in 1662 for refusing to conform
to the Act of Uniformity. Unlike the majority of his fel¬
low-sufferers, Philip Henry was spared all personal privation
or hardship as the consequence of his non-conformity by
the accident of private means which he had received with
his wife. He was thus enabled to give a good education
to his son Matthew, who, after making considerable pro¬
gress in the study of law at Gray’s Inn, abandoned that
profession, and took orders as a dissenting minister. In
1687 he was appointed to a charge at Chester, where he
remained till 1712, in which year he was translated to
Hackney. Two years later (June 22,1714), he died sud¬
denly of apoplexy at Nantwich while on a journey from
Chester to London.
Matthew Henry’s Exposition, the work by which he is
now remembered, is a commentary of a practical and devo¬
tional rather than of a critical kind, ranging over the whole
of the Old Testament, and extending into the New as far
as Romans. At this point it was broken off by the author’s
death, but the work was finished by a number of clergy¬
men, whose names are recorded in most editions of
the book. In a critical point of view, the Exposition is
quite valueless ; yet its freshness, variety of thought, its high
moral tone, and its well-sustained flow of good writing, have
secured it the foremost place among the works of its class.
There are few better things in English literature than the
comments on the parable of the prodigal son. That, how¬
ever, must be acknowledged the finest passage in the whole
work. Besides the Exposition, Matthew Henry wrote a Life
of Mr Philip Henry ; Directions for Daily Communion
with God; A Methodfor Prayer; A Scriptural Catechism,
and several other works.
There are two Lives of Matthew Henry; the first by
W. Tong, 8 vo, 1716, and the second (a much better one) by
Mr.Williams, prefixed to his edition of the Exposition,
3 vols., Lond. 1828.
Henry, Robert, D.D., the author of the History of
Great Britain, written on a neic plan, was born in 1718
at a farm-house in the parish of St Ninian’s, near Stirling.
He was educated first at the school of his native parish,
afterwards at the grammar-school of Stirling, and finally at
the University of Edinburgh. Beginning public life as
master of the grammar-school of Annan, he afterwards (in
1746) took orders and became the minister of a Presby¬
terian congregation at Carlisle. In 1760 he removed to a
similar charge at Berwick-upon-Tweed, where he married
a Miss Balderston, daughter of a surgeon in the town. It
was during his stay at Berwick (where he signalized him¬
self by his public spirit and zeal in promoting the local
charitable schemes) that the idea of his History first occur¬
red to him. But the dearth of books and the other diffi¬
culties of a provincial situation compelled him to postpone
the execution of his design, till, through the influence of
his wife’s relations, he was translated to Edinburgh as
minister of the New Greyfriars. He was then encouraged
by the abundance of resources opened to him in the public
libraries, and the ease with which he had access to them,
to proceed with his great design. The first volume of the
History appeared in 1771, and the others followed at irre¬
gular intervals till 1785, in which year the fifth was pub¬
lished, bringing down the narrative to the accession of the
Tudor dynasty. The historian, who had been made a D.D.
by the University of Edinburgh, died in 1790, before his
sixth volume was quite ready for the press. Four years
after his death it was published under the care of Malcolm
Laing who supplied the missing chapters, and performed
the editorial work with great accuracy and ability.
Flenry’s History was undoubtedly a great advance upon
all the works of the kind that had been attempted in Eng¬
land before his day. His design, which, up to the measure
of his knowledge and ability, he carried out with decided
success, was to engraft upon the narrative of the great poli¬
tical events of each era an account of the domestic state and
social progress of the people within the same period. De¬
spite the care with which Henry conducted his researches,
his work is now superseded. The true sources of history
were at that time hardly open to the writer, and Henry was
consequently obliged often to adopt authorities even then
doubtful and now wholly exploded. Nor are his faults
redeemed by the qualities that still make Hume’s the stand¬
ard History of England. He does not conceive or draw
the characters of the great personages that figure in his
History with any depth of insight or skill in delineation.
He is likewise totally wanting in that philosophic power
which enabled his illustrious contemporary to take the wide
and generalized views of history that distinguish his work.
These faults of Henry’s were even in his own day pointed
out by his arch enemy, Gilbert Stuart, with a ferocious
malignity worthy of the worst frenzy of John Dennis.
There is a large substratum of truth in Stuart’s criticisms,
yet they breathe so completely the spirit of a literary cut¬
throat, as their author undoubtedly was, that our moral
sympathies go entirely with the victimized historian. Stuart
made no secret of his resolution to ruin the sale of Henry’s
work, and by his ruthless reviews of it in various influential
journals he gained his point—at least for a time. But it
was only for a time, for Henry realized altogether from his
work L.3300, and in 1781, through the influence of Lord
Mansfield, was rewarded for his labours with a pension of
L. 100 a year by George III. (The details of Henry’s life
are to be found in a biographical sketch prefixed to the
posthumous volume of his History. An account of his
quarrel with Gilbert Stuart is given in Isaac DTsraeli’s
Calamities of Authors, vol ii., p. 63.)
FIenry, William, a distinguished chemical philosopher,
was born at Manchester, December 12, 1774. He was the
son of Mr Thomas Henry, a zealous cultivator of chemical
science. In early life an accident disqualified him for the
sports of boyhood, and thus early developed a taste for
study which was fostered by his first teacher, the Rev.
Ralph Harrison, one of the best instructors of youth at that
time in the north of England. On leaving Mr Harrison’s
academy, Henry became private secretary to Dr Percival,
a physician of great general accomplishments and refined
taste, who directed his course of reading with equal kind¬
ness and judgment. For five years he remained in the
house of this valuable friend, and after some preliminary
medical study in the infirmary of Manchester, removed, in
1795-6, to the University of Edinburgh, where some of
the greatest masters of moral and physical science were
then teaching. So powerful was the stimulus there given
to his mental powers, that he often said, the rest of his life,
active as it was, appeared a state of inglorious repose when
contrasted with this season of unremitted effort. Pruden¬
tial considerations obliged him to leave Edinburgh at the
end of a year; but in 1805 he once more resumed his
studies there, and two years later received his diploma of
M. D. The interval between the two periods of his resi¬
dence at Edinburgh was spent partly in the duties of medi¬
cal practice at Manchester, and partly in superintending
a chemical work commenced by his father, which gave him
Henry.
316 HEN
Henry, great facilities for prosecuting original researches in his
v>—favourite science. In 1797 he sent to the Royal Society of
London the first of a long series of scientific memoirs, with
which he enriched the Transactions of that body. Its object
was to re-establish the title of carbon to be ranked among ele¬
mentary bodies, which had been denied by Austin, Beddoes,
and other eminent chemists. He afterwards discovered a
fallacy in his own reasoning, which he detected and ex¬
posed, in a subsequent memoir, before it was noticed by
any other chemist. In 1800 he published in the Philoso¬
phical Transactions his experiments on muriatic acid gas.
Previous to the discoveries of Davy oxygen was regarded
as the sole principle of acidity; and muriatic acid was con¬
sequently believed to be composed of oxygen associated
with an unknown radical. Henry’s experiments had been
made with the view of disengaging this imaginary element.
When Davy’s theory was propounded, many years after this
date, Henry was one of the earliest converts. In 1803 he
published his elaborate experiments on the quantity of gases
absorbed by water at different temperatures, and under dif¬
ferent pressures. The result of these was the establish¬
ment of the law that “ water takes up of gas, condensed by
one, two, or more additional atmospheres, a quantity which
would be equal to twice, thrice, &c., the volume absorbed
under the common pressure of the atmosphere.” In 1808
(the year in which he became a Fellow of the Royal So¬
ciety) Henry described in the Philosophical Transactions a,
form of apparatus adapted to the combustion of larger
quantities of gases than could be fired in eudiometric tubes.
This apparatus, though now superseded, gave more accurate
results than had ever before been attained. In the follow¬
ing year, 1809, the Copley gold medal was awarded to him
for his valuable contributions to the Transactions of the
Royal Society. For the next fifteen years he continued
his experiments on the gases, making known the results
of them from time to time to the Society. In his last com¬
munication, in 1824, he claimed the merit of having con¬
quered the only difficulty that remained in a series of expe¬
riments on the gaseous substances issuing from the destruc¬
tive distillation of coal and oil, and proved the exact com¬
position of the fire-damp of mines. Availing himself of
the property (recently discovered by Dobereiner) in finely-
divided platinum, of causing gaseous combinations, he
proved the exact proportions which the residues, after the
action of chlorine on oil and coal gases, bear to each other.
All the experiments of Dr Henry to which we have
hitherto alluded bore upon aeriform bodies; but though
these were his favourite subjects of study, his acquaintance
with general chemistry is proved by his Elements of Expe¬
rimental Chemistry to have been both sound and exten¬
sive. This work was one of the first on chemical science
published in this country, which combined great literary
elegance with the highest standard of scientific accuracy.
His comparative analyses of many varieties of British and
foreign salts were models of accurate analysis, and were
important in dispelling the prejudices then popular in favour
of the latter for economical purposes. His memoir on the
theories of galvanic decomposition earned the cordial ap¬
proval of Berzelius, as being among the first to maintain
that view to which he himself pinned his faith.
It is to be regretted that Dr Henry did not contribute
more to the literature of science. His biographical notices
of his great contemporaries, Priestley, Wollaston, and Davy,
have been justly pronounced as among the best examples
of that kind of composition in the English language. His
contrast between Davy and Wollaston may recal Playfair’s
celebrated contrast between Black and Hutton, both in the
qualities common to the minds compared, and in the vigour
which marks both compositions. Especially is it to be re¬
gretted that he did not live to carry out the great literary
project for which he had collected materials—a history of
HEN
chemical discovery from the middle of the last century. Henryson.
He could have made it one of the most popular books of
science in our tongue. His son and biographer claims a very
high degree of merit for his literary compositions, and parti¬
cularly for his familiar letters. The concurrent testimony of
all authorities proves that the general estimate of Dr Henry
appended by his son, Dr Wm. Charles Henry, to his Bio¬
graphical Account of the late Br Henry, is by no means
partial or overdrawn. “ In the general intercourse of society
Dr Henry was distinguished by a polished courtesy, by an
intuitive propriety, and by a considerate forethought, and
respect for the feelings and opinions of others; qualities
arising out of the same high-toned sensibility that, guided
his tastes in letters, and that softened and elevated his whole
moral frame and bearing. His comprehensive range of
thought and knowledge, his proneness to general speculation
in contradistinction to detail, his ready command of the re¬
finements of language, and the liveliness of his feelings and
imagination, rendered him a most instructive and engaging
companion. To the young, and more especially to such as
gave evidence of a taste for liberal studies, his manner was
peculiarly kind and encouraging.”
At intervals during his whole life Dr Henry suffered
severely from the effects of the accident already mentioned
which befell him in early life. This produced paroxysms
of intense neuralgic agony, which rendered the extirpation
of the principal nerves of the hand necessary: but this
failed to afford the expected relief; and latterly, the irri¬
tation of the whole nervous system deprived him of sleep,
and caused his death on September 2, 1836.
FIENRYSON, Robert, one of the best of the old
Scottish poets, flourished in the latter half of the fifteenth
century. Very little is known of his personal history. He
is described as having been the chief schoolmaster of Dun¬
fermline. In one of his works he alludes to himself as “ ane
man of age and from Sir Francis Kynaston we learn that,
“ being very old, he dyed of a diarrhea or fluxe.” As to
the time of his death it is certain that he predeceased Dun¬
bar, who, in his Lament, printed in 1508, says—
In Dunfermling he has taen Broun
With good Mr Robert Henrysoun
but the exact date of his death is unknown.
The best of Henryson’s pieces is the beautiful pastoral
of Robene and Makyne, the earliest specimen of that kind
of composition in Scottish literature, and one of the best pas¬
torals in any language. The conduct of the story is as skilful
as the diction is terse and elegant. It was first printed in
Ramsay’s Evergreen, Edinb., 1724, but became much more
widely known when reprinted by Percy in his Reliques.
Besides this pastoral, Henryson wrote a supplement to
Chaucer’s Troilus and Cresseide ; which in the editions of
Chaucer, is generally appended to that poem, under the
title of The Testament of Fair Cresseide. This poem is so
beautiful in many of its parts, and displays such richness of
fancy, and such touching earnestness of pathos that we must
ever regret the poet’s unfortunate choice of a theme. His
largest work, however, is a collection of fables, thirteen in
number, of which the best is undoubtedly the tale of the Vpon-
lands Mouse and the Burgesse Mouse. Most of the subjects
of these fables are drawn from iEsop, but not all. Among the
Harleian MSS. in the British Museum are preserved the
Morall Faibillis of Esope, compylit be Maister Robert
Henrisoun, Scolmaister of Dunfermling, 1571. A few years
later appeared the Fabulous Tales of Esope, the Phrygian,
compiled moste elegantly in Scottishe meter by Mr Robert
Henrison, and now lately Englished: London, printed by
Richard Smith, 1577. A reprint of Henryson’s Fables
was made in 1832 for the Maitland Club of Edinburgh,
from the edition of Andrew Hart, of which the only copy
known to exist is preserved in the Advocates’ Library of
that city. The disputed tale of Orpheus and Eurydice is
HER
Hephae- attributed to Henryson by Dr Irving and Mr Laing, though
stsea it is decidedly inferior to nearly all his other works.
11 HEPHiESlhEA. See Lampadephoria.
Heraclea. HEPHjESTION, a grammarian of Alexandria who
flourished about the middle of the second century. He is
believed to have been one of the preceptors of the emperor
iElius Verus ; at least he is generally identified with the
Hephaestion described as holding that office by Julius Ca-
pitolinus in his Life of Verus. From Suidas we learn that
he was a very voluminous writer ; but of all his works none
have descended to us except a treatise on the Greek Metres
(’Ey^eiptStov Trcpt Merpwv). This work, though neither com¬
plete nor perfectly reliable, is important as forming the basis
of our knowledge on the subject. It was first printed at
Florence in 1526 ; again, by Turnebus at Paris, with Scho¬
lia, in 1553 ; and a third time by Hudson, with the Pro¬
legomena, attributed to Longinus, Oxford, 1710. Later
editions are those of Pauw, Utrecht, 1726; and Gaisford,
Oxford, 1810, wdth the Chrestomathia of Proclus. This
edition was reprinted at Leipzig in 1832.
HEPHAESTUS. See Vulcan.
HEPPENHEIM, a walled tower in Hesse-Darmstadt,
and capital of the province of Starkenburg, 16 miles S. of
Darmstadt. It contains a church built by Charlemagne.
On an eminence behind the town, and upwards of 1000
feet high, stand the ruins of the castle of Starkenburg,
which has given name to the province. Pop. 4200.
HEPTAGON, a seven-sided figure. See Geometry.
HEPTARCHY, a general term for the seven petty in¬
dependent kingdoms into which England was parcelled out
by its early Anglian and Saxon conquerors. These were
Kent, Sussex, Wessex, Essex, Northumbria, East Anglia,
and Mercia. See England.
HERA. See Juno.
HERACLEA, in Ancient Geography, a large and im¬
portant city of Magna Grsecia. It was situated in Lucania,
between the small streams Sii’is and Aciris, a little way in¬
land from the shore of the Tarentine Gulf. Its early his¬
tory is obscure, but it seems to have been colonized from
Thurii and Tarentum, b.c. 432. It soon attained to great
prosperity, especially after having been fixed upon as the
seat of the general assembly of the Greek cities in Italy.
In the wars wdth Pyrrhus it sided with Tarentum against
Rome; but it afterwards abandoned its parent state, and
became an ally of the Roman people. It suffered severely
during the social war, but still retained a considerable mea¬
sure of importance and prosperity. When, or from what
causes, it fell into decay is unknown ; but nothing remains
to mark its former greatness, or even its site, but mounds
of stones and the upturned foundations of old buildings.
Antiquities of great value are occasionally found among the
ruins. Of these the most important are the Tabula} Hera-
cleenses, two bronze tables on which is inscribed the Lex
Municipalis of Julius Caesar, and which constitutes our chief
authority on the subject of the municipal law of Rome.
This inscription has been published by Muratori, Haubold,
and Mazocchi, and largely illustrated by Savigny in his
miscellaneous works. Heraclea is said to have been the
birthplace of the famous Zeuxis ; but whether that be true
or not, it is known that the arts found in the city a conge¬
nial home.
Heraclea, surnamed Minoa, in Ancient Geography, a
Greek city of Sicily, at the mouth of the Halycus (now the
Platani), 20 miles N.W. from Agrigentum. The surname
seems to have been originally the name of the town, which
is first mentioned in history as a colony of Selinus. About
the end of the sixth century B.c. it was recolonized by the
Spartans, and had attained to great prosperity and power,
when it was destroyed by the jealousy of the Carthaginians.
After remaining in their power for about 200 years, it fell
into the hands of Agathocles, and then of Pyrrhus. It was
HER 317
next recovered by the Carthaginians, who retained it till at Heraclea
the end of the first Punic War the whole of Sicily was made Pontica
over to the Romans. In the second Punic War it reverted ||
to the Carthaginian sway, but was finally attached to the Heraclidae.
Roman empire by Marcellus shortly after the fall of Syra-
cuse. After the servile war, Heraclea was repeopled by
the Romans, and continued to flourish till the time of Cicero,
who alludes to it as a place of importance. Before the age
of Ptolemy it seems to have sunk into decay, and at this
day its very ruins can hardly be traced.
Heraclea Pontica, now Erekli, a Greek city of Bithy-
nia, on the S. shoi'e of the Euxine Sea, about 130 miles
from Byzantium. It was a joint colony of Megara and the
Boeotian Tanagra; but the date of its foundation is un¬
known. From its position and its excellent harbours, it
soon attained to great prosperity and power, and reduced
under its swray the Mariandyni and the other tribes lying
between the Parthenius and the Sangarius, a distance of
nearly 120 miles. Its decline began with the quarrels be¬
tween the people and the aristocracy, in the course of which
a private citizen, by name Clearchus, usurped the power
about B.c. 380. Under him and his immediate successors,
the city still continued to flourish, but a combination of the
Bithynian princes, jealous of its prosperity, stripped it of its
territory. Its ruin was completed by the Romans in the
Mithridatic War. Aurelius Cotta took the town, and its
splendid library, baths, and temples, were burned to the
ground. Under the emperors, however, the town revived,
and is described as a flourishing port so late as the reign of
Manuel Comnenus. The modern town of Erekli rises in
the form of a sort of amphitheatre from the sea, and pre¬
sents many traces of its past magnificence. Its walls, in
many places of great height and thickness, are crumbling
into ruins, as its castle has already done. 1 he harbour,
though neglected, is still a good one, and some ship-build¬
ing is carried on. Erekli exports in considerable quantities
timber, silk, and wax; and has, besides, a large import
trade.
HERACLEONITES, a sect of Gnostics in the second
century, were the followers of Heracleon, a pupil of \ alen-
tin. They held the existence of a good and evil principle,
coexisting now, but not alike eternal, and ascribed to man
an heavenly, in addition to his reasonable soul. 1 he anoint¬
ing of the dying according to certain formularies, and
prayers addressed to the Demiurgus, was by them termed
salvation.
HERACLIDaE, the descendants of Hercules. In a
general sense, the term is applied to all the families of
Greece that traced their origin to the great mythic hero of
their country. In a more limited sense it is restricted to
those descendants of Hercules, who, along with the Dorians,
conquered the Peloponnese. They were, in fact, the Nor¬
mans of Grecian history. The story goes, that after the
death of Hercules (who had been deprived of his lawful
rights by Eurystheus through the craft of Juno), his chil¬
dren were obliged to take refuge for their lives in Attica.
They were there welcomed by Theseus, who furnished
them with the means for taking the field against the usurper
Eurystheus. With the aid of the Athenians, they defeated
and slew the tyrant, and settling quietly in their ancient
homes, effected what is known in Greek history as the “ re¬
turn of the Heraclidae.” At the end of the first year of
their return, however, they were once more driven out by
a pestilence. Again they sought refuge in Attica, and sub¬
sequently among the Dorians. Backed by a band of Dori¬
ans, they once more made for the Peloponnese. At the
Corinthian isthmus they met the army of the Pelopidse, their
chief opponents, under the command of Echemus, king of
Tegea. In single combat with this chief, Hyllus, the
Dorian leader and son of Hercules, w^as killed. Hereupon
his followers retired, after promising to make no further
318
HER
HER
Heraclideg attempt on tlie Peloponnese for 50, or, as some say, 100
Tt , V, years from that time. They broke their promise, however,
v for, 30 years after the Trojan War (which itself began 10
years after the death of Hyllus), Cleodseus, the son of Hyllus,
lieaded the third expedition which, like its predecessors,
failed. Cleodaeus fell in battle, and his son Aristomachus,
who, 20 years later set out to avenge his death, met the
same fate. The fifth attempt was at length successful. Te-
menus, Cresphontes, and Aristodemus, the three sons of
Aristomachus, fitted out a powerful fleet on the Corinthian
Gulf, and with the assistance of the Aftolian Oxylus, de¬
feated the Peloponnesian forces under Tisamenes, the grand¬
son of Agamemnon, and reduced the whole of the Pelo¬
ponnese except Achaia and Arcadia. The conquerors then
proceeded to divide the spoil. Cresphontes obtained Mes-
scnia; Argos was allotted to Temenus ; and Lacedaemon to
Procles and Eurystheus, the two sons of Aristodemus, who
had been killed just before the expedition set sail. The
conquered natives were either driven into exile, or reduced
to slavery.
Thus was accomplished the great event of the <£ Return
of the Heraclidse.” The traditionary accounts of it vary
considerably in many of the details, many of which are no
doubt purely mythical. But that under the myths there lies
a substratum of historical narrative is universally agreed.
But it is difficult, nay impossible, to say where the myths
end and the history begins. In the meantime, we may with
most safety accept the verdict of K. O. Muller in his Do¬
rians. After carefully comparing all the legends about the
Heraclidse, as found in the classics, that scholar inclines to
deny the conclusions of the ancients that the Peloponnese
was conquered by Dorian adventurers under Achsean chiefs.
He attributes to a later period those parts of the legend
that described the Heraclidse as the sons of the Tirynthian
Hercules, and prefers to trace them back to a Doric hero
of the same name. Historically it is not true that the Pelo¬
ponnese was thus early and totally subdued. Its subjuga¬
tion by the Dorians was reserved to a much later date.
HERACLIDES, surnamed Ponticus, a Greek miscel¬
laneous writer, was a native of Heraclea in Pontus (whence
his surname), and flourished in the fourth century b.c. He
was a man of wealth, and indulged his taste for travel and
literature by removing from his birth-place to Athens, where
he studied under Plato, whose favourite pupil he is said to
have become. He wrote voluminously upon a great variety
of topics ; but of his numerous works only a small fragment
On Statecraft has descended to us. This essay was first
printed with the Varies Historice of /Elian, at Rome, in
1545 ; but the best editions are those of Koler, Halle, 1804,
and Coraes, Paris, 1805. The Homeric Allegories, which
used to be fathered upon him, are the work of a very diffe¬
rent hand. Of Heraclides’ personal history nothing is
known, except that he was a very vain man, very fond of
good living, and very fat. There were some silly stories
afloat about him. On his death-bed he is said to have re¬
quested a friend to hide his body as soon as he died, and to
put a serpent in its place, that his townsmen might believe
that he had been carried off to heaven. But this and the
other trifles to the same effect may very safely be rejected.
HERACLITUS, of Ephesus, the “Weeping Philo¬
sopher,” as he was called from his gloomy and sombre
views of life, may be identified with the Ionian philosophy,
though he held many of his tenets independently of it. His
era has been much disputed. According to Fynes Clin¬
ton, his floruit may be assigned about B.c. 513. His
father was one of the leading citizens of Ephesus, with
means ample enough to send the future philosopher abroad
to enlarge his mind by foreign travel. His name is variously
given as Blyson, Bioson, or Bauson. On his return home
Heraclitus was offered the chief-magistracy of Ephesus, but
he waived the honour in favour of a younger brother. He
had little sympathy with the character of his fellow-towns- Heraclius.
men, and used to play at dice with little children in the
streets near the great temple of Diana, saying that he would
rather throw away his time on this frivolous sport than
undertake the task of governing such wretches as the Ephe¬
sians. He is said to have begun the study of philosophy
under the Pythagorean Hippasus of Metapontum ; others
say, of the Eleatic Xenophanes, but he claimed for himself,
and on good grounds, the merit of being entirely self-
taught. His unsocial and caustic humour remained with
him to the last, and even grew in bitterness with his ad¬
vancing years. To such an extreme did he carry it, that
he at length retired to the mountains and refused all fur¬
ther intercourse with his kind. Limiting his diet to ve¬
getables, he soon brought on a mortal disease, which com¬
pelled him to return home. But he only came back to
die. At the time of his death he is said to have reached
his sixtieth year. It is not necessary to repeat the silly
stories about the manner of his death.
The philosophy of Heraclitus was embodied in a prose
work entitled Ilepi. ^Arews (On Nature). The style of this
work was so obscure that it gained him the title of
o-Koretvos, which, however, may have a reference to the
gloomy tenor of his general views. It must also be borne
in mind that at the time Heraclitus wrote there was no
good prose philosophical style in existence. Verse had, till
about his time, been the favourite vehicle of thought, and it
was not to be looked for that the earliest prose-writers
should make the leap all at once from a poetical to
a purely scientific way of regarding common things.
The language of Heraclitus, accordingly, had a strange
and mysterious import, which he himself happily com¬
pared to the utterances of the sibyl. The object of all
philosophy, according to him, is to discover the vital prin¬
ciple that inheres in all the phenomena of nature. This
principle he held to be fire ; not the fire of domestic life,
but a kind of hot and elastic fluid “ self-kindled and self-
extinguished,” which, subtilely permeating everything, de-
velopes and moulds it according to fixed laws into va¬
rious forms. In one of its modifications this fluid, as
the soul or principle of life, is endowed with intelligence
and powers of ceaseless activity. In this way everything
that exists is merely seen at the moment; it is undergoing
a change, and consequently exists, and does not exist at
the same moment. It is this ceaseless activity that creates
in the subjects of its action a constant tendency to wanton
the one side and satiety on the other. These forces meet¬
ing in certain degrees of intensity, produce the phenomena
of life and death. For a final cause of all the changes
going on in nature, Heraclitus appeals to destiny. With
him, whatever is, is right; and in his moral system he laid
down as the highest good, a perfect acquiescence in the
decrees of that overruling destiny—a sort of philosophic
fatalism, which was afterwards worked out under a different
form by the Stoics, and again appears in a different guise in
the Hegelian philosophy.
The philosophy of Heraclitus has been constructed out
of fragments of his works preserved in Plutarch, Clemens
of Alexandria, and Sextus Empiricus. These fragments
were collected by Henry Stephens, and published by him
along with some others, under the title of Poesis Philoso-
phica, Paris, 1573. A detailed analysis of his doctrines is
given by Brandis and by Ritter in their respective histories
of ancient philosophy.
HERACLIUS, one of the most remarkable of the Ro¬
man Emperors of the East, reigned from a.d. 610 to 641.
He was first brought into notice by the success of his at-
temptagainst the Emperor Phocas, whose throne he usurped.
After assuming the purple, he began to display that extra¬
ordinary energy of character which marked the first years
of his reign. He restored discipline to the army, renewed
HER
Herald, the treaties with foreign powers, and prepared for war
^ against the Avars, who had devastated Thrace, and were
marching on Constantinople, when they suddenly saw fit to
retire to their homes beyond the Danube. The next foe
he had to meet was Persia, whose illustrious general, Sar-
bar, after taking Jerusalem, had fought his way into Africa,
had taken Alexandria, and by devastating the African gra¬
naries of the empire, had reduced Constantinople almost to
starvation. Another Persian army laid waste Asia Minor ;
and the King Chosroes (Khosru), emboldened by victory,
called on Heraclius to renounce Christianity and worship
the sun. During all this time the Roman Emperor was
quietly but vigorously organizing his defence, and when all
was ready he crossed over into Asia with his legions, de¬
feated the enemy in every encounter in a five years’ war
(622-627), and penetrating into the very heart of the Per¬
sian Empire, seized and pillaged the royal palaces, from
which he carried off spoils of untold value. He returned
to his capital in triumph, and received the congratulations
of every potentate from the Indus to the Atlantic, on hav¬
ing for ever crushed the hereditary foe of his race. Better
still, he received the blessings of his own subjects, whom he
had endeared by his victory, and by splendid exhibitions of
personal valour in nearly every battle which he fought.
But another power had in the meantime struggled painfully
into existence in the East, which Heraclius would have
done well to anticipate. Mohammed and his Arabians
having conquered every foe that opposed them, found them¬
selves at length confronted by the Roman Empire of the
East. A pretext for war between powers contending for
the sovereignty of the world was not long wanting, and
Heraclius, whom disease and weakness prevented from
heading the Roman legions in person, saw the fruits of his
long and bloody wars with Persia wrested one by one from
his grasp. The contrast between his declining and his
opening years became now fatally apparent. Sunk in a
slothful sensuality, which he alternated with the excitement
of religious controversy, he allowed his empire to fall to
pieces before his eyes, and helped on that process of decay
which some centuries later offered the Roman Empire
of the East an easy prey to the crescent of the False Prophet.
Heraclius died in 641, and was succeeded by his eldest son
Heraclius, who reigned under the title of Constantine III.
The character of Heraclius is a curious riddle which it is
not very easy to solve. His Persian campaigns are ad¬
mitted by modern strategists to rank him among the great¬
est soldiers of antiquity. His personal valour was not sur¬
passed by that of any hireling soldier of his day ; while his
talents as a diplomatist, so long as he chose to exert them,
bade fair to re-establish the Roman Empire on its ancient
footing of glory and security. In marvellous contrast to
these great qualities stands the vicious imbecility of his
later years, arising partly from physical causes, and partly
from moral defects. A parallel to his character, in some
respects a very striking one, is to be found in our own
Edward IV. Both were in a sense usurpers; both unex¬
pectedly displayed great military talents and the most ex¬
traordinary personal courage ; both gained great victories
against great odds ; and both debased great faculties by the
most miserable vices. The parallel holds good even to the
destiny of their respective families.
HERALD (Gr. Krjpvtj, Lat. fecialis, fcetialis, velfetialis,
Ger. herold, Fr. heraut, Span, heraldo). As the Germans
were the first among modern European nations to reduce
HER 319
heraldry to a system, and as we are undoubtedly of Ger- Herald,
man origin, it may be safely concluded that the English
word is derived from the German.
Heralds appear to have been important and prominent
persons among the older Asiatic nations, as well as among
the Greeks and Romans, and their privileged and almost
sacred character was generally recognised. Though the
herald of Nebuchadnezzar is the only one mentioned in Holy
Writ,1 these officers are frequently alluded to by the Greek
poets and historians, while the members of the Roman Col¬
lege of Heralds established by Numa were generally selected
from noble families, and held in very high estimation.2 I heir
most ancient and most important duties were to carry mes¬
sages of amity or defiance to foreign powers, and to proclaim
the national will or that of the sovereign on great oc¬
casions.
In the middle ages the presence of heralds at tourna¬
ments was considered as indispensable as that of the knightly
combatants themselves ; and the task of instructing young
knights on their installation, very generally devolved on the
senior heralds or kings-of-arms.3 But their chief glory and
source of wealth passed away with the days of chivalry;
their ambassadorial functions have also fallen into desue¬
tude ; and now their chief occupation is to record and il¬
lustrate pedigrees, and armorial bearings (see Heraldry),
and to marshal great national solemnities.
Heralds were in high repute in Germany and France
before they were known in this country. Hither, how¬
ever, they came from the latter country in the days of
chivalry, and soon found favour with those whose high de¬
scent and noble deeds formed their constant themes of praise.
Mention is made of Chester herald so far back as the reign
of Richard II.; but the first English herald advanced to
a higher dignity appears to have been William Tyndale,
appointed Lancaster king-of-arms by Henry IV. In Scot¬
land, at the coronation of Robert II. in March 1371, Lyon-
king-of-arms appears to have been summoned with his at¬
tending heralds by the Lord-Marischal of Scotland, and
then sworn and crowned. In England, before the institu¬
tion of Heralds’ College, the heralds belonged exclusively
to the Royal Court as “Household Servants,” though there
are instances, after that period, of their being permanently
attached to, or occasionally employed in the households of
powerful noblemen,4 gentlemen of good estate, and dignita¬
ries of the Church. Thus we find that the fifth Earl of Nor¬
thumberland, of 1512, assigned x. marcs yearly to each of
his heralds, and v. marcs to each pursuivant; and we are
told by Cavendish that the pursuivant of Cardinal Wolsey
carried before his lord “ a great mace of silver gilt.”
It may now be proper to notice in their order the three
existing associations of heralds in the United Kingdom—
viz., the College of Arms, or Heralds’ College of England ;
the Lord-Lyon’s Court, or Heralds’ Court in Scotland ; and
the Office of Arms, in Ireland.
Heralds’ College. In 1483 Richard III. constituted
the heralds of England a collegiate body, like the colle¬
gium fecialium of Rome, incorporated them by letters
patent, and assigned to them as an habitation5 “ one mes¬
suage, with the appurtenances, in London, in the parish of
All Saints, called Pulteney’s Inn, or Cold Harbore, to the
use of twelve the most principal and approved of them.”
Edward VI. freed them from taxes, and Philip and Mary
were also benefactors to the institution. In the latter
reign Stanley or Derby House was granted to the heralds
1 Cruden's Concordance, art. Herald. .
2 Those who wish to prosecute an inquiry into the various functions of the Roman heralds will find ample means of gratifying their
curiosity in Pitiscus, tom. i., voce Feciales; and in Hofmann, tom. ii., under the heads Fetiales and Heraldus.
3 Selden’s Titles of Honor, p. 703 (Ed. 1672).
^ Household Booh of the Earls of Northumberland (Ed. 1827, p. 47) } Cavendish s Life of Wolsey by Singer, 2d ed., p. 106.
6 Rymer, vol. xii., p. 215; Dalfaway’s Inquiries, p. 134.
HERALD.
320
Herald. Jn lieu of their first habitation, of which they had been
deprived by Henry VII.
The present college, situated in Doctors’ Commons, was
built, alter a design of Sir Christopher Wren, on the site of
old Stanley House, which was burned in the fire of London.
The president or superior of the college is the Earl-Mar¬
shal of England, who nominates, for appointment by the
sovereign, all the members of the collegiate chapter, con¬
sisting of three kings-at-arms, six heralds-at-arms, and four
pursuivants-at-arms.
The office o£Magister Marescallus,1 or Chief Marshal, is
of great antiquity, and appears in the reign of Stephen to
have been hereditary in the family of Marescalli. This
officer was styled at different times marescallus regis,
marescallus Anglice, and comes marescallus. The Earl-
Marshal is eighth in rank among the great officers of state ;
and the dignity is now, by virtue of a grant of Charles II.
in 1672, hereditary in the family of Howard Duke of Nor¬
folk.
The royal commands regarding great public ceremonies
are addressed to the Earl-Marshal; and under his direction
are prepared the programmes which regulate order and pre¬
cedence on such occasions. He still holds a court in
Heralds’ College, though it is but the shadow of what was
in olden times the court of chivalry or honour, as constituted
by Richard II. From the decisions of the Earl-Marshal
an appeal may be made to the Sovereign in council.
The three kings-of-arms are styled Garter, Clarenceux,
and Norroy. Of these Garter is the principal. As may
almost be inferred from his name, one of his chief duties is
to assist at all ceremonies connected with the Order of the
Garter, either at home or abroad. “ He was ordained,”
says Ashmole,2 “ by King Henry V., with the advice and
consent of all the knights’ companions, who, for the honour
of the order, was pleased he should be the principal officer
within the College of Arms, and chief of the heralds.” The
first Clarenceux king-of-arms was also appointed by Henry
V., and Norroy was created by Edward IV. When the
College of Arms was erected, the kings-of-arms proceeded
to divide England into two districts—viz., north and south
of the Trent. To Clarenceux the southern, and to Norroy
the northern provinces were committed. Hence they were
called the “ provincial kings,” each having jurisdiction inde¬
pendent of the other, while Garter, as principal, presided
over all.
The six heralds are styled Chester, Lancaster, Richmond,
York, Windsor, and Somerset. They are esquires by crea¬
tion, and rank according to seniority of appointment.
The four pursuivants are Portcullis, Rouge-dragon,
Bluemantle, and Rouge-croix: and though these officers
form a class subordinate in rank to the heralds, they now
generally succeed the latter on any vacancy occurring by
death or preferment.
Though the members of this college have certain limited
stipends, and fees on the creation of peerages, baronetcies,
&c., their chief source of income is derived from fees for
professional advice and assistance in tracing pedigrees and
the descent of properties and titles, for the registration of
nominal and armorial additions and distinctions sanctioned
by the sovereign, and for granting coats of arms when the
royal assent is not indispensable.
I he importance of genealogies in relation to history is
too obvious to require comment; and in countries like our
own, where one branch of the legislature is in its nature
hereditary, the most carefully compiled genealogies are
essentially necessary.
The older records of the college are most curious, valu¬
able, and authentic. Among these are the heralds’ visita- Herald,
tions of counties—documents giving the results of certain
progresses made by the heralds through different districts of
England. Though various visitations undoubtedly took
place at an earlier period, they seem to have proceeded on
no regular commission till 1528. The visitation books,
the most valuable portion of the college library, contain
elaborate pedigrees and representations of the coat-armour
of the nobility and gentry existing in the counties, and at
the dates, to which they refer; and they tend to throw
much light on national as well as family history. When the
6th Duke of Norfolk, at the request of Evelyn,3 bestowed
the Arundelian library on the Royal Society, he stipulated
that the herald’s chief officer should have those that con¬
cerned heraldry and the marshal’s office, books of armoury,
and genealogies ; and these now form part of the College
library.
The daily occupation of the various members of the
College of Heralds naturally leads them to much antiquarian
research, and in this field and in general literature many ot
them have exerted themselves successfully. But above all,
the names of Camden, Dugdale, Ashmole, and Vanbrugh
shed peculiar lustre on this ancient institution.
Besides the members of Heralds’ College, extraordinary
heralds are occasionally appointed to assist the former on
great occasions, and there is an officer called Bath king-of-
arms, permanently attached to the Order of the Bath.
Heralds' Court, or Lord Lyon's Court in Scotland.—
According to Chalmers, the origin of Lyon king-of-arms,
and the body of Scotch heralds, is lost in the mist of an¬
tiquity.4 Their first appearance on record was, as already
stated, at the coronation of Robert II. in 1371. At that
time they were apparently dependent on the Great Mari-
schal, or Lord-Marischal of Scotland; bearing the same
relation to him that the English heralds bore to the Lord-
Marshal of England. The dignity of Marischal of Scotland
seems to have been hereditary in the family of Keith for
several centuries. The first who bore the title lived in the
time of Malcolm II., but no mention is made of the title
Earl-Marischal till 1458. The dependence of the heralds
on this nobleman ceased, however, long prior to the ex¬
tinction of the family of Keith, Earls-Marischal in Scotland ;
and Lyon has for an extended series of years held his place
by commission under the Great Seal, and has been recognised
as thehcad of the Scotch office ofarms. Hedoubtless derives
his name of Lyon from the cognizance of Scotland, as one
of the signiferi ox pursuivants is called Unicorn, in allusion
to the supporters of the national shield. Lyon is generally
appointed for life, is the sole principal herald or king-of-
arms, and holds his court in the General Register-House
at Edinburgh. The last grant of the office of Lyon was
made by George III. in 1796 to the then Earl of Kinnoull
and to his son. The latter is now Lord-Lyon.
Jurisdiction in arms, which at one time was vested in all
the heralds jointly, is now exercised by Lyon alone, who
performs the duties of his office by deputies of his own ap¬
pointment. This devolution of duty on a deputy may be
traced nearly as far back as 1663, when Lyon first obtained
the title of Lord-Lyon, king-of-arms.
The heralds, six in number, are styled Rothesay, March-
mont, Albany, Ross, Snowdon, and Islay, and rank accord¬
ing to seniority. The pursuivants are also six in number,
and bear the names of Kintyre, Dingwall, Garrick, Ormond,
Unicorn, and Bute. All these officers receive their com¬
missions from the Lord-Lyon, and usually for life, and their
duty is now confined to attendance at royal proclamations,
coronations, and other great public ceremonies.
1 Madox’s History of the Exchequer, vol. i., pp. 43—48.
3 Evelyn’s Diary, 29th Aug. 1678.
2 Ashmole’s Order of the Garter, chap. 8.
4 Chalmers’ Caledonia, vol. i., p. 762, note..
H E R
Heraldry.
The macers at one time were reckoned among the offi¬
cers at arms, but from the institution of the Court of Ses¬
sion or College of Justice, they were entirely detached from
the heralds’ office, and now wait only on the judges of the
supreme law courts. After the pursuivants are accordingly
to be ranked the messengers-aX-sxvsx^ of whom there are
many in every county. They are admitted and removed
by the Lord-Lyon, and their duty is to execute the “ pro¬
cess and letters” of the superior courts. The jurisdiction
and authority of the Scottish king-of-arms is thus twofold;
one over the officers at arms, in which respect he may not
inaptly be regarded as, in some respects, at the head of the
executive department of the law in Scotland ; and the
other in relation to bearings and ensigns armorial. The
Lord-Lyon is now empowered by statute “ to assign arms
“ to all ‘ virtuous and well deserving persons’ on their appli-
“ cation to him for the same ; and this whether they belong
“ to families already possessing them or not.” There is a
marked difference between the present and the old law on
this subject; for, by 12 Jas. VI., cap. 127, Lyon was em¬
powered to imprison during his pleasure such as improperly
assumed armorial bearings l1 To the court of the Lord-
Lyon are attached a procurator-fiscal, to sue before his
lordship ; a clerk and registrar, and a messenger who acts as
macer. The principles which regulate the Herald’s Court
at Edinburgh are stated in the Report, dated 1821, of the
Commission on Courts of Justice in Scotland.
The decisions of the Lord-Lyon are now subject to the
review of the Court of Session, though probably at one
time his judgments, like those of the Earl-Marshal of
HER 321
England, could only be reconsidered by the Sovereign in Heraldry,
council. v r ^ >
Office of Arms for Ireland, or Ulster's Office.—It is si¬
tuated in the Record Tower of Dublin Castle; and the
professional staff consists of one king-of-arms, two heralds,
four pursuivants, one registrar, and one clerk of the
records. The chief officer is styled Ulster king-of-arms.
He holds his appointment from the Crown, and acts under
the immediate direction of the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.
According to Rymer,2 the first Ulster king-of-arms, Bar¬
tholomew Butler, was appointed by letters patent of Ed¬
ward VI., dated at Westminster, June 1, 1552; and Philip
Butler, son of Bartholomew, was on the 28th of the same
month appointed by letters patent Athlone herald. The
two heralds of the present day are called Cork and Dublin ;
and the senior pursuivant bears the title of Athlone, the
others being called pursuivants of St Patrick. The functions
of Ulster’s office are very similar to those exercised by the
English College of Heralds. The records of the Irish
Office of Arms consist of pedigrees of the Irish nobility
and gentry, certificates of their deaths and funerals, &c.,
from the time of Henry VIII. down to 1700; and grants
of arms, &c., for the same period, and down to the present
time, with volumes relating to religious ceremonies, pro¬
cessions, &c. It would appear from an official list, or he¬
raldic calendar, published by the Registrar of the Irish
Herald’s Office in January 1846, that upwards of 1850 no¬
blemen and gentlemen then living (including the members
of their several families) had recorded their pedigrees, and
registered their armorial bearings in that office. (h. g. r.)
HERA
Heraldry is the science of blazoning or describing, in
appropriate and technical terms, all that belongs to the
bearing of armorial insignia. It likewise professes to de¬
scribe the duties of the officers appointed as heralds to per¬
form certain solemnities at coronations, the creation of peers,
and such like public ceremonies. The consideration of the
subject here will be confined principally to the science of
coat-armour, and its various accessories.
Whatever causes led to the introduction of heraldry, it is
certain that two circumstances contributed powerfully to its
real development—first, the institution of jousts and tourna¬
ments in the time of Henry I.; and, secondly, the crusades
in the time of Richard I. That its foundation was subse¬
quent to the Norman Conquest may be proved negatively;
for, in the Bayeux tapestry of that period, no sign of the
heraldic shield is to be found. It was not till the reign of
Henry II. that hereditary armorial bearings seem to have
been adopted. On the accession of that monarch he as¬
sumed the lions of Normandy and Poictou, and added to
them the lion of Aquitaine. The shield at Mans of Geoff¬
rey Plantagenet, who married the daughter of Llenry L,
and who died in 1150, affords one of the earliest specimens
extant of heraldic bearings, as used by a subject. In the
reign of Richard I. armorial bearings or shields became
numerous; and from this period we may safely date the
establishment of hereditary heraldry.
One essential principle in heraldry is its hereditary cha¬
racter ; but there is reason to believe that neither at the
earliest period, nor in several instances subsequently, was it
so entirely of this nature. On reference to the oldest rolls
of arms, it will be found that those of sons and of collateral
relations differed from each other, and from the paternal
coat, very materially. Arms first appear on the seals of pri¬
vate families in the reign of Richard I., at the close of the
1 See Abridgment of Scotch Acts, p. 162, Edin. 1685.
VOL. XI.
L D R Y.
twelfth century. Those attached to the Barons Letter to
the Pope in 1300, deposited in the chapter-house at West¬
minster, afford excellent evidence of the use of armorial
ensigns at that period. The prevalence of arms during the
reign of Edward I. is shown on the monumental brass of
Sir John D’Abernon, 5th Edw. I. Upon encaustic tiles, and
in architectural decorations of the thirteenth century, arms
form the frequent subject of ornaments. Some of the earliest
instances of heraldry may be found on monumental sculp¬
tured effigies, as in the Temple Church, London ; and there
is an instance on that of Sir Richard de Montfort at Hitch-
enden in Buckinghamshire, of about 1270. Of somewhat
earlier date, there is a very fine specimen on an incised slab,
in Bitton Church, Somersetshire, over Sir John Bitton,
who died in 1227.
Rolls of arms in the reigns of Henry III., Edward L, and
Edward II., display the simplest forms of heraldry. The
roll of Carlaverock, a.d. 1300, is peculiarly rich and re¬
splendent. From these evidences are derived the earliest
heraldic ordinaries.
Shields varying in form at different periods are amongst
the first recipients of heraldic figures. Arms are found
emblazoned on the surcoat, a military garment. This
practice seems to have originated with the Crusaders to
distinguish the many different nations serving under the
banner of the Cross, for at first the surcoat was without
any mark of distinction, except that of colour. Surcoats
were first worn in England ia the time of Henry II., but
they displayed no armorial bearing till the reign of Henry
III. The monumental effigy of De Lisle in Bampton
Church, Cambridgeshire, gives an instance of arms em¬
blazoned on a surcoat in the reign of Henry III. (1216-72).
The surcoat continued to be worn till about the time of
Edward II. (1307), and gave rise to the designation of
2 s
8 Ryiner’s Fcedera, tom. xv., p. 305.
322 HERA
Heraldry. “ Coats of Arms.” Thejupon and cyclas, which succeeded
the surcoat, and continued in use till about the end of the
reign of Edward III. (1370), were likewise emblazoned
with arms. The effigy of Sir Oliver de Ingham, in Ingham
church in Norfolk, a.d. 1343, affords an example of this
sort. The tabard was the next military garment, which
became general during the reign of Richard II. (1377-99),
and continued till that of Henry YIII. (1509-47). The
monumental brass figure of Sir George Felbrigg at Play-
ford in Suffolk, a.d. 1400, represents him in his tabard of
arms. After the reign of Henry VIII. the tabard ceased to
be worn, except by the heralds, who have uninterruptedly
continued down to the present time to wear them em¬
broidered with the arms of the sovereign.
Armorial insignia were borne on banners from the ear¬
liest date of heraldry; in later times the forms of banners
varied according to the degree of the person whose arms
were displayed upon them. They were not only used in
the field, but floated over the castles of the nobility, and
were carried at their funerals, and hung up in churches with
other heraldic achievements.
Arms were impressed on our gold coins immediately on
their first introduction, in the time of Edward III.; and in
the time of Henry VII. on silver coinage.
The first instance of the use of arms on the seals of the
sovereigns of England was upon the Great Seal of Richard
I., which bore two lions combatant. Henry II. is said
to have given these arms to Richard; and to his other son
John, two lions passant, which may be seen on his seal.
Both Richard and John afterwards bore three lions passant
guardant. Alexander II. (1214-1249) is said to have been
the first of the kings of Scotland who bore the arms of that
kingdom on his seal.
Having thus given an outline of the origin of heraldry,
and of the earliest evidence of the period of its adoption, it
may be as well to notice that arms have been conventionally
attributed to several kings and princes who preceded that
period. Thus certain arms have been assigned to the
Saxon kings of England, and to the Conqueror and his sons.
Without, however, more particularly referring to the arms
so assigned by ancient writers on heraldry to various heroes
and personages of the first ages, we may feel surprised that
so late as the time of James I. of England, Segar, Garter
King of Arms, compiled for that sovereign a collection of
arms of the kings of England long prior to the twelfth cen¬
tury. And this compilation obtained as settled a notoriety
for heraldry of the tenth and eleventh centuries as if it had
then existed in all the pomp and splendour it afterwards
acquired. It is quite evident, notwithstanding, that long
prior to Segar this conventional heraldry was understood, as
the arms ascribed to Edward the Confessor appear sculp¬
tured in Westminster Abbey as early as the time of Ed¬
ward II. (1307-27), and were borne by Richard II. (1377-
99) in honour of the martyred saint and king, whom he
adopted as his patron.
Whatever were the real motives and circumstances that
occasioned the dismay of those specific bearings upon shields,
which constitute the ensign armorial, it seems that before
hereditary heraldry supplied the charges for the shield, it
was usual for knights to have their shields blank till they
had achieved some deed which was worthy of being pour-
trayed. In the infancy of heraldry the armorial shield was
confined to knights, and was given only by princes or lords
paramount. Subsequently, when other classes of the com¬
munity became important, or possessed influence in the
state, arms became the insignia of families generally, with¬
out the degree of knighthood being necessary. The earliest
charges in heraldry appear to have been adopted in refer¬
ence to military achievements and deeds of courage. Some
had allusion to personal qualities in the bearer; others to
the spoils of the enemy; and very frequently to surnames,
L D R Y.
after they became common. Early authors enumerate arms Heraldry!
of dominion, pretension, concession, and patronage, with
other similar ramifications. But generally these heraldic
ensigns will range themselves into three principal classes—
Arms of states, of communities, and of persons and families.
Arms of States are those assumed by sovereign princes,
which denote their respective kingdoms, and there is scarcely
an European state, however small, that has not displayed
some distinguishing heraldic ensign or bearing. We shall
briefly notice those which appertain to the United Kingdom.
The Royal Arms of England.—It has been already
stated that hereditary heraldry did not originate earlier than
the reign of Henry II.; but the arms said to have been
borne by the Conqueror and his son William were gules,
tivo lions passant guardant or. Henry II. is said to have
borne three lions, though no armorial bearing appears on
his seal. These arms, gules, three lions passant guardant
in pale or, form those of England, and were so boime by
the kings of England till the reign of Edward III., who,
in 1340, quartered with them, in the first quarter, the arms
of France, azure, semee of fleurs-de-lys or. Thus the arms
of the kingdom continued till the latter part of the reign of
Henry IV., when the fleurs-de-lys of France were reduced
to three or. No alteration occurred in the royal achievement
during any of the succeeding reigns till the accession
of James VI. of Scotland to the throne of England, when
that sovereign introduced the royal arms of Scotland into
the second quarter (France and England occupying the first
and fourth quarters), and the arms of Ireland into the third
quarter. The royal arms were thus borne by all the mo-
narchs of the House of Stuart, till the reign of Anne. It
must, however, here be noticed that William III. bore over
the quarterings of the royal arms those of his Dutch domi¬
nions—the House of Nassau. In the reign of Anne an
important change again took place, occasioned by the union
of England and Scotland ; and the arms of these kingdoms
were impaled in the first and fourth quarters (England on
the dexter, Scotland on the sinister); France was removed
to the second; and Ireland retained its former position. On
the accession of the House of Brunswick, in 1714, the
fourth quarter in the royal shield gave place to the arms of
his Majesty’s German dominions, an arrangement which con¬
tinued till 1st January 1801, when upon the Union of Great
Britain and Ireland the arms of France were excluded;
England occupied the first and fourth quarter; Scotland
the second quarter; and Ireland its old position in the third
quarter ; over all, on an escutcheon of pretence, were placed
the arms of Hanover, ensigned with the electoral bonnet,
HERALDRY.
[eraldry. which was in 1816 displaced to give way for the Hanoverian
v—-'' crown. Thus the royal achievement continued to be
borne till the end of the reign of William IV., when the
arms of Hanover were removed upon the sovereignty of
that kingdom being severed from the crown of England.
The royal arms were then simply those of the three king¬
doms, as now borne by her present most gracious Majesty.
It may be remarked that in Scotland the preference has
been given to the royal arms of that kingdom, by placing
them in the principal place on many of the official seals in
use for that part of the United Kingdom.
The Royal Arms of Scotland are.—or, a lion rampant,
within a double tressure flory and counterflory, gules. As
has been already observed, they appear first on seals in the
reign of Alexander II. (1214-49). It is very probable that
they had an earlier origin ; but they are not so remote as
is supposed by an author, who tells us that the fleur-de-lys
was assumed by Achaius King of Scotland before the year
819, who is said to have taken them into his imperial ensign
to adorn the double tressure, the badge between him and
Charlemagne of France.
The Arms of Ireland were said originally to have been
azure, three croivns in pale or ; and, in support of this sup-
positiorf, some Irish coins of the times of Edward IV.,
Richard HI., and Henry VIE, have been referred to. It
is only on one of these coins (of Edward IV.) that the
crow/is are in a shield, and are there two and one. The aug¬
mentation granted by Richard II. to Robert de Vere, Earl
of Oxford, whom he had created Duke of Ireland, has been
adduced in favour of three crowns being the armorial ensign
for Ireland ; but in the grant nothing is said about that aug¬
mentation having allusion to that kingdom. Azure, a harp
or, stringed argent, are given in a MS. in the Herald’s
College, in the time of Henry VII. or Henry VIII., as the
arms of Ireland ; and they were, on the accession of James
I., so incorporated with the arms of England and Scotland
in the royal shield.
The Arms of the Principality of Wales.—On the
seals of Edward, son of King Edward IV., and Arthur, son
of Henry VIE, as princes of Wales, were three lions passant
regardant, with their tails betiveen their legs, and rejlexed
over their backs; the field being argent, with the lions
gules, as they appear in several MSS. Other arms, how¬
ever, are ascribed to the three provinces of Wales—viz.,
those of North Wales, quarterly gules and or, four lions
rampant, counter changed ; South W ales, gules, three chev-
eronels argent, in chief ttvo lions combatant or ; and Powis-
land, or, a lion rampant, gules. None of these arms ever
appeared upon any of the royal seals used by the sovereigns
of England.
Arms of Communities.—Under this class of ensigns ar¬
morial may be comprehended those of ecclesiastical and lay
corporations. The former, being those of Bishops’ sees,
abbeys, monasteries, and other religious houses, were prin¬
cipally “derived from the arms of founders, or composed ol
figures having allusion to the church; the latter those of
municipal corporations, cities, and towns, trading companies,
and other corporate bodies, had greater variety of origin.
The arms of towns were probably derived from some power¬
ful neighbouring family, as in the case of Chester, which
bore those of the ancient Earls of Chester, dimidiated with
the royal coat of England. The town of Yarmouth arid the
Cinque Ports, as well as other towns, bore arms having
allusion to the principal occupations of the inhabitants, or
in reference to their locality. The arms of Yarmouth and
the Cinque Ports were dimidiated with those of England,
probably as early as Edward E’s time, aild are so borne at
the present day. The arms of London,^as the principal
city of England, are those of the patron saint St George,
with the sword of St Paul in the dexter canton of the shield.
The arms of trading companies, and other inferior corpop.-
323
tions, usually display the instruments of the “ craft and Heraldry,
mistery,” or some other design connected with the object
and nature of such incorporations. There are instances of
very early grants of arms to such bodies.
Arms of Persons and Families.—It has been already
stated how and at what time arms became the distinguishing
marks of personal honour. They were frequently granted
by the sovereign, or by some one authorized by him. The
assumption of arms by private persons was restrained by
Henry V.; who, by proclamation in the fifth year of his
reign, declared that no man, unless he had borne arms at
the battle of Agincourt, should assume arms except by right
of inheritance, or under grant by competent authority. For
the observance of this regulation, and further to restrain the
voluntary assumption of arms, the heralds visitations were
instituted, the earliest date of which was in 1528, and the last
commission for that purpose was issued in the reign of
James II. The crown still retains the power of granting
arms, notwithstanding the patents which have been granted
to the kings of arms from very early times to the present,
and reserves to itself the granting of supporters to com¬
moners, and of permitting persons to use the arms of other
families, whose property they may inherit, or whose memory
they wish to preserve..
I_ OF THE SHIELD.
Shields containing arms varied at different periods in their
form. The following are some examples :—
Ko. 1. Prom the Bayeux tapestry, and introduced by the Nor¬
mans, c. 1066.
No. 2. A similar shield from a font in Wansford Church, North-
a|(|ptonshire, about the time of .Rufus, c. 1087.
No. S.’^Two shields (a) representing rustred armour, and (b) mas-
cled armour, anno 1100.
are first found on shields in his reign.
No. 5. From the seal of Richard I.
No. 6. From the seal of Adam de Herford, anno 1220, but of the
time of Richard I. f
No. 7. From the seal of Alexander II. kmg of Scotland, c. 1214.
■>, ,
_ i ♦.
•■as#**.
‘i/
324
HERALDRY.
4
Heraldry.
No. 9. Shield of Eudo de Arsic, who died in the latter part of the
reign of Henry III.
No. 10. Peter, Earl of Richmond, anno 1248.
No. 11. From the monumental effigy in the Temple Church, c. temp.
Edw. I. De Roos.
No. 12. Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who died in 1221.
No. 13. From the effigy of a knight of the Montford family, 1286.
No. 14. A knight’s shield, anno 1295.
No. 15. From the monument of John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall,
in Westminster Abbey. He died in 1329.
No. 16. From the brass of Sir John D’Abernon, at Stoke D’Aber-
non in Surrey, who died in 1327.
No. 17. From the monument of Sir John Harsick at South Acre, in
Norfolk, 1384.
No. 18. From the seats in the choir of Worcester Cathedral in the
time of Henry IV.
No. 19. From the screen to the monument of Henry V. in West¬
minster Abbey.
No. 20. A shield of the time of Edward V.
No. 21. A shield from about the time of Edward IV. to the middle
of the reign of King Henry VII.
Soon after this period shields ceased to be used as de¬
fensive weapons, and the forms of shields for architectural
or domestic decoration became entirely subject to caprice
and fashion. Some very fine specimens of carved shields
may be seen in engravings of private houses and public
buildings in works illustrating the tonography of the times
of the Tudors and Stuarts.
The shield or escutcheon is the field or ground on which
are represented the figures that make up a coat of arms;
and wherever these figures may be fixed, they are repre¬
sented on a plane or superficies, the form of which resem¬
bles a shield.
Shields (in heraldry called escutcheons or scutcheons,
from the Latin word scutum) have been, and still are, of
different forms, according to the usages of different times
and nations. The modern escutcheons of the English,
hiench, Germans, and other nations are formed in different
ways. rl hose of the Italians, particularly of ecclesiastics,
are generally oval. Those of maids and widows are gene¬
rally of the form of a lozenge. Sir George Mackenzie
mentions one Muriel, Countess of Strathern. who carried
her arms ima lozenge, in 12,84.
Ai rnori^ distinguish several parts or points in escut-
clieons, in order to determine exactly the position of the
bearings they are charged with,
outline of an escutcheon,—
ABE
D
E
F
G II I
Thus, in the annexed Heraldry.
A is the dexter chief, B the precise middle chief, C the
sinister chief, D the honour point, E the fess point, F the
nombril point, G the dexter base, H the middle precise
base, and I the sinister base.
The knowledge of these points is of great importance,
and ought to be well observed, for they are frequently oc¬
cupied with things of different kinds. It is necessary to
observe, that the dexter side of the escutcheon is opposite
to the left hand, and the sinister side to the right hand, of
the person who looks thereon.
II.—OF TINCTURES, FURS, LINES, AND DIFFERENCES.
1. Of Tinctures.
By tinctures'll meant the colours of shields and their bear¬
ings. According to the French Heralds, there are but
seven tinctures in armoury, of which two are metals. The
metals are gold, termed or; and silver, termed argent.
The colours are blue, termed azure ; red, gules; green,
vert; purple, purpure; and black, sable. When natural
objects are introduced into arms, they retain their natural
colour, which is expressed by the word proper. Besides
the five colours above mentioned, the English writers on
heraldry admit two others, namely, orange, termed tenny ;
and blood-colour, termed sanguine. But these two are
rarely, if at all, to be found in British bearings.
These tinctures are represented in engravings and draw¬
ings by dots and lines, which are the invention of the in¬
genious Silvester de Petra Sancta, an Italian author of the
i.
2.
4.
seventeenth century. Thus, 1, or is expressed by dots;
argent needs no mark, and is therefore plain ; 2, azure, by
horizontal lines ; 3, gules, by perpendicular lines ; 4, vert,
by diagonal lines from the dexter chief to the sinister base
points; b,purpure, by diagonal lines from the sinister chief
to the dexter base points; 6, sable, by perpendicular and
horizontal lines crossing each other; 7, tenny, by diagonal
lines from the sinister chief to the dexter base points, tra¬
versed by horizontal lines ; 8, sanguine, by lines crossing
each other diagonally from dexter to sinister, and from
sinister to dexter.
This mode of expressing the colours of heraldry was as
early as the time of Charles II., as appears by engravings
at that time, but was not adopted upon seals till about the
reign of Queen Anne ; and not in architectural decorations
till our own times, when the fashion of imitating styles
of the middle ages has become prevalent. It is amusing
to the heraldic eye to discern that, amidst all the care taken
to copy the details of the Gothic style in church-building,
HERA
leraldry. the heraldic sliield is disfigured by adopting the lines used
—to denote heraldic tinctures, at once proclaiming a barbarous
anachronism, if no other incongruity existed.
Some fantastic heralds have blazoned not only by the
ordinary colours and metals, but by flowers, days of the
week, and parts of the human body, and have been con¬
demned for it by the heralds of all nations. Others lay it
down as a rule that the coats of sovereigns should be bla¬
zoned by the planets, and those of noblemen by precious
stones. According to this rule, which some think judi¬
cious, and others reprobate as absurd, the relative blazonry
would stand thus:—
Or
Argent
Sable
Gules
Azure
Vert
Purpure
Tenny
Sanguine
Topaz
Pearl
Diamond
Ruby
Sapphire
Emerald
Amethyst
Jacinth
Sardonix
Sol.
Luna.
Saturn.
Mars.
Jupiter.
Venus.
Mercury.
Dragon’s-head.
Dragon’s-tail.
But in no instance does there occur throughout the offi¬
cial MSS. in the Herald’s College this fanciful mode of
blazoning arms. The heraldic terms of blazon are derived
peculiarly from the French ; and necessarily so, as in the
twelfth century, when heraldry originated, Norman-French
was the language in all proceedings connected with the
government and jurisprudence of this country.
Metal should never be upon metal; nor colour upon
colour. This rule, however, does not apply if a charge
lies over any field composed of metal and colour. The
English heralds give difterent names to roundels, according
to their colours. Thus, if they be or, they are called be¬
zants ; if argent, plates; if azure, hurts; if gules, tor-
teaux ; if vert, pomeis ; if purpure, golpes ; if sable, pel¬
lets; if tenny, oranges; and if sanguine, guzes. The
French, and all other nations, do not admit such a multi¬
plicity of names for this figure, but call them torteaux, ex¬
pressing the tincture.
Bezants were so called from coins struck at Constanti¬
nople, the Byzantium of the ancients. Gules bezants or,
was the armorial bearing of Aleyn la Zouche, temp. Hen.
III. Torteaux were borne as early as the time of Henry
HI. Or, two bars gules, in chief three torteaux ;—Hugh
2. Of Furs.
There are three different kinds in general use, namely,
Ermine, which is afield argent, powdered with black spots,
1. 2. 2. 4.
the tails of which terminate in three hairs (No. 1); Ermines,
where the field is sable, and the powdering white; Erminois,
where the field is or, and the powdering sable ; Pean,
where the field is sable, and the powdering or; Er-
minites, the same as ermine, with the addition of a red
hair on each side of the black. Vair (No. 2), which is
expressed by blue and white skins, cut into the forms of little
bells, ranged in rows opposite to each other, the base of the
white ones being always next to that of the blue ones. Vair
usually consists of six rows; if there be more or fewer, the
number ought to be expressed ; and if tl»e colours be dif¬
ferent from those above mentioned, they should likewise
be expressed. Counter-vair, when the bells of the same
tincture are placed base against base, Ad point against'
L D R Y. 325
point (No. 3). Potent-counter-potent, anciently called Heraldry.
vairy-cuppy, as when the field is filled with crutches or /
potents counterplaced (No. 4). Ermine only, was the ar¬
morial bearing of the ancient earls of Brittany and Rich¬
mond in the twelfth century. Ermines.—Gules, a fess en¬
grailed ermines, surmounted by a pale engrailed ermine.
—Dyrwyn in some of the early rolls. Bruges, who was
the first Garter, temp. Hen. V., bore ermine, a cross quarter-
pierced ermines. Erminois.—Stringer, of Overthorpe in
Yorkshire, bore three eagles displayed erminois in 1612.
Vair only, was borne by Robert de Beauchamp, temp.
Henry III.
3. Of the Lines used in Arms.
The field is sometimes parted by lines either straight or
crooked. Straight lines are carried evenly through the
escutcheon, and are of four different kinds,—viz., a perpen¬
dicular line | ; a horizontal —; a diagonal dexter, \; a
diagonal sinister, /. Crooked lines are those which are car¬
ried unevenly through the escutcheon.
wwwvwv
7.
rYYYVVVYYV>
2.
UTJT_n_rLri_r
4.
^^^
6.
vw
n.
1, The engrailed; 2, the invected ; 3, the wavy; 4, the
embattled, or crenelle; 5, the nebule; 6, the regule; 7, the
indented; 8, the dancette; 9, the dove-tail; 10, the battled
embattled; and 11, the champaine.
These lines not only vary the disposition of colours in the
fields but are also generally used to alter the character of
th^principal ordinaries; and were adopted in the earliest
times of heraldry.
The principal reason why lines are thus used in heraldry,
is to distinguish bearings which wrould otherwise be the
same ; for an escutcheon charged with a chief engrailed,
differs from one charged with a chief wavy, as much as if
the one bore a cross and the other a saltier.
As the lines above mentioned serve to divide the field, it
must be observed, that if the division consist of two equal
parts formed by the perpendicular line, it is called parted
per pale ; by the horizontal line, parted per fess ; by the
diagonal dexter, parted per bend ; and by the diagonal sinis¬
ter, parted per bend sinister. If a field be divided into four
equal parts by any of these lines, it is said to be quartered.
Parted per saltier is made by two diagonal lines, dexter
and sinister, crossing one another in the centre of the field,
and likewise dividing it into four equal parts.
The escutcheon is sometimes divided into a greater
number of parts, in order to place it in the arms of the
several families to which the bearer is allied. These divi¬
sions may consist of several quarters, as these divisions are *
termed ; an extraordinary instance of which was exhibited
at the funeral of the Viscountess Townshend, whJil^erpse *
was brought from Dublin Castle to Raynham-J®ll in
Norfolk ; when one of the principal tenants on lumeback
carried befqpe the hearse a banner, containing the quar- *
\
*
*
'4
V
\
326
HERALDRY.
Heraldry, terings, to the amount of upwards of 160. But Sir William
Dugdale justly objects to so many arms being clustered
together in one shield or banner, on account of the diffi¬
culty of knowing and distinguishing one coat from another.
4. Of the differences of Coats of Arms.
There are also various differences or characteristic
marks, by which bearers of the same arms may be distin¬
guished from one another, and their nearness to the princi¬
pal bearer demonstrated ; and these differences are to be
considered as either ancient or modern.
Of Ancient Differences.—Those which are called ancient
differences consist in hordures,1 which is a bearing that goes
all round, and parallel to the boundary of the escutcheon.
Bordures were used in ancient times also for noting a di¬
versity between particular persons descended of one family
and from the same parents. This distinction, however, was
not expressly signified by invariable marks; nor were bor¬
dures always appropriated to denote the different degrees
of consanguinity.
There are bordures of different forms and tinctures, as,
1. 2. 3.
for example,—1. Sable, a bordure argent. When a bor-
dure is plain, it is not necessary to mention it, as it is always
so understood in heraldry, though it be not expressed ; but
if it has any other form, this must be signified. 2. Gules,
a bordure engrailed argent in the arms of Lord Gray. This
is called engrailed, from the French word engrele, which
signifies a thing the hail has fallen upon and broken off the
edges, leaving it with little semicircles struck out of it. In
a bordure or ordinary formed of these lines, the points are
represented on all sides towards the field, and the semi¬
circles are turned towards the bordure or ordinary. 3.
Gules, a bordure invected or. This is quite contrary
to the last, which turns its points into the bordure from the
field. The word indented requires little explanation, the
signification being obvious, from its figure, which is com-
4. 5. e.
posed of tracks resembling teeth, called in Latin dentes. 4.
Ermine, a bordure compony, or gobony, or and sable. This
is so termed from its being composed of equal pieces of one
row. Counter-compony is composed of two rows, and
no more. Cheeky has a great resemblance to the last
bordure, having three rows. Before blazoning* there¬
fore, care must be taken to number them, so as to avoid
taking the one for the other. 5. Gules, a bordure argent,
charged with eight trefoils slipped proper, that is, vert. 6.
Azure, a bordure quarterly ermine and cheeky argent and
azure.
Of Modern Differences.—The modern differences which
the English have adopted, not only for distinguishing sons
issued out of one family but also for denoting the differ¬
ence and subordinate degrees in each house from the ori- Heraldry,
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6. 7. a 9.
ginal ancestors, are nine,—viz., for the heir or first son, the
label; second son, the crescent; third son, the mullet;
fourth son, the martlet; fifth son, the annulet; sixth son,
the fleur-de-lys; seventh son, the rose ; eighth son, the
cross-moline; ninth son, the double quatre-foil. By the
first six differences the sons of Thomas Beauchamp, the
fifteenth Earl of Warwick, who died in the thirty-fourth
year of the reign of Edward III., are distinguished in an
old window of the church of St Mary at Warwick ; so that
although they are called modern differences, their usage
among the English is ancient.
As to the distinction to be made in the arms of the off¬
spring belonging to each of the above-mentioned brothers,
it is expressed by certain figures. For instance, the heir or
first son of the second house bears a crescent charged with
a label during his father’s lifetime only ; the second son of the
second house, a crescent charged with another crescent;
the third son of the second house, a crescent charged with
a mullet; the fourth son of the second house, a crescent
charged with a martlet; the fifth son of the second house,
a crescent charged with an annulet; the sixth son of the
second house, a crescent charged with a fleur-de-lys; and
so on of the other sons, taking care to have them of a dif¬
ferent tincture.
It would be quite impossible to carry out this system in
all the ramifications of a family of many generations from
any common ancestor. At best, they can only be used for
contemporary members of any branch from the original
stock. When Dugdale, in his visitations, found a good house
descending from a common parent stock, he used to dis¬
tinguish the junior line by some significant mark, such as a
cantor or other bearing.
The present marks of cadency are not earlier than the
time of Henry YI. In the first stages of heraldry the dis¬
tinctions between sons of the same family were of a more
definite character; such as an entirely different coat, or the
original one differenced by change of tincture, or by the
addition of some other charges.
It must be observed, that of all the above-mentioned
marks of distinction, none but the label is used for distin¬
guishing the younger sons of the royal family ; and this label
is varied by additional pendants and distinct charges. The
Prince of Wales always bears tbe plain label argent. The
daughters of the blood royal all bear the label of distinc¬
tion the same. The theory of this practice of differencing
the arms of the royal children is, that none of the children
of the sovereign is entitled to arms by descent, as the arms
of their father are those of the state. When the sons and
daughters of the reigning monarch receive permission to
use the royal arms, they are assigned to them differenced
by a label, charged with some distinguishing mark. This
rule was observed in very early times under the Planta-
genets, whose arms, so distinguished, are frequently to be
found in churches and upon their seals.
1 Bordures are still introduced into English coats of arms, but for particular reasons, which heralds can best explain. The bordure
wavy is now the general bordure used to denote illegitimacy. Bordures are, by the French, frequently taken for principal figures,
and numbered amongst the rest of the ordinaries.
III.—OF THE CHARGES.
H E R A L D R Y.
327
[eraldry.
A charge is whatsoever is contained in the field, whe¬
ther it occupy the whole or only a part thereof. All
charges are distinguished by the names of honourable ordi¬
naries, subordinaries, and common charges.
Honourable ordinaries, the principal charges in heraldry,
are made of lines only, which, according to their disposi¬
tion and form, receive different names. Sub-ordinaries
are ancient heraldic figures, frequently used in coats of
arms, and distinguished by terms appropriate to each.
Common charges are composed of natural, artificial, and
even chimerical objects or figures.
1. Of Honourable Ordinaries.
These are the chief, the pale, the bend, the bend sinister,
the fess, the bar, the cheveron, the cross, and the saltier.
Of the Chief.—The chief is an ordinary determined by
an horizontal line, which, if it be of any other form than
straight, must be expressed. It is placed in the upper
part of the escutcheon, and contains in depth the third
part of the field. Its diminutive is a fillet, the content of
which is not to exceed one fourth of the chief, and it stands
in the lowest part of the chief. This ordinary is sub¬
ject to be charged with variety of figures; and may be of
any of the crooked lines.
Examples :—1. Or, a chief in ten ted azure; borne by Vis¬
count Mountgarret. The family of the Butlers is descended
from the ancient Counts of Brion in Normandy ; but since
Henry II. conferred the office of chief butler of Ireland upon
one of the family, he and his successors have assumed the
name of Butler. 2. Argent, a chief sable; in the lower
part thereof a fillet of the field. 3. Argent, on a chief
gules, two mullets or ; borne by Lord St John of Blet-
shoe. This ancient family derive their surname from a
place called St John in Normandy. 4. Or, on a chief
sable, three escalops of the field, for the name of Graham ;
and borne quartered in the arms of the Duke of Mon¬
trose.
Of the Pale.—The pale is an ordinary, consisting of two
perpendicular lines drawn from the top to the base of the
escutcheon, and contains the third middle part of the field.
Its diminutive is the pallet. This ordinary may receive
any charge. The pale is sometimes cotised, or accompa¬
nied by its diminutives, to which some have given the term
of endorse.
The following are examples:—1. Gules, a pale or. 2.
Argent, a pale between two endorses, gules. 3. Party per
pale.—1a'£, paly of six argent and sable ; 2d, azure; borne Heraldry,
by the name of Trenchard. 4. Pale of six or and azure.
5. 6. 7.
5. Party per pale, argent and gules; borne by Earl Wal-
degrave. 6. Argent, a pale flory counter-flory sable. 7.
Argent, a pale lozengy sable. 8. Argent, a pale dancette
vert. 9. Argent, on a pale engrailed sable, three crescents
or. 10. Argent, two endorses gules, in chief three mullets
sable. 11. Party per fess gules and argent, a pale counter-
changed.
Of the Bend and Bend Sinister.—The bend is an ordi¬
nary formed by two diagonal lines, drawn from the dexter
chief to the sinister base, and contains the fifth part of the
field in breadth. Its diminutives are—the bendlet, which
is the half of a bend; the cost or cotise, when two of
them accompany a bend, which is the fourth part of a
bend. There is also the bend sinister, which is of the same
breadth as the bend, but drawn the contrary way. This
is subdivided into a scarpe, which is the half of the bend,
and into a baton, which is the fourth part of the bend, but
does not extend itself to the extremities of the field, there
being part of it seen at both ends.
The examples are,—1. Argent, a bend wavy sable ; borne
by Wallop Earl of Portsmouth, descended from a Saxon
family, who were possessed of lands to a considerable
value in Hampshire at the time of the Conquest. 2.
Cheeky or, and azure, a bend ermine; borne by Lord
Ward. 3. Azure, a bend engrailed argent, between two
cotises or; borne by Earl Fortescue.1 4. Paly of six or
and sable, a bend counterchanged. 5. Party per bend
crenelle argent and gules; borne by the Earl of Cork and
Orrery, in Ireland. 6. Argent, three bendlets, enhanced
gules (as the English express it, though the phrase enhanced
is used by no other nation); borne by Lord Byron.2 7.
Ermine, a bend voided gules ;—Ireton. 8. Bendy of six
pieces argent and azure. When the shield is filled with an
equal number of bendlets of metal and colour, it is called
1 The family of Fortescue is descended from Sir Richard le Forte, a person of extraordinary strength and courage, who accompa¬
nied William Duke of Normandy in his invasion of England; and bearing a strong shield before the duke, at the battle of Hastings,
had three horses killed under him, and from that signal event the name and motto of the family were assumed; for the Latin word
scutum, or the old French word escue, a shield, being added to forte, strong, composes their name; and their motto is, Forte scutum salus
ducum.
2 From Doomsday Book it appears that this family was possessed of numerous manors and lands in the reign of the Conqueror;
and that Sir John Byron attended King Edward III. in his wars in France.
328
HERALDRY.
Heraldry, bendy ; but if the number of them be unequal, they are to
^ be blazoned by the name bendlets, and their number spe-
9. 10. a.
cified. 9. Quarterly, or and gules, a bend over all vair ; was
borne by the Dukes of Dorset (now extinct). 10. Gules on
a bend argent, three trefoils slipped proper ; borne by the
Marquis of Bristol, who derives his pedigree from Robert
Fitz-Hervey, a younger son of Hervey Duke of Orleans,
who came over with William the Conoueror. 11. Argent,
a bend sinister gules.
Of the Fess and Bar.—The fess is an ordinary which
is produced by two parallel lines drawn horizontally
across the centre of the field, and contains in breadth
the third part thereof. The bar is formed of two lines,
and contains only the fifth part of the field; but this
is not the only respect in which it differs from the fess;
tor there may be more than one in an escutcheon, placed
in different parts of it, whereas the fess is limited to the
centre point. When the shield contains a number of bars
of metal and colour alternate, of even number, that is called
barry of so many pieces, expressing their number.
1- 2. 3. 4.
1 he examples are,—1. Argent, a fess indented sable;
borne by Earl De La Warr. 2. Argent, a fess wreathed
azure and gules; borne by the family of Carmichael.1 3.
Party per fess or and argent, a fess nebule gules. 4. Party
per fess indented or and azure. 5. Cheeky or and azure
on a fess gules, a crescent argent for difference; borne by
Lord Clifford of Chudleigh, descended from Walter de
Clifford of Clifford Castle, in the county of Hereford,
who came over with the Conqueror.2 6. Argent, on a
less azure, three lozenges or; borne by the Earl of Den¬
bigh and Desmond, descended from the Counts of Haps-
burg, in Germany. 7. Sable, a fess ermine, between three
crescents or; borne by the Earl of Coventry,, descended
from John Coventry, a native of the city of Coventry, and
afterwards mercer and Lord Mayor of London in the reign
9- 10. 11. 12s
of Henry V. 8. Or, two bars azure, a chief quarterly of
the second and gules, the first and fourth charged with Herald'"
two fleurs-de-lys of France, the second and third with a lion 3
of England; borne by the Duke of Rutland. 9. Barry of
ten pieces argent and azure, over all six escutcheons 3, 2, ],
sable, each charged with a lion rampant of the first, armed,
and langued gules ; borne by the Marquis of Salisbury,’
descended from the famous William Cecil Lord Burghley,
who left two sons, Thomas and Robert, both of whom
were made Earls in one day; Robert, the younger, being
created Earl of Salisbury in the morning; and Thomas,
the elder, Earl of Exeter in the afternoon. 10. Ermine’
two bars gules ; borne by the Marquis of Westmeath. 1 L
Argent, two bars indented sable; formerly borne bv the
Earls of Athlone (now extinct).3 12. Argent, three bars
gemelles gules; formerly borne bv the Earls of Barrymore
(now extinct).
Of the Cheveron.—The cheveron, which represents two
rafters of a house well joined together, or a pair of com¬
passes half open, occupies the fifth part of a field. Its di¬
minutive, the cheveronel, contains the half of a cheveron.
!• 2. 3.
The examples of cheverons are,— 1. Argent, a cheveron
gules between three torteaux; borne by Sherard Earl of Har-
borough. 2. Argent, a cheveron cheeky gules, and of the
field between three bugle-horns strung sable, garnished or
stringed of the second; borne by the Baroness Sempill. The
first Lord Sempill was Sir John, who, being much in favour
with King James IV. was by him created Lord Sempill in
1489. 3. Quarterly argent and azure, a cheveron engrailed
4. 5. 6.
counter-changed. 4. Party per cheveron engrailed gules and
argent, three talbots’ heads erased counter-changed; borne
by Lord Feversham, descended from the Duncombes of
Ivinghoe in Buckinghamshire. 5. Or, two cheveronels
gules; borne by Lord Monson, descended from John Mon-
son, who flourished in the reign of King Edward III. 6.
Or, on a fess, between two cheveronels sable, three cross-
croslets of the first; borne by the Earl of Orford. This
family took their name from Walpole in Norfolk, where
they resided before the Conquest.
Of the Cross.—The cross is an ordinary formed by the
meeting of two perpendicular with two horizontal lines in
the fess-point, where they make four right angles ; the lines
are not drawn throughout, but discontinued the breadth of
the ordinary, which takes up only the fifth part of the field.
There is so great a variety of crosses used in heraldry, that
it would be a difficult task to treat of them all. Guillim
has mentioned 39 different sorts; De la Columbiere, 72;
Leigh, forty-six; and Upton declares he cannot ascertain
all the various crosses borne in arms, as they are almost innu¬
merable. As their different forms cannot be given here,
we shall, therefore, only take notice of such as are most
commonly seen at present in coats-of-arms.
\ Of this ancient family, see an interesting account, vol. L, p. 752 of Douglas’s Peerage, 2d ed., 1813.
3 Jair Bo^mond, mistress to Henry II., was of this family.
odart, the first earl, was descended of an ancient family in the United Provinces of Holland, where he was Baron de Keede de
™ i-u ’ . was a beutenant-general of King William’s forces in Ireland, where, in June the same year, he took Ballymore
for the English, and, in July following, the town of Athlone. ' ’ ^
HEKALDRY.
329
The first is quarterly, ermine and azure, a cross or; borne
by the Duke of Leeds. 2. Gules, a cross argent fretty azure;
borne by Viscount TaafFe of Corran, in Ireland. 3. Argent,
on a cross gules, five escalops or; borne by the Earl of
Jersey, descended from the family of Vilhers in Normandy,
some of whom came over to England with the Conoueror
a chief vairy ermine and contre ermine; borne by Baron Heraldry.
Willoughby de Broke.
Of the Saltier.—The saltier, which is formed by the bend
and bend sinister crossing each other in right angles, as
the intersecting of the pale and fess forms the cross, con¬
tains the fifth part of the field. In Scotland, this ordinary
is frequently called a St Andrew’s Cross. It may, like the
others, be borne engrailed, wavy, &c., also between charges,
or charged with any thing.
4. 5. 6. 7.
4. Argent, a cross bottony sable. 5. Or, a cross croslet
gules. 6. Azure, a cross potent fitchy argent. This ensign is
said to have been borne by Ethelred, king of the West
Saxons. 7. Party per pale, gules and argent; a cross potent
quadrate in the centre, between four crosses patee, all
counter-changed; the arms of the episcopal see or Lie e
n.
and Coventry. 8. Azure, a cross moline argent; borne by
Bentinck Duke of Portland, descended from a family in
the United Provinces of Holland, of which was William
Bentinck, who in his youth was page of honour to the
Prince of Orange, afterwards William III. king of Great
Britain, and, on the accession of William and his consort,
was made groom of the stole, lieutenant-general of his ma-
iesty’s army, and created Baron of Cirencester, Viscount
Woodstock! and Earl of Portland, in 1689.^ 9. Argent a
cross patonce sable. 10. Sable, a cross patee argent. 11.
Azure, a cross flory argent. This is said to have also
been the arms of Edwin, the first Christian king of Nor-
1. 2. 8.
The examples are,—1. Argent, a saltier gules; borne by
the Duke of Leinster, descended from Otho, or Other, a
powerful lord in the time of King Alfred. 2. Purpure, a
saltier, wavy ermine. 3. Ermine, a saltier, counter-compony
argent and gules. 4. Or, on a saltier azure, nine lozenges
of the first; the paternal arms of Dalrymple Earl ot btair.
5. Gules, a saltier between four crescents or; borne as the
second and third quarters in the coat-of-arms of Lord Kin-
naird. 6. Gules, a saltier vert fimbriated or. 7. Azure,
a saltier quarterly quartered or and argent; the arms
of the episcopal see of Bath and Wells. 8. Party per
saltier argent and gules, a saltier counter-changed; borne
by Sir Claude Scott. 9. Argent, three saltiers couped sable.
10. Argent, a saltier gules, and a chief ermine; quartered
by Fitz-Maurice Marquis of Lansdowne, &c. This family
is a branch of that of Leinster.
12. 13. w- 15,
thumberland. 12. Argent, six cross-croslets fitchee, 3, 2,
1, sable, on a chief azure two mullets or; borne by
Clinton Duke of Newcastle. 13. Gules, a cheveron be¬
tween ten crosses patee, six in chief and four in base,
argent; borne by the Earl of Berkeley, descended from
Robert Fitz-Hardinge, who obtained from Henry II.
a grant of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, which the
family still inherits, and whence they obtained the surname
of Berkeley. 14. Azure, three mullets or, accompanied
with seven cross-croslets fitchee, argent, three in chief, one
in fess, two in flanks, and the last in base; borne by Lord
Somerville. 15. Gules, three crosses recercelee, voided or,
VOL. XI.
2. Of Sub-Ordinaries.
besides the honourable ordinaries and the diminutions
ady mentioned, there are other heraldic figures, called
-ordinaries, which, by reason of their ancient use m
is, are of worthy bearing; namely, the gyron, quarter,
ton, fret, pile, orle, inescutcheon, tressure, annulet,
dies, billet, lozenge, guttes, fusil, rustre, mascle, papil-
e, and diaper. ,, . v  
fhe gyron (1.), is a triangular figure formed by two lines,
drawn diagonally from one of the four
les to the centre of the shield, and the
er is drawn either horizontal or perpen-
ular, from one of the sides of the shield,
eting the other line at the centie of
field. Gyronny is said, when the field
covered with six, eight, ten, or twelve
•ons in a coat-of-arms; but a French author contends
t the true gyronny consists of eight pieces only. The
irter is a square figure, which occupies the upper dexter
T
330
HERALDKY.
Heraldry, quarter of the shield, but is rarely carried as a charge. The
cardon (2.) is a square part of the escutcheon, ^
somewhat less than the quarter, but without
any fixed proportion, and possesses the dex¬
ter-chief point of the shield; but should it
possess the sinister corner, wdiich seldom oc¬
curs, it must be blazoned a canton sinister.
The fret is a figure representing a saltier, 2.
with a mascle in the centre interlaced. Fretty is said
when the field or bearings are covered with a fret of six,
eight, or more pieces. The pile, consisting of two lines
terminating in a point, is formed like a wedge, and is borne
engrailed, wavy, &c. It issues in general from the chief,
and extends towards the base; yet there are some piles
borne in bend, and issuing from other parts of the field.
The orle is an ordinary composed of two lines going round
the shield, the same as the bordure; but its breadth is but
one-half of the latter, and at some distance from the edge
of the shield. The inescutcheon is a little escutcheon borne
within the shield. The tressure is an ordinary commonly
supposed to be the half of the breadth of an orle, and is
generally borne flowery and counter-flowery, as it is also
very often double, and sometimes treble. The double tres¬
sure forms part of the arms of Scotland. The annulet, or
ring, is a well-known figure, and is frequently found in arms
throughout every kingdom of Europe.
The jlanches (3.) are formed by two curved
lines, or semicircles, being always borne
double. The billet is an oblong square
figure, twice as long as broad. The lo¬
zenge (4.) is an ordinary of four equal and pa¬
rallel sides, but not rectangular; the upper 3.
and lower angles being acute, and the other two obtuse
Lruttes, or drops, are round at bottom,
waved on the sides, and terminate at the
top in points. Heralds have given them
different names, according to their different
tinctures. Thus, if they are yellow, they
are called d’or ; if white, d ’eau ; if red, 4
de sang ; if blue, de larmes ; if green, de vert; if black,
depoix. The fusil (o.) is longer than the lo¬
zenge, having its upper and lower parts
more acute than the other two collateral
middle parts, which acuteness is occasioned
by the short distance of the space between
the two collateral angles; and this space, if
the fusil be rightly made, is always shorter than any of the
tour equal geometrical lines of
which it is composed. The
rustre (6.) is a lozenge pierced
round in the middle. The
mascle (7.) is pretty much like
a lozenge, but voided or per- v
forated^ throughout its whole extent, showing a narrow
border. Papillone is an expression used for a field or
Marge that is covered with figures like the scales of a fish.
Diapering is said of a field or charge shadowed with flou-
nslnngs or foliage, with a colour a little darker than that
on which it is wrought. The Germans frequently use it;
but lt does not enter into the blazoning or description of
arms, and only serves to embellish the coat.
The following are examples of sub-ordinaries,—viz., 1
and lands. 5. Gironny of eight pieces or and sable; the
first and fourth quarters of the coat-of-arms of Campbell,
Marquis of Breadalbane, descended in regular succession
from Duncan, the first Lord Campbell, ancestor of the
Dukes of Argyll. 6. Lozengy argent and gules ; quartered
by Earl Fitz-William, descended from Sir William Fitz-
W illiam, marshal of the army of W illiam the Conqueror at
the battle of Hastings. 7. Sable, a mascle within a tressure
flowery argent. 8. Gules, three mullets or, within a bordure
of the latter, charged with a double tressure flowery, and
counter-flowery with fleurs-de-lys of the first; quartered by
the Duke of Sutherland, &c. This family is amongst the
oldest in Britain, if not in Europe; the title of earl having
been conferred on one of their ancestors in 1067. 9. Azure,
a pile ermine. 10. Or, on a pile engrailed azure, three
cross-croslets fitchy of the first. 11. Or, on a pile gules,
between six fleuus-de-lys azure, three lions of England; the
first and fourth quarters of the Duke of So-
merset, granted him by Henry VIII. on his
marriage with Lady Jane Seymour. 12.
Ermine, two piles issuing from the dexter
and sinister sides, and meeting in base sable.
13. Argent, three piles, one issuing from the xo
chief between the others reversed, sable ; borne by Hulse.
3. Of Common Charges borne in Arms.
In all ages men have made use of the representation of
flints found about Rohan- and ™ °f- & mascIe> some taking it for the mash of a net, and others for the spots of certain
Science Heraldique we shall t™!,! ?. Wrxt®r “f® Slven a clearer account in support of this last opinion than Colombier, author of La
Opinions have varied verv mnnh 1 ! in satlsfaction of the curious. “Rohan,” says he, “ bears gules, nine mascles, or, 3, 3, 3.
part, having often observed that th 7vf- 0ngin °f the mascles or mashes> as beinS somewhat like the meshes of nets; but for my own
lords thereof to represent them • tbingsiwhlch are remarkable and singular in some countries, have sometimes occasioned the
believe, are the first that bore tho«e * escu.tch®ons> and to take them for their arms> 1 am of opinion, that the lords of Rohan, who, I
because in the most ancient visrnnnt^rT n" . armS’ th°Ugh descended from the ancient kings and princes of Bretagne, took them,
in two, this figure appears on thalmL afterwards erected into a duchy. there are abundance of small flints, which being cut
upon their scales; which bein* vp™ ^ aS alsc\the carPs’ which are in the tish-ponds of that duchy, have the same mark
0 y extraordinary, and peculiar to that country, the ancient lords of the same had good reason
Heraldn
Gules, an orle ermine. 2. Argent, three inescutcheons
gules; borne as the second and third quarters in the coat
of Hay, Earl of Kinnoul. The first of the name of Hay
who bore these arms obtained them because he and his two
sons, after having defeated a party of the Danes at the
battle of Loncarty in the year 942, were brought to the
king with their shields all stained with blood. 3. Argent,
a fret sable; borne by Tollemache Earl of Dysart. 4.
Or, fretty of gules, a canton ermine; borne by Noel
Earl of Gainsborough, descended from Noel, who came
into England with William the Conqueror, and, in con¬
sideration of services, obtained a grant of several manors
Heraldry, living creatures, and other symbolical signs, to distinguish
themselves in war; and these marks, which were promis¬
cuously used as hieroglyphics, emblems, and personal de¬
vices, were soon received into heraldry. But nothing shows
the extent of human ingenuity more than the great variety
of these marks of distinction, since they are composed of all
sorts of figures, some natural, others artificial, and many
chimerical.
Thus, the family of Rabett bears three rabbits heads;
that of Lucy, three luces or pikes, in Latin tres lucios pisces ;
that of Starkey, a stork; and that of Shuttleworth, three
weavers’ shuttles.
Besides these natural and artificial figures, there are chi¬
merical or imaginary ones used in heraldry, the result of
fancy and caprice; such as centaurs, hydras, phoenixes,
griffons, hippogriffs, and dragons. This great variety of
figures shows the impossibility of comprehending all com¬
mon charges in a work of this nature ; such only shall be
treated of as are therefore most frequently borne.
Art. 1.— Of Natural Figures borne in Arms.
Amongst the multitude of natural things which are used
in coats of arms, those most usually borne are, for the sake
of brevity as well as perspicuity, distributed into the fol¬
lowing classes :—viz., Celestial figures, as the sun, moon,
stars, &c., and their parts ; effigies of men, women, &c., and
their parts; beasts, as lions, stags, foxes, boars, &c., and
their parts ; birds, as eagles, swans, storks, pelicans, &c.,
and their parts ; fishes, as dolphins, whales, sturgeons, trouts,
&c., and their parts ; reptiles and insects, as tortoises, ser¬
pents, grasshoppers, &c., and their parts; vegetables, as trees,
plants, flowers, herbs, &c., and their parts; stones, as dia¬
monds, rubies, pebbles, rocks, and the like. These charges
have, as well as ordinaries, various attributes or epithets,
which express their qualities, positions, and dispositions.
Thus the sun is said to be in his glory, eclipsed, and the
moon in her complement, increscent; animals are said to be
rampant, passant; birds have also their denominations, such
as close, displayed ; and fishes are described to be hauriant,
naiant, and so forth.
HERALDRY. 331
by Arbuthnott, Viscount and Baron Arbuthnott. 9. Azure, Heraldry.
2. 3. 4
ls£. Examples of Celestial Figures.—1. Azure, a sun
in his glory; born in the first and fourth quarters of the
coat of arms of the Marquis of Lothian. 2. Azure, one ray
of the sun bendways gules, between six beams of that lumi¬
nary argent. 3. Argent, five rays of the sun issuing out of
the sinister corner gules. 4. Gules, the moon in her com¬
plement, illustrated with all her light proper. This is suf¬
ficient without naming the colour, which is argent. 5.
Azure, a moon decrescent proper. 6. Azure, a crescent
argent. This bearing is also used as a difference, being as¬
signed to the second son, as before mentioned. 7. Gules,
three crescents argent; borne by the family of Oliphant.
8. Azure, a crescent between three mullets argent; borne
9. 10. 11. 12.
a star of sixteen points argent. 10. Argent, three mullets
sable; borne by the name of Wollaston. 11. Azure,
six mullets, 3, 2, 1, or; borne by the name of Welch.
12. Ermine, a mullet of six points pierced gules. 13. Ar¬
gent, a rainbow with a cloud at each end proper. This is
part of the crest to the Earl of Hopetoun’s coat of arms.
The whole of it is a globe split on the top, and above it is
the rainbow and clouds. 14. Party per fess crenelle gules
and azure, three suns proper. 15. Gules, a mullet between
three crescents argent. 16. Gules, a chief argent, on the
lower part thereof a cloud, the sun’s resplendent rays issuing
throughout proper ; borne by Leeson Earl of Miltown.
2d. Examples of Effigies of Men, §c., and their Parts.—
1. 2.
1. Azure, theVirgin Mary crowned, with her babe in her right
arm and a sceptre in her left, all or, the coat of arms of the
bishopric of Salisbury. 2. Azure, a presbyter sitting on a
tombstone, in his left hand a mound, his right hand extended,
all or, with a linen mitre on his head, and a sword in his
mouth, all proper; the coat of arms of the bishopric of Chi¬
chester. 3. Or, a man’s leg couped at the midst of the thigh
azure. 4. Argent, three sinister hands couped at the wrist,
and erect gules. 5. Gules, three legs armed proper, con¬
joined in the fess point at the upper part of the thighs, flexed
in triangles, garnished and spurred, or. This is the coat of
arms of the Isle of Man ; and is quartered by the Dukes of
Atholl, formerly titular lords or kings of that island. 6.
Gules, three dexter arms vambraced fessways, in pale pro¬
per ; borne by several branches of the Armstrong family.
7. Or, three legs couped above the knee sable. 8. Vert,
three dexter arms conjoined at the shoulders in the fess
point, and flexed in triangle or, with fists clenched argent;
borne by the family of Tremayne. 9. Argent, a man’s
heart gules, with two equilateral triangles interlaced sable,
10. Azure, a sinister arm, issuing out of the dexter-chief,
upon observing that wonder, to take those figures for their arms, and to transmit them to their posterity, giving them the name of
macles, from the Latin word macula, signifying a spot; whence some of that house have taken for their motto. Sine, macula macla,
that is, a mascle without a spot.”
332
HERALDRY.
Heraldry. an(j extended towards the sinister base argent. 11. Argent,
a dexter hand couped at the wrist, and erected, within a
bordure engrailed sable; borne by the family of Manley.
12. Argent, a man’s heart gules, ensigned with a crown or,
and on a chief azure, three mullets of the first. The pater¬
nal coat of the name of Douglas, and quartered in the arms
of the Duke of Hamilton, the Marquis of Queensberry,
and of the Earls of Morton and Selkirk. 13. Gules, a
Saracen’s head affrontee, erased at the neck proper, en¬
vironed about the temples with a wreath of the argent and
sable; borne by Mostyn Lord Mostyn. 14. Argent, three
blackamoors’ heads couped proper, banded about the head,
argent and gules. 15. Gules, three bezants, each charged
with a man’s face affrontee proper. 16. Or, a blackamoor’s
head couped proper, banded about the head argent.
When half of the face, or little more, of human figures,
is seen in a field, it is then said to be in profile ; and when
the head of a man, woman, or other animal, is represented
with a full face, it is termed affrontee.
2>d. Examples of the different Positions of Lions, fyc.,
in Arms.—1. Or, a lion rampant azure; quartered by
1 2. 3. 4.
Percy Duke of Northumberland. 2. Azure, a lion rampant-
guardant or. 3. Gules, a lion rampant-reguardant or ;
quartered by Cadogan Earl Cadogan. 4. Argent, a lion
5- g. 7. 8.
saliant gules. 5. Azure, a lion statant-guardant or. 6.
Azure, a lion passant or, between three fleurs-de-lys argent.
I' Argent, a lion passant guardant gules crowned or; quar¬
tered by Ogilvie Earl of Seafield. 8. Gules, a lion sejant
9- 10. 11. 12.
argent. 9. Or, a lion rampant double-headed azure; borne
by the name of Mason. 10. Azure, two lions rampant-
combatant or, armed and langued gules ; borne by the name
ot Garter. 11. Azure, two lions rampant-adosses or. This
coat of arms is said to have been borne by Achilles at the
siege of Troy. 12. Sable, two
argent, the uppermost towards the
cheon, both collared gules ; borne
i.  —Jf ,
sinister side of the escut- ^ r
by the name of Glegg.1
13. 14. 15. 16.
13. Argent, a demi-lion rampant sable. 14. Gules, a lion
couchant between six cross-croslets, three in chief, and as
many in base, argent; for the name of Tynte. 15. Azure,
a lion dormant or. 16. Or, out of the midst of afess sable,
a lion rampant naissant gules.2 17. Azure, three lions
rampant or; borne by Fiennes Baron Saye and Sele. 18.
Gules, a tri-corporated lion issuing from three parts of the
escutcheon, all meeting under one head in the fess point or,
langued and armed azure. 19. Gules, a bezant between
three demi-lions rampant argent; borne by Bennet Earl
of Tankerville.
It is to be observed that, if a lion, or any other beast, be
represented with its limbs and body separated, so that they
remain upon the field at a small distance from their natural
places, it is then termed D eh ache, or couped in all its parts ;
of which remarkable bearing there is an instance in armory,
namely, or, a lion rampant gules, dehache, or couped in all
its parts, within a double tressure flowery and counter-
flowery of the second ; borne by the name of Maitland.
Ath. Examples of other Quadrupeds and their parts,
borne in Coats of Arms.—1. Sable, a camel statant argent.
L 2. 3. 4.
2. Gules, an elephant statant argent, tusked or. 3. Argent
a boar statant gules, armed or. 4. Sable, a bull passant or.
5. 6. 7. 8.
5. Sable, three nags’ heads erased argent; borne by Blay-
ney Baron Blayney of Monaghan, in Ireland, descended in
a direct line from the ancient Princes of Wales. 6. Argent,
three boars’ heads erased, erect proper. 7. Argent, three
bulls’ heads erased, sable, armed or ; quartered by Skeffing-
ton Viscount Massareene. 8. Argent, two foxes counter¬
in Say v iS the natural disposition of the lion not to bear a rival in the field; therefore two lions cannot be borne
+w must be suPPosed to be lions’ whelps, called lioncels; except when they are parted by an ordinary or so dis-
K ttev S ZZ1 -ch other. In the two precefling e™,piL ,h,Py ere called Z„ SZ Tn the
they are^iiDOosed to i g ?! he sfereiSnty of the field> which they would not do unless they were of full growth; and in the 11th
suffering them to go bX’^vly° Wh°Se diSpUte accommodated hy the Prince- are having the field, their pride not
2 This form of blazon is peculiar to all living things which are found issuing out of the midst of some ordinary or other charge.
HERALDRY.
333
Heraldry, saliant, the dexter surmounted of the sinister gules; for
Ae name of Kadrod Hardd, an ancient British family, from
which are descended the Williams-Wynns, who bear these
9. 10. 11. 12.
quartered, second and third, for Williams. 9. Argent, three
bulls passant sable, armed and ungulled or ; for Ashley, and
quartered by Ashley Cooper Earl of Shaftesbury, descended
from Richard Cooper, who flourished in the reign of Henry
VIII. 10. Gules, three lions gambs erased argent; for the
name of Newdegate. 11. Azure, a buck’s head cabossed
argent; borne by Legge Earl of Dartmouth. 12. Argent,
two squirrels sejant adossee gules. 13. Gules, a goat pas¬
sant argent. 14. Sable, a stag standing at gaze argent.
15. Azure, three holy lambs or.
5th. Examples of Birds, Fishes,Reptiles, fyc.—1. Ermine,
2. 3. 4.
an eagle displayed gules ; borne by Sir Henry Bedingfield.
2. Gules, a swan close proper. 3. Gules, a pelican in her
nest with wings elevated, feeding her young ones or, vulned
proper; borne by the name of Carne. 4. Argent, three
peacocks in their pride proper. 5. Or, a raven proper;
borne by the name of Corbet. 6. Argent, three cocks
gules, crested and jow-lopped sable, a crescent surmounted
of a crescent for difference ; formerly borne by the Cock-
aynes Viscounts Cullen, of Donegal in Ireland (now ex¬
tinct). 7. Sable, a dolphin naiant embowed or; borne by
the name of Symonds. This animal was in former times
borne by the eldest son of the French kings, as next heirs
to the crown, no other subject in that kingdom being per¬
mitted to bear it. 8. Argent, three whales’ heads erect and
erased sable; borne by the name of Whalley. 9. Gules,
three escalops argent; borne by Keppel Earl of Albemarle,
descended from Arnold Joost van Keppel, lord of Voorst,
Holland, who came into England in 1688, with the Prince
by him created a peer of England, by the title of Earl of Al¬
bemarle, from a town of that name in Normandy, 10th
February 1696. 10. Azure, three bees, two and one, vo¬
lant, argent. 11. Vert, a tortoise passant argent. 12.
13. 14. 15. 16.
Gules, an adder nowed or.1 13. Ermine, a rose gules barbed
and seeded proper; borne by Boscawen Viscount Falmouth,
whose family have possessed the lands of Boscawen Rose,
in the county of Cornwall, since the time of King John.
14. Azure, three laurel leaves slipped or; borne by the
name of Leveson, and quartered by Granville-Sutherland-
Leveson Gower, Duke of Sutherland, &c. 15. Azure, three
garbs or; borne by the ancient Earls of Chester. 16.
Gules, three cinquefoils argent; borne by Lambart Earl
of Cavan, in Ireland. This ancient family is of French
extraction.
It is to be observed, that trees and plants are sometimes
said to be trunked, eradicated, fructuated, and raguled, ac¬
cording as they are represented in arms.
Art. 2.— Of Artificial Figures borne in Arms.
After the various productions of nature, artificial figures,
the objects of art and mechanism, claim the next rank.
They may be distributed into the following classes,—viz.,
Warlike instruments, as swords, arrows, battering-rams,
gauntlets, helmets, spears, pole-axes; ornaments used in
royal and religious ceremonies, as crowns, coronets, mitres,
wreaths, crosiers; architecture, as towers, castles, arches,
columns, plummets, battlements, churches, portcullises;
navigation, as ships, anchors, rudders, pendants, sails, oars,
masts, flags, galleys, lighters, and so on.
All these bearings have different epithets, serving to ex¬
press their position, their disposition, or their form. Thus
swords are said to be erect, pommeled, hilted; arrows,
armed, feathered ; towers, covered, embattled; and so of
all others, as will more fully appear by the following exarn-
l. 2. 3. 4.
pies :—1. Sable, three swords, their points meeting in the
base argent, pommeled and hilted or; borne by Paulet
Marquis of Winchester, descended from Hercules, Lord of
1 Adders, snakes, and serpents, are said to represent many things, which being according to the fancy of the ancients, and a few
modern authors who have adopted their opinions, it is needless to enlarge upon. It is certain they often occur in armory ; but the
noblest is that of the duchy of Milan, viz., “ argent, a serpent gliding in pale azure, crowned or, vorant an infant issuing gules.” The
occasion of this bearing was as follows :—Otho, first Viscount of Milan, on his way to the Holy Land with Godfrey of Bouillon, defeated
and slew in single combat the great giant Volux, a man of extraordinary stature and strength, who had challenged the bravest of the
Christian army. The viscount having killed him, took his armour, and amongst it his helmet, the crest of which was a serpent swal¬
lowing an infant, worn by him to strike terror into those who should be so bold as to engage him.
."N
334
HERALDRY.
Heraldry.
Tournon in Picardy, who came to England with Jeffrey
Plantagenet, Earl of Anjou, third son of King Henry II.,
and amongst other lands had the lordship of Paulet in
Somersetshire conferred on him. 2. Argent, three batter¬
ing-rams barways in pale, headed, azure and hooped or,
borne by Bertie, Earl of Abingdon. 3. Azure, three
left-hand gauntlets with their backs affrontee or; borne
by Fane Earl of Westmoreland. 4. Gules, two helmets
in chief proper, garnished or, in a base of a garb of
the third; borne by Cholmondeley Marquis of Cholmon-
ples h,therto contained in each collection, several foreign Herald™
bearings are introduced ; which, however, as they are con- W
formable to the laws of heraldry, may also contribute to in-
struct the reader. Those most in use are the following —
namely, angels, cherubims, tritons, centaurs, martlets, Grif¬
fons, unicorns, dragons, mermaids, satyrs, wiverns, haroies,
cockatrices, and phoenixes. 1 ’
These, like the foregoing charges, are subject to various
positions and dispositions, which, from the principles already
laid down, will be easily understood by the following ex-
%
deley, an ancient family in Cheshire. 5. Argent, a ship with
its sails furled up sable ; quartered by Hamilton Marquis of
Abercorn. The descent of this family is from that of the
Duke of Hamilton. 6. Sable, three spears’ heads erect
argent, embrued gules, on a chief or, as many7 pole-axes
reversed, azure; borne by King Earl of Lovelace. 7-
Argent, a maunch sable ; borne by Hastings Earl of Hunt¬
ingdon, of a very ancient and noble family, of which was
Walter de Hastings, steward to King Henry I. 8. Azure,
a circular wreath argent and sable, with four hawks’ bells
joined thereto in quadrature or ; borne by Jocelyn Earl of
Roden. 9. Gules, two keys in saltier argent, in chief a
royal crown proper ; the arms of the archbishopric of York.
10. Gules, two swords in saltier argent, pommeled and
hiked or ; the arms of the bishopric of London. 11. Sable,
a key in bend, surmounted by a crosier in bend sinister,
'both,or ; the arms of the bishopric of St Asaph. 12. Gules,
two keys adossee in bend, the uppermost argent, the other
or, a sword interposed betwsen,them in bend sinister of the
second, pommeled, and hiked of the third ; the arms of the
14. 15.
1. 2. 3. 4.
amples:—1. Gules, an angel standing affrontee, with his
hands conjoined and elevated upon his breast, habited in a
long robe close girt argent, his wings displayed or ; borne
by Brangor de Cerevisia, a foreign prelate, who assisted at
the council of Constance in 1412. 2. Sable, a cheveron
between three cherubim or; borne by the name of Cha-
loner of Yorkshire. 3. Gules, a cherub having three pair
of wings, the uppermost and lowermost counter-crossed sal-
tierways, and the middlemost displayed argent; borne by
the name of Buocasoco, a foreign prelate. This example
is copied from Menestrier’s Method du Blason. 4. Azure,
a griffon segreant or, armed and langued gules, between
three crescents argent; quartered by Bligh, Earl of Darnley.
5.
6.
7.
8.
5. Azure, three mullets argent within a double tressure
counter-flowery or, in the centre a martlet of the last; borne
by Murray Lord Elibank. The martlet is represented with¬
out feet, and is given for a difference to younger brothers,
no doubt to remind them that, in order to raise themselves,
they must trust to the wings of virtue and merit, and not to
their legs, having but little land to set foot on. 6. Sable,
a cockatrice displayed argent, crested, membered, and jow-
lopped gules. 7. Argent, a mermaid gules, crined or, hold¬
ing in her right hand a mirror, and in her left a comb, both
proper ; borne by the Merioneth family of Ellis. 8. Argent
a wivern, his wings elevated, and his tail nowed below him
bishopric of Winchester. 13. Gules, three mitres with their
pendants or; the arms of the bishopric of Chester. 14.
Sable, two crosiers, in saltier or, and argent; on a chief
azure three mitres labelled of the second ; the arms of the
bishopric of Llandaff. 15. Gules, a sword erect in pale
argent, pommeled and hiked or, surmounted by two keys
in saltier of the last; the arms of the bishopric of Exeter.
16. Gules, three ducal coronets or ; the arms of the bishop¬
ric of Ely. r
Art. 3. Of Chimerical Figures.
Are such as have no real existence, but are mere fabulous
and fantastical inventions. These charges, griffons, mart¬
lets, and unicorns excepted, are so uncommon in British
coats, that in order to make up the same number of exam-
%
9. 10. 11. 12
gules ; borne by the family of Drake. 9. Or, a dragon pas¬
sant vert. 10. Gules, a centaur or sagittary in full speed
reguardant proper. This is said by some to have been the
arms of Stephen of Blois, son of Adela, daughter of William
the Conqueror, and of Stephen, Earl of Blois; who, ground-
ing his pietension to the crown of England on this descent,
was proclaimed king in 1135, and reigned till the 25th of
Octobei 1154. 11. Argent, an unicorn sejant sable, un-
guled and horned or. 12. Argent, a dragon’s head erased
Heraldry. vert> holding in his mouth a sinister hand couped at the
wrist gules. J 3. Gules, three unicorns’heads couped or.
14. Azure, a bull saliant and winged or, borne by the name
of Cadenet, a family of distinction in Provence. 15. Argent,
a wivern with a human face affrontee hooded, and winged
vert; borne by the Buseraghi, an ancient and noble family
of Lucca. 16. Azure, a harpy displayed, armed, crined,
and crowned or. These are the arms of the city of Nurem¬
berg in Germany.
To the above-mentioned figures may be added the mon-
tegre, an imaginary creature, supposed to have the body of
a tiger with the head and horns of a satyr; also those which
have a real existence, but are said to be endowed with ex¬
travagant and imaginary qualities, as the salamander, beaver,
cameleon, and others.
IV.—OF THE EXTERNAL ORNAMENTS OF ESCUTCHEONS.
Ornaments which accompany or surround escutcheons
denote the dignity or office of the persons to whom the arms
appertained, both amongst the laity and the clergy, consist¬
ing of crowns, coronets, mitres, helmets, mantlings, and
supporters. Wreaths, crests, and scrolls, are common to all
classes.
1. Of Crowns.
The first crowns were only diadems, bands, or fillets ;
but afterwards they were composed of branches of various
trees, and then flowers were added to them. Amongst the
Greeks, the crowns given to those who carried off the prize
at the Isthmian games were of pine; at the Olympic, of
laurel; and at the Nemean, of smallage. The Romans also
had various crowns to reward martial exploits and extraor¬
dinary services done to the republic. Constantine the Great
first used a diadem of pearls and precious stones over a gold
helm, somewhat like the close crown of later times, which
seems to have been the example which the sovereigns of
Europe afterwards followed.
The imperial crowns of Austria and Russia consist of a
circle of gold, adorned with precious stones
and pearls, heightened with fleurs-de-lys,
bordered and seeded with pearls, and raised
in the form of a cap voided at the top like
a crescent. From the middle of this cap
rises an arched fillet enriched with pearls,
and surmounted with a mound on which is a cross of pearls.
The crown of the kings of Great Britain, which is a circle
of gold, enriched with pearls and precious
stones, having four crosses patee and four
fleurs-de-lys alternately; from these rise four
arched diadems adorned with pearls, which
close under a mound, surmounted with a
cross like those at the bottom ; within is a velvet cap trim¬
med with ermine.
The crowns of the kings of England have at various times
assumed different forms; generally consisting in early reigns
of a fillet of gold, ornamented upon its upper circle by leaves,
fleurs-de-lys, and crosses patee placed alternately with fleurs-
de-lys. Edward IV. has first upon his coins the open crown
with crosses and fleurs-de-lys; and presents the first in¬
stance of an arched or closed crown with leaves only upon
the Great Seal. Richard III. is the first who placed on the
Great Seal the arched crown with the crosses and fleurs-de- Heraldry,
lys. Henry VII., however, still continued the open crown
with fleurs-de-lys and pearls on his first money ; afterwards
with leaves and pearls with a single arch. The crown on his
Great Seal has crosses patee and fleurs-de-lys, and arched,
surmounted by the orb and cross. This crown, with some
variations in the number of arches, continued to be used by
succeeding sovereigns.
1 he crown of the kings of Scotland is remarkable for its
elegance and beauty ; composed of a circle heightened with
ten crosses flory and ten fleurs-de-lys alternately; from
whence arise four arches surmounted by a globe or mound
ensigned with a cross patee. The cap is of velvet, lined
with ermine, and adorned with four plates of gold, each en¬
riched with a large pearl.
The crown of the kingdom of Hanover, as settled in
1816, to be placed over the inescutcheon of the royal arms
of George III., being substituted for the electoral bonnet,
consisted of a circle of gold, adorned on the upper rim with
strawberry leaves, and a cross patee in the centre. From the
circle arose eight arches, closing at the top, supporting a
mound and cross.
The crown of the kings in France, was a circle enamelled^
adorned with precious stones, and heightened
by eight arched diadems, rising from as many
fleurs-de-lys, which conjoined at the top under
a double fleur-de-lys, all of gold.
The crowns of Spain, Portugal, and Poland, are all three
of the same form, and are described by Colonel Parsons in
his Genealogical Tables of Europe. A coronet of strawberry
leaves, heightened by eight arched diadems, which support
a mound, ensigned with a plain cross. Those of Denmark
and Sweden are both of the same form, and consist of eight
arched diadems, rising from a coronet like that of an Eng¬
lish marquis, which conjoin at the top under a mound en¬
signed with a cross-bottony. The crowns of other kings
are similar.
The Grand Seignior bears over his arms a
riched with pearls and diamonds, under two
coronets, the first of which is made of pyra-
midical points heightened up with large pearls,
whilst the uppermost is surmounted with cre¬
scents.
The Pope, or Bishop of Rome, appropriates
to himself a tiara or long cap of golden cloth, from which
hang two pendants embroidered and fringed at the ends,
semee with crosses of gold. This cap is enclosed by three
coronets like those of the degree of marquis in England; and
has on its top a mound of gold, on which is a cross of the
same, sometimes represented by engravers and painters po-
metted, recrossed, flowery, or plain. It is a difficult matter
to ascertain the time when the popes assumed the three
coronets above mentioned. A succession of the supreme
pontiffs, engraved and published by order of Clement XIII.
for the edification of his subjects in Great Britain and Ire¬
land, represents Marcellus, who was chosen Bishop of Rome
in the year 310, and all his successors, adorned with such
a cap ; but it appears from good authority,
that Boniface VIII., who was elected to the
see of Rome in the year 1295, first com¬
passed his cap with a coronet ; whilst
Benedict XII. in 1335, added to it a se¬
cond, and John XXIII. in 1411, a third,
with a view to indicate that the Pope is the
sovereign priest, the supreme judge, and the sole legislator,
amongst Christians.
turban, en-
2. Of Coronets.
The coronet of the Prince of Wales was anciently a
circle of gold set round with four crosses patee, and as many
336
HERALDRY.
Heraldry, fleurs-de-lys alternately ; but since the Restoration it has
been closed with one arch only, adorned
with pearls, surmounted by a mound and
cross, and having a cap trimmed with ermine
like the king’s (No. 1).
The following is an extract from the royal
warrant of 13th Car. II.—
“ That the sonne and heire apparent of the crowne for
the tyme being shall use and beare his coronett composed
of crosses and flower-de-lizes with one arch, and in the midst
a ball and cross as hath our royal diadem. And that our
most deare and most entirely beloved brother James, Duke
of Yorke, and soe all the imediate sonnes of ourselfe and
the imediate sonns and brothers of our successors kinges
of England shall beare and use his and their coronetts com¬
posed of crosses and flower-de-lizes only, but that all their
sonns respectively haveing the title of dukes shall beare and
use their coronetts composed of crosses and flowers or leaves
such as are used in the composure of the coronetts of dukes
not being of our royal family.”
Besides this coronet, the Prince of Wales has another
distinguishing mark of honour, peculiar to himself, namely,
a plume of three ostrich-feathers, with an ancient coronet
of a prince of Wales (No. 2). Under this, in
a scroll, is the motto, Ich Dien, which in the
German or old Saxon language signifies I
serve. This device was first assumed by Ed¬
ward Prince of Wales, commonly called the
Black Prince, after the famous battle of Cressy,
in 1346, where, having with his own hand
killed John King of Bohemia, he took from 2.
his head such a plume as that here described, and put it on
his own. This, however, was doubted by the late Sir Harris
Nicolas, who says that the badge of the three ostrich fea¬
thers was derived from the house of Hainault. But from
a contemporary account which Sir Harris Nicolas subse¬
quently discovered he thought the tradition was somewhat
confirmed. {Vide Sir Harris Nicolas’s account in Archceo-
logia, vols. xxxi. and xxxii., for some very interesting no¬
tices on the origin and history of the badge and mottoes of
Edward the Black Prince.)
The coronet of all the intermediate sons and brothers of
the kings of Great Britain is a circle of gold
bordered with ermine, heightened with four
fleurs-de-lys and as many crosses patee alter¬
nately, as has been already shown (No. 3).
The coronet of the princesses of Great Bri¬
tain is a circle of gold bordered with ermine,
and heightened with crosses-patee, fleurs-de-
lys, and strawberry leaves alternately (No. 4).
A duke’s coronet is a circle of gold bor¬
dered with ermine, enriched with precious
stones and pearls, and set round with eight large strawberry
leaves (No. 5). A marquis’s coronet~is a circle of gold
set round with four strawberry leaves and as many pearls
on pyramidical points of equal height alternate (No. 6).
An earl’s coronet is a circle of gold heightened up with
eight pyramidical points or rays, on the tops of which are
as many large pearls, which are placed alternately with as
many strawberry leaves, but the pearls much higher than
the leaves (No. 7). A viscount’s coronet differs from the
preceding ones as being only a circle of gold, with large
pearls set close together on the rim, without any limited Heraldry
number (No. 8). A baron’s coronet, which
was granted by King Charles II., is formed
with six pearls set at equal distances on a gold
circle, four of which only are seen in engrav¬
ings and paintings (No. 9).
All these coronets are worn at the time of the coronation
by peers and peeresses; having caps of crimson velvet
within them edged with ermine, the ermine being visible
below the circle of the coronet. It is difficult to determine
at what period the coronet became the distinguishing sym¬
bol of peerage for the four superior degrees. In an essay,
by Mr King, York herald, on the Stall Plates of the Knights
of the Garter, in the Arcluzologia, vol. xxxi., it appears
that, if those plates are evidence of the use of coronets, the
period of their first introduction is comparatively late, as few
coronets appear during the reign of Henry VIII. upon the
garter plates of the knights of that order ; nor did the cus¬
tom of placing these marks of dignity prevail till about the
beginning of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The first coro¬
net having a cap with ermine, which is exhibited on the
garter plate, is that of Lord Godolphin, who was installed
in 1704. He was the first baron who became a Knight of
the Garter after the coronet was assigned to barons.
By a royal warrant dated at Whitehall, 2d June 1665,
a patent was directed to pass the Great Seal ordaining ba¬
rons of Scotland to wear a velvet cap with a gold circle,
decorated with six pearls ; and it is said a similar warrant
was issued at the same time for barons of Ireland.
The eldest sons of peers above the degree of a viscount
are entitled by the courtesy of England to use their father’s
second title ; but they are not entitled to use a coronet, or
the supporters annexed to the dignity. Peers of parliament
and their wives only can use coronets and supporters.1
Peeresses in their own right are also entitled to coronets
and supporters.
For an account of the coronets of foreign nobility, videSel-
derCs Titles of Honor. Coronets are not worn in France
or other continental states, but merely depicted with other
heraldic insignia to which the bearer may be entitled.
The chapeau is a species of cap, usually crimson, turned
up with ermine, and is said to be applicable to the ducal
dignity only ; but there is no instance in
English heraldry of its bearing that qualifi¬
cation. It is frequently used to set a crest
upon. By the regulations of the present day the Earl-Mar¬
shal prohibits the painting of crests issuing from ducal coro¬
nets or from chapeaux.
1 3. Of Mitres.
The archbishops and bishops of England and Ireland
place a mitre over the shields of their arms, in lieu of a
crest. It is a round cap pointed and cleft at
the top, rising from a circle of gold from which
are two labels or pendants, fringed at the ends.
The Bishops of Durham and Meath only are
entitled to use the mitre rising from a ducal
coronet, signifying their palatinate jurisdiction.
The practice of pourtraying the mitres of arch¬
bishops issuing from ducal coronets is an innovation which
arose in the early part of the last century without any au¬
thority. Mitres were worn at the coronation of Queen
Elizabeth; since which period they have only been used
heraldically as episcopal insignia. The ancient Bishops of
Durham also wore three feathers in addition to the princely
or ducal coronet which so signally graced their mitres. This
ornament, with other vestments, is still worn by the arch¬
bishops and bishops of the Church of Rome, whenever
1 The very recent case of Baron Wensleydale, who has been created for life only, must be considered as an exception; his lordship
has all the privileges of peerage except sitting in Parliament, the House of Lords having declared that neither his patent, nor the writ
under the patent, entitles him to sit.
HERALDRY.
Heraldry, they officiate with solemnity ; but it is never used in Eng-
land, otherwise than over the coats of arms.
4. Of Helmets.
The helmet was formerly worn as a defensive weapon to
cover the bearer’s head, and is now placed over the arms
as a mark of gentility.
The helmets of sovereigns were of burnished gold ; those
of princes and lords, of silver figured with gold; those of
knights, of steel adorned with silver; and those of private
gentlemen, of polished steel. As to their form, those of
the king and the royal family of Great Britain, are open-
1. 2. 3. 4.
faced, with bars (No. 1). The barred helmet in profile is
common to all degrees of peerage (No. 2). The helmet
standing direct without bars, and a little open, denotes
baronets and knights (No. 3) ; the side-standing helmet,
with the beaver close, is the manner of wearing it peculiar
to esquires and gentlemen (No. 4).
Such are now the established rules respecting the use of
helmets as marks of distinction in the full heraldic achieve¬
ment ; but the origin of these, like many other matters con¬
nected with this subject, is involved in some obscurity. It
is clear that helmets in heraldry were not always distin¬
guishing insignia, at least, as respects nobility and gentry.
The evidence afforded by the garter plates at Wind¬
sor, shows that the helmets of knights-subjects on all the
stall plates of the Knights of the Garter, till towards the
close of the reign of Elizabeth, are in profile, having the
visors close like those now used to designate the esquire of
the present day. The barred helmet in profile first appears
on the garter plate of Henry Radcliffe, Earl of Sussex, who
was installed in 1589. And it is remarkable that during
the following reign there are two instances of the close
helmet being used for peers notwithstanding; so that it
appears to have been a matter of indifference whether the
close helmet or the barred helmet was adopted for peers at
that time. After 1603 the barred helmet became constantly
borne on these plates for the nobility above the degree of
barons. The first instance of the barred helmet for a baron
was in the case of Lord Knolles in 1615. The helmets on
the plates of Sir Robert Walpole, who was installed a Knight
of the Garter in 1726, and of Sir Robert Stewart (com¬
monly called Viscount Castlereagh, as eldest son of the
Marquis of Londonderry) who was installed in 1814, are re¬
spectively the open helmet affrontee. It is not improbable
that, about the time of the restoration of King Charles II.,
the full-faced open helmet became a distinguishing one for
baronets and knights. In engravings of the arms of baro¬
nets and knights in the seventeenth century, the side¬
standing close helmet is frequently used.
5. Of Mantlings.
The mantling or lambrequin, attached to the helmet,
had its origin from the Cointoise, a sort of ornamental
streamer or scarf which passed round the body, and over
the shoulder. This superb ornament was introduced in
the reign of Henry III. It afterwards became an embel¬
lishment of the helmet; and, referring to the seals of the
barons of 1300, it may be seen upon them passing from
beneath the crest, and elegantly flying in graceful folds
beyond the helmet. The monument of Sir John Har-
sic, in the time of Edward III., exhibits his tilting helmet,
and is the earliest occurrence of the wreath, which took
YCL. XI.
337
place of the cointoise as a personal ornament, from which Heraldry,
time it assumed more prominently what was afterwards
called the lambrequin. In a grant of arms, a.d. 1334, the
cointoise with tassels, has a cloak-like appearance, and is
there called a mantell. The helmet of William, Lord Hast¬
ings, on his seal attached to a deed, a.d. 1469, has a scroll
instead of a cointoise. And it has been conjectured that
the scroll or lambrequin was an imitation of the cointoise
after it had been torn in battle. The mantling, when it
became an heraldic ornament, was usually gules lined, or
“ doubled" argent; but in Elizabeth’s time, as now, it as¬
sumes the colours of the wreath, being the two first of the
coat-armorial, the metal being for the lining or doubling.
In many of the old grants of arms this was not, however,
always so ; and until a late period the mantling was fully
blazoned or described. It was sometimes charged with he¬
raldic bearings or other figures. The royal mantling of the
present day is gold doubled ermine ; and like those of the
nobility and gentry forms a species of scroll-work flowing
from the helmet, and ornamenting both sides of the shield.
6. Of the Wreath.
The wreath or torse was formed of two pieces of silk of the
two first colours of the armorial bearings, twisted together
by the lady who chose the favoured individual for her knight.
It took place of the cointoise about the time of Edward III.
It surrounded the upper part of the helmet as a fillet, and
appeared (as a coronet did in some instances) to bind the
lambrequin close to the helmet. From the centre of the
WTeath, or coronet, issued the crest (vide Crest, and Mant¬
ling). In blazoning a crest, it is usually said to be upon
or within “ a wreath of the colours,” by which colours are
meant the two first of the arms ; but sometimes the wreath
has been composed of all the colours of the arms w hen more
than two. An example occurs in the grant of a crest to
the city of Exeter, a.d. 1580, where the wreath is or, gules,
and azure ; those colours being in the arms. The liveries
of servants should follow the colours of the wreath.
7. Of Crests.
The crest is the highest part of the ornaments of a coat
of arms. It is called crest, from the Latin word crista.
Crests were formerly great marks of honour, because they
were only worn by heroes of great valour, or by such as were
advanced to some superior military command, in order that
they might be the better distinguished in an engagement.
Crests appear to be nearly coeval with the introduction
of armorial ensigns upon shields, as there are instances as
early as the reign of Henry HI. Richard I. is represented
with something upon his helmet which may have been the
prototype of the heraldic crest, somewhat in the form of a
fan charged with a lion rampant or passant upon it. By
the Close Rolls (54 Hen. III.), armour was provided for
the knights going into the Holy Land, in which, amongst
other articles, are mentioned two crests. On the seals,
previously quoted from those attached to the Barons Letter
to the Pope, a.d. 1300, there are examples of crests.
The first English monarch who introduced his crest upon
his Great Seal was Edward III., which he wears on his hel¬
met. Crests were soon assumed by private families. Ed¬
ward III., in 1333, granted a crest to William Montacute,
Eai’l of Salisbury, and by a further grant made it here¬
ditary ; and in 1334, Guyen, king of arms, granted a crest
to Thomas Andrews. Crests were also called cognizances,
a very obvious term when considering their use—that the
bearers might be known by them.
Crests, therefore, are as equally significant of the lineage
of persons entitled to use them as arms are; and, as such,
are inseparably annexed to individual families. The popular
2 u
338
HERALDRY.
Heraldry, notion that crests are assumptive at pleasure, has no founda-
tion in the nature or practice of heraldry; nor that the crest
of a maternal ancestor may be borne. Heiresses do not
convey the crests of their families to their descendants who
are entitled to quarter their arms.
The crest was placed upon the helmet, ivithin the wreath,
not upon the wreath, as described in modern times; or might
be issuant from a ducal or other coronet, or placed on a
chapeau ; and, although governed by the same laws as pater¬
nal arms with respect to hereditary masculine descent, it
does not necessarily have any allusion to, or derivation from
the bearings upon the shield. The crest represented with¬
out the armorial shield is usually placed on a wreath, or from
a coronet, as the case may be, without the helmet or lam¬
brequin.
The “ Cognizance ” is also a term used synonymously with
“Badgenot to be understood as a crest, but as a badge.
They are, at least, coeval with armorial bearings, if not of
a prior date. Henry II. adopted certain distinctive figures
which had reference to his name. This was the planta
genista. Badges were confined to royalty till about the time
of Richard II., when they were adopted by the nobility.
They were not substituted for armorial devices in the field,
except on banners, and that only during the wars between
the houses of York and Lancaster. The kings of England
bore a variety of badges, in different reigns, as did also the
several members of the royal family during the middle ages.
Of the royal badges of sovereigns which have descended
to modern times, is the well-known rose, the thistle for
Scotland, and the trefoil for Ireland. But the trefoil was
not formerly a royal badge. The Prince of Wales’s plume
is the peculiar badge belonging to the eldest son of the
sovereign.
Badges used by the ancient nobility served rather to
denote the servants or retainers, and were distinct from ar¬
morial bearings, and embroidered upon the liveries. These
badges were defined in their character; and the use of
them in the present day is very limited. They never ap¬
pear as a crest; and are consequently without the wreath,
or any other bearing which characterizes crests. Badges
were frequently displayed upon the funereal banners of
sovereigns and nobles, accompanied by their rnotto and
other devices.
8. Of the Scroll.
The scroll is the ornament placed below the shield, con¬
taining a motto or short sentence alluding thereto, or to the
bearings, or to the bearer’s name. Thus, the motto of the
Marquis of Cholmondeley is Cassis tutissima virtus—“ Vir¬
tue is the safest helmet,” on account of the helmet in the
coat of arms; and the motto of Earl Fortescue is Forte
scutum salus ducum, 9 * 11 A strong shield is the safety of the
commanders,” alluding to the name of that ancient family.
Sometimes, however, the motto has reference to neither,
but expresses something divine or heroic; as that of the
Earl of Scarborough, Murus cereus conscienta sana, “A
good conscience is a wall of brass.” Others are enigmatical,
as that of the royal achievement, which is Dieu et mon
droit, “ God and my right,” introduced in 1340 by Edward
III., when he assumed the arms and title of king of France,
and began to prosecute his claim, which occasioned long
and bloody wars, fatal by turns to both kingdoms; or that
of the Prince of Wales, Ich dien, “I serve,” the origin of
which has already been explained.
9. Of Supporters.
Supporters are figures standing on the scroll, and placed
at the side of the escutcheon; they are so called because
they seem to support the shield. The rise of supporters is,
by Menestrier, traced to ancient tournaments, In which the Heraldry,
knights caused their shields to be carried by servants or
pages under the disguise of lions, bears, griffins, blacka¬
moors, and the like, who also held and guarded the escut¬
cheons, which the knights were obliged to expose to public
view for some time before the lists were opened. But Sir
George Mackenzie dissents from this opinion, and contends
(Treatise on the Science of Heraldry, chap xxxi., p. 93)
that “ the first origin and use of them was from the custom,
which ever was and is, of leading such as are invested with
any great honour to the prince who confers it.”
The origin of supporters is still, however, involved in
mystery. Like many other points connected with heraldry,
they derived their origin at no ascertained time, and grew
up into use from causes at present unknown. Theories have
been attempted to be formed for their introduction into
heraldry, but the most probable is that of various figures or
animals being introduced upon seals as ornaments to fill
up the open spaces which occur in a circular seal with the
triangular or heater shield exhibiting the arms. Instances
of this character occur very early, as may be seen upon the
seals attached to the Barons’ Letter to the Pope in 1300.
After that period these figures or animals assumed a more
decided character upon seals, and are found supporting the
helmet as early as the time of Richard II. On the beautiful
seals of the period from the reign of Henry IV. to that of
Henry VI., the shields containing the arms are frequently
placed so low as to cover part of the legend, while the hel¬
mets and crests are supported by various animals, natural
and chimerical. The recognition of supporters, in the sense
in which they are now understood, as regards the use of
them by private families, may be dated about the time of
Henry VII.; and there are a few private families who con¬
tinue to bear them at this day, and whose title to use them
has been allowed by the heralds at various times. When
supporters first became the distinguishing mark of nobility,
or were exclusively considered properly to appertain to the
peerage or to the Knights of the Garter and Bath, is not
quite clear. It appears that the first stall plate of a Knight
of the Garter bearing supporters was that of John Beaufort,
who was elected into that order 20th Henry VI.; but it is
doubted whether the plate is of so early a date. But the
first plate of this kind, which may with certainty be con¬
sidered as contemporaneous with the installation, is that of
John Dynham, Lord Dynham, who was elected a Knight
of the Garter 1st Henry VII.; upon this plate the sup¬
porters, which are two stags, support the helmet and crest
only. In the case of Henry Earl of Northumberland, who
was elected in the same reign, the supporters are placed
outside the garter which encircles the shield. Supporters
were not even general at this time, as several plates inter¬
vening between that period and 29th Henry VIII. are de¬
void of them. Subsequently to the later period, however,
supporters occur on all the succeeding plates of knights
(vide Archceologia, vol. xxxi.).
There is, however, some reason to imagine that the jousts
and tournaments were influential in the introduction and
use of supporters. In an illuminated MS. remaining in the
Herald’s College, said to have been written and emblazoned
for the use of Prince Arthur, the eldest son of Henry VII.,
are depicted a series of banners of arms of the ancient kings,
nobles, and knights, each of which is held by some armorial
or heraldic figure; being in each case the same, or at least
one of those which are to be found on their seals, or in
other evidences, as supporters.
The supporters which are attributed to the kings of
England have varied from time to time, previously to their
final settlement by James I. Edward HI. used a lion and
eagle; Richard II., the lion and white hart; Henry IV.,
the heraldic antelope and swan ; Henry V. and Henry VI.,
the lion and heraldic antelope; Edward IV., the lion and
heraldry.
Heraldry, black bull ; Richard III., the lion and white boar; Henry
VII., the lion and red dragon, which were continued to be
used till the end of the reign of Elizabeth. These do not,
however, appear on any of their great seals, upon which the
use of supporters does not occur. On the great seal of
James I. a lion is holding the banner of St George, and an
unicorn that of St Andrew. The ancient supporters of
Scotland were two unicorns, one of which James I. retained
to support the royal arms of England on his accession to the
English crown. Supporters (sometimes-supporting the crest
and helmet only) were used on the seals' of the royal family
from the time of Henry V.
Supporters are borne by corporations and trading com¬
panies ; one of the earliest grants was made to the Leather
Sellers Company, 22d Henry VIII.
V. OF THE RULES OR LAWS OF HERALDRY.
I. The jirst and most general rule is, to express one’s
meaning in proper terms, so as not to omit any thing which
ought to be specified, and at the same time to be clear and
concise without tautology.1
II. The tincture of the field must first be mentioned, and
then proceed to the principal charges which possess the
most honourable place in the shield, such as fess, cheveron,
&c., always naming that charge first which lies next to and
immediately upon the field.
HI. After naming the tincture of the field, the honour¬
able ordinaries, or other principal figures, their attributes,
and afterwards their metal or colour, must be specified.
IV. When an honourable ordinary, or some one figure,
is placed upon another, whether it be a fess, cheveron, cross,
&c., it is always to be named after the ordinary or figure
over which it is placed, with the expression surtout or
over all.
V. In blazoning such ordinaries as are plain, the bare
mention of them is sufficient; but if an ordinary should be
made of any of the crooked lines, its form must be specified ;
that is, whether it be engrailed, wavy, &c.
VI. When a principal figure possesses the centre of the
field, its position is not to be expressed.
VII. The number of the points of mullets or stars must
be specified when more than five ; and also if a mullet or
any other charge be pierced, it must be mentioned.
VIII. When a ray of the sun, or other single figure, is
borne in any other part of the escutcheon than the centre,
the point it issues from must be named.
IX. The natural colour of trees, plants, fruits, birds, and
the like, is by the word proper, unless they differ from their
natural colour
X. When three figures are in a field, and their position
is not mentioned in the blazoning, they are always under¬
stood to be placed, two above, and one below.
XI. When there are many figures of the same species
borne in a coat of arms, their number must be observed as
they stand, and distinctly expressed.
But, for the better elucidation of this last rule, we have
inserted examples of the different dispositions of figures,
in which they are properly represented. Thus, two may be
ranged in pale, in fess, &c. (Nos. 1, 2). Three may be 2
and 1, as also in bend, &c. (Nos. 3, 4). Four are placed 2
5- 6- 7. 8.
and 2, sometimes called cantoned (No. 5). Five, 1,3 1
m cross; or 2, 1, 2, in saltier (Nos. 6, 7). Six, 3, 2, L in
pile; or 2, 2, 2, paleways (Nos. 8, 9). Eight, in orle, or
9- 10- ix. 12
on a bordure (No. 10). Nine, 3, 3, 3, barways; or J
2, 1, m pile (Nos. 11, 12). Ten, 4, 3, 2, 1, in pile;
3, 3,
or
X3. 14. 15.
else 4, 2, 4, barvvays (Nos. 13, 14). Twelve are placed 4,
4, 4, barways (No. 15).
\\ hen the field is strewed with the same figures, this is
expressed by the word seniee ; but, according to the opinion
of a French armorist, if the figures strewed on the field are
whole ones, it must be denoted by the words sans nomhre ;
whereas, if part of them be cut off at the extremities of the
escutcheon, the word semee must then be used.
VI.—OF MARSHALLING ARMS.
This is understood to be the art of disposing several coats
of arms in one escutcheon, and of arranging the contingent
exterior ornaments. Originally, only one coat was exhibited
in the shield; but afterwards, to denote descent or mar-
liage, the arms of other families were borne on seals in
sepaiate escutcheons; sometimes without any variation as
to the size of the escutcheons ; but at other times the prin¬
cipal shield was surrounded by smaller ones. Marriages
weie, at length, shown by the arms of the wife being
dimidiated with those of the husband, dimidiation repre¬
senting only one-half of each coat parted by a per pale line.
I his course, however, from the inconvenience of dividing
some coats, whereby their characteristic bearings became
lost, was supplanted by the practice of impaling the arms
of the wife with those of her husband, thus preserving the
man’s arms entire on the dexter, and the lady’s on the
sinister. Sometimes one coat only was dimidiated. No¬
thing in the early times denoted marriages with heiresses
unless the arms of the heiress had a prominent place on
the seal, or were impaled on the dexter side of her hus¬
band’s. The practice, alluded to by some heralds, of placing
the arms of more than one wife with those of the husband
is not now followed, though Leigh has given some directions
upon the point. The shield or escutcheon of pretence, to
show the arms of the wife as the heiress of her family, is not
of very early introduction.
But the principal occasion of a multiplicity of arms in
one shield, is that of quartering the arms of heiresses, a
system which first commenced about 1348, when the Earl
repemion^VwrX^Publisjied in 1716> P- xi-> tautology is condemned in these very stron<
P > t especially not of the words of, or, and, with, for the repetition of these is reckom
terms: “You must use no
an unpardonable crime.”
HERALDRY.
340
Heraldry, of Pembroke quartered the arms of Valence. The first
quarter contains the paternal arms of the family ; the re¬
maining ones those of the several heiresses with whom the
ancestors of the bearer had intermarried ; and of such heir¬
esses whose arms were similarly acquired through their
respective families. Other causes, at present unknown, or
which are obscure in their origin, have occasioned arms to
be borne as quarterings, but which are in some cases pre¬
sumed to be feudal or territorial.
In arranging a shield for quarterings, the shield is divided
by perpendicular and horizontal lines into as many squares
as may be required. The arms of the most ancient heir¬
esses, as the marriages occur in the lineal descent, have pre¬
cedence of subsequent ones in chronological order; the
various quarterings (if any) of those respective heiresses
being subjected to the like rule. During the middle ages,
if the party were entitled to bear the royal arms as a quar¬
tering, it had precedence of all others—this was the melan¬
choly case of the Duke of Buckingham in the time of
Henry VIII. The royal arms of Brotherton, at this day,
is borne next the paternal coat by the Howards, although
it is there out of its place in point of pedigree and descent.
It was not unfrequently the case in private families that
precedence was given to the greatest heiresses; but the
rule at the present time is to arrange the arms as the mar¬
riages bring them in. Children of an heiress, and all the
descendants of an heiress, also descending from her through
heiresses, are entitled to quarter the arms of such heiresses.1
Archbishops and bishops, and some deans of cathedral
churches, bear the arms of their respective sees and offices
impaled on the dexter side with their own paternal arms.
This practice commenced about the time of the Reforma¬
tion. Archbishops and bishops use neither crests nor
mottoes. The Lord-Lyon, and the kings of arms in Eng¬
land and Ireland, bear the arms of their offices in the same
way as bishops, and ensign their shields with their crowns.
Unmarried ladies bear their arms and quarterings (if any)
in a lozenge ; as also do widows, impaled with those of their
deceased husbands.
Commoners marrying peeresses in their own right bear
their arms in the usual way, with the family arms of the
peeress impaled ; but if she is an heiress, then with her arms
in an escutcheon of pretence ensigned with a coronet of her
dignity, the whole set on the dexter side of her family
arms, which are borne separately in a lozenge ensigned with
her coronet, and supported by her supporters.
In cases of peers their coronets are placed immediately
on the shield; and upon the coronet is placed the helmet,
with its lambrequin, wreath, and crest. But the crown of
the sovereign, and the coronets of the royal family, are
placed upon the helmet.
Baronets of England and Ireland are entitled to place the
badge of their dignity—argent a sinister hand couped gules
—in an escutcheon of pretence, or in a canton in their
arms, dhe baronets of Scotland have a similar privilege,
their arms being, argent a saltire azure, on a shield of pre¬
tence, the royal arms of Scotland ensigned with the royal
crown. The baronets of Scotland also suspend the badge
of their order by an orange-coloured ribband from the shield;
the badge is then within a circle, having the motto, “ Fax
mentis honestce gloria?’
Knights of the several British Orders of knighthood sur¬
round their shields of arms with the respective ensigns of
the Order; in which case their arms, with those of their
are> in a separate shield, placed on the sinister side.
Ihe Order of the Garter was instituted between the 24th
June and 6th August 1348 (as discovered by the late
Sir Harris 'S\q,q\&?, (vide Archceologia, vol. xxxi., p. 130),
consisting of the sovereign and twenty-five knights. Since
that period it has undergone no material alteration in its
constitution, except that foreign princes and members of
the royal family, descendants of King George I. together
with the Prince of Wales, who was in 1805 declared a con¬
stituent part of the original institution, are not now included
in the original number of twenty-five knights. The Order
of the Thistle in Scotland is said to have a very remote
antiquity. The recital in Queen Anne’s Letters Patent
of Restoration, give it a date as early as the ninth cen¬
tury. It consisted of the sovereign and twelve knights,
and has undergone but very little change in its constitution.
The origin of the Order of the Bath is attributed to the
beginning of the reign of Henry IV., as a distinct Order,
and was frequently conferred on occasions of coronations ;
but after that of Charles II. it was suffered to fall into dis¬
use. In 1725 George I. revived the Order; in 1815 it
was enlarged, and divided into three classes; and further
amplified in 1848 by her present Majesty. The Order of
St Patrick was instituted by George HI. in 1783 for Ire¬
land, to consist of the sovereign, a grand master, and fifteen
knights. The number of knights was augmented by King
William IV. in 1833. The Order of St Michael and St
George was instituted after the general peace of 1814, the
sovereignty of the Island of Malta being then ceded to the
king of Great Britain. It consists of three classes ; and,
with some modifications, continues to be conferred upon na¬
tives of the Ionian Islands and Malta. The Royal Hano¬
verian Guelphic Order was established in 1815, consisting
of three classes, and was conferred upon British and
Hanoverian subjects. This Order ceased to be a British
Order upon the accession of her present Majesty to the
crown of these realms; when Hanover devolved upon the
late Duke of Cumberland, as the sovereign of the latter
kingdom. Her Majesty Queen Victoria has signalized her
reign by tbe creation of an Order for the reward of many
of our brave heroes who have fought during the Crimean
War.
VII.—OF FUNERAL ESCUTCHEONS.
The hatchment represents the armorial ensigns affixed to
the fronts of houses when any of the nobility and gentry
die, the arms therein be¬
ing those of a private
gentleman and his wife
parted per pale, with
mantljng, helmet, crest,
and motto ; the dexter
side, for the husband,
having the ground with¬
out the escutcheon black,
denotes the man to be
dead; and the ground on
the sinister side being
white, signifies that the
wife is living.2
When a married gen¬
tlewoman dies first, the
arms on the sinister side
have the ground without
the escutcheon black, whereas those on the dexter side, for
her surviving husband, are upon a white ground, but with¬
out any crest, helmet, lambrequin, or motto.
When a bachelor dies, his arms may be depicted single
or quartered, with a crest, helmet, lambrequin, and motto,
2 .an ^eiress ^ sh® has no brothers who leave issue ; if she has sisters they become co-heiresses with her.
accidents'^ en0r ornaments are omitted in the engraving merely for the sake of simplifying it, the object being to show the funer
HERALDRY.
341
Heraldry, but arms not impaled as the two first are, and all the ground
without the escutcheon is also black.
When a maid dies, her arms, which are placed in a lo¬
zenge, may be single or quartered, like those of a bachelor ;
all the ground without the escutcheon is also black, and
devoid of the exterior ornaments.
When a widower dies, his arms are impaled with those of
his deceased wife, having a helmet, mantling, and crest, and
all the ground without the escutcheon black.
When a widow dies, her arms are impaled with those of
her deceased husband, but inclosed in a lozenge, and with¬
out the exterior ornaments ; all the ground without the
escutcheon being also black.
By these rules may be known, upon the sight of any
hatchment, what branch of the family is dead ; and by the
helmet or coronet, the title and degree of the person de¬
ceased.
In Scotland, a funeral escutcheon not only shows the
arms and condition of the defunct, but is also a proof of
the gentility of his descent; and such persons for whom
this species of escutcheon can be made out are legally
entitled to the character of gentlemen of blood, which is
the highest species of gentility. The English hatchment
exhibits no more than a right to a coat of arms, and the
status of the deceased person.
The funeral escutcheon, as exhibited in Scotland, France,
and Germany, is in the form of a lozenge, above six feet
square of black cloth ; in the centre of which is painted, in
proper colours, the complete achievement of the defunct,
with all its exterior ornaments and additional marks or
badges of honour; and round the sides are placed the six¬
teen arms of the families from which he derives his descent,
as far back as the grandfather’s grandfather, as the proofs
of his gentility. They exhibit the armorial bearings of his
father and mother, his two grandmothers, his four great¬
grandmothers, and his eight great-grandmothers’ mothers ;
and if all these families have acquired a legal right to bear
arms, then the gentility of the deceased person must be ac¬
counted complete, but not otherwise. On the four corners
are placed mort-heads, and the initials of his name and titles
or designation ; and the black'iaterstices are powdered with
tears. if
Funerals of the nobility and gentry during the middle
ages were the means of displaying heraldry in all its pomp
and magnificence; and perhaps nothing contributed more
to such an exhibition of real heraldry than those occasions.
Funerals in those times, as regards the heraldic attributes,
and the marshalling the solerftnities observed at them, were
exclusively within the province of heralds, who attended
them, and took an official and prominent part in the cere¬
monies. The mourning costume and its decorations were
subjected to certain laws and regulations as affected rank
in the persons of the mourners. The number and dimen¬
sions of the funereal banners and pennons were likewise
subjected to express rules scrupulously maintained. The
nature and construction of the hearse (which was the large
timber erection in the church for the reception of the corpse
and the assembling of the principal mourners) also depended
upon the rank and condition of the defunct in its extent,
and in the number of escutcheons and lights with which it
was adorned. The heralds bore the shield and tabard of
arms of the deceased, his helmet1 and crest, and his sword
and spurs in solemn procession, which, with the banners
and pennons, were afterwards hung up over the grave, and
may still be seen remaining in many of our churches. At
the funeral obsequies of princes and nobles a wax effigy of the Heraldry,
deceased was arrayed in the robes and other insignia of dig- y ^ ^ y
nity, and laid on the top of the coffin. Some of these figures
are still preserved in the Abbey at W estminster. This cus¬
tom has the appearance of having been derived from thejtw
imaginum of the Romans. Great numbers of relations and
friends attended these solemnities, which, from their extent,
and the length of time they occupied (often several days),
must have occasioned no inconsiderable labour and expense.
Expensive entertainments were also given on these occa¬
sions ; and there are some curious remarks respecting the
feasting and degree of hospitality which took place, in the
records made by the heralds on these occasions. Some
idea of the magnificence of these funerals may be formed
even from the few relics which are still preserved by some
of the companies of London, who have in their possession
rich palls of cloth of gold magnificently embroidered with
curious devices and arms, which were used at the funerals of
the citizens.
Besides the attendance of the heralds upon these cere¬
monies, it also formed part of their official duty to record
the genealogical account of the family of the deceased,
together with their arms. These records form a very im¬
portant class of evidence of descent, and are deposited in
the Heralds’ College. Most of them are richly emblazoned
and engrossed upon vellum, and are technically called “ Fu¬
neral Certificates.” They afford minute evidence of the
births, marriages, and issue of the children and family of the
deceased, and are invaluable as possessing the nature and
character of legal evidence. Soon after the Revolution of
1688-9 the heralds ceased to attend the funerals of the
nobility and gentry, and their office in these respects is now
confined to the state funerals of the royal family, or of those
illustrious heroes whose funerals are conducted at the pub¬
lic expense.
Nearly all that is reserved for modern times of the he¬
raldic splendour of these funerals is the hatchment, descrip¬
tions of which have been given in this article. It is, how¬
ever, only the compendium of the heraldic honours paid to the
memory of the deceased in former times ; and, like its prede¬
cessors, finds a place over the tomb which covers his remains.
Thus, by archaeological researches, we have been enabled
to present a concise view of practical heraldry. If, in the
sixteenth century, the labours which were bestowed in
writing books, full of the purest inventions and the grossest
absurdities, had been directed into the paths of truth, much
more accessible then than now, heraldry would have dis¬
closed a history of events, of persons, and of kingdoms, which
is irretrievably lost. To the learning and study of modern
archaeologists we are indebted for some of the information,
which should have been afforded us by men who lived in
ages nearly approaching those when heraldry originated, and
who could have thrown a lustre instead of a mist upon many
incidents in the practice and science of heraldry. In this
article we have touched the principal points of the subject,
and have to confess our obligations to Meyrick’s Critical
Enquiry into Armour; Laing’s Ancient Scottish Seals;
Nicolas’s Orders of Knighthood, and his valuable contri¬
butions to the Society of Antiquaries; Boutell’s Monu¬
mental Brasses; Gough’s Sepulchral Monuments; and
the publications of various Archaeological Societies. The
illustration of many facts and dates has also been supplied
from records of the College of Arms in London.
(t. w. k.)
1 The plume of feathers usually carried at funerals at the present day is said to have succeeded to the carrying of the helmet in for¬
mer times.
342
HER
Herat
HERAT or Heraut (anciently Arid or Artacoana),
capital of Shah Mahmood’s state on the W. frontier of Af-
^erault ghanistan, 2700 feet above the sea level, 3 miles N. of the
Hury River, in a beautiful and fertile valley; N. Lat.
34. 22., E. Long. 62. 9.; 360 miles W. of Cabool. It is
entirely surrounded by an earthen mound 50 feet high, by
two trenches, and a ditch. From the mound rises a wall
25 feet high, and upwards of 100 bastions of unburnt brick.
At the N. end of the town is a strong citadel defended by
a ditch and massive towers. To the N. of the town are
the huge mound raised by Nadir Shah, and a little farther
the gorgeous ruins of the Moosullah of Imaum Reza. As
there is no drainage the town is extremely filthy, although
in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it was one of the
finest cities in the world.
Commercially, the position of Herat is important. It re¬
ceives shawls, indigo, sugar, spices, chintzes, muslins, bro¬
cades, scarfs, leather, and hides from Afghanistan ; tea,
sugar, porcelain, glass, silk, cotton, cloth, woollens, carpets,
and hardware from Persia, Russia, and Turkey. The Herat
carpets are famous. The annual revenue of Herat is esti¬
mated at perhaps L.l 00,000. It was unsuccessfully be¬
sieged by the Persians in 1838. Pop. less than 45,000.
HERAULT, a department in the S. of France, bounded
on the N.E. by Card, N.W. by Aveyron and Tarn, and S.
by Aude and the Gulf of Lyons. It formed part of the
old province of Languedoc, and has an area of 2444 square
miles ; between N. Lat. 43. 10. and 44., E. Long. 2. 30.
and 4. 10. Its greatest length is 84 miles, breadth 50.
About a third of the department consists of moorland,
heath, and common ; a fourth of arable land; a sixth of
vineyards ; and an eighth of wood.
The S. prolongation of the Cevennes Mountains forms
the N. boundary of the department, under the names of
Ganigues, Orbe, Espinous, and the Black Mountains. The
highest point is about 4250 feet above the sea-level. The
ridge forms the watershed between the waters of the Atlan¬
tic and the Mediterranean, and from it there flow the Vi-
dourle, Masson, Herault, Livron, and Orbe. Of these the
Herault, 80 miles long, is the chief, and gives name to the
department. 4 he Orbe forms the boundary between the
department and that of Gard.
I he high mountains of the N. are partly barren, partly
wooded. In the extensive plains of the centre the vine
and ohve flourish, and in the S. grain is produced. The soil
of the N. is chalky clay, of the centre light gravel, and of
the b. a strong rich loam. The “ garrigues” are consider¬
able portions of waste land, covered with heath, shrubs, &c.
Mont St Loup, Couques, and St Thiberg, the first of which
is JoO feet high, are extinct volcanic cones.
The greater part of the S. coast consists of a series of
salt maishes, separated from the sea by a narrow strip of
land. The Marsh of Thau, the largest, stretches from the
mouth of the Herault, and communicates, through the Marsh
of Frontignan, with that of Mangino, on the E. frontier of
the department. The Canal du Midi, after stretching about
30 miles into the department, terminates at Agde. From
Cette the navigation is kept up through the marshes by the
canals of Agde and Radelle to Aigues Mortes. The coast
line of the department is 66 miles long. Besides the canal
navigation the department has seven national roads, one of
winch is the main route between Paris and Spain ; also a
railroad joins Cette, Montpellier, and Nismes.
he climate generally is warm, dry, and healthy, except
near the marshes which cause agues and fevers. The pre¬
vailing winds are N.E. and S.E. ^
Fish abound in the salt marshes. The vegetable produc¬
tions comprise aromatic and dyeing plants; the Ilex oak
prevails in the forest. I he mineral wealth of the depart¬
ment is considerable. Mines of lignite, coal, iron, copper,
and lead are wrought. It produces magnificent blocks of
her
marble; also alabaster, gypsum, granite, sandstone, potters’ Herbelot
c,ay, alum; and the marshes supply France with salt.
Wine and oil constitute the chief agricultural wealth of Herbert,
the department. The red wines of St Georges, Viragues,
St Christol, and the white wines of Frontignan and Lunel,
are held in high estimation. I he annual quantity of wine
produced in Herault is more than 45,000,000 gallons. Of
this a fifth is consumed by the department, a fifth is ex¬
ported as wine, and the remainder converted into spirits for
commerce. Considerable quantities of wheat and oats are
grown; also mulberries, pomegranates, figs, raisins and other
dried fruits, and olives, are prepared for exportation. The
department rears 10,000 horses, and upwards of half a mil¬
lion of sheep.
Woollen, cotton, and silk factories are established in the
department. There are also paper-mills, distilleries, and
factories for verdigris and other chemical substances.
Herault is divided into 4 arrondissements, 36 cantons,
and 326 communes, as follows :—
Arrondissements. Cantons.
1. Montpellier 14
2. Bezier  12
3. Lodere   5
4. St Pons    5
Communes.
113
97
72
44
Pop. in 1837.
148,649
134,605
56,700
49,332
36 326 389,286
The capital is Montpellier.
HERBELOT, Barthelemi d’, a celebrated French
Oiientalist, was born at Faris in 1625. At a very early age
he gave himself up to the study of the Eastern tongues;
and, to perfect his acquaintance with them, travelled into
Italy, where he enjoyed the friendship of the cardinals Bar-
berini and Grimaldi. On returning to Paris he obtained,
through the munificence of Fouquet, a pension, of which
he was afterwards deprived on the fall of that minister. He
was compensated, however, with the office of Oriental inter¬
preter to the king. After some years he again visited Italy,
and was received with especial honour by Frederick II. of
Tuscany, who presented him with a large number of valu¬
able Oriental MSS., and tried to attach him to his court.
D’Herbelot, however, returned to France at the urgent
solicitation of Colbert, who, on the death of Pierre Au¬
vergne, made him Syriac professor in the College-Royal.
13 Hei belot died, after a short illness, at Paris, December
8, 1695.
1 he great work by which D’Herbelot’s fame is still pre¬
served is his Biblioiheque Orientale, Paris, 1697. This
wrork, which was published two years after the author’s
death by Galland, occupied D’Herbelot during the greater
part pf his life. It is based on the immense Arabic dic¬
tionary of Hadjy Khalfa, of which, in fact, it is an abridged
translation; but it also comprises the substance of a vast
number of other Turkish and Arabic Encyclopaedias. The
erudition it displays is boundless, but the field embraced
is far too vast for the labours of a single man, and many
errors have consequently crept into the work. With all his
learning D’Herbelot seems to have been deficient in criti¬
cal sagacity. He died, too, before seeing his work through
the press, and there is consequently a want of minute
curacy in many of its details, and of harmony between the
various parts of the work. Besides the Biblioiheque Orien-
tale, D’Herbelot wrote several works, such as an Antho¬
logy, and an Arabic, Persian, and Turkish Lexicon, none
of which, however, have been published. The Bibliotheque
has been twice reprinted, first at Maestricht, fob, 1776; and
again at the Hague, in 4 vols. 4to, 1777-99. The latter
of these two editions is enriched with the contributions of
Schultens and Reiske. A German translation of it appeared
at Halle, in 4 vols. 8vo, 1785-90; and an abridgement by
Desessarts, at Paris, in 1782.
HERBER F, Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, born
at Montgomery Castle in 1581, was educated at Oxford;
HERBERT. 343
Herbert. He was presented to Queen Elizabeth in 1600, and was
made Knight of the Bath on the accession of James I. In
1608 he visited France, where his high sense of honour,
along with his courage in a duelling age, opened up to him
a ready means of distinguishing himself. In 1610 he served
under Maurice, Prince of Orange, at the siege of Juliers,
where he displayed a courage bordering on rashness. In
1614 he set out again to fight under the same leader against
the Spaniards. Thereafter he went to Italy, and returning,
was entrusted by the Duke of Savoy with the project of
conducting 4000 Languedoc Protestants into Piedmont.
This having been forbidden by Marie de Medicis, Herbert
was arrested, but immediately set at liberty. Whilst pre¬
paring himself for new exploits he was appointed in 1616
ambassador extraordinary to France by James I., for the
purpose of renewing the alliance between England and
France. He provoked the determined hostility of the Duke
de Luynes, Constable of France, who sent his brother to
the English court to complain of Herbert. He was recalled
in consequence; but on the death of De Luynes he was
re-appointed and invested with still greater powers. In
1625 he was created peer of Ireland, under the title of
Baron of Castle-Island. In 1631 he was created baron of
England, under the title of Lord Herbert of Cherbury.
His castle was destroyed during the civil wars of Charles I.
He died in London on the 20th August 1648, aged sixty-
seven.
Besides being a brave soldier and an accomplished gen¬
tleman, Herbert is to be ranked as an acute and original
thinker. While at Paris in 1624 he published his treatise,
De Ventate prout distinguitur a revelations, a verisimili, a
possibili, et a falso. Professing to have studied carefully
the writings of many authors, sacred and profane, he de¬
clares himself unable to arrive at a complete notion of truth.
He accordingly turns to the examination of self. Against
absolute dogmatism he holds it as a matter of tact that we
do not know all things, while against absolute scepticism he
holds that we do know some things. Between these ex¬
tremes truth is to be found. Still farther, we are endowed
with certain faculties which enable us to undertake the
* search after truth. These faculties, then, must be carefully
examined as to their laws and their relation with objects.
After this must come the work of separating the true from
the probable, the probable from the possible, and the pos¬
sible from the false. Above all, credulity is to be guarded
against. Like Des Cartes he starts from consciousness.
As the result of his investigation, he considers the mind not
a tabula rasa, but a book closed ; and the action of the ex¬
ternal world becomes the occasion of the opening of the
book. Hence material objects, as only the occasion, are
not the cause of true knowledge. Herein his system is
substantially the same as Kant’s. Starting with seven
common notions or maxims which he considers will be ad¬
mitted by all who seek truth, he proceeds to make a four¬
fold division of truth :—1st, Truth in the agreement of a
thing with itself; 2d, Truth in the agreement between the
appearance of a thing and the thing itself; 3rf, Truth in the
agreement between the conception of our faculties and the
objects; and4^A, Truth in the necessary agreement between
these different kinds of conformity. Of these four the most
important is the last, or truth of intelligence, which is inde¬
pendent of the senses. When sound, both bodily and men¬
tally, these truths impress us as if they came clear from
heaven to enable our minds to decide regarding what passes
before us in the external world.
Herbert divides the faculties of knowing into four,—the
natural instinct of reason, internal sense, external sense, and
reasoning. The instinct of the reason is that faculty by
which we seize “ common notions.” Internal sense is two¬
fold, it informs us what is passing within ourselves, as well
as what are our relations to the world. External sense
makes us cognizant of the form, position, and constitution Herbert,
of external objects. By the reasoning or discursive faculty
we seize the points of difference or agreement, of opposition
or harmony of concepts. Defective as this fourfold division
is, Herbert frequently confounds the instinct of the reason,
the internal sense, and the discursive faculty.
In turning to revelation, Herbert lays down five maxims
or common notions, which form the foundation of all true
religion :—\st, There is a Supreme Being; 2d, Man should
worship this Being; 3d, Virtue is the principal part of this
worship ; Ath, Repentance expiates faults; 5th, There must
be a future state in which virtue is rewarded and vice
punished. What is false does not exist se. Truth is
the basis not only of truth, but even of error. Error is
truth incomplete, obscured, mutilated. His Tractatus de
Veritate, &c., was republished in 1645, along with a new
one, De religions Gentilium errorumque apud eos causis.
He wrote also an account of the reign of Henry VIII. His
Autobiography was not published till 1764. Some posthu¬
mous poems of no great merit were also published.
His views, both in philosophy and religion, encountered
very great opposition during his life. Hobbes, Locke, and
Gassendi attacked the one ; and as to the other, the theo¬
logians of the period condemned him as the leader of the
Freethinkers. However, he professed great respect for re¬
ligion, and regarded Christianity as the most beautiful of
religions. It is not a little remarkable, that notwithstanding
his objections to a partial revelation he professes most
seriously to have had his doubts settled as to the publica¬
tion of his treatise De Veritate, &c., by praying for a divine
intimation, which he declares was granted him.
Herbert, George, to whose name the epithet of “Holy”
is always attached, as “judicious” to that of Hooker, and
“ moral” to that of Gower, was a younger brother of Lord
Herbert of Cherbury, and was born at the castle of Mont¬
gomery, in Wales, April 3, 1593. After leaving West¬
minster, where his public education began, he went to
Trinity College, Cambridge. In course of time he became
a fellow of his college, and in 1619 public orator to the
University. Donne and Wotton were his intimate friends;
and Lord Bacon is said to have attached so much import¬
ance to his literary judgment, that he never published any¬
thing which had not first been approved by him. With
these high connections he looked forward to court prefer¬
ment, and indeed obtained from King James a sinecure of
L.120 a-year, that had once been held by Sir Philip Sid¬
ney. “ With this,” says his biographer, Izaak Walton,
“ and his annuity, and the advantages of his college and of
his oratorship, he enjoyed his genteel humour for clothes
and court-like company, and seldom looked towards Cam¬
bridge unless the king were there, but then he never
failed.” But Herbert’s hopes were dashed by the death of
the king, and to maintain himself he entered the church.
In 1626 he was made first prebend of Leighton Bromswold,
or Layton Ecclesia, and four years later rector of Bemer-
ton, in Wiltshire, where he spent the remainder of his life.
Before entering on the duties of his parish, he married, and
with his wife made a solemn renunciation of the frivolities
of the gay world for which, even after taking orders, he
seems to have always retained a hankering. Once fairly
installed, he became the model of a country clergyman, and
laboured with a truly apostolical zeal and self-devotion.
His prose work, the Country Parson, is a faithful picture
of what he regarded as his ministerial duties, and the best
way of performing them. But his constitution soon broke
down under the combined influences of over-work and a
quotidian ague, which afflicted him during the later years of
his life. He died in 1632, before he had reached his fortieth
year.
Herbert’s principal work is entitled The Temple ; Sa¬
cred Poems and Private Ejaculations, which was not pub-
344 HER
Herbert. lished till after his death. In the course of a few years
after his death, according to Walton, it was six or seven
times reprinted ; and by the time that the old angler came
to write Herbert’s Life, in the reign of Charles II., twenty
thousand copies of it had been sold. It is generally ranked
in that school of poetry known as the “ Metaphysical,” of
which Herbert’s contemporaries, Donne and Quarles, were
in that age the most noted examples. The odes, hymns,
and meditations of which it is composed, though often
dashed by the quaint conceits, far-fetched analogies, and
ridiculous imagery of that school, yet breathe a spirit of
melting pathos, and saintly devotion, set off by so many
gems of the finest fancy, that their author still holds his
ground among the best religious poets of England. A
stanza or two from the ode on “ Virtue,” will afford an illus¬
tration of Herbert’s best manner :—
“ Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright,
The bridal of the earth and sky,
The dews shall weep thy fall to-night;
For thou must die.
“ Sweet rose! whose hue, angry and brave
Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye ;
Thy root is ever in its grave,
For thou must die.”
Herbert has been likened to Keble, the author of the
Christian Year. The comparison is a just one. Both
breathe a common spirit of saintly piety, and both love to
present the belief and offices of their church in their most
alluring and amiable aspect. The quality of the genius
displayed in both is very similar, but in the matter of taste
the older poet compares but ill with his modern anti-type.
Herbert’s chief prose work bears the title of The Priest to
the Temple. Its purport is quite similar to that of the
Country Parson.
There have been many editions of Herbert’s poetical works.
One of the most splendid is that of Nisbet, London, 1856.
Herbert, Sir Thomas, an English traveller of the
seventeenth century, was a scion of the house of Pembroke,
and was born at York about 1606. He was educated at
Jesus College, Oxford, and afterwards at Trinity College,
Cambridge. On quitting the university in 1621, he was
attached, through the influence of the head of his family, to
the English embassy which Charles I. was at that time
sending to the Shah of Persia. Arriving at Ormus he tra¬
velled overland to the Caspian Sea, where the Shah hap¬
pened to be. Though at first cordially received, he soon
found it necessary to retrace his steps. Leaving Casbin with
the survivors of the party, he returned to Ispahan, reached
Bagdad, sailed down the Tigris, and then coasted along the
Indian shores to Surat. Thence he set out for the Eastern
Archipelago, visiting Java, the Moluccas, &c., and returned
to England after an absence of four years. On his arrival
he found his old patron dead, and as his hopes of prefer¬
ment through his means were at an end, he set off to the
continent, and on again returning home, married and ap¬
plied himself to study. When the Civil War broke out he
sided with the Parliament; and when Charles was delivered
up to his own subjects by the Scots, Herbert was one of
those whom he selected to be always near his person. For
two years he waited with the most devoted tenderness on
the royal prisoner, and at last attended him to the scaffold. In
his Threnodia Carolina, published in 1678, Herbert has
given a minute history of the life of the king during that
period; and Charles II. showed his sense of Herbert’s con¬
duct by making him a baronet, “ to requite,” say the letters
patent, “ the good and loyal services rendered by him to
the king our father during the last years of his life.” Her¬
bert died in his native city, March 1, 1682.
By far his most important work is that which he pub¬
lished on his return from the East, under the title of Some
Yeares Travels into Africa, and Asia the Great, especially
HER
in the Possessions of the Persian Monarchy, &c., London, Hercula-
1634. Herbert was a man of learning, and well versed in neum.
the histories of the countries he describes ; but he overlays
his narrative with a useless display of irrelevant knowledge,
and with digressions upon countries which he never visited.
These faults are peculiarly observable in the later editions
of the book, and, it is suspected, may be the work of an
editor. Herbert’s own share in the work has an air of
great truthfulness, and contains much valuable matter not
readily accessible elsewhere. Till the appearance of Sir
John Chardin’s Travels, it was regarded as the best authority
on everything connected with Persia. It was translated
into Dutch by Jeremiah Van Vliet, Dordrecht, 1658 ; and
from the Dutch into French by Wicquefort, who complains,
and with good reason, of the stupid mistakes and mutila¬
tions perpetrated by the Dutchman.
HERCULANEUM, in Ancient Geography, a city on
the sea coast of Campania, at the foot of Mount Vesuvius,
about five miles S.E. of Naples. Its name recalls the tra¬
dition that ascribes its foundation to Hercules, which, though
of course fabulous, yet indicates a very ancient origin for the
town. It is most likely that Herculaneum was founded by the
Pelasgi, and that at the time when it fell under the Samnite
dominion, its inhabitants were a mixed Pelasgic and Oscan
race, with a considerable infusion of Greek blood from the
neighbouring Greek colonies of Naples and Cumse. Under
the Romans it never became a place of any great import¬
ance, and plays almost no part in history. It sided with
the allies during the Social War, but was easily reduced.
Its healthy situation, and the beauty of its environs, at¬
tracted many rich Romans to its neighbourhood; but
even at the moment of the terrible catastrophe which has
invested it with such a tragic interest, it appears to have
been only a second-rate municipal town. The eruption
of Vesuvius, which destroyed Herculaneum and Pompeii,
took place a.d. 79; but 16 years before that date, both
cities had been nearly destroyed by an earthquake so ter¬
rible as to have attracted special attention from the histo¬
rians of Rome. In the great eruption, Herculaneum,
being at the very foot of the mountain, seems to have
been the first sufferer ; and though the destruction of Pom¬
peii was complete, yet that of its fellow-sufferer was un¬
doubtedly more overwhelming. The depth of scoriae and
ashes under which Pompeii is buried is nowhere more than
12 or 14 feet, whereas Herculaneum lies at the depth of from
70 to 100 feet beneath the actual surface of the ground.
The enveloping crust of the latter town seems to have been
subjected to the action of water as it fell in molten showerson
the place ; for it is a hard well-compacted mass, very difficult
to penetrate, and quite different from the loose scoriae
and ashes that form the grave of Pompeii. An accident
led to the discovery of Herculaneum in modern times.
In 1706, a peasant, in digging a well for the Prince
d’Elbceuf, who had a villa in the neighbourhood, came
upon some remains of antiquity, and prosecuting his re¬
searches, was rewarded with still greater success. But the
matter reached the ears of the Neapolitan government,
and all further excavation was prohibited. Matters remained
in this state till 1738, when the search was recommenced
by Don Carlos of Spain, who had succeeded to the throne
of the Two Sicilies. The work was entrusted to a Spanish
engineer, who carried it on with the ignorant recklessness
of a Vandal, and allowed the destruction of many priceless
monuments of ancient art. Since his day, however, con¬
siderable progress has been made, though the process of
excavation has often been stopped from time to time from
the ruin which it threatens to the towns of Portici and
Resina, which stand immediately above the ruins of the
buried city. Yet the whole extent of the explored parts is
calculated to amount to no more than six hundred yards in
length, and three hundred in breadth; but as we have al-
H E R C U L A N E U M.
345
ready stated, many of the excavations have been again
filled up with the rubbish from other parts, which could
not be removed to the surface of the earth without great
labour and expense.
Of the buildings as yet laid bare, the most interesting is
the theatre, which seems to have possessed accommodation
for 8000 spectators. It seems to have had two principal
entrances, from twenty to thirty long rows of seats, and
seven passages called vomitoria, for the entrance and exit
of the people. The whole building was embellished with
the varied ornaments of architecture. The flooring and
pillars were of fine marble of different hues. The walls
were adorned with paintings; within the precincts of the
theatre were found many statues ; and over the main en¬
trance stood a triumphal car of gilt bronze with horses at¬
tached to it.
Near the theatre stood a splendid basilica, from the inner
walls of which were taken the largest pieces of painting,
engraved in the first volume of the Antichita d’Ercolano,
published by order of his Sicilian Majesty. It was erected,
according to an inscription, at the expense of the same
Nonius Balbus who rebuilt the walls and gates of the town.
Besides this basilica, another temple has been discovered,
and also the forum, some public buildings, and a number
of private dwelling-houses. The forum had a colonnade,
and the walls were partly cased in marble and partly painted.
The private houses were small, irregular, for the most part
built of brick, and one storey high. Their walls were
generally covered with paintings, many of which have been
cut out and removed to the royal museum at Naples. The
streets that have been cleared were straight and paved with
lava, like the streets of Naples at the present day. One of
these was above thirty feet in width, with raised foot-paths
on each side, on which were found broken columns which
had evidently formed part of a colonnade. In another part
of the excavations the workmen came to a vault with niches,
in each of which was found a vase containing ashes, and
over every niche, the name of some person coarsely painted
in red letters. The vault, which was twelve feet by nine,
was destitute of all decoration, and was probably the pri¬
vate burying-place of a family.
The treasures discovered at Herculaneum were originally depo¬
sited in the Royal Museum at Portici, but have been now removed
to the Museo Borbonico of Naples. They comprise specimens of
every department of art, domestic articles, and literary remains.
The greatest interest, however, centred in a library containing
nearly 2000 MSS., among which it was hoped might have been found
some of the lost masterpieces of ancient genius. A careful scrutiny
by the most eminent scientific men of the day, however, proved that
it contained nothing of any material consequence. The process by
which this unprofitable result was established is described in the
following terms by Sir Humphrey Davy, who contributed to esta¬
blish it:—
“ The appearances of different rolls were extremely various. They
were of all shades of colours, from a light chestnut-brown to a deep
black; some externally were of a glossy black-like jet, which the
superintendants called varnished ; several contained the umbilicus,
or rolling stick, in the middle, converted into dense charcoal.
I saw two or three specimens of papyri which had the remains of
characters on both sides, but in general one side only was written
upon. In their texture they were as various as in their colours ;
the pale brown ones in general presented only a kind of skeleton of
a leaf, in which the earthy matter was nearly in as large a propor¬
tion as the vegetable matter; and they were light, and the layers
easily separated from each other. A number of darker brown ones,
which, from a few characters discovered in opening them, appeared
to be Latin manuscripts, were agglutinated, as it were, into one
mass; and when they were opened by introducing a needle between
the layers, spots or lines of charcoal appeared, where the folds had
been, as if the letters had been washed out by water, and the mat¬
ter of which they were composed deposited on the folds. Among the
black manuscripts a very few fragments presented leaves which
separated from each other with considerable facility, and such had
been for the most part operated upon ; but in general, the manu¬
scripts of this class were hard, heavy, and coherent, and contained
fine volcanic dust within their folds. Some few of the black and
VOL. XI.
darker brown manuscripts, which were loose in their texture, were Hercula-
almost entirely decayed, and exhibited on their surface a quantity neum.
of brown powder.” These venerable volumes were of a cylindrical v r  
shape, more or less perfect,—generally about a foot long, and made
up of the thin leaves of the papyrus plant, which were gummed
together at the ends, and when thus joined formed one continuous
sheet, which extended sometimes to a length of forty feet and up¬
wards. These leaves seem to have been rarely inscribed on more
than one side. The manuscript was written in a succession of pa¬
rallel columns of from two to four inches in breadth, and at a dis¬
tance of about an inch from each other. W hen completed, the en¬
tire sheet or volume was generally attached to an umbilicus or
w'ooden cylinder, round which it was rolled.
Having got possession of this literary treasure, the next inquiry was
how it was to be unsealed and opened up so as to be accessible to the
learned. This was found to be a work of the greatest delicacy and diffi¬
culty ; and the earlier attempts were attended with no success, but is¬
sued only in the injury or entire destruction of a considerable number
of manuscripts. Among other methods tried was one suggested by
Mazzocchi, an Italian of great learning,who was afterwards employed
in endeavouring to supply the defects found in these recovered vo¬
lumes, and in preparing them for publication. He proposed^that
the papyri should be placed under a glass bell, and exposed to the
sun, in the hope that when the moisture which they still contained
was dissipated by the solar heat, they would open up of themselves.
But the experiment was a failure. The heat of the sun did indeed
extract the moisture, but at the same time it either obliterated the
writing, or caused the ink to spread so much that the letters became
quite illegible. When thus perplexed with difficulties which they
knew not how to vanquish, the work was next entrusted to Antonio
Piaggi, a man of experience in the handling of ancient manuscripts,
and a very skilful copyist, who was employed at the Vatican, and
under his superintendence and direction the experiments were car¬
ried on with much success.
With the greatest ingenuity, and the most laudable patience and
perseverance, Piaggi applied himself to the task assigned him , and
as he knew of no existing apparatus that would serve his purpose,
he constructed a suitable machine for himself, which was found
well adapted for the end in view, and enabled him to unfold many
of the papyri. _ ...
The difficulties encountered in carrying on this work were im¬
mense ; and the progress made was so slow, that one is astonished
that it was not soon given up in despair. Some of the manu¬
scripts were so brittle, that they fell to pieces in the hands of the
operator. The leaves of others adhered so tenaciously, that in
separating the upper coil of the roll from that beneath it, so many
breaks were often made in the disengaged leaf that it had the ap¬
pearance of a tattered rag full of holes, and was so much destroyed,
that after much care and labour had been expended, it was con¬
sidered useless to proceed with it. And even when all succeeded
well, the unrolling of a small portion of a manuscript was often
the work of days. Yet amid these and other difficulties Piaggi per¬
severed with admirable patience and skill, till he had succeeded in
opening up a large number of the manuscripts. And as each suc¬
cessive part was unrolled, he took a copy of it most accurately and
beautifully, with all its lacuna: and defects just as he found them,
and these facsimiles were sent to Mazzocchi and his learned asso¬
ciates, that they might restore them as nearly as they could to their
original completeness, and present them to the public. But the zeal
of Piaggi was not met by a corresponding zeal on the part of his
coadjutors and the Neapolitan government. His part of the work
was soon accomplished; but it was not till after a wearisome delay
of forty years that a specimen of these Herculanean manuscripts
was published at Naples in 1793. And the work when received was
little fitted to reward the patience and satisfy the expectations of the
learned. It was a dull treatise on music, by Philodemus, an epicu¬
rean, in which he endeavours to show that music exercises an inju¬
rious influence on a nation, and ought therefore to be discouraged.
Soon after the publication of this volume, proposals were made
by King George IV., then Prince of Wales, to bear the expense of
opening and publishing some of the manuscripts. For this end he
gave large sums from his private purse, procured grants from Par¬
liament, and made all the arrangements that seemed to him most
fitted to promote the success of this literary enterprise. In 1800,
the Rev. John Hayter, the chaplain of the prince, was appointed to
proceed to Naples, and devote himself to this work; and from the
beginning of 1802 till the French invasion in 1806, when he with¬
drew to Sicily, it was diligently and successfully carried on. Be¬
fore Mr Hayter’s arrival only eighteen manuscripts had been un¬
rolled, but in the Report which he makes to his Royal Highness of
the progress made by him before leaving Naples, he says—“ More
than two hundred papyri had been opened wholly or in part during
my stay at Naples. The experience of every day had added infinite
facility and skill, with accurate and secure but rapid dexterity, to
2
346
HERCULANEUM.
each unfolder and copyist. Hence, with these increasing advan¬
tages, every one of the remaining fifteen hundred, or as many of
them as could be opened would be opened and copied, it was rea¬
sonably and universally calculated, within the space of six years at
the most.” Of the manuscripts that were unfolded, facsimile copies
of ninety-four were sent to the Prince of Wales, who presented
them to the University of Oxford. They are both in Greek and
Latin, but many of them consist only of two or three pages, and are
by unknown authors. Even when they are of greater extent, they
are treatises of little value, and by authors of no distinction. In
1824-25, two volumes of these issued from the Clarendon Press at
Oxford. They contain parts of several works by Philodemus, On
Vices, On Poems, On Rhetoric, and on Vices and their Opposite Virtues •
a work of Demetrius On Poems, and another On Anger without the
author’s name. These are all Greek manuscripts, and are printed
exactly as they appeared when they were unrolled, with all their
imperfections, and without note or comment.
Other gentlemen besides Mr Hayter were employed under the
prince’s patronage in experimenting on the Herculaneum papyri,
and among these Dr Sickler of Hildburghausen. This individual
pretended to be skilful in opening them, and without sufficient in¬
quiry into his qualifications, he and his family were brought to
London, and this delicate task was intrusted to one who proved him¬
self totally unfit for it. The experiments were an entire failure,
and resulted in the loss of several hundred pounds and the com¬
plete destruction of some finely-preserved papyri which his royal
highness had procured and put into his hands. Hut the prince was
not easily discouraged; and it is much to his honour that for so long
a series of years, in the face of many difficulties, and at great per¬
sonal expense, he prosecuted this undertaking with unflagging zeal.
At length he succeeded in securing the active co-operation of a gen¬
tleman who was very zealous in the cause, and at the same time of
great eminence both in regard to talent and scientific attainments.
In 1818 Sir Humphrey Davy was commissioned by the Prince to go
to Naples, and try what his knowledge of science could accomplish
in devising new and more successful methods of unfolding and
bringing to light the literary remains of the Herculanean library.
Previous to his departure from England on this mission, Sir
Humphrey had examined such portions of the papyri as he could
obtain, and after subjecting them to a variety of chemical ex¬
periments and tests, was led to form a judgment regarding them
quite different from what had been hitherto generally entertained.
The usual opinion was, that the charred appearance of the papyri
was to be ascribed to the action of fire. Prom this view Sir Humph¬
rey dissented on scientific grounds. But as the supply of papyri
in England was insufficient to allow him to carry on his investiga¬
tions to a satisfactory extent, he readily acceded to the proposal
now made to him by the Prince of Wales to proceed to Naples, and
complete his experiments on this more ample field.
In the report which, on his return, was read to the Royal Society
of London, and published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1821
Sir Humphrey gives a narrative of what he saw and did at Naples
in carrying out the purpose of his mission. “ The persons,” he says,
“ who have the care of the manuscripts found at Herculaneum state
that their original number was 1696, and that 431 have been ope¬
rated upon, or presented to foreign governments, so that 1265 ought
to remain; but amongst these, by far the larger proportion are
small fragments, or specimens so injured and mutilated that there
is not the least chance of recovering any portion of their contents«
and when I first examined the rolls in detail in January 1819, it did
not appear to me that more than from 80 to 120 offered proper sub¬
jects for experiments; and this estimate, as my researches pro¬
ceeded, appeared much too high. These manuscripts had been ob¬
jects of interest for seventy years; the best had long ago been ope-
rated upon, and those remaining had not only undergone injuries
from time, but likewise from other causes, such as transport, rude
examination, and mutilations, for the purpose of determining if they
contained characters.” J
’a "Hu*1® reS1?lt °f his exPeriments, he gives his opinion that the
idea that attributes these different appearances of the MSS. to the
action of fire, more or less intense, is entirely erroneous, that part of
Herculaneum being under a bed of tufa formed of sand, volcanic
asnes, stones, and dust, cemented by the operation of water, probably
‘‘“tw «!,nf-wate' “ And there is £reat reason t0 conclude,” he says,
_ ‘|lfferent s.tates of the manuscripts depend upon a gradual
p ocess of decomposition; the loose chestnut ones probably not hav-
Tn?ntfl n JeftHvbUimerely changed V the reaction of their ele-
Sack ld- H H 0Peration of a small quantity of air; the
without anH r.8 7 Unro11’ Probably remained in a moist state
earthv 10 u ^ wateri and the dense ones, containing
not nnlv r ’ H Pr°bab^y been acted on by warm water, which
likewise d ri wv0 H® f°ld3 earthy matter suspended in it, but
likewise dissolved the starch and gluten used in preparing the pa¬
pyrus, and the glue of the ink, and distributed them through the
substance of the manuscripts; and some of these rolls had probably
been strongly compressed when moist in different positions.
The operation of fire is not at all necessary for producing such
an imperfect carbonization of vegetable matter as that displayed by
the manuscripts : thus, at Pompeii, which was covered by a shower
of ashes that must have been cold, as they fell at a distance of seven
or eight miles from the crater of Vesuvius, the wood of the houses
is uniformly found converted into charcoal; yet the colours on the
walls, most of which would have been destroyed or altered by heat,
are perfectly fresh ; and where papyri have been found in these
houses, they have appeared in the form of white ashes, as of burnt
paper; an effect produced by the slow action of the air penetrating
through the loose ashes, and which has been impeded or prevented
in Herculaneum by the tufa, which, as it were, has hermetically
sealed up the town and prevented any decay, except such as occurs
in the spontaneous decomposition of vegetable substances, exposed
to the limited operation of water and air, for instance, peat and
Bovey coal. The results of the action of heat upon the different
specimens of the papyri, proved likewise that they had never before
been exposed to any considerable degree of temperature.” The opi¬
nion of Sir Humphrey Davy has not been universally acquiesced in.
While he maintains that the papyri of Herculaneum are not car¬
bonized, others maintain with equal confidence that they are now
complete charcoal, such as is formed by heat only, and tell us that
a fragment of their substance burns readily, like common charcoal,
with a creeping combustion, without flame and with a slight vege¬
table smell, whereas Bovey coal exhibits a considerable flame.
During the two months that he was actively employed in expe¬
riments on the papyri at Naples, he succeeded in partially unrolling
23 manuscripts, from which fragments of writing were obtained,
and in examining about 120 others, which, however, were too im¬
perfect to afford hope of success.
I rom time to time volumes have appeared, giving to the world
such relics of ancient philosophy and literature as were recovered
from Herculaneum, but they were either so mutilated and fragment¬
ary, or possessed of so little intrinsic merit, that their acquisition has
afforded little satisfaction. In addition to the manuscripts published
at Oxford, there have been printed some parts of a Latin poem,
supposed to be by Rabirius; two books, the second and the eleventh
of Epicurus, on Nature; some writings by Poly stratus and Matra-
dorus; and several other works of the same Philodemus, whose
treatise on music was the first Herculanean manuscript that was
published.
These manuscripts, which, with the exception of the Latin poem
just mentioned, are all in Greek,are contained in eight splendid folio
volumes, that have issued from the Royal Press of Naples at irregular
intervals, between the years 1793 and 1844. These volumes contain
not only carefully executed fac-similes of the unrolled manuscripts,
but also give the conjectural readings of the lacunas, with a transla¬
tion and copious notes. As a specimen of the Roman characters, we
take the following from Paderni:—
N’AlfERlVS-DVLC
D£NYC\)RIS-CRVD£
The following from the last column of the Essay on Music, by
Philodemus, will serve as a specimen of the Greek manuscripts:—
Hercula¬
neum
„ II
Hercules.
4>tAO AHMOY
nepiMOYCIKH
PA 1 A/ON TAG TOCAYTATO1
ArYA/ eiPH k^c rrpocATr/v*
CrK€ XeiPHK A C» ai ATGIN Al
MHIVANAeONTGOCO XAPINf
IWeiMJTlOANOT TOCAYTcOA/
Besides these volumes devoted to the elucidation of the MSS.,
there is another series descriptive of the antiquities. They are en¬
titled Le Antichita d’Rrcolano, and, besides descriptive letterpress,
give beautiful representations of the paintings, statues, busts, vases,
and other works of art found within the buried city. Complete sets
of these valuable works may now be found in the principal public
libraries of Great Britain. ^ r
HERCULES, the Latinized form of Heracles, one of
the most famous heroes of the Greek mythology. He was
HER
Hercules the son of Jupiter and the Theban Alcmena, the grand-
|| daughter of Perseus; but his reputed father was Amphi-
Herder. try0n of Mycenae, who having accidently killed Electryon,
V—^ king of that city, was obliged to fly for refuge to Thebes.
There Hercules was born and brought up, and there he
performed the renowned exploits of his infancy and youth,^
such as the strangling of the snakes, and the slaughter of
the lion of Mount Cithaeron. A trick of the goddess Juno
condemned the young hero to the service of his kinsman
Eurystheus, who, at once jealous and afraid of him, tried to
procure his death, by appointing him a series of almost im¬
possible exploits to perform. These, known as the twelve
labours of Hercules, need only be recapitulated : the
slaughter of the Nemean lion, the conquest of the Lernaean
hydra, the capture of the golden-horned stag of Ceryneia,
the combat with the Erymanthian boar, the cleaning of the
stables of Augeas, the destruction of the Stymphalian birds,
the capture of the Cretan bull, the capture of the carni¬
vorous mares of the Thracian Diomede, the successful
theft of the girdle of Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons, the
slaughter of Geryon and the capture of his oxen, the find¬
ing of the golden apples of the Hesperides, and the fetch¬
ing up of Cerberus from the lower world. The other
numerous exploits of Hercules it is hardly necessary to re¬
capitulate—such as his expedition against Troy, and after¬
wards against Lacedaemon, his slaughter of the centaur Nes-
sus, and his co-operation with the gods against the giants—
or to do more than allude to his self-sought death on the
funeral pyre of Mount Oita. The myth of Hercules is
regarded by scholars as of purely Greek origin and develop¬
ment ; though some of the deeds attributed to the hero
have evidently been engrafted on the original story from
some Oriental religion. The idea of Hercules, essentially
the same in the Roman mythology as in the Greek, is that
of force—that physical and mental power which enables
men and communities to crush under foot all the obstacles
and difficulties which nature and fate throw in their way,
as they struggle onwards and upwards to a higher state of
existence. (The best accounts of the myth of Hercules
are given by Muller in his Dorians, and by Buttmann, in his
Mythologusi)
Hercules, Pillars of. See Gibraltar.
HERCYNIA SILVA. See Harz.
HERDER, Johann Gottfried yon, was born in Moh-
rungen, East Prussia, on the 25th of August 1/44. His
father, Gottfried Herder, kept in that town a female school,
and performed some of the more servile duties connected
with public worship in the Polish church. He was an earnest
man, with a strong sense of duty, and so relied on for sound¬
ness of judgment, that his neighbours were accustomed to
repair to him in matters of difficulty and dispute.
Johann received his early education in the town school,
which was conducted by a teacher proverbial for his aus¬
terity. In school and out of school he was the most dili¬
gent of pupils—carrying his books with him wherever
he went, and laying them aside with reluctance even at
meals. If, in passing through the town, he noticed a book
lying in a window, he forthwith borrowed it. M hen fifteen
years of age he was employed as amanuensis by the pas¬
tor of Mohrungen. Considering the narrow means of his
parents the pastor at first dissuaded him from study.
ing chanced, however, to enter Herder’s bedroom one night,
and finding that the youth had been in the habit of paying
nocturnal visits to his library, and occupying himself with
the spoils till dawn, he encouraged him in his studies,
and gave him exemption from tasks which had been im¬
posed with the view of changing the bent of his inclina¬
tions. In this situation Herder continued for several years ;
and some verses which he here composed drew at the time
the attention, and subsequently the patronage of a publisher
in Konigsberg. In his eighteenth year the surgeon of
HER 347
a Russian regiment which had taken up winter quarters in Herder.
Mohrungen met him at the pastor s house, and was so v v ^ v
favourably impressed with his appearance that he offered to
place him at a university, and train him to the medical pro¬
fession. Herder was accordingly removed to Kbnigsberg,
but as a fit of fainting signalized his debut in the anatomy
class-room, the pursuit of medicine was relinquished in
favour of the more congenial study of theology. This placed
it beyond the power of his patron to render him further
assistance; and, left to his own resources, Herder main¬
tained himself during his university course. He devoted
the greater part of his attention to classical literature and
belles lettres, and was permitted by Kant to attend his lec¬
tures gratis. In 1763 he became a teacher in the Colle¬
gium Fredericianum, and at the close of 1764 removed to
Riga, where he had received a call to assist in the cathe¬
dral school. He was at the same time licensed to preach,
and shortly after (1767) commenced his career as authoi
with the publication of Fragments on German Literature.
This work attracted the notice of some of the leading minds
of Germany. Winckelmann wrote from Rome to Heyne
“ What new Pindar is this that has arisen amongst us ?”
That same year he received and refused an invitation from
Petersburg to the office of rector of the Peter’s school there;
and the council of Riga presented him to a ministerial
charge which they had created on purpose to retain his ser¬
vices. He was ordained, June 10, 1767. He proved an
excellent teacher, and was a great favourite with his pupils ;
and his eloquence and earnestness rendered him as accept¬
able in the pulpit as he was in the class-room. He left
Riga in 1769, and after some time spent, first in travelling,
chiefly in France, and then in the office of tutor to the
prince of Holstein, accepted the office of court-chaplain in
Biikeburg and member of the highest ecclesiastical court.
During his residence here he was married. He complains
that the Count of Bukeburg and he did not very well under¬
stand each other, and that his situation was more nominal
than real; for he was a pastor without a flock, minister of
education without schools, and head of the chief ecclesiasti¬
cal court without a court over which to preside.
He received, in 1771, from the Academy of Berlin, the
prize offered for the best paper on the Origin of Lan¬
guage, and another in 1774 from the same institute, for a
paper on the Causes which vitiate National Taste. In
1776 he went to Weimar as general-superintendant (an
ecclesiastical office), and continued in place there till his
death. Enemies had spread reports detrimental to his re¬
putation for eloquence; but his first sermon in Weimar
took all hearers by surprise, and established his fame as a
pulpit orator. That city was then the residence of Goethe,
Wieland, and others of the leading literary men of the day,
and afforded him ample opportunities for the prosecution of
his plans. He entered with vigour on the duties of his
situation, and was again and again invested with new
offices, till at length he was at one and the same time chief
chaplain in ordinary to the duke, general-superintendent,
first minister of the town church, vice-president and virtual
president of the highest ecclesiastical court, and ephoi us of
schools. In spite of obstacles he persevered in the work
of reforming schools and improving the condition of school¬
masters, until he had raised the standard and status of edu¬
cation throughout the duke’s dominions. Amongst the
prizes which he received while here, from various scientific
bodies, was a third one from the Academy of Berlin for a
paper on the Influence of Governments upon the Sciences.
He died at Weimar, 18th December 1803.
Herder’s own poetical productions are not now rated so
hi ah as they were on their first appearance. He is not so
much regarded as having added to the poetical literature of
his country, as having effected a reformation in literary
effort and "taste, and in this respect his merits are of the
348 HER
Herder, highest order. He entered upon the scene just as that
crisis in the history of German literature, known by the
name of the “ storm and stress,” was at its height. For
about a century and a half the main current of German
poetry, and not a little of its prose, had consisted in bald
and spiritless imitations, now of Italian and English, and
now of French authorship, according as the one or the other
was in the ascendant. The exposure of this state of mat¬
ters made by the clear and acute criticisms of Lessing,
and the thoroughly original and national poetry of Klop-
stock, conspired at the time to unsettle the minds of the
numerous aspirants to poetical fame. They had accom¬
panied Lessing when he showed where poetry was not;
they had not patience to follow him as he pointed out where
it was. They made a general and indiscriminate rejection
of the claims of any existing poetry to respect, and broke
loose from the maxims and rules which had been founded
upon it. A universal return was to be made to the first
starting-point of poetry, and this time she was to keep to
the proper path. But as the reformers of poetry had each
his own starting-point and his own maxims, the lavish ex¬
penditure of earnestness and effort which followed resulted
only in a fertile crop of whims and absurdities. At this
juncture Herder stepped forward. His fine, steady sense
of the beautiful, not easily blunted or beguiled, his ready
perception of the presence of genuine feeling, and the vast
extent of his literary acquirements, guided him to a generally
correct decision as to the true poets of different countries
and different times. Though not himself possessed of the
philosophic acuteness and comprehensiveness of mind re¬
quisite for generalizing the principles of criticism, he could
understand and appreciate them when thought out for him ;
and the productions which approved themselves to his own
taste, coincided for the most part with those which could
stand the test of the criticism of Lessing. Thus doubly
fortified in his views, he prepared for action. He brought
in succession, and kept steadily before the eyes of his coun¬
trymen, Moses, Homer, Shakspeare, and the old popular
singers of his own and other countries ; he applied to the
productions of these men the principles of criticism which
Lessing had evolved; he did all this in a clear, elegant,
flowing style, and there was no resisting the influence of
such a concentration of light. Men were aroused to a
careful and intelligent study of the great models of art, and
Herder continued to hold the helm, until the appearance of
Schiller’s Robbers in 1781 announced that the “ storm and
stress” were fairly weathered.
Of a similar kind is the service which Herder has rendered
to philosophy and history. In poetry he restored the old
path; here he has opened a new one. The human race,
from its commencement up to the present hour, has always
been parcelled out into more or less distinctly defined com¬
munities, and these communities have varied in numbers,
power, wealth, knowledge, and other particulars. It is the
office of history to describe the communities which have
arisen at different times, the variations or changes which
have taken place in their respective conditions, and the lead¬
ing agents or causes by whom these changes have been
effected. History, as thus understood, is simply a record of
the experience of the race, and, up to the time of Herder,
upon this principle history was written. The new mode
of treatment which he introduced consisted in inquiring
whether there are any general principles upon which the
mass of facts disclosed by history can be explained. Are
these facts to be regarded as no more than a series of
events connected together by what may be implied in suc¬
cession in time, or are they the result of a closer, though, per¬
haps, of a more secret—of an organic connection ? Herder
a ^ie- ^a^er these views ; he named the science
which investigates and unfolds it the Philosophy of History ;
and his own labours in this department are contained in
HER
his Contributions towards the Philosophy of the History of Hereford
Mankind. ^ '
These Contributions constitute the only service of note
which Herder rendered to philosophy, but the service was
one of great value. A somewhat similar idea seems to have
crossed the mind of Vico, but Herder was the first to grasp
it firmly and give it a place and rank among the departments
of scientific inquiry. He was so much disposed, however,
to speculate—to deduce conclusions from illegitimately pos¬
tulated principles, and so little disposed rigidly to deduce
principles from carefully sifted facts, that his own labours
in this province are of no permanent value to science, and
he has long been distanced by other workers in the field
which he had the honour to open. He is, moreover, too
frequently inaccurate in matters of detail to be safely relied
on. But we do not go to Herder for details. These de¬
fects allowed for, the work is a master-piece. To read the
impressions which facts, in the main correct, left upon Her¬
der’s mind is a brisk mental stimulant; and the book merits
the praise implied in the advice of Cousin, “ strong men
are nourished by strong books ; read Herder’s Ideen”
In the province of theology proper, Herder accomplished
nothing. He had made no systematic study of it. He ap¬
proached Christianity just as he had approached Homer and
Shakspeare, and was occupied not so much with the sub¬
stance of Christian doctrines as with the esthetics of Chris¬
tian morality. As he gives no evidence of having acquired
a deep practical acquaintance with Christianity, or of hav¬
ing made a thorough investigation of its doctrines, he can¬
not be fairly assigned a place in any of the classes into which
those who have done either may be divided. So far as his
views went, however, they were substantially Socinian. This
is especially true of his later productions. In his earlier
writings there is much that is useful, with good feeling and
many correct views. Of this kind are his Oldest Records
of the Human Race; Letters on the Study of Theology; and
Remarks on the New Testament, from recently opened
Oriental Sources. His works on The Redeemer, and the
Resurrection of Christ, contained scarcely anything incon¬
sistent with a chronic Socinianism. His Letters on Hebrew
Poetry are justly celebrated as an analysis of the aesthetics of
the poetical parts of the Old Testament. Herder’s works are
edited by Julius G. Muller, in 40 vols. 12mo. (h. m. d.)
HEREFORD, the capital of the county of that name,
is situated nearly in its centre, on the left bank of the River
Wye, which is here crossed by a bridge of six arches. It
is of very ancient origin, and was the seat of a bishop’s
see as early as the year 684, a proof that it had even at
that period become a place of importance. Though the
city is no longer “ one of the largest, fairest, and strongest
castles in England,” as Leland says, yet the streets, still
called after the ancient gates, are remarkable for their
straightness, width, and neatness. The chief edifice is
the cathedral, built in 1079; it is 325 feet long, by 110
broad. In 1786 a great portion of it fell down, and it is
now being restored. The other buildings are the bishop’s
palace, the county-hall, the county gaol (built on Howard’s
plan), and the markets. There are five parish churches,
but none of them is remarkable for beauty. A column 60
feet high, to the memory of Lord Nelson, stands on the
Castlehill, the site of the ancient castle. The city contains
some remains of its earlier days—a portion of the castle-
keep, one of the six gates, and the walls of some old religious
edifices. Owing to its position on the frontier of Wales,
Hereford has taken an important part in history. The
motto of the city, “ Invictae Fidelitatis Praemium,” was
given to it by Charles I. as a reward for the support he re¬
ceived from the citizens. Hereford has returned two mem¬
bers of parliament since the 23d of Edward I.; it was in¬
corporated in 1189 by Richard L, and is now governed, under
the Municipal Act, by a mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen
II E R E E O Ft D S H I R E.
349
Hereford*
shire.
councillors. Market-days, Wednesday and Saturday. Pop.
in 1811, 7306; in 1831, 10,282 ; and in 1851, 12,108.
HEREFORDSHIRE, an inland county of England, on
the borders of South Wales. It is bounded on the N. by
Shropshire, N.E. by Worcestershire, N.W. by Radnorshire,
W. by Brecknockshire, S. by Monmouthshire, and S.E. by
Gloucestershire. The county is circular in shape, indented
in some places by spurs of the adjoining counties; and it
had several detached parts, but each of these was incorpo¬
rated by the Act 7th and 8th Will IV. with the county in
which it was situated. The' greatest length of the county
is, from near Ludlow to near Monmouth, 40 miles; and the
greatest breadth, from the foot of the Malvern Hills to Clif¬
ford, 35 miles. The area of the county, according to the
census commission, is 534,823 statute acres. It is divided
into 11 hundreds, and 221 parishes ; and it is a bishop’s see.
The soil of the county is generally a mixture of marl and
clay, but contains calcareous earth in various proportions in
different parts. Towards the western part, the soil is tena¬
cious, and retentive of water ; the eastern side is princi¬
pally a stiff clay, in some places of a red colour. In the
south, some of the soil is a light sandy loam. The subsoil
is almost universally limestone ; in some parts the old red
sandstone, and a species of marble, beautifully variegated
with red and white veins, and capable of receiving a high
polish. When the soil does not rest on limestone, as near
the city of Hereford, it is sometimes a siliceous gravel, and
occasionally fuller’s earth and yellow ochres are found.
The surface is highly picturesque. It may be described as
a rich plain, undulating in long ridges, as if it had been
rippled by a subterranean convulsion. Coppices of ash and
oak clothe the sides of the hills, and fringe their crests;
and the low lands are wooded by pear and apple trees,
grouped in orchards, and scattered over the fields. Whe¬
ther in May, when the fruit trees are white with blossom,
or in September, when they are laden with yellow fruit,
the county deserves its title of “ The Garden of England.”
The county is purely agricultural, and at the commence¬
ment of the century stood second amongst the agricultural
counties of England. It produces wheat and barley of fine
quality ; indeed “ Lemster bread” and “ Weobly ale,” were
famous as early as the days of Camden. Hops and cider
are among the staple products of the county. The hop
vines, unlike the method practised in Kent, are planted in
rows, and the soil is ploughed. The orchards are planted
in every kind of soil, and without regard to aspect; but it
has been ascertained that a western aspect is the least
favourable, as the westerly winds, sweeping over the Welsh
mountains, bring cold, fog, and what is termed “ blue mist.”
The crops of apples, generally large, is enormous every
fourth year, and very often the branches of the trees would
break down under the weight of produce, if they were not
propped up. As much as twenty hogsheads of cider have
been made from a single acre of orchard, but the average
yield is twelve hogsheads an acre. Much fine timber is grown
in the county, and many a spreading oak which has sheltered
and adorned these inland fields, aids in forming the sides of
the noble war ships which bear the British flag throughout
the world. A large quantity of bark is stripped annually.
Herefordshire is famous for its breed of cattle. The
breed is athletic in form, and of a bright-red colour, with
white, or mottled faces, and remarkably silky hair. The
Hereford cattle produce the finest beef; yet they feed
more cheaply than the Devon or Durham cattle. The
county was at one time famous for a small white-faced
breed of sheep without horns, known as the Rylands sheep,
from the district in which they were chiefly bred. The
characteristic of the breed was the silky pile and delicate
texture of the fleece; but in crossing the Rylands sheep
with the Liecesters, to make them more robust, the fleece
has been deteriorated. Indeed, the original Ryland breed is
nearly extinct, at least in the pure form; it has been sue- Ilereford-
ceeded in the upper part of the county by Shropshire downs, shire,
and in the lower, by the Cotswolds, with their various cross-
ings. The horses used in the county are generally of a
good stamp, especially in the northern part, where they are
reared for the saddle and coaching in other parts of the
kingdom.
Herefordshire has made great progress in farming during
the last twenty years. Turnip and green crop husbandry,
with the consequent improved rotation of crops, is now the
general practice. The average yield of wheat may be safely
estimated at from 28 to 30 bushels an acre, whilst in an
important district, of which Ross may be considered the
centre, and where the old red sandstone formation predo¬
minates, a yield of 40 bushels is by no means extraordinary,
and in some instances even 50 bushels have been obtained.
The stiff tenacious clay in other parts of the county re¬
sists improvement, and has disappointed the hopes of many
enterprising agriculturists; but, nevertheless, even in those
parts, there is a very marked difference in the results of
farming at the present time as compared with those of a
quarter of a century ago. Generally speaking, the farming
of the county will bear comparison, not indeed with every
county, but with England and Scotland as a whole. Many
of the breeders of cattle in this county are famous through¬
out the kingdom for the number, size, and excellence of the
animals with which they regularly supply the metropolitan
and other markets. Two agricultural exhibitions, and seve¬
ral fairs are held in the year at Hereford, and at each of them
the quantity of fine cattle driven in for show and sale, fills
every street of the city, and excites the admiration of judges
from all parts of the kingdom.
There are no manufactures, properly speaking, within
the county. The excellence of the wool has stimulated at¬
tempts to make woollen goods at Hereford, but they have
failed. Some coarse woollens are made at Leominster and
Kington, but the quantity is very small.
The climate of the county is good, though variable. It is
more rainy in this county than in the more eastern parts of
England, and at times there are damp fogs, which moisten
the earth, and may be one cause of its great verdure. We
learn from the Registrar-General’s report, that diseases
of the respiratory organs are unknown in the county, and
that it ranks high in point of longevity. Fuller says that
in his time, “ many aged folk, who in other counties are
properties of the chimneys or confined to their beds, are
here found active in the fields.” An amusing instance of
the salubrity of the climate, and the stamina of the people,
was given by Sergeant Hoskins when King James I. visited
the county; he assembled ten women of the united age of
1000 years, who danced the morrice dance for the enter¬
tainment of his Majesty.
The rivers of the county are the Ledden, the Lugg, the
Arrow, the Frome, and the Wye. The Ledden rises at
Hadlow and flows by Ledbury into the Severn near Glou¬
cester. The Lugg rises in Radnorshire, enters the county
on the N.W., and flows by Leominster and Hereford into
the Wye near Mordiford. The Arrow also rises in Rad¬
norshire and flows by Kington and Monkland into the
Lugg. The Frome rises in the N.E. of the county, and
also flows into the Lugg at Mordiford. The far-famed
Wye—“thou wanderer through the woods”—enters the
county near Clifford Castle, the birth-place of Fair Rosa¬
mond, flows by Hereford and Ross, and traverses in many
a bold and silvery curl the whole breadth of the county.
Though all the other streams, except the Ledden, are tri¬
butaries of the Wye, it is for all practical purposes an incon¬
siderable river. Its sinuosities have created sandbanks and
rapids, and it is liable to sudden floods, owing to the large
and mountainous surface which it drains. The Wye is na¬
vigated by barges within this county; these are towed by
350 HER
Hereford- men whose efforts in the difficult parts of the stream are
Bhire. painfully laborious. Attempts have been made to substitute
horses for men, but the latter have successfully resisted the
innovation, content to labour as mere beasts of burthen. The
Wye is famous for its salmon; and in former times, the fish
were so abundant that the apprentices of Hereford were pro¬
tected by a special clause in their indentures, from being
compelled to eat salmon more than twice a-week. The
clause is quite unnecessary now, Wye salmon, owing to its
scarcity, having become a delicacy even at the tables of the
rich. The Wye, as we have already stated, is imperfectly
navigable; but when moderately swollen by rain, heavily
laden barges are tracked up, or shoot down with the current.
The Lugg is also navigated by barges between Mordiford
and Lugwardine-bridge, a short distance. The remaining
means of inland navigation consist of a canal from Hereford to
the Severn near Gloucester; and another canal from Leomin¬
ster to the Severn at Stourport. Hereford is the terminus
of three lines of railway, one connecting it with Shrewsbury,
Gloucester, and Newport, on the Bristol Channel; and
another line to Worcester is projected.
The earliest known inhabitants of Herefordshire were
the Silures. Under Caractacus, the Silures resisted the
Romans so obstinately, that the Emperor Claudius com¬
manded that a war of extermination should be made against
them. The Silures were the last people of Britain who
submitted to the Saxons. The Danes sailed up the Wye
in the year 912, and seized the Bishop of St David’s, who
then resided at Archenfield; and King Edward paid L.40
(a great sum in those days) for the bishop’s ransom. The
Normans conquered the county without much difficulty,
and colonized it in order to repel the incursions of the
Welsh. For many centuries Herefordshire was separated
from Wales by a tract of land called the Marches, a kind
of debateable ground, alternately possessed by the English
and Welsh, but at length incorporated with the county in the
reign of Henry VIH. In the wars of the Roses, Hereford¬
shire took up arms for the House of York; and an army of
25,000 men, raised in the county, totally defeated the forces
of Edward VI. at Mortimer’s Cross, near Leominster. Du¬
ring the battle three suns appeared in the sky, a rare pheno¬
menon in this country, though common in the Alps and
other mountains; and in consequence, Mortimer took a
sun for his crest. In the Parliamentary struggle Hereford
sided with the king, and was thrice besieged; twice it sur¬
rendered to the Parliamentarians, but it resisted the Scotch.
The antiquities of the county are numerous and highly
interesting. A line of Roman and British entrenchments
extends from the Malvern Hills to Conwall Knoll. A British
earthwork of great strength is known as the Herefordshire
beacon. Offa’s Dyke, a great ditch 100 miles long, may
still be traced in many parts of the county. It was cut by
Offa the Saxon, to check the incursions of the Welsh, who
had continually harassed the kingdom of Mercia, of which
Herefordshire formed a part. The Roman road called
Watling Street traverses the county from Leintwardine to
Longtown, thence passing into Monmouthshire ; a second
Roman road enters the county from Gloucester at Ross;
and a third enters the county from Worcester near Frome
and terminates at Kenchester. Several of the baronial
castles, with which the county was thickly studded in earlier
times, still exist in a ruined state; chief amongst them are
Bredwardine, Clifford, and Goodrich. There are also some
remains of the stately ecclesiastical edifices which formerly
adorned the county, but the work of destruction has been
so thoroughly done, that their ruins exhibit few features of
interest.
According to the religious census of 1851, there were
in the county 426 places of worship, having in all 69,575
sittings. Of these places of worship, 243 were Church of
England, 20 Independent, 16 Baptist, 120 Methodist, and
HER
5 Roman Catholic. The educational census gives 489 Herencia
public day-schools, with 41,295 scholars; and 794 private I1
day-schools, with 14,923 scholars. Heresy.
The population was, in 1821, 336,190; in 1831, 387,398;
in 1841, 431,495; and in 1851, 458,805. This is a sparse
population as compared with that of the adjoining counties.
Herefordshire is represented in parliament by seven
members—three returned by the county, two by the city
of Hereford, and two by the borough of Leominster.
The towns of the county are Hereford, Leominster, Led¬
bury, Ross, Bromyard, and Weobly. The towns in Here¬
fordshire are generally worse built than in any other English
county, and more nearly approach to those of their adjoining
Welsh neighbours. In the villages the buildings are still
worse. (F. c.)
HERENCIA, a town of Spain, province of La Mancha,
is the centre of a prosperous and fertile district. The soap
which is manufactured on an extensive scale in the town
is highly celebrated, and is exported in great quantities to
all parts of the world. Pop. 7150.
HERESY. It is not our intention under this head to
discuss the character and tendency of heresy as an ecclesi¬
astical question, nor to give an account of the several forms
of belief which have from time to time been denounced as
heresies. The more conspicuous and important of these
will be found under the several titles which they bear in
ecclesiastical history. The object of the present article
is merely to give a brief notice of the civil effect which has
generally been given to that departure from established
modes of faith to which the term applies. It never included
infidels or persons professing a different religion from the
Christian, such as Jews or Mohammedans. These were
dealt with by separate laws. True to its etymological origin
(dipeo-ts, choice or selection), heresy was the offence of
those who, professing to be Christians, used the right of
private judgment, and chose their own form of Christianity,
instead of conforming to the declared will of the Church.
From the days of Constantine downwards, the imperial
power treated any departure from the imperial established
religion as a public nuisance which must be suppressed.
The fifth title of the first book of the Justinian code con¬
tains a series of the laws so passed from time to time against
heretics described as people who, at the instigation of
conceit or waywardness, set up doctrines for themselves,
and endeavour to break free from the control of the Catho¬
lic Church. The offence was punished by the secular arm
as an interruption of the imperial policy, and a disturbance
of the public peace. As the companion of catholic unity,
the arrangement was one of perfect theoretical simplicity.
The general councils established the doctrines of the Church,
and those who preached or taught against them were guilty
of a public offence, for which they were punished by death
or some minor infliction, according to the severity or le¬
niency of the criminal code of each country. But even
during the professed continuance of catholic unity, this
simplicity was more theoretical than practical. The early
councils were enabled, it is true, to draw a broad line of
demarcation between the belief of the church and the doc¬
trines of certain heretical sects, because the condemnation
of these sects was sometimes the chief business discussed
by the council, and the triumphant majority clearly defined
the opinions which they repudiated. But in later times
when the voice of general councils was no longer so spe¬
cifically announced, and the Catholic Church, spread overall
Europe, was influenced by national habits and institutions,
the opinions which constituted heresy fluctuated according
to local conditions. Hence, independently of the conflicts
connected with the great question of preserving the Catho¬
lic Church from the large innovations of the reformers,
minor heresies sprung up according to local conditions and
conventionalities, creating that long array of secondary per-
HER HER 351
Heresy, seditions with which the annals of Christendom are unfor-
_g- s[-mJ tunately crowded. In the countries which adopted the Re¬
formation, even the name of a catholic unity from which it
was a crime to secede, no longer existed. Yet if we except
some imperfect glimmerings of the principle of toleration
in Britain, Holland, and a part of Germany, it seems never
to have been thought of, even by the reforming communi¬
ties, that the state was no longer to punish as a crime all
divergence from the mode of faith established by the pre¬
ponderating power. In France, where after a long conflict,
the edict of Nantes established Protestantism side by side
with Catholicism, neither party acknowledged the principle
of toleration, and the Huguenots were no less jealous than
their opponents in preserving their ranks from the taint of
heresy. The arrangement was in fact a treaty between two
hostile powers occupying the same soil; and like two armies
which agree to suspend warlike operations, each kept its
own ranks in discipline, and punished desertion.
In looking on heresy as a sort of offence against the pub¬
lic peace, the continental states generally permitted the ec¬
clesiastical judicatories acting under the canon law to fix
its character, and even dictate its punishment. The feeling
of the feudal princes on the subject is characteristically ex¬
pressed in a constitution of the Emperor Frederick I., which
decrees that, if the temporal lord, when duly admonished
and warned by the Church, shall neglect to purge his terri¬
tory of heretics, his feif shall be forfeited and pass into the
hands of faithful followers of the Church, that they may free
it from pollution. In England no effect was in the gene¬
ral case given to either the canon or the civil law in the
shape of punishment; and heresy, like other offences, was
the creature of statute. By an act of the 5th of Richard
II., passed in 1382, commissions were issued for the appre¬
hension and imprisonment of such as were certified by the
prelates to be preachers of heresy, with their favourers,
maintainers, and abettors. It is singular that Mr Hallam
mentions this statute as one of those instances where the
commons complain that a law was passed by the crown
without their consent {Mid. Ages, pt. hi., chap. 8). The
2d of Henry IV., passed in 1400, is the earliest act
which condemns heretics to be burned. It has been re¬
marked, that it is drawn up in Latin, while the other acts
of the same session are in French, and that it is a pre¬
cise echo of a petition by the prelates and clergy;—
hence it may be inferred, that while it was the practice in
general for the crown to pass acts on the petition of parlia¬
ment, this particular act was granted on the application of
the Church. Notwithstanding the jealousy with which the
English law protected the subject from penalties not autho¬
rized by parliament, it has always been maintained that the
writ for burning a heretic, de hceretico comburendo, was is¬
sued, on application by the proper ecclesiastical authority,
by the sole prerogative of the crown ; and lawyers have
been in use to observe apologetically, that the writ was not
issued as of course, but required the special authority of the
king in council (Blackstone, b. iv., chap. 4). There is, how¬
ever, some reason to believe, that the writ is no older than
the act of Henry IV., and thus has its origin in statute (see
notes on the statute in Tomlyn’s edition). Several other
cruel acts against heresy were subsequently passed, but the
climax both of severity and confusion was reached by the
act 31st of Henry VIII., “for abolishing of diversity of
opinion,” which established the six articles of faith so well
known in history, and appointed death by burning as the
punishment of transgressing the first, and death in the or¬
dinary penal form, as the punishment for transgressing any
of the others. The celebrated first act of Elizabeth, abo¬
lishing the authority of the see of Rome in England, did
not mitigate the punishment of heresy, but enacted, that no
opinion should be punished as heresy, unless it had been
“ heretofore determined, ordered, and adjudged to be heresy
by the authority of the canonical Scriptures,” or was so Heretoch
determined by one of the four first general councils, or by H
parliament, with the consent of convocation. The law by Hermann,
which heretics were liable to be put to death by burning,
was not abolished until the year 1676 (29th Car. II., c. 9).
Much interest has lately been created in England by the
question, howfar the Established Church can exclude clergy¬
men, adjudged by ecclesiastical authority to be maintainers
of heretical doctrines, from ecclesiastical rank and emolu¬
ments ? In Scotland the right of the judicatories of the
establishment to depose a minister for heresy or any other
purely ecclesiastical offence is not doubted; and the courts
of law have only interfered with proceedings of this nature,
when it has been maintained that they were not founded
on strictly ecclesiastical grounds, but were held for the pur¬
pose of accomplishing some ulterior object. In England
the supremacy of the crown has enabled the temporal power
to consider the ecclesiastical grounds on which any effort
to affect the right to the temporalities of the Church has
been based ; and the discontinuance of the convocation, by
withdrawing corporate action from the prevalent majority
in the Church, has decidedly favoured this limitation of the
powers of ecclesiastical judicatories. In the instance known
as the Gorham case, decided in 1850, the Bishop of Exeter
refused, on account of what he counted heretical opinions,
to institute to the vicarage of Bramford-Speke, the Rev. G.
C. Gorham, presented by the crown. The bishop’s refusal
was confirmed by the Dean of the Arches Court of Canter¬
bury. Mr Gorham appealed to the Queen in council; and
the judicial committee of the privy council entering into
the whole question, whether the presentee’s opinions justi¬
fied the bishop’s refusal to institute, decided as a court of
law in favour of Mr Gorham. (j. H. B.)
HERETOCH (Saxon, here, an army, and togen to lead),
a name applied in Saxon times to those who were elected
by the folkmote, or “ full assembly ” of the people to con¬
duct the armies of the kingdom.
HERFORD, or Hervorden, a walled town in Prussian
Westphalia, capital of the circle of Minden, at the conflu¬
ence of the Werra and Aa, 16 miles S.W. of Minden. It
has six churches, a gymnasium, industrial school, arsenal,
prison, and museum for Westphalian arts and antiquities.
Its manufactures comprise cotton and cotton-yarn ; also
linen, leather, tobacco, and ale. Pop. (1849) 6756.
HERIOT, in Law, a customary tribute of goods and
chattels payable to the lord of the fee on the decease of
the owner of the land. See Copyhold.
HERISAU, a town in Switzerland, capital of Ausser-
Rhoden, at the confluence of the Glatt and Briilhbach, 7
miles N.W. of Appenzell, 2334 feet above the sea-level.
The town is very irregularly built. The church tower
is the oldest building in the canton, and is supposed to
have been built in the 7th century. The archives are
kept in this tower. Herisau has a public library, court¬
house, arsenal, and an orphan asylum. The neighbouring
heights, two of which are crowned with the ruined Castle'S
of Schwanberg and Rosenberg, afford beautiful walks. It
has important cotton, muslin, and silk manufactories, and
carries on an extensive trade. The baths of Heinrichsbad
are a mile distant. Pop. 2700.
HERMANN, Johann Jakob Gottfried, a celebrated
Greek scholar of Germany, was born at Leipzig, November
28, 1772. He studied law and philosophy at Leipzig and
Jena. In 1794, he began his course of lectures on ancient
literature in Leipzig, was made professor of eloquence in
1798, and of poetry in 1809. He died in 1848.
Though destined for the study of law, yet, under Pro¬
fessors Hgen, Beck, and Evnesti, he acquired the predilec¬
tion for classic literature which afterwards rendered him
famous. He set himself to revise thoroughly the classic
metres and the Greek grammar. In the prosecution of
352 HER
Hermann- this task he published a great many editions of classic au-
stadt thors. The principles which he entertained regarding the
Hermas c^ass*c rnet1'es, were published in his work De metris poe-
v ’, tarum Grcecorum el Romanorum in 1796; and in his
v"' Handbuch der Metrik in 1799. These were drawn up in
a more complete form in his Elementee doctrinoe metricce
in 1816, of which his Epitome, &c., appeared in 1818.
He extended his literary reform to the study of the Greek
grammar and his work De emendendd ratione Grcecce gram-
maticce, was published in 1801. As this treated of accen¬
tuation and the analysis of letters, Hermann gave his views
on syntax in the shape of notes, and extensive additions to
Vigier’s work De prcecipms Grcecce. dictionis idiotismis.
He has been accused of viewing the ancient classics too
exclusively from the stand-points of grammar and criticism ;
still his views, both medical and grammatical, have been
extensively adopted throughout Europe.
His editions of the classics are:—Aeschylus and Euripides, com¬
plete with Latin notes, 1798. The Eumenides of AEschylus and
Clouds of Aristophanes, with introduction, commentary, and scholia,
1799. Hecuba of Euripides, with the notes of Person and Wake¬
field as well as his own; and the Trinummus of Plautus, in 1800.
The Poetics of Aristotle, with Latin translation, commentary,
and disquisitions, in 1802. The Hymns of Orpheus in 1805, and
those ascribed to Homer in 1816. The Hercules Furens of Euripi¬
des, 1810. The Suppliants of Euripides in 1811. The Medea of
Euripides, 1822. The Alcestis of Euripides in 1823. The un¬
finished edition of Sophocles by Erfurdt, was completed by Her¬
mann in 7 vols. in 1825. The Ion of Euripides in 1827. The
Opuscula of Hermann, begun in 1827, is a collection in 6 vols., of
literary and scientific articles from German publications.
HERMANNSTADT (the Hungarian Nagy-Sze-
ben, the Wallachian Szibin, the Roman Cibinium), a
town of Hungary, capital of Saxon-land, in Transylva¬
nia, on the Zibin, near the Wallachian frontier, 72
miles S.E. of Klausenburgh; N. Lat. 45. 47.; E. Long.
24. 10. It is the seat of the highest tribunal in the
province, the residence of the governor, the see of a
Greek bishop, and head-quarters of the military comman¬
dant of Transylvania. The town, surrounded by a double
wall and deep ditch, has five gates, and is divided into tw’o
parts, the upper and lower. The connexion between the
two is kept up by flights of stone steps. The old citadel
stands in the upper town. The houses are Gothic, and
regularly built, and the streets, though narrow, are clean. It
has a square in which are a fountain and statue. The im¬
portant buildings are,—the Briickenthal palace, which con¬
tains a public library of 15,000 vols., picture gallery, and
museums of medals and antiquities; the Lutheran cathedral,
Gothic town-hall, barracks, hospital, and numerous churches.
In the Lutheran gymnasium, divinity, law, and philosophy
are studied. The manufactures of Hermannstadt are linen
and woollen stuffs, hats, leather, and ropes. It has also
paper and powder mills; but its trade has declined. The
Carpathian Mountains in the vicinity afford fine views.
Pop. 20,000.
HERMAPHRODITE ('Ep^s Mercury, and ’A<ppoSm/,
Venus), a term applied to a human being possessed of the
characteristic organs of both sexes. In the human sub¬
ject, one or other of the organs is rudimentary. Amongst
the invertebrata hermaphroditism is a reality, and occurs
most frequently in the mollusca and radiata. In vegetable
life it is the normal condition. A flower is termed her¬
maphrodite when it contains stamens and pistils within the
same calyx and petals. See Botany.
HERMAS, one of the Christians to whom Paul ad-
resses a salutation in the end of his Epistle to the Romans,
y some he is regarded as the author of an apocryphal
book called the Shepherd, from having been dictated to
the writer by an angel in pastoral dress. With the excep¬
tion of a few fragments in the original Greek, this work
exists only in a Latin version. In the very earliest ages
H E E
its canonicity was regarded with suspicion; but from its Hermeneu
taint of superstition and absurdity, it is wonderful that it tics
should ever have been received with approbation. It is to II
be found in editions of the Apostolic Fathers, and has been Herm°polis
translated by Archbishop Wake. The authorship of the v MaSna-
book is by others attributed to a brother of the Roman
Bishop Pius (a.d. 140), or to one of the seventy-two dis¬
ciples who is said to have been bishop of Philippopolis.
HERMENEUTICS, the science of exposition, generally
applied as a theological term to the exposition of Scripture.
HERMES and Herjylea. See Mercury.
HERMETICAL SEALING, a manner of completely
closing glass vessels, for chemical operations, by heating the
neck of the vessel in the flame of a lamp till it be ready to
melt, and then twisting it close.
HERMIANI, also called Seleuciani, a sect of heretics
in Galatia, who held the corporeality of God, and the creation
of souls by the angels from water and fire. They rejected
baptism, and regarded immortality as simply the transmigra¬
tion of the souls of the dead into the bodies of the newly-born.
HERMIT, or Eremite (ipyj/xos, a desert), one who lives
in a desert, or passes his life in solitude. Hermits were dis¬
tinguished from anachorets or anchorets, in that the for¬
mer ranged at liberty abroad in the world, while the latter
isolated themselves, not only from the abodes of other
men, but from the cells of similar devotees. Thus, a her¬
mitage was, in ancient times, often surrounded by a laura, or
collection of isolated cells where the anchorets lived alone.
PIERMOGENES, an African painter, who in the second
century projected a system of mingled Stoicism and Chris¬
tianity. One of his pupils was Seleucus, the joint founder of
the Hermiani mentioned above.
Hermogenes, Tarsensis, an eminent Greek rhetorician,
born at Tarsus about the middle of the second century a.d.
He was surnamed Xyster, from the great value which he at¬
tached to polishing in composition. While only about fifteen
years of age he attracted the attention of the Emperor
Aurelius, and became professor of rhetoric at Rome. His
brilliant career was terminated at the early age of twenty-
five, not by death, but by a weakening of his faculties,
which reduced him very nearly to the condition of an idiot.
In this state he lived to an advanced age. Ilis great work on
rhetoric is divided into five parts :—1. Rhetoric as applied
in the courts of justice. 2. The conduct of a discourse as
to introduction, plan, argument, &c. 3. On style. 4.
Hints for the practical application of the rules relating to
style. 5. The use of models in rhetoric. The last, in the
abridged form, was translated into Latin by Priscian.
This work of Hermogenes became popular in the schools ;
many commentaries and abridgments were made of it, but it
maintained its ground till supplanted by the abridgment of
Aphthonius. The original work was well illustrated by exam¬
ples from the bestwriters; and though traces of the youthfiil-
ness of the author are discernable, yet it is temperate, perspi¬
cuous, and free of conceits. His other works have perished.
HERMON, a mountain belonging to Anti-Libanus, and
forming the northern boundary of the country conquered
by the Hebrews from the Amorites. It is the Sirion of the
Sidonians, the Shenir of the Amorites, the Jebel Es-
skeikh or Old Man’s Mountain of the present day. It
is considered the highest of the Lebanon range, and the
snow is perpetual, at least in the ravines, though sometimes
even in midsummer the upper part is quite covered with
snow. Some have imagined, from certain passages in Scrip¬
ture, that there must have been another Hermon near
Tabor, but this is improbable.
HERMOPOLIS MAGNA (now Eshmoon or Ash-
mounem), a city of Heptanomis or Middle Egypt, on the
left bank of the Nile, in N. Lat. 27. 50., E. Long. 30. 53.
Owing to its frontier position with reference to Middle and
Upper Egypt, the ancient Hermopolis was a place of im-
HER
Hermus portance, second only to Thebes. The portico, still remain-
11 ing, of a magnificent temple has attracted the notice of
Herma. travellers. It consists of twelve pillars, each 40 feet high,
in two rows of six to each row, painted with bands of blue,
red, and yellow. These pillars are composed of irregular
masses fitted together—a peculiarity of extremely rare oc¬
currence in Egyptian architecture. The ruins of Hermo-
polis have been greatly destroyed by the Mohammedans,
who have used them for building purposes.
HERMUS, now the Sarabat or Kedous, in Ancient
Geography, a river of Asia Minor, which, rising among the
hills that separated Phrygia from Lydia, flowed due E.
through the latter country, which it divided into two nearly
equal parts, and fell into the Gulf of Smyrna. On its nor¬
thern bank it received the Hyllus, and on its southern the
Pactolus, both of which tributaries, like the river itself, were
often celebrated by the poets of antiquity. In fact, all
these streams derive their chief importance from their poe¬
tical associations.
HERNE BAY, a village in the county of Kent, 8 miles
N.N.E. of Canterbury, on the estuary of the Thames. It
has recently come to be much frequented as a bathing
place, and as a consequence, hotels, villas, assembly rooms,
libraries, &c., are rapidly springing up. It has a pier up¬
wards of three quarters of a mile in length, which forms a
pleasant promenade. Pop. of parish (1851), 3094.
HERNIA, from epvos, a branch, is a term applied to
several surgical complaints, of which the characteristic
symptom is that a part of one of the organs of the body
protrudes through some aperture. Hence when the brain
protrudes through an aperture in the skull it is styled a
hernia cerebri. Most commonly, however, the term is
limited to a protrusion of the bowels through some aperture
in their containing walls, the integument still remaining en¬
tire ; and though this protrusion may occur at almost any
part of the abdomen, it does so most frequently through
those apertures which naturally exist for the transmission of
vessels. These natural apertures are the umbilicus, and the
inguinal and femoral canals. Hence hernia tumours which
occupy these apertures are named umbilical, inguinal, and
femoral herniae. As herniae, when not congenital, are gene¬
rally the result of violent exertions, as from lifting heavy
weights, leaping, violent fits of coughing, &c., and the pa¬
tient at the moment experiences a sensation as if some part
of the bowels had been ruptured, the disease in common
language is significantly styled a rupture. In all cases the
bowel pushes before it a portion of the peritoneum, the
smooth membrane which lines the cavity of the abdomen,
and this membrane constitutes the sac of the hernia.
Umbilical hernia is almost always congenital, or makes
its appearance shortly after birth. If there be no malfor¬
mation, and means are used to reduce the protrusion and
prevent its recurrence, a cure of this form of hernia may in
general be easily effected, as the aperture through which
the protrusion occurs has a natural tendency to become
obliterated. But if means be neglected in infancy the com¬
plaint remains for life. A halfpenny or a slice of cork en¬
veloped in chamois leather, and fixed over the umbilicus
by means of a broad strap of adhesive plaster, after the
hernia is reduced, is the best mode of treating the com¬
plaint. A conical compress, recommended by many, is ob¬
jectionable, as it tends to prevent the natural obliteration of
the aperture, and is apt to render the complaint permanent.
Inguinal Hernia. The vessels of the testicle in the
male, and the round ligament in the female, proceed through
the parietes of the abdomen at the groin in an oblique canal
about 2J inches in length. This canal has consequently
an upper aperture or ring, where the vessels enter it, and a
lower ring, where the vessels leave it. These two points,
then, are probably the weakest parts of the walls of the
abdomen; and on any unusual strain a knot of bowel or
VOL. XI.
HER 353
of omentum is apt to be forced either into the upper aper- Hernici.
ture and down the course of the vessels, or directly through v«—'
the lower or external ring, where the vessels leave the canal.
If the tumour remains small, and is confined to the groin,
it is termed a bubonocele ; but if large, as it usually is
when congenital or of long duration, and distends the scro¬
tum or labium, it is termed a scrotal or pudendal hernia.
Inguinal hernia is often congenital in the male, in conse¬
quence of the aperture not having become obliterated
through which the testicle descended to the scrotum ; and
from the much larger size of the inguinal canal in the male
this form of hernia is very much more common among
males than among females.
Femoral Hernia is constituted by the viscera protruding
through the space between the femoral vessels and the
crescentic margin of the crural arch. In consequence of
the breadth of the female pelvis, and the consequently larger
size of the femoral aperture, this form of hernia is much
more common in females than in males.
All the forms of hernia are met with in three states :—1st,
Reducible, in which the tumour may be pressed back into
the abdomen, when it disappears with a gurgling noise. 2d,
Incarcerated, in which the viscera have contracted adhe¬
sion to the sac, and cannot be pressed back into the abdo¬
men, but the person suffers no particular uneasiness. 3d,
Strangulated, in which the viscera in the hernial tumour
are subjected to such an amount of constriction that their
functions are impeded, when violent and dangerous symp¬
toms arise, which, unless speedily relieved, end in mortifi¬
cation and death. All forms of hernia are apt, from special
causes, to end in strangulation; hence the existence of
hernia is always looked on with suspicion, as rendering life
more than usually hazardous.
When a hernia occurs the person should be laid in the
horizontal position, and pressure should be so applied to
the tumour as to induce its return to the cavity of the ab¬
domen. The effect of this external and scientific applica¬
tion of pressure—the taxis—is frequently aided by warm
baths, blood-letting, the administration of tartar emetic, or
tobacco enemata, with the view of inducing relaxation of
the ring which prevents the return of the bowel, or of in¬
ducing collapse of the protruded bowel. Ice and ether are
also sometimes applied over the tumour with the same
view. If the taxis fails, and urgent symptoms arise, as con¬
stant vomiting, redness, swelling, and excessive pain in the
tumour, high fever, &c., a surgical operation is required to
relieve the strangulation, else rapid mortification of the
tumour may occur, and death ensue within a few hours.
In all cases, after the hernia is reduced, a pad with a band¬
age, or truss, must be applied and constantly worn, that by
pressing on the aperture through which the bowel descended a
recurrence of the protrusion may be prevented, (j. s—k.)
HERNICI, an inland tribe of Italy, apparently of Sabine
origin, inhabiting that part of Latium which was bounded
on the N. by the iEqui and on the S. by the Volsci. They
seem to have been at first on friendly terms with Rome,
but after the great Gallic invasion they joined the iEqui
and Volsci against their former friends. Their rebellion
was at first successful, but their capital, Ferentinura, at length
fell into the hands of the foe, and they were compelled to
acknowledge the Roman supremacy. They obtained, how¬
ever, such favourable terms that in the general rebellion of
the Latins, b.c. 340, they remained faithful to their allegi¬
ance. At the end of that same century they again appear
in arms against Rome, but there was no unity of action
among them, and they were easily subdued. Such of their
cities as had refused to countenance this rebellion were al¬
lowed to retain their own laws and magistrates. Anagnia
and the other towns that had held out were presented with
the honorary civitas of Rome, and reduced to the condition
of prefecture. After this date the Hernici disappear from
2 Y
354 HER
Hernosand the political history of Italy. Their chief towns, besides
jjJ o Anagnia, were Ferentinum, Yerulae, Aratrium, and perhaps
v v Trebia. The country of the Hernici, lying along the upper
v-*- course of the Trerus (now the Sacco), is described by Vir¬
gil as the Roscida rivis Hernica Saxa. Besides being well
watered with countless streams, it contained magnificent
woods of chestnut and oak trees, making it in all one of the
most picturesque and delightful nooks of the Apennine
range.
HERNOSAND or Wester Norrland, a lan of Swe¬
den, lying chiefly between N. Lat. 62. and 64. and E. Long.
15. and 19., and bounded on the N. by Umea, W. by Os-
tersund, S. by Gefle, and E. by the Gulf of Bothnia. Its
greatest length along the coast is about 140 miles, and its
breadth varies from about 20 to 100. Area about 9500
square miles. Hernosand presents an extremely varied
surface. Its elevations, frequently steep and rocky, and
generally for the most part covered with trees, its' deep
and narrow valleys, with rapid and winding rivers, and its
fine mountain lakes, all conspire to render it superior to
most if not to all the other Ians in Sweden. The chief pro¬
ducts, besides corn, which is scantily grown, are deals, tar,
and some iron. The principal branch of industry is the
manufacture of linen, which is extensively carried on, the
spinning being done by both sexes during the long winter
nights. The rearing of cattle receives some attention.
Pop. (1850) 99,558.
Hernosand, the capital of the above lan, stands on the
W. side of the island of Hernon, at the mouth of the Anger-
man River, but connected with the mainland by a bridge. It
is the see of a bishop, and has a gymnasium, library, public
baths, and building docks. The harbour is excellent, and
a considerable trade is carried on. Pop. about 2200.
HERO. The story of Hero and Leander is one of the
best known in the whole mythology of Greece. The myth,
in its simplest form, is as follows :—Hero was a priestess in
the service of Venus at Sestos, and her lover, Leander of
Abydos, used nightly to swim across the strait of the Hel¬
lespont to pay his court to her. One stormy night he was
drowned, and in the morning the billows washed his body
ashore to the feet of his betrothed, who, when she saw it,
threw herself into the sea, and perished by the same fate as
her lover.
Hero. This term was of somewhat indiscriminate ap¬
plication. It was applied to those who were partly of
human, partly of divine origin, or to men who did illustrious
actions for the benefit of mankind. Homer applies it to the
whole of the Grecian army, and sometimes to individual
heralds. The warriors who took part in celebrated sieges
and battles, such as Troy and Marathon, were called hero°es.
Etymologically, the word indicates the possession of extraor¬
dinary strength and courage, and is supposed to be connected
with the Latin Vir, and the German Herr. This points na¬
turally to the leadership or mastery which results from the
possession of superior courage and strength. It is said that
this etymology can be traced in the designation of the body
from which sprang the military adventurers of the Lombards.
In the same way the primitive heroes may have been the
leaders who particularly distinguished themselves amongst
the wandering hordes who sought new settlements in dif¬
ferent parts ot Greece. T-he heroic age is variously esti¬
mated at six centuries between 1800-1200 b.c., or six
generations terminating at the same epoch, that is, about the
time of the Trojan War. The heroic age was certainly
past when Hesiod wrote.
In after times the reverence with which the heroes were
regarded assumed the form of worship. The national vanity
and the martial poetry of the Greeks were directly favour¬
able to the posthumous fame of the heroes. Raised above
the rank of mortals, the next step was to admit heroes to a
participation with the nature of the gods. Elevated thus
HER
far, they were naturally considered as still exerting a power- Herod the
ful influence over the destiny of mortals. Hence splendid Great,
temples and costly monuments were built in honour of
them, and propitiatory sacrifices offered to them. The
canonization and worship of saints in later times affords an
obvious analogy to the case of the classic heroes.
HEROD THE GREAT, the second son of Antipater of
Idumaea, was made governor of Galilee at an early age, and
effectually repressed the depredations of the bands of rob¬
bers by which the country was infested. Tried for execut¬
ing Jewish citizens without legal trial, he confronted the
Sanhedrim with an armed retinue, himself clothed in purple.
He was made governor of Ccele-Syria by Sex. Caesar, in
which he was fully confirmed by Cassius. Felix and An-
tigonus attempted to drive him from power, but they were
defeated, b.c. 41 ; Antony arrived in Syria, and Herod
obtained his favour by costly presents. Favoured also by
the venerable Hyrcanus, Herod, and Phasael his brother,
seemed established in power. Next year, however, Pacorus
the Parthian, favouring the pretensions of Antigonus to the
throne of Judaea, and encouraged by the discontent on ac¬
count of the Roman exactions, led an army against Herod
and Phasael. Herod escaped, and being refused assistance
from the king of Arabia, he hastened to Alexandria, whence
he embarked for Rome. Here, through his influence with
Antony, he was made king of Judaea, and set out under
Roman auspices to wage war against Antigonus, his rival
to the Jewish throne. After three years of vigorous war¬
fare he regained possession of Jerusalem, b.c. 37. Sum¬
mary executions were now the readiest means of getting
possession of great wealth, and with this wealth he kept on
good terms with Antony. So great was his power with the
Romans that he made head against all the influence of
Cleopatra, who cast a longing eye on Judaea, and who had
used her influence with Antony to get that kingdom an¬
nexed to Egypt. Such was his address that, after the
power of Antony was wrecked at Actium, Herod boldly
went to Rhodes to meet Augustus, and expatiated upon
the steadiness of his attachment to Antony. The scheme
succeeded. Augustus established him on the throne of
Judaea, and annexed several other places to his kingdom.
He thus reached the summit of power in spite of busy
enemies and deeply-seated unpopularity. His rival, Anti¬
gonus, as a representative of the Asmonaean line, had been
the favourite of the people. When he regained possession
of Jerusalem, he had executed almost every member of the
Sanhedrim, besides others of distinction. Having put Anti¬
gonus to death, the high priesthood devolved upon Aristo-
bulus, his wife Mariamne’s brother, but he gave it to Ananel.
Finding it politic, however, to reinstate Aristobulus, and
then becoming jealous of his popularity, he had him secretly
assassinated. Fearing he might fall by the snares of his
enemies when he went to meet Augustus at Rhodes, he
left orders that, in that case, Mariamne should be put to
death. He had done the same on a former occasion, when
he went to meet Antony, and in both cases the fact was
divulged to Mariamne. At the instigation of his mother
and sister, Mariamne was tried for adultery, and executed
by his order. Notwithstanding the barbarous conduct
which he thus exhibited, it was the strange fate of this
monster to be passionately attached to Mariamne. The
consequence was that after her death he became sullen,
ferocious, and a greater terror to all near him than he had
ever been before. Remorse acting on such a character
brought on something like insanity, and a violent fever
seemed as if the world were soon to be rid of him. Herod’s
Lament for Mariamne forms the subject of one of Byron’s
Hebrew Melodies. Upon his recovery, Alexandra, Mari¬
amne’s mother, and several others, were put to death.
Secure in the favour of Augustus and Agrippa, Herod
did many things to render himself still more odious to the
HER
Herod Jews. He rebuilt Samaria and called it Sebaste, in honour
II of Augustus. He built a seaport, to which he gave the name
Herodotus. 0f Caesarea. He built a theatre in Jerusalem itself, and an
amphitheatre beyond the walls, in which Roman shows of
gladiators and wild animals took place. After an attempt
made to assassinate him, he fortified Jerusalem, so as to
render himself secure against popular outbreaks. Amongst
the strongholds thus erected were Antonia and Hyrcania,
the latter being used as a prison. Notwithstanding his
generally oppressive government he made some attempts to
ingratiate himself with the people. During a famine he
distributed immense quantities of corn throughout the whole
country, and more especially he undertook to rebuild with
great splendour the temple at Jerusalem.
The closing years of Herod’s life present a dark history
of family discords, intrigues, jealousies, poisonings, and as¬
sassinations. He had two wives, of whom the most cele¬
brated is Mariamne. Two of her sons, Alexander and
Aristobulus, after having been educated at Rome, returned
to Jerusalem, where they were in high favour both with
their father Herod and the populace. However, Antipater,
another son of Herod, by Doris, planned their ruin, and,
after several unsuccessful accusations of conspiracy, the two
sons of Mariamne were executed. Antipater himself en¬
gaged in a conspiracy, which being detected he was executed.
Very shortly before the close of his life Herod ordered the
massacre of the infants at Bethlehem. He was carried off by
an excruciating internal malady in the 70th year of his age,
after having been king of Judaea for nearly 40 years.
Herod, Agrippa. See Agrippa.
Herod, Antipas. See Antipas.
HERODIANS, a sect among the Jews, concerning
whose origin and tenets very various opinions have been
expressed. It is most probable that they were a political
party who favoured the claims of Herod Antipas to the title
of king. These royalists are in the New Testament gene¬
rally opposed to the Pharisees or hierarchical party who
struggled for the theocratic independence of the Jewish
nation.
HERODIANUS, the last Greek historian of any note
who wrote before the partition of the Roman empire. The
date and place of his birth are unknown, but he flourished
in the first half of the third century of the Christian era, and
seems to have spent most of his life at Rome. His history,
which is divided into eight books, embraces the interval be¬
tween the death of Aurelius Antoninus, a.d. 180, to the
accession of the younger Gordian, a.d. 238—comprising
the reigns of Commodus, Pertinax, Julian, Niger and Al-
binus, Severus, Caracalla and Geta, Macrinus, Elagabalus,
Alexander Severus, Maximin, the two Gordians, and Bal-
binus. This period, it will be seen, wras one of the deepest
historic interest from the frequent changes of emperors, the
bloody wars, both foreign and domestic, the reckless
struggles for power, the court intrigues, and the gradual
decay of the old Roman empire before the inroads of the
northern barbarians. Herodian’s work, while it makes no
pretensions either to critical views of history or to deep
philosophy, yet bears an aspect of truthfulness and honesty,
and embodies many details which would otherwise have
infallibly perished. The best editions of Herodian are
those of Irmisch, Leipzig, 1789 ; and Bekker, Berlin, 1826.
Of the German translations the best are those of Gunradi,
Frankfort, 1784 ; and Osiander, Stuttgardt, 1830.
HERODOTUS, the “Father of History,” and the ear¬
liest of the Greek historians properly so called, was a native
of Halicarnassus, a Doric colony of Caria, which at the
time of his birth was ruled over by Artemisia, the heroine
of Salamis. The date of his birth, once a subject of much
dispute, is now fixed at b.c. 484, and few other incidents of
his life are so well determined. A scanty notice of him by
Suidas, and occasional allusions in his own works, are the
HER 355
materials from which his biographers have to construct his Herodotus,
life. From these we learn that his family was one of noble
rank in Halicarnassus, that his father’s name was Cyxas, and
his mother’s Dryo, and that the famous epic poet Sanyasis
was his uncle. On reaching manhood he found his native
city enthralled by the tyrant Lygdamis, the grandson of
Artemisia, and in disgust he retired to the island of Samos,
where, besides learning the Ionian dialect, in which his his¬
tory is written, he concerted measures for the emancipation
of his birthplace. These measures were successful, but in
the struggle which next ensued between the aristocratic
and popular parties, Herodotus saw fit to leave his native
town altogether. He is believed to have then joined a
colony which the Athenians were sending out to Thurii on
the Tarentine Gulf in Southern Italy, B.c. 445. Whether
the historian joined the colony in that year or at a later
period, as is sometimes affirmed, certain it is that he died
at Thurii and was buried in the market-place of the town.
The tradition of his having died at Pella in Macedonia is
so ill-authenticated that it is needless to waste time refuting
it. The exact date of his death is unknown, but he was
alive in b.c. 408, being then in his seventy-eighth year,
which it is probable that he did not long survive. Herodotus
appears before posterity in the twofold character of tra¬
veller and historian ; but the traveller is so subordinated
to the historian as to be only called in at rare intervals to
testify to the truth of some extraordinary statement. It is
of course impossible from these slight hints to lay down a
plan of his travels in strict chronological order. Yet modern
scholarship has proved that he derived the greater part of the
materials of his history from personal observation of the coun¬
tries which he describes. With everything included under
the general head of Hellas he was as familiar as with his na¬
tive town; in many individual cities, such as Athens, Thebes,
and Corinth, he is known to have spent a very considerable
time. He also visited most of the Greek islands, as well
those in the Ionian as in the Aegean Sea; all the colonies
in Asia Minor ; the whole circumference of the Black Sea,
Scythia, and Thrace. In Asia he penetrated as far as
Babylon, visiting also Ecbatana and Susa, besides making
a special pilgrimage to Tyre to investigate the worship of
Hercules. His account of Egypt, though a mere episode,
is the best that antiquity has transmitted to us. Entering
that country from the Mediterranean, he penetrated as far
as Elephantine, its most southerly point. He then turned
his face towards the west, and it is known that in this di¬
rection he reached Cyrene, though it is not improbable that
he may even have visited Carthage. His taste for travel
does not seem to have left him in his old age, for after fin¬
ally settling at Thurii he travelled through the southern
portion of the Italian peninsula, and some parts of Sicily.
The fact that he visited all these countries is sufficient proof
of his having visited many more ; but his admiration for
Greece and its laws and liberty remained unshaken to the
last.
At what period of his life his travels were undertaken, is,
like most of the other facts of his life, a matter of dispute.
It is most likely that they were begun soon after his volun¬
tary exile from his native city, and that they extended over
the whole interval between that date and his fixing his re¬
sidence at Thurii. Equally uncertain is the period of his
life in which he reduced the results of these travels and
observations into a comprehensive history. A story is told
by Lucian, apparently in jest, that Herodotus read his
“ History,” in its finished form to the assembled Greeks at
Olympia, b.c. 456 ; that among his hearers was Thucydides,
then a lad of fifteen, who was melted to tears by the reci¬
tation, and that the audience were so enchanted by the
whole performance, that they called the nine books, into
which the work was divided, by the names of the Nine Muses.
Now, in that year the historian was only thirty-two years of
356 II E H
Herodotus, age, and the work not only bears the marks of a matured
v—and practised writer, but actual allusions to events which
only took place many years after this date. Dahlmann,
however, in his Hero dot, aus seinem Buche sein Leben,
proves beyond a doubt that the story is a mere figment of
Lucian, and incapable of defence. Equally preposterous is
the tradition that he read his work at Athens at the Pana-
thenaic festival, b.c. 445, and that there existed among the
archives of that city a decree awarding the historian ten
talents as a token of national admiration for his genius.
The preservation of this story is due to Plutarch, who re¬
cords it in his essay on the Malignity of Herodotus. The
general drift of this composition is to prove that Herodotus
had been bribed by the Athenians. But the real ground
of the Theban essayist’s dislike to the panegyrists of Athens
is that he recorded with the stern severity of truth the pol¬
troonery of the Theban policy during the Persian War.
Both these stories may therefore be safely dismissed as
quite unworthy of attention.
The great work of Herodotus, which is divided into nine
books, called by the names of the Nine Muses, is a history of
the Greeks and their relations towards each other, and to¬
wards the foreign powers with which they came in contact,
from the fall of Sardes before the victorious arms of Persia,
B.c. 546, to the taking of Sestos, b.c. 478. To weld into
one harmonious whole the different parts of so complex a
subject, to order the march of events so that the story ad¬
vances from a beginning to an end with the precision of a
well-planned drama, to manoeuvre the episodes and minute
details so as to make them tell on the general result without
impeding or interfering with it—such seems to have been
the author’s aim, and he has hit his mark so truly that
Colonel Mure pronounces the History of Herodotus to be,
next to the Iliad and Odyssey, the greatest effort of Greek
literary genius. “ The one,” he says, “is the perfection of
epic poetry, the other the perfection of epic prose. Were
it not for the influence which the prior existence of so noble
a model, even in a different branch of composition, has evi¬
dently exercised on the historian, his title to the palm of
original invention might rival that of his poetical prede¬
cessor. In the complexity of the plan of his history, as com¬
pared with the simplicity of the execution ; in the multi¬
plicity and heterogeneous nature of its materials, and in the
harmony of their combination ; in the grandeur of its his¬
torical masses, and the minuteness, often triviality, of its
illustrative details, it remains not only without equal, but
without rival or parallel in the literature of Greece or of
Europe.” So great, indeed, is the entire work, that it has
been left to posterity fully to appreciate it, and assign to its
author his place among historians. It quite transcended
the sphere of the small wits of Herodotus’ day, who called
his marvellous stories the tales of a traveller, little antici¬
pating that after-ages as they rolled on would only confirm
the truth and accuracy of the narrative in which they only
found subject for laughter, and would acknowledge with
one accord that without the history of Herodotus the annals
of Greece would be an unintelligible blank.
The history of Herodotus having been written at a period
when poetry had ceased to be the common vehicle of
thought, and the art of writing prose had not yet been
perfected, bears marks of this transition epoch. The logic
of composition is not always observed, and many ill-com¬
pacted sentences might easily be pointed out. But there
are few writers in any tongue in whom such slips are so
easily pardoned or so thoroughly redeemed. Both in his
style and his vein of sentiment there is a freshness which
never fails, and which often rises to the poetical. Whatever
the subject under treatment may be, it is sure to be in¬
vested with an interest which prevents the most fastidious
of readers from feeling ennui. No chronicle of Froissart,
or romance of Sir Walter Scott, was ever more interesting
HER
than the history of Herodotus. No traveller ever possessed Heron,
in a higher degree than he the power of sifting what he ob- ,r ^
served, of preserving what was valuable, and rejecting what
was silly or useless. This power he shows even in what
many regarded as his weak point—his superstition. He
always bows the head before what seems to him the saving
element in the religious observances of the various peoples
whom he describes. But though he is careful never to
laugh at the monstrous absurdities with which these rites
were sometimes accompanied, he always makes it plain that
he saw through them. “ The charm of Herodotus,” says
Dahlmann, “ lies in that child-like simplicity of heart, which
is ever the companion of an incorruptible love of truth, and
that happy and winning style which cannot be attained by
any art or pathetic excitement, and is found only where
manners are true to nature; for while other pleasing dis¬
courses of men roll on like torrents, and noisily hurry through
their short existence, the silver stream of his words flows on
without concern, sure of its immortal source, everywhere
pure and transparent, whether it be shallow or deep; and
the fear of ridicule, which sways the whole world, affects
not the sublime simplicity of his mind.”
The literature of Herodotus is very extensive and im¬
portant. The first edition of the Greek text was published
by Aldus, Venice, 1502. A great advance on this was the
edition of Henry Stephens, Paris, 1570. The next of any
considerable value was that of Gronovius, Leyden, 1715;
which was in its turn eclipsed by that of Wesseling and
Walckenaer, Amst., 1763. Perhaps the best edition of this
class, however, is that of Schweighaiiser (Strasbourg, 1816),
who has also published a very correct but rather meagre
Lexicon Herodoteum. Next comes the edition of Gaisford,
Oxford, 1824; a very careful work, but making compara¬
tively little advance on its last German predecessor. The
last edition is that of Bahr, Leipzig, 4 vols. 8vo, 1830. The
best school editions are those of Matthise, Bekker, and
George Long. On the geography of Herodotus valuable
treatises have been written by Rennell, B. G. Niebuhr,
Dahlmann, and Heyse. The best translations of Herodotus
into modern tongues are those L’Archer, and Lange—the
former into French, and the latter into German. There
are several English translations, such as those of Beloe,
Taylor, Cary, and others, but none which do any justice
either to the spirit or the form of the original.
HERON, a mathematician and natural philosopher of
Alexandria, was the pupil of Ctesibius, and flourished b.c.
284-221. His name has been preserved in the well-known
experiment of Hero’s Fountain, in which, by means of con¬
densed air, water is made to spring from a jet in a continu¬
ous stream. The loss of some of Heron’s works is matter
of much regret. In those that survive mention is made of
a steam-engine which seems to have been set in motion
exactly on the principle of what is popularly known as
Barker's Mill. It is only recently, however, that Heron’s
claims have found an advocate, and it is expected that fur¬
ther researches will bring to light results in the meantime
quite unlooked for. (See Heron, by Augustus de Morgan,
in Smith’s Diet, of Biogi) Heron’s most valuable work is
that on Pneumatics, in which are given his experiments on
the elasticity of the air and of steam. Besides his Pneu¬
matics may be mentioned his Barulcus, an essay on the
lifting of heavy weights ; his essay on the Construction of
Automata ; his Chiroballistra, and his Belipceica, which
treat of the artillery of the ancients ; and a fragment on
Dioptrics. Most of these works are to be found in the
Mathematici Veteres, Paris, 1693.
Heron, called the younger, to distinguish him from his
namesake of Alexandria, was, like him, a mathematician
and natural philosopher. His birthplace, or even his coun¬
try, is quite unknown, and even his floruit is only guessed
to have been contemporaneous with that of the Emperor
H E R
Heron Heraclius, a.d. 610-641. The writings assigned to this
|| Heron are a treatise on Geodcesia, or practical geometry ;
Herrick, another on the Terms of Geometry; and some works on
various military matters, such as The Attack and Defence
of Towns ; the Machines of War. Some of these works
appear in the Mathematici Veteres; others are printed
separately; and some are still in MS.
Heron. See index to Ornithology.
HERPETOLOGY, the natural history of reptiles. See
Reptilia.
HERRERA TORDESILLAS, Antonio de, a Spanish
historian, the son of Roderigo de Tordesillas and Agnes de
Herrera (it being the custom of that country to bear the
mother’s name), was born in 1565. He was at first secretary
to Vespasian de Gonzaga, viceroy of Naples, but was after¬
wards appointed historiographer of the Indies by Philip II.,
who granted him a liberal pension. Whilst he held this office
he wrote his General History of the Indies from 1492 to
1554, in four volumes folio. Of all the Spanish authors,
Herrera is the one who has given the most exact and
circumstantial recital of the conquest of Mexico, and the
other events in America. Hence, to use the words of Dr
Robertson, his work “ furnishes the fullest and most accu¬
rate information concerning the conquest of Mexico, as well
as every other transaction of America. The industry and
attention with which he consulted, not only the books, but
the original and public records, were so great, and he usu¬
ally judges of the evidence before him with so much impar¬
tiality and candour, that his decades may be ranked among
the most judicious and useful historical collections.” His
death, which happened at Madrid on the 29th of March
1625, prevented him from occupying the office of secretary
of state, to which Philip IV. had just raised him.
Besides the work above-mentioned, Herrera wrote in Spanish—
1. Description of the West Indies, Madrid, 1601, in folio ; 2. History
of what passed in England and in Scotland during the forty-four
years of the life of Mary Stuart, queen of Scotland, Lisbon, 1590,
in 12mo; 3. Five hooks of the History of Portugal, and the con¬
quest of the Azores in the years 1581 and 1583, Madrid, 1591, in
4to ; 4. History of the affairs of France from the year 1585 until
the end of the year 1594, Madrid, 1598, in 4to; 5. History of the
World under the reign of Philip II. from the year 1584 until the
year 1598, Valladolid, 1606, in three vols. folio; 6. Historical
Treatise, Relation, and Discourse, of the Movements which took
place in Aragon in the years 1591 and 1592, in 4to; 7. Commen¬
tary on the Proceedings of the Spaniards, the French, and the Vene¬
tians, in Italy, from the year 1285 until the year 1559, Madrid, 1624,
in folio.
Herrera, Ferdinand de, a Spanish poet of the sixteenth
century, was born at Seville about the year 1516. He was
thoroughly conversant with the Greek, Latin, Italian, and
French languages, and also passed for a profound theologian;
but he applied himself, in preference, to poetry, and was the
first of the four Spanish poets who obtained the surname of
divine. Although he had taken holy orders at the age of
thirty, all his verses are addressed to a distinguished lady of
Andalusia, whom he celebrates under various names; but
his love was as pure and platonic as that of Petrarch, whom
he endeavoured to imitate, in following the footsteps of
Boscan and Garcilaso. Herrera died in his native place
about the year 1595. The collection of his poetry—entitled
Obras de Herrera, Seville, 1619—contains sonnets, songs,
lyrics, and elegies, full of spirit, grace, and expression; but
his style is at times deficient in correctness. Herrera was
also the author of—1. Helacion de la Guerra de Cypre y
batalla de Lepanto, Seville, 1572; 2. Vida y Muerte de
Thomas Moro, ibid., 1592, translated from the Latin of
Stapleton ; 3. An edition of the Poems of Garcilaso de la
Vega, with interesting notes, Seville, 1580, in 8vo.
HERRICK, Robert, a popular English poet, was born
in London, August 20th, 1591. He was of an ancient and
considerable family in Leicestershire. For centuries the
Herricks had possessed the manors of Stretton and Hough-
H E R 357
ton-on-the-Hill; and, settling in the town of Leicester at Herrick,
the beginning of the reign of Henry VIII., they gave a
succession of mayors and parliamentary representatives to
the borough. The literary honours of the race were not
confined to the author of the Hesperides ; from a branch of
the same family was descended the mother of Dean Swift.
Nicholas Herrick, the poet’s father, being a younger son,
removed to London, and commenced business in Cheapside
as a goldsmith and banker. He died in 1592, leaving five
children, of whom Robert was the fourth. Robert was in¬
debted for a learned education to a rich uncle, Sir William
Herrick, a man of abilities and address, who held offices of
trust under Elizabeth and James, and was knighted in 1605.
Sir William entered his nephew as a fellow-commoner of
St John’s College, Cambridge, in 1613. The latter after¬
wards removed to Trinity Hall, intending to study law;
but he seems to have soon abandoned this intention, and,
taking his degree of M.A., was presented by Charles I. to
the vicarage of Dean Prior, near Totness, in Devonshire.
Herrick was then thirty-eight years of age. He was pro¬
bably known as a poet, and he had been a guest at the lyric
feasts of Ben Jonson—•
“ Made at the Sun,
The Dog and Triple Tun,
Where we such clusters had
As made us nobly wild, not mad.”
Such a brilliant town life was not fitted to recommend
that of a poor vicar in a remote country parish, and Herrick
appears to have been disgusted with “ dull Devonshire,” and
with his parishioners, whom he describes as rude savages,
“ churlish as the seas.” Even the rocky and picturesque
scenery of the place comes in for a share of his vituperation.
He admits, however, that he wrote his best poetry there,
and much of it is devoted to praise of a country life. He
paints in lively colours the charms of the rural May-day,
village wakes, the harvest-home and Christmas revels, the
herd whistling at the plough, the meadow enamelled with
cowslips, and the autumn wain laden with its nodding sheaves.
He solaced himself also by framing poetical posies for a
string of imaginary beauties—his J ulia, Anthea, Corinna,
Electra, &c.; but Philips says he was “ not particularly in¬
fluenced by any nymph or goddess, except his maid Prue.”
Indeed, it is easy to see that in these curious and passion¬
less love verses Herrick merely copied the fashionable style
of poetic gallantry which had been common among the
amatory and cavalier poets from the time of Lyly, Lodge,
and others of the elegant Elizabethan versifiers. His praise
of his housemaid Prue—
“ Jocund his muse was, but his life was chaste ” —
was probably sincere. She had stayed with him, he says,
till he had grown old, after all the summer birds had flown ;
and though “ the grange ” or parsonage at Dean Prior was
humble enough (not even boasting a clock, to tell how night
drew on), he and Prue were content with their humble Epi¬
curean privacy, living on “ their own,” and having no fear
of landlord or usurer to disturb their slumbers. The small
establishment, however, was broken up by the storms of the
Civil War. The Long Parliament ejected Herrick from his
vicarage, and he flew, ravished in spirit, as he tells us, from
loathed Devonshire to London, “the blest place of his nati¬
vity.” Here, however, he found fresh cause for discontent
and grief. He was reduced to depend solely on the gene¬
rosity of his relatives and that of his brothers in misfortune,
the cavaliers. He published his poems ; his Noble Numbers
in 1647, and his Hesperides, or Works Humane and Divine,
in 1648. He mixed with the wits and poets of the time.
Ben Jonson was gone, but he numbered among his friends
Charles Cotton (a congenial spirit), the learned Selden, Sir
John Denham, and Henry Lawes, who set some of his pieces
to music, as he had previously done the lyrics in Milton’s
Comus. To all of these, and to most of the royalist
358 HER
Herring nobles, Herrick addressed encomiastic verses. His works
II he dedicated to “ the most illustrious and most hopeful
v j Prince Charles,” afterwards Charles II. His loyalty and
“ v-*- sufferings merited reward when the Restoration came, but
nothing better was done for Herrick than restoring him to
his vicarage in Devonshire, which was probably welcome to
him as a quiet retreat, for he was then bordering upon
seventy. He lived fourteen more years; and the parish re¬
gister of Dean Prior records that “ Robert Herrick, vicker,”
was buried on the 15th of October 1674.
The works of Herrick have been often reprinted, both in
an entire and a selected form. They consist of a multitude
of small pieces classified under various heads—as pastoral
and descriptive, amatory odes, aphorisms, anacreontic and
bacchanalian, moral and pathetic, &c. His best inspiration,
like that of Anacreon, sprung from wine, beauty, and flowers.
He is often indelicate—gross in taste rather than licentious,
and has many puerile and ridiculous conceits. He some¬
times steals from his contemporaries. One short poem is
servilely copied from a beautiful lyric in Ben Jonson’s
Epicame; another is taken from Suckling; and there are
imitations of Raleigh and others. He has no poem so fine
as Cowley’s Chronicle or Grasshopper, or Suckling’s Wed¬
ding ; and the exquisite snatches of verse, so full of classic
grace and polish, scattered through Jonson’s masques and
plays, are of a higher mood than anything in Herrick. Per¬
haps in rural description he must also yield to another De¬
vonshire poet of that period—Browne, author of Britannia!s
Pastorals. But Herrick’s airy voluptuous style is decidedly
original. His gaiety was of the heart, and was irrepressible.
Some of his lyrics are so melodious as scarcely to require
the aid of music to be sung; and his best pieces—as Gather
ye Rose-buds while ye may ; Cherry Ripe ; To Blossoms ;
the Parliament of Roses (he has fairly exhausted the voca¬
bulary of roses and kisses) ; To Anthea, who may command
him, &c. are of the real essence of poetry, unsurpassed for
delicacy of sentiment and refined gallantry. (r. c—s.)
HERRING, in Ichthyology, a species of Clepea. See
Fisheries, and Ichthyology.
HERRNHU P, a town of Saxony, circle of Bautzen, and
18 miles S.E. of the town of that name, on the Lobau and
Zittau Railway. It was founded in 1722 by a colony of
Moravians, who, having been driven by persecution from
their homes, found an asylum here with Count Zinzendorf;
and hence the Moravians are on the Continent generally
styled Herrnhuter. It is still considered the chief seat of
that body. Pop. about 1200.
HERSCHEL, Sir William. See Sixth Preliminary
Dissertation.
HERSFELD, a town of Hesse-Cassel, province of Fulda,
on the left bank of the River Fulda, and 23 miles N. of the
town of that name. It has several handsome churches, a
reformed gymnasium, and a trade school. The chief ma¬
nufactures are woollens and leather. Pop. 7000.
HERSTAT, a town of the Netherlands, in the province
of Liege, on the left bank of the Meuse. It is a place in
which there are very large iron works, and near to it is
abundance of coals. It contains 4710 inhabitants, chiefly
employed in making ironmongery.
HERTFORD, the capital of the county of Hertford,
which is so called after it according to the Saxon custom.
It is situated in a sheltered valley, on the River Lea, and,
though of ancient origin, is now a neat, clean, and well
built town. Hertford, pronounced Har’ford, is most pro¬
bably a corruption of Hereford, or army ford, as it is situ-
ated near a ford of the River Lea, and it is also spelt Here-
ord by Saxon authorities, and in some monastic char¬
ters. Hertford is supposed to have been a principal resi-
ence or the East Saxon kings; and a castle, of which some
re ics still exist, was built here in 909 by Edward the Elder,
to defend it fiom the Danes, who more than once ascended
H E II
the River Lea and attacked it. In later times it was the
scene of many historic events. The revolted barons,
headed by the dauphin of France, captured Hertford Castle
in the reign of King John. Edward III. made it the occa¬
sional prison of John II. King of France, and David King
of Scotland. The court was several times held here,
amongst others by Henry Duke of Lancaster, after the de¬
position of Richard II.; Henry VI., and Queen Elizabeth.
Hertford is a corporate town by prescription; the earliest
charter in existence is one granted by Elizabeth, but it recites
that the place has been a borough from time immemorial.
It is now governed by a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve
councillors, and its boundaries have been enlarged by the
Municipal Act to an extent of eight miles. Hertford re¬
turns two members to parliament, and is the assize town
of the county. The shire hall is situated over the corn-
market. The other public buildings are—the county jail
and house of correction; two churches, All Saints and St
Andrews ; a town-hall; and an edifice built on the site of
the ancient castle in the reign of James I. or Charles I.,
as a preparatory school to the East India Company’s Col¬
lege at Haileybury. There is also a preparatory school
for Christ’s Hospital, located at Hertford in a spacious
building. Boys are sent to it prior to being drafted into
the school in London, while the girls admitted remain until
their superannuation. The inmates usually number nearly
500, of whom four-fifths are boys. Hertford has also a free
grammar school for thirty-six boys; a green-coat school
for forty-five boys, the children of poor parents, who have
never received alms ; and the usual national and dissenting
schools. It is a thriving town. A large quantity of malt
is made here for the London breweries, and much wheat
and wool is sent to the metropolis in exchange for coal,
manure, and general commodities. The corn-market, held
at Hertford on Saturdays, is one of the largest in the king¬
dom. The population was, in 1831, 5615; in 1841, 5911;
and in 1851, 6605.
HERTFORDSHIRE, an inland county of England,
bounded on the N. by Cambridgeshire, N. W. by Bedford¬
shire, E. by Essex, S. by Middlesex, and S.W. by Bucking¬
hamshire. It is divided into eight hundreds, and 134
parishes, and has an area of 611 square miles, or 391,141
statute acres.
The level surface of the county is broken by gentle un¬
dulations, which in some parts form a quick succession of
hills and valleys. The summit of Kensworth Hill, on the
borders of Beds, the highest hill in the county, is 909 feet
above the level of the sea. The county is rich in natural
advantages. In early times, we are told by Camden, its
ledges of hills yielded shelter, its woods fuel and building
material, and its rich valleys, grassy bottoms, and teeming
rivers furnished food, thus meeting half way the wants of its
uncivilized inhabitants. “ Its sweet, clear, and very beautiful
air,” says a later writer, “ led many of our kings to build
palaces in the county for their own residence, as well as for
the training of their children.” The London physicians
sent patients there to prolong life when their skill was in¬
effectual, and the noble and wealthy built mansions, so that
the county became subdivided into a large number of small
estates, and the competition for land was so keen that it was a
common saying, “He who buys a house in Hertfordshire pays
two years’ purchase for the air.” The aspect of the county
is pleasant and picturesque. Fine oak and other trees are
grown in the hedges for fuel, and being interwoven by
“ plashing” their branches and stems, that is, by cutting
them obliquely, so that they grow into .each other, they form
high walls of living timber, shading narrow winding lanes.
The arable and pasture lands of the farms are intermingled
with the parks and ornamental woods of the country seats,
which, “ mantled deep in leaf,” are scattered thickly through
the county. These features, varied occasionally by rivers,
Hertford¬
shire.
HERTFORDSHIRE. 359
Hertford- impart a peculiar beauty to the county, while in luxuriance
shire, it is not surpassed by any other county in England.
'v—Geologically, the county forms part of the London chalk
basin. The subsoil in almost every part is calcareous, and
consists of two species, one of pure white chalk, the other
of a softer kind, mixed with portions of whitish clay, and
locally known as marme. The chalk substratum chiefly
influences the nature of the soil in the northern district;
clay prevails on the Essex and Middlesex borders, and in
some parts it is highly tenacious and retentive of moisture.
There are also some sandy loams mixed with gravel or
clay. The vales traversed by rivers and streams exhibit in
the bottoms a rich sandy loam; the sloping sides are
covered by loams of inferior quality, and the flat surface of
the high ground is generally formed of a loam of reddish
hue tending towards common clay, with which it is often
confounded. Arthur Young estimates that the county
contains 46,720 acres of chalk, 90,240 of clay, 142,720 of
loam, 5120 of rich loam, and 17,280 of rich gravel. F rom this
it would appear that clay and loam are the prevailing soils.
The rivers of Hertfordshire are the Lea, which rises near
Luton in Beds, enters the county at Hidemill, flows by
Hertford, where it becomes navigable, and falls into the
Thames a little below London, having received in its course
the Rib, the Stort, the Quin, the Beane, the Maran, and
the Kime ; the Stort, which rises in Essex, and divides that
county from Hertfordshire, until it falls into the Lea at
Hoddesden; the Colne, which rises in Middlesex, passes
through the western part of the county, and falls into the
Thames at Brentford, receiving the Bulborne and the Ver
or Meuse ; the Gade, which rises on the borders of Bucks,
and falls into the Colne near Rickmansworth ; and the Ivel,
a river composed of the inferior streams of the Oughton,
Iliz, and Pirral, which passes into Beds, and reaches the
German Ocean. The artificial stream, the New River,
formed to supply the metropolis with fresh water, has its
source in some springs near Ware, and running parallel
to the Lea for many miles, obtains copious supplies from
that stream. The Grand Junction Canal, extending from
London to Birmingham, also traverses the county, passing
by Watford and Berkhampstead. The Great Northern and
Eastern Counties Railways furnish nearly all its towns with
communication.
The main produce of Hertfordshire is corn ; and the
wheat grown at Wheathempsted, on the River Lea, is so
fine that it has given a name to the district. The average
produce for the whole county is—of wheat, 22 bushels per
acre, oats 22 bushels, and barley 32 bushels, though on
some highly cultivated farms the yield has been largely in¬
creased. Turnips were first introduced into this county in
the time of Oliver Cromwell, who gave L.100 to the far¬
mer for his enterprise; a large quantity is still grown.
Artificial grasses have been sown to a large extent. There
is indeed little natural pasture land. There are some very
rich pastures on the banks of the River Stort, extending from
Hertford to Hockeril, on the borders of the River Lea, and
also near Rickmansworth, where they are watered by the
River Colne. The whole of the meadow land might be
greatly improved by irrigation, but the streams of water are
so valuable for driving mills employed in grinding malt and
flour for London, that little is applied to improve agri¬
culture. In the S.W. part of the county large quantities
of cherries and apples are grown; the former is the least
valuable crop, as the fruit will not bear carriage so well as
apples, and it is also inferior in quality to Kent produce,
with which it has to compete in the London market. Each
cherry-tree is usually allowed nine square perches of land;
and the orchards, whether of cherries or apples, are gene¬
rally four or five acres in extent. On the best soils nearest
to London culinary vegetables are forced by the aid of rich
manure, and more than one crop is sometimes obtained in
the same year. The vicinity of London, in truth, stimu- Ilertford-
lates production by creating a demand for it. The chalk, shire,
found below the surface, abundantly laid on, greatly im-
proves the heavy lands, while fertility is imparted by the
rich manure brought from London in the barges which
have conveyed the produce of the county thither. Soot,
peat ashes, burnt bones, hair, and woollen rags are used for
manure amongst more ordinary substances, while the sheep-
fold and farm-yard dung is employed as universally as in
other parts of the kingdom. The common system of cul¬
tivation is the five course—viz., turnips or fallow, barley,
clover, wheat, oats. Naked fallows are very much adopted.
Not only are the farms in this county small, but the owner¬
ship of the land is also much divided. There are fewer
large proprietors than in other counties. The average ex¬
tent of the farms is about 200 acres ; and as this is a corn¬
growing county the quantity of stock kept upon them is
small. Generally speaking there are about 100 ewes and
six or eight cows on each farm. The calves are fattened,
and the dairy produce sold as butter; the lambs are either
fattened or sold as stores. The straw is sold, and soot pur¬
chased in its place. Six horses work the farm, and plough
three in a line. Not much attention is paid to the breeds
of animals, though amongst cows the Suffolk race is pre¬
ferred, and amongst sheep the Southdown and Wiltshire
kinds, and a cross between the Cotswolds and Leicester.
The horses generally employed in agriculture are Suffolk pun¬
ches, and large tracts of land are cultivated with clover and
tares for their sustenance, as well as that of sheep and cows.
An interesting laboratory of agricultural chemistry has been
established near St Albans by a private individual, in which
experiments on the nature and adaptation of manures are
made on an extensive scale.
The principal trade of the county is in corn and
malt, of which large supplies are sent to the metropolis,
the transit being facilitated by the water communication
which it possesses. Silk and cotton were at one time
largely manufactured in the county, but of late years
straw-plait has been the chief industrial pursuit. Lace¬
making and silk-throwing have all but ceased to exist.
Nothing certain is known respecting the tribes who in¬
habited the district before the Roman invasion. It is
supposed, however, that it belonged to the Cassi or Ca-
tieuchlani, and that Cassivellaunus was their chief when
the Romans destroyed Verulam, its principal city. It is
thought that Hertfordshire was the scene of the struggle
carried on by Caractacus; and it is certain that Verulam was
captured, and its inhabitants massacred after the revolt of
Queen Boadicea. When the Saxons subjugated the island,
Hertfordshire was divided, and formed parts of the kingdoms
of Essex and Mercia. In the year 896 the Danes ascended
the River Lea as far as Hertford; but Alfred the Great,
who then reigned, adroitly diverted the waters of the river,
and compelled the freebooters to abandon their vessels, and
seek safety by retreating across the island to the Severn.
After the battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror at¬
tempted to pass through the county, but Fretheric, abbot
of St Albans, who was of the Saxon royal blood, at the head
of a confederacy of chiefs, stopped the Normans at Berk¬
hampstead by throwing trees across the roads ; and having
threatened to raise Edward Atheling to the throne, William
the Conqueror was induced to swear that he would govern
according to the ancient laws of the realm—an oath which he
did not scruple to break on becoming more powerful than
those who imposed it. During the civil war of King John,
the revolted barons, under the French dauphin, captured
Hertford, the capital of the county. In the year 1455,
during the wars of the Roses, Henry the Sixth was taken
prisoner by the Yorkists, in a battle fought near St Albans;
and in 1461 he was rescued in a second battle fought there,
in which the Lancasterians were victorious. Hertfordshire
\
360
HER
HER
Hertha was }n iater times the scene of an exploit which gave indi-
Heruli cati°ns the spirit and resolution of Oliver Cromwell.
ru1' j The High Sheriff of the county was proceeding to St
^ Albans for the purpose of proclaiming, by order of King
Charles the First, that all the parliamentary commanders
were rebels and traitors, when Cromwell did not hesi¬
tate to arrest this high official, though at the time he was
himself only a simple captain of his own troop of horse.
“ There is scarce one county in England,” says Cam¬
den, “ can show more footsteps of antiquity.” The Ro¬
mans had several stations in Hertfordshire, amongst which
were Verulamium or Verulam, and Durocobrivis; and
traces still remain of the great Roman roads, the Watling
Street, the Ichnield Way, and the Ermin Street, which tra¬
versed the county. St Albans Abbey is a noble pile, 600
feet long, and 200 broad, founded in 303, in honour of the
first Christian martyr of Britain; it was much injured in
Cromwell’s days, and every style of Gothic architecture has
been incorporated in the edifice. One side of the gateway
is now a house of correction ; the other is a petty jail. The
famous cross at Waltham, erected to mark the spot where
rested the body of Eleanor, Queen of Edward I., on its way
to Westminster for interment, is now beautifully restored.
The other antiquities of the county are the massive ruins
of Berkhampstead Castle, and those of Bishop’s Stortfort,
Anstey, and Hertford; Roystone church and cave; the
churches of Kingslangley, Baldock, and Hitchen; the re¬
mains of Gorhambury Abbey, Wymondsbury Priory, and
some minor ruins.
The annual value of real property assessed in the pro¬
perty-tax 1850-1 was L.870,179. Pop. (1831) 142,844;
(1841), 156,666; (1851), 167,298. In 1851 there were
in the county 347 places of worship, with 95,585 sittings.
Of these places of worship 162 belonged to the Church of
England, 66 to Methodists of different kinds, 47 to Inde¬
pendents, 44 to Baptists, 7 to Quakers, and 4 to Roman Ca¬
tholics. There were 236 Sunday schools, with 20,584 scho¬
lars ; and 554 day-schools, with 23,373 scholars. Of the
latter, 244, with 17,507 scholars, were public, and 310, with
5866 scholars, were private day-schools. The county returns
three members to parliament, and Hertford two. St Albans
returned two members to parliament till disfranchised in
1852, for corruption and bribery. (f. c.)
HERTHA, or Herthus, a great deity of the ancient
Germans. Her name is doubtless the i-oot of the modern
English earthy and the German Erde, over which part of
the world she was believed to preside. Tacitus in his Ger¬
mania, states that she was worshipped with great solemnity
by the Suevi, and that her temple stood in an island of the
ocean, where her service was performed by a single priest.
On great occasions, regulated by this priest, the covered
chariot of the goddess was drawn forth from the sanctuary
by the sacred cows and led in triumph throughout the
country. Those districts was held to be peculiarly favoured
through which the chariot passed; arms were laid aside;
peace was proclaimed, and the time was spent in universal
merry-making, till the priest declared that it was the will
of the goddess to return to her shrine. Her image was then
washed in a sacred spring; and as all who witnessed the
ceremony of the ablution were drowned, the rites of the
goddess Hertha were always associated in the minds of the
vulgar with feelings of the most reverential awe. The
island of Riigen was long regarded as being the sacred
island of Hertha, but the honour has also been claimed for
Heligoland and Zetland. Recent researches avail no fur¬
ther than to limit the choice to one of the Danish islands.
I he whole subject of Hertha and her worship is fully dis¬
cussed by Grimm in his German Mythology.
HERULI, a nomad and warlike German tribe who
made their appearance in various and widely separate parts
ol the Roman empire. They first occur in history on the
northern shores of the Black Sea. Under the reign of
Valentinian, they are associated with the Batavi as allies of
the Romans against the Alemanni. They occur also in
Britain. When Attila, king of the Huns, made his de¬
scent upon Western Europe, he was joined, amongst other
tribes, by the Heruli, who subsequently, however, helped
to destroy the power of the Huns. But the most memo¬
rable event in the history of this tribe was their over¬
throwing the Roman empire, a.d. 476. Their leader, at
this time, was Odoacer, who is called King. Shortly sub¬
sequent to this, the Heruli established themselves into a
more permanent body, near the banks of the Danube. Here
they became a powerful nation, and the Ostrogoths sought
their assistance against the Franks. Amongst the tribes
which the Heruli had reduced to subjection, shortly after
their establishment near the Danube, were the Longobardi,
who succeeded in throwing off the Herulian yoke in the
beginning of the sixth century. Of the dispersed Heruli,
some proceeded to Scandinavia, and others got a settlement
in Pannonia. These latter were troublesome neighbours
to the western emperors. In Justinian’s time they embraced
Christianity. Under Todasius, a large party of them joined
the Gepidae in the wars against the Eastern empire, so that
the Heruli fought against each other. As a warlike nation
they were bold and hardy, and as being perpetually in motion,
the helpless, whether from age or sickness, were put to death
or left to perish.
HERVEY, James, the author of the Meditations
among the Tombs, wa.?, born in 1714 at Hardingstone, and
educated at the grammar school of Northampton, whence
in 1731, he passed to Lincoln College, Oxford. At that
university he became deeply imbued with the views of the
Methodists then struggling into influence and notice ; and
though he never openly identified himself with their sect,
yet the whole tenor of his life was in strict accordance with
their views. Entering the English church in 1740 as cu¬
rate of Biddeford, in Devonshire, he was three years later
appointed to succeed his father in the living of Weston
Favell in Northampton, to which he afterwards added those
of Weston and Collingtree. In this sphere he wrought
with the disinterested zeal and fervour of an apostle, sacri¬
ficing his health, and finally his life, in the duties of the
good cause. He died of consumption brought on by over¬
work, December 25, 1758. His works, which are nume¬
rous, and all on religious subjects, long enjoyed a popularity
quite out of proportion to their deserts. His literary merits
are very small; and even his Meditations among the
Tombs, his best work, is so viciously rhetorical, tasteless
and diffuse, that it is matter of wonder how it still finds
admirers or even readers. Of his other works may be
mentioned his Contemplations on the Night and Starry
Heavens ; Theron and Aspasio, a Series of Dialogues on
the most important Subjects; and his Letters, published
in 1811, which illustrate his amiable character and the
whole history of his life.
Hervey, John, Lord, the Sporus and Lord Fanny of
Pope’s satire, a nobleman of political and social distinction
in the reign of George II. He was son of the first Earl of
Bristol, and born in 1696. Educated and trained for public
life, he became a favourite at the court of the prince and
princess (afterwards George II. and Queen Caroline), to
which Pope, Gay, Arbuthnot, Chesterfield, and other wits
resorted, and which was celebrated for the beauty and ac¬
complishments of its ladies—as Miss Bellenden (afterwards
Duchess of Argyle), Miss Howe, Miss Lepell, and Mrs
Howard, names which will live for ever in the poetry of
Pope, Gay, and Swift, and in the lively memoirs and cor¬
respondence of that brilliant circle. Hervey was married
to Miss Lepell in 1720. In 1730, he received the ap¬
pointment of vice-chamberlain to the king; in 1733, Sir
Robert Walpole called him up to the House of Lords,
H E S
H E S
361
esiodos. where he proved a frequent and effective speaker ; and in
1740, he succeeded Lord Godolphin as privy seal, which
he held until the Walpole administration was driven from
power in 1742. Destitute of any commanding talents or
solid principle, a sceptic in religion, and profligate in
morals, Lord Hervey was yet far above the intellectual
rank assigned him by his merciless satirist, Pope. He
wrote and spoke vigorously on public questions, he was stu¬
dious and laborious, a fair scholar, and a writer of pleasing
occasional verses. In his famous quarrel with Pope, the
poet seems to have been the aggressor. His pride and jea¬
lousy were easily ruffled, and Lord Hervey and Lady Mary
Wortley Montagu had, he said, “ too much wit for him.”
Both parties disgraced themselves in their poetical attacks—
the lord and ladj' for having grossly alluded to Pope’s
obscure birth and personal appearance; and Pope for having
indulged in coarse and unmanly slander on Lady Mary, and
on the forced abstinence and ill health of Lord Hervey.
“ It would be now idle,” as Mr Croker remarks, “ to seek
for a cause of quarrel which the parties were, a hundred
years ago, unable or unwilling to explain ; but may it not
be sufficiently accounted for by the jealousies almost inevi¬
table between persons of such similar, and therefore dis¬
cordant tastes and tempers, living together in a circle of
tittle-tattle, scandal, and pasquinades?” Political differences
also arose; Lord Hervey and Lady Mary adhered to Wal¬
pole, while Pope and his brother wits were chiefly associated
with the opposition. Lord Hervey died in 1743. He left
behind him Memoirs of the Court of George II., which
were not published until 1848, when they appeared in two
volumes, edited by Mr Croker. The work throws much
light on the interior of the court—its coarseness, dulness,
and immorality ; but it is as degrading to the author as it is
to the English monarchy, for Lord Hervey appears rather
in the light of a court parasite and malignant gossip, than in
that of an English gentleman or fair historian, (r. c—s.)
HESIODOS, in English, Hesiod, one of the earliest
poets of Greece, was a native of Ascra in Bceotia. His era
is nearly as uncertain as that of Homer, whose name is
very frequently associated with his in the classics. Hero¬
dotus fixes it at about 400 years before his own time, thus
making it about the middle of the 9th century b.c.
Velleius Paterculus places him about 120 years after Ho¬
mer, and that opinion has been very generally adopted by
modern scholars; his floruit may be thus approximately
placed about the middle of the 8th century b.c. Of the
personal history of the poet very little is known. His fa¬
ther was a native of Cumae in vEolis, who emigrated with
his son Perses to Ascra, where the future poet was born.
He seems to have been a man of humble rank and small
means, for his younger son was, at an early age, sent to
tend flocks on Mount Helicon. On his father’s death he
became involved in a law-suit with his brother Perses about
the division of the little patrimony. The suit went in fa¬
vour of Perses, and Hesiod, in disgust at what seemed to
him the injustice of the Ascrean judges, retired to Orcho-
menus, branding his native town as “ miserable in the cold,
intolerable in the heat, bad always.” He spent the remain¬
der of his life in that city, anil his tomb was long after
pointed out there. Plutarch records a tradition that he
met his death at the hands of some youths who had sus¬
pected him (quite unjustly, as afterwards appeared) of
having dishonoured their sister. This, however, is per¬
haps only one of the many tales told about the manner of
Hesiod’s life and death by Tzetzes, Proclus, and others, to
which no credence can safely be attached. The works
that pass as Hesiod’s, though their genuineness is gravely
doubted, are three in number,— The Works and Days;
the Theogony; and The Shield of Hercules. In the
time of Pausanias, the first only of these was believed by
the people of Ascra and its neighbourhood to have been
YOL. XI.
really the work of their countryman. The introduction, jjesperides
and many interspersed passages, they regarded as later in- p
terpolations. Many parts of the poem, however, are un- Hesse,
doubtedly Hesiod’s, and there is equally little doubt, that
as these now stand, they have been tagged together by a
connecting narrative of a later date. I he poem itself,
which is in a didactic vein, professes to be a series of ad¬
vices on political, ethical, agricultural, and domestic mat¬
ters from the poet to his elder brother Perses. It is writ¬
ten in a very unpretending homely style, and accorded so
ill with the warlike taste of the time, that Cleomenes the
Spartan called its author the poet of Helots. Despite all
its want of unity and plan, however, the poem, in its ge¬
nuine parts at least, is valuable to us from the light it
throws on the domestic manners of the early Greeks. The
Theogony is now admitted, on all hands, to have been
the work of a bard posterior to Hesiod, though a member
of the Hesiodic school. It professes to describe the crea¬
tion of the world, the birth of the gods, and the origin of
the heroes. Whence Hesiod obtained the materials for his
Theogony can only be conjectured. Herodotus affirms that
he merely collected and systematized the local legends that
had existed in various parts of Greece long before his day.
But he also awards him the honour of having formed the
mythology of Greece as it was now' finally accepted, by
having impersonated in his gods qualities and attributes
that had formerly existed merely in the abstract. 1 his,
whether true or not, had given birth to the theory that the
sources from which the author of the Theogony drew his ma¬
terials, were philosophical, and not purely mythological spe¬
culations, and that in them maybe detected the germs that
afterwards flowered into the Greek philosophy. I he Shield
of Hercules is an inferior imitation of Homer’s magni¬
ficent description of the Shield of Achilles. It is believed
to have formed part of another poem ascribed to Hesiod,
entitled Eoece, or Catalogi Mulierum, giving an account of
the most famous of the mythical heroines. Parts of this
work are attributed to writers long posterior to Hesiod.
The works of Hesiod were first printed at Milan in 1493,
and two years later by Aldus at Venice. Of subsequent
editions, the best are those of Daniel Heinsius, Amst.,
1667; Robinson, Oxford, 1737; Gaisford, Oxford; and
best of all, Dindorf, Leipzig, 1825, and C. Gottling, Gotha
and Erfurdt, 1831.
HESPERIDES, in Grecian Mythology, the nymphs
whose duty it wras to watch over the golden apples pre¬
sented by Tellus to Juno on the occasion of her marriage
with Jupiter. Their number and names, like those of the
Atlantides, with whom they are often identified, are very
variously given ; but the received accounts represent them
as three in number, and bearing the names of Arethusa,
AEgle, and Hesperia or Hesperethusa. Their home, ac¬
cording to the earliest legends, was an island in the wes¬
tern ocean, so near the setting sun that foot of man could
never reach them. In their watch over the golden fruit,
they were assisted by the sleepless dragon, Ladon. One
of the twelve labours of Hercules was to slay this dragon
and carry off the fruit. In the attempts to localize the
home of the Hesperides, the ancient poets assigned it to dif¬
ferent spots of Africa, such as the Cyrenaica, the neigh¬
bourhood of Mount Atlas, an oasis in the great desert, or
to the Happy Islands in the Atlantic.
HESSE, Hessen, or Hessia, a country of Germany, for¬
merly constituting aprovince of the empire, under the charge
of a landgrave. It formed part of the circle of the Upper
Rhine, and was situated on the rivers Rhine and Mayn, to
the N. and S. of Frankfort, being about 150 miles in
length, with a varying breadth. The northern portion, or
Hesse-Proper, was anciently included in the landgraviate
of Thuringia; but in the year 1247, it passed by inheri¬
tance to Henry the Child, a prince of Brabant, in right of
362
H E S
Hesse-
Cassel.
his mother. From him it descended to Philip the Mag-
, nanimous, so well known in the history of the Reformation ;
and by his sons it was divided into several principalities, the
princes of each of which retained the ancestral title of land¬
grave. After undergoing various changes through family
successions and political revolutions, the ancient and ac¬
quired territories of the Hessian princes are now divided
into three sovereign states, members of the Germanic con¬
federation, and named respectively,—1. Kur-Hessen, called
also Hesse-Cassel or Electoral-Hesse; 2. Grand-ducal
Hessen, or Hesse-Darmstadt; and 3. Hesse-Homburg.
Kur-Hessen, or Hesse-Cassel, consists of one large mass,
two smaller masses, and several still smaller separate por¬
tions of land, all situated to the N.E. of Frankfort-on-the-
Maine, to thedistance of 110 miles, and containingaltogether
a superficial area of 3724 English square miles. It is divided,
or rather united, for administrative purposes, into four pro¬
vinces, the names, areas, and populations of which are :—
Names. Area. Pop. (1854).
Lower Hesse with Schaumburg 1703 367,575
Upper Hesse   766 124,762
Fulda  720 138,685
Hana«  535 124,328
H E S
3724 755,350
Kur-Hessen is mostly situated on the table-land of Cen¬
tral Germany, at a mean elevation of 500 to 600 feet above
the level of the sea; but the southern portion sinks down
into the valley of the Maine, beside Hanau and Frankfort.
The upper country is hilly and even in its southern portion
mountainous; but among the hills there are extensive and
even moderately fruitful valleys, drained by abundant
streams, which contribute to form the Werra and the Fulda,
the two main branches of the Weser; and the Lahn, a tri¬
butary of the Rhine. And, as the Fulda becomes navigable
at Hersfeldt, 30 miles above Cassel, and the Maine is navi¬
gable above Hanau, the country enjoys by their means, an
easy access to the ocean for the export of its produce. The
climate is generally a degree colder than that of the parts
of Baden, at the same elevation.
"1 he chief employment of the people is in agriculture ;
and rye is the staple production of their industry. Wheat,
however, is cultivated in some favourable places, and oats
and barley everywhere. Potatoes are likewise cultivated to
a large extent, and form a principal part of the food of the
Hessians, yielding also a large quantity of brandy. Tobacco
is grown on the banks of the Werra, in the district of
Schmalkald, and also in the district of Hanau, which is
reckoned the best in Germany. The vine reaches the
northmost point of cultivation at Witzenhausen, in the val¬
ley of the Werra ; but the total quantity of ground occupied
by vineyards is only about 300 acres, and the produce in¬
significant. Hemp is raised in Hanau, and flax in the other
provinces, and these two, with wood from the forests, are
the chief articles of export. There are some mines of cop¬
per, cobalt, and iron, to supply the demand for necessary
utensils. Manufactures are very inconsiderable, except for
domestic purposes, and yield nothing for export.
Till the present century the sovereign of Hesse-Cassel
bore the simple title of landgrave; but, in 1802, he was
raised to the dignity of an elector of the Holy Roman em¬
pire, and, though the empire was dissolved, and the func¬
tions of the electors consequently ceased in 1806, his suc¬
cessors were allowed by the Congress of Vienna to retain
the Ode oi Kurfurst, or Prince-Elector, as higher than that
ot Uiand-Duke, then conceded to the landgrave of Hesse-
Uarmstadt and several other princes. He takes the prefix
ot Royal Highness ; bears also the title of Grand-Duke of
u a ; and ranks in the 8th place in the confederation, next
after the Grand-Duke of Baden. Since that time his terri-
tory has been distinguished by the title of Kur-Hessen, or
Electoral-Hesse. Idl 1848 the constitution of the state
was that of a monarchy feebly limited by provincial states. Hesse-
n that year the constitution was made more popular; but Darmstadt
the subsequent re-action proved most injurious. During
the year 1851, Kur-Hessen was occupied by the troops of the
confederation, and subjected to military law. In 1852 a
new constitution was promulgated, on the illiberal principles
dictated by the diet, and the elector is again virtually an
absolute prince, whose rule has been very little satisfactory
to his subjects. The Hessians were long considered to be
behind their neighbours in intellectual cultivation ; but that
reproach has been, or is in the way of being, wiped off by
the establishment of the usual sorts of schools and colleges
Ihere is a university at Marburg containing 30 professors,
attended by only about 360 students.
The state revenue amounts to about L.600,000 a-year
and the expenditure to at least as much ; and, like the other
states, Kur-Hessen is burdened with a considerable debt, the
exact amount of which seems not to be known, as the latest
published account of it we have been able to meet with, is
no later than 1840, when it amounted to 1,642,566 thalers
(L.246,385 sterling).
. The Kur-Hessians belong mostly to the Reformed confes¬
sion of the Evangelical church ; there are, however, many
.^herans, a few Romanists, and Jews. In every thousand
inhabitants there are reckoned 600 Reformed, 231 Luther¬
ans, lo4 Catholics, and 15 Jews; of the latter the total
number is estimated at about 10,000.
The Kur-Hessian contingent to the federal army amounts
to 56/9 men. Kassel or Cassel, a fine town on the Fulda
about 90 miles N.E. of Frankfort, is the seat of govern¬
ment.
. Hesse-Darmstadt, or Grand-ducal Hesse, consists prin¬
cipally of two large portions of territory, one to the N.
and the other to the S. of the River Maine, the latter in¬
cluding the country on both sides of the Rhine, from Worms
to Mainz. Three smaller separate portions lie within the
territory of Baden; other three separate parcels in Wal-
deck, and some still smallerin Nassau and Kur-Hessen. The
aggregate area is 3232 English square miles; and the sepa¬
rate parcels are united, for administrative purposes, into three
provinces, as stated in the following table : 
Province.
Area in
Square Miles.
Starkenburg 1169
Rhenish Hesse  529
Upper Hesse 1543
Population
in 1852.
319,050
225,647
309,617
Capital.
Darmstadt.
Mayence or Mainz.
Geissen.
3232
854,314
In general this territory is rather mountainous; but in
the southern division, along both sides of the Rhine, there
are extensive plains, rich and fertile; and in the northern
province, near the Maine, there are some moderately large
valleys. It is generally a well-watered country, its streams
pouring themselves into the Rhine and the Weser. Few
countries of the same extent have a greater variety of cli¬
mate. In the neighbourhood of the Rhine and the Maine
it is mild and agreeable, the winter is short, the summer
warm, and the air generally dry. The hay harvest begins
early in June, the corn harvest in the middle of July, and
the vintage in the latter part of September. In the Oden-
wald, on the contrary, the climate is raw and cold, the spring
is later, and several weeks more are required to ripen the
fiuitsof the earth. As in Kur-Hessen, here also aoriculture
employs the bulk of the people. Rye is the chief crop,
though some good wheat is grown. Fruit is very abundant,
such as apples, pears, plums, almonds, and chestnuts. Wine
is, next to corn, the most important product, and its annual
value is estimated at about half as much as that of the grain.
I he breeds of domestic animals are of the usual kinds? and
present nothing remarkable. Wood from the forests is an
important article of export by the Maine and the Rhine, for
the great mart for that commodity in Holland.
H E S
Hesse- The mineral wealth consists of the produce of some iron
Homburg and copper mines ; but the quantity produced is insufficient
II for the consumption. The manufactures consist chiefly in
Hesychms. vvork;ng Up the raw materials of wool, flax, and iron into
articles of internal consumption; and there are, besides,
some manufactures of paper, glass, copper, and iron wares.
The chief articles of export consist of barley, wine, tobacco,
rape-oil, dried fruits, madder, clover-seed, wood, honey, wax,
and feathers. These are exchanged for colonial wares in
Holland, and articles of dress and furniture brought from
France and Belgium.
In respect of religion the great bulk of the people are
Lutherans; and the relative proportions of the different
sects are estimated thus:—Lutherans, 397 ; Reformed, 84;
Mennonites and Inspired, 1^-; Catholics, 167; Jews, 20.
These proportions, however, vary in the different provinces.
In Rhenish Hesse the Catholics form the larger half of the
population, or 93 to 87 ; in Upper Hesse, on the contrary,
the Protestants number 251 to 12^ Catholics ; and in Stark-
enburg, 178 to 7l£. Education is well attended to in the
usual sorts of schools, and there is a university at Giessen,
with 32 ordinary professors, and about 380 students.
The reigning sovereign is a landgrave of Hesse ; but he
now bears the higher style and title of His Royal Highness
the Grand-Duke. He is feebly limited by the States, the
re-action that followed the revolution of 1848 having had
as full effect in Darmstadt as in Cassel. The public reve¬
nue is estimated at the yearly sum of 8,206,873 florins
(L.820,687 sterling) ; and the expenditure is fully as much.
The public debt, at the end of 1850, amounted to 3,674,622
florins (L.367,462) ; and the debt incurred in the construc¬
tion of railways to 11,848,607 florins (L.1,184,860). The
army amounted in 1855 to 10,514 men, and the contingent
to the federal army is 6195.
The capital of the state and seat of government is Darm¬
stadt, in the province of Starkenburg, about 20 miles S. of
Frankfort, with about 25,000 inhabitants ; but the principal
town is Mainz or Mayence, in Rhenish Hesse, on the S.
bank of the Rhine, one of the strongest fortresses in Europe,
and the bulwark of Germany against France. It is garri¬
soned by the troops of the Confederation ; but the civil ad¬
ministration belongs to the Grand-Duke. The population,
including the permanent garrison of 6000 men, exceeds
40,000.
Hesse-Hombhrg is a very small territory of about 106
square miles, belonging to a prince of the family of Darm¬
stadt, with the title of landgrave. It consists of two prin¬
cipal parts, one on the slopes of the Taunus, N.W. of Frank¬
fort, and the other to the westward of the Rhine, S.E. of
Bingen. These form two provinces, of which Homburg,
on the N., contained in 1852, 11,166 inhabitants, and
Meisenheim in the W., 13,755. Both provinces enjoy a
fruitful soil, and a healthful climate, are well cultivated,
and yield a surplus of corn, wool, flax, and wood. Meisen¬
heim likewise produces wine and coal, by means of the lat¬
ter of which the people are enabled to produce some manu¬
factures of glass and ironmongery wares. The majority of
the people belong to the Lutheran confession; about 6000
to the Reformed, 3000 Catholics, and 1000 Jews. The
public revenue is about L.35,000; and the debt amounted
in 1854 to L.l 15,270 or thereby. The contingent to the
federal army is 333 men. Homburg, a small town, with
about 3600 inhabitants, 10 miles N. by W. of Frankfort, is
the capital. The landgrave is now 73 years of age (April
1856), unmarried, and without heirs male ; so that at his
decease, his territory will be annexed to that of Hesse-
Darmstadt.
HESYCHIUS, author of the Greek Lexicon which
bears his name. Nothing whatever is known of his history.
Some suppose him to have been a Pagan, who lived before
the close of the fourth century A. D.; while, from certain
HEX 363
glosses in the Lexicon, others suppose him to have been a Hetman
Christian. It is allowed, however, that these glosses are II
interpolations. The plan of the Lexicon is explained in an
introductory letter to Eulogus, who also is unknown. In v ^ y
this letter Hesychius proposes to make the Lexicon of
Diogenianus the groundwork of his own. It is valuable for
the quotations from works which have perished, and more
especially as being one of the oldest works of the kind in
existence. The best edition of the Lexicon is that of Al¬
berti, 1746, completed by Ruhnken, 20 years later.
HETMAN, a Cossack title. See Cossacks.
HETTOWRA, a town of Hindustan, in the Nepal
territories, and the centre of all commerce carried on be¬
tween the Nepal dominions and those of Oude and the
Company. It is situated on the Rapti river, and is a miser¬
able village, consisting only of about sixty houses. E. Long.
85. 3., N. Lat. 27. 26.
HEVELIUS, or Heyelke, John. See the historical
part of art. Astronomy.
HEXAMETER, the commonest and most important form
of dactylic verse, so called from its consisting of six feet or
measures. In the first four places of the line these feet
may be dactyls or spondees indifferently, but the fifth is
almost invariably a dactyl, and the sixth always a spondee.
In a few rare cases, either to vary the rhythm or to pro¬
duce some special effect, a spondee is introduced in the fifth
place, and the line is then called a spondaic line. The cor¬
rectness and beauty of hexameter verse depend in great
measure on the proper distribution of the caesural pauses.
See Cassura.
So far as extant data enable us to judge, we may con¬
clude that the classical tongues of Greece and Rome are
alone adapted to the successful cultivation of the hexameter
metre. It is certain, at least, that all attempts to na¬
turalize it in modern poetry have only proved failures of
different degrees of badness. The first who endeavoured
to accommodate it to the structure of the English lan¬
guage was Gabriel Harvey, the friend of Spencer, and
the “ Hoby nol ” whose poem is prefixed to the Faery
Queen. So ill was the attempt received, however, that
no one stepped forward to take part in his defence, when
he found himself assailed with the bitterest sarcasms by
the leading wits of the days. Tom Nash in particular,
the Lucian of his age, assailed the luckless innovator with
a keen-edged malignity that was further whetted by a
feud of long standing between him and Harvey. A poem
of the latter, entitled Encomium Lauri, begins with these
absurd lines :—
“ What might I call this tree ? A Lawrell ? 0 bonny Lawrell!
Needes to thy bowes will I bow this knee and vayle my bonnetto 1”
Nash happily burlesques these lines by describing Harvey
sitting under a yew tree in the grounds of Trinity College,
Cambridge, inditing a sonnet to the weather-cock on the
spire of Allhallows,—
“ 0 thou wether cocke that stands on the top of Allhallows,
Come thy waies down if thou darst, for thy crowne, and take
the wall on us.”
“ The hexameter,” he continues, “ I graunt to be a gentle¬
man of an auncient house (so is many an English beggar),
yet this clyme of ours hee cannot thrive in ; our speech is
too craggy for him to set his plough in ; hee goes twitch¬
ing and hopping in our language, like a man running upon
quagmires, up the hill in one syllable and down the dale
in another, retaining no part of that stately smooth gate,
which he vaunts himself with among the Greeks and La¬
tins.”
The objections brought forward by Tom Nash, three
centuries ago, still hold good ; and the partial successes of
Southey, Lockhart, and more recently of Longfellow, only go
to confirm the verdict then pronounced. In German the
364
H E Y
result of the experiment, apparently different, is in reality
the same. The hexameters of Schiller and Goethe contain
too many beauties of thought and poetry to be readily for¬
gotten, yet in so far as they are merely hexameters, they
only serve as a beacon to warn less skilful pilots oft a coast
where shipwreck is certain. English and German being
thus doubtful vehicles for the hexameter verse, French and
Italian may be given up as wholly impracticable, nor are
we aware of a single successful effort in this metre in either
of those tongues.
HEXAPLA, a collection of the Holy Scriptures in six
languages. The term is generally applied to the edition
of Origen, which contains the text in Hebrew and Greek
letters, along with the Septuagint versions and three other
translations. See Bible, and Origen.
HEXASTYLE, in Architecture, a building or a portico
with six columns in front.
HEXHAM, a market-town of England, county of
Northumberland, on the south bank of the River Tyne, 20
miles W. from Newcastle. A handsome stone bridge of
nine arches crosses the river at this point, and the New¬
castle and Carlisle railway passes the town. It has some
tolerably wide streets, but the greater number are narrow
and irregular. The market-place is a spacious square,
having a neat market-house, supported by pillars, with an
open space underneath, and stalls for country dealers. The
priory church is a cruciform structure, in a mixed Gothic
and early English style, surmounted by a tower about
100 feet high. The nave, which was burnt by the Scots
in 1296, still exists in ruins. Hats and gloves constitute
the principal manufactures of the town. It has a free
grammar school, mechanic’s institute, savings bank, dispen¬
sary, and almshouse. Market-day, Tuesday. Roman re¬
mains have been found at Hexham, which is supposed to
have been a Roman station, probably Axelodunum. In the
seventh century a monastery was founded here by StWilfrid,
and soon afterwards a bishop’s see was established. The
diocese was afterwards united to Lindisfarne. Hexham is
noted for the great defeat of the Lancastrians in 1464.
Pop. (1851) 4601.
HEY LIN, Peter, D.D., an English miscellaneous writer,
was born in 1600, at Burford, near Oxford. He was edu¬
cated at that university, and, after graduating, lectured pub¬
licly on history and geography. Entering the church, he
was appointed chaplain to Charles I., who rewarded his
bigoted royalism with several valuable livings. His mo¬
narchical enthusiasm was by no means quenched when,
like all the king’s favourites, he found himself marked out
for punishment by the parliamentarians, who stripped him
of all his preferments and property. He had before this
made himself a considerable name as a writer by the pub¬
lication, in 1625, of his Microcosmus, or a Description of the
Great World, which had enjoyed a wide circulation, and
been several times reprinted. He now devoted himself to
literature, and produced in all no fewer than 37 different
works on history, geography, and divinity, besides poems
and miscellaneous works. These, though now known only
to the antiquarians, were extremely popular in the seven¬
teenth century, especially among the royalists, whose cause
he vindicated with much ability and zeal. His historical
works in especial, were conceived and written in a spirit of
the most bigoted partizanship. After the Restoration,
Heylin was for a time utterly neglected by the party in
whose service he had lost his all; and it was only a very
few months before his death, in 1662, that his services were
shabbily requited with the sub-deanery of Westminster.
Among his principal works are a Life of Laud, a History
of the Tithes, Defence of the Church of England, and a very
graphic and humorous narrative of a six weeks’ tour on
the Continent, which repays perusal now better than al¬
most any of his more elaborate writings.
HEY
Not long after Heylin’s death, two biographies of him
appeared, the first by “ one Mr George Yernon of Glou¬
cester,” and the other by Dr Barnard, the son-in-law of
the deceased controversialist, and an accomplished scholar.
Vernon was a kind of literary pet of the Heylin family,
who seem to have instigated him to a piece of literary
workmanship, for which he was quite unfit. The furious
quarrel that ensued between him and his learned rival, and
which resulted in the complete victory of the latter, has
found a place in Disraeli’s Curiosities of Literature.
HEYNE, Christian Gottlob, an illustrious classical
scholar and archaeologist, was born on the 25th of Septem¬
ber 1729, in a suburb of the city of Chemnitz, in Saxony,
where his father, having been compelled by some religious
persecutions to abandon his native country of Silesia, had
settled, supporting his family in great poverty by exercis¬
ing the trade of a weaver. It was only by the liberality of
his godfathers that Heyne was enabled to obtain his primary
instruction in the elementary school of Chemnitz, and after¬
wards to prosecute his classical studies in the gymnasium
of that city. In 1745 he entered the University of Leipzig.
There he was so scantily supported by those on whose as¬
sistance he relied, that he was frequently in want even of
the common necessaries of life, and was sometimes indebted
for food to the generosity of a maid-servant in the house
where he lodged. In this situation, without even the hope
of future distinction, he continued to struggle on against
every difficulty and disappointment, in the acquisition of
knowledge. For six months he is said to have allowed
only two nights in the week to sleep, and was at the same
time forced to endure the reproaches which his godfather
thought himself entitled to inflict on him for negligence in
the prosecution of his studies. His distress had almost
amounted to despair, when he procured the situation of
preceptor in the family of a French merchant resident in
Leipzig. He was thus enabled to continue his studies,
though with much interruption ; the emoluments of his ap¬
pointment being sufficient to support him in what was at
least comparative comfort. Under Ernesti, he was initiated
into the criticism of the classical authors; from the pre¬
lections of the celebrated Bach he acquired a competent
knowledge of the Roman jurisprudence ; and through the
instructions of Christius, who lectured on archaeology,
and with whom he was intimately acquainted, his atten¬
tion was strongly directed to the works of ancient art. Hav¬
ing finished his studies at the university, he was exposed
for many years to all the accumulated distresses of po¬
verty and neglect. The first situation he was able to
procure was that of copyist in the library of Count von
Briihl, with a salary of only an hundred dollars, which
he obtained in the year 1753. From the necessity of
adding something to this scanty pittance, he was forced
to employ himself in the drudgery of translation ; and, be¬
sides some French novels, he translated into German the
Greek romance of Chariton. He published his first edi¬
tion of Tibullus in 1 755, and in 1756 his Epictetus. In
1756, his emoluments as copyist were doubled, and the
education of Prince Maurice von Briihl was intrusted to
him, but without any additional salary. The invasion of
Saxony by the Prussians deprived him of his appointment,
and even destroyed the library on which it depended. The
period of the Seven Years’ War was that in which he was
chiefly exposed to the storms of fortune ; and his marriage
with Theresa Weisse, a young woman of distinguished
genius, but equally poor with himself, increased his misery.
Having been obliged to retire into Lausatia, he lived for
some years as steward in the family of the Baron von Leo-
ben. He was enabled, however, to return to Dresden in
1762, where he was intrusted, by Lippert, with the care of
writing the Latin text of the third volume of his Dacty-
liotheca.
Heyne.
H E Y N E.
Heyne. At length, in the commencement of the year 1763, his
merit met with its reward, and a new and illustrious career
was opened to him. On the death of John Matthew Gesner,
in 1761, it became necessary for the curators of the uni¬
versity of Gottingen to look around for a successor capa¬
ble of sustaining the reputation which the institution bad
acquired by the learning and talents of that distinguished
scholar. The appointment was offered to Ernesti, who,
whilst he declined leaving the university of Leipzig, pro¬
posed Ruhnkenius of Leyden or Saxius of Utrecht for the
situation. Ruhnken likewise refused the appointment, but
having been strongly impressed by the taste and learning
displayed by the editor of Tibullus and Epictetus, he ad¬
vised Muenchhausen, the Hanoverian minister and principal
curator of the university of Gottingen, to bestow the pro¬
fessorship on Heyne, whose merit, though known to few,
he ventured to promise would do honour to the choice.
The minister had the good sense to acquiesce in the recom¬
mendation of this great scholar, and Heyne, after some de¬
lay, became professor of eloquence in Gottingen. Though
his appointments were at first few, and his emoluments in¬
considerable, these were gradually augmented in proportion
as his usefulness was approved, and as his growing celebrity
rendered it an object with the other governments of Ger¬
many to secure for their literary institutions the services of
so distinguished a scholar. He refused the most advan¬
tageous and honourable overtures from Cassel, Berlin, and
Dresden. In his different capacities of professor, principal
librarian, member of the Royal Society, and chief editor of
the Literary Gazette, and still more by his publications, he
mainly contributed to raise the university of Gottingen to
the distinguished rank it holds among the seminaries of
Europe. After a long and useful career, graced with all
the distinctions which in Germany are conferred on literary
eminence, he died, full of years and honour, on the 14th of
July 1814.
In Greek literature he has given us editions of Homer’s
Iliad, Pindar, Diodorus Siculus, Apollodorus, and Epic¬
tetus ; and, in Latin, editions of Virgil and Tibullus ; all
illustrated with copious commentaries. His Opuscula Aca-
demica, in five volumes, contain a series of 116 academical
dissertations, of which the most valuable are those respect¬
ing the antiquities of Etruscan art and history, and the re¬
searches regarding the colonies of Greece. He has left us
also a great number of papers on almost every subject of
erudition, more especially on ancient mythology, amongst
the Commentationes Societatis Regice Gottingensis. His
Antiquarische Aufs;itze, in two volumes, comprise a valu-
ble collection of essays on different subjects connected with
the history of ancient art. In the earlier part of his life he
translated, or rather wrote anew, a great part of the Uni¬
versal History.
After this notice of the chief events of his life, and of his
literary productions, it may be proper to say somewhat in
regard to the distinctive merit which has raised Heyne to
so eminent a place amongst the promoters of classical litera¬
ture. And here it is chiefly as an interpreter of the ancient
poets, and as an original investigator of the ancient mytho¬
logy, that he must rest his claims to the celebrity he has
acquired. As a critic of the works of art, his desert is
great, but he has no pretensions to original or peculiar
discoveries.
The example of the great philologists of Holland, and
the more immediate influence of Ernesti and Gesner on
the taste and pursuits of their countrymen, had, before the
middle of the last century, awakened in Germany a new
zeal for the study of the ancient authors, and had advanced
the criticism of classical literature to a rapid and vigorous
maturity. The great writers of antiquity ought not, how¬
ever, to be read with a regard limited merely to their lan¬
guage ; they more especially deserve a close and enthusi-
365
astic study, for the admirable means which they afford of Heyne.
improving the understanding and of cultivating the taste,
From the year 1760, about which period the Germans had
begun to devote themselves, with an enthusiasm as zealous
as it was tardy, to the cultivation of their native language
and literature, several intelligent philologers displayed a
more refined and philosophical method in their treatment
of the different branches of classical learning ; and, without
neglecting either the grammatical investigation of the lan¬
guage, or the critical constitution of the text, no longer re¬
garded a Greek or Roman writer as a subject for the mere
grammarian and critic, but, considering the study of the
ancients as a school for thought, for feeling, and for taste,
they initiated us into the great mystery of reading every¬
thing in the same spirit in which it had originally been
written. They demonstrated, both by doctrine and ex¬
ample, in what manner it was necessary for us to enter into
the thoughts of the writer, to pitch ourselves in unison with
his peculiar tone of conception and expression, whether
erroneous or correct, and in every instance accurately to
investigate the circumstances by which the mind of the
poet or philosopher was affected, the motives by which he
was animated, and the influences which co-operated in
giving the intensity and character to his feelings. It was
shown how generally the conception of the reader was
merely a veil thrown over the thought of the original. It
was no longer allowed to combine modern with ancient
ideas, to convert the derivative with the original thought,
or to translate it by a new and factitious signification. At
the head of this school stands Heyne, both as its founder
and principal ornament; and, however some of his disciples
may have exposed themselves to ridicule in their applica¬
tion of the principles on which this system of interpretation
rests, yet it cannot be denied that nothing has contributed
so decisively to maintain and promote the study of classical
literature, as the combination which Heyne has effected of
philosophy with erudition, both in his commentaries on the
ancient authors, and in those works in which he has illus¬
trated various points of antiquity, or discussed the habit of
thinking and spirit of the ancient world.
The comparative poverty of Germany in ancient manu¬
scripts has compelled her scholars to rest satisfied in gene¬
ral with the critical apparatus which the philologers of other
nations have collected. What they necessarily wanted in the
originality of subsidiary stores, they have, however, endea¬
voured to supply, by a sound and rational employment of
those already compiled; and the praise of useful diligence
cannot certainly, with justice, be denied to their labours in
this department. Originality, however, was possible in the
criticism, which does not rest on the collection of read¬
ings or the authority of manuscripts, and in the mode of the
illustration applied to the ancient writers; in these respects
the later philologers of Germany have earned a glory peculiar
to themselves, and which must be remembered as long as
learning and ingenuity are respected. How cogently have
they reasoned on the authenticity or spuriousness of parti¬
cular writings, and how skilfully have they applied the test
to the interpolations of later times; to what new conclu¬
sions are we now brought in regard to Orpheus, Homer,
Anacreon, Longinus, &c., by the critical investigations of
Schneider, Wolf, Fischer, Hermann, Weiske, and others;
how differently has the controversy in regard to the authen¬
ticity of certain orations of Cicero been latterly concluded
by Wolf, compared with the result of Markland’s and Ges-
ner’s speculations. In this department Heyne does not,
however, hold the same pre-eminence which he has attained
as an enlightened and popular interpreter; for though his
discussions in the higher criticism are both numerous and
valuable, he is as much surpassed in boldness and originality
by Wolf, as he is inferior to Hermann in the minuteness
and subtilty of his reasoning.
366 HEY
Heywood. There is, however, another department in which the
labours of Heyne are more original, and here he merits
all the honour to which a discoverer is entitled. Until the
middle of the eighteenth century, mythology was nothing
else than the nomenclature of divinities, a collection of the
manifold and discordant legends of their several relations,
actions, and destinies, and the delineation of their forms
from the works of the poets and artists, illustrated, perhaps,
by a mystical and allegorical commentary. About this
period some more profound thinkers began to regard the
mythical traditions in a higher view, as sources of human
history; but, from too confined an acquaintance with the
circumstances and condition of the ancient world, they took
too high a standard for their explanations, and, through a
mystical and allegorical interpretation, thinking they had
discovered, under the veil of mythological narration, ideas
of the deepest wisdom, they confidently framed thereon
hypotheses for the history of mankind, for the arts, for phi¬
losophy, and for the other sciences, which threatened altoge¬
ther to extinguish the glimmering light that was still afforded
us for the periods of remote antiquity.
Heyne opened a less ambitious but more certain path.
Following the observations which travellers had collected
in regard to new and uncivilized nations, he applied these
to the condition of the Greeks, who, as history informs us,
from a rude and sensual barbarism, had gradually advanced to
a state of civilization and intellectual refinement. He thus
arrived at the simple conclusion, that the mythical tales of
antiquity contain the first attempts at reasoning, the most
ancient history, philosophy, and theology embodied in a
poor, unformed, and consequently figurative language; and,
therefore, that mythology is a system comprehending partly
the original form of representation through objects of sense
peculiar to a rude age, expressed in fables, ceremonies, and
monuments, transplanted into later times ; partly a kind of
poetical apparatus derived and formed from this original
mythology, and intended only by its authors for the pur¬
poses of poetical effect. He hence justly concluded that it
is impossible to attain any real insight into the nature of
mythical narration, unless the mythi of the most ancient
poets are carefully distinguished from the abusive applica¬
tions made of them in the poetry of after times, and unless
mythology be kept separate from the philosophy conversant
about mythology. In conformity with these fundamental
rules, Heyne has illustrated Apollodorus; and in the same
spirit he has conducted those researches into the nature
and tendency of the different mythi of Greece, which he has
published in the Transactions of the. Royal Society of Got¬
tingen. His views have been almost universally admitted
to be correct in principle, and his applications to have been
conducted with the most profound learning and almost un¬
equalled ingenuity. A great number of followers have
pursued the path he opened; and his theory has now at¬
tained the form and stability of a system, through the la¬
bours of his disciples. Amongst these, the names of Martin
Hermann (not the philologer), of Voss, and of Manso, are
especially to be distinguished. The theologians of Ger¬
many have likewise applied the same theory to the inter¬
pretation of the Sacred Books; and the researches of Eich-
horn, Bauer, Ugen, Hartmann, Vater, De Wette, and a
host of other philosophical divines, into the pretended bib¬
lical mythi, have been pursued with a learning and acute¬
ness equalled only by the impious audacity of their con¬
clusions. (w. H.j
HEltWOOD, John, styled the epigrammatist, from a
work which he published under the title of Six Centuries
of hpigrams, was born (it is not known in what year) at
North Mims, near St Albans. He was educated at Ox¬
ford, and afterwards made the acquaintance of Sir Thomas
More, who introduced him at court. His skill in music
and his inexhaustible fund of ready wit made him a special
H I C
favourite of Henry VIII., and afterwards of his daughter Heywood
Mary ;—and it is said to have been only pungent jesting ||
that could move the laughter of two such persons. His IIickes-
Interludes, a kind of connecting link between the old mo- '-"V"'
ralities and the modern drama, were extremely popular in
their day. These generally represented some ludicrous in¬
cident of a homely kind in a style of the broadest farce,
and in their way displayed no mean skill and talent. One
of these interludes, called The Four P's, describes a con¬
test between a pedlar, a poticary, a palmer, and a pardoner,
as to which of them shall tell the grossest lie. The palmer
remarks that he never saw a woman out of patience in all his
life; and his rivals, amid much jesting, confess themselves van¬
quished. Heywood’s longest single work is an immense
burlesque allegory, published under the title of the Para¬
ble of the Spider and the Fly. The spider symbolizes the
Protestant party, the fly the Catholic. The allegory itself
is an account of the conflict between the two parties,
but so long-winded, intricate, and unintelligible that, in
the words of an old critic, “ neither he himself that made
it, nor any one that readeth it, can reach unto the meaning
thereof.” On the accession of Queen Elizabeth, Heywood,
who was a zealous Catholic, fled to Mechlin in Belgium,
where he died in 1565.
Heywood, Thomas, a voluminous English dramatist of
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, was born in Lin¬
colnshire, and was educated at Cambridge, where he be¬
came a fellow of Peter-house. The dates of his birth and
death are alike unknown, and the few facts of his life that
are known have been gleaned chiefly from his own writings.
He is first found writing for the stage in 1596, and is known
to have been using his indefatigable pen in 1640 ; indeed
his last-published piece did not appear till fifteen years after
that date. Heywood was an actor as well as a play-writer,
and to these employments he superadded that of a miscel¬
laneous author. He is believed to be the most voluminous
of English writers, and on that score has been likened to
Lope de Vega, Kotzebue, and Alexandre Dumas. Putting
out of account his non-dramatic works, which fill many folio
and quarto volumes, he describes himself as “ having an entire
hand or at least a main-finger in two hundred and twenty
plays.” Of these only three-and-twenty survive, but they
amply attest that had he chosen to concentrate instead of
diffusing his powers, he might easily have ranked with the
Massingers, Fords, and others of his great contemporaries.
His facility and variety are almost without a parallel, his
fancy was inexhaustible, and his invention boundless;
but his taste was bad, and he delighted to excess in what
he called “ merry accidents, intermixed with apt and witty
jests;” or, in other words, the broadest and coarsest farce.
Many of the songs interspersed throughout his plays were
singularly sweet and graceful. His best pieces, such as
A Women Killed until Kindness ; The Four Prentices of
London ; The English Traveller ; A Challenge for Beauty;
and Love’s Mistress, lie chiefly in the department of what
has been called the domestic tragedy, in which he is in
some respects at least superior to Lillo. Charles Lamb
hits his character in a single sentence:—“ Heywood is a
sort of prose Shakspeare ; his scenes are to the full as na¬
tural and affecting; but we miss the poet—that which in
Shakspeare always appears out and above the surface of the
nature.”
HICKES, George, was born at Newsham in Yorkshire
in 1642. He finished his studies at Oxford with great ap¬
plause, and took the degree of A.M. This honour was
likewise conferred upon him by Cambridge. For seven years
thereafter he fulfilled the duties of lecturer in Lincoln Col¬
lege. His health having been impaired by close study,
he accompanied his pupil, Sir George Wheeler, to France,
to recruit. Upon his return he graduated in divinity at
Oxford in 1675, and was appointed rector of St Ebbe.
HIE
Hidage This was followed by his becoming chaplain to the Duke
|| of Lauderdale. At the breaking out of the Revolution in
lierapohs. jggS he adhered steadily to the cause of the dethroned
James II., and lost all his benefices. Protesting vehe¬
mently, by placard affixed to the door of Worcester Church,
against his being ejected, he retired to London, where he
remained for several years in concealment. After under¬
taking a difficult mission to the banished king regarding
the affairs of the church, Hickes, upon his return, was ap¬
pointed suffragan Bishop of Thetford. His vehemence in
the royal cause would have exposed him to danger had not
the Chancellor Somers, in admiration of his great talents,
exerted his influence to shield him. He died in the 74th
year of his age, a.d. 1715.
Hickes was a voluminous writer. His theological and
controversial works are sinking into oblivion. His fame
rests upon his philological writings. His Institutiones
Grammaticce Anglo-Saxonicce et Mceso-Gothicce, &c.,
afford the first methodic arrangement of the grammatical
rules of the Anglo-Saxon language. His Antiques Liter¬
atures Septentrionalis, libri duo, &c., 2 vols. folio, Oxon.
1705, long remained as the most complete work on ancient
northern literature and languages.
HIDAGE {Hidagium) was an extraordinary tax pay¬
able to the kings of England for every hide of land. This
tax was levied in money, provision, armour, and other ar¬
ticles ; and when the Danes landed in Sandwich in 994,
King Ethelred taxed all his lands by hides, so that every
three hundred and ten hides found one ship furnished, and
every eight hides furnished one jack and one saddle, to
arm for the defence of the kingdom. Sometimes the word
hidage was used to signify exemption from that tax; and
this immunity was also called hidegild, and interpreted,
from the Saxon, a price or ransom paid to save one’s skin
or hide from beating.
HIDALGO {hijo dalgo, son of somebody), an obsolete
title of nobility in Spain ; in Portuguese,
HIDJELLEE, a town and district of Hindustan, province
of Bengal, on the W. bank of the Hooghly River. It is
the first town which is seen after entering the river. Here
ships formerly used to anchor, but they now run up to Ked-
jeree or Diamond Harbour. There is here an extensive
salt manufactory belonging to government. This place
is very unhealthy. It was to Hidjellee that the English
retreated in 1687, after escaping from Hooghly. They
fortified the island, and held possession of it for three
months, against all the efforts of Aurungzebe, till peace was
concluded. The vicinity abounds with tigers, and the
creeks with sharks and alligators. E. Long. 87. 50., N.
Lat. 21. 50. The district is bounded E. by the Hooghly,
and S. by the sea. Some of the land is good, and produces
a great quantity of rice, cocoa-nuts, betel-nuts, &c. Area
of district, 1014 square miles. Pop. 133,265. Its chief
towns are Hidjellee and Contai.
HIERAPOLIS, in Ancient Geography, the name of
several cities, of which the most important were those in
Phrygia and Syria.
Hierapolis, in Phrygia, stood on a small tributary of
the Maeander, from which it was distant 15 or 20 miles,
and was 5 miles N. of Laodicea. It was celebrated for the
worship of Cybele, here celebrated with great pomp, for its
warm springs, which formed stalactites sometimes attaining
an immense size, and for its Plutonium. This was a large
cave, from a fissure in the floor of which exhaled a noxious
vapour, said to poison all who breathed it except the priests
H I E 367
of Cybele. The city was probably founded by the Greeks, Hierapolia
though the history, alike of its rise and of its decay, is un- jjiej.'ocleg
known. Its ruins, which are near a place called Pambuk- ^ ‘
Kalessi, have often been visited and described by modern
travellers, who likewise describe the extant stalactites,
some of which have now reached the size of small hills.
Hierapolis, or (as it was called by the natives) Bam-
byce, in Syria, obtained its name of “ the sacred city” from
having been the principal seat of the worship of the Syrian
goddess Astarte. It was the most important city in the
district of Cyrrhestice, and was about 22 miles distant from
the right bank of the Euphrates. Under the Seleucidae it
became a great commercial mart from its being on the great
highway between Antioch and Seleucia. The Emperor
Constantine made it the capital of the province Euphra-
tensis, and it plays a conspicuous part in the Eastern cam¬
paigns of Julian ; but with the establishment of Christianity
and the abolition of the old worship, Hierapolis fell into
insignificance and decay. Its ruins were in modern times
first discovered and described by Maundrell, but the posi¬
tion of the city was first accurately fixed by Col. Chesney
in the course of his expedition. Of the ancient remains
the most important are two temples, a larger and a smaller.
The massive architecture of the larger one, splendid even
in ruins, seems to point it out as the scene of die worship
of Astarte. The other ruins are chiefly Mohammedan.
The modern name of the place is Kara Bambuche or
Membigz.
HIERAX, a bishop of Leontopolis towards the close of
the third century, who expounded Scripture on allegorical
principles, and attracted a number of followers, who from him
were called Hieracites.
HIERO I. and II., kings of Syracuse. See Hieron.
HIEROCLES, the name of several Greek writers, of
whom the most notable are the following :—
Hierocles, born at Alatanda, in Caria. He and his
brother Menecles were considered the first orators of Asia
Minor. Their exuberant and florid style is pronounced by
Cicero far inferior to that of the Greek masters.
Hierocles, of Bithynia. He was the author of the fierce
persecution of the Christians under the reign of Diocletian,
at the beginning of the fourth century. At first he was a
judge at Nicomedia, where his persecuting zeal raised him
to the governorship of Alexandria. He wrote two books ad¬
dressed to the Christians, in which he endeavoured to show
that the Christian Scriptures were full of contradictions;
and also that the miracles ascribed to Jesus Christ were
equalled by those ascribed to Apollonius of Tyana. He
was answered by Lactantius and Eusebius. He is some¬
times confounded with Hierocles the Platonic philoso¬
pher.
Hierocles, the neo-Platonic philosopher, had a flourish¬
ing school at Alexandria in the beginning of the fifth cen¬
tury, and was greatly admired for his ease and elegance of
style. The works ascribed to him are :—1. A Commentary
on Providence and Fate, and the Agreement between Divine
Government and Human Liberty, in seven parts. Mere
fragments of it are all that now exist. He reasons in favour
of human liberty of will by supposing the pre-existence of
the soul. He denies the eternity of matter. 2. Philoso¬
phical Maxims, preserved in the shape of extracts in Sto-
baeus. 3. A Commentary on the Golden Verses of Pytha¬
goras. This has come down to us entire, and is valuable as
giving us a view of the Pythagorean philosophy. The best
edition of it is by R. Warren. London, 1742.
368
HIEROGL YPHICS.
Hierogly- INTRODUCTIOX.
phics.
The object of the present essay is to give a concise ac-
Introduc- count of the language of the ancient Egyptians and of the
tlon- written characters by which it was expressed, from the age
of the Great Pyramid to the third century after the Christian
Era. Many valuable works have been written on various
portions of this subject, but they have been addressed rather
to a small body of students than to the learned generally.
It has seemed therefore desirable to place before every
scholar the means of forming an independent judgment re¬
specting the method of interpretation originated by Young
and Champollion, and this may be best done by as complete
an account of the results of their method as can be compre¬
hended within the limits of this article, with the addition of
corroborative facts.
It is upon the results of the interpretation of hierogly¬
phics that its truth mainly depends. If those results be
correct, the lost Egyptian history has been restored, and we
have been made acquainted with the manners of the Egyp¬
tian people from the patriarchal times. Formerly we were
obliged to look, as to a historical narrative, to the uncertain
statements of Herodotus, who candidly told us not to trust to
what he related on the authority of others;1 statements
rendered more doubtful by their abounding in positively
fabulous or glaringly inconsistent matter. We were forced
to endeavour to find some traces of truth in the careless and
uncritical compilation of Diodorus Siculus, and to construct
a history from the dry lists of Manetho, preserved by inac¬
curate or falsifying editors,2 in forms self-contradictory and
contradicting one another. Others who wrote in Greek and
Latin had indeed preserved a few traditionary tales, which
had come down to us in the last stage of a series of corrup¬
tions. In the Bible indeed are found some remarkable notices
°f Egypt, throwing great light upon the manners of the in¬
habitants at different times, but from which little historical
information could be obtained without a previous knowledge
of the history itself. From these materials arose a variety of
histories of Egypt, no one of which was connected, and most
of which contained, if the recent discovery be true, repeti¬
tions of the same king, on account of the different forms in
which his name was given. In truth, all that was known of
the earlier history was that Menes was said to have founded
the kingdom at sometime between I7,000and2000 yearsB.c. Hierogly.
—according to various authorities—that certain kings, as to Phics-
whose time of rule there was a great discrepancy, built the
most celebrated pyramids, and that some isolated sovereigns
had been famous as warriors or lawgivers. It was not until
the seventh century b.c. that any connected history began,
and yet the most moderate computations assigned to the
Egyptian kingdom or kingdoms a duration before that
time of more than 1400 years. So vague, indeed, was the
knowledge respecting this time of darkness, that it was not
determined whether there had been but a single monarchy
or whether Egypt had been ruled at any time by contem¬
porary sovereigns. The best scholars generally scouted the
idea of contemporary dynasties, yet now there is scarcely any
one who maintains that there was but a single monarchy.
Of the Pharaohs mentioned in the Bible, the later ones
alone—Tirhakah the Ethiopian, Necho, and Hophra—had
been identified with those mentioned by profane writers;
and the chief part of what was said in the Sacred Records
could not be attached to any portion of the Egyptian history
derived from other sources. The manne's of the people
were better known, both from these various authorities and
from the sculptured and painted monuments of the country ;
but these materials were not enough to enable us to under¬
stand the national character. From these sources, more¬
over, there could not be formed any very clear view, since
most of what the Bible contains respecting the Egyptians
refers to the time when the Israelites were in Egypt, a
time at which the population was much mixed with Semitic
or other colonizers,3 and to the part of the country in which
dwelt most of the strangers, and since the Greek writers
speak of periods when the nationality of the inhabitants was
greatly changed.4 If the interpretation of Young and
Champollion be true, we have contemporary historical and
religious monuments of almost every century from the third
after that in which ruled the first king of Egypt.5 From the
evidence of these monuments the chronological differences
have been so greatly reduced, that the best authorities dis¬
agree at the utmost about 1000 years as to the earliest
period, and are comparatively almost agreed with respect
to the age of the Twelfth Dynasty, variously held to have
commenced from twenty-seven to twenty-one centuries be¬
fore the Christian Era. Not less satisfactory, though very
ew wri ers aye been more careful than Herodotus in warning their readers to discriminate between what is related on personal
au ori y an w at is derived from others.. Thus, after describing Egypt, and before speaking of its history, the very part to which we
, ^Ve 'l U, 6 va„°Ve’ 6 s®ys> tovtou. o\]/is Ti if^n Ko.) xa.) 'itTToain rcwrt/, Xiyoutra. £<rri' to Ss octo tovSi, Alyuvrious s^o/joai Xoyou(
tTh ,r?sirs<r'ra'<*vToi<n Tt xai tvs IfAvs o^ios, ii-, 99. In the narrative which follows this, the historian plainly states his me-
10 roug out the work,—Si oroc^x TavTa TOV Xoyov IroxiiTOu, on too XtyopisK vor\(> ixoottut uxoy y£a.<pa>, ii., 123. In a much later place
e, repea s t is ayowa of his system, Kyu Se oipaXu Xtyuv to, Xtyopiva, vrsISso-Scol yz uv ou •rKvraxa.o’i c/ptiXtu' %ai fjooi touto to eoros Ix-erco Is
J°V vu‘’ 1. ^ was therefore absurd and unfair to receive, as did most critics until recently, much that Herodotus evidently
re a e on hearsay evidence as true because of their conviction of his veracity, which had nothing to do with that of his informants: and
i was equally unjust of a more recent school to cast doubt upon all he related, because his history had been before received with an in-
discnminating confidence.
In saying this we would not be supposed to cast any slur upon African us, Eusebius, or Josephus ; but we think that there can be no
°U it1 <.at .ii - c**screPan<;'es between what they have stated on Manetho’s authority must be, at least in the case of Eusebius’ version the
resu o a deliberate falsification. We have a similar instance in the differences between the present Hebrew text of the Pentateuch,Vnd
„e, eP uaglnt and Samaritan versions, as to the lengths of the patriarchal genealogies before Abraham, which must have arisen, in two
?. e 4 rae cases> from systematic alteration, effected probably with the same object that induced the falsification in part of Manetho’s
lS3S'rpi1 ^eS n°^ ^0^0W that this was in each case the work of the Alexandrians.
statement^in^h06Bibl1 *ar^e ^ore^Sn population in Egypt at the time when the Israelites were there in bondage appears from various
The Egyptians, however liberal they may have shewn themselves towards other nations, evidently were exclusive with the Greeks • and
ere ore several instances of the adoption of the manners of the latter people, and even of intermarriage with them, mentioned by Hero-
°6UmhS- ^ ln.l')lcations of change even in his time. Besides, the Greek visitors associated chiefly with Greeks and Hellenized Egyptians.
'Fnvp-r'V8 Sald ?n tT.e saPP°sitiorl that the writer’s explanation of Egyptian chronology, as given in liorce ^Bgyptiacce, and the article
, s correct. It will, however, be applicable, with some modification, to the longer schemes of chronology.
HIEROGLYPHICS. 369
Hierogly- unexpected, has been the bearing of this history on the state-
phics. ments of ancient writers. The lists of Manetho, who cer-
tainly might have been supposed to have possessed very
complete and accurate information, have been signally con¬
firmed, and we have even been enabled to restore some parts
of them, where they are corrupt, to their original purity, or at
least to do somewhat towards effecting this. The veracity of
Herodotus has not suffered, but we have become somewhat
more careful in accepting what he has related on hearsay
evidence. The biblical narrative has received much illustra¬
tion, and some advance has been made towards the syn¬
chronism of Hebrew chronology with Egyptian. In the
matter of arts and sciences much new information has been
obtained, and the representations of the monuments have
acquired an additional value from our having been enabled
to fix their dates at least relatively. The congruity of these
results, their reasonableness, and their unexpected charac¬
ter, afford no little evidence of the truth of the system by
which they have been obtained.
The results of Young’s and Champollion’s discoveries,
with respect to the ancient state of the countries bordering
on Egypt, are, if true, of great importance in affording
us an insight into their condition at remote periods from
contemporary monuments, and thus adding a new set of
authorities to the scanty materials for their history. The
information that has been thus acquired has tended to con¬
firm reliable records, and has extended our knowledge, not
alone of the public affairs of the peoples to which it relates,
but also even of their manners and civilization. Neverthe¬
less, our ignorance of ancient geography has so embarassed
these inquiries, that much remains to be done, and more
may be reasonably hoped as to the future than has been
accomplished in the past.
The most remarkable effect of these discoveries, in their
whole extent, has been their influence on historical criticism
and the kindred branches of knowledge, from which we may
not unreasonably argue their truth. A better school of
critics has arisen, and almost all scholars have been content
with sounder and more moderate views than had before
prevailed. Some may indeed ascribe this improvement to
other causes, but if they compare the best works on Egyp¬
tian matters published before Young’s time with those that
have since appeared, thev must confess that they see a very
marked difference of method traceable to the different bases
on which the writers have argued. This influence is, how¬
ever, nowhere more distinctly evident than in the bril¬
liant discoveries of Sir Henry Rawlinson, Ur Hincks, and
others. Their method is based on that pursued by the in¬
terpreters of hieroglyphics, and if the method be false with
respect to these latter, it must in like manner be so with
respect to the cuneiform characters, and the results of the
interpreters of both be equally visionary conjectures.1
It is not easy, therefore, to form a just estimate of the
importance of a discovery from which such extraordinary
results have been deduced, nor can an inquiry into its truth
be lightly set aside, when we perceive what would be the
consequences of its abandonment. We should have to un¬
learn the alphabet of our criticism, to burn many of the
most valued works of the last few years, or to use them
with suspicion, and to begin afresh from the point to which
our fathers had attained, having gained nothing but a rooted
historical scepticism. An essay, then, which should give the
fullest means of judging this question would be of no slight
use, and the present article is intended to supply the want.
This may be best done, not by a laboured argument for the
system of interpretation, or a detailed examination of what
has been urged against it, but by a simple account of the
progress and results of the discovery, principally as they
relate to the Egyptian language.
1 The argument, here given in outline, is more fully stated i
VOL. XI.
No small incitement to the examination of this question Hierogly-
and the prosecution of the study by those who may be con- phics.
vinced that they can proceed on sure grounds, may be de-
rived from the promise it affords of further discoveries of
greater extent and importance than those which have been
already made in the same province. If, from a partial read¬
ing of some of the inscriptions, and a yet more partial read¬
ing of a few of the papyri, such great results have been
obtained, what might not be expected from a fuller exa¬
mination of more ample materials? We have good reason
to anticipate that the clearest light will be thrown upon the
state of science among the Egyptians when the most fa¬
mous pyramids were built, 4000 years ago, that we shall
become acquainted with the details of their history from
that time, without any great interruption, until the close of
the native monarchy, and that most important additions
will be made to our knowledge of the early history of the
Jews, the Phoenicians, the Greeks, and other nations with
whom the Egyptians were brought in contact by war or by
trade. The simple fact that it is asserted by some of the
best scholars of our day that we can read in Egypt inscrip •
tions more than 4000 years old, contemporary with the
events which they record, should stimulate inquiry, and
excite for them greater interest than for any other of man’s
monuments.
The first section of this essay will contain a definition of Plan of the
the Egyptian systems of writing, and an account of the article,
means of interpreting them afforded by the Coptic language,
the statements of ancient writers, and the ancient Egyptian
records. The second section will explain the method of
Young, Champollion, and their followers, with a summary
of its main results, and the chief reasons for its correctness,
which may be deduced from various evidence, chiefly ex¬
ternal. In this section the whole of Young’s treatise, so
far as it relates to the interpretation of the Rosetta Stone,
will be reprinted from the fourth volume of the Supple¬
ment to this E/tcyclopeedia, published in 1819, for it has
been judged right to maintain this document intact, both
in justice to the author and on account of its own im¬
portance. The third section will be devoted to a sketch
of the grammar of the sacred dialect, expressed by the
Hieroglyphic and Hieratic characters; while the principal
differences of the vulgar dialect, expressed by the Demotic
characters, will form the subject of the fourth and concluding
section. In these two sections the object will be rather to
point out the main characteristics of the Egyptian language,
and to dwell upon those distinctive peculiarities that guide
the comparative philologer, than to enter into minute details
of interpretation. The essay is, as has been previously
stated, especially addressed to the general scholar, who is
invited to examine inquiries, which, from the manner in
which they have been treated, have hitherto been almost
confined to a very limited class.
The woodcuts (exclusive of Dr Young’s) which are in¬
troduced are merely intended to explain the text. Their
selection and the positions in which they have been placed
have been determined by this explanatory intention alone.
SECTION I.
THE HIEROGLYPHIC, HIERATIC, AND DEMOTIC SYSTEMS OF
WRITING, AND THE MATERIALS FOR THEIR INTERPRE¬
TATION.
Since the different systems of writing which prevailed
among the ancient Egyptians are merely adaptations of the
same principles, varying chiefly in their appearance and their
use, they can be best explained by tracing their origin and
history before offering definitions of each of ihem.
the latter part of the second section of the present article.
o A.
370 HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogly- Although there is reason to suppose that the most an-
phics. cient kind of Egyptian writing of which we possess ex-
's'—amples, the hieroglyphic, originated from pure picture-
History of writing,1 it will not be safe to attempt a description of any-
the Egyp- thing anterior to the oldest hieroglyphic inscriptions. These
of^writin"118 are ex^an^ 111 ^le tombs near the Pyramids of El-Geezeh,
‘ and date about the time of the commencement of the Fourth
Dynasty,2 b.c. cir. 2440.3 In them we find a combination
Hierogly- °f picture-writing with a phonetic system. The picture-
phic system, writing was by means of what have been termed ideogra¬
phic signs,4 which represented real things by their figures,
and ideal things by symbols. The phonetic characters were
both syllabic and alphabetic—the syllabic being used for
particular syllables alone, and sometimes abbreviated by the
first character standing for the whole syllable, and the al¬
phabetic being occasionally not arranged in the order of
pronunciation, the medial vowel being placed after the
consonant or consonants which it preceded in sound. Both
systems were combined by the ideograph being used as a
determinative,5 usually following the word for which it stood,
and, in a few cases, forming its first phonetic character; but
most words were written either by ideographs alone, or
phonetically alone, while one of the two classes of charac¬
ters was not exclusively employed in any inscription. The
same continued to be the essential characteristics of the
hieroglyphics down to the latest period at which they were
employed, the time of the Roman Emperor Trajanus Decius,
a.d. 249-252, notwithstanding certain changes which are
noticed below (note 1). The earliest hiei’oglyphic writings
are the inscriptions mentioned above, and no papyri have
yet been found which can be assigned to the same period;
nevertheless, as the character representing a roll of papyrus
occurs in these inscriptions, there is no doubt that at their
remote period records were preserved in books as well as
on stones.0 It cannot be determined, however, whether
the hieroglyphic mode of writing was exclusively used for
these books, or whether the hieratic had been already in¬
troduced.
Rarely do we find the same characters employed without
modification for any long period in the inscriptions and
books of any nation. Those forms which most suit a stone
wall, least suit the convenience of a scribe, especially when
they abound in detail or ornament. The hieroglyphics,
while they are particularly fitted for inscriptions, are, if not Hierogly.
modified, most unsuitable to ordinary writing. First of all, phics.
what need would there be in the latter case to colour them
either according to the natural colours of the objects which
they represented, or of one uniform hue ? Then, how could
their minute details, rather ornamental than distinctive in
their intention, be preserved when they were represented
of a small size? We cannot wonder, therefore, that there
arose what Ghampollion has named the linear hieroglyphics,
in which the simplest forms and outlines of objects were
alone given, or even these were further simplified, so as to
be formed with one or two strokes. These characters, by
being carelessly written, were soon corrupted into ruder
forms, and hence originated the Hieratic system of writing, Hieratic
which stands in the same relation to the hieroglyphic, that s)stem-
our ordinary written hand does to our ordinary printed cha¬
racter. When the hieratic writing first came into use has
not been determined. The rude quarry-marks on the stones
of the Great Pyramid,7 and of other pyramids,8 certainly bear
a strong resemblance to hieratic; but this resemblance is
easily explained, if we suppose them to be scrawled hiero¬
glyphics. It seems probable, however, from the nature of
the case, that the hieratic system must have been invented
soon after the hieroglyphic. The most ancient specimen
of which the date is approximatively fixed by our knowing
under what reign it was executed, was found on the mummy-
cloth of a king9 Nantef, probably of the Ninth Dynasty,10
which began b.c. cir. 2200. Perhaps the hieratic inscription
of the mummy-case of Queen Munthotp may be referred
to the same period.11 Both are undoubtedly of the time
before the Eighteenth Dynasty, which began b.c. cir.
1525.12 The difference between the hieroglyphic system
and the hieratic, besides that of the form of the characters,
is not great, and may be traced to the desire to render the
inscriptions of the temples and tombs as ornamental as pos¬
sible, which was not felt with respect to the hieratic manu¬
scripts. Hence the use of phonetic characters was more
prevalent in the latter, and the grammatical forms were
more usually expressed, though the advantage that we should
expect to gain from these circumstances is outweighed by
the careless manner in which the characters have been
written, rendering their interpretation often extremely diffi-
cult.13 It must not be supposed that the hieratic system alone
1 The Circumstances that .we find the earliest Egyptian inscriptions to contain a larger proportion of ideographic signs than the
a er> an t lat t is proportion, for the most part, constantly decreased in subsequent times, and, moreover, that the arrangement
of the characters shews a greater regard for appearance in these oldest records, all tend to support the opinion that the Egyptian
lerog yp ncs ad their origin in picture-writing. The nature of these hieroglyphics strongly confirms this opinion, no less than do
the prevalence of systems of picture-writing among existing savage nations, and the undoubted origin of more than one ancient
method of writing from such a system.
2 The greatest number of inscriptions of this period which have been published are given by Lepsius in his Denkmdler aus
yEgypten und JEthiopien, Abth., ii., 131. 1, et seqq.
J See Horm ^Egyptiacce, p. 223. Some, and particularly Bunsen and Lepsius, carry this date about a thousand years earlier, while
scarcely any one possessing any acquaintance with the interpretation of hieroglyphics brings it down to a later period than the
twenty-fifth century b.c.
^ The term • ideographic must be understood in a metaphysical sense, since it comprehends signs for real as well as for ideal things.
This word ‘determinative is retained for lack of a fitter. “Restrictive adjunct” would suit better in most instances, but is not
applicable in all cases.
6 This is observed by Lepsius in speaking of the papyrus :—“ Ihre Benutzung lasst sich in .<Egypten bis in die altesten Zeiten zuriick
nachweisen; die Papyrusrolle und die Schreibapparat finden sich bereits auf Monumenten der vierten und funften Dynastie, also im
vierten Jahrtausend vor Christus” (Chronologie der JEgypter, vol. i., p. 33). Manetho tells us that Athothis, the second king of the First
ynasty, wrote “ books on anatomy,” which would seem, if Africanus’s version be more accurate than that of Eusebius, to have been in
existence in the time at which the Egyptian historian lived. Oi tptpasnxi (iifiXoi ava.T0fj.iKu.] (Afr.) Bifikovs uvarofUKu; truviypu-vliv fEus.
Libros de ratione secandorum corporum scripsit (Id. Arm. tram. Mai.) Manetho also ascribes to Suphis [l.] of the Fourth Dynasty
builder of the Great Pyramid, the writing of “ the sacred book.” Such evidence might almost make us say with Pliny. “ Ex ouo annaret
mternus literarum usus” (Mist. Nat., lib. vii., c. 57). ^ 1 II
s v^Se>S ^yram^s °f Gizch. Fol. plates, pis. v., vi., vii.; and 8vo, vol. ii., pi. facing p. 15.
\ yse s Pyramids of Qizeh, vol. iii., p. 13, and pi. facing p. 14. 9 Thebes, 1848, MS. Notes of the Writer.
. lorCB ^'“OT^acoe, p. 227. Some hold this king to have been of the Eleventh Dynasty; but by doing so, do not much alter his date.
18 generally admitted that the line to which he belonged, whether Manetho’s Ninth or Eleventh Dynasty, immediately preceded the
iwe th, the commencement of which is usually placed not earlier than the twenty-fourth century b.c., nor later than the beginning
11 n tWe^tyQhrSh j 1 ,st. orje other kin& of the same nalne seems t0 have ruled as late as shortly before the Eighteenth Dynasty,
copy by bir Gardner Wilkinson, presented by him to the Department of Antiquities of the British Museum
12 Hor. PEg., p. 198.
13 The scrupulous accuracy of the monumental inscriptions would lead one to suppose that the papyri would be carefully written,
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Ilierogly- was used for the class of records to which it doubtless owed
phics. its origin, the papyri, for some have been found written in
linear hieroglyphics, and others even in characters little or
not at all less finished than those of the inscriptions. His¬
torical manuscripts, however, appear to have been always
written in hieratic characters, and the many that we possess
render a study of these characters second only in impor¬
tance to that of the hieroglyphics. It does not certainly
appear when the hieratic writing ceased to be used ; but
most of the specimens extant are not later than the time of
the Twentieth Dynasty, which began B.c. cir. 1220: from
the famous passage of Clemens Alexandrinus on the Egyp¬
tian systems of writing, we may infer, though not necessarily,
that hieratic was still employed when he wrote (a.d. cir.
200), and certainly that it was studied by the priests. The
circumstance that the earliest demotic scarcely differs from
the hieratic, except in the dialect it expresses, affords a
strong argument to shew, that the latter was little used
at the time of Psammitichus I., when we first find demotic
writing.
Demotic At the period of the Saite kings of the Twenty-sixth
system. Dynasty, if not before, a necessity had arisen for a cha¬
racter by which to express the vulgar dialect. Although
there is no doubt that, in the earliest times, the written
and the spoken language were the same, the intermixture
with foreigners was not long in producing a debasement,
which may be dated, if we believe a statement usually
ascribed to Manetho, as early as when the shepherd-races
were in Egypt.1 The large importations of foreigners
from the east and the south, if not from the west also,
under the conquering sovereigns of the Eighteenth, Nine¬
teenth, and Twentieth Dynasties, and their employment
in the service of the temples,2 as well as in constructing
them, and in other public works, the maintaining of a
mercenary force by those and later monarchs,3 then the
rule of the half-Assyrian or Babylonian Twenty-second
Dynasty,4 and the Ethiopian Twenty-fifth5—must have
tended to produce what is usual in these circumstances
with all languages, and inevitable to a system of characters
elaborate in form, if employed by the great body of the
people. It is very erroneous to suppose that among so
civilized a nation as the Egyptian, learning was confined to
the priesthood and the wealthy, and that the lower classes
were altogether destitute of a knowledge of their written
371
character.6 The rude quarry-marks intended to guide the Hierogly-
workmen as to their tasks are not erroneous, though care- phics.
lessly executed, and they must have been meant for men
who could understand their import. Besides, for whom was
the equally complicated demotic invented, if not for the great
body of the people? The religious character of the nation,
their complicated mythology, and the importance which their
various rites were held to possess, must have necessitated
some knowledge of a system of writing, which is in part so
addressed to the eye, that it would be impossible for one
knowing the speech which it represented not to become
somewhat acquainted with the meaning of its signs. The
Egyptian language had therefore become corrupt, at least
in the mouths of the common people, and a need of some
manner of writing it in this state had arisen. The demotic
or enchorial system was therefore formed by an adaptation,
which soon became a degradation, of the hieratic, from which
it differed mainly in expressing a debased form of the lan¬
guage, the vulgar dialect, but also in its signs being, except
in its most ancient form, ruder in shape, and probably fewer,7
and in a preference being given to phonetic characters over re¬
presentations and symbols. The demotic system was chiefly
used for legal documents and religious writings on papyrus,
and sometimes, but very rarely, for inscriptions. In the latter
case it was occasionally employed, as in the famous Rosetta
Stone, to render a hieroglyphic inscription intelligible to the
main body of the people. Hieroglyphics continued to be
used, as already noticed, as late as in the third century of the
Christian Era, not long after which time the demotic system
seems to have been abandoned. Soon after the cessation
of hieroglyphic writing, the Coptic alphabet appears to have
originated, taking the place of the demotic system, for we can
trace it back to about the fourth century. This mode of
writing is naturally most connected with the demotic, since
the language which it expressed differed but little at first
from the vulgar dialect expressed by the demotic and, from
being used for ecclesiastical purposes, was always preserved in
its original form, though possessing three dialects, and since,
moreover, it borrowed demotic characters for those sounds for
which equivalents were not found in the Greek alphabet in
which it was otherwise written. Before noticing the Coptic
language, which must be done on account of its great import¬
ance as the chief means of interpreting the hieroglyphic,
hieratic, and demotic systems, when once the sounds of
more especially those of the Ritual. Such, however, is far from the case; for the historical papyri are most carelessly written, and the
copies of the Ritual, though executed with more pains, are remarkably different in wording, as if written both at dictation and from
memory, and are not free from clerical errors.
1 ’Rx.x’hfno Os to avfXTTXv xitruv tBuog 'Txaus, rovro §£ sari i3aaiAsi; Trotf/Avs;' to ycin “X* iigxv 'y’hZaoxv fixai'hsx orifixtvii, to
8s TtoifA'/iv \(iti xxi TtOi/xivig xxtx TYiv koivyiv 'hixT^tx.TO'j, x.. t. A. (Jos. contr. Ap., lib. i., cap. 14). Since Josephus does not always
quote Manetho verbatim, as appears from a subsequent place, where he says (cap. 26) — K«!ws<t«c xarot As|;/* ooto> yiypxQev ; and as in
the present place, he appends a remark almost certainly his own—(rivtp 8s Asyovo/v xutov; Af>x[3xp stvxi) besides that the infinitive
is used with tpYiolv in what follows this last citation, the etymology given above cannot he positively assigned to the Egyptian histo¬
rian. It should also be remembered that subsequently Josephus gives, on the authority of Manetho, “ in another hook of the ^Epyptiaca,”
what must he regarded as a different etymology of the former part of this word (Comp. Horw ^®/., pp. 182—184).
2 See, for instance, Rosellini, Monumcnti Storici, No. xlv., 1; and Mr Birch’s paper on the Statistical Tablet of Karnak, Trans.
Royal Society of Literature, New Series, vol. ii., p. 330.
3 Comp. Ancient Egyptians, vol. i., pp. 389, 390. _ . . .
^ The importance of mercenaries under this line is shown by the fact mentioned by M. Mariette, in his Renseignements sur les
soixante-quatre Apis trouves dans les Souterrains du Serapeum” (Bulletin Archeologique de l Athenceum Iran^ais, Oct. and Nov. 1855),
that a king’s son-in-law held the command of the Mashuash, these being foreigners in the service of the reigning 1 haraoh.
5 The rulers of this Dynasty may be supposed, from Sir Henry Rawlinson’s recent discoveries, indicating a connection between the
Asiatic and African Ethiopians, to have been of not dissimilar origin to the kings^of the Twenty-second.^ ^ ^
6 Herodotus seems to speak of the great body of the people when he says,—Ayriv 8s 8»j hiyvnTtav, oi fdv KtQt ty\v ts%upoy.tvinvkiyv%T0v
oixiovot, p,viyp,Yiv xv&pMTuy TCxuTuy iTixoxiovTip p.x’AiaTX, ~KoyixTXTOt hoi fxxxgcu tmv iyo) sj ^ixtu^X!/ x7.txop.Yiv, ii. 77. On this passage
Lepsius remarks : “ Die letzten Worte beziehen sich nicht auf die geschichtlichen Ereignisse allein, sondern auf alle aufbewahrenswiirdige
Erfahrungen; Herodot meint, sie waren das litterateste Volk. Vom Gedachtniss ist nicht die Rede, das hatte ihnen Hermes, nach dem
Ausspruche des Sokrates durch das friihe Geschenk der Schrift vielmehr verkurzt” (Chronologic der AEgypter, vol. i., p. 40, note 4). He¬
rodotus thus clearly makes the Egyptians the most literary people with whom he had associated; and his own nation was then, we must
remember, remarkable for the eagerness with which it cultivated letters. The contrary statement of Diodorus Siculus (lib. i., c. 81)
cannot be of much value against the opinion of Herodotus.
7 Since Dr Brugsch has discovered no more than 184 distinct demotic characters, excluding ligatures and numerals, or less than one-
third of those found in hieroglyphics, most if not all of which have their hieratic forms, there seems little reason to doubt that the demotic
list was more restricted than the hieratic (See Grammaire Dimotique, Table A.B.). Our opinion is, however, in this particular at variance
with Dr Brugsch’s.
372
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogly- their characters are known, it will be necessary, in order to
phics. avoid confusion, to give'definitions of these systems with the
different names by which they have been called in ancient
and modern times.
Definition
of Hiero¬
glyphics.
The Sacred Characters.
1. The Hieroglyphic characters, or Hieroglyphics.—Eg.
“Writing of sacred words.”1 Gr. ypa/x/jiaTa lepa,2 ypdg-
paTa lepoypacfnKa,3 rj lepoyXv^LKTj (ypapparwy pe$oSos),4 * ra
UpoyXvcfuKa.3 Lat. Hieroglyphicae litterse,6 hieroglyphicae,7
hierographicae litterae.8
I ^
Fig. X. Fig. 2. Fig-3. Fig. 4. Fig. 5. Fig. 6.
Delineations of material objects employed to denote ideo-
graphically real things by figures, the iconographic mode,
as—(fig. 1) “an obelisk,”9 (fig. 2) “a soldier;”10 ideal
things by symbols, the symbolic mode, as (fig. 3) “ a pa-
negyry,” where the place of celebration stands for the
thing celebrated;11 (fig. 4) “to strike,” where the act is
represented by the agent (whence it is evident that some
signs would be used both in a real sense afnd an ideal, ac¬
cording as they represented the agent or the act); or to
represent sounds phonetically by characters, either syllabic,
as (fig. 5) “ MEN,” “to establish, place,”12 where the first
character when written alone implies the second, or alpha¬
betic, as (fig. 6) “ SHUFU,” or “ KHUFU,” the name of
the second king of the Fourth Dynasty;13 few signs being
used in both classes, or in both kinds of the former class.
These characters were written horizontally, from right to
left, or from left to right; and vertically downwards, from
right to left, or from left to right; but in either case from
right to left by preference.
The following examples14 will show the different modes of Hierogly.
arrangement (fig. 7) :— phics.
1 ^ ^ I f I
1 7/7 I
EZ5&ZI
Fig. 7.
The
try//-;
The reading of these is—(1) SU-
TEN, (2, 3) SA, (4) EN, (5, 6, 7)
KEESH ; the last character (7), the
determinative of foreign geographical
names, being omitted in the first and second examples,
arrangement may therefore be thus represented :—
4 4 321 123
5321 1235 4 4
6 6 5 5
6 6
7 7
The first character or group is that which is highest and
nearest to the side towards which the characters of the in¬
scription look, a rule to which very few exceptions have
been observed.15
2. The Hieratic characters, Gr. f] leparua/ (ypappdrwv definition
p.€$oSos).16 of Hieratic.
A cursive form of the hieroglyphic method of writing,
usually written horizon¬
tally from right to left, as
(fig. 8) “ the king of Up¬
per and Lower Egypt,
Unas,”17 the last sovereign Flo. 8
of the Fifth Dynasty.
The Vulgar Characters.
The Demotic or Enchorial characters. Eg. “ Writing definition
of books.”18 Gr. ypappara ey^wpia,19 * ypappara ^rjjLOTLKa^ demotic.
ypdppara S^/xcoS-p,21 f] iTrujToXoypafjjiKrj ypappdrwv p.e(9o8o9.22
MfSOak+
1 Rosetta Stone, Hierog. Inscript. See Bunsen’s Egypt's Place, vol. i., p. 598.
2 Rosetta Stone, Gr. Inscript.; Herod, ii., 36; Diod. Sic. i. 81.
Syncellus Chron,, p. 40, a Pseudo-Manethone. 4 Clem. Strom., lib. v. 6 Lucian. Philop. 21. 6 Macrob. Saturn., lib. i., cap. 21.
Ammian, Marcel.* lib. xvii., cap. 4. 8 Id., lib. xxii., cap. 15. 9 Comp. Obelisks of AinyrtaBus, Brit. Mus.
r^le corresponding phonetic word, of which it is the determinative, is MASH. Chevalier Bunsen supposes its signification to be
an archer {Egypt s Place, vol. i., pp. 471, 503), although he makes its variant, the standing figure, to signify “ soldier, archer” (p.
498), but it means simply a foot-soldier, being employed in apposition to “ horse ” (ex. gr. Select Papyri, pi. xxiv., lib. 1), by which term,
when used of an Egyptian army, the chariot-force seems always intended; and this may explain the employment of “ horsemen” in the
Bible for that force, except auxiliary horse be meant, for the Egyptians appear to have had no native cavalry. It should also be noted
that the Coptic corresponding words do not indicate the meaning of archer, but simply of warrior. The archer’s figure was chosen since
most of the Egyptian troops carried bows. So in the Bible we read,—“ The children of Ephraim, armed of the archers, turned back
in the day of battle.” (Ps. Ixxviii. 9 ; comp. 2 Chron. xvii. 17.) The root MASH may be compared with the Greek
The HEEB has been called a panegyry, since it is so translated in the Greek inscription of the Rosetta Stone, and evi¬
dently by Herodotus (ii. 58, 59); and it seems undesirable to alter a rendering that has been universally adopted. Nevertheless the
‘Trotwiyv^is °f the ancient Greeks was properly very different from the Egyptian HEEB. The former was, as its etymology indicates, an
assembly of the whole nation particularly for games, or an assembly held at the games or at other great festivities. Thus, Agamemnon is
made by Aeschylus to promise any needed redress of wrongs to his people at the approaching panegyry (EEsch. Ag. v. 853, ed. Schiitz), where
the ambiguity of the poet’s language makes it doubtful whether the celebration of games is spoken of in connection with the panegyry
or not (comp, the note of Schixtz). The HEEB appears* to have been properly a solemnity for the dead, since HEB (perhaps HEEB
the vowel being doubtful) signifies to “ lament the dead—a funeral lamentation;” and in the earliest inscriptions, which it should,
however, be recollected, are almost exclusively in tombs, it is used alone for festivals of the gods for the deceased. In the inscriptions
of temples and the like, of somewhat later, and much later times, this word is employed for the festivals of gods celebrated in the temples,
and for the king’s festivals; and the great hypostyle halls of the temples were especially devoted to such celebrations. They had, however,
a strictly religious character, and there is no distinct evidence to show that they were ever political councils. The Greek word would
therefore be best rendered “ assembly,”—the Egyptian “ solemnity.”
Most of the syllabic characters are used alone for a single root and wrords'derived from it, and this appears to have been their origi¬
nal use. Their initial letter, which is the principal one of the two or three of which they are composed, has sometimes a determinative
power,, and this was probably the case with all such letters originally. Hence arises the division of syllabic characters into the simply
phonetic and the determinative-phonetic.
^ This king, the Suphis (I.) of Manetho (Africanus) and the Cheops of Herodotus, is recorded to have been the builder of the Great
Pyramid, which, however, was probably the joint work of himself and Num-Shufu, Suphis (II.), who appears to have been his co-regent.
(See art. Egypt.) —It is difficult to decide whether the alphabetic consonants have inherent vowels, when no vowels are expressed, as Dr
Hincks has supposed (see his learned papers in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, \o\. xxi., pt. 2), and the reply of Chevalier
Bunsen {Egypt s Place, vol. i., pp. 733, et segq.), who nevertheless inclines to admit Dr Hincks s theory in some instances, as appears from
his Alphabet and Syllabarium (Id., pp. 556, et seqq.) The constant writing of foreign names with the vowels would seem to favour the
idea of their being inherent, but this is only primd facie evidence, for the Arabs usually omit the vowel points except in difficult words
or passages, as in poetry and the like. 14 The examples in this essay are given in their original directions.
17 Mon. Star., Nos. cxxxix.-cxli. 16 Clem. Strom., lib. 5.
Turin Papyrus of Kings ; ed. Wilkinson. There is great difference in the various “ hands” in which we find hieratic written ; the best
most resemble the hieroglyphic, and the worst rather approach the demotic, the earliest form of which, indeed, differs from the hieratic
in expressing the vulgar dialect rather than in its appearance. (Comp. Brugsch's Grammaire Demotique, pi. i.)
18 Rosetta Stone, llierog. Inscript. (Comp. Gram. Him., pp. 2, 3.) 19 Inscr. Herod, ii. 36. 21 Hiod. iii. 3. 22 Clem. Strom., lib. v.
HIEROGLYPHICS.
373
Hierogly- A debased form of the hieratic method of writing, dif-
phies. feeing from it mainly in expressing the vulgar dialect,
hut also in its signs being ruder in form, probably fewer,
and in a preference being given to the use of phonetic cha¬
racters over iconographic and symbolic. It was written
from right to left, horizontally, as in the following example
(figure 9), the name of / s -y
Ptolemy from the Rosetta
Fig. 9.
These definitions must be regarded as provisional, and
the observations which have preceded them as hypothetical,
in the present stage of the inquiry. It is, however, advis¬
able to premise thus much in order to render what follows
clear, and these premises will receive entire confirmation
in the succeeding portion, of which they may indeed be
regarded as the results.
ielation of When anything written in cipher is placed before one to
ncient be deciphered, his first inquiry is what language it conveys.
Egyptian Bgfbre attempting to read the Egyptian characters, our first
o Coptic. gtep must be to ascertain from other sources, if possible,
the language they express. We find by the Rosetta Stone
that both hieroglyphic and demotic were in use as late as
the time of Ptolemy Epiphanes, on the 27th March (Jul.) of
whose 9th year (b.c. 196)2 the decree on that monument
is dated, and we can trace up Coptic to the fourth century
of the Christian Era, so that there is an interval of not
more than about 600 years from the latest hieroglyphic and
demotic writing to the earliest Coptic, which, it should be
observed, is identical with the later Coptic. We cannot
doubt, therefore, that the vulgar dialect expressed by tbe
demotic characters of the Rosetta Stone differed from the
Coptic but little. The sacred dialect must have differed
from the latter somewhat more. The essential identity of
the two can, however, be satisfactorily proved by the etymo-
logy given by Greek and Latin writers of certain Egyptian
words, which must have belonged from their nature to the
sacred dialect, and which may be equally derived from
Coptic.
Thus, among names of divinities, Plutarch gives us tw7o
etymologies of that of the chief god of Thebes :—ert 8e rwv
ttoXXwv vofJut,6vTwv l8lov Trap AlyvTTTLOLS ovopa tov Aids eivai
tov ’Apovv (o TrapayovTes fjp.eis "A/quoiva Xeyopev), Mave^ws
pev b AefievviTrjs to Ka<pvppevov oierai kcu ttjv Kpvipiv vtto
TavTrjs 8r]Xova0ai rrp <j)wvr)s' 'EKaratos 8e o ’AySSr/ptr^s (farjal
toJtoj Kttt Trpbs aXXrjkovs rip prjpaTi xprjcrOai rows A lyvirriovs,
brav Tiva TrpoaKaXihvTcu. irpoiTKX'qTiKqv yap eivai rr/v (friDvrjv.
k. r. A.3 The former of these two etymologies, resting
on the high authority of Manetho, the Egyptian historian
(b.c. 300), is doubtless from the sacred dialect. In Coptic
the word A&AOffl signifies “ to hold, retain, put round
(clothing), prohibit, hidden things,” See., and AJUtOYffi, Hierogly-
“ hidden things.” The derivation of llecatseus of Abdera , ^
is only useful as indicating that the vulgar dialect of his
time was similar to the Coptic, in which we find the word
AAJlOYIf j meaning,in the Sahidic dialect, “come.” Respect¬
ing names of Isis, the same writer (c. 56) from whom we have
quoted above says,—'H S’Mens eanv breKai Movd, KaliraXiv
”AQvpi kol XleOvep irpouayopeveTai' arjpalvovai Se tw pev TrpwTw
tmv ovoparojv, prjTepa’ to) Se Sevrepio, oiKov 'Opov Kocrpiov.
to Se TpUov crvvdeTov eoriv eK re tov TrXrjpovs Kai tov aiTiov.
k. r. A. In Coptic we have JLS.A.Y, “a mother,” which with
the sign of the feminine, which was usually written, and evi¬
dently sometimes expressed in pronunciation, by the ancient
Egyptians, would be maut, mauth. Tbe abode of Horns,
in Coptic, would read where, if we discard the
preposition ff, there remain HI and gLUp. The Copts
would, however, rather have written Jm<2UTg,Ujp. The
third derivation probably cannot be traced in Coptic. Among
the names of sovereigns may be specified Nma/cpis, ren¬
dered by Eratosthenes (b.c. 230), ’Affyva viKacfaopos.* The
first part of this word is the well-known Egyptian name of
the goddess Ni/t#,5 and the second is traceable in the Coptic
tfpO, 2CpO, victory. In tbe same list of Eratosthenes we
read $povopw rjToi NelAos,6 corresponding to the Coptic
c|>I<Jkp(JU, “the river,” a name of the Nile.
Much stronger evidence than this from royal names for
the essential identity of the sacred dialect and the Coptic
is furnished by the names of common things, which are in
their nature least of all liable to change. Thus Eustathius
says—ecrrtSe epwis AlyvirnaTi b olvos;' and Tzetzes, Aiyv-rmoi
epTnv KaXovcn tov oivovf and we find in Coptic HpiT, “wine.”
The Egyptian for water is given as pw (to yap v8<vp pw oi Al-
yvTTTioi KaXovcriv1) by Josephus, and as pus (to yap v8wp pws
bvopd^ovciv AiyvTmoi)w by Philo J udseus, and this is identical
with the Coptic JLIUDOY- The word nipwpis, again (Trtpw-
pis Se iiTTi kot 'EAAaSa yAcoo’o’av xaXos Kayados),11 is the same
as the Coptic nip(JUA5.I, “ the man.” The word o-ySw (i)
TratSeta Trap’ avrois cr/3co naXeiTai, orrep icrTiv epprjvevOev, TrXrj-
prjs Tpofyrj),12 is preserved in CiiUL), “ erudition, discipline,
knowledge,” and the like. Herodotus says that crocodiles
were called ^dpif/ai (/caAeWrai Se ov KpoKoSeiXoi dXXd \dp-
if/ai),13 a name which we recognise in the Coptic JLLC&Q, “ a
crocodile but from others it appears that a sacred crocodile
was called om^o?,14 retained in the CO^I of the Copts. St
Jerome says of the word “ achi,”—“ audivi ab TEgyptiis, hoc
nomine lingua eorum omne quod in palude virens nascitur
appellari and his assertion is borne out by the significa-
1 Rosetta Stone, Dem. Inscript.
2 Comp. Letronne in Frag. Hist. Grcec., vol. i.; Inscription Grecque de Rosette, pi 13. The ninth year of Epiphanes commenced B.c.
197- . , „ t _ , .....
3 Pint, de Iside et Osinde, c. 9. (Compare Damascius—o/AiyvTTTtoi ijpSis Qi'hocrotpoi yeyovoreg t^*iveyxctv ix.vTav T'/iv cc’X'yid^ixv
nix.^yppivYiv ivpovTti iv AiyvTTioig b'/j Tin ’kiyotz' u? tivi xmt xiiTovg 7) pev plot tuv ohuv ccgftvi 'Sx.oTog xyvuoTOv vpvovpevYi x,cti tovto
TgiV dvoityu'jovpivov ovTag' Cory’s Anc. Frag., 2nd ed., p. 320.)|
5 4 Eratosthenes ad calc. Herod.; Didot, p. 183. The names and their etymologies in this list of Eratosthenes are undoubtedly genuine,
although the chronology is extremely corrupt. This corruption may he the result of the fraud of a copyist.
5 Plat. Tun., p. 21.— olg T7]g nohiug ’beog oLtgfcriybg Tig eaTiv, AiywxTtaTi pev TOvvopotNyi’iS, EAAyjWfrn §£, ug 6 exeivav ~Koyog, A6nvci.
6 Eratosth. (Herod.) Didot, p. 184. 7 Eustath. ad Od. ix., v. 359.
8 Tzetz. ad Lycoph., v. 579. 9 Jos. Ant. Jud. ii. 9. 10 Philo de vitd Mosis, tom. ii., p. 83.
11 Herod, ii. 1.43. This rendering of the Greek historian, which has been supposed to prove his ignorance of the Egyptian language,
should, we think, rather be considered as an evidence of his acquaintance with it. We find, in the famous procession of the four races, in
the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes, that the Egyptians are alone called “ mankind,” while the other races receive their Gentile appella¬
tions, and observe that, on all their monuments, the Egyptians are represented as handsome, and called good, whereas foreigners are re¬
presented as ugly, and called wicked. It is surprising that any should have doubted that Herodotus meant that ‘yngapig signified man,
although he indicated that it signified a particular kind of man, since his translation includes the former meaning as much as does its
English equivalent “ a gentleman,” and the context should remove any doubt that might exist.
12 Horap. Hierogl., lib. i., c. 38. 13 Herod, ii. 69.
14 Strabo Geogr. x\\\., p. 811 ; Photius Bibl. np. Parthey, Vocab. Copt.
15 Hieron. in Jesaiam, lib. vii.; tom. iv., col. 291, Vallars. See more etymologies given by ancient writers in Parthey’s Vocab. Copt.
374
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogl) tions of A /'J (nincus, calamus, alga, carex), and
phxcs. , . , \
, (pratum, virens herba, juncus, calamus).
The evidence derived from these etymologies and corre¬
spondences as to the essential identity of the Coptic lan¬
guage with the sacred, as well as with the vulgar, dialect of
the ancient Egyptian, is well supported by that deduced
from the names of ancient cities and nomes of Egypt. Such
words as these usually remain unchanged in the course of
many centuries, and we find that the Copts called a town by a
name derived from that of a divinity of the religion they had
abandoned, and that at this day the Muslim inhabitants still
use it. If the Coptic affords a satisfactory explanation of the
signification of a name which must have been given long be¬
fore the Egyptian language was called Coptic, and given,
necessarily, in the sacred dialect, we obtain a fresh evidence
of the essential identity of what we may venture to call the
two states of the language. The following examples will
show the satisfactory nature of this evidence :—j^OYCipi,
Busiris, JTOYCtpi, nOYCYpi, a name applied to two
other towns, called in Arabic, Aboo-Seer, properly Booseer,
certainly meaning “ the (town) of Osiristhe first of these
places is mentioned by Herodotus,1 who visited Egypt, B.c.
cir. 450. ef^AKI ffTG niAMOYff, m^JUOYrf,
Thebes, or Diospolis, “ the city of Amen,” corresponding
to the Hebrew V®s sa spoken of by the prophet Nahum,2
B.C. cir. 700; JUlrfMV&CJOOY’r, “ the abode of Thoth
ffAHCI, “ t*16 (abode) of Isis,” Anysis, mentioned by
Herodotus; 3 5teMr(OY+, Sebennytus, a name com¬
posed of that of Hercules, XGM (?), and ffOY'i-, a god.
We may therefore safely conclude that the Coptic lan¬
guage is essentially the same as that of the ancient Egyp¬
tians in both its sacred and its vulgar dialect, but differing
more from the former than from the latter. If then we can
discover the sounds conveyed by the hieroglyphic or demo¬
tic characters, we shall have to look to the Coptic for their
meaning. It will be necessary, however, as a test of the
accuracy of this conclusion, to examine the Coptic in order
to ascertain its characteristics, and if the conclusion be sup¬
ported by this inquiry, it will acquire a still more definite
form.
An analysis of a single verse of one of the Gospels will
give a more distinct idea of the characteristics of the Coptic
than any lengthened explanation. OyO^ &.YI IT2CG
rficj><x.pic60c rtGJu mc^^XoYKGoc GYGpni-
pA^m Juuuoq ffrfVY'txjIfU JLlAlOq GTAJUUUOY
GOYJHHirn GRo^\^>6fr ^c^g. (Kat TrpocreXdovTes
ol (PapicraLOL koli ^olSSovkoliol, Tmpd^orres iTrrjpwTTjcrav avrov
crr)p.uov tov ovpavov eTTiSet^ai avrol<s. Y OYOg, “ and,”
signifies also a “ house ; to be added, increased; to place
to, to inhabit;” &c. A.YI “ came” (they), 3d pi. com. past
indefinite of I, “ to go, come.” <*.Y is a pronominal pre¬
fix derived from the characteristic of the past indefi¬
nite, and OY, the suffixed pers. pron. 3d pi. com. “they”
and “ their.” ff^CG, a particle prefixed to nominatives.
rfIcJ>A.piC60C : Itl, pi. com. of the article prefixed to
the corrupt sing, of a Greek word, C^ApiCGOC, for <f>api-
cratos, in order to render it plural. ffGAl, conj. “ with,” also
Character¬
istics of
Coptic.
“ to ask”—
MMoq.
“ to show”-
tive.
“to” and “also.” HICA^XOYKGOC, as mc]>ApI- Hierogly
CGOC. GYGpnipA^m, “ tempting comp, from ep, pMcs‘
causative prefix, and JTipA^m, “ to tempt,” corrupted
from the Gr. Tretpa^etv. GY, pron. prefix pi. com. of the
participle present. MMOq, “ him,” deriv. pron. 3d
sing. m. for the accusative, from prep. JLt, and q suffixed
pers. pron. “ he, his.” rt<\YcyirfI, “ asked,” cyiffl,
ft AY pron. prefix 3d pi. com. of imperfect.
G YAMUJOY, “ to show,” ’TAMUUOY,
- G prep, employed as preformative of the infini-
GOYMHIftl, “ a sign—£ prep, employed as pre¬
formative of the aecus., either separately or joined to the
noun which it precedes, OY indef. art. com. sing. “ a
■SJtHIfff, a “ sign.” GRo^\^>Grf, “ from.” YC^G
“ heaven” ; Y def. art. fern. sing.; “ heaven.”
From this analysis we see at once that Coptic contains
Greek words in barbarous forms. They are very numerous,
and are particularly used to supply deficiencies in the ancient
language as well as to express foreign proper names. In both
cases they retain their original sound, although sometimes
not exactly their original form, and are usually indeclinable
except by prefixes, like the greater number of Egyptian
words. We may discard these Greek words, having learned
from them two things,—(1), how foreign words were intro¬
duced into the Egyptian language at a period probably
commencing somewhat before the Christian Era, and ter¬
minating at, or not long after, the overthrow of paganism in
the country ; and (2), what words of the ancient language,
that is, those referring to religion and metaphysics, we are
least to expect to find preserved in the Coptic. It is also
worthy of notice that some Arabic words crept into the
Coptic after the Muslim conquest of Egypt.
A language may be considered as to its original forms,
its derivative forms, its compound forms, its modes of ex¬
pressing gender, number, relation, and time, and the rela¬
tive position of its words in sentences, or roots, derivatives,
compounds, inflexion, and syntax.
Hoots.—It is impossible in Coptic, especially without the
aid of the earlier forms of the language, to reduce all words
to roots, particularly as we do not possess the entire voca¬
bulary. The great majority of the supposed roots, however,
present so remarkable an agreement that we need not hesi¬
tate in judging from their characteristics. In form they are
monosyllabic, usually consisting of a vowel between two
consonants, and are unchangeable except when they be¬
come derivatives. Two circumstances render it difficult to
determine the original form of a root,—(1), the existence of
three dialects of Coptic—the Memphitic,5 the Sahidic or
Theban, and the Bashmuric; and (2), the corruption of the
language in form, resulting in the same root appearing in
various forms. From these causes necessarily arises a
great corruption in signification, words, the same in ap¬
pearance, having different significations in the dialects, and
the converse. Some examples from Peyron’s Lexicon will
explain this corruption, and the consequent confusion.
A MOUTH,
TO DO,
Memphitic.
po, puu.
ep, ipi,
pA.
Sahidic.
po, puo.
ep, eipG,
ipG.
Bashm uric.
2nA, ^\CJU, pA.
e?\, gi?\i, 1*1,
ipc, Gipc.
1 Herod, ii. 59.. The festival of Isis of which Herodotus speaks was probably held at Iseum, which stood near Busiris, and at the site
of which are remains of a magnificent temple, probably founded not long after the historian’s visit (see Egypt).
4 Nah- iii. 8. . 3 j{er0(it 137,
^ St Matt.' xvi. 1. The Coptic version is that of the very handsome edition of the Gospels, printed by Mr Watts in 1847.
By ?°Ptlc’ ^he Memphitic dialect is ushally intended, except when the whole language is spoken of without distinction of dialects.
In the dictionaries, the Sahidic and Bashmuric words are alone distinguished as such. It is, however, not certain that the Memphitic is
the purest form of the language ; for some claim this honour for the Sahidic, all agreeing that the Bashmuric is corrupt.
HIEROGLYPHICS
ierogly- These instances show not only the various forms which
phics. a root may take in the different dialects, but also the care
—that is necessary to avoid confounding distinct roots which
happen to have the same form in different dialects: they
likewise show the various forms a single root may assume in
one dialect, evidencing the corruption of the language in form
and in signification; for a root properly has but one form,
and the most marked formal changes undoubtedly originally
indicated, as they still do in many instances, a change in
signification. At the same time many of the lesser formal
changes can only be attributed to the carelessness of the
earlier Copts.
Since we must infer from the accounts of ancient writers,
without assuming any knowledge of the results of Young’s
and Champollion’s discoveries, that the hieroglyphic method
of writing was partly or wholly by ideographic signs, both
of real and ideal things, we must expect to find the roots
in Coptic having either real, generally substantive, or ideal,
generally verbal, significations.
Derivatives and Compounds.—Derivatives are formed
in three ways—by a change in sound, effected by the sub¬
stitution of another vowel for that of the root; by redupli¬
cation ; and by agglutination, one or more consonants or
vowels, originally roots, being prefixed or suffixed to the
root. There are properly no compounds, for what appear
to be compounds are really words composed of two or three
roots agglutinated together with scarcely any, or no, change.
Inflexion.—All Coptic words are in themselves un¬
changeable, and their inflexion is therefore not by essen¬
tial changes, but by the addition of prefixes or suffixes. The
few exceptions to this rule are susceptible of satisfactory
explanation. The inflexion of nouns is effected either by
the definite article, or by the addition of a vowel or diph¬
thong, or a diphthong followed by a vowel in the case of the
plural number, and by the addition of a vowel in the case of
the feminine gender. Forms not agreeing with this rule may
yet be traced to its operation. There is no dual in Coptic.
The cases are distinguished by prefixed particles, either
separate or joined. The inflexion of verbs is extremely com¬
plicated, from tbe great number of tenses. These are gene¬
rally distinguished by prefixes, terminating in enclitic pro¬
nouns, with sometimes one or two separate suffixes.
Syntax.—Notwithstanding that it has been asserted that
Coptic has no syntax, we find in it peculiarities of construc¬
tion and concord that can be referred to no other head.
The peculiarities of construction are especially to be no¬
ticed in the exuberant use of particles ; and among those
of concord may be instanced the agreement of a verb sing,
fem. with nouns plur. com.
From these characteristics we may draw some conclu¬
sions as to the antiquity of the Coptic language, and the
probability of its having passed through considerable changes.
The circumstance that the roots are all monosyllabic indi-
375
cates an extreme antiquity and fixedness in the language, Hierogly-
as does the manner of forming derivatives, and the virtual phics.
absence of compounds. The method of inflexion, on the
other hand, though essentially in accordance with the evi¬
dences of age just mentioned, shows numerous accidental
changes, as does the presence of compounds, although the
latter may be so easily resolved as not to be considered part
of the essence of the language. From the whole survey we
must infer that the Coptic is very ancient in itself, and that
the changes which it has undergone are, though numerous,
for the most part of such a character as not to affect its
essential characteristics ; and we may, therefore, reason¬
ably expect to find it almost exactly the same as the vulgar
dialect expressed by the demotic inscription of the Rosetta
Stone, and essentially the same as the sacred dialect ex¬
pressed by its hieroglyphic inscription, as we had indeed
already concluded on other grounds.
Admitting, therefore, that the language, in two dialects, Statements
which we find expressed in the Egyptian inscriptions of the of ^ncient
Rosetta Stone, does not essentially differ from the Coptic, writ®rs re*
we have yet to discover in what manner it is expressed, theVgyn-
whether by ideographic signs representing real things by tian cha-
their figures, and ideal things by symbols, in which case the racters.
Coptic would be of no use; or by signs having a phonetic
value, and being either alphabetic or syllabic ; or by a mix¬
ture or a combination of these two methods. It is to the state¬
ments of ancient writers that we must look for the means of
solving this question.
The celebrated passage in the Stromata of Clemens Clemens
Alexandrinus is the most important of those which bear Alexandri-
upon the present question. He tells us that “ those who nus‘
are educated among the Egyptians first of all learn the me¬
thod of Egyptian writing which is called the epistologra-
phic ; and secondly, the hieratic, which the sacred scribes
employ ; and in the third place, and after the others, the
hieroglyphic, of which one kind expresses its meaning di¬
rectly by letters, and the other is ideographic. Of the ideo¬
graphic kind one sort expresses its meaning by imitation,
and another is written as though tropically, and another is
wholly allegorical by means of certain secret signs. Thus,
wishing to write sun, they make a circle, and moon, a moon¬
like figure, according to the kind which expresses its mean¬
ing directly. But, when they write tropically, they transfer
and transpose according to relation, utterly changing some,
but altering the meaning of others in many ways; thus hand¬
ing down the panegyrics of the kings in theological relations,
they write by anaglyphs. Of the third kind, which is by se¬
cret signs, let this be a specimen: the bodies of the other
stars, because of the obliquity of their course, they repre¬
sented by those of serpents, but that, of the sun by that of
a beetle, because [this creature] having moulded a ball¬
shaped thing of ox-dung, with its face towards it rolls it
along,”1 &c. Certain words and expressions in this difficult
1 Kini/.a. o< AiyvTirTloii 'Trathsvoy.svot ’ttqmtov flv 'xa.vrav T'/jv Klywrluv '/^otyf/.ix.rav yidohou ix.ycivdu.vov'U, T'/jv i'XioTQhwyQu.tyi-
x. viu Kcc’hovy.tvriV ’hiVTi^mv §£ rviu tspunx-iiv, ?i y^fuvrxt ni hpo'y^tx.gy.eiTiig' CrrTKTYiv e)£ x.al rs’AsvTdieiu tyiu 5? h ruv
TtQonMv artnyfiiuv y.vpohoyix.'yi' ij ovp.&oT'.tx.Yi. rys hi o'v|tc/3oAocsj£ vj plv x.v(>tohoyiiTcii x.ctToi pipriatv, Yj o’ cLaTCi^ r^ovucug ygcapiTXt,
^ os oluriK^vg xKhriyofflrxi Ttvag xiviypovg. '/{hiov yovv yQxxjsxi (iovT^ogwot x.v>0\ov 'voiovai, aihvivriv cis' oyfipix yvivouhig, x.cnx to
y. .v^tf)Koyix.ov sThog' r^ovncug hi xxt oiKStoTYirci psTxyovreg x.xt peTotTidevreg, rx S’ ii'xhhxrTOVTsg, rx hi noKhxxug y.irxox'fixxrt fiung
XjX^xTxovatv. rovg yovv rZv (Ixothiuv iTCxlvovg ^eo'Koyovytvoig gvdotg wx^xhihovreg, xvxy^xCpovcrt hix tmv xvxy^vCpuv' rov Ss xxrx
xovg xlviypovg, rprov iihovg, hiiyyx sVroi roSs" rx gev yx(> ruv xXhuv xar^uv, htx rviv Trogetxv riiv Aoi'/jv, o(piuv aupcxmv xTretxx^av'
rov, hi HA/oj/ ru rov kxvOxqov' iTruhij x.vx.’Xorigig ex ryg (ioitxg ovOov axYipox rr'hxoxyivog, xvrerppau'rog xv'Kivhii. (pxoi hi xxt
iigxpYivov fiiv irro yijg Sxngov Bs rov ‘irovg rgYipM ro £uov rovro vvi^ yijg hixirxa&xi, ara^yxlvitv rs iig rqv ctyxi^xv x,x\ yivvxv’ xxl
SijAvi/ xxvdxQov gvi ylvioOxi (Strom., lib. v , p. 237). The latter part of this passage is remarkably similar to parts of a chapter in the
Hieroglyphics of Horapollo Nilous, a work for the most part containing explanations of the enigmatical sort. Moj/oysj/s., h'/i hrpovvrig,
, ytviotv, sj TrxriQx, % xorpcov, $ xvhQX, x.xv6x(>ov t^uyfixQovoi. yovoyivig giv, on xvroyivig ion ro ^otov, Vto Qvihiixg pf x.vc(Do(>ovy.ivov. gov/i
' y&Q ytvecrtg xvrov, roixvrri iortv. iTnihxv 6 x^onv (hov~hr\rxi '7rxiho7roiYioxo6xi, (ioog x<pohiv/xx ’hx/iedv, ‘r’hx'saft otpxtgonhig vx^XTr^Yiaiov
to) x,6ofiu fjyji%pcx' o ix. ruv onadiuv (/.ifliv xvT^taxg xoro xvxro’hvig iig hvoiv, xvrog orgog xvxro~KrLv /BAsws;, ivx xorohu ro rov xoapoov cxq/xx.
xvrog yscg doro rov xorrihiinov iig ht(ix (fiptrxr 6 eis rZv xari^uv hgo/xog, xoro 'hifiog iig xorri'hturYiv' rxvrv\v ouvrqv olpxtgxv xxro^vi'ag, iig yijv
xxrxnQirxi tort Vjgtnxg iixootoxru, iv ooxtg xxl i) cihvivri vipi^xig rx huhixx t^ahix xvx’hivn. v(f) yjv xoro/xivov, ^aoyoviirxi ro ruv xxvdxyuv
yivog. rij ivxry hi xxl iixoorh q/xiox xvod'Xg ryv trlpxipxv, iigvhu(> fix'h'dii. rxvryv yx^rviv Yi/xipxv voyi^u ovvdhov dvxt oi'A'Vivrig xxl vi'hiov,
‘in rijcai yiviotv xoofxov. qg xvotyoyivrjg iv ru vhxn, (fo)x I|s^st«/, rovrionv oi xxvdxgot. yivioiv hi, hix ryv or^ou^Yigiv/iv xirixv. ttx-
n^x Os, ot* ix [xovov orxr^og rvjv yivtoiv i%u 6 xdvdx^og. xoayov Bs', sws/Bsj xoryouhij ryv yeviotv Tote/rx/. xvhgx hi, iTrahy BviXvxov yivog
HIEROGLYPHICS.
376
Hierogly- passage must not be left unnoticed, since they have been
phies. variously rendered. First of all, to. v-pwra o-Toixeia has been
shown by Lepsius to mean here simply “ letters,” and no
one can reject so apposite a rendering. has been
translated “ symbolical,” but this is not its primary meaning,
nor does it apply in the present case. %vp.^o\ov is used in
philosophical literature to denote a sign of something thought
of in the mind, as Aristotle tells us;1 and crvp.fiokiKos means
primarily “ ideographic,” and then “ symbolic ” in our use
of the word. The latter we have, therefore, rendered
“ ideographic,” and what follows entirely justifies this trans¬
lation. No satisfactory explanation has been offered of the
avayXvcfxu. Chevalier Bunsen’s is very ingenious, but it
does not seem to render the passage clearer.2
The main facts stated by Clemens may be summed up
as follows. The Egyptians in the second century after the
Christian Era had three methods of writing—the epistolo-
graphic, the hieratic, and the hieroglyphic. The first of
these methods appears from its name to have been employed
for ordinary purposes, and it is therefore reasonable to sup¬
pose that it expressed the vulgar dialect. Any doubt that
might exist on this matter is removed by the mention of an
enchorial (or demotic) system of writing in the Greek inscrip¬
tion of the Rosetta Stone, and by Herodotus and Diodorus
Siculus. The second method, the hieratic, is not spoken of
by any other ancient writer, as far as is known. Its use by
the sacred scribes leaves us no room to doubt that it must
be that character in which the greater number of the papyri
that have been preserved to our times are written, since it
is distinct from the epistolographic on the one hand and the
hieroglyphic on the other. The circumstance that the
hieratic system is merely a cursive form of the hieroglyphic
explains the silence which all ancient writers, except Cle¬
mens, appear to have maintained respecting it. The hiero¬
glyphic method of writing was of two kinds, the one by
letters, and the other by signs of ideas. The latter or ideo¬
graphic sort, was divided into three different kinds—the first
of these represented an object by a figure of it, the second
was tropical, but not in an arbitrary manner, and the third
was allegorical. Let us see how an actual examination of
the hieroglyphics, without presupposing a knowledge of
Young’s and Champollion’s discoveries, affects this statement.
If, for example, we examine the Rosetta Stone, we cannot
fail to see in the hieroglyphic inscription certain characters Hierogly i
which bear the impress of being ideographic ; indeed, at phics. t
first sight, we might suppose that all the signs were of this
sort, but when we come to compare this inscription with the
corresponding Greek, it becomes evident that such cannot
be the case, for they are too numerous, and that many of the
signs must in all probability represent sounds. The two
sorts of characters seem, therefore, primd facie, to have been
mixed. Many of the sculptures in the tombs indicate how
this was done, for we find a number of animals of different
kinds pourtrayed, and over each a group of a few characters
terminating in a small figure of the animal represented be¬
neath.3 We may therefore infer that the ideographic signs
were occasionally employed as determinatives following the
names of the ideas they represented. The allegorical ideo¬
graphs, of which Clemens speaks, seem from their nature to
belong to a separate system, and an examination of the I
Hieroglyphics of Horapollo Nilous supports this view. This ^T°rJToll(
work, composed at a late period, and subsequently enlarged ' j
by additions, relates almost wholly to such allegorical or
enigmatical characters, or uses of characters, and thus affords
us a means of judging of their value. We may trace
throughout the book evidences of the late origin of the
system, both in its being unlike that of a primeval language,
and in the marks it bears of Greek philosophy. We must,
therefore, look with suspicion upon allegorical explanations
of hieroglyphics which, it may be here remarked, Egypto¬
logists have already rejected as inapplicable to those of the
Egyptian monuments.4
Porphyry, in his Life of Pythagoras, speaks of the Egyp- I orP“yrJ|
tian methods of writing in terms which illustrate the state¬
ment of Clemens. He says that Pythagoras “ in Egypt
lived with the priests, and learned thoroughly the wisdom
and language of the Egyptians, and the three different
modes of writing, the epistolographic [letters], the hiero¬
glyphic, and the symbolic, some conveying a direct mean¬
ing by imitation, and some expressing their meaning alle¬
gorically by certain secret signs.”3 This passage, from
its singular resemblance to that of Clemens on the same
subject, may be almost conjectured to have been taken
from the same source, or possibly from it. It will be
noticed that the hieratic is not mentioned, doubtless on ac¬
count of its being but a form of the hieroglyphic method
ocinoig ov ytuiTUt. slot oe Koii x.a.v6ot.ouv iotui T^sig. ttputyi y.'tv, a,i'Kov^6p.op<pog, x-ccl uktivutvi, ywefi xoti rfAta oLvkdiaocv Ota. ro ovy.fio'hov.
x,. r. A. (lib. i., c. x., ed. Con/, pp. 19-21.) Comp, also Tzetzcs from Chceremon: uvrl ysviatug xcti uvrotyvav x.xi Kavdct^ov
(ey^xtpov). (ed. Hermann., p. 123, 20, 21.)
1 Arist. interpr., 2. 2., 14. 14.
2 Egypt’s Place, vol. i., p. 340. “ He (Clemens) does not say, ‘ in hieroglyphics’—because in them he had included the secret or enig¬
matical character—but ‘ in anaglyphs,’ which, as well as the former word, originally designated engraved pictures, either serving as
written characters or as ordinary portraits of objects.” To this is appended the following note :—“ ’h.va.y'hvtyoi is essentiallj’ the same
as lyyXticpiw : to engrave upon a thing, is just as correct as to grave in (ingrave) it; dvccyQoitya, dvxyQoitpcci is the regular designation
when mention is made of registers of the Egyptian kings.”
3 Comp. AElian. Var. Hist., x., 10.
4 Chev. Bunsen remarks on the allegorical system :—“ He (Clemens) mentions, likewise, a kind of enigmatical character, or secret writ¬
ing, in which, for example, a serpent designates the planets on account of their spherical motion ; but the scarabceus, the sun, probably
because of the analogy between the round lump which it rolls before it, and the circular form of the ecliptic. Clemens calls this character
the allegorical, and very properly ; for the distinction between symbol and allegory is, that the former represents the intellectual object
itself by a direct image ; the latter conveys the idea of the object only through the medium of a logical notion. The examples in Cle¬
mens are the best proof that such a secret writing is as foreign to the sacred books as to the monuments. The serpents and scarabaei
occur on the papyri as well as monuments; but the scarabaeus never betokens the sun, nor the serpent the planets. The allegorical
writing was an artificial one, a late application of the hieroglyphic system, originally, perhaps, for astronomical and astrological pur¬
poses, similar to our own planetary signs, and afterwards cabalistically developed. Clemens, therefore, was right in noticing this enig¬
matical character, in connection with the hieroglyphics; but he never could intend to represent it as a real subdivision of the ordinary
hieroglyphic writing, properly so called, which is composed entirely and exclusively of the three elements he had previously enumerated
—the phonetic, hieroglyphic, and symbolic signs. His object was to give an example of the manner in which this hieroglyphic character
was used, as a whole, the parts of which he describes before explaining the secret character. ’ “ The work of Horapollo, dating
from a comparatively recent age, also clearly proves the existence and nature of this secret character. While few of the explanations it
offers are confirmed by the monuments, the greater part are contradicted both by them and by the Book of the Dead. The explanations
themselves are little better than arbitrary subtleties, or false cabalistic mysticism, the simple and historical meaning being palpable and
obvious, while the very hieroglyphical representations which he describes are chiefly borrowed from that secret character, and conse¬
quently do not apply to the monuments and books” (Egypt's Place, vol. i., pp. 339-342).
6 Kxi iu AiyvTZTc.) pAu To'tg hpivat avvriv, /.at Tvjv a of) to. it y.cti r^it AlyvTrriuv Cpuvviit, ypxy,y,x.Tuv Os TPioaccg aixtpopxg, sttuttoAo-
ypottyocuv re, x-xl iepoy7w(pix.uv, x.x\ ovy.(idKiy.uu. rZtv yev x,oiv6hoyovp.evav xxrx piiynoiv, ruv Ss oi'KAriyopovy.evuv xxrx nvxg xiuiypovg.
(He Vit. Pyth,., p. 8.)
HIEROGLYPHICS.
377
lierogly- By the symbolic letters Porphyry evidently intends the
phics. allegorical mode of writing spoken of by Clemens, using
o-u/x/SoXtKos in its secondary sense, but it may be doubted
whether that mode was as ancient as the time of Pythagoras,
[erodotus Imperfect as are these notices of the Egyptian systems
j nd Diodo- 0f writing by the late Greek writers, they are ample corn¬
ua Siculus. pare(j £0 t]lose which we find in the works of their prede¬
cessors. Herodotus merely tells us that the Egyptians “ use
two kinds of written characters, of which one is called sacred
and the other vulgar j”1 and Diodorus Siculus says the same,
only adding that the popular method was learnt by all,
while the sacred was understood by the priests alone.2 He¬
rodotus mentions, in the place above referred to, that they
wrote from right to left, contrary to the Greek manner,
which indeed was the manner of writing that they preferred,
adding, that they said that in doing so, they wrote to the
right, but that the Greeks wrote to the left.3
The main result of our inquiry thus far is the knowledge
that the ancient Egyptian language in its two forms, the
sacred dialect and the vulgar, was essentially identical with
the Coptic in its three dialects, and that the written charac¬
ters of the former were phonetic and ideographic, signs of
the two classes being sometimes employed together for the
same word.
The Rosetta Having ascertained thus much, we cannot proceed further
with any degree of certainty without the aid of bilingual
inscriptions in ancient Egyptian and some known language.
Such records do fortunately exist. The most remarkable
of them is the Rosetta Stone, a tablet bearing a decree of
the Egyptian priests in honour of Ptolemy Epiphanes, issued
B.c. 196. Although it has usually been called trilingual, it
is properly bilingual, for it is in but two languages, Egyp¬
tian and Greek, the former being written in hieroglyphic
and demotic characters. Happily, to remove any doubt as
to the identity of subject of the three inscriptions, we read
at the close of the Greek portion that the decree was in¬
scribed in the characters before mentioned. “ TO [AE’I'H'f*
l2MATOYTOANArPA*AIEi:SSTHAHNEia]TEPEOYA
I0OYTOISAEIEPOIS KAIEPXQPIOIS KAIE AAHNIKOI
5 PPAMMASINKAIS TH2AIENEKA2 TOITONTEIIPQT
fiNKAIAEYTEPOLNKAITPITONIEPONIIPOSTfflTOYA
IDNOBIOYBASlAEfiSEIKONI].”4 Great difficulties, how¬
ever, beset the inquirer who thinks at first that he can read
the Egyptian inscriptions of the record by the Greek. The
Hierogly¬
phics.
Stone.
tablet is so broken that much of the hieroglyphic version,
particularly a great part of its earlier portion, is wanting, and
some of the Greek has also been lost, as well as of the de-
motic version. The difficulty of comparing the hierogly¬
phic version with the Greek is thus greatly increased, and
it seems more practicable to commence with the demotic.
The indistinctness of the demotic characters, however, as
well as their not being separated into groups, makes their
study a most difficult task, and it is not to be wondered that
many years had elapsed after the Rosetta Stone had been
found before any real progress was made in the interpreta¬
tion of its Egyptian inscriptions.
The inscriptions of the Rosetta Stone do not, however,
afford the only examples known to us of bilingual records
in Egyptian and Greek. Besides some tablets, there is in
the Musee des Pays-Bas at Leyden, a Gnostic papyrus in Gnostic pa-
demotic characters, accompanied by an interlinear transcrip- pyrus of
tion of certain magical words into Greek characters from Leyden.
the demotic words below them.5 By carefully comparing
the demotic characters of these words, when phonetic, with
the Greek letters corresponding to them, an alphabet can
be formed, as has indeed been done by Dr Leemans,6 which
can be used for the interpretation of the Rosetta Stone,
either by being applied to the demotic version of that re¬
cord, or to the hieroglyphic. In the latter case, it would
be necessary to trace the demotic characters to the corre¬
sponding hieratic, and these again to the hieroglyphic, and
this, notwithstanding its apparent difficulty, would be found
the more satisfactory method of the two. In this manner,
the Rosetta Stone might have been partly interpreted, and
any one may now thus test the accuracy of the results of
Young’s discovery. But another method was adopted, the
papyri not being known, and it depends for its defence
rather upon the congruity of its results than upon its logical
character. If the more accurate method, however, be tried,
the results will be the same.
SECTION II.
THE METHOD OF INTERPRETING THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN
CHARACTERS EMPLOYED BY YOUNG AND CHAMPOLLION,
AND THEIR FOLLOWERS.
From certain differences it has been supposed that Young s
and Champollion followed different methods. But since
1 ygxtpovai hxi Aoy/£W«/ i//ij(po/o7, aEKKrivss plv, ti%o ruu tvi to, (pigowrsg ryu A.!yvmrioi tie,
etTfo tL foi/av eni rx xg/aregct' xxi Tro/svi/reg txvtx, xuroi piv (potoi l%\ rat vratkiv, li tw hQctaioioi Os
yPKM/fAXCU XpiUVTXl' XXI TS6 f6lV XVT61V, IpX' Tflf Sg, XcCKtVlXI (ii. 36.) ^ ( ( , , „
2 AittZv yxp AiyuTTtoig ouruv y^XfifiXTUV, rx piv lypufo v^oaxyo^ivo^vx itxvrxg pxv6xvuv, ix o is^x xx’Aovpevx kx^x pev to/?
kiyvmiotc xovovg ytvaoxtiv rovg Uptis (in- 3). The reading oittuv we owe to the ingenuity of Stroth (sEgyptiaca, u., P- 213, note x.).
“ Sic ex conjectura dedi pro vulgato illau, quum et res ipsa hoc requirat, et ipse Diodorus sup. Lib. i. c. 81 scripsent Kxtdsvovot tie tov;
viovg 0/ uh Ums ypxuxxrx Imx, ?x re iit>x KxXovpt,ivx xxi tx xotvcr^xv rw px$wiv. Quae nostro loco plane gemma sunt.
3 Of this last observation, as far as it regards the Egyptians, Dr Brugsch offers an ingenious explanation in his Gmmmom-o Lemo.
tique, supposing that the Egyptians contemplated the directions of the strokes of the letters, and not the sequence of the letters t e -
selves“ D’apres notre connaissance du demotique, il est Evident que cette remarque ne coucerne point la direction generale de l ecriture
dej& tracee mais uniquement la maniere dont on devait ecrire les signes, c’est-a-dire, en les commen^ant du c6te gauche et en les term -
nant a droite. ... II est du reste aise de s’apercevoir au sujet des signes qui s Stendent sur le papyrus plus que les autres, que
1’encre vers la droite est toujours plus faible qu’a la gauche, preuve evidente que I’ecrivain a commence lagaucheet fmi par la
droite” (pp. 15, 16). This explanation, however, does not seem applicable to the Greek mode of writing The Egyptians may, o -
ever, have considered a papyrus itself as having its own right and left hand like a person opposite, and so have spoken of the right and
left in precisely the opposite sense to that of the Greeks; an explanation which may be illustrated by ourordmaryand mhtary useof
the terms in question The meaning may perhaps be-if we suppose that the Egyptians were joking with Herodotus, and that he did
not perceive it—that they considered their own mode of writing right, and that of the Greeks gauche; a rendering which is autho-
4 Tzetzes hasTlsQ6preserved the meaning of certain hieroglyphic ideographs according to Chseremon an Egyptian priest and historian
of the first century of the Christian Era ; but he has not given us any theory of the characters, and the fragment is rather valuable as
corroborative evidence, having been first noticed long after Young’s discovery had been matured, an in e presen p ace. e s a
have occasion to refer to it in detail in a later part of this treatise. , , . v,
6 As there are similar papyri of the same time in Greek, it is evident that these transcribed words were either untranslatable or
were supposed to lose their power in invocations by translation, and were, therefore, thus distinguis e . e o owing verses rom e
so-called “ Chaldean Oracles ” of Zoroaster, may be cited, as illustrating the latter of these two reasons .
“ ’ Ovo/xxtx (ix^/ixpx /xyittot xbAx^pg,
E/fri yx^ ovojxxrx Trap ex,d<rrois Becaoorx
Avvxpciv iv riXiTxig xppriTov i’xov'tx. •—Gory s Anc. Frag., 2d edit., p. 271.
6 Papyrus Egyptien Demotique d transcriptions Grecques, ed. Leemans.
YOL. XI. ^ B
' pollion’s
method.
378 HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogly- these differences are the marks of early stages of the in-
phies. quiry, and since the distinctive peculiarities of the results
arrived at by both these interpreters are preserved in the
present theory as accepted by later scholars, it is best to
consider the method to be but one.
The other methods of interpreting hieroglyphics which
have been proposed in modern times will not be here con¬
sidered, since a full examination of them would occupy too
much space in the present article, and since, if the truth of
the method of Young and Champollion be proved, all other
systems must necessarily fall to the ground.
The Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799, and brought
to England in 1802. In the same year the first step to¬
wards deciphering its Egyptian inscriptions was made pub¬
lic by the distinguished French Orientalist, Baron Sil-
vestre de Sacy,'who had discovered in the demotic inscrip¬
tion the groups corresponding to Alexander, Alexandria,
and Ptolemy,1 in the Greek. But he was unable to deter¬
mine the force of the characters composing these groups.
This was, however, done by M. Akerblad, who further dis¬
covered and resolved other proper names and words in the
demotic version, but was stopped in his progress by his
suppositions that the demotic system was wholly alphabe¬
tic, and that the words expressed by it were in nothing dif¬
ferent from those of the Coptic. To M. Akerblad belongs
also the merit of having discovered the numerals “ first,”
“ second,” and “ third,” in the hieroglyphic inscription, and
thus been the first to interpret correctly, on sure grounds,
any part of that inscription.
The inquiry was next taken up by Dr Young, who com¬
municated to the Society of Antiquaries, in May 1814, a
“ Conjectural Translation of the Egyptian Inscription of the
Rosetta Stone,” published in the ArchcEologia, vol. xviii.
(1815). He then applied himself to the study of Coptic, and
republished his translation in a revised form in the Museum
Criticumof Cambridge, 1815. After this, in 1819, he gave
the world the result of his researches in the article Egypt,
in the Supplement to the Encyclopcedia Britannica, vol.
iv. The essential part of this article, that is, so much of it
as refers to the interpretation of the hieroglyphic and de¬
motic systems of writing is here retained, for reasons which
have been already stated. Some remarks are added in
notes and subsequent observations, the former distinguished,
for fear of mistake, by the writer’s initials, to point out in
what particulars subsequent discoveries have altered the
views of its learned author.
DR young’s ANALYSIS OF THE TRIPLE INSCRIPTION OF
ROSETTA.
Dr Young s The block or pillar of black basalt, found by the French
the Rosetta in UP some ground at Rosetta, and now placed in
Stone. t^ie British Museum,2 exhibits the remains of three distinct
inscriptions; and the last, which is in Greek, ends with the
information, that the decree which it contains was ordered
to be engraved in three different characters, the sacred
letters, the letters of the country, and the Greek.3 Unfor¬
tunately a considerable part of the first inscription is want¬
ing; the beginning of the second, and the end of the third,
are also mutilated; so that we have no precise points of
coincidence from which we can set out, in our attempts to
decipher the unknown characters. The second inscription,
which it will be safest to distinguish by the Greek name
enchorial, signifying merely the characters of the country,
notwithstanding its deficiencies near the beginning, is still
sufficiently perfect to allow us to compare its different parts Hierogly.
with each other, and with the Greek, by the same method phics.
which we should employ if it were entire. Thus, if we
examine the parts corresponding, in their relative situa¬
tion, to two passages of the Greek inscription in which
Alexander and Alexandria occur, we soon recognise two
well-marked groups of characters resembling each other,
which we may therefore consider as representing these
names; a remark which was first made by M. de Sacy, in
his letter relating to this inscription. A small group of
characters, occurring very often in almost every line, might
be either some termination, or some very common particle;
it must, therefore, be reserved till it is found in some decisive
situation, after some other words have been identified, and
it will then be easily shown to mean and. The next re¬
markable collection of characters is repeated twenty-nine
or thirty times in the enchorial inscription ; and we find
nothing that occurs so often in the Greek, except the
word king, with its compounds, which is found about thirty-
seven times. A fourth assemblage of characters is found
fourteen times in the enchorial inscription, agreeing suf¬
ficiently well in frequency with the name of Ptolemy, which
occurs eleven times in the Greek, and generally in pas¬
sages corresponding to those of the enchorial text in their
relative situation ; and, by a similar comparison, the name
of Egypt is identified, although it occurs much more fre¬
quently in the enchorial inscription than in the Greek, which
often substitutes for it country only, or omits it entirely.
Having thus obtained a sufficient number of common points
of subdivision, we may next proceed to write the Greek
text over the enchorial, in such a manner that the passages
ascertained may all coincide as nearly as possible; and it is
obvious that the intermediate parts of each inscription will
then stand very near to the corresponding passages of the
other.4
In this process it will be necessary to observe that the
lines of the enchorial inscription are written from right to
left, as, Herodotus tells us, was the custom of the Egyp¬
tians ;5 the division of several words and phrases plainly in¬
dicating the direction in which they are to be read. It is
well known that the distinct hieroglyphical inscriptions en¬
graved on different monuments, differ in the direction of
the corresponding characters. They always face the right
or the left of the spectator, according as the principal per¬
sonages of the tablets to which they belong are looking in
the one or the other direction ; where, however, there are no
tablets, they almost always look towards the right; and it
is easily demonstrable that they must always have been
read beginning from the front and proceeding to the rear of
each rank. But the Egyptians seem never to have written
alternately backwards and forwards, as the most ancient
Greeks occasionally did. In both cases, however, the whole
of the characters thus employed were completely reversed
in the twTo different modes of using them, as if they were
seen in a glass, or printed off like the impression of a seal.6
By pursuing the comparison of the inscriptions thus
arranged, we ultimately discover the signification of the
greater part of the individual enchorial words; and the
result of the investigation leads us to observe some slight
differences in the form and order of some parts of the dif¬
ferent inscriptions, which are indicated in the conjectural
translation published in the Archceologia and in the Museum
Criticum. The degree of evidence in favour of the sup¬
posed signification of each assemblage of characters may be
1 Bunsen erroneously states these names to have been “ Ptolemy, Berenice, and Alexander” (Egypt's Place, vol. i., p. 315).
2 The Rosetta Stone was discovered in the year 1799, by a French officer during the repair of Fort St Julien, a little to the north of
the town of Rosetta. See art. Egypt, (r. s. p.)
3 See preceding page.
4 Dr Young published the three inscriptions of the Rosetta Stone thus arranged in the Hieroglyphics of the Egyptian Society, (r. s. p.)
6 Herod, ii. 36. See preceding page. (r. s. P.)
6 We have noticed in an earlier place exceptions to this rule. (R. s. F.)
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogly- most conveniently appreciated, by arranging them in a lexi-
phics. cographical form, according to the words of the translation,
v-—^ the enchorial words themselves not readily admitting a
similar arrangement; but the subject is not of sufficient in¬
terest for the public to make it necessary that this little
lexicon should be engraved at length.1
It might naturally have been expected that the final
characters of the enchorial inscription, of which the sense
is thus determined with tolerable certainty, although the
corresponding part of the Greek is wanting, would have im¬
mediately led us to a knowledge of the concluding phrase
of the distinct hieroglyphical characters, which remains un¬
impaired. But the agreement between the two conclu¬
sions is by no means precise ; and the difficulty can only be
removed by supposing the king to be expressly named in
the one, while he is only designated by his titles in the
other.2 With this slight variation, and with the knowledge
of the singular accident, that the name of Ptolemy occurs
three times in a passage of the enchorial inscription, where
the Greek has it but twice, we proceed to identify this
name amongst the sacred characters, in a form sufficiently
conspicuous to have been recognised upon the most super¬
ficial examination of the inscriptions, if this total disagree¬
ment of the frequency of occurrence had not imposed the
condition of a long and laborious investigation, as an indis¬
pensable requisite for the solution of so much of the enigma.
This step, however, being made good, we obtain from it a
tolerably correct scale lor the comparative extent of the
sacred characters, of which it now appears that almost
half of the lines are entirely wanting, those that remain
being also much mutilated. Such a scale may also be ob¬
tained, in a different manner, by marking, on a straight
ruler, the places in which the most characteristic words,
such as god, king, 'priest, and shrine occur, in the latter
parts of the other inscriptions, at distances proportional to
the actual distances from the end; and then trying to find
corresponding characters among the hieroglyphics of the
first inscription, by varying the obliquity of the ruler, so as
to correspond to all possible lengths which that inscription
can be supposed to have occupied, allowing always a cer¬
tain latitude for the variations of the comparative lengths
of the different phrases and expressions. By these steps it
is not very difficult to assure ourselves, that a shrine and a
priest are denoted by representations which must have been
intended for pictures of objects denoted by them ; and. this
appears to be the precise point of the investigation at
which it becomes completely demonstrative, and promises
a substantial foundation for further inferences. The other
terms, god and king, are still more easily ascertained, from
their situation near the name of Ptolemy.
The most material points of the three inscriptions having
been thus identified, they may all be written side by side ;
and the sense of the respective characters may be still fur¬
ther investigated, by a minute comparison of the different
parts with each other. The last line of the sacred charac¬
ters, with the corresponding parts of the other inscriptions
[which the reader will find represented under the \\ead Speci-
mens of Phrases], will serve as a fair specimen of the result
which has been obtained from these operations.
In thus comparing the enchorial with the sacred charac¬
ters, we find many coincidences in their forms, by far too
accurate to be compatible with the supposition that the en¬
chorial could be of a nature purely alphabetical. It is evi¬
dent, for example, that the enchorial characters for a dia-
379
dem, an asp, and everliving, are immediately borrowed from Hierogly-
the sacred. But this coincidence cannot certainly be traced phics.
throughout the inscriptions ; and it seemed natural to sup-
pose, that alphabetical characters might be interspersed with
hieroglyphics, in the same way that the astronomers and
chemists of modern times have often employed arbitrary
marks, as compendious expressions of the objects which
were most frequently to be mentioned in their respective
sciences. But no effort, however determined and persever¬
ing, had been able to discover any alphabet which could
fairly be said to render the inscription, in general, at all
like what was required to make its language intelligible
Egyptian, although most of the proper names seemed to
exhibit a tolerable agreement with the forms of letters in¬
dicated by Mr Akerblad ; a coincidence, indeed, which
might be found in the Chinese, or in any other character
not alphabetical, if they employed words of the simplest
sounds for writing compound proper names.
The question, however, respecting the nature of the en¬
chorial character, appears to be satisfactorily decided by a com¬
parison of various manuscripts on papyrus, still extant, with
each other. Several of these, published in the great Descrip¬
tion de VEgypte, have always been considered as specimens of
the alphabetical writing of the Egyptians, and certainly have
as little appearance of being imitations of visible objects, as
any of the characters of this inscription, or as the old Ara¬
bic or Syriac characters, to which they bear, at first sight,
a considerable resemblance. But they are generally ac¬
companied by tablets, or delineations of certain scenes,
consisting of a few visible objects, either detached, or placed
in certain intelligible relations to each other; and we may
generally discover traces of some of these objects amongst
the characters of the text that accompanies them. A simi¬
lar correspondence between the text and the tablets is still
more readily observable in other manuscripts, written in dis¬
tinct hieroglyphics, slightly yet not inelegantly traced, in a
hand which appears to have been denoted by the term
hieratic ; and by comparing with each other such parts of
the texts of these manuscripts as stand under tablets of the
same kind, we discover, upon a very minute examination,
that every character of the distinct hieroglyphics has its
corresponding trace in the running hand; sometimes a mere
dash or line, but often perfectly distinguishable, as a coarse
copy of the original delineation, and always alike when it
answers to the same character. The particular passages
which establish this identity extending to a series of above ten
thousand characters, have been enumerated in the Museum
Criticum; they have been copied in adjoining lines, and
carefully collated with each other; and their number has
been increased, by a comparison with some yet unpublished
rolls of papyrus, lately brought from Egypt. A few' spe¬
cimens from different manuscripts will be sufficient to show
the forms through which the original representation has
passed, in its degradation from the sacred character, through
the hieratic, into the epistolographic, or common running
hand of the country [as will be seen under the head of
Comparison of Manuscripts^?
It seems at first sight incomprehensible that this coin¬
cidence, or rather correspondence, should not be equally
observable in the two inscriptions of the Rosetta Stone,
which, if the enchorial character is merely a degradation of
the sacred, must naturally be supposed to be as much alike
as those of the different manuscripts in question ; while,
in reality, we can but seldom trace any very striking ana-
* Dr Young did somewhat towards publishing such a lexicon in the index to the translation of the Rosetta Stone given in the paral¬
lel arrangement which he printed in the Hieroglyphics of the Egyptian Society. (R. S. P.)
2 This conjecture is perfectly just, the enchorial inscription giving in its last line the word SUTEN “ king,” instead of the PTURE-
MEES (TiToAtpodog) of the hieroglyphic inscription, (u. S. P.)
3 In this passage Dr Young calls hieratic characters enchorial, and linear hieroglyphic, hieratic. These mistakes were natural
in the early stages of the inquiry. The manuscripts, accompanied by tablets or scenes, which he mentions, are copies of all or part of
the Ritual or Book of the Dead. (r. s. p.)
380
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogly- logy between them. But the enchorial character, having
phies. been long used in rapid writing, and for the ordinary pur-
poses of life, appears to have become so indistinct in its
forms, that it was often necessary to add to it some epithet
or synonym, serving to mark the object more distinctly;
just as, in speaking Chinese, when the words are translated
from written characters into a more limited number of sounds,
it is often necessary, on account of the imperfection of the
oral language, to add a generic word, in order to determine
the signification, and to read, for example, a goose bird,
when a goose only is written, in order to distinguish it from
some other idea implied by a similar sound; and even in
English we might sometimes be obliged to say a yexv tree,
in order to distinguish it from a ewe sheep, or you yourself,
or the letter u. The enchorial character, therefore, though
drawn from the same source, can scarcely, in this form, be
called the same language with the sacred hieroglyphics,
which had probably remained unaltered from the earliest
ages, whilst the running hand admitted all the variations of
the popular dialects [sic], and bore but a faint resemblance
to its original prototype. Indeed, if it had been completely
identical, there could have been no propriety in repeating
the inscription with so slight a change of form.1
The rituals and hymns contained in the manuscripts
which have been mentioned, are probably either of higher
antiquity than the inscription of Rosetta, or had preserved
a greater purity of character, as having been continually
copied from older originals.2 It is also remarkable, that in
one of these rolls of papyrus, engraved by Denon, the in¬
troduction is in the sacred character, and some of the phrases
contained in it may be observed to be repeated in the sub¬
sequent part of the manuscript, which is in a kind of run¬
ning hand, though somewhat less degraded than in most
other instances.
It was not unnatural to hope, that the comparison of these
different manuscripts would have assisted us very materially
in tracing back all the enchorial characters to the corre¬
sponding hieroglyphics, as far as the parts of the respective
inscriptions remain entire, and even in filling up the defi¬
ciencies of the sacred characters where they are wanting ;
and something has certainly been gained from it with re¬
spect to the names of several of the deities; but, on account
of the differences which had crept in between the forms of
the language expressed by the sacred and the cursive cha¬
racters, the advantage has hitherto been extremely limited.
It seems, indeed, to have been a condition inseparable from
the whole of this investigation, that its steps should be in¬
tricate and laborious, beyond all that could have been ima¬
gined from our previous knowledge of the subject; and Hierogly.j
that, whilst a number of speculative reasoners have per- phics.
suaded themselves, at different times, that they were able
to read through a hieroglyphical inscription in the most
satisfactory manner, beginning at either end, as it might
happen, the only monument which has afforded us any real
foundations for reasoning on the subject, is more calculated
to repress than to encourage our hopes of ever becoming
complete masters of the ancient literature of Egypt; al¬
though it is unquestionably capable of serving as a key to
much important information with respect to its history and
mythology.3 Nor is it by any means impossible, that a care¬
ful consideration of other monuments already known, or of
such as are now discovered from day to day, may enable us
to detect a number of unknown characters, so situated with
respect to others which are already understood, as to carry
with them their own interpretation, supported by a degree
of evidence far exceeding mere conjecture. We are now
to proceed to an enumeration of the principal characters
which have been rendered intelligible.
RUDIMENTS OF A HIEROGLYPHICAL YOCABULARY.
A. Deities.
1, 2. The word God is always represented in the inscrip- Deities,
tion of Rosetta, and often in many others, by a character re¬
sembling a particular kind of hatchet, which is delineated
repeatedly at Medinet-Habou as a weapon in the hands of
warriors, and is even found among the modern weapons
engraved by Denon. (Plate xcv.)4
r, rro n
f,fk
This character is frequently exchanged, in parallel passages
of different manuscripts, or of the same, for a figure sitting
or standing without distinct arms or feet, either with a hu¬
man head or a hawk’s head ; or sometimes, by a deviation
from the correct nature of an abstract or general term, with
the heads of different animals, according to the character of
the deity to whom it is applied.5 But in the inscription of
Rosetta this symbol appears to be exclusively appropriated
to the gods in their judicial capacity ; and it occurs several
times in the term meaning lawfid (No. 151), [which will be
1. GOD Powerful.
sort
r
2. GOD judge.
1 Excepting the implied statement that determinatives were unknown to the hieroglyphic system, though used in the hieratic, this
whole paragraph, if we apply it to the true enchorial, is remarkably accurate and just, and shows far higher knowledge than one
would have supposed could have been attained at the time when it was written, (it. s. p.)
2_ ^he Ritual itself had a most ancient origin, as already noticed, but there are copies of all periods, the later of which, although exhi¬
biting changes, are yet purer in their characters than the contemporary inscriptions, (r. s. P.)
3 Long after this Chevalier Bunsen wrote in his Egypt’s Place (Eng. trans., vol- i., p. 267, published in 1848), “ There are inscrip¬
tions, such as those on the obelisks, and whole pages in the Book of the Dead, which can now be read and explained, as regards their
substance at least; as can also the greater part of the hieroglyphic inscription on the Rosetta Stone, by the assistance of the Greek texts
[sic]. Champollion, in fact, made out the essential import of both the Egyptian texts before his visit to Egypt. Still we confidently
maintain that no man living is competent to read and explain the whole of any one section of the Book of the Dead, far less one of the
historical papyri.'’ This is not strictly correct, for at the time this was written there was at least one scholar who could, now there
are at least four who can, read and explain some of the short chapters of the Bool; of the Dead; yet it must be admitted, that for the
most part the ancient Egyptian records in both the sacred and the vulgar characters are understood in their substance rather than in
their minute details. This is seen at once from the consideration that while different scholars agree as to the general sense of any in¬
scription, they widely differ as to its details. The alleged difficulty as to the interpretation of the historical papyri arose from
neglect more than from the imperfect condition of many of them. The neglect has been in great measure repaired since the remark
of Chevalier Bunsen, quoted above, was written, by the exertions of Mr Heath and M. de Rouge. (R. s. p.)
The examples given as of enchorial characters by Dr Young are taken indiscriminately from the enchorial and hieratic texts for
he supposed the two to be enchorial, as already noticed. The result of this is not any positive error, for the earliest enchorial writing is
scarcely distinguishable from hieratic, but it is liable to produce confusion. The later forms of demotic are to be regarded as typical of
that mode of writing, the earliest are nearly identical with the typical forms of hieratic. (R. S. P.)
The hatchet and the bearded human seated figure (usually distinguished by particular generic emblems, and by the length and
form of the beard), are ideographic equivalents and generic determinatives of the word NETER, “ a god,” of which the hatchet forms
the initial character with the force of N. The hawk-headed and other brute-headed figures, or the man-headed figures, with specific
emblems, usually represented sitting, but sometimes standing, are the ideographic equivalents and specific determinatives of the names
of different gods and goddesses. On the use of determinatives, see infra, section iii. (r. s. f.)
HIEROGLYPHICS.
381
lierogly- afterwards explained]. This interpretation is also fully jus-
phics. tified by the testimony of Plutarch, that “ the figures of
judges were represented without hands.”1
3. A Goddess is denoted by the hatchet or sitting figure,
with the addition of the female characteristic, generally as
a termination ; but sometimes the simple character is ap¬
plied to gods and goddesses indifferently.
3. goddess. j*' 2^
1-wort O U , O <1 A I
The semicircle and oblique oval,2 distinguishing the femi¬
nine gender, are observable in almost all well-marked names
of females found in different tablets; and the crooked line,
which corresponds to them, in the enchorial character of the
stone of Rosetta, may be distinguished at the end of each
of the five names of females that occur in the inscription.
Occasionally the characteristic is prefixed, and this position
agrees better with the Coptic ti, which distinguishes a female.
Nor must we omit to observe, that a semicircle seems to
answer to the t in some other cases, and is always expressed
in the running hand by the character which Mr Akerblad
calls T or d, and which is also exactly the Syriac t. The
asp or basilisk standing erect is a symbol of divinity, which
occurs on the green sarcophagus called the tomb of Alex¬
ander, and elsewhere, instead of the more ordinary charac¬
ter. In a few instances, the semicircle is found without the
oblique oval (No. 57).
4. GODS.
g&wort
r
[pip
&
4. The plural, Gods, is formed by repeating the charac¬
ter three times, or by placing three dashes after, or some¬
times before it. In the enchorial inscription, the dashes are
united into a crooked line, and are placed in this instance
both before and after the principal character ; but, in gene¬
ral, the second line is straighter than the first. The dual is
expressed by a double character only.3 (No. 57.)
5. A winged globe, sometimes flattened as if intended for
an egg, but often coloured red, is very commonly repre¬
sented as hovering over a hero, and generally occupies the
lintel of some of the doors of a temple.
f. Aqathodcemon. _
J^JVOYG* ?
A globe nearly similar is also sometimes connected with the
head and tail of a serpent, bearing the symbol of life, which Hierogly-
is the common characteristic of a deity. There can, there- phics.
fore, be no objection to considering these representations as v—v/—
belonging to the Agathodsemon, or Chnuphis of the Greek
authors ;4 and the same symbol is sometimes found in the
text of an inscription, in the neighbourhood of the pictorial
representation. Its sense may therefore be considered as
tolerably well ascertained; but the evidence being some¬
what indirect, the name is inserted in smaller characters,
the same distinction being also observed in other instances.
Mr Bruce informs us, in his letter to Mr Wood, that in
some parts of the Tunisian dominions, serpents are still re¬
garded as a kind of good angels. The Chnubis, or Chnu-
mis, of the amulets, is generally represented as a serpent
with a human head, or with that of a lion ;5 and the former
combination is not uncommon in the tablets of the manu¬
scripts ; but the hieroglyphic denoting it is a long undulated
line, totally distinct from this character.
6. The symbol, often called the Hieralpha, or sacred A,
corresponds, in the inscription of Rosetta, to Phthah, or
Vulcan, one of the principal deities of the Egyptians.6
6. PHTHAH.
m&a
A,(3^
A multitude of other sculptures sufficiently prove, that the
object intended to be delineated was a plough or hoe ;7 and
we are informed by Eusebius, from Plato, that the Egyptian
Vulcan was considered as the inventor of instruments of
war and of husbandry. In many other inscriptions, the
pedestal or pulley8 is used indifferently for the plough.
Horapollo tells us that Vulcan was denoted by a beetle;9
and the Monticaelian obelisk of Kircher has the plough on
three sides and the beetle on the fourth. Horapollo,
however, is seldom perfectly correct ;10 and the names of
different divinities are frequently exchanged on the banners
of the same obelisk ; nor is there any clear instance of such
an exchange of the plough for the beetle as occurs perpetu¬
ally in the case of the pedestal. The beetle is frequently
used for the name of a deity whose head either bears a
beetle, or is itself in the form of a beetle j11 and in other in¬
stances the beetle has clearly a reference to generation or
reproduction, which is a sense attributed to this symbol by
all antiquity ; so that it may possibly sometimes have been
used as a synonym for Phthah, as the father of the gods.
The plough is very rarely found as the name of a personage
1 The passage here referred to relates to certain statues at Thebes, and therefore not necessarily to the general mode of representing
a judge, whether by a statue or image, or by a hieroglyphic. (R. S. P.)
2 The semicircle and egg, called by Dr Young “ the semicircle and oblique oval,” form a determinative of the names of goddesses,
and the semicircle alone is the sign of the feminine singular. (r. s. p.)
3 There is no dual in either dialect of the ancient Egyptian, or in the Coptic. See infra, section iii. (R. S. P.)
4 The winged globe, or Her-het, is held to correspond to the Agathodasmon of the Greek writers, and the ram-headed god Num to the
Chnuphis. (r. s. p.)
6 The inscriptions of the Gnostic amulets, although they doubtless contain remains of ancient Egyptian magic, show so much foreign
influence that it is best not to deduce anything from similarities we may observe in them to the old religion of Egypt. The Gnostic
papyri, though more Egyptian than most of these, are yet too markedly characterized by the same foreign influence to be considered
as veritably Egyptian, (r. S. p.)
6 This is a mistake ; the character in question, reading MAR and MEE, signifies to love, &c., but occurring on the Rosetta Stone in
connection with the name of Ptah in the expression MEE-PTEH, “ Beloved of Ptah,” it was supposed, in the comparison with the Greek
inscription, to be the name of that divinity. The word MAR deserves some attention, since it offers more significations than are known
to belong to most other Egyptian words, and whether these be all significations of the root alone or not, they illustrate the different signifi¬
cations of which a root was susceptible, whether in its primitive or derivative forms. MR (we adopt this orthography since we cannot
be certain that the same vowel was used in all the significations), primarily—1, to bind, envelope; 2, an island (surrounded by water);
3, a pool (surrounded by land) ; 4, a frontier, boundary ; 5, tropically, to love, to kiss. (r. S. P.)
7 The character is a hoe : for the form of it and the plough, see Anc. Egypt-, 2d series, vol. i., p. 40. (r. S. p.)
8 This exchangeable character is a receptacle for water, (r. S. P.)
9 "'iKpcttaTOv Bs y^x(f)ovres, x-xi/Sccgov x,ou yvira, ^ay^xtyovaiv’ ASnvxv Bs', yvTrce xoti x-xv^x^ov. Boxs; yx^ xvToi; 6 xoqp-og avvicnxvxi
lx rs anrjDn-MAj xxl SyKvxou. Bl rijg ' ASrivxc rviv yvTrx yfixtpovaiu. ovrot yxo ftovoiSscov Trap xvrolg, x^tnvo^vfKtts {Horapollo
Nilous, lib. i., cap. xii., ed. Cory, p. 29). We can scarcely suppose that the passage is corrupt, and that Horapollo really wrote, as Cory
suggests, and as Dr Young seems to have also conjectured, that the Egyptians represented Ptah by a beetle, and Neith by a vulture,
for the context shows that a double symbol was employed to denote the androgynous character of these divinities, and Horapollo else¬
where attributes to these signs, respectively, the significations of male and female (lib. i., cap. x., xi.). The beetle is an emblem of Ptah
(Vulcan), but also and properly of the god Tar. (r. S. p.)
10 This remark is an instance of that discriminating judgment by which Dr Young showed himself so much in advance of his pre¬
decessors, and most of his contemporaries. The character of Horapollo’s work has been already noticed, (r. s. p.)
11 Tar. See Ancient Egyptians, vol. vi., pi. 25, pt. 2. (r. S. p.)
382
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Ilierogly- actually represented; and it is difficult to say under what
phics. form the Egyptian Vulcan was chiefly worshipped ; but on
the tablet of a Homs of bad workmanship, belonging to the
Borgian Museum, he is exhibited with a hawk’s head, hold¬
ing a spear ; whilst in the great ritual of the Description
de VEgypte (Antiq. ii. pi. 72, col. 104), he seems to be re¬
presented by a figure with a human head ; an exchange,
however, which is very common in some other cases, with
respect to these two personifications, though it does not
extend to the substitution of the heads of different animals
for each other.
7. Ammon, the Egyptian Jupiter, is sufficiently identified
by a combination of evidence of various kinds, although no
single link of the chain extends very far. A figure with a
ram’s head is denoted, both on the green sarcophagus and
on the temple at Elephantine, by a water jar, sometimes,
but not always, accompanied by a bird.1
7. AMMON. /p, vv. -
&*U>TN
Now, a water jar of this form is constantly converted, in
the running hand of the manuscripts, into a character like
a z; and this character, in the enchorial text of Rosetta,
is made to express the name of Jupiter; a fact which con¬
firms the testimony of the Greek authors, who considered
the Egyptian Jupiter as having been represented with a
ram’s head. A similar figure is found at Edfou {Apollino-
polis Magna), and at Esneh {Latopolis). The temple at
Edfbu seems to have been dedicated by Amenophis or
Memnon;2 and he appears to be called “ lover of Ammon,”3
that is, Miamun, which is not unlike the name Memnon.*
8. The common astronomical diagram for the sun, Q,
seems to have been adopted by the Latin astrologers from
their masters in Egypt; since it is not very probable that
both should have employed a point in the centre of the cir¬
cle without some communication with each other, the circle
alone having been mentioned by some of the Greek authors,
who say that it was the symbol of the sun.
8. PURE,
10,
The deity Re, or Phre, is indicated by this character, fol¬
lowed by an upright bar; and the circle is often enveloped Hierogly.
in the coil of the body ot a serpent; an oval and an arm phics.
also often follow the circle.4 The enchorial name of the
sun is extremely like that which corresponds in the manu¬
scripts to this hieroglyphic. And a similar circle, with rays
diverging from it, though seldom exactly in straight lines
(No. 160), is used in the sense of “ enlightening,” or “ ren¬
dering illustrious and it has also been observed by some of
the French, who have been in Egypt, to stand in several in¬
scriptions with a manifest reference to light. The circle
occurs also as a part of the terms month and day5 (No. 178,
1 79). In the great Hieratic Ritual, and in some other manu¬
scripts, this name of Phre occurs very frequently under or
near the tablet which contains a representation of the sun
shining, as well as under the next to it, which exhibits a head
rising out of a lotus,6 an emblem mentioned by Plutarch as
relating to the sun, which here is made to spring from the
pedestal (No. 6), as the sun is said to have been the offspring
of Phthah. Whatever plant this lotus may have been, it cer¬
tainly does not much resemble the nelumbo of the East,
which some imagine to have been the original emblem of
fertility.' The name Phre is almost the only intelligible
combination of letters that ever occurs on the Abraxas or
amulets; and the monster to which it relates has generally
radiations from its head, and is surrounded by six stars.8
The tablets of the sun in the manuscripts exhibit also little
genii worshipping him, each of which is always marked
“ star god.”
9. The name of Rhea may, without impropriety, be as¬
signed to a female personage very commonly accompany¬
ing the sun, and distinguished by many of his attributes;
[thus]:
9. RHEA.
tqe , ^
z *-
<y
although the evidence would have been somewhat more
conclusive if the name had been found attached to the
figure of the mother in the tablet of the birth of Isis. On
the coffins of the mummies, this personage is generally re¬
presented with outstretched wings, and in other tablets
without wings ; but she carries in both cases a circle on her
head, emblematic of the sun.9 If we considered the ana-
K- ierog yp ic name Num, here not perfectly accurately represented, since the jar should be one-handled, is that of Kneph or
r< ml[lon, name is written in the hieroglyphics Amen. The mistake which Dr Young here sanctions had its origin
^ na o e ree s and Romans who confused the two divinities, making them to be the same as their Jupiter, and always ram-headed,
i /10Wev®r> Is always man-headed. The ancient error may have arisen from the fact that the ram-headed god of the Great and
Inttle Oases, Jupiter Ammon, was called Amen-Num, i.e., Ammon-Chnuphis, or Hammon-Cenubis. (r. s. p.)
a ti x®?Pir at tVdfo° a Ptolemaic structure dedicated to Her-het. See art. Egypt, (r. s. p.)
le tit e ee-i men, signifying beloved of Amen, is given to many kings. It may have been one of those which the Greeks sup¬
pose o correspon< to . lemnon, which there is little reason to suppose to have been an Egyptian name. Lepsius conjectures that
\ a.]larn? Slven to a famous temple of Rameses II, at Thebes, and another of the same king, and his father Sethee I. at
vof i°S p ^r^1?) 6 ^ennu» ‘‘structures,” a word always used when temples are intended (Chronologic, der ^Egypter,
■ disk, or circle with a dot, is the iconographic representation of the sun, and the straight line which sometimes follows it is the
sign o t e mascu me singular. The arm A is also occasionally added to the disk as a phonetic complement, the iconographic sign
en ecoming p onetic. The name of the sun and the divinity personifying it, is RA, or with the article PARA or PRA, whence the
name Pharaon, ny-3, for the kings bore this name as representatives of the sun. (r. s. p.)
6 As a determinative of time. (r. s. p.)
. . P^.e.^vv? representations here mentioned are the tablets or vignettes of the eightieth and eighty-first chapters of the Ritual The
title of the former is RA EN ART TARU EM NETER ERTA TEP KES Ell HAR KEEKU, “ The chapter of the making transfor-
a mu0"8.11110 a g®d Slving the hour which.is t0.the path of darkness:” and the title of the latter RA EN ART TARU EM SESHNEE
e c aP^r making transformations into a lotus.” These relate to some of the transformations of the deceased in the other
e> an t e same phrase is used for birth, as M. de Rouge has shown (Tombeau (VAhmes, p. 109), which seems to indicate that the
Jgyp ians held the doctrine that man’s soul returned to a human body after a certain period spent either in the other world or on the
earth in the bodies of various brutes, (it. s. p.)
9 Sh the ;°,tuS’8ee art‘ Eo'rPT- (R- s- p0 8 See note 5, preceding page.
. e goddess Nutpe, here called Rhea, is the wife of Seb (Chronus), and mother of Osiris, Isis, Aroeris, Typhon, and Nephthys.
e is represented on the mummy-cases as the protector of the deceased, who in taking the form of Osiris became her child. Thus the
‘‘"TeS (Mycerinus)> the fourth kinS of the Fourth Dynasty (b.c. cir. 2300), readsthus:—
ITARPK ^ cMEN‘IvU'RA ANSH TET MES EN TPE SIIER NUTPE SIIA [SEB?] PESESHES MUTER NUTPE
EAR,_ EM llENS LN S1ITE [EN] TPE ERATNES UNEK EM NE TERENSIIETFUK SUTEN SHEBT MEN-KU-RA ANSH
mother Nn/ne’c^i 0f Up!i>er and Lower Menkura ever-living, born of Heaven, child [of] Nutpe, flesh [of Seb?], thy
saries TO '1 ‘ti °Ver tne1eTln her name of the expanse of heaven, she has granted [that] thou art as a god against thine adver-
the rroddei nS™ .—T Eo^er EgyPt Menkura, ever-living” (Vyse’s Pyramids, vol. ii., p. 94). Whether or not the name of
goddess Nuope signifies the abyss of heaven,” in which case she would be the feminine form of Enpe (Empe), the Emeph of the
HIEROGLYPHICS.
383
[ierogly- logy of the hieroglyphical name only, we should be disposed
phics. to interpret it as meaning the wife or sister of Ammon.
10. Ioh, the Moon, is not a deity of very frequent occur¬
rence ; but the character is easily interpreted, botli from its
form, and from its being found in a different position, as a
part of the word month (No. 179).
10. ioh.
AlOg
*
At Denderah this character is accompanied by the epithet
God, and without any female termination, as well as in se¬
veral passages of an epistolographic manuscript sent home
by Mr Bankes ; a circumstance which is favourable to the
opinion that loh was considered as masculine in mythology1
as well as in grammar, just as Men or Lunus was sometimes
made masculine by the Greeks and Romans ; the fact, how¬
ever, is not absolutely decisive of this question, since the
character is not accompanied by the delineation of any per¬
sonification of the deity.
11. The historical description of the god Thoth, or Her¬
mes, as the scribe or secretary of Osiris, and the inventor ot
writing, sufficiently identifies him with the person who is
perpetually represented standing before Osiris, and writing
with a quill or a style2 on a square or oblong tablet. He
has always the head of an ibis, and this bird, standing on a
perch, constitutes his hieroglyphical name, as the ibis is
known to have been the emblem of Thoth. The hierogly¬
phic for letters (No. 103) is also frequently found among
his titles ; and all these circumstances abundantly confirm
the opinion of his true character, which Zoega and others
had already advanced from conjecture only.
11. THOTH-
ooj ore
» = \fai7C2*
The enchorial name is very much disfigured, but the manu¬
scripts exhibit a character which may serve to supply the
connecting link, and another abridgment of the name which
deviates still more widely from the original, being simply
the common substitute for a feather, which here seems to
stand for the whole bird, or perhaps merely for a feather
which is often found projecting from the end of the perch.
Next to Osiris, we find that Thoth is of more frequent oc¬
currence than any other deity in the great ritual; and it is
probable that the mummies of the ibis, which are so com¬
monly found, were preserved in honour of him.3 The semi¬
circle with two oblique dashes, under the perch, seems to
correspond to the epithet “great and great” of the Rosetta
inscription ; this character being generally significative of a
dual.4 The scale with eight dashes and two other cha¬
racters is also very frequently employed as an epithet, and
sometimes as a synonym of Thoth ; it seems to mean “ Dis¬
penser of the eight treasures, or laws, of the country,” for
Diodorus informs us that the principal laws of Egypt were
contained in eight books.5
12. The name of Osiris is found,6 with the epithet “ di¬
vine,” in a great majority of all the mythological inscrip¬
tions that have yet been discovered; so that this circum¬
stance alone is sufficient to show that it must have been that
of the principal deity of Egypt.
12. OSIRIS.
Ojillpj
f^L. loll
Hierogly¬
phics.
The enchorial character of the inscription of Rosetta is
readily identified, and it agrees perfectly well with that of
the manuscripts, answering to the eye and the throne ; so
that the manuscripts here completely supply the want of
that part of the stone which contained the name in the sa¬
cred characters. This name is also universally annexed to
the great figure which is found at the end of almost all the
manuscripts, and on the coffins of mummies, holding a hook
and a whip or fan,7 and of which the small detached images
are also extremely common. In the sculptured inscrip¬
tions, the eye generally precedes the throne; in the run¬
ning hand of the manuscripts, and on the coffins of some
mummies, apparently of later date, the eye sometimes fol¬
lows. Plutarch had perhaps been rightly informed respect¬
ing this character ; but by a mistake, which was easily com¬
mitted from a want of perfect recollection, he has called it
“an eye and a sceptre ;” and this combination has not been
recognised as the name of a deity, though a symbol some¬
thing like it occurs in some of the tablets. The pictured
delineation of Osiris has indifferently a human head or that
of a hawk,8 but never that of any other animal. The tear
(No. 100) seems also sometimes to have been used as an
emblem of Osiris, as well as of Apis and Mneuis, who were
considered as representations of him. The name is found
perpetually on monuments of all kinds as an epithet of a
departed person ; and this is one great reason of the fre¬
quency of its occurrence.
13. ARUERIS.
13. Arueris, the Apollo of the Egyptian mythology, is
sufficiently identified by the comparison of various inscrip¬
tions with the fragment of Hermapion, preserved by Am-
mianus Marcellinus, as the translation of the inscription on
a particular obelisk, with which, however, it does not ex¬
actly agree, although its style completely resembles that of
the Egyptian inscriptions in general, and the beginning
corresponds perfectly well to the beginning of almost all
so-called Hermetic Books, the second part of her name is the word “heaven”—and here Tpe, “Heaven,” and “Nutpe” are the same.
“ The expanse of heaven” reminds us of the Hebrew improperly translated in our authorized version “firmament” (Gen. i. 6),
after the Septuagint rendering “ The “ adversaries” or “ accusers” are constantly mentioned in the Ritual as those against
whom the deceased prayed Thoth to justify him as he had justified Osiris, (r. s. P.)
1 The only divinity who bears the name of the moon is a form of Thoth, or Hermes, sometimes called A-AH or the Moon, at othgr
times A-AH TET, Moon-Thoth. Shuns (Chuns) the son of Amen and Mut is also a lunar divinity, (r. s. p.)
2 The instrument for writing here mentioned is not a style, hut usually or always a reed-pen : it is possible that it may occasionally
be a brush. “ Of the quality of the pencils they used for drawing and painting, it is difficult to form any opinion. Those generally
employed for writing were a reed or brush, many of which have been found with the tablets or inkstands belonging to the scribes ; and
with these, too, they probably sketched the figures in red and black upon the stone, or stucco of the walls. To put in the colour, we
may suppose that brushes of some kind were used ; hut the minute scale on which the subjects are indicated in the sculptures prevents
our deciding the question” (Wilkinson’s Ancient Egyptians, vol. iii., p. 314). (r.S. P.)
3 The ibis was sacred to Thoth, and therefore mummified like the other sacred animals, (r. S. P.)
4 The name of Thoth probably reads TET ; the so-called mark of duality, indicating the repetition of the alphabetic character T repre¬
sented by a semicircle. There is no dual in either ancient Egyptian or Coptic, as we have already mentioned. (R. S. p.)
6 The title of Thoth given in the woodcut is, if we exclude the first two characters, NEB SHMEN . . . “ Lord of the City of
Eight,” Hermopolis Magna, the modern El-Ashmooneyn. (R. S. P.)
6 The name of Osiris reads Hes-ar, which confirms the statement of Hellanicus, preserved by Plutarch, that the Egyptians pronounced
it''Hov£/? nof'Oovg/f (De Isid. et Osir., cap. 34). (r. S. P.)
7 Instead of the crook and flail of Osiris, the small figures of deceased persons in his character bear a hoe and flail, and a seed-bag.
This, according to Mr Birch’s explanation, is done to represent the deceased as a labourer in the Elysian Fields, (r. S. p.)
8 Osiris is always represented with a human head, excepting in the compound character of Ptah-Seker-Hesar, in which case the head
is that of a hawk. (r. s. p.)
384
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogly- the obelisks in existence, supposing only the hawk to be
phies. part 0p name 0f Arueris ; which is, besides, an inference
V'*’' extremely probable, from the tablets of several of the obe¬
lisks representing a deity characterized by a hawk with two
bars,1 and styled the son of another personage who seems to
be the sun, as Apollo is called by Hermapion, and Arueris
by Plutarch. Mr Hamilton has also given us a Greek in¬
scription at Ombos, in which Arueris is made synonymous
with Apollo ; although the hieroglyphics which have been
copied from this temple afford us no assistance in the in¬
quiry. The sort of ladder, which occurs as a second name
of Arueris,2 is found prefixed to the hawk in its usual form,
on the obelisk at Wanstead figured by Gordon, and on the
frieze of Montagu and Ficoroni {Hieroglyphics of the Egyp¬
tian Society, 7 Eo p ; 9 Lk) ; and it follows it on a statue of
Pococke (vol. i., p. 212). Arueris is commonly represented
either with a human head, or with that of a hawk, bearing
a disc, as that of the sun is also generally depicted; and
in plate 138 of Denon, the two deities seem in some mea¬
sure confounded. The Egyptian name may be interpre¬
ted “ evening sun,” as emblematic of the repose of victory
 ER RUHI RE.
14. Isis, the sister and wife of Osiris, is very naturally
denoted by the throne with the female termination [thus] :
h. isis. iO n
KC/, eecj ? Q Jj^
'te.'fe V
and, in more than one instance, the female figures, which
have been long recognised as representations of Isis by other
attributes, are distinguished by bearing the throne on the
head, which is a common mode of characterizing the dif¬
ferent personages of the tablets.3 The manuscripts, again,
enable us to discover the connecting link between the sacred
and enchorial characters, and to supply the defects of the
stone of Rosetta; though the resemblance is somewhat
too imperfect to have satisfied us without their assistance.
The goddess, thus distinguished, is very generally repre¬
sented as standing at the head or feet of a corpse, with an¬
other female figure opposite to her ; and we find the same
personages at the opposite ends of several of the sarco¬
phagi ;4 so that the analogy of Isis to Proserpine, and her
character as the guardian of the remains of the dead, are
sufficiently consistent with these representations. On a
scarabaeus brought from Egypt by Mr Legh, and in a hie-
roglyphic inscription at Philae, she appears to be called
the offspring of Phthah.5 She often bears in her hand a
sceptre forked at the foot, with a lotus for its head, while
Osiris has more commonly a similar sceptre with the head
of an animal; but these attributes are sometimes assigned
to other deities.6 In one of the boats on the green sarco¬
phagus, and on Letheuillier’s mummy, both in the British
Museum, she is personified as a basilisk. Mr Hamilton has
published some Greek inscriptions from Philae, and from Hierogly
the small temple at Dendera, which show that Isis was the phics.
principal deity of these temples; and the hieroglyphics, as
far as they have been copied, are precisely of the same
import. The great temple at Karnak seems also to have
been dedicated to Isis, and probably the small southern
temple.7 On a medal of Greek workmanship in the
Borgian Museum, we have a figure of Isis, with the word
Thesi,8 which may probably have been intended for Tiesi,
the Egyptian name with the feminine article.
15. The constant companion of Isis can be no other than
Nephthe.9
16a KEPHTHE.
Her name somewhat resembles that of Isis, with a scale
or basin annexed to it, but the square surrounding the
throne is completed, and the scale is sometimes detached
from it, with a [semi] circle interposed1; and, in this form, the
name comprehends one of the characters denoting a temple10
(No. 87). It seems also to be a head of Nephthe that is
found at Dendera and elsewhere, supporting a little temple
or shrine, in the place of the capital of a column; nor is it
improbable that the temple at Dendera was dedicated to
Nephthe, for the Greek inscription has Aphrodite, which is
mentioned by Plutarch as a synonym of Nephthe.11 It is
true that the birth of Isis is represented on one of the
ceilings, but it does not therefore follow that Isis was the
principal goddess of the temple. A head bearing a shrine is
not an uncommon ornament of a sistrum; and this agrees
perfectly with the remark of Plutarch, that the head of
Nephthe, as well as that of Isis, was sometimes repre¬
sented on these instruments.
O
16. The emblem of a bird in a cage, which is often found
in the manuscripts, accompanied by the figure of a child,
seems to indicate the character of a nurse, and may without
inconvenience be interpreted as relating to the goddess
Buto, the nurse of Horus and Bubastis; though it would
perhaps have been more correct to engrave the name in
smaller letters, as denoting some degree of uncertainty.12
On the sarcophagus called the Lover’s Fountain, in the
British Museum, she is delineated with a hawk’s head;
in the western temple at Philae she has a human head with
a horned head-dress, and she sits near Isis and Horus, a
circumstance which strongly confirms the propriety of the
denomination.
17. The enchorial name of Horus seems to be derived
from the figure of a hawk followed by the character de-
I These hieroglyphics form a name of Ra. (r. s. p.)
& The character here called a ladder is the second hieroglyphic of the second name in the wood-cut above. The name reads Atum,
and is applied to a deity of Hades, (r. s. P.)
3 The name of Isis reads HES. (r. s. p.)
4 The female divinities who are thus represented as mourners, are Isis and her sister Nephthys. (r. s. p.)
6 This is a mistake. Isis is a child of Seb. (r. s. p.)
6 The gods usually carry the sceptre with an uncertain animal’s head ; the goddesses, that with a lotus, (r. s. p.)
7 The great temple at El-Karnak was dedicated to the Theban triad, Amen-ra, Mut, and Chuns ; and the principal temple to the south
of that great edifice, to Chuns. The latter appears to be the one here called “ the small southern temple.” (r. s. p.)
8 Inscriptions of this kind on coins are frequently tooled, having been added by the cinque-cento forgers ; and the one here mentioned
is probably such, although it is of course impossible to pronounce on this matter without an inspection of the coin itself, (r. S. P.)
9 The proper orthography of this name is Nephthys. (r. s. P.)
10 This name reads NEBT-EE or NEFT-EE, “ the lady of the housethe latter reading is based on the supposition that Dr Hincks is
right in making the complementary letter of the first sign sometimes F and not B. (R. S. P.)
II VjV noil Te’Aivrijv x.xi ’Atpoohlrviv, eutoi oi xxl N/xyjy ovoya-^ovaiv (Delsid.et Osir., cap. 12). The Egyptian Venus was, how¬
ever, Athor, not Nephthys, and it is to the former goddess that the famous temple at Dendera was dedicated, and it is her head which
adorns the capitals of its columns, (r. s. p.)
12 The hieroglyphic name here given is that of Athor, and may be read TEE-HER or perhaps EET-HER, the abode of Horus, an ex¬
planation entirely in accordance with Plutarch’s, for he says that ASvqi signifies rJxof "tl(iov y.6aytog{Be Tsid. et Osir., cap. 56). In this
passage Plutarch makes ASvgt to be but a name of Isis, and it must be admitted that the two goddesses are closely connected. (R. s. P.)
Hierogly¬
phics.
HIEROGLYPHICS.
385
noting Isis; an arrangement which agrees very well with
the supposition that his usual denomination was Horsiesi.1
17. HORUS.
gwpciHCI?
The figure of the infant (No. 133), the chain, and the knot,
clearly form a part oi the name on a Horus engraved by
Montlaucon {Ant. Expl, tom. ii., p. 302), and on an obelisk
from Bose in the Supplement of the same work. In some
cases a feather, following the infant, seems to supply the
place of the bird, as in Caylus {Rccueil, tom. iv., pi. 13).
18. PAAMYLES,
character, though the angles are turned in a different direc- Hierogly-
tion from those of the inscription of Rosetta; so that the phics.
two forms of the character seem to have been used indif- ^
ferently. With this latitude, we have no difficulty in identi¬
fying the name, as it occurs in almost every line of the in¬
scriptions on the great sarcophagus of granite formerly at
Cairo, called the Lover’s Fountain, and now in the British
Museum; which there is some reason to suppose, from the
frequency of this name, may have been intended for re¬
ceiving a mummy of the bull Apis; although it must be
confessed, that in several other monuments the names of
the deities are introduced in a manner somewhat similar,
with an evident relation to the designation of some human
being whom they are intended to commemorate.7
18. Paamyi.es, mentioned by several authors as the
Priapus of Egypt, is sufficiently distinguishable by his usual
attributes. He is often figured with one hand only, which
is elevated towards the angle of a kind of whip or fan sus¬
pended above him. At Edfou he is once denoted in an
inscription by a figure like that of the tablets; and in ano¬
ther place by a distinct name,2 much resembling that of a
female deity, found on some of the cases of the mummies,
and who might consequently be called Paamylia.
21. The enchorial name of Mneuis is very completely
ascertained by the inscription of Rosetta, and from a com¬
parison of different passages in the manuscripts there is rea¬
son to infer that it was intended as an imperfect representa¬
tion of a basilisk and a tear,8 emblems which are repeatedly
found in the great ritual, connected with the figure of a bul¬
lock.
19. NILUS. . »
^po /om -7
19. The Nile seems to have been reckoned among the
deities of Egypt, and the character which appears to be
appropriate to a river (No. 82) is found occasionally in the
tablets, followed by a vessel and a spiral (Nos. 7 or 9, and
201), which seem, indeed, to make a part of the name, and
accompanied by epithets of respect. This character has
already been considered by Kircher and others as repre¬
senting a nilometer; and the deity in question can only
be distinguished by the name Nilus.3
20. rl he sacred characters denoting Apis are pretty
clearly determined by the triple inscription; the enchorial
name is perfectly so.4
20. apis.
21
If, however, any doubt remained on the subject, it would
be removed by an examination of the inscriptions on four
vases found by Paul Lucas {Voyage dans la Turquie, vol.
i., p. 346, Amsterdam, 1720, in 2 vols. 12mo), at Abousir,
the Busiris of the ancients; that is, the Be Oshiri,5 or
sepulchre of Osiris, as Diodorus very properly translates it.
There is a received tradition that Apis was worshipped and
buried here, and Lucas established its truth by finding the
mummy of a bullock in the catacombs.6 Now, all the in¬
scriptions on the vases end with a bullock preceded by this
21*. The sacred cow, in the manuscripts sent home by
Mr Bankes, is denoted by a serpentine line with two dots,
followed by the term goddess. We may venture to dis¬
tinguish her by the temporary name Damalis. That of lo
would imply too great identity with the Greek mythology.9
22. Hyperion.
23. Cteristes.
22, 23. In the tablets representing the judgment of the
deceased we generally find two personages standing by the
balance, and apparently weighing his merits; one with the
head of a hawk, the other with that of a wolf,10 and seeming
to officiate as the good and evil genius of the person. The
former, denoted by a hawk with a bar, and sometimes also
a spear, appears, from various monuments, to have some re¬
lation to the Sun or to Horus, and may therefore be called
Hyperion; the other is often observed to be employed in
the preparation of a mummy, and may be called from this
occupation Cteristes, or the embalmer. He is also fre¬
quently represented on the coffins of mummies and else¬
where under the form of a wolf sitting on a kind of altar;
and he seems to be an immediate minister of Osiris. His
1 Horus the Younger is frequently termed HER-SA-HES, “ Horus, son of Isis,” to distinguish him from Aroeris, HER-UR, “ Horus
the Elder, and Harpocrates, HER-PA-SHRUT (CHRUT), “ Horus the Child.” The hieroglyphic name given in the text is that of
Harpocrates, the enchorial that of Horus simply, meaning Horus the Younger, for the simple name Horus applies to this divinity, (r. s. P.)
2 The Egyptian name of this divinity, a bolt on a stand, is usually read Khem, but its sound cannot be considered certain. At Thebes
he was worshipped as Amen-ra-Khem, or Amen-ra-ka-mut-f, the latter name first rightly read by Mr Birch as f‘Amen-ra, who is male
and female.” The hieroglyphics given in the text have nothing to do with Khem. (r. s. P.)
|{ 3 The hieroglyphic character does not represent a nilometer but an adze: its proper signification when employed as an ideograph is
“ approved,” or something very similar, as in the prenomen of Rameses II. The group spoken of by Dr Young in the text, with a cha¬
racter which he does not mention, the wavy line, preceding the adze and with the vase and chicken, the homophone of the’spiral, with
the determinatives of time and heat or fire, also not mentioned, following it, is rendered by Dr Brugsch “ the hot season” (Rec’herches
Nouvelles, p. 62, pi. iv., no. 13, b., c.). (r. s. p.)
4 This name, reading HAPEE, is that of the sacred bull Apis, of one of the four genii of Amenti (Hades) whose names occur on the
so-called Canopic vases, and it is also the commencement of the name of Nilus, usually read HAPEE-MU. (r. s. p.)
® The proper etymology of the name of Busiris is doubtless PA-HESAR, “ the [tomb] of Osiris.” (r. s. P.)
It is not far from this Busiris that the sepulchre of the bulls Apis has been discovered by M. Mariette. Art. Egypt.
7 The word here mentioned is that of the person for whom this sarcophagus was made, HAPEE-MEN, “Apis the Established.” The
bulls Apis were buried in sarcophagi of much larger dimensions than this. (R. S. P.)
8 The hieroglyphic characters do not compose the name of Mnevis. (r. S. P.)
9 It is very probable that lo is connected with Egyptian mythology. The name lo may be traced in A AH, the moon or in AH a
cow, more probably in the latter, (r. s. p.) 10 Horus and Anubis. (r. s. p )
V°E. XL 3c
386
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogly- hieroglyphical name is a feather, a wavy line, and a block j1
phies.
or a hatchet under a sort of arch.
29. Bioxiphus.
30. Platypterus.
jzeJti
Hierogly.
phics.
25. ANUBIS.
26. MACEDO.
31
27. Hieracion.
24-27. Under the bier on which a mummy lies, and in
many other situations near the person of the deceased, we
find representations of four deities who seem to be con¬
cerned in the operation of embalming, and who might even
be supposed to preside over the different condiments em¬
ployed, their heads frequently serving as covers for four
jars, of the kind sometimes called Canopi.2 They may also
very properly be considered as attendants of Isis, who seems
to be a still more important personage on such occasions.
The first of the lour has generally a human head, and may
be called Tetrarcha ; his name contains a sort of forceps,
and a broken line.3 I he second and third have respectively
the heads of a dog or baboon, and of a wolf ;4 5 and they
agree very satisfactorily with the well-known character of
Anubis, and with that of Macedo, his companion, men¬
tioned by Diodorus as having a wolf’s head, [and] whose
name may possibly have some relation to manchat, a
worker in silver, as that of Anubis has to nub, gold. ' The
hieroglyphic name of Anubis differs from that of Apis only
in having the angles directed immediately upwards, a cir¬
cumstance which is not so indifferent to the signification as
it at first appeared;6 that of Macedo has a vulture with a
star, and sometimes an arm instead of the vulture. The
fourth of these deities is represented with the head of a
hawk, and may therefore be called Hieracion, and he is de¬
noted by a water jar, with three plants somewhat resembling
leeks or onions.7 8
28. Cereiochus.
31. Mastigias.
32. Soraea.
28-32. Amongst the many hundreds of deities who are
represented in various inscriptions and sculptures, some of
the most remarkable are two personages with the heads of
wolves, the first characterized by a sort of raised frame or
banner, and a pair of horns, which may be expressed by
the pseudonymous or temporary term Cerexochus? and
the second by a half bow and a sword or knife, whence he
may be called Bioxiphus; a figure with a human head,
generally wearing a feather on it, and denoted by a broad
feather reversed, which is implied in the name Platy¬
pterus ; another wearing a cap with a whip in it, who may
be called Mastigias ; and a fifth in the form of a female,
distinguished by a bier, who, at Edfou, bears a tear on her
head, and who may be called Soraea.
B. Kings. KingS.
33. Thathmosis.
34. Mesphres.
33, 34. We are informed by Pliny that the Alexandrian
obelisk was erected by Mesphres or Mestires, the reading
of the different manuscripts being different;9 and since no
king of the name Mestires is mentioned by other authors,
we may consider this Mesphres as the Mesphres or Mesphris
who succeeded his mother Amersis about 1700 b.c., or
perhaps a century or two later.10 The hieroglyphical name
of his father contains that of the god Thoth, and may there¬
fore possibly have been intended for the Thuthmosis of
the chronologers, who is said to have been the grandfather
of Mesphres.11 The obelisk at Alexandria, now called
O &
1 This is the hieroglyphic name of Anubis, the characters composing which are the reed (A), the wavy line (N), and the mat (P), as in
the woodcut: to these is sometimes added the chicken, to express the medial vowel (U). The name reads ANUP. The head of Anubis
is that of a jackal, (r. s. p.)
2 These are the four genii of Amenti, children of Osiris, who presided over the parts of the body which were removed in the process of
embalmment, and placed in the jars of which the lids had the forms of their heads, (r. S. P.)
3 The name of this first genius is AMSET. (r. s. p.)
4 The heads of the two genii here mentioned, HAPEE and SU-MUTF, are respectively those of a cynocephalus and a jackal, not “ of a
dog or baboon, and of a wolf.” (r. s. P.)
5 The name of Anubis has nothing to do with that of gold, which is a distinct root. (R. S. P.)
6 This is the same as the name of Apis, as already mentioned, (r. S. p.)
7 This name probably reads KABHSNUF. (r. s. p.)
8 This divinity is HEP-HEUU, “the guardian of the paths” [of the sun]. Like Anubis, he is jackal-headed, and is sometimes re¬
presented by a jackal alone, as on the top of the funereal tablets, where Anubis and he are thus represented.
9 The Egyptian names in Pliny are so corrupt that it is frequently impossible to trace their original forms. “ Trabes ex eo [syenite]
fecere reges quodam certamine, obelizcos vocantes, Solis numini sacratos. Kadiorum ejus argumentum in effigie est; ita significatur
nomine ,/Egyptio. Primus omnium id instituit Mesphres [yar. Mespheres], qui regnabat in Solis urbe, somnio jussus; hoc ipsum inscrip-
tum in eo ; et-enim sculptures illae effigiesque quas videmus HLgyptiae sunt litterae. Postea et alii excidere reges. Statuit eos in supra
dicta urbe Sesothes [var. Sothis] quattuor numero, quadragenum octonum cubitorum longitudine : Rhamsesis autem, quo regnante Ilium
captum est, cxxxx (var. quadraginta) cubitorum (Hist. Nat., lib. xxxvi., cap. viii., § 14, ed. Sillig). Comp. Herod, ii., cap. Ill, on the two
obelisks set up by Pheron, the son of Sesostris, at the temple of Heliopolis, in gratitude for the recovery of his sight, and Diod. i., cap.
59, where the story told by Herodotus is related of SesoSsis II., who corresponds to the Pheron of the older historian, (r. s. P.)
10 The name here read Mesphres is the prenomen of Thothmes III., who is not the Mesphres of Manetho, but the Misphragmutbfisis
(Mesphres-Tethmosis ?) Its sound is probably MEN-TAR-RA, or MEN-TA-RA. Mesphres is the fifth king of Manetho’s Eighteenth
Dynasty, and Misphragmuthfisis the sixth, respectively the Thothmes II. and Thothmes III. of the monuments, and their chronological
period is about the middle of the fifteenth century before the Christian Era. (r. S. P.)
11 Dr Young always supposes the second name of a king—perhaps because the phrase “ son of the sun ” intervenes between it and the
first—to be the name of his father. The title “ son of the sun ” is, however, applied to the second name as a prefixed title, not as a title
HIEROGLYPHICS.
387
Hierogly- Cleopatra’s Needle, like almost all others which contain
phics. three lines on each side, exhibits different names in the
middle and the outer lines. From this circumstance, as
well as from the greater depth of the sculptures, which is
generally observable in the middle line, there is reason to
suppose that this line stood at first alone, and that the two
on each side were added by a later monarch.1 The Lateran
obelisk, however, is remarkable for exhibiting the name of
Mesphres on all the lines of the different sides.2 The
Constantinopolitan obelisk has only one line on each side,
with the name of Mesphres, the son of Thuthmosis.3 The
same name is also found on the gateway of the fifth cata¬
comb at Biban-el-Molouk,4 on a pillar of the palace at
Karnak, and in a splendidly-coloured bas-relief on one of
the interior architraves of the gallery; as well as on a seal
of Denon, pi. 98, and on some others brought from Egypt
by Mr Legh.
35. Misphragmuthosis.
35. The Isean obelisk of Kircher has a “ son of Mesphres,
favoured by Phthah;” we must therefore distinguish this
king by the name Misph ragm u th os is, who is recorded as
the son and successor of Mesphres.5
36. Tithous.
38. MEMNON.  
<sjmerf<jucl>
36-38. A multitude of ancient Greek inscriptions iden¬
tify the statue of Memnon, celebrated by all antiquity for
its musical powers, which Strabo says he witnessed in per¬
son though he could not very positively decide that the sound
proceeded from the statue rather than from some of the by¬
standers. In one of the inscriptions we find the word
Phamenoth,6 not as a date, but as a synonym of Memnon,
which must be considered as identical with the Phamenoph
given by Pausanias as his Egyptian name,7 and with the Hierogly.
Ammenoph or Amenophis of Manetho or others, which phics.
differs from it only as wanting the article. There is, how- “■s'-"-'
ever, some doubt to which Amenophis this statue properly
belongs.8 Manetho makes Memnon the eighth king of the
Eighteenth Dynasty, who maybe called Amenophis the Se¬
cond;9 but Marsham brings him down to the Ammeneph-
thes of Manetho, or Amenophis the Fourth, and principally
because he thinks that only a successor of Sesostris could
have been well known in Asia; and he even supposes him
to have been later than Homer, who, he says, never men¬
tions him, though Hesiod calls him the son of Tithonus and
Aurora. But, in fact, the name of Memnon does occur in
the Odyssey, where Ulysses alludes to his beauty in a con¬
versation with the shade of Achilles; and Hesiod could
scarcely have mentioned a king as descended from a deity
that was not considerably earlier than his own time ; so that
the tradition of Manetho seems to be preferable to the mere
conjecture of Marsham. At the same time, we cannot well
call him Memnon, the son of Thuthmosis, the name of the
father not agreeing with that of this king; and there is
another circumstance which seems to lead us to the third
Amenophis, intermediate between these two extremes, who
was the son of Ramesses Meiamun, or Harnesses, the lover
of Ammon;10 which is that Amenophis himself appears to
have built a temple to Ammon in the isle of Elephantine, and
is called Meiamun in several of the hieroglyphical inscriptions
still existing there. So that there is little doubt that the
name Memnon must have been derived from Meiamun.11
Besides the different statues of the Memnonium, we find
monuments of the same personage in almost every part of
Eo-ypt, though they are much more frequent at Thebes and
in its neighbourhood. The name is marked on all the
lion-headed goddesses of black granite which are now in
the British Museum, and on some others which are in
possession of Mr Bankes. The first of this series having
been purchased, as Bruce informs us, for a large price, by
Donati, for the king of Sardinia, the inhabitants were in¬
duced to take some pains in digging the others out of the
sand. The building called by the French the tomb of
Osymandyas bears also the name of Memnon ;12 and it is
connecting the two names. The first name is now called the prenomen, the second the nomen. Thus in the present case the nomen
Tet-mes or Thoth-mes, “ horn of Thoth (Hermes),” follows the prenomen Men-tar-ra. The earliest kings have no prenomens. (R. S. P.)
1 The standing and fallen obelisks at Alexandria have in their centre lines the name of Thothmes III., and in their lateral lines that
of Rameses IF., while that of a later king appears in small additional inscriptions exterior to the others and near the base. (r. S. P.)
2 This obelisk is the largest known, being upwards of 105 feet in height, and having been originally upwards of 108, exclusive of course
of the modern pedestal and ornaments. It bears the name of Thothmes HI. (R. s. p.)
3 The obelisk in the Hippodrome at Constantinople bears the name of Thothmes III. (r S.P.)
4 This is a mistake, the oldest tomb and name in the two valleys of kings’ sepulchres at Thebes being those of Amenoph III., son of the
fourth and last Thoth’mes, unless indeed the unplaced king Skha-ee or A-ee be of an earlier period. (R. s. p.) . _
6 In Manetho’s list Misphragmuthosis is the successor of Mesphres, and in Josephus’ version, his son. The royal name gi^en Dy Ur
Young is not, however, that of this sovereign, but a blundered imitation of another name. (r. S. p.)
6 The inscriptions give Ayeuut), and <&ctfisva(p {Mod. Egypt and Thebes, vol. ii., p. ^ r „ s' v<
7 'AATiA yap ov Meui/ovet oi Qrifiotiot Ktyovot, <l>xyiva(poi Is shai zuv ol tovto uycCky.* sj*. bs Kcti ^tauar^iv
Qa.y.ivm shce, tovto to 6 hUoys (Pans. Att. i., 42). Comp, the Paschal Chronicle- O h uvto; [KauSvav;) rou
'Af*y.iVZ(ptv,ot Uefivuu voyt&ftsvos slmi xcti A&Of (pSsyyofAtvos, rsyysi, vtpoouysyos yonrsiccy Tim sivcu tv ccvtu, a; iutoqsi
’ A^yivodo: (Chron. Pasch. i., x). 270, cd. OinA.).
8 The name is that of Amenoph IIF., whom the two colossi, the Vocal Memnon and the corresponding one, represent.
Amenophis by Manetho, and is the eighth sovereign of his Eighteenth Dynasty, (it. s. P.)
9 Manetho omits the second Amenoph, and the third is therefore the second in his list. (its. P.)
10 Amenoph IFF. is here misplaced. lie wasson of Thothmes IV, and reigned long before the first Rameses.
mous, properly Miammun, of Manetho, is Rameses II., grandson of the former king of the same name (R. s. P.)
11 Few would now propose to find an etymology of Memnon in Egyptian. The whole story of Memnon is one distinct from Egyptian
history. He was an Asiatic if a really historical personage, and his name is probably either Greek or Assyrian The Greeks after the
time of Herodotus, and still more the Latins, took little care to distinguish between the Eastern and the Western Ethiopians: it was
enough that Memnon was an Ethiopian for them to seek for traditions of him in Egypt, and the Egyptian priests with a readiness that
has made them in more cases than one causes of confusion in history, told their inquisitive Greek visitors that the half-Ethiopian Amenoph
was the Memnon of the Trojan War. But after a time, either through the carelessness of the priests or the hasty conjectures of the
Greeks and Romans, every king who had a name or title resembling Memnon was confounded with him, and the edifices which he raised
called Memnonia. Of the latter appellation we have noticed Dr Lepsius’ ingenious, though we cannot but think improbable,
explanation. ^ rTii , #
12 This temple is the Rameseum of El-Kurneh, or palace-temple of Rameses II., in Western Thebes. This king was called Mee-amen
Ramcses, a name which in this case was corrupted into Memnon. (R. s. p.)
He is called
The Rameses Miam-
388
HIEROGLYPHIC S.
Hierogly- remarked by Strabo, that Memnon and Ismendes may pro-
phics. bably have been the same person. The name is also found
in the grottos at Biban-el-Molouk,1 on some statues repre¬
senting Osiris, and in some inscriptions at Ombos, as well as
on a seal of Denon (pi. xcviii.) Mr Bullock has presented
to the British Museum a scarabseus of very hard stone, on
which we find the name of Memnon, together with that of his
father and mother, whom we may call, in order to preserve
the mythological analogy, Tithous and Eoa, although
without asserting that this Tithous was the builder of the
Labyrinth, which some authors have attributed to a king
named Tithoes, and others to Ismendes.2 The mother’s
name occurs also alone, as “ the goddess mother,” on the
back of a beetle in Gordon’s Mummies (plate xxii.), a cir¬
cumstance which removes the doubt that might otherwise
arise from the want of the female termination in the name ;
the father’s is found on a square seal in the possession of
Mr Legh. There is another copy of the inscription of Mr
Bullock’s scarabaeus, on a scarabaeus belonging to Mr Palin,
which had long been used by a Greek priest at Athens for
stamping the paschal bread (Dubois, Pierres Gravees, Paris,
1817, pi. v., n. 5). The beautiful head lately brought from
the Memnonium to the British Museum has only a part of
the father’s name remaining, which does not appear to be that
of the father of Memnon, though the first three characters
are the same; but the fourth is the pedestal representing
Phthah ; and a similar name is found on some other colossal
statues and obelisks remaining in Egypt, as well as on a
smaller figure of red granite brought by Mr Hamilton from
Elephantine.
considerable antiquity, and the shortness and simplicity of Hierogly.
its inscription is appropriate to a remote period. Pliny says ph'cs.
that Mitres or Mestires first erected obelisks at Pleliopolis;
he also mentions Sothis, and apparently Ramesses, as hav¬
ing left similar monuments of their magnificence in the
same place. The principal name upon the obelisk now
remaining at Matareah may also be observed in several
other inscriptions, but with the substitution of two other
names for that of the father, so that the name of the son
must probably have belonged to many different individuals ;
a circumstance which, as well as the sounds belonging to
the different characters, agrees very well with Harnesses;
for we have re, the sun, mes, a birth, and shesh, a pair,
so that we may venture to call it Remesses; and we may
take Heron for the father of the first Remesses, from
Hermapion, though it is possible that he may be the Ar¬
mais of Manetho ; but we have scarcely sufficient evidence
to appropriate to him that name.4 Another Remesses seems
to have been a son of Sesostris ; a third Ramesses follows
Ammenephthes in Manetho, and agrees with the Rhamp-
sinitus of Herodotus, and the Remphis of Diodorus, who
is mentioned as the successor of Proteus; and this may,
perhaps, have been the Remesses of the friezes of Mon¬
tagu and Ficoroni {Hieroglyphics, 7 Ou. 9 If.), who seems,
from the resemblance of the different parts of the work, to
have been nearly contemporary with Sesostris.3 {Hiero¬
glyphics, 7 H. I.) There is also another Remesses on the
Lions at the fountain of Aqua Felice, near the baths of
Diocletian at Rome, the name of whose father is a little like
the name supposed to belong to Arsinoe (No. 60).
H©
39. In the principal name on the obelisk at Karnak,
the final scale of the name of Memnon is exchanged for a
pair of arms stretched upwards; a variation which may be
expressed by calling it Amenuses ox Amenses, from shesh,
a pair.3 The father’s name is also a little like that of Tithous ;
but that the difference is constant may be inferred from its
separate occurrence on a seal brought home by Mr Legh, a
lion’s head making a part of it in both instances. The true
name and date of this personage must be considered as
wholly unknown, though the resemblance of the name to
Memnon makes it convenient to place them together. In
Mr Boughton’s minute golden image, engraved in the
Archceologia, the name appears to be the same, but with
the synonymous substitution of the hatchet for the judge.
39. Amenses.
41. Remesses.
40, 41. The obelisk at Heliopolis has every mark of
42. Sesostris.
42, 43. The obelisk erected by Augustus in the Campus
Martins is said by Pliny to have been the work of Sesos¬
tris ;5 6 and there are sufficient documents of its identity with
that which had long remained buried near the Monte Ci-
torio, and of which figures have been given by Zoega and
others. . The inscription was supposed, in the time of Pliny,
to contain a compendium of the physical and philosophical
learning of the Egyptians ; but, in order to make this opi¬
nion credible, it would be necessary to admit that the
princes of earlier days entertained very different ideas
from those which have since been prevalent respecting
the comparative importance of the abstract sciences, and
of national prosperity and martial glory. If Sesostris was
the son of Amenophis, he cannot have been the reigning
king mentioned in this obelisk. But it may safely be at¬
tributed to Pheron, the son of Sesostris, who, according to
Herodotus, erected two obelisks ; and the occurrence of
the name of Sesostris as the father may be considered as
1 The tomb of Amenoph III. is in the Western Valley of the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes, (a. s. p.)
2 Another scarabaeus of this king is interesting as one of the few Egyptian monuments, excluding the small mummy-shaped figures, of
which more than one copy has been found, and on account of the remarkable character of its inscription, which gives the name and titles
of Amenoph III. and his Queen Teey, and the parentage of the latter, as well as the extent of the king’s dominions. After the mention
of Teey occur these words : REN EN TEF-ES YU A A REN EN MUT-ES TUAW HEMT FU ENT SUTEN NESHT TEP SHTEEF.
• • . . ER KERAY MEH . . . ER NEHAREENA—“ The name of her father Yuaa, the name of her mother Tuaw, wife [she]
is of the strong king, the extreme [of] his boundary southward to Karay, northward to Nehareena” (Rosellini il/ora. Star., No. xliv., 1).
Ka3ray supposed to be Coloe, in Ethiopia ; and Nahareena is held to be Mesopotamia, the Aram-naharaim of the Scriptures, (r. s. p.)
, l^'le naine given as that of Amenses is the prenomen of a queen, Numt-amen, who reigned conjointly with Thothmes III. Mane-
tho ^ Amenses is the Aahmes of the monuments, the wife of Thothmes I. (r. s. p.)
The names here called Remesses and Heron are the prenomen and nomen of Usertesen or Sesertesen I the first kino- 0f Manetho’s
Twelfth Dynasty, (r. s. p.) °
5 This king is Nectanebo II., the third king of the Thirtieth Dynasty, who has the same prenomen as Usertesen I and the nomen
Neshtnebf or Neshtnef. (r. s. p.) * ’’
6 Sesothis or Sothis, not Sesostris. “ Is autem obeliscus, quern divos Augustus in circo magno statuit excisus est a rege Semen-
pserteo, quo regnante Pythagoras in ^Egypto fuit, Ixxxv pedum et dodrantis, prseter basim ejusdem lapidis ; is vero quem in Campo
Martio novem pedibus minor a Sesothide” [or Sothide] (Plin. Hist. Nat., lib. xxxvi., cap. viii., § 14). (r. s. p.)
HIEROGLYPHICS.
389
Hierogly- sufficiently conformable to the testimony of Pliny.1 The
phics. same names are found, with a slight variation, on a small
statue of basalt, very highly finished, now standing in the
British Museum ; and Denon has copied them from an in¬
scription in the Memnoniurn (pi. cxviii.)
41. Nuncoreus.
44. Nuncoreus, according to Diodorus, was another son
of Sesostris :2 his name occurs also in Pliny, and we may
consider him as the son of Sesostris mentioned in Mr Mon¬
tagu’s friezes.3 The name is also found at Philae, and,
with a slight variation, on an altar of basalt figured by
Caylus {JRecueil, tom. i., plate xix.), now in the King’s Li¬
brary at Paris. The remains of the same name may also
be observed on a block, apparently of white sandstone, in
the British Museum, which is figured by Norden, in its
old situation, as a part of the foundations of Pompey’s Pil¬
lar at Alexandria; and it occurs on a fragment of a statue
brought by Mr Hamilton from Thebes.
45. Proteus.
45. I he name of Proteus, or Certus, otherwise Ammen-
ephthes, is only known as the predecessor of one of the
kings named Ramesses; and we may safely employ it for
the father of the Remesses of the friezes of Montagu and
Ficoroni, the whole of which are remarkable for the excel¬
lence of their workmanship.4
46. Amsenuphthes.
46, 47. Until we obtain evidence of a more positive na¬
ture, we may give to the two kings mentioned on the sarco¬
phagus of green breccia the names of Amcmuphthes and
Anysis, supposing them to have lived about the time of
Amenephthes, or Amenophis the Fifth, and his successor
Osorchon. The father’s name might, without difficulty,
be read “ Maenuphthah,” supposing some titles to follow it.5
There are also two obelisks of the same king, brought from
Cairo, which stand near the sarcophagus in the British
Museum ; and the style of the workmanship somewhat re¬
sembles that of the times of Sesostris and his immediate
successors. It has been observed that neither of the names
can well be Alexander’s, since that of the father is repeated
much more frequently than that of the son, which could not
have happened if it had been meant for Philip; and Alex¬
ander had no son who could have been mentioned in his sar¬
cophagus.6 Nor is it at all probable that Alexander should
have erected any obelisks at Memphis or in its neighbour¬
hood. The god Ammon is nowhere mentioned among
the titles of the king, and holds only an inferior rank Hierogly-
among the innumerable deities represented in the tablets, phics.
We find both the names, without any addition, on a dove-
tail of copper (engraved in Lord Valentia’s Travels), which
was found at Behbeit, the Atarbechis or Aphroditopolis of
the ancients, situated on the branch of the Nile that runs
to Damietta.7 8
48. Psammetius.
49. NECHAO.
50. PSAMMIS.
48-50. We learn from Pliny that the Flaminian obe¬
lisk now standing near the Porta del Popolo at Rome,
which was the smaller of the two formerly in the Circus
Maximus, placed there by Augustus, and used as the
gnomon of a dial, was the work of Senneserteus or Sem-
nesyrteus, who reigned in Egypt at the time when
Pythagoras visited it. This king seems to have been the
same with Psammuthis or Psammis ; and the authority of the
evidence is so much the stronger, as the period in question
is not extremely remote. The father of Psammis, accord¬
ing to Herodotus, was Necos or Nechao. The two names
occur on all the middle lines of the obelisk; and that of the
father on. the pillar of a colossal Isis in the Supplement of
Montfaucon. The Sallustian obelisk, which seems to have
been partly copied from the Flaminian, has them both. In
the middle lines of both the obelisks at Luxor we find a
name much resembling that of Psammis, which we may
therefore call Psammetius, conjecturing that it may have
belonged to Psammetichus, who reigned a little earlier.6
The father’s name is not unlike in its import to that of
Nechao, both implying approved by Phthah ; and it is re¬
markable that in Manetho’s series the predecessor of
Psammetichus is also Nechao.
51. Msenuplithes.
Si AMAS,S- liMB
51, 52. Among the most common of all the names of
the kings of Egypt, on a great variety of monuments, are
those which were mistaken by Kircher for a sort of amu¬
lets or charms, which he denominated the Mophthomen-
desian tablets. They occur alone on three small obelisks
only, the Medicean, the Mahutean, and the Monticaelian of
Kircher; but they are found in the external lines of the
Alexandrian, the two at Luxor, the Flaminian, and the
Sallustian, while none are ever found exterior to them.
1 The name is that of Psammetichus I. of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, written Psemetik. (r. s. p.)
2 Diodorus Siculus does not mention Nuncoreus, hut Pliny does. Perhaps Dr Young supposes this king to be the same as the Ucho-
reus of whom Diodorus speaks, but he was not a son of Sesostris. (r. s. P.)
3 This name is the prenomen of Psammetichus II., of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, (r. s. p.)
4 The name read Proteus is Neshtnebf or Neshtnef, that of Nectanebo II. of the Thirtieth Dynasty. The friezes of Montagu and Fico¬
roni, the former of which is in the British Museum, are in bad style, though carefully executed. The earlier portions of the former are of the
Egyptian Renaissance under the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, the later ones of its decline, to which the latter seems wholly to belong, (r. s. P.)
5 These names are the nomen and prenomen, for the name is placed first in the woodcut of a king Her-nesht-heeb, who has been
usually supposed to be Amyrtaeus, the sole king of the Twenty-eighth Dynasty. Dr Hincks, however, conjectured him to be Manetho’s
first Nectanebo, the head of the Thirtieth Dynasty, and his correctness has been proved by the discoveries of M. Mariette (Lepsius,
Ueber eine Hieroglyphische Inschrift am Tempel von Edfu, Abhandl. der if. Akad., 1855, p. 74), (r. S. p.)
6 This is not strictly correct: either Alexander ASgus, the posthumous legitimate son of Alexander, or Hercules, his illegitimate son,
might have been mentioned on a sarcophagus executed in Egypt after his death, (r. s. p.)
7 The village here called Behbeit, but properly Bahbeyt el-Hagar, marks the site of the ancient Iseum, and near it may be seen
the remains of a magnificent temple, the earliest name in which is that of Her-nesht-heeb. Perhaps this is the very temple of Isis
which Nectanebo was commanded to build in the dream related in the papyrus bearing the title “ Nectanebo’s Dream.” (r. s. p.)
8 The names rendered Psammis and Nechao are the prenomen and nomen of Menptah Sethee I. (Sethos), head of the Nineteenth
Dynasty; and the name represented by Psammetius is a form of the prenomen of Raineses II., the son and successor of Sethee I. (R. s. p.)
390
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogly- They must, therefore, necessarily be attributed to one of
phics. the latest kings of Egypt; and there is none so likely to
v—have made such a display as Amasis, a man of considerable
magnificence, and at the same time of a cautious and artful
character. Indeed we have no alternative left but to choose
between him and some of the kings who revolted against
the Persians, and who do not appear so likely to have had
leisure or finances for public works of splendour. His fa¬
ther’s name, like that of Nechao, contains the character
denoting Vulcan, and it may be called Mmnuphthes ; but
he was not the son of a king.1 Both the names are found
in one of the middle lines of the Flaminian obelisk ; and
on that side the king is represented in the tablet as doing
homage to his predecessor, who occupies the place of ho¬
nour on the other sides. The father’s name seems to occur
on the belt of a colossal statue in the palace at Karnak.
On a fragment of stone in the British Museum the names
are repeated in various directions, as if it had belonged to
a floor or a ceiling. They also occur on a statue, consider¬
ably mutilated, in the attitude of kneeling; and in Mont-
faucon’s Supplement, on the back of a colossal Isis, which
seems also to have been begun by Psammis. On the east¬
ern colossus at Luxor there is a name which might be ta¬
ken either for that of Amasis or for that of the pseudony¬
mous Psammetius ; but the sitting figure is somewhat dif¬
ferent. The victor in the naval combat at Medinet-Ha-
bou,2 who appears also frequently at Ombos, considerably
resembles them both. Lord Mountnorris has a rough seal
with the name of Amasis only, the epithet god being pre¬
fixed in a smaller character. The names also occur on a
small obelisk lying at Tsan, the ancient Tanis, of which a
sketch was brought home by Dr Merion.
53. Ptoleberius.
54. Discozygus.
53, 54. We find at Karnak the name of a king somewhat
like Psammis, that of his father resembling a compound of
Ptolemy and Berenice. Perhaps they are not very correctly
copied, but they may stand, under the temporary names
of Discozygus and Ptoleberius as specimens, somewhat
singular, of a mixture of different dynasties ; and in this
point of view they may be placed between the old Egyptian
kings and their Grecian conquerors.3
55. ALEXANDER.
SAeiS-NlpOC
KgEzycjJ
55. The name of Alexander has not yet been identi¬
fied in the sacred characters; but it will appear hereafter
that a knowledge of the enchorial form may possibly con¬
tribute very materially, at some future time, to assist us in
determining it.4
5fi. PTOLEMY.
xcOveaeoc
56. There can be no doubt whatever respecting the sig¬
nification of the name of Ptolemy, as it occurs on the stone Hierogly-
of Rosetta ; but it is not quite so easy to determine its iden- phics.
tity in some other cases, where it may possibly have been
modified by contraction, mutilation, or combination. In
this and a few other proper names, it is extremely interest¬
ing to trace some of the steps by which alphabetical writing
seems to have arisen out of hieroglyphical; a process which
may indeed be in some measure illustrated by the manner
in which the modern Chinese express a foreign combination
of sounds, the characters being rendered simply phonetic
by an appropriate mark, instead of retaining their natural
signification ; and this mark, in some modern printed books,
approaching very near to the ring surrounding the hiero¬
glyphic names. The enchorial name of Ptolemy appears
at first sight to be extremely different from the hieroglyphi¬
cal ; and it would have been impossible to deduce the one
from the other, without a knowledge of the epistolographic
forms of the separate characters, as ascertained by a com¬
parison of the manuscripts. The beginning and end are
obviously parts of the ring which, in the sacred character,
surrounds every proper name,5 except those of the deities.
The square block and the semicircle answer invariably in
all the manuscripts to characters resembling the p and t of
Akerblad, which are found at the beginning of the encho¬
rial name. The next character, which seems to be a kind
of knot, is not essentially necessary, being often omitted in
the sacred characters, and always in the enchorial. The
lion corresponds to the lo of Akerblad, a lion being always
expressed by a similar character in the manuscripts ; an
oblique line crossed standing for the body, and an erect line
for the tail. This was probably read, not lo, but ole ; al¬
though, in more modern Coptic, oili is translated, a ram;
we have also eiul, a stag ; and the figure of the stag be¬
comes in the running hand something like this of the lion.
The next character is known to have some reference to
place, in Coptic ma ; and it seems to have been read either
ma, or simply m ; and this character is always expressed in
the running hand by the m of Akerblad’s alphabet. The
two feathers, whatever their natural meaning may have been,
answer to the three parallel lines of the enchorial text, and
they seem in more than one instance to have been read i
or e ; the bent line probably signified great, and was read
osh or os; for the Coptic shei seems to have been nearly
equivalent to the Greek sigma. Putting all these elements
together, we have precisely Ptolemaios, the Greek name;
or perhaps Ptolemeos, as it would more naturally be called
in Coptic.6 The slight variations of the word in different
parts of the enchorial text may be considered as expressing
something like aspirations or accentuations.
5T. SOTERES. t/o3^J
57. The appellation Soteres, as a dual, is well marked
in the inscription of Rosetta, and the character, thus de¬
termined, explains a long name in the temple at Edfou,
which must mean “ the two saviour gods,” with various
titles of honour, such as “ the agents of Phthah, the em-
1 The names read Maenuphthes and Amasis, are the nomen and prenomen of Eameses II., the second king of the Nineteenth
Dyn asty. (r. s. p.)
2 This king, the builder of the great temple of Medeenet-Hahoo, is Rameses III., of the Twentieth Dynasty, (r. s. p.)
3 These two names are incorrectly copied. (R. s. p.)
4 The enchorial name here given is that of Alexander the Great, since it forms, with the addition of the determinative for city,
the name of Alexandria on the Rosetta Stone. The Alexander of the hieroglyphics is the faineant Alexander JEgus, in whose name
the first Ptolemy governed, (r. s. P.)
6 The ring surrounds the names of royal personages alone—always of kings and queens, and sometimes of princes and princesses.
The names of private persons sometimes contain that of the monarch under whom they were born, and hence, perhaps, arose Dr Young’s
mistake, (r. s. p.)
6 The characters of the name of Ptolemy are all simply alphabetic, not syllabic in any case. They read, in the example given, in the
hieroglyphic form, PTURMEES or PTQLMEES, and in the demotic, PTULMEES. At this late period the use of syllabic signs was
almost, if not wholly, disused in foreign proper names, (r. S. p.)
HIEROGLYPHICS.
391
[ierogly- blems of triumph, the approved of Phre, the favoured of the
phics. Nile, the venerable consorts in empire.”
53. BERENICE
58. The wife of Ptolemy Soter, and mother of Philadel-
phus, was Berenice, whose name is found on a ceiling at
Karnak, in the phrase, “ Ptolemy and . . Berenice, the sa¬
viour gods.” In this name we appear to have another spe¬
cimen of syllabic and alphabetic writing combined, in a
manner not extremely unlike the ludicrous mixtures of
words and things with which children are sometimes amused;
for, however Warburton’s indignation might be excited by
such a comparison, it is perfectly true that, occasionally, the
sublime differs from the ridiculous by a single step only.
The first character of the hieroglyphic name is precisely of
the same form with a basket represented at Biban-el-Mo-
louk, and called, in the description, panier a anses ; and a
basket, in Coptic, is bir. The oval, which resembles an
eye without the pupil, means elsewhere to, which in Coptic
is e ; the ivaved line is of, and must be rendered N; the
feathers i; the little footstool seems to be superfluous ; the
goose is ke, or ken. Kircher gives us kenesou for a goose,
but the ESOi) means gregarious, probably in contradistinc¬
tion to the Egyptian sheldrake, and the simple etymon ap¬
proaches to the name of a goose in many other languages.
We have, therefore, literally Birenice ; or, if the N must
be inserted, the accusative Birenicen, which may easily
have been confounded by the Egyptians with the nomina¬
tive. The final characters are merely the feminine termi¬
nation.1 The enchorial text affords us a remarkable instance
of the diversity which was allowed in the mode of repre¬
senting the same name. The first character has not the
least resemblance to the basket; but the first and second
together are very commonly used in the manuscripts, as a
coarse representation of a boat, which was called bari, or
possibly bere ; for it is doubtful whether Kircher had any
other authority than that of Diodorus for bari, and the
word berezouts is used for another vehicle. The enchorial
N may possibly have been derived from a horizontal line,
turned up at one end. We have then the three dashes for
the i, and the two angles seem to have answered to the ke,
for a bird is not uncommonly scribbled in some such man¬
ner ; so that we have either Barinice or Berenice, by a
combination somewhat different from the former.
59. PHILADELPHUS.
UXJCOAT
60. ARSINOE.
fctowm/oJ
61. EUERGETES.
62. PHILOPATOR.
U&JSCot
Fq, *
S3. EPIPHANES.
64. PHILOMETOR.
5 Mo
(n
—■, Hierogly-
°(F t? v phic3~
59—65. The temple at Ombos was dedicated, as we find
from the Greek inscription copied by Mr Hamilton, “ in
the name of the divine Ptolemy Philometor and Cleopatra,
and their children, to Arueris Apollo, and the other gods
of the temple, by the infantry and cavalry of the nome.”
We may therefore expect to find in it the names of these
sovereigns, together with those of some or all of the earlier
Ptolemies; and, accordingly, we are able to determine,
without difficulty, some epithets which seem to be charac¬
teristic of this and the two preceding reigns ; but hitherto
nothing has been observed that can be considered as so
clearly denoting either Philadelphus and his queen Arsinoe,
or Euergetes and his Berenice, although some assistance
might have been derived, in identifying them, from the
enchorial text of Rosetta. We have, however, in the same
temple, a name, evidently compound, in which a basilisk is
followed by two feathers and a bent line ; and to judge
from a comparison of the enchorial text with the manu¬
scripts, a basilisk ought to be the emblem of Euergetes.1
The part of the name preceding it is, however, not Bere¬
nice, and must, therefore, in all probability, be ArsinoS,
the daughter of Euergetes. But it seems impossible to at¬
tempt to compare the characters employed with the sounds ;
since they sometimes occur in an inverted order, which the
sounds could not do. Indeed, the name seems to be very
often repeated in situations where its most essential parts
seem to be a quadrant of a circle, two feathers, and a bent
or broken line ; in other places, as at Denderah, the bird,
the hand, and the oval, are added ; and it is not impossible
that the quadrant may have been meant as a representation
of a lentil, which in Coptic is arshin, and which alone may
have been sufficient to identify the name. It occurs in the
celebrated zodiac of Denderah, and very frequently at
Philse, and it may possibly, hereafter, lead us very readily
to discover the hieroglyphical name of Philadelphns? That
of Philopator is satisfactorily ascertained by the assistance
of the character employed for father in the Rosetta Stone,
though that character is much mutilated, and could not have
been positively determined without this coincidence. The
name is found in the great temple at Edfou still more dis¬
tinctly than at Ombos, and it occurs several times at Karnak.
Epiphanes is never distinguished in any other inscription by
the characters appropriated to him in that of Rosetta (No.
121); but we continually find a synonymous emblem, which
is employed in the Rosetta Stone to signify enlightening,
where the Greek translation has Epiphanes; and this charac¬
ter, placed between two hatchets facing each other, can only
have meant the illustrious deity, or deities} In this form
the name occurs very frequently at Philas, and in the great
temple at Edfou, where it seems to be the latest name. For
the Philometores we have a character which occurs in
some other monuments, and means apparently mother, the
name containing it being found several times in the temple
at Ombos.5 At Kous, or Apollinopolis Parva, there is ano¬
ther Greek inscription of the Philometores and their chil¬
dren ; but in the hieroglyphics copied by Denon, the names
of the sovereigns seem to be wanting, and that of a young
prince only remains, a colossal statue of whom is figured
by Montfaucon in his Supplement, having the same name
in the belt, with the addition of the son of King Ptolemy ;
it will, therefore, be justifiable to distinguish this personage
1 The name of Berenice reads, in the hieroglyphic and demotic forms given in the woodcut, BERENEEKA. As in the name of Ptolemy
Dr \ oung was in error in reading some of the characters composing it to be syllabic. (R. s. P.)
2 This is no name or title of a king. (r. s. P.)
3 The hieroglyphic name given as that of Arsinoe, is a form of Autocrator incorrectly copied, hut the demotic name is that of this
queen, (r. s. p.)
4 The proper title for Epiphanes, HER, occurs in the Rosetta Stone; the hieroglyphic title in the woodcut is part of the prenomen
of Physcon, but it is sometimes also given as a title to Epiphanes. (R. S. P.) 6 This name is the prenomen of Auletes. (r. S. P.)
392
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogly- by calling him Cleopatrides.1 The divine honours which
phics. are so often attributed in these inscriptions to the reigning
sovereigns, afford us an explanation of the Greek inscrip¬
tions to the Synthronous gods of Egypt, which repeatedly
occur ; and of the description Fraternal gods, as, indeed,
Philadelphus and his queen are called in the Greek inscrip¬
tion of Rosetta.
Private
persons.
Animals.
C. Private Persons.
66-71. We find the names of six individuals expressed
in the enchorial text of the inscription of Rosetta, though
they are wanting in the distinct hieroglyphics ; but, as they
are clearly ascertained by the context, they are of consider¬
able value in tracing the approach of the hieroglyphic to
alphabetic writing. These are, Akxus, Philinus, Dio¬
genes, Pyrrha, Areia, and Irene.
66. AETUS.
67. PHILINUS.
68. DIOGENES.
69. PYRRHA.
70. AREIA.
71. IRENE.
y(tr!sntS!»2-
■iO/vOAC
xwAj
In Diogenes and Areia we discover no traces of the
i ing which is the usual characteristic of proper names;
and, on the other hand, we find occasionally, in some of
the manuscripts, the parts of the ring applied to a title of
Osins, which is more regularly written without any such
distinction.
72. Ramuneus.
72. A name of a private individual is inserted from a
sarcophagus in the British Museum, engraved by Alexander
in his Egyptian Monuments. Its form is not that of a
parallelepiped, but more accommodated to the shape of the
body. The pseudonymous appellation Ramuneus has been
derived from the elementary characters already observed in
the names of Re and Amun.2
D. Animals.
73. A MAN.
pfOLU
73. A figure sitting on the ground, and stretching out one
hand, seems to imply simply a man or person, which is cer- Hierogly.
tainly the sense of the enchorial character that commonly phics
answers to it in the manuscripts; but in composition the
figure often appears to lose this sense. 3
74. HIM.
q.ttuoq
y
74. The horned snake, creeping along, is clearly meant,
in some parts of the inscription of Rosetta, for him or it ;
although it has other senses in composition. It is very re¬
markable that the enchorial character, and that of the manu¬
scripts, resembling a y, approaches extremely near to the
Coptic F, which also means Aim ; and hof, or hfo, is the
Coptic term for a snake ; so that this coincidence seems to
afford us another trace of the origin of the alphabet.4
75. BULLOCK.
ege
76. RAM.
Wfhf
77. ANTELOPE.
78. TOR TOISE.
e$oot
% 1
75-78. The bullock, the ram, the antelope, and
the tortoise, are proved to be sometimes representa¬
tions of the things which they resemble, by their oc¬
currence in inscriptions accompanied by tablets; though
some of them have probably elsewhere a metaphorical
sense.5 The ram is often represented with two pairs of
horns; the one natural, the other imaginary.
78*. crocodil e. ^
78*. The crocodile is identified by a very distinct
drawing in a manuscript sent home by Mr Bankes, and is re¬
peatedly designated in the text by a figure representing it.
I he deity with a crocodile’s head is a separate personage,
and is denoted by a figure of the same animal with the tail
turned under it.6
79. BASILISK.
°Tpo M) jU
79. The asp or basilisk is so coarsely represented in
the stone of Rbsetta, that the object intended by it could not
have been conjectured without a comparison with other in¬
scriptions ; the context was, however, sufficient to deter¬
mine its meaning from the examination of this monument
alone.
EGYPT.
xmii
E. Inanimate Objects.
0
Inanimate
objects.
80. The essential parts of the name of Egypt seem to
be the square and the wheel, signifying splendid land.1 In
2 mu-8 -S the Prenoinen> incorrectly copied, of Philadelphus. (r. s. p.)
3 mu1S 1S.th® Prenotnen of Amasis of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, (r. s. P.)
pronounsPoTttPttUsL8g.ffori8thCehmasCc!r )determinative of ProPer names of men and the like> and f°r the affixed pers. and poss.
CrnedrSnake. °r cerastes is a common alphabetic sign for the letter we have represented by F, both in its hierorivnhic and its
M"tag. ZTc! (h" pO °rigln“ed the C01,tiC Ch‘raC‘er for 11,6 “me “ ‘‘ ‘IS° “ed {°r
6 rm1118 t^<5 signified “ male,” and the ram “ soul,” in a tropical sense, (r. s. p.)
7 mi16 Cr0C0 ‘le'nea(ied god is named Sebak, and his usual symbol is a crocodile standing upon a shrine, (r s P I
The chLactS whichoreced^s itTn?!,1’ I8.the determinative of the names of Egypt and those of Egyptian districts, cities, and the like.
Th: a'ppt/in tM.:8;,^ to denote^Egypt^ ^ ^ ^ WMch ^ have an ide^aPhic ^
HIEROGLYPHICS.
393
Hierogly- addition to these, or their rudiments, the enchorial word
phics. has at the beginning a character which generally answers
V—v—^ to an arm holding a feather, or to the flame of a lamp, an
emblem which seems also to relate to Egypt in one ot the
lines of the inscription of Rosetta. A flame and a heart are
mentioned by Horapollo and by Plutarch as employed in
the name of Egypt; but a word occurring so frequently
is very likely to have been expressed in a variety of ways.
The exact combination of characters generally used on the
stone has not been observed in any other inscription.
81. MEMPHIS. ~
tteqt 0 i Jlu-J-i
81. The name of Memphis cannot be determined without
some uncertainty; the line of hieroglyphics in which it is
contained being in several respects obscure.1
82. RIVER. jpn /
i&po,/op /0|H ^7
82. The character supposed to denote the Nile as a deity
must also sometimes be understood as merely meaning a
river ; and there is reason to think that the Nile itself was
generally called by the Egyptians the river only. The
enchorial character used to denote both the Nile and a
river, or canal, sufficiently resembles the hieroglyphic to
favour this interpretation; and it is in some degree con¬
firmed by the occurrence of the character alone on a water-
jar of Peiresc, delineated in Kircher’s (Edipus, and, together
with other characters, on the five vases found by Paul
Lucas at Abousir. By accident, Kircher appears, in this
single instance, to have been right in one of his conjec¬
tures ; for he calls this character a nilometer, and considers
it as emblematic of the Nile.
83. GREEK.
oreiNiN
83. The word Greek, in Coptic UiNiNor Oueinin, in The¬
baic Oueeienin, supposed to have been derived from Ionian,
seems to exhibit in its form something like an imitation of
the sound. The curve on a stem is sometimes exchanged
for the term divine, and appears to mean glory, in Coptic
oou or pu, which is nearly the sound attributed by Aker-
blad to the enchorial character, a little like the Hebrew u.
The feathers, as in Ptolemy and Berenice, may be read I or
ei, having the three dashes to express them, as usual, in the
enchorial text; the serpent is eneh, ever; and the hat,
which looks a little like a plough, is equivalent to the waved
line (No. 177), and must be read n; so that we have very ac¬
curately ouienehn, which seems to be near enough to ouei¬
nin to justify us in considering these characters as phonetic.2
84. COUNTRY.
/OgpKOI
84. The ladder is well marked as meaning country. It
may perhaps be intended to represent a field with its divi¬
sions ; but it is uncertain whether or not it is the same
symbol that enters into one of the names of Arueris (No. Hierogly-
13), the sculptures of the Rosetta Stone being by no means phics.
highly finished.3
85. LAND.
K&0/
85. It is remarkable that the wheel, signifying land, had
been noticed by the Jesuits as resembling the old Chinese
character for the word field ; but this is the only one of a
multitude of similar conjectures which has been justified by
more complete evidence {Phil. Trans. 1769, pi. xxviii.)4
86. STAR.
CIOY
86. The star is shown, by inscriptions accompanying the
zodiacs, to relate to a real star. It has also elsewhere a
figurative sense, meaning an attendant or ministering
spirit.5
87. TEMPLE.
epQCf
3 jl r., ^ j
0,11 UAlll 2 2E
o H CArf
87. The open square is found in both the combinations
of characters which are most commonly used for expressing
a temple ; the feather signifies ornament or consecration,
the oblong figure either the sacred inclosure or a sacred
seat, the character for a god being sometimes placed within
it.6 The feather is occasionally converted into an inclined
oval, the square being at the same time a little altered; a
difference which may be observed in other inscriptions as
well as in the Rosetta Stone.
88. SHRINE.
f9
88. The character representing a shrine so much resem¬
bles the object which it denotes, that it was the most
readily identified of all that are found on the stone of Ro¬
setta. The character signifying a priest was the second;
and the combination of both afforded a full confirmation of
the truth of the explanation. The enchorial character for
a shrine is derived from the sitting statue which always ac¬
companies it.
89. HABITATION.
Hi
\)P0
89. The open square, occurring in habitation as well as
in temple, must probably have meant house or building, or
possibly stone only.
90. THRONE.
seuci
90. The throne, or chair of state, occurs in a great variety
of tablets. It evidently bears its most natural signification
in the character denoting statue (No. 102), and in some other
1 The hieroglyphic group here given is not the name of Memphis; the demotic is, however, rightly attributed, and reads, like the
hieroglyphic equivalent, MEN-NUFR, “ the good abode,” Plutarch’s o^ov ayoiHuv (De.Is. et Osir. cap. 20). (a. s. p.)
2 The characters given by Dr Young are not those for “ Greek,” which immediately follow them on the Rosetta Stone, and it may be
observed that the first of them is inaccurately copied. The hieroglyphic name reads HUEENEN, and must rather be regarded as
sprung from a common origin with the Greek “lamf, perhaps from the Hebrew ■|‘50, since it is found in the inscriptions of the Eighteenth
and Nineteenth Dynasties, as the name of a conquered country or people. The earliest of these mentions of the HUEENEN known to
us is of the reign of Thothmes IV., B.C. cir. 1.400. (a. S. P.)
3 This signification of country, or rather region, is correct, (a. s. p.)
4 The oldest Chinese characters having been originally ideographs, present some similarities with the Egyptian hieroglyphics; but
these may be fairly regarded as accidental, and we cannot venture to reason on anything but the circumstance that both nations used
ideographic characters, (r. s. p.)
6 The proper signification of this ideographic sign is “ a star,” the tropical “ a god.” (r. S. P.)
6 The “ open square” signifies a “ house” or “ abode,” for it represents the ground-plan of a house or room : with the addition of an
ostrich feather, the symbol of truth and justice, or of a hatchet, the symbol of divinity, it stands for a temple, (r. s. p.)
VOL. XI. 3 D
394
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogly- instances; but it appears to bear, in some inscriptions, the
phics. metaphorical sense of a residence or habitation.1
91. COLUMN.
"/ycp/.ooYO't
back of the bowman, instead of being directed towards the Hierogly.
enemy. phics.
100. TEAR.
epjuiH
91. The column, or pillar, is too much like the object it
denotes to allow us to doubt respecting its meaning, con¬
sidering the sense of that part of the inscription of Rosetta
in which it occurs.2
92. DIADEM. ^ -J J>
XAOU. <0 O
92. The characters denoting a diadem are sufficiently de¬
termined by the first inscription of the stone ; and they so
much resemble the corresponding passages of the enchorial
text, that we can scarcely hesitate to admit the intimate
connection of the two modes of writing without seeking for
any further proofs.
100. The tear, in some of its representations, is very
clearly expressive of the thing intended; and this resem¬
blance, together with its frequent attendance on a corpse
and a bier, is sufficient to explain its sense. It occurs also
sometimes within a border as a peculiar deity ; but it seems
to be much more commonly emblematical of Osiris, of Apis,
or of Mneuis. It is not unfrequently found as a detached
figure, in a kind of pottery, with a green glazing, and may
perhaps have been worn, instead of a mourning ring, as a
memorial of a departed friend. It has most commonly been
called the equi sectio, and supposed to represent a horse’s
head, or the rostrum of a ship, while the ingenious Kircher
has made it a phallus oculatus. Among the antiquities
collected by Lord Mountnorris in Egypt is an eye seen in
front, and apparently shedding a tear."
93. ORNAMENTS.
ceXcojX oSt^J lWil'd
101. IMAGE.
cttot.aojVK.
93. The sacred ornaments are expressed by three fea¬
thers fixed to a bar, which appears to be held by two arms.
The remaining part of the character occurs very frequently
as a sort of termination, and seems to answer to . . merits.
9L ship. .
14.
95. SPEAR.
tf&jS/.aepe? I
96. BOW.
97. ARROW.
coejveq
<— ^
98. CENSER.
ttjyjp
99. BIER.
Oh
1—I ,i=(
94-99. The boat or ship, the spear, the bow, the arrow,
the censer, and the bier, are sufficiently identified by the
comparison of various tablets with their inscriptions. The
ship occurs frequently as denoting the sacred boats, in which
the representations of the deities are conveyed, though they
are not always accompanied by water. But it has been ob¬
served that the Egyptians attributed ships rather than cha¬
riots to the sun and moon as gliding smoothly through the
skies. The first part of the enchorial word, which has been
supposed to be a b, is evidently identical with the character
always found in the manuscripts written in the running
hieroglyphics as the first part of the delineation of a ship.
It is remarkable, that in the inscription at Esne, as copied
by the French, the point of the arrow is turned towards the
101. The character for an image seems to mean a
rvrought man: the hands, connected with an eye, appear
to be holding an oar as an emblem of labour. The same
character, with a slight variation in the form of the eye,
means a rower (No. 136).
102. STATUE.
(NI? XJKOYI?
Yn1’
102. The sitting statue has no character to imply
wrought; but it is followed by a bent line which seems to be a
term of respect, and may probably answer to osh, or great.
The same bent line occurs on the great sarcophagus of
green breccia as a personification of one of the qualities of
Osiris, probably his magnificence. It is often exchanged
in the manuscripts for the divided staff; and both are re¬
presented in the running hand by a figure like a 9 or a 4.
In the enchorial text this character seems sometimes to be
expressed by a single line, either straight, or bent sideways
into an angle like part of a k. A similar divine statue is
decreed to “ King Nuncoreus, the son of Sesostris,” on Mr
Montagu’s frieze. (See Hieroglyphics, 7 S 1.)
103. LETTERS.
c&u
103. Letters are denoted by a character which seems to
represent some of the materials employed in writing, and
which is indeed not extremely unlike an inkstand figured
in Caylus’s Recueil, and consisting of two parallel tubes at
some distance from each other, with a cover connected by
a chain instead of a hinge. Besides the very well marked
passage in the Rosetta Stone, the character occurs in many
manuscripts near the representation of a Thoth employed
in writing; and the enchorial character corresponding to
it is also found in the term \Jiierogrammatists or] sacred
scribes at the beginning of the inscription.3
104. Weight.
jaiE
A
104. In the numerical tablet of the great French work,
1 The signification of this character, which represents a seat and not a throne, is “ seat:” thus, when combined with the ostrich feather,
it forms the compound word “ seat of judgment,” or “ hall of justice.” In No. 102 it has no signification, being merely the seat of the
figure, (r. s. p.)
2 This ideograph represents a stela, and in the Rosetta Stone is the determinative of the word HAY, a stela, lit. “ a thing set
up.” (r. s. p.)
3 The scribe’s implements signify “ to write, engrave, sculpture, a scribe,” &c., and serve to determine the word S-SHEE, “ to
write,” &c. (r. s. p.)
Hierogly¬
phics.
Attributes
and ac¬
tions.
HIEROGLYPHICS.
395
believed to have been found at Karnak, a character may
be observed which frequently precedes a numeral, and
which resembles a weight with its handle. Hence we may
conjecture, with considerable probability, that it represents
some iveight of unknown value.
105. GOLD.
JVOYZf
rare instances, and indeed twice on the stone of Rosetta ; Hierogly-
but this symbol appears rather to denote a protecting power phics.
than an immortal existence. It happens, perhaps altogether ''"““"'v
accidentally, that one of the contractions for the word
God, which are commonly used in Coptic, approaches very
near to this character, except that the arms of the cross are
within the circle.
109. ETERNITY.
105. The enchorial character for gold is perfectly well
determined ; and its resemblance to a little vase under a
sort of arch is so strong that we may safely attribute the
same sense to this hieroglyphic, although it appears to be
wanting in one or two passages of the sacred insciiption of
Rosetta, where it ought to be found.1 In the great litual
we observe this character immediately preceding a shiine,
as if a golden shrine were intended ; and, in seveial othei
places, it is connected with a number, as if it meant pieces
of gold; for instance, in the green sarcophagus, with the
number 360. Sometimes, also, it appears to be used in a
metaphorical sense as a complimentary epithet of amonaich,
or perhaps in allusion to his riches. T. hus, on the black
frieze of Nuncoreus, we have over the king s figure the cha¬
racters, 4< Joy, Life, Stability, Power, Riches, Like the Sun,
for ever.” (Hieroglyphics, 7 p.)
erre&
jj-
f,rs
106. SILVER.
£<&nr
iy?
106. Near to the character for gold, in the margin of the
great ritual, is a sort of open box, supported on a flagstaff;
and a similar box, with a semicircle under it, seems to
mean silver, at least it considerably resembles the enchorial
character for silver, which is perfectly well ascertained.
107. Offerings.
0, A
107. We find, in several inscriptions, representations of
objects which are also observable in the tablets accompany¬
ing them, although it is difficult to say for what they are
intended. Two of these are copied from the frieze of Fico-
roni and Montagu {Hieroglyphics, 9 okl, Rskl, 7 LMq). The
former seems to be a sort of cloak, with a fringe at the bot¬
tom ; and the latter is a little like a pear ; but this charactei
does not occur so clearly in the inscription.
F. Attributes and Actions.
1,
109. Eternity is represented simply by a serpent rising
in an oblique arch, and without horns; the serpent devour¬
ing its tail, and making a ring, is never found as an Egyp¬
tian emblem. Horapollo says that eternity was denoted by
a serpent having its tail hidden under its body, and that
such serpents were called urcei, meaning in Greek basilisks,
which agrees very well with the sense of the Coptic URO,
king ; but this description answers better to the asp of the
inscription of Rosetta, which has also some relation to the
representations of the deities, though it does not exactly
mean immortality.3
110. IMMORTAL.
ewortg, erfe&
110. The cross with the serpent is a very common epi¬
thet in the sense of everliving, or immortal, or jeonobius ;
the waved line is in general a preposition, or a termination,
meaning of, to, or for; and it appears to be synonymous
with the hat (No. 177). Almost all authors have very
hastily taken for granted that this character must relate
immediately to water wherever it occurs, although we find
it repeatedly in every line of the inscription of Rosetta,
where water is not once mentioned. The fact, however, is,
that its prototype seems to have been a stream of water, or
of any other liquid, flowing/rom a vessel, and poured on
some other object; and that the idea of the liquid was com¬
pletely dropped in the general employment of the character,
whilst that of the connection only was retained; and the hat
or cap being also similarly forgotten, whilst its connection with
the head of the wearer only was suggested by its figure. In
this compound character we have two particles nearly alike,
the semicircle and the line; for that they cannot be very
different is shown by the occasional substitution of two
semicircles for the combination. One of them seems to
serve for the connection between life and eternity, “ life/or
everand the other to make the new compound an ad¬
jective, “ Ywing for ever.”1
m. joy. a
^JLS.O’T ? p<S^t ? m,
111. The triangle or pyramid occurs very commonly
among other emblems of prosperity and happiness, and
it is found in the frieze of Montagu and Ficoroni in the
decided sense of an offering or a present in general, while
in another place it is made an offering in its own form; so
that we can only interpret it as signifying joy, or pleasure,
or prosperity.5 {Hieroglyphics, 7 Mqr, Llqr ; 9 Re, R1; 7
Uq, Urs.)
112. power. (L
xcm ^
112. Power appears to be indicated by a sceptre hav¬
ing the head of an animal, which is often placed in the
108. LIFE. O
108, The crux ansata, sometimes called the Key of the
Nile, is usually employed as a symbol of divinity ; but its
correct meaning is life, as Lacroze rightly conjectured,
ilthough his opinion respecting the origin of the character
is inconsistent with the form of its oldest and most accurate
delineations; and there is no one instance in which it is so
represented as to stand in any relation to a sluice or a
watercock. According to Socrates and Rufinus, the Egyp¬
tian priests declared to their Christian conquerors under
Theodosius, who were going to destroy the Serapeum at
Alexandria, that the cross, so often sculptured^ on their
temples, was an emblem of the life to come.2 This passage
has been understood by some authors as relating rather to
the cross without a handle, which is observable in some
1 The hieroglyphic character signifies “dilation of thel^^dl^Tonnection with the first of the two enchorial ones, which
is rightiy supposed to bear the meaning of “ goWf’ (R-S. P.) the ^ q ^ .fc be observed
2 The so-called crux ansata is simply an emolem oi ine. mere ib uu uuuuu . P ^
that it is seen at the head of some early Christian inscriptions instead of the cioss. (u. s. .)
i irec. in *. ***™r,^u* »***.>*»««»*»,
“ living for ever. (it s. p.j 6 Thie sign signifies “ to give, a gift, offering, &c. (R. s. P.)
396
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogly. hands of the deities, and often stands with the cross the
phics. pyramid, and the altar, as an emblem of the blessings atten-
'v'—dant on the favourites of the gods. It is seldom used in
the text of inscriptions, but it occurs once in that of Ro¬
setta.1
113. STABILITY.
TAXpO
114. ESTABLISHED.
rr*2cpHOYrr
113,114. Stability is denoted, on the Rosetta Stone and
elsewhere, by the altar, which seems to have been fixed in
the ground as a column. When repeated it makes the verb
establish ; but it often occurs singly, and not uncommonly
as an unconnected emblem, accompanied by other charac¬
ters of similar import', and it is sometimes found as a de¬
tached figure formed of glazed porcelain. The two altars
are very conspicuous objects in some of the epistolographic
manuscripts, and are very useful in comparing them with
the hieratic; but the word employed in the enchorial in¬
scription of Rosetta seems to be derived from a different
origin.2
115. STRENGTH.
115. A drop or club over a basin, followed by a bent
line, seems to mean great strength, though it is difficult to
say what the character is meant to depict. In some other
places it seems somewhat to resemble a kind of head-dress.
116. MIGHTY.
2COp
116. The bullock and the arm, which generally occur at
the beginning of the inscriptions on the obelisks, agree very
well with the epithet mighty in the translation of Her-
mapion. The arm is, in many other instances, used in
compound characters.
117. VICTORY. ift
6po # ua
117. Victory is denoted by a branch, perhaps a palm-
branch, with a semicircle and a circle, sometimes preceded
by the waved line.s
118. FORTUNE.
118. The character signifying fortune somewhat resem¬
bles that which denotes gold (No. 105).; but instead of the
arch we have an angular line, which seems to be intended
for a pair of arms grasping the vase. The whole assem¬
blage approaches also a little to the form of a pocket, or
purse, as it is frequently delineated.4
119. SPLENDOUR. rpi
cjuoy, oYoumi H
119. The open square, bent inwards, clearly means splen¬
dour or glory, though it is uncertain what object it is in¬
tended to represent. In some cases a crescent seems to be Hierogiy-
substituted for it, as if it bore some relation to the sun, and phics.
the moon afforded a parallel sense.5
120. BEARING.
q<SJ
dor- f f ■ ■
121. ILLUSTRIOUS.
c|>epia)OY
120, 121. Illustrious is expressed, in the inscription of
Rosetta, by the open square, for splendour, the oval, which
signifies addition or respect, making it a kind of superla¬
tive, and the pair of legs, which very naturally convey the
idea of bearing, or possessing ; so that the whole makes the
epithet Epiphanes.6 This assemblage is, in some of the
manuscripts, very commonly followed by a bird, or its equi¬
valent, a half arch, apparently serving as an intensitive.
122. HONOUR.
TAiO
123, RESPECTABLE.
ju? jutncy^?
124, VENERABLE.
If icy T"? ffAIA-T?
122-124. The feather,7 when alone, seems to imply hon¬
our, as well as when accompanied by a man stretching out
his arm, or by a bird. I he bird also frequently stands alone
in similar passages,8 and must be translated respect, or
respectable. The block with the bird has also manifestly
the same sense in the great ritual, and the vase with the
bowl is so nearly synonymous with it that we can only
translate it venerable ;9 and these characters are fre¬
quently exchanged for a sort of bench, with a dash under
it, a symbol which may, however, possibly have been de¬
duced from some different origin. The sense of the feather
is peculiarly illustrated by its occurrence with a drop or
club, a serpent, and a line, at the beginning of a great
variety of inscriptions, apparently signifying immortal ho¬
nour to, (See No. 172).
125. RITE.
neTcoje
125. The eye, either with or without the pupil, and either
preceded or followed by the undulated line, has a sense
somewhat similar to all these, and is often employed at
the beginning of the honorary inscriptions. On the Ro¬
setta Stone it means distinctly rite or adoration. The
enchorial character corresponding to it expresses also simply
doing ; as in Greek the same word signifies to do and to
sacrifice™
126. WORSHIP.
cy^juicye
% 9K
126. Worship, or the Greek therapeia, is denoted by a
very unintelligible character, resembling a kind of cap¬
stan, which is frequently delineated in the boats of the
tablets, if it is not intended for some emblematical figure
1 This sign is held to mean ,c purity, pure.” (r. S. p.)
2 It is doubtful what this sign represents, but its signification of stability is unquestionable, (r. s. p.)
' This group, which is most fully written with the waved line before the branch, which, it may be noted, is not a palm-branch,
reads NESIIT, and signifies “ strength, strong, victory, victorious.” (R. S. p.)
4 This is an incorrect rendering, (r. s. p.)
6 sign is used as the initial of the word HER, “ manifested,” corresponding to ’Evitpawris, as in the Rosetta Stone (No. 121). (r. S. P.)
The legs are simply the determinative of the word mentioned in the previous note, written with the open square bent inwards, or
meander, the mouth, here called the oval, and the legs. This determinative follows words relating to motion, and is therefore applied
to this, of which the primary signification is “ to come out.” (r. S. P.)
7 This character is a reed, denoting the vowel A. (r. S. P.)
s The reed and owl, or owl alone, denote the prep. AM or M, “in,” &c. (R. S. P.)
9 This is the isolated personal pronoun, 1st sing. com. “ I.” (R. S. P.)
10 The eye signifies “ to make” or “ do.” At the commencement of a proscynema, followed by the waved line, it should be read
“ made by,” that is, “ this act of adoration is made by ” (r. s. p.)
HIEROGLYPHICS.
397
nierogly- erected in the boats.1 On the great green sarcophagus,
phics. the long bent line is a snake, and the point projecting up-
wards from the middle is a sword. But these resemblances
afford us little or no assistance in tracing the connection
between the whole emblem and its sense.
127. FATHER. n ^
ICUTT f £
128. MOTHER.
127, 128. The character denoting father,2 is found in
some of the inscriptions of the Ptolemies in such circum¬
stances that it might as easily be supposed to mean mother ;
but, by means of Mr Bullock’s scarabaeus, compared with
some other monuments, another character having been de¬
termined for mother,3 it became easy to identify the symbol
for father on the Rosetta Stone, where it had been a little
injured, and imperfectly copied in the engravings.
129, SON. © ST
129. The frequent occurrence of the Egyptian goose or
sheldrake, with a circle over it, between two proper names,
sufficiently points out the meaning of these characters,
which can only relate to the connection between them,
and which must naturally mean son. The circle may per¬
haps be intended for an egg; but in the painted sculp¬
tures the disc is red and the circumference light.4 * The
enchorial character nearly resembles the form in which
some kinds of birds are usually expressed in the manu¬
scripts (Nos. 22, 130). Mr Bailey has also observed the oc¬
currence of the bird between two proper names, and has iden¬
tified it with the chenalopex mentioned by Horapollo as
employed to signify son, on account of its courage in defend¬
ing its offspring. This quality might rather have been ex¬
pected to lead to its adoption as a symbol for a parent; but
its existence in the bird in question is confirmed by the ob¬
servations of modern naturalists respecting the sheldrake
(the tadorne of Buffon), which has generally been consi¬
dered as the chenalopex, and resembles very accurately the
best of the hieroglyphical delineations of the bird, although
the colours, as exhibited in the Description de VEgypte,
are not correctly natural.
130. ATTENDANT.
RoUK?
130. The same bird, with a leg or a dash instead of a
circle, seems to mean a minister or attendant, especially
in several parts of the inscriptions on the Lover’s Fountain.3
There are also some other characters which seem to be
nearly synonymous with these ; one of them may possibly
be meant for a tail, implying a follower, as sat and SA are
nearly alike in Coptic ; another is sometimes worn as a col¬
lar, perhaps implying subjection, and meaning servant.
131. DAUGHTER.
Hierogly¬
phics.
rti^yHpi 001
131, 132. Instead of the usual character for son, we
sometimes find, between two names, a serpent with a globe
substituted for the bird, and an oval for the circle ; and the
context seems to require that the meaning of these symbols
should be a daughter, but probably with some particular
character of royalty or divinity ;6 and at Philae we find a
dual, meaning sons or descendants, as a son and a daughter,
expressed apparently by two circles only.
133. CHILD.
<N?\OY
K
133. A child, or infant, is represented by a figure bent
as if sitting, and putting his finger on his lip.7 This is suffi¬
ciently established by the triple inscription ; but it is still
further confirmed by a plate of the Description de VEgypte
(Antiq. tom. ii., pi. Ixxxvi., fig. 1), in which a figure of this
kind is represented as immediately derived from the father,
who seems to be inspired by a beetle entering his mouth.
The manuscripts afford us here some valuable steps by
which the enchorial character is connected with the distinct
hieroglyphics. Another figure, which is elsewhere used
as corresponding to a beetle, is also found in the enchorial
text in the sense of son or offspring.
134. DIRECTOR.
peqcoYxeff ?
135. STEERSMAN.
peqgeAAi
134, 135. A circle, with an arm holding an angular line,
means a director.8 The angular line is intended for part
of a rudder; and the same character, with the addition of
the figure of a boat, denotes the pilot or helmsman, as is
obvious from many parts of the green sarcophagus. The
circle and arm are also found in the character denoting
dedicate (No. 150).
136. ROWER.
peqRocep?
136. A pair of arms holding an oar, and connected by a
sort of sector, signifies a rower, and possibly also a labourer,
or workman in general, as in image (No, 101).
137. KING.
OYpO
137. A stem of a plant, perhaps a reed, followed by an in¬
sect like a wasp or ichneumon, but probably intended for a
bee, and by two semicircles, is the complete emblem for a
king ; but the reed is often used alone in the same sense,
and the insect sometimes occurs without the reed.9 * Plu¬
tarch says that a king was denoted by a leaf, thrion ; and
1 It is doubtful what this character represents. Its signification, whether with or without the siphon as a complement, is
2 These signs do not signify “ father,” a word which is written phonetically, with characters reading ATF. (k. S. P.)
3 This character is often used for “ wife,” but not “ mother,” and reads HEMT. The vulture signifying, in its primary tropical sense,
“ female,” is commonly employed as a symbol for il mother,” with the addition of the sign of the feminine, (r. S. p.)
4 These characters signify “ son of the sun,” a title usually preceding the second ring of an Egyptian king’s name containing the
nomen. The goose stands for “ son,” and the disk for “ sun.” The preposition “ of,” which would be in this case written with the
wavy line, is rarely expressed in the group. (R. S. P.) ... • n ✓ \
6 The goose followed by the leg is the name of the god SEB, Chronus, the father of Osiris, written phonetically, (r. s. P.)
6 This group means son of the sun, the egg being used for the word son, and the sun being represented by a combination of the uraeus,
or basilisk, with the disk. (r. s. P.) *
7 The sense of this character is rather “ child” than “ son,” but it is certainly employed in the latter signification, (r. s. p.)
8 This is near the signification, which, however, has not been precisely defined. The symbol above the arm is a sieve, standing for the
sound SH, and the object held in the hand is a flail.
9 This group reads SUTEN-SHEBT, “king of Upper and Lower Egypt;” the title “ King of Upper Egypt” being denoted by the ab¬
breviation ST, the reed and semicircle, and the title “ King of Lower Egypt,” by the symbolic sign, a “ bee” or “ wasp,” and semi¬
circle. (r. s. p.)
398
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogly- Horapollo tells us that a bee signified a people obedient
phics. a king ; hence this symbol might be interpreted king of
men. Ammianus Marcellinus, however, asserts, more simply,
that a king was denoted by a bee. It appears from the
manuscripts that the beginning of the enchorial character,
which Mr Akerblad read phu, is derived from the elemen¬
tary traces representing the reed, the semicircle, a waved
line, and a sitting deity, meaning the divine king ; an as¬
semblage which often occurs on the green sarcophagus,
and elsewhere, as applied to a royal person. The remainder
of the enchorial character seems to represent a termination
consisting of a semicircle and a vessel, which is often added
to a name, apparently as a demonstration of respect, like the
vessel and the spiral in the case of the god Nilus (No. 19).
138. CONDITION. ///\f
juteT... ^
138. Condition, or subjection, is denoted by a character
which somewhat resembles an altar with an offering of
flowers, but which might also be intended for the cup of a
flower with an insect hovering over it.
139. KINGDOM.
JUeTOYpO
139. In the term kingdom, the crown is figuratively em¬
ployed for its wearer; a metaphor common in many mo¬
dern languages.
140. libation.
(JU’TGfT eRo?\
140. The character denoting a libation is very indis¬
tinctly traced in the sacred inscription of Rosetta, so that
it would have been impossible to explain its original form
without the assistance of other hieroglyphical monuments.1
The long water-jar, out of which the kneeling figure is
pouring a divided stream, somewhat resembles those which
a modern Egyptian woman is seen carrying in a plate of
Mr Legh’s second edition.
141. CEREMONY.
142. PRIEST.
OYHR, ^OffT
141, 142. The vase with the stream, which frequently
occurs in the character for priest, is sometimes found alone,
and must therefore probably relate to some particular cere¬
mony performed by the priests, approaching to the nature
of a libation. On the Stone of Rosetta the line is a simple
curve, not waved ; nor is the vase more distinctly re¬
presented. Instead of the sitting figure, a foot is some¬
times substituted, as in the word attendant (No. 130) ; and
the enchorial character is a more tolerable approximation to
this form than to the complete figure.
143. PRIESTHOOD. e\f _ y
JuteTOYHR ff f j
143. Priesthood is simply the condition of a priest; the
character prefixed answering to the Coptic prefix met, and
to the Greek termination eia.
144. SACERDOTAL.
rrre rngorrr
144. The ornaments of the head are very generally used Hierog]
as indicating the person by whom they are worn ; and phics
flowers, probably those of the lotus, are frequently found on
the heads of the priests, as well as in the inscriptions which
accompany them. In the inscription of Rosetta the sense
sacerdotal agrees very well with the context where this
character occurs, though it cannot be deduced with abso¬
lute certainty from the comparison with the Greek.2
145. ASSEMBLY. ^
©1
145. It is by no means easy to explain why the figure
like a buckle should clearly mean an assembly.3 * Perhaps,
however, the upper part may originally have been a cres¬
cent, implying monthly; and the scale or basin below is
occasionally found supporting some offerings, which are set
upright in it; so that the whole may have meant a monthly
exhibition.
146. SACRED.
OY*ii
146. The character god is made an adjective by the
addition of the waved line, and of the long drop, which
seem simply to convert it into the term sacred ; or, if the
drop has any other meaning, it can only relate to worship¬
ping or honouring, as the character prefixed in the encho¬
rial text, which is equivalent to the scale or basin, is else¬
where employed to signify honour or attention.^ In some
other instances, a circle and a waved line seem to be em¬
ployed in a similar manner, for connecting one character
with another like substantive and adjective.
li rtr? 9to)
147. An epithet implying consecrated or dedicated is
composed of a trident, or triple branch or root, followed by
a bent line. It occurs very commonly near the beginning
of inscriptions, on obelisks, and elsewhere.5
147. CONSECRATED.
eoYcjo’T
148. A little oblique cross, over an arm with a feather,
seems to mean to give, and perhaps to fight and to defend,
as, in Coptic, the word ti has both these senses. It is
often preceded by a circle and a semicircle.
149. OFFER.
err, mi
149. The hand bearing the triangle or pyramid (No.
Ill), manifestly means, in the friezes of Montagu and Fico-
roni, to offer, as an oblation to a deity.6
150. DEDICATE.
TTA&O
1 The first character means primarily a “ pure person,” and then a “priest;” and the characters under Nos. 141 142 have the
same signification, (it. s. p.)
2 This hieroglyphic stands for the letter IT, in the passage referred to. (it. s. p.) 3 See section i., supra, (r. s. P.)
4 This group is part of the expression “ of sacred words” in the Rosetta Stone. It is imperfect in consequence of the omission of the
three lines, indicating the plural, after the tongue, not drop. (it. S. P.)
6 These hieroglyphics form a syllabic group, reading MES, “ born,” as in the royal name Tetmes, commonly called Thothmes, and
the like. (r. s. p.) 6 The hand bearing a pyramidion or triangle signifies to “ give,” or “ offer.” (r. s. f.)
HIEROGLYPHICS.
399
]50. In the inscription of Rosetta, we find the word de¬
dicate expressed by a bent line and a sitting figure, with
the circle, and the arm holding the rudder (No. 134) ; the
character already interpreted consecrated, precedes, but it
is not absolutely certain that it belongs to the same phrase.
151. LAWFUL.
151. The term lawful is naturally enough derived from
a deity in his judicial capacity; the figure is preceded by
a bird, placed between two semicircles, which must here
mean according to, answering to the termination fuU Some¬
times a curved line, supported by a stem, is substituted as
a synonym for the figure of the judge.
and they occur together in one or two passages of some of Hierogly-
the manuscripts, and in an inscription at Philae, so that, Phlcs-
although the representation is very indistinct in the parti-
cular case of the Rosetta Stone, there is little doubt that
the cap of Osiris meant, in this case, superior, and that of
Hyperion and other personages inferior.
15G. OTHERS. _____
Ke^oJOYffi
156. A circle and a semicircle stand, in several passages
of the inscription of Rosetta, for others, or remaining.
157. CALLED.
GTXUJ
152. GOOD.
n<ArtG
157. Possibly the bowl and the bird together mean say
or call, and the figure of a man may serve to make the pas¬
sive CALLED.
153. BESTOWING.
eT+rfguicrr
154. MUNIFICENT.
peqrt^neq
IjS
152-154. The character representing good strongly re¬
sembles the figure of a lute, depicted in the chamber of
the harps, among the catacombs, and may have alluded to
the pleasing sound of music. The plural, with the scale or
basin, which implies bestowing, makes the epithet euchar-
istus, which in Greek is somewhat ambiguous, meaning
either grateful or munificent. The latter, however, must
be its sense in this inscription, because good gifts or de¬
lights may be plural, but gratitude not so easily.1 2 The
lute is also found denoting good in other parts of the in¬
scription. The enchorial character for the scale could
scarcely have been suspected to be derived from it, with¬
out the assistance of the manuscripts, which constantly ex¬
hibit an intermediate form, intended, perhaps, to compre¬
hend one of the lines supporting the scale.
155. GREAT.
ma)T,
158. DECLARATION.
UJtAj, £cun
158. The second bowl, substituted for the bird, does not
appear very essentially to alter the sense, which is still a
thing said or proclaimed, a declaration, or a decree.
159. MANIFEST.
e^coverf
159. The characters denoting manifest seem to have
some analogy to called, though their derivation is obscure.
The first character may either be intended for the country
(No. 84), or for a kind of flag or banner
160. NAME.
p^rr
X
160. The ring, which implies a name, and which else¬
where distinguishes proper names, seems to be an imita¬
tion of the label, called a “ phylactery” in the Greek inscrip¬
tion of Rosetta, on which the name of a figure was usually
distinguished.4
155. The semicircle, with two oblique dashes, seems to
mean great in the name of Thoth, who is called, in the
Greek inscription of Rosetta, Hermes the great and great;
while, in other places, this character seems almost always
to convey the sense of a dual. The enchorial epithet of
Thoth is a little like the crown with two semicircles, which
is most frequently found among the titles of Osiris, espe¬
cially when he sits in judgment.3
155*. UPPER and LOWER.
161. ENLIGHTENING.
peqepoYojim
o
(O
161. A disc, with rays descending from it, is one of the
few characters in which the form gives us some assistance
towards determining the sense, which is found to be en¬
lightening ;5 though the Egyptians do not seem to have
been very correct in their delineation of the motion of light,
which they make to diverge in curved lines, like those de¬
scribed by a common projectile. (See Nos. 8, 63.)
155*. The two kinds of hats, worn by the different ig2. loving.
deities, seem to be intended by the characters of the Ro- jUteftpHT
setta Stone which express the upper and lower regions or
countries. These two characters are also found together . . , j , , •
in the green sarcophagus as the names of two goddesses ; 162. The square block, the semicircle, and the chain,
1 This hieroglyphic group signifies a “ statue,” also a “ ceremony.” (R. S. p.)
2 The lute is “ good” (NUFR), the basin (NEB), “ lord,” and “ allthe thrice-repeated lute is not a plural in the group given in
the woodcut, but a kind of superlative, and the whole reads “ thrice good,” or “ very good, lord.” (n. S. P.)
3 The semicircle and two inclined lines signify twice, as in the epithet of Thoth, “ twice great,” where it follows the sceptre, meaning
“ great.” We have shown in the present essay, that the Egyptians had no dual. The second group from the left, in the woodcut,
means “ foreign country.” (n. s. P.)
4 This sign is the determinative of the word REN, “ name,” and within it were inclosed royal names. (R. S. F.)
6 This character is a generic determinative of words signifying “ light,” and the like. (r. s. p.)
400
Hierogly¬
phics.
HIEROGLYPHICS.
are employed very clearly in the sense of loving or be¬
loved ; the Coptic mai.1 In the enchorial character the
square and semicircle seem to be sometimes transposed, and
sometimes changed into an oval.
163. PRESERVER.
eeitogejm
t
163. Preserver, or saviour is represented by a sort of
trefoil, with a long stem, which answers to a cross or obe¬
lisk in the enchorial text; but, in other passages, the cha¬
racter takes the form of a still simpler club ; and in others,
again, it has something like a bulbous root.
161. SET UP.
165. PREPARE.
ce&Te
t-1
164, 165. A frame like a ladder, supported by a stem,
occurs sometimes as a part of a head-dress, but it is diffi¬
cult to say if it represents any other object. Followed by
an arm, and a pair of legs, it signifies set up, and this com¬
bination of characters is of very frequent occurrence ;2 3 some¬
times also the bent line or divided shaft forms a part of it.
In Coptic, set up is expressed by set on foot, which seems
to retain the analogy of the hieroglyphical character. The
substitution of a pair of feathers for the legs, however, does
not appear materially to alter the sense ; the context, where
it occurs, requiring the word prepare or construct/
Relations.
G. Relations.
166. IN ORDER THAT.
2/N&
167. WHEREVER.
10
e-u-ma.
168. AND.
DT02
169. ALSO, WITH.
iveA*.
Y\k
UJ I
Hierogly
phics.
168, 169. The arm and chain signify and or also ; and
the oval sometimes takes place of the arm, without much
variation of the sense : this combination is also found in
the sense of with, or together with. The elementary ideas
seem to be put, with, or add, with? Between the names
of Ptolemy and Berenice at Karnak the arm and chain are
separate.
170. MOREOVER. ^ I
CZ^Li Uq r~, p
JVZOTO
170. The half arch, or the fork, w’hich is perfectly equiva¬
lent to it, followed by two curls and two semicircles, mean
moreover;7 8 the reduplication probably resembling that of
many of the Coptic verbs, which generally imply a continued
action.
171. LIKEWISE.
JOUlSv/pHT
tfl‘W
171. The combination of the loop or sling with two semi¬
circles and three ovals means very clearly likewise. The
loop seems to represent a bucket, intended for one of a pair,
to be carried on a pole, as they are frequently delineated in
the tablets; so that it must mean a companion; and accord¬
ingly we find it in a very common epithet of a king, on
obelisks and elsewhere, with a circle and a bar, denoting
the companion of the sun, or simply resembling the sun? In
the enchorial character for likewise the symbols seem to be
transposed, and the loop is doubled.
172. IN.
£6JV,E20YjV
166. Two ovals, with a semicircle and an arm, very clearly
signify in order that. The ovals seem to mean to ox for,
and the arm action or doing, as our own that seems to be
allied to the German that, which means deed. The same
combination of characters appears to denote in another pas¬
sage to add to ; and one of the ovals is sometimes omitted.4 * 6
The Coptic may be either hina or ethbe.
172. An owl, signifying in, seems to be nearly synony¬
mous with the half arch, which is also sometimes to be
understood in the sense of all. Both these characters oc¬
cur also in many instances where they can only be con¬
sidered as marks of respect, and not very essential to the
sense ; and in this they resemble the Coptic prefix M, which
is a particle not very distinctly intelligible, nor capable of
being translated. It is also not a little remarkable, that the
M of Akerblad’s alphabet is the enchorial character which
answers to both of these symbols.9 (See No. 123.)
167. The symbols employed in the sense wherever seem
to mean separately at, in, one, or in, place, one f and, trans¬
posing the two last, we may make a very good Coptic word
173. UPON, AT.
174. OVER, ON.
EXIU
O f
D □
i£
1 This group is the name of the Egyptian Vulcan, PTEH, commonly called Ptah, or Phthah. (r. S. p.)
2 This is a correct renderine, but the legs are a determinative of motion or its results. (R. s. P.)
3 This group signifies a “stele” or “tablet,” i.e., “a thing set up.” It should be followed by the representation of a tablet, as a
determinative, as on the Rosetta Stone, (r. S. p.) 4 This group, with one “ oval, is rightly rendered in order that. (R. S. P.)
6 This group reads ERMA, and means literally “ towards the place,” and thence where. (R. s. p.j .
6 Both these groups, reading respectively HA and HER, signify “ and, also; but it must not be concluded that they are identical
on the principle of the omission of the final R mentioned in the subsequent sketch of grammar (section m.), for the vowel is one that
is probably long or guttural, and not like that elided before R. (R. S. p.)
7 These groups both signify “ equally, likewise.” (r. s. p.) . . , a r w i *
8 The sign here called a loop or sling, signifies “ like, as,” SHA, and is usually written with the reed (A) as a complement: with the
two semicircles it means “ similarly.” The group mentioned here as this sign, with the circle (disk) and bar (masculine sign), means
“ resembling the sun, like the sun.” (r. S. p.) . ,, i j ^ i.v.„
9 The hieroglyphic character and second enchorial character are the same, and stand for the letter M frequently employed for the
preposition mentioned in the text. The first enchorial character corresponds to a usual form of the chicken U, but may represent the
owl in carelessly written manuscripts, (r. s. p.)
HIEROGLYPHICS.
401
Hierogly- 173, 174. A hare over two waved lines is employed,
phics. either alone or together with a head, dash, circle, and dash,
^ which have separately a similar sense for upon, oyer, or at?
and it is remarkable that a similar relation exists in Coptic
between ehrei and ejo, jo, or dcho, also meaning a head.
The enchorial character, in some of its forms, is manifestly
a coarse imitation of an animal. The head is always repre¬
sented in the manuscripts by a character nearly like a Greek
2 ; and this may possibly have been the origin of the Coptic
letter janjia, if it was derived from a hieroglyphic; but it
is equally probable that it may have been intended for a
combination of a delta and a chi?
175. for.
<3
semicircle and a scale or basin are sometimes added.1 2 3 4 * 6 7 Hor
apollo says that a month is denoted by a palm branch, or by
an inverted crescent; but the crescent is too indistinct on
the Stone of Rosetta to have allowed us to recognise it with¬
out the assistance of the collateral inscriptions.
Hierogly'
phics.
180. YEAR. | *
pcuuu □ U < uiL,*«/2L
180. A year is denoted by a bent line with a little pro¬
jection from the middle, which seems to represent a plant
with an annual shoot or bud; it is commonly followed by a
semicircle and a block or dash.8
181. THOUTH.
ew ort
fcD
Time.
175. A semicircle and an oval mean for, as relating to
time.3
176. BY THE.
vKS.TA),JV'¥€ l
2.J Ifi
176. A ball, with two short appendages, one narrower
than the other, occurs several times on the Rosetta Stone,
and seems to have been intended for a head seen in profile,
which is often found on other monuments. This character,
together with a dash, seems to signify by the, or each ; for
instance every year, or every month.4
177. OF, TO.
AfTE,JV
177. The hat, interposed between “an image” and “ the
king,”can only mean of, or for. It is often substituted,
in passages which are frequently repeated, for the waved
line, each being probably equivalent to the Coptic nte, or
rather N ;5 which also sometimes makes an adjective of a
substantive, as nnub, golden, from nub, gold. (See Nos. 58,
83, 140.)
H. Time.
178. DAY.
F200Y.Wtp/
©
©cii,n |^o
178. A day seems to be very naturally expressed by
splendour of the sun, or sunshine.6 (See Nos. 119, 8.)
179. MONTH.
&z£OT
2-
O
179. A crescent turned downwards, with a star and the
sun, makes up the character signifying a month ; to which a
181. There is some little uncertainty respecting the exact
limits of the characters denoting the first month, Thoyth.
The name seems to have some relation to gathering the
harvest, and the emblem is probably intended for a field of
corn; and, perhaps, as the year is said to have begun ori¬
ginally with the dog-days, the appropriation of this character
to the first month may have been contemporaneous with the
origin of the calendar.9
182. MECHIR.
AXEDC/p
183. MESORE.
AXE COJ pjf
182, 183. The sixth month, Mechir, is remarkable for
having half as many crescents as the twelfth, Mesore.10 This
relation would without doubt be further illustrated if we
could discover anything like a calendar among the immense
mass of Egyptian literature which is still in existence. The
manuscript which Montfaucon calls a calendar, merely be¬
cause it is divided into twelve columns, has no pretensions to
the name.
184. FIRST DAY. i" ©
COTS./ D
j3J
185. THIRTIETH.
COY JUt&Jl.
184, 185. The symbol for the sun seems to be employed
in the designation both of the first day of the month, the
neomenia of the Greek inscription, and of the last, or
thirtieth day.11 Of the characters following the sun, the
1 The hare and two waved lines, UNN, represent the substantive verb “to be,’' but the second N does not occur except in its parti-
ciple present. The next group is wrongly represented, the circle being a false copy of a head in profile. It is a compound preposition,
“ above,” lit. “on,” or “ over, the head.” (R. s. P.)
2 This Coptic letter is derived in its form from the hieratic representation of the crocodile’s tail, a hieroglyphic sign for K. (r. S. p.)
3 This group, followed by the palm-branch, determinative of the year and seasons, signifies a “ season, time.” (r. s. P.)
4 The character for “ each” is a kind of loop, and has no relation to the head in profile, which, when alone, signifies “ first,” &c.,
and with the straight line or bar, usually a “ head,” as may be seen by the literal rendering of the compound preposition mentioned
in note 1, above, (r. s. p.)
® The waved line and crown of Lower Egypt, are here rightly held to be homophones. They represent the preposition EN or N,
“ of,” &c. (r. s. p.)
6 The first character is alphabetic (H) or syllabic, the second, a determinative, in the first group; the second group is inaccurately
given. The whole word for day is HAU. (r. s. P.)
I Both these characters are used for month in the Rosetta Stone. (R. s. p.)
8 The first sign of this group is a palm-branch, and should have a notch in the middle of the outer side. The third is usually the
disk, though the square occurs in its place. (R. S. P.)
9 The dagger stands for “ first” in this group, “ month” is understood, and the second hieroglyphic is the sign of the first season of the
Egyptian year. Into the original character of these seasons, as indicated by the signs representing them in the hieroglyphic writing,
we have not space here to enter. (R. S. p.)
10 This group is the name of the second month, the two crescents here meaning “ second month” of the first season, or Paopi. (R. S. P.)
II The signs rendered “ first day,” mean “ last day,” which is equally the signification of the group rendered “ thirtieth day.” The
character usually translated “ good,” properly signifies “ perfect;” hence perfect in form, “ beautiful,” perfect in character, “ good,”
perfect in time, “ complete,” and thence “ last.” (r. s. P.)
VOL. XI. 3 E
402
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hieiogly- one seems to mean good, or rather new, as in Thoyth, the
phies. month of the new year ; the other old or last. This charac-
V'—‘ter might be taken for a serpent, or for a branch of a tree ;
but it seems more probable that it is intended for the tail
of an animal, since it occurs in several passages of the manu¬
scripts as representing a tail; and the tail of the month is
sufficiently expressive of the sense. (See No. 130.)
N umbers. I. Numbers.
186. ONE. n j
or^j.or/
186. Units are denoted by short lines, like the Roman I.
Mr Akerblad first noticed the first three numerals in the last
line of the sacred characters of Rosetta, where the Greek
text is deficient, and the words “ first and second” only re¬
main ; and this observation alone was sufficient to prove
that the hieroglyphical characters related to a real language,
and were not simply ornamental decorations, as some per¬
sons have imagined.
187. FIRST.
SOT/T
188. TWO.
cjxixcNoyf
189. SECOND.
kULZCN&X
190. THREE.
m out
191. THIRD.
JUA2 gl GLUT
192. THRICE.
gOiXTNCOR
193. FOUR.
QTO
194. FIVE.
T/DY
195. SEVEN.
196. EIGHTH.
187-196. The twisted line distinguishing the ordinal
numbers answers to the Coptic mah, which is prefixed to
the cardinals in the same sense: in the enchorial text the
corresponding character follows the number. The three
points are more commonly employed when they follow a
word, to make it plural; but when they signify a numeral
they are generally placed immediately above some other
character; and in the enchorial inscription this numeral is
distinguished by making the lines oblique and joining them.
197. TEN. r-n riSs \ f
01 _• O O t O
197. For the number ten we have a Greek pi, either
D □
□ 0
If
ODD
□ 00
ODD
□ □ □ D
□ 0 D □ □
Ul{
ii
□ □DC
ODD
'ter
square or rounded, not only in the inscription of Rosetta, Hierogly.
but in many other places. phics.
198. SEVENTEEN.
JUtETiHAIRQ
m
DDO CDU
ddddITU ,OOOU
198. We find the number seventeen occurring twice as
a date in the inscription of Rosetta; the Greek text, in
another part, alluding to the same period, has eighteen ; and
the enchorial words are too indistinctly marked to allow us
to judge of the identity or diversity of the two numbers ;
but the difference of a day is of no consequence, since the
festival of the “assumption of the kingdom” may easily
have begun on the 17th of Mechir, and continued to the
next day, which is the date of the decree.
199. THIRTY.
JUtWl
200. FORTY-TWO.
gjuecrGW' nin/nm
199, 200. The enchorial character for thirty, applied
to years, seems to be the same as is elsewhere used in the
sense of the thirtieth dag; but the numbers are almost
always confused in the running hand, and exhibit several
deviations from the regular system of the sacred characters.
The number forty, for example, in the remarkable passage
relating to the forty-two assessors of Osiris, seems to be
denoted by a single line with a dash on it.
201. A HUNDRED.
gie
202. A THOUSAND.
:yo
i
203. MCDXXVII1. | X
*yo gtd tyextuT 9 <$>
iajaoYJV
nmO
201-203. The curl, like the figure 9, meaning A hun¬
dred, and the notched circle, supported by a cross, denoting
A thousand, occur, in several inscriptions, so combined
with units and tens, as to leave no doubt respecting the num¬
bers that they represent. This is particularly evident from
the consideration of an inscription “ believed to have been
found at Karnak”1 (Description de VEgypte, Antiq., tom.
hi., pi. xxxviii., fig. 26-30).
204. SEVERAL. D
g^rt... oyi 3.«J
204. Plurals are distinguished by writing a character
three times, or by putting three dashes after it, and some¬
times, perhaps, though very rarely, before it; occasionally
also, by repeating a part of a collection of symbols once only.
In the manuscripts, the three dashes are generally joined
into a crooked stroke, which, in the enchorial inscription,
sometimes both precedes and follows the word; while, in
other cases, the second stroke is converted into a single
vertical line, which serves to limit the extent of the charac¬
ters meant to be made plural; the representation being so
imperfect, that this assistance is more required than in the
sacred characters.2 And it may be observed, that this
second mark is never wanting in the enchorial inscription,
as it must frequently have been if the character had been
alphabetical; since many of the Egyptian plurals end pre¬
cisely as their singulars do, and even when they differ from
them, it is not by the addition of any one uniform termination.
1 All these renderings of numerals are correct, excepting that of No. 192, where the second character does not produce the
signification “ thrice.’’ (r. s. p.)
2 This account of the modes of writing the plural is nearly accurate. It will, however, he seen in the subsequent grammatical sketch,
that the signs almost always represent the sound U, unless a sign for that sound is given with them. (R. s. p.)
HIEROGLYPHICS.
403
Hierogly¬
phics.
Sounds.
205.
/4
206.
K. Sounds.
21°- KZ.KH*^
21L ML,ASA *3^
215. A
207.
208.
201'.
EJVE
21Z- ^ AAmA
217.
jr^ 2i3.
OAE
Oiy DC
□
t
205-218. The 'phonetic characters, according to the
traces which may be discovered in the words Berenice,
Ptolemy, Greek, and some others (Nos. 56, 58, 74, 83,
123, 172), will afford something like a hieroglyphic alpha¬
bet, which, however, is merely collected as a specimen of
the mode of expressing sounds in some particular cases,
and not as having been universally employed where sounds
were required.1
The Supposed Enchorial Alphabet which is sub¬
joined is applicable to most of the proper names in the in¬
scription of Rosetta, and probably also to some other sym¬
bols which have been the prototypes of the characters. It
is taken from the alphabet of Akerblad, but considerably
modified by the conjectures which have been published in
the Museum Criticum?
Hierogly¬
phics.
^ D l\
TJt(T Q\ y
-h P /
e ? c,iy <,4jM«
K A ^ P
/ «f#,/ x 2d
*x oo f
N A\> 2C £&
M. Specimens of Phrases.3
The last line of the inscription of Rosetta will serve as Specimens
a specimen of the way in which the hieroglyphical charac- of phrases,
ters were combined, so as to form a language; and will
show at the same time the relation between the sacred and
the enchorial texts.
® j
(JSH3J)
*
. . .. ZTEpeoYAleoVTOirTEfELpoIXKAlErxrLPioiXKAI £AAHNIKo)srPAMM/athJ
V?\^///\J?fl>rv 16^0.5
KATXTHZ/UENHkJAZTXllTO.NTE n PXlirn.N KA]4E>rrEPAM 
TCUX<Oj VJ u'/ fd <r
At the beginning of the line we find some obscurity, and thers, mean to prepare or procure; then follows a column;
a want of perfect correspondence in the two inscriptions; the wavy line, of; the semicircle and two dashes, with the
but it is clear that the fork or ladder, the arm and the fea- arm, probably strong or hard ; the block or square below,
1 Of this alphabet, beginning from the left, the first group in the first column is composed of the demotic signs for Bit in Berenice,
and is out of place here, the second is simply B, the third R, the fourth T, and the last is correctly rendered ; the first character in
the second column should be the eagle A, the second is M, the third is rightly rendered, the fourth is R, and the last S; and in the
third column the last character alone is wrong, for it should be SH. (r. S. P.)
. 2 A comparison of this enchorial alphabet, with the latest results of research into these characters, cannot fail to awaken our admira¬
tion for the sagacity and judgment of Dr Young. In Brugsch’s list of the alphabetic signs, we find a remarkable agreement, and Dr
Young’s renderings of letters are in few cases wholly wrong. Comp. Gram. Lem., p. 18. (r. S. P.)
3 The heading L, here omitted, comprised merely references to additional illustrations now inserted in their proper places. (R. S. P.)
404
HIEROGLYPHICS.
phics.
Hieroglv- with its semicircle, stone; the loop or knot wrought or en- or phylactery, together with the name ; the open square, Hierogly-
graven ; the half arch in or with ; the instrument or case, the oval, and the pair of legs after the ring, illustrious or P^8-
writing, or letters ; the wavy line, the hatchet, and drop, Epiphanes ; and lastly, the scale and the three lutes, muni-
with the three dashes making a plural, appropriate to the ficent; the conjunctions being often omitted, as they also
gods, that is, sacred; the case again, letters ; the hat, of; very commonly are in Coptic, and even in Greek.1 2
the ladder, arm, and feathers, the country ; the serpent and
bent line, approaching to the sense of perpetuity and great¬
ness, seem to be a mark of respect to the country, though it
is barely possible that they may be substituted for the repe¬
tition of the instrument or case, and may mean the lan¬
guage, and belong to the following curl on the stem, the
feathers, the serpent, and the hat, which signify Greek.
The head-dress of flowers meaning probably a priest, the
following curl with the dashes, probably ornamental or
honorary, or perhaps collective, and the two bowls, with the
man in the plural, a publication,—the whole of these sym¬
bols must express the honorary decree of the priests, or the
decree of the assembled priests; but the enchorial text
seems to include the symbol for honour. The oval, with
the semicircle and arm, implies, in order that, or, in order
to ; the fork with cross bars, the arm, the legs, and the
snake, set it up ; the bird, in ; the three broad feathers over
as many open squares, the temples, as a plural; the half
arch and oval with the plural dashes, all, or of all kinds ;
the open square, wheel, scale, head, dash, and ring, Egypt;
the figure with a vase on his head, subjection or power;
making the whole, belonging to Egypt, or throughout
Egypt; the fork and dash are in, or in all; the knots or
chains, followed by the numbers, of the first, the second,
and the third order ; the oval, half arch, and dash, wher¬
ever, or in which, leaving out “ shall bethe tool and
standing figure, with the intervening characters, the image ;
the hat, of; the reed and bee, with the semicircles, King;
the square, semicircle, lion, half arch, two feathers, and
bent line, Ptolemy; the handled cross and serpent with
the two semicircles, the everliving ; the square block, semi¬
circle, and chain, dear to ; the hieralpha and two feathers,
Phthah, or Vulcan—all this being included within the ring
The enchorial text agrees in many parts extremely well
with the hieroglyphics, according to the general style of
imitation which has been already explained and exemplified,
although in some passages there is a greater difference than
might have been expected. The beginning of the encho¬
rial line seems to contain the word decree, which cannot be
found in this part of the hieroglyphics ; the character for
letters occurs three times in it, as if the sacred character
used in the third place meant language; the “sacerdotal de¬
cree” of the sacred characters is omitted in the correspond¬
ing part of the enchorial; the word temples is repeated before
each numeral; the term wherever is amplified ; the image is
a very coarse imitation, and is followed by the character for^
a deity, meaning sacred or divine; and, lastly, the name of
Ptolemy is omitted, the word king being only followed by
“ whose life shall be for ever,” or a phrase of similar import.
N. Comparison of Manuscripts.
The subjoined specimens of a comparison of the different Compari-
manuscripts, which deviate more or less from the form ofson of
distinct hieroglyphics, with others in which those characters
are preserved almost entire, though slightly traced, will
serve to show the complete identity of the different systems
in their original form ; the first and fourth lines being taken
from the great hieratic manuscript of Strasbourg, and the rest
from other copies of the same text, which are universally
considered as written in the epistolographic characten. We
cannot discover the entire connected sense of the whole
passages, but we may easily observe the symbols for gods,
established, Osiris, Isis, Nephthe, Hieracion, to set up, four,
priests, and child or prince? {Description de VEgypte,
Antiq. tom. ii., plate Ixxiv., col. 106; lx., col. 3; Ixii., col.
2 ; Ixxii., col. 38 ; Ixvii., col. 2.)
/£ &S2L £2L ‘n:’ilk
P P ^ alii & yS> */<* **& ©93 L. nir ^9
i'K? j TZlZ.'s a jd?
DR YOUNG’S OBSERVATIONS ON THE GENERAL CHARACTER
OF THE EGYPTIAN MONUMENTS.
Observa- By means of the knowledge of the hieroglyphic chai’ac-
tions on ters which has already been obtained, we are fully compe-
the Egyp- j.ent t0 form a general idea, of the nature of the inscriptions on
ments101111 t^ie Pr*ncipal Egyptian monuments that are extant. Nu¬
merous as they are, there is scarcely one of them which we
are not able to refer to the class either of sepulchral or of
votive inscriptions; astronomical and chronological there
seem to be none, since the numerical characters, which have
been perfectly ascertained, have not yet been found to
occur in such a form as they necessarily must have assumed
in the records of this description. Of an historical nature
we can only find the triumphal, which are often sufficiently
distinguishable, but they also may always be referred to the
votive ; since whoever related his own exploits thought it
wisest to attribute the glory of them to some deity, and
1 It would occupy too much space to follow Dr Young in this analysis, especially as the Chevalier Bunsen has given an analysis of
this extract from the hieroglyphic inscription of the Rosetta Stone {Egypt's Place, vol. L, p. 596, et seqq.), in accordance with the present
state of knowledge, (r. s. p.)
2 The first extract, given first in linear hieroglyphics, and then in two kinds of hieratic, reads—“ [These] are the venerable (>) great
[divinities] dwelling in the land of TETTU, Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, Horus, [who] sustains (?) his father. They are placed . . The
second is a mutilated fragment, (r. s. r.)
HIEROGLYPHICS.
405
Hierogly- whoever recorded those of another was generally disposed
phies. t0 intermix divine honours with his panegyric. It has, in-
deed, been asserted that the Egyptians were not in the
habit of deifying any mortal persons ; but the inscription of
Rosetta is by no means the only one in which the sovereigns
of Egypt are inserted in the number of its deities. The
custom is observable in monuments of a much earlier age;
indeed, in such a country it might be considered as a kind
of dilemma of degradation, whether it was most ridiculous
to be made a divinity, or to be excluded from so plebeian
an assemblage; but flattery is more prone to err by com¬
mission than by omission, and consequently we And the
terms king and god very generally inseparable. The se¬
pulchral inscriptions, from the attention that was paid in
Egypt to the obsequies of the dead, appear, upon the whole,
to constitute the most considerable part of the Egyptian
literature which remains ; and they afford us, upon a com¬
parative examination, some very remarkable peculiarities.
The general tenor of all these inscriptions appears to be,
as might have been expected from the testimony of Hero¬
dotus, the identification of the deceased with the god Osi¬
ris, and probably, if a female, with Isisand the subject of
the most usual representations seems to be the reception of
this new personage by the principal deities, to whom he
now stands in a relation expressed in the respective inscrip¬
tions ; the honour of an apotheosis, reserved by the ancient
Romans for emperors, and by the modern for saints, having
been apparently extended by the old Egyptians to private
individuals of all descriptions. It required an extensive
comparison of these inscriptions to recognise their precise
nature, since they seldom contain a name surrounded by a
ring in its usual form. Sometimes, however, as on the
green sarcophagus of the British Museum, a distinct name
is very often repeated, and preceded by that of Osiris ;
while, in most other instances, there is a certain combin¬
ation of characters, bearing evident relation to the person¬
age delineated, which occurs, after the symbols of Osiris,
instead of the name ; so that either the ring was simply
omitted on this occasion, or a new and perhaps a myste¬
rious name was employed, consisting frequently of the ap¬
pellations of several distinct deities, and probably analogous
to the real name. That the characteristic phrase, so re¬
peated, must have had some relation to the deceased, is
proved by its scarcely ever being alike in any two monu¬
ments that have been compared ; while almost every
other part of the manuscripts and inscriptions is the same
in many different instances, and some of them
in almost all; and this same phrase may be ob¬
served in Lord Mountnorris’ and Mr Bankes’
manuscripts, placed over the head of the person
who is brought up between the two goddesses,
to make his appearance before the true Osiris,
in his own person, and in his judicial capacity,
with his counsellors about him, and the balance p
of justice before him {Hieroglyphics, 5 E F G
e f). In this instance the phrase consists of the
names of Hyperion and the Sun, preceded by a block and
o
out any violence, “ the votary of Hyperion and of Phre.” Hierogly-
J -- ’ - ’ phics.
ls€
o
an arm with an offering ; and it may be interpreted, with¬
in a small manuscript, engraved by Denon, the
part which resembles the characteristic phrase
of other manuscripts is followed by the name of
a king, which is nearly identical with that of the
father of the Pseudomemnon in the British
Museum ; the one having the hieralpha laid flat,
the other the traces of the pedestal, which is
equivalent to it.
The tablet of the last judgment, which is so
well illustrated by the testimony of Diodorus
concerning the funerals of the Egyptians, is found near the
end of almost all the manuscripts upon papyrus, that are so
frequently discovered in the coffins of the mummies, and,
among others, in Lord Mountnorris’s hieratic manuscript,
printed in the Collection of the Egyptian Society. The
great deity sits on the left, holding the hook and the whip or
fan ; his name and titles are generally placed over him ; but
this part of the present manuscript is a little injured. Before
him is a kind of mace, supporting something like the skin
of a leopard; then a female Cerberus, and on a shelf over
her head the tetrad of Termini, which have already been
distinguished by the names Tetrarcha, Anubis, Macedo, and
Hieracion, each having had his appropriate denomination
written over his head. Behind the Cerberus stands I both,
with his style and tablet, having just begun to write. Oyer
his head, in two columns, we find his name and titles, in¬
cluding his designation as a scribe. The balance follows,
with a little baboon as a kind of genius sitting on it. Un¬
der the beam stand Cteristes and Hyperion, who are em¬
ployed in adjusting the equipoise; but their names in this
manuscript are omitted, ihe five columns over the bal¬
ance are only remarkable as containing, in this instance,
the characteristic phrase, or the name of the deceased, inter¬
mixed with other characters. Beyond the balance stands
a female, holding the sceptre of Isis, who seems to be called
Rhea, the wife of the sun. She is looking back at the per¬
sonage, who holds up his hand as a mark of respect, and who
is identified as the deceased by the name simply placed
over him, without any exordium. He is followed by a
second goddess, who is also holding up her hands in token
of respect, and whose name looks like a personification of
honour or glory, unless it is simply intended to signify “ a
divine priestess” belonging to the order of the Pterophori
mentioned on the Rosetta Stone. The forty-two assessors
are wanting in this tablet; and, in many other manuscripts,
their number is curtailed, to make room for other subjects;
but, in several of those which are engraved in the Descrip¬
tion de VEgypte, they are all represented, sometimes as sit¬
ting figures, and sometimes standing as Termini, with their
feet united.
The principal part of the text of all these manuscripts
appears to consist of a collection of hymns, or rather ho¬
mages, to certain deities, generally expressed in the name
of the deceased, with his title of Osiris, although the true
Osiris is not excluded from the groups which are intro¬
duced. The upper part of each manuscript is occupied by
a series of pictural tablets; and under them are vertical
columns of distinct hieroglyphics, or, in the epistolographic
manuscripts, pages of the text, which are commonly divided
into paragraphs, with a tablet at the head of each, the first
words being constantly written with red ink, made of a kind
of ochre, as the black is of a carbonaceous substance. The
beginning of the manuscript is seldom entire, being always
at the outside of the roll; as the umbilicus of the Romans
was synonymous with the end. Not far from the begin¬
ning, we always find a large tablet, occupying the whole
depth of the paper, representing the sun adored by his
1 Both males and females, when “justified,” received the name of Osiris. (R. S. p.)
406
HIEROGLYPHICS.
mauling
Hierogly- ministering spirits. In the large hieratic manuscript, which
phics. occupies four plates of the Description de FEgypte, and which
may be considered as a fine specimen of the most highly
finished copies, there are at present only four columns re-
before this tablet. It is followed by a short
section, with a rubric, which is not very dis-
tinctly expressed ; after this are thirty-five others,
beginning with a long rubric, which is usually
followed by the name of a divinity, represented
in a neighbouring part of the margin, and which
may be supposed to mean something like “ Re¬
spect and reverence be paid to each of the sacred
powers.”1 The next ten sections begin with the
rubric of a feather, and a sitting figure raising his
hand to his head, as if holding a vase on it, meaning pro¬
bably “Honour is due,”2 or belonging to; then
follow the name and titles of Thoth or Hermes,
and the phrase describing the deceased in the
character of Osiris; and afterwards the names of each of
a group of deities, represented in the corresponding tablet
with an altar and a suppliant before them. These groups
are different in the different sections, but they correspond
pretty accurately with each other in the various manuscripts;
and this hermetic decad is the most constant part of the
manuscripts found with the mummies, though a little more
extended in some than others {Hieroglyphics, 4). After
these, we find thirty-five sections, beginning with
a drop, a feather, a serpent, and aline ; the rubric
being immediately followed by the deified name
peculiar to the manuscript. This exordium, from
the analogy of the term sacred (No. 146), we can have no
hesitation in understanding as a deiivative of the feather,
signifying honour or ornament, and the serpent, signifying
perpetuity, and in translating it, “eternal honour, or le-
40
NS
spect. A similar sense seems, in other places, to be ex¬
pressed by the open square or the pyiamid instead of the
feather ; and not uncommonly the hat is substituted for
the line, without any variation of the meaning. After
these thirty-five sections, we have two others, of which
the rubrics are less intelligible, followed by forty-two short
ones, which evidently contain the names and titles of as
many separate deities, whose figures are commonly repre¬
sented in the great tablet, near that of Osiris. We may
generally observe, among the epithets of each, the term
“ from illustrious” (No. 121) ; and each section has a
second paragraph, beginning with a pair of arms extended,
a character which seems occasionally to be used in reference
to the equal scales of justice, though on the Stone of Rosetta
it appears to signify a kind of temple, so that it may possibly
relate to the honours to be paid to these divine judges.
With a few additional columns, and with the great tablet
of the judgment, the manuscript concludes. It does not
contain the figure of the sacred cow, which is the termina¬
tion of most other manuscripts ; nor the agricultural repre¬
sentations, which are frequently found in many of them,
especially in that of Lord Mountnorris {Hieroglyphics, 3), Hierogly.
with the three deities sitting in a grotto under it. The last PhlC9-
of these, according to the inscriptions over the two boats, is
meant for Arueris, the second apparently for the mother of
the sun, and the first for Osiris; and one of the boats
carries the steps, which seem to be emblematic of the solar
power; the other, the throne or chair of state, which is uni¬
versally appropriated to Osiris.4
The coffins of the mummies, and the large sarcophagi of
stone, are generally covered with representations extremely
similar to some of those which are found in the manuscripts.
The judicial tablet is frequently delineated on the middle
of the coffins ; above it are Isis and Nephthe at the sides,
and in the middle apparently Rhea with outspread wings.
The space below is chiefly occupied by figures of from
twenty to thirty of the principal deities, to whom the de¬
ceased, in his mystical character, is doing homage; each of
them being probably designated by the relationship in which
he stands to the new representative of Osiris. In the sculp¬
tures, the figures are generally less numerous ; the same
deities are commonly represented as on the painted coffins,
but without the repetition of the suppliant, and in an order
subject to some little variation. The large sarcophagus of
granite in the British Museum, brought from Cairo, and
formerly called the Lover’s Fountain, has the name of Apis,
as a part of the characteristic denomination.5 This circum¬
stance, at first sight, seemed to make it evident that it must
have been intended to contain the mummy of an Apis, for
which its magnitude renders it well calculated; but when
the symbols of other deities were found in the mystic names
upon various other monuments, this inference could no
longer be considered as absolutely conclusive.
Of the votive or dedicatory inscriptions, we find an inte¬
resting example on a small scale, in the engraving on the
bottom of a scarabaeus, very neatly sculptured in a softish
steatite, or lapis ollaris, brought from Egypt by Mr Legh.
It is remarkable for its simplicity, and
for affording an intelligible sense in all
its parts. The chain, the semicircle, and
the square block, mean clearly [To] the
beloved; the loop supporting a wreath
or crown, and the imperfect sitting figure,
resemble some of the titles often given
to Osiris, and, with the following oval,
pretty certainly signify of the great god ;
the throne, the semicircle, and the oval,
Isis; the sitting figure, the goddess; the looped wreath,
perhaps the great; the bird and circle, offspring of; the
hieralpha or plough, and the two feathers, Phthah; the
pillar, perhaps the powerful, but it is not distinctly formed ;
the beetle seems to be here a synonym or epithet of Phthah,
as if the father of all; the handled cross, the living; the
lute, the good ; the pyramid, the prosperous or glorious ; the
ring with the handle seems to be nearly synonymous with
the” chain, and may be rendered, in conjunction with die
line and the hieralpha, the approved of 1 hthah, an epithet
found in the inscription of Rosetta, the hatchet is the
deity ; the ring and handle, with the two lutes, approaches
near to the symbol for munificent (No. 154), and may be
called delighting in good gifts ; and the concluding ring and
staff or hatchet may either mean, this is dedicated, or may,
with rather more probability, be considered as a reduplica-
1 The meaning of this group is difficult to explain. Mr Birch proposed to the writer PETER-REF-SU, “ let it he interpreted to him,”
comparing the first word with the Hebrew, (n. S. P.)
2 This group signifies “ 0 ! ” and commences invocations. (R. S. P.)
4 On' tlm" llit uaf see Th e pr eface^f lips'iusto his valuable edition (Ben Todtenbuch der ^Egypter), and Bunsen, Egypt's Place, vd. i.,
p. 25, ef seqq. The contents are prayers to he said by the deceased during his journeys in the other world, and descriptions of these
J0U6rnTYe name of Apis enters into the composition of that of the person for whom this sarcophagus was made, Hapeemen, as already
mentioned, (r. s. p.)
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogly- tion of the beginning of the line, in an inverted position.1
phics. It may be remarked, that all the inscriptions on the scarabsei
run from right to left, as is most commonly observed wher¬
ever the direction was indifferent; so that if they were
used as seals, the impression must have assumed the form
which is somewhat less usual in other cases.
We have a most valuable example of a dedicatory in¬
scription on a larger scale in the decree preserved on the
Stone of Rosetta, which, besides its utility in affording the
only existing clue for deciphering the hieroglyphical cha¬
racters, gives us also a very complete idea of the general
style of the records of the Egyptian hierarchy. Of the
triumphal monuments the most magnificent are the obelisks,
which are reported by Pliny to have been dedicated to the
sun; and there is every reason to suppose that the transla¬
tion of one of these inscriptions, preserved by Ammianus
Marcellinus, after Hermapion, contains a true representa¬
tion of apart of its contents, more especially as “ the mighty
Apollo” of Hermapion agrees completely with the hawk, the
bull, and the arm, which usually occupy the beginning of
each inscription. These symbols are generally followed
by a number of pompous titles, not always very intimately
connected with each other, and among them we often find
that of “ Lord of the asp-bearing diadems,” with some
others immediately preceding the name and parentage of
the sovereign who is the principal subject of the inscription.
The obelisk at Heliopolis is without the bull; and the whole
inscription may be supposed to have signified something of
this kind: “ This Apollinean trophy is consecrated to the
honour of King Ramesses, crowned with an asp-bearing
diadem ; it is consecrated to the honour of the son of Heron,
the ornament of his country, beloved by Phthah, living for
ever; it is consecrated to the honour of the revered and
beneficent deity Ramesses, great in glory, superior to his
enemies ; by the decree of an assembly, to the powerful
and flourishing, whose life shall be without end.” It is true
that some parts of this interpretation are in great measure
conjectural; but none of it is altogether arbitrary, or un¬
supported by some probable analogy; and the spirit and
tenor of the inscription are probably unimpaired by the
alterations which this approximation to the sense may un¬
avoidably have introduced.
Of the obelisks still in existence, there are perhaps about
thirty larger and smaller, which maybe considered as genuine.
Several others are decidedly spurious, having been chiefly
sculptured at Rome in imitation of the Egyptian style, but
so negligently and unskilfully as to exhibit a striking dif¬
ference even in the character of the workmanship. Such
are the Pamphilian, in explanation of which the laborious
Kircher has published a folio volume, and the Barberinian
or Veranian. In both of these the emblems are put to¬
gether in a manner wholly arbitrary ; and where an attempt
is made to imitate the appearance of a name, the characters
are completely different at each repetition. I he Sallustian
obelisk has also been broken, and joined inaccurately, and
some modern restitutions have been very awkwardly intro¬
duced, as becomes evident upon comparing with each other
the figures of Kircher and of Zoega. Another very cele¬
brated monument, the Isiac table, which has been the sub¬
ject of much profound discussion, and has given birth to
many refined mythological speculations, is equally incapable
of supporting a minute examination upon solid grounds ; for
the inscriptions neither bear any relation to the figures near
which they are placed, nor form any connected sense of
their own ; and the whole is undoubtedly the work of a Ro¬
man sculptor, imitating only the general style and the sepa¬
rate delineations of the Egyptian tablets ; as indeed some
of the most learned and acute of our critical antiquaries had
407
already asserted, notwithstanding the contrary opinions of Hierogly-
several foreigners, of the highest reputation for their inti- phics.
mate acquaintance with the works of Greek and Roman
art. We may hoj)e, however, that in future these unpro¬
fitable discussions and disputes will become less and less
frequent, and that our knowledge of the antiquities of Egypt
will gain as much in the solidity and sufficiency of its evi¬
dence, as it may probably lose in its hypothetical symmetry
and its imaginary extent; and while we allow every latitude
to legitimate reasoning and cautious conjecture in the search
after historical truth, we must peremptorily exclude from
our investigations an attachment to fanciful systems and
presupposed analogies on the one hand, and a too implicit
deference to traditional authority on the other.
OBSERVATIONS ON DR YOUNG’S ANALYSIS.
In the following observations on the preceding essay it is Observa-
not intended to do more than correct the errors in principle tions of Dr
into which its writer fell. To correct, except by occasional Young’s
notes, all the faults of detail inevitable to the early stages of ana ^S1S*
such an investigation, would occupy much space that can
be more usefully employed. The reader will have seen that
he cannot rely upon the accuracy of all the interpretations
in Dr Young’s essay, and before accepting them, he will do
well to examine the later works referred to in this article.
Dr Young’s essay is, perhaps necessarily, very faulty in
arrangement, since it gives us rather the record of the pro¬
gress of his inquiry, than the results of that inquiry placed
in a systematic form. His method of examination need
not here be further commented on, except that it should
be granted that in the first instance he displayed extraordi¬
nary skill, and undoubtedly deserves the credit of having
discovered the means of interpreting the hieroglyphic, hie¬
ratic, and demotic characters.
Dr Young ascertained the identity of the three modes of
writing, though he was in error in calling the linear hiero¬
glyphic, hieratic, and in making what is now called the hie¬
ratic identical with the demotic. He was correct in his
supposition that the demotic expressed a vulgar dialect.
He supposed the characters, whether hieroglyphic, hieratic,
or demotic, to be either phonetic or ideographic, and if
phonetic to be syllabic or alphabetic, a single character in
the former case expressing a monosyllable or a dissyllable,
which was the name of the object which it represented. It
is very remarkable that he was near the truth in this case
in principle, but that he applied the principle to words for
which it was not employed. It has been since proved
by Dr Lepsius that the Egyptians had syllabic characters ;
but these were almost if not wholly disused for foreign
names at the period to which the Rosetta Stone belongs.
These syllabic characters, however, are rarely objects stand¬
ing for their names, and they are not in so large a proportion
to the phonetic signs as Dr Young supposed. He was in
error in not sufficiently recognising the existence of homo-
phonous characters, which were very numerous at the time
when the Rosetta Stone was sculptured, though much fewer
in earlier periods. He seems also not to have understood
the principle of determinatives in the hieroglyphic method,
although he detected them in the demotic or hieratic. His
two most important results were the separation into phonetic
characters of the hieroglyphic names of Ptolemy and Bere¬
nice. Here his progress was arrested, and he did little fur¬
ther beyond ascertaining the meaning and sound of demotic
words, the comparatively scanty alphabet of which system
hindered him from discovering the general application of the
principle of homophones in late hieroglyphic writing.
1 This inscription is either an Arab forgery, or ancient, but executed by some artist who aid not correctly understand the characters.
(r.s.p.)
408
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogly¬
phics.
Champol-
lion’s dis¬
coveries.
Merits of
Young and
Champol-
lion.
C!hev. Bun¬
sen’s criti¬
cism of
Young.
Champollion le Jeune, following Young’s discoveries,
formed the conjecture that the phonetic hieroglyphics
were simply alphabetic, and at once commenced an exa¬
mination of royal names, thus putting the hypothesis to
the test. The result, based on partial error, was brilliantly
successful, and it was not long before he was enabled to
publish, in the year 1822, his Lettre a M. Dacier, con¬
taining a considerable number of alphabetic characters.
Abandoning the demotic, Champollion set himself to apply
this alphabet to all tbe hieroglyphic documents within his
reach, and in his Precis, published two years subsequently
(in 1824), he astonished the world with a relatively com¬
plete system of hieroglyphics, which subsequent discoveries
have not much altered except in principle. His great mis¬
take was not seeing that some phonetic characters were
syllabic; but this error did not affect his results, since he
bad to deal for the most part with inscriptions in which the
alphabetic characters had mostly supplanted the syllabic,
which were formerly more intermixed with them, and he
explained the syllabic signs to be abbreviations. By his
Grammaire Egyptienne and his Dictionnaire, Champollion
deservedly took the highest rank among Egyptologists, and
it is not a little remarkable that since his death scarcely
more has been done in addition to his results than was
done before he took up the study.
Young and Champollion contended in their lifetime for
the honour of having discovered the interpretation of hiero¬
glyphics, and their friends have not ceased to maintain the
controversy. Too much acrimony was displayed by both
the principals, and Champollion was unquestionably guilty
of unfairness in endeavouring to establish his claim. The
truth is, that neither can merit the claim of undivided
discovery. Young, indeed, first read the mysterious
characters, but his reading was not correct until Champol¬
lion had taken it up. Certainly Champollion was unable
to discover what Young discovered ; but it is equally sure
that Young could not apply the discovery as did Champol¬
lion. It is most unfair to say that Young did little when
he made the first step, and it is no less unfair to decry Cham¬
pollion as a fortunate guesser when we see how little has
been effected since his death. The abilities of these two
great men are distinct; and while we admire the patience,
the scientific skill, and the varied knowledge of Young, we
need not undervalue the marvellous felicity of conjecture,
power of comparison, and accuracy, which distinguished
Champollion.
It might have been reasonably hoped that an Egyptolo¬
gist who is neither an Englishman nor a Frenchman, would
have been unswayed by any party feeling in estimating the
merits of Young’s discovery. Chevalier Bunsen appears,
however, as a partizan of Champollion, and instead of point¬
ing out the singular merits of the two great rivals, endea¬
vours to raise the one at the expense of the other. The
German scholar’s observations are so ingenious that they
cannot be considered except in some detail. After speak¬
ing of Dr Young’s high acquirements in the physical and
mathematical sciences, he goes on to mention his attempt
to interpret the Egyptian characters. “ His acute mind was
not contented with studying the enchorial inscription. He
contemplated also the deciphering of the hieroglyphic cha¬
racter, and applied to both texts a method, in which, and
in his mode of following it out, we recognise rather the
sagacity of the experienced mathematician than the native
genius of the philologer.” This passage is the first of a
series of criticisms which seem too much as if intended
to be accepted unhesitatingly, without examination. In
an inquiry of this kind we should have expected, in the
first instance, better results from the close reasoning of a
mind trained to high mathematical processes than from the
speculations of a philologer, which would be rather valuable Hierogly.
in the second stage, as indeed was proved in this very case, phics.
We find no especial fault with the account of the subse-
quent results of Young’s studies, until the criticism of his
famous essay. Of this it is said, with reference to the opi¬
nions he had previously formed, “ So firmly were these
views impressed on his mind, that his closer and more phi¬
lological limitation and definition of them, in his treatise of
1819 on the Language and Writing of the Egyptians,1
which, however, formed an epoch in the inquiry, led him in
many points still further from the truth, and in no instance
to any certain or philologically accurate result. Afterwards,
indeed, he was led clearly to perceive the difference between
the hieratic and enchorial writing, chiefly by a more care¬
ful collation of the demotic papyri; but he calls the latter
a second corrupt form of the hieroglyphics, the hieratic cha¬
racter being the first. He gives no proof of this ; indeed
his method neither aims at nor admits of any strict philolo¬
gical demonstration ; but, besides, the assumption is incor¬
rect. It is as impossible to deduce and explain the demotic
from the hieratic character as it is false to define it to be
purely alphabetical, as Akerblad has done.” The fault here
found with Dr Young is his unacquaintance with a method
of philological inquiry which maybe said to have been but
in its infancy when he wrote, and his results are unjustly
estimated. It would have been more satisfactory had we
been told how it was that a treatise which “ formed an
epoch in the inquiry” did not express “ any certain or philo¬
logically accurate result.” The concluding sentence of
the quotation given above is perhaps its most extraordi¬
nary portion, and we may ask from what the demotic cha¬
racters are to be deduced if not from the hieratic; and
that Chevalier Bunsen does derive the former from the
latter is evident from the transcriptions of a hieroglyphic
passage into hieratic and demotic (taken from Lepsius), at
p. 594 of the volume from which we quote. Perhaps the
meaning is, that the hieratic does not afford direct means
of interpreting the demotic, since the one expresses the
sacred, the other the vulgar dialect, although the characters
of the second were derived from those of the first; but the
criticism should have been more distinct. Chevalier Bun¬
sen continues as follows :—“ There was, however, one very
happy result of his speculations embodied in this treatise,
and which, by the impression it made upon Champollion,
led to the greatest discovery of the century, the alphabet
of the old Egyptian language and character. But it would
be a very false view of the matter to suppose that he arrived
at it by a scientific process, or upon any principle of induc¬
tive analysis. His continued comparison of demotic, hie¬
ratic, and hieroglyphic groups—for these, and not their in¬
dividual elements, were the sole data for the exercise of his
inventive faculties—led him, indeed, to the inference that
the rings on the Rosetta Stone and other monuments con¬
tained the names of kings, which, as we have seen, had al¬
ready occurred to Barthelemy and Zoega.” This citation
contains a more distinct opinion on Dr Young’s result and
his method. The former is diminished into an impression
on Champollion’s mind which “led to the greatest discovery
of the century,” where we must notice that the other great
parallel discovery, which is fully equal to that of the reading
of hieroglyphics, is ignored : it was made by an Englishman.
As to the method, it is expressly denied that it was one of
inductive analysis, and in the next sentence its essentially
inductive character is proved. We do not think that the
first stages of any inquiry of this sort can be conducted on
strictly scientific principles, however easy it may be to apply
such principles to their result. Champollion, whose mar¬
vellous success places him at the very head of acute deci¬
pherers, cannot be said to have used a scientific process
i*
Supplement to the Encyc. Evit., vol. iv.. Dec. 1819.
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogly except that he was guided by inductive reasoning. His
409
phics
Later re¬
searches.
Grammaire is absurdly unscientific in form. But both he
and Young reasoned generally by induction, of which he
indeed made the greater use, and neither is to be condemned
for not having put his results into better shape, through a
want of acquaintance with methods of arrangement subse¬
quently matured. In pursuing the criticism, which we have
not space to continue to examine in detail, Chevalier Bunsen
finds fault with Young for a conclusion which, although in his
case “a ‘certain kind of syllabic system,’ in itself a very
obscure and uncritical expression,” becomes in Lepsius’s
hands “ a brilliant discovery” (p. 332). Young did indeed
discover the original principle of nearly all, if not all, the
phonetic characters, but failed by applying the original
principle to their most debased use. The discovery is
therefore to be attributed to Young, not to Lepsius, and his
application of it seems to us to be an evidence of the aban¬
donment of simple induction for the more refined process
which Chevalier Bunsen recommends. The whole criti¬
cism is based on an admission of the inapplicability of the
first principles of the Egyptian modes of writing to which
philologers have at length arrived, to the late records by
which Young and Champollion discovered the interpreta¬
tion of the characters. Young’s success was mainly re¬
tarded by his adhering too rigidly to a philosophic method:
Champollion’s was mainly advanced by his setting simple
induction above all other means of arriving at the truth. We
have dwelt at some length on Chevalier Bunsen’s observa¬
tions,1 because w^e think that they are calculated to injure
the reputation of Dr Young by their low estimate of his abili¬
ties, and the use to which he put them, and we are gratified
to find our views corroborated by those of Dr Peacock and
Mr Leitch, in the Life and Wor Its of Dr Young, respectively.
Having thus endeavoured to indicate the respective
merits of Young and Champollion, rendering honour to
each without robbing the other, we have yet to sketch the
subsequent progress of discovery after the publication of
the Precis. As soon as the learned had thus been enabled
to profit by the results of Young’s and Champollion’s re¬
searches, the interpretation of the hieroglyphics ceased to
be confined to those who had discovered it. For a time,
however, inquirers were rather engaged with the historical
results of these discoveries in identifying the names of
sovereigns of Egypt mentioned by ancient writers with
those occurring on the monuments, than in philological
questions. Mr Salt and Colonel Felix did much to apply
the system to the monuments, and Mr, now Sir, Gardner
\\ ilkinson was one of the first to make himself master of
the new discovery, and to attempt the reconstruction of
Egyptian history ; and his earliest work, the Materia Hiero-
glyphica, evidences the importance of the fruits of his in¬
quiry. Dr Young himself pursued his Egyptian researches,
particularly in the enchorial, of his great progress in which
we may judge by the posthumous Egyptian Dictionary.
Champollion, however, carried much further than any others
the study of the Egyptian characters. Having been sent,
by the liberality of the French government, on a scientific
expedition to Egypt, he there collected materials for the
Grammar and Dictionary which appeared after his lamented
death. Ihe Tuscan expedition, conducted at the same
time by Professor Rosellini, had no small share in promot¬
ing the knowledge of hieroglyphics, but its head was unable
to give to philology more than an incidental attention. The
next step was taken by Dr Lepsius, who, in his Letter to
KoseHini, made public an important modification of Cham¬
pollion s views, by showing that the greater number of
phonetic hieroglyphics were, until a late period, syllabic
not alphabetic, thus proving the correctness of Young’s Hierogly.
theory. The same scholar was afterwards sent on a scien- phics.
tific mission to Egypt and Ethiopia by the King of Prussia,
and the result of his labours is the magnificent Denkmaler
aus yEgypten und /Ethiopien, now in course of publication.
Five other living scholars have done good service as suc¬
cessors of Champollion, the Rev. Dr Hincks, Mr Birch,
and the Rev. Dunbar Heath, in our own country; M. de
Rouge in France; and Dr Heinrich Brugsch in Prussia. Dr
Hincks and Mr Birch have from time to time discovered
the signification of hieroglyphic groups previously unknown,
and have published many very valuable papers. Mr Heath
lias applied himself to the study of the hieratic papyri, and
lias proved himself to be well acquainted with their contents.
M. de Rouge has proved his ability by his critical examina¬
tion of part of a very remarkable inscription in a tomb at
Eilethyas, of which he has given an account in a memoir
read to the Institute of France, wherein much new and valu¬
able philological information is to be found, and has pub¬
lished many interesting papers. But it is to Dr Brugsch that
we are indebted for the first great philological work which has
appeared since Champollion’s Grammaire and Dictionnaire.
Notwithstanding the dryness of the study, he has indefati-
gably applied himself to the demotic character, and has been
enabled at last to make public, in his Grammaire Demotique,
a complete account of that difficult system. He has also
done much to advance the knowledge of hieroglyphics.
When we contemplate the brilliant results that have
already rewarded those who have devoted themselves to the
pursuit of the studies which Young and Champollion ren¬
dered practicable to the learned world, it is disheartening
to see so few engaged in the cultivation of these branches
of learning. So much was, however, achieved by Cham¬
pollion, that if any one possessing the same qualifications
should now take up the study, we might hope for the most
remarkable results. At the same time, the field is so wide
and so rich, that there is room for all to labour, and a cer¬
tainty that none will go away unrewarded.
Before proceeding to the examination of what is known liesults of
respecting the ancient Egyptian language, it will be desir- interpreta-
able to give a summary of the main results of its interpre- tion> and
tation, and the chief reasons for the correctness of that in- feasons for
terpretation principally deduced from external evidence. ness0™^
The results of the interpretation of an unknown language
may be divided into the philological and the historical, the
former concerning the language itself, the latter the ideas
which it expresses. The former class must be again sepa¬
rated into the characteristics of the language by itself, and
those characteristics which refer to comparative philology,
and here philology is connected with history. The second
class may be conveniently separated into three divisions,—
the first containing the purely historical results, the second
those illustrating religion, and the third, those relating to
manners and customs, as well as the results bearing on
science and art. This class must be considered with refer¬
ence, in the present case, both to the Egyptians and to the
nations connected with them. So large a subject can only
be treated, as it were, in outline, for to enter into it fully
would demand more space than is devoted to the whole of
this article.2
First, as to the Egyptian language itself. We can now The Egyp-
form a very just opinion of its characteristics. The method tian lan-
of writing, the sounds, the nature of the roots, the grammar, guage.
are all, more or less, known to us, and it is hardly too much
to say, that if the study is prosecuted with perseverance
and zeal, the time may not be far distant at which Egyp¬
tian wdll be as well understood as Latin. Already, enough
1 Egypt's Place, vol. i., p. 316, et seqq.
Some part of the following observations may seem like a repetition of the Introduction, but it may be remarked that that portion of
his essay is a summary of what is here given in more detail.
YOL. XI. 3 p
410
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogly- has been done to enable the student to ascertain the gene-
phics. ra( pm-port 0f any document. If it be an historical tablet,
for example, he can say that it is dated in a certain year of
a sovereign of a particular dynasty, and that it refers, for
example, to the subjugation of some country, and the
carrying away captive of some of its inhabitants. The
exact period at which the sovereign reigned, or even his
dynasty, may indeed be uncertain, to a greater or less de¬
gree, the country mentioned may be difficult or impossible
to identify with any known region, and many details may
be hard to explain, yet the general sense will be clearly
made out, and the historical fact recorded on the tablet
ascertained more or less certainly. With the religious re¬
cords the case is not dissimilar, although, in their case, ob¬
viously much of the meaning must be lost by our being
often unable to translate every word even approximatively.
Yet we know enough to form a clear opinion of the most
important doctrines of the religion, as we do of the leading
events of tiie history; and an increased knowledge of the
language is not likely of itself to lead to any very important
results in either branch of inquiry.
We may here notice the strong evidence of the antiquity
of the Egyptian language to be found in that language it¬
self, and in the hieroglyphic method of writing it. The
monosyllabic roots, and the virtual absence of inflexion and
composition, prove its extreme age, while the system of
hieroglyphics having probably its origin in picture-writing,
is of itself an evidence of the same kind ; and, if we exa¬
mine the most ancient form of this system, our opinion will
receive additional strength.
Another important result of Young’s and Champollion’s
discoveries must not be overlooked—the proof thus ob¬
tained, that the Coptic is but a later form of the language of
the ancient Egyptians, and thus essentially the same. It was
indeed to be expected that the language expressed by the
ancient characters should bear a strong resemblance to the
Coptic; but that this resemblance should be as close as
it has proved could scarcely have been anticipated. It is,
however, readily explained, when we consider the neces¬
sarily unchangeable character of the language. In the dia¬
lect of Egyptian expressed by the demotic method of writ¬
ing we have a record of the transition from the dialect of
the hieroglyphics to the Coptic.
The importance of the Egyptian language to compara¬
tive philology is beginning to be understood. It forms a
connecting link between the so-called Semitic group and
an unknown family of languages ; besides that its records
are more ancient than those of any other form of human
speech. We are also able to trace in it evidences of the
influence of immigrations from the East, as in the presence
of more than one derivative word which must have been
taken direct from the Hebrew, or a sister language, since it
is not formed in the Egyptian manner.
Historical Those results of the interpretation of the Egyptian cha-
results of racters which illustrate the history and condition of the
the inter- world in early times far outshine those which we have been
pretation. noticing; and in their congruity, and their accordance with
the statements of ancient writers, furnish the most conclu¬
sive evidence of the correctness of the system by which
they have been obtained. We now possess a history from
contemporary monuments, extending, with few considerable
breaks, through a period of about twenty-six centuries, or,
as some hold, through a still longer time. This history pre¬
sents no internal discordance, and there is no forced agree¬
ment between its different parts. The progress of art on
the monuments whence we derive the history most satisfac¬
torily confirms it, as do the statements of ancient writers.
The testimony of these last is not to be overlooked, more
especially as it has not come so much from expected as
from unexpected sources. Thus, admiration for the beau¬
tiful style and evident truthfulness of Herodotus had induced
mrogty-
phics.
most scholars to prefer his statemeuuj iwopecung Egyptian
history to the dry fragments of the native historian Mane-
tho. But they should have remembered that Herodotus v'—
was but a visitor and a stranger, and that his veracity did
not ensure that of his informers; and that, on the other
hand, Manetho was an Egyptian priest, well versed, no
doubt, in the ancient literature of his country, and probably
commissioned by his sovereign to write its history. It is
therefore no matter for surprise that Manetho has received
the most ample confirmation, while many of the statements
of Herodotus have been found to be incorrect, or absolutely
false. Another important circumstance is that of the oc¬
currence of the names of the sovereigns of the House of
Eagus, and of many of the Roman emperors, on the monu¬
ments, in entire accordance with the history of the period.
But while the history of Egypt itself is thus restored, we
are enabled from the same sources to throw light upon the
annals of neighbouring nations. An Egyptian record has
been discovered of one important event in Hebrew history,
the subjection of Judah to Sheshonk I., or Shishak, and
many other facts illustrative of the Bible have become
known. The early history of the Greeks has received im¬
portant light from the Egyptian records, no less than that
of the nations nearer to Egypt, and this illustrative or
corroborative evidence is being constantly increased by
fresh discoveries.
The information as to the Egyptian religion which w^e
have gained through the interpretation of the ancient cha¬
racters has been almost wholly new. Previously, we had
scarcely any reliable account even of its principal tenets
and observances under the Romans. Now, we are ac¬
quainted not only with such general particulars of its state
under the early Pharaohs, but we have been able partly to
interpret and explain its sacred book. The results have
corroborated what trustworthy information the Greek and
Roman writers had handed down to us on this subject, and
we are again able to elucidate wider questions than any re¬
specting particular points of the Egyptian religion, for we
can trace in it marks of different origins, and discover re¬
mains of what can only have been a patriarchal revealed
religion. (See article Egypt.)
Besides the light thus thrown upon the history and re¬
ligion of the people of ancient Egypt, we, for the first time,
gain a clear idea of their life and manners, of their litera¬
ture, and their arts and sciences. We are astonished to
find the height of their civilization, and the extent of their
knowledge. But it is not only with respect to them
that we gain this valuable information, for their records
are not silent respecting neighbouring nations. Besides,
we are able to say that this or that scientific fact was
known to mankind at least as early as a particular date,
that of the Egyptian monument on which we discover its
most ancient mention. In this manner we can state that,
probably steel was used in the time of the building of the
Great Pyramid, since in a tomb of that period a man is re¬
presented slaughtering an ox with a knife painted blue.
From time to time we find fresh evidence of the high de¬
gree of knowledge which obtained in the remotest periods
of Egyptian history, periods not far distant from the most
probable date of the Dispersion of Noah’s descendants;
and we are thus led to form more correct notions from facts
than we had previously done from theories with respect to
such doctrines as those of progressive improvement.
From these particulars it is manifest that we can no Evidences
more over-estimate the importance of the results which have of the t.ruth
already flowed from the new source of knowledge opened of the in‘
by Young and Champollion, than we can calculate the va- 8
lue of what may reward further inquiries. On this matter
it is needless to insist, but it will not be without use to
point out the resistless evidence that is afforded of the truth
of the system of interpretation which has led to such results.
Hierogly¬
phics.
Evidence
from king’s
names.
Evidence
from quad-
rilingual
inscrip¬
tions.
HIEROGLYPHICS.
411
When we hear in mind the various records from which
these facts have been drawn, by several rival scholars who
have worked to the same results in different countries and
at separate times, we find in the consistency of the results at
which they have arrived, the most conclusive evidence of
the correctness of the method they have employed. And
we are firmly persuaded that any one who will take the
trouble to verify for himself these deductions, or merely one
class of them, will, except he be unfortunately the victim of
a scepticism which no evidence will overthrow, rise from the
examination firmly convinced of the truth of this method
of interpretation. In order, however, to show that it does
not depend for the proof of its truth upon the harmony of
its results alone, some separate evidences are here added.
After a little progress had been made in the reading of
hieroglyphics, travellers in Egypt began to attempt the
identification of the kings’ names found on the monu¬
ments with those occurring in the works of ancient writers.
Among the most certain of these identifications were those
of the names of the builders of the three most famous pyra¬
mids, according to the hieroglyphic orthography, Shufu or
Chufu, Shafra or Chafra, and Menkura. These names
corresponded to the Suphis, or Cheops, the Chephren, or
Kephren, and the Mencheres, Mykerinos, or Mecherinos,
of the historians. This identification was based upon the
similarity of sound and the circumstance that the names
occurred in the inscriptions of tombs near the Pyramids of
El-Geezeh, until the results of the late General Vyse’s
expedition threw an unexpected light upon the matter. In
the course of the examination of the Great Pyramid by
that expedition, some chambers were discovered which had
never been previously opened since the edifice was raised.
These new apartments were a series of entresols, one above
the other, over the King’s Chamber, intended to lighten the
weight of the superincumbent masonry. In them were
found marks scrawled on the stones by the masons who cut
them from the quarry, or placed them in their present posi¬
tion.1 These marks were therefore contemporary with the
building of the pyramid. In them occur the names of
two sovereigns, Shufu and Num-shufu, one of whom had
been previously concluded to be the builder of the pyramid,
and the other the next king of his dynasty. Nor was this
all. In the examination of the Third Pyramid, a portion
of a mummy-case was discovered bearing an inscription
which proved that it originally inclosed the body of King
Menkura, who had been before identified wdth the Men¬
cheres, or Mykerinos, who founded this monument.2 No
one will be rash enough to assert that these are fortuitous
coincidences.
Very striking evidence is afforded by certain quadrilin-
gual cuneiform and hieroglyphic inscriptions, which are the
more valuable from their showing that the three systems
of arrow-headed writing have received a true interpretation
no less than the ancient Egyptian characters. Two ex¬
amples of quadrilingual inscriptions of this character are
known to exist in modern collections. They are on vases,
one of which is known as that of the Comte de Caylus, and
the other is in the treasury of St Mark’s at Venice, and are Hierogly-
in hieroglyphics and the three kinds of cuneiform charac- phics.
ters, expressing the names and titles of Persian sovereigns.
The systems of Young and Champollion on the one hand,
and of Grotefend and his successors on the other, will be
found, without any change or modification, to afford the
same reading in their respective languages to the double
inscriptions.3 Since this evidence cannot be set aside,
some will admit that the royal names can be correctly read
in Egyptian, but that nothing further has been satisfactorily
determined. But when this concession is made, the truth
of the whole system is at once of necessity admitted. As
M. de Rouge has very justly remarked, two forms of the
royal names afford examples of every mode by which ideas
were expressed in hieroglyphics.4 And not only is the
truth of the method thus proved, but from the royal names
we can form an alphabet that will afford a sufficient basis of
interpretation.
The most complete and remarkable confirmation which Evidence
the interpretation of the Egyptian characters has received from Cha:-
is afforded by the recent discovery of a fragment, or a series remon*
of citations, of the lost work of Chaeremon on hieroglyphics.
This valuable evidence we owe to the research of Mr Birch,
who has brought it forward and criticised it with his usual
skill and learning, in a paper read to the Royal Society of
Literature.5 Referring to this paper for the complete de¬
tails, it will not be necessary here to do more than point to
the main results, and cite the passage in which the fragment
is preserved.6 Chaeremon was an Egyptian by birth, a sa¬
cred scribe, and keeper of the Library of Alexandria towards
the close of the first century of the Christian Era. He was
known to have written an Egyptian history, and to have
been the author of a work entitled TepoyAv^t/cd. It is of
this work that Mr Birch discovered a fragment in the Com¬
mentary on the Iliad by Tzetzes the grammarian. The
passage in question contains the explanation of nineteen
hieroglyphic signs, whereof three have more meanings
than one, making altogether twenty-six significations. Of
these, fifteen agree with the results of Young’s and Cham-
pollion’s method, and have been for the most part long
known, and are thus certain. Three are probably, and
other three possibly, to be placed in the same class, from
their similarity ; while but five are positively unknown, and
there is no contradiction. Considering the short time that
the method of interpretation has been discovered, and the
confessedly imperfect state of the study as regards what
we may call the vocabulary, intending by that term words,
however written, this agreement is greater than could
have been expected, and furnishes the most conclusive
confirmation of the truth of Young’s discovery. Those
who require mathematical demonstration in arguments
which can only be treated by the laws which apply to the
examination of evidence will no doubt be disappointed.
But such we would ask to demonstrate mathematically
any one historical fact, or even their own existence. We
are firmly convinced that the interpretation of the Egyptian
characters is capable of the most convincing proof, and that
1 Pyramids of Gizeh (fol. plates). Great Pyramid, pis. v., vi., vii. 2 Id. Third Pyramid, pi. vi.
3 Rawlinson in Journ. As. Soc., vol. x., pp. 339, 347, 348. 4 Tombeau <VAhmet, p. 2, note 1.
6 Trans. Roy. Soc. Lit., 2d Series, vol. Hi., p. 385.
6 '0//,yi(>o; ()£, •xcttiiivSiis Bs croiactv fAct^Yituv itc tuv av/^lioLix-Zv K&io'ttix.uv , zoti/Tct (pYirjiv' oi yu.o Aidiotreg
OTO/p^s/ot '/(’Uft/xuruv oi/x. £y,ov(uu, i&Kh oLwr otiiTCuV TrxvToix, xxi ftihri tovtuv. xat fiov'ho/x.svot yxQ oi x^yxioTigot ruv uoo-
y(>oi/biluciTit*)!/ rou Trifii ktai/ (pvoixoi/ Aoyov x.(>v7rreiv, <5/ ccLhyiyogtxai/ xxi ovf/.(56'Kuij toiovtuv x,xt y^xfxfxxruv Toig T£x,votg xvtx
vx^toioovv, u; 6 l£^oy£xp.pxTtvs Xce/g^aji/ <p»<rb xxl xi/rt /xiv ycx^xg, yvvxixx Tv/xKXVi£ov<rxv tygxCpoi/' xi/ri ’Kv'Trri;, xu^^oivov ry
Xttql TO yev£iou X.QXTOVVTX, xxi 5rgoV vevoi/TX- XVTI li crvp(pO(>x;, 6(p$xh/x6v ’hxx^vovrx’ xvri rov pi) ‘i-jcuv, li/o X£ioxs x.£vx; ix.mxp.tvx;’
xvti xvxTo'hri;, oCptv i%s(>x6pevov tx. tivo; oVijj' xvti 'hvotu;, tiatQ^optvov' xvri xvxfiiatrtu;, (ixrpx^ov' xvrl -J/vx'/);, itnxxx' in x.x\ dvrl
rihiov xxi Seov' xvti SyT^vyovov yvvxixo;, xxi pyr^o;, xxi xgovou, xxi ovgxvov, yvTx' dvri (ixot'Kta;, ptkwaxv xvri ytviotu; xxi xino-
(pvdv xxi xQgtvav, xxvbxgov' xvt'i yij;, /3oi/v’ "hiovTo; TyoTopy txgxv x^yyiV y,xi Qv'hxxyv Zy'hoi xxr xvtov;' ov^x 'Kiovto;, dvxyxyv’
£7\x(po;, ivixvTOv’ opoiu; 6 (pohifr 6 %xi; lyhoi tx xi)%,xvoptvx‘ d yi^uv, tx (f)9sti^op£vx' to to%,ov, Tyv o^i'txv Ivvxpiv’ xxi ht^x pv^tx' (p. 123,
ed. Hermann.) tuv Kiinotrixuv y^xppxTuv Aid ...****** 'S.xt^ypuv §£ d isgoygxppxTtv; oLyv jitfiKov crtgi rdv toiovtuv
y^xppxTUv avvtTx\iv’ (p. 146).
412
Hierogly'
phics.
HIEROGLYPHICS.
guage.
if we have not produced that proof in its strongest form, we
have adduced evidence that will enable more practised lo-
gicians to do this in an irresistible manner. This has cer¬
tainly not been hitherto done, partly because one who is
firmly convinced of the truth of any system is often unable
from that conviction to place himself in an independent
position, so as to prove his case, and falls into the error of
arguing in a circle; and partly because those who have
studied hieroglyphics have felt that it would not be worth
while to attempt to prove the truth of what is shown by
its results to be true. Some have thought, too, that it
would be derogatory to reply to the objections of those who
seemed to condemn a new study simply because it was
new, or sat in judgment on a cause without making them¬
selves acquainted with the language of those who pleaded
it. We may now pass on to the next portion of our sub¬
ject—an examination of the ancient Egyptian language;
and this will afford to the philologer the most satisfactory
evidence, not alone of the truth of the system of interpre¬
tation, but of the accuracy of its details.
SECTION III.
THE EGYPTIAN LANGUAGE.
Philologi- The Egyptian language has not yet been classed by the
cal place of generai agreement of the learned in the so-called Semitic
cian^lan^" S1"011?? or as belonging to another family. Several of those
best acquainted with this language, particularly Bunsen,
Lepsius, and Benfey, the last of whom treats only of its
Coptic form, have come to the conclusion that it must be
assigned to the Semitic class, while their arguments have
been answered by Ewald, Renan, and others, who maintain
it to be essentially distinct, and representing the earliest form
of what may be called Hamitic languages, if such a group
can be made out. Bunsen, in his late work on compara¬
tive philology, even goes so far as to assert the Egyptian
to be the earliest form of Semitic speech. He, and those
who more or less hold with him, find in the almost perfect
identity of the Egyptian and Hebrew pronouns, and in other
less striking points, conclusive evidence ; while their oppo¬
nents maintain the essential distinction of the two languages,
and the impossibility of tracing one to the other by any known
principle of change.1 Those who support the former theory
are most distinguished as comparative philologers, but their
opponents are rather known for their acquaintance with Se¬
mitic languages. The opinion of these last, therefore, that
the Egyptian cannot be of the Semitic stock, must not be
set aside without good reason, although its acceptance has
seemed to involve a dilemma. In a recent work, a theory
has been proposed which harmonizes the results of the in¬
quirers on each side. Therein it is suggested that the
Egyptians were a mixed race sprung from a settlement of
Noachians, that is, philologically, a people having a Semitic
speech, for the Semitic, it is argued, must not be restricted
to the descendants of Shem, among an aboriginal popula¬
tion possessing a language resembling in its essence the
Chinese. Thus the Egyptian, in the main a non-Semitic
tongue, might naturally present essential Semitic pecu¬
liarities.2
It is impossible, however, in the present state of compa¬
rative philology, the imperfections of which are shown by
its having led its most distinguished students to such dif¬
ferent views as those of Bunsen and Ewald with respect to
the Egyptian language, for us to push the inquiry any fur¬
ther, and endeavour to determine how much of that lan¬
guage is actually Semitic and how much non-Semitic. Far
less can we determine on philological grounds when the Hierogly
Semitic element was introduced, nor to which Semitic phics."
tongue it may be most reasonably referred.
Various influences affect the change of languages so dif¬
ferently that induction seems only to lead us to the most
general conclusions. Thus, in America, we find numerous
languages almost wholly differing in their vocabulary, but
almost identical in their grammar. In the so-called In¬
do-European class, on the other hand, we see languages
differing in their roots little more than do dialects of one
tongue, yet distinguished by remarkable variations in their
grammar. The physical condition of a race, its mental state,
its intercourse with other races, produce results that forbid
us to establish strict general laws of change, and if such is
the case as to philology in itself, it is so in a much higher
degree with reference to its application to history. If we
carefully investigate the linguistic changes that have oc¬
curred to certain races, or the inhabitants of certain coun¬
tries, within periods of which we know the history, we shall
perceive again the difficulty of establishing strict general
laws, and the dangers which attend an attempt to restore
history by means of comparative philology. Whether we
hold these views or not, our means of judging will be ren¬
dered more numerous by the most accurate outline that
we can obtain of the structure and history of every language
of mankind. Such an outline and history it will be our
endeavour here to give of the language of the ancient
Egyptians.
I. GRAMMATICAL SKETCH OF THE ANCIENT Grammar.
EGYPTIAN LANGUAGE.
§ 1.—SOUNDS,
Our knowledge of the sounds, or vowels and consonants, Sounds,
of the ancient Egyptian language, must be derived from a
comparison of the Coptic alphabet with the hieroglyphic
and demotic alphabets founded upon the Egyptian render¬
ings of proper names, &c., independently of the Coptic.
The first step in this inquiry will be to reduce the Coptic
alphabet by rejecting those letters which were simply intro¬
duced to express Greek words, as well as those which are
properly compound. In the next place we shall endeavour
to ascertain whether any letters of the alphabet thus re¬
duced are proper to one dialect alone, either of the Cop¬
tic or of the more ancient language; and having thus de¬
termined, as nearly as may be, how many letters composed
the alphabet of the sacred dialect of Egyptian, we shall strive
to fix within certain limits their sound. When it is remem¬
bered that the pronunciation of some letters of the Greek
and Latin alphabets is still matter of controversy among the
learned, any one will admit that a perfectly exact result is
not to be expected in the present case. But if we take
care to separate in our minds the question as to the corre¬
spondence of a letter in Egyptian to one in Coptic, or in
another language, from that of its exact sound in either lan¬
guage, we shall not only avoid error, but find the results of
our inquiry in reality much more definite than we should
have supposed. It matters very little, for example, whether
we pronounce the Greek ^ as a ^ or as a German ch, so
long as we do not found philological arguments on its sound.
It is something to know that x and k have distinct though
related sounds, and that they correspond to certain letters
in kindred languages.
The letters of the Coptic alphabet are thirty-one in num- Coptic
ber, and are written as follows :— alphabet.
^ilu2v.e^He!K^Mff£onpcrrYcI>x'4>‘
Though we might agree with M. Renan in considering the pronouns, which show the most important points of agreement with
Semitic languages, to be linguistically accidental, yet they are logically essential since they cannot have been accidentally introduced,
for how can we suppose a language without pronouns ? Histoire Generale des langues Semitiques, vol. i., p. 72, et seqq.
2 The Genesis of the Earth and of Man, pp. 210, et seqq.
n
HIEROGLYPHICS.
413
lierogly- (JL) cy CJ g ^ They are taken from the Greek
Phic8- alphabet, which is comprehended entire in the Coptic, with
the addition of six characters, adopted from the demotic and
hieratic systems, and one compound character. On re¬
ferring to the lexicons, we find that five of the Greek letters,
Y ^ and \j/, are not employed for Coptic words, ex¬
cept for an extremely small number, none of which are
common roots, and some of which are of doubtful authen¬
ticity.1 These letters have been used for the Greek words
which are so numerous in Coptic literature, and cannot
properly be assigned to the language. In the next place
we must exclude ^1"? as a compound letter. Twenty-five
characters remain, which form the genuine Coptic alphabet.
Certain of these letters, however, are peculiar to one dialect,
being very generally substituted for other letters, and there¬
fore represent a particular pronunciation. Whether this
pronunciation be the right one or not, we are warranted in
excluding the letters which represent it as dialectal variations.
The letters in question are -0- c|> and which are pe¬
culiar to the Memphitic dialect,2 and very generally take the
place of T K IT and g, in the other dialects, being the
aspirated forms of those letters. In addition to these we
find and p very often interchanged, and p almost always
replaced by in the Bashmuric dialect. The confusion of
these two letters is evidenced by our finding Cornelius written
Koprmpioc.3 T he frequent interchange of X and
is another case of the same kind, and we are warranted in
concluding that and p, as well as X and (Tonly repre¬
sent different sounds of the same letter. The vowels we
must likewise reduce; for comparative philology leaves lit¬
tle room to doubt that the Egyptian language had but three
vowels—a, the sound of which sometimes resembled that of e,
i or ee, and u or oo, besides a short vowel, inexpressed. The
manner in which the vowels interchange in Coptic favours
this supposition. The result of our inquiry thus far gives
the following alphabet:—
KMrt npcTuucycjgx
bikmnprstoshfh
c]> ^
ph l
a
6
e
H
e
ex
e ch
H
e
O O
th 6
OY
ou
kh
Egyptian
used for
(The Y has usually the form OY> the Coptic having pro¬
perly no simple Y«)
This result may be tested by the manner in which foreign
names are written in hieroglyphics. Unfortunately, Greek
Greek and and Latin names are the only ones which are numerous
Latin pro- enough to enable us to form an alphabet, and they do not
per names, afford us direct evidence as to those sounds which are un¬
known to their respective languages. From these Greek
and Latin names we form an alphabet of twelve letters:—
ABCDHILMNOPS
E V G T R U 4>
K 0 V F
Q
X
This alphabet is of great value, since it establishes the Hierogly-
close similarity, if not identity, of sounds that afterwards v Phics- y
became distinct.4 Three of its peculiarities require especial
notice—Firstly, no distinction is made between the G and
K sound, which is a strong evidence to show that there was
no letter corresponding to X and 6”in the ancient Egyptian.
Secondly, L and R are not distinguished, although they are
distinguished in the demotic. We find the signs which
are employed in demotic for L and R used in hierogly¬
phics of the same period for these letters indiscriminately,
whence it appears that the separation in writing of the
two sounds was an innovation which was not admitted
into the sacred dialect; nevertheless, these sounds were
never perfectly distinguished in the Coptic, as the instance
of their confusion given above may serve to show.
Thirdly, F and <!> are represented, since the Latin names
are rendered from Greek transcriptions, by the same cha¬
racters, and yet the Copts found it necessary to add a
letter, q, to the Greek alphabet, to represent a sound
supposed to be that of F. The reason might, indeed,
be that the Greek $ was not pronounced Ph but Fh
but rather that the Egyptian F, like the iEolic digamma,
approached the sound of V. In support of the former
assertion, it may be observed that the name of Philip
Arrhidaeus has been found written in hieroglyphic cha¬
racters Philiupus, instead of Pilipus, according to
the usual orthography, the P being in both cases repre¬
sented by the same character; and in corroboration of
the latter assertion it must be remarked that in Coptic n
interchanges with c|>, and c|> with while q interchanges
with K and OY- We may therefore infer that the
Egyptian P corresponded to the Greek II and $ and perhaps
the'Latin F, and that the Egyptian F was rather a U though
not a Bh. In modern Greek we have Bh and V in the
pronunciation of B and Y. The best parallel to this case
is that of the Latin language, in which, contrary to the
Greek usage of rendering F by the Greek 4> is never
represented by F, but always by Ph, although the
Italians and Spaniards have lost the distinction, as did the
Copts, and write Filippo, and not Philippo, Felipe, not
Phelipe. There is a difficulty in the supposition that the
aspirated form of P was Fh, and not Ph, or both, as
it would not in either case strictly follow the analogy of
the aspirated form of other letters ; but the parallel in¬
stances show that such has been the case in the other
languages, and warn us against reasoning as to what a
thing ought to be, instead of endeavouring to ascertain
what it is.3
We have yet to examine those letters of the Cop-Coptic
tic alphabet which are unknown to the Greek or Latin, letters un-
that is, cy, q, X, and 67 As these letters have forms
derived from those of demotic characters, themselves Latin,
traceable to hieroglyphics, it is important to ascertain, if
possible, what sounds these hieroglyphic characters con¬
veyed. cy is traceable through demotic and hieratic
forms to a common hieroglyphic character never employed
in writing Greek and Latin proper names. It occurs
in the names of some well known kings, as the two
1 and are sometimes used for their component letters in Coptic words, by way of abbreviation.
2 Q is not used, but as an abbreviation of rJ_except in the Memphitic dialect.
3 Peyron, Gram. Copt., p. 4, which see for a fuller account of the changes of the Coptic letters.
4 It is to be noted that the hieroglyphic signs were used for the sounds they originally represented, at the same time that their de¬
motic forms were employed for a different sound or sounds which had arisen from the changes of the language.
® Without attempting to disparage the extraordinary critical skill which has been displayed by recent scholars in discovering the
original meanings of particular derivatives and grammatical forms, it may be safely asserted that many have pushed the results thus
obtained too far when they have supposed these original meanings to have been always, or even often preserved. They have thus been
led either to repudiate senses which usage proves to have been assigned to words or forms, or to accommodate those senses to their pre¬
conceived opinions. Although this method does not produce very serious evils when applied to the highly philosophical Indo-Germanic
languages, it would be disastrous in its results were any one bold enough to try it with the Semitic group.
414
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Ilierogly- called Shebek, where it has been rendered in Greek
phics. by ^ (2
a/3ttKu)?, 2a/3aKWV, ^afS/SaKoiv, 2e/3t^a)5, 2e^\os),
and in the case of one of these kings, in Hebrew,
by (iS^D)• The same character is twice employed in
the name Sheshonk, which has been written, in Greek,
Secroy^is, ^OTwy^ts, and ^ecrdy^wcrt?, &c., and in Hebrew,
PP'V. There is no doubt that this letter had a sound
resembling that of s, and was its aspirated form sh. C| is
likewise proved to have been a letter unknown to the Greek
alphabet of the time of the Ptolemies and Caesars, since its
hieroglyphic form, which may be traced through the demo¬
tic and hieratic, is not employed in writing Greek proper
names, nor, indeed, in Roman ones, which, it should be re¬
membered, were spelt according to their Greek ortho¬
graphy. When, however, a name containing this letter has
been transcribed in Greek characters, we find it represented
by <E>, as in ’'O/x^u?,1 Mep,<£is, for Nufr-ka-ra,
Un-nufr, Men-nufr. Its sound thus nearest approached
that of $, though it had not the sound of that letter, as is
clearly shown by $ never being represented by it. The
hieroglyphic character whence it was taken seems therefore
to have resembled F in sound, and we have already shown
that it must have been pronounced like the kindred letter V.
We retain the character F, however, for this sound, as it
seems to have been intermediate between and V, though
more nearly resembling the latter, to prevent needless
change, and particularly as the German V affords an in¬
stance of an inconsistent use, the very converse of this.
X may be clearly traced to a hieroglyphic sign which is the
initial letter of the common name of Egypt, and of the adjec¬
tive “ black,” which has the same orthography. Both words
are rendered in several ways in Coptic, but their initial letter
is always K or Now, as the sign in question is properly
used for the wrords above mentioned alone, it should here
be rendered by 5C in Coptic, were that letter one of the
ancient alphabet. "We are therefore warranted in excluding
it. 6T which very frequently interchanges with of which
it is to be regarded as simply another form, is traced to a
common hieroglyphic sign used for k in very many Greek
names and Latin names taken from Greek transcriptions.
It sometimes stands for the Greek T, to which the Egyp¬
tians had, as we have seen, no equivalent. The letter (ST
cannot, therefore, be assigned to the ancient alphabet, and
with it must fall its variant which we have already re¬
jected for another reason. It is not improbable that K> (ST
and X, represent three modes of pronouncing one letter,
as in Egypt in the present day, the two letters Kaf and
Kkaf (the Hebrew Caph and Koph, and Greek KaTTTra and
KoWa), have three pronunciations, that is, Kaf is a simple K,
and Kkaf a guttural k, pronounced by some as a very hard g.
It is probable, from their having been so anciently distin¬
guished among the Hebrews and Greeks, that the old Egyp¬
tians had both a simple and a guttural k, but there is no
evidence to show that they represented them by different
signs; and we may reasonably suppose that the Greeks,
Hebrews, and Arabs, did not originally distinguish letters
the names of which are so strikingly similar. They may
have been in all three languages originally dialectal pecu¬
liarities of pronunciation not distinguished in writing. The
result of the inquiry thus far may be now stated hypothe¬
tically that we may take the next step in its prosecution.
In this table we have given hh and kh as the stronger form
of h and aspirated form of k, adding those by which we re¬
present them, kh and ch. We should prefer the more ac¬
curate forms, but we have retained those in use not to cause
confusion.
Vowels.
ATsiToci
E E o
E i u
Y W
Consonants.
II K m""n P R S T
BH HH {kh) KH {ch) PH FH L TH
KK F
SH F
V
Each of these letters must now receive a separate exa- Separate
mination in order that we may ascertain, as nearly as may examina-
be, its general sound and dialectal differences, although some tion of
part of this inquiry has been anticipated in the preceding EgyPtbn
remarks. It will be most convenient to arrange them in aletters-
philosophical order, first, the aspirates a, z, w, the inexpressed
vowel e and h; then the liquids m, n, r; then the sibilants
s, sh ; and lastly, the mutes b,f p, k, t.
With respect to the vowels, it is important at the com- Vowels,
mencement to ascertain the place they held with respect to
the consonants, when they were written always, when al¬
ways omitted, and when optionally written or omitted. The
vowel A is rarely omitted at the commencement of a word,
and ee and oo are never so left out. The reason is pro¬
bably that the latter two are frequently, when so placed,
consonants, having the sound of Y and w. Incipient vowels
are therefore generally written. Medial vowels are fre¬
quently omitted, as also are final vowels. These particulars
regard syllables and words of which the vowel or vowels are
sometimes at least expressed. There are, however, syllables
and words in which vowels are never written, and these in-
expressed vowels appear to be short rather than long. It
should be observed that in the Coptic a medial or incipient
vowel, generally E (e), is frequently omitted, its omission
being indicated by a line over the consonant following in
Sahidic, and a grave accent in Memphitic. Those roots
which usually or always drop their vowel in Coptic are often
the same that always do so in the hieroglyphic writing.
Hence we may conclude that the consonants were more im¬
portant than the vowels, and the long vowels, as we might
analogically suppose from our previous conclusion, more
important than the short. This opinion is confirmed by
the place of the vowels. Very generally in the most ancient
inscriptions, and frequently in the later ones, the medial
vowel of a syllable is written after the consonant or conso¬
nants which it preceded in sound: thus, shuns (khuns), was
always, when fully written, written shnsu. We may there¬
fore infer that the vowel letters, except when they had the
sound of consonants, were of secondary importance, and that
the short vowels were rarely expressed. It is unnecessary
to do more than advert to the striking similarity of the Egyp¬
tian language to the Semitic group in this particular, as it
is too obvious to be called in question.
The vowel a had two sounds, A and e. The former
sound is proved by transcriptions of Egyptian names into
Greek, or of Greek and Roman names into hieroglyphics;
the latter, by the circumstance that the most common form
of the vowel ee is one of the usual signs for a, twice
written. This first vowel appears—if we may judge from
euphony, and the high probability that the short vowel usually
omitted was e-—to have represented long and short A, and
also sometimes long e, but most frequently the first of these
three sounds. It may sometimes have approached to the
sound of o or u, both short, like the Arabic vowel, Fet-hah,
which has frequently that of a in “ beggar,” or the He¬
brew Kametz, which has been separated into two vowels,
an a and an o. It would be important could we ascer¬
tain whether this vowel, when at the commencement of a
word, ever became a consonant like the others. It must
be remembered that ft 1 * in Hebrew, and I ^ r ? in
Arabic, are acknowledged to be sometimes consonants,
and though the consonant sound of K has been lost, that
1 Pint, de hid. et Osir., cap. 42.
% -
HIEROGLYPHICS.
415
erogly- 0f J is preserved by the addition of the sign Hemzeh, which
phics. j.ggg^jgg in s0und the French aspirated h. The “smooth
"^y^1 breathing ” of the Greeks was probably a similar catch. On
these grounds it is most reasonable to suppose that if the
first Egyptian vowel ever became a consonant, its sound
was that of the Arabic !, with Hemzeh, rather than that of the
rough guttural V £ of the Hebrews and Arabs. Some¬
times we find two signs for the first vowel at the commence¬
ment of a word, where, if we assign to them the same sound,
which the Coptic forms warrant our doing, we cannot pro¬
nounce them without slightly aspirating the first ’a-a (in
French ''had), or reading it as an aspiration A (‘//a);1 ex¬
cept, indeed, we attribute to it tbe strong sound of y, but
this is inconsistent with the useot the two signs in question for
the same Greek vowel. We have already seen, that the
Egyptians were careful not to employ signs repiesenting
sounds unknown to the Greeks and Latins for Greek and
Latin letters resembling them. If they did not write She-
verus, nor Filippus or Yilippus, we cannot suppose they
wrote the names of Adrian (not Hadrian, for they adopted
the Greek form) and Antoninus with an y, as those must
do who accept the theory of Dr Hincks on this subject.2
The probability of a perfect analogy with the Semitic
languages as to the vowel system, both in the sounds and
the°manner in which those sounds were expressed, is a very
important point of evidence, though we must remember the
case of the Greeks, whose Iranian language w'as expressed
in an alphabet shown by external and internal evidence—
the latter including the vowel letters—to have been in its
original form derived from a Semitic source, though the
latter may have been of Turanian origination. The first
vowel appears, therefore, to have most probably had the
sounds ’a, a, a (sometimes like Uj and E. It is re¬
presented in this essay by A, to which it generally cor¬
responded.
The second vowel presents no difficulties. It has two
forms, both of which are formed by the repetition of a sign.
The original of one of these, two sloping lines, seems to
have been lost ;3 but that of the other, two reeds, is one
of the most usual signs for the first vowel. It is there¬
fore a double letter, having a sound of the first vowel
repeated, or lengthened, which, in a medial or final posi¬
tion, amounts to the same thing. As an incipient lettei,
it was, as we shall see, a consonant. Its sound is detei-
mined by our finding it consistently rendered by the Coptic
1, the Greek t, and the Hebrew >. As a vowel, therefore,
its sound was that of our ee. At the commencement
of words where it is immediately followed by another vowel
its sound must necessarily be that of Y, as is shown by its
being then equivalent to as in yum, “ sea; ^ uteh
“ Judah.”4 Two sounds, therefore, suffice for
this letter, Y and ee. r n
The third vowel corresponds to every form of o and u
in Coptic, but its prevailing correspondent is the diphthong
OY> which is the same as our sound oo. It is equivalent
to the Hebrew 1, as in the word yuteh, PPHriL
“Judah,” quoted above, and was used for the Greek o, w, and
ou. It can be shown sometimes to have the sound of a
consonant, w, at the commencement of a word, for the same
reasons which have induced us to assign the sound of Y to
the second vowel when similarly placed. Our main dif¬
ficulty with respect to this vowel is to decide whether or not
it has ever the sound of a short o or u. rI he settlement of
this question partly depends upon the probability that the
first vowel had sometimes a sound resembling O or u, both
short. The sound this letter must have had when it be- Hierogly-
came a consonant, its prevailing correspondence with the v P 1CS^ /
Coptic diphthong OY, and the probability that it was analo¬
gous to the second vowel, render it most reasonable to sup¬
pose that it had, when a vowel, the sound of u or oo. ^ fc'
cannot, however, prove it to have been a double vowel, or
constantly long ; and we therefore retain for its vowel sound
the letter u, which has been frequently employed for it, par¬
ticularly as the constant use of oo would be cumbrous : we
therefore represent it by w and u.
The sound of the fourth, or inexpressed, vowel remains
to be considered. It has been noticed above that the in-
expressed vowel in Coptic is generally 6 (e) and that the
roots which usually or always drop their vowel in Coptic
are often the same as those that always do so in the hiero¬
glyphic system. Chevalier Bunsen has justly compared
this vowel with the Hebrew Sheva, and represented it by
a short e. Like Sbeva, which sometimes had the sound of
a very short A, whence originated Hateph-Pathah, at others
that of a very short E (Hateph-Segol), differing, in what
we know not, from its original sound, and at others that of a
very short O (Hateph-Kametz), though it generally retained
its original sound, so it is not improbable that the Egyptian
inexpressed vowel represented other sounds besides that of
e. This, however, we may regard as its prevailing sound.
It must be borne in mind that it is convenient to employ this
short e wherever we do not know the vowel or vowels of
a word, so that it must be regarded in such cases as in some
sort as a conventional sign. In order, however, to distin¬
guish between this letter when thus used, and when repre¬
senting, either certainly or very probably, the inexpressed
vowel, it is written in this essay in the former case small (e),
and in the latter large (e). As the long E is represented,
according to our theory, by the vowels A and ee, it is not
necessary to distinguish this short e by a mark of short
quantity. The inexpressed vowel, therefore, which was
probably the only real vowel of the ancient Egyptians,
had thus the sound of e short, and occasionally other
sounds. ,
In considering the consonants we must first examine H. conso-
In Coptic we find three letters representing different sounds nants•
of H, namely, and simple H, CH, and kh.
The first of these is undoubtedly found in the hieroglyphic
system; the second cannot be a variant of it, since it in¬
terchanges with sh, and since, in Manetho’s Lists, K is ge¬
nerally rendered by its Greek equivalent x- remains,
which may be properly considered as the strongly aspirated
form of £. It will be shown, by arguments which the ana¬
logy of the system confirms, that there wras no separate let¬
ter in the hieroglyphic system corresponding to and
those arguments indicate that the two sounds did not exist
in the pronunciation of the sacred dialect. We may next
pass by m and n since their sounds are established, with the
remark that N was probably pronounced M, as by the Copts,
when immediately followed by b, m, and p. L and R
are represented by one consonant. We do not find them
distinguished except in the demotic, and they are fre¬
quently confounded in Coptic. In that language, however,
we trace their separation in the circumstance that in the
Bashumric dialect the Memphitic and Theban p is almost
always rendered by ?\. The greater number of words in
Coptic containing the letter p than the general use of
2\ for p in the worst dialect, all tend to show that tbe pre¬
vailing sound was p. That sound we may safely assign
1 The latter reading is the more probable, since the two signs occur in monosyllabic roots. Trans, Roy. Ir. Acad., ol. xxi., pt. 2.
3 The two sloping lines may, however, be the double of the single straight line, representing A.
416 HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogly- to the consonant in question, bearing in mind that it may
phics. sometimes resemble l, or even correspond to that letter.
We do not find any traces of an aspirated R, rh.
The letter s presents little debatable matter, for the sup¬
position as to its sound to be mentioned below is but con¬
jectural. This, however, is not the case with sh, the
sound of which we must endeavour to ascertain. It has
been already shown that its proper sound was sh, but
there are strong reasons for supposing that it was pronounced
CH or kh in one dialect. Thus Herodotus calls Shufu
Xcoi/f (XeWa); the names Xerxes and Artaxerxes are writ¬
ten Shsheeursh and Artashsheshes, in which cases a
sign for sh is evidently employed as ch or kh. But as
the sign which in every one of these cases represents ch
or kh is sometimes rendered by cy in Coptic, and as He¬
rodotus can only be supposed to have given the pronun¬
ciation which he heard, while foreign names could only be
rendered by the letters nearest resembling their sounds,
these examples afford no convincing evidence, nor has any
such been adduced. Even Chevalier Bunsen, who has
separated the two sounds as distinct letters in his voca¬
bulary, does not propose to maintain that they were ori¬
ginally separate, for he says that it is doubtful if at the
earliest period there were any distinction between them.1
If we suppose, as is most reasonable, that the two sounds
were represented by one letter, we have still to determine
whether they existed in the sacred language, or were dif¬
ferences of dialects. The smallness of the alphabet, and
the undoubted certainty that certain other letters had
more than one sound, would indeed incline one to the former
view, but a consideration of tjie relation of the two sounds
will convince him that this supposition would be at variance
with the analogy of the language. Sh should rather in¬
clude the sound of s, which indeed it may, like the Hebrew
if the letter usually called s be a hard letter (ss) like J3-
On the other hand, the interchange of sh and ch or kh is a
natural occurrence, of which many instances might be pro¬
duced, as in the derivation of Guadalaxara (Guadalachara)
from Wadi-l-Asharah, and of Sherry from Xeres (Cheres).
This peculiarity exists also in the Coptic, cy interchanging
with OC, hut not with a circumstance of great import¬
ance, since the last letter is derived in its form from one of
the hieroglyphic signs most commonly corresponding to the
first and second. This circumstance shows that eJ}, which
is maintained to be the representative of the ancient sound,
is derived from a hieroglyphic equivalent of letters which
do not interchange with it in Coptic, and thus the argument
based on the form of d} being ancient is not valid. This
evidence in showing that the sh and kh were only separate
letters by reason of the dialects (the sh of the sacred dialect
being rendered in the vulgar dialect, or its Memphite form,
by kh), forbids us to imagine them to have been ever dis¬
tinguished in the hieroglyphics.
Of the mutes, b appears to have been sometimes aspi¬
rated, taking a sound resembling v, that is, bh. For this
we have double evidence, since in Coptic -B. interchanges hierogly
with OY, q, cj>, and thence even IT; while in the rendering , Phics-
of Latin names, through Greek, its hieroglyphic corre-
spondent is employed for ov. Here again we must inquire
whether this is the result of the difference of dialects, or
whether the two sounds existed in the sacred language repre¬
sented, as probably in Hebrew, by one letter.3 The latter
seems probable, since, on the one hand, it is not reasonable
to exclude b from one dialect, and on the other, because, if B
were never bh, then v would have been always represented
by F, which it never is, and thus Seferus would have more
nearly represented Severus (Seo^pos) than Seberus. We
shall see, too, that the weight of evidence is in favour of the
existence of aspirated sounds of several letters, that is, of cer¬
tain letters having been sometimes aspirated in the sacred
dialect. The pronunciation of the next letter f has already
been determined as that of a v approaching the sound of f.
The letter which we have called p is used for the Greek II
and <I>, whence we may infer that it had the true sound of
the latter (being probably pronounced fh, or perhaps ph),
no less than the sound which we usually ascribe to it, ph.
The one hieroglyphic letter k corresponds partly or wholly
to the Coptic K, X and that is, to k, kh (ch), and
kk, for there can be little doubt that the last two (X and
6) represent a harsh k (p, ( 'j, and /contra). The first sound
K is unquestionably made out, and may be considered the
proper sound of the letter, and its aspirated form is shown
to have been known to the sacred language by examples of
Manetho’s transcriptions of kings’ names given in a note (2)
below. Lastly, t appears to have also had the sound of th,
though not of r>. Although the t was employed in the
time of the Ptolemies and Caesars to represent the Greek
A as the nearest sound, the first introduction of D into the
language is under the form NT, for so was the name of Da¬
rius spelt, Ntereeush, whence, as this was probably a
simple D in both old Persian and Greek, we may infer that
sound to have been unrepresented in the Egyptian alphabet.
T seems, however, to have had sometimes the sound of th
in the sacred dialect, for such would have been the case by
analogy, and the transcriptions of Egyptian names would
lead to the same inference.—It has not been attempted in
these observations to determine, in the cases in which let¬
ters appear to have had in the sacred dialect more than
a single sound, when a letter took one sound or another,
or, in other words, when its sound was changed by its po¬
sition. Some steps may be taken towards doing this; but
the carelessness of the ancients in the transcription of
foreign names into Greek, and the corrupt orthography of
Coptic, render the probabilities of great success very slight.
Still, by the application of the inductive process, which is
not sufficiently employed in inquiries of this nature, it may
be possible to obtain more satisfactory results than those at
which we have hitherto arrived. In the meanwhile, the
following table gives a statement of the fruits of our exa¬
mination of the Egyptian alphabet.
1 Egypt's Place, vol. i., pp. 490, 572.
Manet ho, who may be fairly concluded to have given, as nearly as he could in Greek, the pronunciation of the sacred dialect, seems
Ih APR A ° wVe/eontlered thG SH by £’ emPloying the X for * aspirated. The examples are lavtpig, SHUFU j ^ovQt;, SHUFU ;
• e nd, however, or Xev^i^ng, or for ASHENATENR A, where SH is rendered by % or x, and
for PEANSH. These are the instances that occur in the Dynasties. In the fragments of the history we find for the Coptic CyOOC,
jyCUC, or cyCUCLJ. The ^ on the other band is frequently used for the letter x as its aspirated form: thus, or XooV
NUFRKARA; KAENRA; "A*w,’AAKU; MENKURA;
fU™ARKARA; MENKAHER; SHeSHeNK; 2e/3^i, SHeBeK (but SHeBeK also
nothtnahnJn^TJ ( PSEMETEK; N^, NEKU; ’ AX^, HAKeR;—as positively against these can be adduced
noinmg nut the corrupt transcription of AMENSAPeHER.
Hierogly¬
phics.
HIEROGLYPHICS.
The Egyptian Alphabet.
417
Hierogly¬
phics.
Egyptian
ilphabet
compared
with Greek
Hebrew,
ind Coptic
Primitive
Sound.
(’A) A
Y, EE
W, 00, U
E
H
M
N
R
S
SH
B
F
P
K
T
Derivative Sound.
Certain.
E
O
Probable.
6, u
BH
KH {ch)
TH
Used for Greek.
(L
(S?)
A1, E2, H3, O4
I5, El6, AF
O8, O9, Y10, OY11
E12, A13, O14
M13
N16
P17, ‘plS^ A19
^20
B21,
n22 $23
K24, p25
p26 ^27
Transcribed by
Greek.
A28, 129, O30, fF
J32
O33, O34, OY33
E36, A37, I38
X39, A40
M41
N42
P43, 'P44, (A?)45
^46
247, K48
B49, OY30
$51
n52, $53
K54, X53
T3G. 057
Used for
Hebrew.
K1, t
»3
v
n3, n6
D7
J8
-i9, y
D'2
a13
D14
D15 1,16
’ J
n17, i1
Transcribed
by Hebrew.
x19, y2p
D
D27
D28 ta.29
P
co,30 n31
Rendered by Coptic.
III, O, 6,1, h
X, <X, G
or, iii, orni,
J, Y, A
8
U
N
P ,2^
C, cy,
R,q
q,R
n, cj> r
K, X
T, 0, <r
1 K^cuvovi, xTigowAr^A.
2 x.^'EoTra.r^et, ov'Eavctatavo;.
3 xgtr/i/oH, /SegsvjxH.
4 xa/o-agO?.
5 (it(>svIxYi, rz/Beglo?.
6 oti/Tisn/EIj/oj.
7 wroXe^AIof, xAIo-agOf.
8 'TrtQ'hifAouos, xMOttxtqx.
9 oturoxgarng.
10 xTtox^xtuq.
11 OTsavxiuxvos.
12 KTohlZ/xxio;, /3EgEw/x».
13 xxi<rA(>o;.
14 TrroheyxiOg.
13 wroXeMamf.
16 «g<r<No>i.
17 otP<r/i/o»j.
18 Pa/xr).
19 xAbovxtqx, TTroAefixios.
20 vro^s/xxiol, 2£/3fl62ro2.
21 B£g£J//X)5.
22 nroX^ast/o?, (pA/nilof.
23 d^A/TTWOf.
24 KAfowflfTgM, Kxt<rxgo£.
23 Ts^/xxvixog.
26 wToXfjM.Ot/Of, xX£07TStTg«t.
27 aXfiiaj/Agof.
28 Ayytvipng, Aftsvafflig.
29
30 ocrO^xuv.
31
al-
rough
32 p.Ix/x/xov.
33 OfTOgX6!!'*
34 V
35 (rOT(pig, OTvog.
36 i/£(pEgx£?ilO ^Ej/^gjjf.
37 ■^/A/x/xnrtxog.
38 \pxp,/xriTlxos.
39 oo-oXog.
40 Ax^ig.
41 M£»^£g)7f.
42 N£;s«<w.
43 ff£(pP»7?, r«P*Of.
44 ' PxfxifTOYis (initial
ways receives .
breathing in Gr.)
45 TxxeAAaSis (foreign name).
46 *22/?.
47 2ou<p/f, 2£?>g«?> 2£2oyxG, 2«-
(ixxuv.
48 v Krxinfirig.
49 viKrxvsPyig.
60 OTearsfixXTt.
31 (701/$/?, o-£$g)K, VB^S^XS^i>
veQsQnYig.
32 «gIl0Xg«T)?f.
63 O/o-^.
64 v/r^Kg/j, rsegKoj.
65 V£(p£gX£g)7f, X£V£g)5f, pev'X.s-
gj^f, v£Xc*iy.
86 \px/xy,YiTixog, Txgxog.
67 o@o>7f, rxxiKKutdig.
1
a mn®y 1^33 Wa
3
4 iVnnia Vsa
6 m-Jl'
6 CaisH's
8 pjs taisnj
9 nqpia'y vnrin,'a
10 S^a ainuiSs
11 nirfcjjy
12 DTlI^
13
14 nirroVfl
16 PO
16 rt>
17 n-n-^ i^hn^a
18 n™
19 ptN
20 63)2^1 nyiB
21 ^
22 odD^u
23 n=J
24 DOtoy“l wls
25 DD^ nsiD
26 P]:
27
28 o=
29 npnnn
30 y-iBi^s
31 nprnn
VOL. XI.
3 G
418
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogly- The number of examples from which selection has been
phics. made has been in most cases very limited, since many words
v ,mr- -ii have been excluded for various reasons. In the case of the
use of hieroglyphic letters for Greek names, or Latin names
written in Greek, it has seemed desirable to choose exam¬
ples as far as possible of the earliest times at which this
transcription was usual. In like manner, the examples of
the transcription of hieroglyphic words into Greek cha¬
racters have been chosen from those writers alone who un¬
derstood the hieroglyphic writing, or from those who drew
their information from such writers. To have referred to
others who merely give the pronunciation of the common
people would have involved the inquiry in confusion and
error. With respect to the instances of Hebrew words
rendered by hieroglyphics, it has been necessary to exclude
such as appear to have been adopted into the ancient Egyp¬
tian language, whether proper names or not, and to reject
such parts of words as seem to be only Egyptian forms, not
literal transcriptions. As to these and the Egyptian words
written in Hebrew, it has been necessary to except such as
appear to be of common origin rather than borrowed, such
as Caphthor, Caphthorim. The Coptic corresponding let¬
ters are the result of an examination of Bunsen’s vocabu¬
lary, and are placed as far as possible according to the fre¬
quency of their occurrence. Common correspondents are
written in capitals.
A comparison of the table with what has been previously
said respecting the alphabet, will tend to show the general
accuracy of those antecedent views ; while a careful inspec¬
tion of it affords indications that there are materials for a
more accurate definition of the sound of each letter than we
have ventured to give. It should be here remarked that
one character is used for the Hebrew y, and transcribed by
that letter, showing that the A had sometimes something
of a guttural sound. The use of this very character for the
Greek A forbids us, however, to suppose that its sound was
more than a slightly guttural A.
Writing. § 2. WRITING, OR REPRESENTATION OF SOUNDS BY WRITTEN
CHARACTERS.
Various According to the definition previously given of the hiero-
kinds of glyphics, these characters were delineations of material ob-
hierogly- jects employed to denote real things by figures, ideal things
phics. jjy symbols, or to represent sounds by characters either syl¬
labic or alphabetic. We may divide these signs therefore,
into two classes, each subdivided into two kinds.
1.—Ideographic Signs.
r
Fig. 1. Fig. 2.
1. Iconographic, as (fig. 1), “an obelisk.”
2. Symbolic, as (fig. 2), “ to strike.”
2.—Phonetic Signs.
Fig. 1. Fig. 2.
1. Syllabic, as (fig. ]), “stable, firm,” where the first sign
may be put for the whole word.
2. Alphabetic, as (fig. 2), Shufu, Suphis (I.), the name
of the second king of the Fourth Dynasty.
It must be observed that the ideographic signs are, though
indirectly, no less representations of sounds than the pho¬
netic ; also that few signs were used in both classes, or in
both kinds of the former class; and that both kinds of the
latter class are connected by the syllabic signs being fre¬
quently used alphabetically with their proper complement.
Let us examine each of the kinds of hieroglyphics some- Hierogly.
what more minutely. We shall best understand their na- phics.
ture and use by ascertaining for what classes of words they 's'—
were chiefly employed.
Since everything of which we think may be referred to Ideogra-
some one of the categories, and since the ideographic hiero- Phic 8if>ns
glyphics represent ideas of every kind, they may be conve¬
niently referred to the categories. The ten categories of
Aristotle have been separated into two heads, substance and
attribute, or accident, the former comprehending the first of
these categories, and the latter the remaining nine. It
will be seen at once that all the iconographic hieroglyphics
stand for real things referrible to the category of substance ;
and that all the symbolic hieroglyphics, excepting those very
few which stand for beings or things which, as ideal, could
not be represented but by symbols, are referrible to the
categories comprehended under the head of attribute.
Iconographic signs represent, therefore, real things alone,
or, grammatically, all substantives which are names of real
things, as man, dog, house, country, and the like. There are
probably no other substantives in the Egyptian language
excepting names of such ideal things as are referrible to the
category of substance.
Symbolical signs may be classed in the following manner,
the categories being arranged in a grammatical order:—
I. Substance.—Substantives which are names of ideal things re¬
ferrible to this category; as, “ Hades.” Personal pronouns ; as,
“ I,” “ thou.”
II. Attribute.
1. Quantity.—Adjectives of number; as,
“ first.”
2. Quality.—Adjectives of quality; as,
“ good.”
3. Relation.—Adjectives of relation ; as,
“ great.”
4. Action.—Adjective verbs (derived).
5. Suffering.—Adjective verbs (derived).
6. Collocation.—Participles of adjective verbs relating to
position.
7. Place.—Prepositions and adverbs of place ; as, “ in,” “ to,”
“ on high.”
8. Time.—Adverbs of time; as, “ ever.” Prepositions of
time ; as, “ after.”
9. Possession.—Possessive pronouns ; as, “ thy.”
Hence it is evident why so few signs are used both in an
iconographic and a symbolic sense. It should be observed
that particles of place, time, and situation are rarely ex¬
pressed by symbolical characters, and that when such cha¬
racters are employed they are symbolico-phonetic.
In the oldest form of the Egyptian language we find very phonetic
few characters which have an indiscriminate alphabetic use, signs,
the greater number of the phonetic signs being only used
with a particular alphabetic sign or signs by way of com¬
plement to express a syllable. This complement being
frequently omitted, the initial sign acquires a syllabic value,
standing for a syllable. The two kinds of phonetic charac¬
ters have therefore no distinction as to signification. They
are employed to represent the sounds of the names of things
represented by figures and symbols in the other class,
as well as some ideas excluded by their nature from that
class, like the substantive verb “ to be,” and almost all
particles of place, time, and situation. This phonetic class
should be therefore the more comprehensive, since it should
contain the sounds of the whole of the signs of the other class
with those of words not contained in that class. Of the
form of the syllables we shall have to speak more fully here¬
after in treating of the roots ; but it is here needful to notice
an important peculiarity in the mode of writing them, already
mentioned. In the case of syllables commencing and ending Place of
with a consonant the medial vowel was usually written after vowel,
the final consonant. Professor Lepsius was the first to sug¬
gest that this might be the case in syllables apparently ter¬
minating in u in the written characters. Thus the name
I And verbs and
) adverbs derived
| from them.
HIEROGLYPHICS. 419
Hierogly- of the god Chons was written Shnsu (Khnsu), where the
phics. position of the vowel is proved by the Greek orthography
and that of the Copts in the name of the month Ila^wv,
nA-^CJUffC, JIA-LycUflC. But this principle, which has
been recognised as correct with respect to the u vowel, has
never been carried out with reference to the others. Not¬
withstanding, there is abundant evidence to show its wider
application. The word for horse is, for example, written
htra, corresponding to the Coptic g/TO, pi. g/TUUp,
and since it is a root, and therefore monosyllabic, can only
be read star or hatr, the former of which forms appears
from the Coptic to be the correct one.—As the principle
under consideration may be considered to be directly or
indirectly admitted with respect to the u vowel in conse¬
quence of such instances as that of the name of the god
Chons, written Shnsu, but pronounced Shuns ; that of the
god Munt, written Mntu ; and many others,—it becomes
necessary to consider only the A and i vowels. It should
be remembered that the admission of a principle of this
kind as to one vowel, makes its application, to say the least,
highly probable to the other two, the short or inexpressed
vowel being necessarily excluded. In order to test the ap¬
plicability of the principle, several apparently monosyllabic
words, mostly roots, were chosen at random from Cham-
pollion’s Dictionnaire Egyptien, and compared with their
Coptic equivalents, and the following was the result:—
A.—Hna, “with.” Copt. ^>erf; s. grt.
Mna, “ to come to port, disembark.” Copt. ULOff ;
S. JUUMt. “A port,” JUtOffH.
Msha, “to fight, a warrior.” Copt, “a fight,”
juut£j!; s. juucye.
Sba, “a flute.” Copt. CHCJI; £. CHCJE. “A reed,”
ceRi; s. cH&e.
Shrau, “a son.” Copt. cxjHpi ; s. u^Hpe.
Ska, “to labour, to plough.” Copt, “to plough,”
cxi; ck^i.
Tsha, “a stronghold.” Copt. s. TO«J.
Tsha, “a boundary, frontier.” Copt. S.
TOty.
O these examples seven are in accordance with the sup¬
posed principle, and but one (ska), which may possibly be
a derivative form (s-ka), against it. That respecting
which some doubt might be entertained, on account of its
Coptic correspondents, mna, may be fairly supposed to have
had a medial vowel.
I.— Fntee, “ a worm.” Copt. CJEffT; S. CjlfT, ElUT.
Hfee, “ a serpent.” Copt. g,OCJ, £CJUJ; S. £Ofi..
Hree, “ to terrify, to fear.” Copt. ^OYp- “ Terror,”
&E?\1; s.
Hnbee, “ a fountain.” Copt. S. gorfRE.
Htee, “a heart.” Copt. QWT > 5 £. ^TH.
Kbee, “ a honeycomb.” Copt. KEjRl.
Krmee, “ Carthamus.” Copt. K pAJUl. “ Carthamus
silvestris.”
Nbee, “ to swim.” Copt- S. ftEERE, ftHHR-E.
“ Swimming” (act of), M. ffERl.
Nhee, “ a sycamore.” Copt.
Sbtee, “ a wall.” Copt. CoRT".
Shree, “ to, towards.” Copt. S. ^^.pO, g,p^I 5
B. cy*p*.
Sntee, “ to found.” Copt. “ Foundations,” CEft+ ;
S. CEfTTE, CYrtTE J B. CHfti".
S-SHEE, “ writing, to write.” Copt. CA.^), Hierogly-
c^e, c^>h ; s. cgAi, &c. v >
Stee, “ an arrow.” Copt. COTE,
COOTE.
T-hau, “ To be intoxicated.” Copt.
ei^>i; s. TAgE, +ge.
T-hnee, “ the forehead.” Copt. S. TEgltE.
T-htee, “ lead.” Copt. TAgT, TATg-
Of these instances, eight are in accordance with the
proposed principle, and an equal number neither for nor
against it, and but one (kbee) altogether against it.
If we take into consideration the remarkable irregularity
of Coptic with respect to the vowels, the circumstance that
some monosyllabic roots may have commenced with two
consonants and terminated with a vowel, and that among
the words given above as monosyllables, some are perhaps
dissyllables, we must admit that the medial vowel in hiero¬
glyphic and hieratic writing usually followed the consonant
or consonants which it preceded in pronunciation. It would
obviously be wrong always to write the vowel which follows
the consonants of a monosyllable before one or more of those
consonants ; and our safest plan, excepting where the sound
renders a medial vowel absolutely necessary, will be to
endeavour to ascertain from the Coptic whether the vowel
in question was final or not, and we shall thus be enabled
ultimately to establish something like a general rule as to
the position of the vowels. We should remember, how¬
ever, that the system of writing a language is always more
or less irregular with respect to its pronunciation, and that
the Egyptians did not endeavour to write their language
in such a manner as to facilitate the labours of future dis¬
coverers.
Every word in the Egyptian language doubtless could be Determin-
written phonetically, and nearly every one could also be re- atives.
presented by a figure or symbol, that is, ideographically.
These two systems were combined either accidentally, by the
mixture of phonetic and ideographic signs in an inscription
or writing, some words being represented in the former man¬
ner, others in the latter, or, essentially, by a single word being
written in both ways. The former of these modes of com¬
bination requires no further explanation, but the latter must
be examined in some detail, from its being characteristic of
the system, and on account of its value, to which we have
already adverted, in facilitating and verifying interpretation.
When a single word was represented both phonetically
and ideographically, the ideographic sign was employed as a
determinative to determine the sense of the word to which
it was attached, whereof in some instances it also represent¬
ed part of the sound for the whole of which it stood when
employed alone.
Determinatives are either initial, medial, or final; either
generic or specific ; either simply ideographic or both ideo¬
graphic and phonetic at the same time. The final or af¬
fixed determinatives must be first considered, then the ini¬
tial, and lastly the medial, as this is the order of their im¬
portance.
1. Final Determinatives.
1. Generic determinatives restrict the word which they Final de-
follow to a generic signification. Thus the representation termina-
of the sun restricts the words which it follows to the signi- tives-
fication of light, or time, and the representation of a fish
restricts the words which it follows to the sense of fish, i.e.,
some kind of fish, or something abominable. These ad¬
juncts have generally both a primary generic meaning and
a secondary ; the primary meaning being either literal, as
in the latter example, or of a simple tropical character, as in
the former, and the secondary meaning being tropical in a
420
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogly- greater or less degree. These signs are also used as speci-
phics. determinatives, as when the representation of the sun
follows its name ; and this is doubtless the primitive mean¬
ing of every generic determinative, although it cannot al¬
ways be traced. The generic final determinatives are not
numerous.
2. Specific determinatives restrict the word to which
they are applied to the signification of a spe¬
cies ; thus, the representation of a cat follows
the word “male cat,”snAu; that of a particular
kind of boat, the name of that boat; and sometimes they serve
to distinguish different uses of the same word, as when the
word “ wa,” a boat, is shown to mean a “ boat” simply,
or a “ barge.” This is a very numerous division of deter¬
minatives.
Final determinatives appear scarcely ever to have any
phonetic value when used as such,1 and they are very rarely
so placed as to become initial, and never, as far as is known,
medial.
2. Initial Determinatives.
Initial de¬
termina¬
tives.
These determinatives are distinguished by having a pho¬
netic value and standing for the first letter of the word which
they restrict. They are generally limited to a specific signi¬
fication, since no one of them can be applied to more than a
single root. Thus ^ the so-called crux ansata, the em¬
blem of life, is the initial letter of the word ansh (ankh)
u living.” These determinatives are very rarely employed
as final ones, and rarely as medial, and they are not a large
class.
3. Medial Determinatives.
Medial de¬
termina¬
tives.
These determinatives always immediately follow the first
letter of a root, and are almost always initial determina¬
tives deprived of their phonetic value, but otherwise they
are final determinatives transposed. This class is
very limited. Of the former kind we may instance, |
kept (commonly written hotp or hotep), signifying
“ devoted” or the like.
There are some determinatives which cannot be included
in any of these classes. Of these one of the most com¬
mon is the ring in which royal names are inclosed. It is
also found as the final determinative of the word ren, a
“ name;” and in one of the earliest inscriptions we find its
primitive form, that of a signet-ring (which appears to have
been elongated in order to comprehend in it the characters
composing royal names), as the determinative of a king’s
name.2
Determinatives, being properly ideographic signs, are
either iconographic or symbolic, or both, as may be seen
by the examples mentioned above. It will not be neces¬
sary to speak of these signs more in detail, since they must
be again noticed when we come to consider the different
parts of speech.
Words.
Roots.
§ 3.—WORDS.
In a language of so primitive a character as the Egyp¬
tian, it is especially needful to endeavour to ascertain the
characteristics of the roots. One thing is certain respecting
them, that they are always monosyllabic, except perhaps in
some names imitative of sound ; and this is an essential pe¬
culiarity of the language which is of the highest importance.
1 hey are either uniliteral, biliteral, triliteral, or quadrili-
teral, and each class has several forms, as may be seen by
the following examples; unusual forms being denoted by Hierogly-
an asterisk (*). phics.
I. Uniliteral—
* Vowel A (Affixed pronoun), “ Me,” &c.
II. Biliteral—
1. Consonant and vowel. Ba, “ a goat.”
2. Vowel and consonant. Aw “tobe ;” un, id.
III. Triliteral—
1. Consonant, vowel, and consonant. Men (inexpr.
vowel), “ to establish.”
*2. Consonant, consonant, and vowel. Sna, “ to
bend.”
3. Vowel,consonant, and consonant. Art, “milk.”
IV. Quadriliteral—
* 1. Consonant, cons., vow., and cons. Pteh,
“ Ptah,” Vulcan.
2. Consonant, vow., cons., and cons. Shuns, Chons.
It is not probable that there are any quinquiliteral roots.
Of the preceding forms the most common, and those from
which most derivatives are taken, are the biliteral and the
triliteral having a medial vowel. The vowel of the former
is generally long when the consonant precedes and short
when it follows, and that of the latter is generally short, if
we may judge from Coptic and analogically. The follow¬
ing may be given as the order of the forms according to the
number of words belonging to each, the consonant being
denoted by “ c,” and the vowel by “ v.”
1. CV. 2. CYC. 3. VC. 4. YCC.
5. cvcc. 6. ccvc. 7. ccv. 8. v.
It would lead us beyond the province of the present
article were we to endeavour to ascertain the meanings of
the various forms, or whether they had originally peculiar
meanings, but it should be remarked that certain roots are
imitative, representing things by their sounds. Thus the
names of animals are taken in many instances from their
cries, and the like is the case with some words descriptive
of noises. This is the hieroglyphic method brought before
the mind through the ear instead of the eye.
Derivatives are formed in five ways, by changing the Deriva-
vowel, by increasing the word at its commencement, bytives-
increasing the word at its end, by reduplication, and by
agglutination.
I. Change of vowel.—Man, “to come to port,” from
men, “ to establish.”
II. Increase at commencement—
1. Ma, place. Ma-anshu, “ the abode of the liv¬
ing” (pi.)
2. S, Causation. S-ansh, “ to cause to live” (and
other verbal forms to be noticed subsequently).
III. Increase at end—
1. Ee;—a. Belonging to. Amenee,’A^covto?, pr. n.
b. Verbal form, usually participial. Meree,
“ beloved,” from her, “ to love.”
c. Substantive result of action cf verb.
S-SHEE, “ a writing, the writing” {i.e., a
a thing written), from s-shau, “ to
write.” Hay, “ a stela” (?>., a thing
set up), from ha, “ to set up.”
2. U, abstract noun from verb. Hau, “ duration,”
from Ha, “ to set up,” “ establish.”
3. Nu, added to some words ending in n for the
sake of euphony, as ben-nu, “ the Phoenix.”
1 There are possible exceptions to this rule, as perhaps the word AB “ to be thirsty, thirst,” which would seem to have been pronounced
AB-NUN, for it is rendered as the name of a Shepherd-king, the third sovereign of the Fifteenth Dynasty, ’ (Man. Jos.)
IhnXvxv (Man. Afr.) ; but the Coptic equivalent is liil, &c. There are also determinatives of sound, not of sense.
2 Modern Egypt and Thebes, vol. i., p. 368.
HIEROGLYPHICS.
lierogly- 4. Su, added to some words ending in s for the sake
phics. of euphony, as mes-su, “ born.”
Besides these there are the inflectional terminations,
which must be noticed in another place.
IV. Reduplication—
a. Augmentative, as tcn-tcn, “ to revolt,” from TeN,
“ to raise one’s self.”
b. Frequentative, as tcf-tcf, “ to drip.”
c. Imitative of the cries of animals, &c., as ka-ka,
“ to cackle ;” seN-seN, a kind of heron.
V. Agglutination—
1. Two substantives. Suten-SA (king’s son),
“ prince.”
2. Substantive and epithet. Men-nufr (goodabode),
“ Memphis.”
3. Verb and substantive. Has-sba, “a flute-player,”
from has, “ to play,” and sba, “ a flute.”
4. Preposition and substantive. Em-ha, “ in front.”
5. Preposition and adverb. Er-tet (?), M for ever.”
Changes in The changes in pronunciation must here be noticed, and,
ronounci- t]ie contractions.
Uon. ^0 euphonic terminations nit and su were frequently
omitted, as we may conclude from their being often left out
in the inscriptions, and from the correspondence of the words
to which they were applied to their Coptic forms.
The letter r or l was frequently dropped at the end of
a monosyllable. The cause of this elision was the weak
sound which this letter had with the Egyptians, as is alone
evident from its representing both R and l. The words
her, ker, hur, and mer were not only written ha, ka, hu,
and ma, but so pronounced, as is proved by each of them
being written in both manners in Coptic as well as in
hieroglyphics. The English and German pronunciation
of the final R is an exactly parallel case. It does not
seem possible, however, to determine by any rules what
was the practice of the ancient Egyptians, nor do the in¬
scriptions afford us a safe guide, since we cannot prove that
the abbreviated form indicates in all cases an abbreviated
pronunciation. Euphony, combined with ancient transcrip¬
tions, will be our safest guide. Thus we find meree-amen
or mer-amen transcribed Miaggov (Mia/quow1?), and eu¬
phony points out mee-amen as the ancient pronunciation.
So, too, with mee-ra, Motpis. By this discovery we have
been enabled to settle more than one difficulty. The word,
for example, usually written with a beetle and mouth, was
known to signify “ transmigration” or “ transformation,” as
constantly in the Ritual (Lepsius, Todtenbuch, ch. Ixxvi.,
and passim), and its sound was generally held, and for good
reasons, to be tar or ter. For this no equivalent had been
discovered in the Coptic. But if we admit the rule given
above, we find the corresponding word in 'Y,transmutare.
With respect to transpositions, it is very difficult to judge,
since the letters of a word were generally written in the
same order, whether that were the order of pronunciation or
not. There is, however, some evidence to show that both
consonants and vowels were transposed. For example, the
name of the crocodile is written mshu, msuh, and hmsu, and
in Coptic S. eJUtCA^g, and by Herodotus
is given as the Egyptian name for crocodiles. Hence itseems
that transpositions in writing indicate differences of pronun¬
ciation no less than does the omission of the final R, in many
instances at least. It is evident that in the most ancient mode
of writing transpositions were more numerous than afterwards,
as we may see by comparing the inscriptions in the tombs of
the time of the Fourth Dynasty near the GreatPyramid, with
those of monuments of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The names
of the gods, which we find to have continued unchanged until
421
the latest period at which hieroglyphics were used, and which Hierogly-
therefore we may conclude to have been preserved from the phics.
beginning of hieroglyphic writing, are most remarkable for the -v—^
transposed mode in which their characters are arranged. That
of Osiris, for example, is usually written Ar-hes, though
pronounced Hes-ar; and that of Nephthys, eithe- Nebt-ee
or Ee-nebt. Religious reasons, perhaps, had somewhat to
do with these transpositions, as with the adjectives “ divine”
and “royal,” which preceded in writing the names to
which they were applied, contrary to the use of the lan¬
guage, to which the exceptions are very rare. The word
“ Ra,” “ the sun,” again, in royal names always occupies the
first place, whether pronounced at the beginning of the
name or not, thus Shaf-ra is written Ra-shaf ; and Men-ku-
ra, Ra-men-ku.
It is important to notice that doubled letters were expressed, Doubled
though they seem to have been almost confined to foreign letters,
words, except when the addition of the terminations nu and
su rendered the final letters N and s double. Of foreign
names we may instance that of an African nation or coun¬
try, Tekrerr;1 and that of the lonians, Haunenn or Haun-
nen, also written Haunen and thus showing that the redu¬
plication was not always expressed.
Certain signs have been concluded to be expletives used Expletive
merely to fill up a gap in a group of characters, whether in sign,
the middle or at the end of a word. Champollion enume¬
rated several of these, but some of them are determinatives,
and but one certainly an expletive. This is the papyrus-roll,
which follows substantives, adjectives, verbs, and prepositions;
and some of these, such as na, “great,” meh, “to fill, full,” al¬
most always ; it cannot, therefore, be anything but a mere
expletive, as Champollion concluded it to be. Bunsen has
indeed assigned to it two uses, for he calls it a “ period at
end of sentences,” and “ the hieroglyphical stop or end of
a group,” making it thus a simple division and a stop. Its
constant employment after particular words, in the midst of
some words, and where no stop is admissible, affords a po¬
sitive disproof of these definitions, which seem, though some¬
what obscure, to contradict one another.
The section of grammar relating to the parts of speech has Parts of
next to be considered, and this may be conveniently divided speech,
into what relates to inflected and what tonon-inflected words.
It must not be supposed, however, that any words were in
themselves capable of inflexion, lor the language was not in
that sense susceptible of inflexion, but the ideas of number,
gender, and person were added to a word by prefixes or suf¬
fixes, and the reception or non-reception of these signs of
inflexion is what constitutes the great divisions into which
we may separate the etymology of the Egyptian language.
The most convenient order, with reference to'inflected
words, will be to examine the article first, then the pro¬
noun, then the noun in its two kinds of substantive and
adjective, and, lastly, the verb.
Before speaking of the article, it is necessary to men- signs of
tion the signs of the singular, masculine and feminine, gender and
and of the plural, more especially as one of these has been number,
confounded with the article. I he sign of the masculine
singular is a single vertical line | g which is properly the
sign of the singular only. The singular feminine is distin¬
guished by the character . Both appear to have been
used as determinatives, though they sometimes represented
sounds, the former the sound a and the latter t. We find
the latter retained in many Coptic words at the commence¬
ment or the end, though in others it is omitted, while for
the former there is no certain equivalent. The plural is de¬
noted by three vertical lines variously dis- ^ I J 8
posed, and sometimes with the fern, sign 1 , . *
prefixed. All these signs are therefore to 5 * ‘ ^
1 The modern name Tekroor, pi. Takarneh.
422
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogly- be regarded as determinatives, and that of the feminine as
phics. sometimes indicating a feminine form either commencing
or terminating with L It is important to observe that
there is evidence to show that this feminine form existed
in both varieties in the ancient language no less than in the
Coptic. As, however, it is almost always suffixed in the
hieroglyphic writing, we cannot determine its position, and
must be content to place it after the word, as it seems to
have been most generally pronounced as well as placed.
Article. The article pa, pee, “ the,” was thus declined :—
Sing. Mate. Pa, pee ; F. Ta ; Plur. Com. Na, “ The.”
It was prefixed to nouns, as ta-mcn.t, “the swallow”
(in which group we find the termination T as well as the
article, proving that the two were distinct, and that both
cannot be articles) ; na-nebu, “ the lords.”
Pronouns. The pronouns we must now consider. In the tables,
as in those of the verbs, the method of arrangement
usually adopted in grammars of Semitic languages has
been here followed, as in these parts of grammar the
Egyptian most resembles the languages of that class.
Personal.
Singular.
3. M. Entuf,
F. Entus,
2. M. Entek,
F. Enta,
1. C. Anek, nak
ISOLATED PERSONAL PRONOUNS.
Plural.
He. 3. C. Entesen, sen They.
She.
Thou (m.) 2. C. Entuten, em-
Thou (/.)
I.
TUTEN
1. C.
(?)
AFFIXED PERSONAL PRONOUNS.
Singular.
3. M.—Ef,—u
.P.—Es
2. Jf.—Ek
F.—Et
1. C.—A
Him.
Her.
Thee (m.)
Thee (/.)
Me
Plural.
3. C. —Sen
2. C. —Ten
1. C. —En
You.
We.
Them.
Ye.
Us.
Object fem., person spoken to masc.
Sing. Taeek, teeK, TAK Thy (/.) rt trou (m.)
Object masc., person spoken to fem.
Sing. Paeet, pueet, peet, PAT Thy (m.) a a-a? (/.)
Object fem., person spoken to fem.
Sing. Taeet, TUEET, TEET, TAT Thy (/.) £ <rau (/.)
Object masc., persons spoken to com.
Plur. Peeten, paten Your (m.) a wav
Object fem., persons spoken to com.
Plur. Taeeten, teeten, taten Your (/.) A
Objects com., person spoken to masc.
Plur. Naeek, neek, nak Thy ai £ eJ <,ou
Objects com., person spoken to fem.
Plur. Naeet, NEET, NAT Thy a/'5 ew aw (m.)
Objects com., persons spoken to com.
Plur. Naeeten, NATEN Your a/ 5 «/' ipui (/.)
First Person. Object masc., person speaking com.
Sing. Paya, puya, peea, paa My (m.) a ^au
Object fem., person speaking com.
Sing. Taya, tuya, teea, taa My (/.) i pao
Object masc., persons speaking com.
Plur. PEEEN, PAEN Our (m.) a n/Auv
Object fem., persons speaking com.
Plur. TAYEN, TEEEN, TAEN Our (/.) n fipav
Objects com., person speaking com.
Plur. Hay a, naa My a< g ul poo
Objects com., persons speaking com.
Plur. Nayen Our ei k
Hierogly
phics.
It is to be observed that when the ideographic signs for
the affixed pronouns of the first person singular are em¬
ployed that person becomes necessarily masculine or femi¬
nine. As, however, it has but one sound, the person re¬
mains common though bearing this indication of a distinc¬
tion of gender. The same must be remarked of the pro¬
nominal affixes of verbs for this person. These pronouns
are likewise used as possessive pronouns without agreeing
with the gender and number of the thing possessed, and to
indicate the persons of verbs.
Possessive. possessive pronouns.
Third Person. Object masc., person spoken of masc.
Sing. Paeef, pueef, peef, paf His (m.) « abrou
Object fem., person spoken of masc.
Sing. TAEEF, TUEEF, TEEF, TAF His (/.) * abrou
Object masc., person spoken of fem.
Sing. Paees, puees, pees, pas Her (m.) <$ ubrris
Object fem., person spoken of fem.
Sing. Tabes, TUBES, TEES, TAS Her (/.) « eebriis
Object masc., persons spoken of com.
Plur. PAEESEN, PEESEN, PASEN, PAYU Their (m.) I ubrav
Object fem., persons spoken of com.
Plur. Taeesen, tueesen, teesen,
TASEN Their (/.) it abrut
Objects com., person spoken of masc.
Plur. Naeef, naf His (pi. c.) el g «< ub-rev
Objects com., person spoken of fem.
Plur. Naees, nees, nas Her (pi. c.) el 5 ul abrris
Objects com., persons spoken of com.
Plur. Naeesen, neesen, nasen Their (pi. c.) el x, ul ubrut
Second Person. Object masc., person spoken to masc.
Sing. PAEEK, PUEEK, peek, pak Thy (m.) e <rov (m.)
DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS.
Prefixed.
Demon¬
strative.
Singular.
M. Pay, pee
F. Tay
M. Pen.
F. Ten.
Plural.
This (m.)
This (/.)
Suffixed.
C. Nay
C. Apen, apu.
These.
Singular.
M. Puy, pefee
F. Tuy
RELATIVE PRONOUNS.
1. Simple Relative Pronouns.
He who. C.
She who.
Relative.
Plural,
2. Determinate Relative Pronoun.
Indefinite.
Entee, ent (of both numbers and genders) He who; she who.
Definite.
Singular. _ Plural.
M. PUYENT, PAENTEE, PEN- C. Nae’nTEE, NENTEE,
TEE, PENT, He Who.
F. Tuyent, taentee, tent,
She who.
Those who.
INDEFINITE PRONOUNS.
Indefiniti
Kee, ke
Sa
Sa-nebt
Ashet, shet
Shet-neb
Un-neb, un-nebu
Another, others.
A certain one, each one.
Each one, whoever.
Another, others.
All others, everything else.
Each being, each one, each thing.
We now come to the consideration of nouns, whether Nouns,
substantives or adjectives.
Hierogly¬
phics.
HIEROGLYPHICS
The greater number of pure substantives, as before sug-
423
gested, in Egyptian seem to have been names of real things,
the names of ideal things being in that language essentially
adjectives or verbs, which classes of words were nearly allied;
at least this seems the most probable opinion. Such words
as “ cat,” “ horse,” “ tree,” and proper names, which are
logically of the same class, are undoubted substantives; while,
on the other hand, “life,” “goodness,” or “good,”and the
not be difficult to comprehend the use of these signs as Hiejgy
applied to substantives. The examples, it should be added, v p '
have been chosen with a view to illustrating the use ot de¬
terminatives, for instance, by showing, that all those which
are generic had in many instances, and probably originally
in all, a primary specific use.
In Egyptian, as in Coptic, there are but two numbers, Number
the singular and the plural, for the dual was not known to and gen-
• i j i  +/-* i i a rniQi uer.
Hke^we^fmosTcertainly, InlTudXguagelLihe Egyp- that language Bunaen, i"J«d »>- a,8igned to it a duJ ^
tian, primarily adjectives : for “life” is “the state of living, contrary to the op.mon of Champolhon, but h.s j.ewjs
spoken of a person ; “ goodness,” “ the state of being good,
except among those who can comprehend the abstract notion
of “ life” and “ goodness.”
The determinatives of substantives are necessarily very
numerous. Some specimens are given below, arranged
under their different classes and kinds.
Generic
determin¬
atives.
I. Generic Determinatives.
FINAL.
o
AAAWv
/S/WS^W
/SAAAA/V
Specific
determin¬
atives.
Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig- 3.
Fig 1. (Representation of the sun.) 1. Light, as uben,
“ light, to shine.” 2. Time, as haru, “ day;”
kurh, “night;” heeb, “a panegyry,” periodical cele¬
bration. ~ j i
Fig. 2. (Repr. of skin of some animal.) 1. Quadrupeds (in¬
cluding quadrumana), as shau, “ a male cat ;” htar,
“ahorse,” and proper name of a man, in which latter
case it is followed by a second determinative, the
ordinary one of proper names of men. 2. T-hings
made of leather, as tcb, “ a sandal; shcnr, a
helmet.” , .
Fig 3. (Repr. of water.) 1. Sea, river, lake, and the like,
as tuma, “ the sea;” aru, “ a river.” 2. Proper names
of the same, as . . . urt-mu, “ the Mediterranean ;”
Hapee-mu, “the Nile.” 3. Fluids, besides water,
as snef, “ blood.” 4. Actions and feelings connected
with water and other fluids, as ab, “ thirst, to be
thirsty.”
II. Specific Determinatives.
1. FINAL.
A. Generic, in their Primary use, as Specific.
1. (Representation of the sun.) Ra,
Fig. v~~,  .
Fie. 2. (Repr. of skin of some animal.)
“skin.”
“ the sun.”
Bes, a “ hide” or
B. Specific.
V ^
Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3. Fig. 4.
Amen, “Jupiter-Ammon,” the
Fig. 1. (Figure of Amen.)
god of Thebes.
Fig. 2. (Repr. of ears.) Mester, “ the ears.”
Fig. 3. (Repr. of bee.) Sheb, “abee.”
Fig. 4. (Repr. of bow.) Peet, 1. “a bow.” 2. Followed
by numerals for 9, the “ Nine Bows,” a nomadic peo¬
ple, bordering on the Egyptians.
2. INITIAL.
Fig. 5. Fig. 6.
Fig. 5. (Repr. of a hatchet.) Neter, a god.
Fig. 6. (Repr. of an ear of corn.) Bctee, corn.
From these examples, compared with what has been be¬
fore said on the subject of determinatives generally, it will
uuuumy —* 1  j n j •
disproved by the facts—(1.) that the usual so-called sign
of the dual is not strictly analogous to those of the singular
and plural; (2.) that it follows in some instances a plural
termination ; (3.) that it is occasionally employed as a
simple termination without implying duality, whereas the
sign of the plural is never so used, and that of the singular
apparently never without retaining its signification ot unity,
and certainly never in opposition to that signification ; and
(4.) that the dual number does not exist in the Coptic
language. It is easy to perceive how this mistake has
arisen, for duality could only be represented where ideo¬
graphic signs were simply employed without the addition ot
numerals by the doubling of a sign (as in Spec. Dot. 2,
supra), and thus occupying a place between the singular
and the plural, this form was naturally mistaken for a dual.
The singular of substantives is indicated by an ideogra¬
phic or phonetic sign or word being written singly, or by
the addition of the signs previously mentioned of the singu¬
lar masculine and feminine. 4 he plural is analogically in¬
dicated, but, from the nature of the case, in several manners.
In both numbers there are two genders, the masculine and
the feminine ; the former being indicated by the sign of the
masculine, whether singular or plural; the latter by the
feminine sign alone, or added to the masculine plural, ex¬
cept when the gender is denoted by the determinative, in
which case that sign is not always employed.
The plural was indicated—(1.) by trebling ideographic-
signs; (2.) by trebling a phonetic word ; (3.) by trebling
the second and third signs of a triliteral phonetic word;
(4.) by adding the sign of the plural, three vertical lines;
(5.) by adding the termination u (or oo), to ideographic or
phonetic words (by preference to the latter), whatever were
their sound, excepting those ending in N, which take the
termination YU (or yoo) ; (6.) by adding the sign of the
plural to the trebled ideographic or phonetic word; (7.)
bv adding the sign of the plural to the terminations u and
yu. The sign of the feminine is also retained in the plural.
Nouns adjective are declined in the same manner as Adjectives,
nouns substantive. They differ from them grammatically
as to their determinatives principally, which will be noticed
with those of the verbs. Most of the adjectives are indeed
also verbs, the radical signification being the adjective one,
since there is properly but one verb, the substantive ; but
as in use the adjective held a secondary place to the verb,
being a kind of verbal noun, the verb is grammatically the
more important.
The substantive verb is represented by at least three Verbs,
words 1. Au, or aw, “ to be,” both declinable and inde¬
clinable. In the latter form it is used as the copula, and Substan-
becomes a conjunction, and it also is used as a preposition. Uve verb8-
2. Un, “ to be,” “ to exist,” both declinable and inde¬
clinable. 3. Ar, “to be,” indeclinable, placed at the
head of a proposition, and representing the 3d persons
singular and plural of the present, as well as the infini¬
tive. This also becomes a preposition. To these Bun¬
sen ’ adds a fourth, pa, pu, pui, tui, which he inaccu¬
rately conjectures to be perhaps merely a pronoun. We
must add to these the kindred formative tu, which is cer¬
tainly a form of the substantive verb. From it have origi¬
nated forms of the substantive verb in Coptic, HC, TC,
and doubtless the plural of which last we have to find
424
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogly¬
phics.
Adjective
verbs.
the original. Perhaps one or more of the signs of tense
besides au may be considered to be forms of the substantive
verb.
Adjective verbs are distinguished by their determinatives,
which are symbolical signs, very rarely used in their primary
signification to restrict substantives. Their general charac¬
ter may be seen by the following examples:—
Generic
determin¬
atives.
I. Generic Determinatives,
final.
Fig. 1. Fig. 2.
Fig. 1. (A sword). I. Cutting, as hcsk, “to cut;” ska,
“ to labour.” 2. Division, as tum, “ to separate, dis¬
tinguish, make to distinguish, cause to know.” 8. Tro¬
pically, negation, tum, “not to be.” 4. Wounding,
as smam, “ to accuse.”
Fig. 2. (Two legs walking). 1. Locomotion, as ya, “to
come, to go ;” shens, “ to hunt, to fish.” 2. The result
of locomotion, as her, “ to appear.” 3. Motion, as
psesh, “ to extend ;” ha, “ to place, to set up.”
ner in which they were written, renders the inquiry into a Hierogly.
matter of this kind extremely difficult, and its result in phicY"
many respects only approximative. Nevertheless, mostofv>—
the particulars are proved by satisfactory examples to be
entirely correct, and these are therefore distinguished by
an asterisk (*). These examples are not all of verbs, be¬
cause in some of the rarer formations one is compelled to
have recourse to other parts of speech ; this, however, does
not weaken the cases in question, if we consider the charac¬
ter of the language. Care must be taken to distinguish verbs
in forms from compound verbs, and these last again from
verbs in juxtaposition with other words, but not composition.
In the case of verbal forms they are mostly produced by separ¬
able or inseparable prefixes, respecting the former of which
there can alone be doubt. When separately employed,
however, these prefixes are either followed by a preposition
or written under a different form, of which their prefix form
is a contraction or simplification. The compound verbs are
again to be distinguished from those simply in juxtaposition
by the position of the pronominal terminations indicating
the person, for these follow the whole group in the case of
a compound verb, whereas they immediately follow the sim¬
ple verb when it is not compounded with the word which
it precedes. The following, then, are the principal forms :—
Specific
determin¬
atives.
II. Specific Determinatives.
1. FINAL.
A. Monosyllabic Forms.
Sometimes the second and third of these forms appear to he de¬
rivatives.
A. Generic, in their 'primary use when applied to
adjective verbs, as Specijic.
* 1. "With a, or inexpressed vowel.
* 2. With ee.
* 3. With u.
Forms of
verbs.
It is scarcely possible to determine the primary use of
the determinatives of adjective verbs as such, on account
of their being tropically employed. Sometimes there seems
little doubt, as in the case of the second of those cited un¬
der the previous class, the primary use of which as applied
to adjective verbs, is almost certainly to restrict the verb
ya, “to come” or “go.” It is, however, so difficult to
trace this use, that the safest plan is to class the word or
words which seem to show it under the first head of examples
of the employment of a sign as a generic determinative.
B. Specijic.
^ h
Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Fig. 4.
Fig. 1. (A man wrapped in his dress.) Amen, “to envelop,
cover the root of the name of the god Amen. ’
Fig. 2. (A hoe.) Ska, “to labour.”
Fig. 3. (An Egyptian holding an Asiatic prisoner.) Shetb
“ to subdue.”
Fig. 4. (A cynocephalus.) Kant, “ to be enraged.”
2. Initial.
? 1
Fig. 1. Fig. 2.
Fig. 1. (Crux ansata.) Ansh, “ to live (life).”
Fig. 2. (Two legs united to the initial letter.) Yee or ay,
a form of ya, “ to come, go.” (This group is some¬
times remarkable for the repetition of the determina¬
tive.)
There are several forms of adjective verbs, each of which
may comprehend one or more kinds. They may be ar¬
ranged as below, according to our present knowledge of the
ancient Egyptian language. It should be remembered, how¬
ever, that our incomplete acquaintance with the words of
that language, both as to their number, and as to the man-
Fig.I.
B. Derivative Forms.
* 1. Reduplicate, frequentative and augmentative.
^ 2. S prefixed, causative.
3. H prefixed, intensitive and verb of action of substantive root.
4. T prefixed, donative.
The root of the verb is the infinitive noun, a verbal Declension
noun which expresses what we should term the abstract
notion of the meaning conveyed by the verb, and is the 1Ve
only part of an adjective verb which does not require the '
assistance, either expressed or understood, of the substan¬
tive verb. It may be best rendered the act of doing or
condition of being, as mar, “ the condition of loving,” &c.
It must be carefully distinguished from the infinitive mood,
which requires a prefixed preposition.
Indicative Mood. Indicative
mood.—
Aorist. Aorist.
Sing. 3. M.—Ef, F. 2.—Ek, K. 1. C.—A.
F.—Es, S. —Et, T.
Plur. 3. G.—Sen. 2.—Ten. 1. .—En.
This tense is formed by adding the affixed personal pro¬
nouns to the root of the verb. A more complex form is
made by placing the particle ku between the root and the
pronoun of the first person.
Although this tense has been usually denominated “ the
present,” it has been judged best to call it the aorist,
since it is susceptible of three meanings, corresponding to
those of our present, imperfect, and preterite, as will appear
from the examples given in the chapter on construction.
The past is formed by prefixing the characteristic N to
the affixed personal pronouns.
Past. Past.
Sing. 3. M.—Nef. 2. 1.—Nek. 1. c. Na.
F.—Nes. —Net.
Plur. 3. C.—Nesen. 2.—Neten. 1.  Nen.
1 he signification of this tense is usually that of the past
alone, though it has sometimes both a pluperfect and an
HIEROGLYPHICS.
425
Hierogly- emphatic present sense, in the latter case implying a past
phics. one. It may generally be best rendered by the compound
's—form, “ I have done thus,” than by the simple past; so that
it is better to read “ I have loved” than “ I loved,” for the
latter form would be more usually found to correspond to
the aorist.
The future is formed by prefixing the substantive verb
AU, generally with the addition of the preposition er, to the
infinitive of the verb to which it is desired to give a future
signification.
Future.
Future.
Sing. 3. M. Auf-er.—
F. Aus-er.—
Plur. 3. C. Ausen-er.
2. Auk-er.
Aut-er.—•
Auten-er.—
1. C. Awa-er.—
Awen-er.—
Optative
mood.
Imperative
mood.
Infinitive
mood.
Active
participle.
Passive
participle.
Chevalier Bunsen and M. de Rouge suppose that the
preposition may be omitted, and the latter has even
gone so far as to constitute of this supposed form a new
future unknown to Champollion. This opinion has been
caused by the circumstance that the R, as we have shown in
the present essay, was sometimes omitted in writing no less
than in speaking by the ancient Egyptians, while the vowel
that preceded it was retained. When, however, the vowel
preceding the R was that which was never expressed, it be¬
came impossible to indicate that it was not dropped with
the consonant following it. This inexpressed vowel is that
which forms part of the preposition er, and therefore when
the consonant of that preposition is omitted in writing the
future the whole particle appears to be omitted. The
formation of the Coptic futures remarkably corrobo¬
rates this opinion, for they retain the p in some persons, but
reject it in others.
M. de Rouge has noticed another form of future com¬
mencing with tu immediately prefixed to the root without
an intervening particle, but with marks of tense following
the root: thus, tu-RESH-ku-a (“ I will invoke ?”) He is evi¬
dently correct in supposing this to be a form of the sub¬
stantive verb, like au, as we have already seen to be the
case.
The optative mood is known only in the aorist. This
tense is formed by prefixing the syllable may to the aorist
of the indicative ; as, may-ya, “ that I may go.”
The imperative mood, which is likewise known only in
the aorist, is formed by prefixing the syllable ma to the
aorist of the indicative. The close similarity to the prefix of
the optative is what one would reasonably expect from
the affinity of the two moods.
The infinitive mood is formed by prefixing er and other
particles to the infinitive noun or root of the verb, with
which it should not be confounded.
The participles are formed from the root by the addition
of a prefix or suffixes. The active participle is formed
(1.) by prefixing ent, enten, “ he who,” to the root; or
(2.) by adding to it ta or t ; or (3.) lastly, by adding to it
the pronominal affixes of the third person singular, ef (»?.),
es (/.), and u, not sen, as their plural common.
The passive participle is remarkable as being the only
form in which the passive voice is found in the ancient
Egyptian expressed by a peculiar inflection. It is formed
by the addition to the root of ut or tu, sometimes pre¬
fixed, but almost always affixed, for both numbers and
genders ; and by its aid a construction arises which must
be called the aorist of the passive. This is formed by the
addition of the pronominal suffixes to the participle past;
as astu mestuf em renp xxi,1 “ Behold he was born in the
year 21,” where the aorist is used with an imperfect signi¬
fication. It has been supposed that the derivative form ter- Hierogly-
minating in ee is a passive participle ; but this seems rather PhlC8- /
to be a separate form of the verb, having significations
that would naturally lead to its being usually employed in
a participial sense, both as an active and as a passive
participle.
All verbs assume a negative signification by receiving the Negative
prefixes nen or entem, as in the following example from f01111,
the negative confession in the Ritual:—Nen-art-a amam
hata,2 “ I have not eaten my heart”—i.e., repented ; mean¬
ing, I have had no reason to repent, I have not committed
anything to cause repentance; where it may be noticed
that the aorist is used for the perfect.
Very frequently do we find the root of the verb employed
without mark of tense, number, or person, in the significa¬
tion of every one of the tenses spoken of above, and for
both the participles ; but this use is chiefly confined to the
sculptured inscriptions of the temples, where the scribes
have aimed at a contracted mode of writing ; and we do not
find frequent instances of it in the papyri. The general
sense of the inscription in which the root is thus employed
without inflexion enables us to supply the omission.
Respecting the non-inflected words, prepositions, ad¬
verbs, conjunctions, and interjections, little need be said, for
they can be learned from vocabularies, and their use will
appear from the syntax.
Prepositions are both simple and compound, the com-Preposi-
pound ones being formed by the addition of a noun; astlons-
her-ker or ha-ka, “ above, before,” literally “ above the
head.” They are joined with the affixed pronouns when
they are used in relation to a person, as ner-sen, “ above
them.”
Adverbs are in like manner both simple and compound, Adverbs,
the compound ones being usually formed by the union
of two nouns, a preposition and adverb, of two adverbs,
&c.
Conjunctions are also simple or compound, but the com- Conjunc-
pound ones hitherto discovered are but two, har-entee tlons-
(above which ?) “ because,” and kar-entee (below which ?)
‘ therefore.” Among the simple conjunctions au is remark¬
able as being identical with one of the forms of the substantive
verb ; and it is to be observed that its manifest correspondence
with the Hebrew *1 seems to lend support to the supposition
that the latter is etymologically connected with the substantive
verb rm Having thus sketched the main features of
the orthography and etymology of the Egyptian language,
it only remains for us to notice some of the principles of its
syntax.
§ 4.—CONSTRUCTION.
It has been observed in an earlier part of this article Construc-
that it has been denied that there was any syntax to thetion.
Coptic language, syntax being here used in a very limited
sense to denote the part of grammar relating to idiomatic
uses, and the same opinion appears to have prevailed respect¬
ing its ancient form, the Egyptian; for no one has yet at¬
tempted to give any account of the syntax of the latter.
The deficiencies of this portion of the present essay are
therefore in some measure excusable, not only as there is
no previous work, but because of the imperfect know¬
ledge of the language. It is also difficult at this distance
of time so completely to master the modes of thought of
the Egyptians of the Pharaonic period, as to be able to dis¬
criminate the more delicate of the idiomatic forms of ex¬
pression, and to ascertain their origin. Nevertheless the
1 Stela from the Apis-tombs, now in the Louvre, from Sir Gardner Wilkinson s notes.
VOL. XI.
8 L. T., c. cxxv., 27.
3 H
426
Hierogly¬
phics.
Character¬
istics of
Egyptian
literature.
HIEROGLYPHICS.
simplicity of the language, and its similarity to the Coptic,
tend to lessen these difficulties, and to embolden us to
hope that some general principles of syntax may be in¬
dicated.
First of all, it will be necessary to give a short sketch
of the literature of the ancient Egyptians, since much
that must be included in the province of syntax may be the
result of the peculiar forms it took. In this place the lite¬
rary records must be considered as to form and matter, and
divided into graven and written.
Such remains of the ancient Egyptian literature as have
come down to us are either historical or religious; for those
that cannot be referred to these classes are so very few as
only to afford exceptions to general rules in their subjects,
and to indicate to us that the same system of composition
runs through the entire body of records. The substance
of the historical and religious inscriptions is, however, re¬
markably different; for the former, although religious in
leeling, are devoid of the peculiar mysticism which cha¬
racterizes most of the latter. The historical inscriptions
are records of the successes of the kings, in explanations
(often very short) accompanying the historical scenes on the
walls of the temples i the religious inscriptions are extracts
from the great Ritual, or explanatory inscriptions like those
of the former class. The historical papyri are panegyrics
of the sovereigns recording their successes in war, and notes
of current events made by the scribes of the palace-temples :
the religious papyri mostly comprehend the whole or parts of
the great Ritual before mentioned. Of those inscriptions
which cannot be classed as either historical or religious, we
mayparticularly mention the explanatory ones accompanying
the scenes illustrative of manners and customs which adorn
the walls of the tombs of private persons. Referring
to other works for some account of the subjects and cha¬
racteristics of these various records in more detail, it is only
needful here to consider them in their relation to our pre¬
sent subject. In the religious inscriptions particularly, and
more or less throughout the whole literature, there runs a
superstitious conservatism, which has doubtless caused words
otherwise obsolete, and characters of an earlier usage, to be
constantly retained. The explanatory inscriptions, whether
religious, or historical, or simply civil, must be regarded as
merely complemental to the scenes which they were meant
to explain ; and he who should take any one of these inscrip¬
tions, and judge it by the rules applied to a quotation from a
classical author, would be as unjust as he who should read
the short sentences or single words that occur in the illumi¬
nations of mediaeval manuscripts as connected or complete
records. It should be noticed also, that in the sculptured
inscriptions much was sacrificed to appearance, and, as has
been before remarked, ideographic signs therefore preferred
to phonetic, as well as particles and marks of tense omitted.
Where this is plainly he case it is folly to cite as an ex¬
ample of peculiar construction what is merely an accidental
result of this desire to adopt the most decorative characters ;
but there are instances on which it is difficult to form a Hierogly.
decided opinion. phics.'
1. Propositions.
As to propositions, nothing need be noticed except the ^roP0Sb
use of the copula. I he copula in Egyptian is denoted
after a Semitic method, as well as in the Indo-European
manner; so that one could write “ man he great,” or “ man
is great.” Hence it might be argued that the language
had a double origin, but it should be remembered that in
this instance the pronominal affixed termination of the so-
called Iranian copula is a Semitic word, the same which is
employed for the other copula. It may, indeed, be replied
that the probable indication of an Iranian impression yet
remains, although it has taken a Semitic form; and it must
be confessed that this reasoning is not without its force,
nevertheless it is best to base the theory of the origin of the
language on more convincing evidence.
2. The Article.
dhe article was prefixed to substantives to determine f,yn tax. f
their application to a particular individual or individuals,the artlC e
but most commonly to express a remarkable distinction
between the individual spoken of and all others of the same
class: —Thus we read pjs-neb en kam,1 “Me lord of
Egypt;” au-nak pe-heka,2 “ adorations to thee the king.”
So, too, we find such royal names as p^-usert,3 “ the
director ” (f.),4 5 * and p-sa-mut, “ the son of Mut ”—Psam-
muthis.0 The article is thus especially used in the names
of countries, places, and peoples; as pe-muee, “ the City of
the Lion,”0 Leontopolis. It was also employed as a simple
determinative article; thus, pe-tu-n sheta pe-tu-n nehee-
ren,7 “ the land of Sheta, the land of Neheeren” (Aram-Na-
haraim,8 Mesopotamia). From the Coptic we might con¬
clude that this use was very common, but we must remember
that the Copts mainly supplied the old marks of gender and
number by the definite article, as well as by the indefinite.
I he emphatic use is too frequent in the inscriptions and pa¬
pyri not to have been universal in the language ; but with this
simple determinative use the contrary is the case in the
written language, and therefore probably was also in the
spoken.
3. Pronouns.
1 he isolated personal pronouns are very rarely employed; ^>r0D0U,:s'
so rarely that Chev. Bunsen does not give that of the first
person plural in his Egyptfs Place, not believing that an
instance of its use has been found in the Egyptian records.9
These pronouns are indeed used very much as were the per¬
sonal pronouns in the nominative in Latin, for example in the
following passage : tet en-sex an han-f entuten™ ash11
tatsen tuen12 er pe-sher-en-sheta13 “ Speech to them of
his holiness. ‘ Who are ye V They sav, ‘ We are of the hos¬
tile Sheta.’ ”
2 Champollion Orammaire Egyptienne, p. 480.
I Select Papyri, pi. Ixiii., line 1.
3 Wilkinson’s Modern Egypt and Thebes, vol. ii., p. 424.
4 The sound and signification of this word seem to be proved by its use for “ oar” (Lepsius, Todtenbuch, ch. xeix., line 16, compared
with Pit. of Burton, Brit. Mus., Coptic OCD, S. \ ROCGD, M.; and in the name of the of Manetho, USER-KEF head of
the Fifth Dynasty.
5 Wilkinson’s Modern Egypt and Thebes, vol. ii., p. 429. One Psammuthis alone is known from the Egyptian monuments. He has
been usually held to have been the third sovereign of the Twenty-ninth Dynasty (Y up. gov dig), but Chevalier Bunsen makes him the
third of the Twenty-third Dynasty (Yotppovg).
® For the identification of this town with Leontopolis, see Horae JPgyptiacee, pp. 176, 177. 7 Rosellini, Mon. Star., No. cii., line 18.
This Neheeren may be the Nahiri of the Assyrian inscriptions placed by Sir H. Rawlinson to the west of the Euphrates/ It is in¬
deed once^written Neharee in a tomb at Thebes (MS. notes of writer).
9 Egypt's Place, vol. i., p. 283. 10 Corrected from Champollion’s Dictionnaire Egyptien, s. v.
II Coptic A.Cy, M. quis, &c. EJA), B- quis, unde, &c.
12 TJ41S is valuable as an example of the use of the rare substantive verb TU, with marks of inflection, already noticed by Mr Birch-
M. de Rouge had also discovered its employment as a prefix to form the future, had conjectured that it might be a substantive verb like
AU, and had pointed out its probable relation to the Coptic. 13 Rosellini, Mon. Stor., No. cii., line 14.
HIEROGLYPHICS.
427
Ilierogly-
phics.
Nouns.
Verbs.
The affixed personal pronouns are employed for the accu¬
sative of the isolated personal pronouns of which they may be
regarded as contracted forms ; and they are also used as pos¬
sessive pronouns, and to indicate the persons of verbs. The
sense of a sentence in which they occur can alone deter¬
mine their signification. Thus anshef may be rendered
“ his life,” or “ he lives.” S-ha-f, “ to set it up,” or “ he
sets up,” lit. “ to cause to set it up,”&c. The affixed personal
pronoun when used as a possessive immediately follows the
substantive to which it applies, whether or not that substan¬
tive be followed by an adjective in concord; as, hest-ef
urt “ his chief throne.”1
The proper possessive pronouns are always isolated and
placed before, and both in their etymology and their signb
fication may be best rendered by the Greek 6—a.vrov, &c.
The determinative relative pronoun is properly indefinite,
but it becomes definite by the simple relative pronoun be^
ing prefixed to it, In both forms it is isolated,
4, Nouns.
The gender of substantives is not to be reduced to any
distinct rules ; objects in themselves masculine or feminine
are assigned to these genders, but the very large class which
is not susceptible of this determination is necessarily classed,
in the absence of a neuter gender, in an arbitrary manner.
An adjective in concord with a substantive follows it in
almost all instances. There are some rare exceptions to this
rule, particularly in the case of the words neter, “ divine,”
and suten, u royal,” which always, as far as we are aware,
precede the substantives to which they are applied, doubt¬
less from respect to the signification of these words. These
afford the only general exceptions ; of particular exceptions
we may instance . . . neter-han,2 “ the fourth priest.”
Ordinal numerals, it should be observed, are declined in
the same manner as adjectives,
5. Verbs.
It will be necessary to consider in some detail the signi¬
fication of the different parts of the verb.
The infinitive noun is the root of the verb, and expresses
what we should term the abstract notion of its meaning.
Although therefore not part of the verb, it must be considered
with it. It must be distinguished from the infinitive mood,
which both requires a prefixed preposition, and is accom¬
panied in all adjective verbs by the substantive verb either
expressed or understood. It may be rendered by “ the act
of doing,” or “ the condition of being,” as in the follow¬
ing instances:—Sheft yu-f ha . . . Ruten,3 “ on
his coming from the land of Ruten;” Yee en han-f ha
. . . “ The coming of his holiness from foreign lands.”1 *
In many cases, when no preposition is used, it is difficult to
say whether the word is an infinitive noun or a simple sub¬
stantive. It may be doubted whether the Egyptians would
have expressed “ the condition of living” and “ life” by
different forms of the same root, and not by the same word,
and the same difficulty is experienced as to all roots which are
simple substantives as well as verbs. With reference to the
infinitive mood there can be no doubt, for it may always be
distinguished, as in English, by its prefixed prepositions,
thus, NeN-HER NEF EE MASH SHER MANEF HANF,J “ He
did not come forward to fight after that he had seen his holi- Hierogly-
ness.” The root is frequently used for all parts of the T?
verb, and this is especially the case with the forms of the
substantive verb. In many inscriptions where the root
appears without any marks of mood, tense, number, or per¬
son, we may conclude that the license of the scribe has
omitted them ; but the frequency of this use and its con¬
sistency with the genius of the language forbid us from ap¬
plying this explanation in every case. .
The indicative having but three tenses in the Egyptian
by which to express the various shades of meaning that
have caused the formation of so many tenses in the Coptic,
it becomes a matter of importance to determine as nearly
as may be their use.
That tense which has been formerly termed the present we
have ventured to call the aorist, since it is indefinite, having
occasionally a past, though not a past definite signification.
The following examples will show its use ; firstly, as a sim¬
ple present,— Tat sen en hanf,6 “ They say to his holiness;”
secondly, as an imperfect, beshu (aashu?) en ne-
teru SHER USA HA TU,7 “ I did perform (or was performing)
the ceremonies of the gods while 1 was on earth and as a
past, Sha s-mak-tu Hesar er sheftu-f,8 “as thou hast jus¬
tified Osiris against his enemies.” In some cases the aorist
has a kind of future signification when it is used for a con¬
tinuous action or condition commencing at the present time,
thus,—i-SuTEN-SHEB NEB-TU TEE AREF HEEB-EF EN (TET9) t
“ The king of Upper and Lower Egypt, the lord of the two re¬
gions, performs the panegyry for ever ; ”Awa suten ha ket
er (tet1' ) ? “ I am king on the throne for ever.” In these
last instances the use of the future would perhaps be more
accurate, although the sense could not be completely ex¬
pressed without the employment of both future and present.
In all the instances which we have given of the use of the
aorist, deviating from its primary use as a present, it might
perhaps be best rendered in English by the present, for in so
doing the idiom of the original would not be lost, nor would
any violence be done to our language.
The tense which we have called the past does not deviate
widely from a preterite signification. Usually it is a past
definite, sometimes it is a pluperfect, and at other times it
becomes an emphatic present, though in the last case le-
taining part of its proper sense. The following examples
will explain these uses;—Past definite, Arnef memennu-f
en atf Amen-RA,11 “ He has made (these) his buildings to
his father Amen-ra;” Katnef han-f ansh-ta-sneb-ef
beshen,12 “ His holiness, of a strong life, built a
. . . . fort,” in the latter of which cases the past sense
is more remote than in the former: pluperfect, Nen-her
NEF ER MASH SHER MA NEF HANF,13 “ He did not Come
forward to fight after that he had seen his holiness,
where the same tense is employed as a past and as a plu¬
perfect : emphatic present, Yee na sher-ek neb-a,14 “ I
am come unto thee my lord,” which compare with Eeyu
a emhenek,15 “ I am come before thee,” where the simple
present is employed. This last use is very similar to our
indiscriminate use in English of “ I am come, and I
have come.”
The future is not altogether unlike in signification to the
Hebrew aorist, but the future sense is so predominant that
its occasional employment as an emphatic present, indicat¬
ing determination, does not warrant us in calling it an aorist.
Of each use a single example will suffice,—Aw-er-ar heeb,
1 Champ. Gram., p. 465. 2 Inscription on a mummy-case in antiquities published by Mr Sams.
3 Rosellini, Mon. Stor., No. xlviii., 1. 4 Id., No. xlvi., 1. 8 r • f am/.’.P-502-, „ , ,
« Rosellini, Mon. Star., No. cii., line 9. * Champ. Gram., p. 502. 8 Lepsius, Todtenbuch ch xvm., hues 13 14.
9 Champ Gram p516 10 Id loccit H Wilkinson’s Extracts from several Hieroglyphical Subjects, pi. i., y.
12 Select Papyri, fl. Ixiii., line 1. « Champ. Gram., p. 502. 14 Lepsius, Todtenbuch cap. cxxv line 1
15 Champ. Gram., p. 487. Champollion (id., p. 477) gives two instances, both from th® ®a“® ^ I)akkeh)> in.° ^
of which the past is used, and in the other the present, in precisely the same formula TlELNA SIIAR-LK E , am come ,
[0] Thoth YEE A SHAR-EK HESAR, “ 1 am come to thee, [0] Osiris.”
428 H I E R 0 G L
Hierogly- “ I will celebrate the panegyry.”1 Awa-resh tu-resh-ku-
Phics- a REN-EK,2 “ / will invoke, I will invoke, thy name,” where
v'—it should be noted that both forms of future are used in the
same sense. The context in this place seems to show that
the meaning is, “ I do invoke.”
What we term the subjunctive mood is not distinguished
in the Egyptian from the indicative, as in the following in¬
stance, Aw. . . NA HAN EN SuTEN-SHEB NTERASH ANSI!
(tet?) yaa er kam3, ‘'And the holiness of the king of
Upper and Lower Egypt, Darius (Hystaspis) ever-living,
commanded me that I should go to Egypt.”
The imperative and optative moods have each but a single
tense. Of the former, it must be remarked, that it is fre¬
quently expressed by the root without any mark of time, as,—
Pesht (tenhd ?)-et ha-her-a,4 “ Spread thy wings over
me;” and that at other times it has the form of the aorist
indicative in consequence of the omission of its distinctive
prefix ma ; as,—Smenek ha ka-k,5 “ Place
thou the royal helmet on thy head.” The imperative is
sometimes written with its prefix but with no sign of person
when it is in the second person singular. Of the optative
mood nothing need here be said.
The participles present considerable difficulties both from
the various forms they possess and on account of their idio¬
matic use. As it is probable that some shades of difference
were originally indicated by these forms, it will be best to
give the examples of their significations under each form
separately.
Participle Present.—1. Root preceded by ent, entee,
enten, unconnected; as,—Entee-nehem, “[He] who de¬
livers, the deliverer.”6 2. Root with affix ta or t, as,—
Enter ra shata sha,7 “ Thou Pharaoh, riding like ”
3. Root with pronominal affixes ef (m.) es (/) sing., and u
{com.) plur., as,—42 Neneteru unnu hnar em us-shat
ent (or entee) math,8 “ Forty-two gods who are {being)
with thee in the hall of the two Truths.”
Participle Past.—This has, as a participial form, the root,
with the formative ut or tu indeclinable, either prefixed or
affixed, but almost always the latter ; as,—NEN-PE-t/r-M^,
shatetf,9 “ There has not been seen ought like unto it,” in
which the participle is used for the past passive; and
Ha EM RA-U EN HER .... TATU HERU RRAS AR, &C.,10
“ The beginning of the chapters of the manifestation . .
. . . said [on] the day of the coffin’s going,” &c.
The formation of the passive is a remarkable character¬
istic of the Egyptian, more especially as in the Coptic the
passive is always, or almost always, expressed by circumlo¬
cution. In the hieroglyphic inscriptions we find, however,
a regular aorist indicative of the passive voice formed by
adding the pronominal affixes of person to the participle
past, as in the following passage,—Uru nau en Remen tat-
SEN EM . . NEB TUTEE EM S-NA . . . . F MATV-K
SHA tefr Ra,11 “ The great chiefs of the land of Remen say
in adoring the lord of the two regions of Egypt, in magni¬
fying his . . . . thou seemest {art seen) like thy
father Ra.”
Y P H I C S.
6. JParticles. Hi6rogly-
phics.
Besides the regular adverbs, certain words become ad-
verbs by their use in an adverbial sense. These are sub- Particles,
standves, adjectives, and prepositions. Thus,—Unna hna
Her heru ar hebu en Hesar un-nufr,12 “ I was with Horus
the dag of the celebration of the panegyrics of Osiris
Unufre,” where heru, “day,” is used adverbially. The
placing of an adverb immediately after a substantive gives •
the substantive an adverbial sense, as,—Aa-u-ner pe-hera
NUFR MER-TEE AmEN-SHA, NEB HEBU ATF-EF PtAH-SHA ATF
neteru, ATEE Ra-sha,13 “ Glory to thee ! the king good,
twice-loved, Amen-like, lord of panegyrics, Ptah-like [like]
the father of the gods, chief Ra-likeP In the following
sentence an adjective takes an adverbial sense,—Sheet
EEY-F HA . . . RUTEN RER HAR HA NESHTU,14 “On his
coming from the land of Ruten with captives a great many,”
where the adjective great is employed as in the English
idiom. The use of prepositions for adverbs will be seen
by the following passage:—Pe-tu er-hat, er-{peh ?), em
rabeb,15 “ The world before and behind [him is] in [the
act of] performing libations.”
The use of the prepositions does not present any diffi¬
culty, and their formation has been already spoken of in
the proper place. The same may be said of the conjunc¬
tions, although it should be noticed that they are so rarely
expressed in the inscriptions that we may reasonably con¬
clude that they were frequently omitted in the language.
The interjections usually immediately precede the word to
which they apply, as,—A Tet s-matu Hesar er shat-
uf,16 “ O Thoth, justify thou Osiris against his adver¬
saries.” It must be remarked that sometimes the article
occurs between the interjection and the name of the person
addressed.
Of the figures of syntax none are more common in the
ancient Egyptian than ellipsis and pleonasm. The former
is principally used for brevity of expression, and the latter
for greater emphasis.
To this grammatical sketch may be added some obser- Had the
vations on the question whether the ancient Egyptians had Egyptians
poetry, and in particular as to the evidence on this matter P0etl7 ?
afforded by their records.
What Herodotus relates of the songof Maneros indicates
very clearly a sacred chant, and from this we might infer
the existence of measured prose or poetry in the Egyptian
literature. Clemens Alexandrinus, in his account of the
sacred books of Egypt, an account which undoubtedly was
taken from good authority, speaks of their containing hymns.
In describing the procession, he tells us that “ first goes a
singer, bearing one of the symbols of music : they say
that his duty is to be versed in the two books of Hermes,
of which one contains the hymns of the gods, the other,
the regulation of the king’s life ;”17 and later, in speaking of
ten others of the Hermetic books, he tells us that they
contained hymns.18 Plato also speaks of hymns as well as
music, traditionally supposed to have been composed by
1 Champ., Gram., p. 413.
2 Lepsius, Todtenbuch, ch. cxxv,, line 1. Without insisting on the meaning here assigned to RESH, we may mention that it seems the
most probable that we can obtain from a comparison of the inscriptions.
3 Champ., Gram., pp. 500, 501. 4 Id., p. 466. 5 Id., p. 462.
6 Wilkinson’s Mod. Eg. and Thebes, vol. ii., p. 436. 7 Rosellini, Mon. Stor., No. cxxxii. 8 Lepsius, Todtenbuch, ch. cxxv., line 2.
9 Rosellini, Mon. Stor., No. li. 10 Lepsius, Todtenbuch, ch. i., title. 11 Rosellini, Mon. Stor., No. xlvi.
12 Champ., Gram., p. 512. 13 Id., p. 480.
14 Rosellini, Mon. Stor., No. li. In other cases the adjective used adverbially follows the adjective to which it is applied instead of
preceding it; thus, . . . HEEB AR-P NESHT U- Ult. “ The first panegyry which he performs [of] a great many” {Ancient Egyptians,
pi. 79).
15 Champ., Gram. p. 512. 16 Lepsius, Todtenbuch, ch. xviii., line 1, et passim.
17 gsv yatg 6 ’SoV, tv rt tuv tvis povoDciis I'KttytQogtvoc; evpfio’hav. rovrov Qxoi Ivo (itfi'hovg dvuEyiovlptvxi falv ex, ruv
' Eigxov' uv $a,re(>ov fxev, v pvovg irepteyfii §euv, IxEoywp.ov 8s fixmEixov (iiov to Ssvrsgoj/. {Clem. Strom, vi.)
18 8s eon tx eig ryv Ttpviv uvyixovtx tuv ttxq xi/rolg Seav, xxi ryv AiyvTcrixv ewefheixv ire^ie-^ovTx’ diov cregt Bvpxrav, xTrx^av,
v [xvav, evxuv,Tr iruv, ogav, xm toJ» Tovroig opoiuv.—Id., loc. cit.
HIEROGLYPHICS. 429
Hierogly- Isis.1 The Egyptian Ritual, which we have so often
phics. cited, is supposed by the Chevalier Bunsen, with good rea-
son, to have been a portion of those ten books of which
Clemens speaks as containing hymns. Yet nothing has
been found in it which we can conclude to be measured
prose, much less poetry. A careful examination of such of
the hieratic papyri as are not copies of the whole, or por¬
tions of the Ritual, has afforded the same result. Primd
• facie, indeed, some of these papyri, containing praises of
the kings, and some of the late demotic papyri,2 would
seem to be arranged in verses or parallelisms, since we find
dots above in the former case, within each line in the
latter at equal distances.3 But a closer examination shows
that this must be regarded as merely a method of sub¬
division, for the convenience of the scribes, perhaps like
the English legal reckoning of “ folios.” In like man¬
ner we do not find any indications of poetry in the tablets
bearing prayers to the gods, or those which record the
exploits of the kings. There is indeed a chant sung
while ploughing, inscribed in a tomb at Eilethyas,4 but
this does not seem to be strictly poetry. Although it
must be admitted that much of the ancient Egyptian lite¬
rature has perished, yet enough of it remains for us to form
a correct idea of each of its classes, and thus to show that
it probably did not contain any poetry, even if we include
in that term measured prose. And it is most reasonable to
conclude that the Greeks termed those prayers and invo¬
cations hymns, which were chanted because they were so
recited, and because they corresponded in their subject,
though not in their form, to their own hymns.
In order to render this essay complete, some notice is
subjoined of the demotic system, expressing the vulgar
dialect, in the compilation of which we have received great
assistance from Dr Brugsch’s Grammaire Dcmotique, to
which the reader is referred for fuller details.
SECTION IV.
THE VULGAR DIALECT.
Vulgar Although there is reason to believe that the vulgar dia-
dialect. feet of the ancient Egyptian was already in existence be¬
fore the rule of the Eighteenth Dynasty,5 we cannot prove
that it was more ancient than the seventh century B.C., to
which period is assigned the earliest known papyrus in
the vulgar characters.6 These characters continued to be
employed until the fourth century of the Christian Era.
Demotic Our knowledge of the vulgar dialect is therefore limited
system. condition between these extremes, but its near agree¬
ment with the sacred dialect, expressed by the hierogly¬
phics on the one hand, and with the Coptic on the other,
enables us to consider the results of a study of its known
records as establishing the main characteristics of this dia¬
lect from its first establishment until its abandonment. It
does not differ from the sacred dialect in a greater degree
than would suffice to constitute a different dialect, and it
sufficiently resembles the Coptic to warrant our saying that
the latter is but its later form. In comparing the vulgar
dialect with the Coptic, we must especially bear in mind
that the demotic characters were not adopted to express Hierogly-
the more delicate differences of sound expressed by the P11108*
Greek alphabet, and that on the adoption of the latter by
the Copts, the written language became a more accurate
representation of the spoken than before. This is most
evident in the various forms in which we find one word
written in a single dialect of Coptic, some of which, ex¬
cluding others as the result of carelessness, must have existed
in the vulgar dialect, and could only have been represented
by a single demotic group.
The alphabet of the vulgar dialect contained at least one Sounds,
more distinct sound than did that of the sacred. L and r
are distinguished by separate phonetic signs in the demotic
writing, although in the hieroglyphics the former sound either
did not exist at all, or was represented by the same signs
that were used for R. It is commonly held that sh and ch
or kh were likewise distinct, but this Dr Brugsch doubts,7
and it is probable that the corresponding Coptic sounds had
common representatives in the demotic characters no less
than in the hieroglyphic. We have endeavoured to show,
in opposition to the prevalent opinion, that such w'as the
case in the latter system. The demotic alphabet also
has a letter which appears, from its correspondence to
the Coptic 2C and (5~, to have been a hard s, like
the Arabic ^ (ssad), or a hard gh8, like the £ (gheyn) of
the same language.9 Some believe that this letter, what¬
ever its precise sound or sounds may have been, had its
representative in the hieroglyphic alphabet, but this can¬
not, we think, be satisfactorily proved. The certain differ¬
ence, therefore, between the alphabets of the sacred and
vulgar dialects is the distinction, in the latter, of l from r,
the probable difference the separation of a hard s or gh
from K, and the possible difference the distinction of sh and
CH. We have evidence, here, therefore, even if we reject
every one of these differences excepting the first, of the
commencement of that separation of sounds in the written
character, which, checked by the conservative bias of the
Egyptians, did not acquire its full development until the
formation of the Coptic alphabet.10
It is more important in the present place to indicate the Characters,
relation of the demotic signs to the hieroglyphic, than to
describe them in detail, which indeed would involve a re¬
petition of much that has been said respecting the latter in
the earlier part of this treatise.
The demotic character must be considered, if we found
our opinion on its records of all periods, to be a debased
form of the hieratic, differing from it principally in express¬
ing the vulgar dialect, but also in its signs being ruder
in shape, probably fewer, and in a preference being given
to phonetic characters over representations and symbols.
It is remarkable that the earliest known demotic writing
scarcely differs from the hieratic except in expressing a dif¬
ferent dialect. Hence we may reasonably suppose that this
oldest demotic known to us is not much later than the time of
the institution of the character, since it does not seem likely
that a character which subsequently underwent considerable
and rapid changes should have remained stationary in its pri¬
mitive form for any long period. The hieroglyphics were un¬
questionably greatly changed in the course of centuries, but
this was chiefly through the increase of their alphabetical
1 De Lejjgr., ii.( p. 657. 2 Brugsch, Gram. Hem., p. 69. 3 Select Papyri, passim. 4 Champ. Lettres p 196
3 Supra, p. 371. 6 Brugsch, Gram. I)bm., pi. i. 7 Gram. Lem., p. 17. 5 ’
The term “ hard” is here used to prevent confusion with the soft GH, of which the pronunciation of Tin Romaic affords an example
It is important to recollect that for centuries Arabic has been the language commonly spoken by the Copts, and that their own lan¬
guage has long ceased to be spoken, although, as Sir Gardner Wilkinson informs us, it has begun to be again spoken. Even when
it was spoken for several hundred years past, it could only have been as a dead language, very much as Latin was employed in the middle
ages. Hence the pronunciation of the Copts may be reasonably supposed to have been affected by their use of Arabic and we cannot in
any case accept the pronunciation now taught by them except as hypothetical.
It is not meant to be concluded from what is here said that all the Coptic letters properly represented various sounds of one alphabet
since some of them are used exclusively, or nearly so, for Greek words, while others are purely dialectal.
430 HIEROGLYPHICS.
IJierogly- class by the admission into it of signs originally syllabic or
phics. ideographic, for the changes in form are the result of a de-
's—cline of art, not of an intentional alteration.
So distinctly is the demotic writing traceable to the hie¬
ratic, that Dr Brugsch remarks that each demotic sign
should have its hieratic prototype,1 although he has been
unable in some cases to ascertain these prototypes. Being
a written character, the demotic was not so variously arranged
as the hieroglyphic, but, as is usually the case with the hieratic,
written from right to left, in horizontal lines. One sign was
very rarely placed above another in these lines, this usage
being nearly confined to particular characters, almost all of
which were phonetic. Ligatures of two characters were more
frequent than in the hieratic,and on this account the separate
characters in any particular inscription are usually fewer. It
is also observable that some single signs in the demotic re¬
present more than one hieratic sign, and thus more than
one sound, whether the signs represented be ideographic
or phonetic, two signs altogether distinct being thus ex¬
pressed by one. This is the result of the similarity of
hieratic signs which, through the carelessness of the scribes,
became identical in the demotic. The position of these
signs made their use intelligible to the Egyptians. In these
matters it does not appear that the demotic system was
characterized by the exercise of inflexible rules : on the
contrary, it displays an irregularity natural in a popular
mode of writing.
It will not be necessary to speak in any detail of the de¬
motic signs in their different classes, for they follow the same
principles as the hieroglyphic. The distinctive peculiari¬
ties of the demotic system have rather to be indicated. It
should be remembered that the hieroglyphic and hieratic
systems are but two different forms of writing the same
characters for the same dialect; and that the only reason
why the demotic is more frequently compared to the latter
than to the former is because of its being derived from it
as to its forms.
In demotic as in hieroglyphic the signs were either pho¬
netic or ideographic, and the phonetic signs were further
divided into alphabetic and syllabic, the ideographic into
iconographic and symbolic. Signs of the ideographic class
were used as determinatives to phonetic groups. Thus the
system of the hieroglyphics was retained in a mode of writing
to which it was manifestly not fully applicable; since the forms
of the ideographs were rude, and often retained scarcely a
semblance of their original hieroglyphic shapes ; and this cir¬
cumstance is curiously illustrative of the conservative feel¬
ing of the ancient Egyptians, who preferred applying their
difficult system to the vulgar dialect than adopting or in¬
venting something more practical. Necessarily, however,
ideographs, whether in their primary use or in the secondary
place of determinatives, were much less frequent in the de¬
motic writings than in the hieroglyphic, and usually less than
in the hieratic. In the demotic alphabet we do not find
any evidence of simplification, for had it been a simple alpha¬
betic system, we should perceive either one sign or an equal
number of signs for each letter. It is not, therefore, to the
characters that we must look for the distinctive features of
demotic. They are to be discovered rather in the words
which those characters express. It must not be supposed,
however, that the peculiarities of which we speak are of that
markedness which we are accustomed to regard, often incor¬
rectly, as essential to the ancient and the modern forms of a
language. We must not expect the difference that we see
between Latin and Italian, or even Greek and Romaic ; for
the causes that have made Italian a different language
from Latin, and Romaic a new phasis of Greek, did not
exist in the history of the Egyptian language until after the
formation of the demotic system. Even if we compare the Hierogiy.
sacred dialect of the ancient Egyptian with the Coptic, phics.
carefully setting aside those changes which may be pro-
nounced accidental, we find a most remarkable agreement,
and trace the rudiments of almost every peculiarity of the
Coptic in the parent dialect. In the demotic such an in¬
quiry with reference to both the earlier and the later form of
the language—for the vulgar dialect, whether itself changed
or not in its oldest known records from a more ancient form,
must be regarded as the offspring of the sacred dialect—will
lead us to the same result, and will tend to show that the pecu¬
liarities of Coptic are of native growth, owing their develop¬
ment rather than their origin to foreign influence, unless,
indeed, foreign influence in remote ages originated those
distinctions of the vulgar dialect, which it afterwards appears
to have promoted.
The roots in demotic are still monosyllabic, but the vo- Words,
cabulary appears to contain a greater number of words of
more than one syllable than does that of the sacred dialect.
The marks of gender and number are the same as in the hiero¬
glyphics. The inflected parts of speech do not possess a dual;
and the sign of duality, which has been erroneously supposed
to indicate the dual number, is less frequently used than in
the sacred dialect. The definite article and the pronouns
generally follow the use of the hieroglyphics, although
showing marks of the changes which are more evident in
the Coptic.
We have noticed the virtual absence of composition
in the sacred dialect. This peculiarity we find to be not
so marked in the vulgar dialect as expressed by the demotic
characters. The formation and use of compound substan¬
tives is, for example, much more frequent, as of those formed
with x'i-en, corresponding to the Coptic Xlft (m.b.), 6Tff
(s.), forming verbs from nouns expressing the action of the
verb; and rem-af, corresponding to the Coptic pGCJ (m.)>
&c., and forming nouns denoting the agent. Except in
these particulars, the nouns in demotic do not present any
remarkable differences from those of the sacred dialect.
The modes of expressing the plural, and the uses of pre¬
positions in relation to substantives, are the same as in that
dialect.
Of the adjectives in particular it need only be remarked
that they are susceptible of composition, a class being formed
by prefixing to the verbs the enclitic pronouns of the third
person singular, af for the masculine, and as for the femi¬
nine ; thus from ansh, to live, we have af-ansh, living, the
Coptic equm^} ; and from aeb, to be pure, as-aeb,
purified, pure (/.), Coptic ECOYA.R.
The verbs very clearly indicate the transition from the
sacred dialect to Coptic, for we find the tenses more nume¬
rous than in the former, and observe a deviation from its
principles. The substantive verb in at least four forms is
employed without marks of person, and one of these forms,
if not more, is also susceptible of conjugation in the ao-
rist. With respect to the adjective verbs, their derivative
and compound forms are especially characteristic. Among
the former we must notice the reduplicate form, which is
rarer than in the sacred dialect, and the causative, with the
prefix sa, corresponding to the s of the hieroglyphics, which
is still more rarely employed than the former. The forms
which are composed of two verbs, the first of which has al¬
most become a formative particle, are classed by Dr Brugsch
among the derivatives, though they are properly chiefly com¬
pounds. Those verbs which this learned writer admits to
be compound are formed by a verb prefixed to a substantive,
adjective, or preposition. The aorist of the indicative is
the same as in hieroglyphics ; but it possesses an emphatic
(
1 “ Chaque signe demotique doit avoir son prototype hieratique quoique quelques-uns me soient restes inconnus jusqu’a present.”
Grammaire Lemotique, p. 15.)
HIEROGLYPHICS.
Hierogly- ^orm ^ie substantive verb and enclitic pronoun pre-
phics. fixed to the root—thus A-i, perhaps pronounced aw-i.1
i ^ v—^ The past tense is formed by prefixing ne and affixing the
pronominal terminations, thus showing a change from the
hieroglyphics. There are two (if not three) forms of future
—that with ta-i prefixed, corresponding to the hierogly¬
phic tu ; and ai-en, corresponding to au-er. The two
forms, it will be noticed, present differences of which the
most striking is the change of the preposition. The sub¬
junctive mood is distinguished by the prefix exta, immedi¬
ately followed by the pronominal marks of person. The
optative and infinitive follow the uses of the sacred dialect,
and there are similar negative conjugations, although the
particle indicating negation in some forms stands between
the marks of tense and the root, in others at the head
of the whole form. The non-inflected parts of speech pre¬
sent little comparative variation from their hieroglyphic
originals, and need not receive any especial notice in the
present place.
From this short view of the peculiarities of the vul¬
gar dialect we may learn somewhat of its relation to
the sacred dialect and to the Coptic, and see that in this
branch of the inquiry the discoveries of the Egyptologists
have led to as satisfactory and consistent results as in the
rest. Had the interpretation of the Egyptian characters
been of that vague and unsatisfactory nature that some
would have us to believe, is it credible that it should
have led after a length of time to the tracing of the diffe¬
rences of the two dialects? Those who have accompanied
us thus far in our inquiry will not, however, we trust, be
troubled by any doubts as to the truth of that great and
memorable discovery which we shall ever gratefully attri¬
bute to our countryman Dr Young.
Concluding Before concluding this article, we may enumerate the
remarks, works most useful to any one commencing the study of an¬
cient Egyptian. The student should first gain some know¬
ledge of Coptic, particularly of words ; its grammar he will
find useful, but the vocabulary will be of greater service.
He will do well to read carefully Peyron’s Grammar, and
he will find Parthey’s Vocabulary more convenient than the
Lexicons for constant reference. He must take care not
to be too much biassed by what he learns of Coptic in his
next step, the study of ancient Egyptian. He must reverse
the order in which Clemens Alexandrinus tells us the Egyp¬
tian modes of writing were in his time learnt, for he must
take the hieroglyphic mode first, then the hieratic, and last
of all the demotic. For the hieroglyphics he will still have
431
to begin with Champollion’s Grammar and Dictionary. Hiemgly-
The diffuseness of these works is, however, so great that he phics.
W'ill do well to follow the example of the writer and abridge
both, copying all the words and significations from the lat¬
ter work, and taking the chief characteristics of the lan¬
guage from the former without attempting at this stage to
improve Champollion’s arrangement. This method will fix
a great number of words in the student’s memory, and give
him a good idea of the system of writing. He can next ac¬
quire some knowledge of the hieratic characters, which may
be easily done by transcribing hieratic texts into hierogly¬
phics, with the aid of the table at the close of Champollion’s
Grammar. Having thus gained an elementary acquaint¬
ance with the sacred dialect, he can attempt to read some
inscriptions. The easiest of these, and the most interesting,
are the historical ones of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth
Dynasties, which he will find in Rosellini’s great work, which
is better arranged than the similar one of Champollion, and
more portable than that of Lepsius, which, however, con¬
tains many more records, particularly of other periods of
Egyptian history. And here we may express a regret that
no one has thought it worth while to publish a collection of
the most important Egyptian inscriptions in a portable form,
and at a moderate price. Having thus become somewhat
familiar with the language, the student may read the Che¬
valier Bunsen’s account of it in his Egypts Place, and that
contained in the present article, and he will thus gain more
distinct general views than he had previously possessed, and
be able to examine the Ritual, the historical hieratic papyri,
and the various published inscriptions. He will do well to
collect Dr Hincks’, Mr Birch’s, and M. de Rouge’s papers,
as far as he can, and to compare the various views of the
different scholars who have followed Young’s and Champol¬
lion’s method. At the same time he should endeavour to
make himself acquainted with the people whose language
he is studying, in doing which he will receive the greatest
aid from Sir Gardner Wilkinson’s Ancient Egyptians. If
he can visit Egypt and Nubia he will find his studies greatly
assisted by the local knowledge he will thus acquire. The
reason of much that before appeared obscure will then be
seen by him, and his pursuit will acquire a stronger inter¬
est. The demotic forms a separate study, more difficult
and less interesting than that of the sacred characters. It
is, however, not without a high value as supplying a link
between the sacred dialect and the Coptic, and therefore it
should not be overlooked. Brugsch’s Grammar will be
found an excellent guide to a knowledge of the de¬
motic.2 (R. s. p.)
1 This form corresponds in appearance to the future in the sacred dialect when the preposition is omitted, but we have shown that
this omission is one of writing, and that the preposition was really pronounced. The fact that the demotic tense is not the same as the
hieroglyphic thus corroborates our opinion founded on other evidence.
2 To the works mentioned above, and many others, we have, as the foot-notes sufficiently tell, been much indebted. We have also to
express our personal obligations to Mr Lane, Sir Gardner Wilkinson, the Rev. Dunbar Heath, and others, for the assistance they have
rendered us. (r. s. p.)
432
Hiero-
mancy
ll
Hieron II.
HIE
HIEROMANCY, the art of divination from the ap¬
pearance of victims offered in sacrifice.
HIERON, or Hiero L, tyrant of Syracuse, succeeded
his brother Gelon, b.c. 478. Hieron had already distin¬
guished himself at Himera. A jealousy soon arose between
him and his brother Polyzelus, who had the command of
the army. A war was on the point of breaking out between
Hieron and Theron of Agrigentum, who had espoused the
cause of Polyzelus, when a reconciliation took place between
the brothers. Hiero now proceeded to extend his dominions.
He seized Naxos and Catana, transferring the inhabitants
to Leontini. He put Syracusans in Catana, and changed its
name to TEtna. Upon the death of Theron war broke out
between Hieron and Thrasydaeus, son of Theron, but victory
declared in favour of Hieron. His tyrannical measures led
him to fear attempts against his life, and hence we are told
that he kept up a large body of mercenaries, as well as nu¬
merous spies. He deserves credit, however, in two impor¬
tant respects. By his vigorous assistance to the Cumaeans,
the power of the Etruscan pirates was completely destroyed,
b.c, 474. Of the spoils consecrated after this victory, a
helmet of bronze was discovered about forty years ago.
Besides defeating the pirates, Hiero was the patron of poets
and philosophers. He has been immortalized in the Odes
of Pindar as a successful competitor at the Grecian games.
Amongst the eminent men patronized by Hiero, are found
the names of Pindar, TEschylus, Xenophanes, Simonides,
and Epicharmus. Hieron died at Catana, B.c. 467.
Hieron II., king of Syracuse, born at the close of the
fourth century B.c., was descended from Gelon. He dis¬
tinguished himself as a soldier, and in a popular tumult wras
chosen general by the Syracusan army. He not only got
this appointment confirmed by the people themselves, but
having married the daughter of Leptines, the most influen¬
tial man in Syracuse, the way was open to still higher
power. Not feeling secure with the fickle mercenaries who
had elected him, he took occasion to expose them to be cut
to pieces by the Mamertines ; then levying an army of
Syracusans, he proceeded to chastise the Mamertines. City
after city was taken from them, and after the signal defeat
which they sustained at the River Longanus, peace was
granted them through the friendly interference of the Car¬
thaginians. Returning to Syracuse, the people saluted
Hieron as king. Though Hieron had assisted the Romans
with provisions in their siege of Rhegium, yet as the Ro¬
mans opposed his attempt to drive the Mamertines out of
Sicily, hostilities were begun between them. Hiero joined
the Carthaginians, but getting little or no assistance, the
Roman consuls effected a landing, and after some fighting a
treaty was concluded. For upwards of forty years Hiero
now remained the steady friend of the Romans. He gave
them valuable aid during the first Punic War at the sieges
of Agvigentum and Lilybaeum. As a reward, the tribute
which he formerly paid was remitted, and he was included
in the treaty of peace at the close of the first Punic War,
b.c. 241. After this he visited Rome, where he displayed
great liberality, and received signal honours. At the break¬
ing out of the second Punic War he remained equally steady
in his friendship with the Romans, whom he assisted with
ships and provisions. He is supposed to have died b.c. 216,
upwards of ninety years of age.
His government was mild and eminently popular. He
laid aside the pomp of royalty, and appeared undistinguish-
able from a private citizen. The corn laws which he esta¬
blished were so admirable, that in subsequent times when
the Romans took possession of Sicily these laws were re¬
tained. His liberality extended to other nations besides
the Romans. He sent assistance to the Rhodians, whose
city had been destroyed by an earthquake, and in the
largest ship then ever built he sent presents to Ptolemy king
of Egypt.
H I G
HIERONYMUS, king of Syracuse, grandson of Hieron Hieiwy-
IT., succeeded to his grandfather at the age of fifteen, B.c.
216. Up to this time a close friendship had subsisted be- n; J a
tween the Romans and Syracusans. (See Hieron II.) But v ^ •
the battle of Cannae, in which the Romans were so terribly
defeated, disposed many of the Syracusans to join the Car¬
thaginians. Hieron II. had appointed fifteen guardians,
including Andranodorus and Zoippus, to guide the young
prince, but through the intrigues of Andranodorus, who was
favourable to the Carthaginians, the guardians were all in¬
duced to resign their office. The young prince was now
entirely under the influence of Andranodorus and Zoippus,
who were sons-in-law to Hieron II. Communications were
at once opened up with Hannibal. The Carthaginian en¬
voys were received with great favour, whereas the Roman
envoys were treated with contumely. Hieronymus was
preparing to take the field against the Romans with
15,000 men, when he was assassinated in Leontini by con¬
spirators under Deinomenes. His short reign of one year
and one month was disgraced by indulgence in luxury, de¬
bauchery, and cruelty. He is said to have desecrated the
name of queen by raising a prostitute to that dignity.
HIERRO, Isle of, "one of the Canaries belonging to
Spain. See Canaries.
HIGDEN, Ralph, or Ranulph, author of the Poly-
chronicon, was a monk of the monastery of St M erburg in
Chester. He spent sixty-four years of his life in the con¬
vent where he finally died at a very advanced age. 1 he
date of his death is assigned to various years between 1360
and 1373. The Po/ycAromcow, bringing down the history
of England to 1357, is written in Latin. Of the original
only that part has been published which brings down the
narrative to 1066 ; but an English translation of the whole
work by John de Trevisa was printed by Caxton at West¬
minster in 1482, and has been several times reprinted.
Trevisa’s manuscript is now in the Harleian collection, and
seems not to have been very carefully followed by its ori¬
ginal publisher.
HIGHAM FERRARS, a borough and market-town of
England, Northamptonshire, 15 miles E.N.E. of North¬
ampton, on the Peterborough branch of the London and
and North-Western Railway. The parish church is a large
and handsome building, richly ornamented with carvings
and monuments. The old cross in the market-place, and
the ruins of the ancient college, are interesting to the anti¬
quary. There is a neat town-hall and a grammar school in
the town, which before the Reform Act used to return one
member to parliament. Shoes are the chief industrial pro¬
duct of the inhabitants. Pop. (1851) 1140.
HIGHGATE, a village of Middlesex, 4 miles N. by W.
of London, on the great north road. It stands on a hill
about 450 feet high, and commands a striking view of Lon¬
don and its suburbs. The church, built in 1833, is a hand¬
some Gothic edifice, with an elegant spire. On the slope
of the hill, immediately below the church, is the North
London Cemetery. Highgate has a free grammar and
other schools, a literary and scientific institute, dispensary,
and an asylum for idiots. Pop. (1851) 4502.
HIGHNESS, a title of honour given to princes. The
title of “ highness” was given to Henry VII.; and, along with
“your grace,” continued to be used by Henry VIII. till
about the close of his reign, when “your majesty” was
adopted in preference to both. Along with other titles, that
of “ highness” was given to the Prince of Orange by Louis
XIV. of France in 1644.
HIGHWAYS, or Roads, are of various kinds; public
highways, parish roads, carriage roads, horse roads, foot¬
paths, and loanings of way for cattle. Public highways are
vested in the crown for behoof of the public. In like man¬
ner the streets of burghs are held for the public by the
magistrates. In no case can they be encroached on with-
H I G II I L 433
Highworth out the authority of parliament. The highways in Scot-
. II land are now under the regulations of the general statutes
Hilary. 4^ Qeo_ jy. c> 4^ an(j |st an(j 2d Will. IV. c. 43, toge-
ther with local statutes for different counties. The high¬
ways in England are under the regulations of the statute
5th and 6th Will. IV. c. 50. The local statutes are in¬
terpreted as if they formed part of the general ones, and
are only effectual in so far as they are consistent with them.
There are also the statutes 3d and 4th Will. IV. c. 33, re¬
lative to Highland roads ; the 1st and 2d Viet. c. 118, re¬
lative to the conveyance of the mails by railroads, and
powers of the postmaster-general ; and 2d and 3d Viet. c.
45, regulating the crossing of highways by railways. The
parish roads are still maintained on their old footing by sta¬
tute labour. The trustees of highways are not entitled to
shut up parish roads, or interrupt servitude roads, in order
to compel parties to travel on the highways, whereby they
may be made liable in tolls. The other roads or ways men¬
tioned above are properly servitudes or burdens on estates
for the benefit of conterminous heritors, their families,
friends, and tenants, and bear some resemblance to the
Roman servitudes,—iter, a right of horse or foot passage,
actus, a carriage way, and via, which was broader than the
others, and comprehended the rights of both. The usages
of Scotland are analogous to these ; excepting that a horse
road is not included in a foot road. These servitude rights
are sometimes constituted by writing, and sometimes by
immemorial possession and acquiescence. In whatever way
constituted, they cannot be enlarged without the consent of
the owner of the land over which they pass ; and he is not
bound to be at any expense in maintaining the way. A
right merely of footpath does not prevent the owner of the
land from inclosing it, provided he leave a stile for the pas¬
sengers at each end of the enclosure ; and he may even
shift the line a little if no real inconvenience be occasioned.
In England, as in Scotland, a right of way may be acquired
by prescription, as when the inhabitants of a hamlet, or owners
or occupiers of a farm have immemorially crossed ground for
particular purposes, such as going to church, or market, or
the like; for such immemorial usage supposes that there
was originally a grant. The great distinction between a
servitude of way and a public road is, that the former belongs
only to the parties by whom it has been acquired, while the
latter is open to any body who chooses to use it, and who
may even brevi manu remove any unwarranted obstruc¬
tions that have been recently erected.
HIGHWORTH, a market-town of England, Wiltshire,
on a hill 26 miles N. by E. of Devizes. Its church, which
belongs chiefly to the fourteenth century, contains some
curious old monuments. Market-day, Wednesday. Pop.
of parish (1851), 4026.
HILARIA, a great Roman festival, celebrated in honour
of Cybele at the vernal equinox. It was begun on the
22d of March and brought to a close on the 25th. The
last day of the feast was the most important, and the inha¬
bitants of the city then abandoned themselves to the most
extravagant merry-making. All kinds of amusements were
in vogue, especially masquerading, which, from the earliest
times, has been popular in Italy. The only religious cere¬
mony was the solemn procession of the priests, who bore
round the streets the statue of the great mother of the
gods with many solemnities. The only object of the fes¬
tival was to celebrate the departure of winter with its snows
and gloom, and to hail the approach of spring.
HILARY, Bishop of Arles, was born in Gaul at the be¬
ginning of the fifth century. Belonging to a family of dis¬
tinction, he received a good education and gave early proof
of ability and perseverance. Through the influence of
Honoratus, abbot of Lerins, he became a monk ; and after
some strong opposition on his part, he consented to become
bishop of Arles, at the early age of 29. The part which
VOL. XI.
he took in the deposition of Chelidonius involved him in a Hilary,
quarrel with Leo the Great. Both Hilary and Chelidonius
betook themselves to Rome, but Hilary, though willing to
consult Leo, was not willing to submit to his authority.
This at once provoked the hostility of the Pontiff. The
deposition of Chelidonius was cancelled, and Hilary was
obliged to make his escape, as best he could, back to Gaul.
After being deprived of his authority by Leo, the well-known
edict of Valentinian III. decreed, “ Ut Episcopis Galli-
canis omnibusque pro lege esset quidquid apostolicae sedis
auctoritas sanxisset, &c.” This encroachment upon Galli-
can ecclesiastical liberty is important in the controversy be¬
tween Romanists and Protestants, as showing, first, that
about the middle of the 5th century supreme power was
claimed by the Roman Pontiff; and, secondly, that this claim
was resisted by the metropolitan of Gaul. Hilary died a.d.
449, 49 years of age. He wrote numerous epistles, of
which that addressed to Eucherius is extant. We have
also his life of Honoratus his preceptor.
Hilary, the Deacon, was born in Sardinia in the
middle of the 4th century. He and Lucifer of Cagliari ap¬
peared at the Council of Milan before Constantius, to defend
the followers of Athanasius. His remarks offended the
emperor so much that he was ordered to be scourged and
sent into banishment. He held that all heretics, including
Arians, should be re-baptized before admission to the Ca¬
tholic Church. Some writings ascribed to him are probably
not his.
Hilary, St, Bishop of Poictiers, was born in the same
town at the beginning of the 4th century. His parents
were pagans of distinction, who afforded him every means
of acquiring a good education. He was particularly struck
with the writings of Moses, and afterwards with the gospels.
He became a Christian, and was baptized along with his
wife and daughter. He was greatly respected in his native
city, and, although married, he was chosen bishop. This
took place at the middle of the 4th century. At this pe¬
riod Arianism was spreading rapidly through the Western
Church, and he set himself to oppose it. With this view
he obtained the excommunication of Saturninus, bishop of
Arles. But by the Council of Beziers, a.d. 356, he was
banished to Phrygia. In 359 he made his appearance at
the convocation of bishops at Sileucia in Isauria, and ener¬
getically resisted the opponents of the consubstantiality of the
Word. Thereafter, at Constantinople, he was so persevering
against the prevailing Arianism of the court, that he was sent
back to his bishopric at Poictiers. Though he was received
in triumph, he had enough to do for some time in eradicat¬
ing the Arianism which had sprung up during his absence.
After expelling Saturninus a second time, he accused Aux-
entius, bishop of Milan, of holding erroneous views. Both
were summoned before the emperor Valentinian. Auxen-
tius gave satisfactory answers. Hilary declared him a hypo¬
crite, and was ordered to leave Milan as a disturber of the
peace of the church. He died in January 368. His great
energy of character, his courage and unwearied perseverance
rendered him very influential during his life. His zeal, how¬
ever, was often injudicious. He was called the hammer of
the Arians {Malleus Arianoruni), from his determined op¬
position to the Arian heresy. Of his works, his Commen¬
tary on Matthew is the oldest extant on that evangelist.
His most elaborate work consists of twelve books on the
Trinitarian controversy. He wrote several books addressed
to the Emperor Constantius in favour of the Catholics
against the persecutions of the Arians ; he wrote also seve¬
ral epistles still extant, and some poems have been ascribed
to him. The best edition of his works is that of Constant,
reprinted by Scipio Maffei, 1730. 2 vols. folio.
Hilary Term, a legal term in England, beginning
January 11, and ending January 31. The festival of St
Hilary, from which this term takes its name, is January 13,
3 1
434 H I L
Hildburg- HILDBURGHAUSEN, a town of Central Germany,
hausen duchy of Saxe-Meiningen-Hildburghausen, on the Wena,
II 17 miles S.E. of Meiningen. It was formerly the capital of
HilL Saxe-Hildburghausen till the union of that duchy with Saxe-
1 v ~1 y Meiningen, and is now the seat of a consistory and of an
upper district court. It has a gymnasium, normal, trade,
and Jewish schools, and a lunatic and an orphan asylum.
The castle is a fine building. Manufactures chiefly cloth
and papier-mache. Pop. 4300.
HILDESHEIM, a province of Hanover, comprising the
principality of Hildesheim, which forms the most south¬
ern part of Hanover Proper, the principalities of Gottin¬
gen and Grubenhagen, the county of Hohnstein and the
Lower Eichsfeld. Area 1717 square miles. The princi¬
pality of Hildesheim originated in a bishopric instituted in
812 by Charlemagne, at Else, but removed in 822 to Hil¬
desheim. In course of time, the bishops acquired a consi¬
derable territory, amounting, in the beginning of the pre¬
sent century, to 682 square miles. The last prince bishop
of Hildesheim possessed also the bishopric of Paderborn,
acquired by his predecessor. Both bishoprics were secu¬
larized and ceded to Prussia in 1803. In 1807 they were
incorporated with the kingdom of Westphalia, but were re¬
stored in 1813 to Prussia, which ceded Hildesheim to Ha¬
nover, retaining only Paderborn. The principality of Hil¬
desheim is generally level except towards the S., where it
is traversed by branches of the Hartz. Its principal stream
is the Innerste, an affluent of the Leine. A considerable
portion of the surface is wooded, and the rest yields mode¬
rate crops of rye, barley, flax, and potatoes, with some
wheat. The chief manufacture is linen. The princi¬
pality of Gottingen is mostly covered with mountains,
offsets of the Hartz, chiefly of basaltic formation. The
principal river is the Weser, The soil in the mountain
districts is generally stony, but that of the valleys is of great
fertility. Sheep are reared in great numbers. Gruben¬
hagen is, like Gottingen, for the most part mountainous, but
the peaks are higher, and include some of the loftiest sum¬
mits of the Hartz. The climate is bleak and variable.
Some of the valleys are fertile and well cultivated, but these
are exceptions to the general sterile character of the
soil. Woods and forests, which cover above half its sur¬
face, constitute the chief wealth of the district. The mines
are valuable, and yield silver, copper, lead, iron, zinc, vitriol,
and sulphur. The remaining portions of the province are
too small to require particular notice. Pop. of province
(1852), 186,628, of whom 296,734 were Lutherans, 60,302
Roman Catholics, 7627 Reformed, and 3023 Jews.
Hildesheim, the capital of the above province, stands
on the right bank of the Innerste, 18 miles S.E. of Ha¬
nover, with which it is connected by railway. It is a
large old town, irregularly built, and surrounded by ramparts
now used as public promenades. The cathedral (founded
by Louis the Pious, in 818) is remarkable for its fine bronze
gates of the 11 th century, and paintings on glass ; among
its antiquities is a marble pillar supposed to have been a
Saxon idol, but now surmounted by a cross. Several of
the other churches are remarkable for their antiquity and
monuments. The educational institutions comprise a Ro¬
man Catholic and a Lutheran college and numerous schools.
It has also a lunatic, a deaf-mute, and several orphan asylums,
and a large workhouse. The chief manufacture is coarse
linen cloth. Pop. 14,700, of whom about one-third are
Roman Catholics.
HILL, Aaron, an English miscellaneous writer of the
eighteenth century, was born at London in 1685. His
education at Westminster School was broken off in conse¬
quence of his father’s imprudence, who allowed the family
property to go to ruin, and thus, at the early age of four¬
teen, he began that career of adventure which only ended
with his life. Leaving England, he proceeded to Constan-
H I L
tinople, where he was kindly received by Lord Paget, a Hill,
relation of his mother’s, who was then British ambassador
at the Turkish court. Under the care of a tutor provided
by this considerate friend, young Hill travelled through Pa¬
lestine, Egypt, and a great part of the East; returning to
England about the year 1703. A misunderstanding with
his patron compelled him to go abroad as travelling com¬
panion to a rich Yorkshire baronet; and on reaching home
in 1709 he published his History of the Ottoman Empire,
which, even by his own admission, had far more success
than it deserved. About the same time appeared his poem
of Camillus, in honour of the famous Charles Mordaunt,
Earl of Peterborough ; and in the same year he was made
master of Drury Lane Theatre, and afterwards of the Hay-
market. Both of these offices he soon after lost through his
indiscretion, and spent the remainder of his life partly in
literary pursuits, and partly in commercial speculations,
which were all unlucky. One of these schemes called him
to the Highlands of Scotland, and while there he wrote The
Progress of Wit, being a Caveat for the use of an. eminent
Writer. The “ eminent writer” was Pope, who had intro¬
duced Hill into the Dunciad, though in a way that was in
fact complimentary, and the “ caveat” is said to have made
him feel very uneasy. Hill died in 1749, at the very moment,
it is said, of the great earthquake of that year, and was buried
in Westminster Abbey. Two only of his seventeen dramas
are now remembered, Zara and Merope, both adaptations
from the French of Voltaire. His poetry is stilted and
commonplace, and even the Progress of Wit never rises
above a flippant smartness. Though a poor and tasteless
poet, and afflicted with an overwhelming sense of his own
importance, Hill was an honourable man, and his letters to
Savage show his character in a very amiable light. His
letters with the author of Pamela, extending from 1730 to
1748, are not quite so creditable to his taste. Some of
them were prefixed by Richardson to an edition of his
Pamela, and described as coming from “ a gentleman of
the most distinguished taste and abilities.” Till it was
known that the “ gentleman” in question was Aaron Hill,
great weight was attached to the testimony of the anony¬
mous correspondent.
Hill, George, Principal and Doctor of Divinity of St
Andrews, was born at St Andrews in 1750. He gave
early indication of good abilities, and of a leaning towards
the clerical profession. He gained the first prize in the
competition proposed by the Earl of Kinnoul, chancellor of
the university, and this was the beginning of a friendship
which lasted for life. Through Principal Robertson, Mr
Hill was appointed tutor to the eldest son of Pryse Camp¬
bell, Esq., M.P., with whom he went to London in 1767.
This enabled him to send pecuniary assistance to his mo¬
ther, whom he tenderly loved, and who had a family of six
to rear upon very small means. In London he was not a little
indebted to his attendance on a society called the Robin-
Hood Society for his proficiency in oratory. In 1771 he
removed with his pupil to Edinburgh, and in the following
year was appointed joint-professor of Greek in St Andrews.
In 1775 he was licensed by the Presbytery of Haddington
to preach the gospel, and ordained by the same body in
1778. His eloquence and impressiveness procured his ap¬
pointment to the second charge in St Andrews in 1779.
In the following year, by which time he was well known as
one of the most popular and efficient ministers in the church,
he got the degree of doctor in divinity. In 1808 he was
translated to the first charge in St Andrews. He soon
afterwards became successor to Principal Robertson as
leader of the Moderate Party in the controversy with re¬
gard to patronage.
Principal Hill deserves honourable mention as the reviver
of the study of theology in St Andrews. He had been
admitted to a divinity chair in 1788, and, with his energy
H I L
Hill. and ability, theology was treated in a manner very different
—' from what had hitherto prevailed. His Lectures were a
good antidote to the superfieial “ refutations” of Calvinism
upon which English divines sometimes ventured. In 1791
he was appointed Principal of St Mary’s College. In 1816
his health began rapidly to decline, and in 1819 he died in
the 70th year of his age.
Hill, Sir John, an English botanist and social notability
of the eighteenth century, was born in London about 1716.
He began life as an apothecary in Westminster, was after¬
wards keeper of the botanical gardens of various noblemen,
next took to the stage, from which he was hissed, and ended
by adopting the career of letters. Some little scientific
treatises which he published met with great success, and
this success completely turned his head. He set up a car¬
riage, affected the airs of a fine gentleman, and tried to force
his way into fashionable society. To effect the latter pur¬
pose he established a paper, The Inspector, in which he
chronicled all the gossip and scandal current among “ the
quality,” and which he used as a vehicle for puffing the
quack medicines in which he dealt largely. His audacious
impudence and insatiable vanity urged him to court noto¬
riety in any form, and neither was he in the least abashed
by the personal castigations which he not unfrequently re¬
ceived in public from the victims of his scandalous periodi¬
cals. Had he not preferred to be notorious he might have
been famous, for he really did possess a very considerable
aptitude for science; and to botanical science, in particular,
he made some valuable contributions, such as his Vegetable
System, in 26 vols., 1759-75. The price of this work was
38 guineas plain, and 160 with the plates coloured. His
British Herbal; General Natural History; and History of
the Materia Medica, were all far from contemptible works.
One of the great objects of his ambition was to be admitted
into the Royal Society, but his applications were always
rejected with scorn. Enraged at his repeated failures, he
published a Review of the Works of the Royal Society, in
which he exhausted against some of his early friends and
benefactors all the resources of his wit and scientific know¬
ledge. His self-love was a little consoled by his receiving
from the university of St Andrews, in Scotland, the honor¬
ary degree of M.D., and from the king of Sweden, to whom
he used to send his works, the title of Chevalier of the Order
of Wasa, on the strength of which he called himself Sir
John. He died in 1775. (An extremely good account of
Sir John’s quarrel with the Royal Society, and many inte¬
resting details of his life, are given in Disraeli’s Miscel¬
lanies of Literature^)
Hill, Rev. Roidand, A.M., the most popular preacher
of the Whitefield school that has appeared in England since
Whitefield’s death, was a cadet of the patrician family of
the Hills of Hawkstone, in Salop, and was born in 1745.
Like other members of his family, Rowland Hill gave early
evidence of piety; and at Eton and Cambridge, where he
was educated, he evinced it under circumstances which put
its genuineness beyond a doubt. While a student at the
university, where he graduated with great distinction, he
spent all his leisure time in visiting the sick and poor, and
in praying from house to house—conduct so utterly at vari¬
ance with the received notions of college decorum, that he
was only saved from expulsion by the powerful influence of
his family. After taking orders, he was appointed in 1773
to the parish of Kingston, Somersetshire, where he began
to indulge his favourite taste for open-air preaching, and
soon attracted great crowds of the rural population to the
sermons which he preached nearly every day of the week.
In 1 /82, having resolved to make the metropolis his head-
quarters, he had the Surrey Chapel built for him, and soon
filled it with an audience such as no other preacher in London
could boast. During the summer months he retired to his
country-house in Wales, whence he made what he called
H i L 435
“ gospel tours” into all parts of the country. In 1798, and Hill,
again in 1824, he visited Edinburgh, where, on the Calton ^ ^
Hill, he preached to audiences of ten, fifteen, and even twenty
thousand persons. After these tours he always returned
with renewed enthusiasm to his duties at Surrey Chapel,
where he continued to officiate almost to the day of his
death, 11th April 1833.
Without a tithe of the intellect or literary skill of his great
contemporaries, Hall and Chalmers, Rowland Hill had yet
a gift of popular oratory nowise inferior to theirs. His
power over a mixed audience was scarcely surpassed by
that of Whitefield, whom he seems to have had always
before his eyes as his model. There was no faculty which
he possessed that he did not freely avail himself of in driv¬
ing home into the hearts of his hearers the great truths of
the gospel. Not unfrequently he violated the laws of good
taste by eccentricities of manner, but, whether he convulsed
his hearers with the broadest humour or the most pungent
wit, or melted them to tears with the deepest pathos, he
never lost his moral influence over them by condescending
to buffoonery on the one hand or melo-dramatic affectation
on the other. His earnestness and intensity carried him
safely through where a mere actor would infallibly have
broken down. The current stories of his pulpit eccentrici¬
ties require to be received with great caution. His works,
which were for the most part on controverted subjects of
temporary interest, are already forgotten, but the memory
of the man will long be cherished by his country as one of
the most truly apostolic and disinterested ministers whose
names adorn the annals of the national church. (An am¬
bitious but ill-written life of Rowland Hill, by the Rev.
Edwin Sidney, A.M., a protege of his, was published in
London in 1834.)
Hill, Rowland, better known under his title of Lord
Hill, was one of the most distinguished officers in the Bri¬
tish army during the great wars of revolutionary France.
He was a cadet of the ancient family of the Hills of Hawk-
stone, in Shropshire, and was the nephew of his namesake
the famous preacher. Born in 1772, and entering the army
very young, Hill received, or at least completed, his educa¬
tion at the military school of Strasbourg. He took part in
the siege of Toulon, and afterwards in the Egyptian cam¬
paign, and, partly by purchase, partly by merit, rose to the
rank of major-general. In 1808 he went to Spain with the
Duke of Wellington, and from Vimeiro to Vittoria, in ad¬
vance or retreat he proved himself the most indefatigable
coadjutor of the great captain. In 1809 he was appointed
to succeed Lord Paget; two years later he defeated the
French under Girard at Cavarez with great slaughter; for
his conduct at Talavera he was publicly thanked by parlia¬
ment; and for his capture of the forts of Almarez, which
cut off the communication between the French armies
on the N. and S. sides of the Tagus, he was rewarded with
the title of Baron of Almarez. In 1813 he held tempora¬
rily the chief command of the English and Hanoverian
troops in Belgium ; and two years later crowned the glories
of his noble career by his conduct at Waterloo. In 1828
he was made commander-in-chief, and exercised all the in¬
fluence of his fame and position to improve the condition
and promote the interests of the British army, in which he
effected many valuable reforms. In the distribution of the
extensive patronage which he had to dispose of he was
proverbially impartial, and always made a point of advanc¬
ing professional merit, regardless of the claims of party or
family connection. On resigning the command-in-chief in
1842 he was made a viscount, which honour, however, he
did not long live to enjoy, as he died on the 10th December
of that same year.
Lord Hill was the most popular soldier of his time in the
British service, and was so much beloved by the troops,
especially those under his immediate command, that he
436
Hillah
II
Himalaya
Mountains.
HIM
gained from them the honourable title of ‘ the soldiei s
friend ” “ With Hill,” they used to say, “ both victory and
life may be ours.” On the other hand, the strategic skill and
military capacity he displayed in the Peninsula secured for
him the not less honourable title of “the right arm of the
Duke of Wellington.” From the first day he entered the
army he displayed the germs of those qualities that after¬
wards led him on to fame, rank, and power—boldness that
amounted to daring, and was yet always under the control
of the judgment, skill equal to independent commands ot
the most difficult kind, and a regard for the moral and phy¬
sical welfare of the army such as had never before been
shown by any commander-in-chief.
HILLAH. See Babylon.
HILLEL, Rabbi, born at Babylon, 112 b.c. He went
to Jerusalem to study law at the age of 40. When 80 years
of age he became chief of the Sanhedrim. He was one of
the compilers of the Talmud, and is regarded by the Jews
as the most learned of their doctors. He gave instruction
in the laws and traditions to more than a thousand pupils.
His master was Shammai, with whom he did not agree on
some points. The difference became a quarrel, warmly
taken up by the disciples of each, and ending in some
bloodshed. „
HIMALAYA, a Sanscrit word, compounded ot luma,
cold or snow, and “ alaya,” place of (Wilson’s Sanscrit Dic¬
tionary), is the name given to the ranges ot mountains
which bound India on the N., from the bend of the Indus
on the W. to that of the Brahmaputra on the E. On the
S. they are bounded by the plains of India, and on the N.
by the Tibetan courses of the above-named rivers. A
transverse section of the Himalaya nowhere presents the
appearance ot a simple range, but of several more oi less
parallel chains, separated by valleys of very great depth and
steepness; this is because the secondary ranges that la-
mify N. and S. from it are of great length, breadth, and
complexity, and from bending to the E. or to the W.,
often run for many miles parallel to one another and to the
main range, besides rising into eminences loftier than any
on the latter, for which they are sometimes mistaken. The
axis of the Himalaya is, moreover, not marked out by any
continuous ridge or succession of peaks, but is often broad,
open, and low, compared with the neighbouring isolated emi¬
nences. Hence the line of watershed becomes the only geo¬
graphically determinable axis; and this, as in all mountain
chains of any extent, follows an extremely sinuous course.
No doubt this line, which throws the waters in two opposite
directions throughout the whole extent of the range (1440
miles), is also that of greatest elevation, or that along which
the land is uninterruptedly the most lofty.
Before, however, the real nature and geographical limits
of the Himalaya, as above defined, can be rightly under¬
stood, it is necessary to consider this range in its relation
to the little known mountain systems of Central Asia, ot
which it perhaps forms a less important part than is usually
supposed. On reference to the mapoi Asia, the watei shed
of that continent will be found to follow a tortuous line,
running diagonally from the peninsula oi Gujerat to Beh¬
ring’s Strait. Across the plains of India this line is for the
most part indicated by the Arawali chain, N. of which
it crosses the Himalaya obliquely in a N.E. direction to
the sources of the Indus and Brahmaputra, whence it
trends westerly to the source of the Oxus, and then again
north-easterly along the Altai to the S. of Lake Baikal,
till it becomes the lablonoi Mountains, and finally termi-
H I M
nates in the prolongation of that range which traverses Himalaya
the country of the Tchuktchi. ountains.
All the great rivers of Asia rise in this watershed ; those
from its western slope flow N. into the Polar Sea, W.
into the Caspian or Aral, and S.W. into the Arabian Sea;
those from its eastern slope flow E. and S.E. into the
Pacific, and S. into the Indian Ocean. Enormous moun¬
tain chains branch off to the E. and W. of this main axis,
inclosing the valleys of the rivers ; and of these chains the
southernmost is the Himalaya. _ . .
In their Tibetan courses the Indus and Brahmaputra oc-
cupy valleys of great elevation, and the opposite directions tne c ain'
taken by them indicates the division of the Himalaya into
two portions, the eastern of which stretches from their sources
at the Peak of Kailas to the bend of the Brahmaputra, and
the western terminates at the bend ot the Indus. These
limits are more natural than is usually supposed, since the
prevalent idea that the Brahmaputra enters Assam through
a defile caused by a break in the chain is erroneous; on the
contrary, the Himalaya gradually declines in elevation in
East Bhotan ; and the upper valley of the Dihong (as the
Brahmaputra at its bend is called), is, according to the best
information hitherto procured, broad, open, and hot -rice
being cultivated there on the very confines ot Eastern T. ibet.
So also the Indus at the western extremity of the chain
is usually described as flowing through a defile ; but though
its valley to the W. of Kashmir is contracted and rugged,
and overhung by stupendous mountains, it does not in this
respect differ materially, if at all, from the remainder of its
Tibetan course ; nor is the fall of its bed between Iskardo
and the plains of the Punjab greater in proportion to the
length of its course than it is above that town.
The branches or secondary ranges of the Western Hima¬
laya are so long and lofty, that some difference of opinion
exists as to which of them should be most appropriately
considered as the continuation of the chain between the
peak of Kailas and Kashmir; and we have considered the line
of watershed between the tributaries of the Indus to the
N., and the rivers that flow to the plains ot India to the
S., to be the axis of the chain, since it both indicates the
line of mean greatest elevation, and is the only definable
axis in a geographical point of view.
Of the secondary chains we shall speak at length in con¬
nection with the rivers they inclose. Their diiection is
often perpendicular to the main chain, but they are so
often oblique, and even parallel to the main chain, especially
at their upper parts, that where very lofty and heavily
snowed, they are frequently taken by local observers for
the axis of the Himalaya itself; an error to which may be
traced that misconception regarding the relative amount
and duration of the snow on the northern and southern
slopes of the Himalaya, which has led to so much fruitless
controversy in India and Europe. .
The general direction of the Himalaya throughout its
leno-th of 1440 miles, is E. and W., but it trends north¬
wards from the centre towards its western extremity, its
extremes being respectively in N. Lat. 28., E. Long. 95.,
and N. Lat. 35., E. Long. 73. Its breadth vanes m dif¬
ferent parts, but has been accurately ascertained in the
western portion only, where it deviates but little from 190
miles. , . r .
It has been stated1 that the mountain ranges ot the
Himalaya and the Kouenlun2 have no special existence as
chains apart from the general elevated mass of Tibet, and
that that rugged country forms the summit of a great
1 Captain R. Strachey, Journ. Geog. Soc., May 1851; Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 1852 (249). W-stprn ffimalava re-
2 By this general nan^ we shall (following Humboldt) designate the two chains parallel to the ternT a^Tpe;nte™anCh from the
spectively, and north of them, and which together stretch from the sources of the Oxus to Eastern Assam. w^ter^ bra^nfr0m
Peak of Kailas to Balti (in W. Tibet), has bten called the Kailas and Karakoram range : of its eastern branch nothing is known.
HIMALAYA MOUNTAINS.
Himalaya protuberance above the level of the earth’s surface, of
Mountains, which the two chains form the N. and S. faces. This
view is derived, no doubt, from the appearance of ex¬
treme confusion that prevails in this, as in every mountain¬
ous country. In the Himalaya, as in Switzerland, the tra¬
veller, in crossing ranges and valleys at all angles, perceives
no order, and finds it impossible to trace rivers or chains
from elevated positions; whilst in following the courses of
the valleys, their bounding mountains shut out all beyond ;
and it is only after a map has been constructed that the
relations between the several parts of a mountainous country
can be traced with accuracy. The mountain system of
Central Asia differs in a physico-geographical point of
view from that of Europe only in bulk. The relation of
the Kouenlun to the Himalaya is similar to that of the
Bernese to the Monte Rosa Alps. These have not, it is true,
a separate existence apart from the general mass of the Alps,
but that they have a special existence also is proved by the
positions of the sources of the rivers that flow to the north¬
ward and southward from each. Taking as an example the
western half of the Himalaya and the parallel range of the
Kouenlun, the facts that the average elevation of the water¬
sheds of both is continuously above 18,000 feet the whole
way from the Kailas to the meridian of Kashmir, whilst in¬
numerable peaks on each rise above 20,000 feet, and that
the inclosed river-bed of the Indus falls from 15,000 to
7000 feet in the same distance, appear sufficient evidence
that the ranges in question have a definable existence in
a geographical point of view. The elevation of the Kouen¬
lun and Himalaya above the bed of the Indus is continu¬
ously higher in proportion than that of the Bernese and
Monte Rosa Alps above the bed of the intervening Rhone.
General Before detailing the physical features of the Himalaya,
features of it appears advisable to give some general idea of its scenery
the Hima- and aspect; this is derived from the impressions produced
laya- on experienced travellers who have described it. Of these
there have lately been many, and although few of them
have had that previous familiarity with mountain regions
which would enable them to judge of the Himalaya by
comparison, the narratives of Moorcroft, Thomson, the
Stracheys, Cunninghams, and others, all abound in accurate
and often graphic details.
Viewed from a distance, on the plains of India, the Hima¬
laya presents the appearance—common to all mountainous
countries—of consecutive parallel ridges, running E. and
W.; backed by a beautiful crest of snowy peaks, with oc¬
casional breaks in the foremost ranges, through which the
rivers debouche. This appearance of parallel ranges is owing
to a very simple and often overlooked law of perspective;
in consequence of which masses of mountains, of whatever
configuration, resolve themselves into ranges perpendicular
to the line of sight.1 Any view of the Himalaya, especially at
a sufficient distance for the remote snowy peaks to be seen
overtopping the outer ridges, is, throughout a great extent
of the range, rare, from the constant deposition of vapours
over the forest-clad ranges during the greater part of the
year, and the haziness of the dry atmosphere of the plains
in the winter months. At the end of the rains, when the
S.E. monsoon has ceased to blow with constancy, views are
sometimes obtained from a distance of nearly 200 miles.
From the plains the highest peaks subtend so small an
angle that they appear like white specks very low on the
horizon, tipping the black lower and outer wooded ranges,
which always rise out of a belt of haze ; and from the density,
probably, of the lower strata of atmosphere, they are never
seen to rest on the visible horizon. The remarkable low¬
ness on the horizon of the whole stupendous mass is always
a disappointing feature to the new comer, who expects to
see dazzling peaks towering in the air. Approaching nearer,
437
the snowy mountains sink behind the wooded ones long Himalaya
before the latter have assumed gigantic proportions; and Mountains,
when they do so, they too often appear a sombre, lurid, grey- ^
green mass of vegetation, or rock, with no brightness or va¬
riation of colour.
The mountains once entered, the appearance of parallel
ridges is found to be deceptive, and due to the inosculating
spurs of long tortuous secondary ranges that run N. and S.
from the axis, dividing deep wooded valleys, which flank
the beds of large rivers. The snowy peaks now look like a
long E. and W. range of mountains, at an average distance
of 30 or 40 miles. Advancing farther into the country,
this appearance proves equally deceptive, and from the same
cause. The snowy range is finally resolved into isolated
peaks, or masses, situated on the secondary ranges; and the
source of the deception is found to be that these snow-clad
spurs, projecting E. and W., cross one another, and, being
uniformly white, appear to connect the peaks into one grand
unbroken range. The rivers, instead of having their origin
in the snowy mountains, rise far beyond them: many of
their sources are upwards of 100 miles in a straight line
from the base of the mountains, in a very curious country,
loftier by far in mean elevation than the secondary ridges
which run S. from it, yet comparatively bare of snow. This
rearward part of the mountain region lies in Tibet, and
it is here that most of the rivers rise as small streams,
which increase rapidly in size as they receive the drainage
from the snowed part of the secondary ranges that bound
them in their courses.
A belt of tropical forest, 10 to 20 miles in breadth, skirts Terai.
the southern foot of the Himalaya throughout the greater
part of its length. Its presence is due to the humidity of
the climate, and to copious springs, which often give rise to
marshes which cover the ground at the base of the moun¬
tains. This tract is called the Terai, and is notorious for
its malarious atmosphere, which renders it almost certain
death to spend any time in it during the spring and autumn
(before and after the rains). The Terai belt is broadest,
most luxuriant and humid in the Assam valley at the eastern
extremity of the chain, narrowing with the diminished humi¬
dity and colder winters of the western part. It decreases
in breadth, and partially loses its tropical character towards
the central districts ; whilst to the westward of the Sutlej it
disappears, or is represented by alow jungle of bushes, con¬
taining but few tropical plants.
Beyond the Terai the mountains rise more or less sud- Outer hills,
denly, though seldom in precipices. Throughout the eastern
parts of the chain they are luxuriantly wooded, while to the
westward they are covered with a looser, drier forest, or
with brushwood. The mountain region may be entered by
following the course of one of the main rivers, or by ascend¬
ing the outlying spurs which bound them, and which run
more or less parallel to the general direction of the chain.
The roads almost invariably ascend these spurs, because the
malarious region extends far up the valleys, and the banks
of the rivers are usually impracticable for paths. The
Himalaya once entered, the traveller’s route is thenceforth
an uninterrupted series of ascents and descents. There
are no level tracts, plains, nor flats by the streams, of any
breadth or continuity ; an endless succession of ridges, seve¬
ral thousand feet high, and as many streams, are crossed on
almost every day’s march towards the axis of the chain ;
and during the warmer part of the year the amount of forest,
fog, and cloud is so great, that until the alpine regions are
reached, the traveller seldom enjoys any of those mag¬
nificent panoramic views for which the Cordillera and the
European Alps are so celebrated.
Throughout the temperate and wooded regions it is
scarcely possible for the traveller, let his powers of obser-
1 Thomson’s ZVfcet, p. 2.
438
HIMALAYA MOUNTAINS.
Himalaya vation be ever so good, to understand the relations of the
Mountains, innumerable rivers and ridges he traverses. The country
V—resembles a troubled ocean; and there being no apparent
order, it is only by taking the main river that flows from the
watershed as the starting-point, and laying down its course
on paper with some accuracy, that a correct idea can be ob¬
tained of the structure of the valley which the traveller is
ascending, and its relation to the secondary Himalayan
chains that bound it.
The roads from India to Tibet are always carried along
the flanks of these broad valleys, for the ridges of the se¬
condary chains are too lofty, rugged, and tortuous to admit
of roads being constructed along their crests, while the river
banks are hot, and excessively tortuous and rocky. It is
the necessity for crossing the spurs from these secondary
chains, with their innumerable subdivisions and contained
streams, which doubles the length of the route from the
plains of India to the axis of the chain ; the average dis¬
tance, which is only about 100 miles, usually occupying from
twelve days to a fortnight to traverse ; and the total ascent,
which is on the average 16,000 to 18,000 feet, being per¬
formed many times over, besides involving descents which
are so steep as to be hardly less fatiguing than the ascents.
Outer val- Immediately within the mountains the outermost lateral
leys, dhuns, valleyS (containing the feeders to the main rivers) are often
&c* broad, and bounded (especially those in the western parts of
the chain) on one or both flanks by low sandstone hills.
The breadth and extent of these, together with the peculi¬
arity of the rock, has given them an undue importance in some
respects. Such broad open valleys are called dhuns, and the
sandstone hills (sometimes called the Sewaliks) have been
supposed to constitute a system distinct from the Himalaya,
but skirting its base. This theory has, however, been rejected
by Dr Thomson,1 who shows that the dhuns are valleys of
precisely the same nature as the other lateral valleys; and
that the sandstone ranges, however different in a geological
point of view, are, in a geographical one, the terminal spurs
of the ranges bounding the river valleys. Where the dhuns
are very open, flat-floored, and with gradually sloping beds,
their true relation to the surrounding mountain-chains is not
at once apparent. Sometimes they appear to be indefinitely
extended E. and W., in a direction parallel to the Himalayan
chain ; and, running from one great river to another, they ap¬
pear to belong to a different order of valleys from those which
occur further within the mountains. This arises in some
cases from the slope of their beds being so extremely gra¬
dual that the watershed between the valley that ascends
from the one river,and the corresponding valley that descends
to the other river, can only be detected by observation of
the drainage ; whence the two valleys appear to form one.
Such is the case with the celebrated Dehra Dhun in Ku-
maon, which appears to form one continuous transverse
valley between the Jumna and the Ganges, but which
really consists of two valleys; one descending from the
village of Dehra (which occupies the col) westerly to the
Jumna, and the other descending from the same spot east¬
erly to the Ganges. Other dhuns, again, are simply very
broad, open valleys, differing in no physical features from
those that occur in other parts of the mountains. In the
Punjab-Himalaya, where the tertiary sandstones acquire a
great development, two or three such valleys occur in suc¬
cession before the higher mountains begin. These dhuns
are not, as is very generally supposed, continuous along
the whole extent of the Himalaya, and interposed between
the tertiary and secondary mountains. They are merely
the outer series of lateral valleys, and are always of limited
extent.
Temperate ^ ^ie alpine and upper temperate regions of the
and alpine Himalaya that the most interesting phenomena of the range
regions.
are concentrated, where the climate resembles that of Great Himalaya
Britain and the alpine districts of Europe ; and the scenery, if Mountains,
not so picturesque, exceeds in grandeur that of Switzerland
and the Tyrol. Throughout the Indian watershed of the
chain, the main features, between 8000 and 14,000 feet, are
more or less conspicuously European; whether or not they
equal those of the Alps may be doubted. In absolute height
and mass the Alps of course cannot be compared with
the Himalaya; and such a view as the following extract de¬
scribes (whose main features are characteristic of all parts
of the range) is doubtless unrivalled on the globe. The
author was at the time in Sikkim, not far from the centre
of the chain, and his description embraces the snowed moun¬
tains, including the loftiest in the world, as seen from the
N. flanks of the outer ranges. “ The actual extent of the
snowy range seen from Darjiling is comprised within an arc
of 80° (from north 30° W. to north 50° E.), or nearly a quarter
of the horizon, along which the perpetual snow forms an un¬
broken girdle or crest of frosted silver ; and in winter, when
the mountains are snowed down to 8000 feet, this white ridge
stretches uninterruptedly for more than 160°. No known
view is to be compared with this in extent, when the prox¬
imity and height of the mountains are considered; for
within the 80° above-mentioned more than twelve peaks
rise above 20,000 feet, and there are none below 15,000
feet, while Kinchin is 28,178, and seven others above 22,000.
Kinchin-junga (45 miles distant) is the prominent object,
rising 21,000 feet above the level of the observer (28,178
above the sea) out of a wilderness of intervening wooded
ranges; whilst, on a line with its snows, the eye descends
below the hoi’izon to a narrow gulf 7000 feet deep in the
mountains, where the great Rungeet, white with foam,
threads a tropical forest with a silver line.” From another
point of view in the same country, and also at 7000 feet
elevation, the eye surveys at one glance the vegetation of
the tropics and the poles. “ Deep in the valleys the river
beds are but 3000 feet above the sea, and are choked with
fig-trees, plantains, and palms; to these succeed laurels and
magnolias ; and higher up still, oaks, chestnuts, birches, &c.
Tine forests succeed for 2000 feet higher, when they give
place to a skirting of rhododendron and berberry. Among
these appear black naked rocks, rising up in cliffs, between
which are gulleys, down which the snow in January des¬
cends to 12,000 feet, ascending in one unbroken sweep to
peaks of 18,000 to 25,000 feet. [Himalayan Journals, vol.
i., p. 123 and 327).
The Alps nowhere present panoramas so remarkable as
these ; but when once amongst the snowy mountains, the
traveller’s position, in respect of proximity to the snowy
masses, as well as in elevation, is analogous in both ranges ;
the absolute heights of the principal objects being nearly
the same, and strictly comparable. The apparent elevation ot
a mountain range is merely relative; and throughout the
enormous arc of horizon embraced in a Himalayan view,
its apparent vertical height is much diminished by the
great distance of the nearest objects. To view Kinchin-
junga as Mont Blanc is viewed from Chamonix, the tra¬
veller must ascend to 12,000 feet, for it is at that elevation
that the vegetation and physical features of the valleys,
caused by the moraines, &c., are analogous to those of3000
feet in the Alps; and from such positions Kinchin-junga
beino- but 3000 or 4000 feet higher above the observer
than Mont Blanc (a difference not appreciable by the eye
amid such scenes), and being further from the spectator, is
not a more strikingly grand mountain than Mont Blanc.
In the long extent of the Himalaya there are alpine scenes
of unrivalled grandeur ; but owing to the rarefaction of the
atmosphere, and other causes, these regions will always re¬
main inaccessible to any but the most hardy seekers of the
1 Tibet, p. 314. Introductory Essay to the Flora Indica, p. 169.
HIMALAYA MOUNTAINS.
Himalaya picturesque, for they can only be viewed under circum-
Mountains. stances of extreme physical discomfort. In certain respects,
again, the Himalayan valleys are greatly inferior to the
Alpine, for they want both lakes and cascades ; and though
Himalayan travellers may find scenes more awful,and solitudes
immeasurably more impressive than any the Alps present,
there are none known which, in grandeur, beauty, and pictur¬
esqueness combined, are to be compared with Lauterbrun-
nen or the valley of Chamonix. Nowhere in the Himalaya
do blue glaciers, descending from mountains towering 10,000
feet above, pour their icy streams on to the flat floors of green
valleys covered with corn, flocks, and villages ; whilst lakes
reflecting both the forest-clad base and snow-clad summits
of one and the same mountain are, we believe, wholly un¬
known in Northern India.
Tibetan re- Immediately beyond the most heavily snowed ranges of
gions and chain t]ie stiH ascending traveller enters on the loftiest,
axis of the cd^gg^ an(j windiest desert to be found in the temperate
ian^e' zone of either hemisphere, a country contrasting quite as
much with the alpine country he has just left, as with the
tropical regions at the base of the mountains. This is the
axis of the Himalaya, where all its rivers have their rise, and
which owes its freedom from snow in part to its distance
from the sources of humidity and the mass of intervening
ranges, but in part also to its great elevation ; for it is in the
lower part of the atmospheric column t hat most vapour is sus¬
pended ; and as the humid wind only blows from the S., the
bulk of its moisture is deposited in the form of rain on the
southernmost parts of the mountain range, and of snow’ on
the secondary ranges, 15,000 to 20,000 feet high, which ex¬
tend many miles S. from the axis. Hence the clouds get
absolutely dispersed before they can reach the latter point,
and the traveller who has crossed that part of the range
where enormous snow-beds and glaciers descend to 15,000
or 16,000 feet, and thence ascends to 18,000 or 19,000,
finds no snow at that level; whilst the surrounding moun¬
tains also are so bare of snow that it is difficult to conceive
that he has not descended an opposite slope.
The features of the main axis of the Himalaya differ
greatly at different points of the chain ; it i& usually broad,
and is always characterized by extreme vicissitudes of tem¬
perature. As with the Cordillera, the Norwegian Alps,
and many other mountain ranges, the line of the water¬
shed is not marked by any continuous ridge or succession of
ridges ; loftier eminences oftener rise in its proximity, from
the spurs that branch oft’ from it than from itself; and as
the southernmost of these are (as has been already shown)
always very heavily snowed, it has been usual to consider
the belt of the most snow’ed peaks (which, as seen from the
southward, shuts out the view of the loftier rearward axis),
as the crest of the Himalaya. Dr Thomson has, however,
pointed out that the deceptive effects of false perspective,
the rarity of snowr, the absence of a defined ridge on the
axis, and the occasionally greater elevation of isolated peaks
on the subsidiary ranges, have led to the transference of
the true axis from the watershed to an imaginary line cut¬
ting across the valleys of all the rivers. As even the most
recent maps of India represent the Himalayan rivers as cut¬
ting through the axis of the chain, it is necessary to bear in
mind upon what slender authority this is done, and that
throughout two-thirds of the extent of the Himalaya, there is
no foundation whatever for the position either of the rivers
or of the axis, as laid down on our maps. From Kumaon the
whole way to the eastern termination of the chain, with the
exception of the small province of Sikkim, nothing whatever
is even approximately known of the relation of the rivers to
the snowy mountains, or of these to the axis. Many lofty
peaks are seen from the plains of India, and the positions
of a few of these have been determined by triangulation ;
and in the earlier maps these were fictitiously represented
as forming eminences on a continuously snowy ridge. The
439
information was afterwards supplied by the natives that the Himalaya
sources of the rivers were far beyond these snows ; and to Mountains,
reconcile these phenonema the streams were invariably made
to intersect the ridge.
The fact, that in that portion of the Western Himalaya
which lies between Nepal and the Sutlej, the loftiest
eminences are situated on the subsidiary ranges, was first
stated by Col. Herbert; but his observation, that the line
of the great peaks intersects the river basins, and therefore
is not the true axis of the Himalaya, has never yet been
fully appreciated. More recent geographers have, how¬
ever, so multiplied the number of these peaks in that por¬
tion of the Himalaya to which Col. Herbert’s observation
extended, that no single line of great peaks can now be
traced in reality ; and with regard to the explored portions
of the Himalaya W. of it, and to the Sikkim portion E.
of it, it is certain that the great peaks do not follow any de¬
finite line; added to which, the number of peaks on the
axis itself, attaining elevations of 20,000 to 25,000 feet, is
very great.
Reverting to the physical features of the loftiest regions,
the suddenness with which the dry Tibetan climate and its
concomitant features are often encountered, by crossing a
lofty pass over a lateral heavily-snowed spur of a secondary
range, is very remarkable, and contrasts with the slowness
of the same change when a river is followed to its source ;
and as the short cuts over these spurs are generally pre¬
ferred to the winding courses of the rivers, a false impres¬
sion has been conveyed of the definition of the boundary
between the dry and humid regions. This erroneous im¬
pression is strengthened by another fact, that the politi¬
cal boundary between the Tibetan and Indian states is
often determined by the position of the greatest quantity
of snow—a physical obstacle to intercourse of far more im¬
portance than the greater elevation of the comparatively
snowless watershed N. of it. Recent discoveries have,
however, shown that this boundary is neither so straight
nor so natural as has been supposed, or as is represented in
maps. In the small state of Sikkim, for instance, it zigzags
so much that it is 50 miles further S. in one meridian than
in another. A gain, in the western part of Nepal, it is said
to follow the true axis, or watershed ; whilst in the more
snowy eastern half of the same kingdom, it is traced along
the most snowed regions; and it has in many places been
repeatedly altered in the course of the last century by the
Tibetans and Chinese.
A few other points in the physical geography of the axis
of the Himalaya and of its loftier valleys are worthy of
note. Such are the prevalence of lakes, never of any great
depth, and of tertiary deposits, often extending for many
miles, and forming undulating expanses, through which the
rivers cut deep gorges, and which also form flats and ter¬
races along the banks of the streams. These have given
rise to the supposition that Tibet is a vast plain or plateau—
an error which the fact that the roads in that usually dif¬
ficult country make long detours to take advantage of these
flats, has tended to confirm. That Tibet is however
the most rugged and mountainous country in the world, the
united testimony of all travellers assures us; and that no
such level expanses, or lakes (with the solitary exception of
Kashmir), or flat-bottomed valleys, occur in the equally
mountainous, though perhaps less rugged and precipitous
temperate and tropical valleys of the Indian watershed,
is a very remarkable fact.
In classifying the geographical features of the Himalaya, Divisions
as they occur, in belts parallel to the axis, we recognize of the Hi'
four distinct latitudinal zones. 1. That which extends malaya‘
from the plains of India to those parts of the chain where
the elevation is sufficient for snow to lie upon the ground
during the winter months ; within this the bases of the hills
and all the valleys are tropical, and the upper portions tem-
HIMALAYA MOUNTAINS.
440
Himalaya perate. The surface, though steep, and cut up into innumer-
Mountains. able ravines, is seldom absolutely precipitous, or continu-
v^-^—^ ously rugged. This belt is from 40 to 60 miles broad, and
presents eminences of all heights below 13,000 to 14,000 feet
—the mean being perhaps from 5000 to 8000 feet. 2. In the
snowy belt, which is from 30 to 40 miles broad, the climate
is temperate in the valleys, and tropical where these are
very deep and damp ; alpine on the heights. The mean ele¬
vation is probably under 13,000 feet, though innumerable
peaks rise to 20,000, a few to 25,000, and some to 28,000
feet; while the river beds are often only 3000 feet above
the level of the sea. The surface of this belt is very rugged
and often precipitous. 3. The axis of the chain is from 10
to 20 miles broad, probably 15,000 feet in mean elevation ;
and the line of watershed itself seldom sinks below 17,000
feet, except at the two extremities of the chain. The sur¬
face is very rocky and often precipitous, but varied with
occasional undulating expanses ; the climate is alpine
throughout. 4. The northern slope consists of rugged
rocky valleys, with occasionally flat floors: a temperate
climate, but one of excessive Aycissitudes, prevails below
13,000 feet elevation; and great drought and a total absence
of forest vegetation distinguish it from the analogous eleva¬
tions of the southern side.
These general remarks indicate three principal series of
divisions of the Himalaya, viz., according to length, breadth,
and height; these are :—
1. Longitudinally ; an eastern and western Himalaya.
2. Latitudinally; an exterior or damp, an interior or
snowy, and a Tibetan or dry Himalaya.
3. Altitudinally; a tropical, temperate, and alpine Him¬
alaya.
liivers. The secondary ranges, which originate in the axis, and
descend on the S. slope to the plains of India, and on the
N. to the Tibetan Indus and Brahmaputra, separate great
rivers, and may consequently be conveniently used to di¬
vide the whole chain into a succession of river basins.1
The great rivers flowing to the S. are thirteen in num¬
ber; advancing from W. to E., they are,—the Jelam, Chenab,
Ravee, Byas, Sutlej, Jumna, Ganges, Gogra, Gandak, Kosi,
Tista, Monas, and Subansiri.2 The directions of these rivers
vary a good deal, being often extremely oblique, especially
in the upper part of their courses, to the axis of the chain. As
a general rule, those that rise nearest to the centre of the
chain (as, for instance, the Tista) have the straightest courses;
those that are situated to the eastward flow first S.E., and
then turning S., follow a western course, to the Assam Brah¬
maputra ; those in the W. of the chain, flow first S.W.,
and then turning S., flow easterly. Of these rivers, the two
eastern, the Monas and Subansiri, flow through Bhotan ; the
Tista drains Sikkim ; and the three next, the Kosi, Gan¬
dak and Gogra, which are Nepalese, all flow into the Gan¬
ges ; the two following, the Jumna and Ganges, water the
British hill states of Kumaon, Garhwal, and Sirmore, W.
of Nepal; the remaining five water the Punjab, and flow
into the Indus, draining amongst others the hill states of
Mandi, Chamba, Jamu, and Kashmir, respectively.
The fall of the rivers varies with the length of their
course; that of the Tista is perhaps the most rapid, the river
descending from I7,000feet to 300 (at its exit on the plains),
with a fall of 85 feet per mile; this, however, varies in
different parts of its course; thus, between 17,000 and, 15,000
feet, it is 60 feet per mile; between 15,000 and 12,000
feet, 140 feet per mile; between 12,000 and 5000 feet,
160 feet per mile; and between 5000 and 300 feet, 50 feet
per mile. Analogous differences have been observed in
other Himalayan rivers, as in the Tambur, a tributary of the Himalaya
Nepalese Kosi, and in some of the western rivers;'1 as the^ountains.
Sutlej, which, for the first 60 miles of its course, falls 35 8-^^/
feet per mile; in the following 50 miles, 82 feet per mile;
and in the succeeding 68 miles, 25 feet per mile. The In¬
dus again, for the first 90 miles, falls about 3 feet per mile;
in the next 115 miles, 28 feet per mile, and in the remaining
345 miles, falls 18 feet per mile. The prevalence of this gra¬
dual fall at the upper part of the rivers has been attributed
mainly to the fact, that in the dry climate of the axis, the
floors of the valleys are raised and levelled by glacial and
other accumulations, which have been removed by denu¬
dation from the lower parts of the same valleys.
All the Himalayan rivers increase enormously in volume
during the summer months ; in the eastern portions, where
the rains are very heavy, the increase is more due to this cause
than to the melting of the snow. The individual feeders
of the main streams also differ much ; those that rise from
glaciers being in summer opaline and full, in winter clear and
less in volume. Again, the main body of the streams is
in summer swmllen and muddy, owing to the excessive
rains, but in winter clear and diminished to a fraction of
its summer volume. In summer the glacier-fed feeders
are always much the coldest; in winter all approximate more
in temperature. In summer the volume of all the snow-fed
feeders of the rivers is much diminished at night, owing to
the less rapid melting of the snow, and the frequent freez¬
ing of their head waters ; but this is scarcely appreciable in
the central and eastern parts of the chain, where most rain
falls at night, and where the effect of the sun’s rays in melt¬
ing the snow is less than that of the rain and corroding fog.
The rivers flowing northward from the axis have much
shorter courses ; and, owing to the dryness of the climate,
they carry comparatively little water. The principal of
those that flow into the Indus are the rivers of Dras and
Zanskar: of those that flow into the Tibetan Brahmaputra
none are known to geographers except the Painom, which
flows from the N. of the province of Bhotan, and falls into
the Brahmaputra near the holy city of Teshoo Loombo.
The rarity of cascades, on a scale at all commensurate
with the grandeur of the mountains and the volume of the
rivers, is a peculiarity worthy of observation. Tibet, where
absolute precipices are more numerous, is better adapted
for waterfalls, but the dryness of its climate sufficiently
accounts for their paucity.
The Himalayan lakes are almost confined to Tibet, where Lakes,
many of the rivers have their apparent sources in lakes fed
by innumerable very small glacier streams. Some of these
lakes are very extensive, as that of Yeumtso in Eastern
Tibet, whose drainage is unknown; the Ramchoo lakes,
which are said to give rise to the Painom; and the
Mansarowar or Tso Mapham, and Rakas fal or IsoLan-
gak lakes; which are sheets of water 20 to 30 miles long,
and of considerable breadth, elevated 15,200 feet above the
sea; they give rise to the Sutlej. In the Western Hima¬
laya the principal lake is the Tso Moriri, also of 15,200 feet
elevation, 30 miles long, and placed on the axis of the
chain ; it has now no exit, but was once of greater dimen¬
sions, when its superfluous waters (which, no doubt, were
then fresh) formed a tributary of the Sutlej. The waters
of the Tso Moriri, and of many other Tibetan lakes, are
very salt; a fact attributed to the evaporation and drainage
exceeding the influx in the case of those which have outlets,
and by the further concentration of the salts in the instances
of lakes without drainage, which are hence always the salt-
est. The rationale of the formation of the Tibetan lakes
1 The geographical importance of these divisions was first indicated by Mr Hodgson in a valuable paper printed in the Journal of the
Asiatic Society of Bengal.
2 The Indian source of the Brahmaputra is amongst the Mishmi Mountains of Upper Assam. These mountains form part of a system
quite unconnected with the Himalaya, and which divide the waters of the Brahmaputra from those of the Irrawaddi and other rivers of
Birma, China, &c. 3 H. Strachey, Phys. Geog. of W. Tibet, p. 45.
Himalaya
lountains.
Plains, &c.
Elevation
of the Hi¬
malaya.
HIMALAYA MOUNTAINS.
441
has never been investigated ; many of the smaller ones are
no doubt due to dams thrown across the valleys they occupy
by the moraines of glaciers ; others may be due to the un¬
equal elevations of the surface ; and the majority no doubt
owe their existence to the deposits thrown across river beds
by lateral feeders of the rivers themselves.
* The Himalayan lakes, not situated on or near the axis,
are extremely few and unimportant; the Walur Lake in
Kashmir (elevation 5000 feet) is the only large one ; and the
small tarns of Bheem-tal and Nynee-tal, a few miles long,
and 4000 to 6000 feet above the sea, are both in Kumaon.
It is a singular fact, that throughout the whole extent of the
Himalaya, the Walur Lake (formed by the Jelam) is the
only instance of any of the great rivers or their feeders
forming any considerable expanse of still water.
Peat bogs, and moors analogous to those of Northern
Europe, are wholly unknown in the Himalaya; their ab¬
sence in the southern valleys is partly owing to the confi¬
guration of the latter, and more perhaps to the great rain¬
fall. Of absolute plains there are perhaps none in the
Himalaya; the comparatively level upper valley of the
Sutlej being the only approach to an exception, and cer¬
tainly a remarkable feature. Its extreme length is 120
miles, and its breadth varies from 15 to 60; its elevation
is from 14,000 to 16,000 feet. It appears to be formed
by a tertiary deposit of gravel and boulders ; its surface is
undulating, and broken by mountains in the eastern part.
Such a feature as this, suddenly expanding before the tra¬
veller, weary of the endless ascents and descents of the
southern slope of the Himalaya, must be very striking ; and
we accordingly often find it designated as an absolute plain.
There is, however, a fall of 1000 feet from its southern edge
to its centre ; many mountain spurs intrude upon it; the
Sutlej cuts a gorge SOOO feet deep through its longer axis;
and the lateral ravines of the feeders of that river are so
numerous, deep, and steep, that Moorcroft, one of the most
accurate of observers, who first traversed it, calls these slopes
mountains, and does not allude to the existence of aplain. Like
many other mountainous valleys, it appears much flatter than
it really is, from being generally viewedfrom a great elevation.
It is now undisputed that for its length the Himalaya
exhibits the loftiest eminences in the world by very far,but it
is yet to be determined whether it is the greatest mountain
mass. The great range of Kailas or Karakoram (the west¬
ern branch of the Kouenlun, see p. 439 in note), running
parallel to the Western Himalaya, on the N. of the Indus,
is undoubtedly more continuously lofty, and presents a
greater breadth of elevated country than the Himalaya to
the S. of it; and if, as is very probable, the eastern continua¬
tion of the Karakoram (to the N. of the Yaru or Tibetan
Brahmaputra) is as lofty as the western, this will undoubt¬
edly prove to be by very far a more lofty mountain chain
than the Himalaya.
The mean slope of the Himalaya, from the. plains of
India to the average greatest elevation of the axis, is only
1 foot in 25 ; that from the loftiest peak (which is not on
the axis) to the plains is 1 in 12. Ihe elevation of the
southern base of the Himalaya, that is, of the plains of
India at the foot of the range, gradually rises from 350 feet
in the meridian of Calcutta to 1000 feet in the Punjab ;
whilst to the eastward, up the Assam valley, the rise is
scarcely appreciable. The elevation of the northern base
in the western portion, that is, of the bed of the Indus, falls
from 16,000 to 17,000 feet at the source of that river, to
11,000 at Ladak, and to 4000 or 5000 at its great bend.
The elevation of the northern base of the eastern portion
(that is, of the valley of the Tibetan Brahmaputra) is wholly
unknown. At the source of that river it is no doubt from Himalaya
16,000 to 17,000 feet, and it has been assumed to be 13,000 Mountains,
at Shigatzi;1 while, according to the accounts of the climate
of that part of Tibet where the Brahmaputra turns S., the
elevation is probably under 6000 feet.
In estimating the mean elevation of the known parts of
the Himalaya, it has been usual to take the elevation of
the passes as data; but in so doing a distinction must be
made between the passes over the axis and those over its
subsidiary ranges. There is every reason to believe that
from the W. of the meridian of Kashmir to the Peak of
Kailas, no part of the watershed axis is much below 18,000
feet; the four known passes being all above that elevation.
Further to the W., and N. of Kashmir, a remarkable de¬
pression occurs at Zoji-la Pass, which, being broad and only
11,000 feet elevation, recals some of the low cols over the
main Alps. The elevation of the eastern part of the axis
is entirely unknown. It has been but twice crossed ; once
by Captain Bogle in 1784, in his route to Tibet by Western
Bhotan, but who left no record of his journey ; and again
by Turner in 1789. From the narrative of the latter we
gather that the watershed itself is broad, open, and unde¬
fined to a common observer, though, from observations
since made in the neighbourhood, it must be fully 11,600 feet
elevation;2 while the elevation of the axis N. of Sikkim
may be assumed to be nowhere below 18,000 feet.
The principal peaks of the Himalaya are in many cases
concentrated in groups, which have a definite relation to
the chief rivers, being placed on the secondary ranges : thus,
there are clusters or nceuds of snowy mountains between
the sources of the Monas and Subansiri, with peaks of
from 23,000 to 25,000 feet in height; between the Monas
and the Pachu is another probably higher; westward of the
Pachu is the enormous nceud, to the N. of Sikkim, with its
manv spurs, from which rise Chumulari (23,929 feet), F)on-
kiah'(23,176 feet), and Kinchin-junga (28,178 feet), with its
supporters, Junnoo (25,312), Kubra (24,005 feet), Pundim
(21,300feet), and others; which clusters separate the head
waters of the Pachu, Machu, T. ista, and Arun. Between the
Arun and Kosi is another great group, probably not lower
than the last; between the Kosi and Gandak is the nceud
from which rises Gosain-than (24,740 feet) ; between the
Gandak and Gogra is another, with Dhawalagiri (28.000
feet). Of the peaks on the axis N. of the Sutlej, the Kailas
alone has been measured, and exceeds 22,000 feet. On the
subsidiary chain S. of that river are very many peaks of above
20,000 feet; of which NandaDevi (25,700 feet), and Kamet
(25,000 feet) are the two loftiest. W. of the Sutlej many peaks
on and off the axis rise above 20,000 feet; and the last of the
great snowed ones, Dhiarmal (18,000 feet), occurs W. of
Kashmir, close to the bend of the Indus, and termination of
the chain. These peaks are for the most part situated at
some distance from the axis; and their accessibility, con¬
spicuous position, and great quantity of snow, has fixed the
attention of surveyors upon them : whether any eminences
on the axis attain the elevation of 28,000 feet may be lea-
sonably doubted. Of those to the eastward absolutely no¬
thing is known; but from the views of the axis obtained
from the N. of Sikkim, Nepal and Bhotan, it would appear
that many there also exceed 20,000 feet.
The mineral character of the great peaks varies ex¬
tremely ; the loftiest known, Kinchin-junga, is apparently
a stratified granite, whilst some of the first class are of
gneiss, and others of limestone, of mica-schist, and of slate.
In the Himalaya every variety of temperature may be Climate,
met with, from a tropical heat to the cold of the poles;
and every degree of humidity, from the perpetual mois-
1 Hooker’s Himalayan Journals, vol. ii., p. 171. .
2 The pass by which Turner left Bhotan, and entered the valley of the Machu in i e ,
appear to have been of very great elevation.
VOL. XI.
is over a subsidiary range,
3 K
and does not
442
HIMALAYA MOUNTAINS.
Himalaya ture of the eastern valleys to the utter aridity of Western
Mountains. Tibet; nevertheless the greater part of the chain is so sub-
ject to the influence of the monsoons, which sweep along
its flanks from the Brahmaputra to beyond the Sutlej, that
the seasons in general correspond with those of the great
Gangetic valley ; and the two main divisions into hot and
cold months, which further correspond with the wet and dry
ones, may be traced in all parts of the range except in the
driest Tibetan regions. After the commencement of the
vernal equinox, brilliant weather prevails more or less in all
parts of the chain, except in the eastern, where any continu¬
ance of cloudless weather is rare. The rains are ushered
in by gales and thunderstorms; and when they have fairly
set in, a cloudless week seldom occurs in the westward, and
to the eastward is quite unknown.
Rain. In the Eastern Himalaya the rainy season commences in
April or May, with the accession of the south-easterly mon¬
soon, laden with humidity from the Bay of Bengal; by the
end of May it becomes general in Nepal, and by mid¬
summer in the extreme W. In the N.W. the rain be¬
gins to decrease about September, but in the eastern pro¬
vinces can hardly be said to be over before October or No¬
vember. The amount of rain deposited during this period
varies extremely, but as a general rule, diminishes from E.
to W. Owing to a local cause, Sikkim is the wettest province
in the whole range—the Rajmahal Hills (in Bengal) partially
dispersing the clouds which would otherwise descend on Ne¬
pal to the W. of it, and the Khasia range similarly shelter¬
ing Bhotan to the E. The heaviest rains fall on the outer
hills, elevated from 6000 to 10,000 feet, especially where
these advance in considerable masses towards the plains,
whilst isolated peaks and ranges of less elevation, as well as
the valleys of the great rivers, are drier. As a consequence of
this, all the valleys of the interior which are separated from
the plains by continuous chains, attaining an elevation of from
10,000 to 12,000 feet, are to a great extent sheltered by these
from the rains, which fall only as occasional showers ; while
those still further back, and which are bounded on the south
by mountains rising everywhere to the level of perpetual
snow, are absolutely without rain during the monsoon. In
Sikkim and Bhotan, where the wide valleys are perpendi¬
cular to the axis of the chain, and correspond to the direc¬
tion of the winds, the rains are heavy till we penetrate far
into the interior ; but great irregularities everywhere occur,
and this even in adjacent vallevs.
Ihe maximum rain-fall probably occurs on the outer
ranges of Sikkim, and exceeds 120 inches in the year at
/000 feet elevation. The amount of rain is, however, little
indication of the humidity of the climate ; for, though in the
interior valleys very little falls at elevations corresponding
with those which are deluged on the outer ranges, the fogs
and drizzle which prevail, and which are not measured by
the rain-guage, sometimes obscure the sun’s rays for many
days in succession.
Winds.
I owards the autumnal equinox, as the decreasing decli¬
nation of the sun gradually changes the direction of the
wind, the atmosphere becomes drier, and the cessation of
the rains is marked by violent tempests.
During the winter the weather is unsettled; for whilst
the N.E. monsoon is blowing over the lower parts of
India, an upper current of south-westerly wind carries its
moisture to the higher mountains, where it is condensed in
the fin m of snow; and there is also a short rainy season
towards the end of December, in the more humid provinces.
In spring, as the sun’s declination increases, and the Gan¬
getic plain and Punjab again become heated, low currents
of diy south-westerly winds often rush in the afternoons
with violence up the Himalayan valleys, and obscure the
distant prospect with a strong haze.
1 he local Himalayan winds are confined to a diurnal
cm lent of heated air which rushes up the valleys during the
day, and is always experienced on the axis of the chain as Himalaya
a violent southerly wind ; and a return cold current at niyht, Mountains
blowing with much less violence and regularity down the
valleys. These winds increase in regularity and intensity as
the valleys are ascended, and as the difference increases be¬
tween the temperatures of day and night; the diurnal cur¬
rent being least marked in winter, and the nocturnal one in
summer. The other phenomena of cloud, rain, and fotj,
which prevail in the Himalaya, are common to all mountam
countries, and require no detailed account.
The mean temperature of the base of the Himalaya di- Tempera
minishes from 74° in the meridian of Calcutta, to about 70° ture‘
in the western extremity of the range. At that end it is not
so low as the increase of latitude would indicate, owing to the
increase of the mass of land in that direction, which be¬
comes excessively heated in summer; hence the isothermals
are curved, with their convexity to the N.W. during all sea¬
sons of the year, but most so in summer, as the equator of
heat trends so far to the northward of the terrestrial equator
in summer as to impinge upon the base of the Himalaya in
July, when its mean temperature rises almost to 86°. In
midwinter again the mean temperature falls to about 60°.
The diminution of temperature in ascending is about 1°
for every 350 or 400 feet of elevation in the more humid
parts of the chain, and 1° for every 400 feet in the drier
parts ; the ratio of diminution is most rapid in the loftiest
elevations, and more rapid in winter than in summer, ow¬
ing to the effect of the warm S. wind. In these respects
the Himalaya differs from other mountain ranges, as the
Alps for instance, as it does also both in the annual and
diurnal range of temperature increasing with the elevation,
and in the effect of radiation being greatest in winter, all of
which are due to the interference of the heavy rains and
clouds of summer.
The following is an attempt to approximate (within a
few degrees), to the mean temperature, and range of the
thermometer, in the province of Sikkim :—
Altitude.
7,500 feet
11,000 ...
15,000 ...
19,000 ...
Mean
temp, in
Shade.
50-
40-9
29-8
19 8
5S
62-7
50-0
400
32-0
400
24-0
110
0-0
0
O C t-
^ &
13-0
20'0
27-0
350
c
c$ —
P5
1200
40 0
20-0
100
Ratio of
diminution of
temperature.
1°=300 feet.
1°=320 ...
1°=350 ...
1°=400 ...
The elevation of the snow-line is about 16,000 feet on Snow-line,
the southern or outer snowed ranges throughout the whole
length of the chain; the depression at the eastern extre¬
mity, which is in a lower latitude, being attributable to the
convexity of the isothermals and the greater fall of snow.
It rises to 20,000 feet on the loftier eminences towards
and behind the axis. In winter the snow descends to
10,000 feet, and lies there for about a month, probably
throughout the range; and sporadic falls have been ex¬
perienced as low as 5000 feet in the central provinces, and
1000 in the western.
The glacial phenomena are everywhere the same as in
the Alps of Europe and elsewhere, the descent of the gla¬
ciers being modified by the breadth, form, and slope of the
valleys they occupy, and the extent, &c., of their feeders :
in the Western Himalaya they descend to 11,000 feet, though
rarely; while in the eastern and central parts they have
not been met with below 14,000.
That the climate of the whole Himalaya has been greatly
altered within a comparatively recent period, is proved by
the ancient moraines of great size, and other glacial evi¬
dences, which are found as low down as 8000 or 9000 feet
in the valleys of all the great rivers.
HIMALAYA MOUNTAINS.
443
Himalaya
fountains
Umosphe-
■ic pres-
ure.
jeology of
;he liima-
uya.
The barometric tides in the Himalaya are greatly modi-
• fied by the rains; but the times oi' maximum pressure
(9’o0 a.m. and p.m.) and minimum (4 a.m. and p.m.), and
the horary oscillations, are much the same at all elevations.
The amplitude of the oscillations decreases from 0T00 inch
at the base of the range to 0074 at 7500 feet, and O'OoO
at 14,000 or 15,000 feet. The amplitude is greatest in the
spring months, least in June and July, and rises again in
autumn. The pressure of dry air shows but one annual
maximum (in December) and one minimum (in July),
and one diurnal maximum at the coldest hour of the twenty-
four, and one diurnal minimum in the afternoon.
The effects of diminished pressure on the human frame
are the same in the Himalaya as in other mountain regions ;
the uninured traveller first experiences slight giddiness at
13,000 or 14,000 feet, with nausea, headache, and lassitude
at 14,000 or 15,000, while the pulse often rises to 120 per
minute—symptoms which increase with the elevation, and
violently so upon any exertion, but wear off with practice.
Upon horseback, if the pace is gentle, 19,000 feet may be
attained without inconvenience ; and after living for a day
or two at 16,000 feet, ascents to 20,000 feet may be made
slowly and cautiously on foot, without other inconvenience
than lassitude. Some individuals suffer more than others,
but even the Tibetan inhabitants of 15,000 feet always have
headache in walking over passes of 18,000. Bleeding at the
nose and ears has never been experienced by any practised
traveller in health, and is unknown amongst the natives.
Of the Geology of the Himalaya little can be said ; for
though some of the provinces have been well studied, of the
majority nothing whatever is known. The strike of the
rocks throughout appears to be N.W., and the dip N.E.;
but this is liable to many local exceptions, the dip especially
being extremely variable. At the south base of the range,
spurs of sandstones and conglomerates occur, rising imme¬
diately out of the gravelly deposits which are intercalated
with the alluvium of the plains of India. These sandstones
have been represented as occurring along a great portion
of the range, though there is no evidence to show that those
of the eastern and western parts of the chain are of the
same age. Some of those of Kuma5n (Sewaliks) are refer¬
able to the miocene age, and contain the remains of species
of bos, camel, giraffe, hippopotamus, dinotherium, mastodon,
sivatherium, many antelopes and other ruminants, various
carnivora, anoptotherium, several monkeys, seven species
of elephants, crocodiles, and the gigantic tortoise, whose
shell measures 20 feet across. The sandstones at the foot
of the Sikkim hills in the meridian of Calcutta are probably
referable to the same age as the coal formations of Behar
and Central India, indications of similar fossils having been
found in both. The dip of these rocks is almost always to
the mountains, as is often that of the succeeding metamor-
phic rocks, and which, though probably of far older forma¬
tion, appear to overlie them.
Metamorphic rocks, consisting of beds of mica-schist
with garnets, clay-slate, quartz, gneiss, and occasional veins
of granite, acquire an enormous development, often rising
into the loftiest peaks of the central region, and forming
the mass of the mountains in those parts of the range which
have been best explored. These are overlaid again by
slates, and in Kumadn by Silurian beds succeeded by rocks
which are referable to the oolite series, abounding in some
places in ammonites and belemnites.
In the larger river valleys towards the axis of the chain,
tertiary beds are again met with, overlying the oolitic and
metamorphic ones, and containing, to the north of Kumadn,
at 15,000 feet elevation, fossils analogous to those of the
Sewaliks, at the south base oi' the mountains. Specimens
of these, brought to England by Captain R. Strachey, have
been referred to extinct species of horse, rhinoceros, ele¬
phant, hippopotamus, &c.
Of eruptive rocks granite is abundant throughout the Himalaya
chain, and dykes of greenstone and basalt occur to the west- Mountains,
ward. In the extreme Western Himalaya of Tibet, ibssil
shells of the pleistocene or post-pleistocene age, have
been found in lacustrine clays by Dr Thomson, on the
flanks of mountains bordering both lakes and rivers, high
above the level of the waters ; some of these, chiefly species
of Lymncea and Planorbis, are closely allied to existing
Himalayan species, if not identical with them, and indicate
the retirement of extensive bodies of fresh water from those
regions at a comparatively recent period. Glacial deposits
are found in all the Himalayan valleys above 8000 or 9000
feet elevation, in the form of transported boulders and
enormous moraines, attesting the former extension of gla¬
ciers fully 6000 feet below their present limits. These
phenomena so entirely resemble those of the Alps, that they
require no detailed account.
Attempts have been made to draw conclusions in physical
geography and geology from the relations of the river-beds
(regarding them as fissures) to the strike of the rocks in the
chain, and to the lines of upheaval of the main and subsidiary
ranges, but hitherto without success. One fact alone is ob¬
vious, that the direction of the strike, which appears to be
tolerably uniform throughout about 1000 miles of the chain,
cuts both the main range and its secondary ones obliquely
at an acute angle, and is not modified by the varying direc¬
tion of the range ; whence it follows that it cuts the river
basins obliquely also. Until, however, more is known of
the relative ages of the rocks composing the range, and
their exact relations to one another, no conclusions can be
arrived at. The order of superposition has been traced in
Kumabn alone, by Captain R. Strachey; and though the
geology of this province will no doubt soon be connected
with that of the countries to the westward of it, there is at
present no prospect of any addition being made to our
knowledge of either the geography or geology of by far the
more extensive portion of the Himalaya, which stretches
for 1000 miles E. of that province.
In mineral products the Himalaya is remarkably poor, so Minerals,
far as is at present known. There is nothing which can
compare in abundance or value with the mines of the Ural,
Andes, or European Alps. Red haematite is worked with
profit in Kumaon, and copper exists in Nepal and the Sikkim
hills. Iron (disseminated) occurs in various places, and
graphite is common. Salt, borax, and soda are procured
in abundance in the dry climate of Tibet, where they are
articles of commerce ; there also gold-washing is carried on
upon a most limited scale. Gold is known to be extremely
abundant in many parts of Eastern Tibet, where, however,
the jealousy of the Chinese government prevents its being
worked. Slates, lime, gypsum, lead, sulphur, and magnesia,
are also Himalayan products.
There is a surprising and almost total absence of gems,
or minerals of rarity or beauty in the Himalaya; garnets,
actinolites, and tourmalines, are perhaps the only exceptions
of frequent occurrence, and these are of the coarsest de¬
scription.
Hot springs abound, chiefly at elevations of 10,000 to
18,000 feet; they usually emit sulphuretted hydrogen gas,
and maintain temperatures of 100° to 130°. There is no ac¬
tive volcano anywhere in the range, nor any traces of extinct
ones. Some of the districts, especially towards the N.W.,
have been visited by violent earthquakes, but these do not
appear to be connected with any endemic phenomena;
they have generally commenced far S. of the Himalaya, and
have been propagated across the range. Remarkable local
subsidences and elevations have occurred in the valley of
the Jhelam in Kashmir, which have been described by
Dr Thomson {Tibet, p. 291).
Vegetation.—This may be altitudinally divided into tro- Vegeta-
pical, temperate, and alpine ; and latitudinally into exterior 6on>
444
HIMALAYA MOUNTAINS.
Himalaya or rainy, interior or intermediate, and Tibetan or arid Hi-
Mountains. malaya.
The tropical belt extends from the Terai to 6000, and
even 7000 feet in the humid central provinces; and to
3000 to 4000 in the extreme western. It consists of a luxu¬
riant forest of Malayan and insular types of trees in the east¬
ern provinces, which to a great extent, disappear to the west¬
ward, where they are partially replaced by Persian, Egyp¬
tian and Afghanistan types—amongst these trees the palms,
plantains, tree-ferns, sal {Shorea robusta), sissoo {J)altergia
sissoo), toon (Cedrela Toona), and some oaks, are the most
conspicuous, and commercially the most important, espe¬
cially to the eastward.
The temperate belt extends from 5000 feet to the upper
limit of forest, which varies from 12,000 to 13,000 feet, ac¬
cording to the dryness of the climate. It abounds in Euro¬
pean, Levantine, and Chinese genera and even species, with
but few Malayan mountain ones ; of these the European are
most abundant in the western provinces, and the Chinese
and Japanese in the eastern, where are also a few American
genera, and some belonging to the Malayan and insular
mountain flora. Amongst the most conspicuous plants of
this region are oaks, birch, maple, apple, hornbeam, poplar,
ash, cherry, alder, celtis, pine, juniper, yew, willow, and pines
{Abies Webbiana and Brunoniana), which abound through¬
out the range; besides which, there are to the westward of
Nepal, deodar,Pmus Gerardiana, hawthorn, cypress, horse-
chestnut, olive, myrtle, evergreen oak, sloe, black poplar,
and many other European genera and even species ; whilst
to the eastward, laurel, magnolia, rhododendron, larch,
Abies Brunoniana, and chestnut, more especially prevail.
The alpine belt, which commences above the forest re¬
gion, ascends in extreme cases to 19,000 feet; it abounds
in Siberian, Polar, and European alpine plants throughout
the whole extent of the chain, the European species and
genera being most prevalent to the W.
Several hundred common English plants are also natives
of the Himalaya, and especially of the temperate and alpine
zones; and the total number of flowering plants inhabiting
the whole range probably amounts to 5000 or 7000 species.
Cultivation in the Himalaya is carried on as high as
14,000, and even 15,000 feet, where summer crops of wheat
and barley exist in Tibet, but quite exceptionally ; also buck¬
wheat, turnips, radishes, mustard, potatoes, and various
pulses, are grown abundantly between 8000 and 12,000
feet, as summer crops. Rice, maize, millet, and other tro¬
pical cereals, are grown below 6000 feet, with buck-wheat,
and various species of chenopodium, yams, capsicum, egg-
apple, legumes, and sugar-cane.
The Himalayan fruits cultivated by the natives in the
eastern and central provinces are plantains, oranges, pine¬
apples, walnuts, indifferent peaches and apples; in the
western, excellent apples, pears, apricots, peaches, cherries,
mulberries, grapes, and walnuts.
The cultivation of tea is now successfully carried on on a
large scale in the Western Himalaya, at elevations of 2000
to 5000 feet, and might probably be pursued with more or
less success in all parts of the chain.
The timber trees of the Himalaya are extremely nu¬
merous, but few of them are of great value, and some of
the best inhabit inaccessible regions. The sal {Shorea ro¬
busta) is decidedly the most valuable; and, from growing
at the foot of the hills, close to water-carriage, is the only
one much felled for export. The toon {Cedrela Toona) and
sissoo {Dalbergia Sissoo) are also exported from the same
regions; and the deodar and other conifers from the north¬
western provinces. I he other pines, the walnut, oaks, and
the chestnuts, mostly produce indifferent timber; but, though
theie are exceptions, the use of these is principally confined
to the neighbourhood where they grow. Of ornamental
woods, few are known, and none are in general use. Bam¬
boos prevail everywhere, and rattan-canes to the eastward. Himalaya
Owing, probably, to the humid climate, the woods of Euro- Mountains
pean genera are, almost without exception, inferior to those —
of their western allies. Teak is unknown in the Himalaya;
and the otherwoods of Eastern Bengal andof both the Indian
peninsulas are either confined to the malarious forests of
Assam, or are altogether absent. The vegetable economic
products are also very few and unimportant—such as spices,
gums, resins, oils, waxes, fibres, and other textile materials.
Of drugs, the baneful aconite and hemp are the best known ;
inferior rhubarb, and a few bitters of secondary importance
in the pharmacopoeia, are also collected for export. Attempts
have been made to cultivate drugs for the use of the Indian
medical establishments, but hitherto with very limited suc¬
cess. Wild madder is extensively collected and exported,
as are bamboos, canes, and a few other products ; and lat¬
terly potatoes in Sikkim. There is no doubt that the vege¬
table riches of these extensive regions are but very little
known, and are capable of immense extension ; but hitherto
the efforts have been limited. On the northern or Tibetan
parts of the range the trees are extremely few and small,
and confined to willows, poplars, junipers, elseagnus, and
tamarisk; and of bushes, the well-known dama or furze,
that supplies fuel, is the most familiar to travellers.
The Zoology of the Himalaya is very extensive, and the Zoology,
laws of distribution are the same as those of the vegetable
kingdom; thus Malayan genera of quadrupeds, birds, and
insects, inhabit the tropical belt, diminishing in variety and
number towards the west. In the temperate zone European
types predominate, with a large admixture of Chinese and
Japanese forms to the eastward. Siberian forms prevail in
the alpine zone, and throughout both eastern and western
Tibet. The most remarkable animals are in the tropical
zone; the tiger, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, and
many species of deer, monkey, wild boar, and bovine ani¬
mals. In the temperate zone are other species of deer and
monkey, bears, wild cats, squirrels, &c. In the alpine zone,
and chiefly in the Tibetan climate, the wild ass or kiang,
musk-deer, ibex, antelopes, hare, several wild sheep and
goats, marmot, lemming, fox, wolf, ounce, lynx, weasel,
polecat, and many smaller animals, abound. The domestic
animals are the yak and its hybrids with other bovines,
ponies, cows, sheep, pigs, dogs of a mastiff breed, goats, and
fowls, and occasionally bees; of these the yak is the most
remarkable, and is the domestic form of a wild animal of
greater dimensions found in various parts of Tibet; it is
used as a beast of burden for all purposes, for milk, and for
beef.
Shells are rare in the Himalaya, but do exist, and even
at 16,000 to 17,000 feet elevation, in fresh water.
Insects are extremely abundant at all elevations, and
leeches abound up to 10,000 feet in the eastern provinces.
The rivers are generally too rapid for much fishing; but
many species of Cyprinidce especially abound from the level
of the plains to 15,000 feet elevation; with a remarkable
break, however, between 5000 to 10,000 feet, between which
levels fish are said to be rare, or almost unknown, in most
of the rivers. Salmonidece are unknown in any Himalayan
river; the so-called trouts being all species of carp. The
eastern Tibetan lakes swarm with fish at 10,000 to 14,000
feet elevation.
The economic animal products are coarse silk, called
tusser, from a native moth bred at the foot of the hills;
shawl wool from Tibet, and musk from the alpine regions.
It is impossible to make more than a brief allusion to the inhabi-
numerous Himalayan races, whose very numbers are as yet tants.
unknown, and the origin of most of which is involved in
obscurity. The majority, however, may be safely referred
to the Mongolian race, with, in some cases, more or less of
admixture with the Indo-Germanic. Of these the Tibetans
are perhaps numerically the greatest; and they occupy the
HIM
Himera. largest area—namely, Eastern Tibet, which is exclusively
peopled by them, Western Tibet to a great extent, and all
the loftier Himalayan valleys above 8000 feet elevation.
They are generally an honest, hardy, hospitable, cheer¬
ful people, but indolent, unwarlike, and filthy in the ex¬
treme, both in their persons and houses. All are Lama
Buddhists. The Bhotanese are perhaps more closely allied
to these than any other Himalayan race, and are also all
Lama Buddhists. They are more industrious than the Ti¬
betans, but are turbulent, treacherous, dishonest, and sullen
in disposition. I he Nepalese are chiefly Hindus, as are
many of the dominant races of the lower outer Western Hi¬
malaya, and are divided into many castes or classes, military,
agricultural, pastoral, &c. Throughout the Western Hima¬
laya are many Mussulmen. Numberless uncivilized tribes
inhabit the eastern and central provinces ; but, with the ex¬
ception of the Abus of Eastern Bhotan, none are in an ab¬
solutely savage state. The others are the Lepchas, a timid
Mongolian race inhabiting Sikkim, and the Limboos, Mur-
mis, Haioos, Cooches, Bodos, Dhimals, and a host of other
tribes, presenting various combinations of the Indo-Chinese,
Mongolian, and Tamul, or aboriginal race of India. These
chiefly inhabit the eastern provinces, and, with the excep¬
tion of the Lepchas, none form a distinct nation ; the rest
are mixed off'with the Nepalese, Lepchas, and Bhotanese,
and are subject to the sovereigns of these tribes. Some of
these are the remnants of the aborigines of the Himalaya,
and claim a very early origin. For detailed information on
these subjects, and on the zoology in general, we must re¬
fer to Mr Hodgson, whose works on these subjects have a
European reputation.
ntish sta- The principal British stations in the Himalaya are situated
at elevations of 6000 or 8000 feet above the sea level, where
the climate approximates to that of England. These are
all healthy, and well adapted to the European constitution ;
and though neither objects of particular solicitude nor of
sufficiently systematic resort by the British residents in India,
they are of the highest value, and the conviction of this is
gradually forcing itself upon the public mind. Whether as
a means of civilizing the neighbouring hill-states, or of ex¬
tending our commercial relations with Tibet and Central
Asia, or as affording healthy sites for schools, hospitals, and de¬
pots for invalid or unseasoned troops, they are worthy of the
especial care of the government. It cannot be doubted that
the Himalaya will one day become peopled by colonies of
the English race, sprung in part from officers of the East
India Company's service, and others who, long accustomed
to the habits of the East, and with all their friends and
associations in India, prefer a retirement in the immediate
neighbourhood of the scenes and friends of their later life,
to seeking new friends, and remodelling their habits in
England. Of these hill Sanataria, the most important, pro¬
ceeding westerly, are—Darjiling, elev. 7000 to 8000 feet, in
Sikkim; Naini-tal, 6000 to 7000 feet, and Almora, 5000
to 6000 feet, in Kumaon ; Masuri, 6000 to 7000 feet, in
Garhwal; Simla, 7000 to 8000 feet, in Sirmore; Kangra,
7000 to 8000 feet, in the Byas Valley ; and Murree, 7000
to 8000 feet, between the Indus and Jhelum. (j. r. h.)
HIMERA, in Ancient Geography, a great Greek city
on the northern coast of Sicily, at the mouth of a small
stream about halfway between Panormus and Cephalsedium.
It was founded by a colony from Zande, and its institutions
were consequently at first Chalcidic ; but there seems to
have been also a considerable infusion of Syracusan blood.
Ihe date of its foundation, which is not accurately known,
is generally assigned to the year 648 B.c. In its early his-
toiy the only recorded event is its temporary subjugation
by the tyrant Phalaris. It next fell under the power of a
tyiant of its own, Terillus by name, who was expelled by
fheron of Agrigentum. In his distress Terillus applied for
aid to the Carthaginians. That people having probably in
H I N 445
view the conquest of the whole of Sicily, sent him an Himera
immense army, who, in the same year, and it is said on ||
the same day which witnessed the route of Marathon, were
utterly annihilated by Theron with the assistance of the Coosh-
Syracusan Gelon. The successful tyrant now entrusted
the government of the city to his son Thrasydaeus, and
augmented its diminished population by a colony of Dorian
settlers. From this time Himera became Doric both in its
constitution, dialect, and policy. After the death of Theron
in 472, Thrasydaeus was expelled from Himera, which con¬
tinued to grow in power and wealth till its final destruc¬
tion by the Carthaginians in B.c. 408. Near the site of the
old town the conquerors founded a new one, to which,
from the hot wells in the neighbourhood, they gave the
name of Thermae or Thermae Himerenses, which from its
favourable situation soon attained considerable importance
as a commercial mart. Even so late as the days of Cicero
it was a place of some importance, as is attested by the ex¬
tensive Roman remains of that period still extant. The
name of the town is preserved in that of the modern Ter¬
mini which occupies its site. Himera was the birthplace
of the poet Stesichorus, whose statue, preserved in Thermse,
is mentioned by Cicero as being held in the highest vener¬
ation by the natives.
Himera, in Ancient Geography, the name of two impor¬
tant rivers of Sicily. The less important of the two was the
Northern Himera, falling into the sea near the city of that
name. It rose about the centre of the island not very far
from the sources of the Southern Himera, and is by some
identified with the modern Fiume di Termini. Others,
however, are of opinion that the Northern Himera is now re¬
presented by the Fiume Grande, which falls into the sea
about 8 miles E. of Termini. The Southern Himera rose
in the Mons Nebrodes {Monte di Madonid), and flowing
nearly due S., fell into the sea at Phintias {A.licata). It is
now called the Fiume Salso, or Salt River. On its banks
Agathocles was defeated by the Carthaginians, b.c. 311,
and they by Marcellus, b.c. 212.
HIMILCO, the name of several persons distinguished
in the history of Carthage. The first of whom mention is
made was the leader of the expedition which set out to ex¬
plore the northern seas at the same time that Hanno under¬
took his famous voyage in the opposite direction. Nothing
remains to fix the period at which it was undertaken.
Himilco, the opponent of Dionysius the Elder, of Syra¬
cuse (406-368); and Himilco, the opponent of Marcellus
in Sicily, are deserving of notice. See Carthage.
HINCKLEY, a market-town of England, county of
Leicester, and 13 miles S.W. of the town of that name.
The parish church is a spacious old building, surmounted
by a lofty spire, and having a finely carved oak roof. Cotton
and woollen hosiery constitutes the staple manufacture of
the town. Market-day, Monday. Pop. (1851) 6111.
HINDIA, a town of Hindustan, in the territory of Gwa¬
lior. The district of which it is the capital has been placed
under British management by the provisions of the treaty
of Gwalior concluded in 1844 ; its revenues being appro¬
priated to the maintenance of the Gwalior contingent, a
native force commanded by British officers. The town is
fortified, and stands on the left or S. bank of the Nerbudda.
HINDU COOSH, or Koh, a range of mountains, physi¬
cally discriminated from the Himalayas by the vast depres¬
sion which forms the upper part of the valley of the Indus.
They form the N.W. boundary of the province of Caubul,
separating it from Balk and Buduckshan. The range of
mountains so denominated extends in a westerly direction
from Long. 78° as far as the snowy peak of Hindu Coosh,
nearly N. of Caubul. I hese mountains are covered with
snow the greater part of the year, and void of verdure at
the summit, but are well wooded at the base. They form
the Indian Caucasus range of the ancients.
!
446
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan. Hindustan has from the earliest ages been celebrated as
one of the most highly favoured countries on the globe,
and as abounding in the choicest productions both of na¬
ture and art. In ancient times, this distant region was very
imperfectly known to the Greeks and other nations of the
West; but they imported its most valuable produce, its dia¬
monds, its aromatics, its silks, and its costly manufactures.
The country which abounded in those expensive luxuries
was naturally reputed to be the seat of immense riches, and
every romantic tale of its felicity and glory was readily be¬
lieved. In the middle ages, an extensive commerce with
India was still maintained through the ports of Egypt and
the Red Sea; and its precious produce, imported into Europe
by the merchants of Venice, confirmed the popular opinion
of its high refinement and its vast wealth. After the dis¬
covery of a passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope,
the same ideas still prevailed; and the maritime states of
Europe contended with their fleets and armies for the do¬
minion of the Asiatic seas, and for the commerce of the
country. The Portuguese, and afterwards the Dutch,
made important conquests, and carried on an extensive
trade. In later times, Great Britain and France appeared
on the field as competitors for the prize of Indian commerce
and dominion, and were allowed to establish factories on the
coasts for the reception and the store of goods. These were
gradually converted into military posts, defended by soldiers
and cannon ; and in due time those two powers were ranged
on opposite sides in all the wars and politics of India. This
contest terminated in the triumph of the British arms.
France lost her pre-eminence on the continent of India;
and her great rival, enlarging her power on every side, gra¬
dually rose to greatness and dominion, and now rules with
undisputed sway from the Himalaya Mountains to Cape
Comorin. This vast extension of the British power in the
East has opened the way into the interior of India. It has
tended greatly to enlarge our knowledge of this distant
region ; and if more accurate inquiry has reduced the mar¬
vellous tales of its glory and greatness within the bounds of
sobriety and truth, Hindustan, the seat of industry, of com¬
merce, and of the arts, when Europe was sunk in barbarism,
the scene of many eventful revolutions, from the Moham¬
medan invasion till its conquest by the armies of Britain,
and inhabited by a people of peculiar manners, laws, insti¬
tutions, and religion, still presents a wide field for interest¬
ing inquiry and speculation.
In the following account of this interesting country, we
propose to describe—I. Its geography and natural features ;
its produce, its animals, its manufactures and commerce;
the numerous races by which it is inhabited, with their
manners, religion, and policy; and the wars and political
revolutions which have terminated in establishing the sway
of Great Britain over nearly the whole continent of India.
II. The transactions and internal policy of the East India
Company, with the various reforms introduced into the
revenue, judicial, and police departments, will afford ample
materials for a separate discussion and inquiry. III. A
brief account will be given of the constitution, commer¬
cial privileges, and pecuniary transactions of the Company,
originally merchants, now the sovereigns of a vast empire.
I. I he ancient geographers had no precise ideas of the
extent of Hindustan or India, terms which we mean to
use synonymously in the following article; and they ac¬
cordingly extended its frontier westward as far as Persia,
and eastward to China. In after ages its limits often fluc¬
tuated with the events of war, and served only to mark
Geogra¬
phy.
out the course of conquest, with little or no attention to Hindustar
geographical accuracy. Yet in no part of the earth has
nature pointed out, in the great features of the country,
more distinct and magnificent boundaries. On the N.
it is separated from the elevated table-land of Thibet by
the precipitous wall of the Himalaya Mountains, the high¬
est land of the Asiatic continent; on the W. the Suliman
range, a continuation of the Sufeid Koh Mountains, sepa¬
rates it from Afghanistan and Beloochistan ; its E. boun¬
dary is formed by parallel offshoots from the opposite ex¬
tremity of the Himalayas and by the continuous ranges
of forest-covered hills, which, skirting the Bengal district of
Chittagong, stretch southward to the recently acquired pro¬
vince of Pegu, and separate the British dominions from the
territory of Burmah. The Indus and the Ganges discharge
themselves into the ocean on the western and eastern coasts
of Hindustan, in about N. Eat. 24° and 22°; and to the
south the country is contracted into an irregular triangle,
projecting into the Indian Ocean to within eight degrees
of the equator, or about 1000 miles, and on all sides in¬
closed by the sea. The extensive region situated within
these limits is nearly comprehended between the 8th and
35th degrees of north latitude, and between the longitudes
of 66° and 99° east; and its length from the northern bar¬
rier of the Himalaya Mountains to Cape Comorin is about
1900 miles, whilst in breadth it may be estimated at 1800
miles, though, owing to the irregularity of its figure, it does
not exceed 1,484,367 English squai’e miles.
Flindustan is of an extremely diversified aspect, and com- Natural
prehends within its bounds all the varieties of climate, of features,
soil, and of natural scenery, from the bare and naked rock,
and lofty mountain buried under eternal snows, to the low
and fertile plain, scorched by the tropical sun, and the seat
of luxuriant vegetation. This diversity in the aspect of
the country has given rise to the following territorial divi¬
sions, namely :—
E Northern Hindustan, which comprehends the Hima¬
laya Mountains on the N., with their lower ranges of
hills stretching southwards to the plains of the Indus and
the Ganges, and extending from Peshawur and Cashmere
on the W., to Bootan and Assam on the Ei
2. Hindustan Proper, which extends southward as far as
the Nerbuddah River, where the Deccan commences, and
which includes the lower provinces of Bengal, the north¬
western provinces, together with Oude, Malwa or Central
India, the Punjab, Guzerat, Sinde, and Cutch.
3. The Deccan, bounded on the N. by the Nerbud¬
dah River, and on the S. by the rivers Krishna and
Toombudra, comprehends the larger portion of the presi¬
dency of Bombay, together with Orissa, the Nizam’s domi¬
nions, and the territory of Nagpore.
4. India south of the Krishna River, comprehending the
territories under the administration of the government of
Madras, together with the native states of Cochin, Travan-
core and the Mysore.
The alpine region of Hindustan, which forms its
northern barrier, is a narrow strip of land not exceeding
150 miles in breadth. It is here that the land of Asia attains
to its height; and the country is composed of a succession
of vast mountains rising far above the level of perpetual
snow. These frozen deserts consist in many places of
rugged and bare rocks, shooting aloft into the sky, and
divided by deep ravines, very steep, and often ending in
dark chasms, which are sometimes wooded, but as often
bare rocks several hundred feet in height, with little more
industan. space between them than has been worn by the violence
of tlie torrents. Here is concentrated all that is sublime
in the scenery or phenomena of nature. On every side
are to be seen snowy summits of stupendous height, and
of every form; the conical volcanic peak; the mountain
regularly rounded, or broken into rugged and frightful pre¬
cipices, rising upwards to a tremendous height, or descend¬
ing with a frightful declivity into deep hollows, and all
covered with snow. This mountainous and frozen region
is the scene of the destructive avalanche, when the ac¬
cumulated snows of successive winters are precipitated
from the mountains into the plains below, burying every¬
thing in their progress; or when the action of the intense
cold upon the solid rock rends it from its base, and sends
it bounding down the steep, producing the most fearful
ruin of everything beneath. Mr Moorcroft, who in the
year 1816 penetrated across the Himalaya ridge, mentions
the tremendous crash from the fall of a rock, which he
heard at a great distance. The slope of a hill he also saw
broken from top to bottom. “In its fall,” be observes, “it
has overwhelmed large trees, of which some have been
hurled into the river, others lay across its bed half buried
in rubbish, and others, thrown down, were seen hanging by
their roots with their heads towards the base of the moun¬
tain.” The southern face of the Himalaya Mountains is
much more steep than the northern descent into the table¬
land of Thibet, and it is in proportion difficult and danger¬
ous. There is nothing like a road in these mountainous
districts. The traveller has to scale the most terrific heights,
by a path so narrow as not to admit two abreast, which
winds along the mountain, and often along bare and per¬
pendicular precipices by a narrow and irregular flight
of steps, or by natural irregularities in the face of the po¬
lished marble rock, and sometimes by a projecting ledge
not more than a foot broad, whilst a declivity of 600 or 700
feet in depth opens on the outer side. These steps, at cer¬
tain projecting points, where the rock is perpendicular, wind
in lines of zigzag not more than ten or twelve feet in length,
at angles so sharp that, in a length of twenty-four feet, the
actual height gained is not more than ten feet, and they
are often placed at most inconvenient distances, which
greatly increases the danger and the difficulty of access,
except to those hardy mountaineers who have been trained
from their infancy to agility and steadiness in such tremen¬
dous paths. Mr Moorcroft himself had on one occasion a
narrow escape. “ My left foot,” he says, “ having slipped off
one of these irregularities, I lay for a few seconds upon the
poise; but a snatch at a clump of grass, which on being
seized did not give way, and a sudden spring, brought me
to a comparatively safe spot, with the loss of some skin from
my knees and elbows, and some rents in my trowsers and
sleeves.”1 His Hindu attendants encountered the same
perils, and one of them had very nearly fallen down the
precipice. On missing his footing, he mentions that “ he
shrieked violently, and sunk down almost senseless upon a
point of stone, with one leg hanging over the abyss, calling
out that he was lost.” Another of the bearers was so
alarmed that he was incapable of proceeding until he was
secured by a turban tied round his waist, and held by one
of his companions. In some places the rock was found to
project to the edge of the river, and it was turned by rude
staircases made of wood and stone, or the path lay over im¬
mense stones and rocks, piled upin dangerous disorder,where
it was very difficult to secure a footing; whilst in other places
the party had to aid their ascent by laying hold of shrubs,
rootsof trees, clumps of grass, and clods of earth,or by creep¬
ing on both hands and knees to prevent slipping down. Yet
447
the heavily loaded native carriers, each carrying a weight o Hindustan.
60 pounds, are seen descending these difficult passes with
apparent ease and unconcern.2 Lieutenant Webb, who in
1808, along with Captains Raper and Hearsay, was sent
to explore the sources of the Ganges, experienced the same
dangers as Mr Moorcroft, and was finally compelled to desist
from his hazardous journey when he had reached within
six or seven days’ journey of Gangoutri. The country here
assumes a savage wildness, and, except in the passes or
beds of the rivers, is totally impervious ; and these rivers, in
approaching their sources, from rapid and turbulent streams
flowing over a rocky channel, become furious torrents dash¬
ing from one huge block of stone to another, along which
the traveller, climbing over rocks, or picking his dangerous
way along the path of precipices, as already described, is at
last met by masses of mighty ruins, which entirely check
his further progress. More recently these wild regions
have been explored by that enterprising traveller Dr Ge¬
rard, who crossed the great Himalaya Pass, and penetrated
into the Plateau of Tartary. The abstract of his tour,
given in the Asiatic Journal, is replete with valuable infor¬
mation, and confirms all the previous accounts of travellers
respecting the nature of the country, rude and inaccessible,
and exhibiting, on a scale of grandeur hardly to be conceived,
all the great phenomena of nature.
The Himalaya Mountains contain the sources of the
great rivers which flow through the burning plains of Hin¬
dustan, The deep valleys between tbe mountains are the
channels through which the waters flow from the higher
grounds; and, by the melting of the snow, those streams,
suddenly swollen into torrents, and rushing down the de¬
clivity, work out a deep and narrow channel amongst the
rocks, where, imprisoned as it were between steep and
perpendicular banks, they roar and foam amidst precipices,
or in dark and unfathomable glens, exhibiting, in the con¬
flict of their troubled waters, all the great phenomena
which belong to rivers, namely, the cataract, the rapid,
the boiling eddy, and the dangerous whirlpool, and only
subside into smoothness when they break out and spread
over the plains. Huge rocks were seen by Dr Gerard
whirled along with frightful velocity; nothing visible but
an entire sheet of foam and spray, thrown up and shower¬
ed upon the surrounding rocks with loud concussion, and
re-echoed from bank to bank with the noise of the loudest
thunder. Across these streams are thrown rude bridges
made of ropes or of wood, the usual expedient by which
rivers are crossed in all mountain countries. Where the
breadth of the river is small, the passage is effected by
one or two fir spars laid across from rock to rock; but
where the space is wider, a bridge of ropes is constructed,
on the principle of the chain bridge. In attempting the
passage by one of these rude bridges, a carrier who accom¬
panied Fraser in his journey to the sources of the Ganges
unfortunately lost his footing and fell into the water. He
was instantly swept down the stream to its junction with
the Bhagiruttee, about fifty yards, “ when his head,” says
the traveller, “ appeared for a moment, and his load float¬
ing beside him; but the foaming current of the Bhagi¬
ruttee, here tumbling ovpr large rocks with a mighty
roar, seized him and hurried him along with its tremendous
torrent.”
The greatest height of the Himalaya range has been fixed
by accurate measurements at upwards of 28,000 feet above
the level of the sea. According to the accounts of all tra¬
vellers, these mountains present from the plains below one
of the sublimect aspects in nature, and they are at a loss
for words to express the admiration and awe with which
HINDUSTAN.
1 See Moorcroffs Journal, Asiatic Researches, vol. xii., p. 386.
t raser, Journal of a Tour through part of the Snowy Range of the Himalaya Mountains.
a ^
5*
HINDUSTAN.
they are at first beheld. Bishop Heber mentions that the
' nearest range rises into a dignity and grandeur which he
was not prepared for, divided as it is into successive ridges,
in all the wildest and most romantic forms of ravine, forest,
crag, and precipice. In his further progress he found
“ one range of mountains after another quite as rugged,
and, generally speaking, more bare than those which we
had left, till the horizon was terminated by a vast range of
ice and snow, extending its battalion of white shining
spears from east to west, as far as the eye could follow
it; the principal points rising like towers in the glittering
rampart, but all connected by a chain of humbler gla¬
ciers.” Captain Raper, who accompanied Lieutenant
Webb in his survey of the Ganges, viewed the Himalaya
ridge from a summit about 4000 feet above the lower
plain. “ From the edge of the scarp,” he observes, “ the
eye extended over seven or eight distinct chains of
hills, one rising above the other, till the view was ter¬
minated by the Himalaya or Snowy Mountains. It is ne¬
cessary for a person to place himself in our situation
before he can form a just conception of the scene. The
depth of the valley below, the progressive elevation of
the intermediate hills, and the majestic splendour of
the cloud-capt Himalaya, formed so grand a picture, that
the mind was impressed with a sensation of dread rather
than of pleasure.”1 “The stupendous height of those
mountains,” says Elphinstone, “ the magnificence and
variety of their lofty summits; the various nations by
whom they are seen, and who seem to be brought together
by this common object; and the awful and undisturbed
solitude which reigns amidst their eternal snows, fill the
mind with admiration and astonishment that no language
can express.”2
Northern Hindustan varies in its climate and in its as¬
pect with the height of the ground. The lower ranges
of mountains, though they scarcely reach the level of per¬
petual snow, still retain the sublime features of alpine
scenery; namely, the rugged and bare mountain, the
craggy rock, white, gray, red, or brown, springing up in
fantastic forms above the general mass; and the deep and
suddenly descending chasm, with the foul torrent foam¬
ing over its rocky bed. The luxuriant foliage is wanting
which embellishes the lower hills; the rich and smiling
valley is not so often seen ; whilst the forests of dark brown
fir fringing the mountains and the hollows impart a som¬
bre and unvarying appearance to the scene. At a lower
level the country improves; and though it still exhibits the
mountain and the precipice, the intervening valley is
clothed with verdure, and the lower hills with the most
magnificent forests of large and lofty trees, the open country
with roses, jasmines, and other lovely or odoriferous shrubs,
and with the most luxuriant alpine plants.3 The valleys
through which flow the head waters of the Indus and the
Ganges, namely, the Sutlej, the Pabur, the Jumna, the
Baghiruttee, the Alkananda, with their tributaries, exhibit
all the varied and sublime scenery of this romantic country.
The valley of the Sutlej is hemmed in by brown and bar¬
ren mountains, steep and rocky, without the grandeur of
lofty precipices or fringing wood. The hollows through
which it receives its tributary streams are dark chasms, with¬
out cultivation ; the heights crowned with forts, but without
any neat villages surrounded with trees to relieve the adja¬
cent desert. The banks of the Jumna, on the other hand,
though rocky and wild, are wooded and green, and the slop¬
ing faces of the hills fertile and well cultivated ; and even at
its source, the country, however wild and picturesque, is
still not nearly so dreary as the valley of the Bhagiruttee.
The features of the landscape are here lofty, rugged, and Hindustan
inaccessible, with less of the beautiful than of the sublime
and terrible. A pleasing contrast to this wild scenery is
presented by the smiling valley through which the Pabur
meanders, chequered as it is with pasture and crops, and the
banks and the hills clothed with cultivation, villages, and
wood. Such is the usual aspect of the lower valley of Nor¬
thern Hindustan, the height of which is for the most part
from 3000 to 6000 feet above the plains. The difference
between the northern and southern exposures of this moun¬
tainous country is remarkable, not only in the formation
and structure of the hills and rocks, but in the vegetation.
The country on its southern face is of a brown and dusky
colour; the grass short and parched; the hills rough and
lumpy, with rocks standing through the ground; the lower
parts bare of wood; and above, the Weymouth pine, with
a few stunted larches sprinkled amongst the rocks ; whilst
the higher parts are spread over with oak, holly, and alder,
their leaves of brownish green, harmonizing with the burned
appearance of the hills, and giving a sombre hue to the
whole scene. On the northern exposure a rich colour of
dark green is diffused over the whole landscape; the rocky
sides of the glens are bolder and grander; and they are
clothed with noble forests of larch, silver, and spruce firs,
which shroud from the view the highest and steepest cliffs.
“ All,” says Fraser, “ was rich and dark; and here and
there a glade opened, or a high slope extended from the
base of the rock, or projected between two streams, of a
bright beautiful green, shining through the sombre forest.”
This difference between the northern and southern expo¬
sures is strongly marked all over the hills.4
That strip of flat country, about twenty miles in breadth,
which lies at the base of the great Himalaya range, di¬
viding it from the plain of the Ganges, is called Terrae or
Terreeana. It is covered with thick forests and low swamps,
and, though fertile, it is so unhealthy that it is little culti¬
vated. Bishop Heber graphically describes it as a long,
black, level line, extending at the foot of the lowest hills;
“ so black and level,” he adds, “ that it might seem to have
been drawn with ink and a ruler.” This flat does not ex¬
tend farther north-west than through a portion of Rohilcund,
where the healthy cultivated country reaches to the foot of
the hills, which rise abruptly from the sandy flat beneath.
These low hills are watered by streams from the higher
mountains, that rise to the level of 1500 or 5000 feet, from
which this lower range is frequently separated by fine
valleys of some length, which are called doon by the na¬
tives, answering to the Scottish name of strath. The hills
which rise beyond this lower range, to the height of about
5000 to 7000 feet, are lofty and majestic, and broken into
numerous ridges, divided by deep shaggy dells. This ap¬
pearance Fraser ascribes to the quality of the rock of
which they are composed, which consists of a strongly
indurated clay, with a mixture of siliceous matter, forming
a rock exceedingly hard, though easily destructible by ex¬
posure to the air, and splitting into variously-sized frag¬
ments, leaving hard marbly masses staring through the
scanty soil. It may be finally remarked of this singular
and interesting country, that though it appears from the
plains to be divided into distinct ranges of* terraces, it is
really a vast collection of mountains heaped in masses one
above another, without any order or plan that can be dis¬
covered, until the height of land is reached at the great
Himalaya ridge which extends from beyond the sources of
the Indus in a continuous chain far into China.
The great plain of Hindustan presents an entirely dif¬
ferent scene. The cold and bracing air of the upper coun-
1 ^ee ^aPer,s Narrative of a Survey of the Sources of the Ganges, Asiatic Researches, vol. ii., p. 469.
2 Elphinstone’s Journey to the Kingdom of Cauhul, p. 95. 3 Fraser’s Journal, p. 141. * Ibid., p. 142.
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, try is there exchanged for burning heat; the mountain
torrents no longer rage, except when they are in flood,
but roll their streams lazily over the plains. That large
tract which is contained between the Indus and the Brah¬
mapootra, and which extends E. and W. from 1200 to
1400 miles, and about 300 to 400 miles from N. to S., is,
with few exceptions, a level country, consisting chiefly
of the great plain of the Ganges, rich and fertile, and
clothed with the most luxuriant vegetation, in which the
spreading palm, with groves of mango and other trees of
the most luxuriant foliage, and gardens, are intermixed
with cultivated fields. The noble river which intersects
this extensive plain determines the aspect and character of
the country. Its swelling stream, as it approaches the sea
in the provinces of Bahar and Bengal, is very broad and
deep, and waters so completely the whole country, that in
the driest season there is scarcely any part more than
twenty miles distant from some river; and by means of
lakes, rivulets, and water courses, boats may approach the
peasant’s door. During the annual inundation, a large
tract of cultivated country is submerged to a great depth;
and the lower part of the Delta, named the Sunderbunds,
is chequered by a labyrinth of creeks and rivers, expanding
to a breadth of 200 miles; the actual inundation reach¬
ing a breadth of 100 miles, in which trees and villages
are seen like islands appearing above the water. Higher
up the stream the inundation is diminished in extent;
and in the province of Bahar the river is not above a
mile broad, the country being flat and fertile, though not
so abundant in trees as the rich plains of Bengal. Towards
the west, the plain watered by the Ganges and its tributary
streams yields in abundance all the productions of the tro¬
pics ; especially the Dooab, or the tract that lies between
the Jumna and the Ganges, the provinces of Allahabad
and Agra, and in general all the alluvial tracts near the
rivers. At a distance from these, irrigation is resorted to
by the cultivators, and deep wells are dug. The plain is
diversified by ranges of hills, with abrupt peaks occasionally
shooting up, and crowned with forts, in which during the
decay of the Mogul empire, the rebellious or robber chiefs
sought to secure a precarious independence. The plain of
Hindustan is generally fertile when water can be ob¬
tained ; and, as it approaches the mountains, in the northern
provinces of Oude and Delhi, and is watered by the nu¬
merous streams flowing towards the Ganges, it is flat,
fertile, and rich, except towards the western borders of
Delhi, on the verge of the great desert, where sterile tracts
occur, without cultivation or inhabitants. Towards the
south-western portion of the plain, near the Nerbuddah, in
the province of Malwah, the country is of greater elevation,
but has a regular descent from the Vindhya Mountains,
which extend along the north side of the river, as is pointed
out by the course of the numerous streams that still flow
northward into the Ganges. But the aspect of the country
changes as it recedes from this great stream; the overflow¬
ing river no longer spreads over the plain, and forms a na¬
vigable water-course; it is now merely a mountain torrent,
of no depth, to float down the produce of the country. West¬
ward, in approaching the Indian Ocean, wild tracts occur,
hilly and rocky, and overgrown with jungles, the haunts of
wild beasts and of robbers; and still further west, the pro¬
vince of Cutch is a cold sterile waste, half covered with a
salt morass called the Runn. In the interior of Hindustan,
large and fertile tracts have been laid waste by misrule,
or the devastations of war: these are overrun with a rank
vegetation, which quickly springs up under the quickening
influence of a tropical sun; and which, consisting of tall
trees with spreading branches, interwoven into an im¬
penetrable fence with brushwood, and with innumerable
shrubs and creeping plants clinging round the trees, and
lacing them firmly together, forms thick jungles, affording
VOL. XI.
449
abundant cover to the wild animals of the country, and to Hindustan,
gangs of banditti, who are even more ferocious than the
beasts of the field.
Hindustan, as well as almost all other tropical countries,
would soon be changed by the great heat into deserts of
sand, like a large portion of Africa, if it were not refreshed
by the periodical rains and the overflow of the rivers. In
the plain of Hindustan, towards the west, occurs a tract of
this description, which, having neither rains nor refreshing
streams, still remains an arid sand. This great desert
reaches northward to the Ghara, a river formed by the
united streams of the Beas and Sutlej, and south as far as
the salt lakes of Cutch, which communicate with the Gulf
of Cutch in the Indian Ocean. It extends about 500 miles
from N. to S., and is about 400 miles in breadth, encroach¬
ing eastward on the cultivated parts of the Delhi and Agra
provinces, and westward on the country fertilized by the
Indus. Mr Elphinstone, in his journey to Afghanistan,
travelled across this waste, which he describes as consisting
mostly of hillocks of loose and deep sand, from 20 to 100 feet
in height, which in summer are blown aloft in clouds by the
wind, and threaten to overwhelm the traveller. Here a mi¬
serable village is sometimes seen, which is merely a few
round straw huts with low walls and conical roofs, like little
stacks of corn, surrounded by hedges of dry thorny bran¬
ches stuck in the sand. A few fields, watered by the dews
and the rains, surround these abodes of misery, and yield
crops of the poorest kinds of pulse, and coarse grain.
Water is scarce, and is only obtained from wells often
300 feet deep, with a diameter of only three feet, and
all lined with masonry. One was seen by Mr Elphinstone
of the enormous depth of 345 feet, with such a scanty sup¬
ply of unwholesome brackish water, that the whole was
drawn out, by two bullocks turning the water-wheel, in a
single night. In this sandy desert springs up in profusion
the most juicy of all fruits, the water-melon. From about
the western frontier of Ajmeer, at Shekawutty, to Baha-
wulpoor, the distance is 280 miles, of which the western
portion, for 100 miles, is wholly destitute of inhabitants,
water, and vegetation. In the Punjab, the abundance of
water corrects the sterility of the soil; and in the country
watered by the five well-known rivers which flow into the
Indus, cultivation, with waving grass and trees, marks the
termination of the desert. In the north-western extremity
of Hindustan, high up the Indus, and embosomed amongst
lofty mountains, is situated the valley of Cashmere, cele-
bratdfl in oriental tales for its romantic beauty. Here the
eastern princes, in the days of their prosperity, were wont
to retire, and to seek in those sequestered scenes of natural
beauty, a brief oblivion of their daily cares.
The country to the S. of Nerbuddah, namely, the Dec-
can, extending N.W. and S.E. 800 miles, comprehends
the whole breadth of Hindustan, between the Nerbud¬
dah on the N. and the Krishna or Kistnah River on the
S. The western range of the Ghaut Mountains, rising up
with the steepness of a wall from the shore of the Indian
Ocean, runs along the coast southward from the River Tap-
tee, as far as Cape Comorin, and forms the highest land, only
about seventy, or in some places forty miles, from the
western shore; whilst on the opposite side of the range,
the table-land, elevated about 3000 feet above the sea,
has a gradual slope to the eastward for a distance varying
from 300 to 700 miles, and owing to this conformation of
the ground, all the rivers of any size or length of course,
such as the Godavery and the Krishna, which water the
Deccan, and the Palar and the Cavery, which belong
to Southern India, roll down the eastern declivity of the
Ghauts. These mountains also diverge in ridges across
the country of the Deccan, which on the eastern coast is
low, flat, and sandy, with the exception, however, of
the tract between the Godavery and Kistna or Krishna
3 L
450
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, rivers, 150 miles in length, along the sea-shore, and forty
miles broad, composed of rich vegetable mould, such as is
usually found at the mouths of rivers, and remarkably fer¬
tile. In the interior, the country, especially towards the
N., is wild, woody, mountainous, and overrun with thick
jungle; in some parts, as on the S.W. frontier of Ben¬
gal, it is a primeval wilderness, inhabited by people but
slightly reclaimed from natural wildness. Throughout
Hyderabad and Nagpore the country has a gradual slope
eastward as indicated by the course of the two principal
rivers, the Godaveryand the Kistna, both of which, though
issuing from the base of the Western Ghauts, find their way
into the Bay of Bengal. Towards the S. of Nagpore,
large tracts have been desolated by war and robbery; and
ruined towns, and wasted fields overgrown with jungle, still
remain the sad memorials of those calamities. The wes¬
tern districts of the presidency of Bombay extend towards
the Indian Ocean, and include the Western Ghauts, which
rise to the height of about 3000 feet above the level of the
sea. They abound in all the interesting aspects of moun¬
tain scenery, and are studded with fortresses and natural
strongholds. The eastern declivity stretches out into a
table-land, with plains well watered and productive; whilst
the intervening strip of land, from the mountains to the sea,
is in general a rugged district, but improves as it approaches
the mountains, which are fringed with noble forests of teak
and other valuable trees. Numerous mountain streams,
but no rivers of magnitude, make their way westward to
the sea from the Ghauts; and there are few coasts so much
broken into small bays and harbours with so straight a
general outline.
To the S. of the Kistna River, the country forms a
triangle, of which this river is the base, and the coasts of
Coromandel and Malabar the sides. Its extent from the
Kistna to Cape Comorin, which is the point of the triangle,
is 600 miles; and its breadth in the widest point is about
550. It may be shortly described as a table-land 3000 feet
in height, containing the principal districts under the Ma¬
dras Presidency, and enclosed on each side by the Wes¬
tern and Eastern Ghauts, from which the country descends
on both sides to the sea—on the E. to the Bay of Bengal,
and on the W. to the Indian Ocean, forming the two pro¬
vinces of the Carnatic and of Malabar; the latter a narrow
strip of low country, extending 200 miles along the coast,
much broken and interspersed with back-water runs and
extensive ravines, shaded with forest and jungle, and filled
with population ; the former also a long narrow tract,
stretching 570 miles along the shore, and nowhere more
than 120 miles in breadth, and commonly not more than
75. The Eastern Ghauts extend along the coast of Coro¬
mandel. They are not so high as the western range; and
naked, sun-burnt, and rocky peaks are more commonly
seen amongst them. The table-land in the centre descends
both towards the N. and S.; its elevation in the southern
province of Coimbetore not exceeding 900 feet. It is ex¬
tremely diversified with woods, waste, and jungles; and
cultivation is here, as in other parts of India, carried on by
means of large tanks containing a supply of water for the
irrigation of the land. In descending from the hills into
the southern plains of Travancore, which extend to the
Indian Ocean, the country presents a varied prospect of
hill and dale, and winding streams which clothe the valleys
in perennial green ; and the grandeur of the scene is height¬
ened by the lofty forests which cover the mountains, pro¬
ducing pepper, cassia, frankincense, and other aromatic
gums.
1 he following are the chief rivers of Hindustan, with the
length of their respective courses to the sea:—Indus, 1700
miles ; Brahmapootra, 1900; Ganges, 1500; Jumna (to its
?anSes’ 780)’ 150°; Sutlege (to the Indus
900), 1490; Ghylum (to the Indus, 750), 1250; Gunduck
(to the Ganges 450), 980. In the Deccan and S. of Hindustan
India, the Godavery, 850 ; Kistna, 700; Nerbuddah, 700; ^ - -L *
Mahanuddy, 550; Tuptee, 460; Cavery, 400. There are "
few coasts of such extent, so destitute of islands and har¬
bours as that of Hindustan. With the exception of emerged
sea banks and mere rocks, Ceylon is the only island near
its shores; and on the eastern coast, Masulipatam, which
admits vessels of 300 tons burden, is the only harbour for
large vessels between Trincomalee in the island of Ceylon,
and the Ganges, which is free from a raging surf. To this
inconvenience, Madras, though an important British set¬
tlement, is peculiarly liable. On the western coast, the
only harbours capable of admitting large vessels are Bom¬
bay and Kurachee in Scinde; Mangalore admits no vessels
drawing more than ten feet.
Hindustan comprehends within its bounds the opposite rr
extremes of heat and cold. The plains are burnt up with Uimate-
intense heat; whilst winter, with every intermediate variety
of temperature, prevails in the mountains. Philosophers
have in vain endeavoured to fix the point of perpetual con¬
gelation under different degrees of latitude. They have
indeed framed a graduated scale of the respective heights
at which, according to calculation, this point should begin
at corresponding distances from the equator. But theory
is here at variance with actual observation. The climate
of mountainous tracts depends so much on localities and
the particular course of the winds, as to baffle all general
speculation. Hence in the Himalaya Mountains harvests
of grain are found, where, according to hypothesis, the
ground should be buried under deep snow, and trees are
seen to flourish in the regions of perpetual winter. Captain
Webb, in ascending the Himalaya range, saw around him,
at the height of 11,630 feet above the level of Calcutta,
rich forests of oak, pine, and rhododendra, the ground co¬
vered with vegetation as high as the knee, strawberry beds
in full flower, and currant bushes in blossom; and in'1818,
at the Niti Pass, 16,814 feet in height, philosophy was again
at fault, as the ground was clear of snow, though above the
line of perpetual congelation, and many quadrupeds were
feeding on the grassy banks of the Sutlege. It was re¬
marked by Dr Gerard that vegetation attained a higher level
on the northern than on the southern face of the Himalaya
ridge, where the extreme height of cultivation is 10,000
feet; the limit of the forest 11,800 feet, and 12,000 feet
that of bushes. On the northern side cultivation rises to
the height of 11,400 feet; in other places to 13,600 feet;
birch trees to 14,000 feet; and tama bushes, which form
excellent fuel, to the height of about 17,000 feet. In
Northern Hindustan, great and sudden changes of tem¬
perature occur, which is the cause of pulmonary affections.
During summer, the thermometer, which is often in the
morning at 32° or under it, rises to 70°, 75°, and 80°, or up¬
wards during the day : the winters are, however, uniformly
severe. In this also, as in other hilly countries, the tra¬
veller may be fainting to-day under a tropical sun, and
shivering to-morrow amidst, the rigour of perpetual snows.
From the banks of the Sutlege, where the thermometer
frequently stands at 100° and 108°, three days climbing
will carry him into the regions of winter.
In the plains of Hindustan, the heat during the greater „
part of the year is unintermitting and intense, except where t5easons‘
it is modified by the ranges of mountains, or the table-lands
towards the W. The seasons here are commonly divided
into the hot, cold, and rainy. The spring and the dry
season throughout the valley of the Ganges last about four
months, the heat gradually increasing with the season,
until, in May and June, the thermometer rises to 100°, and
frequently in the interior to 108° and 110°, when it is al¬
most intolerable even to the natives, and still more so to Eu¬
ropeans, who resort to various modes of alleviation, such as
the cuscus tatty, which is a frame of wood, interwoven with
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, twigs, between which is distributed a layer of a particular
kind of sweet-scented grass. This being hung before an
open window, in the quarter of the prevailing wind, and
constantly moistened on the outside by a water-carrier,
diffuses a refreshing coolness. Bishop Heber, however,
thought it more effectual to shut out the external air, by
which, and by agitating the air within by punkahs, a slight
frame of wood, covered with silk or with canvas, and sus¬
pended from the ceiling, and swung backwards and forwards
by servants, he reduced the temperature to 85° within doors,
although it was at 100° without. Thus imprisoned, he
complains that in going to an open window or door, “ it is
literally like approaching the mouth of a blast-furnace.”
This raging heat is modified by occasional thunderstorms
from the N.W., termed north-westers, which, however
terrific, refresh the air and the ground, and give new fresh¬
ness and luxuriance to the grass, and to the shrubs and
trees. Milder showers also occur, which refresh the atmos¬
phere. In the western provinces of Allahabad, Agra, Delhi,
&c., a parching wind very frequently blows from the W.
during the hot season, and, during the night, is succeeded
by a cool breeze from the opposite quarter, sometimes for
days and weeks by easterly gales; and as these parching
winds prevail, refreshing breezes and cooling showers of
rain and hail are more rare. Those remarkable winds, the
monsoons, which blow half the year from the S.W., and
and the other half from the N.E., exercise a powerful in¬
fluence on the climate and seasons of Hindustan. The pe¬
riodical rains are ushered in by the S.W. monsoon, which
commences about the beginning of June in the S. of India,
and somewhat later towards the N. Mr Elphinstone, in
his account of his journey to Afghanistan, gives a just and
forcible description of the phenomena which accompany the
change of the seasons in those eastern countries. “ The ap¬
proach of the monsoon,” he observes, a is announced by vast
masses of clouds that rise from the Indian Ocean, and
advance towards the N.E., gathering and thickening as
they approach the land. After some days, the sky assumes
a threatening appearance in the evening, and the monsoon
in general sets in during the night. It is attended by such
a thunderstorm as can scarcely be imagined by those who
have only seen that phenomenon in a temperate climate.
It generally begins with violent blasts of wind, which are
succeeded by floods of rain. For some hours lightning is
seen almost without intermission ; sometimes it only illu¬
minates the sky, and shows the clouds near the horizon ; at
others it discovers the distant hills, and again leaves all in
darkness, when in an instant it re-appears in vivid and suc¬
cessive flashes, and exhibits the nearest objects in all the
brightness of day. During all this time the distant thun¬
der never ceases to roll, and is only silenced by some nearer
peal, which bursts on the ear with such a sudden and
tremendous crash as can hardly fail to strike the most in¬
sensible with awe. At length the thunder ceases, and
nothing is heard but the continued pouring of the rain and
the rushing of the rising streams. The next day presents
a gloomy spectacle ; the rain still descends in torrents, and
scarcely allows a view of the blackened fields; the rivers
are swollen and discoloured, and sweep down along with
them the hedges, the huts, and the remains of the culti¬
vation, which was carried on, during the dry season, in their
beds. After some days the sky clears, and discloses the
face of nature changed as if by enchantment. The fields,
formerly parched, are now covered with luxuriant verdure;
the clear and burning sky is varied and embellished with
clouds; the rivers are full and tranquil; the dust which
loaded the atmosphere, and which made the sun appear
dull and discoloured, has now disappeared ; and the parching
451
wind, like the blast from a furnace, and the still more sultry Hindustan,
calms, have been succeeded by a pure and delicious air. i v-«_^
Intermitting rains nowr fall for about a month, when they
come on again with great violence, and in July are at their
height. During the third month they rather diminish, but
are still heavy; and in September, and at the end of the
month, they depart amidst thunders and tempests as they
came.1 From 50 to 80 inches of rain fall in Bengal during
the rainy season.2
The dense masses of clouds which arise on the Indian
Ocean are carried forward by the S.W. monsoon over
the plains of Hindustan, as far as the Himalaya Mountains.
On the coasts they descend in deluges of rain, which di¬
minish as they recede from the sea, unless where the va¬
pours are intercepted by high mountains, when they pour
down in torrents of rain on the plains beneath. But in
Southern India, the S.W. monsoon is intercepted by
the double chain of the Western and Eastern Ghauts, by
which the mass of clouds being as it were cut in twain,
is carried forward on the N. and S. sides of this mountain
wall, going clear of a considerable tract to leeward of the
Eastern Ghauts, namely, the coast of Coromandel, which
is thus free from the periodical rains which fall in all other
places of Flindustan. The western range of the Ghauts,
though it checks, does not altogether impede the passage
of the clouds; and we find accordingly, that in the table¬
land of Mysore and the neighbouring countries, the S.W.
monsoon brings on the rains, though they are not so violent
nor of such long continuance as in Bengal, and on the
western shores of India. But those light and elevated clouds
which pass the Western Ghauts, being stopped in their
progress by the eastern chain, or descending in rain on the
intermediate table-land, never reach the Coromandel coast;
and here, accordingly, on the eastern side of the mountains,
the dry season prevails, when it rains on the table-land of
Mysore to the W., and still more heavily on the Malabar
shore. On the other hand, it is the N.E. monsoon which,
in the Bay of Bengal, sets in about the middle of October,
with thunder and lightning and violent hurricanes, that
ushers in the rains on the Coromandel coast, which con¬
tinue to the middle of December, and sometimes to the 1st
of January, whilst at this period southerly gales and fair
weather prevail on the opposite coast of the Indian peninsula.
It was formerly supposed that the Ghauts, interrupting the
progress of the S.W. monsoon, occasioned a diversity of
seasons throughout a great part of India. But it is only
that limited tract of country to the leeward of the Eastern
Ghauts that is free from the influence of the S.W. mon¬
soon, which accordingly brings on the rainy season at the
mouth of the Godavery, immediately to the N. Major
Rennell suggests that those clouds may be blown by the
S.W. monsoon from Cape Comorin; though he afterwards
adds that this is not his opinion, because the cape bears
S.S.W. from the mouth of the Godavery, and the reigning
winds are much more westerly.3 But the true reason
seems to be, that the eastern chain of the Ghauts does not
extend so far N.; hence they afford no shelter to the coun¬
try at the mouth of the Godavery, which thus lies in the
direct course of the S.W. monsoon. To the N. of the
Ghaut Mountains, in the parallel of Surat, the S.W. mon¬
soon, meeting with no interruption, carries its supplies of
moisture over the whole face of the country. The periodical
rains accordingly extend over the great plain of the Ganges.
They commence on the coast of Malabar in May, farther
N. in June, where they are not so violent; at Delhi they
do not come on till the end of June; and a much smaller
quantity of rain falls than at Bombay or Calcutta4. Near
the sea the clouds are still in a deep mass, and descend in
^ Elphinstone s Account of the Kingdom of Caubul, p. 128.
2 Martin’s History of the British Colonies, vol. i., p. 91.
3 Memoir of a Map of Hindustan, p. 214.
^ Elphinstone’s Account of the Kingdom of Caubul, p. 130.
HINDUSTAN.
452
Hindustan, deluges of rain; but they are exhausted as they go; the
rains become weaker and weaker; and are at last diminished
to a few transient showers in the S. of the Punjab. On
the sea-shore the S.W. monsoon extends into Beloo-
chistan, and thence into Mekran, the easternmost province
of Persia, where the clouds being arrested by mountains,
descend in heavy rains. They pass with little obstruc¬
tion over the countries of Lower Sind; but being inter¬
cepted by the mountains of Upper Sind, they occasion the
principal rains of the year.
The eastern provinces of Hindustan, including Bengal
and the mountainous countries of Bootan, Nepaul, and the
other contiguous provinces, are not dependent on the rains
that come across the country from the Indian Ocean, which
would be very scanty at so great a distance from the sea.
Of the mass of clouds driven before the S.W. mon¬
soon, that portion which passes Cape Comorin on the S.
is carried north-eastward across the Bay of Bengal, until,
meeting with the mountains that join the Himalaya from
the S., of which they are indeed a continuation, they fol¬
low their direction, and are thus diverted from a north¬
easterly into a north-westerly course; and it is from this
quarter accordingly, that the north-eastern districts of Ben¬
gal and the adjoining provinces receive the rains fresh and
abundant from the ocean. Part of these clouds make their
way over the first hills, and bring on the rains in Nepaul
and Thibet;-and part passing to the N.W., water the
plains of Bengal, the southern face of the Himalaya Moun¬
tains, the countries which lie to the N. of the Ganges,
the northern parts of the Punjab, and, in their progress to
the N.W., the southern declivity of the Cashmere Hills,
and the plains beneath, though they scarcely make their
way over these hills into the Valley of Cashmere. They
continue their progress westward to Afghanistan, where
they gradually become weaker, and only produce occasional
showers. The cold season, which succeeds the rains, lasts
from November to the middle of February ; and during all
this period the air is clear, and the thermometer is from 65°
to 84°. In Southern India the heat is greater than in Ben¬
gal. In the Carnatic the thermometer ranges from 100°
to 106°, and the cold season is of very short duration. On
the table-land above the Ghaut Mountains, as at Coimbe-
tore, among the hills, the temperature in the cold season is
from 31° to 59° ; in summer 64°, 65°, and 75°, or even
higher. On the table-land in which Bangalore is situated,
the thermometer seldom rises above 82°, or falls below 56°.
Vegetable Hindustan comprehends all the known varieties of the
produce, vegetable tribes. The mountainous tracts of Northern Hin¬
dustan produce all the alpine plants, and the various species
of European grain, fruits, and flowers. Deep woods cover
those lower ranges of mountains, in which are found the pine
tree of various species, “ the tallest, straightest, and most
magnificent,” says Fraser,1 he ever beheld ; the larch, the
silver, and the spruce fir, from the bark and twigs of which
resin exudes in abundance; the yew tree ; several species
of oak, holly, alder, sycamore, birch, with mulberry and
chestnut trees. Here is also found the mimosa tree, from
which is made the catechu or Indian rubber ;—the resinous
part of this fir, cut into slips, answers the common uses of
the lamp. These noble forests extend over immense tracts,
and would afford inexhaustible supplies of timber, if they
could be transported to the proper market. Fruits in great
variety are also produced in this elevated region, such as
apricots, peaches, and grapes, apples, pears, currants, rasp¬
berries, blackberries, and strawberries; roots, such as tur¬
nips, carrots, garlic, onions; flowers and plants, as roses,
both red and white, lilies of the valley, jasmines, butter-
cups, yellow, blue, and white cowslips, sweet briar, with
numerous other beautiful and fragrant plants. The valleys Hindustan,
exhibit, according to their altitude and temperature, the
productions of Europe or of the tropical countries. At the
height of 6000 feet appear the oak and the pine ; at that of
3000 feet rattans and bamboos of enormous dimensions ;
in some parts the pine-apple, the orange, the sugar-cane,
grow to maturity ; in others, barley, millet, and similar
grains are produced. The lower part of these hills is the
seat of the saul forests. The lower valleys yield rice sown
broad-cast, maize, wheat, barley, pulse of various kinds,
sugar-cane, cotton, Indian madder, a large species of car-
damum, besides other productions. The pastoral tribes of
Northern Hindustan feed considerable flocks on the lower
hills and valleys ; in summer they climb the alpine country,
and browse on the herbage adjacent to the region of perpe¬
tual frost.
The vegetable produce of the plains in Hindustan, and
of the southern provinces, is the same as in all tropical
countries. The soil, where it is copiously watered, is fer¬
tile ; and if the country were one unvaried level, the copious
rains would afford a sufficient supply for every spot. But,
from the inequalities of the surface, the lower parts are fre¬
quently overflowed, whilst, in the higher grounds, vegeta¬
tion is burnt up. To secure a more equal distribution of
water, various contrivances are resorted to. It is retained
in extensive plains by means of dams, or in reservoirs con¬
structed of stone, or in ponds and water-courses, whence it
is distributed over the land. Some of these works, though
erected at great cost, are in a dilapidated state. Their con¬
struction conferring a reputation for piety, they have been
uselessly multiplied ; and not being duly repaired, they are
soon filled with aquatic plants, putrid water, bad smells, and
pernicious exhalations. One of these tanks, seen by Dr
Buchanan, is stated to be 8 miles long and 3 broad. “ I
never viewed a public work,” he observes, “ with more satis¬
faction, a work which supplies a great body of people with
every comfort which their moral situation will permit them
to enjoy.”2 The Hindu, though he is a most industrious,
is not a skilful cultivator ; his implements are of a very rude
kind ; and even if he had the skill, he has not the capital
necessary for an improved system of husbandry. The
ploughing in Hindustan is quite different from any thing
seen in this country. The plough has no contrivance for
turning up the earth, nor has the share sufficient depth to
stir a new soil. Several ploughs in succession deepen the
furrows, or rather scratch the surface. The branch of a
tree, or some other equally rude substitute for a harrow, is
then employed to pulverise the soil, and prepare it for the
seed. The plough is drawn by oxen, and in Southern In¬
dia by buffaloes. The field, after it is sown, must be pro¬
tected for several days by a person exalted on a bamboo
stage, against the depredations of numerous flocks of birds,
and still longer in woody districts, from the havoc of wild
elephants, buffaloes, and other animals. The harvest is
reaped by the sickle, the scythe being unknown. There is
no occasion for stacking rice, which is completely preserved
by the husk. The grain, after it is winnowed, is stored in
jars of unbaked earth, or in baskets made of large twigs. In
Benares and the western provinces, and also in the S. of
India, it is stored in subterraneous granaries ; but in the
damp climate of Bengal it is hoarded above ground. The
rotation of crops, so essential to the husbandry of Europe,
is not known in Bengal; nor are the articles for cultivation
ever selected with any view to restore the exhausted powers
of the soil. The land is never properly manured. The
Hindus, from their limited use of animal food, are no ex¬
tensive breeders of stock. The labouring cattle are either
pastured on small commons, or fed at home on cut grass;
1 Fraser’s Journal of a, Tour through the Himalaya Mountains, p. 139.
2 See Journey from Madras, through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar, vol. i., p. 16.
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, and those for the dairy graze in numerous herds in the
forests or on the downs. The dung is accounted holy by the
superstitious Hindus, and is either converted to religious
uses, or into fuel, and sold. In Bengal no manure is used ;
and, in the southern provinces, only a small quantity of
ashes and dried vegetables. Oil-cake is sometimes em¬
ployed as a manure for the sugar-cane. The public reve¬
nue is derived chiefly from the land, but the government
are no longer the sole landlords ; their interest in the soil
has been defined by the limitation of the public demand,
and new classes of landed proprieters are springing up in
all parts of the empire.
Rice is the great staple of agriculture throughout Hin¬
dustan, in the plain of the Ganges as well as in Southern
India. It is sowm at the approach of the rains, and it is
gathered during the rainy season, about the end of August;
the last crop is sown during the same season, and is gathered
in the beginning of December. It is esteemed the best,
not being equally liable with the other to decay. The di¬
versity of soil and climate, and the several seasons of culti¬
vation, have given rise to infinite varieties in this species of
grain. When the rains fail throughout Hindustan, which
occasionally happens, the rice crops are apt to be deficient
to a degree altogether unknown in the well-regulated agri¬
culture of Europe, where the severest scarcity hardly ever
raises the price of corn more than three times its usual
rate. But the famines of Hindustan leave thousands with¬
out subsistence, and fill the land wfith scenes of misery and
death. In the great famine of 1769, it was estimated that
three millions of the people perished; the air was so in¬
fected by the noxious effluvia of dead bodies, that it was
scarcely possible to stir abroad without perceiving it, and
without hearing also the frantic cries of the victims of fa¬
mine, who were seen in every stage of suffering and death ;
whole families expired, and villages were desolated; and
when the new crop came forward in August, it had no
owners. Bengal has been less liable to famines since this
period, but they have frequently occurred in other parts of
India. Rice thrives well in the inundated track of the
Ganges, and in Southern Hindustan, especially on the low
lands of the sea-coast; higher up the Ganges, wheat and
barley are more generally cultivated, also in the high grounds
and elevated table-lands of Southern India. Other kinds
of grain are cultivated, such as Indian corn; and great
varieties of pulse and coarse grains, such as peas, beans,
chiches, gram, vetches, and raggy, which is the most im¬
portant crop raised in the dry field, and in some parts of
Southern India is the subsistence of all classes, in others
of the poorer classes. These are important articles of cul¬
tivation, as they have each their particular season, and thrive
even on poor soils. Maize is the general produce of poor
soils in hilly countries, and is commonly cultivated in the
more western provinces. Millet and other grains are also
cultivated, and, vegetating rapidly, and in every season,
they fill up profitably for the farmer the short intervals be¬
tween the other modes of cultivation in Lower Hindustan.
Sugar is everywhere cultivated, and at little expense, by the
Hindu cultivator; and as the sugar of India is no longer
subjected in the United Kingdom to an unequal import
duty, there is reason to hope that the produce of India may
compete not only with the sugars of British colonies, but
with those also ot Cuba, Brazil, Siam, and Manilla. Though
formerly unknown in Europe, sugar has been produced in
India from the remotest times, and was thence transplanted
into Arabia, whence it has been introduced into Europe,
Africa, the West Indies, and America. It grows luxuriantly
throughout all the valley of the Ganges and in the plains of
453
Southern India, and could be produced, with the help of Hindustan.
European skill and capital, to meet any demand. It thrives i v
more especially in Bahar and Benares, and in particular
districts of Bengal. Opium is the peculiar and staple pro¬
duce of the province of Bahar, and is also extensively cul¬
tivated in Malwah, and in other parts of Hindustan. It is
a precarious crop, producing alternately high profits and
heavy losses. The liquor extracted from the poppy is col¬
lected as it exudes, and is then placed in pots, where it is
dried and formed into lumps, in which process it loses from
one-tenth to one-eighth of its weight. The opium produced
in Bahar and Bengal being monopolized by the East India
Company, and bought at a fixed price, is a contraband article
of trade, and its cultivation is confined to certain districts.
Within Bengal no one is allowed to cultivate the poppy
except for the government. In Malwah a treaty was entered
into with the different rulers and chiefs, by which the mo¬
nopoly was extended to that country, and all that was pro¬
duced delivered to the Company, at the rate of three rupees
a seer, which is two pounds. But so great was the discon¬
tent excited by this extension of the monopoly, that, at
the desire of the chiefs, the treaties were rescinded in
1819-1820; and the trade in opium, and its cultivation, is
now free in that province, and everywhere throughout In¬
dia, except in the Company’s dominions; but as Malwah
is completely surrounded by British territory, a large re¬
venue is derived from the high duty levied on Malwah opium
in transit to Bombay for exportation to China. Malwah
opium equals that of Bengal, and is brought into competi¬
tion with the Company’s opium in all the foreign markets,
and especially in China.1 The cotton plant has from time
immemorial been one of the staple products of Hindustan,
and is indigenous from Ceylon in the S., to the Hima¬
laya Mountains. It is cultivated extensively throughout
Bengal, and in the interior provinces on the banks of the
Jumna; also in the Deccan, and in Southern India, whence
it is imported into Bengal, and into Mirzapoor, and the dis¬
trict of Benares, where it is manufactured. Flax and hemp
are also cultivated in several districts both in the N. and
in the S. of India. Silk was long the exclusive product
of India and China. Silk-worms are now reared principally
in the district of Burdwan, and in the vicinity of the Bha-
girati and the Ganges, and for about 100 miles down their
streams. Four crops of mulberry leaves are obtained in the
year, the last in December. A considerable quantity of
silk, of a coarse kind, is obtained from wild silk-worms,
which do not feed on the mulberry, and are found in the
forests of Silhet, Assam, and the Deccan. Indigo was ori¬
ginally a product of India; and the plant was afterwards
carried to South America, whence Europe was for a long
time supplied with this dye. The manufacture on which
the quality of the indigo depends was very unskilfully con¬
ducted until the year 1783. Since this period it has been
so much improved by the skill and capital of Europeans
that it is now a staple article of commerce ; and in Bengal
the value of the produce in 1854 amounted to L.1,701,206.
Indigo is produced generally throughout the plain of the
Ganges, and in Southern India, but chiefly in Bengal. To¬
bacco, formerly unknown in India, and introduced from
America probably about the beginning of the seventeenth
century, is now extensively cultivated in every part, chiefly
however in the northern provinces, and more rarely in
the S. The tobacco grown in the Mahratta territories is
most esteemed; particularly that which is produced near
Bilsea, a town in Malwah. Bengal does not yield good
tobacco ; but the Company’s territories in Guzerat, being
principally of a rich black soil, are considered as peculiarly
P • ,Se° t0 the Report on the East India Company's affairs, p. 15, par. 59, House of Commons Papers, 1831.
iwidence before Lords’ Committee, 26th February 1830. r r r >
Minutes of
454
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, suitable to its cultivation.1 The Hindus having been already
in the habit of inhaling the smoke of hemp leaves, and other
intoxicating drugs, readily adopted tobacco as a more agree¬
able substitute, and it soon came into general use. Their
recent knowledge of it appears from their having no name
for it which is not a corruption of some European term.
Pepper, though of inferior consequence, is a valuable pro¬
duct of Southern India, especially of Malabar. It is pro¬
duced from a species of vine which is made to twine round
the jack tree. It bears fruit about the third or fourth year,
amounting to from three to seven pounds weight, and yields
two crops in the year. The areca-nut and betel-leaf, uni¬
versally chewed by the natives, thrive in the low grounds,
where water is abundant; and cardamoms, a spice in great
repute. The universal and vast consumption of vegetable
oils in Hindustan, for food or unguents, or for the lamp, is
supplied by the extensive cultivation of mustard seed, lin¬
seed, sesamum, palma christi, besides what is procured from
the cocoa nut. The first ripen in the cold season, the
sesamum during the rains, or soon afterwards.
The forests in the low plains of Hindustan, of Southern
India, and those which cover the western range of the
Ghauts, and more sparingly the Eastern Ghauts, abound in
the most valuable trees, applicable to many important uses.
The extensive woods in Southern India supply the teak
tree, valuable for ship-building; and in Malabar, extensive
tracts of waste land have within the last few years been con¬
verted into teak plantations by the government. Saul,
sissoo, toon, and bamboo trees abound; the last of which
yields a medicine much used by the native doctors, and
which sells for its weight in silver. There are many spe¬
cies of the palm tree, with its luxuriant and spreading leaves,
of which the produce is extremely useful. The cocoa-nut
tree is in some provinces an important article of culture.
The kernel is used for food by the richer natives, either in
its raw state, or dressed after various fashions ; and it yields
by far the finest oil in India, if the nut be fresh and the oil
quickly used. Extensive tracts, many miles in length, are
planted with the cocoa-nut and betel-nut palms. Many
other species of timber are found in the deep recesses of
the woods, of which Dr Buchanan, in his account of Mysore,
gives a particular description, with the botanical names of
the different trees, and to his work we refer; observing
generally, that the woods consist of every description of
timber, black, heavy, and strong, and adapted for the beams
and posts of houses ; other kinds are white, hard, and dur¬
able, and adapted to all the purposes for which strong ma¬
terials are required ; some are beautifully grained, and take
a fine polish, and are well suited for furniture, or exude
resins and gums of a sweet scent, that are used in temples
for incense ; the wood of some kindles readily into a clear
light, and is used for torches.2 Other kinds of wood are
employed for dyeing. The sandal-wood is valuable for its
perfume, and for the essential oil which it yields. It re¬
quires a strong soil, and it is twelve years before it attains
the proper size for being cut. The billets of wood are pre¬
pared by being buried in the dry ground for two months,
when the ants eat up all the outer wood, leaving the heart,
which is the sandal. The deeper the colour the higher the
perfume. The best sandal wood of Hindustan is now in
possession of the rajah of Mysore, who succeeded to a small
portion of Tippoo’s dominions.
The climate of Hindustan, owing to the long and heavy
rains of summer, is not so favourable for many kinds of fruit
which are not ripened by the previous heat of the spring.
Orchards of mango trees diversify the plains of Bengal, and
are common all over Hindustan ; the palmyra and the date
tree abound everywhere, and especially in Bahar. The Hindusta
former thrives remarkably well in dry barren spots, and isv"»
prized for the tari or wine which it yields. The bassia,
which yields an intoxicating spirit, also suits the poorest
soils, and abounds in the hilly districts, where the oil ex¬
pressed from its seeds is a common substitute for butter.
The other fruits are the plantain, the lime, the sweet and
bitter orange, the guava, the pomegranate, the jack, the
tamarind, &c. Under the shade of lofty flower and fruit¬
bearing trees, and the luxuriant bamboo, and the rank weeds
which shoot up along with them, the natives, from shyness,
bury their cottages, and especially their females, from the
view of strangers ; and the damp vapour from the confined
air, the loathsome and pernicious animals which harbour
among the trees and weeds, and the filthy habits of the
natives, are generally sufficient to repel Europeans from
their habitations. The Hindus cultivate in their kitchen
gardens a variety of esculent vegetables and roots. But,
of the European vegetables, the potato alone is suited to
the climate, and is of as good quality as that which is pro¬
duced in England. Asparagus, cauliflower, radish, onions,
and other esculent plants, are raised; but they are com¬
paratively tasteless.3
Hindustan, from the great extent and inequality of its Animals,
surface, its stupendous and snow-clad mountains, and its
vast and wooded plains lying under a burning sun, compre¬
hends all the most interesting forms of animal life ; more
especially those animals of the tropical regions remarkable
for ferocity or size, which have been the subjects of scien¬
tific research as well as of popular curiosity in all ages, and
which find ample cover in the deep woods and jungle-
covered wastes of those tracts of the country which have
been desolated by tyranny or war. A minute or systema¬
tic inquiry into so important a branch of natural history
cannot within our limits be attempted. All that we can
propose is a brief and popular sketch of the principal ani¬
mals which give to the zoology of India its distinct and
brilliant character. The elephant, which holds a conspi¬
cuous place in the animal creation, is seen in all parts of
Hindustan, and ranges wild in its deep forests and jungles.
This animal, from its size and strength, was employed in
the ancient wars, and the prodigious momentum of its charge
often turned the tide of battle. The richly caparisoned
elephant is still used to swell the gorgeous parade of the
Asiatic courts, and is at the same time, from its patience
and docility, the humblest of domestic drudges. An ele¬
phant is about thirty-five inches high when newly born,
and does not attain his full growth of ten or ten and a half
feet, or twelve feet when the head is set up, until the age
of twenty or thirty years. In length he is about fifteen or
sixteen feet. The rhinoceros is between five and six feet
high,- in length eight feet, the whole body covered with a
thick and nearly bare skin, in irregular folds, and the head,
at least of the Indian species, armed with a single horn.
The rhinoceros is strong and active, of peaceable habits;
but when he is hunted he turns on his pursuers and resists
fiercely. The Bactrian camel with two humps, so useful
in traversing the sandy wastes of the torrid zone, and the
dromedary with a single hump, formed more lightly for
speed, are natives of Hindustan. The deer is found in all
its varieties, from the large and powerful mountain stag,
with its well-compacted form, to those lighter forms of the
antelope species which sport so gracefully in the woods and
in the burning plains. The musk-deer, so named from the
perfume contained in a small bag situated in the lower re¬
gion of the abdomen of the male, is a solitary dweller in the
mountain tracts of Hindustan and of Central Asia, amidst
1 See Letter of the Secretary to the Court of Directors, to the Secretary of the India Board, 5th September 1828.
2 See Journey from Madras, through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar, vol. i., p. 25.
2 See Hamilton’s Geographical, Statistical, and Historical Description of Hindustan, vol. i , p. 28.
HINDUSTAN.
industan. ice and snows ; it is shy and timid, and seldom approaches
—the lower region of the pine forests. This animal has no
horns; the horned tribe are, however, numerous. The
Nepaul stag has a short tail, short horns, and two small
antlers at the base. Deer of a large size abound in Bengal,
and also in Southern India, in the forests of the Ghaut
Mountains. One species, with branching horns, attains to
the size of a horse. The black deer of Bengal is about
fifteen or sixteen hands high ; it is a bold, fierce, and power¬
ful animal; dark brown in the upper parts of the body, and
in winter of a shining black; whitish in the belly, with a
ring of white round the nostrils and mouth. The spotted
deer, with large antlers, ranges all over India, and abounds
in the forests of Bengal, and along the banks of the Ganges.
The hog-deer is known in Bengal and in the northern parts
of India; and the roe-buck in the hilly districts, and still
more among the Ghaut Mountains in the S. There are,
besides, numerous other varieties of the deer species. Hin¬
dustan contains several species of the antelope ; one about
twenty inches in height, and nearly three feet in length, with
four horns, haunts the western forests and hilly tracts in the
valley of the Ganges. The white antelope, between three
and four feet in height, and of surpassing swiftness, ranges
along the banks of the Ganges and the Indus, and over the
intervening deserts; and another species, with one horn,
and an abundant covering of wool, is a native of the moun¬
tain and icy regions of the Himalaya. Of the feline tribe,
the lion claims the first place. He is considered as the lord
of the brute creation; and his whole appearance, the flow¬
ing and shaggy mane, the ample forehead, the kindling eye,
and the muscular strength and compactness of the whole
frame, so powerfully armed by nature for the purposes of
destruction, concur to give an idea of majesty and power,
which is further strengthened by the boldness and courage
with which, instead of seeking a dastardly retreat in the
forest or the jungle, he rushes forth to confront his enemies
in the open plain, where he is generally shot by the hun¬
ters. But, in the event of his being only wounded, he is ex¬
tremely formidable, from his vast strength and fierceness,
and the immense weight of his body, especially towards the
head, and the power of his tremendous claws.1 The lion
is not nearly so common in Asia as in Africa, and is only
found in the northern provinces of Hindustan.2 The tiger
is the more common animal of India, abounding in all the
forests and jungles, from the mouth of the Ganges to the
Himalaya Mountains. He is not quite equal in strength
to the lion, though superior in activity; and his undulating
movements have more of ease, grace, and bounding elasti¬
city ; whilst his bright-yellow, tawny-coloured skin, varie¬
gated with dark stripes, shaded with white in the under parts,
completes this beautiful specimen of the animal creation.
Since the British have acquired possession of India, they
have so eagerly pursued the sport of tiger-huntings that the
animal has been driven from the inhabited parts of the
country into the vast jungles which line the great rivers,
and which may be considered as the game preserves of
455
Hindustan. The leopard and the panther are found in the Hindustan,
woods; the former animal in such numbers, that during the v -
marches of the British troops in 1803, amongst the deep
forests at Cuttack, in the province of Orissa, many of the
sentinels were carried off by them in the night. The bear
abounds in all the wooded mountains ; also wolves, which
at Cawnpore, where there is a cantonment, were formerly
so numerous that they frequently dashed into some corner
of the camp, and carried off children under five years of
age, who happened to be straggling amongst the huts. The
other wild animals are hyenas, jackals, foxes, hares, porcu¬
pines, hedgehogs, monkeys in great variety, and prodi¬
giously multiplied by the superstitious Hindus, who con¬
sider them as sacred animals, to the great annoyance of
Europeans. The wild boar, which inhabits the woods and
jungles of India, is a fierce animal, and very destructive to
the corn fields and sugar plantations. It affords excellent
though sometimes dangerous sport to the hunter, when it
turns on its pursuers. The wild dog of the Himalaya
Mountains is a remarkable animal, in form and fur resem¬
bling a fox, though stronger and larger. Bishop Heber saw
one of these animals which had been taken, and was ex¬
ceedingly wild and fierce. They hunt in packs, give tongue
like dogs, and have a very fine scent; and they are said to
attack and, by dint of numbers, to destroy the tiger. They
are highly valued in these countries.3 Dr Gerard observed
a pack of these wild dogs stealing along a gulley quite red.
The buffalo, both wild and tame, is a native of India.
There are different species, one of which (the Bos Arnee)
is noted for its gigantic dimensions, its great strength, and
its horns, which are nearly six feet in length, by the aid
of which it is a match for, and frequently repels the fiercest
tiger. Dr Buchanan, however, insists that this is merely the
common buffalo in its wild state.4 The yak, or ox of Tar¬
tary, particularly described by Turner in his account of his
embassy to Thibet, is numerous among the Himalaya Moun¬
tains, where they browse in herds, amidst ice and snow; and
constitute, next to corn, the wealth of the inhabitants.5 It
has a downcast, heavy look, and is fierce and of a suspi¬
cious temper. The Cashmere goat has been long celebrated
for the soft silky nature of the wool found at the root of
its long hair, which is manufactured into shawls. The other
animals in the alpine regions of Hindustan are also provided
with a similar covering of soft wool. “ The cow,” says
Moorcroft in his Journal, “has a material of the same kind,
not much inferior in warmth and softness; the hare has
her fur of peculiar length and thickness ; and even the dog
has a coat of fur added to his usual covering of hair.”6
The goat bred in Southern India, called the maycay or
long-legged goat, mentioned by Dr Buchanan, is also of
quite a different breed from the common goat. There are
other breeds remarkable for long and curiously-twisted
horns. The native horse of India is a small, ill-shaped,
vicious pony, the finest horses being imported from the
countries to the W. of Hindustan. But wild horses are
seen in herds in the northern mountains. The sandy de-
1 Heber’s Journey, ii., 170.
“ The lion,” says Bishop Heber, “which was long supposed to be unknown in India, is now ascertained to exist in considerable
numbers in the districts of Saharunpoor and Loodianah. Lions have also been killed on this side of the Ganges, in the northern parts
°n pkllcun<b in the neighbourhood of Moradabad and Rampoor, as large, it is said, as the average of those in the neighbourhood of
the Cape of Good Hope. Both lions, where they are found, and tigers, are very troublesome to the people of the villages near the
forest, who, having no elephants, have no very effectual means of attacking them with safety. The peasantry here (in the province of
Delhi) are not a people to allow themselves to be devoured without resistance, like the Bengalese; and it often happens, tnat when a
tiger has established himself near a village, the whole population turn out, with their matchlocks, swords, and shields, to attack him.
Fighting on foot, and compelled to drive him from his covert by entering and beating the jungle, one or two generally lose their lives;
but the tiger seldom escapes.” Heber mentions, that he derived his information from Mr Boulderson, who was a keen sportsman, and
had long been in India, and who said that he had seen some skins of tigers which bore the strongest marks of having been fought with,
i t e expression may be used, hand to hand, and were in fact slashed all over with cuts of the tulwar or short scimitar.” YHeber’s
Journey, vol. ii., p. 149.) ^ v
, l)raser s Journal of a Tour through the Himalaya Mountains, p. 176. 4 Journey through Mvsor-e, vol. i., p. 118.
1 raser s Journal of a Tour through the Himalaya Mountains, p. 263.
static Researches, vol. xii., p. 460, J. Moorcroft’s Journey to Lake Manasarovara.
HINDUSTAN.
456
Hindustan, sert in the W. of Hindustan is the haunt of the wild ass;
as he is described in Scripture, “ his house the wilderness,
and the barren land his dwelling.” This animal is found
in herds of 60 or 70 on the banks of the Runn, the great
salt morass or lake of Cutch, where it browses on the
brackish and stunted vegetation of the desert. When
caught, as it sometimes is by the natives in pits, it is fierce,
untameable, and bites and kicks in the most ferocious man¬
ner. Its form is that of the mule rather than of the ass;
its body is of an ash colour, changing to a dirty white under
the belly. It is larger than the tame ass, stronger and
more active, remarkable for shyness, and still more for
speed; throwing out, at a shuffling trot peculiar to itself,
the fleetest horses in the pursuit.1 In Southern India, the
ass, of which there are several varieties as to colour, is very
commonly tamed for domestic purposes; some are of a
black hue ; and there is a species of milk-white ass, though
it is rare.2 The rat tribe abound in Hindustan ; and one
species is of enormous size, the tail above a foot long, and
very mischievous, burrowing to a great depth in the ground,
making its way under the foundations of stores and grana¬
ries, and perforating the mud or unburnt brick walls of the
native cottages.
Birds. The ornithology of India, though it is not considered as
so rich in specimens of gorgeous and variegated plumage
as that of other tropical regions, still contains many splendid
and curious varieties of the feathered race, as well of those,
that are clothed in nature’s gayest attire, far surpassing the
richest dyes of art, as of that other class, the birds of prey,
distinguished by strength, size, and fierceness. The par¬
rot tribe are the most remarkable for beauty. So various
are the species, that we cannot even enumerate them, and
must refer for details to the scientific works on the subject.
Of the birds of prey, the eagle or the condor, which haunts
the inaccessible crags of the great Himalaya range, is the
most remarkable. Bishop Heber mentionsthat one of these
animals was shot at Dega by Lieutenant Fisher, with whom
he conversed; and, from the bareness of its neck, resem¬
bling that of the vulture, the form of its beak, which is
longer and less hooked than the eagle’s, and from its ex¬
traordinary size, he judged it to be the condor. It mea¬
sured between the extended wings thirteen feet; its talons
were eight inches in length ; its colour was a deep black.
According to Heber, children are sometimes carried away
by this animal from the streets of Almorah.3 Eagles, of
which there are three different sizes, are numerous, and do
great injury to the flocks of the shepherds in the mountain¬
ous districts. There are various kinds of vultures, and
also of the falcon tribe. There is the gentle falcon ; the
goshawk, a large grey short-winged bird; the shaukeen,
which is taught to soar over the falconer’s head, and strike
the quarry as it rises; the chirk, which strikes the ante¬
lope, fastening on its head, and retarding its course till the
hounds come up ; with various other species.4 Numerous
other birds are common in India, such as herons, cranes;
the gigantic stork, well known for clearing the country of
snakes and other reptiles, and the populous cities of offal;
the peacock, which is found wild in the forests in all its va¬
rious and brilliant hues ; the black-backed goose, measur¬
ing nearly three feet in length; besides other kinds, which
migrate with the seasons, and are very destructive to the
corn ; swans, partridges, quails, gulls, plovers, wild ducks,
and the other common domestic fowls.
Reptiles. serpent brood in India is numerous ; they swarm in
all the gardens, and intrude into the dwellings of the inha¬
bitants. Some are comparatively harmless, but the bite of
others is speedily fatal. The cobra di capello, the name
given to it by the Portuguese, from the appearance ofa hood
which it produces from the expanded skin about the neck, Hindusta
is the most dreaded. It is not above three or four feet v^»
long, and about an inch and a quarter thick, with a small
head, covered on the forepart with large smooth scales ; it
is of a pale-brown colour above, and the belly is of a bluish
white tinged with pale brown or yellow. It is more fre¬
quently the assailant than any other, though the bite of
these also is equally dangerous, and often fatal. The Rus-
selian snake, about four feet in length, is of a pale-yellowish
brown, beautifully variegated with large oval spots of deep
brown, with a white edging. Its bite is extremely fatal.
The whip snake is a remarkably malignant species; it
darts from the thick foliage of the trees at the cattle be¬
low, most commonly at their eyes, and inflicts wounds of
which they quickly expire, often in great pain. Itinerant
showmen carry about these serpents, and cause them to as¬
sume a dancing motion for the amusement of the specta¬
tors. They also give out that they render them harmless
by the use of charms, though it is known that it is by ex¬
tracting the venomous fangs. But, judging from the fre¬
quent accidents which occur, they often dispense with this
precaution. The snake-catching fakirs pretend to bear a
charmed life; and it is related that one of these impos¬
tors being invited by a shopkeeper to catch a snake which
had been seen in an inner apartment, was stung in the hip
bone, and for shame would not discover the injury he had
received, and went home endeavouring to counteract the
poison, but in vain. He died ; and such is the blind con¬
fidence of the natives in these impostors, that they believed
he would revive into life, until the body became putrid.5
Physicians differ respecting the mode in which the poison
of serpents acts upon the human frame. The symptoms
also vary ; the patient being sometimes seized with torpor
and insensibility, or falling into feverish heat and convul¬
sions ; the breathing laborious ; the skin cold and clammy,
with a livid countenance and a feeble pulse. The mode of
treatment by the British physicians in India is to bind up
the limb above the wound; along with this to apply strong
stimulants, as ammonia, hartshorn, eau de luce, and the
like ; and, above all, to give the strongest narcotics, such
as laudanum and brandy. By this judicious treatment many
patients have been brought back from the jaws of death.6
There are several water-snakes in India, the bite of which
is venomous ; and scorpions are common.
The rivers of Hindustan and the surrounding seas abound Fishes,
in a great variety of fishes and amphibious animals, such as
alligators, porpoises, and small turtle of inferior quality. The
voracious shark infests the mouths of the rivers, as well as
the sea-coast, and grows to an enormous size. One that
was caught in the Ganges measured in length 11 feet 9
inches, and its girth round the shoulders was immense.7 The
dolphin of the Ganges is about seven feet long, and abounds
chiefly in the delta of the river. It pursues its prey with
great velocity, though at other times its motions are slow
and heavy. The Ganges and its numerous branches, and
all the tanks, swarm with fish. During the wet months
they may be scooped up with a hand-net in.every field;
and, next to rice and plantains, they form the main food
of the poorest classes. The bickty or cockup is an excel¬
lent fish; as is also the sable fish, which is uncommonly
rich. But the best and highest-flavoured fish is the mango,
a favourite delicacy at all the European tables, especially
during the two months when it is in roe. Mullet abound
in all the rivers, and are often killed with small shot as they
swim against the stream. The Indian eel—of a pale brown
colour, with spots of a somewhat deeper hue—is said to
possess a certain degree of electrical power. The remora,
about seven feet in length, is remarkable for its singular
1 Elphinstone, p. 7. 2 Buchanan, p. 7.
6 Asiatic Annual Register, vol. xxiv., p. 760.
3 Heher’s Journey, vol. iL, p. 277. 4 Elphinstone, p. 144.
6 Asiatic Journal, vol. xviii., p. 391. 7 Ibid., vol. xix., p. 276.
[industan.
Insects.
Mineral
produc¬
tions, &c.
HINDUSTAN.
habits. It is used by the fishermen for catching turtle. A
long cord being inserted through a ring fastened to the tail
of the fish, it is carried to sea in a vessel filled with salt water,
and is let out into the water near the turtle, when it imme¬
diately fastens itself on its breast so firmly that both are
drawn out together. There are many other kinds of fish,
some of a delicate flavour, others noted for the various
colours of their shining scales. The voracious dolphin, and
the flying fish, its food, abound in the Indian seas. The
pomfret is much esteemed as a delicacy ; also the robal, and
several others of the same nature. The bumbalo, when
dried, is an article of commerce, and is much prized for its
nutritious qualities ; as is also another fish, the^urahl, found
in the interior lakes. There are many other kinds of fish
which we cannot attempt even to enumerate. The natives
are dexterous fishers. They inclose the fish with nets into
a narrow space, when they catch them with their hands or
teeth. Bishop Heber, in his excellent Journal, gives a
lively account of the fishing of a pool or lake which was
nearly dried up owing to the want of rain. The fish were
driven into a shallow part of the lake, when four Bheels
from the mountains, with bows and arrows, made in a few
hours such havoc among them, that they were procured in
the greatest abundance. “ They singled out the largest,”
says Bishop Heber, “ and struck them with as much cer¬
tainty as if they had been sheep in a fold. The arrows
intended for striking the fish were so contrived that the iron
head slipped off the shaft when the fish was struck, but re¬
mained connected with it by a long line like a harpoon, and
afloat on the water, which not only contributed to weary out
the animal, but to show which way he fled, and to facilitate
his capture.”1 Oysters are procured from the coast of
Chittagong, not so large, but fully as well flavoured, as those
of Europe.
The insect tribes in India may be truly said to be innu¬
merable ; nor has anything like a complete classification
been given of them in the most scientific treatises. The
heat and the rains give incredible activity to innumerable
noxious or troublesome insects, and to others of a more
showy class, whose large wings surpass in brilliancy the
most splendid colours of art. Stinging musquitoes are in¬
numerable ; and moths and ants of the most destructive
kind, as well as others still more noxious and disagreeable.
Amongst those which are useful is the silk-worm ; the insect
which produces the vermilion dye, the cochineal, a South
American species; and that which produces lac, which is
imported into Europe and used for varnish, and more re¬
cently for cochineal. Clouds of locusts are occasionally
seen, which leave no trace of green behind them, and give
the country over which they pass the appearance of a desert.
Dr Buchanan saw a mass of these insects in his journey from
Madras to the Mysore territory, about three miles in length,
like a long narrow red cloud near the horizon, and making
a noise somewhat resembling that of a cataract. Their size
was about that of a man’s finger, and their colour reddish.
They did no damage at that time to the smallest vegetable,
but at other times they eat up every green thing.
From the wild and inaccessible nature of the country in
many parts of Hindustan, its metallic products are but im¬
perfectly known. It is found to produce all the metallic
ores, as well as diamonds and precious stones, and other
mineral substances. Gold is generally found in the sands
of the mountain streams, and is extracted by washing. The
head streams of the Ganges bring along with them particles
of gold, which in Rohilcund are collected by a particular
caste of people. It is found in various parts of Mysore,
particularly 9 miles E. of Boodicotta, where the country
is impregnated with it; also in the Nielgherry Mountains;
457
and in great quantities in all that tract of country that lies Hindustan,
west; and in the adjoining Koondanad and Ghaut Moun-
tains. This whole tract, including the mountains, and com¬
prising a space of 2000 miles, contains gold. Unrefined
gold is regularly exchanged by many of the mountain tribes
of the north for the produce of the plains. It is estimated
that about 1000 men are continually employed in collecting
this precious metal. Copper is produced in the province of
Delhi, which the natives collect either on the surface or with
very slight excavations; also in the Rajpoot principality of
Jeypoor in the province of Ajmeer, and in other parts of
the same province, there are copper mines, and in the Car¬
natic, about 40 miles N.E. from Cuddapah. The metal is
found in layers about two inches, and occasionally two feet
thick ; they are coated with ochre, and are in general flat, as
if they had undergone compression. The ore exists in nearly
a metallic state, without any admixture of sulphur, arsenic,
or any other substance that requires separation. The best
ores yield fifty, and the worst six per cent, of pure metal.
The granitic mountains of Nepaul and Northern Hindustan
contain much iron, lead, and copper, with a little gold in the
river courses. The copper mines are quite superficial, the
ore being dug from trenches entirely open above, so that the
work is laid aside in the rainy season. Iron ore is found in
many parts of Hindustan. There are mines of iron in Lahore
and in Ajmeer. In Orissa many of the natives are iron
smelters, and most of the iron sent from Balasore to Cal¬
cutta is produced in this district. In Bejapoor the working
of iron furnishes employment to many of the inhabitants,
who extract it by a very rude process. At Porto Novo, in
the British district of South Arcot, in the presidency of
Madras, extensive iron-works have been erected by a joint-
stock association called the East India Iron Company; to
whom also belong the iron-foundry works at Beypoor, in
Malabar, on the opposite coast of the peninsula. The ore
smelted at these establishments is found in great abundance
and of excellent quality in their respective vicinities. The
Mysore country abounds in iron. There are also forges for
manufacturing steel, which are minutely described by Dr
Buchanan in his account of the Mysore country.2 In Coim-
betore and in Malabar the iron mines give employment to
a considerable number of persons. The process and ma¬
chinery for extracting the iron are very imperfect. Iron
mines were formerly worked in the district of Boglipoor,
but they have been long neglected. Rich iron ores are
abundant in Cutch. The ore is gathered in baskets from the
surface of the earth, and yields twenty-two per cent, of iron ;
and the steel which is made from this ore is the finest in the
world. Lead is produced in various parts; also antimony,
plumbago, sulphur, alum ; and there are inexhaustible sup¬
plies of coal, though the mines are not worked with any
effect. Coal is raised in Burdwan in considerable quantities
and of a fine quality. Saltpetre is produced in Bengal and
Bahar, though its manufacture does not go beyond the
eastern limits of the latter province. It might, however,
be attempted with success in Bengal, where the tendency
of the soil to its production is very great; and there might
be manufactories of salt in almost every part of the country,
but they are restricted by the Company’s monopoly. In the
Mysore plains the wells are salt, and the ground is frequently
covered with a saline effloresence. A range of hills, extend-
from the Indus to the Hydaspes, yields the famous rock-salt
of Lahore, of which they are almost entirely composed.3
Many quarries are found in the hilly districts, which produce
fine stone, that is cut by the inhabitants into pillars, flags,
statues, and used for other ornamental purposes. Dr
Buchanan saw several fine-grained specimens of granite,
also a black stone used in the construction of Hyder’s monu-
1 Heber, vol. ii., p. 467. 2 Journey from Madras, vol. i., p. 170, 180 ; vol. ii., p. 139.
3 See the observations of Lieutenant Burnes on the commercial relations of the Punjab.
VOL. XI. 3 M
458 HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, ment, and a beautiful green stone which takes on a marble
polish. The hills of Guzerat contain marbles exhibiting
many colours and qualities; and marbles are seen in the
various tombs and monuments of ancient art still remaining
in the country, finely ground and of different colours, white
and yellow with red veins, and green clouded with yellow
and black, of which the quarries have never been dis¬
covered.
Diamonds are no longer found in the celebrated mines of
Golconda, but they are still gathered in the bed of the
Krishna, and in the province of Gundwana. Near the con¬
fluence of the Hebe and the Mahanuddy, 13 miles beyond
the town of Sumbhulpoor, after the rains, the natives find
diamonds in the red earth washed down from the mountains.
The matrix containing them is a clay which has a red
appearance like burnt bricks.1 There are diamond mines
in the S. of India, about 7 miles N.E. of Cuddapah,
on both banks of the Pennar River. These mines have
been worked for several hundred years, and occasionally
yield large diamonds, which are either found in the alluvial
soil, or are recognised by their sparkling among the gravel
after it is washed and spread out, or in rocks of the latest
formation. The grounds are leased on behalf of the go¬
vernment to private speculators at a moderate rent. In
Bundelcund, also, the table-land which surrounds Pannah,
wherever the ground is of a gravelly nature, produces dia¬
monds. The soil is from two to eight cubits deep, and dia¬
monds are found intermixed with small pebbles, though not
adhering to them. A very few diamonds in the course of a
year repay the labours of the workmen. The diamonds
found are mostly under the value of 500 rupees, or L.50,
though some reach the value of from 500 to 1000 rupees..
Ihey are weighed and sold to the merchants residing at
Pannah, and are by them carried to all parts of the country.
The workmen are allowed three-fourths, two-thirds, or a
half of the diamonds they find, according to their size, and
any man is at liberty to dig; but the business is less pros¬
perous than formerly, and the workmen are poor. The
diamond grounds are strictly guarded against the contra¬
band trader, and the least delinquency draws down the
prompt and barbarous vengeance of the rajah. These are
supposed to be the diamond mines mentioned by Ptolemy.
Iheir annual produce was estimated, in the reign of
Acbar, at eight lacs of rupees. In 1750 it had fallen off
to one half; the amount, now comparatively insignificant,
is divided between the rajahs of Pannah, Banda, and
Chirkareq.
1 he other varieties of precious stones found in India are
the ruby from the table-land of Mysore, the beryl, the topaz,
the chrysolite, garnet, cat’s eye, &c. There are cornelian
mines in the province of Guzerat, in the wildest parts of
the jungle. They consist of numerous shafts worked down
perpendicularly, about four feet wide, and several of them
to the depth of fifty feet. Some of them extend at the
bottom in a horizontal direction, though not to any dis¬
tance ; the heavy rains cause the banks to fall in, so that
new openings are always made at the end of the rainy sea¬
son. The nodules weigh from a few ounces to two or even
three pounds, and lie close to each other in abundance, not
m distinct strata, but scattered about. They are of various
co oui s when they are found—of a blackish olive, like com¬
mon dark flints ; others of a lighter hue, with a slight milky
tinge; though it is quite uncertain what appearance they
will assume after the process of turning. They are carried
o Cambay, where they are cut, polished, and formed into
the fine ornaments for which that city is so highly cele-
biated. Beautiful jaspers and agates are also found in this
district, and in other parts of India
M.TOf.c In every country the nature and quality of the manufac-
tures must depend on the condition of the consumers, and Hina,, t
amongst the despotic states of Asia these naturally consist i 8_an<'
of two classes, 1 st, of the great and powerful, in whose N
hands the property of the country is accumulated, and who
are comparatively few ; and, 2dly, of the mass of the people,
oppressed under native rule, and sunk in poverty. Such’
accordingly, has been from time immemorial the state of
Hindustan, and its manufactures, which are necessarily
adapted to the use of these two classes, have always con¬
sisted of exquisitely fine fabrics of cotton, for the use of the
imperial court or of the rajahs and princes of the country,
or of coarse stuffs for the common people ; and to such per¬
fection have £hey attained, that the modern art of Europe,
with all the aid of its wonderful machinery, has never yet
rivalled in beauty the products of the Indian loom. Yet
the Hindu workman has no advantage from capital, from
machinery, or from the division of labour; he prepares the
raw material with his own skilful hand, in all the various
stages of its manufacture; his loom and all his implements
are of the rudest construction ; and yet, by patience, per¬
severance, and unusual skill, he produces an article which
is prized all over the world for its inimitable richness and
beauty, as well as for its durability. The native artisan
distinguishes at once these fine fabrics from all counterfeits,
by the eye, the touch, and the smell. In the district of
Dacca are chiefly fabricated plain muslins, variously deno¬
minated, according to the closeness or fineness of the tex¬
ture ; also flowered, striped, or chequered muslins, denomi¬
nated from their patterns ; and the thinnest sort of muslins,
for the manufacture of which the province is much celebrated,
as is Coromandel in Southern India for its calicoes and other
piece-goods, of the most brilliant and durable colours. Other
kinds more closely woven are fabricated in the western
parts of Bengal; and another sort, of a more rigid tex¬
ture, in every district. Coarse muslins, in the shape of
turbans, handkerchiefs, &c., are made in all parts of Hin¬
dustan ; and in its northern provinces plain and flowered
muslins, but of inferior quality to the beautiful fabrics of
Dacca. In Moultan are manufactured silks which possess
a strength of texture and brilliancy of hue that have secured
for them a preference in the Indian market. They are
woven into shawls and scarfs, which are in great demand,
and which the Indian manufacturer in other parts has never
been able to rival, either in colour or durability. Carpets
are also manufactured in this province, though they do not
equal those of Persia. Various articles of calico are made,
which still retain their Indian denominations, as khasahs,
which are manufactured north and east of the Ganges;
cloths of nearly the same quality are made near Tanda in
Oude. Near Luckipoor, on the western frontier of Be¬
nares, in the neighbourhood of Allahabad, and also in the
province of Bahar, baftaes are manufactured; sanaes in
Orissa, and in the district of Midnapoor; and a similar cloth
under the same denomination in the eastern parts of the
province of Benares ; woven silk and taffeta, both plain and
flowered, in the neighbourhood of Moorshedabad; tissues,
brocades, and ornamented gauzes, at Benares ; plain gauzes
for domestic use, in the west and south of Bengal; and at
Moulda, Boglipoor, and at several towns in the district of
Burdwan, mixed goods of silk and cotton. Sackcloth is
manufactured from packthread in many places, especially
in the northern provinces, for the clothing of the moun¬
taineers. Cotton is made into canvas in the neighbour¬
hood of Chittagong, Patna, and other places ; and blankets
everywhere for common use. A coarse cotton cloth dyed
red with cheap materials is very generally used, and is
chiefly manufactured in the country between the Jumna
and the Ganges. Fine and coarse calicoes are dyed with
permanent and fugitive colours for common use in the pro-
1 See Hamilton, vol. ii., p. 20.
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, vince of Benares, the city of Patna, and the neighbourhood
of Calcutta. This art appears to have had its origin in
India, and to have been there perfected to a degree never
surpassed by Europeans. Dimities of various kinds, and
damask linen, are made at Dacca, Patna, Tanda, and vari¬
ous other places. In Mysore, near Bangalore, silk is manu¬
factured into different articles of dress, into strong cloths,
which men, women, or boys wrap round them, and into
turban pieces. Ihese cloths are of a rich fabric, variously
figmed, and the pattern, if ordered, is elegantly wrought in
gold thread. Turbans are made of cotton and silk. Thin
white muslins with silk borders ornamented with gold and
silver, and plain green muslins with silk borders, are manu¬
factured for female dresses; also striped and chequered
muslins ; cloth like the khasahs of Bengal, for wrapping
round the shoulders of men, sometimes with striped or sil¬
ver borders. Handkerchiefs with red borders, a coarse
thick white cotton cloth with red borders, and turbans or¬
namented with silver and gold thread at the ends, are also
made in this district; and the dyeing of cotton cloth, cotton
thread, and silk, is carried on by a set of people who act as
tailors, cloth-printers, and dyers. Tanneries are established,
and manufactories of oil.1 At Chennapattana there are
manufactories of glass-ware and of glass rings, universally
worn as bracelets by the women of the Deccan. Steel
wire is also made here for the strings of musical instruments.
At Vizigapatam, in the Northern Circars, the inhabitants
are very expert in carving curious little boxes of ivory and
bone. Throughout Southern India manufactories of cotton
and silk are generally established. In the Northern Circars
the principal part of the East India Company’s investment
of piece goods was formerly provided. This country, ex¬
tending about 500 miles along the coast of Coromandel,
from the River Kistnah to the borders of Cuttack, has from
very early times been the seat of an important and exten¬
sive manufacture of cotton piece-goods, of which the de¬
scription of calicoes known as Madras long cloths and sa-
lempores are the chief, and, with Masulipatam dyed hand¬
kerchiefs, and other kinds of goods for the African and West
India trade, have, until lately, been in great demand. Ma¬
sulipatam goods have, however, for some years been entirely
superseded by the manufactures of Manchester and Glas¬
gow ; and in all appearance the Northern Circars will at no
distant period of time be deprived of the manufactures of
white calicoes also.2 A great change has indeed been
brought about in the manufactures of India by the intro¬
duction of British goods, which, in many branches, have
supplanted those of the country ; the poor Hindu, notwith¬
standing the low rate at which he works, is thus undersold
in his own market by the manufacturers of Manchester and
Glasgow; and this competition of British goods nearly
ruined the native manufacturers of India, deprived the
workmen of employment, and reduced them to great dis¬
tress ; so that the directors remark concerning the Indian
trade, that “ it exhibits the picture of a commercial revolu¬
tion, productive of much present suffering to numerous
classes in India, and hardly to be paralleled in the history
of commerce.”
Commerce. Hindustan, from its great extent, and the diversity of its
soil and climate, supplies the materials of an extensive com¬
merce. Its internal trade is great, whilst its rare and pre¬
cious products are exported to the remotest regions of the
world. An extensive commerce takes place between Ben¬
gal and the other maritime districts, and the western pro¬
vinces of Hindustan, consisting in the exportation of grain
from the corn districts, in exchange for salt, a great staple;
for betel-nut, sugar, raw silk, silk and piece goods. From
the native states of Central India Malwah opium is sent
down to Bombay for exportation to China. In Bengal the
culture and manufacture of opium are conducted under a
state monopoly, and the produce is transmitted to Calcutta,
where it is disposed of by public sale. The holy city of
Benares is a great mart of trade, in which are exchanged
the shawls of the north for the diamonds of the south, and
for the muslins of Dacca and the eastern provinces ; and it
has, besides, very considerable silk, cotton, and fine woollen
manufactures of its own, the produce of which is exchanged
for other commodities. Through the northern provinces of
Delhi and Lahore a great trade is carried on between the
hill countries and the plains. The inconsiderable town of
Hurdwar or Hardiwara, being a celebrated place of Hindu
pilgrimage, is a great commercial emporium, to which mul¬
titudes resort for the purposes of trade, as well as from piety.
This great annual concourse takes place in the spring, when
the produce of the northern and western countries is ex¬
changed for the manufactures of the lower provinces. The
principal articles brought here for sale from Cabul, Canda-
har, Moultan, and the Punjab, are horses, mules, camels ;
some of these from Balk, Bokhara, and the countries on the
northern side of the Hindu Coosh Mountains ; a particular
species of tobacco, antimony, assafoetida, dried fruits, such
as apricots, figs, prunes, raisins, almonds, pistachio nuts, and
pomegranates ; from Cashmere and Amritsir, shawls, dootas,
and pattoos; spotted turbans, looking-glasses, toys, with
various manufactures in brass and ivory from Jeypoor;
shields from Rohilcund, Lucknow, and Silhet; bows and
arrows from Moultan and the Doab ; rock-salt from La¬
hore; baftas and piece-goods from Rahn, a large city in the
Punjab. I he country of Marwar also supplies many camels,
and a species of flannel called loo. In exchange are brought
from the British provinces Kharwa muslins, mushroo or
sarsnet, and woollen cloths, the coarsest of which only find a
market. In this fair, Dutch and Venetian coins are cur¬
rent; and some toys of European manufacture were seen
exposed to sale by Mr Webb. The northern merchants
by whom it is frequented assemble at Amritsir in caravans
about the end of February, and pursue their route in an
easterly direction through the territories of the protected
Seikh powers. Still farther to the N. and W. the pro¬
vinces of Lahore and Moultan export to the countries to the
W. of the Indus, sugar, rice, indigo, wheat, and white
cotton cloths, hides, &c. The imports are swords, horses,
fruit, lead, and spices; and into all these countries Euro¬
pean goods are imported from the lower provinces. The
southern provinces export to Bengal, pepper, betel-nut,
sandal-wood, and cardamums, teak timber, &c.; whilst they
receive in return salt and rice, cotton cloths, and articles of
European manufacture.
A very considerable coasting trade is carried on between
the different parts of Hindustan. Bengal exports to Madras
and the coast of Coromandel, grains of different descriptions,
sugar, saltpetre, molasses, ginger, long pepper, oil, silk
wrought and unwrought, muslins, spirits, and provisions.
I he returns are salt, red wood, fine long cloth, izarees, and
chintzes. From the Malabar coast the imports are sandal¬
wood, coir rope, pepper, cardamums; and the returns are
generally in the annual supplies which Bombay receives
from Bengal. From Bombay are brought teak timber,
elephant’s teeth, lac, &c.
From the reputed wealth and precious produce of India
foreign nations were always desirous to participate in its
trade. Prior to Alexander’s expedition to the East it was
scarcely known to the Greeks, nor is it certain that they
had ever seen its productions. But we know that these
were brought to Rome, especially silk, which so allured the
vanity of the Roman ladies that it sold for its weight in
459
Hindustan.
1 Buchanan’s Journey through Mysore, vol. L, 209, 229.
2 See Copy of a Letter from the Secretary to the Court of Directors, to the Secretary of the India Board, dated East India House, 5th
460
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, gold. Other valuable commodities of India, such as cali-
coes, muslins, aromatics, ivory, diamonds, pearls, and other
gems, precious aromatics, the pepper of Malabar, turtle
shell, &c., and some dry sugar and indigo, were also im¬
ported into Alexandria, the chief emporium of eastern com¬
merce, and were naturally attracted to the great metropolis
of the ancient world. This trade was carried on from Myos
Hormos, the chief port on the Red Sea, whence, after the
conquest of Egypt by the Romans, the annual fleets, some¬
times of 120 vessels, set sail, and, under the propitious in¬
fluence of the S.W. monsoon, boldly stretched across the
Indian Ocean for the western coast of Hindustan, which
they reached in about forty days ; and afterwards extended
their voyage round Cape Comorin to the coast of Coroman¬
del and the mouths of the Ganges. The high price re¬
ceived for these eastern luxuries in Rome encouraged the
merchants to provide larger vessels, and a band of archers
to defend them against the pirates, who then, and until very
lately that they were extirpated by British ships of war, in¬
fested the western shores of India. The commodities of
the East being landed at Myos Hormos, were carried on
camels to Coptos, the seat of a flourishing trade, and thence
by sea to the Nile, whence they reached Alexandria by"
water carriage, and were re-shipped to the different ports
on the Mediterranean. The produce of India was also
brought to Europe by other routes—namely, by the way
of Palmyra, then a flourishing city, and thence to Rome and
other western countries, through the ports of Syria; or
across the Himalaya Mountains to the Oxus, thence to the
Caspian, and afterwards to the Black Sea, and finally to its
ulterior markets in Europe. But though there was a de¬
mand in Europe for the produce of India, there was no
demand in India for the produce of Europe; and bullion
was the only article that could be sent out in exchange.
The annual drain of gold from Rome and its provinces for
Indian goods was estimated by Pliny at 500 sestertia, equal
to about L.400,000. In the convulsions which followed
the decline of the Roman empire, the trade of the East was
successively engrossed by the Persians and Arabians. The
latter, in the year 636, built the city of Bassora, which soon
grew into a great commercial mart; and to this place, and
to Ormus, long celebrated for its vast riches and its trade,
the spiceries and merchandise of India were brought, and
distributed through the various ports of the Mediterranean.
After the expulsion of the crusaders from Syria and Egypt,
Alexandria again became the chief entrepot of eastern pro¬
duce, whence it was carried to Italy by the Venetians and
others, and distributed throughout Europe. But the dis¬
covery of a passage to India in 1495 by the Cape of Good
Hope changed the course of this trade, which now entirely
left the Italians, and was engrossed by the Portuguese for
nearly a century without any molestation from European
rivals. At length the Dutch and the English became their
competitors, and established joint-stock companies, with the
exclusive privilege of the eastern trade. But their antici¬
pations of profit were not realized. The great distance of
Europe from India, and the want of an equivalent for its
produce, precluded any extensive intercourse; the trade
accordingly bore a very small proportion to the trade of the
country; and being besides cramped by monopolies, it
never attained its natural growth. In 1773 the average
exports of Britain to India amounted to about L.489,000 a
year ; in 1793, on a like average, to about a million a year;
and it does not appear that a greater trade was carried on
with India from any other part of Europe. The commerce
of nations is limited to the surplus produce which they can
mutually exchange; and, from the great distance between
India and Europe, this surplus produce was long confined
to those few articles which, containing a great value in small
bulk, could bear the expense of a long voyage. The de- Hindustan,
mand was also altogether on the side of Europe, and its trade
with India consisted merely in the purchase, with bullion,
of a small quantity of precious articles for the consumption
of the rich. The progressive improvement of industry in
Europe, together with the entire opening of the trade to
India and China since the year 1834, has occasioned not
only a greater exportation of British goods, but a change
also in the nature of the trade. It is not so much the pro¬
duce of the labour as of the climate and soil of India, which
no ingenuity can supply, that is in demand in Britain ; and
accordingly, whilst the import of Indian manufactures has
fallen off, that of the raw material, and many varieties of
vegetable produce, has increased. Thus the importation of
cotton piece-goods—namely, white calicoes and muslins—
which amounted in 1814 to 1,266,608 pieces, had decreased
in 1853 to 428,294 pieces; whilst within the same period
the importation of cotton wool had increased from 2,850,318
lbs. to 181,360,994 lbs., and the exportation of cotton ma¬
nufactures in a similar ratio. Even the incomparable mus¬
lins of Dacca are in less demand since the introduction of
British goods.1 Thus, in the progress of the trade between
India and Europe, the former country, notwithstanding its
boasted wealth and superior industry, has taken the lowest
place, exporting her rude produce for the manufactures of
the richer country. This is the nature of the trade carried
on between Britain and America and the countries in the
N. of Europe, and is a sure index to the respective pro¬
gress of the two countries in wealth and improvement.
Those countries which cannot manufacture their own rude
produce send it to Britain, which abounds in capital, and
still more in art and industry ; and both countries are bene¬
fited, the poorer country exchanging its surplus produce for
a supply of manufactures of which it is in want, and the richer
country the produce of its overflowing capital, for a supply
of the raw material, which its own soil does not afford. This
is now the relative condition of Great Britain and India.
The former having outstripped the latter country in in¬
dustry and wealth, sends out a supply of cheaper goods than
the native workman can furnish; and so prodigious have
been the improvements in machinery, that the raw material
of cotton is imported from India, and, being manufactured
in Britain, is re-exported and sold at a cheaper rate than it
can be made at home, though loaded with the expense of a
double voyage across half the globe ; and thus it has become
an important staple in the trade of Great Britain with the
East. A notion was long and successfully propagated by
the advocates of the monopoly, that the Hindus, from their
poverty and their simple habits, would never become exten¬
sive consumers of European goods, and that the demand
was amply supplied by the exports of the East India Com¬
pany. Evidence to this effect was given before the com¬
mittee of the House of Commons in 1810 by Sir Thomas
Munro and other eminent servants of the Company. But
such statements have been completely refuted by the rapidly
increasing exportation of British goods to India since the
complete opening of the trade in 1834. This will appear
from the following table :—
Value of Exports from Great Britain to Hindustan,
exclusive of Bullion.
Years.
Exports.
Exports.
1834  L.2,682,221
. 1835   3,135,410
1836   3,830,504
1837   3,210,663
1838   3,505,930
1839   4,289,489
1840   6,014,339
1841   5,439,564
1842   5,354,901
1843   6,347,349
1844  L.7,952,179
1845   6,477,143
1846   6,420,404
1847   5,790,228
1848   5,512,110
1849   7,578,980
1850   8,327,992
1851   9,226,729
1852   7,235,078
1 See Report of Lords’ Committee on the Affairs of the East India Company, Evidence of W. Chaplin, Esq., p. 179.
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan. The goods exported, as they are enumerated by Mr
Rickards in his valuable work on India, consist of all the
staple manufactures of Britain. “Woollens and cottons,”
he mentions, “ of every variety and value; manufactured
silks; hardware of all descriptions; iron, copper, lead, tin, and
spelta, in large quantities ; marine and military stores ; ma¬
chinery for various uses ; glass-ware of the metal speci¬
mens, down to articles of the commonest use; china-ware
or porcelain, the same ; jewellery of all sorts ; gold and sil¬
ver plate and ornaments ; clocks, watches, furniture, car¬
riages, harness, haberdashery, hosiery, stationery, books;
in short, every article of luxury, comfort, or convenience,
which British industry can produce.”1 According also to
all the most correct observers of Indian manners, the taste
for European fashions, luxuries, and comforts, is rapidly ex¬
tending among the Hindus. Bishop Heber, in his interesting
journal of a tour through India, strongly confirms this fact.
“ The wealthy natives,” he observes, “ now all affect to have
their houses decorated with Corinthian pillars, and filled
with English furniture; they drive the best horses and the
most dashing carriages in Calcutta. Many of them speak
English fluently, and are tolerably read in English litera¬
ture ; and the children of one of our friends I saw one day
dressed in jackets and trousers, with round hats, shoes, and
stockings.”2 At Benares he found “ English hardware,
swords, shields, and spears, from Lucknow and Monghyr;
461
and those European luxuries and elegancies, which are daily Hindustan,
becoming more popular in India, circulate from hence '
through Bundelcund, Gorruckpoor, Nepaul, and other tracks
which are removed from the main artery of the Ganges.”3
At Nusseerabad, in the province of Berar, the same travel¬
ler mentions that “ English cotton cloths, both white and
printed, are to be met with commonly in wear among the
people of the country, and may, I learned to my surprise,
be bought best and cheapest, as well as all kinds of hard¬
ware, crockery, writing desks, See., at Bailee, a large town
and celebrated mart in Marwar, on the edge of the desert,
several days’ journey west of Joudpoor, where, till very
lately, no European was ever known to have penetrated.”4
In short, it appears that British and other European manu¬
factures, from their quality and cheapness, are everywhere
in demand. They penetrate into the remotest districts of
Asia; and now that the termination of the East India Com¬
pany’s monopoly, which took place in 1834, has laid open
Hindustan to the capital and enterprise of Britain, expe¬
rience proves that an equal demand for them may be anti¬
cipated in that country. We subjoin the following tables,
containing a view of the extent and value of the trade of
India to all parts of the world. The excess of exports over
imports arises from the necessity of making annual re¬
mittances to Great Britain to defray the interest of debt, and
to meet the expenditure of the home government.
Imports of Hindustan.
Years.
1834-35
1839-40
1844-45
1849- 50
1850- 51
1851- 52
1852- 53
Merchandise.
Bengal.
L.
1,999,130
3,341,591
5,933,990
5,283,170
6,115,201
7,087,406
4,993,674
Madras.
L.
503,290
683,307
1,046,894
906,004
897,823
906,435
840,531
Bombay.
L.
1,758,685
1,806,337
3,773,181
4,110,713
4,545,764
4,246.647
4,236,655
United
King¬
dom.
L.
2,682,221
4,289,489
7,952,179
7,578,980
8,327,992
9,226,729
7,235,078
Other
Countries.
L.
1,578,884
1,541,747
2,801,886
2,720,907
3,230,795
3,013,760
2,835,783
Total
Merchan¬
dise.
L.
4,261,106
5,831,236
10,754,065
10,299,888
11,558,788
12,240,490
10,070,861
Treasure.
Bengal.
Madras.
L.
646,224
1,226,786
1,581,365
1,214,865
1,189,484
2,306,470
3,393,987
L.
153,115
112,406
188,561
121,437
260,110
297,398
576,854
Bombay.
L.
1,093,683
606,071
1,982,545
2,060,505
2,362,214
2,448,190
2,860,536
Total.
L.
1,893,023
1,945,264
3,752,471
3.396.807
3.811.808
5,052,059
6,831,377
Merchandise and Treasure.
Bengal.
L.
2.645.355
4,568,378
7.515.355
6,498,035
7,304,685
9,393,877
8,387,661
Madras.
L.
656,405
795,714
1,235,455
1,027,441
1,157,933
1,203,834
1,417,385
Bombay.
L.
2,852,369
2,412,408
5,755,727
6,171.218
6,907,978
6,694,837
7,097,191
Grand
Total.
L.
6,154,129
7,776,501
14,506,537
13,696,696
15,370,597
17,292,549
16,902,239
Exports of Hindustan.
Merchandise.
Years.
1834-35
1839-40
1844-45
1849- 50
1850- 51
1851- 52
1852- 53
Bengal.
L.
4,092,043
6,800,925
9,822,197
10,148,038
9,997,527
10,423,970
10,738,554
Madras.
L.
886,107
,228,467
641,462
,272.884
,566,976
,658,808
:,121,613
Bombay.
L.
3,015,268
2,833,352
5,126,552
5,891,376
6,599,645
7,796,474
7,604,464
Total.
United
King¬
dom.
L.
3,056,973
5,969,951
7,240,619
7,026,470
8,104,016
7,138,888
8,428,295
Other
Countries.
L.
4,936,447
4,892,793
9,349,592
10,285,828
10,060,133
12,740,517
12,036,338
Total
Merchan¬
dise.
L.
7,993,420
10,862,745
16,590,212
17,312,299
18,164,149
19,879,253
20,464,633
Treasure.
Bengal.
L.
66,554
200,017
396,543
354,205
276,329
250,588
476,375
Madras.
L.
106,377
127,446
65,053
72,637
104,140
215,768
36,382
Bombay.
L.
21,808
143,059
645,243
544,400
160,818
452,732
542,472
Total.
L.
194,740
470,523
1,106,840
971,244
541,289
919,088
1,055,229
Merchandise and Treasure.
Bengal.
L.
4,158,598
7,000,943
10,218,740
10,502,244
10,273,857
10,674,559
11,214,929
Madras.
L.
992,485
1,355,914
1,706,516
1,345,522
1,671,117
1,874,576
2,157,996
Bombay.
L.
3,037,077
2,976,411
5,771,796
6,435,776
6,760,464
8,249,207
8,146,937
Grand
Total.
L.
8,188,161
11,333,268
17,697,052
18,283,543
18,705,438
20,798,342
21,519,862
1 Rickards’ India, or facts submitted to illustrate the character and condition of the native inhabitants, vol. i., p. 75.
2 Heber’s Journal, vol. iii.j p. 252. ^ Ibid., vol. i., p. 381. 4 Ibid., vol. ii., p. 448.
462
HINDUSTAN
Hindustan.
The following tables contain a view of the trade
Great Britain and Hindustan, and a list of the
between
principal
articles exchanged between the two countries,
from the parliamentary accounts :—
abridged Hindustan
Account of the Quantities and Declared Value of the principal Articles Exported from Great Britain to India in
Three Years, from 1850-51 to 1852-53.
Apparel  
Books, stationery, &c.
Cotton twist and yarn
... Piece goods ....
Fruits 
Jewellery 
Malt liquor  
Machinery  
Metals, Manufactured
Copper, cwt. ..
Iron,  
Lead,  
Spelter, 
Tin,  
Salt 
Silken goods  
Spices  
Spirits, gallons  
Tea  
Tobacco, cigars  
Timber  
Woollen goods  
Wines, gallons  
Miscellaneous 
QUANTITIES.
1850-51.
L.
Total Merchandise
... Treasure 
Total Merchandise and Treasure
118,982
984,433
63,303
790^953
89,251
334,127
1851-52.
1852-53.
L.
44,004
688,722
58,758
1,158,983
96,863
255,125
L.
24,796
338,795
9,070
837,946
68’526
175,101
VALUE IN STERLING.
1850-51.
1851-52.
L.
261,209
148,563
1,011,262
3,581,996
975
52,164
123,342
19,052
201,082
611,719
457,503
58,446
62,758
8,301
376.965
18,892
42,927
’516
1,014
206.966
232,455
849,886
L.
250,931
118,712
1,373,949
4,662,036
943
56,934
146,947
11,541
230,105
216,342
267,462
27,329
55,738
6,955
552,366
31,495
49,648
913
1,086
200,435
200,658
764,204
1852-53.
8,327,993
503,029
8,831,022
9,226,729
1,041,015
10,267,744
L.
256,213
113,601
1,102,500
3,578,349
121
28,564
151,870
23,126
182,944
114,631
140,005
17,992
8,748
1,608
399,362
38,804
33,482
534
1,252
114,794
144,761
781,817
7,235,078
2,340,947
9,576,025
Account of the principal Imports into Great Britain from India in Three Years, from 1850-51 to 1852-53.
ARTICLES.
Coffee, lbs 
Cotton, raw, lbs 
Grain, cwt 
Indigo, lbs 
Ivory, cwt 
Lac, cwt  
Pepper, lbs 
Piece goods, Cotton, pieces  
Silk, „  
... Shawls, „  
Rum, gallons  
Silk, raw, lbs 
Saltpetre, cwt 
Sugar,  
Wool, lbs 
Miscellaneous  
Total Merchandise  
... Treasure  
Total Merchandise and Treasure
1850-51.
h.
4,209,717
141,446,798
779,809
8,723,343
2,753
42,040
1,332,128
142,380
560,484
9,975
391,151
1,271,249
282,538
1,488,879
4,492,794
QUANTITIES.
1851-52.
L.
6,324,435
81,104,223
624,167
8,193,236
5,149
30,448
1,918,973
208,723
408,304
7,496
224,463
1,437,658
254,670
1,506,051
7,056,713
1852-53.
L. '
4,244,845
181,360,994
1,157,985
6,773,160
3,375
52,543
1,208,945
428,550
502,947
11,211
171,984
1,381,203
339,444
1,356,630
12,000,999
VALUE IN STERLING.
1850-51.
L.
61,484
2,059,718
131,634
1,525,962
40,953
78,446
11,412
48,801
311,210
134,738
19,462
609,450
216,062
1,709,743
65,525
1,079,411
8,104,011
10,164
8,114,175
L.
58,429
1,171,280
105,335
1,444,705
85,949
58,041
16,335
71,071
224,830
113.848
10,814
680,537
196.848
1,689,153
100,606
1,111,108
7,138,889
7,051
7,145,940
1851-52. 1852-53.
L.
61,02
2,525,18
177,45
1,136,88
51,07:
104,04:
10,47:
136,62:
267,85;
179,41<
8,44'
664,45'
258,78:
1,605,32:
171,16<
1,070,06!
8,428,295
128,919
8,557,214
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan. Phe Biitish possessions in India are intermixed with the
dominions of various native governments, with which po¬
litical relations varying in nature and degree are main¬
tained. The following table exhibits the relative area
and population of the presidencies of Bengal, Madras,
and Bombay, and those also of the native states of Hin¬
dustan1 :—
Afea and Population of the British Presidencies and the
Native States of India.
British Presidencies.
Bengal
Division.
Madras.
Bombay
Lower Provinces  
Saugur and Nerbudda
Territories  
Jaloun 
British Mhairwarrah
Umballah, Loodianah,
and Territory lately
belonging to Seikh
chiefs  
North-eastern frontier,
including Assam, &c.
Arracan  
South-west frontier, in¬
cluding Sumbulpore,
Chota Nagpore, &c.
Nagpore or Berar 
The Punjab and Koo-
loo Territory  
Tenasserim Provinces
Jhansi 
The Sunderbunds, &c.
North - western Pro¬
vinces, including Del¬
hi, Agra, Benares, &c.
Butty Territory, Dey-
rah Dhoon, Kumaon,
Gurhwal, &c 
Area in
square
miles.
Total.
Regulation Provinces
Non-Regulation Dis¬
tricts  
119,633
15,388
1,873
282
4,559
29,900
15,164
30,589
76,432
78,447
29,168
2,532
6,500
72,052
13,599
Population
496,118
116,248
19,444
Total  135,692
Regulation Provinces
Non - Regulation Dis¬
tricts  
Total.
The Eastern Settle¬
ments of Singapore,
Prince of Wales Is¬
land, and Malacca.
Native States with¬
in the Presidency of
Bengal  
Do., within the Pre¬
sidency of Madras
Do., within the Pre¬
sidency of Bombay
Foreign European
Possessions 
Oude, Hyderabad, Bho¬
pal, Bhurtpore, Scin-
dias and Holkar’s
Dominions, &c 
Cochin, Mysore, Tra-
vancore, &c 
Guzerat, Dutch, Cola-
pore, &c 
French (Pondicherry,
&c.)   
Portuguese (Goa)  
57,723
62,342
37,262,163
1,929,587
176,297
37,715
2,311,969
1,180,935
321,522
2,627,456
4,650,000
9,153,209
115,431
200,000
Unknown
30,271,885
600,881
90,839,050
19,847,305
2,454,392
22,301,697
9,015,534
2,093,533
120,065 11,109,067
1,575
503,554
51,802
60,575
188
1,066
202,540
38,259,862
4,752,975
4,460,370
171,217
313,262
Abstract of the foregoing.
British Possessions
Native States
Foreign European
States 
463
Hindustan.
Bengal 
Madras  
Bombay  
Eastern Settlements
Bengal 
Madras  
Bombay 
French 
Portuguese  
Total of India,
496,118
135,692
120,065
1,575
503,554
51,802
60,575
188
1,066
Population.
90,839.050
22,301,697
11,109,067
202,540
38,259,862
4,752,975
4,460,370
171,217
313,262
1,370,635
172,410,040
A country of such vast extent, under one common appel¬
lation, and subdivided by many impassable tracts of moun- Races
tain and jungle, comprises, as may readily be imamned,
numerous races, differing in their origin, in their physi¬
cal aspect and frame, in their manners, customs, in their
respective advances in civilization and pursuits, as well as
in their modes of faith and language; and accordingly
Bishop Heber, who excels all other writers in the delinea¬
tion of Indian manners, observes, that “ it is a great mis¬
take to suppose that all India is peopled by a single race
or that there is not as great a disparity between the inha¬
bitants of Guzerat, Bengal, the Doab, and the Deccan,
both in language, manners, and physiognomy, as between
any four nations of Europe and in another passage he
says, “the inhabitants of the presidencies of Madras and
Bombay, and of the Deccan, are as different from the na¬
tions I have seen, and from each other, as the French and
Portuguese from the Greeks, Germans, and Poles.”2 A
minute account of the various races and castes, with the
still more various subdivisions into which the inhabitants of
Hindustan are distinguished, would fill a volume, and would
besides be exceedingly tedious. A general description,
however, of the most remarkable tribes which compose the
mixed population of this extensive country, forms an essen¬
tial part of its history. The great division of the people is
into Hindus and Mohammedans, in the proportion of about
seven to one. And these two great classes are distinguished
not more by their religion than by their peculiar disposi¬
tion and character. The Hindu is careful, penurious, and
abstemious in his habits ; timid, obsequious, and fawning in
his manners; chiefly attaining his ends by deceit and cun¬
ning, the usual resource of weakness ; whilst the Mussul¬
man still retains the haughty and irascible character of a
conqueror, and his hostility to the English, which he is at
no pains to conceal, like the Hindu, by an obsequious de¬
meanour. He is withal prodigal, luxurious, fond of ease
and pleasure, and dissolute to excess in his morals; more
courageous and martial, however, with more energy of pur¬
pose and elevation of sentiment, and more cultivated, than
the Hindu of Bengal. In the population of Bengal these
two races may easily be distinguished from each other ; and
amongst the Mohammedans, the Mogul, the Afghan,
and their immediate descendants, may be known amongst
the native Mussulmans. The features of the Ben-
to a mere physical subsistence ' without iLrnSii / exercise of moral restraint is unnecessary ; amongst those who are reduced
reo-arded - nnH i, sistence, without the possibility, and consequently without the desire, of improving their condition it will Kn a-
of ae DoiuUtl™ I “7 “me T“tS r11 f0ll0w frora in ““ O'™ diametrically opposite8 6017^^ ihe area, 1 i
It may, however, be permitted to hone that tho. ^ Tn'.t’ ^ other countries have served to ameliorate the condition of the people,
of commerce, under the protection o/aviLorn^ 8 a ?• 7^ S ’ 7 n0t alWayS be’ what U now is> th^ the extension
security to person and pLlty will ^vefstTn^^ / govefrnmeilt’ wlU ia'''akel1 ideas in the minds of the people; that
of civilization will serve to mifilte £r «reiuSLRTdU- tof.lndufry ^ that the habitual contact with a higher and more rational form
portion as their wants are multiplied their efforts to’ a V*1 dest^?y. the laflael?ce of a debasing superstition ; and that, in pro-
2 Heber’s Journal, vol. iiT., p 349 ’ ameliorate their condition will be increased. P
464
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan.
galee distinguish him from the other inhabitants of Hin¬
dustan. He is stigmatised as of a cowardly disposition, and,
from whatever cause, is not esteemed throughout the coun¬
try. With these two principal classes are intermingled, in
very small proportions, British, Armenians, a peaceable race,
and highly honourable in their dealings, Portuguese, and
other Christians. The Parsecs are numerous in the island
of Bombay, where they amount to 114,698; they are de¬
scendants of the Guebres or fire-worshippers, are a fine race,
being generally engaged in traffic, and distinguished in
their dealings by the highest integrity and intelligence. The
Jews are numerous in India, and many are to be found
in the Bombay army, where they have often behaved bravely.
The Asiatic Jews are distinguished by a large Roman nose.
The Mahrattas, a powerful tribe, have been long distin¬
guished in the wars and politics of India. They are chiefly
found within the presidency of Bombay and the province of
Nagpore, recently lapsed to the British government. They
were originally a pastoral and warlike people from the moun¬
tains of Berar, who with a host of cavalry invaded and de¬
solated the adjacent provinces with fire and sword, and at
length acquired an extensive empire. Minute shades of dif¬
ference prevail amongst them, but no distinctions of caste ;
every Mahratta eating with his neighbour, unless, which
often happens, he be expelled from his caste. They are not
a military caste, as appears from the names of farmer, shep¬
herd, and cowherd, by which their principal tribes are
known ; and also from their exterior, which marks an origin
different from that of the military Rajpoot. They are of a
diminutive size, generally badly made, and of a mean look
and rapacious disposition ; whilst the Rajpoot has both per¬
sonal grace and dignity. 1 he memorable battle of Pani-
put, fought in 1761, gave a blow to the Mahratta power,
from which it never recovered; and the confederacy was
entirely dissolved in 1817, when the peshwa, the great feu¬
dal chief of the empire, surrendered to the British, and was
by them confined as a state prisoner. Ihe nation derives
its name from Mahrat, a province of the Deccan ; though
it is the opinion of some that the Mahrattas migrated from
Persia about 1200 years ago.1 _ The Mahratta language is
widely spread over India. It is remarkable, that in pro¬
ceeding northward into Northern and Central India, and
into the Rajpoot states, the people far excel in strength
and stature the feeble Hindu of the southern provinces,
being fully equal in their bodily frame to Europeans.
“ They despise,” says Bishop Heber, “ rice and rice eaters,
feeding on wheat and barley bread, exhibiting in their ap¬
pearance, conversation, and habits of life, a grave, proud,
and decidedly a martial character, accustomed universally
to the use of arms and athletic exercises from their cradles,
and preferring very greatly military service to any other
means of livelihood.” The character of the Rajpoots, the
Sikhs, and the Jauts, fully answers to this animated descrip¬
tion of a warlike race. The tribe of Jauts or Jats was little
known in India till about the year 1700, when they migrated
from the banks of the Indus, and became industrious culti¬
vators in the Doab, or the country between the Ganges and
the Jumna. During the civil wars which ensued on the
death of Aurungzebe, they acquired a large extent of terri¬
tory, in which they built forts, and accumulated wealth.
They were noted plunderers; and it was out of the spoil
taken from Aurungzebe’s army in its retreat from the Dec-
can that the fortress of Bhurtpore was erected, in the gal¬
lant defence of which against the British they fully sus¬
tained the character of brave soldiers. Their claim to the
distinction of a military caste has, however, been disputed;
and it is said, that though success has emboldened them to
assume that honourable title (khetri), they were originally
a low tribe of sudras or labourers. They also affix to their
name singh, a lion, which probably belongs only to the
Rajpoots. The Jauts are said by Bishop Heber to be the
finest people in bodily advantages and in martial spirit which
he had seen in India, and their country one of the most fer¬
tile and best cultivated. They have a high character for
valour throughout Hindustan; insomuch, adds the writer
above quoted, “ that when I was passing through Malwah,
‘ gallantee shows,’ like those carried about by the Savoyards,
were exhibited at the fairs and in the towns of that wild
district, which displayed, amongst other patriotic and popu¬
lar scenes, the red coats driven back in dismay from the
ramparts, and the victorious Jauts pursuing them sabre in
hand.”2 The lower classes of Jauts found in the barren
tracts of Ajmere, and in Northern India, are however dif¬
ferently described, being of small stature, ill-looking, and
black in complexion, and their condition that of squalid^
poverty. The Sikhs were originally a religious sect, ot
which the founder, Nanak, was born a. d. 1419, in the
province of Lahore; and the word Seik, properly Sikh or
Siksha, in the old Sanscrit, signifies a disciple or devoied
follower. He left two sons, from whom are descended
1400 families, called Shahzadehs, who live at Dera, in the
Punjab, highly respected. His successors were spiritual
chiefs, until the year 1675, when Gooroo Govind, a warrior,
succeeded. He converted the Sikhs from religious secta¬
ries into ferocious soldiers; he changed their name from
Sikh to Singh, signifying a lion, the title claimed and high¬
ly prized by the Rajpoots; and enjoined his followers to
cut off their hair, or to shave their beards. Ihe tribe con¬
sider this cjiief to be the founder of their political indepen-
uence, and Nanak of their religion. The Sikhs acquired
power during the convulsions that followed the death of
Aurungzebe, and after the invasion of Nadir Shah. Ihey
were severely checked by the Mahommedans, and weie
nearly exterminated by the victorious Afghans after the
battle of Paniput in 1761. But their valour still triumphed
in the struggle, and led to the acquisition ot the I unjab,
over which they retained dominion until the death of their
ruler Runjeet Singh, soon after which event the country of
the “ Five Rivers” fell to the British by conquest, and be¬
came incorporated with their vast empire of India. In
horsemanship the Sikhs are not excelled by any othei
nation either of Europe or Asia. Colonel 1 odd, in his great
work on Rajast’han, describes the appearance of the Raj¬
poot cultivators in the valley of Odeypoor, who came to
meet him in a body, “ as being so striking as to draw forth
the spontaneous exclamation from his friend, ‘ what noble
looking fellows!” “ Their tall and robust figures,” he adds,
“sharp aquiline features, and flowing beards, with a native
dignity of demeanour, though, excepting their chiefs, who
wore turbans and scarfs, they were in their usual labouring
dresses, immense loose breeches, and turbans, compelled
admiration and respect.”3 Their cast ot countenance is
Hindu, somewhat altered by their long beards; they
are active, and more robust than the Mahrattas, owing to
better living and a healthier climate; and rival in courage
the most renowned tribes of India. They evince in battle
the most determined contempt of personal danger, and are
easily roused to desperation by prejudice or religion; they
act as infantry in foreign armies, and as cavalry at home.
Their address is bold and somewhat rough ; they speak in¬
variably in a loud bawling tone of voice ; and are dissolute
in their habits, indulging so freely in spirituous liquors,
which their religion allows, though tobacco is prohibited, and
in opium and bang, an intoxicating drug, that a Sikh sol-
Hindustar
1 Indian Recreations, vol. i. p. 20.
s Heber’s Journal, vol. ill. p. 369.
Hamilton’s Description of Hindustan, vol. ii. p. 483. . . pe.~
a Annals and Antiquities of Rajast'han, vol. i. Personal Narrative, p. o<>/.
A N.
H I N D U S T
Hindustan, dier is rarely sober after sunset. The Sikhs are allowed to
eat the flesh of all animals except the cow. They are strict
in their religious observances ; and converts, whether Hindu
or Mahommedan, must give up all customs which infringe
the tenets of Nanak, or the military institutes of Gooroo
Govind. The military class highly relish the flesh of the
jungle hog, of which they comperMahommedan converts
to partake, and also to abstain from circumcision. The
Sikh merchant or cultivator, if he be a Singh, is still a sol¬
dier in his habits, as he wears arms, and is well trained from
his infancy to the use of them. The original followers of
Nanak, the Kalasa Sikhs, differ widely from the warrior
tribe. They are as pliant, versatile, and insinuating in their
manners as the lower class of Hindus, whom they so much
resemble in their dress and appearance as not to be rea¬
dily distinguished. The descendants of Nanak are a mild,
inoffensive race ; and the other religious tribes retain their
peculiar manners.
The Rajpoots inhabit the Rajpoot states of Mewar or
Odeypoor, Marwar or Joudpoor, Bicanere and Kishen-
agur, Kotah, Boondi, Amber or Jeepoor, Jesselmere, and
the Indian desert to the valley of the Indus. They are the
children of the sun and the moon; and, in memory of
their great ancestor the radiant Surya, or Apollo, many of
them wear badges of gilt metal round their necks with the
image of a sun and moon on horseback. The lineage of
both the solar (Soorya) and lunar (Indu) tribes is given
by Colonel lodd, on the authority of the Puranas (sacred
books), a copy of which, obtained from the library of the
Rana of Odeypoor, he carefully consulted, in the presence
of a body of learned pundits. This work contains the va¬
luable results of his learned researches into the antiquities
and history of the Rajpoot tribes, which were conducted
with all the patience and perseverance that an enthusias¬
tic devotion to the subject can alone inspire; and being
guided by philosophy, and the most profound knowledge of
oriental literature, have thrown great light on the history
and character of the ancient inhabitants of Rajpootana.
Vyasu, the Hindu historian, gives fifty-seven princes of the
solar line from Menu to Rama; and fifty-eight from the
same period of the lunar race, from Buddha, its founder,
to Krishna. The establishment of these two grand races in
India is fixed by Colonel Todd at about 2256 years before
the Christian era. From Rama all the tribes termed Soor-
yavansa or Race of the Sun, claim their descent, namely,
the present princes of Mewar, Jeepoor, Marwar, Bicanere,
and their numerous clans ; whilst from those of Buddha and
Krishna the families of Jesselmere and Cutch, extending over
the Indian desert, from the Sutledge to the ocean, deduce
their pedigrees. Colonel Todd draws a parallel between
them and the ancient Scandinavians and Scythians ; and the
striking resemblance that appears in the manners, customs,
and religious opinions of the two nations, he insists, strong¬
ly suggests the idea of a common origin. These ancient
tribes were devoted to the god of war; and the Rajpoot,
he observes, “ delights in blood; his offerings to the god of
battles are sanguinary, blood and wine. The cup of liba¬
tion is the human skull. He loves them because they are
emblematic of the deity he worships; and he is taught to
believe that Hor loves them, who in war is represented
with the skull to drink the foeman’s blood, and in peace
is the patron ot wine and women. With Parbutti on his
knee, his eyes rolling from the juice of the p’foot and opi¬
um, such is this Bacchanalian divinity of war.” “ Is this
Hinduism,” he adds, “ acquired in the burning plains of
India ? Is it not rather a perfect picture of the Scandina¬
vian heroes.”1 This hypothesis of a common origin Colo¬
nel lodd further supports from the Rajpoots slaying the
465
buffalo, hunting the boar and the deer, shooting ducks Hindustan,
and wild fowl; from their ancient use of the war-chariot, v. — v-» y
as appears from the inscriptions and engravings on their
monuments ; from the order of the birds common amongst
them; from their passion for gaming and intoxicating li¬
quors ; from their sensual and slothful habits; from their
funeral ceremonies, particularly from their immolation of fe¬
males, a barbarous custom now abolished through the stre¬
nuous exertions of the British government. The Rajpoots
claiming so splendid a descent are distinguished above all
other tribes by rank and pride of birth, and high aristocratic
feeling; and hence the origin of a barbarous custom among
the chiefs of putting to death their female children as soon as
they were born, lest they should contract any base alliance.
Others say that this custom was occasioned by the practice
amongst the Rajpoot princes of providing splendid dowries
for their daughters, by which they were frequently impove¬
rished, and to avoid which they murdered them in infancy.
Colonel Todd, the depth of whose researches into the ancient
literature of the Hindus appears in his accurate and lively
delineation of the national character and manners of the Raj¬
poots, ascribes to their chiefs a more ancient and chivalrous
descent than many of the royal houses of Europe. “ From
the most remote periods,” he observes, “ we can trace no¬
thing ignoble, nor any vestige of vassal origin. Reduced
in power, circumscribed in territory, compelled to yield
much of their splendour and many of the dignities of birth,
they have not abandoned an iota of the pride and high
bearing arising from a knowledge of their illustrious and
regal descent. The poorest Rajpoot of this day,” he adds,
“ retains all the pride of ancestry, often his sole inheritance ;
he scorns to hold the plough, or to use his lance but on
horseback. In these aristocratic ideas he is supported by
his reception among his superiors, and the respect paid to
him by his inferiors.” These honours and gradations of rank
are supported by peculiar privileges, each of the superior or¬
ders being entitled to a banner, to kettle-drums, preceded by
heralds, and silver maces, with peculiar gifts and personal
honours in commemoration of some exploit of their an¬
cestors. Armorial bearings are used by the martial Raj¬
poots ; a golden sun on a crimson field adorns the great
banner of Mewar ; those of the chiefs bear a dagger, whilst
others display a fine coloured flag; and the lion ram¬
pant in an argent field was the warlike emblem of the now
extinct state of Chanderi.2 The Rajpoots are divided into
thirty-six royal races, described by Colonel Todd; to each is
attached a bard, who is acquainted with all the peculiarities,
religious tenets, and ancient history of the tribe. These
are subdivided into an infinite variety of lesser clans, each
more or less honourable as they can trace their pure de¬
scent from the original and illustrious founders of their race.
The character of the Rajpoots, as given by Bishop Heber on
the authority of Captain Macdonald, the political resident of
the Company in that district, is far from favourable. “ The
people,” he observes, “ who are generally oppressed, and
have been, till very lately, engaged in incessant war, have
the vices of slaves added to those of robbers, with no more
regard to truth than the natives of our own provinces,
exceeding them in drunkenness, fondness for opium, and
sensuality, whilst they have a blood-thirstiness from which
the great mass of the Hindus are very far removed. Their
courage, however, and the gallant efforts they made to de¬
fend their territories against the Mahrattas, deserve high
praise.” They are extremely attached to their respective
chiefs, to whom they yield a feudal obedience. The lands
are let at low rents, on the condition of military service,
every village furnishing its contingent of horsemen on the
shortest notice. One of the chiefs who visited the above
1 See Annals and Antiquities of Rajast'han, by Lieutenant-Colonel Todd, p. Gil.
VOL. XI.
4 /62d. p. 138.
3 N
HINDUSTAN.
466
Hindustan, traveller, and who is said by him to have been a striking
specimen of the tribe, is described as “ young and hand¬
some, but dirty in his dress, boisterous in his manner,
talking with a great deal of gesticulation, many winks,
nods, beckonings, and other marks of intelligence; and
half drunk.” Colonel Todd’s work contains an accurate and
instructive delineation of the manners and feudal relations
amongst the Rajpootana chiefs; of their martial virtues,
their romantic fidelity and honour, and their high pride,
the parent at once of the noblest deeds and the deepest
crimes ; with which, according to their enthusiastic annal¬
ist, Colonel Todd, their history is stained. Family feuds
are frequent amongst them, and last for centuries. They
are handed down, as an inheritance, from generation to
generation; and thus the debt accumulates with interest,
“ the deep reversion of delayed revenge,” till it is extin¬
guished in the blood of the hostile tribes. Hence murders,
burnings, poisonings, mingle in their domestic annals with
traits of generosity and romantic valour ; and the modern
Rajpoots, though they are certainly not improved, differ
little in their manners and prejudices from their ancestors.1
The Bheels, another predatory tribe, inhabiting the moun¬
tains situated near the Nerbuddah and the Tuptee rivers,
thence extending northward towards Rajpootana, west¬
ward towards the province of Gujerat, where they meet
the Coolies, and eastward to Gundwana, where they come
in contact with the Gonds, two other predatory tribes, are
supposed to have been the aborigines of Central India. All
these tribes are averse to industry, and subsist by plunder,
by hunting, or by cultivation, when all other expedients fail.
The Coolies near the sea-coast lived, until lately, by fishing
or piracy. The Bheels inhabit the interior; and during
the unhappy period of disorder and rapine in India, ter¬
minated by the triumph of the British arms in 1817, they
had by their inroads laid waste several districts, and were
rapidly increasing in power. They were frequently hired
by the native chiefs to assist in their desolating wars, as
horsemen or as infantry, armed with bows and arrows, and
nearly naked. Thieves and savages as they are, Bishop
Heber found that the British officers stationed in that dis¬
trict thought them, on the whole, a better race than their
conquerors. “ Their word,” he observes, “ is more to be
depended on ; they are of a franker and livelier character;
their women are far better treated, and enjoy more influ¬
ence ; and though they shed blood without scruple in cases
of deadly feud, or in the regular way of a foray, they are
not vindictive or inhospitable under other circumstances,
several British officers having with perfect safety gone
hunting and fishing into their country without escort or
guide except what these poor savages themselves cheerfully
furnished for a little brandy.” The Bheels in the south
of Malwah were partly reclaimed by the wise and conci¬
liatory policy of Sir John Malcolm. In the mountainous
tracts of the province of Guzerat they were at first harshly
treated, and severity only tended to confirm their primitive
habits. Subsequently a milder and more enlightened course
of policy was pursued by the British government, and the re¬
sults proved highly satisfactory. “ The Bheels,” says Captain
Graham, “ from outcasts have become members of civil so¬
ciety, daily rising in respectability, and forming useful and obe¬
dient subjects of the state.” The Gonds are a miserable race
in Gundwana, occupying the fastnesses of the mountains.
They approach nearly to astate of nature, and frequently de¬
scend from the mountains, especially during the harvest,' to
plunder their ancient inheritance in the plains. Having within
the last fifty years acquired a taste for salt and sugar, they
have begun to cultivate the land, in order to obtain these
luxuries. The Gonds bear a striking resemblance to the Hindustan
African negro. The Grassias are another race of plun-
derers who are numerous in Gujerat, the most western
province of India. They have or pretend to have ancient
claims on the land, many portions of which were either
surrendered to them by the proprietors for the secure pos¬
session of the remainder; or they received an annual pay¬
ment in money (toda) in full of all demands, as black-mail
was paid in Scotland to the Highland robbers during the
disorders of the feudal times. The Grassias seldom levied
these claims in person ; but, assuming the character of
chieftains, they rallied around them a band of adventurers,
who levied their grassia claim, and who, under this autho¬
rity, plundered and laid waste the country. These Gras¬
sias are of no sect or caste; they include Hindus and Ma-
hommedans indiscriminately. But, of all these predatory
races in Hindustan, the Coolies, who haunt the shores of
the great salt marsh called the Runn, near the Gulf of Cutch,
are the most untameable. They resist every approach to ci¬
vilization, and pride themselves upon their mean and filthy
dress. The tribes of thieves which are found in India, un¬
der the various designations of Grassias, Catties, Bhatties, or
wandering outlaws who worship the sun and moon, Coolies,
Bheels or Mewassies, Meenas, Buddicks, Cozauks, and the
like, generally wander along the rugged banks of rivers, or
among inaccessible mountains. The Bhats are a singular
race, who are most numerous in Gujerat. Some are cultiva¬
tors, others beggars and itinerant bards or traders ; whilst a
few are contractors for the payment of the public revenue,
receiving a small per centage on the amount, or guarantee
the observance of private agreements and awards. The
Cherons are a sect of Hindus nearly resembling the Bhats
in their manners and customs. They are carriers of heavy
goods, such as grain and other articles, in which they are
also dealers, and possess large droves of cattle for carriage.
They are likewise engaged to protect travellers in the wild
parts of the country, and take an oath to die by their own
hands in the event of those who are under their protection
being plundered; and the superstitious thieves of Hindustan
are always overawed by this threat of the Cherons, whom
they hold in great veneration.2 The population of Hindustan
contains other tribes or sects, too numerous and diversified
to be described in detail, and differing, if not in language,
at least in dialect, and in their manners, customs, and occu¬
pations. The Phasingars in the south of India, and the
Thugs, are professional murderers; the latter are compos¬
ed of men of all castes, even Brahmins, who, when mur¬
ders are corpmitted, are frequently the chief directors in
the scene. Their practice is to decoy the traveller into
the midst of their band, and then, drowning his cries by the
noise of pretended revelry, to strangle him by suddenly
throwing a noose round his neck, after which the body is
cast into a grave previously dug for it. But this tribe, toge¬
ther with the Gwarriahs, who live by stealing children, are fast
disappearing under the strict rule of the British. The Brin-
jarrees and Loodanahs, or carriers of grain, are a singular
wandering race, who dwell in tents, and have no home; pass¬
ing their whole time in transporting grain from one part of the
country to another. They move about in large bodies with
their wives, children, dogs, and loaded bullocks; and carry
arms, with which they stoutly defend themselves against
petty thieves. In war they are allowed to pass and repass
quietly as neutrals between hostile armies, and to sell sup¬
plies of grain to either party. It was from the Brinjarrees
that Lord Cornwallis received all the supplies for his army
when he advanced against the capital of Mysore in 1799.
The Dorians, a singular race, who inhabit Orissa, are dis-
1 Annals of Rajasfhan, vol. i. chap. 3.
For a more lull account of some of these tribes, see the article on Gujekat, a province in which they abound.
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, tinguished by their feminine appearance, so that they are
often mistaken ibr women. They are timid, dissolute in
their manners, and more practised in low cunning than any
other people in the East, though they are said to be honest
and industrious. The pastoral tribes, the Todawarsor To-
deries, and the Koties, inhabit the table-land of Mysore ;
the first a manly race in features, and of a proud and inde¬
pendent character, strongly resembling the ancient Ro¬
mans ; the second more diminutive, with darker complexions,
and less expressive features. They are considered as the
aborigines of these highlands. The Toderies are herdsmen,
wandering from pasture to pasture, and they and the Koties
always go bare-footed and bare-headed. The Nairs in
Malabar form a singular caste, from their peculiar manners
and customs. Pretending to be soldiers by birth, they
disdain all industry ; and are often seen parading up and
down fully armed, each man with a firelock, and with at
least one if not two sabres, which they more frequently use
in secret assassination than in open war. Amongst the
Nairs marriage is a mere form, and both sexes indulge in
a promiscuous intercourse. The women are married before
they are ten years of age ; but the husband never cohabits
with his wife. He allows her a suitable maintenance, whilst
she lives with her brothers, and cohabits indiscriminately
with any person of an equal or higher rank. Owing to this
irregular intercourse, no Nair knows his own father; and
every man considers his sister’s children as his heirs.”1
The Nestorian Christians are numerous in the S. of India,
and are a peaceful and industrious race. The Roman Ca¬
tholics, the descendants of the Portuguese, French, Dutch,
and other Europeans or converts to their faith, are sunk in
idolatry not much superior to that of the Hindus. The
foreign races in India are the mercenary x\rabs, who are
brave soldiers, ready to fight on any side for good pay ; and
the Chinese, who are fast increasing in Calcutta; their num¬
ber, according to the last census of that city, amounting to
nearly 1000. Another race has sprung up in India since
the country was occupied by the British, who are known by
the various names of Europeans, Anglo-Indians, Indo-
Britons, half-castes, and the like, but who have now assumed
the appellation of East Indians. They are the descendants
of Europeans, either British or others, by native mothers,
legitimate and illegitimate. They speak the English lan¬
guage, and follow all the European habits, and the Protes¬
tant religion. The number residing in Calcutta in 1850
was 4615. These are subject to the law administered by
the crown judges in the Queen’s court at Calcutta, but
beyond the limits of the jurisdiction of this court, East
Indians are amenable to the judicial courts, over which
the Company’s civil servants preside. In these courts the
judge has not the power of life and death, but he is com¬
petent to sentence to long terms of imprisonment. All
capital cases are referred for the disposal of the Nizamut
Adawlut, the highest of the Company’s courts in India.
East Indians and others not professing the Mohammedan
faith, are not tried under the provisions of the Mohammedan
criminal law, but under regulations passed by the Govern¬
ment of India, the judge being assisted by assessors or by
a jury, but having power to overrule their opinion. In the
year 1793 East Indians were excluded by express enact¬
ments from the civil and military service of the Company,
and were only eligible to subordinate situations in public
offices ; though of late years this exclusion was only ap¬
plied in its rigour to the immediate descendants of Euro¬
pean and Indian parents, all others being eligible to civil
and military offices. Prior to 1793, the East Indians were
freely admitted into the army, and several of them attained
467
to the rank of generals and colonels, and commanded large Hindustan,
bodies of troops with efficiency and success. Notwith- v j
standing the restrictive law, there were still examples of
their admission into the Company’s service. Those who
are not engaged in the public service follow other profes¬
sions. Some have acquired high reputation and large for¬
tunes by medical practice. Others are employed as plant¬
ers, schoolmasters, architects, printers, carvers and gilders,
or engaged in commerce. The laws passed in 1833 and
1853 for regulating the Company’s affairs, abolish these
unjust and illiberal distinctions, and render every class,
of whatever caste or religion, eligible to all offices civil and
military.2
Such are some of the principal tribes who inhabit the
low country of Central and Northern India, “whilst the
mountains and woods, wherever they occur, show specimens
of a race entirely different from all these, and in a state of
society scarcely elevated above the savages of New Holland
or New Zealand.” It is finely observed by Sir John Mal¬
colm in his History of Persia, that, in the conquest of a
country, the rocks and the mountains often afford a last
asylum to the brave and the free; and accordingly, many
of the native tribes in Hindustan, flying from the destroy¬
ing sword, have thus maintained for ages a savage inde¬
pendence, and all the distinct traces of an original race.
The elevated tract in Bengal, reaching from Rajamahal to
Burdwan, is inhabited by several tribes of mountaineers,
and amongst them the barbarous Santals, who are probably
the aborigines of the country; and, from their features,
language, civilization, and religion, are obviously of a dif¬
ferent stock from those in the plains. Amongst the Puhar-
rees, who inhabit this tract, the Hindu institution of castes
is unknown ; the Hindu deities are equally so; and they
have no idols, being nearly in the condition of savages.
They subsist by the chase, their arms are bows and arrows,
and they are nearly naked. They formerly waged inces¬
sant war with the cultivators of the plains, whom they
robbed and murdered, and were in their turn hunted by
the Mohammedan zemindars like wild beasts. Having
been kindly treated and conciliated by the British, they are
so far reclaimed from their wild habits, that a battalion of
sepoys has been raised from amongst them. The peculiar
features of the rude tribes in the eastern hills of Bengal,
and the adjacent plains, equally indicate a distinct origin.
The Kookies, who live in the mountains to the N.E. of the
Chittagong district, have all the peculiar features of a Tar¬
tar countenance ; the flat nose, the small eyes, and the
broad round face. They are stout and muscular, though
not tall; and they are hunters and warriors, armed with
bows and arrows, clubs and spears. They live in the
most inaccessible hills, in a state of constant warfare, and,
like all savages, are cruel and vindictive.
The inhabitants of Hindustan rank much lower in the Religion,
scale of civilization than the nations of Europe. They are
far behind them in literature, science, and the arts, and in
all the civil institutions of society ; and their religion is
that of a rude people, consisting in an endless detail of
troublesome ceremonies, which are deeply interwoven with
the whole system of life. The reason of man, in contem¬
plating the wonders of creation, is directed by the light of
nature to one great First Cause ; and in the structure of the
universe are clearly seen the divine attributes of goodness,
wisdom, and almighty power. Accordingly, Brahm, or
God, is declared, in many passages of the Vedas or sacred
writings of the Hindus, to be the almighty, infinite, eternal,
self-existent being, who sees all things, and is every¬
where present; the creator and lord of the universe, its
^ Buchanan’s Journey from Madras, vol. ii., p. 412.
2 Minutes of Evidence before Select Committee on the Affairs of the East India Company, on a Petition of certain Christian Inhabi¬
tants of Calcutta, &c., presented to the House of Commons on the 4th May last. (21st June 1831.)
468 HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, preserver and its destroyer, who can neither be described
nor adequately conceived by the limited faculties of man.
But with these simple conceptions of the divine majesty
other grosser ideas are combined, and a system of polythe¬
ism, accompanied by the most extravagant and obscene
fables, and all the disgusting, cruel, and blood-thirsty rites
of an abominable idolatry. Whilst Brahm, the Supreme
Being, is supposed to remain in holy obscurity, he has dis¬
tributed respectively to three other deities, Brahma, Vish¬
nu, and Siva, the power of creating, preserving, and de¬
stroying the world. But it does not appear that these dei¬
ties are strictly confined to their separate functions; Vish¬
nu, the preserver, frequently employing himself in acts of
destruction; and Siva, on the other hand, in acts of benefi¬
cence. In short, the Hindu creed presents no clear nor de¬
terminate ideas. All is vague, inaccurate, and confused.
• Brahma, the creator, is represented as a golden-coloured
figure, with four heads and four arms. Vishnu, the pre¬
server, is represented of a black or blue colour, with four
arms, and a club to punish the wicked. The emblems un¬
der which he is represented refer to his vindictive charac¬
ter. He has three eyes, to denote the three divisions of
time past, present, and future. A crescent in his forehead
refers to the measuring of time by the lunar revolutions,
as a serpent denotes it by years ; and the necklace of skulls
■which he wears, the extinction of mankind in successive
generations. The great ends of his providence are brought
about by various incarnations of the Hindu deity. Of
these visible appearances, denominated avatars in the Hin¬
du mythology, there are ten, of which nine have already
taken place ; and although the Hindu account of what
took place at these times is a tissue of absurdity, extrava¬
gance, and indecency, yet we may trace, under a mass of
fable, the Scripture account of the deluge, with various
other points of the Christian theology. But the history of
the creation from a seed deposited in the waters, which
became an egg, from which Brahma the creator was born,
is in the highest degree absurd and profane. At the tenth
avatar, which is yet to come, Vishnu, as is foretold, will
appear on a white horse, with a scimitar blazing like a co¬
met, for the everlasting punishment of the wicked who
shall then be on the earth. Each earthly incarnation of the
divinity gives rise to a new deity; and there are, besides, in¬
numerable other minor deities, amounting, it is said, to 330
millions. All the great elements of nature are deified by
the extravagant superstition of the Hindus; also the fir¬
mament of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars; every river,
fountain, and stream, is either a deity in itself or has a divi¬
nity presiding over it, nothing being done without some
supernatural agency; and there are, besides, innumerable
myriads of demigods, to whose honour idols are erected
and worshipped by all classes with much apparent devotion.
Stocks and stones, or a lump of clay smeared over with a
little red paint, are converted into a god, and reverenced,
by the ignorant Hindu. Any figure, either of brute or man,
or any monstrous combination of both, with a multiplicity
of heads and hands, mark a Brahminical place of worship.
In the lapse of ages, great changes have been introduced
into the religious practices of the Hindus; and sectaries have
arisen amongst them, each with peculiar objects of adoration
and modes of worship. Five great sects worship exclu¬
sively a single deity; one recognises the five divinities
that are respectively reverenced by the other sects, but
they select one object for daily adoration, whilst they per¬
form only occasional rites to the other deities. The Ve¬
das, or the Hindu Scriptures, were revealed before the ap¬
pearance of Buddha, the ninth incarnation of Vishnu, which
is supposed to have taken place in the year 1014 before
the Christian era. He appears to have borrowed his the-
ology from the system of Capila, in which the unlawfulness
of killing animals is inculcated as an essential point. But
the overthrow of the Buddhists did not revive the religious Hindustan,
system inculcated in the Vedas. The doctrines taught in
these sacred books are now mostly obsolete, and in their
stead new forms and ceremonies have been instituted, and
new orders of devotees. In particular the goddess Kali,
the consort of Siva, who delights in blood, has been propiti¬
ated by the sacrifice of animals ; and the worship of Rama
and Krishna, incarnations of Vishnu, and of Siva the de¬
stroyer, appears to have been introduced since the perse¬
cution of the Buddhists and Jains.
The worshippers of Buddha, though they believe in the
incarnation of Vishnu, are regarded as heretical by the
Hindus, and have been compelled, by persecution, to fly
to other countries. They have now propagated their faith
over the greater part of Eastern India, in China, and as far
as Japan; also in Thibet and Ceylon. The Jains are ano¬
ther sect of Hindus, who acknowledge only as subordinate
deities some, if not all, of the gods of the Brahmins, and the
prevailing sects ; and assign the highest place to certain dei¬
fied saints, who, according to their creed, have risen to the
dignity of superior gods. They neither address prayers
nor perform sacrifices to the sun or the fire; and they re¬
ject the authority of the Vedas, as do also the Buddhists.
The presence of umbrella-covered pyramids, or semi-globes,
and of plain human figures sitting cross-legged, or stand¬
ing in an attitude of contemplation, point out the temple
or excavation of a Buddhist. The twenty-four saintly
figures, without the pyramid, indicate a Jain temple.
The sacred books of the Hindus, though they inculcate
generally all the moral duties of justice, mercy, and bene¬
volence, yet seem, like every other system of false religion,
to give the first place to the ceremonial law; and according¬
ly the devotion of the Hindus consists in mere outward ob¬
servances, and is not inconsistent with the most scandalous
crimes. Under the Christian system, there can be no piety
to God without benevolence to man. But the troublesome
ceremonies of the Hindu religion encroach, not only on all
moral duties, but on the whole business of life ; and confer
such a stock of atoning merit that they seem to supersede
the weightier matters of the law. The observances which
are imposed upon a Brahmin commence when he rises in the
morning, and consist in divers ablutions and prayers, in
the worship of the rising sun, in the inaudible recitation
of the gayatri, or the holiest text of the Vedas, in holy
meditation, and in other ceremonies. He has then to
perform the five sacraments, which consist in teaching
and studying the scriptures, which is the sacrament of
the Veda; in offering cakes and water, which is the sacra¬
ment of the manes; in an oblation of fire, the sacrament of
the deities; in giving rice and other food to living crea¬
tures, which is the sacrament of spirits; and in receiving
guests with honour, which is the sacrament of men. The
whole day would not suffice for the punctual performance
of these ceremonies; and they are of necessity abridged,
to give time for the proper business of life. In almost all
the religious traditions of the world we find traces of the
Scripture revelation, however corrupted; and the Hindu sys¬
tem seems to have borrowed, and to have greatly extended,
the typical impurities of the Mosaic law. The rules on
this subject, pointing out the Causes of defilement, and the
modes of purification, are numerous, many of them to the
last degree absurd and troublesome. The death or the birth
of a child renders all the kindred unclean. Any one who
touches a dead body, a new-born child, an outcast, &c. is
unclean; or a Brahmin who has touched a human bone.
The natural functions of the body give occasion to many
minute and disgusting regulations; and the modes of puri¬
fication are equally strange and ridiculous. Of these, bath¬
ing is the most rational; the other modes are by stroking
a cow, looking at the sun, or having the mouth sprinkled
with water. He who is bitten by any animal frequenting
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, a town, or by a mare, a camel, or a beat, is unclean; and
he is purified by stopping his breath during one inaudible
repetition of the gayatri. Inanimate substances may also
be unclean, and the various modes of purifying them rival
in absurdity the other extravagances of the Hindu code of
religious observances.
The expiation of sin by voluntary penance is another
favourite doctrine of the Brahmins, by which they contrive
to awe superstitious minds into subjection; and in their
estimate of offences, with a view to suitable penances,
they subvert all moral distinctions. “ Acts naturally in¬
different,” says the author of Indian Recreations, “are put
on the same footing with immoralities; eating certain ar¬
ticles ot food, drinking certain liquors, or touching certain
objects, are declared forfeitures, and are expiated by pe¬
nance as immoral conduct. Forgetting texts of scripture is
classed with perjury; eating things forbidden, with killing
a friend ; incest and adultery are compared to slaying a bull
or a cow; drinking forbidden liquor, to killing a Brahmin.
In several instances, actions highly meritorious according to
our notions, are put on the same footing with a conduct
implying great infamy. Working in mines of any sort,
engaging in dykes, bridges, or other great mechanical works,
is classed with subsisting by the harlotry of a wife, and
preparing charms to destroy the innocent.”1 To these ar¬
tificial offences, penances are either affixed by the Brah¬
mins, or are voluntarily undertaken by their pious votaries;
and these generally consist in fasts, mortifications, watchings,
and other bodily privations. “ If a Brahmin,” says Menu,
“ have killed a man of the sacerdotal class without malice,
he must make a hut in a forest, and dwell in it twelve whole
years, subsisting on alms, for the purification of his soul.
If the slayer be a king, he may perform sacrifices, with pre¬
sents of great value; if a person of wealth has committed
this offence, he may give all his property to some Brahmin
learned in the Veda.” In some cases the penances consist
in eating what is filthy and disgusting. If a Brahmin kill
by design a cat, or an ichneumon, the bird chisha, or a
frog, a dog, a lizard, an owl, or a crow, he must perform
the ordinary penance required for the death of a Sudra,
one of the lowest caste, who are thus no more valued than
a cat or a frog. A particular class of devotees, namely, the
Fakirs, signalize their piety by enduring the severest
tortures, and with a constancy worthy of a better cause.
Bishop Heber describes, with his usual force, the appear¬
ance of these eastern monks as he entered the holy city
of Benares. “ Fakirs’ houses,” he observes, “ as they are
called, occur at every turn, adorned with idols, and send¬
ing forth an unceasing tinkling and strumming of vinas,
byyals, and other discordant instruments; while religious
mendicants of every Hindu sect, offering every conceivable
deformity which chalk, cow-dung, disease, matted locks,
distorted limbs, and disgusting and hideous attitudes of
penance, can show, literally line the principal streets on
both sides. Here,” he adds, “ I saw repeated instances
of that penance of which I heard much in Europe, of
• men with their legs and arms voluntarily distorted by
keeping them in one position, and their hands clenched till
the nails grew out at the backs. Their pitiful exclamations
as we passed, £ Agha Sahib, Topee Sahib,' the usual names
in Hindustan for an European, ‘ khana he waste hooch cheez
do,' give me something to eat, soon drew from me the few
pence I had; but it was a drop of water in the ocean; and
the importunities of the rest, as we advanced into the city,
were almost drowned in the hubbub which surrounded us.”2
The tortures which these fanatics endure exceed all belief.
A penitent who went through the ceremony of sitting be-
469
tween five fires, is described by Fraser, who witnessed Hindustan,
the penance at a public festival. Being seated on a quad-
rangular stage, after the sun began to have considerable
power, he stood on one leg gazing stedfastly at its scorch¬
ing beams, whilst fires large enough, says the traveller, to
roast an ox were burning around him, the penitent count¬
ing his beads, and occasionally adding fuel to the flames.
He stood upright on his head in the midst of these fires
for three hours; and then seating himself with his legs
across, he remained till the end of the day exposed to the
scorching heat of both the sun and the fires.3 Other cruel
and bloody rites are contrived by those devotees, the wor¬
shippers of Siva or his consort the goddess Kali. At one
of the festivals in honour of this goddess, Bishop Heber,
who was present, relates, that one of these self-tormentors
had hooks thrust through the muscles of his sides, which
he endured without shrinking, and a broad bandage being
fastened round his waist to prevent the hooks from being
torn through the flesh by the weight of his body, he was
fastened to a long pole, and, by means of another pole fixed
in the ground, he was swung aloft and whirled round in
the air; on a motion being made to take him down, he
made signs for them to proceed, a mark of constancy re¬
ceived with shouts of applause by the ignorant multitude.
Other devotees were seen going about with small spears
thrust through their tongues and arms, or with hot irons
pressed against their sides. Bishop Heber saw another of
these penitents who was actually half roasting himself by a fire
which he had kindled in a hole dug in the ground; another
was seen hopping on one foot, having made a vow never to
use the other, which was now contracted and shrunk up;
and a third had held his hands above his head so long that
he had lost the power of bringing them down to his sides.
Some are seen buried up to the neck in the ground, or even
deeper, with only a small hole for breathing. Some lie on
beds of iron spikes, or tear their flesh with whips, or chain
themselves for life to the foot of a tree, or remain in a
standing posture for years, till their legs swell, and break
out into ulcers, and become at last too weak to support
them; others exhaust their bodily strength with long fast¬
ing, or gaze on the blazing sun, till their eyesight is extin¬
guished. These devotees subsist entirely by charity ; and
Dr Buchanan mentions a class of them in the south of In¬
dia, who wander about with bells tied to their legs and arms,
in order to give notice of their presence as they approach
the villages.4 They are always naked, and filthy in the ex¬
treme, being covered with cow-dung and chalk; and for the
tortures which they endure in public they indemnify them¬
selves in private by the utmost license of sensual indulgence.5
Amongst other observances, the Hindus have always been
much given to religious pilgrimages ; and their holy places
have been generally established near the sea, the sources
and junctions of rivers, which are held in peculiar venera¬
tion, the tops of remarkable hills, hot springs, caves, water¬
falls, or any other place of difficult or dangerous access.
A pilgrimage to Gangoutri, near the sources of the Ganges,
is accounted the great achievement of Hindu piety. To
the waters of this river the superstitious Hindu ascribes
peculiar sanctity, and devoutly worships it throughout its
whole course. But there are particular spots more sacred
than others ; and so great is the resort of pilgrims, and such
their ardour to wash in the sacred stream, that numbers, in
the crush and tumult, are hurried into the water and
drowned, or trodden to death in the crowd.
It is not doubted that, at a period not very remote, the
bloody deities of the Hindus were propitiated with human
sacrifices, and some of the rites still in use amongst them
a zj6 ^ ennant s Indian Recreations, vol- i. p. 155. 3 Mill’s History of British India, vol. i. p. 353.
iieber, vol. i. p. 373. * Journey from Madras, through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar, vol. i. p. 231
6 Martin, vol. i. p. 291.
HINDUSTAN.
470
Hindustan, confirm this suspicion. In some of the native states the
Brahmins, in resisting oppressive demands, resort to a con¬
trivance, in which a human victim is really sacrificed. They
erect a circular pile of wood, on the top of which they place
a cow or an old woman; and if the demand is insisted on,
they set fire to the pile, and consume the sacrifice, which
is supposed to entail on the oppressor the deepest guilt.
Bishop Heber gives, in his narrative, an example of the
sacrifice of an old woman, who, in a quarrel which her hus¬
band had with his neighbour respecting some land, was
thrust into a Mahbout’s hut, and there burned, in order
that her spirit might haunt the spot, and entail a curse upon
the soil. Children were also formerly sacrificed, by throw¬
ing them to the sacred sharks of the Ganges, till the prac¬
tice was forbidden by the British government; and a vo¬
luntary sacrifice of themselves by individuals, in honour of
the gods, is still reckoned meritorious. At the festival of
Juggernaut, the idol is placed on a ponderous machine or
chariot, and dragged forward by a crowd of devotees and
priests, when numbers of the people, even fathers and mo¬
thers, with their children in their arms, throwing themselves
in the way of the chariot, and being crushed to death un¬
der its ponderous wheels, amidst the fanatical cries of the
multitude, are supposed to be conveyed immediately to
heaven. Numerous victims of both sexes drown themselves
annually at the junction of the sacred streams j1 many strike
off their own heads as a sacrifice to the Ganges, whilst
others expiate their sins by casting themselves into the
avenging flames. This act of devotion is accompanied by
atrocities that are truly shocking, the devotee previously lay¬
ing open his bowels with the stroke of a sabre, tearing out his
liver and giving it to a byestander, conversing all the time
with apparent indifference.2 Many other enormities are prac¬
tised at the festivals in honour of their gods, which it would
be endless and disgusting to detail. The custom of a widow
burning herself on the funeral pile of her husband is a noted
rite of the Hindu religion, but the practice has been for some
time abolished within the British territories, and more recently
several of the native princes of India have been also pre¬
vailed upon to prohibit the rite of Suttee within their respec¬
tive dominions. The Hindus in this, as in many other in¬
stances, evince a singular indifference about their own lives;
which also appears in the frequent instances of suicide
amongst them. “ Men,” says Heber, “ and still more women,
throw themselves down wells, or drink poison, for apparent¬
ly the slightest reasons, generally out of some quarrel, and
in order that their blood may be at their enemy’s door.” Ob¬
scenities mingle with these bloody rites, and the most in¬
decent figures are pourtrayed on the chariots used at the
temples, many of them large and richly carved. “ These,”
says Dr Buchanan, “ representing the amours of the god
Krishna, are the most indecent that I have ever seen.”3
Equally indecent representations are carved on the sacred
cars fixed at the temples, in which the musicians and dancing
girls are all prostitutes to the Brahmins, and turned out to
starve when they grow old, unless they have a handsome
daughter to support them from the wages of iniquity. The
state of morals among the Hindus is such as might be ex¬
pected from a religion so impure, and from the gross em¬
blems which are used on sacred occasions; their writings
and their conversation are shocking to European ears; and
even the Hindu women hear without a blush and join in lan¬
guage the most gross and disgusting. They are sensual in
all their ideas, and pursue the intercourse of the sexes with
little more discrimination than the brute creation. Fidelity
to marriage vows is scarcely known amongst them, at least
amongst the men.
A superstitious tenderness for the brute creation is a Hindustan,
peculiar tenet of the Hindu creed, which prohibits the
use of animal food excepting at the great festivals, when
the sacrifices of beasts propitiate the bloody deities, and
serve the natives for a feast.4 But the same abstinence
from animal food is not general throughout Hindustan.
In the north of India it has already been mentioned
that it is freely used by the inhabitants; and, according
to Dr Buchanan, there are castes in the south of India
who eat sheep, goats, hogs, fowls, and fish, though there
are others who religiously abstain from these, and from all
spirituous liquors.5 Several animals, as the cow and the
monkey, are objects of veneration. Bishop Heber, so
often quoted, mentions, that on entering the holy city of
Benares, “ the sacred bulls devoted to Siva, of every age,
tame and familiar as mastiffs, walk lazily up and down
the narrow streets, or are seen lying across them, and
hardly to be kicked up; any blows, indeed, given them
must be of the gentlest kind, or woe be to the profane
wretch who braves the prejudices of a fanatic population,
in order to make way for the tonjon. Monkies, sacred
to Hunimaum, the divine ape, who conquered Ceylon for
Rama, are, in some parts of the town, equally numerous,
clinging to all the roofs and little projections of the tem¬
ples, putting their impertinent heads and hands into every
fruiterer’s or confectioner’s shop, and snatching the food
from the children at their meals.”6 To such a length is this
superstition carried, that they have established an hospital
for sick and infirm beasts, and for fleas, lice, and insects,
though it does not appear, as reported by some travellers,
that they feed these loathsome creatures on the flesh of
beggars hired to lodge in the hospital for that purpose.
An hospital for animals is to be seen at Broach in Gujerat,
which has considerable endowments in land, and in which,
are monkies, peacocks, horses, dogs, cats, and little box¬
es filled with fleas and lice. This hospital was described
to Bishop Heber by the British commercial agent resi¬
dent at Broach. The funds, however, are said to be
alienated by the avaricious Brahmins, and the animals
allowed to starve. With all this veneration for animals,
they are nowhere more cruelly treated. They are over¬
worked and abused in a manner shocking to a European.
“ They treat their draft horses,” says Bishop Heber, “ with
a degree of barbarous severity which would turn an Eng¬
lish hackney coachman sicknor do they show any
greater sympathy for human beings, who are allowed to
perish before their eyes from hunger or disease. Lepers,
according to their base and irrational superstition, are
treated as objects of the divine wrath; they are cruelly
neglected, and regarded with abhorrence rather than with
sympathy.
The transmigration of souls is another favourite tenet
of the Brahmin superstition. The souls of good men
migrate in the next world into hermits, religious mendi¬
cants, Brahmins, demi-gods, genii, or other celebrated in¬
telligences; and the best ascend to the condition of Brah¬
ma with four faces. The next gradation allotted to souls
filled with passion is into men and not into deities, into
cudgel players, boxers, wrestlers, actors, or those of a
higher class into the bodies of kings, and the highest
become genii, attendants on the superior gods ; whilst
souls filled with darkness are degraded into the lower
animals, such as worms, reptiles, cattle, &c. or into ele¬
phants, horses, Sudras (the lowest caste), or into the still
more degraded class of men of no caste, or into lions, ti¬
gers, &c.; to the highest are allotted the forms of dancers,
singers, &c. birds, giants, blood-thirsty savages. Particu-
1 Tennant, vol. ii. p 250.
* Mill’s Hittory of British India, voL i. p. 358.
Journey from Madras, through Mysore, Canara, and MalnMr, vol. ii. p. 237.
4 Journey from Madras, &c. vol. i. p. 262.
* Ibid. vol. i. p. 248.
6 Heber’s Narrative, &c. vol. i. p. 373.
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan.]ar migrations are assigned as the punishment of certain
enormities ; but it is useless to pursue the system further
into its absurd and disgusting details,
Manners. The religion of Hindustan is so closely interwoven with
its customs, manners, and laws, that they can scarcely be
described separately. The division of a Hindu commu¬
nity into castes is an institution, not of policy, but of re¬
ligion, which embraces the whole detail and intercourse
of life. There are four original or pure castes, namely,
the Brahmins, or priests; 2d, the Cshatriyas, or military
caste ; 3d, the Vaisyas, or husbandmen ; and, 4?th, the Su-
dras, or labourers. Of these the Brahmins are declared
to hold the first rank, and to be the lords of all the other
classes. A want of due reverence to them, especially by
the lowest or the Sudra class, is accounted one of the most
atrocious crimes. The laws and manners equally concur
to maintain the honour, and all the substantial privileges,
of this sacred order. They are exempted from taxation,
and from the sanguinary laws which affect the other
classes. Neither the life nor property of a Brahmin can
be touched, even though he commit the most atrocious
crimes; and the whole scope of the Hindu religion is to
heap gifts and wealth upon them. “ Every offence,” says
Orme, “ is capable of being expiated by largesses to the
Brahmins, prescribed by themselves, according to their
own measures of avarice and sensuality.”1 The duties
of the Brahmins are to meditate on divine things, to read
the Vedas, to instruct the young Brahmins, and to per¬
form sacrifices and other religious acts. The Cshatriyas,
or the military rank, is next in order to that of the Brah¬
mins. Their duty is to bear arms in defence of the state,
and they rank as high above the lower orders as the Brah¬
mins do above them. The Vaisyas, the third caste of
Hindus, tend cattle, or engage in trade and agriculture.
They rank only above the Sudras, from whom, however,
they receive the same deference and submission which
they give to the higher castes. To the Sudra, or the low¬
est class, are allotted all the meanest and most servile du¬
ties ; they are regarded with abhorrence by the other
tribes, to whom religion prescribes their most abject sub¬
mission, as well as every other species of degradation.
They are in a manner excluded from the privileges of the
social state. They pay a higher rate of interest for mo¬
ney than any of the other classes, they are more cruelly
punished for crimes committed against them, whilst an
injury to a degraded Sudra is a light and venial offence.
They are held to be in a state of slavery, they cannot
possess property, and at any time a Brahmin may seize
the goods of his Sudra slave. So degraded are they, that
under this gloomy, unsocial superstition, a Brahmin can¬
not lawfully read the Veda in presence of any of them,
nor give them spiritual counsel or instruction, under pain
of sinking with them into hell. To each of these classes,
into which society is divided, are assigned, under the se¬
verest penalties, particular and hereditary employments.
But the rigid severity of this law is softened by the follow¬
ing exceptions. A Brahmin who cannot find employ¬
ment in his own spiritual line, may descend to the exercise
of military duties, or to tillage and attendance on cattle,
or to traffic, only avoiding certain commodities. In like
manner, a Cshatriya in distress may have recourse to ail
inferior employments, though not to the higher duties of
the Brahmins. The practice of medicine and other
learned professions, of painting and other arts, common
labour, menial service, begging, or serving, may be re¬
sorted to upon the plea of necessity. A Vaisya may de-
471
scend to the servile work of a Sudra; and a Sudra may Hindustan,
subsist by handicrafts, as joinery, masonry, painting, and v ■- v
writing, by which he may serve the higher classes; or by
trade or husbandry. The loss of caste is one of the most
serious calamities which can befall a Hindu, and may in
fact be compared to the spiritual anathemas of the Ca¬
tholic church during the dark ages of Europe. If the
loss of caste were the penalty of immorality, the fear
of it would impose a salutary restraint. But this is
far from being the case. The most abandoned Brahmin
retains his rank, notwithstanding his crimes; but he will
entirely forfeit it and lose all countenance in society by
touching impure food, or by some such petty delinquen¬
cy. lo sit down at a meal with one of an inferior caste,
would be deemed a monstrous pollution; and a naked
Hindu would think himself defiled by the presence of the
first monarch of Europe at any of his meals. “ While
dinner is preparing,” says Tennant, “ and during eating,
a small circle is drawn round the company, which an Eu¬
ropean, if he pass, infallibly defiles the meal; it is thrown
to the dogs, and other victuals provided, though a single
one be all the treasure of the family.”2
Such may be considered as in theory the structure of a
Hindu community. But since, in the progress of society,
this strict division into classes with distinct employments
could not long be maintained, we accordingly find that,
by illicit connexions, the pure races are intermixed, and
children born who, being of no caste, are therefore impure,
and objects of execration to all the other tribes. This
impure race, denominated the Burren Sunker, and classi¬
fied into distinct tribes, have become artisans and handi¬
craftsmen of every description. From the intermixture of
these various races innumerable mixed tribes have sprung,
and the pure blood of the four original tribes is scarcely to
be found; so that Mr Rickards, in his accurate account
of Indian manners, says, “ I have never met with a per¬
son who could prove himself a genuine Cshatriya, Vaisya,
or Sudra; whilst of those who pretend to be of pure de¬
scent, Brahmins and other respectable and intelligent
Hindus have assured me that they have no right to the
distinction; that the genuine tribes above named are ex¬
tinct, and their descendants in this generation all of mix¬
ed blood. If, however, any do now exist, they must be
too thinly scattered to affect the general interests of so¬
ciety by their privileges or numbers. “ A real Cshatriya
prince,” he adds, “ is not to be found in these days ; all
the greater princes of India, excepting the peshwa, a
Brahmin, are base-born.”3 Nor, amidst this confusion of
ranks, has it been possible to adhere to thestrictallotmentof
certain employments to particular castes. The Brahmi ns no
doubt still form a distinct order; their privileges are will¬
ingly conceded to them by the superstitious multitude,
and the inferior castes have never encroached on their holy
functions. But those of the other castes have been con¬
founded. War has not been the exclusive employment
of the Cshatriya caste; for the Indian armies are recruit¬
ed from all denominations and castes. Nor have the
Vaisya and the Sudra castes been more successful in the
monopoly of their employments ; seeing that all the vari¬
ous castes follow their allotted duties, and fill every branch
of agriculture, commerce, handicraft, and menial service.4
But the institution of castes, though it has not been strict¬
ly acted upon, being at variance with the fixed order of
human society, has nevertheless deeply affected the as¬
pect and structure of the Hindu communities ; and whilst
it exalts the order of priests, it degrades the lower classes
1
3
4
Orme On the Government and People of Hindustan, p. 433. 2 See Indian Recreations, vol. i. p. 121.
India, or Facts submitted to illustrate the Character and Condition of the Native Inhabitants, &c. By li. Rickards, Esq. vol. L p. 29
rhid. n. 30 ? a* r •
H I N D U S T A N.
472
Hindustan to the level of the brutes. It is the source of cruel and
anti-social prejudices, entirely opposite to those Christian
feelings of benevolence by which man is bound to his fel¬
low men ; and by which the different orders of society, in¬
stead of being harshly separated, are softened and blended, as
in the communities of Europe, into one harmonious whole.
Besides these degraded castes, whose condition is little
better than that of slaves, numbers of unfortunate persons
were until very recently reduced to actual slavery throughout
India.1 All the jaghiredars, zemindars, principal Brahmins,
and talookdars employed domestic slaves in their establish¬
ment ; and in every Mahratta household of consequence
they were considered as indispensable. They were also
employed in the labours of the field, in the cultivation of
rice, and were in the lowest state of degradation, ill-fed and
worse clothed, and most wretched in their appearance.
But the British parliament, in legislating in the year 1833
for the better government of India, made it incumbent upon
the governor-general in council to take into immediate
consideration the means of mitigating the state of slavery,
and of ameliorating the condition of slaves ; and of extin¬
guishing slavery throughout the territories subject to their
jurisdiction so soon as such extinction should be practicable
and safe. The result was the passing of a legislative act
by the government of India, which, by refusing to recognise
the right to property in slaves, and by extending protection
to both the persons and property of parties so styled, has
substantially put an end to the institution of slavery within
the territories under the government of the East India
Company. The British Government has also strenuously
laboured to procure the abolition of slavery in the native
states of India, and its efforts have been generally success¬
ful. In Travancore it still exists, and the slaves are described
as in the lowest possible state of degradation. Not only are
they held by private persons, but some are the property of
the government, which derives a small revenue from letting
out their services to such cultivators as require them. The
British resident has pressed upon the minister the manu¬
mission of the children of these slaves; in addition to which the
home authorities have suggested the emancipation of the
parents also ; and the subject of praxlial slavery generally,
with a view to its entire abolition at an early period, has
been recommended to especial attention. In consequence
of this pressure a proclamation was issued in 1853, declar¬
ing free the children of slaves of the state who may be sub- Hindustan,
sequently born ; forbidding the seizure of private slaves in
satisfaction of debts; recognising the rights of slaves to
possess property and to enjoy the protection of the law;
directing the emancipation of slaves connected with pro¬
perty lapsing to the state, and prescribing regulations
intended to preserve that unhappy class from oppression.
How far these rules will be effective against the opposition
of both prince and people remains to be seen ; but it is
something to have obtained a recognition of the right of
slaves to be dealt with as human beings.
The Hindus are by no means a moral people. Not¬
withstanding the gentleness and feminine softness of their
manners and address, they frequently commit the most re¬
volting acts of cruelty. The practice of murdering chil¬
dren for the sake of the silver ornaments in which, by the
vanity of their parents, they are attired, is common among
them; and the gang-robbers of India are noted for the
horrible tortures which they inflict on their unhappy victims,
in their eager search after their hidden treasures. “ Pesti¬
lence, or beasts of prey,” says Dr Buchanan, “ are gentle
in comparison of Hindu robbers.” According to the obser¬
vation of Orme, the politics of Hindustan would afford in a
century more frequent examples of sanguinary cruelty than
the whole history of Europe since the reign of Charlemagne.
“ How many princes,” observes this writer, “ have been
stabbed in full durbar” (in open court). “ How many
have been poisoned in their beds. Chiefs of armies cir¬
cumvented and cut off at conferences in the field. Fa¬
vourite courtiers strangled, without previous notice of their
crime, or while they thought themselves on the eve of de¬
stroying their masters.”2 Murders amongst the Hindus,
even by poison, excite no feeling of deep abhorrence, as
among the nations of Europe ; and the cold-blooded villany
of the Hindu is often remarkable. Mr Holwell mentions,
that when he sat as judge at Calcutta, he had heard it stat¬
ed in defence of the most atrocious murders, that it was
the Cali age, when men were destined to be wicked.3
The Hindus, like all the other Asiatics, are great masters
of dissimulation ; they are cunning and treacherous, ad¬
dicted to falsehood to a degree that can scarcely be con¬
ceived by a more refined and moral people. Perjury in
courts of justice is universal, amongst high as well as low,
and amongst both the Hindus and Mussulmans, without
1 See Papers relative to slavery in India; Iteturn to the House of Commons, 6th March 1834; Evidence of Joseph Fenn, nine
years a missionary in Travancore; Answers to Questions on Slavery, circulated by the Commissioners for the affairs ot India; Evi¬
dence of T. H. Baber, Esq. thirty-two years resident in India; of the Honourable J. Harris, principal collector in Canara; and of Mr
Warden, collector in Malabar. The evidence of T. H. Baber discloses a regular and shameful traffic in slaves, carried on by
Mr Brown, a servant of the Company, and under the authority of the Bombay government. “ How or whence,” he observes, “ this
oppressive and cruel practice, not only of selling slaves off the'estate where born and bred, but actually of separating husbands and
wives, parents and children, and thus severing all the nearest and dearest associations and ties of our common nature, originated, it
would be difficult to say; but I have no doubt, and never had in my own mind, that it has derived support, if not its origin, from
the impolitic measure in 1796, of giving authority to the late Mr Murdoch Brown, while overseer of the Company s plantations in
Malabar, from the difficulties he experienced, even with ‘ the assistance of the tchsildar’ (the head native authority) and ‘ his
peons’ (armed persons with badges of office), to procure workmen, and ‘ of the price of labour being more than he was authorized
to give,’ to purchase indiscriminately as many slaves as he might require to enable him to carry on the works of that plantation ; and
of actually issuing orders to the European, as well as to the native local authorities, to assist him, and even to restore slaves who had
run away and returned to their homes (without any orders to inquire the reason of their absconding), and who, as has been actually
ascertained from the surviving slaves themselves, had been actually kidnapped by the doragha (head police officer), and sent up to
North Malabar, to Mr Brown, which person had continued up to 1811, or for a period of twelve years, under this alleged authority,
granted by the Bombay government, to import slaves and free-born children from Travancore, when, by the merest accident,
this nefarious traffic came to my knowledge, and which, after a considerable opposition on the part of the provincial court of circuit,
I succeeded in putting a stop to, after having restored to liberty and their country 123 persons who had been stolen, of whom 7.1
were actually found in Mr Brown’s possession.” Mr Brown’s agent, Assen Ally, acknowledged, that during the time he was at Aleppi,
at Travancore, in 1810, no less than 400 children had been transported to Malabar. The advocate-general’s report alludes to “ Mr
Baber’s perseverance in restoring the kidnapped children, in spite of very extraordinary opposition,. and to the u extraordinary sup¬
port Mr Brown appears to have received in these dealings in stolen children.” (I ol. 788-) Ihe still more objectionable practice of
realizing the public dues by the seizure and sale of slaves off the land, must have confirmed proprietors in their idea ot accounting
the slaves their property. Mr Vaughan, collector, Malabar, in a letter dated 20th of July 1819, argues in favour of this inhuman
practice, saying, “ that the partial measure of declaring them not liable to be sold for arrears of revenue, will be a drop in the ocean ;
though, why government should give up the right every proprietor enjoys, is a question worthy of consideration.” Far. 3, 4, 5, &c.
Highest class slaves sold for 250 gold fananas, L.6. 5s.; average price, L.3. 6s.
2 Orme’s Historical Fragments of the Mogul Empire, p. 340.
* Mill, vol. i. p. 407.
■4
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, the least remorse or shame. The Europeans in the office
of judges in India complain of being perplexed by a host
of perjurers on each side, swearing in the teeth of one ano¬
ther. They are acute dissemblers in all affairs of interest,
and are the sharpest buyers and sellers in the world, main¬
taining through all their bargains a degree of calmness
which no art can penetrate.1 A want of sympathy with
the sufferings of his fellow-creatures is another trait of the
Hindu character, and a sure index to the low state of re¬
finement amongst them. They treat their sick and dying
with indifference, and in many cases with shocking inhu¬
manity. The sick whose life is despaired of are carried
to the banks of the Ganges, and their mouth, nose, and
ears are closely stopped up with mud; water is then pour¬
ed upon them from large vessels, and thus, amidst the ago¬
nies of disease and of suffocation, life terminates. The
corpse is then burned, if the survivors can pay the expense,
and the relatives retire with every appearance of insensi¬
bility.2 The effeminacy of their persons, and their timi¬
dity, prevent them from fighting or boxing in their quar¬
rels. But this forbearance seems to proceed from no want
of malignity or passion, as, in the event of any misunder¬
standing between two persons meeting accidentally in the
street, they upbraid each other with the foulest epithets,
accompanied by the utmost violence of gesticulation.
Mr Rickards, in his valuable work upon India, seems to
imagine that European writers have exaggerated the vices
of the Hindus, and he exhibits them in a more favourable
light. “ Having lived,” he observes, “ twenty-three years
in India, and passed much of that time in intimate inter¬
course with various natives, I have a different opinion of
their character to that given in several printed works. I
have constantly seen, in their acts and conduct, the practice
of the most amiable virtues. I have experienced from
many the most grateful attachment. I believe them capa¬
ble of all the qualities that adorn the human mind; and
though I allow many of their imputed faults (where is the
individual or nation without them ?) I must still ascribe
these faults more to the despotisms under which they have so
long groaned, and which unhappily we have but slenderly
alleviated, than to natural depravity of disposition, or to
any institutions peculiar to themselves.”3 No writer as¬
cribes to the Hindus any greater natural depravity than
other nations. But certainly their peculiar religion, its in¬
decent and bloody rites, and the laws and usages founded
on it, more especially the institution of castes, tend to ex¬
tinguish in the breast all humane, enlightened, or moral
feelings; and though, even amongst the Hindus, excep¬
tions may be found, and the occasional practice of amiable
virtues, yet the crimes which are proved to be committed
openly and without shame or remorse sufficiently attest the
want of morality, intelligence, and every humane and social
feeling amongst them, and seem to place them in this re¬
spect entirely on a level with the other Asiatic nations.
Ignorance is the parent of cruelty and vice, and with the
progress of knowledge and of civil institutions certain crimes
entirely disappear; and hence their existence amongst
the Hindus bespeaks not so much any innate or peculiar
depravity, as a low state of civilization, and a state of thral¬
dom to a base superstition and to the dominion of priests,
under which the social virtues are blighted in the bud,
and selfishness and vice spring up in the congenial soil.
In every nation the condition of the female sex affords
a sure index to the state of manners and the progress of
civilization. Amongst savages, women are ill treated be¬
cause they are weak and helpless, and there is no moral re¬
straint on the tyranny of the men. In Hindustan, as over
473
all the East, where polygamy prevails, they are a degraded Hindustan,
caste, shut up in the harem or the seraglio, and not, as in -v'w'
Europe, the seat of a purer faith and more refined system
of manners, the friends, the advisers, and equal companions,
of their husbands. And both the laws and manners of the
East lead to this unhappy effect. Whilst marriage is en¬
joined as a religious duty, not to be neglected except for
the higher duty of becoming a devotee, the chai’acter of
women is described in the Hindu books of law as stained
with almost every vice. Pride, anger, envy, violence, de¬
ceit, falsehood, immoderate desires, infidelity to their hus¬
bands, and idleness, are pointed out as their ruling passions ;
and the treatment they meet with corresponds with those
ideas. They are wholly uneducated, excluded from the
sacred books, and from all knowledge of expiatory texts,
and from any share in the paternal property ; and they are
held unworthy to eat with their husbands. They are the
slaves of their domestic tyrants, and often receive the
most barbarous treatment, being beaten and otherwise ill
used; but they are not allowed to leave them, whilst the
husband, on the other hand, may divorce his wife upon any
plausible pretence. Such is the condition of women by
the laws of Hindustan, which, we have no reason to be¬
lieve, are softened in domestic life. Certain it is, that wo¬
men, as long as they are uneducated, will be in a degraded
state. It is only when they cultivate their minds that they
can mix with advantage in society, and that, respecting
themselves, and respected by others, they can acquire that
ascendency to which they are entitled, and give, by the de¬
licacy of their manners, that tone and polish to society
which it cannot receive from the other sex.
The ceremonial of marriage is conducted amongst the
Hindus with great solemnity and expense. The parties,
who are of equal rank, and any other alliance would be ac¬
counted infamous, are betrothed during their infancy by
their parents, but on a full consideration of their respective
rank, skilful genealogists being consulted previously on this
important point. These preliminaries being settled, the
transaction terminates with an elegant feast; and when
the wife comes of age she is conducted to her husband’s
home, with all due ceremony, and a concluding entertain¬
ment ; another set of observances take place when she be¬
comes pregnant, when she passes her seventh month, and
when she is safely delivered. These festivals amongst the
rich are extremely expensive.
The Hindus are ignorant and illiterate. The children
of the poor seem to be mostly uneducated. Those in a
higher station are taught by the Brahmins to read and
write, and to cast accounts, the calculations being per¬
formed by pebbles or small shells. The pupil first begins
to write upon the sand with his finger, and he afterwards
uses palm leaves. After being thus initiated in the rudi¬
ments of literature, he enters on the course of his profes¬
sional study, in which he has no choice, every one follow¬
ing the profession of his father. A student is instructed
chiefly in the Vedas, and in the ceremonial of his religion ;
and his course of discipline in the three Vedas may be
continued for thirty-six years, in the house of his pre¬
ceptor, or for a half or quarter of that time, until he com¬
prehend them. To the state of the student succeeds that
of the married man or the housekeeper, when the youth
begins to sustain his part in the business of life. He may,
however, continue his whole life a pupil, waiting upon
and serving his preceptor the Brahmin until his death.
By this devotion to him he acquires a title to the high¬
est rewards of religion. Of the common people, a tew
individuals only are taught to read or write. The great
1 Orme On the Government and People of Industan, p. 431. * Rickards’ India, p. 3.
8 Tennant, Indian Recreations.
VOL. XI. 3 0
474
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, body of the people remain in ignorance. They can ex-
^ plain nothing of their own religious system, nor of the
ceremonies which they attend. This gross and universal
ignorance, whilst it is the parent of crime, exposes the
Hindus to all the artifices of priestcraft, and of every
quack who pretends to skill in any art or science what¬
ever. The unbounded influence of the priests is highly
inexpedient, and has in some instances been found dan¬
gerous to the public peace. On one memorable occasion,
as related by Bishop Heber, this influence became a poli¬
tical engine, which was wielded with great effect, to the
alarm of the local government. Among other superstitions
of the Hindus, it is well known that they inflict evils on
themselves or others, even to the sacrifice of their lives,
under the idea that they will be avenged on their enemies.
One of these practices is to sit “ dhurna,” or mourning, in
a fixed posture, without food, and exposed to the weather,
until the person against whom the religious rite is directed
agrees to give redress. It is firmly believed, that if the per¬
son dies in this mourning state, his avenging spirit will
ever afterwards haunt and torment him whose obstinacy
may have occasioned his death. The Hindus resort to this
practice in order to enforce payment of a debt, or forgive¬
ness of one ; and it is a notion amongst them, that whilst
an aggrieved person sits at their door “ dhurna,” they can
neither eat nor undertake any business. Brahmins are
even sometimes hired to sit dhurna, and their sacred cha¬
racter is supposed to give a peculiar awe to the ceremo¬
ny. It was in opposition to an unpopular and heavy tax
on houses in the city of Benares, against which they had
in vain remonstrated, that the whole population, far and
near, resolved to sit “ dhurna” till it was repealed. On
this occasion the leading Brahmins took their measures
with surprising concert and unanimity. Handbills were
circulated explaining the causes and necessity of the
measures, “ calling on all lovers of their country and na¬
tional creed to join in it, and commanding, under many
bitter curses, every person who received it to forward it
to his next neighbour. Accordingly,” adds Bishop He¬
ber, “ it flew over the country like the fiery cross in the
Lady of the Lake ; and, three days after it was issued,
and before government was in the least apprised of the
plan, above 300,000 persons, as it is said, deserted their
houses, shut up their shops, suspended the labour of their
farms, forbore to light fires or dress victuals, many of
them even to eat, and sat down with folded arms and
drooping heads, like so many sheep, on the plain which
surrounds Benares.” There was every reason to dread
some violent issue to such an extraordinary transaction.
The local government, exceedingly perplexed by so strange
and vast an assemblage, acted with consummate prudence ;
and this motley multitude being let alone, gradually dis¬
persed. The rulers of India, thus admonished, were fain
to repeal the obnoxious tax. The ignorance of the great
body of the Hindus exposes them to impositions of every
description. In the medical art, charms, incantations, ex¬
orcisms, and the shallowest tricks, are substituted for pro¬
fessional skill; and other impostors, generally Brahmins,
practise astrology, and cheat them out of their money by
pretended prophecies, from the aspect of the skies. The
belief of sorcery and witchcraft is universally prevalent
amongst them, and leads, as it formerly did in our own
country, to cruel enormities. Persons suspected of
witchcraft are the objects of fear and hatred; and their
neighbours often assume the right of trying them for
this crime, by charms and incantations, such as planting
a branch of the saul tree in water, with the name of the
suspected person, and if it wither within a certain time,
the evidence against the accused is considered conclusive.
I he Hindu is distinguished by the slenderness and de¬
licacy of his corporeal frame, which is partly the cause of
his peculiar timidity. His make, his physiognomy, and his Hindustan,
small degree of muscular strength, convey a remarkable
idea of effeminacy, especially when contrasted with the
robust stature of a European who is making the observa¬
tion. “ The sailor,” says Orme, “ no sooner lands on the
coast, than nature dictates to him the full result of this
comparison. He brandishes his stick in sport, and puts
fil'ty Indians to flight in a moment.” The Indian, how¬
ever, greatly surpasses the European in the sensibility of
his touch, and in the flexibility of his limbs; and hence,
with tools which would scarcely enable the clumsy fingers
of the one to make a piece of canvass, he weaves the finest
cambrics; and in all feats and contortions of the body,
in the art of tumbling, and in juggling tricks, the Hindus
excel all other nations. They are also patient of bodily
fatigue, and in running or marching will distance more
robust competitors. An Indian messenger will travel on
foot fifty miles a day for twenty or thirty days without in¬
termission. They are withal remarkable for bodily inert¬
ness, and the love of repose. “ It is more happy,” they
say, “ to be seated than to walk; it is more happy to
sleep than to be awake; but the happiest of all is death.”
Their amusements are accordingly all of the sedentary
kind. A game which resembles chess and draughts,
though without either the variety or interest of the for¬
mer, is one of their favourite amusements ; and, like all
rude nations, they are passionately fond of gaming, though
it is contrary to the Gentoo code; also of feats of agility
and legerdemain ; and a juggler who erects a stage in any
part of the East is sure to draw a crowd of spectators.
Buffoonery, story-telling, music, consisting of simple me¬
lodies, and dancing, which they enjoy as spectators, com¬
plete the catalogue of Hindu amusements. Their ex¬
treme fondness for hunting forms an exception to their
general indolence; all the different races in India, Euro¬
peans, Moguls, and Llindus, shaking off their natural su¬
pineness, are seen to concur in the ardour of the chase.
Hawking is also keenly pursued by natives of distinc¬
tion. Besides falconers, fowlers, and game-keepers, Hindus
of rank employ persons to ensnare wild animals; and
the contrivances they resort to are not less ingenious than
successful.
Many have given credit to the Hindus for cleanly ha¬
bits, from their frequent ablutions ; but the reverse is the
case. A taste for cleanliness is a proof of refinement; it
is a sure mark of a highly civilized people ; and accord¬
ingly it is not to be found in any part of Asia. Almost
all the Asiatic cities are distinguished by narrow streets,
into which, as there are no police regulations, all sorts of
filth are indiscriminately thrown. The Hindus form no
exception to this general censure. In all the great towns
the streets are filthy. Nor are the Hindus more cleanly
in their persons. Their linen, being dyed, is seldom
washed; and, like the Chinese, they frequently allow their
robes to drop off with filth before they think of changing
them.
A simple and despotic monarchy is the only form of Govern-
government which was established under the native prin- ment.
ces of Hindustan; and it was a despotism in the true
Asiatic sense of the word, under which neither laws nor
manners restrained the excesses of absolute power. In
the most despotic states of Europe, the authority of the
monarch is controlled by the influence of manners, and
life and property are perfectly secure. But this was far
from being the case in India; the sovereign was supreme
arbiter of the lives and properties of all his subjects. Nor
was this power allowed to lie dormant; it was frequent¬
ly enforced in cruel and arbitrary acts ; and the annals
of India are accordingly stained with the most revolting
outrages of abused power. Wealth presented too tempt¬
ing a prize to lawless violence; and its possessor, if he
HINDUSTAN. 475
Hindustan, neglected to make large and seasonable presents, was sure
to be accused of some pretended crime, thrown into a
dungeon, and plundered. “ Instead of giving him poison,”
says Orme, in his just estimate of the people and govern¬
ment of Hindustan, “ which would not answer the end
proposed, as his treasures are buried, he is beset with
spies, who watch his minutest actions, and probably pro¬
pose to him a commerce with the enemies of the province.
If he avoid these snares, a profitable post in the govern¬
ment is proposed to him, which, if he accepts, his ruin is
at hand, as the slightest of the villanies practised in every
branch of it affords grounds for making him a public cri¬
minal. Should he have escaped this too, it remains that
some more glaring and desperate measure of iniquitous
justice hurry him to destruction.” Mr Orme then pro¬
ceeds to mention the case of a wealthy banking-house,
the partners of which were personally known to him, who,
having dexterously avoided all the snares laid for their
property and life, were at length involved in an accusa¬
tion by the accident of one of the dead bodies which are
continually floating on the Ganges being thrown ashore
under the walls of their house, on which it was surround¬
ed by the officers of the civil magistrate, who dragged
them to prison as the murderers of a son of Mahommed,
and having ordered them to be severely scourged, ex¬
torted from them as the price of their liberty a present
of 50,000 rupees. Another wealthy individual was forced
to give in one present, to the nabob of Bengal, a sum
equal to three hundred thousand pounds sterling.1 Bi¬
shop Heber relates of the Rannee, or princess of Jee-
poor, that she murdered a female attendant, a woman
of character, and possessed of considerable wealth, who
was believed, until that time, to stand high in her mis¬
tress’s confidence. Eight other women of the Zenana
believed themselves marked out for destruction. An¬
other princess, who possessed a jaghire or landed estate
near Meerut, frequently ordered the ears or noses of her
attendants to be cut off for slight offences ; and one of
her dancing girls was imprisoned under ground, and
starved to death, she herself keeping watch until she
heard the last faint moans of her expiring victim.2 Such
enormities present a dreadful picture of Indian despotism,
and fully bear out Mr Orme in his contrast between the
manners of Europe under the influence of Christianity,
and those of Hindustan, under which poisonings, treach¬
ery, and assassinations, are daily committed by the vota¬
ries of ambition, as are rapines, cruelty, and extortions,
by the ministers of justice.
From the great extent of the Mogul empire, the influ¬
ence of the supreme power was but feebly felt in its dis¬
tant parts, and the kingdom was accordingly divided into
distinct provinces, in which deputies or viceroys, called
nabobs, ruled with delegated power. Those provinces
were again subdivided into districts, which were commit¬
ted to the subordinate administration of rajahs. These
districts might consist of one town and its territory, or of
a thousand towns ; and hence the Hindu system of provin¬
cial government comprehended different degrees of prince¬
ly dignity and dominion, according to the extent and va¬
lue of the lands that were assigned. But all these va¬
rious rulers, though each was amenable to the one above
him, exercised supreme and despotic sway within their
own districts. There was also a special rank of princes
called subahdars, who ruled in the extremities of the king¬
dom, in which the rigour of the supreme authority was
weakened by distance, with higher rank and greater
powers than the rajahs. The Deccan was under the ad¬
ministration of a subahdar, as was also the extensive and Hindustan,
distant province of Bengal. The absolute power of the v v
Great Mogul descended without any loss of vigour to all
its inferior delegates; and in this manner the whole of
the country groaned under the dominion of numerous
tyrants. From this extensive delegation of the superior
power, it happened, that on the decay of the Mogul
empire, the provincial rulers gradually acquired inde¬
pendence, and, in their warfare with each other for do¬
minion, filled the country with rapine and bloodshed.
“ Hindustan,” says Major Rennell, “ even under the Mo¬
guls, may be considered as a collection of tributary king¬
doms, each accustomed to look no farther than its own
particular viceroy, and of course ever in a state to rebel,
when the imbecility of the emperor, and the ambition
of the viceroy, formed a favourable conjuncture ;” and
accordingly he observes that “ rebellions, massacres, and
barbarous conquests, make up the history of this fair
country, which, to an ordinary observer, seems destined
to be the paradise of the world.”3 And to the same
purpose Orme remarks : “ If the subjects of a despotic
power are everywhere miserable, the miseries of the people
of Hindustan are multiplied by the incapacity of the
power to control the vast extent of its dominion ; and
thus,” he adds, “ the contumacy of vicegerents resist¬
ing their sovereigns, or battling among themselves, is
continually productive of such scenes of bloodshed, and
of such deplorable devastations, as no other nation in the
universe is subject to.”4
In the Mogul sovereign was vested the whole admi¬
nistration of the state, the executive as well as the le¬
gislative and judicial powers. In his executive duties
the law assigned him a council of state, the functions of
which generally devolved on some favourite minister.
His legislative duties were simple, seeing that religion
was the law, and that the sacred ordinances constituted
the judicial code, which it would be impiety to alter. The
Brahmins being the sole interpreters of the holy books,
acted as assessors to the nabob or rajah, or his delegates
in the judicial office. The mode of administering jus¬
tice had an appearance of openness and fairness, and
the forms of the court were extremely simple. The seat
of justice was exposed in a large area, capable of con¬
taining the multitude ; and here justice was administered
by the duan or judge, in the absence of the nabob ; the
plaintiff having attracted attention by his importunate
clamours, was ordered to be silent, and to advance before
the judge, to whom, after having prostrated himself, he
told his story in the plainest manner. Fie visited the judge
in private, gave the jar of oil, and his adversary bestowed
the hog, which broke it; the friends who had influence in¬
terceded, but it was the largest bribe that ultimately gain¬
ed the cause. The forms of justice were no doubt pre¬
served ; witnesses were heard, but browbeaten, and remov¬
ed if their evidence did not please the judge. “ Proofs of
writing,” says Orme, “ are produced ; but deemed forge¬
ries and rejected, until the way is cleared for a decision,
which becomes totally or partially favourable, in propor¬
tion to the methods which have been used to render it
such ; but still with some attention to the consequences
of a judgment which would be of too flagrant iniquity not
to produce universal detestation and resentment.” In
Hindustan, accordingly, the judicial tribunals afforded no
refuge to the oppressed ; they were rather instruments of
tyranny, by which the unhappy people were plundered
under the forms of law. Avarice is the reigning vice of
Hindustan, and power afforded all public functionaries
^ Orme On the Government and People of Indostan, p. 450.
2 Heber, vol. ii. p. 278, 279.
:/
3 Rennell, Memoir of a Map of Hindustan, p. xlix.
» Orme On the Government and People of Indostan, p. 309.
476 HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, the means of its gratification. The havildar, the head of
a village, called his habitation the durbar, and plundered
of their meal and roots the wretches within his jurisdiction ;
the zemindar fleeced him of the small pittance of silver
which his penurious tyranny had scraped together; the
phoosdar, or military commandant of the province, seized
on the zemindar’s collections, and bribed the nabob’s con¬
nivance in his villanies by a share of the spoil; the covetous
eye of the nabob ranged over his dominions for prey, and
employed the plunder of his subjects in bribing or in re¬
sisting his superiors. “ Subject to such oppressions,” says
Orme, “ property in Hindustan is seldom seen to descend
to the third generation.” It is not therefore surprising that
the Hindus prefer English courts of law to those with
which they were cursed while under the rule of their native
princes.
Taxation. This important subject will perhaps be more properly
considered when we come to treat of the political trans¬
actions of the British in India, and of their administra¬
tion of the revenues of the Mogul empire. In the mean
time it may be observed, that those revenues chiefly arose
from a tax on the land, imposed by the sovereign, or from
a share in its produce, which, according to some, he re¬
ceived as proprietor of the soil. The tax was imme¬
diately paid into the imperial treasury by the zemindar,
who collected it from a variety of under tenants, hold¬
ing by peculiar tenures, which will be afterwards more
particularly considered. The proportion of the crop claim¬
ed by the government varied, according to the fertility
of the land, from a sixth to a twelfth part; and being
ascertained by the proper officers, it was either paid in
kind or in money. Custom-duties were levied on imports
by sea, and by land on the transit of goods at the differ¬
ent toll-bars in the country. These were sometimes
farmed out by the local authorities. Other taxes are
enumerated in the sacred books, on mercantile profits,
on which was levied a fiftieth, or even a twentieth part;
on the accumulation of property in gold, silver, pre¬
cious stones, cattle; on the purchases and sales of mer¬
chants ; and on mechanics and serving-men, who were
liable for a contribution of labour at the rate of a day in
each month. A trifling poll-tax was imposed on the
meaner inhabitants. Exclusive rights of manufacture, and
trade in certain articles, such as salt, arrack, betel-nut,
and tobacco, were also granted to the inhabitants for an
annual payment.1 The Hindu rulers, however ignorant in
other matters, thus appear to have been familiar with all
the most approved modes of plundering their subjects;
and these failing, they had recourse to open violence. It
is mentioned by Mr Rickards, whose views of Indian man¬
ners seem to be equally judicious and accurate, that those
revenue systems of India never were, “ because they
never could be, literally enforced, the real practice being
to exact and plunder, without any fixed rules, all that
could be squeezed out of defenceless subjects.” After
enumerating the various revenue officers who acted under
the sovereign, such as nabobs, dewars, foujedars, amil¬
dars, tchsildars, jaghiredars, zemindars, polygars, talook-
dars, rajahs, naiks, wadeyars, &c., he adds, “ swarms
of harpies were thus spread in every direction, even to
the mundils and potails of villages ; and despotism esta¬
blished, as it were, in detail, in every corner of the land.
Power was here a license to plunder and oppress. The
rod of the oppressor was literally omnipresent; neither
persons nor property were secure against its persevering
and vexatious intrusions. The common transactions of
life became objects of punishment or extortion. And no Hindustan,
other principles being known or dreamt of in India than
arbitrary power on the one hand, and abject submission
on the other, a state of society was fixed and rooted in
the manners, the poverty, and the ignorance of the people,
of which no parallel nor resemblance is anywhere to be
found in European states.’’2
The laws of the Hindus which apply to property, and Hindu
which regulate sales or purchases, loans, transfers, and laws,
deposits of goods, though they are founded on the prin¬
ciples of justice, are frequently rude, loosely expressed,
and such as, along with a corrupt judicature, must leave
every thing to the discretion of the judge. The law fixes
the price of commodities, regulates the interest on money,
and on the loan of goods, such as grain, fruit, &c.; and,
by a peculiar injustice, imposes a greater interest on the
servile castes than on the Brahmins and soldiers. The
modes of enforcing debts are the same as in all other
countries. The creditor may seize upon the property or
person of his debtor, whom he ma}' beat or otherwise
maltreat, and, if he be of an inferior caste, compel to la¬
bour for his profit. He may even confine his wife or chil¬
dren. Another mode of enforcing payment is by sitting
dhurna, a ceremony already explained. The laws of in¬
heritance form an important branch of the Hindu code,
though it is justly remarked,3 that “ the slavery to which
the rights of parent and husband subject the female,
abolishes at once all suits of dowries, divorces, jointures,
and settlements.” On the death of the father, his pro¬
perty is divided amongst his children, who frequently live
together, with the elder brother as their head. If they
separate, the eldest receives one twentieth more than the
others. Science and good conduct are mentioned as grounds
of preference, as vice of exclusion; and thus is laid the
foundation of endless disputes. In some cases the gross
and cruel superstition of the Hindus subverts the prin¬
ciples of justice ; the blind, the deaf, the dumb, or those
affected with leprosy, or any other incurable disease, being
deprived of their share in the paternal inheritance. Chil¬
dren of different castes inherit according to the rank of
the mother, and those of concubines receive only half the
share of legitimate children. Until the practice was legal¬
ized by the British government, the Hindus had no idea
of devising by will; nor were any members of the family at
liberty to alienate, except in certain particular cases, any
part of the common stock.
The criminal code of the Hindus, though no longer in ope¬
ration except in some few states, governed by Hindu princes,
merits a brief notice. The offences of the low-born tribes
against the higher receive a full measure of vengeance, whilst
the latter are but slightly punished for the injuries which they
inflict on their inferiors. It is enacted, that if a Sudra
strike a Brahmin with hand or foot, the offending mem¬
ber shall be cut off; if he insult him with his tongue, it
shall be slit, or a red-hot iron shall be thrust into his
mouth. Murder is punished with death, theft with fine,
and the more heinous cases with various degrees of mu¬
tilation, with impaling, burning alive, and crucifixion.
The multifarious cases of offence which are detailed in
the Hindu code, such as throwing ordure, or the refuse of
victuals, on another, spitting upon him, &c., are many of
them insignificant, and scarcely merit the minute enumera¬
tion which is given. The illicit intercourse of the sexes
is a complicated subject, into the details of which it is
unnecessary to enter. It seems principally directed
against the want of chastity in women, which is punished
1 See Fifth Report of Committee of the House of Commons, 1810, p. 83.
a India, or Facts submitted to demonstrate the Character and Condition of the Native Inhabitants, by It. Rickards, Esq. p. 255,
^ Orme On the Government and People of Indostan.
HINDUSTAN.
477
Imdustan. as the most shocking of crimes, by burning on a heated
plate of iron ; or against the lower tribes, in whom adultery
with a Brahmin woman is considered as the climax of hu¬
man depravity, scarcely to be avenged by any punish¬
ment, however dreadful. On the other hand, crimes com¬
mitted by the higher classes against the lower are very
slightly punished; the scale of punishment being in all
cases graduated in an inverse ratio to the rank of the of¬
fenders.
Architec- In architecture, in the fine arts, in painting and music,
ture. the Hindus are greatly inferior to the Europeans. The
pagodas, the tombs, and other structures, the only re¬
maining specimens of their architecture, are, according to
some, more remarkable for the magnitude of their dimen¬
sions than for their just proportions or fine taste. “ The
columns and pillars,” says Tennant, “ which adorn their
immense pagodas, are destitute of any fixed proportions;
and the edifices themselves are subjected to no rules of
architecture.” He afterwards adds, that the celebrated
mausoleum at Agra has little to boast of either in simpli¬
city or elegance of design. “ The immensity of its size,
its costly ornaments, and the minute exactness of its de¬
corations in particular parts, are worthy of notice ; but
they afford much stronger proofs of the wealth and mag¬
nificence of Shah Jehan, than the correctness of its
taste.” The tombs and religious edifices of Hindustan
are, on the other hand, highly commended by Bishop
Heber for delicacy, beauty, and taste. The mausoleum
at Agra he celebrates as the most splendid building, in its
way, that he had seen in India.1 Humaion’s tomb at
Delhi he also praises as a noble building of granite, inlaid
with marble, and in a very chaste and simple style of
Gothic architecture ; and of the imanbara or cathedral at
Lucknow he remarks, “ The whole is in a very noble
style of eastern Gothic, and, when taken in conjunction
with the Roumi Durwazu which adjoins it, I have never
seen an architectural view which pleased me more, from
its richness and variety, as well as the proportions and
general good taste of its principal features.”2 There
seems no doubt, from the splendid structures that are
still found in different parts of Hindustan, that archi¬
tecture and the kindred arts had flourished amongst the
Hindus of a remoter age; though it is mentioned by
Colonel Todd, that very few good specimens of the art
have been executed within the last 700 years. His de¬
scription, however, of the splendid Jain temples at Aj-
meer and other parts, some of them erected long prior to
the Christian era, and distinguished alike by chasteness
and beauty of design, and by rich and exquisite finishing,
must convince the most incredulous, that in these remote
times the arts had made great progress in Hindustan.
These structures are not merely monuments of labour,
but of taste; they evince the perfection of art; and in
symmetry, beauty of proportion, unity of design, and
splendid ornament, they rival the noblest productions of
classical Europe. The history of the people who have
raised these structures presents a wide field for antiqua¬
rian research, on which Colonel Todd has entered with
the brilliant promise of interesting results ; and to his
learned inquiries and eloquent and poetical descriptions
we refer for a further account of those ancient monuments Hindustan,
of Hindu art.3
Of the Hindu paintings the chief merit is brilliancy of Painting,
colour, rather than taste in the design or liveliness of ex¬
pression. They imitate most exactly, and are excellent
draughtsmen ; and they draw specimens of natural history
with much neatness and accuracy. “ The laborious ex¬
actness with which they imitate every feather of a bird,”
says Tennant, “ or the smallest fibre on the leaf of a plant,
renders them valuable assistants in this department ;
but farther than this they cannot advance one step. If
your bird is to be placed on a rock or upon the branch of
a tree, the draughtsman is at a stand ; the object is not be¬
fore him, and he can supply nothing.4 Since this period,
however, the Hindus have made great advances in the art
of painting ; and some of their portraits display taste and
expression that would not discredit European artists.
The music of the Hindus is rude and inharmonious. Music.
They have numerous instruments, but those are prefer¬
red which make most noise; the beating of the great
drum is reckoned an emblem of sovereign power.
The literature of the Hindus has been generally rated Literature,
very low by European writers, and has been represented
as consisting in long desultory poems, inflated and extrava¬
gant in their style, containing, under the idea of a history,
a tissue of absurd fables, interspersed with passages or
episodes that are tender and passionate, and possess all
the sweetness of pastoral poetry. They are said to be
totally destitute of historical annals, and their geogra¬
phy is a mass of errors. Nor has their astronomy those
claims to antiquity which were at first allowed. Accu¬
rate inquiry has proved this science to be in its infancy
amongst them.5 The want of historical records by the
Hindus is strongly denied by Colonel Todd, who has him¬
self composed a history of the Rajpoots from native works,
which he found in the libraries of their princes, and he as¬
serts that in those depositories of Hindu literature many
more works exist, which would reward the researches
of the learned. “ The works of the native bards,” he ob¬
serves, “ afford many valuable data in facts, incidents, re¬
ligious opinions, and traits of manners.” “ In the heroic
history of Pirthi-raj, by Chund,” he adds, “ there occur
many geographical as well as historical details, in the de¬
scription of his sovereign’s wars, of which the bard was an
eye-witness, having been his friend, his herald, his ambas¬
sador, and finally discharging the melancholy office of ac¬
cessory to his death, that he might save him from disho¬
nour.” The Brahminical accounts of the endowments of
temples, of their dilapidation and repairs, supply histori¬
cal and chronological details; also the legends respecting
places of pilgrimage and religious resort. Much' histori¬
cal information lies hid in the controversial records of the
Jains; and, says Colonel Todd, “ those different records,
works of mixed historical and geographical character,
which I know to exist, rasahs or poetical legends of
princes, which are common, local pur anas} religious com¬
ments and traditionary couplets, with authorities of less
dubious character, namely, inscriptions cut on rocks, coins,
copperplate grants, containing charters of immunities, and
expressing many singular features of civil government,
1 The following is his description of this monument of Hindu art:—“ It stands in a square area of about forty English acres, en¬
closed by an embattled wall, with octagonal towers at the angles, surmounted by open pavilions, and four very noble gateways of
red granite, the principal of which is inlaid with white marble, and has four high marble minarets. The space within is planted with
trees, and divided into green alleys, leading to the central building, which is a sort of solid pyramid, surrounded externally with clois¬
ters, galleries, and domes, diminishing gradually in ascending it, till it ends in a square platform of white marble, surrounded bv
most elaborate lattice-work of the same material, in the centre of which is a small altar tomb, also of white marble, carved with a
delicacy and beauty which do full justice to the material, and to the graceful forms of Arabic characters, which form the chief orna¬
ment.”
2 Heber, vol. ii. p. 65. 3 Annah of Rajast'han, vol. i. chap. xxv. p. 6'70 ; chap. xxx. p. 779- 4 Tennant, vol. i. p. 209.
a For more full details on this subject, the reader is referred to Mill’s History of British India, vol. ii. p. 85, et se^q.
478 HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, constitute, as I have already observed, no despicable ma-
terials for the historian.” Colonel Todd is of opinion
that the ancient records of the Hindus are more com¬
plete than the early annals of the European states.
History. Prior to Alexander’s expedition into India, which took
place 327 years before the Christian era, the Greeks ap¬
pear to have known little of these eastern countries, ex¬
cept from the confused accounts of travellers ; and nothing
whatever of the countries beyond the sandy desert of the
Indus, which, with its tributary streams, was the limit of
Alexander’s progress eastward. The men of science who
accompanied this warlike prince brought to Europe full
and accurate accounts of the countries which he had con¬
quered ; and the spirit of inquiry, now awakened amongst
the Greeks, was still further gratified by the ample ac¬
counts of Megasthenes, the ambassador sent to India by
Seleucus, and who resided long at Palibothra, the capital
of the Prasii, near the mouth of the Ganges. The Greek
writers, drawing their information from those sources,
describe the leading features of Indian society and man¬
ners, and with an accuracy which stamps authenticity on
their narratives. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the
particulars of Alexander’s expedition, which are fully de¬
scribed in many other works; and from that until the pe¬
riod of the Mahommedan conquest, when the native re¬
cords commence, there is nearly a complete chasm in the
annals of Hindustan. The Hindus had either no records,
or these had been destroyed during the intestine commo¬
tions which have always prevailed in India. The historical
poem, the Mahabarat, is a tissue of extravagant fables. Fe-
rishta’s history, written early in the seventeenth century,
is supposed to have been collected from Persian authors;
and the most valuable part of it begins after the com¬
mencement of the Mahommedan conquests. It was about
the year 1000 that Hindustan, formerly ruled by a pure
Hindu monarchy, fell under the sway of the Mahomme*
dan conquerors, who subdued all the provinces west of the
Ganges, and formed them into one great empire. On the
fall of this empire, India became one scene of commotion
and war, and her finest provinces were laid waste. It
was then that the Mahratta empire arose, like a meteor in
the political sky, blazing for a while, and soon fading into
obscurity; and by its fall paving the way for the ascen¬
dency of the British, whose powerful sway now extends from
the Himalaya Mountains to Cape Comorin. We shall
endeavour to sketch the leading and most eventful scenes
of that political drama, which has thus terminated in the
subjection of all India to one great ruling power.
Conquest The Mahommedan powers having subdued Persia
by the and the neighbouring countries, made occasional inroads
Mahom- jnto India; and, about a. d. 1000, Mahmoud entered
medans. Hindustan, in which he effected a permanent establish¬
ment. This prince was the grandson of Subuctagi, the
ruler of Ghizni, consisting of the tract which composed
the kingdom of Bactria after the division of Alexander’s
empire, namely, the countries lying between Parthiaand
the Indus, and south of the Oxus. He invaded India
twelve several times, massacring in his intolerant rage
the Hindus as infidels, and defacing and destroying their
temples. “ Nothing,” observes Major Rennell, with his
usual force, “ offends our feelings more than the progress
of destruction, urged on by religious zeal, as it allows men
to suppose themselves agents of the divinity, thereby re¬
moving those checks which interfere with the perpetration
of ordinary villany, and thus makes conscience a party
where she was meant to be a judge.” The last invasion
of India by Mahmoud was in 1024, and in four years
afterwards he died. His dominions comprehended the
eastern provinces of Persia, nominally all the Indian pro¬
vinces westward of the Ganges, to the peninsula of Gu-
jerat, and from the Indus to the mountains of Ajmere.
The Punjab, or the tract watered by the Indus, and its Hindustai
five tributary rivers, was all that was subjected to the re-
gular government of the Mahommedans. The rajpoots
of Ajmere defended their rugged mountains and close
valleys with obstinate valour. The Ghiznian empire was
in the year 1158 divided into two; the western portion
being seized on by the family of the Gaurides (so denomi¬
nated from Gaur or Ghir, a province or city lying beyond
the Indian Caucasus), whilst the countries on the Indus were
possessed by Chusero or Cusroe, who fixed the seat of his
empire at Lahore. The Mahommedans now extended
their conquests eastward; and Mahommed Gori, in 1194,
took the city of Benares, which he abandoned to pillage.
He carried his arms to the south of the river Jumna, and
took the fortress of Gualior; he also reduced the eastern
frontier of Ajmere. He was succeeded in 1205 by Cuttub,
who fixed his capital at Delhi, and founded in Hindustan
the dynasty of the Patans or the Afghans, who inhabited
the mountainous tract situated between India and Persia.
The Emperor Altmush succeeded him in 1210, and ex¬
tended his conquests over Bengal. In his reign the re¬
nowned Ghenghiz Khan subdued the western empire of
Ghizni; and the Moguls, or the Monguls, his successors,
about the year 1242, made frequent irruptions into the
north-western provinces of Hindustan. The country was
in the mean time a scene of intestine commotion, from the
contests of rebellious chiefs aspiring to supreme authority,
and from the irruptions of the predatory hill tribes into the
plains below. In 1265, about 100,000 of these plunderers
were put to the sword, and a line of forts constructed along
the foot of the hills. In the mean time, the Patan monarchs
of Delhi were prosecuting their conquests eastward, and
the Moguls were making incursions into the western pro¬
vinces ; and a considerable number of them under Ferose
II. were at length permitted to settle in the country in the
year 1292. In 1293 this emperor invaded the Deccan, or
the country lying to the south of the Nerbuddah and the
Cuttack rivers. He was deposed and murdered by Alla,
the governor of Gurrah, who advised the expedition, and
who extended his conquests in the Deccan. Cafoor, one
of his generals, penetrated into the Carnatic, or the penin¬
sula lying to the south of the Kistna river, in 1310. Re¬
bellions breaking out in Tellingana, a principality in the
Deccan, it was again subjugated in 1322 and in 1326, in
which year Alla died, and the Carnatic was ravaged from
sea to sea. Under a succeeding emperor, Mahommed III.,
the Mahommedans were driven from the Deccan and Ben¬
gal, and lost much territory in Gujerat and the Punjab.
Ferose III., who succeeded, was more intent on domestic
improvement, and in constructing canals, than on foreign
conquest. He died in 1388, and Mahmoud III. succeed¬
ed, during whose minority great confusion ensued ; and in
1398 the country was invaded by Tamerlane, who advan¬
ced to Delhi, which submitted without a struggle, and was
abandoned to the fury of the soldiery, who continued for
several days to massacre the defenceless inhabitants. The
military irruption of Tamerlane into Hindustan was more
for the sake of plunder than of conquest, though it added
to the existing anarchy of the country. In 1413 Mahmoud
died, and with him ended the Patan dynasty, founded by
Cuttub in 1205. A period of great confusion followed,
and numerous competitors contended for dominion. This
state of anarchy, which came to a height under Ibrahim
II. in 1516, paved the way for the conquest of Hindustan
by Sultan Baber, a descendant of Tamerlane and of Ghen¬
ghiz Khan, who reigned over a kingdom composed gene¬
rally of the provinces situated between the Indus and Sa-
mercand. Being dispossessed of the northern portion of
his dominions by the Usbecks, he invaded India, and in
1525 defeated the emperor oi Delhi, and conquered the
north-eastern provinces of India. He was succeeded, after
HINDUSTAN.
industan. a reign of five years, by his son Humaioon, who was driven
—from his throne by the rebellion of Sheer Khan, whose
successful usurpation was succeeded by such a period of
disorder, five sovereigns having appeared on the throne
in the course of nine years, that Humaioon was recalled
in 1554, and died the following year, leaving his son, the
leign of celebrated Acbar, only fourteen years of age, the heir to
tcbar; jjie throne. His was a long and glorious reign of fifty-one
years, in which the revolted provinces were reduced from
Ajmere to Bengal, and consolidated into one empire by
the unlimited toleration of the Hindus and all others, and
generally by a just and wise policy. In 1585 and the sub¬
sequent years he invaded the Deccan, which, by the dis¬
solution of the Bahmenee empire, was divided among the
sovereigns of Bejapoor, Ahmednagur, and Golconda, whilst
another army was reducing the country of Cashmere in an
opposite direction. At the time of Acbar’s death in 1605,
he had possession of the western part of Berar, Candeish,
Tellingana, a division of Golconda, and the northern part
of Ahmednagur, the capital of which was taken in 1601,
after a long and bloody siege, and an unsuccessful attempt
to relieve the place by the confederated princes of the
Deccan.1 Acbar died in 1605, at which time his empire
was divided into fifteen viceroyalties, called subahs; name¬
ly, Allahabad, Agra, Oude, Ajmere, Gujerat, Bahar, Bengal,
Delhi, Cabul, Lahore, Moultan, Malwah, Berar, Candeish,
and Ahmednagur. He was succeeded by his son Selim,
under the title of Jehanguire. It was in his reign, in 1615,
that Sir Thomas Roe, the first English ambassador, was
sent to the Mogul emperor of Hindustan ; and the Portu¬
guese had by this time acquired considerable settlements
in Bengal and Gujerat. Shah Jehan, who disturbed his
lather’s reign by constant rebellions, succeeded to the
throne in 1627, and pursued his conquests in the Deccan
with renewed vigour, filling the country with plunder and
devastation. It was in this reign, in the year 1633, that the
first serious quarrel took place between the Portuguese and
the Moguls, when the former were expelled from Hooghly
on the Ganges. In 1658 the country was again distracted
by the civil wars of the emperor and his sons, and of the
sons amongst themselves contending for dominion. Shah
Jehan died on the 21st of January 1666, after being seven
years confined in the castle of Agra. The Mogul em¬
pire at his death extended from Cabul to the Nerbuddah,
westward of this river to the Indus, and eastward it com¬
prehended Bengal and Orissa; and to the south the Mo¬
guls had reduced a large tract of country bounded by
Berar on the east, westward by the hills towards Concan,
and by the dominions of Golconda and Bejapore to the
south. These convulsions, by which India was at this time
distracted, ended in the elevation to the throne of the re-
)fAiming-nowned Aurungzebe, the youngest son of Shah Jehan,
«ebe. whom he had deposed ; he had also murdered or expelled
his three brothers. In 1660, Aurungzebe, who took the title
of Allumgere, or Conqueror of the World, was firmly seat¬
ed on the throne ; and from that period until the year 1678,
Hindustan enjoyed more profound peace than it had ever
before known. In the mean time Aurungzebe invaded the
Deccan, which during the latter part of his reign was, with
the exception of a few mountainous tracts, subdued by his
victorious arms, and rendered tributary to the ruler of
Delhi. He was afterwards engaged, in 1678, in quelling
the rebellion of the Patans beyond the Indus, and the Raj¬
poot tribes, by whom he was hemmed in amongst the moun¬
tains, and narrowly escaped. He again invaded the coun¬
try in 1681, and took and destroyed Cheitore, the capital,
and all the objects of Hindu worship found there. The
obstinate resistance of these gallant mountaineers at last
479
extorted peace from the mighty monarch of the Mogul Hindustan,
empire.
But Aurungzebe had now to contend with another ene- Progress
my for the dominion of India. In the south the Mahratta of the
power was fast rising into importance. Sevajee, the founder Mahrattas.
of this new state, was a military chief, the illegitimate son of
the rana of Odeypoor, the chief of the Rajpoot princes. In
his youth he resided at Poonah, on a zemindary estate
obtained by his father. Here he collected around him a
numerous banditti, and plundered the country. The num¬
ber of his followers gradually increasing, he extended his
ravages still farther into the dominions of Bejapore, and
acquired an immense booty, which enabled him to increase
his force, and openly to resist the troops of Aurungzebe
which were sent against him. He expired in his fortress of
Raynee, of an inflammation in the chest, at the age of fifty-
two, on the 5th of April 1682. His whole reign was one con¬
tinued scene of war and political intrigue, in which he dis¬
played the talents of a consummate general and an able and
crafty statesman. “ He met,” saysOrme, “everyemergency
of peril, however sudden and extreme, with instant discern¬
ment and unshaken fortitude; the ablest of his officers ac¬
quiesced in the eminent superiority of his genius, and the
boast of the soldier was to have seen Sevajee charging sword
in hand.”2 At his death, his empire, with the exception of
the small territory of Goa on the south, Bombay, Salsette,
and an inconsiderable tract on the north, comprised a tract of
country about 400 miles in length and 120 in breadth. He
was besides in possession at one time, towards the Eastern
Sea, of half the Carnatic. By his own talents he had thus ac¬
quired a permanent sovereignty, “ established,” says Orme,
“ on a communion of manners, customs, observances, lan¬
guage, and religion, united in common defence against the
tyranny of foreign conquerors, from whom they had reco¬
vered the land of their own inheritance.” Sevajee was suc¬
ceeded by his son Sambajee, who was afterwards betrayed
into the hands of Aurungzebe, and barbarously put to death.
Aurungzebe died in 1707, in the ninetieth, or, according to
some, the ninety-fourth year of his age, at Ahmednagur, in
the Deccan, in the subjugation of which he had been enga¬
ged from the year 1678 until his death. He was for the most
part engaged in the field during the last fifteen years of his
life. Whilst he was absent in the Deccan, the peace of the
empire was disturbed by insurrections of the Rajpoots in
Upper India, and of the Jauts, now for the first time known
in any other character than that of banditti.3 Under his
reign the Mogul empire attained to its height. His domi¬
nions extended from the tenth to the thirty-fifth degree of
latitude, with nearly as many degrees of longitude ; and his
annual revenue was equal to thirty-two millions sterling.
After the death of Aurungzebe, the sovereignty of the internal
empire was disputed by his four sons, Munzum, Azem, disorders,
and Kaum Buksh, who severally contended with their el¬
der brother, and Acbar, who thirty years before had been
engaged in rebellion, and fled to Persia. Munzum and
Azem met in the field with armies of 300,000 men on each
side, when the latter was defeated and slain, and Munzum
ascended the throne under the title of Bahader Shah. He
reigned five years, and the empire had been so distracted
by civil wars and anarchy, that it required all his exertions
to restore order. He was soon after his accession called
into the Deccan by a rebellion of his brother Kaum Buksh,
which was quelled by his death. He now turned his arms
against the Rajpoots and the Sikhs, who for the first time
appeared in arms in the province of Lahore. These insur¬
gents he reduced after much trouble and delay; and he
took up his residence at Lahore, where he died in 1712,
after a short illness, having never during his reign visited
1 Itennell, p. lix. 2 Orme’s Historical Fragment of the Mogul Empire, p. 94.
* liennell, Memoir of a Map of Hindustan, p. 62.
480
H INDUSTAN.
Hindustan, either Agra, or Delhi his capital. He left four sons, who im-
mediately commenced a contest for the throne. Azem Oo-
shawn, who took possession of the treasures, was killed in a
battle with his other brothers. Jehan Shah, the youngest,
next lost his life in a battle with Jehamder Shah, who was
the eldest, and who successfully disputed the possession of
the throne with the remaining brother. At the end of
nine months, however, he was dethroned by Feroksere, a
son of Azem Ooshawn, and great grandson of Aurungzebe,
who was elevated to the throne by the influence of two
brothers, Abdoola Khan and Hussun Khan, Seids by birth,
or descendants of the prophet, whose talents had raised
them to reputation and power. It was in this reign
that the English East India Company obtained their fa¬
mous firman or grant, by which they were exempted from
all custom duties on the export and import of their goods.
This was considered as the commercial charter of the Com¬
pany as long as they required protection for their trade.
In 1717 Feroksere was deposed and blinded by the two
Seids, Hussun and Abdoola, to whom he owed his eleva¬
tion to the throne. In his place they chose Ruffieh-ul-
Dowlat, a son of Bahader Shah; and in less than a year
deposed and put him to death. His brother, who by their
means was also made king, met with the same treatment;
so that in the course of eleven years from the death of
Aurungzebe, four princes of his line had ascended the
throne, whilst six others had met the usual fate of unsuc¬
cessful aspirants to that dignity. Mahommed Shah, the
grandson of Bahader Shah, was placed on the throne by
the Seids in 1718, from whose influence he contrived at
length to free himself, though not without a rebellion and
a battle, in which they were both slain. In the mean time
Mahommed Shah was deficient in the vigour which his
difficult situation required, and the provincial governors at
a distance began to show symptoms of independence. Ni-
zam-ul-Muluck, the viceroy of the Deccan, was the most
formidable of those pretenders to sovereignty. He had re¬
duced the provinces of Gujerat and Malwah ; and having
paid a visit to the imperial court, and observed the disso¬
lute administration of affairs, he quitted the capital in dis¬
gust, under pretence of a hunting excursion, for his govern¬
ment of the Deccan. He was deprived of the administra¬
tion of Gujerat and Malwah, the two provinces which he
had acquired. In revenge he encouraged the rulers of
these provinces to resist the imperial authority; whilst at
his instigation also the Mahrattas invaded the country, and
after a severe struggle succeeded, about the year 1732, in
completely reducing this long-disputed territory.
Invasion But a more dreadful calamity was now impending over
of Nadir the distracted empire. The sceptre of Persia had been
Shah. long swayed by a feeble race of monarchs, and the coun¬
try became an easy prey to the hardy mountaineers of
Afghanistan, who in 1722 laid siege to Ispahan, when the
feeble Hussun Shah surrendered the crown to the invader.
He had a son Thamas, however, who escaped from the ge¬
neral massacre which ensued, and who was joined by many
partisans, amongst others by Nadir, the son of a shepherd
of Khorassan, who, with his band of followers, soon distin¬
guished himself as a brave and active supporter of the
fallen prince. In 1729 he retook Ispahan, and finally, by
his talents, raised himself to the throne of Persia in 1736,
having put out the eyes of the unfortunate son of the late
monarch. Being afterwards engaged in an expedition
against the Afghans, he advanced to the frontier of Hin¬
dustan, but without any ulterior views of hostility, when
a messenger and his escort, whom he had despatched to
the emperor at Delhi, were murdered at Jellalabad by the
inhabitants ; an outrage which being approved by Mahom¬
med Shah, Nadir prepared for revenge. He gave up the of¬
fending city to be pillaged by his soldiers ; and advancing Hindustan
to Delhi, was met. by the imperial troops, who were totally
defeated. The views of the conqueror, however, were not
hostile, and two crores of rupees would have purchased his
retreat from Hindustan. But this amicable arrangement
was frustrated by a dispute between Saadut Khan, subah-
dar of Oude, and the nizam of the Deccan, for the va¬
cant office of Ameer-ul-Omrah. formerly paymaster of the
forces. Saadut Khan, the disappointed candidate, per¬
suaded Nadir Shah that the proffered sum was no adequate
ransom for Hindustan; on which Nadir advanced to the
capital, which opened its gates to receive him; and for
two days thereafter the Persian troops observed the most
exact discipline. But in the course of the night a rumour
was spread that Nadir was killed, on which the inhabitants
rose against their invaders, and massacred many of them.
Nadir took severe and immediate revenge. He dispersed
his irritated soldiers throughout every quarter of the city,
with orders to spare neither age nor sex ; and in this in¬
discriminate slaughter 100,000 persons are said to have
perished, whilst the city was set on fire in several places.
The imperial treasure was plundered; plate, jewels, and
specie, were carried off to the incredible amount of thirty-
two millions sterling. Rich bankers and others were forced
by torture to disclose their hidden wealth, and a heavy con¬
tribution of thirty millions was imposed on the city by the
relentless conqueror. Nadir Shah departed from Delhi,
of which he had held possession thirty-seven days, in the
year 1739; and the nizam still retained possession of the
whole power of the empire, which he sacrificed to his own
views in the Deccan, where he established an independent
kingdom. Nadir Shah died in 1747. In the subsequent con¬
fusion, the eastern provinces of Persia, and those bordering
on India, were formed by Abdalli, one of his generals,
into an independent state, which comprised the ancient
empire of Ghizni, and was known under the name of the
kingdom of the Abdalli. Mahommed Shah died the same
year, after a reign of twenty-nine years. Every day had
disclosed the growing weakness of the empire, and strong
symptoms of its early and entire dissolution. In 173S Decay of
Bengal became independent under Aliverdy Khan, and it the Mo-
was soon afterwards invaded by a numerous army of Mali- em'
rattas from Poonah and Berar. About the same time the pire’
Rohillas, a tribe from the mountains which separate India
from Persia, erected an independent state on the Ganges,
within eighty miles of Delhi. Mahommed Shah was suc¬
ceeded by his son Ahmed Shah, and in the reign of the
latter the Mogul empire was finally dismembered. A small
territory around Delhi was all that remained to the house of
Timur, and it was the scene of devastation, massacres, and
famine. The last imperial army that ever assembled was
defeated in 1749 by the Rohillas. The Jauts founded a
state in the province of Agra ; the nizam and Aliverdy ruled
in Bengal and the Deccan ; Oude and Allahabad were each
seized by independent chiefs ; Malwah was divided between
the Poonah Mahrattas and several native princes and ze¬
mindars. Ajmere reverted to its ancient lords, the Rajpoot
princes. The Mahrattas, who now contended for the do¬
minion of India, possessed, in addition to their share of
Malwah, the greatest part of Gujerat, Berar, and Orissa, be¬
sides their ancient domains in the Deccan. “ The whole
country of Hindustan proper,” Major Rennell remarks,
“ was in commotion from one extreme to another, each
party fearing the machinations or attacks of the other; so
that all regular government was at an end, and villany was
practised in every form. Perhaps in the annals of the
world it has seldom happened that the bonds of govern¬
ment were so suddenly dissolved, over a portion of country
containing at least sixty millions of inhabitants.”1
1 Hennell’s Memoir of Hindustan, p. Ixx.
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan. In 1753 the Emperor Ahmed Shah was deposed by Gazi,
the son of Gazi o’Dien, vizir to Mahommed Shah, who pla¬
ced on the throne Allumguire II., grandson of Bahader
Shah, and invested himself with the office of vizir. His
perfidious conduct to the family of the viceroy of the pro¬
vinces of Moultan and Lahore, under Abdalli, the king
of the Afghans, involved the emperor in a quarrel with
that powerful prince, who advanced from Candahar to La¬
hore, and thence to Delhi, the gates of which were open¬
ed by the feeble emperor, and the defenceless city aban¬
doned for weeks to a licentious soldiery. After the retreat
of the Abdallis, the vizir advanced with an army to Delhi,
which he entered after a siege of forty-five days. The
Mogul emperor was now reduced to the most abject state
of dependence, and was at last assassinated by order of
the vizir, who was irritated by his correspondence with the
Afghan monarch Abdalli Shah, the Rohillas, and the na¬
bob of Oude, with whom he himself was at war. His son
took the title of Shah Aulum ; he escaped from Delhi when
it was besieged by the vizir, and, after a series of misfor¬
tunes, at last surrendered to the British, who gave him an
asylum, and a pension for his support; and with him, the
last of the Mogul sovereigns who enjoyed independent
power, closes for ever the glory of this renowned empire.
Contest be- In the mean time, amidst anarchy and desolation, the Mah-
tween the rattas were daily increasing in power; they were engaged
Mahrattas jn every scene of politics and warfare, from Gujerat to
Ah bans Bengal, and from Lahore to the Carnatic ; they possessed
° ' extensive sway and vast armies; and their ambition was
now to reconstruct a new Hindu empire out of the decay¬
ed fragments of the Mogul power. The rising influence
of the Afghans under the rigorous sway of Abdalli was
the only obstacle to this patriotic or ambitious scheme ;
and the Mahrattas, in the progress of their conquests north¬
ward, encountered for the first time their great rival for the
dominion of India. Ahmed Abdalli, king of the Afghans,
was taken prisoner when very young by Nadir Shah ; he was
first his slave, afterwards his mace-bearer, and at his death,
having collected a body of troops and other adventurers, he
proceeded to his own country, and proclaimed himself king
of the Afghans, with the title of Doordowran, or pearl of
the age, which was corrupted into that of Dooranee, and be¬
came the name of one of the Afghan tribes. Ahmed had
extended his dominion over the frontier provinces of Moul¬
tan and Lahore, which, in retiring from India, he had left
under the administration of his son. These provinces wrere
first invaded by the Sikhs, and afterwards by the Mahratta
generals, who advanced to Lahore and expelled the Ab¬
dalli prince, and afterwards extended their conquests to
the Indus. Ahmed Shah, roused by the loss of his pro¬
vinces and the dishonour of his arms, collected his troops,
and encountered the Mahratta army, amounting to 80,000
veteran cavalry, which was almost entirely destroyed, and
the general Duttah Sindia slain. The news of this defeat
spread alarm amongst the Mahrattas, and roused them to
the greatest exertions. A vast army, consisting of 14)0,000
horse, besides a numerous train of camp followers, com¬
manded by the most renowned chiefs, took the field, and
being unable to cross the Jumna, still swollen by the rains,
proceeded to plunder Delhi, the capital. Ahmed Shah,
with 150,000 well-disciplined troops, now advanced, and, in
his impatience to meet the enemy, plunged with his whole
army into the foaming waves of the Jumna, which he cross¬
ed in safety. The Mahrattas, struck by this daring exploit,
retired to the plain of Paniput, and the armies continued
in sight of each other from the 26th October to the 27th
January 1761, during which interval several bloody skir-
Rattle of wishes took place. On this latter day was fought the
1’aniput. battle of Paniput, one of the most decisive and sanguinary
recorded in history. The Mahrattas were overthrown with
a dreadful carnage. The general, Bhaow, the nephew
VOL. XI.
481
of the peshwa, the chief of the Mahratta nation, was killed Hindustan,
early in the action ; most of the other chiefs were slain,
and those of the soldiers who escaped from the slaughter
of the field were massacred by the irritated peasantry, in
revenge for the depredations of the Mahratta cavalry. And
of the mighty host engaged in this fatal conflict, only a
small remnant, with three generals, returned to the Dec-
can. This great battle gave an irreparable blow to the
Mahratta power, which from this time sensibly declined,
and the victorious Abdalli sought no other fruit of his
victory. He returned to his capital after remaining a few
months at Delhi, having recognised the grandson of Allum¬
guire as emperor, under the title of Shah Aulum the Second.
A new scene was now about to open in India. I he Euro- Rise of the
peans, who as traders had long maintained establishments European
on the coasts, began to assume an entirely diflerent cha- power,
racter ; to contend with each other in the field tor domi¬
nion, and to mingle in all the wars and politics of the
interior. It was necessary, for carrying on the domestic
trade of India, and more especially in providing goods for
the supply of Europe, that a body of experienced servants
should reside on the spot, in order to collect and to pur¬
chase commodities for exportation ; an employment which,
owing to the poverty and abject state of the natives, and
their peculiar customs, involved duties of the most minute
and laborious detail. During the decline of the Mogul go¬
vernment, the tranquillity of India was frequently shaken
by the contentions of rival chiefs ; and the slight security
afforded, even in the best times, to commerce, became in
this manner more imperfect. For the reception of the
goods which it was necessary to collect and store up, that
cargoes might always be in readiness for the Company’s
ships, warehouses were built, which, with the counting-
houses, and other apartments for the agents and business
of the place, constituted the factories of the Company.
These factories contained a valuable store of property,
which, in the disordered state of India, it became necessary
to secure from the rapacity both of governments and of in¬
dividuals. They were therefore strongly built and forti¬
fied ; their inmates were armed and disciplined; and, for
better security, regular troops were occasionally maintain¬
ed in those mercantile garrisons. In these defensive ar¬
rangements of the Company we may discern the rudiments
of their future empire.
The territorial acquisitions of the European companies
were, however, still inconsiderable. The English East In¬
dia Company had in 1698 been permitted to purchase the
zemindaryship of the three towns of Sootanutty, Calcutta,
and Govindpore, with their districts, to which was after¬
wards added a district extending ten miles from Calcutta,
on each side of the river Hooghly, containing thirty-se¬
ven towns. On the Coromandel coast the English pos¬
sessed Madras, with a small adjoining territory five miles
along the shore, also Fort St David, in 11. 40. north lati¬
tude, with other places, such as Vizigapatam and Balasore ;
and on the west coast their principal settlement was the
island of Bombay. Factories were also established at Surat,
Tellicherry, and several other places. The business of the
Company was managed by the three independent presi¬
dencies of Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta. I he presi¬
dency consisted of a governor and council of nine, twelve,
or any greater number of members, as might seem expe¬
dient, in a majority of whom all power was vested. The
members of the council were not excluded from other
more lucrative offices, which were, in general, shared
amongst them. These offices were chiefly in the gift of the
president, and, by means of his influence, the council were,
in a great degree, placed under his control. The gover¬
nor and council exercised the most ample powers over
the servants of the Company ; and with regard to all others,
they could seize and imprison them, and afterwards send
3 p
482
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan.
them to England. The powers of martial law were be¬
stowed on them at an early period, for maintaining the
discipline of the troops under their orders ; and, in 1661,
a charter of Charles II. gave them the power of adminis¬
tering civil and criminal justice according to the laws of
England.
Pondicherry, with a small appendage of territory, was
the principal seat of the French power on the continent
of India. It had under its authority three factories, one
at Mahe, on the Malabar coast, not far south from Telli-
cherry; one at Karical, on the Coromandel coast; and
one at Chandernagore, on the river Hooghly, in Bengal.
The form of government was the same in the French as
in the English settlements.
In 1744 France and England, from being auxiliaries, be¬
came principals in the war which was then raging in Eu¬
rope, and the flame soon communicated to their distant
colonies. In India the two rival powers were quickly in¬
volved in hostilities, which, however, were followed by no
important result; and the English settlement of Madras,
which had been taken by the French king, was restored at
the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. It was soon after this that the
French and English, in supporting the contending claims
of the native princes, again came into collision. At the
respective settlements of the two Companies, the number
of troops assembled during the previous war was greater
than was necessary for defence, and the servants of the
Companies, with such means at their disposal, now began
to meditate schemes of conquest. The intricacies of
Indian politics, and the family connexions of the different
claimants who contended for power and dominion, need
not be described in detail, as it would neither be instruc¬
tive nor acceptable to the general reader. A brief sketch
is all that will be necessary to explain the nature of those
transactions which so deeply affected the future condi¬
tion of India, and the relations of the parties engaged in
them.
When Nizam-ul-Mulk was appointed ruler of the Dec-
can, with the title of subahdar, by the Emperor Aurungzebe,
a chief named Sadatullah was nabob of the Carnatic. At
his death, his son Boost Ali succeeded him as nabob,
which proved displeasing to the nizam, who claimed the
right, as delegate of the emperor, to appoint the viceroy
of the Carnatic. He accordingly chose, first his general
Cojah Abdoolla, and afterwards Anwar ad Dien Khan,
known to the English as Anoverdy Khan, to be governor
of the Carnatic in 1745. It was between these two fami¬
lies that the contest now began for the government of the
Carnatic ; Chunda Saheb, a distant relative of the family
of Sadatullah, being supported by the French under their
aspiring and ambitious governor Dupleix. The death of
Nizam-ul-Mulk, in 1748, at the extreme age of 104, occa¬
sioned another dispute in the succession to the govern¬
ment of the Deccan, between Nazir Jung, his son, who
was supported by the English, and Mirzapha Jung, his
grandson by a daughter, who was aided by Chunda Saheb
and the French. The latter in 1749, with 40,000 native
troops, 400 French, 100 Caffres, and 1800 Sepoys, ad¬
vanced against Anwar ad Dien. His camp was gallant¬
ly stormed by the French troops, he himself was slain, at
the age of 107, his eldest son was taken prisoner, and his
second son, Mahommed Ali, with the wreck of his army,
escaped to Trichinopoly. Nazir Jung, hearing that the
nabob of the Carnatic was defeated, collected an army,
and summoned Mahommed Ali from Trichinopoly to his aid.
He also requested assistance from the English, who sent
Major Laurence from Fort St David with 600 Europeans
to join his army. When the armies approached each
other, D Auteuil the French commander, being deserted
by some of his officers, suddenly retreated to Pondicherry,
leaving to their fate Mirzapha Jung, who surrendered to
his uncle, and was immediately put in irons, and Chunda Hindustan.
Saheb, who followed with his troops to Pondicherry,
But the enterprising Dupleix made new exertions, and
having again taken the field, he attacked the camp of Na¬
zir Jung, his former ally, who in the confusion was shot
through the heart. Mirzapha Jung being now freed from
imprisonment, assumed the authority of subahdar. He
was afterwards shot dead with an arrow in an action with
the rebellious Patan chiefs, and, by the influence of M.
Bussy, who commanded the French troops, Salabut Jung,
the eldest surviving son of Nizam-ul-Mulk, was raised to
the government. After some unsuccessful operations,
the English, with their allies, were compelled to take shel¬
ter under the walls of Trichinopoly, which was now be¬
sieged, though with little effect, by the enemy.
In this indecisive state of affairs at Trichinopoly, it was
suggested by Captain Clive, who had already distinguish¬
ed himself by desperate bravery and great military skill,
that it would be advantageous to carry the war into the
enemy's country; and being intrusted with the execu¬
tion of his own bold designs, he began an attack on Arcot,
the capital of Chunda Saheb. He had under him 210
Europeans and 500 Sepoys ; and so secret and sudden
were his motions, that he was master of the enemy’s ca¬
pital ere they were apprised of his march. Here he was
soon invested, in the fort which defends the town, by a
numerous army, and several practicable breaches being
made, an assault took place, which was repulsed with loss ;
the assailants were finally compelled to raise the siege,
and being pursued by Clive, were attacked and totally de¬
feated on the plain of Arani, on the 3d of December 1751.
The forts of Tinnery, Conjeveram, and Arani, immediate¬
ly surrendered to Clive, who returned in triumph to Fort
St David. He was soon recalled by the operations of
the enemy, who were encouraged by his absence again to
take the field. With a very inferior force he adventured
on a battle, and by the well-concerted manoeuvre of send¬
ing round a detachment to fall upon the rear of the ene¬
my, whilst the English charged with the bayonet in front,
he obtained a decisive victory, and the hostile army was
saved from total ruin only by the darkness of the night.
On his return to Fort St David, Clive was superseded
in his command by Major Laurence, who detached him
with 400 Europeans, a few Mahratta soldiers, and a body
of Sepoys, to cut off the enemy’s retreat to Pondicherry,
in which he was, as usual, completely successful, having
made the French commander M. d’Auteuil prisoner, with
all his troops. The enemy were now greatly distressed
for want of provisions ; and Chunda Saheb, deserted by his
troops, surrendered to the king of Tanjore, an ally of the
English, by whom he was beheaded, in order to prevent
all disputes with the Mysorean and Mahratta chiefs about
the custody of his person. After the flight of Chunda
Saheb, his army was attacked and routed by Major Lau¬
rence ; and the island of Syringham, where his troops
were encamped, was taken, with about 1000 French sol¬
diers, under the command of Mr Law, the son of LawT
the author of the Mississippi scheme. Notwithstanding
these disadvantages, Dupleix was not discouraged. The
English resolved to commence the siege of Gingee, which
was garrisoned by the French. In this operation they
failed. But the French were afterwards defeated in an
action near Bahoor, two miles from Fort St David ; and
the two forts of Coveling and Chingleput were reduced
by Captain Clive.
Early in January 1753 the two armies again took the
field. The French force consisted of 500 European in¬
fantry, sixty horse, 2000 Sepoys, and 4000 Mahrattas, com¬
manded by Morari Row. The English had 700 European
infantry, 2000 Sepoys, and 1500 horse belonging to the
nabob. I he two armies, avoiding a general action, watch-
HINDUSTAN. 483
Hindustan, ed each other’s movements, when General Laurence was proceeded to follow their example, by reducing to obe-Hindustan.
apprised that Captain Dalton, the commandant of Trichi- dience and plundering the petty chiefs of the country. W-v-w
nopoly, had only provisions to serve him three weeks. He Whilst the two contending armies were maintaining this
immediately marched with all his forces to his relief, and predatory warfare, the active and enterprising Bussy was
being followed by the French, this place became the ob- in another quarter securing the ascendency of the P’rench ;
ject of an active contest, from May 1753 till October and, whether in the cabinet or in the field, he still signa-
1754. We have already stated that the two main points lized his talents as a warrior and a statesman. Salabut
of dispute between the French and English were, first, Jung, influenced by his courtiers, had induced the French
the succession to the government of the Deccan ; and, troops to quit his territories, which order Bussy speedi-
secondly, to that of the Carnatic ; the English, in the first ly obeyed, and commenced his march. Finding that
of the disputes, supporting the claims of Nazir Jung, the he was betrayed, and his progress intercepted by hostile
son of Nizam-ul-Mulk, against Mirzapha Jung, the grand- chiefs, he skilfully selected a strong position, which he
son of the nizam, who was supported by the French, defended till succours arrived from Pondicherry; when
After the death of Nazir Jung, who was killed in the at- the fickle prince again solicited his alliance, and he was
tack of the French upon his camp, Mirzapha Jung sue- restored to still higher influence than before. Salabut
ceeded to the subahdarship of the Deccan. He was killed Jung, when he had resolved to dismiss the French troops,
in battle, as already related, by an arrow, when, through had applied to the presidency of Madras for a force to sup-
the influence of the French commander, M. Bussy, Sala- ply their place; and this opportunity of extending their
but Jung, the eldest surviving son of Nizam-ul-Mulk, was influence w-ould have been eagerly embraced by the Eng-
raised to the vacant throne. But on the death of Nazir lish, but their power was now threatened in another quar-
Jung, his eldest son Ghazee ad Dien solicited and re- ter, by new and unexpected dangers. Bengal now became
ceived from the Mogul the appointment of subahdar of the great scene of Indian warfare, in which were concen-
the Deccan ; and he appeared at Aurungabad in October trated all the resources of the English, from every part of
1752, to support his title, at the head of 150,000 troops, their territories. This extensive province, with Orissa and
Ihe Mahrattas at the same time supported him, and en- the province of Allahabad and Berar, was governed, to-
tered the province of Golconda with 100,000 horse. The wards the latter end of Aurungzebe’s reign, by his grand-
French general Bussy and Salabut Jung now took the son Azeem Ooshaun, second son of Shah Aulum, who
field to meet these armies, with very unequal numbers, succeeded to the throne. Jaffier Khan was appointed his
when Ghazee ad Dien Khan suddenly died. The Mali- deputy; and, as frequently happened during the decline of
ratta generals continued the war, but in every encounter the Mogul empire, from a deputy he became an indepen-
they were repulsed with such fearful loss by the French, dent sovereign. Sujah Khan, who was married to the
that they agreed to conclude a peace on the cession of daughter of Jaffier Khan, was appointed his deputy in the
certain frontier districts, to which Salabat Jung willing- government of Orissa. In this elevated station, a distant
ly agreed. relative, Mirza Mahommed, who had once been in the ser¬
in the other point in dispute, namely, the government vice of Azeem Shah, the second son of Aurungzebe, and
of the Carnatic, the English espoused the cause of Mahom- had since fallen into poverty, resorted to his court for em-
med Ali, the second son of Anwar ad Dien, who was ap- ployment, and he was kindly received. He was followed
pointed nabob by Nizam-ul-Mulk ; and the French sup- by his two sons Hadgee Ahmed and Mirza Mahommed Ali,
poi ted Chunda Saheb, the heir of the first deputy Sada- who both obtained employment; and, by their respective
tullah, appointed also by Nizam-ul-Mulk. On his death talents for business and war, they soon acquired favour and
they claimed the right of appointment for Salabut Jung, influence in the court of Sujah Khan. Jaffier Khan died
the subahdar, and who, owing his throne to their powerful in 1725, and wras succeeded by Sujah Khan, who sup-
support, had become a passive tool in their hands. From planted Sereffraz Khan, the destined heir. In 1739 he add-
him M. Bussy had obtained the cession of the four im- ed to his dominions the province of Bahar, and intrusted
portant provinces of Mustaphanagar, Ellore, Rajamundry, its administration to Mirza Mahommed Ali, under the title
and Chicacole, called the Northern Circars. It was in of Aliverdy Khan. In 1739 Sujah Khan died, and was
these circumstances that a suspension of arms was agreed succeeded by his son Sereffraz Khan, who hated Aliverdy
upon in October 1754; and on the 26th of December fol- Khan and his brother, and took no pains to conceal it.
lowing a provisional treaty was signed at Pondicherry, by Aliverdy in the mean time obtaining from the imperial
w hich both parties agreed to abstain from interfering in court his nomination to the government of Bengal, collect-
the internal affairs of the country, and to establish their ed his troops, and having defeated SerefFraz in a battle in
territorial acquisitions on a principle of equality. These which he was slain, he reduced the country to subjection,
terms were entirely in favour of the English, as they left and governed it with a regard to justice and humanity very
Mahommed Ali nabob of the Carnatic, and obliged the unusual in the East. Flis reign was, however, one con-
French also to the cession of the four Circars which they had tinued scene of commotion, from the irruptions of the Mah-
obtained from Salabut Jung. But this treaty was in truth rattas, who, though they were often vigorously repelled
a. dead letter ; and the moment it was concluded the Eng- by Aliverdy and his troops, alwrays returned with new vi-
lish, in virtue of their alliance with the nabob, proceeded gour to the invasion of the country. Aliverdy died on the
to reduce to obedience, and to collect the revenues of the 9th of April 1756, at the age of eighty, and was succeeded
districts of Madura and Tinnevelly. Here, however, they by his nephew Suraja Dowla, who had all the vices of a re¬
encountered the Colleries, a fierce tribe inhabiting the gularly educated prince. His first act was to plunder the
hilly districts, who obstinately contested every inch of sister of Aliverdy Khan, who was reputed to possess great
ground ; so that they got abundance of hard blows, and wealth ; he gave orders to seize the treasurers of her farni-
little money, scarcely enough indeed to pay the expense of ly, one of whom, however, contrived to escape, and found
this plundering adventure. The English, when they made an asylum in Calcutta. Incensed by the protection given
their first conquests in India, naving conceived vast ideas to this fugitive, and jealous besides of the designs and
of its wealth, set no bounds to their rapacity; they were growing power of the Europeans, he took the field on the
eager to revel in the spoil of the country, and it was only 30th of May 1756, with an army of 40,000 foot, 30,000
stubborn facts and repeated disappointments that at last horse, and 400 elephants. The factory at Cossimbazar was
dispelled their dreams of avarice. The French, after re- seized, and its chief, Mr Watts, and his surgeon, who ac-
monstrating in vain against this conduct of the English, companied him, were retained prisoners. Calcutta was in-
484
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, vested on the 18th of June. It was feebly defended, and
v —/ at last a retreat was resolved upon, which was executed so
precipitately that numbers were left behind in the loit
by the ships and boats. In this trying situation Mr Hol-
well was chosen commander, who, seeing no chance of a
successful defence, proposed a capitulation in a letter which
he threw over the ramparts. In the mean time the troops
having gained access to the liquor, were so intoxicated as
to be Incapable of defence, and the enemy entered the fort
without resistance. The subahdar appears on this occasion
not to have intended any inhumanity to the garrison; and
when Mr Holwell was brought into his presence with his
hands tied, he ordered them to be loosed, and pledged his
honour as a soldier to him and his companions that not a
hair of their heads should be touched. But, notwithstand¬
ing these assurances, the tragical scene which ensued has
no parallel in the annals of human misery. When night
approached, it became necessary to secure the prisoners in
some place of confinement; and for this purpose the com¬
mon prison of the garrison was chosen, which was about
eighteen feet square, with only two small windows barred
with iron. Into this small apartment the garrison, 146 in
number, were compelled to enter, by threats of being in¬
stantly cut down if they resisted. Their sufferings from
want of air were dreadful, and bribes were offered to the
guard to obtain a room for them in which they could
breathe. But none dared to awake the sleeping tyrant
whose prisoners they were ; and, after a night of inexpres¬
sible horror, only twenty-three out of 146 were found
alive in the morning. The presidency of Madras being
apprized of these disasters, determined on sending Colonel
Clive, who had now returned to India, to Bengal, with as
large a force as could be collected ; and an armament
accordingly sailed from the roads of Madras on the 16th
of October, consisting of five king’s ships under Admiral
Watson, besides transports having on board 900 European
troops and 1500 Sepoys. Having arrived in the Ganges on
the 20th of December 1756, they found the fugitives at
Fulta, a town at some distance from Calcutta, down the
river. The first operation was against a fort; and Clive,
lying in ambush to intercept the garrison, was himself sur¬
prised by the troops of Suraja Dowla, and, after a conflict
long doubtful, extricated himself from the dangers that sur¬
rounded him, by that admirable presence of mind which
never deserted him in the hour of danger. On the 2d of
January 1757, the armament arrived at Calcutta, which
surrendered after a cannonade of two hours. Almost the
whole property of the Company was recovered, having
been preserved for the subahdar ; but the houses of indi¬
viduals were all plundered. On the 10th of January, the
city of Hooghly, about twenty-three miles higher up the
river, was attacked, and a breach being made, and an as¬
sault begun, the garrison sought safety in flight. In the
mean time, intelligence was received from Europe of the
commencement of hostilities between France and Eng¬
land, which placed in a very critical situation the Com¬
pany’s settlements in Bengal. The English were already
engaged in a war with a powerful prince, who had a formid¬
able army in the field; and a coalition with the French,
who could muster 300 European troops, with a train of ar¬
tillery, would have overwhelmed their infant power. Hap¬
pily for them, the French were desirous of a neutrality, and
refused the alliance of Suraja Dowla, who advanced wfith
his whole army and surrounded Calcutta. The perils which
now environed the English roused the daring spirit of Clive,
and he resolved to surprise the enemy’s camp before day¬
light. But this bold enterprise failed in the execution ;
the troops suffered severely, and a thick mist augmented
the causes of confusion ; still the boldness of the design pro¬
duced the desired effect, by alarming the subahdar, and in¬
clining him to peace. He accordingly concluded a treaty
with the English, by which he agreed to restore to the Hindustan.
Company their factories, and all their former privileges; to
make compensation for the losses they had suffered, and to
permit them to fortify Calcutta. The danger which now
threatened the Company being averted, the active mind of
Clive was directed to other objects; and as war was now
declared between France and England, he resolved, in re¬
turn for the neutrality observed by the French when the
English were involved in hostilities with the nabob, to at¬
tack their settlement at Chandernagur. This scheme was
opposed by the nabob, and was disapproved by the coun¬
cil and Admiral Watson. Reinforcements, however, ar¬
riving, the attack was resolved on, and the English force
advanced. The French defended themselves with gallan¬
try ; and the nabob, alarmed, began to put his army in mo¬
tion. But the fort was in the mean time reduced by the
irresistible fire of the ships. The nabob viewed these pro¬
ceedings with secret alarm and resentment, and refused to
give up the other French factories and subjects in his do¬
minions. He even afforded protection to the fugitives from
Chandernagur, and evinced his decided hostility to the
English, until he received intelligence of the progress of the
Afghans in the north, when he became extremely desir¬
ous of peace. But the English were now dazzled with
other schemes, and Clive strongly insisted on the rooted
disaffection of the nabob to the English, and on the neces¬
sity of dethroning him, and of elevating Meer Jaffier, who
had married the sister of Aliverdy Khan, to the throne in
his stead. It is unnecessary to dwell particularly on the
dark intrigues by which this scheme was carried into ef¬
fect. It was concerted that, for the destruction of Suraja
Dowla, the English should take the field; and that Meer
Jaffier, who still had a considerable force under his com¬
mand, should join them at Cutwa. The English, having ar¬
rived at Cutwa, found not their expected ally Meer Jaffier;
only an intimation from him that he could not join them be¬
fore the day of battle, but that during the action he would
desert the nabob and join his enemies. This intelligence
damped the ardour of the English, and it was deemed ha¬
zardous to advance further, and to risk a battle, when, “ if
defeat ensued, no one would return to tell it.” But cau¬
tion at length gave way to bolder counsels ; the army
crossed the river a little past midnight, at Plassy. Here
also was intrenched the army of the subahdar, consisting
of 50,000 foot, 18,000 horse, and fifty pieces of cannon.
The English force consisted of about 1000 Europeans and
2100 Sepoys. During the battle, which took place on the
23d of June 1757, Meer Jaffier was observed moving
off with his troops. Clive, new assured of his intentions,
ordered an attack; the subahdar’s army was dispersed, and
he himself fled from the field wuth only 2000 attendants.
Arriving at his palace, he found no friend on whom he
could rely ; and disguising himself as a fakir, he escaped,
with a favourite concubine and a single eunuch, intending
to make his way to the French. But he was discovered
at Raje Muhl, dragged back to Moorshedabad, and placed
under the custody of Meer Jaffier’s son, who gave orders
for his assassination. On the 25th of June, Clive arrived
with his victorious army at Moorshedabad. Meer Jaffier
took possession of the capital, and on the 29th was in¬
stalled into his high office, in the presence of the rajahs
and grandees of the court. Enormous sums were exacted
from Meer Jaffier as the price of his elevation ; for the
Company 10,000,000 rupees, as a compensation for losses ;
5,000,000 rupees to the English inhabitants, 2,000,000 to
the Indians, and 700,000 to the Armenians; for the squa¬
dron 2,500,000; an equal sum for the army ; and for the
members of the council, which they actually received,
namely, for Mr Drake the governor, and Colonel Clive,
280,000 rupees each; and Mr Becker, Mr Watts, and
Major Kilpatrick, 240,000 each; the whole amounting to
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan. L.2,697,750. The English, deluded by their avarice, still
cherished their extravagant ideas of Indian wealth ; nor
would they listen to the ungrateful truth. But it was now
found that there were no funds in the Indian treasury to
satisfy their inordinate demands. They were in the end
obliged to be contented with one half the stipulated sum,
which, after many difficulties, was paid in specie and in
jewels, with the exception of 584,905 rupees.
The Company’s servants, whilst their force was so actively
engaged in Bengal, were anxious to remain quiet in the Car¬
natic. In endeavouring to collect the land-rents of the na¬
bob Mahommed Ali, they, however, undertook the reduc¬
tion ol Madura and Tinnevelly ; but with no great success,
Captain Calliaud being repulsed in an assault on the fort
of Dindigul, and another division of the English force at
Nelore. The French now resolved to take advantage of the
division of the enemy’s force, and to strike a decisive
blow ; and having collected every soldier that could be
spared from garrison duty, they suddenly with their whole
force invested the fortress of Trichinopoly. On the 14th of
May 1757, Captain Calliaud being apprized of their design
whilst he was besieging Madura, instantly began his march
for the relief of this important place. It was surrounded
by an army five times as numerous as his own force, and
every avenue to it was strongly guarded. But the Eng¬
lish commander, well acquainted with the localities, took
his route through a large plain consisting of rice fields co¬
vered with water, which was deemed impassable by the
French, and therefore left unguarded ; and thus he enter¬
ed the fort. The French general, disconcerted by this suc¬
cessful stroke, drew off his forces and returned to Pondi¬
cherry. Having thus secured Trichinopoly, Colonel Cal¬
liaud resumed the siege of Madura, and being repulsed,
with heavy loss, in an attempt to storm, he turned the siege
into a blockade. He was at last received into the town on
payment of 170,000 rupees. In the mean time Bussy was
eminently successful in all his operations within the Cir-
cars ; he reduced the fortress of Vizigapatam held by the
English ; and, after some uncertainty in the unstable coun¬
cils of Salabut Jung, he finally established an entire as¬
cendency over that prince and throughout the Deccan.
On the commencement of the war between France and
England in 1756, the French ministry resolved to send a
formidable armament to India; and the Count de Lally,
an Irishman, who had left his country with James II., and
who had distinguished himself in the battle of Fontenoy,
was appointed commander-in-chief of all the French forces
in India. Count Lally, with his armament, arrived on the
coast of Coromandel on the 25th of April 1757. The Eng¬
lish Admiral Pococke had been previously joined by a squa¬
dron of five ships of war, and an engagement took place
between the two fleets, which terminated to the advantage
of the English. Another action took place after the ships
were refitted, with the same result. But neither was de¬
cisive ; and, notwithstanding these successes at sea, the
French had a preponderating force on shore, which con¬
sisted of 2500 Europeans, and the same number of Sepoys.
With this force they commenced, on the 17th of May 1758,
the siege of Fort St David. The place capitulated on the
1st of June, and its fortifications were razed. Devicottah
surrendered on the 7th of June, and the English now ful¬
ly expected that Lally would next lay siege to Madras.
But the want of money embarrassed all his operations ; and
in order to relieve his necessities, he undertook the siege
of Tanjore. A breach was effected, and preparations made
for an assault, when the arrival of the English fleet, after
another engagement with the French before Carical,
whence the besieging army derived all its supplies, deter¬
mined Lally to raise the siege ; and, after a disastrous
retreat, his shattered force arrived on the 28th at Carical.
The hostile fleets again encountered on the 2d of August,
485
and after an hour’s fighting the French bore away, and Hindustan,
were soon beyond the reach of shot. Lally, to relieve his ^
pecuniary wants, which were only augmented by the unsuc¬
cessful siege of Tanjore, now prepared for an expedition
against Arcot. This place capitulated on the 4th of Oc¬
tober, and the French force proceeded forthwith to Chingle-
put, about forty-five miles south-west of Madras. But
the English, aware of its importance, reinforced the gar¬
rison, and Lally did not attempt its reduction. His situ¬
ation was beset with difficulties, from the total want of
money and all necessary supplies ; and in order to re¬
trieve his affairs, he resolved on the bold enterprise of
laying siege to Madras. His force consisted of 2700 Eu¬
ropean troops, and 4000 Indians. In this attempt he sig¬
nally failed, with great loss, after continuing the siege from
the 16th of December till the middle of February 1759 ;
and this disaster greatly contributed to depress his spirits,
and to abate his vain confidence in his own schemes. The
French army retreated in the direction of Conjeveram,
whither they were followed by the English. Here the two
armies manoeuvred for some time in sight of each other,
when the English marched upon Wandewash, and after¬
wards on Conjeveram, which they took by assault. On
the 28th of May 1759 both armies went into cantonments.
In the end of September the campaign was resumed
with spirit by the English, who laid siege to Wandewash,
but were repulsed in all their attempts to carry it by storm.
But it was attacked and taken on the 29th of October,
as was also Caranjoly on the 10th of December. Bussy had
been recalled from the Carnatic, where he had exerted
himself so advantageously for the French cause, and he
joined the army the day after the repulse of the English.
Lally had resolved to divide his force ; with one part to
collect the rents of the southern, with the other to pro¬
tect what belonged to the French in the northern dis¬
tricts. He contrived by skilful manoeuvring to amuse the
English, and in the mean time he surprised and took Con¬
jeveram, and thence proceeded to the attack of Wande¬
wash. The English army under Colonel Coote now ap¬
proached, consisting of 1900 Europeans, 2100 Sepoys, 1250
black horse, and twenty-six field-pieces; and the French
general determined to try the issue of a general battle.
The French, including 300 marines and sailors, consist¬
ed of 2250 Europeans, and 1500 Sepoys. The battle
commenced on the 22d of January 1760, at eleven o’clock,
and terminated in the total defeat of the French, who lost
nearly all their cannon. Lally retreated to Chittapet, about
twenty-eight miles from the field of battle, and afterwards
to Gingee and Valdore. The victorious general resolved
on the reduction of Arcot, and having previously taken
Chittapet, he arrived before that fortress upon the 1st of
February, and upon the 9th the garrison capitulated. The
affairs of the French now rapidly declined. The English
had acquired a decided superiority in the field, and for¬
tress after fortress fell into their hands; Tinery on the 1st
of February, Devicottah about the same time, and Trinco-
malee on the 29th. To complete this train of misfortunes,
Admiral Cornish arrived at Madras with six men of war ;
and there being no longer a hostile fleet in the Indian Seas,
he readily agreed to co-operate with the land forces. The
consequence was, the reduction of Carical on the 5th of
April, of Valdore on the 15th, of Chittambaram on the
20th, and about the same time of Cuddalore; and on the
1st of May the whole French force was shut up in Pondi¬
cherry, which was their last remaining hope in India, whilst
the English forces encamped within four miles of the
town. It was in the beginning of September that the Eng¬
lish laid formal siege to this place. The batteries were
opened about the beginning of December, and it capitulat¬
ed on the 15th of January 1765 ; and thus terminated for
ever the power of France in this quarter of the world.
HINDUSTAN.
486
Hindustan. Whilst the English were thus establishing their ascen-
dency in the south of India, and also in Bengal, Meer Jaf-
^kvation ger) new nabob, was wholly unable to answer the ex-
CossinTto orbitant demands of the Company’s servants, who, still de-
the throne, luded with the idea of eastern riches, refused to abate one
iota of their demands. His situation thus became extreme¬
ly difficult. His treasury was exhausted, his people impo¬
verished, he had no funds for the expenses of government,
and still less for the demands of his rapacious allies. He
was compelled to extort money from his ruined subjects by
cruelty and terror. He himself, and his son Meeraus, soon
fell into universal odium and contempt, from their merci¬
less exactions, and the weakness, negligence, and disorder
of their administration. The troops mutinied for want of
pay, the rajahs and nobles were discontented, and rebel¬
lions multiplied throughout his dominions. The nabobs
of Oude and Allahabad entered into a dangerous confede¬
racy with the eldest son of the Emperor Aulumgeer II. for
supporting his claim to the imperial throne, and to the sub¬
ordinate provinces of the Mogul empire ; and their com¬
bined forces advanced to the invasion of Bengal. But Eu¬
ropean troops, though few in number, and European coun¬
sels, proved an overmatch for the ill-organized masses of
Indian cavalry ; they were accordingly defeated in every
encounter, and Meer Jaffier secured in the undisputed pos¬
session of the throne. Lord Clive, who bore so conspi¬
cuous a part in these transactions, resigned the government
in February 1760 ; and by his influence Mr Vansittart was
raised to be president or governor of the council, consist¬
ing of from nine to twelve persons, by a majority of whom
the affairs of the Company were now administered. The
English, by their prompt and decisive measures, had de¬
fended the nabob against foreign aggression ; and he had
now to defend himself against their own domestic treason,
which proved to be the more serious danger. In raising
him to the sovereignty they were actuated by purely in¬
terested views ; and being disappointed, they entered into
schemes for dethroning him, and for again selling the
throne to the highest bidder. Meer Cossim, married to
his daughter, was the person now pitched upon to supply
his place. The conditions were, that he should assign to
the Company the revenues of the three districts of Burd-
wan, Midnapore, and Chittagong; that he should pay the
balance due by Jaffier ; and besides, make a present of five
lacs of rupees for the war in the Carnatic. Mr Vansittart
now proceeded, with a body of troops under Colonel Cal-
liaud, to persuade, or rather to compel, the nabob to abdi¬
cate the sovereignty. At day-break his palace was sur¬
rounded with troops, and a letter was sent to him explain¬
ing the views of the English, which filled him with rage.
He treated writh disdain the assurances of safety for his
person, and that a reform in his government under his son-
in-law as his deputy was all that was proposed ; and he
finally preferred, rather than sway a barren sceptre, to re¬
tire to Calcutta under the protection of the English. Against
the deposition of Meer Jaffier several members of the coun¬
cil protested, and this spirit of opposition for a considerable
time distracted the English councils. The party who had
elevated Meer Cossim highly commended his whole admi¬
nistration, which their opponents were equally solicitous to
criticise and to condemn. Meer Cossim was a person of
quite a different stamp from his weak and indolent prede¬
cessor. By the assistance of his new allies he cleared his
dominions of all invaders, and strengthened his frontiers;
he reduced the rajahs or independent Indian chiefs, who
had rebelled against Jaffier, obliging them to pay the usual
tribute, by which means he repaired his finances; he intro¬
duced order and economy into his whole administration, and
by regular pay secured the discipline and fidelity of his troops.
But his conduct was viewed in a sinister light by the mem¬
bers of the council who opposed his elevation; and four of
them being dismissed by the directors at home for insub-Hindustan,]
ordination to their authority, this faction became the ma-
jority; and the most violent amongst them, Mr Ellis, was Disputes
sent to superintend the factory at Patna, the residence of
the nabob, where his whole conduct was one continued in- ossmi*
suit and defiance of his authority. He made no scruple of
seizing and punishing the officers of the nabob, who acted
under his express sanction ; sometimes throwing them into
prison, or sending them in chains to Calcutta, to be there
punished at the discretion of the council. To these were
added other and more extensive injuries; and at length
the usurpations and tyranny of the English were carried to
such a height, that the authority of the government either
became a mere name, or an instrument of violence and ex¬
tortion in the hands of the Company’s servants. The causes
of these disorders, which led to a new and important revo¬
lution in the political condition oflndia, we shall now briefly
explain.
In India the transit of goods from one place to another Cause of
was, under the native governments, subjected to a tax ; these dis¬
and upon all the roads and navigable rivers toll-houses Putes’ aijl|
were erected, where this tax was paid. These toll-houses op^gSS10!1
were multiplied, to the great inconvenience and oppression country,
of the internal trade; and as the duties varied in different
places, there was here a wide field for abuse, and the
traders were frequently oppressed by the arbitrary extor¬
tions of the collectors. The East India Company had,
at an early period, procured a firman, which exempted
from all internal duties, both the goods which they im¬
ported from Europe, as they passed into the interior, and
those which they purchased in the interior in their passage
to the sea. They were, in fact, protected by a certificate
signed by the president or chiefs of the factories, called a
dustuck, and shown at the toll-houses or chokeys through
which they passed. The servants frequently endeavour¬
ed to abuse the Company’s privilege, by claiming an im¬
munity from taxation for all their own goods, which they
had neither imported nor were to export, but which, for
the internal supply of the country, they were transport¬
ing from one place to another. The subahdars of Bengal,
whilst they retained their power, restrained the Com¬
pany’s privilege within its appointed limits, and steadily
refused to exempt the trade of its servants from duties to
which all others were subject. But when, by the eleva¬
tion of Meer Jaffier to the throne, the English acquired
the undisputed ascendency, they broke through all the
equitable restraints imposed upon them ; in every district,
in every market and village, they dealt in rice, the common
food of the people, paddy, betel-nut, oil, fish, straw, bam¬
boos, &c. and, without scruple, used the Company’s pass¬
port to screen these articles from internal duties ; and so
dreaded was the English name, that the toll-house keepers
no longer exacted the public dues on the transit of their
goods through the country. In some cases where the de¬
mand was made and the goods stopped, the toll-keeper was
arrested by a party of Sepoys, and carried prisoner to the
nearest factories; and he was frequently exposed to even
greater severities, being tied up and lashed. The confu¬
sion into which the country was thrown by the injustice, the
violence, and the cruelty, of those rapacious intruders, can
scarcely be imagined. The native merchant, still burden¬
ed with the heavy duties, which were rigorously levied on
him, was undersold in every market; and the Company’s
servants in a short time engrossed the whole commerce of
the country. The unhappy natives were subjected to va¬
rious other oppressions. It was a common practice of the
Company’s servants to defraud them both in purchase and
in sale; to force goods from them at a lower, and to compel
them to buy their own at a higher rate than the market
price. Nor did the ordinary tribunals afford any protection
against their injustice; a band of foreign adventurers, to call
HINDUSTAN.
fust con-
iuct of
ileer Cos
Hindustan, them by no harsher name, had usurped the sovereign power,
which they rendered wholly subservient to their own
schemes of enriching themselves at the expense of the
country.1
Meer Cossim, the ruler who had been set up by the
Company, was extremely displeased with the conduct of
their servants, and he represented in the strongest terms
to the president and council the enormities to which the
private trade had given rise. But the majority of the
council vveie too deeply interested in these enormities to
be moved by this just appeal of the sovereign in behalf of
his oppressed people. They all participated more or less in
the profits of the private trade, and they had no disposi¬
tion to part with or to restrict this lucrative abuse. They
even refused to pay nine per cent, of transit duties upon
their goods, though this rate was far inferior to that paid
by the native traders; and all that they would agree to
was, out of their own liberality and free choice to pay a
duty of two and a half per cent, on salt alone. The na¬
bob, when he heard of the proceedings in council, and of
the injurious treatment of his officers for duly executing
his orders, was naturally filled with indignation ; and he
came to the resolution of abolishing all internal duties.
There could not possibly have been a more moderate or
equitable^ measure. It gave freedom and equality to all
parties; it threw down at once all the restraints to fair
and open competition, and gave to the Company’s servants
the unlimited freedom of trade. This just and liberal
policy, however, was far from corresponding with their
views, and it excited amongst them the most violent cla¬
mours. They were discontented at losing so fair an op¬
portunity of amassing enormous wealth. Their conduct,
as Mr Mill justly observes, furnishes one of “ the most
remarkable instances on record, of the power of interest
to extinguish all sense of justice, and even of shame.”
They first insisted on an exemption for themselves from
all internal duties, now they cried out in the rage of dis¬
appointed avarice against the extension of the same pri¬
vileges to the inhabitants; and thus they reversed all the
usual maxims of fair policy, in seeking immunities for fo¬
reigners which were refused to natives.
The conduct of Meer Cossim, in claiming justice for
his oppressed subjects, was highly displeasing to the ma¬
jority of the council. The exaction of legal dues upon
English goods was represented as a violation of the Com¬
pany’s rights, and as evidence of a design to expel them
from the country; and, for this new species of treason
against the offended majesty of usurped power, it was
resolved to depose him, and to replace Meer Jaffier on the
throne, as nominal ruler of Bengal, on the well-under¬
stood condition of subservience to their views. A treaty
was concluded, confirming the immunity which they
claimed from all internal duties, with the exception only of
two and a half per cent, on the article of salt, whilst those
duties were re-imposed on the goods of all other mer¬
chants. Large presents were bargained for, and other
payments to a great amount, as compensation for losses
alleged to have been sustained by the Company’s ser¬
vants, in the course of their illicit interference in the do¬
mestic trade. Ihese oums, which at first were estimat¬
ed at ten, but soon afterwards mounted up to fifty-three
lacs of rupees, equal to about L.625,000, were rigidly ex¬
acted, whilst large payments to the Company were still
undischarged, and the public finances were sinking un¬
der the burden of an expensive war, great sums having
been bon owed by the Company from its servants, at an
interest of eight per cent., and, with all these aids, sup¬
487
rbitrary
induct of
le Com-
any’s ser-
ants.
plies were wanting both for the war and for the in-Hindustan.
vestment, the Company’s ships frequently returning, in v y >
consequence, half loaded to Europe. Meer Cossim, on
his side, saw plainly that matters were fast approaching
to the extremity of war, and he made preparations for the
contest. He transferred his capital from Moorshedabad, as
being too near Calcutta, and under the inspection of the
English, to Mongheer, a place 200 miles farther up the
Ganges, which he fortified in the best and most expedi¬
tious manner. He introduced European discipline among
the troops, and he recruited his ranks with all the Arme¬
nian, Persian, Tartar, and other soldiers of fortune whom
he could collect, and especially with such wandering Eu¬
ropeans or Sepoys as had borne arms in the English ser¬
vice. He substituted European muskets for matchlocks,
and formed a train of artillery.
Hostilities commenced sooner than was expected, with Hostilities
the surprise and capture of Patna by Mr Ellis; a violent Meer
and rash measure, disapproved by several members of the CosSInl•
council. The nabob immediately gave orders to stop se¬
veral boats laden with arms that had been seized, and
released on the representation of the English. Resist¬
ance was made, and in the course of the struggle which
ensued, Mr Amyatt, a member of the council, and seve¬
ral other Englishmen, were slain. The contending armies
now hastened to take the field; and Meer Cossim was
overwhelmed by one unbroken series of disasters, which
terminated in his dethronement and flight. A division
of his army, which had advanced for the protection of
Moorshedabad, was totally defeated on the 19th of July,
by the English army, which consisted of 650 Europeans,
1200 Sepoys, two troops of native cavalry, and was after¬
wards joined by a battalion of Sepoys and a hundred Eu¬
ropeans. In advancing to the capital, Major Adam found
the enemy strongly posted, with intrenchments fifteen
feet high, defended by a numerous artillery. These
were stormed, and the city of Moorshedabad was entered
by the conquerors. The English, pushing forward, en¬
countered the Indian army on the 2d of August 1763,
consisting of 20,000 horse and 8000 foot, in the plain of
Gheriah, near Sootie. -fhey resembled European troops
in clothing and accoutrements, and in their division into
brigades ; and the battle that ensued was obstinately con¬
tested for four hours. But the discipline and steadiness of
the European troops finally triumphed, and the enemy
fled, leaving all their cannon behind them. From this
time the English were no longer opposed on equal terms
in the field. It was only in strong positions and intrench¬
ments that the enemy made a stand. A strong intrench-
ment at Oodwa was carried on the 5th of September,
alter it had detained the English for nearly a month;
and Mongheer, the last stronghold of Meer Cossim, capi- Defeat and
tulated, on which he fled into the dominions of the nabob flight to
of Oude, and afterwards into the Rohilla country. Irri- Sujah
tated by his misfortunes, the nabob wreaked his ven- ■^)ovvflfl1,
geance on the unhappy English prisoners who were in his
power. He had formerly put to death several Hindus
of rank who were thrown into prison on account of their
wealth; and he now gave an order for the execution of
about two hundred English, who had been taken at Pat¬
na ; amongst others, of Mr Ellis, who had formerly tyran¬
nized over and insulted him, and Mr Lushington, also
high in the Company’s service. They were invited to an
entertainment, and, according to the odious maxims of
eastern treachery, were barbarously murdered. A Ger¬
man of the name of Sumroo was the chief agent in this
scene of ciuelty. Dr bullarton, who had gained favour
whifh Ht0USe, °f C°mTns on India Affairs; also a Letter of Meer Cossim, dated Backer-unge, May 25 1762
Winch states that the inhabitants who refused to sell to the Company’s servants were flogged or confined. C ''Un'’e’ 17b2,
488
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, by bis medical services, was the only Englishman who
escaped.
Meer Cossim was received in the most friendly manner
by Sujah Dowlah, the nabob of Oude, who was far from
being well disposed to the English. He considered them
as rapacious usurpers, the natural enemies, as they fatally
proved to be, of Indian independence, and who, under
pretence of commerce, aspired to the dominion of the
country. In reply to a letter from the English, threat¬
ening, that if he assisted the nabob of Bengal, they would
carry the war into his own country, he remonstrated with
them on their ambitious views, and on account of the dis¬
turbances which they had created in the country; and
he added, “ to what can all these wrong proceedings be
attributed, but to an absolute disregard of the court (of
Delhi), and to a wicked design of seizing the country to
yourselves. If these disturbances,” he continues, “ have
arisen from your own improper devices, deviate from such
behaviour in future ; interfere not in the affairs of govern¬
ment ; withdraw your people from every part, and send
them to their own country; carry on the Company’s trade
as formerly, and confine yourself to your own commercial
affairs.” To these reasonable remonstrances, which were
repeated in another letter to Major Carnac, the president
and council were so far from listening, that they deter¬
mined upon commencing an immediate and offensive war
against him.
War with. Major, afterwards Sir Hector Munro, who had arrived
defeat, and from Bombay with a reinforcement, was appointed to the
treaty with cornrnanc[. His first care was to repress the mutinous spi-
Dcwiah "'hich ha(l ^ate prevailed among the troops, and this
he effected by the severe measure of blowing away twenty-
four of the ringleaders from the mouths of cannon. He
then advanced, with a force of 6215 Sepoys and 856 Eu¬
ropeans, towards the Saone, where the enemy, to the
number of 40,000, with a train of artillery, were intrench¬
ed in front of the village and fort of Buxar. On the 22d
of October 1764, a battle took place, in which the Indian
army was completely overthrown, with the loss of about
2000 men. On the side of the British eighty-seven Eu¬
ropeans and 712 Sepoys were either killed or wounded.
Major Munro followed up his success, though in two at¬
tempts to storm the fortress of Chanda he was repulsed
with loss, and it was only through the mutiny of the gar¬
rison that it was at length taken by Sir R. Fletcher, who
had succeeded to the command. Lucknow, the capital
of Oude, was also occupied by the battalions of Sepoys,
the fortress of Chunar was attempted, though without suc¬
cess, and that of Allahabad surrendered. Sujah Dowlah
was abandoned in his reverses by his ally the Mogul, who
concluded a treaty with the English. But he did not
yet despair of his fortunes; and having received the aid
of a Mahratta force, the combined armies encountered
the English on the 3d of May 1765, when they were de¬
feated ; and Major Carnac, again attacking them at a
place called Calpi, they were overthrown, and driven with
precipitation across the Jumna. The vizir, Sujah Dowlah,
seeing no hope of retrieving his affairs, resolved to trust
entirely to the generosity of the English ; and on the 19th
of May he surrendered to Major, now General Carnac.
The final settlement of terms was reserved for Lord Clive,
who had arrived in Bengal, with full powers from the di¬
rectors, as governor, to regulate all their complicated con¬
cerns, whether of sovereignty or of trade. It was agreed
that, with the exception of Allahabad and Corah, he
should still retain his dominions, which he was judged
more capable of defending than the Mogul emperor, to
whom they had been promised. For this concession the
vizir agreed to pay fifty lacs of rupees as the expenses
of the war ; but he remonstrated so earnestly against the
establishment of factories in his dominions, or any per-
pany s ser¬
vants.
mission to trade free of duties, as the certain cause of Hindustan
trouble, that all such propositions were abandoned. He
agreed not to molest Bulwunt Sing, who held the zemin-
daries of Benares and Gauzeepore, and who had assisted
the English in the late contest, and never to afford an
asylum to Meer Cossim, or the German soldier Sumroo
With regard to the Mogul emperor, he was told, that of
the thirty lacs of annual tribute due to him from the
subahdars of Bengal, not a rupee would ever be paid;
that twenty-six lacs of rupees, which had been assigned
him as the revenue of these provinces, would be conti¬
nued ; and that he should receive possession of Corah
and Allahabad. In return, the Company received the im- Company
perial firman, dated the 12th of August 1765, granting the receives
duannee, or the right of collecting the revenues of Ben- t,^.esove-
gal, Bahar, and Orissa, in which is implied, according to J0
the laws and constitution of the Mogul empire, the right of
sovereignty; and thus was this body of merchants con¬
stituted in form, as well as in substance, the rulers of a
vast empire.
To this issue affairs had been evidently tending for Maladmi. j
some time past. Meer Jaffier, worn out with anxiety and nistratiun j
indulgence, died in the beginning of the year; and Jaf-
fier, his son, was chosen his successor by the Company’s
servants. From each successive sovereign it was the
custom of the electors to exact not only a large donation,
but also an extension of power and privileges, so that
the native ruler was at length left in possession of little
more than a nominal authority. It was now resolved
by the English that they should take upon themselves
the whole charge of defending the country, and that they
would only allow the nabob a few troops for the sake of
parade, or for other necessary purposes ; whilst, in regard
to the civil government, he was to choose a deputy, with
the advice of the governor and council, on whom the whole
internal administration of the country should be devolved.
So completely had the government fallen under the con¬
trol of the English, that the accountants of the revenue
could not be appointed without their approbation. In the
mean time the directors were distracted by the contradic¬
tory reports of their affairs which they received from In¬
dia ; and it was because they were alarmed by the expen¬
sive wars so readily undertaken by their servants, by their
rapacious proceedings in regard to the private trade, and
by the general embarrassment of their affairs, that they
had resolved to appoint Lord Clive to the supreme govern¬
ment of Bengal, conferring on him and a select committee
of four, full authority to act and determine all matters, with¬
out any dependence on the council; of which authority
they were not slow to avail themselves upon all occasions.
They also sent along with him a strong representation
against the rapacity and tyranny of their servants. In a
letter to the governor and council they observe, “ Your de¬
liberations on the inland trade have laid open to us a scene
of the most cruel oppression.” “ The poor of the country,”
they continue, “ who used always to deal in salt, betel-nut,
and tobacco, are now deprived of their daily bread by the
trade of the Europeans, whereby no kind of advantage ac¬
crues to the Company, and the government’s revenues are
greatly injured.” The directors accordingly issued the most
peremptory instructions for the prohibition of the inland
trade of salt, betel-nut, and tobacco, or rather of the mo¬
nopoly held by the Company’s servants, by which the coun¬
try was so cruelly oppressed. The practice of receiving
presents from the native rulers and princes, which had been
carried to a great extent, was also prohibited. At a gene¬
ral meeting of proprietors, however, it was urged, in op¬
position to those wise and salutary restrictions, that the
“ servants of the Company in India ought not to be de¬
prived of such precious advantages, which enabled them to
revisit their native country with independent fortunes.”
HINDUSTAN.
[industan. This reasoning convinced the majority of the proprietors,
and a recommendation was moved in consequence to the
directors, to re-consider their resolution in regard to the
private trade. The governor and council were therefore
instructed, after consulting with the nabob, to form a
“ proper and equitable plan for cai’rying on the inland
trade.” (Mill’s British India, vol. ii. p. 217.) In other
words, they were to contrive how they could oppress the
country, and yet adhere to the rules of equity. This trans¬
action places in a very strong light the corrupt nature of
the local administration. It was admitted on all hands
that it was by extortion and rapine, that is, by compelling
the oppressed inhabitants both to purchase and sell at prices
fixed by the Company’s servants, that such profits were
gained, and that they were enabled to return to Europe
with enormous accumulations of ill-gotten wealth. It was,
indeed, as we have just seen, acknowledged by the direc¬
tors, that the poor of the country were deprived of their
daily bread by the trade of their European servants, who
monopolized every profitable channel of business; yet,
with these facts before them, we find the sovereigns of In¬
dia delivering over their oppressed subjects to the rapacity
of their servants, for the avowed purpose of enriching them
with the spoils of the country.
Lord Clive assumed the supreme power in India in May
1765. At this period the servants of the Company, in de¬
fiance of the peremptory orders of the directors, still per¬
sisted in all the ruinous practices connected with the in¬
land trade; and instead of abolishing these, and thus re¬
medying some of those abuses of which he so violently
complained, Lord Clive entered into a partnership for the
monopoly of salt, of which large quantities were accord¬
ingly purchased, and sold for a profit of forty-five per cent.,
which was divided amongst three of his own dependents,
his secretary, surgeon, and another friend, for whom he wish¬
ed, as he expresses it, to realize a fortune. The plan of a
more extensive monopoly, including salt, betel -nut, and to¬
bacco, the chief articles of consumption in the country, was
afterwards devised to be carried on exclusively for the be¬
nefit of the superior servants of the Company, amongst whom
the profit, after setting apart L.100,000 per annum to the
Company, was to be divided according to their rank in the
service. At the time this carrupt scheme of monopoly
was established, the select committee were in possession
of peremptory orders from the directors for its abolition ;
but these orders, under various pretences, they delayed to
carry into execution till September 1768.
Although the ascendency of the English had for some
years been thoroughly established in Bengal, and although
they were formally invested in 1765 with the sovereignty
of the country, its affairs were still administered in the
name of the native prince, and according to the forms and
policy of the ancient constitution. Justice was still dis¬
pensed by the native courts, and by the nabob’s officers ;
the revenues still flowed through the same channels into
the public exchequer ; and all transactions with foreign
powers were carried on under the same authority as for¬
merly. But such was the increasing power of the English,
that the government, as far as regarded the protection of
the people, was dissolved. Neither the nabob nor his offi¬
cers dared to offer any opposition to their sovereign will;
and the tribunals of justice, far from being a protection to
the oppressed, became subservient to the rapacity of the
Gomastahs, or Indian agents, employed by the Company’s
servants, and were converted by them into most efficacious
instruments for plundering the people, and for punishing
the wretched victims of their oppression if they dared to
complain, and if they did not patiently submit to be
fleeced and trampled upon by their foreign masters. The
native tribunals had no power to afford protection, whilst
the English had no legal authority beyond the presidency,
VOL. XI.
489
either over the natives or over their own subjects; and Hindustan,
hence the inhabitants lay entirely at the mercy of the Com- v—^
pany’s servants. Nor need we wonder that, during this
period of anarchy and disorder abroad, the embarrassments
of the Company’s affairs continued to increase, even during
the peaceable administration of Mr Verelst,who succeeded
Lord Clive as governor when he left Bengal in February
1767. The Indian revenues were indeed large, but they were
plundered by their servants. Lord Clive and the first ad¬
venturers were enriched by the presents or bribes ot the
native rulers. These they were now prohibited from ac¬
cepting. “ It was expedient for them,” says Clive, “ to
find out some other channel, the channel of the civil and
military changes. Every man now who is permitted to
make a bill makes a fortune.” In lieu of the enormous
gains which accrued from the monopoly of salt and of other
articles, the trade which the directors, early in 1768, sent
peremptory orders to lay open, and also of one eighth
per cent, of the revenues given to the governor, as a com¬
pensation for his share of the salt monopoly, the Company
granted a commission of two and a half per cent, on the re¬
venues. This sum was to be divided into a hundred shares,
and to be distributed amongst the civil functionaries of the
Company, and the military officers, according to their
rank.
Whilst the local rulers of India were thus enriching them- Embarrass'
selves, their masters were reduced to great pecuniary dis- ments of
tress. But, in the midst of all their embarrassments, the the Com-
most flattering accounts of their affairs were circulated in |^^eat
Europe; and the directors and proprietors lent a willing
ear to these golden promises, of which their servants were
always liberal. The splendid acquisition which the Com¬
pany had made of the territorial revenues of Bengal, the
political events in which they had been involved, and
the immense fortunes with which a few individuals had
returned to Europe, confirmed the general delusion, and
inflamed the impatience of the proprietors of East India
stock to participate in the inexhaustible treasures of their
new dominions. In pursuance of these views, the divi¬
dend on their stock was raised from six to ten per cent.;
and India stock rose to 263 per cent. A higher dividend
was called for, and it was in vain that the directors repre¬
sented the heavy debts of the Company, and the general
embarrassment of their affairs. The proprietors refus¬
ed to listen to such disagreeable representations, and at a
general court they voted a dividend of twelve and a half
per cent, for the year 1767. The attention of government
being now directed to the Company’s affairs, this vote was
rescinded by act of parliament, and the dividend limited
to ten per cent.
In the mean time, every day’s experience was refuting
the fallacious expectations of annual treasures from India.
So far from possessing any surplus revenue, the servants
were involved in debt for the current expenses of their
government; they drew largely on the directors, but they
remitted little; and the whole of this complicated scheme
of trade and sovereignty laboured in consequence under
such pecuniary difficulties, that the directors, to avert a
public bankruptcy, were compelled to apply to the bank for
a loan of L.400,000, and afterwards of L.300,000. In con¬
sequence of this state of things, so different from the pleas¬
ing fancies of unbounded wealth, with which the proprie¬
tors of the Company and the country at large had been
amused, great discontent and a violent clamour was raised
against the Company’s servants in India, who by their pro¬
fusion or corruption had failed to realize those golden
dreams. The situation of the Company was at length brought
under the consideration of parliament by the minister, who
introduced two acts for the regulation of their affairs. The
first of these was intended to relieve the pecuniary em¬
barrassments of the Company, and provided that the sum
3 Q
490 HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, of L.1,400,000 per annum, at four per cent, should be
lent to them, and that the stipulated annual payment of
L.400,000 from the territorial revenue should not be re¬
quired till the discharge of this debt; the dividend not to
exceed six per cent, till the discharge should be accom¬
plished, and not to exceed seven per cent, till the bond
debt should be reduced to L.1,500,000. Other clauses
related to the appropriation of the surplus revenue, which
was always fondly hoped for, but never received. The
other act, which was heavily complained of as an infringe¬
ment of the Company’s rights of sovereignty, as the first
was said to be an invasion of their rights of property, raised
the qualification to vote in the court of proprietors from
L.500 to L.1000 ; gave two votes to every proprietor pos¬
sessed of L.3000; three votes to those possessed of L.6000;
and four votes to those possessed of L.10,000 ; and only six
directors, instead of twenty-four, the whole number, were
to be annually elected; and the administration of the pro¬
vinces of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa was to be vested in a
governor-general with an annual salary of L.25,000, and
four councillors with a salary of L.10,000 each. The other
presidencies were rendered subordinate to that of Bengal;
and a supreme court of judicature was established at Calcut¬
ta, consisting of a chief-justice with L.8000 a year, and three
other judges with L.6000 a year, appointed by the crown.
The first governor-general and councillors were to be appoin t-
ed by the king; and all the political correspondence of the
Company with India was to be laid before the ministry.
These acts received the royal assent on the 21st of June and
1st of July 1773. Under this act Mr Hastings was appoint¬
ed governor-general, with General Clavering, Colonel Mon-
son, Mr Barwel, and Mr Francis, members of council.
.Affairs of It will now be proper to revert to the affairs of the Car-
the Carna- natic. After the departure of Bussy from that province,
t,c* and the decline of the French influence, Nizam Ali re¬
sumed his power, which he employed in dethroning and
imprisoning, and afterwards murdering, his feeble brother
Salabut Jung, the subahdar of the Deccan. The English
having received from Shah Aulum, the Mogul emperor, a
grant of the Northern Circars, a tract extending 470 miles
along the coast of the Bay of Bengal, and uniting the Eng¬
lish possessions in the Carnatic with their province of
Orissa, proceeded to occupy it with a military force. On
this Nizam Ali, or the Nizam as he is called by the Eng¬
lish, made an irruption into the Carnatic, and greatly
alarmed the presidency of Madras. After some operations
of little moment, a treaty was concluded, by which the
English agreed to pay a rent for the disputed territory,
and to give him such military aid as he should require in
the affairs of his government. The first operation in
which this force was to be engaged was the reduction of
the fortress of Bangalore, belonging to Hyder Ali, the sove¬
reign of Mysore ; and thus were the English brought into
collision with that powerful chief. He was one of those
bold spirits who rise to eminence in times of civil confu¬
sion. From a common foot soldier, or peon, employed in
the collection of taxes, he rose to high command, to wealth
and dominion, and finally to the rank of sovereign prince.
The nizam, who had joined with the English against Hy¬
der, soon became his ally, and their united forces made
incursions into the Carnatic. Several battles were fought
to the disadvantage of Hyder, but these were of little ad¬
vantage to the English, owing to his superiority in cavalry,
with which he laid waste the country to the very gates of
Madras, and struck terror into the president and council,
ihe nizam, however, wearied of the war, quitted the al¬
liance of Hyder, which so elevated the confidence of the
Madras presidency that they resolved on the invasion of
ysore. But Hyder anticipated their designs, and having
by his masterly tactics artfully drawn the English army to Hindustan,
a distance from Madras, he suddenly appeared at the head
of 6000 cavalry before that city, having marched 120 miles
in three days, and so alarmed the presidency, that a treaty,
offensive and defensive, was concluded inApril 1769, by
which it was also agreed that all conquests should be mu¬
tually restored.
At this time the Mahrattas, humbled for a time by the Destruc.
defeat of Paniput, now began to renew their incursions ti°n of the
into the northern provinces, and greatly to the alarm of the Kohillas>
subahdar of Oude, who dreaded any confederacy between
them and the Ilohilla chiefs or Afghans, a hardy race
from the north, who having frequently aided the imperial
armies, were rewarded with lands in the fertile district be¬
tween the Ganges and the mountains, and to the west of
the Oude territories. One of their chiefs, Nujeeb adDowlah,
had been chosen by Abdallee Shah, on his departure from
Delhi, after the battle of Paniput, as the imperial de¬
puty. He had ruled the country with singular prudence and
success, and had transmitted the government to his son,
Zabita Khan, against whom a coalition was now formed by
the Mahrattas and the fallen emperor Shah Aulum, anxious
to regain his former power. By their assistance the em¬
peror, in the year 1771, entered his capital of Delhi, with
all the pomp of imperial dignity. Zabita Khan, unable to
withstand their united attack, fled across the Ganges, leav¬
ing his fertile and flourishing territories to the devasta¬
tions of the Mahrattas, to whom they afforded a rich booty.
The Bohillas, alarmed by this aggression, proposed to form
an alliance with the subahdar of Oude, who on his side
was equally dismayed; and through the intervention of
the English a treaty was accordingly concluded, offensive
and defensive, by which the Rohillas engaged to pay an¬
nually to the subahdar forty lacs of rupees if he would
expel the Mahrattas from their territories. He made no
effort, however, to perform this service ; and the Mahrattas,
after retiring across the Ganges during the rains, soon re¬
turned to ravage the country, and actually extorted a sum
of money from Hafiz Bhamet, chief of the Rohillas, as the
price of their retreat. In 1772 they besieged the emperor,
who had become weary of their alliance, in Delhi; and hav¬
ing entered the city, they extorted from him a grant of the
two provinces of Corah and Allahabad, which he held by
virtue of a treaty with the English. The subahdar was now
really alarmed, and wrote the most pressing letters to the
English for aid. A detachment was accordingly sent under
Sir R. Barker, to assist in the defence of his territories,
when the Mahrattas were recalled to their own country
about the end of May 1773. The subahdar, freed from
danger, now became ambitious in his turn, and was intent,
either by force or fraud, upon gaining possession of the Ro-
hilla country. With this view, in a meeting with Mr Hast¬
ings in October 1773, it was agreed that the English troops
should assist in the conquest and extermination of the Ro¬
hillas, and that forty lacs of rupees should be paid for this
service. In fulfilment of this iniquitous compact, the unit¬
ed forces, the British under Colonel Champion, entered the
Rohilla territories in 1774, and on the 23d of April a bat¬
tle was fought, in which the unfortunate Rohillas, after an
obstinate defence, were defeated, and their gallant chief
Hafiz Rhamet, slain while rallying his troops; the subah¬
dar and his army, in the mean time, behaving with shame¬
ful pusillanimity. The whole country now lay at his mercy,
and he proceeded to execute his diabolical purpose, which,
as he had expressly informed the English, was the exter¬
mination of the Rohillas. Never, probably, says Mr Mill,
were the rights of conquest more savagely abused; man,
woman, and child were given up to the destroying sword,
and the country was reduced to a desert.1 At length it was
1 History of British India, vol. iii. p. 509.
HINDUSTAN. 491
Hindustan, agreed that Fyzoolla Khan, the remaining chief of the Ro-
hillas, should surrender one half of all his effects to the
subahdar or the vizir, and should receive in Rohilcund a
jaghire of fourteen lacs and 75,000 rupees. With regard
to the Mogul emperor, the twenty-six lacs of rupees hi¬
therto paid to him as his share of the revenues of Bengal,
Bahar, and Orissa, were withdrawn, because he had ac¬
cepted the aid of the Mahrattas in his late attempt to re¬
gain the throne of his ancestors. He was also deprived of
the provinces of Corah and Allahabad, granted to him in
terms of a former treaty with the Company.
Sketch of On the west coast of India, the presidency of Bombay
the Mah- was at this period involved in disputes, which ended in a
ratta pow- war wjtj1 j.]le Mahratta states ; and, with a view to the sub-
ers> sequent history of India, it may be necessary here to give
a brief account of these disputes, and of the different Mah¬
ratta powers who had now risen to political importance in
India. In the Mahratta government, as originally consti¬
tuted, the sovereign or raiah was assisted by a council of
eight Brahmins, the chief of whom bore the title of peshwa;
and in course of time this principal minister of state, on
whom devolved the duties of government, usurped all the
real power, and the sovereign became a mere pageant in
his hands. In the reign of the rajah Sahoo, the third in
succession from the brave and politic Sevajee, the founder
of the Mahratta power, this revolution had been insensibly
brought about. He was a weak prince, devoted, as most
princes are, to ease and pleasure, and leaving to Kish-
wanath Balagee the chief powers of the state. He assum¬
ed the name of Row Pundit, or chief of the Pundits, or
learned Brahmins, and was invested by the rajah with a
sirpah or robe of office, with which ceremony the pesh-
was have ever since been installed into their sovereign dig¬
nity. Custom or policy had so completely sanctioned the
usurpation of supreme power by the peshwa, that Kish-
wanath had quietly transmitted his dignity and influence
to his son Bajerow, who confined the rajah as a sort of state
prisoner to Satarah, whilst he himself resided at Poonah,
the future capital of the Mahratta states. Bow, the son of
Bajerow, being slain at the battle of Paniput, the office of
peshwa descended to his nephew, who had two sons, Mad-
hoo Row and Narrain Row, the eldest of whom, Madhoo
Row, a minor, succeeded to his father’s dignity at his death,
and the guardianship of the peshwa now devolved on Ra-
gonaut Row, more commonly known under the name of
Ragoba. The council of state, consisting of the Brahmins,
now made an effort to regain their lost influence; and in¬
triguing with the mother of the peshwa, they succeeded
in sowing division between the nephew and the uncle, and
finally in stripping him of his power. Madhoo died at an
early age in 1772, and appointed Ragoba to be the guar¬
dian of his brother Narrain Row. But he was by the
same influence again stripped of his power ; and dissensions
having arisen amongst the council of Brahmins, or Mutsed-
dies as they are also called, a conspiracy was formed,
which ended in the murder of the young prince, when Ra¬
goba was again acknowledged peshwa. But he was still
thwarted by the ministerial factions of the Brahmins, and
the consequence was a civil war, which was carried on with
various fortune, but terminated at length in the flight of
Ragoba from his dominions. The presidency of Bombay had
been extremely anxious to procure the cession of the island
and peninsula of Salsette and Bassein, as adding much to
the security and value of Bombay. But all their efforts
were in vain. Ragoba uniformly refused to give them up
on any terms. He had now retreated to Surat; and in
the low state of his fortunes the negotiation was renewed.
In the mean time the presidency were informed by their
resident at Goa that the Portuguese were making prepara¬
tions for the recapture of their former possessions, especially
of Salsette and Bassein. No longer hesitating, they sent
a force from Bombay, which carried by assault the princi- Hindustan,
pal fort in Salsette on the 28th of September 1774, and
afterwards took possession of the island; in March 1775 ^rar w’th
they concluded a treaty with Ragoba for the surrender 0f^t;aJah'
these places, with other advantages; and in return they sent
a body of troops under Colonel Keating, which joined his
army in April, about fifty coss from Cambay ; and this com¬
bined force, amounting to 25,000 men, now advanced for
the purpose of penetrating to Poonah before the commence¬
ment of the rains. The enterprise failed for the present,
but the armies were quartered in convenient positions ; and
having concluded a favourable treaty with the rajah of Gu-
jerat, who had agreed, amongst other conditions, to advance
the sum of twenty-six lacs of rupees, they prepared, with a
friendly country in their rear, and greatly increased resources,
to advance to Poonah the next campaign. But all these
promising schemes were now frustrated by the interference
of the Bengal council, which had been invested with su¬
preme authority over the other settlements in India; and
the alliance formed by the presidency of Bombay with Ra¬
goba, the peshwa, and indeed all the other proceedings, were
severely condemned by the governor-general and his coun¬
cil. The council at Bombay were ordered peremptorily to
retrace their steps, to withdraw their troops from those of
Ragoba, and to give him no further aid; and they them¬
selves proceeded to treat, by means of their own agent,
Colonel Upton, with the opposite faction of the Brahmin
ministers. A long and perplexed negotiation now ensued,
which had nearly ended in war, when a treaty, that of
Poorunder, was signed on the 3d of June 1776, by which
the Mahratta ministers agreed to surrender Salsettc, and
the English Bassein; and the unfortunate Ragoba finally
retired to Surat with only two hundred attendants.
The Mahratta power, which was spread far and wide in
India, was now weakened by the same divisions which had
occasioned the downfall of the Mogul empire. All indeed
acknowledged their allegiance to the peshwa, the repre¬
sentative of Sevajee, their founder, and the nominal head
of the whole confederacy. But there was no unity in the
component parts of their wide-extended empire. They no
longer obeyed one common impulse. The military chiefs
to whom were confided the more distant provinces threw
off the yoke of sovereign authority, as it was gradually re¬
laxed ; and thus, from the extension of the Mahratta power,
arose various independent potentates, who, though united
by a common tie, yet waged war with each other, or with
the peshwa, their head, on any provocation or prospect of
advantage. The most important of these independent
states was, ls£, that of the Bhonslas, which included the
extensive province of Berar, together with Cuttack, a part
of Orissa; 2d, the province of Gujerat, broken off from
the Mogul empire by Pillagee Guicowar, or the herdsman ;
3c?, the independent chiefs, Holkar and Scindia, whose
names figure in the future annals of India, and who ruled
over extensive territories in Malwah and in the regions bor¬
dering on the territories of Berar and Oude. Other infe¬
rior chiefs, offsets from the main stock, possessed smaller
portions of territory in different parts ; and the internal re¬
lations of Hindustan were thus more than usually compli¬
cated, and presented a wide field for politics and intrigue.
The presidency of Madras, as well as the other two pre- Oppression
sidencies of Bengal and Bombay, were now deeply involv- of the na-
ed in the disputes of the native powers. The nabobtive Princes-
of the Carnatic, Mahommed Ali, was incapable of ruling
or of defending his country against the Mahrattas or Hy-
der Ali, and he relied entirely upon the English for pro¬
tection and for the collection of his revenues. The dis¬
order of his finances, already great, was much increased
by the extortions of his allies, who were insatiable in
their thirst of gold; and funds failing, as in Bengal, to
supply their exorbitant demands, they anxiously sought
HINDUSTAN,
492
Hindustan, elsewhere the means of relief. The kingdom of Tanjore,
by the prudence of its sovereign, had. enjoyed peace amidst
the wars and desolations of surrounding countries; his
powerful neighbours, supposing that he had amassed great
wealth, mustered up against him a world of complaints, of
which he readily showed the futility; and when he saw that
his ruin was resolved on, that he was to be stripped of his
dominions, and that he and his family were to be put to
death or imprisoned for life, he pleaded for mercy with the
most affecting earnestness; but avarice had extinguished
every softer feeling in the breasts of his oppressors. The
troops were ordered to advance ; the rajah agreed to terms
which he could not fulfil; and failing to pay within the ex¬
act time which the contribution imposed upon him, though
he made the fairest offers, Tanjore, his capital, was taken
by assault, and he and his family were delivered into the
power of the nabob. This act of oppression, encouraged
at first by the directors, was afterwards disapproved by a
court of proprietors; and Lord Pigot was sent out as go¬
vernor of the presidency, to restore the rajah, and to en¬
force economy and reform. The corrupt and dishonour¬
able practices of the Company’s servants were nowhere
carried to a greater length than at Madras. They were in
the habit of lending, or pretending to lend, money, to the
nabob, at an exorbitant interest, and to receive in security
assignments on the land. Paul Benfield, with a salary of
some hundred pounds a year, had assignments on the
lands of Tanjore to the amount of L.234,000; and Sir
Thomas Rumbold, with a salary of L.20,000 a year, re¬
mitted to Europe the first year he was in office L.45,000,
and in the two subsequent years a further sum of L.l 19,000,
alleging that he had property to this amount in India be¬
fore he left Europe. The lands belonging to the Com¬
pany were let at an under rate to the renters, and large
bribes received in return; and it was by such unworthy
means that the servants of the Company so quickly ac¬
quired their enormous fortunes. Lord Pigot, in carrying
into effect the views of the directors, by restoring the ra¬
jah of Tanjore, and opposing the existing abuses, was re¬
sisted by a faction. He was at last put under arrest by
the members of his own council, and died after a con¬
finement of about eight months. The authors of this vio¬
lence were afterwards tried in England, and condemned
to pay a paltry fine of L.1000, which was no adequate
punishment for such an offence, and, to men of their for¬
tunes, no punishment at all.
Invasion The growing ascendency of the English naturally ex-
of the Car- cited the hostility of the native powers ; and Hyder Ali, ir-
natic by ritated by their increasing influence, and by their breach
y erAi. 0f trea^y 0f 1759^ jn refusing the aid which he de¬
manded, was now preparing to assail them with the whole
weight of his power. He accordingly made peace with
the Mahrattas, who formed, with the Nizam Ali and Hy¬
der, a coalition for the expulsion of the English from India.
In the year 1778, war having commenced in Europe be¬
tween France and England, the presidency of Madras be¬
sieged and took Pondicherry, and Mahe, a small fort, the
only remaining possession of the French on the coast of
Malabar, and ranked by Hyder amongst his dependencies.
Irritated by this new offence, he assembled his army, and
having seized and guarded the passes of the Eastern Ghauts,
through which alone the Carnatic would be invaded from
Mysore, he suddenly poured down on the country below
with a mighty host of 100,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry,
besides the European troops of Colonel Lally, of undoubt¬
ed bravery and experience in war. Every thing gave Wc*y
before this overwhelming flood of invasion ; and the ca¬
valry inundating the open plains, the inhabitants fled from
their homes to the woods or the mountains, whilst the unre¬
sisted invader laid waste the country with fire and sword for
many miles round Madras, and even threatened the city
itself. The council were confounded by the intelligence Hindustan,
of this sudden calamity. They were apprized on the 21st 1
of July that Hyder had come through the pass, that he
had next day plundered Porto Novo on the coast, and
Conjeveram, not fifty miles from the capital. Each suc¬
ceeding day brought its tale of calamity, and on the. 10th
of August Madras was alarmed by the approach of the
enemy’s horse, and the inhabitants of the open town be¬
gan to take flight. The governor and council were very
indifferently provided for the fearful struggle in which
they were engaged. They were destitute both of money
and provisions; their small force was scattered throughout
the country ; and, lastly, their councils were distracted by
the dissensions of the civil and military authorities. Im¬
mediate action, however, was necessary, in order to avert
impending ruin. The scattered troops were therefore di¬
rected to assemble at St, Thomas’ Mount, for the defence
of the capital. Colonel Brathwaite’s detachment from
Pondicherry having joined the main body on the 18th of
August, an express was sent to Colonel Baillie at Gume-
roponda, about twenty-eight miles from Madras, directing
him to repair to Conjeveram, whither the main army now
advanced under Sir Hector Munro, consisting of 1500 Eu¬
ropeans and 4200 Sepoys, with a train of artillery, and ar¬
rived after a distressing march of four days, during which
two hundred men belonging to the seventy-third regiment
were left lying on the road. They found the town of Con¬
jeveram in flames, large bodies of the enemy’s cavalry ad¬
vancing on both flanks, and no appearance of Colonel Bail-
lie’s detachment, which had been impeded in its march
for a day by a small torrent swollen with the rains. Hyder
Ali having learned from his spies the movements of the
English army, abandoned the siege of Arcot, in which he
was engaged, and, upon the 3d of September, the day on
which Baillie’s detachment crossed the river in its advance
to the main body, he encamped at five miles distance in
front of the English army, near Conjeveram ; thus inter-Colonel
posing between Colonel Baillie’s detachment and the Eng- Baillie’s
lish forces; and he sent his son Tippoo with 30,000 ca-^etac^*
valry, the flower of his army, and 8000 foot, with twelve ^nt cut
pieces of cannon, to cut off the troops under Colonel Bail-
lie, who had now arrived at a small village about fifteen
miles distant from Sir Hector Munro’s army, the move¬
ments of which he himself watched in the neighbourhood
of Conjeveram. The troops under Colonel Baillie gallantly
repulsed the repeated charges of Tippoo’s numerous ca¬
valry ; and being now joined by a detachment under Sir R.
Fletcher, sent to their aid by General Munro, they resist¬
ed long and bravely all the attacks of the overwhelming
force by which they were surrounded; they even at times
became the assailants: and an attack by five companies
of Sepoys on the enemy’s guns, which had begun to do
great execution, spread amongst them such terror and con¬
fusion, that a seasonable and bold assault of their camp
would, it is thought, have completed their route. The
English commander maintained the same position till next
morning, for which he has been much blamed ; and when,
at five o’clock, he began the day’s march, he was assailed
by the whole army of Hyder, who had left his ground with¬
out shifting his tents, to conceal his design. Colonel Bail-
lie, with his handful of men, still maintained his ground ir
spite of the enemy’s superior fire and the fury of his closer
attacks, when, by an accident, the blowing up of two tum¬
brils, the English line was not only disordered, but the
ammunition wras destroyed, and the guns disabled. But
though their fire was now silenced, they maintained a gal¬
lant resistance till three o’clock in the morning, when the
commander, Baillie, despairing of relief, sent a flag of truce
to the enemy; and the men having laid down their arms
on receiving a promise of quarter, Hyder’s troops rushed
on them with savage fury ; and, but for the humane inter-
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, position of the French officers, would have massacred all
who survived. After this disaster, Sir Hector Munro re¬
treated to Madras, whilst Hyder returned to the siege of
Arcot, which was taken by storm on the 31st of Octo¬
ber, with an immense quantity of ammunition and military
stores.
Progress On the intelligence of Colonel Baillie’s disaster, the su-
of the war preme council of Bengal requested Sir Eyre Coote to take
with Hy- ^0 command of the army in the Carnatic ; and on the 17th
der A . 0p june 1781, the English force, consisting of 7000 men and
1700 Europeans, marched from the encampment at Mount
St Thomas. Hyder now changed his plan of operations,
and detached different divisions of his force against the
strong places of the Carnatic. But he was so overawed
by the arrival of a new commander with reinforcements,
that he abandoned the siege of Wandewash, and of every
place which he had invested, and retired without even dis¬
puting the passage of the Palaar. The English took the
opportunity of this short respite to secure possession of
Pondicherry, and to disarm the inhabitants, who had re¬
volted. Hyder having received large reinforcements, re¬
sumed the offensive ; and as the plan of the English was
to march southward to protect the district of Tanjore and
Trichinopoly, he resolved to oppose their advance to Cud-
dalore. A battle was fought on the 1st of July 1781, in
which Hyder was driven from his strong position with
great slaughter. On the 27th of August, another battle
was fought on the ground where Colonel Baillie’s disaster
had occurred, when he was again defeated, after an obstinate
action, in which the English suffered severely ; and, some
weeks afterwards, he experienced a third defeat, with great¬
er loss than before. Far from being discouraged, this war¬
like prince proceeded to lay siege to Vellore, eighty-eight
miles south-west from Madras. Sir Eyre Coote, though he
had placed his army in cantonments, advanced to its relief,
and forced his way through a strong pass guarded by the
enemy’s force. Returning by the same pass, he was again
attacked at a disadvantage with the utmost vigour ; but
Hyder’s cavalry suffered so severely from the English ar¬
tillery that he retired with loss, while Sir Eyre Coote
returned to his cantonments near Madras. Whilst the war
wras thus carried on with doubtful success in the eastern
districts of the Carnatic, hostilities now commenced on
the opposite coast of Malabar. The English detachment,
by which '-he French settlement of Mahe was captured in
1779, had since that period occupied the fortress of Telli-
cherry, when it was besieged by a superior force of Hyder’s
tributaries. Major Abingdon, the commander, having re¬
ceived a reinforcement from Bombay on the night of the 7th
January 1782, assaulted the enemy’s lines, and threw their
whole army into confusion ; and he soon afterwards gained
possession of Calicut. Here he was joined by Colonel
Humberston Mackenzie with a thousand Europeans, and
offensive operations were undertaken with vigour and suc¬
cess, when the army returned in May, as the rainy season
approached, to its cantonments at Patacalah, in Calicut.
Operations were resumed in September with the reduction
of a strong fort, and the army had arrived at Palacatcherry,
when, being surprised in a narrow defile, the whole bag¬
gage and ammunition was captured. A retreat to the
coast was the only alternative now left to the English, in
the course of which they were attacked from every thicket,
both on their flank and rear, and harassed in their march,
by 20,000 horse under Tippoo. Arrived at the town of
Paniany, on the Malabar shore, their lines were assaulted
by the enemy’s force in four columns, including Lally’s
corps, when the forty-second regiment advancing to the
charge, repelled the enemy. Tippoo now hearing of his
father’s death, immediately departed to take the neces¬
sary measures for securing his succession to the throne.
In the south of the Carnatic a French fleet landed
493
2000 men at Porto Novo early in 1782 ; and Tippoo having Hindustan,
arrived with a large detachment from Hyder’s army, by a
brilliant and successful movement surrounded Colonel
Brathwaite’s force, consisting of a hundred Europeans,
five hundred Sepoys, and three hundred horse, encamp¬
ed upon the Coleroon, before there was the smallest
suspicion of his march. Forming a hollow square, this
little band held out for twenty-six hours, and repulsed
every attack, until, exhausted with incessant conflict, they
were at last broken by a charge of the French under
Tally, and would have been all massacred as formerly,
but for his vigorous and humane interference. Hyder was
now enabled, by the succours he had received from France,
to invest Cuddalore, which quickly surrendered, when he
determined to undertake the siege of Wandewash. Its
importance brought the army of Sir Eyre Coote to its re¬
lief, when Hyder still declined the hazards of a battle.
The English general then proceeded to the attack of Ar-
nee, the great depository of the enemy’s warlike stores
and necessaries. But Hyder outstripping the slow move¬
ments of the English force, hung upon their march ; and,
whilst they were galled by the attacks of his cavalry, he
dexterously detached a division of his army, which car¬
ried off all his treasure from Arnee, and reinforced the
garrison. In the retreat to Madras, after these opera¬
tions, a regiment of European cavalry, drawn into an am¬
buscade by the skilful tactics of the enemy, was either
killed or made prisoners. Whilst the English army was
cantoned in Madras, Hyder, ever active and enterprising,
was concerting with the French admiral an attack on Ne-
gapatnam, a settlement of the Dutch, which had been con¬
quered by the English at the commencement of the Dutch
war in 1780. But the French fleet having been brought
to an action by the English, was prevented from co-ope¬
rating in this well-planned enterprise. On the return
of the army to Madras, Lord Macartney, who had arrived
as governor in December 1781, now concerted a plan for
the recovery of Cuddalore. But the admiral steadily re¬
fused co-operation in this, or apparently in any other
operations of the land forces. On the 15th of October,
one of the most dreadful tempests ever known occurred
at Madras; the shore was in a short time strewed with
the wreck of a hundred trading vessels, and famine raged
in the city, multitudes daily perishing for want. The
enemy had fortunately no information of the helpless and
starving condition of the place, and considerable supplies
of provisions were received from Bengal and the Circars.
Hyder Ali died in December 1782, at the age of eighty
years; and this event produced a great and favourable
change of affairs. The Mahratta war, undertaken in fa¬
vour of the claims of Kagoba to the dignity of the peshwa,
which had continued since 1778, was now also concluded
by a peace. The capitulation by which a British force
that had invaded the Mahratta country surrendered, hav¬
ing been violated, the Mahrattas joined the confederacy
against the English. But by the great successes of Ge¬
neral Goddard, who, in the course of three months, from
January 1780, had reduced the province of Gujerat, and
completely defeated Scindia, the Mahratta general, they
were now detached from the alliance of Hyder, the great
enemy of the English.
Tippoo, after he joined his army in the Carnatic, un¬
dertook no operation of consequence, and he was recalled
to the defence of his own territories, which were assault¬
ed by the enterprising movements of the English armies,
both from the west and from the south. About the be¬
ginning of January 1783, a force concentrated at Mer-
jee, on the western coast of India, about 300 miles north
of Paniany, under General Mathews, after storming the
forts of Onore, Aranpore, and Mangalore, on the sea
coast, with the slaughter of every man taken in arms,
HINDUSTAN.
494
Hindustan, laid siege to Bednore, a rich capital of one of the Mysore
's—provinces, which soon surrendered. A vast treasure,
amounting to L.800,000 in pagodas, besides jewels, was
found in this place, which immediately occasioned dis¬
putes, in consequence of the general refusing to divide the
booty among the captors. He was on this account su¬
perseded by the presidency, and the command given to
Colonel Macleod. But the hope of spoil appears to have
corrupted the virtue of the army, which was dispersed
in plundering detachments over the country, when Tippoo
suddenly took possession of Bednore, making prisoners
of the English garrison, which capitulated, with General
Mathews, and sending all of them in irons to the strong
fortresses of Mysore. Mangalore was next besieged, and
taken after a gallant resistance, on the 23d of January
1784. In the mean time Colonel Fullarton, who com¬
manded a force in the Southern Carnatic, having reduced
to order the districts of Madura and Tinnevelly, and taken,
in April, May, and June, the forts of Caroor, Dindigul,
and Daraporam, advanced to the strong fortress of Pala-
catcherry, which surrendered after a short siege. Coim-
betore was taken possession of in November, and every
preparation was made for advancing to Seringapatam,
and terminating the war by the capture of the enemy’s
capital, when a treaty was signed on the 11th of March
1784, upon the general basis of a mutual restitution of all
conquests.
The state of affairs in Bengal under the administration
of Mr Hastings now claims our attention, and we shall
endeavour briefly to describe the leading transactions of
that memorable period. The new council, to whose care
was committed the administration of India, and of which
Mr Hastings was president, commenced its deliberations
in October 1774, with an inauspicious appearance of mu¬
tual coldness and jealousy, which quickly broke out into
open dissension. The Rohilla war was the first subject
of deliberation, and it unhappily afforded too good grounds
for doubt and for inquiry. Other subjects succeeded,
equally difficult to handle without offence, as they in¬
volved the governor in a suspicion of corruption in the
business of the revenue. The rannee of Burdwan, a wi¬
dow who enjoyed an extensive district, accused her agent
the duan of corruption, and the English resident of being
bribed to support or to connive at his iniquities. In the ac¬
counts that were presented to the council, a sum of 15,000
rupees was charged to Mr Hastings, and 4500 to his na¬
tive secretary. Another accusation of the same nature
was preferred by one of the natives, namely, that the
phouzdar of Hooghly, out of the salary of 72,000 rupees
which he received from the Company, returned 36,000
to Mr Hastings, and 4000 to the native secretary; and
Mr Grant, accountant of the provincial council of Moor-
shedabad, produced a set of accounts, from which it ap¬
peared that Munny Begum, a concubine of the late Meer
Jaffier, who had been appointed to the guardianship of
the nabob by Mr Hastings, had received 967,693 rupees1
more than she had accounted for; and when pressed on
this subject, she told that she had given 150,000 rupees
to Mr Hastings for entertainment money, which was at
the rate of L.73,000 per annum, and the like sum to Mr
Middleton, the agent of Mr Hastings. A still more se¬
rious charge was brought forward by the rajah Nundco-
mar, who had been the agent of Mr Hastings in the pro¬
secution of Mahommed Reza Khan, duan or manager of
the revenues of Bengal, whose embezzlements, as well as
those of Shitabray, he now accused the governor-general
of overlooking; and further exhibited the particulars of a
sum of 354,105 rupees, which he affirmed that he had Hindustan
accepted for the appointment of Munny and Goordass to v*—
their respective dignities and powers. In answer to these
accusations, Mr Hastings chiefly pleaded his dignity as
governor-general. He resented them as personal insults;
and when it was proposed to inquire into them by the
other members of the board, he lost all calmness, and
accused them of a design to supersede him in his office.
“ I declare,” he said, “ that I will not suffer Nundcomar
to appear before the board as my accuser. I know what
belongs to the dignity and character of the first member
of this administration. I will not sit at this board as a
criminal.” After this he dissolved the council, in virtue of
a power which he assumed as president. The majority de¬
clared the dissolution void, and continued the inquiry, when
Nundcomar declared the particular sums which he himself
had paid to the governor-general, gave in the names of
several persons who were privy to those transactions, and
presented a letter from Munny Begum, which, on exa¬
mination of the seal, was found to be authentic, men¬
tioning a gift of two lacs (L.20,000) given to the governor
by herself. The governor being called upon to refund,
refused to acknowledge the authority of the council, and
returned no answer. At this critical stage of the pro¬
ceedings, a prosecution was instituted against Nundcomar,
at the instance of the governor-general and his supporters
in the council, which, after some ineffectual proceedings,
was dropt. But a few days afterwards, Nundcomar, at the
suit of a native, was arrested on a charge of forgery; tried
before the supreme court by Sir Elijah Impey and a jury of
Englishmen, though it was far from clear that the court had
any jurisdiction over him, being a native of Hindustan ;
convicted on doubtful and contradictory evidence; and
finally executed, amidst the tears and loud lamentations,
and even shrieks of horror, of a vast assemblage of his
countrymen. This transaction, viewed in all its bearings,
leaves a stain on the character of Hastings, from whi'ch it
has never been relieved by the zealous testimonials of his
friends. In reviewing the whole evidence and circum¬
stances of the case, we cannot well doubt, that if Nundco¬
mar had not accused Mr Hastings, he would never have
been arrested; that his real crime, therefore, was the
charge which he had brought against Mr Hastings, and
not the alleged forgery ; and hence that he was tried and
executed because he was a witness whose testimony it
was more easy to put out of the way than to confute. If
this be a just inference, Mr Hastings must be consider¬
ed as guilty of murder, committed under the forms of
law. This is the character which must be fixed upon
him by the impartial verdict of history ; and his politi¬
cal merits, however magnified by his admirers, cannot
be accepted for a moment as any palliation of his moral
guilt.
In adverting, as we shall now do, to the transactions
of the governor-general with the independent or tribu¬
tary states of India, it may be observed, that when he as¬
sumed the government of Bengal, the Company still la¬
boured under great pecuniary difficulties. Disorder and
waste pervaded every department of the administration ;
the Company’s servants were intent, as we have seen, on
enriching themselves rather than their masters; and the
consequence was a constant want of funds for the pub¬
lic service. The arduous duty of providing these now de¬
volved upon the governor-general; and the necessities of
the state, if they do not justify, afford at least a key to
some of those dark, and, we must add, atrocious transac¬
tions, which distinguished his administration. Bengal
1 Nine lacs sixty-seven thousand six hundred and ninety-three rupees. A lac of rupees is 100,000, and a crore is 100 lacs, or ten
millions. Y\ e have adopted the English mode of notation, as more familiar to the reader.
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, had been exposed to such heavy exactions that the coun-
's—v—^ try was exhausted; and Mr Hastings, instead of adopt¬
ing economy, and improving the revenue at home, sought
relief in the plunder of foreign princes, who were now
laid under contribution to the necessities of the state.
The rajah Cheyt Sing, who ruled at Benares, was the son
of Bulwunt Sing, who had sided with the English in the war
with Sujah Dowlah, subahdar of Oude, and who had been
confirmed in his inheritance by the British for a fixed
tribute, which was paid with an exactness not very usual
in India. Mr Hastings proposed in 1778 to increase
this contribution; and because the rajah pleaded pover¬
ty, and required time, he became offended, replied to
him in harsh and imperious terms, refused to allow time
for raising the money, and threatened military execution
in case of delay. These exactions were renewed from
year to year, and increased, the rajah remonstrating in
the most humble terms, and being treated on account of
his remonstrances as a delinquent whom it was necessary
to punish. “ I was resolved,” says Mr Hastings, “ to
draw from his guilt the means of relieving the Company s
distresses” This was truly his object, and he accordingly
found out guilt in the whole conduct of the rajah, though
it was meek and humble, such as the weak naturally as¬
sume when they are in the power of the strong. At last Mr
Hastings proceeded to Benares, and, notwithstanding the
supplications of the rajah, craving forgiveness if he had of¬
fended, on the ground of his youth and inexperience, he
ordered him under arrest; a tumult arose between the
Sepoys and the inhabitants, in which the former were all
put to the sword; the rajah fled; war commenced, which
ended in his discomfiture, and he was dethroned. His mo¬
ther, the wife of Bulwunt Sing, the faithful ally of the Bri¬
tish, took refuge in the fort of Bidgegur; she surrendered
her treasure on condition of being allowed protection for
herself and female attendants. But the articles were shame¬
fully violated; and she and her followers were plundered
of their effects, and their persons subjected to the rude ex¬
amination of the licentious soldiery and the followers of the
camp. In a letter, Mr Hastings says, “ I think that every
demand she has made to you, except that of safety and
respect for her person, is unreasonable.” He afterwards
adds, “ I apprehend she will contrive to defraud the cap-
tors of a considerable part of the booty, by being suffered
to retire without examination. But this is your consider¬
ation, not mine. I should be sorry that your officers and
soldiers lost any part of the reward to which they are so
, well entitled.” The ideas implied in this hint not to suf¬
fer these illustrious females to pass without examination
cannot be mistaken ; it is sufficient to sanction the grossest
outrages; and it appears, indeed, that those to whom it was
addressed were not slow to profit by the instructions given
them.
The treasures of Cheyt Sing and his widowed mother fell
so far short of the expectations of Mr Hastings, that they
did not even pay the expense of quelling the revolt which
he had occasioned ; and hence this transaction, impolitic as
well as unjust, increased the embarrassments of the Com¬
pany. The governor-general was therefore compelled to
look elsewhere for treasures that might be profitable to the
state, and he fixed his eye on the two princesses of Oude,
known by the name of the Begums, the one the mother of
Sujah Dowlah, the late nabob, eighty years of age, and the
other his widow, and mother of the reigning nabob, who
495
were possessed of treasures to a great amount, and of jag- Hindustan,
hires or estates, from which they maintained their own '
state and dignity, and the numerous families of the preced¬
ing nabobs, with a suitable train of attendants. The na¬
bob of Oude, Sujah Dowlah, had long been unable to pay
the contributions imposed on him by the English ; he was
in arrear to the amount of L. 1,400,000, and Mr Hastings
now entered into a negotiation with him for the seizure,
or resumption, to use the official phrase, of the jaghires or
estates which belonged to the Begums, for the purpose of
enabling him to pay up this arrear. It is unnecessary
to dwell on the proceedings by which a son was persuad¬
ed or compelled to aid in the spoliation of his mother and
grandmother. Suffice it to observe, that Mr Middleton,
the agent of Mr Hastings, in order to extort the surrender
of the treasure from the princesses, ordered the zenana,
the dwelling of the princesses at Fyzabad, with their nu¬
merous families, to be blockaded by troops; and these mea¬
sures failing to obtain the treasures, the eunuchs Jewar
Ali Khan and Behar Ali Khan, the confidential servants
of the princesses, were imprisoned and put in irons, and
were kept from all food, and exposed to secret tortures.
These dreadful measures so wrought upon the feelings of
the princesses, that the elder Begum surrendered the trea¬
sure to the amount of the nabob’s bond given to the Company
in 1779-1780. But another balance still remained, and new
severities were applied to the ministers of the princesses,
which drew from them an engagement to complete the
demanded sum; but they were still tortured ; and though
the princesses now delivered their whole effects, even to
their table utensils, and had paid upwards of L.500,000 be¬
fore the 23d of February 1782, and the resident himself re¬
ported “ that no proof had been obtained of their having
more,” yet the prisoners were not released, as they ear¬
nestly entreated. On the contrary, they were threatened
with greater severities to enforce a payment of L.25,000,
according to their account, and of L.50,000, according to
the resident, still due on the extorted bond; and though
they had now lain two months in irons, were sickly, and the
officer who guarded them wrote to the resident Middleton,
craving that their irons might be taken off, and that they
might be allowed to walk in the garden, the nature of his
orders allowed no mitigation of their sufferings ; they were
even threatened a few days after, on the 1st of June, with
being removed, and were actually removed to Lucknow,
where they were tortured in secret, of which the letter ad¬
dressed by the assistant resident to the commanding officer
of the English guard affords the odious evidence.1 The cruel¬
ties to which the women and children of the zenana, com¬
posing the household of the late rajahs, were exposed, are
truly shocking to humanity. They were distressed for
want of food to that degree that they uttered the most pi¬
teous cries, and were even driven to the extremity of ap¬
pearing publicly before the Sepoys, an exposure dreaded
more than death by Hindu females of rank; and these
barbarities were executed under the orders of Englishmen,
a disgrace to the name, and by English officers, unwilling
agents, we may well believe, in such cruelties, and whose
letters describe the extreme sufferings of these helpless fe¬
males. In the letter of the commanding officer, it is said,
“ they are in a starving condition, having sold all their
clothes and necessaries, and now have not wherewithal to
support nature.” “ Last night the women of the zenana
assembled on the tops of the buildings, crying in the most
1 We subjoin the two letters. The first, dated January 1782, is addressed by the resident to the officer guarding the eunuchs: “ Sir, 
M hen this note is delivered to you, I have to desire that you order the two prisoners to be put in irons, keeping them from all food,
&c. agreeable to my instructions of yesterday. (Signed) Nath. Middleton.” Letter of the assistant resident to the commanding
officer of the English guard : “ Sir,—The nabob having determined to inflict corporal punishment upon the prisoners under your
guard, this is to desire that his officers, when they shall come, may have free access to the prisoners, and be permitted to do with
them as they shall see proper.”
HINDUSTAN.
496
Hindustan, lamentable manner for want of food; that for the last four
days they had got a very scanty allowance, and that yes¬
terday they had got none. The melancholy cries of fa¬
mine are more easily imagined than described. 1 These
cruelties were continued for nearly a year, and persever¬
ed in after all the treasures were surrendered, in the vain
hope that some secret hoard might still be retained, which
torture would compel them to bring forth. Amongst other
particulars, it may be added, that Mr Hastings received
from the nabob a present of L. 100,000, and craved per¬
mission to accept it from the directors, whose orders were
positive against the receipt of presents. These princesses
were accused of aiding in the rebellion of Cheyt Sing.
But of this charge no proof beyond mere rumour was ever
adduced ; and, in considering all the circumstances of the
case, it appears to have been invented as a pretext for
despoiling them of their wealth. Mr Hastings resolved
to draw from the guilt of Cheyt Sing, to use his own
words, the means of relieving the Company’s distresses;
and the same patriotic motive seems to have dictated the
accusation against the Begums. In other countries it is
the poor, those who are discontented and in debt, that are
turbulent; but here it is the rich, aged women of fourscore
and upwards, living in affluence and splendour under the
protection of the English, that are accused of rebelling
against their benefactors, and of raising disturbances which
could bring no advantage, but, on the contrary, were fraught
with danger, to them. The directors in Europe disapprov¬
ed of these proceedings against the princesses ; they saw
no evidence of their rebellion; and they ordered their
estates to be restored, and an asylum to be offered them
within the Company’s territories. But the authority of the
directors was little respected in India, the governor-gene¬
ral never wanting a pretext for disobeying their express
commands. It appears, however, that some provision was
afterwards made for these princesses, and for the restora¬
tion of a portion of their estates. The remaining transac¬
tions of Mr Hastings before he quitted Bengal relate to
Fyzoolla Khan, who survived the ruin of the Rohilla na¬
tion in 1774; and he now entered into a scheme with the
nabob of Oude for dispossessing him of his dominions. In
a journey which he afterwards undertook to the upper
provinces, in order to regulate the affairs of Oude, he was
a witness to the desolation of the country from the exac¬
tions of his own deputies, a country which was flourishing
and happy under the milder sway of Cheyt Sing.
On the 8th of February he resigned his office and em¬
barked for England. For a more full detail of the con¬
duct and character of Mr Hastings, the reader is referred
to the work of Mr Mill, which contains a clear and well-
digested view of all the dark and complicated transactions
of his stormy administration. The calm and philosophical
tone maintained by Mr Mill; his impartiality and love of
truth and justice; and the interest which he uniformly
manifests in the cause of suffering humanity, give a pecu¬
liar value to his work as a history. In his estimate of Mr
Hastings’ character, he seems to consider it due to truth
to state the difficulties and temptations under which he
acted, as to a certain extent palliating his guilt. We may
remark, however, that crimes, especially those of a deep
dye, are never committed except under strong temptation ;
and when we consider that those of which Hastings is ac¬
cused are tyranny, extortion, and corruption in his high
office ; cruelty, the secret torture by his agents of innocent Hindustan-
individuals, by means of famine, stripes, and imprisonment;
violence threatened to females by the same agents as the
means of extortion, he chiding them all the while for de¬
lay ; his bargain for the extermination of the Rohillas by
fire and sword; and the provinces of Oude and Benares
reduced, under his unhappy rule, from contentment and
prosperity to desolation ; we can scarcely admit the pallia¬
tions suggested by the candour of the historian. Mr Hast¬
ings was impeached, on his return to Europe, before the
House of Peers, of high crimes and misdemeanours, of which
he was declared innocent by a great majority of his judges.
But there were various circumstances which detracted from
the value and authority of this acquittal. The House of
Lords, from its constitution and character, is unfit to act as
a judicial tribunal. It is a political assembly, consisting of
the two opposite parties, the one against, and the other in
favour of the ruling power ; it is thus exposed to the cor¬
rupting influence of politics, and is generally ruled, even in
its judicial capacity, by the minister of the day, of which, in
our more recent history, we have had ample proofs. It wants
impartiality, therefore, that essential attribute of a court of
justice ; and there were, besides, in the present case other
sources of delusion. The hope of sharing in the wealth of
India had now shed its baneful influence over the land;
that hope swayed all the higher classes, including the
peers, who lent an unwilling ear to the charges; and this,
joined to the reputed favour of King George HI. for the
accused, rendered the prosecution unpopular. The value
of the acquittal was also lessened by the mode of conduct¬
ing the defence. Mr Hastings was far from courting in¬
quiry ; on the contrary, he availed himself of all the le¬
gal subtilties of a technical defence. He constantly ob¬
jected to evidence, and to the production of papers. He
acted wisely, if he was guilty, in screening his conduct
under legal pleas ; but not so if he was innocent, because
by resisting inquiry he hindered his innocence from being
made clear, to the confusion of his enemies.
The mal-administration of India had now become a
standing topic of declamation at home, in which all par¬
ties in parliament eagerly joined ; and as the privileges of
the Company were to expire after the 25th of March 1780,
some new arrangement became necessary for the future
government of India. Negotiations for tliis purpose had
been begun between the ministers and the directors ; and
an act was at length passed in 1781, which, besides regu¬
lating the dividend, and other financial matters, more
fully detailed in the account given at the conclusion of
this article, of the commercial transactions of the Com¬
pany, ordained that the directors should communicate
to the ministers all despatches sent to India with re¬
spect to revenues, and to civil and military affairs. In
1783 Mr Fox brought forward his celebrated measure for
regulating the commercial concerns of the Company at
home, and for the better government of their territories
abroad. He proposed to supersede the two existing courts
of proprietors and directors, by vesting the whole admi¬
nistration of the territories, revenues, and commerce of
India, in seven commissioners, to be chosen by parliament;
these to have the power of appointing and of dismissing
all persons in the service of the Company ; nine assistant
directors, being proprietors of India stock to the amount
of L.2000, to be named by the legislature, and to assist
1 See Hastings' Trial. Letters of Captain Leonard Jaques, of 6th and 7th March 1782 ; also letter of Major Gilpin, dated 30th
October 1782. At last the unhappy females became desperate from want, and resolved to break into the market-place ; and with this
view “ they arranged themselves hi the following order; the children in the front, behind them the ladies of the seraglio, and be¬
hind them again their attendants.” They were, however, opposed in their intentions by the Sepoys. On the following day their cla¬
mours were more violent than usual. It'was resolved to drive them back by force. “ The Sepoys,” it is added, “ consequently as¬
sembled, and each one being provided with a bludgeon, they drove them by dint of beating into the zenana.” (Letter to the Resident at
Lucknow.)
HINDUSTAN. 497
Hindustan.in the details of commerce, and to be under the authority
of the superior board. This was the substance of Mr
Fox’s bill, by which the government of India was trans¬
ferred from the directors and proprietors to these seven
parliamentary commissioners. There were, however, nu¬
merous other provisions for securing the punishment of
Indian delinquents, for ensuring publicity; and all the
serious abuses which had been committed by the servants
of the Company were specially enumerated and forbidden.
Monopolies were abolished, the land-tax was to be fixed,
and it was provided that the zemindars should be rein¬
stated in their dignities and lands.
In 1784; Mr Pitt introduced a new bill for the better
administration of Indian affairs, the chief distinction of
which from the other was the institution of a board of
control, or of six commissioners, to be chosen, not by par¬
liament, but by the king, who were not to supersede the
court of directors, but only to “ check, superintend, and
control” all the acts and concerns which in anywise relate
to the civil or military government or revenues of the
Company’s dominions; and with this view all letters and
orders were to be submitted, before being sent out to In¬
dia, to the inspection of the board, who might alter and
amend these as they should deem expedient; and all com¬
munications from India were in like manner to be submit¬
ted to its inspection, and this board might even transmit
orders to India without being submitted to the directors.
The power of the court of proprietors was greatly diminish¬
ed ; a secret committee of directors was appointed ; a pro¬
vision was made for enforcing the disclosure by individuals
of the fortunes brought home by them from India; and a
new tribunal was erected for the trial of offences commit¬
ted in that country. The nomination of the commander-
in-chief was vested exclusively in the king; that of go¬
vernor-general, presidents, and members of all the coun¬
cils, in the directors, subject to the approbation of the
king; which clause, rendering the approbation of the king
necessary, was afterwards modified, but he was still al¬
lowed the power of recall. The servants in India were
forbidden to engage in war, to receive presents, or to dis¬
obey orders transmitted by the board; and provision was
made for the restoration to the zemindars of the lands from
which they had been ejected. In the year 1786 no less than
three acts were passed for the amendment of this act,
by one of which power was given to the governor-general
to act without and even against the consent of this coun¬
cil ; by another the military was subjected to the civil
power; and by a third act, the most efficient clause of
Mr Pitt’s bill was repealed, which ordained every public
functionary of the Company, on his return to Europe, to
make a full disclosure on oath of the property he possess¬
ed. This was considered as too severe a test for the Com¬
pany’s servants, though it could not have affected those
who acted honestly. It is the guilty only who suffer by
inquiries of this nature.
Mr Pitt’s bill defined rather loosely the respective
powers of the board of control and the directors; and the
consequence was, that they speedily came into collision.
The first question which came under their joint consi¬
deration, was the settlement of the nabob of Arcot’s debts.
These debts were owing to the Company’s servants, and
it was not very clear that any equivalent had been given
for them. Paul Benfield, a principal creditor, who, as we
have already mentioned, acted as a junior clerk of the
Company, with a salary of some hundreds a year, advan¬
ced a claim, which, with interest, amounted to L.592,000.
Such transactions, therefore, were of so very doubtful a
character, that they presented a prima facie case for in¬
quiry ; and Mr Pitt’s bill accordingly provided that the
court of directors “ should take into consideration the
origin and justice of such demands.” But how great was
VOL. XI
their surprise when the board of control ordered that Hindustan,
these debts, some of them contracted in 1767, should be
all paid without inquiry, and with tne addition of interest
at the rate of twelve per cent. The directors remonstrated
against this proceeding, but in vain. The board ordered
the debts to be paid immediately, though, in a similar
case in 1805, the commissioners appointed to inquire into
the more modern debts of the nabob of Arcot, out of
claims to the amount of L.20,390,570, allowed only
L.l,346,796. These facts too clearly point to the parlia¬
mentary influence of the East India interest as the true
spring of this corrupt transaction ; and the same interest
also prevailed in subverting the plan which Lord Macart¬
ney had adopted for the management of the Carnatic re¬
venues, and in restoring the administration of the nabob,
which was a system of misrule that impoverished the
country exactly as it tended to enrich the Company’s
servants. This, and other differences which arose, indu¬
ced the directors to question the powers of the board of
control; and a declaratory act was in consequence brought
forward by Mr Pitt explaining these powers, according to
the interpretation, not of the directors, but of the minis¬
ters. This act vests the real power in the board of con¬
trol, though in practice a large share both of power and
patronage has been still left to the directors.
Lord Cornwallis assumed the government of India inWarwitl?
September 1786. He had ample instructions both from'^PP00*
the court of directors and the board of control; and he
carried into effect several very important reforms, both in
the management of the revenue and in the administra¬
tion of justice, whilst in his arduous contests with Tippoo
he fully maintained the honour of the British arms. To
the native and dependent powers his conduct was mode¬
rate and just; and one of his first cares was to relieve
the nabob of Oude from the extortions of the former go¬
vernment, by which the country was impoverished, and in
many places deserted and desolate. The wretched con¬
dition of the people is described in strong terms by Lord
Cornwallis; and he now reduced the annual payment of
the nabob from eighty-four lacs, equal to L.940,000, to
fifty lacs, and left in his hands the internal government of
his country. But the mind of the governor-general was
soon engrossed by other and more momentous concerns.
Tippoo, who naturally viewed with jealousy the growing
ascendency of the British, began to take hostile measures.
He descended from the Ghauts with a large military force,
and spread alarm along the whole western coast. At length,
throwing off all disguise, he commenced an attack on the
rajah of Travancore, an ally of the British, and invaded
his dominions. Lord Cornwallis now prepared for war.
He formed a league with the Mahrattas and the nizam,
who agreed to aid with a military force in the approach¬
ing contest. The plan of the campaign was, that a divi¬
sion of the British under General Meadows should pene¬
trate through the province of Coimbetore into the heart,
of the Mysore country, whilst General Abercromby should
reduce the territory of Tippoo on the coast of Malabar,
and Colonel Kelly remain to protect the Carnatic from
the ravages of the enemy. The division of General
Meadows marched from the plain of Trichinopoly on the
15th of June 1790, and all the fortresses in the line of
its march, namely, Caroor, Daraporam, Erroad, Coimbe¬
tore, Sattimungul, Dindigul, and Palacatcherry, were ne¬
cessarily occupied, by which the army was divided into
three bodies, one at Coimbetore, another at Sattimungul,
sixty miles distant, and a third at Palacatcherry, about
thirty miles in the rear. In this situation, Colonel Floyd
at Sattimungul, was attacked and forced to retreat with
loss, and with great difficulty effected a junction with
General Meadows. The sultan now resolved to attack,
and, if possible, surprise the English chain of posts. He
3 it
498 HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, retook Erroad; approached Coimbetore, which had been
previously reinforced ; and afterwards turned to Darapo-
ram, which capitulated. Colonel Maxwell with his corps
being ordered to invade Barramahal, the sultan, leaving
part of his army to watch General Meadows, hastened to
attack, and, if possible, to cut off this detachment. The
British, and a regiment of cavalry, inveigled in a defile,
were driven back with great loss. But the able dispositions
of Colonel Maxwell frustrated any further attempts on
the part of Tippoo; and he soon afterwards effected his
junction with General Meadows. The sultan having thus
succeeded in defeating the original plan for the invasion
of Mysore by a rapid march into the Carnatic, arrived
before the English depot of Trichinopoly, whither he was
followed by General Meadows, and afterwards to Trinco-
malee; and thus ended this indecisive campaign. The
Malabar country was in the course of three weeks com¬
pletely reduced under the British power by the force un¬
der General Abercromby.
Lord Cornwallis now resolved to assume the command
of the army, and, advancing to the Ghaut Mountains in
the direction of Velore, to lay siege to Bangalore, and
thence to proceed against Seringapatam, the capital of
Mysore. Early in February 1791 he was on his march to
Velore ; and on the 5th of March the English army sat
down before Bangalore, which on the 2lst was carried by
assault; an event which, fixing the seat of war in the
enemy’s territory, proved decisive of its success. On the
28th Lord Cornwallis began his march from Bangalore,
in the course of which he was joined by the nizam’s force,
amounting to 10,000 cavalry, which were found to be of
little service. On the 13th of May the British army
reached Anika, about nine miles from Serrngapatam, des¬
titute both of provisions and of draught cattle. It was
the intention of Lord Cornwallis that General Aber¬
cromby, ascending through the passes of the Ghauts from
Malabar with the Bombay army, and the Mahratta force
under Purseram Bhow, should penetrate into the centre
of the sultan’s dominions, and co-operate with the main
army in the attack of the capital. Of the movements of
this force Lord Cornwallis had received no intelligence ;
and having defeated Tippoo’s army in the vicinity of Se¬
ringapatam, he now resolved, as the Cavery was too large
to be crossed in safety, to ascend to a ford at Cansam-
baddy, eight miles above Seringapatam. In this march
the troops were exposed to unexampled hardships; to
disease, from scarcity of food, and of the means of convey¬
ance owing to the complete failure of the draught cattle;
and all their calamities were aggravated by the small-pox,
which raged in the camp. It was now apparent that the
army could only be saved by a timely retreat, and by the
sacrifice of the battering train and all the heavy equip¬
ments. On the 21st of May, accordingly, the retreat
was begun ; and immediate orders were sent to General
Abercromby to follow the same course, which occasioned
a similar destruction of the battering train and other
heavy equipments. So great was the destruction, that the
ground on which the army of Lord Cornwallis had en¬
camped at Cansambaddy was covered to an extent of se¬
veral miles with the carcasses of the cattle and horses;
and the last sight of the gun-carriages, carts, and stores
of the battering train, left in flames, was the melancholy
spectacle which the troops beheld, as they passed along,
on quitting this deadly camp.
Fortunately for the British army, it was met, before the
end of the first day s march, by the allied force of the
Mahrattas, under Purseram Bhow and Hurry Punt.
Every despatch sent to these chiefs had been intercepted
by the vigilance of the enemy, and they were astonished
when they learned the disasters which had been occasion¬
ed by their delay. Their arrival, which evinced their sin¬
cerity in the cause, produced general satisfaction in the Hindustan.
British camp, and a conviction, that the ruin of the sultan, ^
though delayed, was now certain and inevitable. Tippoo, Treaty
overawed by this formidable confederacy, made overtures with Tip-
to Lord Cornwallis for the conclusion of a peace ; but that!500’
nobleman would listen to no terms of accommodation in
which his allies were not included, and which were not
preceded by the release of all the prisoners that had been
detained during the present and former wars. The arrival
of the Mahratta troops, amounting to 32,000 cavalry, how¬
ever fortunate it might be deemed at the critical moment
in which it happened, brought little additional effective
strength to the allied army. Their battalions were un¬
wieldy, irregular, and ill disciplined; their force had de¬
clined as much as Tippoo’s had advanced in improvement;
and they were at present far inferior to those troops who,
under Madha Row, had defeated Hyder Ali in 1772.
The combined armies amounted to about 80,000 men ;
and if to these be added four times the number of camp
followers, brinjarries or grain carriers, and the carriage
department, the number of strangers to be subsisted in the
Mysore alone could not be much less than half a million.
That no distrust, jealousy, or counteraction, should have
disturbed the combined operations of such an immense
multitude, must be ascribed to the unexampled modera¬
tion and the vigilant conduct of the commander-in-chief.
Such a vast army had never taken the field in India in
the British cause; yet no murmurs, nor even the slightest
appearance of distrust, were ever manifested by the allies
towards the British commander. They submitted with
implicit confidence, not only to his arrangements in carry¬
ing on the war, but, which was little to be expected among
allies so much alive to their particular interests, they ac¬
quiesced in his distribution of the conquered territories,
with a deference which evinced the most perfect confi¬
dence in his liberality and justice. With these coadju¬
tors, Lord Cornwallis set out in the month of June to¬
wards Bangalore. He determined on a new and circui¬
tous route northward by Naggemungulum ; and in order
to facilitate the communication between the Mysore and
the Carnatic, from which the supplies were chiefly to be
drawn, the various hill forts which command the differ¬
ent passes were to be reduced. Amongst these forts, re¬
markable for natural strength, Oossoor, Rayacottahud, and
Nundydroog, were assaulted and taken. There remain¬
ed Kistnaghery, Savendroog, and Ootradroog, on the
first of which an unsuccessful attack was made. Saven¬
droog consists of a vast mountainous rock, which rises
above half a mile in perpendicular height above its own
base, which covers a space of eight or ten miles in cir¬
cumference. This rock is surrounded by walls on every
side, and defended by cross barriers wherever it was
deemed accessible. Towards the upper part, the im¬
mense pile is almost precipitous, and has the further ad¬
vantage of being divided on the top into two hills, which
have each their defences, and are capable of being main¬
tained independently of the garrison in the lower works.
To the siege of this tremendous fortress, Lieutenant-Co¬
lonel Stewart, commanding the right wing of the main
army, was appointed. The attempt commenced on the
10th of December. In three days a practicable breach
was effected, and both hills were stormed, with only one
private soldier wounded. Colonel Stewart’s detachment
marched in two days against Ootradroog, another fortress
strengthened by five different walls, and so steep as to
prove tenable by a handful of men against the largest
army. After the refusal of a summons to surrender, the
lower fort was escaladed with such rapidity, that the kil-
ladar requested a parley. But on some appearance of
treachery in the upper fort, the assault was ordered;
some of the gates were instantly broken, others were es-
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, caladed, till five or six different walls on the face of the
w-y'w'' steep rock were passed, when the troops gained the sum¬
mit, and put the garrison to the sword. The assault of
these fortresses, which had hitherto been deemed impreg¬
nable, made so serious an impression on the enemy, that
in none of the hill forts, however inaccessible, did they
afterwards make any attempt to resist the British troops.
Hence the strong mountainous country between Banga¬
lore and Seringapatam, which, studded with forts, had so
much checked all communication, now afforded security
to the convoys. These henceforth reached the army with¬
out opposition ; and the supplies of warlike stores of every
description were as completely re-established as they had
been at the beginning of the last campaign.
To prevent any future scarcity of the great article of
grain, the commander-in-chief encouraged the native brin-
jarries, a class of men of whom we have already given
some account. They form a peculiar caste, who are
traders in grain, and whose utility is so universally ac¬
knowledged that they are regarded as neutral in war, and
are not hindered by either of the belligerents from carry¬
ing supplies of grain to the other. By constantly afford¬
ing regular payment and a good price to these native mer¬
chants, they supplied the camp to an extent far exceed¬
ing what could ever be furnished by the most extensive
carriage establishment. With such ample supplies, pre¬
parations were made for the commencement of the cam¬
paign. The Bombay troops, destined again to act from
the same quarter as last season, marched from Cananore,
and arrived at the foot of Poodicherrim Ghaut in the
month of December. Several weeks of hard labour were
necessary to drag the artillery through woods extending
nearly sixty miles, and over mountains of immense height,
when this force, consisting of 8400, with all their baggage
and artillery, and a supply of rice for forty days, penetrated
with safety into the Mysore frontier, which they reached
on the 22d of January 1792. To facilitate the return of
the army, batteries were constructed to defend the pass;
a precaution which, if the sultan had not overlooked, he
would have suffered no invasion on this quarter of his do¬
minions.
The Mahratta forces, after taking the important post
of Simoga, which, however, was soon retaken by one of
Tippoo’s generals, and defeating Reza Saib and nearly
10,000 of the sultan’s cavalry, effected their junction with
the Bombay army, though somewhat later than the ap¬
pointed season. The main army under Lord Cornwallis,
being joined at Ootradroog by the battering train under
Colonel Duff, and the last convoys under Colonel Floyd,
and also by the army of the nizam, was at last fully pre-
nared to resume its enterprises against the sultan, who,
in imitation of his father when formerly attacked in 1767,
had encamped with the whole of his force in a strong po¬
sition under the walls of his capital. On the 1st of Feb¬
ruary the allied armies marched from Hooleadroog, the
last hill fort of which they had taken possession, lying at
the distance of only forty miles from Seringapatam. The
last march, of the 5th of February, stretched across a
range of barren hills lying six miles north-east of Serin¬
gapatam. From these heights a view of the whole city
was presented to the army, and the encampment of the
sultan under its walls. Every circumstance was eagerly
viewed by our troops ; and, from the sultan’s position, it
was evident that he meant to defend the place in person,
and to make it the grand concluding scene of the war.
The camp of the allies was pitched on the north side of
the island. The British formed the front line, and extend¬
ed along both sides of the Lockany, a small river which
at this place flows into the Cavery. The reserve was
placed a mile in the rear, to afford space for the baggage
and stores; and the nizam and Mahrattas were stationed
499
still farther in the rear, to prevent interference with the Hindustan.
British camp.
Opposite to Seringapatam, on both sides of the river, a
large space was enclosed by a bound hedge, which marks
the limits of the capital, and afforded a refuge to the pea¬
sants during the incursions of cavalry. Tippoo’s front
line, or fortified camp, lay immediately behind this hedge,
where it was defended by heavy cannon in the redoubts,
and by a large field train advantageously placed. In this
line there were a hundred pieces of artillery, and in the
fort and island which formed his second line there were
above thrice that number. The redoubts on his left were
intrusted to two of his best officers, and a corps of Euro¬
peans commanded by Monsieur Vigie ; Sheik Ansar, a
general of established reputation, was stationed on the
right, and the Carighaut Hill; whilst Tippoo himself com¬
manded the centre, having his tent pitched in the sultan’s
redoubt. The fort and island, where there was the great¬
est number of guns, were intrusted to Syed Saib and
other commanders. The whole army of the sultan thus
stationed consisted of about 50,000 men.
The whole attention of Tippoo, on finding that he could
not keep the field, was directed to the fortifying of this
camp, and the strengthening of his defences in the fort
and island, under the idea that the want of supplies, or
the approach of the monsoon, would again force his ene¬
mies to abandon their enterprise, as they had been com¬
pelled to do on former occasions. In these circumstan¬
ces, Lord Cornwallis resolved on the bold enterprise of a
night attack or. the enemy’s fortified camp. Accordingly,
on the evening of the 6th of February 1792, just after
the troops had left the parade, orders were issued for an
attack at seven o’clock, of the enemy’s camp and lines, in
three divisions. The British camp was left to be defend¬
ed by the artillery and cavalry ; whilst the assailants, who
were instantly furnished with guides and scaling ladders,
marched in perfect confidence that muskets alone, for
they were unprovided with artillery, would prove the fit¬
test instruments for opening their way into the enemy’s
camp. The allies of the British, to whom this design was
not communicated till after the columns had marched,
were struck with surprise and consternation on learning
that Lord Cornwallis, like a common soldier, was perso¬
nally to lead the attack on the enemy’s fortified camp.
They not only deemed his success impossible, but they
dreaded that the ruin of the allied army would be in¬
volved in the attempt.
The three columns into which the assailants had been
divided marched with equal intrepidity to execute the
different objects which had been allotted them. Many ob¬
stacles intervened ; various conflicts ensued in different
quarters of the enemy’s camp j each party was uncertain
of the fate of the rest, and each individual of his asso¬
ciates. The return of day at last removed their fears and
uncertainty, by disclosing the complete success which had
crowned their exertions throughout the whole line of at¬
tack. The enemy having lost all their positions on the
north side of the river, where the siege was to commence,
and almost the whole of the island, every material ob¬
ject of the assault was secured. On the side of the Bri¬
tish, the loss, though considerable, amounting to 536 men,
was small in proportion to the importance of the victory
and the disasters of the enemy, of whom it afterwards ap¬
peared that 4000 bad been slain in the various con¬
flicts during this night of enterprise, danger, and death,
besides a much greater loss which was suffered by de¬
sertion.
The British army, now in possession of the island and
town of Seringapatam, and flushed with the pride of vic¬
tory, immediately began to make the necessary prepara¬
tions for the siege of the fortress or citadel. The mosques
500
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, and religious buildings on this enchanting island, watered
-v-—by the Cavery, and the seat of perpetual verdure, were
converted into hospitals for the wounded and sick; and
the trees, now for the first time assailed by the axe, fur¬
nished materials for fascines and gabions for the approach¬
ing siege. The sultan was now seriously alarmed ; and
after vain efforts to retard the siege by a distant cannon¬
ade, which occasioned little injury, he at last began to
meditate seriously on the necessity of a peace. In order
to smooth the way for his overtures, he previously liberat¬
ed two British officers, who had been detained contrary to
capitulation in Coimbetore. These officers, who had not
been treated with his usual rigour, he loaded with pre¬
sents, and made the bearers of a letter to Lord Cornwallis,
suing for peace. He at the same time had recourse to
another daring expedient, which might have been attend¬
ed with fatal consequences. He despatched a small party
of horsemen in the night to surprise the tent of Lord
Cornwallis, and to put him to death. The party were
detected by their eager inquiries after the commander’s
tent; and being fired upon, effected their retreat. The
Bombay army, which was at this time approaching, effect¬
ed its junction with the main army on the 16th ; and on
the second night after this event the trenches were open¬
ed, and a parallel formed within eight hundred yards of
the north face of the fort. General Abercromby, station¬
ed on the southern quarter with a strong detachment, was
ordered to cannonade it from the heights. This attack
being directed against the weakest part of the fort, occa¬
sioned the greatest alarm. Tippoo himself, therefore, at
the head of his troops, marched to dislodge the general.
Being supported by the guns of the fort, he maintained
the action for the whole day; but towards evening he was
forced to retreat. This desperate effort was the last that
Tippoo made for his defence. His affairs hastened to a
crisis; cabals were formed by the chiefs, and his troops
deserted in multitudes during the night. He saw his ca¬
pital blockaded on every side by a powerful army, plenti¬
fully supplied with provisions, which must infallibly re¬
duce his troops by famine, should they even prove suc¬
cessful in repelling its assaults; even his last hopes of re¬
lief from the monsoon, and the swelling of the river, were
thus finally cut off.
On the 23d of February, therefore, the preliminaries of
peace were signed by Tippoo, amidst the conflicting emo¬
tions of pride, resentment, and fear ; and orders were is¬
sued to the troops on both sides to cease from further hos¬
tilities ; a stipulation of which the dread of an immediate
assault alone enforced the observance.
By the terms of this treaty, Tippoo was compelled to
pay, as an indemnification for the expenses of the war,
three crores and thirty lacs of rupees, at two instalments,
the first to be advanced immediately, and the second at
the end of four months. Other articles of this instrument
provided further, that all the prisoners taken from the
allied powers, from the time of Hyder Ali, should be un¬
conditionally restored; that no less than one half of his
territories should be ceded to the allies, and that two of
Tippoo Sultan’s three eldest sons should be given as host¬
ages for the due performance of the treaty.
About noonday on the 26th, the young princes, the one
eight, and the other ten years of age, mounted on their ele¬
phants richly caparisoned, and attended with a splendid
retinue, left the fort, the walls and ramparts of which were
crowded with spectators. Amidst the vast multitudes
whom curiosity or affection had drawn out to witness this
scene, lippoo himself was beheld standing above a high
gateway, through which, as they passed, the princes were
saluted by the guns of the fort; a compliment which they Hindustan,
again received as they approached the British camp.
They were seated in silver howdahs, attended by their
father’s minister and a numerous retinue. The procession
which they thus formed was equally grand and interest¬
ing. It was led by several camel harcarrasand standard-
bearers, carrying green flags suspended from rockets, fol¬
lowed by one hundred pikemen, with spears inlaid with
silver Their guard of two hundred Sepoys, and a party
of horse, brought up the rear.1
Lord Cornwallis, attended by his staff, and the princi¬
pal officers of his army, and a battalion of Sepoys, receiv¬
ed them at the door of his tent, and embraced them with
a cordiality and tenderness that resembled parental affec¬
tion. The manners, dress, and appearance of the young
princes themselves, formed an interesting spectacle to
their European hosts. They were clothed in red turbans
and long white muslin gowns, everywhere sparkling with
emeralds, rubies, and pearls. Thus attired, the young
princes, immediately after their reception, were seated on
each side of Lord Cornwallis, when G ulam Ali, the head
vakeel of Tippoo, thus addressed the British general:—
“ These children were this morning the sons of the sultan
my master; their situation is now changed; they must
look up to your lordship as their father.” The scene now
became most interesting; the faces of the children bright¬
ened up ; and not only their attendants, but all the spec¬
tators, were delighted to observe, that any fears they might
have harboured were removed, and that they would soon
be reconciled to their change of situation. After being
regaled, in the eastern manner, with ottar of roses and
betel-nut, the princes were presented each with a gold
watch from Lord Cornwallis, a gift from which they seem¬
ed to receive great delight. Lord Cornwallis next day
visited them in their tents; and each of them made him
a present of a Persian sword, and he made them a present
of some elegant fire-arms in return.
Some difficulty occurred in adjusting the terms of a
definitive treaty. When the territory of the Coorga ra¬
jah, in particular, was required, the demand seemed unex¬
pected both by the sultan and his ministers, and was at
first received with astonishment and disdain. This rajah
was considered as a chief cause of the war, and Tippoo,
therefore, wished to crush him. Lord Cornwallis seemed
equally resolute in his defence; for he again manned the
works, and threatened to recommence the attack. Hap¬
pily, his stock of provisions was ample ; and although up¬
wards of 400,000 strangers and half a million of cattle
were daily to be fed, the supply was sufficient for the
whole; whilst one million sterling of the fine imposed on
Tippoo had already been paid. The firm determination
of the commander-in-chief, aided by these circumstances,
which were not unknown to the sultan, damped his reso¬
lution. His resentment cooled, and he finally acceded to
the terms agreed upon, and copies of the treaty were de¬
livered to the confederated powers.
From the conclusion of this treaty, dictated to Tippoo Nabob of
by an English army at the gates of his capital, no great Oude.
event occurs in the history of India till the renewal of the
war in 1798, during the administration of Lord Morning-
ton. The affairs of the nabob of Oude, and his dominions,
were both hastening to ruin under his own mismanage¬
ment and that of the English ; and, with a full knowledge
of this, his sway was now extended over the district of
Rampore in the Rohilla country, granted to Fyzoolah
Khan, the Rohilla chief, who survived the ruin of his na¬
tion, and who died at an advanced age in 1794, leaving
the territory of which he was ruler in a high state of cul-
1 For the substance of this account, see Major-general Dirom’s narrative of this campaign.
HINDUSTAN.
501
Transac¬
tions at
Madras.
Hindustan, tivation. On the pretence of the usurpation of the reign-
ing prince, who had made his way to the throne by the
murder of his brother, the British troops made war on the
Rohillas, and defeated them. The treasures of the late
chief, amounting to 332,000 gold mohurs (L.607,000),
were given to the vizir or ruler of Oude, who returned
twelve lacs of rupees (L.127,000) to the British army ; ten
lacs of revenue were assigned for the support of the law¬
ful prince, now dethroned; and the unhappy country was
handed over to be pillaged and destroyed by the vizir
and his English allies. He soon afterwards died, and was
succeeded by Mirza Ali or Vizir Ali, who was set aside by
the English on the reputed spuriousness of his birth, and
Saadut Ali, the eldest surviving son of Sujah Dowlah, was
placed on the throne. The annual subsidy to the English
was at the same time raised to seventy-six lacs of rupees.
The Nabob Mahommed Ali, the first ally of the Eng¬
lish, died in 1795, at the age of seventy-eight, and was
succeeded by Omdut-ul-Omrah, his eldest son. Lord
Hobart, governor of Madras, now determined to interfere
with a strong hand in the affairs of the Carnatic, and, if
possible, to rescue the country from the merciless exac¬
tions to which it had been exposed. These evils he de¬
scribes to arise from the numerous loans of the English
to the nabob. “ Some of the principal houses of business
in Madras,” he observes, “ or even some of the Company’s
servants, enter into an agreement with the nabob for the
payment of sums which may have become due to the
Company’s treasury. They receive a mortgage upon a
portion of the territory. To render this availing, they
stipulate for the appointment of the manager of the terri¬
tory. It is also requisite to establish an understanding
with the military commanding officer of the district.
And then the chain of power is complete. Then the
unhappy ryots (husbandmen) are delivered over to the
uncontrolled operations of men who have an interest in
nothing but exacting the greatest sums in the shortest
time ; of men hardened by practice, and with consciences
lulled to rest by the delusive opiate of interest upon in¬
terest.” Lord Hobart prepared to remove these evils by
assuming the management of the nabob’s revenues, and,
in short, the internal government of the country. But
these arrangements being opposed by the supreme go¬
vernment, were not at this time carried into effect.
The British had now acquired an undisputed ascen¬
dency in India. The other ruling powers were the Mah-
rftorie^b rattaS, unc^er t*ie Pes^lwa an(J Scindia; the nizam of the
Scindia ' Deccan, an ally and dependent of the British ; and Tip-
poo, so greatly humbled and weakened by the late war
as to be no longer formidable. Each of these powers was
jealous of the others, though the balance of power was
chiefly endangered by the ascendency of the British. The
nizam, after the conclusion of the war with Tippoo, was
extremely desirous of forming an alliance with the Eng¬
lish as a defence against the encroachments of the Mah-
rattas, who, he was well informed, were planning an in¬
road into his dominions, for the purpose of levying the
contribution of the chout, amounting to one fourth of the
land revenues, to which they laid claim, on condition of
guaranteeing the remainder. The English, though bound
to the nizam by a treaty offensive and defensive, refused
to join in any alliance against the Mahrattas, who, under
the command of Dowlut Row Scindia, Mahadjee Scindia
being lately dead, now invaded the nizam’s territories,
and having defeated his army and shut him in one of his
fortresses, dictated a treaty of peace to him, by which he
ceded a country yielding thirty-five lacs of revenue, paid
them a large sum, and gave up his minister as an hostage
for the performance of these conditions. Tippoo, since
the conclusion of the peace negotiated by Lord Corn¬
wallis, had laboured assiduously to regain his lost power
Invasion
of the ni-
and influence, and had employed all the means which sug- Hindustan,
gested themselves for inducing the French to lend their as-
sistance in expelling the English from India.
Lord Mornington arrived in Calcutta as governor-gene¬
ral in May 1798, and he had scarcely been a month in
India when printed copies of a proclamation announcing
the hostile designs of Tippoo, and inviting French subjects
to join his standard, were circulated at Calcutta. The in¬
quiries instituted by the governor-general not only sub¬
stantiated the authenticity of this document, but developed
a variety of facts illustrative of the irreconcileable enmity
of Tippoo against the British. No course now remained
but to establish a permanent restraint upon Tippoo’s future
means of offence; and Lord Mornington at once resolved upon
a series of extended operations against Mysore. Tippoo, as
the event too fatally for himself proved, was unprepared for
war. Stripped of half his dominions and revenues by the
last treaty, he had not the means of maintaining war;
whilst the power of his rivals was formidably increased, and
their numerous and well-appointed armies, and extended
dominions, justly excited the dread and the jealousy of the
native powers, and probably of Tippoo amongst others.
But the humbled king of Mysore was no longer himself an
object of jealousy and dread: the last treaty was dictated
by a victorious army at the gates of his capital; its terms,
from his unprovoked aggression of the British allies, were
necessarily severe ; and circumstances had since occurred
which fully justified the British in exacting additional se¬
curities from the fallen prince. It was known that he had
been in communication with Zemaun Shah, the ruler of
Caubul, and that his intercourse with that prince had for
its object the invasion of the N. of India in order to fa¬
cilitate the projected hostile measures on the part of Tippoo
in the S. It was ascertained that an embassy consist¬
ing of two natives, accompanied by a French officer, had
been despatched by him to the executive directory of
France. At Poona and at Hyderabad his efforts had been
directed to counteract British influence, and to engage both
Mahratta and Mohammedan chiefs in his views. The ob¬
jects of the governor-general, as explained by himself, were,
by obtaining the whole maritime territory remaining in the
possession of Tippoo on the coast of Malabar, to preclude
him from all future communication by sea with his French
allies—to compel him to defray the entire expenses of the
war, thus securing reimbursement of the outlay rendered
necessary by his hostility, and, by crippling his resources,
increasing the probability of future security—to prevail on
him to admit permanent residents at his court from the
English and their allies; and to procure the expulsion of
all the natives of France in his service, together with an
engagement for the perpetual exclusion of all Frenchmen
both from his army and dominions. Before hostilities com¬
menced, however, the sultan was allowed time to avert
them by timely concession. Intelligence of Lord Nelson’s
recent victory over the French fleet was communicated to
him with suitable remarks; and a letter addressed to him
by the governor-general adverted to the transactions be¬
tween that prince and the French government of the Mau¬
ritius, and contained a proposal to send an English officer
to Tippoo, for the purpose of communicating the views of
the Company and their allies. Tippoo’s answer contained
a ridiculous attempt to explain away the embassy to the
Mauritius and its consequences, and his communication in
other respects was so extremely vague, that the governor-
general determined to suspend all negotiation with the sultan
until the united force of the arms of the Company and of
their allies should have made such an impression on his
territories as might give full effect to the just represen¬
tations of the allied powers. Three armies were now as¬
sembled for the invasion of Mysore—namely, the army of
General Harris at Velore, which was to advance from the
502 HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, east; the army of General Stuart at Cananore, on the
western coast; and a force under Colonels Read and
Brown in the southern districts of the Carnatic. On the
9th of March the army made its first united movement,
and in the course of its advance experienced no serious re¬
sistance. The greatest obstacle to its progress arose from
the want of provisions, and an adequate supply of carriages.
All these difficulties were, however, overcome : and on the
oth of April the united army took up its position for the
siege of the capital, exactly one month after it had crossed
the frontier. Tippoo made a last and vain appeal to his
enemies. But the governor-general was now resolved on
the conquest of the country. His views expanded with the
success of his arms ; and towards the end of April he de¬
clared his opinion, that “ it would be prudent and justifi¬
able entirely to overthrow the power of Tippooand
Defeat and “ that the power and resources of Tippoo Sultan should be
death of reduced to the lowest possible state, and even \itterly de-
Tippoo. stroyed, if the events of the war should furnish the oppor¬
tunity.” On the 3d of May a practicable breach was made,
and next day the assault took place, which, notwithstanding
an obstinate defence, was successful at every point. The
assailants, carrying everything before them by the impetu¬
osity of their attack, met over the eastern gateway; and
the palace, in which were the family of the sultan and a
body of his most faithful adherents, was the only place
within the fort that still held out. From motives of huma¬
nity, the English were extremely averse to expose its in¬
mates to the horror of an assault, and they at length suc¬
ceeded in effecting its peaceable surrender. Major Allan,
who was admitted to the apartments of the young princes,
endeavoured, by every expression of tenderness, to soothe
the agitation of their minds. They were conducted to the
presence of General Baird, who assured them, in the kind¬
est manner, of protection from violence and insult, and
gave them in charge to two officers, to be conducted to the
head-quarters of the general. The sultan lost his life in
the defence of his capital, and his body was found amidst
heaps of slain. He had been repeatedly wounded in the
course of the conflict; and his attendants having placed
him in his palanquin, he was observed by the English sol¬
diers who first entered. One of them in attempting to pull
off his sword-belt, which was very rich, received a wound
from the sultan, who still held his sabre in his hand; on
which, putting his musket to his shoulder, he fired, and the
sultan, receiving the bail in his temple, expired.
The kingdom of Mysore, which was now in possession
of the English, was partitioned amongst the allied powers.
The English and the nizam received equal portions of
the conquered territory, and a smaller portion was reserved
for the Mahrattas. The possessions of the sultan on the
Malabar coast, the district of Coimbetore and Darampo-
ram, the whole country which lay between the Company’s
territory on the eastern and western coasts, the passes of
the Ghauts, the district of Weynaad, and the city and
island of Seringapatam, were surrendered to the British,
who now occupied the country from sea to sea. A terri¬
tory of equal revenue was ceded to Nizam Ali, in the dis¬
tricts of Gooty, Gurrumcondah, and the tract of country
which lies along the line of the great forts of Chittledroog,
Sera, Nundydroog, and Colar, with the exception of the
forts. The territory ceded to the Mahrattas, from one-half
to two-thirds of the other portions, was to include Harpoo-
nelly, Soonda above the Ghauts, Annagoody, and some
other districts ; also the territory, though not the fortresses,
of Chittledroog and Bednore. The remaining portion of the
sultan’s territories was erected into a separate state, over
which was placed a descendant of the ancient rajahs, who had
been retained in confinement by Tippoo and his father ; with
such conditions, however, as provided for the transfer of the
entire administration to the British in the event of misgo¬
vern men t. The treasures of Tippoo, amounting to sixteen Hindusta
lacs of pagodas (L.640,000), and his jewels, valued at y—
L.360,000, were divided amongst the troops. The fortress
of Velorewas commodiously fitted up for the future residence
of the royal family, to whom, and to all Tippoo’s confidential
servants, such pensions were assigned, that they were no less
surprised than gratified by the liberality of the conquerors.
The influence of British authority is not confined to the
dominions immediately subjected to it; it is exerted over
nearly the whole of India, by virtue of protective treaties
with the native princes. In the states thus situated the
prince exercises the functions of sovereignty, under the
control of the British power, which is represented by a
resident agent. The presumed advantages of this arrange¬
ment are mutual. The prince and his successors are gua¬
ranteed in the possession of their dominions ; and in return,
the ruling prince renounces all external connections, ex¬
cept with the British, through whom alone negotiations are
conducted, and by whose decision he is bound in all mat¬
ters of dispute with other states. In some cases the prince
consents to receive a subsidiary force ; in others this pro¬
vision is dispensed with. But the great principles winch
pervade them all are the supremacy of the British, and the
dependency of the native government. In 1798 a treaty
was concluded with the nizam, by which he agreed to dis¬
miss a force under French officers, which he had hitherto
maintained, and to receive and to pay a British force in its
stead, whose aid, it is certain, was absolutely necessary for
the defence of his dominions. This was therefore the com¬
mencement of British ascendancy in that country. In
Oude the military power had long been vested in the Com¬
pany. Upon the death of Shujah-ud-Dowlah in 1775, and
the succession to the throne of his eldest son, it was stipu¬
lated that a brigade of British troops, consisting of two bat¬
talions of Europeans, one company of artillery, and six bat¬
talions of sepoys, should be stationed in Oude whenever
required by the vizier, for the support of which he engaged
to pay an annual sum of about L.300,000. Additions were
made to this force in 1781, and again in 1787, when the Na-
waub vizier agreed to fix his subsidy at L.500,000, in which
sum were included the expenses of the British Residency.
In 1797 the vizier consented to defray the expense of two
regiments of cavalry, one European and one native, making
the total subsidy L.555,000 per annum. Shortly after¬
wards the Company bound themselves to defend the terri¬
tories of Oude against all enemies. In order to enable
them to fulfil this engagement, and at the same time to pro¬
vide for the protection of their own dominions, they had
largely increased their military establishment by the addi¬
tion of new levied regiments, both of infantry and cavalry ;
and in consequence thereof Saadut Ali agreed, in 1798, to
increase the subsidy to L.760,000 per annum. The Na-
waub vizier also ceded the fortress of Allahabad, and gave
L.80,000 to the Company for its repairs, and L.30,000 for
those of Futtehghur. The British troops in Oude were
not to consist of less than 10,000 men, including Europeans
and natives, cavalry, infantry, and artillery ; and should it
become necessary to augment the Company’s troops be¬
yond the number of 13,000 men, the vizier agreed to pay
the actual difference occasioned by the excess above that
number. The threatened invasion of Zemaun Shah at¬
tracted the attention of the Marquis Wellesley (then Earl
of Mornington) to the state of Oude. It was desirable to
substitute efficient troops for the unskilful and undisciplined
force maintained by the vizier, and to place the defence of
the Oude frontier against foreign invasion upon a more sub¬
stantial basis. To accomplish these objects the pecuniary
subsidy was commuted for a territorial cession; and by
treaty, 10th November 1801, the Nawaub vizier ceded
the Southern Doab and the districts of Allahabad, Azim-
gurh, Western Goruckpore, and some others, estimated to
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, yield in the aggregate an annual revenue of L.1,352,347.
About the same time the nabob of Surat, the nabob of
Arcot, against whom a lucky discovery was made of a cri¬
minal correspondence with Tippoo, and the rajah of Tan-
jore, were all dethroned, and pensions assigned them for
their support. The benefits anticipated from these mea¬
sures have been fully realised. Most of the protected states
have been wretchedly misgoverned; and there cannot be
the slightest doubt that the people have been far happier
as British subjects. Yet some suspicion must attach to the
motives of those who, after the death of Fyzoolah Khan,
could transfer the flourishing country of the Rohillas from
the mild sway of its lawful rulers to the misrule and oppres¬
sion of the nabob of Oude. A bad was here substituted for
a good government. If good government had been the sole
object, how greatly would it have been promoted bv the trans¬
fer of the territory from native to British rule. The British
provinces have been steadily advancing in prosperity ; the
progress of the protected states has been from bad to worse.
The Slab- The Mahratta powers, namely, the peshwa, the nomi-
•atta pow- nal head of the confederacy, whose capital was Poonah,
the rajah of Berar, Holkar, and Scindia, now remained the
only rivals of the English for the dominion of India; and
it was the policy of the Marquis Wellesley, as he him¬
self explains at large in his correspondence with the resi¬
dents in India and the directors at home, to form subsi¬
diary alliances with them, on the same terms as with the
other states of India ; namely, that a British force should
rbe permanently stationed within their dominions, and that
they should assign a sufficient quantity of land for its
maintenance and pay. The effect of this alliance, as in¬
deed its object, as stated by the marquis, was to secure
the dependence of the different states of India on the Bri¬
tish power. “ The measure of subsidizing a British force,
even under the limitations which the Peshwa has annex¬
ed to that proposal (namely, its being stationed with¬
out the limits of his dominions), must immediately place
him in some degree in a state of dependence on the Bri¬
tish power.” This effect was very plainly seen by the
Mahratta princes, as well as by the governor-general; and
accordingly, though the arrangement was very zealously
pressed upon the peshwa, as well as on Scindia, it was
steadily rejected by both, until the former was reduced
by necessity to accept the alliance of the British on their
own terms. This necessity was brought about by conten¬
tions amongst the Mahratta chiefs, Holkar and Scindia,
for political ascendency in the court of Poonah. Mahadjee
Scindia, who was the founder of the family, was the son of
Ramojee Scindia, whose humble employment at the court
of Poonah was to carry thepeshwa’s slippers, but who after-
I wards rose to eminent rank, and was known as an enter¬
prising soldier. Mahadjee was also a soldier, and was pre¬
sent in the fatal battle of Paniput, from which he nar¬
rowly escaped with a severe wound in his knee by a bat¬
tle-axe. He afterwards acquired land and troops, and
rose, as the power of the peshwa declined, to the rank of
an independent chief. He died at Poonah in 1794, leav¬
ing to his grand-nephew, Dowlut Row Scindia, only thir¬
teen years of age, vast possessions and a well-disciplined
army.1 Mulhar Row, the founder of the Holkar family,
was born about the year 1693. He was at first a keeper
of sheep, afterwards a commander of horse in the service
of the peshwa, and at last one of the great military lead¬
ers of the Mahratta confederacy. He died in 1766, at the
age of seventy-six years, with the character of a plain and
generous soldier. Mulhar Row Holkar had only one son,
Kundee Row, who was slain, some years before the battle
of Paniput, at the siege of Kumbhere. This prince had
503
married the renowned Ahalya Baee, by whom he had one Hindustan,
son and one daughter, both of whom died, the daughter v y-r ;
on the funeral pile of her deceased husband. Ahalya
Baee succeeded to the sovereignty, and assumed as the
commander of her army, and her minister for those du¬
ties which a female could not perform, Tukajee Holkar,
the chief of the tribe, though not related to Mulhar Row.
The administration of Ahalya Baee, who is celebrated by
Sir John Malcolm as a shining example of great qualities
and amiable virtues, was fraught with blessings to her
subjects, the country enjoying under her rule more than
thirty years of prosperity ami peace. Tukajee Holkar,
who reigned till the year 1797, left four sons, Cashee
Rao, Mulhar Rao, Eithojee Holkar, and Jeswunt Rao
Holkar. The succession was disputed by the two elder
brothers, who repaired to Poonah for the decision of the
peshwa. The influence of Scindia was at this time pa¬
ramount at Poonah; and having made his terms with
Cashee Rao, he surprised and murdered Mulhar Rao,
with all his attendants, at Poonah, in September 1797.
The wife of Mulhar Rao left a posthumous child, Khun-
deh Rao, of whose person Scindia got possession, and re¬
taining Cashee Rao in a state of dependence, proposed to
govern the dominions of Holkar in his name. The two
brothers, Eithojee and Jeswunt Rao, who were at Poonah
at the time of the murder, made their escape, the first to
Kolapoor, where he was taken, sent to Poonah, and exe¬
cuted ; the latter to Nagpoor, where he was arrested and
thrown into confinement. Having made his escape, he
fled to Mehysser on the Nerbuddah. Here he collected
a band of adventurers, and in October 1801 was enabled
to fight a battle with Scindia, in which he was defeated
with the loss of his baggage and artillery. Before the
middle of 1802 Holkar had assembled a new and well-dis¬
ciplined army. He insisted on the release of the posthu¬
mous child Khundeh Rao, the head, as he proclaimed
him, of the house of Holkar ; and to enforce his demand,
he advanced with his troops from Malwah towards Poonah.
Scindia collected his army, and on the 25th of October a
battle was fought, in which Holkar obtained a decisive
victory.
It was during these transactions that the governor-Foreign
general deemed the occasion favourable for drawing the policy of
Mahratta chiefs into a subsidiary alliance with the Bri- f,<,r(l Wel-
tish; and it was proposed to Scindia that he should re-lesle^’
ceive a British force into his dominions, that he should
cede to the Company a territory sufficient to maintain
this force, and that he should admit the arbitration of the
British in all disputes with the nizam and with the other
states of Hindustan ; and the governor-general explains,
that if he consent to receive a British force within his do¬
minions, “ the arbitration of the British government will
necessarily be admitted to an extent proportioned to the
ascendency which that government will obtain over Scin¬
dia under the proposed engagements, and to the power
which it will possess of controlling his designs.” Was
this system, we may ask, of general alliance and subjec¬
tion to the British, now proposed by the governor-general,
a scheme of benevolence for establishing universal peace
throughout India, or one of ambition ? War is no doubt the
great scourge of humanity; and if it could be superseded
by the peaceable arbitration of neutral powers, a great
blessing would be conferred on mankind. But it is vain
to suppose that the potentates of the earth will voluntari¬
ly submit to the curb of reason ; and vain was it therefore
for the governor-general to endeavour, by persuasion or
address, to draw the powers of India into an alliance which
would reduce them from the rank of independent princes
1 Memoir of Central India, by Sir John Malcolm, vol. i. chap. v.
T
504
HINDUSTAN.
Treaty of
Bassein,
and war
with the
Mahratta
chiefs.
Hindustan, to mere dependents on the British. That the entire as-
cendency of the Company’s government in India would,
in preventing intestine war, have been, as it has since
proved, highly beneficial to India, no one could doubt;
but it was obvious that the supremacy of the British was to
be established not by pacific measures but by the sword.
The policy, however, of the British government in India
was at this time opposed to conquest, and to the influence
of this principle must be ascribed the conduct of the
governor-general. His motives are entitled to respect, but
it is to be regretted that he was not actuated by a less
scrupulous spirit. In point of fact, it is by war that
all India, happily we sincerely believe for the people, has
been at length brought under the control of one ruling
power, and that universal peace now reigns over that vast
continent. It was not yet time, however, for this desirable
consummation ; and the Mahratta chiefs, as might have
been supposed, received with decided aversion the propo¬
sitions of the governor-general, which amounted to no¬
thing less than a renunciation of independent power. In
the defeat of Scindia, however, by Holkar, and the ad¬
vance of this latter chief to Poonah, the peshwa saw
the overthrow of his power; and he quitted his capital,
leaving in the hands of the British resident a preliminary
engagement, by which he agreed to receive into his ter¬
ritories six battalions of troops, with their proportion of
artillery, and to cede a territory for their support either
in Gujerat or the Carnatic, yielding twenty-five lacs of
rupees.
This treaty^, in which it was further agreed that the
peshwa should, by the aid of the British, be restored to
his dominions and to his sovereign authority, was for¬
mally signed at Bassein on the 31st of December 1802;
and immediately Sir Arthur Wellesley, on a report that
Poonah was in danger of being burned, advanced on that
city by a rapid and unexpected march, with a body of ca¬
valry. At the approach of the British, Holkar's disorderly
bands fled with precipitation, and soon abandoned the ter¬
ritory of Poonah ; and the deposed prince returned in tri¬
umph to his capital, amid the acclamations of the people.
The treaty of Bassein, and the entire ascendency of
the British at the court of Poonah, excited the jealousy of
the other powers; and Scindia and the rajah of Berar
now entered into a confederacy for repressing this desire
of encroachment on the native states. But their mo¬
tions were narrowly watched by the British ; and their ar¬
mies having taken hostile positions, from which they re¬
fused to withdraw, the British were induced to take the
field. A vast force was collected. An army under Gene¬
ral Lake assembled on the north-western frontier of Oude,
which on the 7th of August marched from Cawnpore, and
crossing Scindia’s frontier on the 28th, took by assault
the fort of Allyghur, and on the 9th of September totally
defeated, about six miles from Delhi, the Mahratta force,
formerly under Perron, a French officer, and still com¬
manded by one of his countrymen, with the loss of all the
artillery and baggage. General Lake entered Delhi, eva-
of General cuated by the enemy on the 14th, and paid his respects to
Sir^Arthur^6 ^reat ^-0gul Shah Aulum, afflicted with age, infirmi-
Welleslev.r ^es’ ant^ poverty, in all respects a touching spectacle of
• ’ fallen dignity. On the 4th he reached Agra, which was
taken by assault after a severe contest; and on the 31st
defeated, in the well-fought battle of Laswaree, the remain¬
ing force of Scindia; and thus in the course of three months
overran all his territories in the region of the Jumna. Nor
was General Wellesley, who now gave an early promise of
that genius for war which was afterwards more fully dis¬
played in the arduous conflicts of Europe, less successful in
the south. His first operation was the assault and capture
oi the strong fortress of Ahmednuggur on the 12th of Au¬
gust ; after which, being apprised that the combined ar¬
Successes
mies of Scindia and the rajah of Berar meditated a march Hindustan
on Hydrabad, he concerted with Colonel Stephenson, who
commanded a separate corps, a joint attack on the 24th.
In the mean time, apprehensive that the enemy meditated
a retreat, he attacked with his own division alone the com¬
bined Mahratta armies, encamped on the Kaitra river, near
the village of Assye, and obtained the victory after a san¬
guinary conflict, in which, out of 4500 men, the British lost
428 killed and 1138 wounded, and were entirely disabled
from pursuing the enemy. Colonel Stephenson, who join¬
ed on the 24th, was sent on this duty, and was also instruct¬
ed to attack Boorhanpore and Asseerghur, of which, and of
all Scindia’s territories in the Deccan, he took possession.
The British arms were now turned against the rajah of
Berar; his army was entirely defeated on the plains of Ar-
gaum on the 29th of November. Colonel Stephenson, ad¬
vancing to Ellichpoor on the 5th of December, laid siege to
the strong mountain fortress of Gawilghur, near the source
of the Taptee, which was carried by assault. The British
were equally successful in every other quarter. The country
of Bundelcund was speedily reduced ; a force from Bombay
attacked Scindia’s possessions in Gujerat; and a division
of the Madras army the maritime province of Cuttack.
The Mahratta chiefs now bethought of peace as their
only refuge from impending ruin. A treaty was accord¬
ingly concluded with the rajah of Berar, by which he ceded
to the Company the province of Cuttack, with the port ol
Balasore, to their ally the nizam, the country lying be¬
tween his own frontier and the river Wurda to the east¬
ward, and between his own frontier and the hills, in which
are situated the forts of Gawilghur and Nernulla to the
northward. By the treaty concluded with Scindia, he
ceded in full sovereignty the country between the Jumna
and the Ganges, to the northward of the territories be¬
longing to the rajahs of Jeepoor, Joudpoor, and Gohud,
the fort and territories of Barooch, of Ahmednuggur, and
all the possessions which he held on the south side of the
Ajuntee Hills to the Godavery river. Provision was made Treaty
for the independence of all those minor states in the re- witJ1 ^
gion of the Jumna which had joined the English in the
*1 o I jPT2i* arul
late war. Of these cessions, it was agreed that the terri- witj1 gcil}.
tory situated to the westward of the Wurdah, and to thedia.
southward of the hills on which were the forts of Gawil¬
ghur and Nernulla, together with the territory between
the Ajuntee Hills, should be given to the nizam ; that the
fortress of Ahmednuggur and its territory should belong to
the peshwa, and that the English should have the remain¬
ing portion. The minor princes near the Jumna, namely,
the rajahs of Bhurtpore, Joudpoor, Jeepoor, Machery, and
Boondi, the ranah of Gohud, and Ambajee liao Englah,
now became dependents on the British, by whom they
were guaranteed in the possession of their dominions, they
defraying any charge which might be incurred. Scindia,
now weakened by the loss of territory, was really anxious
to secure a subsidiary alliance with the English for the se¬
curity of his remaining dominions against the designs of
Holkar. It was agreed that six thousand infantry, with
the usual complement of artillery, should be allotted for
his defence; that they should be maintained by the Eng¬
lish from the revenues of the ceded territories; and that
they should be stationed near the frontier, but not within
his dominions. It was further agreed, as formerly in the
treaty of Bassein, that the British should not in any case
interfere between him and his subjects, but that the sub¬
sidiary force, if required, should aid in suppressing rebel¬
lion and internal disturbances; a condition of doubtful
policy, since it evidently implies that the British were to
stand still, the quiet spectators of any cruelties the Mah¬
ratta chief might inflict upon his subjects ; but, the moment
they took up arms in their defence, they were to aid in
crushing them, as disturbers of the public peace.
HINDUSTA N.
lindustan. The short period of tranquillity that succeeded the peace
with Scindia was speedily interrupted by Holkar, who,
)P^asttlons though he kept aloof from the confederacy of his country-
folkar. men> with an indifference which seemed to argue at once
a deficiency of patriotism and a want of sound policy, was,
nevertheless, alarmed by the success of the British arms,
and his whole conduct evinced his determination to try the
fortune of war. His power and resources had gradually
been increased, like that of the other chiefs, by the intro¬
duction of European officers into his army, and by an im¬
proved system of discipline, which he had established.
He was, besides, protected by the nature of his country,
which is very mountainous, and, during the rains, impas¬
sable from jungles and morasses. His skill in maintaining
the predatory warfare, so congenial to a Mahratta army, was
far superior to that of the other chiefs, whose ruin had so
fully taught him the danger of any regular engagement with
European troops. Thus, although his territories were in¬
vaded on all sides by detachments of the Company’s forces,
he constantly eluded their attacks; and, by the singular ra¬
pidity of his movements, he was enabled suddenly to as¬
semble almost his whole force, and overpower whatever de¬
tachments he might find at a distance from support. In
this situation, the troops under Colonel Monson were sur¬
prised. This officer, in concert with Colonel Murray, who
invaded Holkar’s dominions from Gujerat, and captured In¬
dore, the capital, without much opposition, had advanced
fifty miles beyond the Mokundra Pass, towards the Chumbul,
when, alarmed by the fear of his supplies running short, he
resolved to retreat. Being betrayed by his guides, and de¬
serted by part of his troops, he was attacked by a superior
force under Holkar himself, before which he was forced to
retreat towards Agra, through a country impassable from
the rains, and destitute of provisions. After several dis¬
astrous conflicts, during a retreat of seven weeks, which
degenerated into a flight, the greater part of his guns, and
the whole of the baggage and military stores, were lost. A
few only of the troops reached Agra at midnight, in a state
of extreme distress; the greater part had been overtaken
in their flight, and were either massacred, or cruelly mu¬
tilated, by their ferocious pursuers.
Colonel Willot of the Bengal artillery was almost equally
unsuccessful in an attack which he had planned against a
strong post in the interior : he failed in the attempt, and
soon after died of the wounds he had received. It was in
Bundelcund, and the country of the Rohillas, that Holkar
received the most considerable checks, which produced a
reverse in his fortunes. From both those territories he was
completely driven by Lieutenant-colonel Fawcet and Ge¬
neral Smith. On the escape of Colonel Monson to Agra,
Holkar advanced with his whole army to Muttra, whither
he was followed by General Lake, who arrived at Muttra
on the 1st of October 1804, Holkar retiring as he advanced.
Here he put in practice a stratagem, which had nearly gain¬
ed for ium great advantages. Leaving his cavalry to engage
the attention of the British general, he proceeded with his
infantry in secret and by forced marches, and on the 8th
he appeared before Delhi, on which he opened a heavy
cannonade. Next day he erected breaching batteries, and
made a determined assault. But this and a subsequent at¬
tack was repelled with such determined gallantry by the
small garrison under Colonels Ochterlony and Burn, that
he desisted from all further attempts, and departed during
the night with his whole force.
Parties of his cavalry had been repeatedly defeated by
Lord Lake; but the rapidity of their movements as often
saved them from destruction, and it was not till the de¬
cisive battle of Deeg, on the 13th of November, that the
main strength of this enterprising chief was completely
broken. At this place his army, trusting to the great
strength of its position, behind successive ranges of bat-
VOL. XI.
505
teries, was induced to hazard a general action. From Hindustan,
these different batteries, which extended to the depth of
two miles, they were successively driven by the gallant
General Frazer, who had the credit of forcing a post which
had been deemed impregnable, and which at this period
was defended by twenty-four battalions of infantry and
150 pieces of cannon. In this brilliant achievement the
general received a wound in the leg, of which he afterwards
died, and was carried off the field. The completion of the
victory thus fell to Colonel Monson, who now saw com¬
plete vengeance inflicted for his past disasters, and for the
unexampled cruelty of his enemy, 2000 of whom were
killed, either in the battle or during the retreat. An im¬
mense number was wounded, and amongst these many con¬
siderable chiefs; whilst eighty-seven pieces of cannon fell
into his hands, which partly consisted of the same guns
which he had himself lost during his disastrous retreat
to Agra. The important fortress of Deeg was besieged
and taken at night, by assault, on the 23d of December.
Had Holkar confided merely to his effective force in the
field, his cause might have now been regarded as desperate.
His boldness, however, and his unexampled success, had
gained him the support of several of the native princes.
Among these he had seduced the rajah of Bhurtpore, an
ally of the British, and the chief of the celebrated caste of
the Jauts, the most warlike tribe in upper India. General
Lake was therefore obliged to concentrate his army, and
to employ it in the reduction of Bhurtpore, a fortress which
experience has proved to have been the strongest and most
impregnable in the whole peninsula. Whilst thus employ¬
ed, the dispersed troops of Holkar had time to rendezvous
in distant quarters, and were successful in cutting off his
supplies of provisions, and in plundering the surrounding
districts, by that predatory mode of warfare for which the
Mahrattas have always been celebrated. Scindia, also,
who had been engaged in continual disputes with the Bri¬
tish respecting the treaty which had been concluded, now
openly showed his hostile dispositions by invading the ter¬
ritories of the British allies, by attacking and plundering
the camp of the British resident, and by his ill-concealed
correspondence with Holkar, whom he now openly joined.
The reduction of Bhurtpore, defended by the indefa- Siege of
tigable efforts of Holkar, by its intrepid garrison, and its Bhurtpore.
own natural strength, proved the most arduous enterprise
which the British troops had ever undertaken in Asia.
The success of the besieged in repelling four different as¬
saults animated them with fresh courage and intrepidity.
The rajah and his whole tribe were united by the ties of
blood, as well as of civil authority. They laid claim to a
high caste among the natives, which they knew must be for¬
feited for ever by unconditional submission. Unfortunate¬
ly these were the only terms which General Lake, in the
peremptory instructions which were given for its reduction,
was permitted to accept. The rajah, therefore, having col¬
lected in the fort his women, his children, and his trea¬
sures, resolved to bury them all with himself under its
ruins, rather than submit to terms which were deemed as
disgraceful to his religion and his rank, as they were mor¬
tifying to his feelings as a soldier. Compelled by the orders
of his superior, and undaunted by all the past disasters
which the troops had already suffered, General Lake re¬
solved to hazard another attempt, which was equally un¬
successful with all the others. In the official account given
of this last attack, it is said, “ the bastion, which was the
point o.f attack, was extremely steep, the resistance oppos¬
ed to them was vigorous, and as our men could only mount
by small parties at a time, the advantages were very great
on the side of the enemy. Discharges of grape, logs of
wood, and pots filled with combustible materials, imme¬
diately knocked down those who were ascending; and the
whole party, after having engaged in an obstinate contest
3 S
506
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, for two hours, and suffering very severe loss, was obliged
t° relinquish the attempt, and to retire to our trenches.”
The loss of the British army in this last assault, and that
of the 20th, amounted to 300 killed, and 1564 wounded;
its whole loss, during the different attacks, amounted to
upwards of 3000 of the bravest of our troops, whilst the
unconditional surrender of the place, though the ultimate
object of all these perilous attempts, was never attained.
The rajah, however, again proposed the terms he had
formerly offered, and consented to pay three lacs of ru¬
pees to the army, and the expenses of the war. Hostages
were given for the regular discharge of these sums, at dif¬
ferent instalments. Thus the last prince in India who re¬
sisted the British arms was found to have made the most
glorious defence of his independence, and to have secured
for himself the most honourable terms. Holkar, unable
any longer to face the British troops, was reduced to the
condition of a fugitive ; and flying from place to place, of¬
ten beaten, and at last deserted by almost the whole of his
troops, was obliged to escape with a retinue so scanty as
was hardly sufficient for the protection of his person.
Arrival of The directors of the Company in Europe, though they
L°r(? Corn-were dazzled for a time by the splendid successes of the
cific polic arms’ were at length startled by the warlike policy
p lcy‘and prodigal expenditure of the Wellesley administration ;
and, with a view to retrieve their embarrassed affairs, the
Marquis Cornwallis was sent out as governor-general to
Calcutta, where he arrived on the 30th of July 1805. He
entirely disapproved of the system of subsidiary alliances
adopted by his predecessor, by which the British were en¬
tangled in the labyrinth of Indian politics. He censured
in strong terms the treaty of Bassein, which reduced the
British, as he states, to “ the alternative of mixing in all
the disorders and contentions incident to the loose and in¬
efficient constitution of the peshwa’s administration, or of
suffering the government and dominion of his highness to
be completely overthrown by the unrestrained effects of
general anarchy and rebellion. Under such circumstances,”
he adds, “ the alliance with the peshwa, far from being
productive of any advantage to the Company, must involve
us in inextricable difficulty, and become an intolerable
burden to us.” In pursuance of these views, he resolved,
as soon as Scindia should release the British residency, to
conclude a treaty with him, and to restore to him Gualior
and Gohud, the points in dispute. At this critical period
Lord Cornwallis, languishing under age and infirmities, ex¬
pired. But his successor, Sir George Barlow, entered en¬
tirely into his views. A treaty was concluded with Scindia
on the terms proposed ; the British agreed to renounce all
interference, by treaties or otherwise, with the rajahs of
Odeypoor, Joudpoor, Kotah, and other chiefs, the tributa¬
ries of Scindia, in Malwah and Mewar. A treaty was con¬
cluded with Holkar, on the 24th of December 1805, by
which all his former territories were restored to him, both on
the north and on the south of the Chumbul. According to
his system, Lord Cornwallis dissolved all the alliances which
had been formed with the petty princes of India, several
of whom had aided the British in the late contest. Lord
Lake earnestly remonstrated in vain against this abandon¬
ment of the British allies, several of whom were now left,
contrary to the faith of protecting treaties, to the ven¬
geance of the Mahratta chiefs, Holkar and Scindia.
From the year 1805, when a general peace was esta¬
blished by Lord Cornwallis, to the year 1813, when Mar¬
quis Hastings assumed the government, the political rela¬
tions of the Company with the native powers had under¬
gone little alteration. The tranquillity which prevailed
was, however, more apparent than real; and it was natural¬
ly to be supposed, indeed, that the widely extending domi¬
nation of a foreign power would excite the jealousy of the
native princes of India. Such of them, accordingly, as re¬
General
peace.
Nepaulese
war.
tained any sense of national honour were naturally hostile Hindustan
to the British, and were well disposed to unite against them
as the common enemies of Indian independence. In 1814
the war with the Nepaulese commenced, and in the outset
the reverses sustained by the British in their attempts to
penetrate into the hill country strongly excited the hopes
of the native princes. In the following year, the valour
and military talents of Sir D. Ochterlony brought that war
to a brilliant close ; and the bravery and discipline display¬
ed by the troops in the course of the campaign renewed
among the Indian princes the former impression of their
invincible superiority. Whatever might be their ulterior
views, therefore, they were compelled for the present to
temporize, and to soothe their conquerors by an outward
show of humility and peace.
A more favourable opportunity, as they conceived, soon Incursions
occurred for successful resistance to the British power.of the Pin-
From the constant wars and commotions in which India ^arees*
had from time immemorial been involved, it happened that
a great proportion of the native population were trained to
habits of disorder and military license. At the general
settlement concluded in 1805, it was naturally supposed
that those bands of adventurers, having no longer any
scope for their predatory enterprises, would betake them¬
selves to pacific pursuits, and would thus be gradually dis¬
solved among the mass of the people. It happened other¬
wise. Those hordes of freebooters, known under the ge¬
neral denomination of Pindarees, improved both in strength
and union, and Scindia and Holkar, in whose neighbour¬
hood they were settled, if they did not openly abet them,
made no active efforts for their suppression. The nature of
their force may be shortly described. It consists of a spe¬
cies of light cavalry, which was formerly attached to the
native armies, in the same manner and for the same pur¬
pose as the Cossacks are to the armies of Russia. Their
horses were trained to long marches and hard fare, it being
their object to plunder the country, and to elude pursuit
by the celerity of their movements. They were generally
armed with a bamboo spear, from twelve to eighteen feet
long; every fifteenth man carried a matchlock; about
four hundred out of every thousand were well mounted ;
of the remaining six hundred, four hundred were indiffer¬
ently mounted, and the rest were slaves, attendants, and
camp-followers, mounted on wild ponies, and keeping up
with the corps as they best could. About the year 1814,
these predatory bands comprised about 40,000 horse, who
followed plunder as their mode of subsistence, and were
indeed a most formidable species of gang-robbers; but,
like other robbers and murderers on a great scale, they
assumed all the form and pomp of military array. The
strength and numbers of this disorderly mass were daily
increasing by deserters from Holkar’s irregular bands, and
from the loose cavalry establishments of Scindia and others,
where they were retained by no tie but that of present ad¬
vantage, and where their pay was always in arrear. The
central situation of the Pindarees, at an equal distance
from the three presidencies, rendered their hostility still
more formidable, and enforced on the British the neces¬
sity of maintaining an extensive line of defence, which
was always penetrated by those flying hordes, and the
territories of our allies exposed, in consequence, to annual
devastations. In 1808-1809, and in 1812, they carried
their incursions into the British territories, and returned
loaded with spoil. The fame of these successful exploits
recruited their bands, and enabled them to extend their
ravages. In October 1815, a force of 8000 Pindarees
crossed the Nerbuddah in a north-west direction, and
dividing into two parties, they penetrated to the Kistnah,
though they were watched, and one party was surprised
by a body of infantry and cavalry, which did them, how¬
ever, little damage. They were only deterred from cross-
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, ing into the Madras presidency by the swollen state of
the river, along the fertile and populous banks of which
they took their course, plundering as they went along, and
committin;' every kind of enormity. In their return
along the line of the Godavery and the Wurda, they
passed the British positions, making good their retreat
with an immense booty, and with utter impunity. A se¬
cond expedition was soon planned, which, crossing the
Nerbuddah, appeared on the western frontier of the dis¬
trict of Masulipatam, under the Madras presidency, on
the 10th of March 1816. Next day they made a march
of thirty-eight miles southward, plundering ninety-two vil¬
lages, with every circumstance of unheard-of cruelty ; and
on the 12th they marched thirty-eight miles, plundering
fifty-four villages. By the I7th May they had nearly all
recrossed the Nerbuddah, loaded with spoil, and with
scarcely any loss. During the twelve days that they had
remained within the Company’s territories, it was ascer¬
tained that 182 persons had been put to a cruel death,
505 were found severely wounded, and 3603 had been
put to different kinds of torture.1
War with It now became necessary to adopt efficient means for
the Pin- protecting the country against these destructive visitations.
darees. por j-pjg pUrp0se a defensive line of posts was extended
along the Nerbuddah, and across the country for about
150 miles. This was, as usual, soon penetrated by the ac¬
tivity of the enemy, and various expeditions advanced
southward for the purpose of plunder. By the singular
activity of the different corps, and by a train also of fortu¬
nate accidents, almost all of these expeditions "were inter¬
cepted, broken, and discomfited, so that very few of the
plunderers made good their retreat. It was resolved, how¬
ever, in the year 1817, to commence offensive operations;
to attack the enemy in their native haunts, and either to
exterminate them, or to drive them from the advantageous
position which they occupied, in the very centre of India.
The season of inaction was accordingly spent in making pre¬
parations for a great military effort; and, by the end of the
rainy season of 1817, a numerous and well-appointed army
was ready for the field. The plan of the campaign was,
that the armies of the different presidencies should advance
northward, and gradually converging to a common centre,
hem in on every side, the devoted territory of the free¬
booters.
War with But whilst this plan was in progress, it was interrupted,
the Pesh- and part of the troops engaged in executing it were sud-
denly recalled, by the unexpected hostility of the native
powers. Bajee Rao, the peshwa or prince of Poonah, who
had long been impatient of the British yoke, availed him¬
self of this opportunity to make a fresh attempt to recover
his independence. With a view of more vigorously prose¬
cuting the war against the Pindarees, all the troops had mov¬
ed northward, with the exception of a brigade which had
been left at Poonah; and it was to overpower this small
body of troops that the peshwa’s first efforts were directed.
They were completely unsuccessful; he was repulsed at all
points by the steadiness of the Company’s troops. 1 his ac¬
tion took place on the 5th of November. On the 13th, the
British were joined by General Smith’s division, which had
advanced on the Godavery, on an understanding, that if he
did not hear daily from the resident at Poonah, he should
countermarch to that place. It was resolved to attack the
enemy’s camp next day ; but it was found deserted. Ge¬
neral Smith immediately commenced an unremitting pur¬
suit of the peshwa, who was hunted from place to place by
the different corps of the British army, until he at length
deemed it prudent to surrender. He was deposed from
507
his throne ; a residence in a particular city was fixed upon Hindustan,
for him ; and a pension of about L. 100,000 per annum as-
signed him for his support. His dominions were of course
taken under the administration of the British.
The rajah of Nagpoor, Appa Saheb, who was held in War wit,h
the same thraldom by the British, pursued a similar course, tJl'LRajatJ
and with the same results. On the 26th of November, atp00r>a^
sunset, he attacked, with a great superiority of force, the
brigade left at the residency, which was in consequence in
great peril. A doubtful contest was maintained through
the night, and next day the attack on the British was re¬
newed with fresh vigour. Under every disadvantage those
attacks were finally repulsed, and. the weak prince, Appa
Saheb, taking fright, sent to ask forgiveness from his ene¬
mies. The conditions offered him were, that his territories
should be placed at the mercy of the British government;
that he should give up all his artillery, disband his troops,
and come in person as a hostage into the British camp ; on
an understanding that if he acceded to these terms, the
former relations between him and the British would be re¬
stored ; it being at the same time understood that he should
cede part of his territory, and that due provision should be
made for a greater degree of internal control over his fu¬
ture movements. Being threatened with an immediate at¬
tack, he came to the British camp with a few attendants.
His troops, as if to shame their pusillanimous prince, fought
an unsuccessful battle for his rights and independence;
after which the city of Nagpoor, with its fort, was surren¬
dered to the conquerors, and this second war was brought
to a triumphant close. Appa Saheb, afterwards repenting
of his spiritless conduct, began to plot new schemes, when
he was arrested by the British resident, and detained in
close confinement. He found means to escape in the sum¬
mer of the following year, and making good his retreat to
the hills, where he was joined by a band of irregular fol¬
lowers, he distracted the country for a time by desultory
hostilities. Having thus fled from his dominions, the con¬
querors determined to invest Bajee Rao, a grandson of Rag-
hojee Bhoonsla, with the sovereignty, and to take the in¬
ternal administration wholly under their own control. It had
been the professed intention of the Anglo-Indian govern¬
ment, which had now become the conservator of the ge¬
neral peace, to force the two independent chiefs, Scindia
and Holkar, into an acquiescence with its views in regard to
the Pindarees, and also the Patans, a species of infantry, bet¬
ter appointed, and more regularly disciplined, than the Pin¬
darees, but associated together on the same unlawful prin¬
ciple of indiscriminate plunder. Scindia had been com¬
pelled to temporize, and finally to accede to the British
propositions. The court and administration of Holkar
were distracted by contending factions. The late prince,
after the unfortunate issue of his war with the British, be¬
came deranged, and soon afterwards died. His heir, Mul-
har Rao, was at the time under age; and Toolsye Bhye,
the widow of Holkar, and now appointed regent, contend¬
ed for supremacy with the Patan chiefs. Their views were
entirely discordant, the queen-regent soliciting an alliance
with the English, on condition of receiving a subsidiary
force; a measure so strongly opposed by the military chiefs
and the troops, that they conspired against Toolsye Bhye,
and having seized her person, carried her to the banks of
the river, where she was put to death. After this out¬
rage, they prepared for war, and troops were concentrated
in such hostile positions, that Sir John Malcolm judged it
expedient to fall back. Having effected a junction with
the corps under Sir J. Hislop, they attacked, on the 21st
of December 1817, the army of Holkar, encamped at
1 Narrative of the Political and Military Transactions of British India under the Administration of the Marquis of Hastings. By Henry
T. Prinsep, chap. i. and v.
508 H I N D U S T A N.
Hindustan. Mehedpoor, and advancing to close action under a severe
fire of artillery, the enemy’s troops gave way at all points,
and the camp, artillery, and baggage, fell into the hands
of the victors. Peace was sought and obtained by the
Patan chiefs, who ruled in the councils of Holkar; they
accepted the protection and alliance of the British ; and
thus they enrolled themselves amongst the dependents and
tributaries of the new sovereigns of India.
The main object of the war, which was the destruction
of the Pindarees, was not, in any material degree, imped¬
ed by these incidental contests. According to the plan
proposed, the different divisions of the grand army pro¬
ceeded northward, converging as they advanced for the
purpose of surrounding the haunts of these freebooters,
and preventing their escape. They were driven out of
the province of Malwah, retiring as the British advanced ;
but were at length so effectually hemmed in, that in at¬
tempting to retreat they were intercepted at all points,
and the greater part of them destroyed. The remainder
were so humbled by fatigue and misery, that they were
glad to submit upon any terms; and at length the three
principal leaders surrendered on condition that their lives
should be spared.
Settlement All open resistance being thus successfully put down,
of the the more important task still remained of quieting and con-
country. eJliating the country, overrun by lawless hordes of troops
or banditti. The history of Hindustan is, from its earliest
period, one unvarying scene of intestine violence, of war,
rapine, rebellion, and bloodshed. For twenty years prior
to the Pindaree war, these disorders had been increasing;
and to still this intestine storm, to overawe the turbulent,
and to settle on a permanent and equitable basis the con¬
flicting claims to dignity, power, and property, which had
arisen in a long period of trouble, when might was the
test of right, was a task that required unusual prudence,
firmness, and patience. This difficult and all-important
duty now devolved on Sir John Malcolm, who to his glory
as a warrior now added the still greater glory of a le¬
gislator and a statesman. Whilst he distributed his troops
in such positions throughout the disturbed districts, as
entirely to overawe the fiercer mercenaries and turbulent
Arab soldiers, he conciliated the peaceable inhabitants
by mildness, moderation, and justice. To all ranks, to
the head of a village as well as to the sovereign of a king¬
dom, to the leader of a gang of robbers as well as to the
commander of an army, he explained that his sole object
was to establish the peace of the country. By kindness
and conciliation he succeeded in reclaiming the Grassia,
Rajpoot, and Bheel freebooters, and the discharged Patan
mercenaries, accustomed to prey on the country. Per¬
secuted and oppressed as outcasts and robbers, they were
won by the generous confidence of Sir John Malcolm,
who offered them pay in the British service, and employed
the most notorious of the Bheels to guard his person and
treasure, in which they proved invariably faithful. Thus
the disorderly bands amongst the Pindarees and Patan sol¬
diery, for many years the disturbers of India, were gra¬
dually converted into its industrious cultivators; and a
great and happy change was effected in the habits of the
people and in the aspect of the country. The several
princes and rajahs of Central India were enriched by in¬
creased revenues and diminished expense. The troops
maintained by Scindia were reduced from 39,000 to
22,000; and those maintained by the rebellious chiefs
and tributaries, always ruinous to the country, were dis¬
banded. His revenues were increased twenty-five per
cent., and the expenses of collection reduced fifteen per
cent. Jhe revenues of Holkar were increased from four
lacs in 1817, to sixteen lacs in 1819—1820. The condition
of all the other inferior rulers and feudatories was improv¬
ed in the same degree. “ In 1817,” says Sir John Mal¬
colm, in his admirable work on Central India, “ there was Hindustan,
not one district belonging to Scindia that was not more or v—v-^
less disturbed ; in 1821 there existed not one enemy to the
public peace.”
After the contest was brought to a close, the country was Petty
still overspread with disorderly bands of Arabs, Mekranies states of
(from Meckran in Persia), Mewassies, and Patans ; and the India,
general result of the arrangements now adopted was the
expulsion of these disturbers of the country, and the restora¬
tion of the just rights and dignities of Scindia and Holkar,
as well as of a crowd of petty feudatories and renters, who
were before the prey of freebooters. The same system was
extended to the Rajpoot states to the N. W. of Malwah
and the Chumbul River. The petty rajahs who occupied
this country were continually at war; and the country was
besides laid waste by the predatory bands of Ameer Khan,
Holkar, and Scindia, who, on pretence of espousing the
quarrels, invaded and plundered the territories of the dif¬
ferent chiefs. These evils had risen to such a height, that
they were all desirous of being admitted into a federal
union with the British government, offering in some cases
half their dominions for protection. In 1818 they were
admitted into this union, of which the British are at the
head. They agreed, in the event of any future differences
amongst them, instead of appealing to arms, to submit their
differences to the arbitration of the British government.
In this manner their country, freed from the scourge of in¬
ternal war, has progressively improved. The military ad¬
venturers who fled before the victorious armies of Britain,
were reduced to submission by the wise and conciliatory
measures of Sir D. Ochterlony, combined with skilful mili¬
tary movements. The Patan battalions, with about 3000
horse, were taken into the British service, the officers being
dismissed with pensions. These measures have been fol¬
lowed by the happiest effects. The wretched peasantry
have emerged from their hills and fastnesses, the usual re¬
fuges of the oppressed, and have occupied their deserted
villages; the ploughshare is again at work on a soil undis¬
turbed for years, except by the hoofs of predatory horse ;
and although the fierce habits of war may occasionally recur,
yet the foundation of improvement is laid. The daring
robber, moulded by time and the force of circumstances,
will gradually exchange his wild and disorderly habits for
those of the peaceful cultivator, and commerce and industry
succeed to scenes of desolation and war.
The tranquillity which succeeded these events was but of
brief duration. The rajah of Bhurtpore, confiding in the
strength of his fortress, committed several enormities in his
government, such as the seizure of the infant rajah, and the
murder of his uncle and followers ; and he even treated the
remonstrances of Lord Amherst with indifference and con¬
tempt. In these circumstances, the reduction of this for¬
midable stronghold was essential to the glory of the British
arms, on which former failures had left a stain. The siege
was accordingly commenced with 25,000 efficient troops ;
and as no impression could be made by cannon on walls of
clay sixty feet in thickness, they were thrown down by the
explosion of a mine. The assault took place next day, the
17th January 1826, which was completely successful, with
the loss of 163 killed, and 466 wounded. The principal
works of the fortress have since been demolished.
The British rulers of India and the Burmese monarch Burmese
had long been involved in mutual disputes, and these were war.
brought to an issue in 1822, by a claim set up by the sove¬
reign of the Burmese to the petty isle of Shapuree, in the
province of Bengal, on the Chittagong frontier, and by
aggressions on the British territory, which were repelled by
a force stationed at Chittagong, whilst a large armament
was sent to Rangoon, the naval arsenal of the Burmese
empire, which was captured ; and, after a series of hard-
fought actions by the British, who endured much privation
HINDUSTAN.
509
Hindustan, and distress, the monarch of Ava was compelled, in 1826,
to sue for peace, by the near approach of the army to his
capital.1 Thus terminated the first Burmese war. After
the lapse of several years it was followed by a second, ren¬
dered necessary by the wrongs, public and private, inflicted
by the Burmese government. It was neither long in dura¬
tion nor brilliant in events, and concluded with the annexa¬
tion in December 1852 of the extensive province of Pegu,
in satisfaction to some degree of the injuries sustained, and
in aid of the means of defending British territory and pro¬
perty from further aggression.
The Affghan war, commenced in 1839, with a view to
raising a barrier against the aggressive power of Russia,
brought to the British no accession of territory, of power,
or, taken on the whole, of glory. It was ostensibly under¬
taken to restore to the throne a former Affghan ruler, Shah
Shoojah, supposed at least to be actuated by friendly feel¬
ings towards the British, though doubts on that point may
well be entertained. The advance of the forces destined for
the conquest of Affghanistan was attended by much difficulty
and dreadful suffering ; but at length a part of the invading
army reached the chief city Cabool. Here it was thought
the object of the expedition was gained ; but the commence¬
ment of a new and frightful series of calamities was at
hand. Insurrection broke out; the British envoy was treach¬
erously murdered ; a large part of the British force was de¬
stroyed, and the remainder compelled to retire under the
most disastrous circumstances—incessant annoyance and
fearful slaughter marking its progress. Many deeds of
heroism, never surpassed, tended indeed to add fresh lustre
to the British name, and among others the noble defence
of Jelalabad by Sir Robert Sale can never be forgotten
so long as Affghanistan is remembered. But the war and
its consequences contribute to furnish an awful page in the
history of British enterprise in India. Ultimately the coun¬
try was avenged, and its reputation vindicated through the
vigorous counsels and the vigorous acts of Generals Pol¬
lock and Nott. The former arrived first at Cabool, and
replanted the British colours there; the latter arrived
shortly afterwards. The British could now withdraw with¬
out discredit from a country where, for the first time, the
prestige of their national character seemed endangered.
That at least was vindicated and upheld, though, looking at
the expenditure of blood and treasure, at the mass of suf¬
fering, and the imminent danger of irreparable disgrace
which must have followed a premature retirement, every
Englishman must wish that the war had never been under¬
taken.
The country of Lahore, or the Punjab, as far as the Suli-
man Mountains, w’as occupied by the rajah Runjeet Singh,
who in the year 1805, when Lord Lake had an interview
with him, seemed to be one among many petty chiefs. Be¬
tween this and the year 1812 he subdued the whole country,
but while proceeding in 1808 to extend his power over
all the petty chiefs as far as the Jumna, he was opposed
by a strong military detachment of British troops stationed
at Loodiana. A treaty was concluded in 1809, by which
it was mutually agreed that the rajah should not encroach
on the territory to the S. of the Sutledge, nor the British
on the territory to the N. of that river. The death of Run¬
jeet Singh gave rise to a series of excesses terminating in a
state of things in which the army was triumphant over the
government, and was an object of its dread rather than of
its dependence. At length a portion of it crossed the Sut¬
ledge, and invaded the British territories. This, of course,
was repelled ; and, first at Moodkee, subsequently at Fe-
rozeshah, in December 1845, the Sikhs were defeated. At
Aliwal and at Sobraon fresh triumphs attended the British
forces, who finally crossed the river and dictated the terms
of submission at Lahore, the Sikh capital. Here a treaty Hindustan,
was concluded under which the British obtained a cession
of all the territory between the Beas and the Sutledge ;
the native government of Lahore being retained with some
requisite modifications. But this arrangement proved of
short duration. The atrocious conduct of a chief holding
the fortress of Mooltan, where two British officers were
murdered ; the generally distracted state of the country ;
the open violation by the government and people of the
treaty so recently concluded ; and the actual levying of war
against their peaceful neighbour, demanded further inter¬
vention of a hostile character. One step only remained to
be taken, and the success which again attended the British
enabled the governor-general to take it. The Punjab was
annexed, and was thenceforward a part of the vast empire
of India.
Various attempts had at different times been made to
establish friendly relations with the ameers or rulers of
Sinde, but they had been met reluctantly and unfavourably.
Two or three treaties had been entered into ; but they were
brief, dry, and to neither party satisfactory. The ameers
of Sinde hated the alliance which the British were anxious
to establish, at first for commercial, latterly for political pur¬
poses. When the British commenced the march to Aff-
ghanistan, a treaty was forced upon the rulers of Sinde,
which was more distasteful than any former one. Under
this treaty, a British military force was to be permanently
stationed in Sinde ; and after some considerable time, Sir
Charles Napier, whose career in Sinde has given rise to
such a mass of controversy, w as appointed to the chief com¬
mand there. He commenced his course certainly with
vigour, but as certainly with little consideration of the exist¬
ing rulers. Treaties were proposed which, though rejec¬
tion must have been looked for, were accepted, whether
with sincerity or not;—probably there was little of that
quality on either side. But, notwithstanding the acceptance
of the treaties, Sir Charles Napier continued to advance.
During his progress the British residency was attacked. It
was gallantly defended, but weakness of numbers, and defi¬
ciency of ammunition, soon rendered retreat necessary.
This was effected in good order, but at the sacrifice of the
greater part of the property within the residency. The
battle of Meeanee followed, in which the British gained a
brilliant victory. Another battle, fought near Hyderabad,
the capital, may be said to have terminated the contest;
and Sinde in 1843 became a British possession.
The conclusion of the contest in Sinde found the British
government involved in difficulties in Gwalior, or the do¬
minions of Scindia. The death of the representative of that
house without heirs rendered an arrangement for the ap¬
pointment of a successor necessary. A child said to be the
nearest relative of the deceased prince was selected, and the
British government approved. But every Indian court is
a focus of intrigue, and that of Gw'alior formed no excep¬
tion. A rabble army of 30,000 men was a source of weak¬
ness, not of strength ; and through the influence of a pro¬
fligate and reckless court, combined by that of a disorga¬
nized army, the state appeared rapidly tending to dissolution.
Internal war had in fact commenced, when the British
government, somewhat tardily, though at the last rather
hastily, put in motion a military force towards the disturbed
country. It soon came into hostile collision w ith the enemy;
and two victories in one day, gained by two separate por¬
tions of the British force, decided the questions at issue.
A new treaty followed, dated January 1844, in which a
variety of arrangements for the safety of Scindia’s territories,
and the security of those adjacent, were embodied.
The w'ars and commotions of India have thus at length Political
come to a close, and Great Britain remains the sole ruler of system of
India.
* For a full account of the operations of this wrar, see the article Ava.
510
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, that vast empire. The native princes, rajahs, and petty
feudatories of the country, hold their several dignities and
stations in the great political system of which they form a
part, under the guarantee of her sovereign authority. The
nature of the subsidiary alliances of the British with the
Indian states has been already described—namely, the fur¬
nishing a force, which is stationed in the dependent state
for its protection, and the latter a territory equivalent to its
maintenance, and further submitting, in its foreign relations
and differences with other states, to the arbitration of the
British government, though free from all control in its in¬
ternal concerns. The powers with whom subsidiary alliances
have been formed are the nizam or ruler of Hyderabad;
the king of Oude ; the Guicowar, whose dominions are in
the province of Gujerat; Holkar, who has been deprived
of all his dominions S. of the Nerbuddah ; Scindia of Gwa¬
lior, reduced since 1844 to insignificance ; the rajahs of
Cutch, of Mysore, of Travancore, and of Cochin. The pro¬
tected states are so far reduced to dependence that they
agree to maintain no correspondence with foreign powers
of a political tendency without the privilege or consent of
the British government; and not to go to war, but to sub¬
mit all their differences with other states to the arbitration
of the British. They are independent in their internal con¬
cerns, and have not, like the others, a British force stationed
within their territories. They are bound to furnish a con¬
tingent of troops when required, which in the field act in
subordination to the British commanders. These states are,
—ls£, in the N.W., Cashmere and the Sikh and Hill states,
on the left bank of the Sutledge. 2d, Rajpoot states ;
Bicanere, Jesselmere, Jeepoor, Joudpoor, Odeypoor, Kotah,
Boondi, Serowey, Kishengurh, Dowleah and Pertaubgurh,
Doongapore, Jhallawar, Banswarra. 3c?, Jaut states on the
right bank of the Jumna ; Bhurtpore, Ulwar or Macherry,
Kerowlee. Ath, Boondelah states ; Sumpthur, Jhansi,
Oorcha or Tehree, Dutteah, Rewah, &c. 5th, States in
Malwah ; Bopaul, Dhar, Dewas, Rutlaum, Silana, Nursing-
hur, Amjherra, &c. tth, States in Gujerat; Pahlunpore,
Rahdunpore, Rajpeepla, Loonawara, Soonth, the states in
the Myhee Caunta, the Kattywar states. 1th, States on
the Malabar coast (chiefly Mahratta) ; Sawunt Warree and
Colapore. %th, North-eastern frontier; Siccim, Coosh Be-
har, Cossya Hills, &c. &c. Yet even in some of these
protected states, as for instance, in Colapore and Sawunt
Warree, the British government has been compelled to
assume the administration, and to carry on the government
in the names of the native rulers, who are placed in the
position of stipendiaries. With respect to Colapore the
retransfer of the government to the chief is made dependent
upon the opinion which may be entertained by the British
government of his character, disposition, and capacity to
govern. In Sawunt Warree the heir-apparent having for¬
feited his rights by participating in the rebellion of 1844, the
country, upon the death of the present chief, will be at the
disposal of the paramount authority. In some other states,
as those in Kattywar, the Myhee, and Rewa Cauntas,
and others which are tributary to the guicowar, arrange¬
ments have been made under which the guicowar abstains
from all interference, and the British government under¬
takes the management of the country, guaranteeing the
guicowar’s tribute. In carrying out such arrangements,
the British government has conferred important benefits
upon the country, by abolishing infanticide, suttee, and
slave-dealing. It will thus be seen that, with the excep¬
tion of the king of Burmah, and the rajah of Nepaul, there
now remain no independent princes in India. The ra¬
jah of Nepaul, moreover, though not otherwise dependent,
is bound by treaty to abide by the decision of the British
government in the event of any dispute arising between
himself and his neighbour the rajah of Siccim, and he is
also restrained from employing in his service any European
or American subject. The rajah of Dholpore, in Central Hindusten.
India, holds his possessions in absolute sovereignty, free \
from any right of interference on the part of the British
government, as does also the rajah of Tipperah, a wild jungly
tract lying on the eastern frontier of Bengal towards Bur¬
mah, with the ruler of which the British government has
never established any diplomatic relations ; but the resources
of these petty potentates are too unimportant to entitle them
to be regarded as forming exceptions to the general rule of
dependency. Over all the other native states in India the
paramount authority of the British power has been esta¬
blished, and the relation of ally has in all cases merged into
that of superior and dependent.
The rise of the British power, from small beginnings in- Causes of
to so vast an empire, is one of those surprising revolutions the British
in human affairs which gives to history the air of a romance. success-
The managers of a trading company in London are now the
lords of a kingdom ten times the size of England, and con¬
taining upwards of 150 millions of inhabitants ; they engage
in war and make peace ; they rule over kings and princes,
dethroning some and setting up others in their stead ; and
in their counting-house in Leadenhall Street they regulate,
not the chances of profit and loss, but the concerns of a vast
empire. Yet the causes of this great revolution are simple
and obvious. The extensive dominion acquired by the
British in India is the consequence of long-continued mili¬
tary success ; it is the fruit of victory in many a well-fought
field, the triumph of European discipline and science over
the rude valour of the hasty levies and imperfectly trained
militia of the East. In the course of this long contest the
British had frequently to contend with few against many,
and their empire sometimes tottered on the verge of ruin,
as in the invasion of the Carnatic by Hyder Ali. But the
steadiness of the European infantry still repelled the irregu¬
lar charges of the Mahratta horse, and triumphed in the
end ; and to this powerful instrument, namely, a well-dis¬
ciplined military force, wielded by skilful hands, the British
are indebted for the conquest of Hindustan. The exten¬
sion of their empire in India was always discountenanced
by the Directors at home, who issued their repeated and
peremptory commands on the subject. Yet it might have
been easily foreseen, that, the foundation once laid, the
superstructure would naturally arise ; that having made the
first step, the British would not readily stop short in their
course. The frailty of man has never been able to resist
the allurements of ambition ; the dazzling prize of exten¬
sive dominion has in all ages been pursued through the
paths of blood ; and it was scarcely to be imagined that the
Company’s servants in India would resist its temptations,
more especially as there were many circumstances which
gave a plausible colour to their ambitious views. The native
powers, alarmed by the territorial acquisitions of the British,
naturally combined against them as the common enemies
of Indian independence. The British, on the other hand,
convinced of their strength, and of the hatred and jealousy
which they had excited throughout India, and easily yield¬
ing to the least surmise of hostile coalitions, often took up
arms to avert distant and doubtful d mgers ; and victory be¬
ing still the result of each new struggle, they assured their
safety by the ruin of their enemies, and by the extension
of their power. Thus the hostile designs of Tippoo failed
to attain maturity, and he was overthrown before he could
become formidable.
t will now be proper to give a brief account of the do- Internal
mestic policy of the Company as sovereigns of India, espe- policy of
daily in those important departments in the civil adminis-the Bntish'
tration of every country, namely, the revenue, the judicial
establishments, and the police.
Under the Mogul government, the public revenue was
Land-tax
under the
chiefly derived from a general land-tax, and the regular M1
payment of this tax was the tenure by which property empire,
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, was held throughout the empire. The lands were pos-
sessed by different descriptions of owners or occupiers,
under the titles chiefly of zemindars or polygars, the
military chieftains of the Carnatic, talookdars, ryots, ma-
liks, meerassadars, nair mulguenies, bhoomias, &c.1 When
Hindustan was brought under the sway of the British, they
were necessarily ignorant of the manners and usages of
the people, and of the peculiar structure of a Hindu
community; and hence the nature of the tenures under
which land was held, and of the different descriptions of
land owners and occupiers, has been a standing subject of
controversy amongst the Company’s servants, some insist¬
ing that under the Mogul despotism, as over all the East, the
sovereign is the sole proprietor of the lands within his do¬
minions ; that no private right of property has ever been
recognised in any of the great monarchies of Asia; and that
all grants of land are resumable at the pleasure of the prince.
According to this theory, the zemindar is considered mere¬
ly as a species of steward or factor, appointed by the go¬
vernment, to collect and superintend the land revenues;
and after reserving a suitable portion for his own main¬
tenance, to remit the surplus to the imperial treasury.
The rights of the talookdars, an inferior description of
holders, and the ryots, and other occupiers of land, were
still more imperfectly understood by the English when
they acquired the dominion of Bengal; but, under the
idea of the sovereign’s indefeasible right in the soil, they
naturally considered them as tenants at will, to be dealt
with like other tenants in the same situation, at the pleasure
of the proprietor. This hypothesis of the sovereign’s pro¬
prietary right was eagerly adopted by the English, and
has been boldly followed up in practice. It has, as might
have been expected, led to extensive confiscations of land,
to great changes in the state of property, and to much
distress and confusion, as will be afterwards narrated;
and it will be proper, therefore, briefly to inquire how far
this claim accords with any legal right, and still more
with any principle of enlightened policy.
Sovereign’s In a government purely arbitrary, where every man
proprietary holds life and liberty at the mercy of the sovereign, it is
right con- extremely difficult to distinguish between the exercise of
sidered. ]ega| rights and the outrages of abused power. That the
despotic rulers of the East might take possession of the
land, or of any other description of property belonging to
their subjects, and that this was their practice, can hardly
be questioned. But might does not constitute right; nor
by such acts of tyranny can they become lords of the soil
in any legal sense, any more than of the lives and liberties
of their subjects, because they often massacre and torture
them at their pleasure. The law of conquest, which is the
law of the strongest, gave to the Mahommedans possession
of India, which they desolated with fire and sword, and took
possession of the lands and properties of the inhabitants,
who, according to their approved practice, might have been
all put to the sword, as the redemption price ol their blood.
This was the only title which the Mogul emperor could
have had to the lands within his dominions, namely, that
he had seized upon them by force; and in countries long
subject to Mahommedan rule, or to the Mahrattas and other
domestic tyrants, all the ancient rights of the proprietors
511
have accordingly been obliterated. But these acts of Hindustan,
tyranny and spoliation can never be construed into legal
precedents, nor can they ever confer any title ; and it
seems a gross abuse of words to call that a right which is
merely a deed of violence.
The monarch or the emperor w as no doubt styled, in the
true strain of oriental flattery, the sole proprietor of the soil,
and the lord of the universe; and this he may have been origi¬
nally, in the same manner as the monarchs of Europe were
under the feudal system. According to the feudal law, they
were the supreme lords of all the conquered territories, which
they granted as fiefs to their vassals, on condition of mili¬
tary service; and from the monarch a subordinate chain
of vassalage extended downward to the lowest tenant.
These lands were at first granted for a year, but afterwards
for life; at length they became hereditary, and descended
to the son, or to more distant relations; and thus they fi¬
nally became a permanent property. But the form of the
original tenure is still maintained. They still hold of the
sovereign, to whom, at the death of each heir, a formal
surrender is made of the property, and a new charter is
granted as a matter of course. But this right of the crown,
by which in former times the property was actually re¬
sumed at the death of the proprietor, has now become a
mere legal fiction, an evidence only of the original tenure
by which the property was held; and we may easily ima¬
gine the disorder and injustice that would be introduced
into any European country by a conqueror, who, guided
by feudal forms, in opposition to immemorial usage and
fixed law, was to resume all property holding of the
crown, or of any other superior. In like manner, in Hindu¬
stan, though the sovereign was styled the proprietor of all
the lands within his dominions, and in legal theory might
be so, it would be rash to infer from this the actual extinc¬
tion of all proprietary rights. Under the Mogul government
a heavy tax was, no doubt, laid on the land, which was the
main source of the public revenue. But individual rights
of property might nevertheless exist; and their non-ex¬
istence has certainly never been satisfactorily proved; so
far from it, that the advocates of the sovereign proprietary
right seem to have nothing to oppose to immemorial
usage, and to the principles of justice, but legal forms and
the acts of despotic power.2
But the abstract question of right here merges into the
higher question of policy. It would be the interest of a sove¬
reign, even if he were proprietor of the soil, to commute his
rights for a moderate assessment, which in the end would
ensure the general prosperity of the community. A land-
tax which leaves a bare maintenance to the cultivator dis¬
courages agriculture, population, and the growth ol capital;
it is indeed an interdict on all improvement. Its produce
cannot be increased except by the most ruinous extortions,
though it will necessarily decrease with the desolation of
the land, which it tends to promote. No country can be
improved and cultivated where the rights of property are
loaded by a public tax. Would the wastes of America,
we may ask, be so quickly converted into fruitful fields,
if the government were to come in for the largest share of
the produce, if the owner w ere placed under the strict sur¬
veillance of the excise, and obliged to account for every
1 See Colonel Todd On the Feudal System in Rajast'han, vol. i. chap. i. p. 167- See also Fifth Report, p. 822-23, Extracts from Mr
Thackeray’s Heport, dated 4 th August 1807. . , , ...
2 The masterly reports of the Company’s collectors in Southern India all concur in stating the hereditary rights of individuals in
the land to be clear and unquestioned from the most remote ages. “ In tracing their (the Hindus’) past situation, says one ol the
collectors, “ it is not to be discovered, that during the revolutions of many ages, from the reign of their first princes, until t le na
downfall of the Hindu authority, any questions ever existed, in any stage of the Hindu history, as to the right of the people to e
lands of the country, excepting villages or lands totally waste, and that had escheated to government. On the contiary, mey appear
to have been transmitted to them, from the most remote era, down to the present time, without interruption ; these rights are sup¬
ported by usages, which could never have prevailed, but for their universal acknowledgment; and, in the repositories of their history
and their laws, we find the right of the people to property in lands repeatedly acknowledged and preserved.” (Extract from Keport
of Collector of Southern Polygar Peshcush, 29th December 1800, Fifth Report, Appendix, p. 828.)
512
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, particle of his crop. In Europe the church tithes have
i ^ been justly complained of as a great obstruction to improve¬
ment. But a tax such as we have described, which, how¬
ever it varied in its amount from a fourth, a third, or
half the gross produce of the soil, generally left only a bare
maintenance to the cultivators, is far more pernicious in
its operation; and it is indeed owing to its pressure that so
large a portion of Hindustan still remains a primitive wilder¬
ness. Mr L. Place, to whom was committed, in 1790, the
settlement of the Jaghire, a tract of country in the Carnatic
that had been ruined by the invasion of Hyder Ali, after
mentioning the desolation of the country, and that the in¬
habitants would not cultivate any fields except under a
secure tenure, adds, that “ by granting them lands to them
and their heirs for ever, so long as they continued in obe¬
dience to the circar (government), and paid all just dues,
he was enabled to convert the most stubborn soil and thick¬
est jungle into fertile villages.”
Land titles It was extremely natural for those who had succeeded
among the to the rights of the sovereign to exaggerate the extent of
Hindus, those rights, and to believe in the convenient doctrine of
his proprietary title to the land. But although many an¬
cient rights were unquestionably trampled down and for
ever lost in the violence of the Mahommedan conquest, yet
recent investigations have discovered, amidst the ruins of
Hindu institutions, many relics of ancient manners, and
the clearest titles of individual proprietors to the possession
of the soil. In carrying into effect the permanent settle¬
ment by Lord Cornwallis of the land revenues in Bengal,
the collectors were embarrassed by the claims of the petty
talookdars, who insisted on a hereditary right of property
in the soil; and the maliks, who with vehemence urged the
same claims, and affirmed that the zemindars and talook¬
dars had no deeds to show that could deprive them of their
just rights. They claimed the land as their paternal inhe¬
ritance, and refused to settle for the public revenue on
any other terms than as proprietors. The collector was
deeply impressed with the justice of their claims; and Mr
Rickards, in his masterly work on Indian finance, affirms
that the maliks were really proprietors, stripped of their rights
by the usurpations and exactions of the zemindars and
their aumils or collectors.1 In the district of Dacca, the
private rights of property were found to exist in their full
force; even the unproductive jungle and waste around the
town was claimed by individuals, “ who,” says the collec¬
tor, “ though they receive no profit from it, and are too in¬
dolent themselves to make it productive of any, will not
suffer others to bring it into a state of cultivation without Hindustan,
some recompense; and so very tenacious are they of it,
that even in the suburbs of the city, which for three or four
miles is almost an impenetrable jungle, infested by wild
ferocious animals, a man cutting down a single tree will
be sued by the proprietor for damages.”2 A clearer idea
cannot possibly be conveyed of the rights of property, and
of the solid foundation on which they rest in Bengal, as in
all other countries. The accurate researches of Colonel
Todd, who drew his information not merely from written
records and deeds, but from the more durable tablets of
stone found amidst the ruins of the fallen pile, have laid
open the ancient tenures and institutions of Northern India;
and in his lively delineation of those ancient manners we
recognise all the peculiar features of the feudal system.
There were in Rajast’han or Rajpootana two classes of land¬
holders, the one the Grasya-t’ha-cour or lord, the other the
bhoomia ;3 the first holding land by a grant from the prince
on the condition of military service, “ renewable,” says Co¬
lonel Todd, “ at every lapse, when all the ceremonies of
resumption, the fine of relief, and the investiture, take
place ;”4 the other an allodial proprietor, who holds prescrip¬
tive possession, who succeeds to his inheritance without
any fine, though he pays a small annual quit-rent, and
may be called upon for military service in the district where
he resides, which is chiefly composed of the rocks and wilds
that afford a refuge from oppression, and where the bhoo-
mias, being numerous, form a species of local militia.
In the southern countries of India, in Tanjore, Tin- Landed
nevelly, Canara, Malabar, &c. where the Mahommedan rule property in
had only been temporary or partial, the rights of property
were not extinguished; they were indeed encroached up- 0 11 ia*
on, and were, as Mr Rickards observes, “ in progress of
actual extinction, and approached nearer and nearer to
this term in proportion to the duration of Mussulman ty¬
ranny.” The tyranny and exactions of Hyder Ali and his
son Tippoo had nearly extinguished all proprietary rights
in Mysore and in Malabar; and most of the Hindu land¬
holders were compelled to seek refuge in Travancore. “ I
was,” says Mr Rickards, “ personally acquainted with some
who, from the same causes, deserted their estates, and re¬
tired for safety into Coimbetoor.”5 But those rights were
not obliterated, and the investigations of the British func¬
tionaries, skilled in the native languages and manners,
brought to light in these countries the ancient condition of
property, and the clearest titles of individual proprietors.6
The notion of the sovereign’s proprietary right to the whole
1 See Fifth Report, p. 493, Copy of a Letter from the Collector of Shahabad to the Board of Revenue, dated 29th September 1789.
Rickards, vol. i. chap. i. sect. iv. p. 368. Mai, says Rickards, is an Arabic word, denoting wealth, property, revenue, rent, particu¬
larly that arising from land; and Malik means master, lord, proprietor, owner of such rent.
2 Fifth Report, Appendix, p. 495, Letter from the Chief of Dacca to the Board of Revenue, dated 23d July 1786. It was pro¬
posed that the government should clear away this jungle, and cultivate the land. But this “ laudable plan,” says Air Day, chief of
Dacca, cannot therefore be carried into effect, “ without creating great dissatisfaction,” as every seizure of private property necessa¬
rily does; yet he observes, that the “ prejudice (i. e. the robbery) of a few individuals, should be no impediment to the adoption of a
plan which has for its object the benefit of the community at large.”
3 The term bhoomia is, according to Colonel Todd, a most expressive and comprehensive name, importing absolute identity with
the soil; bhoom meaning land. (Todd, vol. i. p. 168.)
4 Annals and Antiquities of Rajast'han, by Lieutenant-Colonel James Todd, vol. i. p. 164.
6 Vol. i. p. 283.
6 See Fifth Report of Select Committee, p. 714, Report of Air Place respecting the land tenures in the Jaghire; Report of Air
Hodgson on the revenues of Tinnevelly, Fifth Report, p. 832 ; Report on Revenues of Dindigul, p. 978. Air Place at first agreed to the
favourite theory that the sovereign was lord of the soil, and that the occupants of land in India were mere tenants at will. But on
further inquiry, he was convinced that the meerassadars were hereditary proprietor® Report of Collector of Tanjore and Prichinopoly,
8th September 1805 : “ Immemorial usage,” he observes, “ has established, both in Tanjore and Trichinopoly, that the occupants,
whether distinguished by the names of meerassadars pr rnahajanums, have the right of selling, bestowing, devising, or bequeathing their
lands in the manner which to them is most agreeable.” “ It is fortunate that, at the moment when we are consulting on the means of
establishing the property and welfare of the numerous people of these provinces, we find the lands of the country in the hands of men
who feel and understand the full rights and advantages of possession ; who have enjoyed them, in a degree more or less secure, be¬
fore the British name was known in India ; and who, in consequence of them, have rendered populous and fertile the extensive pro¬
vinces of Tanjore and Trichinopoly. The class of proprietors to whom I allude are not to be considered as the actual cultivators of
the soil; the far greater mass of them till their lands by means of hired labourers, or by a class of people termed pullers, who are of
the lowest, and who may be considered as the slaves of'the soil. The landed property of these provinces is divided and subdivided
in every possible degree. There are proprietors of 4000 acres, of 400 acres, of forty acres, and of one acre.”
HINDUSTAN. 513
Hindustan, produce of the land was interwoven with the Mogul system
.  > of finance, and the East India Company had always acted
on the same maxims. Accordingly, Mr Place and others,
when they entered on the management of the Jaghire,
Canara, Malabar, &c. were prepossessed with the same
ideas, and gave the most liberal interpretation to the Com¬
pany’s proprietary rights, considering the occupants and cul¬
tivators of the land as mere tenants at will. But they were
soon undeceived by glaring facts. They found that the
possessors of the land had the right of selling, bestowing,
devising, or bequeathing their lands, in whatever manner they
might deem expedient; that the lands, whether they be¬
longed to villages, and were cultivated in shares by their
common labour, or to individuals, were their absolute pro¬
perty, of which they could only be deprived by an act of
violence. This proprietary right was termed meerass, a
Persian or Arabic term for land;1 and the proprietor a
meerassadar. “ Whatever may have been the origin of
these rights,” says the Fifth Report (p. 105), “ they are re¬
garded by the people as hereditary rights,” and were, ac¬
cording to the Hindus, far more ancient than the Moorish
conquest. Estates were found to consist of from 4000 to
one acre of land; and where they were large, or were di¬
vided amongst a numerous proprietary, they were tilled by
parakudis or pyacaris, who were paid for their labour, and
who possessed hereditary rights of occupancy as cultiva¬
tors. Common labourers were also occasionally hired;
and slaves are numerous all over the country, attached to
the soil, and in a state of villenage, as were formerly the
cultivators in Europe. In Canara, the same rights of pro¬
perty exist in the land; and the proprietors are known
under the appellation of nair mul guenies, who, like the
meerassadars, have tenants in perpetuity, or shud mul
guenies; and tenants at will, or chalie guenies. Of these
tillers it is observed in the Fifth Report of the Select Com¬
mittee on the affairs of the East India Company, that “the
lands in general appear to have constituted a clear private
property, more ancient, and probably more perfect, than
that of England. The tenure, as well as the transfer, of
this property, by descent, sale, gift, and mortgage, is forti¬
fied by a series of regular deeds, equally varied and curi¬
ous, and which bear a very strong resemblance in both
parts of the country. The proprietary right is either
vested in individuals, or in copartnerships of persons, each
of whom possesses an unalienable interest in the estate,
proportioned to the share of the property of which he has
become possessed.”
There is another class of landholders in Malabar, deno¬
minated ox jennikars, who possess allodial rights,
acknowledging no superior, and who were exempt from the
government-tax.2 When Hyder conquered the country,
his first act was to declare half the produce of the soil to
belong to the sovereign; and it was in this manner that in
Hindustan all private rights were trampled upon and gra¬
dually obliterated. But these exactions of tyranny are
not to be confounded with the legal claims of the state.
Mr Hodgson, in his report on the revenues of Coimbetoor,
justly observes, that whatever abuse,i took place under the
Hindu or Mahommedan princes, “ what was fair assessment,
and what was exaction, was well known to the party go- Hindustan,
verning and those governed.”3 From all this concurring evi-
dence, it is clear that the sovereign’s proprietary right in
the soil was in Hindustan, as in Europe, more nominal than
real; that prior to the Mahommedan conquest the land was
divided amongst individual proprietors, and that the bhoo*
mia of Rajpootana, the malik of Bengal, the meerassadar of
Southern India, the nair mul guenies of Canara, and the
jelmkars of Malabar, were all hereditary landholders, with
legal rights, of which they could only be dispossessed by
the violence of despotic power.
The Mahommedan conquest subverted most of the ancient Zemin-
rights and titles of the Hindu landholders, and introduced dars'
into Bengal the title of zemindar or landholder, from the
Persian word zemin, land; respecting whose rights and
duties so wide a difference of opinion has prevailed. With¬
out entering further into this controversy, which, as re¬
spects the zemindar, is more a speculative than a practical
question, it may be observed, that the zemindars had lived
for centuries in great splendour on the produce of their
lands, which had quietly descended under the existing te¬
nure through successive generations; that they had the
power to sell, to alienate, or to mortgage; and that as long
as they paid the annual tribute to government, they enjoy¬
ed secure possession of their lands. Under a despotic
government arbitrary ejectments might no doubt occur ;
but these were rare, and they were universally regarded,
both in law and in usage, as the illegal outrages of abused
power. It is admitted on all hands that these rights be¬
longed to the zemindars; and the only point that still re¬
mains in dispute, and it does not appear very material,
seems to be, whether, according to the theory of the Mo¬
gul constitution, the receipt of the land-tax by the sove¬
reign, or of his allotted share of the produce by the zemin¬
dar, entitled the one or the other to the character of pro¬
prietor of the land.
The zemindars, being bound to the state for the reve¬
nue, were necessarily invested with the power of collecting
the land-tax from the subordinate landholders and tenants.
They united, in this manner, legal authority with the pos¬
session of property, whilst, as judges and magistrates, they
administered both civil and criminal justice, and were held
responsible for all crimes committed within their respective
boundaries. These powers they frequently abused, and
oppressed the inferior landholders, the talookdars and the
ryots, the hereditary cultivators, or, as others consider
them, the proprietors of the land, by the most cruel exac¬
tions. It was to the principal landholders that government
looked for the discharge of its demands, whilst the inferior
occupants and tenants were bound each to his immediate
superior for their several proportions of the stipulated tax.
There were various other tenures by which lands were Other te-
held in Bengal, namely, the Jaghire, Altumgha, Muddud nures.
Mash Ayma, and others. The first were grants of land on
the condition of military service, or for the support of garri¬
sons or any other public establishment, especially of a mi¬
litary nature. This would appear also to have been the
conditions of the zemindary tenure, as Mr Rickards states
that the zemindars of Bengal are expressly mentioned in the
1 This term of mecrass was introduced by the Mohammedans. “ Swastrium,” says Mr Hodgson, “ is the Sanscrit word, and is ge¬
nerally used by the Brahmins ; and caneatchy by those Shudras (cultivating castes) who may not have adopted the general term mee¬
rass." (See Fifth Report, Appendix, p. 832, Extract from Hodgson’s Report on the Revenues of Tinnevelly, 24th September 1807-)
Caniatchikedar is possessor or proprietor, and fully answers to jelmkar. (See p. 833, Fifth Report, Mr Hodgson on the Revenues
of Dindigul, 28th March 1808.) .
* Jehnkar or jenmkar means an allodial proprietor; the term jenm meaning properly allodial right.
3 Fifth Report, p. 834. “ Neither the Hindu nor Mussulman government appear (supposing their right in the soil as proprietors
to be indisputable, and proprietary right to be a right to demand what the proprietor pleases for his land) ever to have exercised
the right. What was fair assessment, and what was exaction, was well known to the party governing and those governed. It is
true, where, as under Tippoo Sultaun’s reign, exaction had no limit, landed property could have no value; but where fraud could
not counteract oppression, a hope of change for the better, or inability to resist, produced submission, till the load became too heavy
to hear, and emigration the only source of relief.”
VOL. XI. ^ T
514
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan. Ayeen Akberry as furnishing their several contingents of
cavalry, infantry, and artillery. The Altumgha grant, ac¬
cording to the terms of it, was in perpetuity. The other
grants were for the support of learned men, or religious
establishments. Many of the public functionaries of the
Company denied the validity of these grants ; they estimat¬
ed the average loss, as it was called, as if there could be any
loss where there never was any right, on these grants in
Bengal and the ceded provinces at two and a half millions
sterling, and contended that they were resumable, and
were often actually resumed, at the pleasure of the prince.
Colonel Todd, however, mentions, that in Rajpootana this
right of resumption had fallen into disuse. “ The right to
resume,” he observes, “ may be presumed to exist; while
the non-practice of it, the formalities of renewal being gone
through, may be said to render the right a dead letter
and, quoting a passage relative to the fiefs in Europe, that
they were first moveable or resumable at pleasure, then
perpetual or for life, and finally hereditary, he adds, “ this
is the precise gradation of fiefs in Mewar, a division of Raj¬
pootana. There is reason to believe that these grants were
in a progress to permanency all over India.” But all per¬
manent property in land was discountenanced by the policy
of the British in India, who were perpetually picking holes
in the tenures by which it was held, even where the deed
of grant expresses in the plainest terms that it is perpetual,
“ from generation to generation.”1
The country of Hindustan is divided into villages or
districts, each comprising some hundreds or thousands of
acres of arable and waste land. Every village is a separate
community or township, and has its own establishment of
public officers and tradesmen. These consisted of the po-
tail, or head inhabitant, whose business it was to superin¬
tend the affairs of the village, to settle disputes amongst the
inhabitants, to attend to the police, and to the collection
of the public tax; the curnum, to whom it belonged to
keep an account of the cultivation and produce of the land,
to register the proprietors of the village, and to attest
all deeds of sale, transfer, or assignment; the boundary-
man, who preserves the limits of the village, or gives evi¬
dence of them in case of dispute; the priest, the school¬
master, the astrologer; the smith, the carpenter, the pot¬
ter, the washerman, the barber, the cowkeeper, the doc¬
tor, the dancing-girl, the musician, the poet, who were each
rewarded for their labours out of the produce of the village
lands. The amount of their shares on the gross produce
is estimated at five and a half per cent. The collectors
were allowed ten per cent., and after these and other minor
deductions had been made, the remaining proportion of the
crop was divided between the sovereign and the cultivator,
in equal proportions. “ Under this simple form of muni¬
cipal government,” says the Fifth Report, “the inhabi¬
tants of the country have lived from time immemorial.
The boundaries of the villages have been but seldom alter¬
Division
of the
country
into vil¬
lages.
ed; and though the villages themselves have been some- Hindustan,
times injured, and even desolated, by war, famine, and dis-
ease, the same name, the same limits, the same interests,
and even the same families, have continued for ages. The
inhabitants give themselves no trouole about the" breaking
up and division of kingdoms; while the village remains
entire, they care not to what power it is transferred, or to
what sovereign it devolves; its internal economy remains
unchanged; the potail is still the head inhabitant, and still
acts as the petty judge and magistrate, and collector or ren¬
ter of the village.” So deeply attached are the Hindus to
their native villages and local manners, that, however they
may be scattered by the desolation of war, their affections
still centre in one common and cherished spot; insomuch
that, in 1817, as is mentioned by Sir John Malcolm, and as
has already been noticed, when peace was re-established in
Central India, by the expulsion of the Pindarees and other
freebooters, who laid waste the country, the inhabitants and
officers of the villages re-assembled from every quarter, and
the resurrection of these communities into life and action
seemed to have been the work of an instant.
The land-tax of the village is collected by the potail, as- Land-tax.
sisted by a train of petty officers or under collectors, the
putwarries, the peons, the pykes, and others, whose salaries
form a deduction from the gross rent. The potail pays his
collections to the zemindar, from whom they were receiv¬
ed, under the Mogul government, by a higher officer, and
finally remitted to the imperial treasury. The accounts of
the curnum, or the canongoe, were also transmitted through
various gradations of accountants, who superintended and
checked the collection and receipt of the public revenue.
In the year 1573, during the reign of Akbar, when the
Mahommedans had completed the conquest of Hindustan,
Rajah Torrel Mull, minister of finance to the emperor, from
the accounts furnished by the canongoes and collectors of
the revenue paid by the ryots, formed a general rent-roll
for all the country, as well as a scheme of division, fixing the
separate proportions of districts and villages. The revenue
thus settled for Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, and usually called
tumar jumma (rent), or standard assessment, amounted to
Rupees.
10,693,152, at 2s. 3d. L.1,202,979
In 1722, being a
period of 149 years,
it was increased, un¬
der Jaffier Khan, by
means of Abwabs,
which are arbitrary
taxes added to the
original or standard
assessment, to 13,115,907 1,475,537
In 1728, by the
additional taxes of
Sujah Khan 16,418,513 1,847,082
Jil0nQel-?I1Unr°’ af g.re?u a.Uthority on aJ11 In(5ian questions, in a paper of remarks on a decision of the chief justice of Madras re-
these rnrht^ n U<re 68 U u A f'VaS l’6311111^ ^7 Company, argues, from the arbitrary practices of Indian princes in taking away
form rl^ts’t t.n° ^ rJ?hts e2j13t.’ a]though they are defined in the clearest terms. “The grant,” he observes, “ is in thf usuil
descendants ^and'the local nfR ^ desc.endantS /or. ever, from generation to generation: He is authorized to divide it among his
auire a fVocV,’ ^ C 0^1Le('s are squired to consider the perwannah ‘ as a most positive peremptory mandate, and not to re-
grants ‘ while the1* 6VerJ 'Vear■ * ie t^rms employed in such documents, ‘ for ever,’ ‘ from generation to generation,’ or, in Hindu
fo convev the d un and moon endure, are mere forms of expression, and are never supposed, either by the donor or the receiver
clucje t” r t ^ W1.lc^ 1 ie-v imPl.v’ or an7 beyond the will of the sovereign. The injunction with which they usually con-
revocation.” (In Consultation& 15th Marchl^^’’1 in<licates.plain1^ enough the opinion that such grants were not secure from
frame in 1 su, , u, , h -Mareh 1832.) The language here may be a “ mere form of expression,” yet it is imnossihlp to
princes of HinduV3^ tl1 6 ’ and the doubt is5 whether the subversion of such a title, however common amono-st the despotic
such a title, surrender ZleltTe IxcepTmthe o * rat[ier ^ a le^al Precedent- No landed proprietor would, with
trale nennle nf . estate, except to the power of the strongest. Custom may have rendered such acts familiar to the nrns-
exist in India Sir TV,11 ? ^ lf W°rdS ^ these are to be held as Inere official forms, it is clear that no legal title to property can
ral generation's He sHn™aS•^Iui?ro mentlons several examples of land held under common jaghire grants descending through seve-
prince though it sSms ex“emdV CU/°m °f the C0Unt^ A are burnable at the pleasure of the
cedent against such a clear legaUitle ^1 °W ^ & °f a deSP°tlC S0Vernment 111 resuming lands can be received as a pre-
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan. Rupees.
^—' In 1755, by Ali-
verdy Khan, to 18,644,067 L.2,097,550
In 1762-3, by
Cossim Ali 24,118,912 2,713,377
In 1763-4 17,704,766 1,991,785
The arbitrary taxes termed Abwabs, added to the ori¬
ginal standard assessment, consisted of duties on the transit
of goods through the different chokies or toll-bars of the
country, of taxes on cattle and stock of every description ;
of a capitation tax; of a tax on shops, manufactures, or
stock in trade ; and of fines and other ai’bitrary exactions;
and, in proportion to the demands made on the zemindar,
he was empowered to augment the contribution of his te¬
nants. The standard revenue of Torrel Mull, amounting
to L.1,202,979, appears to have been all that the country
could bear ; for, inconsiderable as was the augmented reve¬
nue of Jaffier Khan, it was only obtained by the most cruel
tortures inflicted on the zemindars, many of whom he con¬
fined in pits filled with ordure, which he termed in derision
Bykaut, or Hindu Paradise. In the reign of Meer Cossim,
who was set up by the English, to whom he promised large
sums as the price of his elevation, these oppressions were
carried to a still greater height. The policy was to ascer¬
tain, by exact money, the produce of the land; and the
whole surplus, after allowing a bare maintenance to the
cultivator, was swept into the treasury.
English Although the ascendency of the English had for some
invested years been thoroughly established in Bengal, and although
with the they were formally invested in 1765 with the sovereignty
t^of Ben" t^e country> >ts affairs were still administered in the
name of the native prince, and according to the forms and
policy of the ancient constitution. Justice was still dis¬
pensed by the native courts, and by the nabob’s officers;
the revenues still flowed through the same channels into
the public exchequer; and all transactions with foreign
powers were carried on under the same authority as for¬
merly. But such was the increasing power of the Eng¬
lish, that the government, as far as regarded the protection
of the people, was dissolved. Neither the nabob nor his
officers dared to offer any opposition to their sovereign
will; and the tribunals of justice, so far from being a refuge
to the oppressed, became subservient to the rapacity of the
gomastahs, or Indian agents, employed by the Company’s
servants, and were converted by them into most efficacious
instruments for oppressing and plundering the people.
The directors had been long dissatisfied with the pro¬
ceedings of their servants, and with the produce of the
land revenues, which had fallen far short of their expec¬
tations, and they now resolved to put an end to the double
administration of the nabob and the Company; and, dis¬
pensing with the empty name of the former, to take upon
themselves, ostensibly as well as really, the entire care
and management of the land revenues. The dewanny
of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, or the office of collector of
the public revenues, which in the East implies the right
of sovereignty, was conferred in perpetuity on the East
India Company by a grant from the Mogul Shah Au-
lum, dated the 12th of August 1765. The assessment im¬
posed on the country by Cossim Ali is stated by Sir John
Shore to have been mere “ pillage and rack-rentand it
was an assessment on paper, as, out of the sum of
L.2,882,724, there remained a balance undischarged of
L.1,987,054, notwithstanding the cruelty with which the
collection had been enforced. It was found necessary to
reduce the assessment, in 1763-64, to L.1,991,785, out of
which the sum realized was only L.857,070.1 In 1764-65
515
the assessment imposed amounted to L.1,990,988. In Hindustan.
1765-66, the first year of the Company’s administration,
the assessment was 16,029,011 rupees, equal to L.1,803,263,
of which 14,704,875 rupees (equal to L. 1,654,298) were
actually collected. In the two following years it was
slightly increased, but deductions were afterwards made,
as it was found impossible to collect it. Yet the sum
actually realized was greater than ever was extorted from
the country by all the cruelties of Jaffier Khan. But
the methods by which it was collected were most ruin¬
ous. The landholders, failing almost universally in their
engagements, were left to the mercy of the revenue-
officers, by whom they were grievously oppressed. In
many parts, the villages were deserted by the culti¬
vators, and the land was left desolate. All these evils
were still farther aggravated by a grievous famine which
prevailed in Bengal in the year 1770, by which it is
computed that about one-third of the inhabitants pe¬
rished. But, in the midst of all this misery, the revenue
was still violently kept up to its former standard. The
deficiencies occasioned by the famine were re-assessed on
those who survived this calamity; and so strictly were
they levied, that the land revenue for that year exhibited
an increase above that of the year preceding. The ruin¬
ous effects of this heavy exaction are stated at length in
the different letters from the governor-general to the direc¬
tors. In a letter, dated the 3d of November 1772, he ob¬
serves, “ It was naturally to be expected that the dimi¬
nution of the revenue should have kept an equal pace with
the other consequences of so great a calamity; that it did
not, was owing to its being violently kept up to its former
standard.” He then describes the method by which this
was accomplished, which was by “ an assessment upon
the actual inhabitants of every inferior division of the
lands, to make up for the loss sustained in the rents of
their neighbours, who are either dead or have fled the
country.” “ The tax,” he continues, “ not being levied
by any fixed rate or standard, fell heaviest on the wretch¬
ed survivors of those villages which had suffered the
greatest depopulation, and were of course the most enti¬
tled to the lenity of government. It had also this addi¬
tional evil attending it, in common with every other vari¬
ation from the regular practice, that it afforded an oppor¬
tunity to the farmers, or shiedars, to levy other contri¬
butions off the people under colour of it, and even to in¬
crease this to whatever magnitude they pleased, since
they were in course the judges of the loss sustained, and
of the proportion which the inhabitants were to pay to re¬
place it.” To the same effect, Mr Middleton, one of the
superintendents of the public revenue, observes, “ When
a very considerable portion, supposed even a third of the
whole inhabitants, had perished, the remaining two thirds
were obliged to pay for the lands now left without culti¬
vators. The country has languished ever since, and the
evil continues enhancing every day. The first remedy,
without the adoption of which all other measures will be
fruitless, is an universal remission of some considerable
portion of the revenue throughout the provinces. Such
remission should have been made immediately on the fa¬
mine. Its not taking place then has made it more and
more necessary every day; and the longer it is delayed,
the more ruinous the consequences must be to this coun¬
try and its revenue.”
To correct these evils, supervisors, chosen from the
Company’s servants, were in 1769 stationed in different
parts of the country, to superintend the native officers in
the collection of the revenue and in the administration of
justice ; and two councils were appointed over the super-
1 See Sir John Shore’s Minute, Fifth Report, p. 176.
HINDUSTAN.
516
Hindustan, visors, one at Moorshedabad and another at Patna.
v-— J These supervisors were instructed to procure information
respecting the amount of the land revenues, the manner
of collecting them, the amount of the cesses or arbitrary
taxes, the origin and progress of those modern exactions,
and also to inquire concerning the regulations of com¬
merce and the administration of justice. The reports
made by these supervisors concurred with all the other
evidence received as to the wretched and oppressed state
of the natives. “ The nazims,” they observed, “ exact¬
ed what they could from the zemindars and great farmers
of the revenue, whom they left at liberty to plunder all
below; reserving to themselves the prerogative of plun¬
dering them in their turn, when they were supposed to
have enriched themselves with the spoils of the country.”
It was now resolved to make a settlement of the land
revenues for five years commencing from the year 1772.
For this purpose, a committee of the board, consisting of
the president and five members, named the “ Committee
of Circuit,” was appointed, who were to make a journey
through the country, and were empowered to receive pro¬
posals for a new lease of the lands, first from their ancient
possessors, and if their offers were deemed unsatisfactory,
they were to be let by public auction to the highest bid¬
der. These persons proceeded in their circuit through
the country, publicly advertising and letting in farm, for
the highest rent that could be obtained, the estates of
such as hesitated to contract for the assessment proposed.
A great proportion of the landed property throughout
Bengal was thus exposed to auction; and, in the general
sale, the former owners and the great nobility of the
country were outbidden by adventurers, to whom proper¬
ty was acceptable on any terms; and were generally dis¬
possessed of their lands, from the surplus produce of
which a provision was assigned them by the indulgence
of the revenue committee.
The supervisors who had been stationed in the different
districts were invested with the necessary powers for the
collection of the revenue, and were henceforth denomi¬
nated collectors. A native officer was to be joined with
them under the title of duan, to confirm and to check ac¬
counts, and to assist in all those multifarious details which
were intelligible only to a native. Various regulations
were adopted to check the exertions of the collectors; but
the governor and council express their regret that it was
not in their power wholly to remedy this evil. Under the
Mogul government, the duty of collecting the revenues and
of administering justice was united, as formerly mentioned,
in the person of the zemindars. The new scheme for the
management of the revenues subverted this ancient order
of things. The zemindar was superseded both as collec¬
tor and as judge, and his place was supplied by two courts,
the one for civil, called the Dewanny Court, the other, call¬
ed the Fonjdarry Court, for criminal proceedings, esta¬
blished in each district. In the criminal court the new
collector of taxes was to act as president, to be assisted
by two Mahommedan officers, the cauzee and the muftee,
and by two Mohlavies, as interpreters of the law. The
civil court consisted, in like manner, of the collector as
president, assisted by the duan and other officers of the
native court. Two supreme courts were, at the same
time, established at Calcutta, for the review of the infe¬
rior courts, the one for civil cases, being called Dewanny
Sudder Adawlut, and the other the chief court of criminal
justice, or Nizamut Sudder Adawlut. To one of these all
capital cases were reported, and were ultimately referred
to the governor and council, who, finding the labour too
great, restored, in 1774, this branch of administration to
the nominal nabob, and carried back the court to Moor-
shedahad. It appeared that, for a long period before this,
the administration of criminal justice was wholly at a
stand. In the new arrangements all disputes about pro- Hindustan,
perty not exceeding ten rupees in value were referred to
the head man of the district to which the parties be¬
longed.
In considering those regulations, the question naturally
occurs, how these supervisors, who were now to act in the
double capacity of collector and judge, became qualified
for the discharge of such important functions. In all
other countries, it is only by a previous course of labo¬
rious preparation that any one is qualified for the office
of a judge; and to appoint an unqualified person would
be reckoned both dangerous and absurd. But how much
more dangerous and absurd was it to appoint uninstructed
persons to act as judges in a foreign land, with whose lan¬
guage they are but imperfectly acquainted, and of whose
laws, manners, and customs, they are thoroughly igno¬
rant? If, among a comparatively rude people, the mode
of proceeding be loose and arbitrary ; if there be no books
of written law, or of precedents to govern judicial deci¬
sions, which must consequently depend on the imperfect
lights and analogies afforded by manners, religion, or cus¬
toms, the incapacity of a foreigner for the discharge of
such nice duties becomes even more glaring. By dispos¬
ing of the administration of justice in this manner, it was
clear that the judicial duties would either be neglected,
or that they would still be performed as before, and with
no increased chance of amendment by native officers.
This new arrangement was, therefore, like many others, a
useless innovation on the established practice of the coun¬
try. There is another weighty objection to the union in
one person of the duties of collector and judge, namely,
that it was in the collection of the duties that the gross¬
est oppression had been committed ; the powers of the
collectors being frequently perverted to the most iniqui¬
tous ends. Under this new project, those who sought re¬
dress from the courts of justice met with their oppressor
in the capacity of judge. He judged in his own case, and
of complaints brought against his own conduct. Justice
was in this manner an empty name, unless it was supposed
that the judge would pronounce himself an oppressor.
Under the five years’ lease on which the land revenues
had been farmed in 1772, the country was grievously
overtaxed. The revenues fell into a heavy arrear the
very first year, and the lands were let on a progressive
rent. To collect the outstanding balances, and to force
up the revenue to its standard, a host of extortioners was,
under the name of aumils, or collectors, let loose upon the
afflicted country. But the rents contracted for by the
farmers of the revenue were greater than they could pay,
and, notwithstanding all their efforts, the arrears conti¬
nued to increase. On the five years’ lease, they amount¬
ed to a sum equal in value to L.1,454,277, which was
judged to be wholly irrecoverable; while, during the
same period, the sums remitted, even under the rigorous
management of public farmers, amounted to L.1,336,451.
Nor was this the only evil arising from the mal-adminis-
tration of the Company’s servants. The zemindars, who
are admitted on all hands, even by those who advocate
the sovereign’s right to the possession of the soil, to have
lived in splendour on their hereditary possessions ; in all
cases to have possessed the powers of magistracy within
their district, and, where the territory was large, to have
exercised a species of sovereignty ; were either despoiled
of their estates, or, where they were induced, by a heredi¬
tary attachment to their possessions, to engage for the
rent proposed, they were overwhelmed with taxes which
they could not pay, and were thus involved in poverty and
ruin. Where the zemindar was himself the farmer of the
revenue, he exercised the same extortion on his inferiors
which was applied to himself; where a money-jobber,
having no interest whatever in the property of the ten-
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, ants, was the farmer, there was no limit to his extortion
and cruelty.
The defects in this system for the administration of the
land revenues soon began to disclose themselves ; and the
rulers of India, whose government was one continued in¬
novation, immediately resolved to make another consider¬
able change in the state machinery which they had just
set in motion. They abolished the superintendence of the
collectors; and the country, with the exception of Chitta¬
gong and Tipperah, being formed into six grand divisions,
viz. Calcutta, Burdwan, Moorshedabad, Dinazepore, Dac¬
ca, and Patna, a council was appointed for each of the last
five, consisting of a chief and four senior servants, to whom
were transferred the powers and duties of the collectors.
They were to preside in the courts of justice, and to super¬
intend the collections; and, in subordinate districts, they
delegated their powers to naibs or aumils, who were na¬
tives, and who were appointed, like their superiors, to col¬
lect and to judge in all cases under the value of 1000 ru¬
pees. The empty privilege of appeal was, as formerly, re¬
served to the unsuccessful suitor in the provincial courts;
and, to superintend the whole collections of the country, a
grand revenue-office was established at the presidency.
The district of Calcutta was placed under the peculiar su¬
perintendence of a committee of revenue, consisting of two
members of the council and three inferior servants. These
regulations, which were declared to be temporary, and only
preparatory to something more permanent, failed as usual
in all their important objects. The defective administra¬
tion of justice amongst the natives was admitted and com¬
plained of by all parties, and the peace of the country was
in consequence disturbed by the general prevalence of
robbery and other enormous crimes. The truth is, that
the new arrangements had subverted the ancient institu¬
tions and local manners of the country, and had thus left a
void in its internal economy which the government was in
vain endeavouring to fill up.
The lease of the lands expired in 1777; and, after va¬
rious suggestions and consultations, it was resolved that the
rent should be regulated by the average collections of the
three preceding years, and that the lands should be let,
not by auction, but by an agreement with their ancient pos¬
sessors in preference to other competitors. The liberal
views of Mr Francis, who proposed that, in lieu of the mo¬
nopoly of salt and opium, a moderate duty should be im¬
posed on those articles, and that a long series of oppression
should thus be terminated, by giving freedom to trade,
were rejected by the governor-general. In pursuance of the
plan proposed, the lands were let from year to year until the
necessary arrangements could be completed for the system
which was now to be adopted of a permanent land-tax.
The attention of the British parliament had frequently
been directed to the state of our Indian possessions, and to
the transactions of the resident government; and, in I784i,
a new system, of which we have already given an account,
was established in Britain for the control of the local ad¬
ministration, under which Lord Cornwallis, who was chosen
governor-general, was specially directed by the act of par¬
liament, as well as by instructions from the directors and
the board of control, “ to inquire into the alleged grie¬
vances of the landholders, and, if founded in truth, to af¬
ford them redress; and to establish permanent rules for
the settlement and collection of the land revenue, and for
the administi'ation of justice, founded on the ancient laws
and local usages of the country.”
Lord Cornwallis, on his arrival in India, did not deem
matters fully ripe for the execution of the proposed plan,
namely, the permanent settlement of the land revenue.
On this important subject he found that the most intelli¬
gent of the Company’s servants differed widely in opinion.
Neither the nature of the land tenure, nor the rights of
517
the different orders of people who shared amongst them the Hindustan,
produce of the soil, were well understood. All that was
distinctly known was the amount of the revenue ; but whe¬
ther it was too high or too low was still a disputed point
amongst the English in India, although the country was
visibly declining under the weight of assessment. In such
diversity of opinion, the governor-general, anxious to pro¬
ceed with caution, delayed for a little the plan of a perma¬
nent settlement. He let the lands, in the mean time, from
year to year, through the agency of the district collectors ;
and information on which to found a more durable ar¬
rangement was diligently sought from every source.
In 1789, Lord Cornwallis had resolved on the perma- Perma¬
nent settlement of the land revenues. This he conceived nent set-
to be essential to the relief of the country, the condition of tlement
which he described to be wretched in the extreme. “ 1 Cornwallis
am sorry,” he observes, “ to be obliged to say, that agri¬
culture and internal commerce have for many years been
gradually declining ; and that at present, excepting the
class of shroffs and banyans (bankers and merchants), who
reside almost entirely in towns, the inhabitants of these pro¬
vinces are advancing hastily to a general state of poverty
and wretchedness. In this description I must even include
every zemindar in the Company’s territories, which, though
it may have been partly occasioned by their own indolence
and extravagance, I am afraid must also be in a great mea¬
sure attributed to the effects of our former system of ma¬
nagement.” “I may safely assert,” adds he, “ that one third
of the Company’s territory in Hindustan is now a jungle,
inhabited only by wild beasts.” In pursuance of his plan,
Lord Cornwallis entered into a permanent settlement of
the land revenues for ten years, which was afterwards de¬
clared unalterable ; and the zemindars of Bengal, Bahar,
and Orissa, were formally constituted legal and perpetual
proprietors of their respective estates, on the payment of
a fixed rent to the state. The ten years, or, as it is called,
the decennial settlement, was completed in every district in
1793.
In thus excluding itself from any prospective increase of
revenue by limiting its demand upon the zemindar, there
can be no doubt that the government committed a grave
error. One of the great results of the measure was to ele¬
vate the zemindars from the grade of revenue-agents to
that of landlords; but it never could have been the inten¬
tion of government to increase the old zemindary allowance
of 10 or 15 per cent, to above 100, and yet this has been the
result of the permanent settlement. Mr Holt Mackenzie pro¬
duced before the Commons’ committee of 1832, a statement
showing the aggregate government demand on various es¬
tates within certain districts of Bengal, farmed by the court
of wards on account of minor and other disqualified zemin¬
dars, the rent paid by the farmer, and the profit accruing to
the ward. The result shows a profit on the whole of rather
more than 100 per cent. If some portion of this vast overplus
were appropriated to recruit the government revenue, and the
remainder permitted to remain in the pockets of the culti¬
vators, both the state and its subjects would be greatly
benefited. This, however, cannot take place on account of
the existing settlement. It must be recollected that this
income is not to be regarded as the rent of a landlord
but the profit of a collector. Never was service so mag¬
nificently requited by any government as the collecting
the revenue in India under the permanent settlement. One
estate particularized in Mr Mackenzie’s paper, is situated
in the Twenty-four Pergunnahs, where the settlement was
made upon a detailed measurement. On this property the
share of the government is 6625 rupees; that of the zemin¬
dar 1976. The profit here, though very ample, falls far
short of the average. Of course, there are other instances
in which it is very much above the average. One of these |
is in the district of the Jungle Mehals, where the govern-
HINDUSTAN.
518
Hindustan, ment revenue is 3654 rupees, and the zemindar’s profits no
w-N/—^ less than 16,023 rupees. The settlement was obviously
made in a state of great ignorance on the part of the go¬
vernment as to the real amount of the land revenue pay¬
able by the cultivators ; and in consequence, the zemindar’s
payment was, in many instances, fixed at a sum quite in¬
adequate. Another cause for the great excess of the ze¬
mindar’s receipts over their payments to government, arises
from the further occupation of waste lands since the settle¬
ment ; an advantage which was surrendered by government
as imprudently as unreasonably.
There was another defect in the decennial settlement,
that it provided no security for the under-tenants and ryots
in the hereditary privileges which they claimed in the
soil. As they varied in different places and depended on
different rules, the subject appeared to involve details too
intricate for European management; and the important
task of settling with the ryots was, therefore, devolved
upon the zemindars, with a mere general recommendation
to be guided by the custom of the place, and to give
the ryot a written copy of his lease. According to this
plan, it was the great proprietors only who had any per¬
manent interest in the lands, while the inferior proprie¬
tors and tenantry were at the mercy of the principal
landholders, who might exact from them whatever they
pleased. The under-tenants and cultivators, in this ill-
defined state of their rights, had no interest whatever
in the improvement of the soil, being well assured that
they would in no case be left more than a bare main¬
tenance ; and this was one among the other errors of the
settlement, that it was made entirely with the zemindars,
who were notoriously ignorant, oppressive, and corrupt.
Maliks and other inferior landholders were crushed, and
the just titles of the talookdars and ryots were extinguish¬
ed ; they were placed in the power of the zemindars, on
whom alone the government relied for the improvement of
the country, but many of these were capitalists who entered
on the office of zemindar in the spirit in which they em¬
barked in a mercantile speculation, and whose only object
was of course to make the largest profit on their outlay.
They were often unacquainted with the habits, the feelings,
the wants, and even the language of the cultivators.
Many, moreover, were purchasers who were destitute even
of the recommendation of commercial respectability. It is
represented that banyans, money-lenders, menial servants
of Europeans, vakeels, and other retainers of the courts of
law, seized the opportunity of elevating themselves in so¬
ciety by purchasing into this new aristocracy.
Consequen- The producers of agricultural wealth being thus divested
ces of the 0f their rights, frequently combined to keep down cultiva-
tax‘ tion, and force the zemindar to give up the estate. It soon
appeared, that, in order to realize the revenue, it would be
necessary to sell the lands; and this evil once begun, con¬
tinued to increase. The revenue was not punctually paid ;
and, for the recovery of outstanding balances, lands to a
great amount were at stated times exposed to auction. In
the year 1796-97, the lands advertised for sale bore a rent
of 2,870,061 sicca rupees (L.332,927); and those actually
sold yielded an annual rent of 1,418,756 rupees (L.164,576).
In 1797-98, the quantity of lands sold bore a rent of
2,274,076 rupees (L.255,833); and it is observed in the
Fifth Report, p. 56, that “among the defaulters were some
of the oldest and most respectable families of the country
“ the dismemberment of whose estates,” continues the
Report, “at the end of each succeeding year, threatened
them with poverty and ruin, and, in some instances, pre¬
sented difficulties to the revenue officers in their endeavours
to preserve undiminished the amount of the public assess¬
ment.” In order to check those evils, several alterations
were made from time to time by Lord Cornwallis. But they Hindustan,
appear to have been unavailing ; and, in the year 1802, in a
report from one of the collectors, we have the following
melancholy picture of the state of the country:—“‘All
the zemindars,’ it is observed, ‘ with whom I ever had any
communication, in this and in other districts, have but one
sentiment respecting the rules at present in force for the
collection of the public revenue. They all say that such
a harsh and oppressive system was never before resorted
to in this country; that the custom of imprisoning land¬
holders for arrears of revenue was, in comparison, mild
and indulgent to them ; that though it was no doubt the
intention of government to confer an important benefit on
them, by abolishing this custom, it has been found by me¬
lancholy experience, that the system of sales and attach¬
ments, which has been substituted for it, has, in the course
of a very few years, reduced most of the great zemindars
in Bengal to distress and beggary, and produced a greater
change in the landed property than has perhaps ever hap¬
pened, in the same space of time, in any age or country,
by the mere effect of internal regulations.’1 In another
part of the same document, the collector, after commenting
on a regulation then recently introduced, observes, ‘ Before
this period (1799), complaints of the inefficacy of the re¬
gulations were very general among the zemindars, or the
proprietors of large estates; and it required little discern¬
ment to see that they had not the same powers over their
tenants which government exercised over them. It was
notorious that many of them had large arrears of rent due
to them which they were utterly unable to recover, while
government were selling their lands for arrears of assess¬
ment.’ The collector adds, ‘ Farmers and intermediate
tenants were, till lately, able to withhold their rents with
impunity, and to set the authority of their landlords at de¬
fiance. Landholders had no direct control over them;
they could not proceed against them, except through the
courts of justice ; and the ends of substantial justice were
defeated by delays and costs of suit.’” To the same
purpose Sir Henry Strachey observes, “ That the men of
opulence are now all men of yesterday; that the greatest
men formerly were the Musulmen rulers, whose places we
have now taken, and the Hindu zemindars. These two
classes are now ruined and destroyed.” 2
The ruin of the zemindars was partly occasioned by
another cause, namely, the want of any effectual method
of enforcing their claims against the small tenants. The
public officer was empowered to proceed against defaulters
by a summary process, and to attach and sell, by public
auction, the zemindar’s land for the discharge of arrears;
whilst against the under-tenants the zemindar had to seek
redress by an ordinary suit at law, which was both tedious
and expensive. To heighten this evil, the courts of jus¬
tice were overloaded with a long arrear of undecided
causes, so that no decision could be expected before the
lapse of years. There were in the district of Burdvvan
above 30,000 undecided suits ; and no decision could be
expected within the ordinary duration of human life. The
zemindar, in this manner, whilst he was compelled to pay,
by the prompt and efficient process of government, was
left to seek redress from his tenants through a labyrinth of
endless litigation; and the knowledge of this impediment
to justice gave great encouragement to the tenants to re¬
fuse payment of their rents. The ruin of the zemindar,
therefore, was the inevitable consequence of this summary
process to which he was exposed, while he could have no
similar recourse on his tenants; and these regulations were
universally complained of, and on the justest grounds. In
an address from one of the collectors to the board of revenue,
in behalf of the zemindar of Burdwan, who had in vain ap-
Fifth Report, printed in 1812, p. 60.
2 See Answers to the Interrogatories of Government, dated 30th Jan. 1802.
Hindustan.
Oppres¬
sion of the
ryots.
HINDUSTAN.
519
plied for redress to the civil courts, it is observed that he
(the zemindar) begs leave to “ submit to your consideration,
whether or not it can be possible for him to discharge his
engagements to government with that punctuality which
the regulations require, unless he be armed with powers as
prompt to enforce payment from his renters, as government
had been pleased to authorize the use of in regard to its
claims on him; and he seems to think it must have pro¬
ceeded from an oversight, rather than from any just and
avowed principle, that there should have been established
two modes of judicial process under the same government;
the one summary and efficient for the satisfaction of its own
claims, the other tardy and uncertain in regard to the satis¬
faction of claims due to its subjects; more especially in a
case like the present, where ability to discharge the one
demand necessarily depends on the other demand being
previously realized.”
The system which impoverished the zemindars proved
equally ruinous to the ryots. It was the practice of the
zemindar to contract for a certain rent with a land farmer,
who subdivided the land into smaller portions, and let it to
a variety of inferior tenants. To this head farmer it ap¬
pears that a written agreement was given, according to the
regulations ; but the under-tenants were left, without any
security, to the mercy of their superiors. It is well known,
and admitted by the servants of the Company, that the
ryot, even when he receives written agreements from the
zemindar, is liable to indirect oppressions which no law can
remedy ; and though, owing to the expense and delay in
the administration of justice, he could retaliate on the ze¬
mindar, by refusing payment of his rents, this privilege
could be of little advantage to him, whilst it tended still
farther to widen the breach between the landlord and the
tenant, and to add to the hatred, strife, and violent destruc¬
tion of interests by which the community was now, as it
were, torn in pieces. To remedy the grievances which the
zemindars suffered from the evasion of payment by their
tenants, it was enacted in 1799 that they might have re¬
course to the same summary process against defaulters as
was used by the government against themselves. They
were empowered to seize the property of their tenants for
arrears, previous to any legal judgment, or any proof of the
justice of their claim. This regulation gave to the zemin¬
dars the power of unbounded oppression, against which the
ryot had no redress, as he was effectually shut out of the
courts of justice by the enormous expenses[of law proceed¬
ings.1 It was undoubtedly just that the zemindar should
have the same efficient process for enforcing payment as
was used against himself; but such was the unhappy con¬
dition of India, under the unskilful management of stran¬
gers, that every plan of reform seemed only to increase the
general disorder. Her rulers wanted intelligence for the
delicate task of domestic legislation ; their schemes were
crude and inapplicable, nor could they ever mould the va¬
rious and jarring interests of the Indian community into
any consistent scheme of civil order; so that, though they
were continually patching their imperfect work, it still bore
the same incongruous character, and the cure of one evil
was constantly followed by an irruption of other and worse
evils from some other quarter.
Notwithstanding these obvious evils, attempts have
been made to repeat the unsuccessful experiment of a per¬
manent settlement by extending it to the western provinces.
These were in the first instance frustrated by the objections
of Mr Cox and Mr Henry St George Tucker, who were
appointed commissioners for carrying the plan into effect.
It is remarkable that both these gentlemen were advo¬
cates for the system ; but on being deputed to superintend
its establishment in an untried spot, they perceived that ob¬
jections existed to its introduction ; and these they had the Hindustan,
manlinessand candour freely to point out. But,notwithstand-
ing their representations, the Bengal government persisted in
its determination to introduce the permanent settlement;
and the commissioners, finding their views thus at variance
with those of the supreme authority, felt themselves called
upon to resign. The home government appears to have
taken a view of the subject more just, calm, and statesman¬
like than that of the local government, and, in the words of
Mr Sullivan, “ uniformly evinced throughout the whole cor¬
respondence on this grand question fully as strong an an¬
xiety that the rights of individuals should not be infringed,
as that the interests of the state should not be compromised
by a premature discussion.” A termination was put to the
proposed extension of the system in 1817, when the board
of control and the court of directors, after ample discus¬
sion, finally agreed upon the following points:—
“ That the system of 1793, though originating in the
most enlightened views and the most benevolent motives,
and though having produced considerable good, has never¬
theless been attended in the course of its operation with no
small portion of evil to the people for whose happiness it
was intended.
“ That the same views and motives which dictated the
original introduction of the permanent settlement twenty-
five years ago, would not, after the experience which had
been had of it, justify the immediate introduction of the
same system into provinces for which a system of revenue
administration is yet to be settled.
“ That the creation of an artificial class of intermediate
proprietors between the government and the cultivators of
the soil, where a class of intermediate proprietors does not
exist in the native institutions of the country, would be
highly inexpedient.
“ That no conclusive step ought to be taken towards a
final settlement of the yet unsettled provinces, until it shall
have been examined, and if possible ascertained, by diligent
research and comparison of collected testimonies as well as
by accurate survey of the lands to be settled, how far the
principle of a system which would bring the government
into immediate contact with the great body of the people,
can be practically and usefully applied to them.”
This decision was dictated by a sound policy. The at¬
tempt to create a landed aristocracy was from first to last
based upon erroneous views. Had it been practicable, it
could not be effected without the destruction of a mass of
private i-ights, which it was the duty of the law to protect
instead of subverting. The observations of Mr Campbell,
of the Madras civil establishment, on this point are just and
convincing. “ In India,” says he, “where the only aristocracy
connected with the land are the mere hereditary farmers-
general, or contract-agents of the government—and the soil
itself is invariably occupied by a numerous class of petty
proprietary cultivators—it was obviously impracticable to in¬
troduce the European theory of landlord and tenant without
an infraction of individual rights. It never ought to have
been, nor can it now even justly be, made a question for
consideration or decision whether in India it be politic to
give the preference to great or to small holders of land.
The law and usage of the country have immemorially and
irrevocably determined the right in the soil to be vested in
particular classes. Whatever may be the extent or value
of such right, the smallest no less than the greatest tenure
should be held inviolably sacred ; and the rights of millions
of field proprietors to hold on defined terms directly of the
state never can be abrogated for a mere theoretical im¬
provement in the administration of the land revenue, with¬
out an act of the most sweeping confiscation ever hazarded
by a civilized government. It was clearly the duty of a
1 All the collectors invariably hear testimony to the oppressions of the zemindars after the passing of the regulation of 1799.
HINDUSTAN.
520
Hindustan, just government anxiously to protect all existing rights;
v ^ , j and by defining its demand on the possessor oi each tenure
holding immediately of the state, to maintain every class
in its respective situation, and to ensure the benefit of any
remission or reduction in its land revenue to those who pay
it, instead of allowing it to be intercepted by its interme¬
diate revenue contractor, the zemindar.
But had there been no previous rights in the way, the at¬
tempt suddenly to call into existence an aristocracy whose
claims were based neither on property nor ancient usage,
would have failed. The plan, indeed, was nowhere distin¬
guished by even the semblance of success, except in the
districts where the zemindar’s authority was continued in
its ancient line; and in these cases that part of the plan
which subjected the zemindar’s right to sale in case of de¬
fault was productive of the most serious mischief. Under
the native powers it was not the practice to sell the ze¬
mindar’s right. The zemindar himself was subject even
to corporeal punishment, but his right was never brought
to sale. The enforcement of such a system consequently
outraged the feelings of all classes, where the institution
was ancient; and the description of persons whom the sales
frequently introduced to the exercise of the zemindary au¬
thority was little calculated to allay the feelings of irritation
excited by the forcible expulsion of an old family.
The state of society which prevailed in Hindustan arose
from the mixed operation of a peculiar system of laws, cus¬
toms, manners, religion, and policy; and such an artificial
structure required to be nicely and skilfully handled, in¬
stead of which it was lacerated in all its delicate parts by
the rude hand of foreign interference. The English were
ignorant even of the language of the people whom they had
brought under their sway, and whom they now attempted
to govern ; and though they might know generally that the
public revenues were derived from an impost on land, they
were entirely inexperienced in the usages of the country,
and in the financial details of the Mogul government.
With what effect, therefore, could they interfere in such
complicated details ? how could they decide between the
claims of justice and of fraud ? how could they judge of
cases connected with the peculiar usages of the country, and
with all those minutiae of local manners with which no
foreigners can ever become thoroughly acquainted ? The
Company’s servants, involved in such a labyrinth of complex
concerns, possessed no clue to guide them to any equitable
issue. Supposing their views to have been honest, they
wanted intelligence to give them effect; and although they
could enforce submission to their decrees, the country,
under their usurped and ill-directed authority, presented
one vast scene of anarchy and oppression. The directors
in Europe readily ascribed all these evils to the misconduct
and rapacity of their servants, which they heavily censured;
and, in their correspondence with India, they express the
most just, humane, and enlightened sentiments, and a sincere
desire to promote the happiness of their subjects. But if
they had only said to their servants “ lower the assessment,”
these three words would have been of more avail than vo¬
lumes of fine sentiment. The glory of a sovereign consists
in the felicity of grateful millions, and this is the only true
and legitimate end of all government. But the East India
Company were intent on profit, on enriching themselves at
the expense of their subjects ; and the duty of the servants
to their masters consisted in sending home a large invest¬
ment. They were to possess themselves of as large a
quantity as possible of the produce of the country, giving
nothing in return, and to send it to Europe to be shared
amongst the proprietors ; and it was, accordingly, the boast
of successive administrations how well they had succeeded
in this matter; not how happy they had made their sub Hindustan,
jects, but how much of their property they had taken from
them and sent to Europe.
The institutions of Lord Cornwallis for the administra- Judicial
tion of civil and criminal justice appear to have been system
equally unsuccessful with his finance measures ; and it soon of Lord
appeared, as has already been stated, that the new courts Cornwallis.
of judicature had more business than they could manage,
and such an arrear of undecided cases accumulated that the
course of justice was nearly stopped. In this dilemma, the
costs of suit were raised for the purpose of discouraging
litigation ; and this expedient being found ineffectual, they
were raised a second time. To place justice out of the
reach of the poorer and more numerous class, by laying a
heavy tax on it, was indeed an easy and effectual method
of discouraging litigation. It was, in fact, a denial of jus¬
tice, a direct refusal to hear the complaints of the poor,
who might, therefore, be harassed for ever after with im¬
punity. Notwithstanding this discouragement, however,
the evil went on increasing, and at last amounted to an
almost total dissolution of civil order. As no decision was
to be procured before the regularly-constituted tribunals,
every man began to arm himself in his own quarrel; and
the country thus became the scene of bloody affrays be¬
tween armed individuals, unhappily left without any other
resource for the decision of their differences. In some of
those conflicts 4000 or 5000 persons were arrayed on each
side, and many lives were lost. In a letter of the court of
directors, dated October 1814, it is observed, “As to af¬
frays respecting the possession and boundaries of lands and
rents, this has been long a serious evil, and must, we con¬
ceive, have existed in a greater or less degree in every part
of the country.” “ These affrays,” continue the directors,
“ which often lead to homicides and woundings, have been
very naturally ascribed by several of the judges to the diffi¬
culty of obtaining judicial redress.”1 In the district of Tir-
hoot, where the public peace had been frequently disturbed
by those private feuds, the judge for the division of Patna
observes, that they chiefly “ arose from the accumulated
arrears of suits,” and “ that the parties finding a delay in
obtaining redress, had resorted to force.”2 Mr Melville,
also a judge in the division of Dacca, expresses himself to
the same purpose. “ With respect to affrays,” he observes,
“ attended with homicides and wounding, it is known that
those disorders arose from attempts to retain by force pos¬
session of lands, or rents of lands, to which the different par¬
ties alleged separate claims.” The same person afterwards
states, that “ in Chittagong, they (meaning these quarrels)
had not only been frequent, but violent; that the police
authority had been often resisted, and in one instance over¬
powered ; that it would be wrong to disguise the length of
time a claimant must wait, with the sacrifices he must make,
before the decision of a civil court can be obtained.”
We shall now briefly advert to the system of penal judi- pen!Viju. j:
cature and police established by Lord Cornwallis; the ob- dicaturo
ject, in this case, being to give security to the people by the and police
suppression of crimes. With reference to this object, how¬
ever, the scheme has notoriously failed. Since the year
1793, India has become a prey to disorders of every sort,
and to the worst of crimes. The crime of robbery, accom¬
panied with murder, rose to a most alarming height, and
was prosecuted with a degree of union, perseverance, and
cruelty, inconceivable to those who live in the civilized
communities of Europe. Robbery at this time was a re¬
gular profession, handed down from father to son ; and the
decoits, or gang-robbers, were formed, as the title implies,
into powerful confederacies, and made their irruptions on
the peaceful country with a force which it was vain to
Printed by order of the House
Ibid., p. 22.
^ See Papers relating to the Police and Administration of Justice in Bengal from 1810 to the present time.
of Commons, 1819, p. 21.
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, resist. They are described by Mr Hastings as “ a race of
outlaws, who live from father to son in a state of warfare
against society, plundering and burning villages, and mur¬
dering the inhabitants.” In the year 1772, the robbers are
mentioned by the committee of circuit, and stated to be
“not like robbers in England, individuals driven to such
courses by sudden want; they are robbers by profession,
and even by birth; they are formed into regular commu¬
nities, and their families subsist by the spoils which they
bring home to them.”
Increase of All the reports of the judges employed in the adminis-
crimes. tration of criminal justice concur in representing the de¬
plorable prevalence of the atrocious crimes of gang-robbery
and murder. Sir Henry Strachey, writing on this subject
in 1802, observes, that the crime of decoity (that is, rob¬
bery by gangs) has increased greatly since the British ad¬
ministration of justice. Another judge, writing on the same
subject in 1808, observes, “ That decoity (gang-robbery) is
very prevalent in Rajeshahye has been often stated. But
if its vast extent were known ; if the scenes of horror, the
murders, the burnings, the excessive cruelties, which are
continually perpetrated here, were properly represented to
government, I am confident that some measures would be
adopted to remedy the evil. Certainly there is not an in¬
dividual belonging to the government who does not anxi¬
ously wish to save the people from robbery and massacre.”
{Mill, vol. iii., p. 311.) He afterwards adds, that such is the
state of things which prevails all over Bengal; and as to his
own particular district, he expresses his persuasion that no
civilized country ever had so bad a police. To the same
purpose Mr Dowdeswell, the secretary to the government
in 1809, observes, in a report which he drew up on the ge¬
neral state of Bengal, “ Were I to enumerate only a thou¬
sandth part of the atrocities of the deceits, and of the con¬
sequent sufferings of the people, and were I to soften that
recital in every mode which language would permit, I should
still despair of obtaining credit, solely on my own authority,
for the accuracy of the narrative.” “ Robbery, rape, and
even murder itself,” continues he, “ are not the worst fi¬
gures in this horrid and disgusting picture. An expedient
of common occurrence with the deceits, merely to induce a
confession of property, supposed to be concealed, is to burn
the proprietor with straw or torches, until he discloses the
property, or perishes in the flames. And when they are
actuated by a spirit of revenge against individuals, worse
cruelties, if worse can be, are perpetrated by these remorse¬
less criminals. If the information obtained is not extremely
erroneous, the offender, hereafter noticed, himself committed
fifteen murders in nineteen days; and volumes might be filled
with the atrocities of the decoits, every line of which would
make the blood run cold with horror.” {Fifth Report, p. 603.)
It w’ould far exceed our limits to trace in detail the cause
of those evils which necessarily arose out of the very nature
of the government now established. The truth is, the Bri¬
tish were never qualified to act as legislators in India. They
were too ignorant of the habits, manners, and character of
the people, to meddle with their institutions, on which,
however, they were continually innovating. By altering
the old mode of settling the land revenues, they compro¬
mised the rights of the different classes of landholders and
occupiers. Strife and contention immediately ensued, liti¬
gation burst upon society like a flood, the civil courts were
overwhelmed with suits which they could not decide, and
the people, desperate from a denial of justice, were involved
in furious affrays with each other in prosecution of their
rights, or, being driven from their lands, they had recourse
to robbery for a subsistence. Business was thus, from va¬
rious sources, accumulated in the criminal courts, which
being encumbered with the delay, the expense, and all the
tedious formalities of the English practice, proceeded with
their decisions at much too slow a pace for the wants of the
VOL. XI.
521
country ; and the evil in this manner daily increased. The Hindustan,
mischief of this delay was twofold,—It allowed crimi-
nals, during the long interval between their apprehension
and trial, to prepare the certain means of their escape, by
the suborning of false witnesses, who, in the gross dissolu¬
tion of morals in Hindustan, were always to be readily pro¬
cured, and in any number ; and, 2dlp, It entailed a griev¬
ous hardship on the innocent, great numbers of whom were
crowded into jails with the worst of felons, there to wait
until the tardy hand of justice should bring them relief.
The inefficient state into which the police had fallen, was Defective
also one cause of the general prevalence of crimes. By the police,
ancient institutions of the Mogul government ample means
were provided for the preservation of the public peace. In
every village a permanent body of guards and watchmen
was maintained, whose business it was to assist in all the
subordinate details both of the revenue and police, to con¬
vey the rents of the ryot to the district collector, to watch
those ryots who were in arrear, to guard their crops from
depredation, to act as guides and protectors to travellers,
to collect information of any offences committed, and to re¬
port the arrival in the villages of suspicious persons. For
these various services they had grants of land, rent-free, or
on very easy terms. Besides this standing force of guards
and village watchmen, the zemindar, who was at the head
of the police, and was held responsible for all crimes com¬
mitted within his boundaries, had under his orders a large
body oipyhes, or armed constables, whom he could call out
in aid of the police service, either for the apprehension of
offenders, or to prevent breaches of the peace. These es¬
tablishments, though they had fallen into a state of decay
at the time of the permanent settlement in 1793, and though
they were frequently perverted from their original purposes,
yet existed in all parts of the country, and the police force
was found to be in great efficiency and strength. The
zemindary of Burdwan, a tract of country seventy-three
miles long by forty-five broad, which was in the highest
state of cultivation, and well stocked with inhabitants, main¬
tained a body of 2400 village watchmen, who were distri¬
buted under their respective chiefs amongst the different
villages, for the double purpose of protecting the inhabitants
and of procuring information; besides 19,000 pykes, or
armed constables, who were liable to be called out, under
the orders of the zemindar, in aid of the police. Instead of
improving upon those ancient establishments which had
taken root in the country, which were interwoven with the
frame and texture of Indian society, and which were, gene¬
rally speaking, efficient, though frequently perverted from
their original purposes, Lord Cornwallis demolished the
whole structure. According to his new scheme of police,
the zemindary constables were disbanded, and their lands,
which were allowed them in lieu of pay, were resumed, that
is, were seized by government. The country was divided
into districts of twenty miles square, over which a native
police officer or darogah was placed, with fifteen or twenty
armed men under his orders ; he was assisted also by the
village watchmen, and such of the zemindary constables as
were still retained in the public service. It was soon found,
however, that the new police officers could not effectually
call out this array in aid of the civil power. They wanted
the personal consideration of the zemindars, who had long
been looked up to with respect and reverence as the here¬
ditary aristocracy of the country. The system, therefore,
proved eminently inefficient; nor were the officers employed
under the new plan found to be less corrupt than the dis¬
banded constables of the zemindars. The merits of the
plan appear to be pretty fairly estimated in the Fifth Report
(p. 71), in which it is observed, that the head police officers,
and “ the inferior officers acting under them, with as much
inclination to do evil, have less ability to do good than the
zemindary servants employed before them.” How vain was
3 u
HINDUSTAN.
522
Hindustan.it to imagine that any better materials could be found for
the regulation and government of the country than those
which the country itself afforded. To complain of them
was to complain of the general state of society out of which
they were produced ; and to throw them away because they
were corrupt or otherwise imperfect, evinced an ignorance
of the legislator’s province, which is not to create materials,
but to make the best use of those which are provided to his
hand. Herein, then, consisted the error of the British le¬
gislators. They cast from them the only efficient instru¬
ments which were to be found for the government of the
Indian community, while they had nothing to substitute in
their place ; and their plans, when tried in practice, were
accordingly found to be idle theories, at variance with the
whole frame and order of the society for whose use they
were intended.
Prevalence The pernicious consequences of thus rashly subverting
of gang- t]ie ancient establishments of the country were soon dis-
robbery. p]aye(J in the alarming increase of crimes. The disbanded
zemindary constables, whose lands were seized, were de¬
prived of the means of living, and they necessarily betook
themselves to theft and rapine for a subsistence. The
country became infested with gangs of robbers and mur¬
derers, whose horrid cruelties struck terror into the peace¬
able inhabitants, whilst lesser crimes also became more fre¬
quent. The police was inadequate to the detection of
offenders, the courts of justice to their conviction; and,
amongst other evils, a host of false witnesses now arose,
amid the general corruption of morals, who swore in the
teeth of each other, perplexing all judicial proceedings, and
confounding the innocent with the guilty. For remedy of
these complicated evils various expedients were resorted to.
Amongst others, a feeble attempt was made to revive the
ancient powers which the zemindars had over the police ;
but this was attended with so little success that it was aban¬
doned in 1810. In 1808 a superintendent of police was
appointed, with a view, as was stated, of concentrating in
his office all the information which might be obtained from
different quarters, and of giving unity and vigour to the
measures adopted for the apprehension of offenders; and,
as a last resource, a regular establishment of police spies,
called goyendas, was organized, and placed under a species
of superintendents called gird wars, the office of the first
being to point out the robbers, that of the latter to appre¬
hend them. Notwithstanding all these measures crimes of
every description appear to have gone on increasing; and
in a minute of Lord Minto, dated November 1810, it is ob¬
served, “ That a monstrous and disorganized state of society
existed under the eye of the supreme British authorities, and
almost at the very seat of that government to which the
country might justly look for safety and protection ; that
the mischief could not wait for a slow remedy; that the
people were perishing almost in our sight; that every week’s
delay was a doom of slaughter and torture against the de¬
fenceless inhabitants of very populous countries.” The
directors, in whose letter of the 28th of October 1814 this
passage appears, confirm the truth of the statement by the
following brief observation :—“ That this representation of
the late governor-general is not too highly coloured would
appear from the minute of Mr Lumsden, and the reports of
Mr Secretary Dowdeswell, forming also part of the proceed¬
ings in regard to Mr Earnst.”1
Spies. The new scheme of employing spies, however useful in
some cases, was in other respects highly detrimental to the
peace ot the community. Those spies, and more especially
their superintendents (girdwars), became, in many cases,
the pests of society. They took advantage of the power
which they possessed of apprehending suspected persons to Hindustan,
extort money from them ; and frequently, under threats of
immediate apprehension, they laid under contribution all
classes indiscriminately. It is stated, in a letter of the
directors dated October 1814, on the authority of Mr Dick,
a circuit judge, that “ whole villages are put under contri¬
bution, or subjected to the rapacity and spiteful machina¬
tions of the vilest members of society.”2 In some cases the
innocent were brought to trial, and convicted on suborned
evidence, procured by these wretches.
Amongst the other causes of these evils maybe enumerated Incapacity
the incapacity of Europeans to officiate as judges in a so- of Euro-
ciety so peculiarly constituted as that of India. This is a fact Pean
which is deeply regretted by all the most experienced ser-judges’
vants of the Company, from Sir John Shore downwards.
In two essential qualifications for the judicial chair Euro¬
peans must always be surpassed by the natives of India.
They can neither acquire the same familiarity with the ver¬
nacular languages, nor obtain the same keen insight into
native character. The ruling authorities have not been in¬
sensible to these shortcomings, and a remedy has been
sought in the more extensive employment of native agency,
subject only to careful European supervision. Europeans
mix little with the natives in their ordinary business or
amusements; and when, under such disadvantages, they
attempt to officiate as judges, they have always found the
difficulty of appreciating or understanding even the most or¬
dinary transactions of a society, with the rules and principles
of which they are entirely unacquainted. What is intelli¬
gible by intuition to a native, is a mystery to them ; and it
is easy to conceive how these difficulties must be accumu¬
lated on them in any case involving a long train of circum¬
stantial or contradictory evidence. It is not, as every one
knows, on the mere naked testimony of a witness, that a
judge entirely relies; it is the tone, the manner, the living
evidence of expression and character, which impresses upon
testimony the stamp of truth, which carries conviction to
the mind, and saves a judge from the miserable dilemma of
being blown about by every wind of opposite evidence.
These discriminations are, however, far too nice for a Euro¬
pean judge in an Indian court, and he frequently knows not
what to believe. He cannot, by any judicious cross-exami¬
nation, extort the truth from contradictory witnesses. In
any train of questions involving the peculiar usages of the
country, his stock of knowledge is soon exhausted. A story
which hangs together in all its main circumstances may yet
be inconsistent in some of its minute and delicate points.
But a European can never detect inconsistencies which are
wrapt up in the veil of local manners, and hence he lies at
the mercy of every perjured witness who chooses to prac¬
tise upon his ignorance. The truth of this statement is
illustrated and confirmed by the concurring reports of many
of those who have acted in this trying situation. Sir Henry
Strachey, whose reports to the supreme government abound
in most just, enlightened, and comprehensive views of In¬
dian society and manners, observes, that “ nothing is more
common, even after a minute and laborious examination of
evidence on both sides, than for the judge to be left in utter
doubt respecting the points at issue. This proceeds chiefly
from our very imperfect connection with the natives, and
our scanty knowledge, after all our study, of their manners,
customs, and languages. Within these'few years, too, the
natives have attained a sort of legal knowledge, as it is
called; that is to say, a skill in the arts of collusion, intrigue,
perjury, and subordination, which enables them to perplex
and baffle us with infinite facility.” “ W~e perhaps judge
too much by rule; we imagine things to be incredible be-
1 See I apers relating to the Police and to the Administration of Civil and Criminal Justice in Bengal, Fort George dc from 1810 to tho
present time. Printed in 1819, p. 24. * ’
2 Papers printed by order of the House of Commons, 1819.
HINDUSTAN. 523
Hindustan, cause they have not before fallen within our experience.
—' We make not sufficient allowance for the loose, vague, and in¬
accurate mode in which the natives tell a story; for their not
comprehending us, and our not comprehending them. We
hurry, terrify, and confound them with our eagerness and im¬
patience.” “ We cannot,” adds the same discriminating ob¬
server, “ study the genius of the people in its own sphere of
action. We know little of their domestic life, their know¬
ledge, conversation, amusements, their trades and castes, or
any of those national and individual characteristics which are
essential to a complete knowledge of them. Every day affords
us examples of something new and surprising ; and we have
no principle to guide us in the investigation of facts, except an
extreme diffidence of our opinion, a consciousness of ina¬
bility to judge of what is probable or improbable.” “ The
evil I complain of is extensive, and, I fear, irreparable.
The difficulty wTe experience in discerning truth and false¬
hood among the natives may be ascribed, I think, chiefly to
our want of connection and intercourse with them ; to the
peculiarity of their manners and habits, their excessive igno¬
rance of our characters, and our almost equal ignorance of
theirs.” The following passage, from the same document,
gives a striking view of the inefficiency of European judges :
—“ The evidence on every trial convinces us, that innume¬
rable robberies and murders, that atrocities of the worst
conceivable kind, are committed, and that very often the
perpetrators are before us; yet do we find ourselves, from
causes of the nature above described, constrained to let
them loose again to prey on society, or, at the utmost, to
direct that they be discharged, on giving security for their
good behaviour.” “ The judge of circuit is from day to day
engaged in trying large gangs for robbery and murder, and
letting them go; and the country continues to be overrun
with them, to a degree truly deplorable.”1
In fact, a grave error had been committed in attempting
to transact the public business of the country by means of
European agency. This was the early practice of our In¬
dian administration. The Marquis Wellesley, writing to
the home authorities at the close of the last century, thus
enunciates the principle:—“ The duty and policy of the
British government in India, therefore, require that the sys¬
tem of confiding the immediate exercise of every branch
and department of the government to Europeans educated
in its own service, and subject to its own direct control,
should be diffused as widely as possible, as well with a view
to the stability of our own interests as to the happiness and
welfare of our own subjects.” The experiment was fully
tried, but resulted in disappointment, inasmuch as it was im¬
possible to carry it out otherwise than very imperfectly, ex¬
cept at an enormous expense. Another mode, that of
employing native agency to a large extent, was more readily
available. Native functionaries might be obtained upon
lower terms, and in some essential points they would enjoy
advantages over Europeans. It was feared, however, that
they could not be trusted; and if remunerated at the low
scale formerly allotted to them, and unwatched by any su¬
perior, the apprehension was not unreasonable. The pro¬
blem was to unite economy and despatch with efficiency and
integrity ; and the solution is found in the extensive employ¬
ment of native agency, subject to careful European super¬
vision. This has been tried, and works well. The change
has taken place within the last twenty years, during which
period several new offices of trust and emolument have been
opened to the natives of India, and those previously allotted
to them have been materially advanced both in emolument
and responsibility. Civil justice, in fact, is almost wholly
dispensed by native judges. They are distributed into three
grades—principal sudder aumeens, sudder aumeens, and
moonsiffs. The jurisdiction of the two lower grades is
limited to suits in which the matter in dispute does not ex- Hindustan,
ceed a certain value, the limit being of course higher in re- i
gard to the upper of these two grades than to the inferior.
To the jurisdiction of the highest native judge there is no
such limit. To these different classes of native judges is
entrusted the original cognizance of all civil suits ; and no
person, whether British or native, is exempt from their
jurisdiction. The first grade of native judges (principal
sudder aumeens) may sit in appeal from the decrees of the
two inferior courts ; and as the law, except in special cases,
allows but one trial and one appeal, the power of final deci¬
sion in by far the larger number of suits rests with native
judges. Further, suits wherein the amount in dispute ex¬
ceeds L.500 may be tried either by the principal sudder
aumeen or by the European zillah judge, if he so please.
But in either case an appeal lies only to the highest Com¬
pany’s court, the sudder adawlah. Here, then, the native
judge exercises the same extent of jurisdiction as the Euro¬
pean functionary. Native and British qualification and in¬
tegrity are placed on the same level. The suits now en¬
trusted to a head native judge were confided before 1837
to no officer below a European provincial judge. By recent
enactments natives of India are eligible to the office of
deputy magistrate. They are competent in that capacity to
exercise the powers of the European covenanted assistant,
and even, under orders of the local government, the full
powers of magistrate. When entrusted with the latter, their
power of punishment extends to three years’ imprison¬
ment, and they are also competent, in cases of assault and
trespass committed by Europeans on natives, to inflict a fine
to the extent of 500 rupees, and to imprison for the term of
two months if the fine be not paid. Natives are frequently
invested with full powers of magistrate.
The judicial establishments of Bengal, over which Euro- Judicial
pean judges preside, are,— establish-
1st, A high court of appeal, termed the sudder dewanny nients.
adawlut; and the nizamut adawlut, or the chief civil and
criminal court, which sits in Calcutta, and is composed of
judges selected from the civil servants of the East India
Company. On the civil side this court has ceased to exer¬
cise any original jurisdiction, but it is the court of final
appeal in the presidency, and controls all the subordinate
civil tribunals. Besides regular appeals from the decisions
of the European zillah judge, and in certain cases from
those of the principal sudder aumeen, the court is com¬
petent to admit second or special appeals from decisions of
the courts below on regular appeals. The grounds for
special appeal are,—when the judgments shall appear in¬
consistent with law or the practice or usage of the courts.
The power thus given to the sudder court of hearing spe¬
cial appeals extends their means of supervision, and brings
judicially before them the proceedings and decisions of all
classes of judicial officers, and affords opportunity for cor¬
recting errors and insuring consistency, it being one of
their duties to regulate the practice and proceedings of the
lowrer courts. Moreover, each judicial officer is required
by law to record his decisions, and the reasons for them, in
his own vernacular tongue, and this affords the sudder
court extended means of judging correctly of the individual
qualifications of their subordinates. The sudder court sits
daily. In the trial of appeals the proceedings of the lower
tribunals are read before one or more judges. A single
judge is competent to confirm a decree. Two of three
sitting together must concur for its reversal, whether the
appeal be regular or special. Decisions of the court in suits
exceeding in value L.1000 may be carried by appeal be¬
fore the Queen in council. On the criminal side the court
has cognizance in all matters relating to criminal justice
and the police of the country, but it exercises no original
1 Answers to Interrogatories of Government, 30th January 1802, Fifth Report.
524
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, jurisdiction. Appeals from the sessions judges lie to this
court, but it cannot enhance the amount of punishment, nor
reverse an acquittal. The sentences of this court are final.
In cases of murder, and other crimes requiring greater pun¬
ishment than sixteen years’ imprisonment (which is the
limit of the sessions judges’ power), all the proceedings of
the trial are referred for the orders of the nizamut. The
Mohammedan law-officer of this court (unless the futwa be
dispensed with) first records his judgment, and all the do¬
cuments are then submitted to the judges of the nizamut.
If the case be not capital, it is decided by the sentence of a
single judge. Sentences of death require the concurrence of
two judges. Trials before the sessions judge for crimes pun¬
ishable by a limited period of imprisonment are also referred
for the disposal of the nizamut in cases where the sessions
judge differs from the opinion of the Mohammedan law-officer.
2«c?, The zillah courts, over which European judges
preside and supervise the dispensation of justice by their
native functionaries. It is competent to the European judge
to withdraw suits from the courts below and to try them
himself. He hears appeals from the decisions of his prin¬
cipal native judge when the matter in dispute does not ex¬
ceed the value of L.500 ; but he may transfer appeals from
the decisions of the other subordinate courts to the file of the
principal native judge. In the sessions court the judge is
required to try all persons committed for heinous offences
by the magistrates. He has not the power of life and death,
k but his jurisdiction extends to sixteen years’ imprisonment.
All capital cases, after trial, must be referred for the dis¬
posal of the nizamut adawlut, together with those cases,
as already intimated, in which the sessions judge dissents
from the opinion of his Mohmamedan law-officer. Persons
not professing the Mohammedan faith are not to be tried
under the provisions of the Mohammedan law, but under the
regulations, the judge being assisted by a punchayet, or
assessors, or a jury, but having power to overrule their
opinion. The sessions judge holds a monthly jail delivery,
though in fact he may be said to be constantly sitting. He
sits in appeal from the sentences passed by the magistrates
and their assistants. A similar plan of jurisdiction is in force
at Madras and Bombay.
At each presidency there is a supreme or Queen’s court,
in which the judges are appointed by the crown, and the
modes of procedure are assimilated to those of the courts at
Westminster. In conclusion, it may be observed that the
judicial system of India is necessarily one of most hetero¬
geneous character, and it must probably continue so for a
period of which the duration cannot be anticipated. The
law of the Hindus is founded upon their religion. It is of
course in many respects barbarous and absurd. It is also
sometimes extremely vague, and on the whole very imper¬
fect. The Mohammedans introduced their law, which, like
that of the Hindus, wTas closely connected with their reli¬
gion. The settlement of the British created a necessity
for the introduction of a system of law differing from either.
The law of England thus obtained a footing in India, but
it did not altogether supersede either of the systems which
it found previously in operation. But the Hindu and
Mohammedan codes were such as no European people could
consent to administer; they were therefore modified in
practice, and, while their leading principles were adhered
to, their more barbarous provisions were softened or rejected.
Circumstances also continually arose to show the necessity
of some additional rules for the administration of justice ;
and the governments of India from time to time enacted
various regulations, which, unless annulled by the authori¬
ties at home, have the force of law. The principles of
judicial administration in India are consequently derived
from no fewer than from four different sources,—the institu¬
tions of the Hindus, those of the Mohammedans, the English
law, and the regulations of the Indian governments.
The permanent zemindary settlement was extended to Hindustan.
Benares in 1795. It has been seen that the attempt to
introduce this system into the north-western provinces was
delayed in the first instance by the objections of the com¬
missioners, which, however, were directed not against the
principle, but the time and local circumstances of its appli¬
cation ; and that it was finally suspended by a solemn deci¬
sion of the home authorities. This was indeed a fortunate
circumstance; and we may ascribe to it the fact that the
landed estates in these provinces remain in the hands of the
true proprietors, and that rapacious intruders have not be¬
come lords of the soil. A revenue settlement, based upon
a careful survey, has now been effected. Under this settle¬
ment, the rights of every cultivator, whether landlord or
tenant, have been ascertained and recorded; and, for the
protection of these rights, a system of registration of titles
to land has been introduced. The government assessment,
calculated upon the basis of two-thirds of the net rent, has
been fixed for a period of thirty years. By this limitation
of the public demand a valuable and marketable private
property has been created in the land, and every land¬
holder, however petty his holding, is to a certain extent a
capitalist. The following table exhibits the amount of land
revenue, together with the population, area, and other par¬
ticulars relating to these provinces :—
NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES.
Number of Townships  80,883
Area in Acres   46,070,658
Land Assessed to Revenue,—
Acres.
Cultivated 23,112,183
Culturable  9,816,749
Land Unassessed,—
Rent Free   1,733,443
Barren  11,408,283
32,928,932
13,141,726
Total area in Acres 46,070,658
Rupees.
Demand on account of Land Revenue   405,29,921
a. A. p.
Rate per Acre on Total Area   0 14 1
On Total Assessed Land     1 3 8
On Total Cultivation   1 12 1
POPULATION.
Hindoo,—
Agricultural 13,127,956
Non-Agricultural  6,324,690
  19,452,646
Mohammedan and Others,—
Agricultural   1,596,277
Non-Agricultural  2,150,745
  3,747,022
Total Population of the North-Western 1 ^3 199 ggg
Provinces   / ’ ’
Number of Persons to each square Statute Mile... 322-3
Number of Acres to each Person  L99
Average Amount of Revenue per Head L742
In Madras the course adopted w'as altogether at variance
with the feelings of the people, and the consequences were
not more happy. In the Northern Circars, indeed, there
was an ancient aristocracy, to whom the people looked up as
their hereditary superiors, and through whom the supreme
government could most conveniently realize its revenue.
But in the other districts to which the permanent settlement
was extended a novel and not very happy attempt was made
to create an aristocracy by public auction. A cluster of
villages called a mootah or zemindary was put up to sale,
and the highest bidder became the new hereditary zemin¬
dar or mootahdar, the terms being synonymous. The
government revenue had been previously assessed, not upon
each field, nor upon each village, but upon the whole moo-
HINDUSTAN.
525
Hindustan, tab or zemindary, and for this the new speculator in nobility
^ was held accountable. There was under this system no
bond of connection between the cultivators and the pur¬
chasers of the zemindary right, who were totally uncon¬
nected with the land; they were monied men desirous of
elevating themselves by their wealth into the rank of rajahs.
Parvenus are proverbially haughty and overbearing; and it
is represented, and may readily be believed, that the ryots
suffered considerable annoyance from these speculators. In
consequence, however, of the provision made on their be¬
half, they frequently succeeded in vindicating their rights,
and were generally in the course of time emancipated alto¬
gether from the dominion of the newly created zemindars,
most of whom gradually failed, and with their families became
involved in distress. The zemindars so completely mis¬
managed their zemindaries, that in the northern districts
only one remained in a prosperous condition, their zemin¬
daries having been for the most part transferred to the go¬
vernment officers as security for the payment of the revenue,
and that they might be retrieved from the disorder into
which they had fallen. In the Company’s jaghire, in 1826,
the zemindaries were reduced to 651 villages, paying a fixed
jumma of 297,940 rupees; while lands had reverted to go¬
vernment to the extent of 1217 villages, paying a revenue
of 488,960 rupees. In the Salem district a similar result
followed. In the Dindigul district the zemindary settlement
was introduced in 1804; but in 1807, the lands, with
scarcely any exception, reverted to the government. That
the permanent zemindary system is a bad one for the culti¬
vator, there can be little doubt; that it is a bad one for the
government, is equally clear. It has been suggested that
under a zemindary system the rights of the ryots might be
ascertained and protected. This, however, would be to
combine two systems, instead of adopting one; and as one
of the recommendations of the zemindary plan is its appa¬
rent simplicity and facility of application, such an appendage
to it as the proposal implies can scarcely find favour in the
eyes of those who regard it as an instrument for collecting
the revenue with the smallest portion of trouble. But, if
the rights of the ryots be admitted (and they are clearer
than the rights of any other persons in India), on what
principle can we justify the withdrawing from them the
natural protection of government.
The observations of Sir Thomas Munro on the question
are replete with sound vigorous sense. He says—“ If, in
place of lowering the assessment, and letting landed pro¬
perty rise in the natural way, we want to have great land¬
lords raised at once where none exist, and for this purpose
create zemindars, and turn over to each of them some hun¬
dreds of ryots, we should commit a gross injustice; because
we should enable the zemindar in time to degrade the ryots
from the rank of tenants-in-chief to that of tenants-at-will,
and often to that of mere cultivators or labourers. We say
that we leave the ryots free to act and to make their own
terms with the zemindars or renters, and that if they were
wronged the courts will protect them. We put them out
of sight, deliver them over to a superior, and then we tell
them that they are free to make their own terms, and that
there are courts to secure their rights. But with what pre¬
tence of justice can we place them under any set ot men to
make terms for their property, and to defend it against them
in courts of law ? They have no superior but government;
they are tenants-in-chief, and ought not to be obliged to
make terms except with government. But it is said that
the zemindar does not infringe their rights, because he has
no authority to demand more than the dues of government
as regulated by the usage of the country, and that if the
parties be left to themselves things will find their proper
level. They will find the level which they have found in
Bengal and several districts under this government, and
which the weak always find when they are left to contend
with the strong. The question is, whether we are to con- Hindustan,
tinue the country in its natural state, occupied by a great
body of independent ryots, and to enable them, by a lighter
assessment, to rise gradually to the rank of landlords; or
whether we are to place the country in an artificial state,
by dividing it into villages or larger districts among a new
class of landholders, who will inevitably, at no distant period,
by the subdivision of their new property, fall to the level of
ryots; while the ryots will, at the same time, have sunk
from the rank of independent tenants-in-chief to that of
sub-tenants and cultivators. It is, whether we are to raise
the landholders we have, or to create a new set, and see them
fall.” The actual working of the system in Madras is de¬
scribed in another part of the minute from which the last
quotation is made. “ There is no analogy whatever between
the landlord of'England and his tenants, and the moohtadar
or new village zemindar of this country and his ryots. In
England the landlord is respected by the farmer as his supe¬
rior ; here a zemindar has no such respect, for the principal
ryots of most villages regard him as not more than their
equal, and often as their inferior. He is often the former
potail or head ryot of the village ; but he is frequently some
petty shopkeeper, or merchant, or some adventurer or public
servant out of employ. Whichever of these he is, he has
usually very little property. He has none for the improve¬
ment of the village; but, on the contrary, looks to the vil¬
lage as the means of improving his own circumstances. The
ryots, by being placed under him, sink from the rank of
tenants of the government to that of tenants of an individual.
They are transferred from a superior, who has no interest
but in their protection and welfare, to one whose interest it
is to enlarge his own property at the expense of theirs;
who seeks, by every way, however unjustifiable, to get into
his own hands all the best lands of the village, and whose
situation affords him many facilities in depriving the ancient
possessors of theirs. The ryots are jealous of a man whose
new power and influence they have so much to fear. They
frequently combine in order to keep down the cultivation,
and force him, for their own security, to give up the village.
And hence it has happened, that on the one side the oppo¬
sition of the ryots, and on the other the oppression of the
new'zemindar, have in many instances caused villages which
were flourishing and moderately assessed to revert to the
circar from inability to pay their assessment.” Never, in¬
deed, were good intentions so lamentably frustrated as they
have been by this system; and to attempt to make it uni¬
versal throughout our Indian possessions, might shake the
security of our empire. The system is radically vicious.
Where, however, it already exists, we must tolerate it; but
it would be a most fatal error, as all experience shows, to
endeavour to extend it. Again, quoting the words of Sir
Thomas Munro, when speaking of the effects produced by
„the forcible introduction of this system : “ Such an innova¬
tion would be much more fatal to the old rights of property
than conquest by a foreign enemy; for such a conquest,
though it overthrew the government, would leave the people
in their former condition; but this internal change, the •
village revolution, changes everything, and throws both in¬
fluence and property into new hands. It deranges the order
of society; it depresses one class of men for the sake of
raising another; it weakens the respect and authority of
ancient offices and institutions; and the local administra¬
tion, conducted by their means, is rendered much more dif¬
ficult. It is time that we should learn that neither the face
of a country, its property, or its society, are things that can
be suddenly improved by any contrivances of ours, though
they may be greatly injured by what we mean for their
good; that we should take every country as we find it, and
not rashly attempt to regulate its landed property, either in
its accumulation or division; that whether it be held by a
great body of ryots, or by a few zemindars, or by a mixture
526 HINDU
Hindustan, of both, our business is not with its distribution, but with
i t y > its protection; and that if, while we protect, we assess it
moderately, and leave it to its natural course, it will in time
flourish, and assume that form which is most suitable to the
condition of the people.”
The observations of the same distinguished person on
the general principles which should guide those who under¬
take the high task of improving the condition of India, are
no less just and instructive:—“ We are now,” he says,
“ masters of a very extensive empire, and we should endea¬
vour to improve and secure it by a good internal adminis¬
tration. Our experience is too short to judge what rules
are best calculated for the purpose. It is only within the
last thirty years that we have begun to acquire any prac¬
tical knowledge ; a longer period must probably elapse be¬
fore we can ascertain what is best. Such a period is as
nothing in the existence of a people ; but we act as if this
were as limited as the life of an individual. We proceed
in a country of which we know little or nothing as if we
knew every thing, and as if every thing must be done now,
and nothing could be done hereafter. We feel our igno¬
rance of Indian revenue and the difficulties arising from it;
and, instead of seeking to remedy it, by acquiring more
knowledge, we endeavour to get rid of the difficulty by pre¬
cipitately making permanent settlements, which relieve us
from the troublesome task of minute or accurate investiga¬
tion, and which are better adapted to perpetuate our igno¬
rance than to protect the people. We must not be led
away by fanciful theories, founded on European models,
which will inevitably end in disappointment. We must
not too hastily declare any rights permanent, lest we give
to one class what belongs to another. We must proceed
patiently, and as our knowledge of the manners and cus¬
toms of the people and the nature and resources of the
country increase, frame gradually, from the existing insti¬
tutions, such a system as may advance the prosperity of the
country, and be satisfactory to the people. The knowledge
most necessary for this end is that of the landed property
and its assessment; for the land is not only the great source
of the public revenue, but on its fair and moderate assess¬
ment depend the comfort and happiness of the people.”
In another place Sir Thomas Munro advexls to the mis¬
takes which have been committed in a manner which should
operate as a warning against indiscreet zeal for the future :—
“ Our great error in this country, during a long course of
years, has been too much precipitation in attempting to
better the condition of the people, with hardly any know¬
ledge of the means by which it was to be accomplished,
and, indeed, without seeming to think that any other than
good intentions were necessary. It is a dangerous system
of government, in a country of which our knowledge is very
imperfect, to be constantly urged by the desire of settling
every thing permanently, to do every thing in a hurry, and,,
in consequence, wrong; and in our zeal for permanency,
to put the remedy out of our reach. The ruling vice of
our government is innovation; and its innovation has been
so little guided by a knowledge of the people, that, though
made after what was thought by us to be a mature discus¬
sion, it must appear to them as little better than mere caprice.”
Such observations, which would scarcely at any time be
unseasonable, are peculiarly deserving of notice in an age,
the ruling vice of which is that which Sir Thomas Munro
ascribes to the English authority in India—innovation.
The great error of concluding that laws and institutions
which produce good effects in one country will therefore
produce good effects in all other countries, must be care¬
fully avoided ; and if it be necessary to bear this in mind
with regard to that which has been tried, though under dif¬
ferent circumstances, the necessity is still more imperious
with reference to systems altogether untried, and which
have not the sanction of even a partial or local experience.
STAN.
If we would benefit the people of India, we must legislate Hindustan
for them as they are, and not as theorists conceive they v .
ought to be. We must respect their local usages and in¬
stitutions, wherever they are not productive of positive evil,
and even where they are, they must be removed with a
gentle hand. The general habit of the people is submis¬
sion to authority, and it will be our own fault if they learn
a different lesson. If we are content to derive a moderate
revenue from the land, and to abstain from all interference
with existing rights, except to protect them, the people will
advance in wealth and happiness, and the British dominion
take root in their interests and feelings. But if fanciful
schemes, concocted in the closets of speculators and sciolists,
framed with an ostentatious disregard of local peculiarities,
claiming an universal applicability, and, like a patent medi¬
cine, “ warranted to keep good in any climate,” are imposed
upon a people little addicted to novelty, in place of the insti¬
tutions to which they have been accustomed—which have
grown with the growth of the nation, and become part of
its very essence—discontent, disgust, and confusion will be
inevitable, and the final results may be such as no friend,
either to India or England, can wish to contemplate. But
while we discourage such a mischievous activity, we must
not take refuge in indolence and supineness. It is at once
our interest and our duty to settle nothing permanently
till it can be settled in a manner satisfactory to the people;
but it is also our interest and our duty to spare no labour
that may be necessary to enable us to acquire that minute
knowledge of Indian institutions which is indispensable to
a satisfactory settlement. Of two plans we must not give
the preference to one solely on the ground of its involving
less trouble than the other. Nothing must be left to chance
or accident, nor must the preservation of any class of rights
be suffered to depend upon the clamorous violence with
which they may happen to be urged. The weak as well
as the strong, the silent as well as the loud, the ignorant as
well as the informed, must be protected, and as we must
not be parsimonious of labour, so neither must we be im¬
patient of the consumption of time. The work to be ac¬
complished is not that of a day or a year ; and provided no
time be wasted, it will, if well done, be done sufficiently
early. The great principle to be observed in any mode of
settlement is to offer as little violence as possible to the
habits and feelings of the people. Wherever these do not
stand in the way, wherever there is room for the exercise
of a free choice, there can be no doubt at all that the ryot-
war system is that which is best calculated to secure the
cultivator from oppression, best calculated to promote in¬
dustry, order, and independence, best calculated to advance
the general prosperity of the country, and best calculated
to protect the pecuniary interests of the government. That
it is generally most consonant to the feelings of the people
is certain. It is equally certain that the ryot-war system is
the only one by which all individual rights can be protected,
indeed, the only one by which they can be ascertained.
And thus, unless a portion of the rights of the people, pro¬
bably the most valuable rights of the most valuable class of
the people, are to be regarded as unworthy of notice, a ryot-
war settlement must be the basis of any other. The obser¬
vations of Mr David Hill, formerly secretary to the govern¬
ment of Madras, upon this subject are much to the purpose ;
of course the settlement of which he speaks is such a one
as it would become a just and upright government to make.
He says, “ You can no more form a zemindary settlement
without a ryot-war one than you can write a correct hand
without spelling, although in either case you may be uncon¬
scious of the subsidiary operation. The ryot-war settlement
is an essential part of the zemindary one. If the officers of
the government do not make settlements with the ryots,
the zemindar must, and therefore the objections that are
taken against a ryot-war settlement will not be obviated by
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan. j.}ie substitution of the other, except in as far as those ob-
v'—jections apply to the ryot-war settlement being executed by
the officers of government.” The following account of
the practical working of the plan will be acceptable to those
who take an interest in the subject:—
“ In the spring of each year, every native collector, of whom
there are generally ten or twelve under the European officer
in charge of a large province, makes the circuit of his district,
to ascertain the fields which are occupied, and the individual
holding the highest tenure in each. He then allows the poorer
ryots to relinquish any fields they may not desire longer to
retain, and grants these or other unoccupied or waste fields to
such other ryots as desire to extend their cultivation.
“ The settlement itself is not begun by the European collec¬
tor until towards the harvest, when the native collector of each
district, with his district accountant, is, in the first instance,
summoned to meet him. The records of the district accountant
show the result of the native collector’s previous circuit through
the villages of his district. The quantity of land in each vil¬
lage, with its assessment, is ascertained; that portion of it
which the ryots have agreed to cultivate is distinguished from
the rest, and the reduced field survey assessment on it, after
the usual deductions in favour of those who have the revenue
alienated to them, or remitted in their favour, forms the native
collector’s estimate of the probable settlement of the land re¬
venue for the season. He then affords personal explanations
as to the general state of the several villages in his district,
and the local causes of those changes which are observable in
the accounts compared with those of former years.
“ This preliminary having been completed, the village ac¬
countants are next summoned to attend the European collector.
Their more detailed accounts show how far the several ryots
have completed the engagements into which they have entered
with the native collector, and what fields of the land agreed to
be cultivated have been left waste. The causes of these alter¬
ations are minutely investigated and explained, and the records
of the village accountants are checked by information obtained
from their competitors or other sources.
“The collector’s native establishment then prepare from
their data a separate account for every individual ryot, speci¬
fying the name of each field, whether irrigated, unirrigated, or
garden-land, cultivated by him, or at his risk and charge, its
number in the survey accounts, and its assessments, with the
alienations or remissions (if any) in his favour. This account
also exhibits the ryot’s stock, the number of his cattle, sheep,
&c. ; that also of the persons of his family, male or female,
the extent of land exempted from revenue cultivated by him,
invariably on very easy terms ; and his actual payments to
the government for many years past. These, which are called
the rough ryot-war accounts, form the basis of the European
collector’s final settlement; and when any discussion arises with
a particular ryot, they enable the collector to decide the point
at issue without delay, for they contain in fact a summary re¬
venue history of each individual contributor.
“ These accounts having been prepared for each ryot, the
whole of the cultivators themselves in eight or ten villages, are
ultimately summoned at the same time to the collector’s pre¬
sence. Here the account of each man, and the deductions (if
any) made in his favour, are compared in detail with his own
personal information by the collector’s native establishment;
any items in it to which objections are started are examined,
discussed, and, if erroneous, corrected. It is here that the
frauds of the village accountants are detected, by the envy,
jealousy, or honesty of one ryot pointing out the favours im¬
properly granted to his neighbour. The objections of the
ryots, if ill-founded, are overruled by the explanations of the
head of the village, the village accountant, or the other culti¬
vators in the same village, or by the exhortations of the inha¬
bitants of the neighbouring villages also present, for these
persons never hesitate voluntarily to interfere, and to repri¬
mand such as start unfounded objections ; and a ryot who ob¬
stinately demurs for hours to the laboured and authoritative
reasoning of the collector’s native establishment, will often
give way at once to the voluntary arguments of his fellows,
whose explanations are, perhaps, better adapted to his capa¬
city, and whose opinion being more disinterested, no doubt
carries with it more weight. But if the ryot’s objections are
valid, he always persists in appealing to the collector himself.
527
The details of every ryot-war settlement must devolve on the Hindustan,
native servants. The presence of the European officer is no
doubt useful to superintend the whole ; but it is chiefly requi¬
site, in order to afford on the spot, to every discontented ryot,
this facility of instant access and immediate appeal, which
affords the best check against either fraud or oppression in
the course of the settlement. The collector, if a judicious re¬
venue officer, seldom has occasion to decide such questions
himself; he soon learns to distinguish amongst the ryots as¬
sembled which are those universally respected throughout the
country for their good conduct, impartiality, and sound sense ;
and his call upon them for an opinion, invariably given pub¬
licly, without any previous preparation, whilst it silences all
complaint, relieves the officer of the government from the
odium of deciding questions in which its interests may often
be involved.
“ All discussions with the ryots having thus been terminated,
the puttah or lease and its counterpart are drawn out, and the
former having been sealed by the collector, the whole of the
ryots in each village are called before him. Every man here
separately exchanges engagements with the government, to
the number of 60,000 or 70,000 in some provinces, and receives
from the European collector’s own hands his lease, accom¬
panied by the betel-leaf, &c., the usual seal of all native com¬
pacts. If any ryot still objects to the terms of his lease, he
declines to receive it, and the grounds of his objection are here
formally discussed, and finally decided by the collector in open
public audience.
“ In each village its head or potail, the chief of the police,
is also invariably the village collector on account of govern¬
ment. He realises from each individual ryot the amount of
government revenue as the instalments fall due, and remits it
to the native collector of the district, also vested with magis¬
terial powers similar to those of a justice of the peace, whence
it is forwarded to the European collector, uniting in his person
the superintendence of both the revenue and police depart¬
ments over the entire province.”
Such is the mode of proceeding adopted in those parts ol
the territories under the Madras presidency, subject to the
ryot-war system, and it appears to possess many advantages.
In Bombay the revenue settlement is chiefly ryot-war.
Under the new survey now in progress, the lands are sub¬
divided into fields of moderate size, so that each subdivision
is rendered easy of cultivation by a farmer of limited means.
The government assessment is calculated separately upon
each field, and leases granted for thirty years’ duration at a
fixed and invariable sum, binding on the government for the
whole term, but with the option on the part of the cultivator
of surrendering any one or more of his fields, or altogether
putting an end to his lease at the close of any given year.
The great source from which the financial wants of the
state are supplied is the land revenue. The other chief
sources of Indian revenue are the monopolies of salt and
opium, the customs duties, the duties included under the
term abkarree, comprising those on spirituous liquors, in¬
toxicating drugs, and some other articles; the post-office
receipts, and the mint and stamp duties. Of these various
modes of taxation, the monopoly of salt is the only one against
which any reasonable objection can be raised. It exists in
Madras, in the northwestern provinces, and in the lower
provinces of Bengal. In the last mentioned provinces the
East India Company make advances to a description of per¬
sons called Molunghees, who are the manufacturers, and the
salt is disposed of by auction at monthly sales. In Madras the
salt is sold at a fixed price, which does not exceed one-fourth
of the average price in Bengal; but it is said that the profit
derived from it is considerable, the cost of production being
comparatively small. Various objections have been taken to
this source of revenue; and one of them is certainly not un¬
deserving of consideration. It cannot be denied that a
regulation which, for the mere purpose of revenue, adds
enormously to the price of an article which must be regarded
as a prime necessary of life, is an evil of no small magni¬
tude. But those who urge this are bound to show how the
HINDUSTAN.
528
Hindustan, same amount of revenue could be raised less injuriously.
It is quite clear that it must be raised by some means.
The wants of the state must be provided for, and an annual
deficiency of upwards of a million and a half sterling, which
would result from the abolition of the salt monopoly, could
not be supplied with any degree of certainty from new
sources. Upon this ground the Company have been per¬
mitted, notwithstanding the extinction of their commercial
character, to retain this branch of trade. Some modifica¬
tion in the mode of realizing the salt revenue is however
about to take place. The monopoly of manufacture has
been denounced in the House of Commons, and it has been
resolved to try the experiment of permitting the manufac¬
ture by private individuals under a system of excise. In
Bengal the revenue from opium is realized by means of a
government monopoly. No person within the Bengal ter¬
ritories is allowed to grow the poppy, except on account of
the government. Annual engagements are entered into by
the cultivators under a system of pecuniary advances, to
sow a certain quantity of land with the poppy, and the
whole produce in the form of opium is delivered to the go¬
vernment at a fixed rate. The engagements on the part of
the cultivators are optional. A large revenue is derived
from the transit of the opium of Malwa through the British
territories of Bombay for exportation to China. Previous
to the year 1831, the British government reserved to itself
a monopoly of the drug which was purchased by the British
resident at Indore, and sold by auction either at Bombay or
at Calcutta. But in that year it was deemed advisable to
relinquish the monopoly in Central India, to open the trade
to the operations of private enterprise, and to substitute, as
a source of revenue in place of the abandoned system, the
grant at a specified rate of passes, to cover the transit of
opium through the Company’s territories to the port of
Bombay. The following table contains the latest account
of Indian revenue and taxation :—
Excise  L.28,614
Land revenue  15,391,666
Sayer, &c  1,157,214
Moturpha  119,257
 L.16,696,751
Mint duties  129,079
Stamp duties  487,955
Customs    1,684,763
Salt  2,099,959
Opium  4,259,778
Tobacco  89,677
Miscellaneous  2,384,275
Total  L.27,832,237
The commercial monopoly of the East India Company
was granted by William III. in the year 1698, and it was
confirmed by 9th and 10th William III. c. 44. The legisla¬
tive enactments regarding the territorial possessions of the
Company commenced in 1767. In that year it was agreed
that, in consideration of an annual payment of L.400,000,
the territorial possessions should remain in possession of
the Company for two years, and afterwards for five years
from the 1st of February 1769. There was paid to the
public, under these two acts, from 1768 to 1775, the sum
of L.2,169,398. In 1773 the affairs of the Company were
much embarrassed, and they presented a petition to parlia¬
ment soliciting a loan for four years, and a sum of L.1,400,000
was accordingly lent; and at this time parliament first as¬
sumed the regulation of the Company’s affairs. The divi¬
dend was restricted to 6 per cent, till this loan should be
repaid, and afterwards to 7 per cent. It was enacted that the
directors should be elected for four years, six of them, being
a fourth part, to vacate their office annually by rotation;
the qualification to vote in the court of proprietors to be
raised from L.500 to L.1000. A new court of judicature
was at the same time established at Calcutta, consisting of Hindustan,
a chief justice and three principal judges, appointed by the i
crown ; and a superiority was given to Bengal over the
other presidencies; an appropriation was made of the re¬
venues and profits of the Company, and they were required
to make half-yearly statements of their debts, and of the
profit and loss incurred on their trade and revenues. The
loan of L. 1,400,000 having been discharged, two other acts
were passed, by which the territory was continued to the
Company for one year. In 1781 an act was passed con¬
tinuing the territoral revenues and privileges of the Com¬
pany till the 1st of March 1791, and then to be taken away
only on a three years’ notice ; providing also that the Com¬
pany should pay annually L.400,000 to the public, besides
three-fourths of any surplus revenue that might accrue.1
Under this act the Company paid to the public L.400,000
in satisfaction of all claims up to the 1st March 1781. But
of the annual sum of L.400,000, which was afterwards to
be paid, the public received only L.300,000 ; and in 1783
the Company were allowed to borrow L.800,000, and out
of this borrowed money to pay a dividend of 8 per cent.
By the act of 33d Geo. III. c. 52, passed in 1793, the British
territories in India, together with the exclusive trade, were
continued to the Company for twenty years ; and the Com¬
pany agreed to pay L.500,000 annually, unless prevented
by war expenditure. But only two payments were made, of
L.250,000 each, under this act, in 1793 and 1794. In
1814 the charter of the Company was renewed for twenty
years ; the trade to India opened under certain limitations,
with the exception of the trade to China, the monopoly of
which, with all the territorial revenues, was continued till
20th of April 1834. In 1833 a new act was brought for- Mr GraDt’i
ward by Mr Grant, for the future administration of the vast act.
dominions of the Company, and for the general regulation
of their affahs. By this act the commercial privileges of
the East India Company were abolished, and the trade to
India and to China was thrown open to all British subjects.
The government of India was still vested in the directors
of the Company, in conjunction with the board of control,
according to the provisions of Mr Pitt’s bill. All natural
born British subjects were permitted to reside without
license in any part of the territories which were under the
government of the Company on the 1st day of January
1800, in any part of the countries ceded by the nabob of
the Carnatic, of the province of Cuttack, and of the settle¬
ments of Singapore and Malacca. The only conditions
required are,—that the party shall proceed by sea, and
shall on arrival give notice of his name, place of destination,
and objects of pursuit. A license is still necessary in the
territories not specially excepted by the act. A British
subject may hold lands in any place where he is authorized
to reside. The reform of judicial proceedings, and the
compilation of a uniform code of laws for Hindus and Mo¬
hammedans as well as European subjects, a great and im¬
portant undertaking, forms part of this comprehensive and
enlightened plan for the government of India. In 1833,
in consequence of the great extension of British territory, it
was enacted by parliament that the presidency of Bengal
should be divided, and a portion of it formed into a new
presidency, to be styled the presidency of Agra. But a
later act of parliament authorized the East India Company
to suspend the execution of the contemplated division, and
provided that during such suspension the governor-general
in council might appoint a servant of the Company of ten
years’ residence to be lieutenant-governor of the north¬
western provinces under such limitations as may be pre¬
scribed. Under that act the establishment of anew presi¬
dency was accordingly suspended, and a lieutenant-governor
of the north-western provinces appointed. By a later act
1 On this clause Colonel Munro justly observes, “ This is converting India into a rack-rent estate for England.1
HINDUSTAN.
Hindustan, the suspension is to remain until the court of directors shall
v ^ ^ otherwise determine, and in the meantime the provisions
for the appointment of a lieutenant-governor of the north¬
western provinces, and the arrangements consequent thereon,
are to be in force. Under the sanction of the same act a
lieutenant-governor has been likewise appointed over the
lower provinces of Bengal; and the East India Company
are further empowered to erect another new presidency,
and, pending its formation, they may authorize the estab¬
lishment of an additional lieutenant-governorship. This
privilege has not yet been exercised.
The objects of the Company were originally purely com¬
mercial ; and could they have pursued them in peace and
security they would have sought nothing further. Their
enemies compelled them to unite with the character of the
merchant that of the soldier and the civil governor. The
British legislature has effected a change scarcely less un¬
expected. In 1813 the trade with India was thrown open;
twenty years afterwards the Company relinquished the field
to their competitors. The history of the world affords no¬
thing more extraordinary than the present posture of the
Company. Formed exclusively for the prosecution of a de¬
sirable branch of commerce, it has renounced trade, yet
continues to exist for purposes which its founders never
contemplated. Called incidentally to the exercise of civil and
military power, it continues to wield that power now that
its original character has disappeared, and when it has no
longer any interest in those commercial advantages which
it was the single purpose of its conquests to secure. The
act of 1833 suspended the mercantile career of the Com¬
pany, and it now exists only as an instrument for governing
the country, which the wisdom and spirit of its servants has
annexed to the British crown. The whole of the Company’s
property, territorial and commercial, having been surren¬
dered, its debts and liabilities are charged upon India, and
a dividend of L.10, 10s. per cent, on their capital stock se¬
cured ; the dividend redeemable at the rate of L.200 for
every L.100 stock after April 1874, and at an earlier period
on the demand of the Company, should they be deprived of
the government of India. For the better securing the re¬
demption of the dividend, a fund is formed, under the con¬
trol of the commissioners for the reduction of the national
debt, termed the Security Fund of the India Company. For
the purposes of this fund a sum of L.2,000,000 has been
invested in the public funds, there to accumulate to the
amount of L. 12,000,000.
It will now be proper to advert to the present constitu¬
tion of the Company and the Government of India as set¬
tled by the last and preceding acts of parliament. The
authority of the Company is exercised through the court of
proprietors and the court of directors. To be qualified to
vote in the former court, a proprietor must have been twelve
months in possession of stock to the amount of at least
L.1000 ; this sum entitles him to one vote, L.3000 to two
votes, L.6000 to three votes, and L.10,000 to four votes.
The proprietors have the privilege of electing a specified
number of the directors; of making bye-laws for the regu¬
lation of the Company, which are binding when not at va¬
riance with the law of the land, and of controlling all grants
of money exceeding L.600. The directors are bound to
convene a general court on the requisition of nine qualified
proprietors ; and such court, while it may discuss any matter
connected with the affairs of India, has no power of rescind¬
ing a measure adopted by the directors, and approved by
the board of control. In the election of directors a proprie¬
tor may vote by attorney. The constitution of the court
of directors has been subjected to considerable modification
by the provisions of an act of parliament passed in 1853.
By the charter of William III., there were to be twenty-
four directors, thirteen or more to constitute a court for the
transaction of business; such directors to be elected annu-
VOL. XI.
529
ally by the members of the Company, and each director to Hindustan
be possessed of at least L.2000 stock. By the act known i ,r
as the regulating act, 13th Geo. III., cap. 63, some altera¬
tions as to the qualifications of voters were made ; the num¬
ber of twenty-four directors was retained, but instead of
the whole being elected annually, six only were to be chosen
in each year to serve for four years, at the expiration of
which term the retiring six were to be incapable of re-elec¬
tion until the lapse of one year. This state of the law con¬
tinued until the act passed in 1853 came into operation.
By that act it will be seen that the number of directors is
reduced from twenty-four to eighteen ; that of these, three
in the first instance, and eventually six, are to be nominated
by the Crown; that ten directors are sufficient to form a
court; that the signatures of three specified members of the
court, or of two of them duly countersigned, are to have the
effect of the signatures of the majority previously required by
a bye-law of the Company; that the term of service for
each director, whether elected by the proprietors or ap¬
pointed by the Crown, will, when the act shall come fully
into operation, be six years ; that directors having completed
this term are to be immediately eligible for re-election or
re-appointment; that all directors appointed by the Crown
must have resided ten years in India in the service either of
the Crown or of the Company, and that six of those to be
elected by the proprietors must also have resided in India
ten years, no such condition having previously been required;
that the stock qualification for a director is reduced from
L.2000 to L.1000 ; that elections are to be biennial instead
of annual, and that a new oath is substituted for those for¬
merly administered to the directors. The chairman and
deputy-chairman receive each a salary of L.1000, and every
other director L.500 per annum. The military patronage
of India is still vested in the court, but the right of making
appointments to the civil service has been withdrawn from
the directors, and writerships for India are now thrown open
to public competition, as are also the appointments to the
medical service of the Company. At the first examination
under the new system of parties offering themselves as as¬
sistant-surgeons, Mr Chuckerbutty, a native of Bengal, came
forward as a candidate and succeeded in carrying off an ap¬
pointment, The successful candidates for civil appointments
will not be required to finish their education at Haileybury ;
and the institution known as the Haileybury College is about
to be abolished.
The East India Company consists, according to the latest
calculation, of 1750 proprietors, who are privileged to meet
in a general court and vote. A proprietor of the Company’s
stock, provided it has been in his possession for twelve
months, to the amount of L.1000, has one vote ; of L.3000,
two ; of L.6000, three ; and of L.10,000, four votes ; seve¬
ral proprietors hold stock under L.1000, and are not quali¬
fied to vote. The total number of votes is estimated at
2600. The proprietors meet every quarter. Their powers
are limited to the election of directors, to the framing of
bye-laws, and to the control of salaries or pensions exceed¬
ing L.200 a-year, or gratuities exceeding L.600. In the
court of directors and the board of control is vested the
sovereignty of India ; they regulate by their supreme autho¬
rity the policy of the resident government, and the court of
proprietors has no power to interfere with their orders.
India is divided into the three presidencies of Bengal, Preside.
Madras, and Bombay. The governor-general is governor cies.
of the presidency of Bengal, which, in addition to several
large provinces and extensive tracts of territory, includes
within its limits, as already noticed, the two lieutenant-
governorships of Bengal, and the N.W. provinces. The
governor-general is appointed by the court of directors, sub¬
ject to the pleasure of the Crown. His council, nominated
by the court, subject to the approbation of her Majesty, con¬
sists of four members, three of them being servants of the
3 x
HINDUSTAN.
530
Hindustan. Company of ten years’ standing. The fourth member of
^ ,n- v —. y council is not to be chosen from the servants of the Com¬
pany, but his appointment also is dependent on the ap¬
probation of the Crown. The act of parliament passed in
1853 provided for the addition of several legislative coun¬
cillors to the council of India, but these are not entitled to
sit or vote except at meetings for making laws and regula¬
tions. They consist of one civil servant for each of the
presidencies, and for each lieutenant-governorship, and of
two of the judges of the supreme covrt of judicature at Cal¬
cutta. The court of directors may also appoint the com-
mander-in-chief of the forces in India, an extraordinary
member of council. The governor-general in council is
supreme in India, but all laws and regulations disallowed by
the court of directors, under the control of the board, are to
be forthwith repealed, and no law is to be made without
their previous sanction, which shall give to any courts of
justice, except those established by royal charter, the power
of punishing her Majesty’s European subjects with death,
or which shall abolish any of the courts established by char¬
ter. The presence of the governor-general or vice-presi¬
dent, or some ordinary member of council, and six other
members, is necessary to give validity to any act of legisla¬
tion. The other functions of government may be exercised
by the governor-general and one member. If the voices
are equal, the governor-general has a second vote ; and in
cases where he may consider the peace and safety of the
country materially affected, he may, after certain forms, act
on his own responsibility in opposition to the opinion of the
majority of the council. The administration of the affairs
of each of the subordinate presidencies of Madras and
Bombay is committed to a governor and three councillors.
The governor-general is governor of the presidency of Fort-
William, in Bengal, and has the power of appointing a de¬
puty-governor in case of necessity; but it is competent to
the court of directors to supersede these provisions when¬
ever they shall think fit, and to appoint a separate governor
for the presidency of Bengal. The appointments to the
subordinate presidencies are subject to the same regulations
as that of the governor-general and his council. If the
court of directors do not supply vacancies within tw'o months’
notice of them, the crown may appoint. The Queen may
also remove any person holding office under the Company.
The same power of removal is possessed by the court, with
the exception of officers appointed by the Crown. And the
court, under the control of the board, have the further
power of reducing the number of councillors in any of the
presidencies, or of suspending the appointment of councils
altogether.
Indian Each presidency has its separate army, commander-in-
army. chief, and military establishment. But the commander-in¬
chief of the Queen’s and Company’s forces in India has a
general authority over the military force in the other pre¬
sidencies. The total armed force in British India is about
290,000. This force consists—ls£, of the Queen’s infantry
and cavalry; 2cf, of the East India Company’s European
engineers, artillery, and infantry ; and, 2>d, of the Company’s
native artillery, cavalry, and infantry. The European troops
in India—Queen’s, and Company’s—amount, according to
the latest accounts, to 49,400 ; the native troops to 240,120,
highly distinguished by their valour, good conduct, and dis-
cipline. The complement of European officers to each in¬
fantry regiment is, one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, one
major, six captains, ten lieutenants, and five cornets or
ens!gns. Of native officers there is a subahdar and jemadar
to each company. The expense of the Anglo-Indian army
at the three presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay,
in 1854, was respectively L.5,278,642, L.2,666,069, and
L. 1,589,846, giving a total of L.9,534,557. The Indian
navy consists of six frigates and eleven armed steamers.
The British ecclesiastical establishment consists of three
bishops, and 129 European chaplains, the Bishop of Cal-Hindustan,
cutta being the metropolitan bishop in India. There are v-'"-'
also Scottish Presbyterian churches at Calcutta, Madras,
and Bombay ; two chaplains of the Church of Scotland be¬
ing maintained by the government at each presidency.
The British entered India as traders. They were com¬
pelled to exchange the operations of commerce for the
labours of war. Success attended their military career, and
renewed provocations urged them to continue it. Victory has
followed victory, and conquest been accumulated upon con¬
quest, until the dominion of Britain embraces the larger
portion of India, and its influence extends over the whole.
To look back upon the achievements of our countrymen
cannot but be gratifying to our national sympathies ; to look
forward to the probable fate of that empire which their skill
and courage raised from such small beginnings, is a duty
which is imposed upon us by a regard to our national honour,
as well as to the integrity of the British dominions. The
stability and permanency of our power may be endangered
either from within or from without. Our first attention
must naturally be directed to our own subjects. From
their hostility, if provoked, our greatest danger would arise ;
on their attachment, if secured, our safety may be firmly
based. To acquire the confidence of the people over whom
we rule, and, having acquired, to preserve it, must be the
grand objects of our policy. In those parts which have been
longest subjected to our rule, our power is most firmly
established. The people and the government have become
more habituated to each other, and our authority is more
cheerfully recognized from a perception of the benefits which
it has conferred. For some years past natives of India have
been appointed to offices of high trust and emolument.
Civil justice, indeed, is now almost wholly dispensed by
native judges. This enlightened policy was confirmed by
the British parliament in 1833, and again in 1853 ; and the
free admission of the natives, of whatever religion or caste,
to all offices, and of British settlers into any part of India,
there to acquire property or land, or to carry on any trade
or profession, is calculated to promote the lasting advantage
of India, establishing, as it does, the principlesof freedom, not
upon the mere arbitrary regulation of the supreme council,
which may be recalled, but on the solid authority of a British
act of parliament, which no inferior power can disannul.
Under this liberal and comprehensive law—the Magna
Charta of Indian freedom—the British merchant may trans¬
fer his capital, and his superior intelligence and industry,
to the most remote parts of Hindustan; he may engage in
trade, in manufactures, or in agriculture; and this Ifee in¬
tercourse of India with Britain must in time produce im¬
portant effects on the character and manners of the people.
Hindustan appears, indeed, to be on the eve of a great
moral revolution. The spirit of improvement has long
slumbered amongst that singular people ; and the division
of the people into castes, and those superstitions to which
they are attached with a blind devotion, are unfavourable
to its progress. But the influence of European manners
now begins to be seen ; and, considering that the Hindus
are a conquered people, long bowed under a foreign yoke,
that, on the other hand, power, dominion, honour, and pro¬
motion belong to the British, it is no wonder that the pros¬
trate and servile Hindu should be induced gradually to
forsake the manners and superstitions, and even the lan¬
guage of his forefathers, for the enlightened views and
purer faith of his victorious preceptors. This great and
signal revolution is already begun. The manners, the cus¬
toms, the language of Britain are beginning to take root in
India. They have been adopted by many natives of dis¬
tinction, by zemindars, as well as by the rajahs and princes
of the country ; and from their example they are spreading
amongst the other classes. Hindu children of both sexes
crowd the British seminaries established at Calcutta; the
HINDUSTAN. 531
Hindustan, rising generation resort to the colleges, and are instructed
in English literature and science; they frequent the medi¬
cal and surgical schools ; and there is a growing disposition
to adopt the free and liberal manners, and all the other im¬
provements of modern Europe. This moral change, which
is already begun, will soon, by the free influx of Europeans,
reach the remotest parts of Hindustan. Capital will be
introduced, agriculture will be promoted, and improved
modes of labour will be adopted. And all these changes
will be brought about, not by any violent subversion of
existing institutions, but gradually, through the quiet influ¬
ence of moral causes.
Amongst other sources of improvement in Hindustan,
may be reckoned the laudable zeal of the government for
the instruction of the people, by the institution of colleges
and schools throughout the country, in which are taught
all the different branches of literature and science. It was
stipulated by the charter in 1814, that a sum of L.10,000
should be annually applied to the purposes of education;
which sum has been augmented, by the liberality of the
government, to L.80,000 in 1853. Previous to the year
1821 the only native educational establishments founded in
India by the British government were the Mohammedan
College at Calcutta, and the Sanscrit College at Benares,
established respectively in 1781 and 1792. The Hindu
College of Calcutta, though founded in 1816, was not sub¬
jected to government superintendence until 1823. In 1835
the number of seminaries had increased to fourteen, while,
in 1853, in the upper and lower provinces of Bengal alone
there were upwards of forty. In the earlier founded col¬
leges the studies were purely Oriental; in those subse¬
quently established they are European. The preservation
of native learning was the avowed object in the one case ;
the communication of useful knowledge, and the affording
facilities for the study of elegant literature were the ends
sought in the other. The instruction of the masses in this
knowledge w^as the ultimate end to be attained; but much
valuable time was unfortunately lost, pending the result of
the experiment resorted to in the first instance of translating
English literature into Arabic and Sanscrit, the classical
languages of the East. Under this arrangement, before a
native student could become versed in European know¬
ledge, it was indispensable that he should first become an
accomplished Oriental scholar. The scheme was unsuccess¬
ful. But upon the termination of the East India Com¬
pany’s charter in 1834 the subject again came under con¬
sideration ; and on the 7th March 1835 the government of
India passed a resolution substituting the English for the
Oriental scheme of education. The new plan offers to the
native student a complete education in European literature,
philosophy, and science, through the medium of the Eng¬
lish language; it introduces him to the entire range of
science and literature, so far as he is able to receive it, the
limit being that alone fixed by nature in regard to his own
capacity. English is now the classical language of India.
Colleges and schools have been established in the princi¬
pal cities and towns, and the old Mohammedan and Hindu
institutions, though upheld as seminaries of Oriental learn¬
ing, have had English classes attached to them. Stipends
formerly paid to pupils without reference to ability, dili¬
gence, or acquirements, have been abolished, and in lieu
thereof, scholarships have been founded, which can be
gained only by passing a satisfactory examination. Junior
scholarships are also attached to the new schools, tenable
at the central college to which the school is subordinate,
and where a higher course of instruction is available. An¬
other important step in the advance of national education
has just been taken, and grants in aid are now bestowed,
both upon native and missionary schools, in furtherance of
secular instruction—the religious tuition of the scholars be- Hindustan,
ing left to the discretion of the masters and proprietors of's—
the schools. And with these institutions for the education
of the people is now combined that mighty engine the press,
which, though opposed in its first efforts, and rigorously
persecuted, has in India, as in all other countries, finally
broken down all the restraints of despotism, and achieved
its own freedom. To these sources of improvement may
be added the missionary labours, which are ardently pur¬
sued all over India, in the establishment of schools, in the
sending out of preachers, and in the printing and dispersing
of the sacred volume and other works in the native lan¬
guages, on which large sums of money have been expended.
Such are the various institutions which are in progress for
the civilization of Hindustan, and which are destined ere
long to produce important results, not only in that country,
but throughout the whole extent of Asia. But those great
moral changes which affect the condition of society are in
their nature slow and gradual; they cannot be hastened
forward, more especially amongst such a people as the
Hindus, whose minds are enthralled by the force of their
peculiar habits and religion, by immemorial usages, and by
the deep-rooted prejudices of ignorance. We cannot expect
that long-established habits will be suddenly relinquished,
or that fixed impressions will at once yield to the voice of
truth. But Great Britain has at last, and in earnest, under¬
taken the task of instructing her Indian subjects. The
foundation is laid ; the work of improvement is begun;
the seeds of knowledge have been widely dispersed over
the congenial soil, and they will assuredly spring up, and
in due season yield the desired increase.
But while the arts of peace are treated with favour, we
must be prepared for the opposite state if it should become
necessary. Looking to this contingency the Indian army
becomes an object of vast importance. Our dominions are
not assailable from without only. Within their circle are
portions of territory under the rule of native powers, no¬
minally allies indeed, but for the most part to be regarded
as hollow friends. The formidable alliance formed some
years since to drive us from India shows the feelings with
which we are regarded by the old Mohammedan authorities;
and though their power is now broken and destroyed, we
must not imagine that their hostile feeling towards us is
abated, We must therefore at all times be prepared to
defend ourselves. The knowledge that we are so prepared
will be the best security for our safety and the general peace.
From without we have little to fear. The frontier of our
dominions is singularly unassailable, considering the extent
of territory—the country, of which a part is subjected to our
direct rule, and the whole to our influence, being in a great
degree secured by nature from external attack. The sea
rolls around a large portion of it; mountains affording few
passes ; and desert countries scarcely passable at all, bound
the rest. Russia has been regarded with some apprehen¬
sion, and she may possibly have been well disposed to add
India to her vast empire ; but her energies and capacity for
intrigue have been hitherto directed to a quarter more dear
to her ambition than India. The grand object to which
Russia has ever appeared willing to sacrifice every other is
the incorporation of Turkey with her dominions. But in
her recent attempt to accomplish her purpose she has been
signally foiled, and as her resources have been severely
crippled by the struggle, a considerable period must doubt¬
less elapse before Russia can be in a condition to turn her
eyes farther eastward. In the meantime it is gratifying
to know that the British empire in India is in such a state
of security as must disarm every fear, and leave its rulers
at perfect liberty to devote an undivided attention to the
advancement of the happiness of the people. (e. t.)
532 H I P
Hinge HINGE, an iron or brass joint, on which doors, lids,
II gates, and shutters swing, fold, open, or shut up. The
Hippar- common form of a hinge is two leaves, perforated with holes
chus and for gcrews> anci furnished each with projecting segments of
^ippuu^ ^ hollow cylinder, which fit into each other, and are secured
by means of a central pin. This joint is applied by screw¬
ing one leaf to the door and the other to the doorpost.
Hinges for gates and out-house doors are made in the form
of the letter T ; they are called cross-garnets. They are
sometimes made with long straps and hooks to fix in the
stiles, so that the gate or door may be lifted off its hinges
when required. Hinges for the doors of rooms are called
butts, and are of various kinds. Hinges for shutters are
termed back-Jlaps. Similar kinds are used for the joints of
bedsteads, and for Pembroke and other tables. H and
H_ hinges, so called from their form, are in common use.
Improved forms of hinges have been made the subjects of
numerous patents. Collinge’s hinge, improved by Red-
mund, has its bearing pin in the form of a conical stem,
with a sharper conical top corresponding with the bearing
socket, and over this is a hollow cap containing oil, which
enables the two surfaces to work with great truth and free¬
dom. Redmund’s hinges or rising-butts have the hollow
cylinder which is attached to the leaves divided, not at
right angles to the pin, as is usual, but by spiral or helical
lines, so that on opening the door it is lifted from the floor
by the rubbing surfaces of the hinge moving upwards in a
helical line, so that when the door is left to itself, its weight
causes it to descend by the inclined rubbing surfaces, and thus
to close itself. The door can, however, be made to stand wide
open by cutting away a portion of the helical curves so as
to form two horizontal planes, which become opposed to
each other when the door is opened sufficiently to form a
right angle with its position when shut. Hence the door
will close of itself, when it is not pushed open more than
50° or 60°; but it will stand wide open if pushed to 90°.
Spring-hinges for the swing-doors of public offices, &c.,
made to open either way, and to return quickly to their shut-
to position, are numerous. In Whitechurch’s hinge, doors,
windows, &c., can be opened either to the right or left
hand. Nettlefold’s hinge for book-cases allows the door
to fold back quite level with the book-shelves, so that books
close to the hinge can be taken out and put in with facility.
There are also numerous patents for casting iron and brass
hinges, as well as for stamping the same. (c. t.)
HINNOM, or rather Ben-Himmon, an unknown person,
who seems to have given his name to the valley which bounds
Jerusalem on the N., below Mount Zion. (See Gehenna.)
HINOJOSA DEL DUGUE, a secular town of Spain,
in the province of Estremadura, and bishopric of Cordova.
It contains a parish church, a monastery, a convent, and
two hospitals. It is situated in a level district surrounded
with hills ; and its boundaries are washed by the Rivers
Zujar and Guamatilla. The climate and the water are ex¬
cellent. Pop. 7748.
HIPPARCHUS and HIPPIAS, the sons of Pisistratus,
succeeded their father in the tijrannis of Athens. Strictly
speaking the right of government belonged to Hippias, who,
on the express testimony of Thucydides (which, however,
is at variance with that of other historians), was the elder of
the two, but the brothers seem to have administered public
affairs conjointly with an extraordinary unity of purpose.
1 hey carried out the principles of their father, and the pe¬
riod of their sway, at least till the murder of Hipparchus,
b.c. 514 (see Harmodius), was looked upon by the people
ot Athens as a soi't of golden age. After his brother’s
death Hippias’ character underwent a total change. He
became a “ tyrannus ” of the worst type, and ruled with
such intolerable severity that he was at last obliged to fly
from Attica to escape the fury of the many enemies he bad
raised about him. After various wanderings, he took re-
H I P
fuge in the court of Darius, king of Persia, and instigated Hippar-
that monarch to the invasion of his native country. He chus
joined the expedition sent out under Datis and Artaphernes, . II
and accompanied it to the field of Marathon, after which all HlPPo-
trace of him in history is lost. crates. ]
Hipparchus, the most celebrated of all the ancient as- " I
tronomers, was a native of Nicaea in Bithynia, and flourished
in the second century B.c. His history and works are very fully
discussed in the historical part of the art. Astronomy.
HIPPOCRATES, the “ Father of Medicine,” was born
in the Island of Cos, b.c. 460. By his father Heraclides,
he was descended from JSsculapius, and by his mother
Phaenarete, from Hercules. After the preliminary instruc¬
tion received from his father, he proceeded to Athens to
prosecute medicine under Herodicus. He studied philo¬
sophy under Georgias, and some add Democritus of Ab-
dera. He travelled in Thessaly, Macedonia, and Scythia, lat¬
terly settling down in the first of these places. Here he
died at Larissa about B.c. 357, at the age of about 100.
A parallel has been drawn between Homer, the father
of verse, and Hippocrates, the father of medicine. Each
remounts to great antiquity, and each is first in order of
excellence. Yet so little is known about either, that the
history of each has become clogged with numerous accre¬
tions of mere fable ; while, passing to the opposite extreme,
some have doubted whether the men themselves ever ex¬
isted at all. Some of the stories circulated about Hippo¬
crates may be mentioned. He is represented as having
the charge of a library at Cos or Cnidos. Having used
the works of others much too freely in his writings, and
fearing detection, he is said to have set the library on fire.
But the uniform respect, even veneration, with which he
was regarded in his own day appears satisfactorily to con¬
tradict such a story. Plato, his contemporary, speaks of him
in very high terms; and as to the conflagration, Pliny
speaks of the destruction by fire of votive tablets, without
reference to books or Hippocrates. The story appears to
have been invented three centuries after Hipprocrates by
one Andreas. A similar story is told of Avicenna. Another
story represents Hippocrates as sent for during the illness
of the son of Perdiccas II. of Macedonia, and as discover¬
ing, by mere appearances, that the malady was caused by
the young man’s being in love with Philas, his father’s con¬
cubine. A similar tale is told of Erasistratus at the court
of Seleucus Nicanor. According to a third story the por¬
trait of Hippocrates was taken, by some of his disciples, to
a physiognomist. It was declared by him to be that of an
old man of lascivious character. His disciples laughed at
the conclusion as utterly incorrect; but Hippocrates de¬
clared that the physiognomist had rightly discerned his na¬
tural character, which, however, had been subdued by him.
A similar story is told of Socrates. He is described as re¬
ceiving extraordinary honours from the Athenians, and
this connects him with another story, which relates to his
removing a plague by keeping up large fires in the streets,
and burning aromatic substances. By this means the atmo¬
sphere was purified. It is argued that this cannot refer to
the celebrated plague by which Athens was devastated,
else Thucydides, in describing it, would have made refe¬
rence to Hippocrates. The other story is that which refers
to the mission of Hystanus, the Persian satrap, from Arta-
xerxes Longimanus, to request Hippocrates to come to the
Persian court, and give the king the benefit of his medical
skill. Hippocrates replied that he would not accept of any
presents to go and help the enemies of Greece.
Hippocrates created a new era in medicine. Up to his
time medical knowledge was mainly monopolized by the
priests, who kept to themselves as much as they did know.
Emancipated from the jugglery of the priests, the study of
medicine became henceforth an independent profession.
Hippocrates theorized but little, his leading principles be-
HIPPOCRATES.
Hippo- ing the result of extensive observation of facts. The infir-
crates. niities to which men as nations or individuals were subject,
he traced to two leading causes—climate and diet. Hence
he inculcates the importance of considering the changes of
the seasons, the state of the atmosphere, the distribution of
heat, water, moisture, &c. Diet is to be regulated, not only
by the state of the patient, but also by the season of the
year. Thus wine is to be used more sparingly in summer
than in winter. In cases of fever, diet is to be reduced to
liquid, though not so as to starve the patient. Each period
of the year, according to him, has its peculiar malady. Hip¬
pocrates excells especially in describing the symptoms of
diseases. His description of the sharp nose, sunken eyes,
leaden hue, and dry forehead, which often precedes death,
has been called the Facies Hippocratica. He gives minute
directions for the discovery of empyema in the chest, no¬
tices the changes which take place in ulcers before death,
and points out how symptoms may be ascertained from the
manner in which the patient lies in bed.
In his treatise on the Nature of Man he enounces the
theory of elements. As there are the four elements—fire,
air, earth, and water; so there are in the human composi¬
tion the four humours—blood, phlegm, bile, and black bile.
When these are mixed in certain proportions the human
body enjoys health ; but disease is the result of a want of
the proper proportion. He was the first to assign three
periods to the course of a malady, and for the last, or the
crisis, he assigned certain days, known as the critical days.
These were the 4th, 7th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 20th, dis¬
playing a regularity which may have existed more in his
day and in his country than among us, owing partly to
climate and partly to the simple habits of the people.
His knowledge of anatomy was very defective. He
speaks of the muscles simply as flesh ; he confounds the
veins and arteries, also the nerves, tendons, and ligaments.
As to generation, he believed that the male child came from
the right side of the matrix, and the female child from the
left. However, he came to some correct conclusions re¬
garding the cranium and the viscera. It is possible that
this may have been the result of examinations in the case
of severe accidents to patients. The dissection of the
human subject, in those days, appears to have been avoided
from superstitious motives. Hippocrates did not advance
so far as to separate surgery from medicine. He employed
the cautery in some cases, as appears from his maxim—
that what cannot be cured by medicine must be cured by
the knife; and what cannot be cured by the knife must be
cured by fire.
He practised bleeding, and in cases of inflammation he
recommended the bleeding to take place near the inflamed
part. He was acquainted with cupping also. He knew the
medicinal properties of several minerals and vegetables, and
used to employ violent purgatives. He is known to have
practised auscultation. He was not aware of the import¬
ance of the pulse in detecting symptoms. He recom¬
mended consultations of physicians.
The candour and openness of Hippocrates stand out in
noble relief from the secrecy and trickery of the priests,
from whose monopoly he wrested the profession of medi¬
cine. On several occasions he mentions the mistakes into
which, in his earlier practice, he had fallen, that others
might have the benefit of his warning. More lofty and
humane views than those which occur in his writings re¬
garding the work of a physician are nowhere else to be met
with :—“ Be not too eager merely to get wealth by your
profession. Give medical aid at times gratuitously, satisfied
with the gratitude and esteem of others. Give assistance,
as occasion presents itself, to the poor and the stranger ; for
if you love mankind you will love your profession. When
you are required at a consultation, do not use great words,
and do not speak in a studied and pompous manner—no-
533
thing more surely indicates incapacity.” In the “oath” the Hippo-
physician is represented as solemnly promising, “ My sole crates,
object shall be to afford consolation and medical relief to the
sick, to be true to the confidence which they repose in me,
and to avoid even the suspicion of having abused it, parti¬
cularly in regard to women.” He appears to have been
very conscientious in the discharge of his professional duties.
It has been objected that, by merely observing the course
of nature, and trusting too much to her vis medicatrix,
Hippocrates allowed his patients to die ; and there appears
to be some truth in the allegation.
Hippocrates wrote in the Ionic dialect, but numerous
Atticisms occur in his works. What is known as the Hip¬
pocratic Collection is a great number of works, amounting
to about 70, of which only a few are certainly known to
be from the Hippocrates of whom we are speaking. The
works to be ascribed to him are the Aphorisms, Prognostics,
Epidemics, the treatise on Air, Water, and Locality, the
treatise on the Diet to be used in acute diseases, &c. Of
the others, some are probably by him, others possibly by
him, and many certainly not by him. This confusion has
been ascribed to two causes :—First, There were many
medical writers not only of the same name, but also of the
same family of Hippocrates. Thus the family of Hippo¬
crates contained not fewer than seven physicians of greater
or less eminence, spreading over a period of about 300 years.
The tendency in such a case is to ascribe to the most dis¬
tinguished the works of those less distinguished. But,
secondly, when the Ptolemaean kings were founding the cele¬
brated Alexandrian library, which was to surpass that of
the kings of Pergamos, the works of Hippocrates were
eagerly sought, and purchased at a high price. The con¬
sequence was that there was an inducement to the dishonest
to palm off upon the Alexandrians books under the name
of Hippocrates which were not his. Several of the works
falsely ascribed to him can be at once set aside by the
pomposity of style so totally different from the brevity of
Hippocrates, bordering, as it often does, on obscurity. In
cases of mutilation and interpolation, where an attempt has
been made to imitate the Hippocratic conciseness, the critic
has to look for statements which are contradictory of those
in works known to be by Hippocrates, or inconsistent with
the medical knowledge possessed in his day. The Alex¬
andrian librarians set about effecting a discrimination be¬
tween the genuine and the spurious; and Galen professes,
in his day, to have been able to distinguish the works of
Hippocrates from those merely ascribed to him. Many
editions of his works have existed, and vast quantities have
been written upon them. There have been 70 editions of
his Prognostics, and 300 of his famous Aphorisms. 4 he
most eminent men have been his editors and commentators,
e. g., Celsus, Galen, &c., Amongst his biographers are to
be mentioned especially Soranus, also Dacier, Le Clerc,
Grimm, Sprengel, &c. The Paris edition by Littre con¬
tains a French translation and critical notes.
The following classification is made on the principle re¬
commended by Erotian, the eldest glossator of Hippocrates,
and adopted and improved by Foes:—1. Greek Editions,
Venice, 1526, in folio, Aldus and Asulanus ; Basil, 1538,
in folio, Froben, a more complete and exact edition than
the preceding. 2. Greek and Latin editions, Venice, 1588,
in folio, Mercuriali; Frankfort, 1595, 1621,1624, and 1645,
in folio; Geneva, 1657, in twro vols. folio; Leyden, 1665,
in two vols. 8vo; the Variorum edition, Vienna, 1743-49,
in two vols. folio, Stephen Mack. 3. Latin editions, Rome,
1525, in folio, Calvo; Rome, 1549, 1610, 1619, in folio;
Basil, 1526, in folio; Venice, 1545, in folio, the version of
Cornarius ; Basil, 1558, in folio ; Venice, 1575, in folio,
Marinelli; Frankfort, 1596, in 8vo, Foes ; Altenburg, 1806,
in three vols. 8vo, Pierer, with a learned dissertation on the
state of medicine before the time of Hippocrates. 4. Greek
534 HIP
Hippo- and French edition, Paris, 1811, 1815, in four vols. 12mo.
crene 5, Numerous editions in French and other modern lan-
II guages.
tus y' HIPPO CRENE. See Helicon.
v j HIPPODROME was the place where the horse and
v ^ cliariot races of the Greeks took place. The way in which
the Hippodrome was constructed is found in Pausanias,
though there is some difficulty in making out precisely the
details. The slope of a hill was chosen to form one side of
the Hippodrome; opposite to this, and forming an oblong,
was raised an artificial mound, connected with the slope by
a semicircular termination. At the extremity opposite to
to the semicircle was the portico. From this end the cha¬
riots started, and as they kept to the right side, it was made
a little longer than the left side. Thus each pair, the one
of which started from the right side, and the other from the
left, would have equal spaces to run. However, consider¬
able numbers of chariots were often competing in the same
race. In this case it is supposed that while the first pair
started simultaneously, the second pair started just at the
moment when the first were abreast of them, and so of the
others. Each chariot had its own stall, from which it started
when a cord was removed from before it. A bronze eagle
and dolphin were used as a signal at the time of starting.
The eagle was raised into the air, while the dolphin was
lowered. Forming part of the axis of the Hippodrome was
a wall with a goal at each end. Round this the chariots
were required to pass several times. Along the sides of
the Hippodrome seats were ranged for the spectators, spe¬
cial seats being reserved for the magistrates. See Amphi¬
theatre, and Circus.
HIPPOGRYPH, a mythical animal, represented as a
winged horse, with the head of a griffin. This conception
has been revived by Ariosto, and still later has been repro¬
duced by Wieland.
HIPPOLYTE, St, a town of France, department of
Card, and arrondissement of Le Vigan, 20 miles E. by S.
ot the town of that name. It lies at the foot of the Ce-
vennes, near the source of the Vidourle. Its chief manu¬
factures are silk and cotton stockings and woollen cloths.
Pop. 5700.
HlPPOLYTUS, a bishop and ecclesiastical writer be¬
longing to the first half of the third century, whose name
has recently acquired distinction and importance in connec¬
tion with a recovered treatise of great value. The history
ot this treatise is full of interest. Among various other
Greek manuscripts brought from Mount Athos to Paris in
1842, and deposited in the great national library, there was
an anonymous one of the fourteenth century, written on
cotton paper, and registered as a Book on all Heresies.
It failed tor some time to attract any special notice; but
the attention of M. Emmanuel Miller, a functionary of the
institution, being at length excited by some fragments of
Pindar, and of an unknown lyric poet which it contained,
he was led to examine it more closely, and to adopt the con¬
clusion that it was a lost treatise of Origen. Under this
persuasion he offered it for publication to the University of
Oxford, from whose press it appeared in 1851, under the
editorship of M. Miller, and bearing the title OrigenisPhilo-
sophumena, sive omnium Hceresium Befutatio. Shortly
afterwards it was studied by the Chevalier Bunsen, and
after a careful and elaborate investigation it was conclu¬
sively established by him to be a genuine work of the third
century, and that its real author was not Origen but Hippo-
lytus, a presbyter of the Church of Rome, and bishop of
the harbour of Rome, Portus. This conclusion has been
confiimed by the combined labours of other scholars, espe¬
cially of Dr Duncker and Dr Jacobi in Germany, and of
Dr Wordsworth in England.
Previous to the recovery of this treatise Hippolytus can
be said to have had little more than a mythical existence.
II I P
His name was indeed a celebrated one in early Christian Hipponax.
history. He was known to have been a bishop ; but so
little else was positively known of him that it remained a
matter of uncertainty whether the seat of his labours was
in the east or in the west. Neander {C. H., vol. ii., p. 471)
considered the evidence on each side to be pretty equally
balanced. Yet it appears to us, on the whole, that the
evidence clearly inclined in favour of the latter, even before
the recent discovery. The conjecture of Le Moyne, that
the Portus Romanus associated with the name of Hippo¬
lytus was Aden in Arabia,—a conjecture which Cave au¬
thoritatively carried out,—Bunsen has plainly shown to have
rested on no better foundation than a misinterpretation of
one of the passages in Eusebius, in which Hippolytus is
mentioned (Huseb., vi. 20). At any rate there can now
remain no doubt, after the researches of Bunsen, that the
author of the treatise Against all the Heresies—the Hippo¬
lytus of Eusebius and Jerome—was bishop of Portus, the
new harbour of Rome, on the northern bank of the Tiber,
lying opposite to the more ancient Ostia. At this time it
had become a place of considerable population and import¬
ance—a bustling harbour of all nations. Here Hippolytus
lived and laboured. He was a disciple of Irenaeus, and his
Greek education under that teacher had peculiarly fitted
him to act as a sort of missionary bishop among the repre¬
sentatives of the various nations that were here congregated.
While occupying a perfectly independent position in his
own episcopal sphere of labour, he was at the same time a
presbyter of the Roman Church, and shared in the delibe¬
rations of the Presbyterial council which met in that city.
In the ninth book of the recovered work, which treats of
the heresies prevalent at Rome in Hippolytus’s own time,
and especially of that of Noetus, patronized by two Roman
bishops, Zephyrinus and Callistus, and zealously opposed
by Hippolytus, we have a very lively and graphic picture
of the ecclesiastical state of Rome in the beginning of the
third century. For this, however, the reader must be re¬
ferred to the treatise itself or to the Chevalier Bunsen’s
analysis and reproduction of it in his third letter to Arch¬
deacon Hare on the subject, contained in the first volume
of his elaborate work on Hippolytus and his Age. His other
works survive for the most part only in fragments.
Hippolytus, as he is seen in this work, claims undoubt¬
edly to be regarded as a distinguished father of the Ante-
Nicene Church. Of unwavering moral intrepidity, genuine
honesty of character, and sense and talents inferior to none
of his contemporaries, he was at the same time the prede¬
cessor of Origen in speculative power and comprehension,
as well as in oratorical pretensions. He combined with
more depth and knowledge than his illustrious teacher the
philosophical enlightenment which Irenseus had kindled in
the west. His familiarity with the course of Grecian spe¬
culation was especially serviceable in enabling him to trace
the origin of the various heresies to whose refutation he
devoted himself. He was the first preacher of note in the
Roman Church, having elevated the mere popular exposi¬
tion of the gospel, which was all that prevailed in the shape
of a sermon in that church before his time, into the set
homiletic address, characterized by science and eloquence,
which “ was his favourite mode,” according to Bunsen, “of
treating exegetical and polemical subjects.” (j. t—H.)
HIPPONAX, a celebrated Greek satirist, was a native
of Ephesus ; and flourished in the latter half of the sixth
century b.c. He was an ardent lover of freedom, and
wrote and spoke so boldly in its favour, that Comas and
Athenagoras, the tyrants of Ephesus, expelled him from his
birth-place. He took refuge in Clazomenae, where he lived
and died in great poverty. Hipponax was one of the bit¬
terest of all the Greek writers of satire, and in the classics
the epithet “ Pikros” is generally attached to his name.
He found the subjects of his satire in the effeminacy and
HIE
Hippopo- immorality of his countrymen, and in their superstitious
tumus idolatry. The faithlessness of women was also a favourite
jj|re theme for his sarcasm ; and in two of his remaining lines
^ , he says “ a husband has two happy days in his life, one
when he welcomes home his bride, and another when he
follows her to the grave.” Hipponax was in person little,
and marvellously ugly, and the Chian sculptors Athenis and
Bupalus amused themselves by exaggerating and caricatur¬
ing his ugliness. The enraged poet avenged himself by
directing against them the most poisonous shafts in his
quiver; and it is said, though the story is probably unfounded,
that Bupalus, in shame and despair, committed suicide.
After the death of Hipponax it was suggested by Alcaeus
of Messene that his tomb should be strewed with thorns and
thistles, instead of roses and vine-leaves; and another epi¬
grammatist warns the traveller against approaching it too
closely, lest they rouse the wasp sleeping within. Of Hip-
ponax’s poems only about a hundred lines are extant. They
have been preserved by Welcker in his Hipponactis et
Ananii iambographorum Fragmenta, Getting., 1817, and
have been published by other scholars of Welcker’s day,
such as Bergk and Meineke. They serve to show that the
reports of his bitterness are not unfounded, but that he
could relieve the severity of his satire by an abundant play
of light and graceful fancy.
Hipponax introduced a curious change in the structure
of the old iambic trimeter. In the last foot he substituted
for the iambus a trochee or a spondee, giving the verse
a lame or limping rhythm, from which it was called cho-
liambus or iambus scazon. He also takes similar liberties
with many others of the metres which he employs, and the
innovation, though strange, is said to be well adapted to the
general effect of the iambus, as it was moulded in the hands
of Hipponax.
HIPPOPOTAMUS. See index to Mammalia.
HIRE, Philippe de la, a distinguished French geo¬
meter of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, was
born in Paris in 1640. His father, Laurent de la Hire,
was a painter and engraver of considerable note, and the
son’s education was at first shaped so as to fit him for the
same career. In his twentieth year La Hire made a pil¬
grimage into Italy, and while at Venice fell in with the
Conic Sections of Apollonius, which determined his taste
for mathematical study. His own treatise on this subject,
published in 1685, under the title of Sectiones Conicce in
Novem Libros Distributee, is the most important of all his
works. In 1678 he was admitted into the Academy of
Sciences, and was afterwards appointed by Colbert to assist
Picard in conducting the surveys for a general map of
Franee. A few years later it devolved upon him to continue,
along with Cassini, the measurements of the meridian be¬
gun by Picard in 1669, and the work was progressing hap¬
pily till stopped by the untimely death of Colbert. He was
subsequently employed on a great number of public works,
of which the most important were connected with the sup¬
ply of water to Versailles and Paris. “ France might have
had in La Hire,” says Fontenelle, “ an entire Academy of
Sciences.” He was a quiet man, of great practical pru¬
dence, very reserved in manner, and of the most spotless
integrity of personal character. His piety was as much
admired by his friends as his probity. He was twice mar¬
ried, and two of his sons were admitted into the Academy
of Sciences, the one on the score of his geometrical, the
other of his botanical knowledge. La Hire died suddenly
in 1718. His principal works are—
Nouvdle Methode de Geometric pour les Sections des Superficies
Coniques et Cylindriques, Paris, 1673, in 4to; De Cycloide Opuscu-
lum, ibid. 1676, in 4to; Nouveaux Elements des Sections Coniques,
les Lieux Geometriques, la construction ou affection des Equations,
ibid. 1679, in 12mo ; La Gnomonique, ou Vart de tracer des cad-
rans, ibid. 1682, in 12mo; Sectiones Conicce, in ix. libros distributee,
ibid. 1685, in folio; Tabulae Astronomicce, Ludovici Magni jussu et
HIS 535
munificentia exaratce, ibid. 1702, in 4to; L’Ecole des Arpenteurs, Hirpini
avec un Abrege du Nivellement, ibid. 1689, in 8vo; Traite de Me-
canique, ou I on explique tout ce qui est necessaire dans la pratique Hissar.
des Arts, ibid. 1675, in 12mo ; besides a great number of Memoires, \ j
in different journals, and in the Collection of the Academy. La
Hire was also editor of the Traite du Nivellement by Picard ; of the
Traite du Mouvement des Eaux by Mariotte, and joint editor with
Boivin and Thevenot of the Veteres Mathematici Grcec. et Latin.,
1693.
HIRPINI, an inland people of Italy who inhabited the
southern portion of Samnium. They are sometimes re¬
garded as merely a Samnite tribe, by others they are looked
upon as an independent nation. The country they inha¬
bited was the wild and mountainous district traversed by
the Sabatus, Calor, and Tamarus, tributaries of the Vultur-
nus, and on the eastern side of the Apennine ridge, the
upper course of the Aufidus. In the early history of Rome
the Hirpini are found identifying themselves with their
Samnite neighbours against their common foes. They seem
to have been subdued in the early part of the third century
B.c., as in 268 B.c. Beneventum, the key of all their mili¬
tary positions, was colonized by Roman settlers. In the
second Punic War the Hirpini appear in history for the
first time as an independent people. Revolting from their
old conquerors, they joined the Carthaginian invaders, and
though they were unable to recapture their stronghold of
Beneventum, they remained faithful to Hannibal till the de¬
feat at the Metaurus restored the empire of Italy to his
opponents. In the year of that event the Hirpini made
their peace with their old masters by betraying into
their hands the garrisons of their allies. From this time
till the outbreak of the Social War, the Hirpini seemed to
have continued steadfast in their allegiance. On that oc¬
casion, however, they set the example of revolt to the allies,
and might have become formidable enemies, had not the
rapid successes of Sulla induced them to repair their error
by a complete submission. At the close of this war the
Hirpini obtained the franchise, and do not again appear in
history as an independent people. Their chief towns were
Beneventum, iEculanum, Trivicum, Equus Tuticus, Mur-
gantia, and Aquilonia. The most important of these are
given under their respective heads.
HIRSCHBERG, a fortified town of Prussian Silesia,
capital of a cognominal circle in the government of Lieg-
nitz, and 25 miles S.W. of the town of that name, on the
River Baber. It is the seat of the superior courts for the
circle, and a great emporium for linen manufactures and
hosiery. In the town and neighbourhood are bleaching
works, paper-mills, and sugar-refineries; and not far off is
the celebrated watering-place of Warmbrunn. Pop. 7654.
HISPANIA. See Spain.
HISSAR, a town of Hindustan, and the principal place of
a Pergunnah, situated in the British district of Hurreeanah,
within the jurisdiction of the lieutenant-governor of the
N.W. provinces. The country is fertile, but labours under
a scarcity of water, which detracts from its fertility. It is
only watered by one small stream, namely, the Sursutty.
In order to supply the means of irrigation, one of the Af¬
ghan emperors, who lived in the fourteenth century, caused
two canals to be cut, one from the Sutlej, and the other
from the Jumna, both of which joined at the city of Hissar,
whence they are supposed to have been divided into a
number of branches, so that the water was nearly all dis¬
tributed over the lands, and the remainder fell into a lake
called Bhedar. Under the influence of this extensive irri¬
gation the country became fertile, and yielded two abundant
crops in the year. These canals were suffered to fall to
decay, but in 1825 the branch from the Jumna was cleared
out by order of the British government as far as Darbah,
25 miles N.W. of Hissar, to which place it is navigable for
timber rafts. The neighbouring country produces horses,
camels, and cattle. The inhabitants are chiefly Jauts, with
536 HIS
Histiaea the exception of a few Rajpoots; there are also villages
II of Rajpoots who have embraced the Mohammedan reli-
History. gjon_ This district imports matchlocks, swords, coarse
white cloth, salt, sugar, and a small quantity of rice and
spices. The exports are horses, camels, bullocks, and ghee.
During the prosperity of the Mogul government the town
and district were considered the personal estate of the heir-
apparent to the throne. Hissar was built by Sultan Feroz,
who gave previous directions for the digging of the two
canals above mentioned; after which he laid the foundations
of the town and fortress, which he built of stone brought
from the neighbouring hills of Nosa, and completed it in less
than three years. E. Long. 75. 50., N. Lat. 29. 8. (e. t.)
HISTLEA, or Oreus, in Ancient Geography, an im¬
portant city of Euboea, on the northern extremity of the
island, and giving name to the district of Histiseotis. It
was a very ancient city, and like most of the old cities of
Greece, its origin is doubtful and obscure. When the
HIS
Persians were finally expelled from Greece, it passed into Histology
the hands of the Athenians, and when Euboea revolted from ||
that people, and was again subdued, the old inhabitants of History,
the town were expelled, and 2000 Athenian colonists set- ^
tied in their stead. It was at this date that the city ex¬
changed its original name for that of Oreus, by which it was
afterwards more generally known. At the end of the Pelo¬
ponnesian War the descendants of the old inhabitants were
restored by the Spartans, under whose dominion the city
had fallen, and to whom it remained faithful till the battle
of Leuctra, when it revolted from them. In the war be¬
tween Philip and the Greeks Oreus was frequently con¬
tested, and in b.c. 200 it was stormed by the Romans.
Under the Romans Oreus gradually fell into decay. Some
ruins of its fortifications are all that now remain to tell of
its ancient greatness.
HISTOLOGY (tsros texture, Adyos treatise), the sci¬
ence of the minute structure of tissues. See Anatomy.
HISTORY.
History may be considered either as a department of hu¬
man knowledge and intellectual exercise, or as a form of
literary composition. In the observations that follow, we
shall consider it under both these aspects.
I. HISTORY CONSIDERED AS A DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN
KNOWLEDGE AND INTELLECTUAL EXERCISE.
1. Bacon’s famous division of human knowledge or
“ learning,” recognises it as consisting of three parts:—
History, relating itself chiefly to the memory ; philosophy,
relating itself chiefly to the reason or understanding; and
poetry, relating itself chiefly to the imagination. This
distribution, though sometimes objected to, and perhaps
not theoretically perfect, is substantially a good one ; and
it has the advantage of a massive foundation in our po¬
pular and well-understood psychology. It is not, of course,
meant that in history no other faculty than the memory
is called into exercise, any more than it is meant that
philosophy can dispense with the memory and the imagi¬
nation, or that poetry can dispense with the memory and
the reason. What is meant is, that precisely as the mind
may, while still acting as a whole, cast itself at one time by
preference into what may be called the remembering mood,
at another into what may be called the judging or reason¬
ing mood, and at a third into what be called the imagining
or creating mood, so to each of these moods of the total
mind there corresponds a department of possible intellectual
acquisition. History, then, according to this interpretation
of Bacon’s words, is that department of knowledge or intel¬
lectual exercise which lies open to the total mind when it
assumes more especially the remembering or recollecting
mood. In other words, it is the business of history to re¬
cord or remember the past events or transactions of the world
of whatever kind, and, in remembering them, to let them pro¬
duce whatever further effect on the mind is consistent with the
continuance of the mood named memory. This latter part
of the definition is of some importance. The mind may be
strictly and properly in what we have called the remember¬
ing mood ; it may be recalling a past incident and dwelling
on it; and yet, even while the main act is still that of re¬
membering, the impression of the incident is not exhausted
in that act, but there is a certain contemporaneous effect on
the whole mind, including the feelings, the fancy, and the
reason. One may remember with a purpose, or, in remem¬
bering, some feeling, or reasoning, or generalization may
suggest itself; and still the act, as a whole, may be essen¬
tially that of remembering. And so in history. To record
or bring to recollection past events is its characteristic func¬
tion ; but past events cannot be adequately recorded or
brought to recollection, without at the same time affecting
the feelings and the imagination, and without receiving at the
same time some sort of interpretation according to the con¬
stitution of the person remembering, his acquired ideas and
modes of thinking, or his immediate circumstances and pur¬
pose. No man can exercise an act of memory in common life
without doing something more ; nor can it be different with
history, which is recollection, so to speak, on the great
scale.
2. The adequate recollection of any past event or trans¬
action, or of any series of past events and transactions is,
in this sense, history. Hence the forms that history may
assume are infinite. There may be a history of the trans¬
actions of a single individual during twenty-four hours;
there may be a history of a club ; there may be a history of
a parliamentary measure or of one notable passage in the
career of a nation ; there may be a history of a king’s reign,
or of the rise, growth, and decay of some political party.
Thus also we have histories of painting, histories of the
steam-engine, histories of commerce, histories of cookery,
histories of literature, histories of philosophy ; and there is
no reason why we should not have a history of history.
These histories, in which certain orders of past facts are
purposely selected for record and interpretation to the ex¬
clusion of the rest, are called special histories. One variety
of special history—that which concerns itself with the lives
of distinguished individual men—is constituted into a great
department by itself under the name of biography. In all
these varieties of history the purpose is the same—the recol¬
lection of facts exactly as they happened, and in their chro¬
nological order, so as to bring out their full impression and
significance.
3. But though the adequate record of any series of past
facts of whatever kind is, in this wide sense, history, we
understand something different by history proper. By his¬
tory proper, and especially when we distinguish it, as we
generally do, from biography, we understand that kind of
record which has reference to the acts and circumstances
of men, as collected into communities or social masses. On
this point Dr Arnold, in his Lectures on History, has some
pertinent remarks : “ The general idea of history,” he says,
“ seems to me to be that it is the biography of a society ;
it does not appear to me to be history at all, but simply
biography, unless it finds in the persons who are its subject
something of a common purpose, the accomplishment of
which is the object of their common life. History is to the
common life of many what biography is to the life of an in¬
dividual. Take for instance any common family, and its
HIST
History, members are soon so scattered from one another, and are
engaged in such different pursuits, that, although it is pos¬
sible to write the biography of each individual, yet there can
be no such thing, properly speaking, as the history of the
family. But suppose all the members of the family to be
thrown together in one place, amidst strangers or savages,
then there immediately arises a common life, a unity of
action, interest, and purpose, distinct from others around
them, which renders them at once a fit subject for history.
Whether consciously or not, every society must have in it
something of community ; and so far as the members of it
are members, so far as they are each incomplete parts, but,
taken together, form the whole, so far it appears to me their
joint life is the proper subject of history.” According to this
description, history, in its specific sense, is the adequate
record of the collective acts and experiences of men when
they are grouped together into societies. The societies may
be large or small. A club is, to some extent, a society ;
a political party acting together in a state in opposition to
other parties is a society; a beleaguered garrison is a society;
a colony of a hundred individuals or so, engaged in settling
themselves on a distant shore, is a society. In all these cases
there would be the phenomenon of a common or collective
life, resulting from the scattered actions of the individual
atoms composing the society ; and it would be the business
of history to trace this common life, and to exhibit the course
or career of the society as such. In general, however, the
kind of society which is considered a fit object of history, is
that organized society which we call a state, i.e., a society
having a certain political unity within itself, determining
its own laws, and leading so far a distinct existence from
other and surrounding communities, though related to them
more or less. Here, again, the dimensions of the society
which is made the object of study may differ. The entire
ancient state of Athens, the history of which is so splendid,
did not, at its highest prosperity, comprise a population of
above 400,000 persons, slaves included; and mere cities
were often states in the ancient world, with all that charac¬
ter of political unity and independence which is implied in
the notion of a state. The same has been the case in mo¬
dern Italy—as in the republican days of Venice, Florence,
Genoa, &c. But at all times there have been political
unities of much wider extent. Thus the Athenians, the
Spartans, the Thebans, and others, though really political
unities in themselves, and so having separate histories, be¬
came merged, even in their own fancy to some extent, in
that more comprehensive unity called the Greek or Hellenic
nation, the history of which collectively would be a higher
undertaking. Again, even more comprehensive than the
political unity called a nation, have been those vast unities,
known both in ancient and modern times, called empires ;
consisting of aggregates of nations factitiously grasped to¬
gether by conquest, intermarriages of sovereign houses, and
the like. Such empires, whether so constituted as to pre¬
serve to a certain extent the inferior unities of their com¬
ponent parts, or so constituted as to obliterate these unities
and centralize all the functions of government in one spot,
become subjects of history. In short, what history demands
as its appropriate object is any collective mass of human
beings, of whatever size, presenting the characteristics of
political unity, and consequently of common political life.
For most purposes, in the present state of the world, the
typical form of history may be considered to be the history
of a nation. The nation—whether consisting, as in the cases
of Great Britain and France, of twenty or thirty millions of
people, or, as in the case of the modern kingdom of Greece,
of only one or two millions—such is the form of political
unity with which now, and indeed for some ages past, we
are most familiar. Austria, indeed, is an empire or cluster
of nations ; Germany, as such, is a confederacy; and Rus¬
sia, with a large national core, possesses imperial appen-
VOL. XI.
0 R Y. 537
dages. The histories of these states, accordingly, must have History,
a corresponding character. On the whole, however, we may
think of the nation as being the type, at this stage of the
world, of those social aggregates of men whose common life
it is the business of history to observe and relate.
4. The life of a nation, however, may be recorded either
in parts or as a whole. We possess histories of both these
kinds. By the record or history of a nation’s life as a whole,
we mean a record or history which, beginning at the first
moment of the nation’s recognizable existence, follows it
through all its stages of growth, energy, and power, and does
not quit it, until, by absorption into other nations, or by the
entire breaking up of its organization, it may be considered
to have lost its political identity and perished. In a retro¬
spect of the past duration of the world, we see a wave-like
series of such completed national lives. Far back in prime¬
val time, a country or nation called Egypt looms into view ;
for ages it has a visible career peculiar to itself; but at a
certain point, its peculiar organization is dissolved, or nearly
so, before the touch of Greek or Graeco-Macedonian rule;
at that point, therefore, original Egypt may be assumed as
having come to an end; and though other Egypts succeed,
they are new Egypts rather than modifications of the old
one, and must have separate histories. So also the Greek
people ran their course, and though the name remained, the
thing disappeared. So, on a still more extensive scale with
the Romans, the successive stages of whose existence—first
as a community of Central Italy, then as masters of Italy,
then as rulers of a Mediterranean empire, which fell into
ruin by degrees—are so well marked. In such instances we
can have complete histories, corresponding to the complete
biography of an individual man from his birth, through his
youth and manhood, to his old age and death. But in the
case of nations not yet dead, but flourishing and going on,
it is different. The most complete history we can have in
such cases is a history starting from the commencement, or,
as one may say, birth of the nation so far as that can be ascer¬
tained, and carrying the nation on to its present state, what¬
ever that may be. Thus the most complete French history
would be one beginning with Druidical and Roman Gaul, and
exhibiting the successive modifications of this society through
which it hasshaped itself into existing France. Similarly, the
mostcomplete English history would be one commencing with
the Druidical Britain into which Caesar tried to push himself,
and ending with Britain, as it is now figuring in the world.
Such complete histories of nations still running their course
we do have, but they are not numerous. The histories of
such nations are generally presented to us in portions. Thus,
we have histories of France during the reigns of the Bour¬
bons, histories of France from 1789 to 1815, histories of
England from the Norman conquest till the accession of
James I., histories of England during the reign of George
III., and the like. Some point in the national history is
selected, and the narrative is carried on a certain distance
forward from that point.
5. Whichever of these forms is adopted, the true notion
of history still is, that it is the biography of a nation—in the
one case complete, and giving the whole life ; in the other,
representing some portion of the life. The question then
occurs, What constitutes this common or collective life of
the nation, which it is the duty of the historian to trace;
where is it to be sought for; in what facts does it lie
involved ?
6. The answer to this question is as important as it is dif¬
ficult. Generally speaking, one may say that, since the
common or collective life of the nation is the resultant of
all the acts and all the experiences of all the separate in¬
dividuals that have lived in the nation, the larger one’s
knowledge of all these acts and experiences, and, in fact,
of everything however minute in any way relating to any
and all of the individuals of the nation singly, the better will
3 Y
HISTORY.
538
History, the purposes of history be served. No fact is too mean to
be of use—no collection of facts would be too extensive for
the ends of the historian. An adequate recollection, ac¬
cording to our definition of what that means, of all that
has been thought, said, done, or suffered, by all that have
lived in a community from first to last, in proper order—
this would be the absolute ideal of a history of the commu¬
nity. The perception of the common life would be in¬
volved in such a recollection of all that went to constitute
it. But necessity here imposes a limitation. We cannot,
by any amount of research, know all that all the successive
millions forming a community have thought, said, done,
suffered, or seemed ; the facts that we can know, or that,
knowing, we can visibly take into account, are, at best,
in every case, but a miserable percentage of this ideal ag¬
gregate. But, though this consideration impairs the per¬
fection of history, it impairs it only to the same extent that
every form of intellectual practice must be impaired by the
limited nature of the human faculties. The real question
is, Since all cannot be known and remembered, what is it
best to know' and remember ? Since the facts out of which
we must construct our histories in idea are but a small pro¬
portion, a mere remaining shred of that enormous, inter¬
twined infinity of facts which actually went into the his¬
tories while the web was being woven, are there any kinds
or orders of facts which, more than others, it is desirable,
for the purposes of history, to secure and keep hold of?
Seeing that we cannot take account of all, but may take
account of some things, what things may we take account
of, with the greatest likelihood of fulfilling the essential
requirements of history ?
7. The answer is suggested by the definition of history.
If history is the account of the collective life of a nation,
and if we cannot know all the facts that entered into the
constitution of that life, we ought to inquire whether there
are any kinds or orders of facts in which, more than in the
others, the collective vitality of a nation is represented and
embodied. If there are, then, whatever facts we neglect, it
should not be these. But such orders of facts—vital facts
they may be called—there obviously are. In every com¬
munity, for example, though all contribute to the common
life, all do not contribute in an equal degree. Some indi¬
viduals, in every age, either from their endowments or their
circumstances, or from both combined, exert a more power¬
ful influence than the rest—contain in themselves, so to
speak, a larger portion of the general life. Hence it is
one of the rules of history to attend in a particular manner
to the lives and actions of powerful individual men; and it
is always felt that by fastening the regards on such men,
describing their physiognomies and characters, and relating
their movements, the problem of history is simplified, and
its true end is to a considerable extent attained. The uni¬
versal instinct of writers of history recognizes this fact.
Again, besides the agency of powerful individuals, there is
the agency in every society of what may be called power¬
ful physical accidents, such as famines, epidemics, earth¬
quakes, and the like; and also the agency of occasional ac¬
cidents more properly social, such as great inventions and
discoveries made unawares, or almost so. All events of this
kind, producing as they do large effects on the whole com¬
munity at once, are felt to have special claims on the notice
of the historian, and are therefore always commemorated
in histories. Farther, all societies are so constituted that,
in the nature of things, the common vitality is not equally
distributed through all parts of their mass, but the higher
functions of the general life are lodged necessarily more in
one part than in the others. For example, in the ancient
communities, a large portion of the population always con¬
sisted of slaves, upon whom were devolved the lower indus¬
trial functions, while the higher or directing functions were
exercised by an upper order of freemen, and more especially,
within that order, by certain portions of it. Now, though History,
any history of the Athenians would be defective, which did
not contain a suggestion of the existence and the habits of
the slave-population, which did not in fact keep continually
present in the reader’s imagination the thousands of slaves
who were toiling daily underneath that platform of public
life which was occupied by the free demos and its orators,
yet every one knows that the real history of Athens, the
actions which made it illustrious, came out of the votes and
deliberations of this demos. And so, with modifications, in
modern societies. Not only do certain scattered individuals
contain in them such a share of the general vitality that
they may be taken to some extent as representing the
whole; but the arrangements of all communities are such
that, for historical purposes, the attention need not be
equally distributed over all parts, but, provided all parts are
suggested and kept in view, may be most concentrated on
some parts, where the higher functions are localized. In
extension of this remark we may note, that in all histories
it is considered important to have correct lists of the rulers
or chief magistrates, and to have the physiognomy and cha¬
racter of each in succession pretty distinctly sketched. This
is considered necessary, even when the rulers are men per¬
sonally of no particular mark, or goodness, or energy; and
the reason is that, since these men were the principal per¬
sonages in their communities while they lived, the most
conspicuous social objects, the centres of general regard, it
is like reviving part of the consciousness of the generations
which looked at them, to set them up again one after an¬
other in their order. Apart altogether from any effect that
George IV. may have exercised personally on British his¬
tory during his reign, it is to be remembered that, by the
fact of his position, he was during that period an object
much present in the thoughts of the British people; and
hence that, by keeping him in view, we recover, as it were,
so much of the mental habit of his contemporaries. Indeed,
this is the principle on which the practice of dating events
by the reigns of kings and the like is founded.
8. Among the various other ways in which the problem
of history is simplified, none is more important than that
which is afforded by the power of studying the progressive
life of a nation in its art, its literature, and its philosophy or
systematic speculation. In the works of art (whether in mu¬
sic, in painting, in sculpture, or in architecture) which a
nation produces, its thoughts, its tendencies, all that is
most general and characteristic in its intellectual, emotional,
and moral life, is symbolized and embodied; and the due
interpretation of any such series of works of art will reveal
much to the historian. So with literature. The body of
literature bequeathed by a nation is a living abstract of its
moods, its passions, its likings, its aspirations; and a due
acquaintance with a nation’s literature, and, above all, with
its highest national poetry, is essential to one who would
write its history. Farther, and perhaps still more profoundly,
the innermost life of a nation, the very principle of its life
(i.e., its mode of thinking), is to be gathered from the his¬
tory of its philosophy and religion. What is speculation
to-day becomes action to-morrow; and hence the true
thread of a nation’s life is to be found above all in the suc¬
cession of its thoughts and maxims on those subjects which
are of the greatest generality and importance to the human
race. There has been a perception of this among histo¬
rians, but not so distinct as there might be.
9. After all, however, history would be in a somewhat
uncertain predicament, unless it could prescribe to itself a
more definite and rigid path of inquiry than we have yet
indicated. Although the life of a nation is to be studied
in the characters and actions of its great men individually,
in the traditions of great physical occurrences which have
affected it, in the records of its inventions and discoveries,
in accounts of the social habits and movements of its direct-
History.
II I S T O R Y.
539
ing classes, in the portraits and dates of its successive so¬
vereigns, in its art, its literature, and its philosophy, it is to
be studied most authentically and surely in the recorded
series of its public acts. The public acts of a nation accu¬
rately recorded, are the true backbone of every history; and
whatever other information there is, must be arranged
round that. But what are the public acts of a nation? They
are the acts performed by the nation expressly as a nation.
Any general movement of a nation, even when not formal,
may be considered as such an act; but, for all real pur¬
poses, the acts of a nation are to be regarded as those done
in the name of the nation by its government. In every
society that has yet existed on the face of the earth, there
has been a government of some kind or other—a certain
organ or apparatus located somewhere in the body-politic,
and charged, in an express manner, with the performance
of the functions appertaining to the common life. It mat¬
ters not whether the apparatus is a despotic sovereignty
lodged in a single person, or a popular assembly, or an oli¬
garchical council, or a system of combined powers and
checks. Nor does it matter whether the apparatus remains
uniformly the same, or is changed from time to time. So
long as a government officiates for a nation, the nation acts
through it; and hence the attention of the historian must
always be fixed on the government of the nation whose life
he is representing, and he must take its acts as the corpo¬
rate acts of the nation.
10. Now, a nation, through its government, is capable of
two distinct kinds of political actioji,—action referring solely
to itself; and action referring to other nations. In other
words, the public acts of any nation are either acts of home
policy, or acts of foreign or international policy. The dis¬
tinction is a simple and popular one, but it is not the less
true and comprehensive. The historian must never lose
sight of it. He must always keep distinct in his mind these
two series of acts,—the acts of a nation, through its govern¬
ment, relating to its own internal affairs; and the acts of
the same nation, also through its government, having refer¬
ence to other nations. (1.) The acts of a nation relating
to its own internal affairs are of various kinds,—popular agi¬
tations, public discussions, parliamentary debates, delibera¬
tions in council by those who exercise the government,
consultations between the sovereign and his advisers, and
the like ; but the ultimate form which all such acts assume
in every nation is that of decrees, orders, and laws. Wher¬
ever we can find a decree, an order, or a law, there we have
in the most solid and authentic form an exhibition of the
collective life of the nation ; for every such decree, order,
or law, represents the decision come to by the nation
through its rulers upon some point of social necessity aris¬
ing at that moment and occupying more or less the na¬
tional thought. Every law7 represents the nation applying,
at some particular moment, its collective energy and in¬
genuity, or even folly and prejudice, according to the forms
in use, to the determination of some felt social need or
emergency of the moment; and what more intimate exhi¬
bition of the collective life can there be than this ? I he
history of every nation, therefore, is most authentically pre¬
served in its statute-book, i.e., using the word statute-book
in its widest sense, in the continuous series of its written
laws, edicts, regulations, &c. about the entire miscellany of
its domestic matters, such as trade, taxation, crime, educa¬
tion, and the like, including, of course, the provisions re¬
lating to its own constitutional system or mechanism. Here
the historian treads, as it were, on adamant. In other mat¬
ters there may be mistakes and misconceptions; but when
the historian announces the fact, that in such and such a
year, a nation passed such and such an enactment, or re¬
pealed such and such an enactment, he can be sure that he
is on firm ground; and if he can step from one fact of this
kind to another throughout his whole narrative, he has a
solid road-way. (2.) Precisely so it is in matters of inter- History,
national activity. The international activity of countries
takes various forms. War is one form, and it has hitherto
been the form predominant in the history of the world.
“ The history of mankind,” Napoleon III. is reported to
have said, “ is the history of armies.” But commerce is
another form; and diplomacy has in all times found some
scope in arrangements unconnected with war. Just, how¬
ever, as all domestic political activity takes its solid issue
ultimately in laws, enactments, or institutions, so all inter¬
national political activity niay be considered as registering
itself in what are called treaties. The treaties of a nation,
using that word in its largest sense, as including all kinds
of mutual agreements among nations, are, in its external
history, what the body of its written laws is in its internal.
Here also the historian feels his ground firm. A treaty
like that of Utrecht or that of Vienna, is like the balancing
of accounts after a long term of energetic and confused
action. One sees the actual result at last, and can com¬
pare it with the aims and the means.
11. Historians have always attended with some care to
treaties; and, indeed, accounts of great battles and great
campaigns, and of the treaties in which they ended, have
always constituted a large proportion of the matter of our
histories. Perhaps less attention has been paid to the in¬
ternal history of countries as preserved in their statute-
books ; and Mr Froude has recently done good service by
calling attention to this fact, with especial reference to
English history, in one of the Oxford Essays. But there
may be exaggeration even on this side. 1 he end of his¬
tory is to realize and exhibit the whole collective life of a
nation ; and though the main acts of this collective life are
most authentically registered in enactments and treaties,
much of this life, and even of what is most interesting and
significant in it, would elude us, if we did not trace it through
other and more subtle manifestations. For example, the
collective mind and energy of Britain at the present time
would be gathered but meagrely from the current series ot
our parliamentary enactments and diplomatic arrangements;
nor does the whole river of the national life run even in
the procedure which gives rise to these solid results. Hence
the necessity of falling back on all those kinds of matter
which we have already indicated as belonging to history ;
the art, literature, and philosophy of a country, the lives of
its great men, &c. Hence the necessity also of neglecting
nothing that can serve to make the historical recollection
more true, deep, and vivid. A casual anecdote or reported
saying, a glimpse of some old social custom, may often ir¬
radiate a whole tract of past time. The rule, as regards
the preliminary investigation of the facts, is that by all
means one ought to strive to get as close to the transciction
itself as possible; the rule as regards the proportionate
value of the facts so ascertained, is that the “ interest of a
fact is the measure of its historical importance. 1 his last
rule may appear questionable ; but duly understood, it will
be found to be just. What interests one man may not in¬
terest another; but for every individual severally, true his¬
tory may be defined to be whatever of the actual past he
recollects with interest.
12. In order to see what are the chief sources of history,
we have only to express in another form the substance of
what we have been saying. The main sources of history
may be arranged, in the order of their importance, as fol¬
lows :—1. Written or otherwise registered laws and treaties ;
in which are embodied, in their order, the deliberate deter¬
minations of nations with respect to the successive exi¬
gencies, internal and external, through which they passed.
This source is available chiefly for the history of modern
nations; only scraps of the laws and treaties of the ancient
nations remaining to us in their original form. 2. Public
contemporary registers of notable occurrences. These, in
HISTORY.
540
History, the express documentary form, are also most numerous for
modern nations; but, for ancient times, facts may be often
ascertained, and dates may be fixed, from monumental in¬
scriptions, coins, medals, &c. 3. More general accounts
of national transactions, given by those who have recorded
them, and especially by contemporaries and eye-witnesses.
A large proportion of what are called the “original materials”
of all histories consists of such accounts, which are to be exa¬
mined and checked by each other. 4. Authentic accounts
of the physiognomies, lives, and characters of eminent men,
and especially of eminent public men, visibly connected with
national transactions. 5. Remaining works of art, and the
whole surviving literature of a nation, for the period con¬
cerned, both as exhibiting the national tendencies and modes
of thinking, and also as embodying incidentally particles of
historical tact. 6. All miscellaneous sources of information
respecting customs, costumes, food, furniture, occupations,
&c. &c.; under which head, if not under some of the pre¬
ceding, might be included busts, portraits, topographical
views, engravings, and the like.. One may also note here
the occasional possibility that there is of rendering a narra¬
tive of past actions more vivid by actually visiting remark¬
able localities, buildings, &c., or museums of antiquities.
Here the historian can communicate through his senses
with actual remnants of the past. A battle-field is a portion
of the earth’s surface, retaining, as it were, the scar of the
action which passed over it^ an old castle or street is, as it
were, the shell once filled with an old form of life; a suit of
armour with a bullet-hole in it suggests more accurately the
warrior who moved and fought within it. The most ex,ten-
sive use of this help to history is in travelling over countries
which were the scenes of great events, so as to realize the
permanent features of their scenery, whether geological,
botanical, or artificial.
13. Nothing has yet been said of the distinction, recog¬
nised by Bacon, and very generally kept up since, between
the civil and the ecclesiastical history of a nation. That
distinction, however, though convenient, is not fundamental;
and much harm may be done by regarding it as such. Ob¬
viously it is inapplicable to the history of ancient commu¬
nities ; and though, with regard to modern Christian nations,
there are good practical reasons for attending to it, they are
purely reasons of practice, and not of theory. The history
of the church is a splendid subject, and may well be under¬
taken apart; but not because of any real isolation of the
facts included in the series thus chosen for special treatment.
The best history of England would also necessarily be the
best history of the Church of England.
14. Hitherto we have spoken of history, in its typical
form, as the account of the life of one of those organized
social masses called nations; frequently, however, we use
the word history ,in its larger and more generic sense, as in¬
volving an account of the aggregate transactions of many
nations, or indeed, of the whole known world, during a cer¬
tain portion of past time. Thus, Gibbon’s History of the
Decline and Fall of the Homan Empire is virtually a me-
.digeval history—a history of all the chief nations of the world
during a thousand years. And thus we rise to the very
highest conception of history—that implied in such phrases
as “ the teaching of history,” “ no other instance of this is to
be found in history,” and the like. History, in this supreme
sense, is sometimes called universal history ; and the object-
matter of history, so understood, is the whole past course
of humanity from the first moment of its existence to the
present hour, ft his is true history, in the sense we have in
view when we consider it as one of the great divisions of
human knowledge and intellectual exercise. The historian,
in this high sense, as distinct from the philosopher and the
poet, is the man who makes it his aim to have an accurate
continuous knowledge of all that has taken place on this
earth since it contained human beings, and, along with that
knowledge, an adequate sense of its whole significance. History.
Hypothetically, indeed, one might go farther, and say that  ^
the aim of the historian, as such, is to be able to frame to
himself an adequate continuous recollection of all that has
passed in time, not restricting himself to time as connected
with the existence of our species, nor even to time as con¬
nected with our world only. Except, however, in as far as
geology might be made to yield a history of our earth an¬
terior to the appearance of humanity, such an extension of
history is purely ideal; and history can be nothing else for
us than that vast collective life of humanity as a whole, to
which all national histories are but tributaries. Let us glance
at the conditions and divisions of history in this aspect.
15. The first and most difficult problem of universal his¬
tory, as just defined, is to fix the point of its beginning—
i.e., the time of the first appearance and activity of man on
this planet. The unaided condition of the human race now,
as regards this problem, is analogous to that of a man trying
to fix the date of his own birth by his own recollection. He
cannot do so. He may work his memory backwards more
or less distinctly to within a few years of his birth ; but the
date of his birth, and the circumstances of his infant years
he can know only from external information. Very much
so it is with the race as a whole. Regarding the commence¬
ment of the existence of humanity on the earth, and the
subsequent period of what may be called its infancy, the
mere memory of humanity is necessarily at fault. Two
kinds of external information are depended on for filling up
,the blank—the information contained in the Biblical records
of the creation and beginnings of the race; and any col¬
lateral information to be derived from geological researches.
In short, history, at this its first stage, is merged in theology
.and geology; and the historian must have his conclusions
given to him from beyond the field of his own science.
Even so supplied, the conclusions are not numerous.
Hitherto scientific geology has not even professed to be able
to determine anything precise respecting the epoch at which
the earth was first inhabited by man, or respecting the con¬
ditions of its first human inhabitants. And though the He¬
brew Scriptures narrate the story of the creation of mankind,
and of the fortunes of its first generations, with an exactness
not offered by any other record—telling of the creation of
an original pair on one part of the earth’s surface, tracing
the descent of successive generations from that pair, and
describing a great catastrophe or deluge which destroyed all
these generations, with the exception of a single family, who
were left to re-people the world—commentators have found
the utmost difficulty in settling the dates of these events,
and in casting the whole narration into a chronological form.
No fewer than two or three hundred different chronological
schemes have been proposed, all based on calculations from
the durations of the lives of the patriarchs and other nu¬
merical data furnished by the Biblical text. The shortest
of these fixes the date of the creation of man at the year
li.C. 3483; the longest at the year b.q. 6984—a discrepancy
of more than 3000 years, ftftie cause of these differences
is the difference existing in the passages supplying the data,
between the Hebrew text of the Old Testament and the
Samaritan text and the Septuagint version. The chrono¬
logical scheme commonly adopted in British tables of his¬
tory, during the last two centuries, is that of Archbishop
Usher, which fixes the epoch of the creation at b.c. 4004,
and that of the deluge at b.c. 2348.
16. Even after passing beyond this first stage in the his¬
tory of the world, and assuming whatever date for the de¬
luge he considers most probable, the historian still en¬
counters a large tract of time respecting which, unless he
proceeds implicitly on the information given in the Hebrew
Scriptures, he must remain totally silent. Availing himself,
however, of those parts of the Mosaic record which relate to
the re-peopling of the world after the deluge, he is able to
HISTORY.
History, impart a specific character to this portion of universal his-
tory which would otherwise be wanting. He can conceive
it as the period of the dispersion of mankind over the earth,
and of their division into nations, tongues, and peoples.
And here, whatever collateral light elucidating the Mosaic
account he can bring to his assistance so as to vivify his idea
of human activity during this tract of time, must be derived,
not, as before, from the science of geology, but from the
so-called science of ethnology. The object of this science
is to trace the affinities of existing nations and tribes on the
earth, by the study of their physiognomical and physiological
analogies and differences, the analogies and differences of
their habits and mental characteristics, and the analogies
and differences of their languages—so as to exhibit their
genealogical descent, and, if possible, refer them back to
several original stocks, springing from one root. So far as
the science has yet gone, its great doctrine is that, whatever
independent reasons there are for believing in the original
unity of the race, yet, for historical purposes, we must con¬
ceive to ourselves humanity at the dawn of the remotest age
to which its own unaided memory can penetrate, as consist¬
ing, not of one perfectly homogeneous mass aggregated on
one spot, but of several distinct masses already distributed
more or less densely over the various quarters of the earth,
and each broken into minor subdivisions. In accordance
with this general doctrine of ethnology, various schemes
have been proposed. One of the most distinct and con¬
venient is that which avers that, as far back as ordinary re¬
cords carry us, we find the earth, as now, divided out among
three great stocks or varieties of mankind,—the Negro
variety, having the African continent, or the greater part
of it, for their home ; the Mongolian, variety, spread over
Northern, Central, and Eastern Asia, and possibly also ex¬
patiating in America; and the Caucasian variety (this
is an absurd and misleading name, but no proper equivalent
has yet been proposed), possessing Western Asia, Europe,
and the Mediterranean margin of Africa, and subdivided
conspicuously into—(1.) the Semitic or Syro-Arabian
family, clustered together in the Western region of Asia
between the Tigris and the Mediterranean, and in the
adjacent parts of Africa; and (2.) the Japetic or Indo-
European family, more widely distributed in the remaining
Caucasian parts of Asia and Africa, and oyer all Europe^
According, then, to ethnology, the business of the historian
proper commences at that point of past time at which, so
far as we have information, the whole or the greater part
of the earth’s surface can be conceived as overspread by
human inhabitants of one or other of the three main types
still existing—Negroes, Mongolians, or Caucasians ;—these
human inhabitants thinly dispersed perhaps in some parts
as mere loose and roaming tribes, but in others showing a
tendency to aggregate themselves into those larger consoli¬
dations which we call nations. Accepting the common
chronology, he may fix this point, if he pleases, at about
b.c. 2000. At that far-distant period it does appear as if the
earth had been tolerably well overspread by human beings
arranged very much as they now are—Negroes in Africa,
southofMount Atlas; Mongolians in Central, Northern, and
Eastern Asia; and Caucasians in Western Asia, Northern
Africa, and Europe ; and as if already at various points these
human beings had begun to form themselves into compact
national masses.
17. Coming down from this point, it is the business of
the historian to keep his eye roving, as it were, round the
globe, on the watch for the first authentic appearances of
activity on the part of any of those national masses which,
he has already concluded, have been silently and obscurely
forming themselves at different points on its surface. It
is with communities and nations that the historian has to
deal; and not till the earth furnishes him with at least one
such community or nation on which he can fasten his atten-
541
tion, does his work properly commence. Now, here again, History,
there are differences among historians. Some believe that,
by means of records and monuments, we can carry back the
histories of certain ancient nations as far as b.c. 2000, if not
farther; others, more sceptical, doubt if we can go as far
back as b.c. 1000, or even b.c. 800, and regard the tradi¬
tions of events and the lists of kings, &c., by means of which
certain of the ancient nations pushed the retrospect of their
own respective histories beyond that point, as nothing more
than mythology and legend. Of late this historical scepti¬
cism has certainly been exaggerated ; and the researches of
archaeologists seem gradually to be verifying the belief that,
though on the whole the period between B.c. 2000 and
b.c. 800 is the domain of mythology, yet even in that period
we can lay down, as it were, a causeway of solid fact re¬
specting certain individual nations. Without entering on
this controversy (which, indeed, can only be conducted sa¬
tisfactorily by discussing the antiquity of each nation apart),
let us enumerate those nations which, by general consent
hitherto, have been reckoned as the most ancient in the
world, and, as such, the first objects of the historian’s soli¬
citude:—1. In the great expanse of Negro humanity, con¬
ceived as possessing Southern and Central Africa from time
immemorial, the only native consolidation that presents itself
in early times with even a possible claim on the separate at¬
tention of the historian is that of the so-called Ethiopians,
of whom we hear as a very ancient nation lying far inland
beyond Upper Egypt. 2. Glancing over the vast Mongolian
tracts of Asia and America, the historian encounters glimpses
here and there at an early period of nations or aggregates of
tribes under the vague names of Scythians and the like ; but
the only permanent and important consolidation whose an¬
tiquity, as maintained by itself, he feels bound to investi¬
gate, is that of the Chinese. The Mexicans and Peruvians
of America do not come into view till comparatively modern
times; so that, to all intents and purposes, America is ex¬
ploded from ancient history. 3, Passing to the Caucasian
regions of Western and Southern Asia, Northern Africa, and
Europe, the historian is struck by the difference which these
regions present. Here, instead of one nation looming into
his view, he finds a considerable number of distinct nations
contemporaneously or in swift succession competing for his
notice. First, far to the east, and to a great extent isolated
from the rest, are the Indians, a primeval mass of the Ja¬
petic or Indo-European race, at least claiming a high anti¬
quity, which, like that of the Chinese, requires to be investi¬
gated. Next, clustered together in what we have defined
as the Semitic or Syro-Arabian portion of the general Cau¬
casian area—i.e., in Western Asia, between the Mediter¬
ranean and the Tigris, and in the adjacent parts of Africa—
are a group of Semitic nations, among which the most con¬
spicuous are the Egyptians, the Hebreivs, the Phoenicians,
and the Assyrians and Babylonians, Lastly, in the remain¬
ing Indo-European portions of Asia, a little later in point
of time, Japetic nations, such as the Medes and Persians
of the Iranian table-land, and the Lydians of Asia Minor,
are discerned rising into importance; while, if the attention
is extended into Europe, the beginnings of such nations as
the Greeks, the Etruscans, See., are at the same time visible.
18. The first portion or division of universal history, there¬
fore, is that which collects and narrates all that can be ascer¬
tained respecting the origin and early transactions of these
primeval consolidations of mankind on our earth’s surface, up
to that point at which their histories cease to be separate,
and appear to become involved, to some extent at least, in one
general movement, the tracing of which may more properly be
made the business of the remaining parts of history. Now
there pan be no difference of opinion as to the geographical
region in which this general movement presented itself—
the first heavings, as it were, of humanity in its efforts to
assume that common course which it was to maintain through-
542
HISTORY.
History, out all time. It was not in Negro Africa, it was not in
Mongolian Asia, it was not in Japetic Europe ; it was, be¬
yond all question, in that portion of Western Asia (adja¬
cent Africa included; and, indeed, the Nile was always
accounted an Asiatic river by the ancient geographers)
which we still think of most when we speak of “ the Orien¬
tal nations,” and in which, as we have just stated, a cluster
of distinguished Semitic nations was in contact with one or
two Japetic ones, or rather with the elements of such.
Every schoolboy knows that the Indians and the Chinese,
whatever their antiquity and importance, stand apart and
isolated to a great extent from the regular course of ancient
history, so far as we can trace it; and that the true begin¬
nings of “ world-history,” as such, are to be sought for among
the mutual conflicts of those famous nations clustered to¬
gether in smaller masses on that portion of the East beyond
or near the Levant, where, as Napoleon alleged, the human
soul had ever throbbed most powerfully—the Egyptians,
the Hebrew's, the Phoenicians, the Assyrians and Babylo¬
nians, and the Medes and Persians. When we try to fix,
however, the date or epoch at which we are to account the
mere separate histories of these nations to have ended, and
the general movement to have begun, there is greater room
for difference. From the earliest times of which we have
any glimpse, these nations, or at least the Semitic ones,
were warring with each other, and making conquests. We
hear of early Egyptian conquests, of early Assyrian con¬
quests, and even of early Ethiopian conquests. The Assy¬
rians, in particular, stand forth in our schemes of universal
history as the first people who pursued a regular and known
career, aiming at the subjugation and political combination
of the elements that lay around them. In our traditional
schemes of universal history we have presented to us three
successive Assyrian monarchies—the first, beginning shortly
after the period assigned to the deluge, and ending some¬
where about B.c. 2000, when a conqueror, Ninus, extended
it immensely so as to form a great empire, with Nineveh
for its capital ; the second, beginning at the date of this
Ninus, and lasting till the death of a luxurious monarch
called Sardanapalus, b.c. 876, when the empire was dis¬
membered ; and the third, a monarchy of lesser dimensions,
founded amid the ruins of the second, and lasting till the
destruction of Nineveh, b.c. 606, by its subjects the Medes
and Babylonians, under the Babylonian viceroy Nabopo-
lassar. After this event, according to the same schemes of
history, the unity of historic interest is centred in the so-
called Babylonian monarchy, founded by Nabopolassar,
and maintained and extended by his son Nebuchadnezzar
and other successors, till the year b.c. 538, wdien the Medes
and Persians, who had in the meantime risen to a position of
some importance, captured Babylon, and began a new
Oriental rule. Now the historian, after due investigation,
may, if he chooses, date the commencement of world-his¬
tory as such either from the last Assyrian monarchy, or
from the Babylonian monarchy which superseded it. For
many reasons, however, in the present state of our know¬
ledge, it seems to us that it would be better to regard the
general political movement of the human race, as beginning
rather at the point where for the first time the mastery is
seen transferred to a nation of the Japetic or Indo-Euro¬
pean race—i.e., at the overthrow of the Babylonian empire
by the Medes and Persians, b.c. 538—and the establishment
of that Medo-Persian empire, which, in the hands of Cyrus
the Great (died b.c. 529) and his successors Cambyses
(b.c. 529-521), and Darius (b.c. 521-48r>), became orga¬
nized by farther conquests, in which the Lydians were in¬
cluded, into the vast combination known as the Persian em¬
pire. According to this view, Cyrus is the first hero of
universal history, as such ; and the Persians are the first to
lead the march of the general historic evolution. The best
arrangement, then, as we think, for the purposes of univer¬
sal history would be one which would constitute in the first History,
place a great division by itself, under the name of Prim- v-—
eval Ancient History; assigning to this division the
duty of collecting all that can be ascertained respecting the
beginnings of those early consolidations of the race which
we have enumerated, and of narrating their several histo¬
ries, either in parallel lines where they keep separate, or
otherwise where they commingle, on to that point (say the
reign of Darius) where they merge in the authentic unity
of the Persian empire.
19. Beyond this, the historian’s course is so clear that it
may be indicated briefly. The Persian monarchy, includ¬
ing all Asia from the Indus to the ASgean, precipitated itself
upon Europe, thus determining that the world’s pedigree
should be continued through the Japetic nations of the
West. When Darius (b.c. 490) attempted to conquer the
Greeks, the earth changed its historic centre. The Greek
and Hellenic race, already so nobly prepared for its honour¬
able office (and, for the purposes of the universal historian,
all Grecian history anterior to B.c. 490 would here come in
by way of retrospect, including any authentic matter that
might be ascertained respecting the Trojans and other
Pelasgian nations of Asia Minor and Southern Europe), was
inaugurated into that office at the battle of Marathon ; and
for a considerable period onward the main thread of uni¬
versal history has to be traced in the History of Greece.
This history, of which the Graeco-Macedonian dominion of
Alexander the Great and his successors may be viewed as
a prolongation under different conditions from those which
existed while the Athenians, the Lacedaemonians, the
Thebans, &c., acted as separate or as confederate states,
closes with the appearance of the Romans as a conquering
people out of Italy. Transferring his regards to this impe¬
rial people (and here again the anterior of Italy itself, while
the Romans were being cradled in it, as well as the by-past
histories of the Carthaginians and other Mediterranean
nations left out of the Persian empire, and of that of the
Macedonians, but about to be included in that of the
Romans, will be best managed by way of retrospect), the
universal historian has a clear path in Roman History, as
far as the fourth or fifth century of our era ; at which point,
by general consent, Ancient History closes, in the disin¬
tegration of the Roman empire by the northern races, and
the commencement of a new order of things.
20. Onwards from this point there is no theoretical dif¬
ficulty, though the complexity of the movement, arising
from the multitude of the nations taking part in it, may oc¬
casion a practical one to the historian. Modern History,
commencing say at the year 395 of the Christian era, when
the Roman empire, on the death of Theodosius, was per¬
manently divided into the two empires of the West and East,
consists, as all know, of two parts,—Mediceval History,
which carries on the general movement from a.d. 395, at
which time the empire of the West was already tottering
before the attacks of the Goths and other Germanic peoples,
to a.d. 1453, when the taking of Constantinople by the
Turks put an end to the long-surviving empire of the East;
and Recent Modern History, carrying on the movement
from a.d. 1453 to the present time. Under both these
heads, by keeping up with due skill the distinction between
the “ History of the West ” and the “ History of the East,”
the historian is able to include everything in its proper
place. Thus, under Medieeval History, the “ History of
the West,” commencing with a survey of the Roman em¬
pire of the West at the period of its decay, then passes on
to an account of the Germanic peoples who were to be its
destroyers, details the actions of these peoples in disrupting
the empire, and forming the new societies of France, Italy,
Spain, Britain, Germany, &c., and conducts the conjoint
story of these societies through the eras of Charlemagne,
Hildebrand, &c., to the eve of the Reformation; while the
HISTORY.
History. “ History of the East ” (the necessary connections being
' exhibited throughout) includes the history during the same
period of the Byzantine empire, the related histories of the
Arabs, Tartars, and Turks, and to some extent that of the
Slavonian nations. So, under Recent Modern History,
there may be assigned to the department of “ the West” all
the transactions, national and international, of the occidental
nations of Europe since 1453, including, as an important
part of the story, an account of their colonizing energies as
543
exhibited in Africa, Asia, and, above all, in America—now History,
for the first time added to the theatre of history; while to
the department of “ the East” may be assigned the narra¬
tive of Turkish domination, and of interrupting Persian
conquests, together with the necessary survey up to the
present hour of the rest of native Asia.
21. It may be well to exhibit in a tabular form the di¬
visions of universal history as they have been sketched in
the foregoing paragraphs.
HISTORY
consists of '
/ r-
I. ANCIENT HISTORY,
consisting of 
Primeval Ancient History, includ¬
ing, after a sufficient ethnographical
survey of the globe at the earliest pos¬
sible date, the several histories of the
most ancient known nations, such as
the Ethiopians, the Indians, the Chi¬
nese, the Egyptians, the Hebrews, the
Phoenicians, the Assyrians and Baby¬
lonians, the Lydians, the Medes and
Persians, together with an account of
the mutual actions of some of these upon
each other, which resulted, after a pre¬
liminary era of Assyrian and Babylonian
domination, in the formation of the
Persian empire (b.C, 538—485).
Z1-
II. Classical Ancient History ; subdi- /
vided into      \ £.
Grecian History, beginning with the ne¬
cessary retrospect of the history of the
Grecian lands, and of the lands related
to them prior to B.C. 490, and then car¬
rying on the general movement, first
through the true Hellenic, and then
through the Graeco-Macedonian era, as
far as B.C. 168 or thereby.
Roman History, involving a like retro¬
spect of Italy and of the parts of the
Mediterranean world related to it (Car¬
thage, Spain, &c.), as far as B.C. 168,
and then carrying all the historic world
on, directly or by implication, as far as
A.D. 395.
I. Mediaeval History; from a.d. 395
till a.d. 1453, divisible into 
/ 1. The Mediaeval History of the TTe^t, including
an account of the action of the Gothic
races on the Roman empire of the West,
and the histories of the societies of
France, Italy, Spain, Britain, Germany,
/ &c., formed by that action, severally and
conjointly,till the eveof the Beformation.
2. The History of the East, including that of
the Byzantine empire, and the related
histories of the Arabs, the Tartars, the
Turks, and also, so far, of the Slavo-
' nians.
II. MODERN HISTORY,
consisting of 
II. Recent Modern History ; from a.d.
1453 till the present time, also divisi- \
ble into  
I 1. The Recent History of the West, continuing
that of the occidental nations of Europe
severally and conjointly since 1453, and
exhibiting these nations, and especially
the Anglo-Saxon race, expatiating in
Africa, Asia, and America, and there,
and most notably in the last, grafting
new nationalities and new forms of
civilization.
2. The Recent History of the East, comprising
that of the Turkish empire, and what¬
ever references to China and other dis¬
tricts of Asia are necessary to complete
our view of the present state of the
whole world.
Of course far more minute subdivisions than are indicated
in this table would be necessary to make it perfect. Thus
Roman History is divisible into the periods of the Common¬
wealth and the Empire ; Western Mediaeval History is divi¬
sible into the Frankish Period and the Feudal Period;
ind the History of the United States and of other American
ibrmations stands out as something more than a mere ap¬
pendix to the recent history of the West—a kind of new de¬
velopment of humanity in its course towards the future.
22. The historian, then, as distinct from the poet or the
philosopher, is the man who, having some such scheme of
the whole past course of humanity in his mind, can fill it up
with a minute and accurate knowledge of all the facts con¬
stituting its separate parts, so as to embrace the whole career
of the world, from the primeval period of darkness onwards
through classical, mediaeval, and modern times, in one vast
continuous recollection. Such men there have been and
are, though naturally, as the world goes on, their number
must become smaller and smaller. Niebuhr was such a
man ; and indeed all great scholars of ancient or modern
544 HIS T
History, times have been men of this class. The terms “learning”
^ or “ erudition,” as we now use them, are, in this sense, but
synonyms for historical knowledge, or rather for parts of
that knowledge; for what are our philologists but men of
colossal memories for certain orders of those facts which
universal history includes ?
23. But is the historian merely a man of overloaded
memory ? All that enormous store of facts having been
slowly acquired and treasured up, do they lie in his mind
with no more of cohesion than is involved in the mere
order of place and time in which they came into being ?
Certainly they ought not to do so ; and it is to the discredit
of the person pretending to be a historian if they do.
Memory, as we have said, is but the name for a certain
mood of the total mind ; and, unless therefore the facts of
universal history are themselves such as to be positively in¬
capable of any other organization than that implied in the
accidental order of their individual juxtaposition and suc¬
cession, there is no reason why history should not be some¬
thing more than a mere vast register of dates and particu¬
lars. We invariably assume that it is something more.
We speak of “ the lessons ” of history. Washington, when
the future organization of the United States was being dis¬
cussed, drew up a list of all the most notable confederacies
of states known in the world, in order that, by studying the
constitution and history of each, he might assist his con¬
clusion as to the best constitution for the thirteen American
colonies. And so every day we appeal to precedents, and
draw inferences from the past as to the proper course in
existing social and political emergencies. We even define
history as “ philosophy teaching by example.” And what
does all this indicate but the universality of the belief that,
as there is a certain invariable order of nature in the physi¬
cal world, so there is in the historical or social world ; that
in this world also like effects must follow like causes, so
that, when circumstances are the same, we have a right to
infer that results will be the same ? Generalizing this be¬
lief, we speak of the “ course of humanity,” of “ the career
of the race,” of “ the movement of human affairs,” and the
like ; all which phrases imply that certain conclusions as to
the nature and connexions of the facts recollected are in¬
volved in the recollection.
24. Speculations having reference to the mutual connec¬
tions and the general bearing of the facts of past history as
a whole, form what is called The Philosophy of History.
There has always been some such philosophy. The ancient
Greek historian Thucydides, for example, not only relates
facts, but reasons about them ; that is, he is fond of refer¬
ring historical effects to what he considers their causes, and
of drawing general conclusions from the story which he is
telling. On this account he is often called a philosophical
historian. But all the ancient historians, not mere annalists,
are to some extent philosophical, in the same sense ; that is,
they mix reflections with their narrative, and recognise con¬
nections between causes and effects. Every one of them
proceeds on the notion that, where social circumstances are
similar, social results will be similar. Such men as Aristotle
went much further, and tried, by studying the constitutions
of different communities, and their effects on their pro¬
sperity, to establish general principles as to the best forms
of government for a body-politic, and the probable destinies
of this or that state. Moreover, the religious mind in all ages
has always recognised a certain order in the affairs of nations,
a certain course and tendency in the lives of communities
as well as in the lives of individuals. Every ancient com¬
munity fancied its fortunes to be under the guardianship of
some deity or deities, the action of whose will and purpose
might be discerned in everything that befel it. In modern
times the notion of a Providence regulating human affairs,
and guiding the destinies of nations, has been familiar to
all noble and great minds. “ What are all our histories, and
0 R Y.
records of actions of past times,” said Cromwell, “ but God History,
manifesting himself that he hath shaken, and tumbled ^
down, and trampled under foot whatsoever He hath not
planted?” And in the Christian view of Providence this
notion takes a much more specific form ; so that all history
is viewed as the gradual unfolding of that Divine scheme
of which Christianity is the essence.
2o. But while a philosophy of history in this sense has
always existed, the idea of history as an inductive science—
the idea of regarding the phenomena of society as happen¬
ing according to certain fixed laws, which may be ascer¬
tained to some extent by observation, like the laws of phy¬
sical nature—is comparatively recent. The honour of first
distinctly expounding this idea is generally assigned to an
Italian thinker, Vico (1688-1744), who in the year 1725
published a work entitled Scienza Nuova, or “ Principles of
a new Science.” In this work, which, with much that was
obscure and vague, contained many brilliant perceptions,
Vico developed the notion of the possibility of arriving at
fixed laws of social growth and decay by observing the
actual course of communities. He was very sanguine in
his hopes of the extent to which this science might be
carried. Making it his fundamental maxim that when cir¬
cumstances are the same results will be the same, he be¬
lieved that after a sufficient study of the past we might be
able to predict the future so certainly that we might even
calculate the duration of a nation’s existence. He believed
that by an examination of the histories of past states it
would be possible to find out the necessary and eternal
career through which, with certain variations, all states
must pass ; and he believed that in the same way the law'
of the movement of humanity as a whole might be ascer¬
tained. Subsequent philosophers, both in France and in
Germany, some of them without any knowledge of Vico’s
speculations, pursued a similar train of thought. Montes¬
quieu, for example, did much by his inquiries into the effects
of climate and the like upon the social forms and habits of
nations (1748), to accustom people to a scientific manner of
looking at history. Herder also, in his Ideas towards a
Philosophy of History (1774), helped forward the same
speculation. But perhaps the broadest and deepest asser¬
tion during last century of the possibility of reducing the
phenomena of society and history, as well as any other kind
of phenomena, within the scope of a science, was that made
by Kant in his Essay entitled Idea of a Universal History
in a Cosmopolitical Point of View (1784). The following
are one or two sentences from this Essay :—“ Whatever be
the conception of the liberty of the will which one may form
in a metaphysical point of view, its phenomena—human
actions—are determined, just as well as every other kind of
natural events, according to universal laws of nature. It is
to be hoped that history, which is occupied with the narra¬
tion of these phenomena, will, when it contemplates the
play of the liberty of the human will on the large scale, dis¬
cover a regular course in it; so that what seems irregular
and capricious in individual cases shall appear, as regards
the whole species, as a continually progressive though slow
unfolding of its original tendencies. Thus marriages, births,
and deaths, seem—as the free-will of man has so great an
influence on them—to be subject to no rule according to
which their number can be previously determined by
reckoning; and yet the yearly tables of them in great na¬
tions evince that they happen just as much according to
constant laws of nature as the equally inconstant rains
whose happening cannot be determined singly, but which on
the whole do not fail to maintain the growth of plants, the
flow of rivers, and other dispositions of nature, in a uniform,
uninterrupted course One cannot forbear a
certain indignation at seeing the actions of men represented
on the theatre of the great w'orld ; and, notwithstanding the
wisdom of individuals appearing here and there, at finding
HISTORY.
History, at last everything in the gross composed of madness, of child-
s—ish vanity, and frequently of childish wickedness and rage of
destruction. There is here no expedient for the philosopher
but that of endeavouring to discover a design of nature in
this nonsensical course of human affairs ; so that a history of
creatures who proceed without a plan may nevertheless be
possible, according to such a determinate plan of nature.”
26. The idea thus propounded by a few of the most ori¬
ginal minds of last century has since passed into the general
belief of all thinkers, so that all are now prepared to regard
the term history as including not merely the vast miscellany
of the individual facts of the past, but also whatever body of
truths or principles relative to the action of men in societies
can be obtained by a sound study and fair generalization of
these facts. Hitherto, however, notwithstanding the pre¬
valence through Europe, and more especially in France, of
a spirit of historical generalization arising from this new
view of history, the body of such ascertained historical
truths or principles is very small. The cause of this is the
vast complexity of the facts which are the objects of social
science. If in the science of chemistry we are still only in
the process of arriving at laws and principles, how can we
expect to be far advanced in the task of discovering the
laws and principles of phenomena so much more complex
than those of chemistry as are presented by human society.
27. Certain conclusions more or less certain respecting
the laws of social equilibrium and social movement we have
nevertheless arrived at. The principles of political eco¬
nomy, for example, so far as they have been established by
those who have prosecuted this department of inquiry dur¬
ing the last century, may be regarded as inductions or
generalized expressions of social facts of a particular order
—those relating to social wealth—and, as such, may rank
as a solid contribution to our future body of historical truths.
Some conclusions of other kinds from national statistics may
also be included in the same body. Nor are we without
some generalizations of a more extensive nature respecting
the course of human history as a whole. For example, on
referring to the sketch given above of the leading divisions
of universal history, certain conclusions are so obviously im¬
plied in the facts themselves that they cannot fail to suggest
themselves as facts too. One such fact is, that whereas the
first theatre of true historical action was limited to a small
portion of the earth’s surface, the whole tendency of events
has been to widen that theatre, so that now the whole globe
of the earth almost presents the characteristics of social or¬
ganization, and is capable of a certain approach to simul¬
taneous consciousness and simultaneous purpose. Connected
with this fact is the circumstance that the agency by w hich
this gradual social conquest and tillage, sotospeak,of theglobe
has been effected, has hitherto been chiefly in the hands of
the so-called Caucasian portion of humanity, and, within
that portion, perhaps chiefly in the hands of the Japetic or
Indo-European nations. Connected with the same fact is
the interesting circumstance that the geographical order of
the process has been on the whole from East to West.
First the primeval Oriental fermentation affected Western
Asia as far as the shores of the Mediterranean ; then the
Persian dynasty extended the historic stage to the flEgean ;
after that the Greek or Graeco-Macedonian supremacy ex¬
tended it to the Adriatic ; next the Romans extended it to
the Atlantic. Against this barrier human energy, as it
were, kept dashing itself for fifteen centuries, till at last the
pent-up, westward-striving force found vent, and, like the
flash from a surcharged cloud, the spirit of Columbus shot
to a new hemisphere. Nor does the process seem yet at
an end. The westward tendency of the Americans on
their continent, and the Anglo-Saxon colonizations going on
in the Pacific Islands, point to the ultimate completion by
history of the great circle of the earth’s circumference.
28. These, however, are but generalizations from the
VOL. XI.
facts of the history of the race in its obvious external aspect-
Our notions as to the nature of the internal movement or '
course of humanity are much more vague and conjectural.
Many speculative minds have propounded what they have
called a “formula” of history. Vico imagined that the
course of humanity was cyclical—i. e., that the world, after
going through a certain number of stages returned to the
same point or the same set of conditions as at first, and then
went through the same stages over again ; and he was dis¬
posed to regard all modern history, from the date of the dis¬
solution of the Roman empire, as a repetition, Phoenix-like,
of the history of the world up to that date. Abandoning
this cyclical theory, most thinkers since have adopted, as
more natural, the theory of continuous evolution or de-
velopement, until all the elements of humanity shall have
been finally harmonized and co-ordinated. The popular
form of this theory is that which expresses itself in the
word “ progress ”—a term which, in so far as it implies a
progress from worse to better, has come into use only since
the French Revolution. Less exceptionable in some re¬
spects than this term, as it is generally understood, as not so
much begging the question of the absolute character of the
evolution, is the equally popular term “ civilization.” The
historic process, it is said, has been one of the gradual
“civilization ” of the race. But in what does this “civili¬
zation” consist? In a gradual change in the mode of
human thought, and consequently in the mode of human
activity, say some—i.e., in the gradual exchange of the
superstitious mode of thought for the rational or scientific,
and in a gradual exchange of the occupations of war and
bloodshed for those of peaceful industry 1 In the gradual
destruction of all that interferes with individual freedom, in
a gradual tendency to civil and political, if not to social
equality, say others 1 In the gradual preparation of the
human species externally and internally, said Kant, for a
certain cosmopolitical organization of state which shall su¬
persede that of nations, empires, &c., and embrace them
all! In all these speculations and prognostications we can
discern at least fragments of the truth. We do recognise
a certain change in the mental habits of the race, depend¬
ing on the growth of scientific knowledge, during the past
career of the world; and along with this a change of ex¬
ternal manners and occupations. Peaceful industry does
seem on the whole to be superseding war. We do see also
a gradual diffusion of privileges of all kinds ; a gradual ten-
dency to the equalization of civil and political rights; a
gradual evolution of freedom for the individual human
being. The abolition of personal slavery is one form in
this process; the extension of the rights of citizenship in
modern states is another. Lastly, we do see, with Kant, a
certain tendency of humanity within, keeping pace with its
geographical extension and the increase of its means of
locomotion and intercommunication externally, to a pos¬
sible organization which may include the whole of it. But,
on the whole, the body of such conclusions which we can
rank among the ascertained and positive truths of history is
very small; and though all the best minds of the world are
now agreed that sound politics as an art can be founded
only on the scientific study of history—in other words that
politics is but applied history—the confusion of political
doctrines and creeds which the present state of the world
presents, proves how far we are from being able to turn this
maxim to any efficient account.
History.
II. HISTORY CONSIDERED AS A FORM OF LITERARY
COMPOSITION.
Our remarks under this head, necessarily very brief, may
be best presented in the shape of a view of some of the
leading requisites of a historian, as distinct from a practi¬
tioner of other kinds of literature :—
1. First then, to success in historical literature, it is ne-
3 z
Or
546 HIST
History, cessary that the writer should be a man of the historical
cast of mind. This is, in some sort, a truism, but it is a
truism worth attending to. We all know that there is such
a thing as a poetical cast of mind, and that there is such a
thing as a philosophical cast of mind ; but we do not so
often take account of the fact that there is also a historical
cast of mind, and that, just as we speak generically of “ the
poet” and “ the philosopher,” so, in the same generic sense,
we may speak of “ the historian,” as a being intellectually
distinct from either. And what is the characteristic mental
habit of the historian, as distinct from the philosopher and
the poet ? We have already conveyed the answer to this
question in our preliminary definition of history. The his¬
torian is the man who tends by preference to fall into that
mood of the total mind which we call memory or recollec¬
tion, as distinct from that mood which we call reasoning, or
that mood which we call imagination. Such men there are.
There are men to whom it is a positive constitutional plea¬
sure to recall the memory of concrete facts and circum¬
stances amid which they have once been—to remember
persons, places, incidents, costumes, physiognomies, and
physical and social particulars of every description. They
delight in reminiscence and anecdote absolutely for their own
sake, and amuse themselves when alone, and others when
in company, by rehearsing anecdotes and reminiscences.
Generally, if there are opportunities, this taste, where it
exists, is extended and heightened into a liking for the an¬
tique—a passion not only for the contemporary, but also for
the past concrete. It becomes a delight to gaze at an old
bridge or an old building, or a spot on a heath marked by
a great stone, and to know that, at such and such a time,
such and such an event occurred there. Sir Walter Scott
was pre-eminently such a man; Herodotus also was pre¬
eminently such a man. Scott and Herodotus, therefore,
may stand as types of the historical cast of mind ; and it is
all the better to take Scott as such a type, because in him
the important fact is exhibited, that a man may have the
historical habit of mind strongly developed, and yet may
not be a man exclusively of this habit. In Scott, the his¬
torian and the poet existed in remarkable combination ;
he imagined while he remembered, and he remembered
while he imagined ; he has left us both histories and poems.
A combination sometimes found, and no less interesting, is
that of the philosopher or speculative thinker with the his¬
torian. Sir William Hamilton, for example, is a man of
colossal erudition in the history of opinion, as well as of
extraordinary power as an original philosopher; and no
man is so fond of casting his disquisitions into the historical
form, or of appending to his disquisitions their historical
elucidations. Not a few cases, also, may be found in which
men, though not primarily or specifically thinkers—not them¬
selves inclined to propound or to advocate systems of doc¬
trine—have yet such an interest in old modes of thinking
simply as facts, that they will exercise their speculative
faculties to any extent in mastering the most abstruse parts
of Plato, or Aristotle, or Leibnitz, or Berkeley, Sometimes,
indeed, a man’s historical taste chiefly shows itself in his
liking for facts of this order, and neglects such concrete an¬
tiquarian details as those of costume, physiognomy, and the
like. And here, of course, it is to be noted that, though a
relish for all orders of antique facts is desirable in the his¬
torian, yet it is well for his completeness as a historian that
his relish for certain orders of facts should be in proportion
to their degrees of historic value. History, in its typical
sense, being the record of the public life of a community, the
historian will be the more perfect, in proportion as the facts
and circumstances in which his memory delights are those in
which the public life of communities is best represented and
embodied. What these are we have attempted to indicate.
The typical historian ought at least to have a certain interest
in political forms, and in the recollection of/?o/^«'ca£ events.
O R Y.
2. The historian ought, in the second place, to be a man History,
of the strictest veracity. But there are two kinds of veracity.
I here is what may be called passive veracity, or that
honourable disposition of mind which makes a man him¬
self refrain from falsehood. This, of course, the historian,
as well as every man, whatever be his calling, ought to
possess; and whosoever does not possess it ought to be
chased and hooted from the field of history. Misrepre¬
sentation for a purpose, or for the sake of effect, when at
all conscious, is but a variety of the same deliberate lying.
But many men who are passively veracious are not equally
conspicuous for active veracity—that is, for the disposition
to spare no labour of research in order to clear out false¬
hood from whatever story they are dealing with, and ar¬
rive at the truth. This disposition the historian must also
possess. The very word loropta implies active research.
Writers of history differ very much in this respect. Some
men, rather than set down a date falsely, will spend weeks
in trying to ascertain it, and, if they fail, will say so ; others
are far less scrupulous. David Hume, with all his merits
as a historian, is accused of extreme indolence in the matter
of research ; and a story is told of the French historical
writer, Father Daniel, to the effect that he “declared the
study of state papers to be a task more of fatigue than of use,”
and that, “ being shewn in the Royal Library at Paris a
vast collection of original manuscripts relating to the history
of France from the reign of Louis XL, he spent a single
hour in turning over the volumes, and then declared that
he was fully satisfied.” Perhaps the French sin, in this
respect, more than the Germans ; though there are many
splendid exceptions. As regards our own historical litera¬
ture, no one who has not a large acquaintance with it can
know on what a small basis of truly original research the
vast pile rests, and how many works there are enjoying some
celebrity (and that not as honest compilations, but really as
histories), which, if examined, would turn out to be but the
fourth or fifth dilutions of previous works, themselves suc¬
cessive dilutions of some one work, the author of which did
go to original authorities. But even in using what are
called original authorities, the historian has room for the
exercise of research. He has to guard against two sources
of error—the wilful falsification of dishonest men near the
fountain-head; and the operation in all states of society
and in all companies and communities, but especially in
early times, of what is called the mythical or legendary
tendency in human nature—i. e., the tendency to imagine
incidents corresponding to feelings, and then to confound
the incidents so imagined with actual fact. The practised
historical sense or understanding, accustomed always to
weigh evidence, is on its guard against both sources of
falsehood. It is only in comparatively recent times, however,
that the immense importance of attending to the second source
of falsehood has been appreciated. Every one knows what a
revolution in the accounts of the early histories of all nations
has taken place since Niebuhr first applied the theory of the
Mythus to the early history of Rome as believed by the
Romans themselves and recorded by all their writers.
3. The value of any history will he in proportion to the
general depth and greatness and nobility of the historian’s
own nature as a ivhole. This ought never to be forgotten,
but it is very apt to be forgotten. Seeing that the busi¬
ness of the historian is to recover and narrate actual facts,
it is sometimes hastily concluded that it is indifferent by
what kind of mind, provided sufficient diligence is used, the
process of recovery and narration is gone through. We
have already virtually opposed this idea. Memory or recol¬
lection, we have said, is but a mood of the total mind ; and
hence the character of the memory or recollection will vary
according to the entire constitution of the mind which re¬
members or recollects. As the imagination of the poet, as
the understanding of the philosopher, follows in some subtle
HISTORY.
History, way the law of the total personality—so that there are poets
L j of grand, and poets of mean imaginations, thinkers of high,
and thinkers of grovelling understandings, in like manner
also the memory follows the law of the personality, and there
are historians of superb and historians of petty memories.
It depends on the total character of the historian, in the first
place, what kinds of past facts will adhere to his memory,
or interest him in his researches ; and, in the second place,
what intensity of meaning he can find in these facts, what
breadth of significance he can impart to them. Even con¬
temporary facts, respecting which no research is necessary,
are not the same things to different minds. The death of
the Russian Emperor, Nicholas, for example, was exter¬
nally or per se the same identical event to all; and yet, as
that intelligence was swept abroad over Europe, it became,
so to speak, a thousand difterent “ facts” simultaneously to
the thousand different minds which it touched. And so,
under more complex conditions, with the facts of past his¬
tory. “ The greatness of the historical literature of any period
therefore” (if we may here repeat what we have said else¬
where), “or the greatness of any individual as a historical
writer, depends ultimately on the general richness of the
human nature which that period or that individual brings
to the investigation of the past. A mass of facts, in them¬
selves unalterable, is the material of every history, but it
depends on the spirit which the historian breathes through
the mass what the history shall be. Not only may history
be, but necessarily every history is, saturated with the spirit
of the historian in all its peculiarity. History is, and can
be nothing else, than the past represented by the present;
what the representation, therefore, in any case shall be, de¬
pends, no doubt, partly on the actual matters represented,
but at the same time also on the power which represents
them. History, accordingly, is a form of literature affording
scope for genius, for high moral purpose, for original and
inventive power, equally with any other. Herodotus,
Thucydides, Tacitus, Voltaire, Gibbon, Hume, Robertson
—do we not feel that in the hands of such men historical
writing became, as much as any other could, a medium
through which they could perform the whole function of
their being, both in so far as it was good and in so far as it
might be bad ? Shut up a hundred different historians in
as many different rooms, each with the same materials for
an account of the same selected transaction ; and then, ne¬
cessarily, the hundred narratives that will be produced at
the end of any given period, although all so far identical in
substance, will each bear the stamp of the author’s indivi¬
duality—of his acquired knowledge, his prevalent habits of
feeling, his whole philosophy of life.” Applying these re¬
marks, one might classify known historians according to
certain broad differences of the human constitution generally.
Some historians are poetic and pictorial, others are specu¬
lative and philosophical, others are stern and severely judi¬
cial ; some are grave and earnest, others are light and
satirical, in their manner. On the whole, the historical
cast of mind may be associated with almost any conceiv¬
able combination of other mental habits and faculties; and
almost all varieties of character and intellect may find con¬
genial scope in history. The persons perhaps whom it
would be most desirable to exclude from this department of
literary exercise are men labouring under the influence of
special polemical crotchets. Such men ought to write
pamphlets, and take their illustrations from history, but
ought not to write formal histories.
4. The historian is bound to be acquainted with all those
general conclusions or inductions relating either to social
life as it may be now observed, or to the order of social
events in the past, which may be considered so far estab¬
lished as to constitute historical or political truths. The
body of such truths, we have said, cannot yet be said to be
numerous; but so far as they exist, they ought to be known
547
to the historian, and to form part, so to speak, of his histori- History,
cal creed. Thus, if there are any generalizations that can >
be esteemed sound and valid as to the invariable course of
nations, or as to the successive phases of human thought in
the past, or as to the tendency of humanity as a whole, or
as to the influence of climate and other physical causes on
social and political conditions, these ought indubitably to
be carried by the historian along with him, as so much fixed
science, in his own particular researches. It is needless to
point out how this applies to the truths of political economy,
as one branch of social science, so far as these are accepted
and agreed upon.
5. The historian, over and above the foregoing requisites,
must have acquired for himself by study and practice a cer¬
tain very complex art of historical writing and arrange¬
ment. The full illustration of this important matter is be¬
yond our present limits. Suffice it to say, that, though there
are many varieties of historical art—though the art of a
Gibbon, for example, is very different from that of a Mac¬
aulay—yet the essence of all good historical art, in the
case of what we have called the typical form of history,
seems to lie in a distinct recognition by the historian of the
fact that, in writing a history, he is writing the life of a
nation. Just as, in biography, the essential notion is that
of an original organism moved through certain sets of cir¬
cumstances which act upon it and modify it, and just as the
biographer has always to keep in mind this distinction be¬
tween the man as he is at any moment, and the circum¬
stances through which he is passing at that moment, so it
is in history. Here, also, there is always a certain already
existing organism—i. e., the total social being and constitution
of the nation up to the moment under notice ; and there is,
then, farther, the set of new conditions through which that
organism is about to pass. Translate this into the language
of practical art, and it may be said that the historian has at
every point to keep the balance fair between the two pro¬
cesses of description and narration—description being the
process which takes account of facts as they exist contem¬
poraneously, and narration the process which follows facts
in their sequence. In other words, good historical art con¬
sists of a judicious blending of descriptive surveys of social
states with narrative accounts of social transactions. (1.)
Historical description.—It has always been accounted part
of the business of a historian to give broad descriptive sur¬
veys of what are called “ states of society,” “ states of civi¬
lization,” and the like. Perhaps, however, it might be to
the advantage of history if a greater proportion of the whole
duty of the historian were accomplished by means of this
art of contemporaneous surveys. For example, there is no
method according to which, as we conceive, the history of
England could be better written, than some method by which
a great part of the vast work might be achieved in a series of
“ cross-sections,” or broad contemporaneous surveys of the
whole life and civilization of the English nation at important
and well-selected epochs of its progressive existence; the
intervening periods between these “ cross-sections ” being
filled up by the plan of narration. In general, historians
confine themselves too much, and especially when treating of
remote periods, to the narrative plan. As examples of the
other plan of contemporaneous description, we may refer to
Mr James Mill’s elaborate account of the civilization of the
Hindus in his History of British India; and to Mr Macau¬
lay’s well-known survey, on such different principles, of the
state of British society prior to the Revolution of 1688. In
such cases as these, historians, of course, proceed on a cer¬
tain instinct, teaching them what orders of facts ought to
be included in such a survey to render it complete. Mr
Mill’s instinct in this case was founded on his previous
habits of political criticism and analysis; Mr Macaulay’s
was more purely artistic. Science, however, might here
come to the assistance of art. It would be possible, we
548 HIST
History, think, once for all, to draw up, so to speak, a schedule of
the essential particulars that ought to be known about any
nation, in order to complete the survey ot its civilization,
and to arrange these particulars in their proper order, com¬
mencing say with the geographical and geological features
of the country which the nation inhabited, and proceeding
on to the most intricate parts of the national polity ; and
then, the best historical artist would be the one that, pur¬
posely or instinctively, should best fill up the schedule, or
comply with its requisitions. (2.) Historical Narration.—
Not to mention other matters under this head, we would
only point to the importance in every narration of regularly
beating time—i. e., not only accurately inserting dates, but
distinctly keeping the flight of time, day by day, month by
month, and year by year, present in the imagination of the
reader. Historians differ very much in this respect. Some
are so lax that the reader hardly knows, until he makes the
calculation for himself, how long the war he is reading
about has already lasted, or what is the age of the general.
6. It only remains now to pass our eye along the course
of universal literature, so as to enumerate those who, ac¬
cording to the general judgment of their own and of other
nations, have distinguished themselves most in the depart¬
ment of history, and may therefore take their places in the
list of the chief historians of the world :—
I. Primeval Historians.—Here the sacred historians of
the Old Testament stand alone; and it is from them, in
conjunction with the retrospective narratives of some of
the Greek historians, especially Herodotus, and in conjunc¬
tion also with archaeological research, as in the investigation
of the monuments of Egypt, and of those recently disin¬
terred at Nineveh (and probably the same process may be
yet applied to many others of the famous sites of ancient
oriental civilization), that all our historical knowledge of
primeval times is to be derived.
II. Classical Historians. — (1.) Greek Historical
Writers.—This list is headed by Herodotus, the “ Father
of History,” and a man whose name the whole human race
is bound to hold in reverence, as that of one of the truest
men of genius that ever lived. Then come, in order, Thu¬
cydides, Xenophon, Polybius, Dionysius of Halicarnassus,
Diodorus Siculus, Arrian, and Plutarch ; to whom may be
added the Jewish historian Josephus, and the ecclesiastical
historian Eusebius. (2.) Lathi Historical Writers.—The
most illustrious names in this list are those of Sallust, Ju¬
lius Caesar, Livy, Suetonius, and Tacitus ; but other minor
names might be added. Livy and Tacitus are pre-eminently
the Roman historians.
HI. Medieval Historians.—(1.) Latin Historians of
the Western Nations.—A. vast proportion of the mediaeval
history of the western nations is buried in the legends or
lives of the saints; but each nation had its independent
chroniclers of political and ecclesiastical events, some of
whom rose to the dignity of historians. Among these
Gregory of lours, who lived in the Merovingian times of
the Frankish monarchy, and wrote an Ecclesiastical His-
tory of the Franks, deserves mention. There were also
some notable chroniclers and biographical writers in the age
ot Charlemagne; and France produced some good contem¬
porary historians of the Crusades. No country, however,
was richer in historical writers during the middle ages than
England. I he venerable Bede, in the eighth century, was
a man of true historical genius; and to the twelfth, thir¬
teenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, belonged a
seiies of able Latin chroniclers, of whom the most
distinguished are Geoffrey of Monmouth, William of
Malmesbury, Matthew Paris, Higden, Knighton, and Wal-
singham. I he Scottish historian Fordun belongs to the
fifteenth century. (2.) Byzantine Historians.—Under
this name is included a considerable series of rather petty
writers, natives of the Greek or Eastern Empire, from its
O R Y.
separation from the West to its final destruction by the History.
Turks. Among these were Procopius, Agathius, Menan- •
der, John of Epiphania, Theophylactus Simocatta, and the
well-known Anna Comnena, daughter of the Emperor
Alexius Comnenus. (3.) Oriental Historians.—In the re¬
markable development of the literary genius of the Arabs,
consequent upon the impulse given to the race by Moham¬
med, history was not neglected. The Spanish Arabs had
their special historians ; and Turkish and Persian historians
of the middle ages are also mentioned. Of Indian and
Chinese historians we can say nothing, though these were
not vvanting.
IV. Modern Historians.—Since the rise of the verna¬
cular literatures of the various modern nations of Europe,
we are able to count a number of distinguished men in
each, who have devoted themselves, some exclusively, others
in part, to historical writing, and have there won their lite¬
rary laurels. (1.) English Historical Writers.—Among
these, passing over such valuable early chroniclers as
Holingshed and Stow, and such metrical historians as Bar¬
bour and Wvntoun, may be mentioned—Knollys ; Sir Wal¬
ter Raleigh, in virtue of his History of the World ; Bacon,
in virtue of his History of the Reign of Henry VIL.; and
Shakspeare himself, in virtue of his historical plays, called,
by himself and his contemporaries, Histories. Next (passing
over minor names) may be mentioned the party-historians
Clarendon and Burnet; succeeded by the splendid series
of British historical writers of the eighteenth century—
Swift, Defoe, Hume, Smollett, Warton, Lord Lyttelton,
Lord Hailes, Dr Henry, Dr Robertson, and Edward Gib¬
bon. All in all, Gibbon, in virtue both of the immensity
of his task, and of the admirable industry and art with
which it was executed, has the highest place assigned to
him among British writers of history ; and he is in many
respects, though not in all, the type of a great historian.
After the time of Gibbon no man had a more powerful in¬
fluence on the historical literature, not of Britain alone but
of all Europe, than Sir Walter Scott; all the efforts of
whose genius were, in a sense, historical, and some of whose
works, though not his best, were expressly histories. His¬
torical writers contemporary with Scott, and each having
characteristic excellences, were James Mill, and Mackin¬
tosh ; and, coming down to our own generation, what a con¬
stellation in our historical literature (we shall not attempt
to classify the stars according to their magnitudes) is repre¬
sented by the names of Tytler, and Arnold, and Alison,
and Napier, and Macaulay, and Carlyle, and Thirlwall,
and Grote. Belonging to the same constellation, in virtue
of the language in which they write, are the American
historians, Washington Irving, Bancroft, and Prescott.
(2.) French Historical Writers.—In this list, which may
be considered to begin with De Ville Hardouin and De
Joinville in the thirteenth century, the greatest names in
times anterior to the Revolution are those of the vivid and
and picturesque Froissart, Philip De Comines, Thuanus
(who, however, wrote in Latin), D’Aubigne, Brantome,
Perefixe, Sully, the Jesuit Daniel, Vertot, Rollin, the
illustrious Bossuet, Basnage, Fleury, Rapin, St Simon,
Du Cange, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Raynal, and Rulhieres ;
to whom, since the Revolution, have been added, besides
many of inferior note, such men as Sismondi, Barante,
Guizot, Capefigue, the two Thierrys, Mignet, Michaud,
Thiers, Michelet, Merimee, Lamartine, and Louis Blanc.
In no department of literature has France recently been
so prolific as in history ; and perhaps, on the whole, no
other country has such a cluster of eminent living historians.
At the head of what is perhaps the most characteristic
school of French historians—i. <?., those who are distin¬
guished by their passion for historical generalization, as
well as their mere powers of narration—stands M. Guizot.
(3.) Italian Historical Writers.—Of these the chief are, in
II 0 A
Hit the sixteenth century, Macchiavelli and Guicciardini, with
II some lesser men, such as Varchi, Bembo, Sarpi, and Davan-
Hoadley. zatj. an(| jn more recent times, Davila, MafFei, Muratori,
Tiraboschi, Botta, Micali, Bossi, Codetta, and Pignotti.
(4.) German Historical Writers. — Passing the Mag¬
deburg centuriators and other ecclesiastical historians of
the sixteenth century, wdio wrote in Latin, we have to
come down to the eighteenth century for any German his¬
torical writers of importance. To that century belong
Heyne, Schwekh, and other contributors to a Universal
History then published; to whom have succeeded such
men as Eichhorn, Miiller, the great Niebuhr, Heeren,
Schlosser, Rotteck, Menzel, Lappenburg, Von Hammer,
Raumer, Neander, Ranke, and Bunsen. In “learned” his¬
tory, and in patient research, the Germans are unparalleled.
(5.) Spanish Historical Writers.—Among their chief his-
HOB 549
torians the Spaniards reckon Palencia, Bernal Diaz, Pedro Hoangho
Martyr, and Valera, in the sixteenth century ; Morales, ||
Mendosa, Mariana, Herrera, La Puente, and De Solis, in Hobbema,
the seventeenth ; since which time Spain has produced as
little in history as in other kinds of literature. (6.) Histori¬
cal Writers of the Scandinavian Countries.—The Danes
count among their eminent historians Gram, Holberg, Mai¬
ling, Moller, and Grundtvig; the Swedes count among
theirs Tegel, Dalin, Botin, and Silferstolpe. (7.) Slavo¬
nian Historical Writers.—Among the most celebrated
Russian historians, after Nestor, a monk of the twelfth cen¬
tury, are Tatischeff’ and Karamsin. The Poles have had
not a few eminent historians; and Palacky is the greatest
historian of the Bohemians. (8.) Greek Historical Writers.
—Of modern Greek historical writers the most distinguished
is Tricoupi. (d. m—N.)
HIT, the ancient Is, a town of Asiatic Turkey, pashalic
of Baghdad, on the W. bank of the Euphrates, in N. Lat. 33.
43., E. Long. 42.27. It contains about 1500 houses, chiefly
of clay, one or two storeys in height. The streets are nar¬
row, dirty, and frequently steep, rising one above another
along the side of the hill on which the town stands. A
graceful minaret and some tombs are the only structures
worthy of notice. The never-failing fountains of bitumen
still produce that substance as plentifully as when old Baby¬
lon was built. The inhabitants are employed in boat-build¬
ing, and in the preparing of wool, bitumen, naphtha, and
salt.
HITCH IN, a market-town of Hertfordshire, 14 miles
N.W. of Hertford. The parish church is a handsome
building, with a fine porch, and an altar-piece by Rubens.
It has a free grammar-school, an infirmary, mechanics’ insti¬
tute, and savings bank. Malting is extensively carried on,
and straw-plaiting affords employment to many persons.
There are also several breweries and a silk mill. Market-
day, Tuesday. Pop. (1851) 5258.
HITTITES, the children or descendants of Heth,formed
one of the tribes of Canaanites which occupied Palestine
before the Israelites. They lived in the mountains of
Judea round Hebron, and retained their nationality even
after the return of the Israelites from exile. The “ kings
of the Hittites”are often mentioned in connection with the
kings of Syria; and in the days of Joram their alliance with
the Egyptians was an object of dread to the besieged inha¬
bitants of Samaria.
HIVITES, one of the tribes who occupied Canaan pre¬
vious to the subjugation of the country by the Israelites.
They occupied the N. and N.E. of the land.
HOADLEY, Benjamin, was born at Westerham in
Kent in 1676. He was made bishop of Bangor in 1715, of
Hereford in 1721, of Salisbury in 1723, and of Winchester
in 1734. He died at Chelsea in 1761.
He attracted attention at first by his controversy with
Bishop Atterbury in 1709. At this time the Tory party,
which he opposed, were in favour at court, so that no pa¬
tronage was to be expected from them; and he owed the
rectory of Streatham to private favour. The House of Com¬
mons, however, were so pleased with the manner in which he
defended himself against the Tory Atterbury, that Hoadley’s
name was mentioned in the address to the Queen as a
champion of liberty, both civil and religious. He developed
his principles in his tract on the Measure of Obedience to the
Civil Magistrate. Butin 1714 Queen Anne was succeeded
by George L, and a revolution now took place in the court
politics. In 1715 Hoadley was raised to the bishopric of
Bangor; and in 1717 the ceXebraited. Bangorian Contro¬
versy arose. It began by Hoadley’s publication of his views
on the text, “ My kingdom is not of this world in regard
to which he maintained that Christ had left behind him no
such authority as that claimed by churches, and that this
was the best way of answering the arrogant pretensions of
the Church of Rome. These views gave great offence both
to High Churchmen and Dissenters. He was attacked from
all quarters. William Law is considered his ablest antago¬
nist. The controversy raged for three years without any
immediate result. From his Discourses on the Terms of
Acceptance, it is obvious that he rejects the five points of
Calvinism. He has been regarded as the leader of the
Rational divines of the Church of England, and as verging
towards Unitarianism. He was a friend of Dr Samuel
Clarke, of whose life, writings, and character he wrote an ac¬
count. He also wrote an account of the Nature and End
of the Sacrament, and a letter to Clement Chevalier.
HOANGHO. See Yellow Rivek.
HOBAL, the name of the sun-god of the Arabians,
generally depicted in Arabic mythology as surrounded by
the gods of the 360 days.
HOBART-TOWN, the capital of Tasmania or Van
Diemen’s Land, is situated in the southern part of that
island, on the right bank of the estuary of the Derwent,
about 20 miles from the sea, in N. Lat. 42. 53., E. Long.
147. 21. Hobart-Town was founded and made the seat of
government by lieutenant-governor Collins in 1804, and
was named after Lord Hobart, then secretary of state for
the colonies. It is regularly and neatly built on gently
rising ground, inclosed by an amphitheatre of lofty and
well-wooded hills. A small rivulet, called Hobart-Town
Creek, flow's through the town. The buildings are of brick,
or a dark-coloured freestone, abundant in the neighbour¬
hood. Many of the public buildings are handsome edifices,
especially some of the churches. The government house
is a large and irregular pile of building, originally built on
a small scale, and enlarged as necessity required ; but a new
one is in course of erection, if not now finished. Among
its other buildings are the custom-house, court-house, female
house of correction, new market-house, and military and
prisoners’ barracks. There are also a magnetic observatory,
high school, mechanics’ institute, and several literary and
scientific societies. One of the great advantages of Hobart-
Town is its fine harbour, where ships of any burden may
lie in safety close to the shore. Large quays and basins
have been constructed ; and along the water-side are ship
and boat building yards. Pop. (1847) 21,419.
HOBBEMA, Minderholt, or Minard, a famous land¬
scape painter of the Flemish school, was born in Antwerp
about the beginning of the seventeenth century. His per¬
sonal history is a total blank. The only fact in it that can
be relied on as even approximately true is that he died at a
very advanced age in 1699. His landscapes, which are now
rather rare, are extremely simple in their structure ; but his
management of perspective, and his conduct of chiar-oscuro,
enable him to express vast distances in a few square feet of
550 HOB
Hobbes, canvas, and to imprint a distinctive and marked character
on the homeliest scenes. His execution is wonderfully
careful, yet so well harmonized, and so light and graceful,
that each separate piece is in itself a perfect gem of art.
His style bears so strong a resemblance to that of Ruys-
dael that many of his pieces pass under that artist’s name.
The figures in many of Hobbema’s pieces were supplied by
Teniers and Ostade, which has contributed greatly to en¬
hance their value. Some of his chef d’ceuvres are in this
country, his best authentic pieces being in the galleries of
the Peel family.
HOBBES, Thomas, the philosopher of Malmesbury,
was born 5th .April 1588. While merely at school, he
translated the Medea into Latin verse. At the age of
fourteen he went to Oxford, where, for five years, he studied
logic and the Aristotelian philosophy. After this he su¬
perintended the education of the son of the Earl of Devon¬
shire. The friendship formed between Hobbes and this
noble family continued through life. Travelling with his
charge in France and Italy, he became acquainted with the
most eminent philosophers, and greatly enlarged the field
of his observations. Returning to England, he formed a
friendship with Bacon. In 1628 he published his transla¬
tion of Thucydides. It had a political object in view, being
intended to warn his countrymen against the vices of de¬
mocratic government. By this time he had lost both patron
and pupil by death, and his second visit to France and
Italy was along with the son of Sir Gervase Clifton. He
now applied his vigorous intellect to mathematics. Re¬
turning to England he was entrusted, in 1631, by the
dowager Countess of Devonshire, with the charge of an¬
other son, with whom he made a third visit to the conti¬
nent. It was during this visit that he formed an intimacy
with Father Mersenne, Gassendi, and Galileo. In 1634 he
republished his translation of Thucydides, with a dedication
to the young Earl of Devonshire. In 1637, upon returning
to England, the violent commotions which were agitating
the country increased his dislike of democracy. In 1640 he
thought it prudent to escape from the impending storm in
his own country, and retired again to France. Through
his friend Mersenne, he became acquainted with Descartes.
These two philosophers, however, did not altogether agree.
In 1642, impressions of his famous work De Give, which
he had been preparing for some time, were distributed
amongst his friends. It was published in Holland six years
afterwards, with a French translation. The principles pro¬
mulgated in this work could not fail of gaining him many
enemies. In 1645 he entered into a mathematical contro¬
versy about the quadrature of the circle, and such was his
renown, that he was appointed, in 1647, mathematical tutor
to the Prince of Wales, who was at that time in exile at
Paris. In 1650 he published in London his able treatise
on Human Nature, and De Corpore Politico. In 1651 he
published his celebrated work Leviathan. Under the em¬
blem of the great sea-monster, he represented the body
politic. This work exhibits the combination of Hobbes’
principles in politics, morals, and religion. He was attacked
by all denominations of religionists. He had greatly of¬
fended the Popish party, by the exposure of priestcraft,
which occurs in Leviathan; and, in consequence, thought
it prudent to quit France and return to England. Spending
the year 1652 in England, he became acquainted with
Harvey, who discovered the circulation of the blood; with
Selden, and with Cowley, who wrote a Pindaric ode in his
praise. In 1655, his great mathematical war commenced
with Wallis ; and shortly after he answered Bishop Bram-
hall on Liberty and Necessity in Human Actions. Bramhall,
however, had written ten years before, and was now dead.
In 1660, upon the restoration of Charles II., Hobbes, who
had been his mathematical preceptor in Paris, was received
into favour, assured of protection, and had L.100 a-year
HOB
from the king. He applied himself now with increased Hobbes,
vigour to the study of mathematics. The storm against
his Leviathan and De Give began again to rage. These
books were censured by parliament in 1666; and upon the
bringing in of a bill to punish atheism, he became appre¬
hensive for his personal safety. However, the storm passed
over, and he thought of publishing a new and magnificent
edition of his works, which, however, he was obliged to do
abroad. So great was his fame, that foreign ambassadors
were anxious to see the man whose name was spread
throughout Europe. Cosmo de’ Medici, Prince of Tuscany,
received from Hobbes a collection of his works, together
with his portrait, to take to Florence. At the advanced
age of eighty-six, Hobbes translated part of Homer’s Odys¬
sey. The translation was so successful, that he proceeded
with the remainder, and in 1675 published a translation of
both Odyssey and Iliad. He died in Derbyshire on the
4th December 1679, in the 92d year of his age.
Hobbes was one of those remarkable men, who, in critical
times, have their little as well as their great qualities brought
out very prominently. His egotism appears in numerous
passages of his metrical autobiography, written at the
age of eighty-four. He mentions the circumstance of his
being prematurely born, owing to the fright taken by his
mother upon hearing of the Spanish Armada approaching
the coast. However, his premature birth did not prevent
him from living to the great age of ninety-two. The day
of his birth happened to be Good Friday, and his admirers
did not hesitate to compare him to Jesus Christ, who left
the world on the same day that Hobbes came into it,—and
both for the same purpose,—the salvation of mankind! He
had no pleasant recollection of the drill to which he had to
submit in learning the moods and figures of the logicians;
he says he learned them slowly—did learn them however,
and then cast them away. He mentions, quite complacently,
that he was ranked amongst philosophers, and freely speaks
about his work De Give, “ It pleased the learned, and was
entirely new. I was translated into various languages and
read with applause. I was known by name afar among the
nations.” He complains of being misrepresented to the
king, whose presence he had been forbidden ; and calling
to mind the fate of Dorislaus and Ascham, he says he felt
the terrors of proscription. His life was in a great mea¬
sure spent in fear, which he himself admits : for speaking
of his birth, he says his mother brought forth twins—him¬
self and Fear,—
“ Meque metumque simul.”
Atterbury declares, that these terrors were terrors of con¬
science. Hobbes gives his own opinion of Leviathan. After
saying that it had been attacked, he adds, “ It stood all the
firmer, and my hope is, that it will stand through every
age, defended by its own strength.”
Morose and impatient as Hobbes was of contradiction,
he had not a little to endure which would have disturbed
the equanimity of sweeter tempers than his. He saw his
writings misunderstood, and then misrepresented by large
masses of men, and the transition was easy from misrepre¬
sentation of his writings to gross aspersions of his personal
character. Amongst his detractors, Bishop Fell was guilty
of the most dishonourable procedure. Antony Wood, the
friend of Hobbes, had published in English a work in 2 vols.,
containing an account of Oxford, as to its antiquities, and
the eminent men who had been connected with it. In this
work was a very favourable notice of Hobbes. Bishop Fell
translated the work into Latin, but the complimentary epi¬
thets applied to Hobbes were struck out, and abusive ones
placed in their stead. In several cases whole sentences of
a eulogistic character were altogether expunged. Hobbes
points out these alterations and erasures; and considering
the injury done to Wood, to say nothing of himself (“ fama
H O B
Hobbes, enim mea, qualiscunque est, jamdudum pennata evolavit
irrevocabilis”), he contemplates, for a moment, the propriety
of raising an action against Fell: “ Nulla ergo causa est ut
puhlice cum eo litigem.” But the little public sympathy to
be expected in a matter where squabbling scholars are con¬
cerned, decided him against it.
Bold and original as Hobbes was in announcing his dog¬
mas, yet when persecution on account of them came near
him, he betook himself to unmanly subterfuges. Fie even
defends himself for writing ambiguously in certain cases.
His political system being one of expediency, enabled him
to shift his ground, and in doing so, the subtlety of his me¬
taphysical intellect was more than a match for the majority
of those who endeavoured to detect and expose inconsis¬
tency. Yet it is remarkable, that with his clear and subtle
intellect, it was from a misconception of some of the most
elementary truths of mathematics, that he kept up his great
w’ar with Dr Wallis, professor of mathematics at Oxford.
Numerous answers were written on both sides, and the vir¬
ulence with which the fighting was carried on, extended
even to the titles of the books. Thus, the Six Lessons to
the Professors of Mathematics in Oxford, of Hobbes, was
answered by the Due Correction for Mr Hobbes, or School
Discipline for not saying his Lessons Right, of Wallis.
As to his deportment and manners, they are thus de¬
scribed by Dr White Kennet, in his Memoirs of the Ca¬
vendish family. “ The Earl of Devonshire,” says he, “ for
his whole life entertained Mr Hobbes in his family, as his
old tutor rather than as his friend or confidant. He let
him live under his roof in ease and plenty, and in his own
way, without making use of him in any public, or so much
as domestic affairs. He would frequently put off .the men¬
tion of his name, and say, 1 He was a humorist, and nobody
could account for him.’ There is a tradition in the family,
of the manners and customs of Mr Hobbes, somewhat ob¬
servable. His professed rule of health was to dedicate the
morning to his exercise, and the afternoon to his studies.
And therefore, at his first rising, he walked out, and climbed
any hill within his reach; or, if the weather was not dry, he
fatigued himself within doors by some exercise or other,
to be in a sweat; recommending that practice upon this
opinion, that an old man had more moisture than heat, and
therefore by such motion heat was to be acquired and mois¬
ture expelled. After this, he took a comfortable breakfast;
and then went round the lodgings to wait upon the earl, the
countess, and the children, and any considerable strangers,
paying some short addresses to all of them. He kept these
rounds till about twelve o’clock, when he had a little dinner
provided for him, which he ate always by himself without
ceremony. Soon after dinner he retired to his study, and
had his candle, with ten or twelve pipes of tobacco, laid by
him; then shutting his door, he fell to smoking, thinking,
and writing for several hours. He retained a friend or two
at court, and especially the Lord Arlington, to protect him
if occasion should require. He used to say, that it was
lawful to make use of ill instruments to do ourselves good.
‘ If I were cast,’ says he, £ into a deep pit, and the devil
should put down his cloven foot, I would take hold of it to
be drawn out by it.’ After the Restoration, he watched
all opportunities tx> ingratiate himself with the king and his
prime ministers; and looked upon his pension to be more
valuable as an earnest of favour and protection, than upon
any other account. His future course of life was to be free
from danger. He could not endure to be left in an empty
house. Whenever the earl removed he would go along
with him, even to his last stage, from Chatsworth to Hard¬
wick. When he was in a very weak condition, he dared
not to be left behind, but made his way upon a feather-bed
in a coach, though he survived the journey but a few days.
He could not bear any discourse of death, and seemed to
cast off all thoughts of it. He delighted to reckon upon
H O C 551
longer life. The winter before he died, he made a warm Hobgoblin
coat, which he said must last him three years, and then he ||
would have such another. In his last sickness his frequent IIocus-
questions were, Whether his disease was curable ? and when ocus'
intimations were given that he might have ease, but no
remedy, he used this expression, ‘ I shall be glad to find a
hole to creep out of the world at;’ which are reported to
have been his last sensible words; and his lying some days
following in a silent stupefaction, did seem owing to his
mind more than to his body.”
For an analysis of Flobbes’s philosophy and its influence
on English thought and speculative science generally, see
Sir James Mackintosh’s Preliminary Dissertation pre¬
fixed to this work.
HOBGOBLIN, a term in the fairy mythology. Ac¬
cording to Skinner it is equivalent to rob-goblin, Hob being
a familiar name for Rob or Robin ; but Wallis and Ennius
derive it from the Anglo-Saxon hoppan, to hop ; because
the fairies seemed to hop on one foot rather than walk.
HOBLERS, or Hobilers, Hobelarii, in England, feudal
tenants bound to serve as light-horsemen in times of in¬
vasion.
HOB-NOB (Saxon habban, ncebban, to have, not to
have), a colloquial expression signifying “ hit or miss,” and
originally applied to anything that depended on chance.
It hence came to be used as an invitation to reciprocal
drinking.
HOCHE, Lazare, one of the noblest spirits and ablest
generals of the French Republic, was born of humble pa¬
rents in 1768 at Montreuil, near Versailles. At the age of
sixteen he enlisted, and his republican zeal, aided by his
genuine military skill and knowledge, raised him so rapidly
through the lower grades of the service, that at the early age
of twenty-four he was entrusted with the command-in-chief
of the army of the Moselle. He justified the high hopes he
had inspired by defeating the Austrians in several engage¬
ments, and driving them out of Alsace. Incurring the sus¬
picions of Robespierre, he was recalled from the frontiers
and thrown into prison, and was only saved from the guillo¬
tine by the timely fall of that redoubted leader on the 9th
Thermidor 1794. Released by the Convocation, he was sent
into La Vendee to bring to a close the bloody war which the
republic was then waging with the royalist peasantry of
western France. By the noble chivalry and generosity of
his character, as much as by strategic skill, he succeeded in
pacifying La Vendee and Brittany. After accomplishing this
task, in which the noblest blood of France had flowed like
water, he was appointed to head the army of invasion which
the French were organizing for the conquest of Ireland ;
but the fleet in which he embarked was destroyed or dis¬
persed by storms, and Hoche was himself with difficulty
saved. In the following year he was sent to the eastern
frontier to act against Austria; and by a series of masterly
manceuvres he hemmed in the Austrian general Kray, and
would have taken him and his whole army prisoners of war
had not peace been declared. Soon after this he died sud¬
denly at Wetzlar, not without suspicion of poison. This
suspicion was very generally believed at the time, but no¬
thing has ever transpired to give a colour to it; and it is
quite unlikely that if there had been any real grounds for
it, it would not, by this time, have been proved beyond a
doubt. His death was regarded by his countrymen as a
great national calamity ; but they only understood the full
import of the calamity when, as Napoleon’s star rose higher
and higher on the ascendant, they found that they had lost
the only man in whom that great soldier had to fear an
equal.
HOCUS-POCUS, a term applied to conjuror’s tricks.
According to Turner it was the name of an Anglo-Saxon
magician; but others regard the two words as a corruption
of the hoc est corpus used by priests in the mass.
552 H O F
Hock-day HOCK-DAY, Hokeday, or Hock-Tuesday, a holiday
II formerly kept in England on the second Tuesday after
Hofer. Easter to commemorate the expulsion of the Danes in the
time of King Ethelred. Along with Michaelmas this festi¬
val was at one time used as a term for the payment of rents ;
and in the accounts of Magdalen College, Oxford, there
occur several yearly allowances pro mulieribus hockanlibus.
Hocking consisted in stopping the highway with ropes, and
demanding a gratuity from passengers before they were
permitted to pass.
HODMAN, a cant term formerly used for a young
scholar admitted from Westminster School to be student in
Christ Church in Oxford.
HODY, Humphry, an eminent English divine, was born
in 1659 at Oldcombe in Somersetshire. In 1676 he en¬
tered Wadham College, Oxford, of which he was chosen
fellow in 1684, and in which, in after life, he founded ten
scholarships to promote the study of Greek and Hebrew.
At the age of twenty-one he published his Dissertation
against the History of the Seventy-two Interpreters by Aris-
teas. In this production Hody shows that the story told by
Aristeas as to the occasion of the Septuagint translation is
the invention of some Hellenist Jew ; that it is full of blun¬
ders and anachronisms ; and that it was originally circulated
on purpose to recommend the Greek version of the Old
Testament. This dissertation was received with much ap¬
probation by the learned, excepting Isaac Vossius, who pub¬
lished an angry and scurrilous reply to it in the appendix to
his Observations on Pomponius Mela. In 1704 Hody pub¬
lished his four books, De Bibliorum textis originalibus, ver-
sionibus Grcccis, et Latina Vulgata ; the first containing
his dissertation on Aristeas’s history, the second treating of
the true authors of the Greek version called the Septuagint;
the third comprising a history of the Hebrew text, the Sep¬
tuagint version, and the Latin Vulgate; and the fourth
giving an account of the other Greek versions—namely,
those of Symmachus, Aquila, and Theodotion, with the
Hexapla of Origen, and other ancient editions. In 1689
Hody wrote the Prolegomena to the Chronicle of John
Malela, printed at Oxford ; and in 1690 he was made chap¬
lain to Stillingfleet, bishop of Worcester. The deprivation
of the nonjuring bishops involved him in a controversy with
Mr Dodwell, and gave occasion to a number of polemical
pieces, which have long ceased to possess any interest. His
support of the riding party of the church in this controversy
recommended him to Tillotson, archbishop of Canterbury,
who appointed him his domestic chaplain, an office which
he continued to hold under Dr Tenison. In 1698 he was
appointed regius professor of Greek in the University of
Oxford, and in 1704 he was instituted to the archdeaconry
of the same place. Hody died Jan. 20, 1705. He left be¬
hind him in manuscript a valuable work, published in 1742
by Dr Jebb, under the title of He Grcecis Illustribus linguce
Greecce iiterarumque humaniorum Instauratoribus, eqrum
vitis, scriptis, et elogiis libri duo. Prefixed to it is an ac¬
count in Latin of the author’s life, extracted from a manu¬
script in English left by himself.
HOF, a town of Bavaria, circle of Upper Franconia, on
the Saale, 30 miles N.N.E. of Bayreuth. It is surrounded
with walls, and has 4 churches, a gymnasium with an exten¬
sive library, an orphan asylum and several other charitable
institutions. Its manufactures comprise linen, woollen and
cotton stufts, leather, and paper. There are iron mines and
marble quarries wrought in the vicinity. Pop., including
the two suburbs, about 8000.
HOFER, Andrew, the hero of the Tyrol, was born in
1767 at St Leonard in the valley of Passeyr. Till his forty-
second year he had been merely known as an industrious
and thriving innkeeper, of great intelligence and probity of
. character. When the treaty of Presburg transferred the
I yrol from Austria to Bavaria, the Tyrolese had every va¬
il O F
riety of insult and outrage to endure from the Bavarians and Hoffmann,
their French allies. The consequence was, that when war
again broke out in 1809 between France and Austria, the
Tyrolese rose to a man in the cause of the House of Haps-
burg; and, putting themselves under the command of
Hofer, defeated the allied French and Bavarians in repeated
engagements, and at length drove them out of the Tyrol.
Till the close of the war Hofer administered the internal
government of his native country with much ability and in¬
tegrity. When the fortune of war again laid Austria pros¬
trate at the feet of Napoleon, the Tyrol was once more made
over to the Bavarians ; but it was only after the most heroic-
resistance on the part of the mountaineers that they were
able to make good their footing in the country. Hofer was
obliged to fly, and a price was set upon his head; but
though he contrived to elude the search of his enemies for
some time, he was at length taken, January 27, 1810. He
was sent to Mantua for trial by court-martial, and was con¬
demned and ordered for execution within twenty-four hours.
He died, as he had lived, a hero ; and the spot where he
fell is still visited by his countrymen as a sacred spot. The
Austrian Emperor Francis testified his gratitude to Hofer
by ennobling his family, and erecting a splendid monument
to his memory in the church of Innspruck.
HOFFMANN, Ernst Theodor Wilhelm, a German
writer and artist of brilliant but wild and unregulated genius,
was born at Konigsberg in Prussia, Jan. 24, 1776. His
misfortunes may be considered to have begun in his early
childhood, for, when he was a mere infant, his father—a
man of talent and high social standing, but of bad temper,
and perhaps bad habits—separated himself from his wife,
and never again took the least interest in her or any of her
children. The charge of Young Hoffmann’s education was
undertaken by his uncle, a rigid methodical man, who lived
by rule and square, and who wasted many hours in trying
to train his frolicsome nephew to a clockwork life like his
own. At a fitting age he was sent to the public school of
Konigsberg, where he displayed little aptitude for the classics,
but much for music and drawing. From the school he
passed to the university, where he listened to the lectures
of Kant without understanding or profiting by them. Yet
he wrought hard at his law studies, occupying his spare time
in giving lessons in his favourite arts of music and drawing;
and, after graduation, was appointed assessor of the court of
Posen. In the gay society of this town, where his time was
only half-occupied, he contracted those habits of dissipation
which afterwards brought about his ruin. The abundant
field for satire tempted him to use too freely that dangerous
gift, and he found it convenient to retire for a time to Plozk,
which, two years later, he was allowed to exchange for
Warsaw. In the Polish capital he turned to profitable ac¬
count his taste for music, and was beginning to prosper in
the world, when the arrival of Napoleon and his legions
once more threw him upon his wits. Failing in his attempt
to support himself by any of the forms of art of which he
was master, he became a stage director; and, when that
resource failed, a miscellaneous writer. It was now that he
began that series of essays after collected and published
under the title of Fantasie-Stiiche in Callot'sManier (Fancy-
Pieces in the manner of Jacques Callot). The brilliancy
and originality of these fancy pieces, which turned chiefly
on music, soon made Hoffmann’s name known, and procured
him abundance of literary and other employment; but his
life was still uncertain and chequered by the strangest vicis¬
situdes, arising out of the French war, which in these years
was devastating Germany. When peace was restored to
that country on the overthrow of Napoleon, Hoffmann was
reinstated in his legal appointments, and soon after pub¬
lished his Elixiere des Teufels, a two-volume novel, which
enhanced his rapidly growing fame. But his success turned
his head. He had always been vain, and now he became
HOF
Hoffmann, transcendently so ; and as he had no sympathy with the dull
conventions of society, he made himself a host of enemies
by fierce and frequent defiance of them. In disgust he re¬
tired to the wine-house, where, in the company of outcasts
like himself, he sought to drown his cares in the wildest
orgies. “ Strangers,” says his most eloquent biographer,
“ came to Berlin to see him in the tavern. The tavern was
his study, his pulpit, and his throne. Here his wit flashed
and flamed like an aurora borealis, and the table was for¬
ever in a roar; and thus, amid tobacco smoke and over
coarse earthly liquor, wras Hoffmann wasting faculties which
might, have seasoned the nectar of the gods.” In 1817 he
published hisiVa!c/<^-*S'fttcAe(Night-Pieces);andbetweenl819
and 1821, his Serapions-Briider, comprising most of his minor
tales and fugitive pieces. In 1820 and the following year
appeared his Lebens-Aussichten des Kater Murr (Tom-Cat
Murr’s Philosophy of Life), his masterpiece, but which he
did not live to finish. He died of a sort of paralysis, Jan.
24, 1822.
Hoffmann’s natural powers were all but of the highest
order, and, had they been under due control and guidance,
might have done great things. He thought he had found
his sphere in the poetry of art, which he loved with a deep
though hardly with a pure love, as a source of refined enjoy¬
ment rather than as a fountain of beauty. Failing to find
in it the heavenly peace which he longed for, he prostituted
it to the purposes of an earthly excitement. Hence it is
that his philosophy degenerates into bombast, and his mag¬
nanimity into levity; and his character equally with his
writings became tawdry, false, and theatrical. His humour
and his fancy, naturally racy and rich, became forced and
grotesque ; and all his other fine gifts were stultified besides
by the incredible rapidity with which, for the most part, he
was compelled to write. See Hoffmann’s Life and Remains,
published shortly after his death; and Carlyle’s Miscel¬
lanies, vol. hi., p. 362.
Hoffmann, Frederick, a celebrated physician of the
University of Halle in Saxony, was born in that city in
1660. He received his early education in his native town,
and made great progress in the mathematics, to which he
partly ascribed the success which followed his medical stu¬
dies. At the age of fifteen he lost both his father and his
mother during the prevalence of an epidemical distemper.
In 1680 he established himself at Erfurdt, thereto study
chemistry under Gaspar Cramer ; and the following year he
received the degree of doctor of physic at Jena. In 1682
he published an essay Be Cinnabari Antimonii, which was
reprinted at Leyden in 1685, 12mo, and laid the foundation
of his reputation as an able chemist, which he afterwards
increased by professing chemistry in the schools of Jena.
It is to him we are indebted for the preparation known by
the name of the Anodyne Liquor of Hoffmann, which is
considered still as a useful sedative. Frederick III.,
Elector of Brandenburg, having founded the university of
Halle in 1693, Hoftmann was appointed primarius professor,
and alone prepared the statutes of the faculty of medicine.
His fame soon spread throughout all Germany, and thence
into foreign parts ; and several learned bodies, including the
academies of Berlin and Petersburg, and the Royal Society
of London, enrolled him among their members. During his
residence at Halle he divided his time between instruction,
practice, and study ; but more than once he interrupted his
pursuits by visits to the different courts of Germany where
his professional successes procured him honours, titles, and
rewards. He w7as solicited by the king of Prussia to fix his
residence at Berlin; but he preferred remaining in his na¬
tive country, where he died on the 12th of November 1742.
At the age of sixty Hoffmann undertook his great work
entitled Medicina Rationalis Systematica, Halle, 1730, in
9 vols. 4to, of which Bruhier d’Ablaincourt has given a
translation, under the title of Medecine Raisonnee d’Hoff'-
VOL. XI.
HOG 553
mann, 1739, in 9 vols. 12mo. The same physician has also Hog
translated from the Latin of Hoffmann a Treatise on Fevers, ||
Paris, 1746, in 3 vols. 12mo; the Politics of Medicine, IIo8arth-
ibid., 1751, in 12mo; and Observations on the Cure of
Gout and Rheumatism. A complete edition of his works
has been published, with a life of the author, under the title
of Ilqffmanni Opera omnia Medico-physica cum Supple¬
ments, Geneva, 1740, 1755, 11 parts, in folio. The writ¬
ings of Hoffmann contain a great mass of practical matter of
considerable value, partly compiled from preceding writers,
and partly the result of his own observation; but they are
also deformed by trifling remarks, hypothetical conjectures,
and frequent prolixity and repetition in the details. As a
theorist, his suggestions proved of great importance, and
contributed to introduce that revolution in the science of
medicine which subsequent observation has extended and
confirmed. His doctrine of atony and spasm in the living
solid, according to which all internal disorders were referred
to some preternatural affection of the nervous system, rather
than to the morbid derangements of the fluids, first turned
the attention of physicians from the mere mechanical and
chemical operations of the body, to those of the primary
moving powers of the living system. Hoffmann pursued
with considerable ardour the study of practical chemistry,
and improved the department of pharmacy by the addition
of some mineral preparations. But, upon the whole, his
practice was cautious, especially in his latter years; and he
trusted much to vegetable simples. “ I affirm solemnly,”
said he, “ that, though in my youth I ran much after che¬
mical remedies, yet in my age I became convinced that
very few remedies, well selected, and derived from sub¬
stances in appearance the most worthless, afford more prompt
and efficacious relief to the sick than the rarest and most
elaborate chemical preparations.” (j. b—E.)
HOG. See index to Mammalia.
HOGARTH, William, the greatest of all satirical
painters, was born, according to the most probable conjec¬
ture, in 1698, in the parish of St Martin, London. His
father (whose name, as written and pronounced in these
days, was Hogart) was the son of a Westmoreland yeoman,
and had removed to London, where he supported himself
by teaching and writing. His circumstances were anything
but prosperous. In the words of his son (Hogarth’s Anec¬
dotes of Himself, ed. 1833)—“My father’s pen, like that of
many other authors, did not enable him to do more for me
than put me in a way of shifting for myself. As I had na¬
turally a good eye and a fondness for drawing, shows of all
sorts gave me uncommon pleasure when an infant; and
mimicry, common to all children, was remarkable in me.
An early access to a neighbouring painter drew my atten¬
tion from play, and I was at every possible opportunity em¬
ployed in making drawings. I picked up an acquaintance of
the same turn, and soon learned to draw the alphabet with
great correctness. My exercises when at school were more
remarkable for the ornaments which adorned them than for
the exercise itself. In the former I soon found that block¬
heads with better memories could much surpass me; but
for the latter I was particularly distinguished.”
At the proper age Hogarth was apprenticed to a silver¬
smith, Ellis Gamble by name; but long before he had
served out his time he was heartily tired of carving crests
and heraldic devices on silver, and longed to begin engraving
on copper. To obtain the requisite knowledge of drawing,
he began, immediately on the expiry of his apprenticeship,
to attend the lectures of Sir James Thornhill, serjeant-
painter to the king, but, if the testimony of Horace Walpole
may be believed, without attaining any great excellence in
drawing from the life. He says himself, however, that
frontispieces to books, such as prints to Hudibras, &c., soon
brought him into the way ; but he complains grievously that
he was robbed of the legitimate reward of his labours by the
4 A
554
HOGARTH.
Hogarth, printsellers. “ The first plate which I published,” he says,
v/—' called The Taste of the Town, in which the reigning follies
were lashed, “ no sooner began to take a run, than I found
copies of it in the print-shops, vending at half-price, while
the original prints were returned to me again, and I was
thus obliged to sell the plate for whatever these pirates
pleased to give me, as there was no place of sale but at
their shops.” Amid these difficulties he struggled on to his
thirtieth year, when he made “ a stolen union ” with the
daughter of Sir James Thornhill, his former teacher. Sir
James, a man high in station, refused at first to open his
eyes to the genius of his son-in-law, and for two years be¬
lieved that his daughter had disgraced herself and degraded
her family by her marriage. At the end of that period, how¬
ever, he “ became both reconciled and generous to the
young couple.” Up to the time of his marriage, Hogarth
had been, in his own phrase, “a punctual paymaster;”and
now, to meet his increased expenditure, he “ commenced
painter of small Conversation Pieces, from 12 to 15 inches
high ; which, being a novelty, succeeded for a few years.”
He eked out his income by painting portraits; and though
he always spoke with vehement contempt of this branch of
art, his extant pieces show that he might easily have attained
eminence in it. Before fairly committing himself to these
new walks, he had entertained great hopes of succeeding as
a historical painter, and, as he himself says, “ painted two
Scripture stories—The Pool of Bethesda and The Good
Samaritan, with features 7 feet high.” Like Moliere, who
believed to the day of his death that his true calling was
the acting and writing of tragedy, Hogarth persisted to the
last in declaring high art as his real vocation. His attempts
in that walk were never, in his opinion, appreciated as they
deserved; and among his friends his delight was to thump
the table and snap his fingers, and say—“ Historical painters,
be hanged! here’s the man that will paint against any of
them for a hundred pounds. Correggio’s Sigismunda ! look
at Bill Hogarth’s Sigismunda; look at my altar-piece of
St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol; look at my Paul before Felix,
and see whether I’m not as good as the best of them.” On
one occasion a Mr Freke had asserted that Greene, the
composer, was as great a musician as Handel. “That
fellow Freke,” remarked Hogarth, “is always shooting his
bolt absurdly one way or another. Handel is a giant in
music; Greene only a light Florimel kind of composer.”
“ Aye,” said the artist’s companion, “ but Mr Freke declared
that you were as good a portrait painter as Vandyke.”
“ There he was right,” said Hogarth ; “ and so, by G—•, I
am; give me my time, and let me choose my subject.”
So overweeningly confident was Hogarth of his own powers,
and so little did he know of the conditions of historical paint¬
ing, that he did not even deem a special training at all ne¬
cessary for success in it. But, whatever his genius for high
art, he soon found that, if he devoted himself to it alone,
he would starve. Necessity compelled him to revert to
that style which he had already begun to strike out for him¬
self, and which, as afterwards perfected by him, led him on
to fortune and immortal fame. His oil paintings themselves
never sold very well; but he made a point of engraving
them all, and from the sale of these engravings he realized
a handsome fortune. Here, again, his old enemies, the
printsellers, interposed between him and the public, and for
a time pirated each plate as it appeared, and intercepted
the artists profits. In 1735 Hogarth sent in a petition to
parliament, drawing attention to this flagrant outrage upon
justice, and the result was a law securing to the artist a
copyright ot fourteen years in every plate from the date of
publication. In 1753 Hogarth published his Analysis of
Beauty, in which he endeavours to prove that the founda-
tion of all beauty is a waving line curved somewhat like an
S ; while a less pronounced curve is the line of grace. This
idea, and the curious illustrations brought forward in sup¬
port of it, drew down upon its propounder’s head a perfect
shower of pamphlets and criticisms, all hostile, and nearly all
sarcastic in their tone. One of the most amusing quarrels
that resulted out of this publication was that with Wilkes
and Churchill. Both of these persons, formerly Hogarth’s
friends, joined in the outcry against him—the first "in his
newspaper (the North Briton), the other in his poetical
epistle. Hogarth had his revenge. Churchill descends to
posterity as a bear hugging a post inscribed with an ascend¬
ing scale of lies. Of Wilkes’ famous portrait, Hogarth him¬
self says—“ This renowned patriot’s portrait, drawn like as
I could as to features, and marked with some indications of
his mind, fully answered my purpose. The ridiculous was
apparent to every eye ! A Brutus! a saviour of his country !
with such an aspect, was so arrant a farce, that, though it
drew much laughter from the lookers on, galled both him
and his adherents to the bone.” As Hogarth advanced in
years his health began rapidly to give way, but his powers
of mind remained unimpaired to the end. He died October
26, 1764, and was buried in the churchyard of Chiswick,
near London. His wife, who never bore him any children,
survived him for fifteen years, and on her death, in 1789,
was buried by his side.
Johnson’s famous lines on Hogarth are equally true and
pleasing:—
Hogarth.
“ The hand of him here torpid lies,
That drew the essential forms of grace ;
Here closed in death the attentive eyes,
That saw the manners in the face.”
As a man, Hogarth is one of the most interesting and cha¬
racteristic types of the true English race. Under a some¬
what rough exterior lay one of the most generous, open,
and honest souls that England had to boast of in all the
eighteenth century. Born and brought up in London, from
the shadow of whose smoke he hardly ever emerged except
for an occasional holiday, he imbibed many of the prejudices
and little narrownesses incident to such a mode of life. But
in his case, as in Dr Johnson’s, the knots and excrescences
that disfigured the oak also marked its strength. No man of
that century, not the great lexicographer himself, fought a
nobler battle against great odds, or gained in the end a
nobler victory. As a satirist, Hogarth, like all satirists, had
foes numerous and malignant. But, though these often
assailed him ungenerously and unjustly, he scorned to take
a mean advantage over them, or to glory in his triumph
when the scale turned in his favour. The very last sentence
in his memorial of himself runs thus :—“ This I may safely
assert, that in the course of my life I have done my best to
make those about me tolerably happy, and my greatest
enemy cannot say that I ever did an intentional injury.”
To assign Hogarth his rank among painters, is no dif¬
ficult task. In the class to which he belongs he has had few
imitators and no rivals, either in our own or in any other
country. Of all English painters, Hogarth’s chances of
immortality are the best; and it has been well said that our
chances of another Hogarth are as precarious as our chances
of another Shakspeare. To the student of history his works
are invaluable for their complete and sternly truthful pictures
of the manners and even the thoughts of the eighteenth cen¬
tury. In the words of Thackeray—“ We look, and we see
pass before us the England of a hundred years ago. The peer
in his drawing-room, the lady of fashion in her apartment,
foreign singers surrounding her, and the chamber filled with
gew-gaws in the mode of that day; the church, with its
quaint florid architecture and singing congregation; the
parson with his great wig, and the beadle with his cane;
all these are represented before us, and we are sure of the
truth of the portrait. We see how the lord mayor dines in
state; how the prodigal drinks and sports at the bagnio;
how the poor girl beats hemp in Bridewell; how the thief
divides his booty and drinks his punch at the night-cellar,
HOG
Hogarth, and how he finishes his career at the gibbet. We may de-
pend upon the perfect accuracy of these strange and varied
portraits of the bye-gone generation. We see one of Wal¬
pole’s members of parliament chaired after his election, and
the lieges celebrating the event, and drinking confusion to
the Pretender; we see the grenadiers and trainbands of
the city marching out to meet the enemy ; and have before
us, with sword and firelock, and white Hanoverian horse
embroidered on the cap, the very figures of the men who
ran away with Johnny Cope, and who conquered at Cul-
loden. The Yorkshire waggon rolls into the inn-yard ; the
country parson, in his jack-boots and his bands and short
cassock, comes trotting into town, and we fancy it is Parson
Adams with his sermons in his pocket. The Salisbury fly
sets forth from the old Angel; you see the passengers en¬
tering the great heavy vehicle up the wooden steps, their
hats tied down with handkerchiefs over their faces, and un¬
der their arms, sword, hanger, and case-bottle ; the landlady,
apoplectic with the liquors in her own bar, is tugging at the
bell; the hunch-backed postilion (he may have ridden the
leaders to Humphrey Clinker) is begging a gratuity; the
miser is grumbling at the bill; Jack of the Centurion lies
on the top of the clumsy vehicle, with a soldier by his side
—it may be Smollet’s Jack Hatchway—it has a likeness to
Lesmahagow. You see the suburban fair, and the strolling
company of actors ; the pretty milk-maid singing under the
windows of the enraged French musician—it is such a girl
as Steele charmingly described in the Guardian, a few
years before this date, singing under Mr Ironside’s window
in Shire Lane her pleasant carol of a ‘ May Morning.’ You
see noblemen and blacklegs bawling and betting in the
Cock-pit; you see Garrick as he was arrayed in King
Richard; Macheath and'Polly in the dresses which they
wore when they charmed our ancestors, and when noblemen
in blue ribbons sat on the stage and heard their delightful
singing. You.see the ragged French soldiery in their white
coats and cockades at Calais gate ; they are of the regiment,
very likely, which friend Roderick Random joined before he
was rescued by his preserver, Monsieur de Strap, and with
whom he fought on the famous day of Dettingen. You see
the judges on the bench ; the audience laughing in the pit;
the student in the Oxford theatre ; the citizen in his country
walk. You see Broughton, the boxer ; Sarah Malcolm, the
murdress; Simon Lovat, the traitor; John Wilkes, the
demagogue, leering at you with that squint of his which
has become historical, and with that face which, ugly as it
was, he said he could make as captivating to woman as the
face of the handsomest beau in town.’’ These subjects are
treated for the most part in the satirical vein ; but Hogarth’s
satire is never an end to itself, it is generally a means to¬
wards the teaching of some valuable lesson of practical
morality. Sometimes, like Juvenal, the painter dissects
with a hideous minuteness the follies and vices of his day,
which in various guises are the follies and vices of all time.
Like Swift, revelling in the morbid anatomy of the human
heart, he sometimes (as in his Four Stages of Cruelty) de¬
picts scenes that in themselves shock and repel the observer,
but are yet made interesting by their wonderful power and
truth to nature ; while, on the other hand, he is not surpassed
by De Foe himself in the number, homeliness, and graphic
force of his details. So great, indeed, is Hogarth in these re¬
spects, that the criticism of Charles Lamb becomes literally
true when he says that “ his graphic representations are in¬
deed hooks; they have the teeming, fruitful, suggestive
meaning of words. Other pictures we look at; his prints we
read.” It was fashionable among some of Hogarth’s con¬
temporary critics to settle his claims to posthumous fame
by describing him as a caricaturist, and by ridiculing the
technical execution of his works. On the first head it is
only necessary to repeat what has been already said, that
“ the quantity of thought which he crowds into every picture
HOG 555
would almost unvulgarize every subject which he might Hogg,
choose,” and that consequently he can scarcely be classed
among caricaturists at all, as that term is now understood. On
the second head, small wits of the last century were misled
by the verdict of Horace Walpole, who said that Hogarth
had but little merit as a painter. Posterity, however, has
reversed this sentence of the captious critic; and indeed
it must be plain to all who have seen Hogarth’s pictures
that, except in the matter of colouring, their technical merits
are not only great, but remarkable. As a draughtsman,
indeed, he has been surpassed by many of his countrymen ;
but his powder of composition is such as few English painters
have ever shown at all. Even his colouring, which is con¬
fessedly his wreak point, may be defended to some extent,
as having been laid on in dead tints chiefly that the eye of
the spectator might not be distracted by gaudy hues from
the action and moral of the various pieces; yet there are
many individual pieces of painting in Hogarth’s pictures
which show that, if he had not had special reasons for per¬
severing in the style he originally adopted, he might have
ranked high among English colourists. This much, how¬
ever, is certain, that, whatever Hogarth’s technical merits
or defects may be, so long as man shall continue to be man’s
proper study, so long will Hogarth’s pictures, in virtue of
the human interest they possess, continue to find students
and admirers.
(Hogarth’s Memoirs of Himself; Allan Cunningham’s Life; Ire¬
land’s Life; Hogarth’s Works, by Nichols and Steevens; Charles
Lamb’s Essay on Hogarth; Thackeray’s Lectures on the English
Humorists; Walpole’s Anecdotes; and Waagen's Arts and Artists
of England, where an able and elaborate defence and analysis of
Hogarth will be found.)
HOGG, James, a Scottish poet and miscellaneous writer,
best known by his pastoral and poetical title of the Ettrick
Shepherd. He was born in the humble rank of a shepherd,
and his early lot was full of hardship, but his situation had
its redeeming and compensatory features. He was not,
like Burns, condemned to severe and irksome labour, forced
to do the work of a man when a mere stripling. He had
not, like Bloomfield or Gifford, to undergo the close, mono¬
tonous, and depressing confinement of a workshop. He
had the free range of the mountain and glen in a pictur¬
esque district famous for its historical and poetic associa¬
tions, and he was familiar from infancy with the heroic and
legendary lore and ballad strains of the Border. When his
great contemporary Scott wondered at his untaught min¬
strelsy, the Shepherd could say—
“ He little weened a parent’s tongue
Such strains had o’er my cradle sung.”
By the maternal side Hogg was descended from a long
line of shepherds, noted for their fidelity, skill, and devoted
attachment to their masters. His mother, Margaret Laid-
law, was a great collector and reciter of ancient ballads and
Border history, and a woman of remarkable liveliness, hu¬
mour, and spirit. Her cottage was the favourite resort of
all the young shepherds of Ettrick and Yarrow. His father,
Robert Hogg, was, mentally and morally, a much inferior
person. He had also been a shepherd, but he subsequently
embarked in the business of a store-farmer and drover, fre¬
quenting the English and Scotch markets, and he soon
wrecked the humble fortunes and prospects of the family.
James was the second of four sons, born in a cottage at
Ettrick Hall, near the parish church and school. In the
various accounts of his own life which he wrote from time
to time, Hogg gave 1772 as the year of his birth. At first
he said he was born in the latter end of that year, but sub¬
sequently he claimed to be born on the anniversary of
Burns’ birth-day, the 25th of January. The parish regis¬
ter, however, records his baptism as having taken place on
the 9th of December 1770. About seven years after this
time Robert Hogg’s affairs became desperate, his effects
556 H O
Hogg, were sold, and in the distress and poverty of the family
James was put out to service in the neighbourhood as a
cow-herd, which he considered to be the lowest and worst
occupation in that part of the country. It is, however, the
usual commencement of the life of an ordinary shepherd until
he has attained his fifteenth or sixteenth year, when he is con¬
sidered fit to be trusted with a fa’rse/ or flock of sheep. Pre¬
vious to entering upon service, Hogg had attended the
parish school, and was, as he tells us, at the head of a class of
young scholars, who read the Shorter Catechism and Pro¬
verbs of Solomon. This could hardly have been attained
in less than a twelvemonth, and in the following year he was
placed by his parents for four months under a private teacher,
with whom he was instructed in the Bible, and learned to
write imperfectly. The Shepherd’s statements as to the
amount of his school education are vague and contradictory.
In one he says that the whole did not cost ten shillings ;
in another, that he was about six months at school; and in
a third (his farewell address to the readers of the Spy) he
boldly affirms that he was never at school. The probability
is that he had the same amount of education as other chil¬
dren in the district of the same age, but that from his lively
rambling disposition and love of out-door sports, he was a
careless and irregular scholar. In his fourteenth year he had
saved five shillings, with which he bought an ofd violin, on
which he practised at nights in the stables and cow-houses
where he was forced to make his bed. He had access to
few books, he says, except theological works, until, in his
eighteenth year, he got a perusal of the Metrical History
of Wallace, and Ramsay’s Gentle Shepherd (which he wished
had been in prose or in the metre of the Psalms), and Burnet’s
Theory of the Earth, which he says had nearly overturned
his brain. Chance newspapers also fell in his way, which
he read through, but was often “ no wiser than when he
began.” In attempting to write he found he had forgotten
several of the letters, and had to copy them from a printed
book, or “ patch up the words in the best way he could
without them.” This picture of intellectual stagnation on
the part of one afterwards remarkable for mental activity
and ambition, and happening in the midst of a body of in¬
telligent shepherds and farmers, who were all readers, as
he relates, and delighting in poetry and music, has been
pronounced incredible. It is clearly exaggerated, but Hogg’s
genius was slow in manifesting itself; his fancy flowered
late. Favourable circumstances, however, were now at
hand. After serving a number of masters, first as cow-herd
and afterwards as shepherd, he was engaged in the latter
capacity by Mr Laidlaw, tenant of Blackhouse, a farm on
the Douglas Burn, in Yarrow, From Whitsunday 1790
to Whitsunday 1799, Hogg continued in the service of Mr
Laidlaw. He was treated with affectionate kindness, and
had the use of a considerable collection of books, which he
soon exhausted, and then subscribed to a circulating library
in Peebles. About the year 1793 he obtained a glimpse
of the wilder scenery of the West Highlands, being des¬
patched by his master with a flock of sheep to the head of
Strathfillan, in Perthshire. This period of nine years, from
his twentieth to his twenty-ninth year, was perhaps the hap¬
piest of Hogg’s life. He was buoyant and vigorous, the envy
of the shepherds for his swiftness and agility, and the de¬
light of the country maidens for his gay fancy, music, and
handsome appearance. He soon added the recommenda¬
tion of being a poet. Two months in every year formed a
sort of poetical carnival in his shepherd’s life. From the
middle of July to the middle of September his only duty
was what was called “ summering the lambs.” The young
flock was committed to his care, and all he had to do was
to move them from place to place. There was no toil or
fatigue in the occupation, his dog may be said to have done
the whole; and, carrying his books with him, the Shepherd
had ample leisure among the green hills and quiet waters
G G.
for study and contemplation. In the little library at Black- Hogg,
house were the Spectator, the works of Milton, Pope, v"'-
Ihomson, and Young, with some books of travels and
treatises of “ sound divines,” all of which, with others, Hogg
eagerly perused. He may be said to have made the whole
circle of standard English literature, and he was not without
worthy and congenial associates. His own brother William
was a man of strong sense and literary tastes, who contri¬
buted to several periodicals; another shepherd, Alexander
Laidlaw, was equally accomplished in his humble sphere ;
and the eldest son of his master was that Mr William Laid¬
law afterwards known as the confidential friend and man¬
ager of Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford, the author of the
beautiful ballad of Lucy’s Flittirt, and in all respects a most
amiable, ingenious, and accomplished man. Laidlaw was
ten years younger than Hogg, but their acquaintance soon
ripened into a tender friendship, and Laidlaw seized every
opportunity of bringing forward the talents of his friend,
and aiding in their development. The first dawnings of
such a mind, and the successive steps by which the poet
overcame the difficulties of his situation would, if faithfully
narrated, form an interesting record. Burns has told us
how love and poetry began with him in his early obscurity ;
and Hogg’s first attempts consisted of songs and ballads to
be sung by the country girls in chorus. “ The first time,”
he says, “ that I attempted to write verses was in the spring
of the year 1798—the first time I ever heard of Burns was
in 1797, the year after he died.” A man recited to him Tam
O'Shanter. “ This,” he adds, “ formed a new epoch of my
life. Every day I pondered on the genius and fate of Burns.
I wept, and always thought with myself—what is to hinder
me from succeeding Burns. I, too, was horn on the 2oth
of January, and I have much more time to read and com¬
pose than any ploughman could have, and can sing more
old songs than ever ploughman could in the world. But
then I wept again because I could not write.” The poet’s
memory, or his desire to appear a poetical prodigy, the
“ last infirmity” of literary ambition, has here completely
misled him. He had written and published verses, and
imitated Burns, three years before 1797. His first printed
piece was a short tale in the measure and style of Burns’s
Holy Fair, entitled The Mistakes of a Night. It is a
coarse but humorous effusion of eleven stanzas, and was
printed in the Scots Magazine for October 1794, with a
note appended to it calculated to sober the vanity of the
writer. The editor said he was disposed to give the verses
a place, to “ encourage a young poet,” who, he hoped,
ivould improve, and be at more pains to “ make his rhymes
answer,” and to “ attend to grammatical accuracy.”
After quitting Blackhouse, Hogg removed to Ettrick, to
a small farm rented by his brother William, who had mar¬
ried and resigned the lease of the farm in favour of the
poet and his father. Fie looked about for some more pro¬
mising situation as overseer or manager; and in June 1800
took a tour to the Highlands, proceeding to the sources of
the Dee. To William Laidlaw he wrote from Blairgowrie,
“ I must enter amongst the bens and glens of the Grampians
—these sovereigns of the north I see towering their ancient
tops, specked with the snows of the last century, and aspir¬
ing to bid ‘ good morrow’ to the sun.” On his return he
committed what he afterwards considered—and justly con¬
sidered—a great folly. He had gone to Edinburgh market,
he says, and whilst waiting there from Monday to Wednes¬
day, he suddenly resolved on writing out some of his poems
from memory, and having them printed. The volume
appeared in January 1801, and was entitled Scots Pasto¬
rals, Poems, Songs, fyc., mostly written in the dialect of
the south, by James Hogg, tenant in Ettrick. In one of
his autobiographies Hogg says this volume was full of errors
and imperfections; he had left the manuscript with the
printer (one Taylor, in the Grassmarket), and seen no more
H O
Hogg, of his poems until he received word that a thousand copies
were thrown off. This must not be taken literally. He
had seen the proof sheets, but he was soon ashamed of the
publication, which produced nothing but mortification. His
friends in the Forest complained that he had styled himself
a tenant in Ettrick, the farm being really held by his bro¬
ther ; but he replied that he had given no such order, and
that in the proof sheet which he received to which the
title-page was annexed, there was no such designation. In
one of the pieces he had reflected on Lord Napier, an ex¬
tensive proprietor in Ettrick. “ I see my error,” he writes
to Laidlaw, “ but what ailed both you and Clarkson, who
had both perused the MS., that you had not told me that
sooner ? It is madness to talk of losing the whole impres¬
sion ; to do that, you know, is entirely out of my power;
I wish I had the one paid, that is printed, and other things
which are more pressing at present. It is a great mortifi¬
cation to my gay heart, which fondly imagined the whole
world were my friends; d—n it, I’ll proceed no farther
with this reflection.” And then the poor bard changes his
tone, and alludes jocularly to the chance of Lord Napier
sending him a challenge ! He, the Shepherd, as the party
challenged, would, of course, have the choice of distance
and weapons; and he would select one of his lordship’s hill
sides in Ettrick; his weapon would be fragments of rock,
and hurling these down on the peer, he would make him
for once a. fugce. Such was Hogg on his first publication—
rash, blundering, and improvident—and such he continued
to the last.
In the autumn of 1802, Sir Walter, then Mr Scott, “the
Shirra,” made a raid into Yarrow for the purpose of collect¬
ing materials for a third volume of the Minstrelsy of the
Scottish Border. He was accompanied by John Ley¬
den, and he carried an introduction from another poetical
Borderer, Andrew Mercer, to William Laidlaw at Black-
house. Laidlaw had received from Hogg a copy of an an¬
cient ballad, called Auld Maitland, which the Shepherd had
written down from the recitation of his mother and uncle—
the latter a shrewd old shepherd named “ Will of Phaw-
hope.” The relic was deemed invaluable ; and Scott, be¬
fore he left the district, took a note of Hogg’s address that
he might correspond with him. The Shepherd was then
absent in the north. Affairs had gone ill at Ettrick, and he
had tried another journey to see if anything could be done
in the Highlands “ in the farming line,” but returned un¬
successful.
Scott never lost sight of his poetical brother in the Forest.
He corresponded with him, and becoming more and more
curious to meet with one who had interested him so strongly,
he made another visit to Blackhouse, with the intention of
getting Mr William Laidlaw to guide him to Ettrick. They
went by Dryhope and St Mary’s Loch over the high green
solitary hills that separate the head of Yarrow from her
sister stream ; and arriving in the valley of Ettrick put up
their horses at Ramsay-cleuch, a farm occupied by some
relatives of Laidlaw. A cordial welcome and a Dandie Din-
mont dinner awaited the Sheriff*and his friend, and in the
evening Hogg was sent for to come to tea. “ For at that
time,” says Laidlaw, “ the good Shepherd retained all his
original simplicity of character, and he brought with him a
MS. of some size—enough at least to show his industry
—filled with ballads and fragments. Mr Scott’s meeting
with Hogg was like that of an elder brother meeting a
younger that he had not seen for years, and whose talents
and acquirements were far beyond his hopes and expecta¬
tions.” The incident formed a grand era in the history of
the Shepherd. Scott became his model as a poet, his judi¬
cious counsellor, and his indefatigable friend. No outbreaks
of waywardness, caprice, or jealousy on the part of the irri¬
table and impulsive bard of Ettrick, could damp the zeal or
lessen the generosity of his first and greatest patron.
G G.
557
Hogg made two more Highland expeditions, of which he
published some account in a series of letters in the Scots
Magazine. The narrative shows considerable facility in
prose composition, with touches of poetical feeling ; but his
attention was chiefly directed to the rural economy of the
north. One of these tours was extended to the Hebrides,
which he thought highly favourable for the extension of
sheep farming, though then chiefly occupied in the rearing
of black cattle. He got a neighbour in Ettrick to join him
in taking a farm in the Island of Harris ; lambs were pur¬
chased for stocking the farm in the summer of 1804; the
poet had written his Farewell to Ettrick, and both parties
had set off for Harris, when he learned, he says, about the
middle of July, that he could not enter into possession—
“ that the tacksman’s right to the subject was called in ques¬
tion, and a plea entered at the Court of Session accordingly.”
He gave up all intention of proceeding to the island, and
went off to the north of England, among the lakes of Cum¬
berland, for some time, “ in order to avoid a great many
disagreeable questions and explanations.” His friend, the
Ettrick farmer, who had proceeded with his stock part of
the way, was a considerable loser by the poet’s mismanage¬
ment ; and Hogg says that he himself “ lost all the money
he had made by a regular and industrious life.” He had
saved about L.200 while a shepherd at Blackhouse. The
affair altogether was supposed to leave a stain on the poet’s
moral character as well as sagacity; and it was long ere he
regained the countenance or regard of his early friends in
the Forest. He did not rejoin them at this time, but engaged
himself as a shepherd in Nithsdale.
The second publication of Hogg was made in 1807. He
had corresponded with Scott, and was encouraged by him
to collect and publish a volume of legendary ballads and
songs under the title of the Mountain Bard. The poems
evinced decided talent; Scott heralded the volume with a
brief but kind prefatory notice ; the Shepherd told the story
of his life and misfortunes, and public interest being thus
excited, the work was well received. By its sale, and by
a Treatise on the Diseases on Sheep, published the same
year, he realized about L.300. With this money the Shep¬
herd unfortunately embarked in farming in Dumfries-shire,
and in three years was utterly ruined, abandoning all his
effects to his creditors. He returned to Ettrick, and there
found only cold and estranged looks. He could not even
obtain employment as a shepherd ; so, wrapping his plaid
around him, he set off, in February 1810, to push his for¬
tune in Edinburgh as a literary adventurer.
No vicissitude could abate Hogg’s self-reliance, or dimi¬
nish what he honestly called his vanity. He would have
fared ill, however, but for a generous Border admirer, Mr
John Grieve, established in business in Edinburgh, who
opened his house to him as Thrale did to Johnson, and for
years suffered him to want for nothing. From the noble
family of Buccleuch he seems also to have received assis¬
tance. In 1810 he published a collection of songs, which
being dedicated to the Countess of Dalkeith, and recom¬
mended to her notice by Scott, was rewarded with a pre¬
sent of a hundred guineas. He then commenced a weekly
periodical, The Spy, which he continued from the 1st of
September 1810 to the 17th of August 1811. Several
friends contributed essays to this work, but its general strain
was coarse and indelicate. His poetical genius had in the
meantime been gradually purifying itself, and his Queen's
Wake, published in 1813, established his reputation as one
of the first poets of the age. This was followed by Mador
of the Moor, a Highland story in the Spenserian stanza, of
improbable plot, but highly effective in its descriptive scenes.
He next publislmd The Pilgrims of the Sun, a wild mysti¬
cal poem in blank verse; and The Poetic Mirror, a suc¬
cessful imitation of the style of some of the living poets.
This work was aided by contributions from poetical friends.
558 H O
Hogg. Scott had been applied to, but refused in a curt and decided
letter, which gave such offence to the now elated Shepherd,
that he replied to him in wrath, addressing him as “ D—d
sir,” “ yours in disgust,” &c. For this atrocity he after¬
wards apologized, and Scott bade him “ think no more of
the business, and come to breakfast next morning.” The
Duchess of Buccleuch, on her deathbed in 1814, had made
a request of the Duke that he would do something for the
Ettrick bard, and the Duke gave him a lease for life of the
farm of Altrive in Yarrow, consisting of about seventy acres
of moorland, on which the poet built a house and spent the
last years of his life. He took possession of it in 1817, but
his literary exertions were never relaxed. Before 1820 he
had written The Brownie of Bodsbeck, a tale of the Cove¬
nanters, and two volumes of Winter Evening Tales, besides
collecting, editing, and writing part of two volumes of Ja¬
cobite Belies, and contributing largely to Blachvood's Mag¬
azine. In 1820 he married an amiable lady of a good An-
nandale family, and found himself possessed of about L.1000,
a good house, and a well-stocked farm. Fortune seemed
at last to be propitious—he was the most prosperous as he
was the most celebrated man in the Forest. So intent was
he on his home felicity, and his reputation as a store-farmer
in Yarrow, that he declined a flattering invitation from Sir
Walter Scott to accompany him to London to witness the
coronation of George IY. The Shepherd preferred attend¬
ing the great sheep fair at St Boswell’s ! This new-born
virtue of prudence, however, soon forsook him ; he became
a candidate for a large farm on the Buccleuch estate. On
the 29th of November 1821 he wrote to Laidlaw, “ The
farms will be decided to-day, and we will soon see what has
been allotted to me. I have made no movement one way
or another; no doubt I could have Mount Benger for the
asking, but I did not know whether it was to be lowered or
not, and had hopes that they might have some better one
in their eye for me.” Mount Benger was to be his destiny.
It adjoined Altrive, and he took it on lease for nine years.
He stocked it and conducted it expensively, as his neigh¬
bours alleged—having double the number of horses that
was required, and treble the number of work-people. His
hospitality was also profuse. To meet his new engagements
he wrote several novels, republished his poems, and gave
to the world a second metrical romance, Queen Hynde,
which contains many fine passages, but is deficient in poe-
G G.
tical colouring and interest. He had realized nearly Hogg.
L.1000 by these various literary labours. vs—
Hogg’s connection with Blackwood’s Magazine kept him
still more familiarly before the public. The wit and mis¬
chief of some of his literary friends made free with his name,
and represented him in ludicrous and grotesque aspects, but
the effect of the whole was favourable to his popularity.
His appearances in the Nodes Ambrosiance gave an erro¬
neous impression of his habits, and so far prejudiced him in
the estimation of the graver portion of his friends and the
public, but they unquestionably elevated his reputation as
a man of genius and of rare colloquial powers. For some
time he winced keenly under the monthly infliction, but at
length came to relish the poetical exaggeration of his friend
Wilson, and predicted that the magazine would sink when¬
ever his name was withdrawn from it. For much of the
eclat and brilliancy of his latter years, relieving and gilding
days of adversity, he was indebted to these celebrated and
unique dialogues.1 * * * * * By the end of his nine years’ lease of
Mount Benger the poet was again a ruined man. He made
a visit to London in the winter of 1831, and was feted and
feasted by the nobility, literati, and public men of the me¬
tropolis. He was engaged to banquets weeks in advance,
and often engaged to three places in one day. On his re¬
turn a public dinner was given him in Peebles—Professor
Wilson in the chair—and he acknowledged that he had at
last “found fame.” His health, however, was seriously im¬
paired. In November 1833 he writes to a private friend,
“ Though plump and fair, I am plagued with an asthmatic
cough and wheezing which renders me quite useless, and
disables me from hunting, fishing, &c., without which you
know I cannot subsist.” In the same letter he mentions
that his domestic memoir of Sir Walter Scott had been
published in Albany—its circulation being confined (which,
of course, was found impossible) to the United States. “I
had an offer for it,” he remarks, “ which I did not find my¬
self in circumstances to refuse.” The publication of this
brochure drew down upon Hogg the keen resentment of Mr
Lockhart. It is, however, a candid and just representation
of his illustrious friend ; though, like all Hogg’s reminis¬
cences, it is confused and inaccurate in details. With his
pen in his hand to the last, the Shepherd in 1834 published
a volume oi Lay Sermons; and in 1835 two volumes of
Montrose Tales. By the latter end of this year his illness
1 Ijef°re the commencement of the Nodes, letters, poems, &c., were printed in Blackwood in Hogg’s name, which he never wrote, and
which wanted the geniality and humour of Wilson’s personations ; of these he complained grievously. The following is part of an un¬
published letter, addressed to Sir Walter Scott, and dated “Altrive Lake, October 3,1821
My dear Sir alter, Like every other vassal, whose situation with his chief is perfectly understood, though never once mentioned,
I always sit wisely still, unless either called upon by you to some great weaponshaw; or when I find marauders and freebooters encroach¬
ing on my own privileges. In this last case I am never behind, viz., in asking indemnities, although in the former one (as in the late
coronation affair) I sometimes show a little obstinacy to budge. I am fairly in Jamie Telfer’s situation, and therefore I come lang
eight miles barefoot to Abbot s Ha’ in hopes to have a rise in my favour. I allude to the beastly usage of me by Blackwood, and some
new cronies of his. . I know not what to do with that wretch. He will neither answer a letter nor regard me one way or another; and
though I have a written promise, dated nineteen months back, ‘ that my name should never be mentioned in this way without my own
consent, yet 37ou see how it is kept, and how I am again misrepresented to the world. I am neither a drunkard, nor an idiot, nor a
monster of nature, nor am I so imbecile as never to have written a word of grammar in my life. I would not mind their vulgar in¬
jurious ribaldry so much on my own account, but there are other feelings now that I am bound to regard above my own, where the
wounds inflicted by such assassins rankle with so keen a smart, that I am unable to allay them, and this part of the business I cannot
endure. I am assailed by letters from every quarter, urging me to do something in my own defence, which I am very willing to do if I
wist what to do; but I am so apt to run wrong that I dare not trust myself without asking your advice. Shall I answer him in print—
pursue him at law (to which it will soon come if I answer him)—or knock out his brains? I must do something, for I am told there
never was a man so ill-used in Britain; and truly I do not think there ever was Will you suffer your liege yeoman to be
guided this way, and advise him to take all patiently ? You were angry at me the last time I went to law, and, as a small arlepenny,
made me pay the piper damnably; and though I am burning for a mischief again, I shall [not] be free of entering on it this time with¬
out advice. Now, dear Sir Walter, though I have written this in bed for sheer amusement, I want a serious line from you what you
think on the subject. I am lying sick of the measles, and not like to get readily free of the distemper, else I would have been down
seeing Laidlaw, Lockhart, and yourself this week, which has for several years been the one I always paid my yearly homage. Yours,
ever most affectionately, Jambs Hogg.” j j j & j
M e have left out some remarks by Hogg about Blackwood and pecuniary affairs. He quarrelled with most of his publishers, and
generally had the wrong side of the quarrel. About a year after the date of the above letter, Professor Wilson commenced his
Aoctes the Shepherd being the prime interlocutor; they were continued till 1832, then stopt for two years, and resumed in 1834,
by the voluntary act (as appears from Mr Bogers’ Modern Minstrel) of Professor Wilson, who remitted to the Shepherd a solatium of
five guineas a sheet. r
H 0 G
Hogshead assumed the form of dropsy, and after a short confinement,
II and three days of calm and motionless insensibility, he died
Hohenzol- on t]ie 2ist 0f November, having nearly completed his
^ingeiT sixty-fifth year. He was buried in his native churchyard of
i ^ y Ettrick. Wordsworth and many lesser bards mourned his
defth ; and among his own hills and dales the loss was felt
to be great and irreparable. His fame seemed to fill the
whole district, and was brightest at its close ; his presence
was associated with all the Border sports and festivities, and
as a man James Hogg was ever frank, joyous, kind, and
charitable.
The collected works of this self-taught genius and re¬
markable man are comprised in eleven volumes—five of
poetry and six of prose. His tales are more popular in
America than in this country. They contain true and af¬
fecting transcripts of nature, but often run into exaggera¬
tion, coarseness, and indelicacy. His Shepherd’s Calendar
is the best of his prose works, and must always be interest¬
ing for its genuine representation of pastoral life. His shep¬
herds and shepherds’ dogs are as faithfully delineated and
as distinctly marked as those on the canvas of Landseer.
As a poet Hogg is not only the best imitator of Scott, but
has a vein of wild imagination peculiarly original. Nothing
can be more exquisite than some of his lyrics and minor
poems—his Skylark ; When the Kye Comes Home ; his
verses on the Comet and Evening Star ; and his Address to
Lady Ann Scott, the last combining the most beautiful and
touching description of cottage life among the solitary hills,
with a certain solemnity of feudal homage and religious
feeling tinged with the lights of a poetical superstition.
The Queen’s Wake unites his characteristic excellences—
his command of the old romantic ballad style, his graceful
fairy mythology, and his aerial flights of imagination. The
story of Kilmeny stands by universal consent at the head
of all our fairy tales : it is inimitable for its scenes of vision¬
ary splendour, purity, and bliss, linked to the fairest objects
of earthly interest, sympathy, and affection. In such compo¬
sitions Hogg seems completely transformed ; he is absorbed
in tbe ideal and supernatural, and might have claimed, over
all his contemporaries, the Delphic laurel for direct and im¬
mediate inspiration. (r. c—S.)
HOGSHEAD, a measure of capacity, containing 63
old wine gallons, or 52% imperial gallons. The English
hogshead was 51 gallons; but the London hogshead of
beer was 3 gallons more, and of ale 3 gallons less. All
these measures, however, are now superseded.
HOGUE, or Hague, Cape de la, a bold headland of
France, forming the N.W. extremity of the department of
Manche, 16 miles N. by W. of Cherbourg. Off this point
the combined English and Dutch fleets defeated the French
22d May, 1692.
HOHENLINDEN, a village of Bavaria, circle of Up¬
per Bavaria, 18 miles E. of Munich, celebrated for a vic¬
tory gained by the French and Bavarians over the Aus¬
trians, 3d December, 1800.
HOHENZOLLERN-HECHINGEN and HOHEN-
ZOLLERN-SIGMARINGEN were two sovereign prin¬
cipalities of Germany, of which the capitals were Hechin-
gen and Sigmaringen. The territories are contiguous, and
are completely inclosed by Wirtemberg and Baden. H.-
Hechingen, the more northern of the two, has an area of
116 square miles, and contained in 1850, 20,471 inhabi¬
tants. H.-Sigmaringen has an area of 433 square miles,
and in 1850 had 41,141 inhabitants. By treaty of 7th
December, 1849, the reigning princes ceded all sovereign
rights over their respective principalities to the king of
Prussia, in return for the payment to the prince of
H.-Hechingen of an annual rent of 10,000 thalers
(L.1450), and of half that sum to his legitimate heir;
and to the prince of H.-Sigmaringen, and his heirs in
succession, of an annual rent of 25,000 thalers (L.3750),
H O L 559
the princes still retaining possession of their estates. By a Holbach
family compact, dated 3d February, 1850, and executed 10th
May, 1850, the prince of H.-Hechingen made over all his Holbein-
hereditary possessions to Prince Antony of H.-Sigmaringen.
By royal decree of 20th March, 1850, the title of highness
was conferred on the two princes, with the prerogatives of
younger princes of the royal house.
HOLBACH, Paul Thyry, Baron d’, a French philo-
sophe of the eighteenth century, was born in 1723 at Hei-
delsheim, in the Palatinate. He was brought up in Paris,
spent the greater part of his life in that city, and died there
in 1789. His name has been saved from oblivion more
from his connection with the French encyclopaedists, and
his judicious patronage of rising literary merit, than from
the intrinsic merit of his own works, though these are very
numerous. His house in Paris was the rendezvous of those
spirits whom Mme. Geoffrin had found too daring to receive
at her philosophical dinners, and for forty years was the
centre and hot-bed of the new philosophy of which Dide¬
rot, Helvetius, and Grimm were the chief apostles. D’Hol-
bach was a man of considerable means, of which, he ex¬
pended no small part on the pleasures of the table; and it was
believed that the good cheer of the baron’s board was quite as
attractive to his guests as his own conversation. The baron
himself was a freethinker of the lowest type, and as much an
atheist as a man can be. Like most persons of that stamp
he was superstitious, and as credulous as a child. His ma¬
terialism was of so gross a kind that some of the finer spirits
of the age eschewed his society altogether. The discreet
D’Alembert shunned him ; Buffbn maintained a haughty
reserve; and J. J. Rousseau openly quarrelled with him.
Much interesting gossip about the baron and his connection
with the new opinions is to be found in Grimm’s Corre¬
spondence. Besides contributing largely to Diderot’s En-
cyclopedie, D’Holbach wrote a Systeme de la Nature,
which Voltaire condemned, and with good reason, as “bad
in diction, absurd in philosophy, and execrable in morals.”
The work is indeed villainous in its purport, and one of the
most unblushing and flagrant attacks ever made on morality ;
but it is so excessively pointless, diffuse, and ill-argued as
to be comparatively harmless. Still worse, if possible, is
his Christianisme Devoile (Christianity unmasked), the
object and the ultimate fate of which were nearly the same
as those of the work already mentioned. All these works
are now happily forgotten.
HOLBEACH, a market-town of Lincolnshire, 37 miles
S.S.E. of Lincoln. The church is a large and beautiful
structure, with a tower surmounted by an elegant octagonal
spire. It has a well-endowed free grammar school, an hos¬
pital for fourteen poor old men, and a public library and
news-room. The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in agri¬
culture, the land in the neighbourhood being very fertile.
Market-day, Thursday. Pop. (1851) 2245.
HOLBEIN, Hans or John, the greatest of the old
German masters after Albert Diirer, is generally described
as a native of Basle. The fact, however, is that neither
the place nor the date of his birth is known with certainty.
The people of Augsburg claim him as their townsman, as
do also, and on better grounds, those of Griinstadt. The
common accounts assign his birth to the year 1498 ; recent
researches place it three years earlier. His father was an
artist of some note, but his fame was soon lost in that of
his son. While studying at Basle, Holbein made acquain¬
tance with Erasmus, of whom he painted many portraits, and
who often seriously warned him against the consequences of
his fondness for drinking and low company. By the advice
of this monitor he removed to England, where his intro¬
duction to Sir Thomas More opened up to him the path of
wealth and fame. For three years this generous patron
entertained him in his house, and at the end of that period
introduced him to the king, Henry VIII., who took the
560 II O L
Holberg. artist into his service, and made it a fashion among his
courtiers and great nobles to have their portraits taken by
his hand. The demands on Holbein’s time were soon so
great that he had to abandon altogether the higher branches
of his art, for which he had discovered a decided genius
before leaving Switzerland. His historical pieces are con¬
sequently very few in number, but his portraits bear so de¬
cidedly the imprint of genius that his name still ranks high
among the best portrait-painters of the world. Holbein
died at London of the plague in 1554.
Holbein was one of the few artists on record who used
his left hand in painting. His extensive practice enabled
him to excel pre-eminently in portraits; but he painted
with equal ease in fresco, water-colours, and miniature ; and
his boundless fancy showed itself in the countless designs
which he drew for statuaries, engravers, and goldsmiths.
It is not fair to judge of Holbein’s merits by the pieces
which pass in thousands under his name in England. His
masterpieces, which are chiefly confined to that country,
are known to have been multiplied in copies of every de¬
gree of merit, and these copies are frequently palmed off
on the picture-fancier as originals. A genuine Holbein
ought to be characterized by a very bold relief, the most
exquisite finish, the highest clearness and delicacy of tone,
and a remarkable force of conception. A selection of his
portraits, to the number of 84, was engraved and published
by Bartolozzi, in London, 1792-1800, with biographical
notes by John Chamberlain. The well-known work en¬
titled the Dance of Death, which passes under Holbein’s
name, is not his at all, though it is true that he drew a series
of designs on this subject, which are now in St Petersburg.
HOLBERG, Baron Ludwig, the father of modern
Danish literature, was born at Bergen, Nov. 6, 1684. He
was born of poor parents, and had long to struggle against
poverty. His father, indeed, rose to be a colonel, but he
rose from the ranks, and died while his son was but a child.
Young Holberg was at first destined for the army, but he
preferred study. Having studied theology at Copenhagen,
he became successively tutor in several families. We find
him teaching French at Christiansand, to which he had
proceeded after being attacked by fever in Holland.
Shortly after this he made his way to Oxford, where he re¬
mained fifteen months teaching music and studying history.
Having obtained the tutorship of a family of some import¬
ance at Copenhagen, Holberg next visited Germany in com¬
pany with his charge. After visiting Rome he returned to
Denmark. Here he was appointed successively to the
chairs of metaphysics and eloquence. Hitherto his life had
been one of considerable hardship, but now ease, emolu¬
ment, and fame, were in his path. In his own interesting
account of himself, he mentions that it was not till he was
upwards of thirty years of age that he was suddenly seized
with the desire of composing in verse. In a short while
his Peder Paars appeared, and was received with great ap¬
plause. A national theatre was now founded in Copenhagen,
for which Holberg wrote extensively. But the theatricals
patronized by Frederick IV. were discouraged by Chris¬
tian VI. Holberg accordingly turned his attention from
comedy to history. Here also he excelled. He wrote the
History and Geography of the Danish Monarchy ; Eccle¬
siastical History; and Jewish History. His brethren in
the university, who had looked upon the effusions of his
comic muse as beneath the dignity of a professor, were now
proud of him. He was made rector and treasurer in 1735
and 1737 successively. In 1746 Christian VI. died, and
Holberg was henceforth free to devote himself to comedy,
which, indeed, he had never altogether lost sight of.
H O L
He wrote upwards of 30 comedies. The Pewterer was Holinshed
a burlesque on the eagerness of political tradesmen for try- II
ing their skill in government on the strength of having read IIolkar>
a few pamphlets. It was received with great applause ; and V>—
has been frequently imitated as well as translated. The
Idle Business, or the Man who has no Time, is considered
by the Danes to be Holberg’s masterpiece. He is sup¬
posed to have taken the idea of the piece from an English
comedy called The Busy Body. His piece called Honour¬
able Ambition is regarded as very nearly placing the author
on a par with Moliere. Having travelled in Holland, Ger¬
many, France, and Italy, as well as having risen from poverty
to high station, Holberg had large experience of men and
manners, which he turned to good account. His imagina¬
tion was rich and original, his estimate of character accu¬
rate, his humour always diverting, and the management of
his plots ingenious. His expressions, however, are at times
coarse, he occasionally exhibits carelessness in minutiae, and
renders his burlesque sometimes extravagant.
Besides comedy and history, he wrote poems. Peder
Paars has been already noticed. The Subterranean Jour¬
ney of Nicolas Klim has been translated into most Euro¬
pean languages, and although a satirical piece, it is said to
have been gravely quoted as history by a German naturalist.
The revenue which arose from his writings was very con¬
siderable. Though he lived frugally, he was liberal in .
largely endowing an academy, and an institution for poor
girls. He was lean and delicate, and abstemious. He dis¬
liked and satirized pedantry. He was fond of the society
of ladies, amongst whom he had only small talk and tea to
encounter. His religious convictions regarding Christianity
were by no means deep. He was created baron on the 6th
March 1747, and died 27th January 1754, at the age of
seventy. His character as a comic writer is drawn by Pro¬
fessor Rahbeck, who published the select works of Hol¬
berg in 21 vols. 8vo, Copenhagen, 1806-1814.
HOLINSHED, or Holingshed, Raphael, author of
the Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, flourished
in the sixteenth century. He seems to have been educated
at one or other of the greater universities, and to have taken
orders in the church ; but the only fact in his history known
with tolerable certainty is that he died in 1580. In the
chronicle called by his name he bore a leading, but not an
undivided share, as he received important aid from Stow,
the antiquary; Harrison, a clergyman; Hooker, an uncle
of the divine of that name; and Francis Boteville, a man of
great learning, especially in antiquarian matters. Holin-
shed’s share in the work comprised the history of England
up to the date of the Norman Conquest, and from the Nor¬
man Conquest down to the year 1577, at which date the
first edition of the Chronicle was published. The notice of
Elizabeth’s reign contained matter so offensive to her and
her court that in the second edition, which appeared in
1587, some of the sheets were cancelled altogether. In
subsequent reprints, however, these have been restored.
The history of Scotland, incorporated by Holinshed in his
Chronicle, is for the most part a translation from the Latin
of Hector Boece, and is interesting as having furnished
Shakspeare with the groundwork of his tragedy of Mac¬
beth. The Chronicle, from being the work of so many dif¬
ferent hands, presents, of course, great varieties of literary
quality. Its real value depends on its learning and research,
which have made it an invaluable aid to all who have since
undertaken to illustrate the early annals of England.
HOLKAR, the name of three Mahratta chiefs, who at
various times made themselves formidable to the British
empire in India. See Hindustan.
561
Holland.
HOLLAND.
Holland is an European kingdom, formed in part of
islands, but chiefly of that part of the Continent where the
mouths of the Rhine are divided into several branches before
it enters the German Ocean. This district is said to have
owed the ancient name of Batavia, by which it was known
to the Romans, to one Bato ; but at what period he flou¬
rished is unknowm ; and the name is now scarcely used ex¬
cepting amongst the poets of the district. By accounts col¬
lected from the works of Csesar and Tacitus, we learn that
the ancient tribes who inhabited this portion of Europe had
been able to maintain their independence in spite of the at¬
tempts made to subdue them by the Teutones, the Cimbri,
and other nations, who had conquered the rest of what
was then called Gaul. The Batavians, says the last of these
historians, excelled all the other people on the Rhine in
military spirit. When subdued by the Romans they paid
their tribute in soldiers; and from them was formed a ca¬
valry, which composed the most efficient part of the Ro¬
man armies. They astonished the Dacians by the dexte¬
rity and bravery with which, completely armed, they swam
their horses across the Danube to attack those people; and
for a long period they formed the guard of the Roman em¬
perors. A body of Batavians accompanied Agricola on his
expedition into Britain, and were of great assistance in se¬
curing his conquests in the island.
Although the Romans at length overcame the Batavians,
it was after a strenuous resistance. The last that sub¬
mitted was the tribe of the Prisons, who inhabited the
marshes. Drusus, the Roman commander, constructed a
canal between the Rhine and the Zuyder Zee, and thus
opened a way into the German Ocean to the Ems and the
Weser, by which he was enabled to penetrate into the heart
of Germany, and to subdue that country. During four cen¬
turies the Batavians formed part of the Roman legions ; but
amongst these, after the reign of the Emperor Honorius,
their name is no longer to be found.
After that period the islands were overrun by the Franks ;
and the transactions relating to them have been mixed up
with those of the adjoining Belgians. The Frieslanders,
however, opposed and broke through the armies of the
Franks, and made their appearance as a free, and in some
measure a victorious people, on the left bank of the Rhine ;
and there, adhering to their ancient customs, upon which had
been engrafted many of the principles introduced by the
Romans, they long maintained their independence. These
people had suffered the least from the invasion of foreign¬
ers, and retained through several centuries distinct traces
of their ancient constitution, their national spirit, and their
national manners.
In the fifth and sixth centuries the kingdom of the
Franks, which had arisen out of the ruins of the Roman
power, gradually extended itself, and in the seventh had
subdued the last of the Batavian people, the long resisting
Prisons. Under Charles Martel the last conquest was
achieved, and a way opened by his sword for the introduc¬
tion of the Christian religion.
When Charlemagne had obtained his extensive domi¬
nion, and the feudal system was introduced, and continued
under his successors, the powerful vassals of the crown, to
whom the lands were granted, by degrees acquired a sort
of mitigated sovereignty; but being unable to maintain
themselves without the assistance of their under feudato¬
ries, they were compelled, in order to secure their fidelity,
to grant them advantageous conditions of tenure. The
clergy, too, by pious usurpations or pious donations, be¬
came a powerful and independent corporate body. Thus,
VOL. XI.
during the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centu- Holland,
ries, the whole of Belgium and of Batavia was split into se-
veral small dominions, the princes of which acknowledged
a limited allegiance, some of them to the German empire,
and others to the kings of the Franks. During this period
Brabant, and afterwards Luxembourg, Limburg, and Guel-
dres, obtained the name of dukedoms; Flanders, Holland,
Zealand, Hennegau, Artois, Namur, and Zutphen, were
ranked as Graafschappen or countships. Utrecht was a bish¬
opric, the prelate of which exercised civil authority also in
Overyssel and Groningen. Amongst all these chiefs the
Count of Flanders was the most powerful; and as, in 1383,
that countship fell to the then more powerful house of Bur¬
gundy, the prince of that family, partly by intermarriages,
partly by force, and partly by voluntary or purchased sub¬
mission, obtained supreme authority over the whole of what
became the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands.
This appears to have been the most flourishing period
of these provinces. Agriculture was carried on with spirit,
skill, and abundant results. Manufactures of linen, and
especially of woollen goods, gave occupation to an increas¬
ing population; and foreign commerce was extensive and
profitable. The commodities of India brought to the Ita¬
lian cities were transmitted to Antwerp, Bruges, and some
other places, where extensive depots were established for
foreign and domestic goods, and where, at the periodical
fairs, the merchants of the northern kingdoms of Europe
resorted, and transacted their commercial affairs.
The government of the Dukes of Burgundy was tempered
by the privileges enjoyed by the cities, and by the nobility
who possessed the land; and, though contests frequently
arose between the sovereign and the states, they rarely
came to open hostilities. When disturbances occurred,
they were not of such duration, or so extensive, as to inter¬
rupt in any great degree the rapid growth of general wealth
and progressive improvement.
Charles the Bold, the last of the Dukes of Burgundy, lost his
life in a battle with the cantons of Switzerland in 1477. His
eldest daughter Maria married Maximilian, duke of Aus¬
tria, and received the Netherlands as her portion ; and her
grandson, born at Ghent, afterwards Charles V., emperor
of Germany, thus became sovereign of those countries and
of the kingdom of Spain from the moment of his birth. Be¬
fore the marriage of Maria, and also under Maximilian,
when he had become emperor and guardian of his son, at¬
tempts were made to lessen the influence of the states.
But these were powerfully resisted by some of the cities,
and especially by Bruges, in 1487, and by Sluys about the
same time. Bruges was sufficiently strong to resist the
encroachments; but Maximilian, in despite of its privi¬
leges, blocked up the port of Sluys for ten years, which
caused the foreign ships that before crowded to that place
to repair to Antwerp and Amsterdam ; and these cities
from that period became the two principal seats of foreign
commerce.
The Netherlands, at the end of the fifteenth century,
became the great school for the fine arts. These had been
introduced from Italy; and the artists of the Low Coun¬
tries were soon successful rivals of their masters of Flo¬
rence, Bologna, and Venice, in painting, in statuary, in ar¬
chitecture, and in engraving. The art of printing, if not
invented, was first made known at Haerlem, and was soon
practised in other cities of the Netherland provinces.
At the accession of Charles V. the situation of the Ne¬
therlands became widely changed. Instead of a paternal
government, the chief of which in a great measure depend-
4 B
562
HOLLAND.
Holland, ed on the prosperity of these provinces, they were convert-
ed into a dependent, and, though rich and populous, an in¬
significant part of a large empire, to the promotion of whose
greatness, whether for good or for evil to themselves, they
must in future be almost wholly subservient.
Between the Flemings and the Spaniards an excessive
distaste was mutually felt, which soon attained to the most
inveterate hatred. This originated in the difference of ge¬
nius, of manners, customs, and mode of government, and
was quickly increased by the regret natural to a powerful
people, such as those of the Netherlands deemed them¬
selves, at being incorporated, and thereby almost swallow¬
ed up, by another nation. Steps were early taken by
Charles, under the pretence of introducing unity in his ter¬
ritories, that had a tendency to undermine the privileges
which the Netherland states had zealously defended and
long maintained. Before his accession a legal tribunal had
been established at Mechlin, to which appeals might be
made from all the legal tribunals of the confederate states;
and as none but natives were judges, and their decisions
were guided by the ancient laws, it was looked up to with
confidence, and considered as a security to their constitu¬
tions. This tribunal was, however, nullified by being pla¬
ced under an imperial court, established at Brussels, seve¬
ral of the members of which were foreigners, and all of
whom were dependent on the royal favour alone. This
imperial court was naturally viewed with a jealous eye, and
was ill adapted for the protection of those rights to which
the people were attached.
The growing expenses of the hostile operations of Charles
in other parts of his extended dominions, made his de¬
mands on his Netherland subjects much heavier. In spite
of their ancient right of levying taxes, he imposed some
that were new, and increased others. The history of this
reign contains constant repetitions of subsidies require*!,
which were at first rejected or deferred, but at length yield¬
ed, though with reluctance and discontent.
Another subject of murmuring was the introduction of
foreign troops, that is, forces belonging to the other domi¬
nions of the emperor, as well as recruiting his armies in
the Netherlands without the consent of the states; cir¬
cumstances which, besides being contrary to the constitu¬
tion, involved them in wars to which they were indifferent
or repugnant, and which were injurious to their interest as
a commercial people.
Charles felt that the commerce of his subjects could
alone enable him to extract from them those pecuniary
supplies which his general government needed ; and so far
he protected their manufactures and mercantile affairs, and
in some cases even recalled edicts, at the requisition of his
Flemish subjects, which he would have without hesitation
enforced at Madrid. The most influential of all the causes
which arose in the reign of Charles V. was the religious
reformation which had commenced in Germany, had spread
in France, and from both these countries had been intro¬
duced into the Netherlands, chiefly in the trading cities,
and in them had gained numerous adherents. The full
effect of this, and of the other causes which have been here
noticed, did not appear until the abdication of the emperor
had elevated his son Philip II. to the extensive dominions
of his father.
The religious excitement gave some uneasiness to Charles,
and measureswere feebly applied to check the progress of the
new opinions, to which, when not actuat ed by political views,
he at one time seemed not to be strenuously inimical. Had
the emperor been disposed to severity towards the profes-
sors of the Protestant tenets, any measure of that nature
would have affected the interests of commerce, and have
tended to diminish the revenues he drew from that source.
Ihe foreign merchants who had establishments, or fre¬
quented the fairs, in the Netherlands, brought with them
from Germany, England, France, and other countries, the Holland,
doctrines and the writings of the Protestants. These were
diffused amongst the natives, and made a great impression ;
and any attempts to destroy their intercourse, or to punish
them for their opinions, would have driven commerce, as it
did a few years later under Philip II., to the other markets
of Europe, where greater religious freedom was enjoyed.
Towards the close of his reign, Charles issued indeed some
most severe laws against those who professed the new reli¬
gion. These were in some cases applied with unfeeling cru-
elty, though they tended but little to diminish the progress of"
the dissident principles. He had resolved, after the success¬
ful issue of his wars in Germany, to reduce his Netherland
subjects to uniform obedience to the Roman Catholic reli¬
gion, and for that purpose he designed to have introduced
the Inquisition. The fear alone of that dreaded tribunal
in Antwerp suspended immediately all commerce, and the
most eminent foreigners made instant preparations to re¬
move. There were neither buyers nor sellers to be seen,
the value of the buildings was destroyed, and all the ope¬
rative labourers were discharged. Money totally disap¬
peared, and no taxes could be collected. At the earnest
recommendation of the Duchess of Parma, as vice-regent,
this edict was suspended. The common tribunals were
directed to practise no molestation on the foreign mer¬
chants ; and, instead of the Inquisition, a milder court, at
least in name, was framed, and called the ecclesiastical tri¬
bunal. In the other provinces, however, much severity
was beginning to be practised, not long before the abdica¬
tion of Charles; but, severe as these were, the remem¬
brance of them was speedily obliterated by the more sav¬
age cruelties practised under the reign of his son.
The reign of Charles was, upon the whole, beneficial to
the United Netherland Provinces, and he left that division
of his dominions in a most flourishing condition ; so that for
its extent it was by far the most considerable state in Eu¬
rope. Their taxes were by no means heavy, though their
trade was most extensive; and the mechanical genius and
persevering industry of the inhabitants had rendered the
Low Countries the workshop of Europe. When the em¬
peror, at his solemn abdication, delivered over these pro¬
vinces to the rule of his son, they are reported to have con¬
tained three hundred and fifty cities, and six thousand three
hundred towns and large villages, besides numerous ham¬
lets, farm-houses, and castles. These comprehended the
four dukedoms of Brabant, Limburg, Luxembourg, and
Guelderland; the seven countships of Artois, Hennegau,
Flanders, Namur, Zutphen, Holland, and Zealand; the
margravate of Antwerp; and the baronies of Friesland,
Mechlin, Utrecht, Overyssel, and Groningen. Statistical
researches were not much practised at that period, and no
accurate views can be obtained of the extent of the popula¬
tion ; but there is good reason to conclude, that, though at
present the Netherlands are the most densely peopled of
any part of Europe, the numbers then were more than
equal to what they are now. The seven provinces which af¬
terwards formed the republic were probably less populous ;
but the other divisions, where manufactures were more ge¬
nerally carried on, were, from all accounts, proportionally
more crowded. Philip II. ascended the throne on the ab¬
dication of his father in October 1555. He had been edu¬
cated in Spain, and had imbibed the retired and stately
manners of that country. He spoke no other language but
Spanish, and, except the short time he had passed in Eng¬
land after his marriage with Queen Mary, he had scarcely
ever left the peninsula. He was most zealously attached
to the Roman Catholic religion, and not less so to the un¬
restricted exercise of arbitrary power. He was distrustful
of those who administered public affairs, was nearly invisible
to his subjects, and the few who had access to his presence
were commonly disgusted both with his manners and with
HOLLAND. 563
Holland, the punctilious formalities with which their introduction
**~Y'*~/ was attended. He was deemed insensible to human suf¬
ferings, and was equivocating, if not insincere, in the re¬
plies he made to the petitions of his subjects.
He remained in the Netherlands from his accession in
1555 till August 1559, when he embarked for Spain, and
never afterwards returned. The measures he introduced
during his stay, his repulsive manners, and the humours
he displayed at his departure, all tended to strengthen that
aversion, mingled with suspicion, which had begun to ma¬
nifest itself during the reign of his imperial predecessor.
The most obnoxious measures to the people were, first, a
design to abolish several of the monastic establishments, in
order that their estates might be converted into revenues
for new bishoprics, the incumbents of which were to be
the instruments of introducing the Inquisition into the pro¬
vinces. That institution was held in such abhorrence, that
it encountered every obstruction which could be opposed
to it, both by the Catholics and the Protestants. It had
met also, at the court of Rome, some obstacles which caus¬
ed delay, so that the arrangement was not completed when
the king departed for Spain. The second cause of com¬
plaint was the retention of foreign forces within the states.
When the king came to the throne, a war was carried on
with France; but the French having been signally defeat¬
ed at the battle of St Quentin in 1557, a peace was, after
long negotiations, completed at Chateau-Cambresis. The
withdrawing of the troops, consisting both of the Spanish in¬
fantry and of some German auxiliaries, was eagerly looked
for by all the inhabitants. The latter were disbanded and
sent home, but the former were retained, and proved dread¬
fully oppressive to the country. Vander Vynckt, the
faithful historian of Flanders, says, “ the Spaniards were so
elevated with their late successes against the French, that
they thought the ransom or the pillage of the whole of the
Netherlands would be an insufficient recompense for the
actions they had performed. They lived at free quarters
on the country, and trampled upon the people without
pity.” In fact, receiving little or no pay, or that pay being
much in arrears, they were of necessity instigated to all
kinds of disorders, and led to practise the most abominable
oppressions. The remonstrances of the states were coldly
received, and though assurances were given that the griev¬
ance should be removed, and the period for it was fixed, it
was delayed from time to time, and ultimately consented
to in appearance only, as they remained on the frontiers,
ready to re-enter when the ulterior measures which were in
preparation should require their assistance. As one means
of delaying the departure of these troops, two legions were
proposed to be placed under the command of the Prince
of Orange and Count Egmont, two of the most patriotic
and popular of the nobility. But their integrity resisted
the temptation ; they declined the command, and this ren¬
dered the continuance of the troops the more obnoxious.
A third cause of complaint was, a violation of the an¬
cient constitution of the states, by introducing into the
higher executive and judicial offices persons of foreign birth.
When Philip left the Netherlands, the government was
conferred on the Duchess of Parma, a natural daughter
of the Emperor Charles V. She was to be assisted by a
council of state, composed of the Prince of Orange, the
Counts Egmont and Horn, Granvelt bishop of Arras, Count
Barlaimont, and Vigilius de Quichem. But by secret or¬
ders, but which soon transpired, a committee of this coun¬
cil, consisting of the three last named, was empowered in
most cases to communicate alone with the duchess, and
in all cases to decide on the advice which was to be given
to her. -Thus the Prince of Orange and the two counts
were mere ciphers, and rarely attended the council. Bar¬
laimont was a mere creature of Granvelt, who attended
only to the finances, of which he was chief, and was com¬
monly absent when other affairs were under consideration; Holland.
Vigilius was a man of profound scholastic learning, very
politic, and very yielding; so that, in fact, the whole power
was conceded to Granvelt. He was a native of France, and
had distinguished himself by his learning, but more by his
subservience to the rigour and the caprices of Philip. By
these means, from the low condition of a parish priest, he
was raised to the episcopal rank, and finally to the dig¬
nity of a cardinal. His being a foreigner was the pretext,
but his arbitrary disposition and intolerant rigour the
causes, of general aversion ; and the firmest and most
pointed representations of the assemblies of the several
states were solely but unavailingly directed towards him.
He alone conducted all affairs, and to him the secret or¬
ders of the king were conveyed.
The three members of the council who had been named
on account of the estimation in which they were held
among the natives of the Netherlands, though they were
utterly inefficient as members of the board, should not be
passed over without short notices of their rank and cha¬
racter, on account of the vast interest which has been ex¬
cited by the events they directed, and the fates they ex¬
perienced.
William of Nassau, prince of Orange, was one of the
greatest men of his own or any other age. He had in
his youth been brought up in Germany, his native coun¬
try, amongst Protestants, whose creed his father had adopt¬
ed. Being of an illustrious house, he was early introduced
to the Emperor Charles, whose favour and confidence he
obtained, and he was employed by him in some most ho¬
nourable commissions and embassies. He came to the
possession of the family inheritance on the death of an
uncle and a cousin, consisting of extensive estates in Bur¬
gundy and the Netherlands, and thus was by far the rich¬
est of all the nobles of the country. By his wealth he was
enabled to live magnificently when ambassador in France
and in England, and afterwards at home when governor of
the provinces of Holland and Zealand. He was as highly
estimated in foreign countries as in the Netherlands, and
had formed numerous alliances and friendships in England
and France, and others still more considerable in Ger¬
many. He was a man of penetration, courage, and resolu¬
tion, with enlarged and accurate political views. His mea¬
sures were maturely considered, but when once determined
upon, nothing could shake them. In the greatest adver-
sit}' he was firm and tranquil, and he possessed in his
mind inexhaustible resources. He was remarkable for his
taciturnity, from which circumstance he was sometimes
distinguished by the name of William the Silent. An
Italian proverb has appropriately described him, Tacendo
parla, parlando incunta.
Lamoral count Egmont was also a nobleman of the first
rank, of a family originating in Holland, some members of
which had in former times been the sovereign Dukes of
Guelderland. His mother, the heiress of the house of
Luxembourg-Fiennes, had brought to the family of Eg¬
mont estates in Flanders of vast extent and riches. He
was adored by the inhabitants of Flanders and Artois, of
which provinces he was the governor, and was generally
considered as the fittest person to have filled the dignity
held by the Duchess of Parma. He was generous, frank,
disinterested, and open hearted. He was besides a good
general, possessing intrepid courage, and had distinguished
himself in the war with France. He was less adroit than
the Princeof Orange, and had lessofforesight,but hewasas
eminent in the field as the other was in the cabinet. These
men were at one time rivals for power, but a common in¬
terest closely united them. Philip de Montmorenci, count
Horn, was an admiral, and in his command of the naval forces
had displayed the most intrepid courage, and had rendered
great service to the Spanish government. He had been
4
HOLLAND.
564
Holland, governor of the provinces of Zutphen and Gelderland, and
by the management of Granvelt had been suspended and
sent into Spain, where he is said to have acquired a thorough
knowledge of the operations intended against the liberties
of his country, and communicated them to the Prince of
Orange. He was reported also to have then had some in¬
tercourse with Don Carlos, the heir to the throne of Spain,
who himself was supposed to feel differently on the affairs
of the Netherlands from his father King Philip.
With these three leaders were connected others of
rank nearly equal, the whole of the inferior nobility, and a
very large majority of the burghers, merchants, and ma¬
nufacturers of the cities and towns; and in particular al¬
most the whole of those people wrho were connected with
maritime transactions, either as owners or navigators of
vessels.
We return now to the causes of complaint which were
made in the Netherlands. The fourth of them was, the
omitting to call together the general assembly of the states.
Though under the reign of the Emperor Charles the power
of that body had been much curtailed, they were yet the
organ of the opinions and feelings of the more respectable
part of the nation. Their views and complaints were freely
communicated to the government, and exercised influence
on its decisions. One of the last and most decisive in¬
structions given by Philip to the Duchess of Parma, be¬
fore his departure for Spain, forbade the assembling of
this body.
I he chief points upon which the subjects felt aggrieved
are only here noticed, though there were many others,
some of a minor and some of a local nature, all which, com¬
bined with the general disgust felt towards Spain and the
Spanish monarch, tended to shake the authority of the
king, by indisposing the civil tribunals from following up
with zeal the ordonnances which from time to time were
issued by the sovereign.
These complaints had at a very early period excited
secret associations amongst the nobility and gentry which
were in opposition to the extension of the severe penal
laws. One of these associations was formed as early as
1556, by Martiner baron of St Aldegonde in Breda, a
confidential friend of the Prince of Orange. He, with ten
or twelve others of equal rank, drew up a declaration, then
known by the name of the Compromise. It contained
execrations against the Inquisition, which it painted in the
most horrible colours. It accused foreigners of having se¬
duced the king to refuse the abolition of his rigid ordon¬
nances, that they might be enabled to gratify their ambi¬
tion and their avarice; and it concluded with declaring,
that they were united to assist the oppressed, to resist
violence, and, above all things, never to submit to the es¬
tablishment of the Inquisition. When this compromise
had been signed at Breda, numerous copies of it were
made and circulated throughout all the provinces, from Ar¬
tois to triesland. It was signed with avidity by all classes,
from the highest nobility to the lowest artisans. This
association at length became so extensive and bold as to
determine on an application to the regent, for which pur¬
pose the leaders requested an audience, that they might
lay their complaints before her. This request, after much
hesitation and with some symptoms of alarm on the part
of the government, was at length granted. The nobles
assembled at Brussels, attended, according to the custom
of the age, by their numerous followers, and, marching to
the palace in a long train in regular order, were admitted
auc^ence‘ Tlie address was read by Brederode count
°*^yrecj1*:* It contained strong professions of obedience
and loyalty, and asserted that the associates were innocent
of the charge of which they had been calumniated, of
having entered into engagements with foreign powers.
In conclusion, a convocation of the states-general was re¬
quested, and in the mean time a provisional suspension of Holland,
all inquisitorial measures and proclamations, until a reply
could be received from the king, who was then in Spain.
An equivocal reply was given, the substance of which
was merely that more temperate measures would be pur¬
sued till the orders of the king were received.
Ibis assembling of the nobles gave to the associates a
name which was assumed and long continued as a mark
of distinction. During the audience at the palace, the
duchess appeared somewhat alarmed at the great number
of persons which composed the deputation. Count Bar-
laimont, one of her suite, in order to calm her disquietude,
whispered, but sufficiently loud to be heard by those who
were nearest, that they were nothing more than un ramas
de gueux, a crowd of beggars. On this being reported at
a convivial meeting of the nobles, one of them, as a toast,
gave vivent les gueux, which was received with acclama¬
tion, and the name afterwards adopted ; and their clothing
and ornaments were so worn as to exhibit emblems like
those in use amongst conventual mendicants and other beg¬
gars, one of the most distinguishing of which was a sack
thrown over the shoulders, on which was frequently painted
the motto of the association, Fidele au roi jusqu’d la be-
sace.
I he exhibition of strength on the part of the associates
led to a series of negotiations between the vice-regent and
the party, which at length was terminated on the 23d of Au¬
gust 1566, by the duchess provisionally, till orders could
be received from Spain, agreeing to suspend the introduc¬
tion of the Inquisition, and in the mean time to submit
her other measures to the revision of the states-general.
Even this kind of truce was only conceded in conse¬
quence of some tumultuous and outrageous assemblages,
partly excited by the Protestant preachers, but of which
they soon ceased to have any power of direction or con¬
trol. I he assemblies first collected by field preachers
were composed of those who had imbibed the Protestant
opinions, and were held on the frontiers of Liege, about
St Trond. They were soon joined, out of curiosity, by num¬
bers anxious to hear the new doctrines, but speedily after¬
wards by all the wandering tribes of outlaws, vagabonds,
and plunderers; and at length they became so numerous
that no resistance could be made to them in the open
country, or even in the cities which were not fortified and
well garrisoned. The Catholic writers of the period re¬
present these assemblages as being composed principally
of the sectarians of Germany and the Calvinists of France,
joined to the Anabaptists of Leyden and other parts of
Holland. It seems evident, however, that these were very
early outnumbered by others whose chief objects were
plunder and destruction. Their first operations were to
attack and rob the monasteries in the open country; they
then seized on the churches, and destroyed all the images
and other appendages of the Catholic worship, carrying
away with them whatever was portable and valuable. The
peaceable inhabitants appeared everywhere panic-struck,
and the desolating power thus let loose was opposed by
no obstacles; so that at length all the cities except Brus¬
sels were more or less subject to the depredators. Ypres,
Tournay, Valenciennes, and Oudenarde suffered the most.
At Antwerp the Prince of Orange suspended the destruc¬
tion as long as he remained there, but after his removal
the insurgents gained the superiority, and were enabled
to destroy the images and ornaments of the cathedral, as
well as those of the other churches and monasteries, in that
city. This devastation was like a hurricane, and though
the storm passed over in a short space of time, its effects
were frightful, and its destructive operations extensive.
The duchess, though about to leave Brussels, and seek
safety in Mons, was persuaded by her council to remain
in the capital, where intimidations on one side, and pro-
HOLLAND. 565
Holland, posals to treat with the insurgents on the other, were
urged with vehemence. To the latter she at length yield¬
ed, and authorized the Prince of Orange, with the Counts
Egmont and Horn, to treat with the chiefs of the insur¬
gents, who still continued in St Trond. This measure
was so far successful for the time, that, after the provisional
agreement already noticed, a treaty was concluded with
the leaders at St Trond, and signed on the 25th of August.
It was agreed that the preachers might continue their re¬
ligious practices in the places where they actually did ex¬
ercise them, that the people might attend them, but un¬
armed, and cause no trouble to the Catholics. The nobles
were to renounce the confederation, and all were to lay
down their arms, and assist in restoring and re-establish¬
ing the estates, the churches, the monasteries, and the
hospitals that had been plundered, and indemnify those
who had suffered.
A temporary lull was thus procured, though frequently
interrupted by local explosions. All were waiting with
impatience for intelligence from Madrid, whither couriers
were immediately forwarded after the pacification, with
despatches from the duchess to King Philip. The letters to
Spain were expressed in the most melancholy strain. The
duchess confessed that she had granted to the insurgents
terms that were degrading to herself, and which she could
not relate without shame and grief. She affirmed that
she had long resisted, but, weakened by fever and sleepless
nights, had at length yielded ; that with anguish of mind
and bodily pain, and the fear of greater evils, she had grant¬
ed pardon to the rebels, and had acceded to their demands,
but that she had done nothing in the name of the king, but
only in her own ; and that he might disavow and undo what
she had done, as his majesty was no party to the acts.
The despatch concluded with an earnest solicitation that
his majesty would not delay his journey to the Low Coun¬
tries till the spring, but come immediately to Brussels.
Philip received the despatches at Segovia, where he
was confined by sickness ; and though he read and remark¬
ed upon them, no answer was returned till he was enabled
to remove to Madrid and assemble his council. In that
council it was seen that the vice-regent had in no way com¬
mitted his majesty, and the answers were dictated under
that assumption. Two despatches were drawn, one of them
ostensible and the other secret. They are to be found
at length in Strada, and the substance of them may be thus
abridged. The first or public letter announced the birth
of an infanta, and that the king had removed to Madrid
to make the necessary preparations for his journey to Flan¬
ders ; that a convocation of the states would be no remedy
for the existing evils, but an injury to the honour and the
conscience of the king; and that the best measure, in case
of necessity, would be to repel force by force, in which cir¬
cumstances she might securely count on the aid of the well
disposed people. The secret despatch was more laconic.
It enjoined attention to former orders, and to the public
letter, on what related to the convocation of the states-
general; and if any force was exercised towards the go¬
vernment, to trust to God and his providence, but to do
nothing that should appear, either directly or indirectly, to
have proceeded from the opinion of the king.
It was the policy of the court of Spain at this period to
keep every thing in the Netherlands in a state of total sus¬
pense. For this purpose rumours were spread of the king’s
intended journey. The time was fixed, the preparations
were made, the route was determined, and the attendants
were named. It was however only a kind of grimace,
though, to give it more the appearance of reality, applica¬
tion was made to the king of France for permission to pass,
and also the Duke of Savoy was consulted respecting the
fittest passage over the Alps, in case the king should proceed
to Italy by sea. These measures satisfied almost the whole
of the inhabitants that their sovereign would speedily appear Holland,
amongst them. The Prince of Orange alone was not de-
ceived. He had emissaries of talent in Madrid, in Rome,
and in Vienna, and indeed wherever important intelligence
could be obtained. In 1565 Catherine de’ Medicis, with
her son Charles IX., had a meeting at Bayonne, to which
King Philip and his queen, a daughter of Medicis, were to
have repaired. The king, however, did not join them, but
the queen did. It was represented as a mere family party,
at which the ambassadors of other states were not expect¬
ed to attend. At the meeting the females concocted a
treaty between the two kings, which was to be kept secret
from all but themselves. It engaged to extirpate all here¬
sy and heretics, not only from their own dominions, but
from all the other parts of Europe in which Protestantism
had already been embraced. The secret was well kept,
and the meeting was attributed to some projected family
marriages, which Philip represented to his ministers as a
matter which would be best arranged by the females. Wal-
singham, the ambassador at Paris of Queen Elizabeth, with¬
in little more than a year gained the particulars of the
treaty, and communicated them to his court, and thence
the knowledge of it was conveyed to the Prince of Orange,
who maintained the most profound secrecy till the most
useful moment for its being made known had arrived.
It was generally believed that the prince had the most
complete knowledge of what passed in the cabinet of King
Philip, though it is now unknown if, as some suspected, he
had the intelligence from his son Don Carlos, or, as others
imagined, from one of his secretaries. It is said, that from
his perfect knowledge of the transactions and opinions
of the French court, and of what had passed at Bayonne,
he had predicted the massacre of Saint Bartholomew, and
had informed the Admiral de Coligny of the plot, putting
him on his guard against the caresses and the treachery of
the court, but which, unfortunately for the illustrious vic¬
tim, did not save him from the miserable fate which he
at length suffered. The Prince of Orange was possessed
of large estates in Germany, and, by blood as well as by
marriage, was closely connected with many of the smaller
sovereigns of that country, who had embraced and intro¬
duced into their dominions the doctrine and the worship of
the Protestants. Even the emperor, though a firm adhe¬
rent of the Roman Catholic church, was in some measure
influenced by him. He was induced to write to King Phi¬
lip, expressing his good will, but pointed out to him that
he was engaged in a war with the Turks, that a great part
of Germany interested itself in the fate of the Netherlands,
and that those who had adopted the confession of Augs¬
burg would never allow the inhabitants of these provinces
to be oppressed. He therefore recommended a nego¬
tiation with Orange, Egmont, and Horn, and offered his
mediation to accommodate the differences. The court of
Spain rejected this interference between the king and his
Flemish subjects; but the knowledge of this correspon¬
dence served to strengthen the purpose of the Prince of
Orange, who soon became acquainted with it, to adopt the
precautionary measures which his situation required.
The Prince of Orange having learned, by his emissaries
at the court of Madrid, that the preparations for the king’s
journey to the Netherlands were merely adopted to quiet
and mislead the public, and that, on the contrary, it had
been determined to pursue the most rigid measures, and
intrust them to the Duke of Alba, determined on his course
of action. He immediately resigned all the offices he held
in the Netherlands, and withdrew himself and his family
to his territories in the duchy of Nassau in Germany.
The Duke of Alba was reputed in that age to be cruel,
crafty, proud, and avaricious; and his name was held in
abhorrence throughout the Netherlands. Although it was
resolved that he should have the sole power, yet the pur-
566
HOLLAND.
Holland, pose was concealed even from the regent herself. Philip
continued to assure her that he was resolved to come as
soon as possible, and that the Duke of Alba only preced¬
ed him, to smooth the way, and so arrange affairs that he
might on his arrival the more easily restore tranquillity;
that in the mean time the duke would command the army,
and attend to the fortifications, and the security of the
country, but still in subordination to the authority of her
highness. The knowledge of this appointment could not
be long kept secret, and its disclosure produced universal
consternation. The great nobles, such as the Prince of
Orange, the Counts Calembourg, de Bergh, Brederode,
and others, had early sold parts of their estates, and raised
money by mortgages on the other portions of them. All
that could, prepared for their removal. The inferior no¬
bility, the rich merchants of Antwerp, the wealthy burghers
of all the cities, resolved to expatriate themselves and their
families. Soon after the mission of Alba was publicly made
known, the duchess wrote to the king to say, that already
more than one hundred thousand persons had abandoned
their domicils and their country. The Low Countries
were at that period at the height of prosperity. The cities
were opulent and contiguous, the towns, villages, and ham¬
lets, resembled the cities of other countries, and almost
touched each other. It was most densely peopled, and so
cultivated that no waste land was to be seen. The commerce
was active, and the inhabitants, from industry, were easy in
their circumstances, well fed and well clothed. They were
the objects of envy to strangers, and viewed with pecu¬
liar jealousy by the Spaniards, who saw their condition,
and compared it with that of their own country.
I he emigrations caused by the first intelligence of
the approach of Alba alarmed the duchess, who issued
edicts designed to tranquillise the people, and these had
some effect; but they were disavowed by orders of the
king, and some who had been induced to return were
subsequently the victims of their confidence. Afterwards,
when the severities of Alba began to be exercised, the
emigrations were increased ; and though orders were issu¬
ed to prevent it, and intrusted to the Spanish troops to
execute, they came too late. A great number of families
had expatriated themselves, and taken with them what¬
ever of their property they could save. Those who were
left were chiefly artisans, who could find no employment
when their masters had forsaken them, and were thus
compelled to seek the means of subsistence elsewhere.
A great part of such as were capable of bearing arms
joined the Prince of Orange, or enlisted in the armies which
the princes of Germany created. Others of them sought
an asylum in the imperial cities, and there exercised their
trades. Some threw themselves into the Walloon country
and into Picardy, for the interior of France was then in
greater commotion than even Flanders itself.
The greatest removals however were to England, where,
by the orders of Elizabeth, all the ports were open to them,
where their property was protected, and where they in¬
troduced new fabrics of various kinds, and established
those manufactures which have become in process of
time the foundation of the commerce and the wealth of
our country.
The Duke of Alba, in 1567, embarked with his army at
Barcelona, and landed at Genoa. After some stay at Milan,
he passed the Alps by Mount Cenis, and proceeded to
tranche Comte by the frontiers of Burgundy and Lor¬
raine, and arrived in the beginning of August at Luxem¬
bourg, whence he proceeded to Brussels, and entered that
city on the 22d of the same month. At his first appear¬
ance his conduct convinced the duchess that he was come
to exercise supreme power, and in a short time she with¬
drew from the government. He conducted himself in a
most caressing manner to Horn and Egmont, consulted
them on military subjects, and especially in constructing Holland,
fortresses at Valenciennes, Antwerp, and Groningen ; but
suddenly at the council arrested them, consigned them to
separate prisons, seized all their papers, and obtained pos¬
session of their money, jewels, and other valuable effects.
When the duchess had quitted Flanders, Alba proceed¬
ed with his more violent measures. In January 1568 he
erected a judicial tribunal, well known in the annals of the
country by the Flemish name of Bloet-Raet, or sanguinary
council. Alba was himself president, and Vargas, a Spa¬
niard, vice-president. The other members were neither
of the privy council nor of the council of Brabant, but,
with the exception of two persons who never took their
seats, consisted of individuals on whose concurrence Alba
could securely rely.
This tribunal commenced by citing before it all the
nobles and the citizens, whether absent or present, whether
living or dead, who had signed the compromise, such as
the Prince of Orange, the Counts of Nassau his brothers,
the Counts Hoogstraten, Calembourg, and Brederode,
and even the Marquis of Berghes, who was deceased. The
Prince of Orange, who had decided on his part, replied in
terms of defiance. He asserted that he was a member of
the German empire, and as such answerable before none
other than the emperor himself; and that, as one of the
Spanish order of the golden fleece, he could only be judged
by the king when holding a chapter of that order. The
others made replies rejecting the authority of the new
tribunal, and avowed their junction with the forces which
the Prince of Orange was collecting.
The citations were numerous, but the most detailed ac¬
count is that preserved at Ghent. One hundred and fifty
persons, consisting of nobles, patricians, and burghers, were
summoned on fixed days to appear at Brussels. Of that
number only eighteen presented themselves, the others
having emigrated or being concealed. These, conscious of
their innocence, were allowed to defend themselves before
the tribunal, and were then bound two and two together,
and thus marched to prison. The process was not long
deferred ; they were condemned to death, and perished on
the scaffold, some by the sword, others by the halter, ac¬
cording to their respective ranks. Numerous other prose¬
cutions, which terminated in death and confiscations, were
carried on towards persons in Ghent; and if the number
executed in the whole of the country were in the same pro¬
portion to those in that city, it may be true which Alba
is said to have boasted on his return to Spain, that more
than eight thousand persons had perished on the scaffold
during his government of the Netherlands.
The executions of the Counts Egmont and Horn were
deferred till June, when, by a process not to be justified
by any law, they were condemned to suffer death. They
were brought from their confinement in the prison of Ghent,
surrounded by two thousand Spanish troops, and decapi¬
tated in the Place de Sablons, at Brussels, on the 5th of
June 1568. The illegality of these executions was loudly
complained of, and produced a great effect over the whole
of Europe. Even the emperor and the other Catholic
princes loudly condemned the proceeding, whilst many
of the Protestant princes were induced by it to lend their
aid to the confederation which the Prince of Orange was
forming to avenge his friends, and to rescue the country
from the miseries it endured.
The army which Alba brought with him from Spain, with
some additions on the way, amounted to 20,000 men, one
halfof which consistedof Spanish infantry, who were in that
day considered as the best troops in Europe. They were
well disciplined and well commanded, but were much dispos¬
ed to mutiny, especially when, as was often the case, then-
pay was in arrear; and this disposition was afterwards of¬
ten displayed in the most critical circumstances, to the
HOLLAND.
567
Holland, great injury of the service in which they were employed.
The desolation of the provinces, and the horrid cruelties
which had been perpetrated, at length gave birth to that
ruinous and obstinate civil war, which continued so long
that none of those who commenced it lived to see its ter¬
mination.
When the Prince of Orange retired into Germany, he
had wished to have collected a force which might have
harassed the army of Alba during the march from Italy
to the Netherlands ; but the princes of Germany were not
so alarmed at the prospect of the danger which threatened
them, as to assist him to such an extent as he deemed
necessary for his purpose, and Alba with his army enter¬
ed without molestation. The prince had time in his re¬
tirement to form his plans deliberately, to calculate on fu¬
ture probabilities, and to be ready to act when the mo¬
ment for action should arrive. The first cruelties of Alba
made a deep impression on all the Protestant princes of
Germany, and this impression Orange was skilful enough
to turn to his advantage. By the deaths of Horn and
Egmont such indignation and resolution were excited in
them, that they offered to Orange their wishes, their coun¬
cils, their troops, and, what is almost incredible, their trea¬
sures. Amongst the most prominent of these was the
Prince Palatine, with whom the Prince of Orange held a
secret meeting at Strasburg, at which some of the leaders
of the Huguenots in France were present. Even the Ca¬
tholic princes were so inflamed at the treatment of Horn
and Egmont, that, if they did not assist, they did nothing
to impede Orange in his negotiations. The assistance
thus obtained, with the aid of a pecuniary nature from
Queen Elizabeth of England, and recruits from the Pro¬
testants of France, enabled Orange to take the field.
The prince was straitened for money; and his army,
though numerous, was badly composed. The Germans
and the French were new levies, hastily raised, eager for
booty, and in general ill disciplined. Though they were
not subject to his sole command, he could not safely dis¬
gust them, nor could he allow them to plunder. He knew,
too, that at the end of the campaign these succours would
quit him, because he was not in a situation to maintain so
numerous a body. The greater part of the fugitives from
Flanders were destitute, and the prince foresaw that these
must soon become a charge which he would be unable to
bear.
With forces of such motley composition, Orange deter¬
mined on a bold and sudden attempt to enter the country
on one side or the other, and to sound the tocsin over the
whole of the Netherlands. On this plan he formed four
bodies, to enter the country at different points. The first
of them was to penetrate on the side of Liege, and to enter
Gelderland. It was commanded by Count Hoogstraten,
the only nobleman of distinguished rank who had been
so fortunate as to escape from the fangs of the Duke of
Alba. The second corps consisted of the French Hugue¬
nots, commanded by De Cocqueville, and they entered into
Artois. Neither of these corps were strong, nor do they
appear during the whole campaign to have effected any
other object than, by skirmishing, to have distracted the
attention of the enemy, and thus kept him from strength¬
ening the more important points. The third corps was
better composed and more numerous. It was commanded
by Prince Louis of Nassau, brother of the Prince of Orange.
It commenced the war by entering Friesland, where he
was opposed by the king’s army under the Count Aren-
burg, whose force was augmented by Spanish infantry and
cavalry. When in presence of the enemy, he was forced
to give battle, by the taunts of the Spaniards, who accused
him, from his being a Fleming, of favouring the party of
Orange. He led his troops to the combat, and fell in the
attack. His army was completely defeated and dispersed,
with the loss of its cannon, baggage, and a large sum of Holland,
money which was destined to pay his troops, as well as
others then in Groningen. The Frisian peasantry put to
death the fugitive Spaniards ; but the Germans and Flem¬
ings, who were mixed with them, were either liberated or
joined the victorious troops.
The Duke of Alba was at Brussels when this disastrous
event happened; and instantly, after venting his rage by
numerous judicial assassinations, he repaired, with what
troops he could collect, to Groningen, where he was joined
by the garrison of that city. The troops of Prince Louis
amounted to 12,000 or 14,000 men, and that of Alba was
nearly of equal number; but the army of the latter was
well trained and well disciplined, whereas that of the
former was a mass of strangers, difficult to restrain, with
little experience and less discipline, disposed to mutiny
for want of their pay, and ready to desert their colours
after any reverse. Prince Louis found it necessary to re¬
treat from Winschotten, where he had gained his victory,
and remove into the German province of East Friesland.
He took up a position defended on one side by the river
Ems, and on the other by that bay of the Zuyder Zee
called the Dollart, and having at his back the city of Emb-
den. He threw up intrenchments mounted with cannon
in his front, and with better disciplined troops might have
maintained himself till his brother the prince, who was
advancing with a numerous force, could arrive to his relief.
Alba pressed eagerly forward, and, at his approach, the
troops of Nassau broke out into mutiny; and though it
was partially quelled, a body of auxiliary troops who had
joined it from Oldenburg, instead of waiting the attack
within the lines, rushed out without orders, and threw
themselves upon the Spaniards, by whom they were cut
to pieces, and the opening thus made was entered by the
enemy. The route became complete, and the Spaniards
were amply revenged for the late disaster at Winschotten.
Many of Nassau’s troops were killed, more were drowned
in the Ems, the cannon, colours, and baggage were cap¬
tured, and the prince with a few of his followers threw
themselves into the city of Embden, whence, from their
knowledge of the country, they succeeded in making good
their retreat.
Whilst these transactions were passing on the eastern
side, the Prince of Orange had been collecting his fourth
and principal army on the western side, and mustered,
about Aix-la-Chapelle and Liege, a body of nearly 28,000
men, which in that age was a large army. Being much
superior in number to the army under Alba, the Prince
of Orange was desirous of a battle, and made all possible
attempts to bring it on. But the Duke of Alba, knowing
the nature of his enemy’s forces, and that it was beyond his
power to keep together so large a body from one season
to another, acted purely on the defensive. This course
he adhered to with firmness, though often urged by his
officers and troops to lead them to battle. The campaign
was thus passed with no other operations than occasional
skirmishes or advances and retreats. The prince was
compelled to dismiss the greater part of his forces, and to
retire, with the few left to him, into winter quarters, when
Alba did the same, and both were actively employed du¬
ring the winter in the necessary preparations for the fol¬
lowing spring.
The events which caused and accompanied the com¬
mencement of the troubles in the Netherlands have been
related in a more circumstantial and detailed manner than
our limits will allow to the subsequent proceedings. Af¬
ter the first indecisive campaign, there was a kind of sus¬
pension of hostilities, from the exhaustion of the oppos¬
ing parties. Alba was employed in extorting money from
the public bodies, and from individuals, to an unheard-of
extent, and with intolerable severity. One demand was
568 H O L L
Holland, called the tenth denier, by which one tenth of the amount
0f a]j sa]es were to be paid ; a tax which served to impove¬
rish the country, to suspend all industry in trade, and
which ultimately tended to exasperate the inhabitants,
and throw them into the arms of the insurgent party.
The Prince of Orange, on the other hand, was occupied in
negotiating treaties with the German princes, who assur¬
ed him of succours both of troops and treasures. He also
visited France, where Admiral Coligny, the chief of the
Protestant party, after promising his aid, suggested to him
the idea of creating a naval force. This was instantly
adopted, and a party of sailors, of those called Gueux-
marins, seized upon Brielle, a town on the island of Hoorn,
by which they secured an asylum for the shipping, and
whence they gradually extended their conquests to the
other towns and cities which command the entrance to
the ocean, and secure those places from naval attack.
This was the first step in the formation of that naval
power by which the Hollanders became ultimately en¬
abled to secure their independence. Seamen from all
parts flocked to the maritime towns as rapidly as they
declared for the Prince of Orange ; and in Dort, Flush¬
ing, Rotterdam, and, indeed, all the places where there
were no Spanish garrisons, they joined the prince. Fleets
were equipped, which seized on all the Spanish vessels
they met with, even in the British Channel, and kept
open a communication with the ports of England, whence,
by the proceeds of the captures, they could procure stores,
arms, and ammunition, to carry on their warlike opera¬
tions. The growth of the naval power was so rapid, that
within three months after the capture of Flushing, no less
than one hundred and fifty sail of armed vessels, well man¬
ned and equipped, were despatched from that place alone.
The canals and rivers which intersect the country were
filled with barges and gun-boats, which landed at the Spa¬
nish posts, and carried away arms and other effects from
the very gates of Ghent and Bruges.
Alba, who was busied in extorting the tenth penny, look¬
ed with contempt on the seizure of Brielle ; but soon awoke
to the consequences, and began to draw together his troops
to punish the Gueux-marins. His attention was, however,
too powerfully drawn to another quarter, and they were
left without molestation. The Prince of Orange, the mo¬
ment he knew himself secure of the naval asylum, began
his land operations. At the head of 20,000 men he enter¬
ed Gelderiand, seized Ruremonde, Tongres, St Trond, and
Tirlemont, and entered Louvain by treaty, where he rest¬
ed. His brother Louis, aided by 7000 French Protestants,
chiefly cavalry, entered Hainault, and surprised the impor¬
tant city of Mons. Another corps under Count de Bergh
entered the province of Overyssel, and seized Zutphen,
Gorcum, and some smaller places. Alba was alarmed at
these events, but more at the apprehension that it was not
merely the French Protestants, but the French king, who
had become the ally of Orange. He turned his attention,
first of all, to the recapture of Mons, and after a siege of three
months took it on capitulation, a division of the main army
which was proceeding to raise the siege having been defeat¬
ed. After the capture of Mons, Alba collected his forces,
and led them to attack the city of Haerlem, in the province
of Holland, as preparatory to the conquest of the other
maritime positions. That place, defended chiefly by its
citizens, made a noble resistance ; but after a siege of seven
months, in which the exertions and the sufferings of the
inhabitants appear almost incredible, it surrendered, and
was delivered over to the vengeance of the irritated and
unfeeling Spaniards. In this siege, carried on in an aqua¬
tic district, and in the winter months, the besiegers suffer¬
ed severely, especially as they were ill supplied with pro¬
visions. Their sufferings and their want of pay caused a
mutiny after the capture, which paralyzed for a time the
AND.
operations of Alba, whilst the Prince of Orange was carry- Holland,
ing on the siege of Middleburg in Zealand, which was
ably defended, and only surrendered after a siege of two
years duration. The states of Holland and of Zealand had
been assembled at Dort, where, notwithstanding the re¬
publican jealousy which prevailed, powers almost unlimit¬
ed were conferred on the Prince of Orange, and a kind of
government constructed to manage the affairs of these two
provinces.
We have thus sketched the outline of events from the
end of the year 1568 till the end of 1573, at which time
the court of Spain had recalled Alba, who departed with
enormous wealth, and the curses of all classes of the people,
in January 1574. He was succeeded in the government
by Don Louis de Zuniga of Requesens, but generally call¬
ed by the latter name. When Requesens assumed the
government, he found the affairs of it, in those parts still
under the Spanish power, in a dreadful state of derange¬
ment. The people were universally disgusted, the army
in a state of mutiny, and the finances absolutely exhaust¬
ed. Though intrusted to adopt a milder system of govern¬
ment, and actually issuing an amnesty, he could not over¬
come the deep hatred to his country which the Flemings
had conceived. He naturally followed the military plan
which had been traced out by his predecessor. The Prince
of Orange had carried on the siege of Middleburg nearly
two years, and Requesens resolved to attempt its relief.
His naval forces were collected, and a battle ensued, in
which the Spanish fleet was defeated, and most of the
ships taken, burned, or sunk. This occurred on the 19th
of January 1574, and was followed by the capitulation of
the city on the 19th of February. The garrison, the ec¬
clesiastics, and such of the burghers as wished it, were
allowed to proceed to Flanders. This treaty was the
commencement of a milder treatment of prisoners on
both sides, and henceforward the contest assumed a more
humane form. The capture of Middleburg was impor¬
tant, as it decided the fate of the province of Zealand,
which was soon rendered unassailable by the Spaniards,
whose naval force was far inferior to that of the Prince of
Orange. Requesens sent a corps of his army to attack a
force under the command of Prince Henry of Nassau, over
whom a victory was gained, on the 14th of April, near
Nimeguen ; but a mutiny immediately broke out amongst
the Spaniards, and rendered the success of no value. When
the mutinous spirit wyas somewhat allayed, the Spaniards
besieged Alckmaer, but were received by the inhabitants
with such resolution that they gave up the attack and con¬
centrated their forces to besiege the city of Leyden. It
was carried on with great vigour, and defended with skill
and bravery; and after the besieged had for nearly six
months endured all the horrors of famine and disease, by
cutting some dikes the Spanish camp was covered with
water, more than a thousand of the assailants were drown¬
ed, and on the 3d of October the siege was abandoned.
This secured to the party of Oi'ange the freedom of the
province of Holland, as the capture of Middleburg had
done that of Zealand. The Spaniards were thus expelled
from every part of those states except the city of Amster¬
dam, of which they did not quit possession till four years
afterwards.
After defeat or after victory the Spanish troops were
equally accustomed to mutiny. The repulse before Leyden
begot this spirit, which displayed itself by deposing their
commander Don Sancho de Avila. They chose one of their
own number as a leader, and carrying with them Don
Sancho, bound hand and foot, proceeded towards Utrecht,
where by plunder they boasted they would pay themselves
the arrears owing to them, and they committed the great¬
est excesses on the small towns which they wrere able to
seize upon. At length some money was paid to them,
HOLLAND.
Holland, the mutiny was appeased, and Requesensled them to make
attacks on some of those islands which compose the state
of Zealand. These were all repulsed by Prince Louis ;
and Requesens, who had superintended the operations in
person, at length abandoned all attempts. He was called
to Brussels by a mutiny of the Spanish cavalry in that city ;
but on the day of his arrival he was attacked by a fever,
which in a short time terminated in his death.
This brings the events down to the end of the year 1575,
at which period an attempt at conciliation was made by
the emperor of Germany. A congress was held at Breda,
where an ambassador from his imperial majesty, the two
brothers of the Prince of Orange, the pensioner of Hol¬
land, deputies from Zealand and Gelderland, and two minis¬
ters of the king of Spain, met; but nothing was agreed on,
after three months spent in negotiation, as the preliminary
question of religion could not be settled. The king would
only admit of the Catholic faith, and the opposing parties
as resolutely maintained that of the reformed church.
In 1576 the Prince of Orange succeeded in the plan he
had long formed, of forming such a union between the two
states of Holland and Zealand as should concentrate their
efforts for the common defence, by placing in his hands,
under the name of regent for the king, the whole execu¬
tive power. This arrangement, concluded in April, was
announced to all the cities, and accepted by them; and
the prince having taken the oath of fidelity to the privi¬
leges of the states, assumed the government, and arranged
the administration with judgment, despatch, and economy.
At the same time, within the provinces still belonging
to Spain, the death of the governor created the greatest
confusion and disturbance. The council of state, consist¬
ing chiefly of Flemings, assumed the administration, and,
as soon as an answer to their communications could be
received from Madrid, were confirmed in that power, but
only ad interim, until Don Juan of Austria, who was named
governor, should arrive. Though composed of only nine
or ten members, this council soon became divided into
factions, which thwarted each other; they were without
pecuniary resources, and could take no measures to re¬
move the difficulty. The consequence of this was, that
the Spanish troops, being unpaid, broke into furious muti¬
nies, and, with the pride of their nation, rejected the autho¬
rity of the council, deposed their officers, chose one of
their own number, who was called Eletto, indulged every¬
where in the most unlimited plunder, and committed the
most atrocious barbarities. The movements made by these
troops alarmed all the inhabitants of the cities, so that even
in Brussels itself the council could scarcely have been in
safety without yielding to the impulse of indignation which
was displayed by all orders of the citizens. The mutinous
troops had taken by storm the fortified city of Alost, be¬
tween Ghent and Brussels, when the council, on the 29th
of July, issued a placard denouncing the Spaniards as rebels
to their king and the country. They were depicted as
mutinous traitors, and the people of the Netherlands were
called upon to exterminate them wherever they were to
be found; they were also forbidden to supply them with
provisions, and commanded to remove out of their way all
money and other valuable effects.
The insurgent army at Alost alarmed the city of Ghent,
where the inhabitants had armed themselves; but the
castle which commanded the town was held by some Spa¬
nish troops, who were in connection with the mutinous
army. It was of importance to take the castle ; and a
party in that place, where the Prince of Orange had nu¬
merous secret friends, made application to him for assis¬
tance. He, who had foreseen the event and was prepar¬
ed to meet it, despatched from Zealand eight bodies of in¬
fantry, amounting to about 3000 men, with seventeen
pieces of artillery, under the command of Colonel Temple,
VOL. XI.
569
an English officer in the service of me states, who entered Holland,
the city on the 26th of September, and having formed the ''-'-v-w'
siege of the castle, caused it to surrender on the 11th of
November.
The possession of Ghent was the signal for a general
movement amongst the Flemings. In spite of the orders
of the king positively forbidding it, the states assembled
in each province, and the feeble and divided council gave
way before them ; and thus the power was vested in a
body, who confined some, displaced others, of the council,
and changed the government into that republican form
which the seven provinces that ultimately obtained their
independence afterwards adopted. The king’s name was
used, but his power was for the time abolished. The new
government sent its envoys to the several courts to im¬
plore assistance. The emperor and some other princes
answered with cordiality, and offered their mediation to
effect a general pacification. The king of France (Henry
III.) spoke plainly, and showed good will, but said that his
opponents, the Leaguists, supported by the pope and the
king of Spain, had so embarrassed his affairs as to deprive
him of the power of rendering them any assistance. Queen
Elizabeth of England received the envoy, Baron Sw eveg-
hau, with much distinction. She granted to the states a
loan of one hundred thousand pounds sterling, of which
forty thousand were immediately paid in uncoined silver,
and the remainder was made payable at Brussels by her
ambassador. The cities of Ghent, Bruges, and Nieuport
were securities for the money ; and the states agreed nei¬
ther to make truce nor peace with Spain without England
being comprehended in it. The other conditions were,
that the English merchants should be restored to the pri¬
vileges which they had enjoyed before the troubles, and
that the subjects of England who had been banished should
not be protected within the territories of the states.
A treaty was soon concluded at Ghent, and ratified at
Brussels, between the states on one part, and the Prince
of Orange in the name of the states of Holland and Zea¬
land on the other. The chief stipulations were, that the
contracting parties should unite to drive all Spaniards from
their countries, and then assemble as in states-general be¬
fore 1555, to regulate the affairs of religion, of the for¬
tresses, and the ships of war ; that no attempts should be
made against the Catholic religion ; that all the ordon-
nances issued by the Duke of Alba should be suspended
till they were confirmed by the states; and that in the
mean time the Prince of Orange should retain his power
as stadtholder of Holland and Zealand. This treaty was
signed in the name of the king, and in a short time was
acceded to by those other provinces not represented in
the states assembled at Brussels.
Whilst these transactions were in progress, the Spanish
troops, though diminished in number by their own excesses
and the vengeance of the country people, continued in the
same mutinous condition. One division of them took
Maestricht by storm, and there perpetrated the most abo¬
minable injuries to persons and property. Two other di¬
visions, one from Alost and the other from Zealand, unit¬
ed to seize on the rich city of Antwerp ; and with them join¬
ed the portion of the garrison of the citadel of Antwerp
which had cut its way through the besieging army. The
citadel was in possession of the Spaniards; and as soon as
the rest of the mutineers had been received into it, they
stormed the city, which, though bravely defended, was ul¬
timately overcome, a great part of it being burned in the
conflict, and what remained, as well as the persons of the in¬
habitants, became a prey to the infuriated and merciless
mutineers. Destruction wras thus inflicted on the most
flourishing commercial city of Europe, from the effects of
which it has never since recovered. The destruction of
that city was, however, one of the causes, and not an in-
4 c
570
HOLLAND.
Holland, considerable one, of the rapid progress in foreign com-
merce which was made in Holland during the subsequent
prosecution of the long protracted war, and supplied much
of the pecuniary means by which that war was maintained.
Don Juan of Austria, who had been appointed to the
government of the Ivetherlands on the death of Requesens,
was a natural son of the Emperor Charles V. who had
ordered him to be educated in secrecy, but suitably, ac¬
cording to a respectable station in life. The history of
his birth had been concealed from him until he had ar¬
rived at maturity, when King Philip himself unexpected¬
ly revealed it, and acknowledged him as his brother. At
an early age he had been employed against the Moors of
Granada, and had by his successful exertions gained great
applause; but the chief ground of his high reputation arose
from the naval victory of Lepanto gained over the Turks,
when he commanded the united fleets of the Christian
world.
When nominated to the command he was residing at
Milan, but instantly departed from thence to Spain, where
he received his instructions from the king. He was direct¬
ed to treat the Netherlands with great mildness at first,
but to commit himself to nothing definitive, and on no ac¬
count to give up any of that unlimited power which the
king was firmly resolved to exercise. It was commonly
believed that the king gave him an assurance, if he suc¬
ceeded in restoring the Netherlands to submission, that
he should be supplied with forces to land in England,
where he should release Mary Stuart from her prison,
place her on the throne of Elizabeth, and by a marriage
with her become monarch of the British islands. Don
Juan rode post through France, at that time in a state of
confusion, in the disguise of a servant to one of the nobles
who accompanied him, and at length reached Luxembourg
on the day on which the mutinous army of the Spaniards had
stormed the city of Antwerp. On his arrival there, the dis¬
astrous state of the affairs of Spain, which has already been
described, seems to have left him no other alternative, after
announcing his arrival to the states, than that of acqui¬
escence in the decisions of that body, conjointly with the
Prince of Orange. He accordingly gave his assent to the
pacification of Ghent, and to that article of it which stipulat¬
ed the removal of all foreign troops from the country of the
Netherlands. Some confidence was thus gained with the
states-general, but none with the Prince of Orange, with
whom Don Juan had opened a correspondence of an ap¬
parently amicable and confidential nature. The troops
were in appearance disbanded, or marched away. The
Spaniards moved slowly towards Italy, from whence they
could be recruited. Some of the auxiliaries were said to
have been lent to the Leaguists in France, so as to be
within call when needed. In a few months, which were
passed in conciliatory measures, Don Juan, rather by fraud
than by force, obtained possession of the strong castle of
Namur, in the month of July, and established his court in
that city, where he soon began to collect troops. This
caused an alarm in the states, and they also began to col¬
lect their forces. The Prince of Orange was invited to
repair to Brussels, in order to concert with the states the
measures requisite for the defence of their freedom. Ne¬
gotiations were begun with insincerity on all sides, for nei¬
ther could trust to the assurances and engagements of the
other. The Prince of Orange, who had entered Brussels
on the 23d of September, was consulted on these negotia¬
tions, and was in some sense a party to them; though he
foresaw, from the very moment of Don Juan’s arrival, that
no secure treaty could be formed, and that the sword
must decide the issue. The states, at the suggestion of
the Prince of Orange, had decreed the demolition of those
fortresses which commanded the cities, especially those of
Antwerp, Ghent, Utrecht, Groningen, and Lisle. This
was the signal for hostilities. Don Juan had recalled the Holland,
troops on the march for Italy, and those lent to the party
of the League in France. The Prince of Parma brought
other reinforcements; and thus Don Juan found himself
at the head of an army of nearly 20,000 at the end of the
year. The army of the states consisted of nearly equal
numbers. They were, however, inferior in discipline and
in good officers to the forces opposed to them. The two
armies were in presence of each other in December. The
army of the Spaniards had been so secretly collected, that
the states believed that their own troops much outnum¬
bered them, and from this impression gave orders for the
attack. On the 31st of January a bloody conflict took
place at Gembloux, near to Namur, in which the Spanish
force was victorious. The army of the states suffered very
severely; their general, Goignies, with many of his men,
were made prisoners, and the remnant retreated towards
Brussels. The Prince of Orange and states removed from
thence to Antwerp. Don Juan, instead of pursuing them,
followed up his success by capturing the smaller fortified
towns. In the course of the year 1778, he had taken
Louvain, Tirlemont, Bovines, Diest, Nivelles, and some
smaller places. These conquests were effected by de¬
tachments, whilst his main body was encamped near Na¬
mur. But he was taken ill in September, and died on the
1st of October 1578. The cause was probably a pestilen¬
tial fever, but, according to the custom of that age, was
most commonly attributed to poison. On his death-bed
Don Juan nominated as his successor his nephew the
Duke of Parma, who had recently joined him. He was a
young man of highly-estimated talent, the son of that
duchess who had long been the regent of the Nether¬
lands, and under whom the troubles had commenced.
When the Prince of Orange had retired to Antwerp, he
clearly perceived that, from the nature of the country,
and the confidence placed in him by the people, he could
preserve a secure asylum for liberty in Holland. His means
did not extend to the other provinces of the Netherlands
with the same commanding effect. He therefore turned
his chief attention to that which, with a concentration of
his means and exertions, could with most probability of
success be attained.
As the ten provinces were at length all brought under
subjection to Spain, and finally were transferred to the
house of Austria, the transactions relating to them do not
appropriately belong to the history of Holland, and will
therefore be only so far noticed here as regards their
connection with that country.
It was the policy of the Prince of Orange to keep alive
the spirit of opposition which still existed in Flanders,
because it gave employment to the troops of the Duke of
Parma, and time to the inhabitants of the United Inde¬
pendent Provinces to prepare for that firm defence which
must be the only means of securing their ultimate inde¬
pendence. Those states also gained much in another
view. Holland was a secure asylum, and the inhabitants
of the other ten provinces found refuge there, when nei¬
ther tranquillity nor security could be enjoyed at home.
At this period, many of the richest of the traders once
more removed their families and their property to the
cities and towns of Holland and Zealand. The ruins of
the commerce of Antwerp were collected in Holland and
Amsterdam, though the last place, from which the Span¬
iards had been driven out in 1578, received the greater
share of it.
Whilst Flanders was torn to pieces by the contest be¬
tween the troops of the Duke of Parma and those raised
by the states, the United Provinces assumed in their
temporary tranquillity a more imposing aspect. The im¬
portant province of Utrecht joined the party of Holland,
Zealand, and Friesland. The war had been carried on
HOLLAND.
571
Holland, against the king of Spain without explicitly renouncing
allegiance to him. But after the accession of Utrecht,
the declaration of their independence of the authority of
that monarch was promulgated. This gave confidence to
the inhabitants, and admitted them to treat as sovereign
states with any of the other governments of Europe.
To these four provinces the three small ones of Zutphen,
Overyssel, and Groningen were added, and thus formed
a compact and easily defended district. They assumed
for their arms a bundle of seven arrows, with the motto,
Concordia res parvce crescunt, discordia maximal dilabun-
tur.
We pass over the endeavours made to establish the
Duke of Anjou, brother of the king of France, as the
governor, the wars subsequent upon it, and the attempts
made to assassinate the Prince of Orange, because they
belong rather to the history of Flanders than to that of
Holland. It may, however, be proper to remark, that in
the intercourse between that duke and the prince, the lat¬
ter favoured the pretensions of the former; but he seems
to have done it without any prospect, perhaps without
any hope, that it would do more than operate as a diver¬
sion in favour of the seven United Provinces, to whom his
chief regards were always directed.
From the death of Don Juan of Austria, at the end of
the year 1578, to July 1584, the state of Flanders arrest¬
ed all the efforts which Spain could make to attack Hol¬
land ; and the inhabitants availed themselves of it to ex¬
tend their commerce, to increase their ships, to econo¬
mize their resources, to accumulate warlike stores, and to
organize and discipline the whole of the male population.
Spain was too much engaged with other objects to direct
any strenuous operations against Holland, calculating that
if she could subdue the ten larger and more populous pro¬
vinces, the submission of the other seven would either
necessarily follow, or might be easily enforced. Besides,
she was at that time making preparations for the enor¬
mous naval force called the Armada, with which she cal¬
culated on conquering England, and thought that by that
achievement Holland would fall under her power.
The intense personal hatred which existed between
Philip of Spain and the Prince of Orange gave birth to
the most virulent and threatening manifestoes, which were
printed, diffused, and read throughout Europe; and the
kins even made it generally known, that whoever should
succeed in assassinating the prince, should receive a reward
of 80,000 ducats, be made a commander of the order of
St Jago, and obtain patents of nobility. These offers,
stimulated also by religious fanaticism, induced many indi¬
viduals to arm themselves for the horrid deed. One of them,
Geerardt, a Burgundian, gained access to the prince by
means of letters from Count Mansfeldt, and, as he was pass¬
ing from his dinner table to another apartment, shot him
with a pistol concealed under his cloak, which discharged
three balls into the breast of his victim. The prince fell,
exclaiming, “ I am wounded. Lord, have mercy on me,
and on this poor people I” He then immediately expired.
The assassin was taken and executed. Ihe recompense
for the detestable deed was subsequently made to his fa¬
mily ; for, in the register of the court of Madrid of the 4th
March 1589, patents of nobility are entered as conferred
on his brothers and sisters, who are described as bearing
that relation to Geerardt, a tyrannicide.
This tragical event occurred on the 10th of July 1584, at
Delft, where the states of the seven provinces were then
assembled. It inspired courage rather than despair among
the patriots of Holland. The eldest son of the prince was
a prisoner in Madrid, where he had been detained from
the commencement of the troubles. His son Prince Mau¬
rice was instantly invested with all the power of his pa¬
rent, though only eighteen years of age; and Count Ho-
henlohe was appointed with the character of his lieute- Holland,
nant.
The Dutch attempted to enter into negotiations with
those powerful princes who were hostile to Spain. The
application to France was made at a time when the power
of the confederation of the League was so formidable as
to preclude the prospect of any aid. Henry III. received
the deputies with respect, but recommended them to
make application to Elizabeth of England. Offers were
made to her of the sovereignty of the Netherlands, which
she declined ; but she made a treaty stipulating to furnish
six thousand troops to be maintained by her, and was to
have Flushing, the Bridle, and the castle of Rammekins, as
pledges. Leicester, her favourite, was appointed to the
command, and was to have concurrent power with two
members chosen by the states in all military affairs, but
was not to intermeddle in the civil transactions.
The imprudence or ambition of Leicester gave much
umbrage to the states, and his presence became rather
injurious than beneficial to them. Ihe threatening dan¬
ger from the Spanish Armada, and some degree of disap¬
proval of the conduct of Leicester, induced the queen to
recall him and the greater part of the force. The con¬
duct of Leicester had produced the loss of Zutphen and
Deventer; but, after the defeat of the Armada, fresh troops
were sent from England, and these having drawn the Span¬
iards towards Ostend, in which was an English garrison,
Prince Maurice was enabled to recapture those places. The
celebrated siege of Antwerp, though scarcely an operation
in which the Dutch were engaged, may be here noticed.
It was a long and heavy labour of seven months, carried
on by the Duke of Parma in person. During its progress
the most extraordinary bravery and skill was displayed
by the assailants and the defenders ; but the place finally
surrendered, and the remains of its commerce were trans¬
ferred to Amsterdam. After the recapture of Zutphen
and Deventer, Prince Maurice, whose forces had been
recruited, threatened Dunkirk and Nieuport, and, after a
short but vigorous bombardment, captured the important
city of Nimeguen, and other towns in that quarter; and
these operations closed the campaign ot 1592. ihe Duke
of Parma had advanced with an army into France, and
left the management of the war in the Netherlands to
Count Mansfeldt.
In the beginning of 1593, Mansfeldt issued edicts for¬
bidding all communication with the revolted and now de
facto independent provinces, and declaring that no quar¬
ter would be given to any who did not join him. Such
threats were however of no avail, for Prince Maurice hav¬
ing collected his forces, attacked the strong city of Ger-
truydenburg; and though Mansfeldt, at the head ot 12,000
foot and 3000 horse, attempted to raise the siege, he was
foiled. The place surrendered on the 23d of June, after
suffering the extreme of famine.
The Spaniards were still in possession of the city of Gro¬
ningen, where Verdugo, an Italian, commanded. Ihe chief
operations of the year 1594 were in that quarter. Much
time was passed in able manoeuvres between Prince Mau¬
rice and that general. But the prince having succeeded
in cutting off the communication between Groningen and
Germany, that city was compelled to surrender in July.
The many repulses which the Spaniards had received, and
the want of pay, produced a mutiny, and the soldiers threat¬
ened to indemnify themselves by the plunder of Brussels,^
and other towns in the ten provinces under the crown of
Spain. The mutineers were in communication with Prince
Maurice, but he declined taking them into his service,
though the mutiny was turned by him to the benefit of
his country.
In the year 1595 a general discontent against their Spa¬
nish masters spread itself in the ancient provinces. It
572 HOLLA N D.
Holland. was fomented by the Flemish nobility, who, in an assem-
bly convened at Brussels, demanded peace. This affair
turned out advantageous to the seven provinces, where
Prince Maurice and the states-general were occupied in
negotiations both with England and with France, with
both of which countries treaties were concluded, in which
the Hollanders engaged to supply them with naval forces,
some of which assisted Sir Walter Raleigh in his success¬
ful attack upon Cadiz.
Philip of Spain, now advanced in years, having be¬
come disgusted with the cares of government, his Flemish
provinces were placed under the management of the Arch¬
duke Albert of Austria. He had under his command an
army of 30,000 men, with which he took Calais, and then
rather turned his forces towards France than towards the
new republicans. The Dutch had by this time grown up
into a great naval power. They are said to have had on
board of their shipping more than 70,000 seamen. The
bloody wars in which they had been engaged seemed to
have increased their wealth and their spirit of commer¬
cial enterprise. Even their enemy Philip connived at
their carrying on a very beneficial trade with his subjects
in Spain and Portugal, whilst their cruisers covered the
seas, and made numerous captures of the trading ships of
those very subjects.
The earnest desire to attain naval superiority which
animated the Dutch, was accompanied with a correspon¬
dent neglect of their land forces. The arms of France,
however, acted as a diversion in their favour, and enabled
Prince Maurice in 1597 to defeat one of Albert’s generals,
and, in consequence thereof, to capture Turnhout, near
Antwerp; and in the end of the year, several other towns in
that quarter submitted to the states-general. In the same
year, negotiations for peace were attempted, under the
mediation of the emperor of Germany and the king of
Denmark; but the states refused to treat till the king of
Spain should acknowledge their independence. The peace
ot Vervins was concluded between Spain and Henry IV. of
France, to the great disgust of Elizabeth and of the Unit¬
ed States, who thereby were brought into more intimate
alliance.
The commerce of the states was now much augmented.
One of their citizens, Balthasar Monchuen, besides trading
extensively to India, formed settlements upon the coast of
Africa and upon the island of St Thomas. Other mer¬
chants sent their ships to the South Seas, through the
Straits of Magellan, in the hope of discovering a passage to
Japan and China. Companies were formed which sent
large ships to the East and West Indies. The trade in the
Mediterranean was extensive and lucrative ; but, above all,
their fisheries on the coasts of England became a mine of
wealth.
Though with inadequate force, Prince Maurice, in the
winter of 1599, surprised Emmerich on the Rhine, and
projected the transference of the seat of war to Germany;
whilst Mendoza, the Spanish general, was opposed to him,
and invested Bommel; and, though an indecisive battle
was fought, Maurice delivered that fortress from the be¬
siegers, and secured his own conquest. After this, party-
spirit appeared in Holland, with sufficient fervour to lead to
the reduction of the army ; but, fortunately for that coun¬
try, the Spanish troops were so mutinously disposed, that
they were unable to take advantage of this diminution.
About the end of 1600, the states were roused to make
greater land preparations, and their army under Prince
Maurice, in conjunction with an auxiliary English force
under Sir Francis Vere, gained the decisive victory of
Nieuport, in which the Spaniards lost 5000 men, whilst
the loss of the allied army did not exceed 1500, of whom
oOO were English. Though Nieuport was invested, Mau¬
rice was compelled to raise the siege, when the armies
went into winter-quarters. About the end of 1601, some Holland,
attempts at negotiations for peace were made, but, like
those of the former years, they were soon suspended.
I he chief military event of the three following years
was the siege of Ostend, in which Vere had at first the
command ; but in the course of the long operations he was
relieved, and joined the prince with his troops, who were
replaced by the soldiers of the states. The whole atten¬
tion of Europe was engrossed by the great display of mi¬
litary art in and before Ostend. Spinola the Spanish ge¬
neral was one of the first of the military geniuses of that
age, and Vandernoot, who defended the place, was his
equal. With an immense loss of life and expenditure of
money, after a siege of more than three years’ duration,
the place was surrendered by capitulation on the 20th of
September 1604.
The death of Queen Elizabeth in March 1603, and the
accession of James to the throne of England, gave a new
turn to affairs. The temper of that monarch was decided¬
ly pacific, and though at first he in some degree adhered
to the alliance with the states, his assistance was small, and
in some of the transactions rather adverse. The war was con¬
tinued between the armies commanded on one side by Prince
Maurice and on the other by Spinola, but both were so
cramped in their operations by the parsimony or the poverty
of their respective governments, that no decisive event oc¬
curred. The naval war was more effective. The fleets of
Spain from the East and West Indies were intercepted by
the Dutch. Tremendous conflicts were carried on, by
which some of the vessels loaded with treasure from the
New World fell into the hands of the republicans; but a
much larger portion of the vessels which contained it were
either burned or sunk. The failure of remittances so impo¬
verished the king of Spain that he became disposed to
treat for peace. The negotiation began in the early part
of the year 1607. At first the required acknowledgment
of independence suspended it, but in the month of April
1607 Spain gave way, and a suspension of arms for eight
months was agreed upon, without any communication of it
having been made to the kings either of England or of
France. When the eight months had expired, no treaty
had been concluded; and, though no hostile movements
w ere made by land, the captures of the Dutch at sea w ere
continued during the prosecution of the treaty. At length
a truce for twelve years was agreed to in April 1609. A
general amnesty on both sides was stipulated, and a free¬
dom of trade by sea and land, including both the Indies,
was agreed to.
This treaty, though only concluded for a fixed period,
was yet a termination of the war as between the king of
Spain and the seven United Provinces. The states had
no sooner attained peace and independence, than they in¬
termeddled with the affairs of the other sovereign states of
Europe, and became involved in hostilities with Germany,
in which Prince Maurice, on a disputed succession to the
duchies of Cleves and Juliers, took the latter city, and gar¬
risoned it. But the Germans having soon afterwards taken
Wesel, a termination was put to the contest by the me¬
diation of England and France.
Almost as soon as the states had concluded a general
peace, internal dissensions arose. These were maintained
by the nature of their constitution, which conferred on
each individual state an independent sovereign authority.
The first occasion arose from a theological difference of
opinion on a topic, of all others, the most inscrutable by
the human faculties. The Protestants had imbibed their
opinions from Calvin, and had generally adopted his doc¬
trine of predestination. The professors of the universities
had advocated that opinion, when Arminius, a native of
Holland, was appointed to the divinity chair of Leyden,
and taught the opposite opinion of the freedom of the hu-
H O L
Holland, man will. He thus became the head of one sect, whilst a
Dr Gomarus, another professor, became the leader of the
Calvinistic sect. Theological discussions soon created po¬
litical parties. Prince Maurice had imbibed the opinions
of Arminius, but finding the clergy and the great body of
the common people attached to those of Gomarus, he,
without regarding the private opinions he held, placed him¬
self at the head of the Gomarists. Barneveldt, the chief
civil man in the union, was in opinion a Calvinist; but seeing
the nobility and the better educated part of the people sup¬
ported the system of the Arminians, he became the chief of
that party. The acrimony and bitterness with which the con¬
test was carried on soon rendered it of a mixed character,
combining religion and politics. Each city possessing with¬
in itself independent powers, punished or protected either
the Arminians or the Gomarists. Those two eminent scho¬
lars Grotius and Vossius defended Arminianism, whilst the
synod of Dort, assisted by King James of England and
the Archbishop of Canterbury, for a short time maintained
, the opposite side in the controversy. Prince Maurice, by
his influence with the common people, and from being at
the head of the army, was enabled in many of the cities to
change the magistrates; and when he could not effect that
purpose, as at Utrecht, he called in the troops to their as¬
sistance. Barneveldt and his party proposed a general to¬
leration of all opinions, and presented a remonstrance to
that effect; a proceeding which changed the names, but
not the characters, of the party. The Arminians were
called Remonstrants, and the Calvinists Anti-Remonstrants,
names which have been continued to this day. The party
of Maurice, consisting chiefly of the populace of the cities,
and their clergy, was ready to tolerate Jews, Mahomme-
dans, and infidels, but would not consent to grant similar
toleration to the Remonstrants.
It became evident that the prince was aiming at esta¬
blishing for himself and his family an hereditary sovereign¬
ty over the states; whilst Barneveldt and the higher class¬
es, on the other hand, eager to perpetuate the liberties of
their country, formed connections with the court of France,
and thence obtained the name of the Louvestein faction,
which has been continued amongst the opposers of the abso¬
lute power of the house of Orange to the present time. But
the Orange party acquired such superiority that Maurice
was enabled to seize and imprison the venerable Barne¬
veldt and the learned Grotius, the former of whom, after
an infamous trial, when the judges were threatened with
death if they did not pronounce the popular sentence, was
condemned to death, and beheaded at the Hague on the
13th of May 1619. As the benefactor of his country, he
died with the regret of the wise and good of his own time,
and has been viewed by succeeding ages as one of the chief
authors of the victories, the prosperity, and the liberties of
his country. Grotius was still a prisoner, probably not a
very strict one. He was allowed the use of books, which
passed in a large chest unexamined, and in that chest he
was concealed and carried away. He escaped to France,
and passed the remainder of his days in an honourable, use¬
ful, and upright manner.
The truce was now drawing to a close. The interval
which the Dutch had enjoyed had been employed by them,
in spite of their internal dissensions, in the most profitable
manner. They had prodigiously extended their maritime
operations, having been much benefited by the languor of
James I. of England, and the ruined state of the marine
of Spain. Their ships gave laws from the Baltic to the
Levant. They had forced a trade with the Spanish posses¬
sions in the western world and in the East Indies; and, be¬
sides some smaller acquisitions, they had founded Batavia
in the island of Java, which soon became the emporium of
the trade of the eastern world.
Philip of Spain died in 1621, just at the time when the
LAND. 573
truce between him and the Hollanders had expired. The Holland,
greater progress the Dutch had made in prosperity and
power, the more worthy objects of his ambition did he deem
them, whom he still viewed as his rebellious subjects. He
had instructed his ambassador to propose such terms of
peace as were sure to be rejected, which in fact they were,
in the most contemptuous manner. But Prince Maurice
was not well supported by the states on land. The ope¬
rations were not of great moment. The Spaniards under
Spinola took Juliers, but were repulsed in an attack upon
Haerlem. Maurice made an effort to seize upon Antwerp,
which failed; and he returned to the Hague, where an at¬
tempt was made by a grandson of Barneveldt and some
Arminians to assassinate him. This, though it failed, gave
great strength and violence to the Gomarists, and they were
most unrelenting in their cruel punishments. The rack
and the axe were in constant employment, and to be known
as an Arminian was deemed sufficient cause for their inflic¬
tion. The war by land against the Dutch was continued by
Spinola, on the side of Belgium ; and though he could not
prevent them from recapturing Juliers, and taking Cleves,
he collected such a force as enabled him to besiege Breda,
which was commanded by an English colonel, Morgan. It
was an important place, strongly fortified, and of great in¬
terest to Prince Maurice, because it formed the centre of
his patrimonial estates. It was ably defended, and during
the ten months the siege lasted, the loss of the Spaniards
was enormous. They however ultimately succeeded, and
a capitulation was signed on the 6th of June 1625.
During these operations, Prince Maurice died in the
eighty-eighth year of his age. Ambition alone, which had
caused his severity towards the Arminians, prevented him
from being the most amiable, as he was one of the ablest
men of the age in which he lived. About the same period
King James of England died, and was succeeded by the
unfortunate Charles I. Prince Henry of Nassau was the
successor of his brother, as governor of the states of Hol¬
land, Zealand, Guelderland, Utrecht, and Overyssel. He
continued the military operations against Spinola, but, after
the surrender of Breda neither party could boast of having
gained much advnatage.
The naval operations in some degree compensated for
the languor which prevailed on land. The Dutch sent
an expedition to the South Sea, which attacked the Spa¬
nish settlements in Peru with much success; and at length
they also conquered St Salvador and other parts of Bra¬
zil, but were soon afterwards obliged to abandon the ac¬
quisitions they had made. In the interior the religious
dissensions began to revive. Henry prince of Orange
was thought to be less rigid towards the Arminians, in
other words, more favourable to them, than suited the
principles of the Gomarists. This caused such a commo¬
tion as threatened a civil war, which was only prevented
by the necessity of union against the common enemy.
The Dutch fleet had joined that of France, with which
power they were in alliance; and this united force was
attacked by the ships of the French Protestants under
Soubise. They were defeated, and the Dutch admiral’s
ship was blown up, with himself and his crew. This
caused the greatest joy among the common people in Hol¬
land, who detested the conduct of their chiefs; and in the
city of Amsterdam their houses were pillaged, and their
persons grossly insulted.
The threatening appearance of the thirty years’ war in
Germany induced the states to increase their land forces
in 1626 ; but during that and the following year only in¬
decisive operations occurred, as the imperial general, Tilly,
did not make the expected attack on their frontier towns.
The Spaniards made Dunkirk the place for collecting a
great number of privateers, by which the Dutch com¬
merce was much annoyed, and many bankruptcies occa-
HOLLAND.
574
Holland, sioned amongst the merchants of Amsterdam. This in-
duced the Dutch to blockade that port so closely that the
system was checked, and in 1628 their East and West In¬
dia fleets all arrived in safety, loaded with valuable car¬
goes belonging to the two great commercial companies
which had grown up in Holland.
During the same year the fleets of Holland were re¬
markably successful against Spain. Peter Adrien cap¬
tured twelve of the largest West Indiamen in the Bay of
Honduras. Admiral Heine had still greater success, hav¬
ing a larger force, and in the Bay of All Saints captured
so many ships laden with sugar, that the quantity, when
brought to Holland, lowered the price of that commodity
in all parts of Europe. He then with thirty ships inter¬
cepted the Spanish plate fleet, and, after ravaging the
coasts of Spain and Portugal, returned with prizes valued
at more than fifteen millions of livres. But the state of
Holland was far from being tranquil. Fresh umbrage
was taken by the populace at the Prince of Orange, be¬
cause he had appointed some of the Arminians as magis¬
trates, and the people of Amsterdam refused to obey them.
This, with tumults amongst the seamen on account of the
inadequate distribution of the prize money, caused se¬
rious commotions, which were with difficulty and some
sacrifices of life put down.
The successes of the Dutch at sea had a favourable in¬
fluence on the land operations of the following year. Want
of pay had produced mutiny in the Spanish army. The
Dutch vigour was again awakened, and the Prince of
Orange furnished with a powerful army. An active cam¬
paign, in which Turenne, Montecuculli, and some other of
the most celebrated warriors of the age, bore a part, was
closed, by the capture of Bois-le-Duc on one side, and of
Wesel on the other frontier of Holland, in spite of all the
efforts of the Spaniards to raise the sieges of these places.
In the year 1630 the Spaniards renewed their efforts to
defend the places they held on the German frontier, but
were so unfortunate that, after fruitless attempts to orga¬
nise a German Catholic confederacy against Holland, they
were induced to enter into a negotiation for the conclusion
of a truce during thirty-four years. But this negotiation
was rendered ineffectual, principally by the intrigues and
the influence of the French minister Richelieu, who had
by this time formed a strong party in Holland, in opposi¬
tion to that of the Prince of Orange ; a party which con¬
tinued up to the present age, and to the existence of
which may be attributed the enmity displayed by the
successive heads of that family to the French government.
After the rupture of the negotiations, John of Nassau, with
a force, aided by some of the German Catholic princes, of
troops and water craft, made the attempt to separate Zea¬
land from Holland. The expedition was met by the Dutch
gun-boats; a terrible conflict ensued; the Spanish flo¬
tilla was either sunk or captured; and 5000 men were
made prisoners, who entered immediately into the service
of Holland. This blow was followed up by the Prince of
Orange, with his whole force, augmented by the junction
of 12,000 Swedes of the army of Gustavus Adolphus, with
whom the states had made a treaty, by an attack upon
Maestricht, which at length capitulated, as did also the for¬
tified city of Rheneberg on the Rhine, by which Holland
became secure from all invasion on the side of Germany.
At this time attempts were again made towards negotia¬
tion ; but the interference of the Austrian general Pappen-
heim, who had garrisoned some of the towns belonging to
Spain, prevented, by his claims, any treaty from being
brought to a pacific conclusion.
Ihe Dutch army for the campaign of 1633 was more
powerful than at any former period, and was thought suf-
flciently strong to have completed, with a general of such
talents as the prince, the entire conquest of Spanish Bra¬
bant. He took the field for that purpose, but the exces- Hollaml.
sive rains of that season, the great inundations, the sick-
ness which prevailed in the army, the scarcity of provi¬
sions, and other inconveniences, compelled him to put his
army into winter-quarters at a very early period, without
having effected or scarcely attempted any object of im¬
portance. The year 1634 passed over w*ith no memor¬
able displays of hostile movements. The death of Gus¬
tavus Adolphus in the midst of the vast operations in
Germany, of which he was the animating soul, caused so
many and various negotiations, that the whole of Europe
had its attention directed to diplomatic discussions. The
war between the Spaniards and the Dutch languished in
the Netherlands, though it was carried on at sea much
to the benefit of the latter party. In this year, 1635,
a partition treaty was entered into with France by the
states, contrary to the will of the Prince of Orange, and
their ally the king of England, by which the provinces
of Luxembourg, Namur, Courtray, Hainault, Artois, and
Flanders, were to be transferred to the king of France, and
those of Brabant, Guelderland, and the districts of Waes,
Mechlin, and the rest of Flanders, to the United States.
In pursuance of the objects of this treaty, the fleets of
France and Holland were united together; but prepara¬
tions from England to place her marine in opposition in¬
duced them to return to their respective ports. The at¬
tempts by land were equally ineffectual. France march¬
ed an army of 20,000 foot and 7000 horse into Brabant,
and the states had equipped one of nearly equal force.
These united troops were to be commanded by the Prince
of Orange; but whether that commander, from being averse
to the service, neglected to accomplish its objects, or
whether the arrogance and barbarities of the French
disgusted their allies, such dissensions arose between the
officers, that no movements proved beneficial, and the cam¬
paign was closed at an early period. The Dutch with¬
drew to their own country, and the French went into win¬
ter-quarters at Ruremond, where it is said more than 6000
of them died, from want and disease. Cardinal Riche¬
lieu and the Prince of Orange cherished a mutual ani¬
mosity, which, though it neutralised their land operations,
did not cause a rupture of the alliance that had been form¬
ed. The Dutch were successful by sea, where they de-
feateda Spanish squadron near Dunkirk; and having block¬
aded that port, secured a safe return to their numerous
trading ships from the East and West Indies. In the
same year they fitted out an expedition, with the design
of extending their power in Brazil. This force, under the
command of Prince Maurice of Nassau, consisted of thirty-
two ships, with 2700 land forces, and arrived safely at its
destination.
The year 1637 was distinguished by the efforts made
to capture Breda, which was occupied by a Spanish force
under Fourben, a brave and skilful officer. It was in¬
vested by the Prince of Orange, and several attempts to
relieve it failed, so that after a long siege it capitulated,
but not till the beginning of the year 1638. In that year
a great project was formed by the Prince of Orange for
the capture of Antwerp. It was well designed, but fail¬
ed from unforeseen circumstances, such as often occur in
operations combined of marine and of land forces.
The campaign of 1639 was planned by the Spaniards on
a gigantic scheme, but was chiefly directed to naval ob¬
jects. The Dutch admiral Van Tromp attacked a squa¬
dron of ten large men of war, near Gravelines, on the 18th
of February. The fight was long and obstinate, but end¬
ed in the total defeat of the Spaniards. Their admiral,
with three of the largest ships, was taken prisoner; the
vice-admiral’s ship was burned by the crew, and four of his
division were captured; and their loss in men exceeded
2000. Notwithstanding this disaster, the Spaniards equip-
H O L L
Holland, ped a tremendous force under the command of D’Oquendo,
consisting of eighty-seven large ships and numerous trans¬
ports, with 20,000 land forces on board. A junction was
formed of the two divisions, one from Cadiz and the other
from Corunna. Van Tromp met and engaged this force,
sunk the ship which bore the admiral’s flag, and took four
of the others, but was prevented by a fog from following up
his success, whilst from the same cause the Spaniards took
refuge in the Downs, where there was an English fleet to
protect them. Van Tromp having received reinforce¬
ments under Evertzen, and, along with these, orders to re¬
new the battle, desired the English fleet to withdraw; in¬
timating, that if that request was not complied with, his
orders were to fight both. Pennington, the English ad¬
miral, had doubts of the fidelity of his people, and no
confidence in the Spaniards, who were ill disciplined and
badly equipped. He therefore declared for a neutrality,
but stated that he would join the fleet which should be at¬
tacked. D’Oquendo had been advised to withdraw, but
it was no longer in his power to do so. Pennington, un¬
der pretence that the Spaniards had violated the neutra¬
lity, withdrew his protection. Van Tromp then began the
attack, and the Spaniards were totally defeated. Four¬
teen Spanish ships of war were destroyed, amongst which
was the Teresa of a hundred guns, with eight hundred
men. The vice-admiral of Spain and the admiral of Ga¬
licia shared the same fate ; sixteen large ships were taken,
with 4500 prisoners; fourteen were wrecked between
Boulogne and Calais, and the remainder were saved by
the interposition of the English. Of the whole arma¬
ment, only eight ships under D’Oquendo reached Dun¬
kirk in safety. The Spanish loss in killed exceeded 8000
men. Whilst these naval triumphs were achieving in Eu¬
rope, the Dutch were equally successful in the operations
against the Spaniards in Brazil. Their admiral Count de
la Torre had been dispatched from Spain with forty-six
large ships and a numerous body of troops, many of whom
died on the passage, and the others arrived in a sickly
state. The Dutch fleet consisted only of forty-one ships,
mostly inferior in size to those of their adversaries, but
well disciplined, and commanded by two admirals of great
bravery and skill, Loof and Huggins. The Spanish fleet
previously in Brazil joined that under De la Torre, and they
thus amounted to ninety-four ships. An action took place
which lasted during several days. Loof was killed at the
commencement, but Huggins at length gained a complete
victory, in which the Spaniards lost twelve of their lar¬
gest ships, and 4000 men, whilst the casualties in the
Dutch fleet did not exceed one hundred. Disease still
further reduced the Spanish force, and thus left Prince
Maurice nearly master of that country. The prince then
accomplished the conquest of Maranham, and despatched
an expedition to the shores of Africa under Admiral Jol,
who captured Congo, the island of St Thomas, and the
other establishments which the Portuguese had formed on
that coast.
At this period Portugal revolted from Spain, and, un¬
der the house of Braganza, declared itself an independent
kingdom. The new king, John IV., concluded with the
Dutch a treaty for a truce of ten years, in all the domi-
ni(#is of both countries, which, however, the latter are ac¬
cused of having disregarded as far as related to Japan,
whence they drove away the Portuguese, and secured
for themselves the exclusive trade. The narrative of the
transactions in Brazil is given in another part of this work,
under that article; and, referring to it (vol. v. part i.
page 191), we only add that it was finally abandoned by
the Dutch in 1654.
The war between the states and their ally the king of
France was continued, but with no great vigour. The
jealousy of the Prince of Orange was increased by the dis-
AND. 575
covery of the disinclination of Cardinal Mazarin, the sue- Holland,
cessor of Richelieu, to his capture of Antwerp. He sue- v«—
ceeded however in taking Hulst and Lillo, and thus secur¬
ed a powerful barrier on the Flanders frontier. The ne¬
gotiations for a general pacification were begun in 1642,
and did not close till October 1648, when the celebrated
treaty of Westphalia was signed at Munster and Osna-
burg. In the first of these years, the treaty between
France and Holland was renewed, but was scarcely in
activity, as all the military operations of the several pow¬
ers were in some measure, though not wholly, suspended,
except that the Dutch availed themselves of the naval su¬
periority they had acquired, by annoying the Spaniards
in every quarter of the world.
Towards the close of the negotiations in Westphalia,
the Prince of Orange died, in his sixty-seventh year, and
was succeeded in his dignities by his son, William II. The
states, regardless of their engagements with France, and
in spite of the obstacles interposed by the French ambas¬
sador at Munster, entered into a separate treaty with
Spain. This treaty was speedily ratified, and its terms
formed a part of the general pacification of Europe. The
king of Spain acknowledged the independence and so¬
vereignty of the states, and a clause of uti possidetis in
all parts of the world formed one of the articles. From
the peace of Westphalia, the transactions of the United
States, whose independence it had legalized, were so in¬
termingled with those of the other European powers,
that they form part of the general history of Europe. In
continuing this narrative, many of the events which re¬
garded the country here treated of, though important in
themselves, must be slightly passed over, because they
are to be found under the heads of England, Europe,
France, and Germany.
The conclusion of hostilities had found the nation in a
condition of great poverty as related to the governments
of the several states, but of great wealth as regarded nu¬
merous individuals. The states were deeply in debt, but
their creditors were almost exclusively citizens, not to say
subjects of the country. This produced what has been
called the funding system, which has since been followed
by other nations.
Disputes had arisen between the states of Holland on
one hand, and the Prince of Orange and the smaller states
on the other, respecting the diminution of the army and
navy, and the conduct of the officers who had abandoned
Brazil. These controversies were carried to such a height
that the Prince of Orange would have besieged Amster¬
dam, towards which he had actually advanced, if he had not
been prevented by the opening of the sluices, by which
his army would have been drowned. This excited against
the prince great unpopularity, when he was carried off by
the small-pox, in the twenty-fourth year of his age, leav¬
ing no son, but his wife pregnant, who was delivered of a
son, afterwards William III. king of England. The civil
wars of England were favourable to the trade of the Dutch,
though it involved them in war with the government which
succeeded the death of Charles I. The several parties in
Holland had carefully watched to maintain a neutrality be¬
tween the monarchical and republican parties in England;
but the intemperance of the royalist emigrants, displayed
in the murder of Dorislaus, who had been accused of par¬
ticipation in the legal murder of Charles, and of some
other rash proceedings, gave the republicans a pretext
for commencing hostilities. This led to a naval battle in
1652, when Blake gained some advantage over Van Tromp,
though his fleet was much inferior, at least in number of
ships, if not in weight of metal. The Dutch instantly fit¬
ted out a still larger fleet under the command of De Ruy-
ter, which was met by the English channel fleet under Sir
George Ascough. They fought during three successive
576 HOLLAND.
Holland, days, but parted, each claiming a victory. De Witt was
then appointed commander in chief of the Dutch fleet,
with De Ruyter as his second. Blake, who had sailed to
the north after his former battle, collected his ships, and
was reinforced by Admirals Penn and Bourn with their
squadrons. The two fleets engaged on the 30th of October.
The battle was most resolutely contested, but night termi¬
nated it before it was decided, and the next day the Dutch
entered Goree, declining farther conflict. The fleet of
Holland was quickly repaired and reinforced, and placed
once more under the command of Van Tromp. Blake had
not been furnished in as prompt a manner with reinforce¬
ments as his antagonist, and was thus inferior. A tre¬
mendous encounter took place on the 25th of November,
in which the Dutch were victorious. In this action Blake’s
flag-ship was disabled, two others were taken, two burned,
and one sunk, whilst Van Tromp lost but one of his ships,
which was blown up by accident. The engagement last¬
ed from eleven in the morning till six in the evening,
when darkness favoured the escape of the shattered re¬
mains of the English armament.
In the early part of 1653, both the republics addressed
their chief attention to the preparation of their fleets.
Blake was enabled to muster sixty sail, with which he at¬
tempted to intercept a large convoy of merchant ships,
protected by Van Tromp’s more numerous, if not more
weighty force. On the 18th of February the two con¬
tending fleets met, when there ensued an obstinate and
bloody conflict, which lasted three days, at the end of
which Van Tromp retreated with the loss of eleven ships.
The English had lost but one, but the whole fleet was
so shattered that they could not pursue. The loss in
killed and wounded was nearly equal on both sides; and
though the English gained the victory, Van Tromp, by
his excellent seamanship, was enabled to convey in safe¬
ty to the Dutch ports the numerous trading vessels which
he had been sent to protect.
At this period Sweden discovered a disposition to join
her fleets to those of England, but the diplomatic skill of
the Dutch ambassador prevailed on her to agree to a neu¬
trality ; and the king of Denmark made a treaty, stipulat¬
ing to furnish to the Dutch a fleet of twenty sail, to con¬
fiscate the English ships in the port of Copenhagen, and
to exclude all English vessels from trading in the Baltic.
The Danish ships never joined, but the treaty enabled
the Dutch to obtain supplies of timber and other stores.
Though secret negotiations for peace had been entertain¬
ed between Cromwell, now master of England, and De
Witt, recently appointed pensionary of Holland, yet, as
they terminated in nothing, the most extraordinary pre¬
parations were made to continue the conflict. In the be¬
ginning of June, Van Tromp, seconded by De Witt and De
lluyter, appeared on the ocean with a fleet of ninety-eight
men of war and seven fire-ships. They were speedily
met by an English fleet of ninety-five sail and five fire¬
ships, commanded by Blake, Monk, and Dean. On the
2d of June an obstinate battle took place, which speedily
terminated in favour of the English. The victory was
complete. Three of the best Dutch ships were sunk, two
blown up, eleven captured, with many merchantmen ; and
the whole of them would have been destroyed, but for
their timely retreat to the shoals, where the larger Eng¬
lish ships could not follow them. The English did not
lose a single ship, but Admiral Dean, one captain, and
some few inferior officers and seamen, were killed. Van
Tromp attributed his defeat to the inferiority of his ships
in size and in weight of metal, and to the want of suffi¬
cient ammunition, especially gunpowder.
In consequence of this disaster, the party opposed to
the house of Orange raised a cry in favour of peace, and
some secret negotiations were carried on with Cromwell;
but the public voice was strongly in favour of the Orange Holland,
party, and compelled the government to renew the naval
war. Another fleet superior in numbers was hastily pre¬
pared, and ready to proceed to sea in the middle of July.
I his last fleet amounted to one hundred and twenty sail,
and they proceeded as soon as collected to engage the
fleet of England, commanded by Monk, Lawson, and Penn,
between Scheveningen and the mouth of the Meuse. But
Tromp fell early in the action, and his death had a bad
effect. A rout followed, and the Dutch lost twenty-six
ships, with 4000 men killed, and near 2000 prisoners. The
English lost some ships, had 600 men killed and 1000
wounded; but their ships had been so severely shattered
that they were immediately obliged to seek repairs in their
own ports.
The Dutch, though defeated, were not dispirited, and
prepared to renew the contest, unless Cromwell would
abandon his proposition for the annihilation of the power of
the Orange family. He however had determined on a war
with Spain, and on expeditions to Spanish America. He
withdrew his propositions respecting the house of Orange,
but obtained others excluding the royal family of Eng¬
land and their adherents from all refuge within the states,
and thus a peace was concluded. The states of Holland
bound themselves to exclude the house of Orange from
the stadtholderate, but the other states did not agree to
it; some of the members even of that province protested
against the exclusion, and it was highly unpopular with
the great body of the citizens everywhere but in Amster¬
dam.
The war with England, though short in its duration, had
been very expensive as well as sanguinary. It was how¬
ever no sooner at an end than the Dutch were engaged
in hostilities with the Portuguese respecting their settle¬
ments in Brazil, which were terminated without any de¬
cisive naval combat. But many of the ships of Portugal
were captured; and De Ruyter was sent with a fleet to
make demonstrations before Lisbon, but having encoun¬
tered severe storms, his ships were so much damaged that
he was compelled to return to repair them, and soon after¬
wards peace was concluded.
The Dutch next interfered in a contest between the
Danes and the Swedes. The latter power had besieged
Copenhagen, when the Dutch admiral Opdam was des¬
patched to the Baltic for its relief. He attacked and de¬
feated the Swedish fleet under the walls of Cronenburg,
and, by the supplies given to the Danes, saved their capi¬
tal. A peace was soon afterwards concluded between the
northern powers, through the mediation of Holland and
England.
The death of Cromwell, in September 1658, had a favour¬
able effect on the Orange party in the United Provinces,
whilst the restoration of Charles to the throne of England
strengthened it still more ; and, though Holland opposed it,
a settlement of a large sum was voted to support the house¬
hold, and carry on the education of the prince. This be¬
came necessary from the French king having, upon some
very frivolous pretences, seized on the principality of
Orange. Charles and his adherents were full of animosity
towards the Dutch; and they, elated with their indepen¬
dence, and their powerful naval forces, were not disposed
to yield to the indignant superiority which the restored
monarch had assumed. The Louvestein faction had again,
under De Witt, reared its head in Holland, and some efforts
were made to form a union with France, with the view of
making a conquest of the ten Netherland provinces, and
dividing them between France and Holland. By this
proceeding, suspicions and jealousies were created towards
the states, on the part of all the other governments of Eu¬
rope. Towards England the Dutch had shown some ani¬
mosity, and held language the more presumptuous because
HOLLAND.
577
Holland, their party in England, the remains of the Cromwell faction,
had assured them that, from the want of money, Charles
would be unable to go to war. To the dismay of the Louve-
stein party in Holland, the king resolved on hostilities ; and
in April 1665, his parliament having voted abundant supplies,
a fleet under the command of the Duke of York issued
forth, and, after the capture of some merchant ships, find¬
ing no enemy, returned to Harwich. The states of Holland
and Zealand^ with great activity prepared a naval force
of 120 sail of vessels. The commander, Opdam, was met
on the 1st of June by the Duke of York with 100 sail, and,
after some manoeuvring during two days, a battle was fought,
in which the English were victorious, chiefly, as the Louve-
stein party affirmed, from the treachery of some of the
captains of the Dutch ships. Their admiral was blown up
in his flag-ship ; the second in command, Cartemaer, was
wounded, and died a prisoner; and eighteen ships, with 6000
men, were captured. 1 he loss of the English was but one
ship, and that of men on board the duke’s ship was 200 : the
rest of the fleet had suffered very slightly ; but Admiral
Lawson, one of the most brave and skilful of the English
commanders, fell in the conflict.
The remains of the Dutch fleet made a skilful retreat,
and great vigour was exerted to reinforce it. The plague
at that time raged in London, and prevented equal exer¬
tions from being made, so that the Dutch were enabled
early in the following year to assemble a force of eighty-
three large ships, furnished with much heavier metal than
they had before employed. This force was greater than
any that the English could oppose to it. A part too of
the English fleet had been despatched to cruise in the
mouth of the Channel, by which the grand fleet under the
Duke of Albemarle was rendered still more inferior to
that of the enemy. The Dutch were commanded by De
Ruyter, and the opposing fleets met, and engaged on the
1st of June. The contest continued with great vigour
throughout the day ; but a reinforcement of sixteen ships
having joined De Ruyter, Albemarle drew off, but being
pursued, he turned on the enemy, and renewed the battle.
During this fight the English Channel fleet made its ap¬
pearance under Prince Rupert. The contest continued,
on the whole, four days. The English then retreated in
good order, with the loss of twenty-two ships. The Dutch
had lost only seven ships, and were enabled to keep the
sea, thus claiming the victory, and even threatening a de¬
scent on England.
The English fleet was so quickly reinforced, that on the
24th of July it again appeared at sea, and once more en¬
countered the enemy with success. Three of the Dutch
admirals and twelve captains were killed, with 2000 men ;
and seven ships were sunk, but none taken. After this last
battle the English had the command of the sea, and inflict¬
ed a severe retaliation for the losses and mortifications they
had endured. This produced great exhibitions of party-
spirit in Holland, and also disposed them to peace. Eng¬
land, by the extravagance of its sovereign, by the sufferings
of the plague and of the fire of London, and the intrigues
of France, was much in need of peace.
Conferences were accordingly opened at Breda; but
King Charles, with the negligence which characterised his
government, had not stipulated for a cessation of hostili¬
ties during the negotiations. De Witt took advantage of
this, and despatched a fleet to the Thames, which advanced
to the Medway, and thus closed for a short time the port of
London, at the same time threatening the naval arsenal of
Chatham. I his in its issue was little more than a bravado,
though, after retreating from the Thames, the Dutch made
some valuable captures. The negotiations at Breda were
however carried on, and peace finally concluded on the
10th of July 1667.
I his treaty was followed by one between England, Swe-
VOL. XI.
den, and Holland, designed to oppose the growing power of Holland.
France. The king of England, at that time a pensioner, as -r"—'
well as some of his ministers, on the court of France, behav¬
ed with the greatest duplicity, and, upon the most frivolous
pretences, resolved to aid France in her projects to conquer
the wholeofthe Netherlands. Under pretence of supporting
the triple alliance, Charles obtained money from his parlia¬
ment, and then determined to attack the Dutch commercial
fleets, which were navigating the ocean in full security in
the state of peace which had been established. A rich fleet
from the Mediterranean was expected to arrive in 1672,
when Admiral Holmes was sent with a naval squadron to
intercept it. Holmes assumed a pacific behaviour, but the
Dutch distrusted him. He made an attack on the fleet,
and took one of the ships of war and three small merchant
vessels ; but the rest, fighting as they retreated, reached the
ports of Holland in safety. This naturally produced a de¬
claration of war; and France, joined with England, was
engaged in a contest, the object of which was to conquer
the whole of the Low Countries, and subject them to the
dominion of France.
The violent party-spirit in Holland was ground of alarm.
The jealousy of the house of Orange had induced the party
of De Witt to neglect the land forces, and the army was
in a state of indiscipline, and especially in want of skilful
officers, as nearly all the more experienced men of that pro¬
fession were adherents of the house of Orange, and on that
account were not employed. The naval force was in a far
better state under the immediate control of the Louve-
stein faction, though many of its commanders were of the
Orange party. De Ruyter was enabled speedily to fit out a
fleet of ninety-one ships of war and forty-four fire-ships, and
with them sailed to attack the fleet of England and France.
This combined force, under the Duke of York and Mar¬
shal d’Etrees, was at anchor in Solebay on the coast of
Suffolk, where the Dutch hoped by the help of their fire¬
ships to achieve their destruction. But the united fleets
either cut or slipt their cables, and fought the Dutch on
the open sea. The fight was tremendous, and was only
ended by darkness, when the Dutch withdrew to their own
ports. The loss on both sides was nearly equal, but heavi¬
est on the English ships, as their new allies took but little
share in the action. It was supposed they had secret or¬
ders to spare their own ships, whilst the Dutch and Eng¬
lish should weaken each other, a supposition confirmed by
subsequent events.
In the mean time the army of France had begun to act on
the land side, under Louis XIV., who himself took the field.
It was the most numerous and best appointed which Europe
had ever seen. It amounted to 120,000 men, including the
auxiliary troops of the elector of Cologne and of the bishop
of Munster. The Dutch had not more than 25,000 to
take the field, and the elector of Brandenburg had engaged
to furnish an equal number, on the condition that the Dutch
navy should assist him in taking Pomerania from the Swedes.
The internal state of Holland was disturbed by party-spi¬
rit, but neither party were disposed to submit to a foreign
dominion. The partisans of De Witt had projected a flight
by sea, and made some preparations for the transport of
50,000 families to Batavia. The young Prince of Orange,
though of a sickly frame, resolutely encouraged a spirit of
defence, hopeless as it appeared ; and when asked what he
should do if the French should conquer the country, gal¬
lantly replied, “ die in the last ditch.” This inspirited others,
and by the universal voice he was declared stadtholder with
unlimited power, and the De Witts were prosecuted, strip¬
ped of their wealth, sentenced to perpetual banishment, and
murdered by the populace.
In the mean time the French had made a rapid progress,
and, proceeding by the Rhine, had subdued the provinces
of Utrecht, Guelderland. and Overyssel. Amsterdam,
4 D
HOLLAND.
578
Holland. Rotterdam, the Hague, with Middleburg, and the islands,
were reduced to great straits, but were held by the Prince
of Orange. As a last resource, the patriotic resolution was
taken to drown the country, with its invaders. By this step,
when the sluices were opened, the French were in part
drowned, and such diseases broke out in their aimy that
Amsterdam was saved. Louis had made more than 24,000
prisoners. These he could no longer keep, and on their
release they joined their countrymen. I he spirit shown
by the Dutch had excited an interest in their favour with
the emperor of Germany and other princes of the empire,
and even the Spanish governor of the Netherlands sent to
their aid a force of 10,000 men. A diversion too was ope¬
rated in behalf of the Dutch by the elector of Branden¬
burg, and, though impeded by the French general Turenne,
it proved of some benefit to the states.
Charles, though somewhat dissatisfied with the French,
sent an English fleet to act in combination with that of
France, and conquered the province of Zealand ; but con¬
trary winds rendered the attempt unsuccessful. In the
beginning of 1673, an attempt was made by a French divi¬
sion under the Duke of Luxembourg, to march over the ice
and seize Amsterdam and the Hague ; but this attempt fail¬
ed with great loss to the invaders, owing chiefly to a sud¬
den thaw. In the same year a combined English and
French fleet, the former commanded by Prince Rupert, and
the latter by D’Etrees, engaged the Dutch fleet under
De Ruyter and Van Tromp. After much cannonading,
in which the French were accused of backwardness, the
conflicting navies returned to their ports, each of them
claiming a victory. This occurred on the 14th of June.
By this time Spain had declared war against France, the
Imperialists had advanced, the invading army was compel¬
led to abandon its conquests in Holland as rapidly as it had
gained them, and the dominions of the elector of Cologne,
the ally of France, including the city of that name, and
Bonn, were occupied by the allies and the armies of Hol¬
land.
These events led to negotiations under the mediation
of Sweden, and in 1674 a peace was concluded between
all the belligerent powers. The transactions of the nego¬
tiators were so managed by the address of the Prince of
Orange, as to enable him to lay the foundation of the grand
alliance, by which, in subsequent periods, after his acces¬
sion to the English throne, the power of Louis XIV. was
reduced to the lowest point.
In 1677 the Prince of Orange was married to the Princess
Mary, daughter of the Duke of York, and niece to Charles ;
an event hailed as favourable to their interests by the Dutch,
and by those in England who were unfavourable to the
mean dependence on the French court, to which Charles’
pecuniary wants had subjected him.
The Dutch sent a fleet under De Ruyter to join that of
Spain in the Mediterranean. In a contest with the French
De Ruyter was mortally wounded, though his fleet was vic¬
torious ; but in a subsequent battle the Dutch and Spaniards
were defeated with great loss, by which the French became
masters of the Mediterranean.
The Prince of Orange had attained to supreme, almost
to absolute power in Holland. His ruling principle was
hostility to France, arising from the manifest ambition of
Louis XIV. With this impression he was induced to direct
all his efforts to counteract the influence of France, espe¬
cially amongst the German states. As his father-in-law
James, who had ascended the English throne, was acting in
an opposite direction, to the great disgust of the leading
Protestants of his dominions, the prince opposed him by
maintaining a correspondence with the discontented. They
were received by him with some degree of privacy; but as
James proceeded in his measures against the established
religion, they became too numerous to escape the notice of
France, though they engaged but little share of the at- Holland,
tention of James, probably from the deceit of one of his
ministers, who has been accused by history of having act¬
ed a false part towards him. A jealousy existed, though
with no great force on the part of James, towards France,
and this induced him to decline the acceptance of offers of
succour from Louis XIV.
The Prince of Orange, under the pretext of a dispute
with Bavaria and the elector of Cologne, collected an army
of 14,000, with transports sufficient to convey them to Eng¬
land. After being once driven back by storms, the forces
landed in Torbay on the 4th of November 1688; and thus
was effected that change of succession usually called the
Revolution, the details and consequences of which belong
more to the history of England than to that of Holland.
The change of sovereigns brought England into the grand
alliance against France; and the united navies, in 1662,
fought the battle of La Hogue, in which, after a contest of
three days’ continuance, the French admiral Tourville was
completely beaten, and suffered the loss of sixteen of his
largest ships. The Dutch commerce suffered considerably
by the privateers of France, especially by the operations of
the celebrated Du Bart; but these and other hostilities
were suspended by the peace of Ryswick, concluded in
1697.
The death of King Whlliam occurred in 1701, just at the
commencement of that war respecting the Spanish succes¬
sion, which continued till the peace of Utrecht, in the year
1712. The transactions connected with it belong more
to the history of other countries than to that of Holland,
though the Dutch states under the succession of William,
who was created stadtholder, continued to bear a consider¬
able share in the contests.
About the year 1742 the Louvestein party had gained
the upper hand in Holland; and Cardinal Fleury, the French
minister, engaged the states in some intrigues, and even
hostilities, upon winch a stadtholder was again appointed,
and soon afterwards a general peace was concluded, that of
Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748.
The prince stadtholder died in 1751. He had seen but
little service in the field, yet he had proved himself an ac¬
tive and skilful chief of the republic. He left a son and
daughter, both minors; and his office was intrusted, as well
as the education of his children, to their mother, a daugh¬
ter of George II.
Whilst the Seven Years’ War raged, from 1758 to 1763,
Holland maintained its neutrality, or at least affected to do
so. Great complaints and many discussions arose with
England, on a question of neutral rights, which has con¬
tinued till the present time; but they led to no events ol
any importance. When the war between England and
her American colonies broke out, the question ol neutral
rights was again resumed ; but, in the midst ol the discus¬
sions on that subject, it was discovered that an attempt at a
treaty with those called by us our rebel subjects had been
favourably received in Amsterdam, and Mr Laurens, an
American ambassador on his passage, was captured with the
correspondence. This led to hostilities, in which St Eustatia
in the West Indies was taken by the English. In the
year 1782 a Dutch fleet was equipped, and met on the
Dogger Bank by an English fleet of nearly equal force un¬
der Admiral Parker. A bloody fight ensued, which termi¬
nated in favour of the English. The peace which fol¬
lowed, in 1783, restored tranquillity to Holland, which had
suffered severe losses by captures during the short hostili¬
ties that had been carried on. After the peace, the Anti-
Orange party in Holland, which, from the hereditary dig¬
nity having been conferred on that family, had appeared
extinct, gained fresh influence, and again raised its head.
The Princess of Orange, the sister of the king of Prussia,
had been grossly insulted, upon which that monarch de-
HOLLAND.
579
Holland, manded satisfaction; and this being refused, he marched an
army into Holland, which was feebly defended by the cla¬
morous boasters of their bravery. Amsterdam was occu¬
pied by the Prussians in September ] 787 ; the stadtholder
was reinstated in the power of which he had been depriv¬
ed ; and a strict alliance was formed with England and Prus¬
sia. Though tranquillity was thus restored, the party which
had been suppressed were dissatisfied, and watched for the
fittest opportunity to avenge their mortifications.
Nor was it long before an occasion presented itself. In
1794, when the French republican flag was displayed on the
frontiers, the defeated party were active and clamorous, and
when the country was invaded by the armyofPichegru, they
gave it every assistance in their power. This state of affairs,
with a frost of great intensity, which admitted the passage
on the ice of the artillery and heavy baggage of the French
army, rendered the conquest of Holland of easy accomplish¬
ment. In 1795 the Orange family fled and took refuge in
England, whilst a republican constitution, framed by the
French faction of the day, was established, with a directory
of five persons as the executive power. The new republic,
called the Batavian, was compelled to cede to France some
parts of its territory, with the cities of Maestricht and
Venlo, and the province of Limburg. An immediate de¬
mand was enforced for the payment of ten millions ster¬
ling, and the army of France was to be paid, fed, and
clothed at the expense of the Batavian republic. Under
this state of things, one part of their navy was given up to
the British by the dissatisfied seamen, another part fought
and were defeated; their colonies surrendered or were ta¬
ken by the same power, their commerce was confined to
mere coasting, and the bank of Amsterdam nearly shatter¬
ed ; but not a fraction of the pecuniary demands was abated
by their new allies.
The constitution wras new-modelled in 1801. The num¬
ber of the directors was diminished, a kind of upper house
was created in imitation of the council of ancients in France,
and the country was divided into eight departments. The
peace of Amiens gave back to Holland their colonies in
South America and the Cape of Good Hope, but left Cey¬
lon in the hands of England. When the war was renewed,
the restored colonies were again captured, their ports were
strictly blockaded, and every hope of prosperity was extin¬
guished. In April 1805 a new constitution was introduced
by France, and Schimmelpenninck was made sole director ;
but his integrity was unable to serve his country in the diffi¬
cult circumstances in which both he and it were placed.
It was therefore determined by Bonaparte to create Hol¬
land into a separate kingdom, and place his brother Louis
on the throne. This was executed in June 1806. On his
accession Louis availed himself of the talents and integrity
of the late director, and acted, as far as he was able, for the
benefit of the people over w hom he had been placed as
sovereign. But none of his efforts proved effectual in re¬
moving the general distress, and even in the few which
were made, he was so controlled by his imperial brothei',
that, without communicating his intention, Louis withdrew
himself from Holland, renounced all authority, and, with
but scanty means of subsistence, took up his residence as
a private individual in the dominions of the emperor of
Austria. This step has been represented as having been
hastened by his incapacity to relieve the distress which
had been produced in his dominions by the landing of the
English in Middleburg in their attempt upon Antwerp in
1809.
Louis retired in July 1810, and Holland was by a decree
of the emperor incorporated as an integral part of his em¬
pire ; Amsterdam was declared to be the third city of the
imperial dominions; the French conscription law was ex¬
tended to the whole of Holland, and those taken under it
were equally divided between the land and the sea service;
and the country was then, for military purposes, formed into Holland,
two divisions.
Under this military yoke the Dutch suffered till after
the battle of Leipsic in October 1813, when a part of the
victorious army under General Bulow advanced toward
Holland, and met there an English division under General
Graham. On the 20th of November the two commanders
called on the Dutch to join the cause of the allies. Two
days before this, Count Hogendorp, a moderate Orangist, had
privately collected in his house a number of the most dis¬
tinguished persons, who, like himself, had formed part of
the ministry from 1788 to 1795, and persuaded them to take
upon themselves the provisional government, till the Prince
of Orange, who was expected from England, should arrive.
A correspondence was opened with General Bulow, and
with the allied monarchs, who had advanced to Frankfort;
and invitations were addressed to the prince, who with little
delay arrived at the Hague, and proceeded to Amster¬
dam amidst the rapturous acclamations of the assembled
crowds. Proclamations had been circulated generally,
headed, “ The Netherlands are free, and William I. is the
sovereign prince of this land of liberty.” He however re¬
fused to assume any power till an assembly could be con¬
vened, which might properly be considered as a fair repre¬
sentation of the whole people. An assembly of notables,
consisting of the most distinguished men of all parties and
professions, was speedily called together. The number
summoned was 600 ; of these, 125 declined attending, some
on account of their age, others from ill health or personal
reasons. With the dissent of only twenty-six voices, the
prince was declared king, and a constitution decreed,
which secured to him considerable power, limited, however,
by two legislative assemblies.
When the French forces were compelled to abandon the
ten ancient provinces of the house of Austria, these were
considered as conquests made by the allied powers, who
assumed the disposal of them. The congress of Vienna, of
which Austria, the former sovereign of those provinces, was
a member, resolved that they should be united with the
seven provinces, and form together one independent king¬
dom, under a constitution, of which the princes of the
house of Orange were to be hereditary monarchs. As an
indemnification to the prince, now king, for the loss of his
states in Germany, the duchy of Luxembourg, with the
exception of the fortress, was given up to be added to this
newly-constructed kingdom, and in it was included the an¬
cient bishopric of Liege.
Before the complicated arrangements which the union
of these parts required could be completed, the return of
Bonaparte from Elba, and the revolt of the French army,
created impediments to the settlement of internal affairs.
But this newly-constructed kingdom, which was the first
object of attack, entered with energy into the contest, and
their troops, mustered as they had hastily been, took an
honourable part, under the eldest son of the king, afterwards
William IL, father of William III., the present sovereign,
in the grand events of that short but brilliant campaign of
1815, which ended in the decisive victory of Waterloo.
The consolidation of such heterogeneous bodies as the
inhabitants of Belgium and those of Holland was a difficult
task, owing to their differences of religion, of laws, of lan¬
guage, and of occupations. The Belgians were rigid Catholics,
and their clergy strove to prevent the toleration of all other
professions; their laws had all been founded on the system
of the ancient Dukes of Burgundy, but altered to suit the
Code Napoleon. The language spoken by the major part
of the people, though it nearly resembled the Dutch, had
considerably varied from it in the practice of two hundred
years; and besides, a numerous portion of them spoke
French almost exclusively, whilst another portion spoke
the Walloon, and in Luxembourg the German language pre-
580 HOLLAND.
Holland, dominated. The Dutch were principally conversant in
trade, in the fisheries, and in manufactures, whilst the Bel¬
gians were chiefly employed in agriculture.
The members of the legislative body contained nearly
an equal division of the two countries; and as they acted
rather with the feeling of delegates from the parts by which
they were chosen, than as the representatives of the inte¬
rests of the whole community, their decisions were sub¬
ject to greatfluctuations, according to the number of Dutch
or of Belgian members who might happen, by sickness or
by accident, to be prevented from being present when the
votes on a particular proposition were taken. This incon¬
venience might have been removed by time, if other causes
had not been in operation. The agriculturists wished to
monopolise the whole supply of corn by means of a restric¬
tive law; but the distillers, who used a great quantity of
Baltic corn in making gin, and the speculative merchants
in grain, who were a medium for supplying that commodity
to a great extent from countries in which it was cheap, to
countries in which it was dear, claimed a continuance of
the free trade which they had long enjoyed. Though this
point was finally settled in favour of the Dutch party, it
caused a rankling feeling in the minds of the Belgians. The
assemblies, besides their ordinary occupations, had their at¬
tention constantly directed to the composition of a system
of law, applicable both to civil and to criminal cases, and had
made great progress in the work. After much opposition
to religious toleration, in which the king displayed both
temper and firmness, a concordat was made with the pope,
which, if not quite satisfactory, would, if left to itself, have
probably removed all existing obstacles. The difference
of language, though represented by those who availed
themselves of every pretext to produce mischief, as of
importance, was not in reality of very great moment. The
Belgic and the Dutch are scarcely more dissimilar than
the English and the Scotch, and one or the other was the
language of a vast majority. All the books of any value
were in the Dutch dialect, but they were neglected by the
Belgians, of whom the few that could and did read drew
their ideas from French publications. By directing all law
proceedings to be carried on in the vernacular languages,
a body of impetuous young men, imbued with French
principles, were inflamed against the government, and
gained more influence than they could have obtained if
the exclusion of the French tongue from the courts had
been gradually and not suddenly attempted.
In spite of these obstacles to a more perfect union, no
country ever made so rapid a progress in prosperity as was
exhibited in Belgium. The products of its soil, the iron
and the coals of Liege and of Luxembourg, found most
beneficial markets in Holland. The corn was, in spite of
that imported from the north of Europe, sold at profitable
rates. The trade with the Dutch colonies being opened
to them, and the valuable port of Antwerp being no longer
closed, Belgium made a great progress in foreign trade.
The effect of this was to create new manufacturing esta¬
blishments of cotton, woollen, and linen goods, and to ex¬
tend those which had before existed. The advancement
of the country was manifested to the most casual observer,
and seen in the increase of private and public buildings,
and in the improvement and embellishment of the old ones,
in every city, town, and village.
The state of ease and improvement so striking in Bel¬
gium was, however, no security against the union of op¬
posite factions, who agreed in nothing but in the work of
inflaming the worst passions of the most ignorant part of
the community, who, though highly bigoted to their re-
ligion, were made tools to overturn the government, by
those who avowedly hated it.
I he Parisian revolution of July 1830 quickly produced
a similar one in Brussels. The events passed as rapidly as
in the former city. There were few or no troops, a negli- Holland,
gent and inefficient police force, and no spirit amongst those
who possessed property, to protect it against the plunder¬
ers. They prayed the king to send troops to protect them;
but when these arrived, the inflamed Belgians, who were
from policy mixed up in the same ranks with the Dutch,
would not act, and they abandoned the city. The mob,
thus triumphant, compelled the feebler but richer citizens
to submit to their demagogue leaders. This produced a
declaration of independence against the house of Orange.
In the mean time, the Dutch, who were not without
causes of complaint of the greater favour shown to the
Belgians than to themselves, were firm in their allegiance
to the monarch, and wished for a separation of the two
countries. This measure was proposed and discussed in
the legislative assembly at the Hague, and ultimately, by
a majority, but not a large one, determined upon.
Application was made by the king of the Netherlands,
to the several powers who had at Vienna sanctioned the
union, and guaranteed to him the possession of his throne.
This led to discussions and negotiations, during which a
monarch was elected by the Belgians. They wished one
from the family of Napoleon, or that of Orleans, but were
not allowed a free choice, and at length Prince Leopold of
Saxe-Coburg was placed on the throne.
The Dutch soon composed an army, which, though in¬
ferior in number to that of Belgium, invaded the country.
The Belgians displayed neither courage nor discipline, but
fled in all directions; and their new king would, but for
an accident, have been made prisoner. A division of the
French army advanced to the aid of the Belgians, upon
which the Dutch retired.
The citadel which commanded the city of Antwerp was
still garrisoned by a Dutch force. It appeared proper to
England and France that this should be given up to Leo¬
pold ; and as the Dutch refused to surrender it till all
other subjects of contest between the two countries were
arranged, it was resolved to compel its surrender by war¬
like measures. The ports of Holland were blockaded, and
the fortress of Antwerp was attacked by a French army,
and, after a gallant defence, compelled to capitulate. The
embargo was then taken off, and all hostilities ceased in
1833. (w. J.)
The article Belgium contains a full statement of the po¬
litical events connected with the separation of Belgium from
Holland. The more recent history of Holland is one of
progress and general prosperity without presenting any very
striking events. In 1844, as a natural consequence of the
Belgian Revolution, the public accounts of Holland showed
a large deficit which the nation met with characteristic
energy, by voluntarily subscribing a loan of ten millions
sterling. In 1848, the Revolution in France was followed
in Holland by a judicious revisal of the fundamental law,
and extensive measures of reform, the results of which will
be given under the section Government.
The partitioning of England into Roman Catholic bishop¬
rics, was followed in 1853 by a similar interference of the
Pope with the Netherlands’ territory, the effect of which
will be stated under the section Church. The adoption by
Great Britain of the principles of free trade was highly ac¬
ceptable to the Dutch merchants, and was followed by the
government of Holland in 1854, abolishing the import du¬
ties on a great number of articles of merchandise. During
the recent war with Russia, the Netherlands’ government
maintained a complete neutrality. The army and navy
were kept on the peace establishment, and the trade and
commerce of the country do not appear to have been greatly
disturbed.
There have been several recent changes in the royal
family. William I. abdicated the throne in favour of his
eldest son, the Prince of Orange, in 1840, and died in 1843.
H 0 L L A N D.
Holland. William II. dying in 1849, was succeeded by the present
v—' sovereign, William III., born 19th February 1817. He
was married on the 18th June 1839, to the Princess Sophia
Frederiker Mathilda or Wiirtemberg. They have two sons,
William Nicolas, Prince of Orange, born 4th September
1840, and William Alexander, born 25th August 1851.
Phvsical Tl|e kingdom of the Netherlands comprises the territory of
geoRraphy ancient republic of the Seven United Provinces, with some
' portions of Limburg. It does not include that portion of Lux¬
emburg which the king of the Netherlands possesses, with the
title of Grand Duke, as a part of the German confederation.
It is situated between N. Lat. 50. 44. and 53. 34., and E. Long.
3. 30. and 7. 10. It is bounded on the E. by Germany, from
which it is not separated by any natural barriers, on the N.
and W. by the German Ocean or North Sea, and on the S. by
Belgium.
The greater part of this country has been formed of mud
deposited by rivers in the same manner as the Egyptian Delta
is formed by the Nile. By tracing the courses of these rivers
we obtain an idea of its conformation. The Rhine enters
Holland at Lobith, a little below Emmerich, where it is 2300
feet broad ; and then divides into two branches, the southern
receiving the name of the Waal. At Westervoort, the northern
branch is again divided, and there its right arm is called the
New Yssel. Then the left branch, taking a westerly direction,
is again separated at Wyk into two, and the left branch is
called the Lek. The right branch flows on to Utrecht, and
being there divided for the fourth time, receives for its right
arm the name of Vecht; while the left, which still retains the
name of Old Rhine, taking a westerly direction by Waerden
and Leyden, finally makes its way at Kalwyk to the North
Sea.
The Meuse enters the Netherlands’ territory above Eysden
in Limburg, and flowing northwards, unites with the Waal,
near Loevestein ; then divides near Dort, forming the island
Ysselmonde. The right branch at Krimper is joined by the
Lek, then flowing westward by Rotterdam, divides near Flar-
dingen into two branches, and so forms the island Rosenburg.
These branches uniting near Brielle, reach the sea at Oost-
vourn.
The Scheld touches the kingdom of the Netherlands at Fort-
Bath, where it divides, forming the islands of S. and N. Beve-
land, and Walcheren. The left branch reaches the sea at
Ylissingen. The right branch flows northward between Zee-
land and N. Brabant, dividing near Bergen-op-Zoom, it forms
the island Tholen, and the left arm reaches the sea N. of Wal¬
cheren. The right branch still separating N. Brabant from
Zeeland, divides into numerous channels, by which its waters,
mingled with those of the left branch of the Meuse, form nu¬
merous islands, and finally reach the sea.
To establish a firm footing amidst so many rivers, the in¬
habitants have kept them as far as possible within prescribed
channels by embankments, and have formed innumerable canals
to receive the superfluous waters, and to serve as means of
internal communication. The country is thus a net-work of
rivers and canals from the one end to the other. The system
of drainage, of what would otherwise have been an immense
mud-bank, well deserves to be ranked among the wonders of
the world. The land thus rescued from the rivers, is nowhere
much elevated above the sea, and in many places is even below
the sea-level, so as to require still more wonderful defences
against the ocean. These defences are in part supplied by the
operation of nature, casting up sand-hills along great part of
the coast; but where these have not been formed, their place is
supplied by dykes of vast extent, built in the course of ages,
partly of huge blocks of granite brought from Norway, and
partly of bundles formed of young trees, reared expressly for
the purpose. These dykes stretch for hundreds of miles along
the coast, and with those which line the rivers and canals, and
with the requisite sluices, drawbridges, and hydraulic works of
every kind, are estimated to have cost not less thanL,300,000,000
sterling. They form in so small a country a most astonishing
monument of human industry. Yet they are not greater than
the situation requires. They are barely sufficient to preserve
the country from the dominion of the waters. The motto on
the arms of one of the provinces, “ Luctor-et-Emergo,” still de¬
scribes the struggles of the invincible Hollanders requisite for
maintaining the ground they stand upon. A destructive inun-
581
dation occurred so lately as March 1855. The rivers, aug- Holland,
mented by the snows of winter, burst through the dykes in v /
several provinces. A fourth part of Gelderland was sub¬
merged. The whole province of S. Holland was in the most
imminent danger. The embankment of the Rhine having burst
in five places in Gelderland, admitted the flood, where it had
not extended during 150 years. In Utrecht and N. Brabant,
the people of many communes had to abandon their property
to the waters, and sought refuge for themselves on the roofs of
houses and on trees. The neighbourhood of Zutphen was very
speedily converted into a vast lake, and the villagers hastily
betaking themselves to boats and rafts, reached with the
greatest difficulty the ramparts of the city. This flood which
happily subsided after some days, exhibited, while it continued,
the promptitude and energy with which the Hollanders have
always contended against the peculiar difficulties of their situa¬
tion. The king immediately repaired in person to the scene
of danger, and took his station in the centre of the inundated
country, directing all the operations, and giving every possible
assistance. A collection ordered by the king for the sufferers
produced L.41,667, and private collections reached an equal
amount. This sum was immediately distributed among the
distressed families, whose habitations and lands had been laid
waste. To drain off the remainder of the flood, to rebuild the
dykes, to repair the Rhine railway, a considerable part of
which had disappeared, could not be so quickly done, but all
this the patriotism of the Hollanders has completely accom¬
plished.
This recent calamity illustrates the origin of the lakes,
which, although greatly diminished since the sixteenth century,
are still numerous and extensive.
The Biesbosch, in the neighbourhood of Dort, was formed
in 1491, burying 72 villages underwater, and drowning 100,000
persons. Of these villages 34 have been rebuilt, as the pro¬
gress of drainage permitted. The Dutch method of draining
is highly ingenious. A marsh or lake is inclosed with a dyke
to prevent any water from flowing into it. Windmills are then
erected on the edge of the dyke, each of which works an Ar¬
chimedean screw, and the water thus raised is discharged into
a canal which conveys it to the sea. The lake of Haarlem was
the most celebrated of those occasioned by the overflowing of
rivers ; and its drainage by the application of steam, is a great
improvement on the old method of draining by windmills. (See
Haarlem.)
Besides these inundations from the rivers, Holland has ex¬
perienced many others from the sea, which have left large tracts
of country submerged, of which the Dollart and the Zuider-
Zee are the most extensive.
The Dollart between Groningen and East Friesland origi¬
nated in 1277, and was greatly extended in the three follow¬
ing years. One town, thirty-five villages, and several hamlets
were overwhelmed. It has from time to time been much re¬
duced by drainage. The Zuider-Zee was formerly only a lake,
known by the name of Flevo, communicating by two channels
with the North Sea. Subsequently the sea covered the low¬
lands, and the channels of communication were multiplied.
Now the expanse of water is 80 miles long, and from 20 to 40
miles broad. Proposals for its drainage have been made to the
government, and are under serious consideration. As means
of communication between Amsterdam and the North Sea, the
Zuider-Zee has long been unsatisfactory, on account of the
Pampus bank and numerous shallows. Sometimes, in conse¬
quence of long-continued northerly and easterly winds, its bed
is almost dry, and vessels are everywhere lying on the sands.
A substitute has accordingly been provided for it in the great
North Holland Canal, one of the most stupendous works of the
kind in existence. It was begun in 1819, and finished in 1825,
at a cost of about one million sterling. It is about 50 English
miles in length. Its breadth, at the surface, is 1241, English
feet, at the bottom 36. The depth is 20 feet 9 inches. Its
level is that of the high tides of the sea, from which it receives
its supply of water.
While the country possesses abundant means of communi¬
cation by rivers and canals, it also has excellent roads. The
highways in the central provinces are among the best in Eu¬
rope. They run for miles in a straight line along the summits of
the dykes, and are thus at once dry and elevated, commanding
extensive views. Between the large cities they are broad, and
usually paved with a kind of small hard bricks, called Jclinkers,
HOLLAND.
582
Holland, made of sand mixed with the clayey mud obtained in cleaning
the canals. They are fitted so exactly to each other when laid
down, that scarcely a crevice is to be seen ; and being well
covered with sea-sand, they sustain little injury from car¬
riages. Railways have also been made, or are in progress in
all directions. Those between Rotterdam and Amsterdam,
and between the latter city and Arnheim have been in opera¬
tion for several years. Rotterdam is also in communication by
railway with Utrecht via Gouda, and with Antwerp. There is
a branch between Antwerp and Breda. Maestricht, in Lim¬
burg, is also in communication with Aix-la-Chapelle.
The general aspect of this country is different from that of
any other in Europe. The roads and canals are usually lined Holland
with willows and other trees, which afford an agreeable shade v,
and relieve the uniformity of the landscape. Innumerable
villas are seen decorated with the utmost nicety of art. Spires,
church towers, villages admirable for neatness and cleanliness,
large and well-built cities, rapidly succeeding one another,
meadows in vernal green, varied by sheets of water, cattle in
large herds, barges towed by horses, or spreading a sail to
catch a favouring breeze—every thing and every place in the
highest order and perfection ; such are the sights which Hol¬
land supplies in abundance, and in respect of which it has no
parallel in any other part of the world.
The folloiving Table gives the Statistics of Holland as ascertained by the Census, 3L?£ December 1853.
Climate.
Agricul¬
ture.
Provinces.
North Brabant.
Gelderland 
South Holland..
North Holland .
Zeeland 
Utrecht 
Friesland 
Overyssel 
Groningen 
Drenthe 
Limburg 
Population.
405,525
387,423
391,493
514,755
165,075
155,324
259,508
227,683
197,101
89,944
211,401
3,203,232
3,106
2,893
3,067
2,502
1,723
1,103
2,184
1,532
1,860
603
1,000
21,573
Acres of Culti-
tivated Land.
704,301
784,311
606,455
421,411
353,228
271,587
632,128
430,922
444,147
212,669
352,259
5,213,418
Acres of
Roads and
Waters.
97.283
51,982
103,802
61,835
8,026
21,464
66,871
20.283
28,922
5,219
4,942
470,629
Acres of Uncul¬
tivated Land.
453,876
409,713
32,236
126,926
43,968
43,338
103,248
379,459
100,599
437,120
182,862
2,313,345
Acres of Total
Extent.
1,263,136
1,253,155
750.071
616,354
409,480
349,114
807,643
834,450
578,265
656,498
545,006
8,053,172
Proportion
Uncultivated.
2-78
2-309
23-26
4- 85
9-31
7-82
7-82
2-08
5- 74
1- 50
2- 84
1 : 3-18
The colonies in Asia—Java, Amboyna, Banda, Ternate,
Macassar, with settlements in Sumatra and Borneo,
also Desimain Japan, are stated to have a population of 16,478,137
The colonies in America—Surinam and the islands of
Curacao and St Eustathius,  90,581
The colonies in Africa—Elmina, on the coast of Guinea, 100,000
Population of Holland
16,668,718
3,203,232
Total subjects of the King of the Netherlands 19,871,950
The population has increased by 60 per cent, in 57 years at
the following rates :—.
Years. Populations.
From 1796 to 1815  166,422, or annually, 8760
... 1815 ... 1830  380,321 ... 25,355
... 1830 ... 1840  236,525 ... 23,652
... 1840... 1850  187,887 ... 18,788
... 1796... 1853 1,101,368 ... 19,322
The number of the inhabitants of 87 cities in 1853 was
1,163,559, and of the country 2,039,673. The population of
the principal cities at the same period was the following:—
Cities. Poo.
Amsterdam  247,730
Rotterdam  90,888
The Hague 75,276
Utrecht    50,710
Leyden 37,106
Groningen  35,126
Cities. Pon.
Haarlem 27,770
Maestricht  26,919
Leuwarden 24,461
Nimeguen  22,009
Dort 21,905
Bois-le-Duc 21,862
In respect of climate Holland labours under many disad¬
vantages. In winter it is much colder than England, and the
waters are frequently frozen for three months. Even the
Zuider-Zee is sometimes frozen over. The temperature has
been sometimes as low as 23° below zero of Fahr., and some¬
times as high as 102. In summer cold nights often succeed
to days of intense heat. The climate generally is variable.
The atmosphere, especially in the western provinces, is loaded
with moisture, and there agues, dropsies, pleurisies, and rheu¬
matisms are frequent. Gelderland is the healthiest province,
but all the eastern side of the country is comparatively salu¬
brious. Holland is frequently subject to violent gales of wind,
which, when they blow from the W. or N.W., are apt to cause
inundations of the sea.
This remarkable country largely rewards the skill and la¬
bour of the agriculturist. The south and central provinces are
the most fertile. As has been shown above in one of the tables,
there are still extensive tracts of uncultivated land, although
much has been reclaimed of late years. The farms in the best
parts of Zeeland vary in extent from 166 to 330 acres each.
In South Holland the proportion of pasture to arable land is
about 2 to 1. In Friesland the quantity of pasture is more
than eight times that of arable land. In Gelderland there are
large plantations of apple, pear, and cherry trees. Tulips and
hyacinths are extensively cultivated in the neighbourhood of
Haarlem in fields of several acres each. Pulse and garden
vegetables are everywhere raised in great abundance, also
woad and madder. Flax is largely cultivated in the south,
and especially in the neighbourhood of Dort. Utrecht and
Gelderland produce considerable quantities of tobacco. The
following are the statistics of the harvest of 1853:—
Cultivated Produce
land in in
acres. quarters.
Wheat  177,065 329,267
Rye  448,648 883,036
Barley  108,316 435,866
Oats  211,218 980,585
Buckwheat ...157,489 474,055
Cabbage Seed 53,062 108,154
Cultivated Produce
land in in
acres. quarters.
Peas   25,533 78,780
Beans   32,404 340,133
Potatoes  216,074 2,604,954
Carrots  2,617
Flax  51,572
Tobacco   3,383
The rearing of live stock, however, and dairy husbandry,
are much more important sources of national wealth than til¬
lage. The lean cattle brought from Denmark and Germany
fatten with great rapidity in the Dutch polders. Large herds of
beautiful cows yield great abundance of the richest milk. Butter
and cheese of the best quality are largely exported, and bring
great wealth to the peasantry. The Dutch horses are good,
and well adapted for draught; the best are those of Friesland.
The breeds of sheep, however, are not particularly good.
The statistics of 1853, Dec. 31, give the following numbers
for the whole kingdom:—
Horses  236,562 I Sbeep 826,061
Horned Cattle  1,236,974 | Swine 233,900
In North and South Holland, Groningen, and Utrecht, there
are made 140,000,000 lbs. of cheese annually, the home con¬
sumption of which does not exceed one-twentieth. This large
quantity at its average price produces L.1,800,000 sterling
annually. The value of the butter is about L.2,000,000 ster¬
ling more, of which their own consumption amounts to one-
tenth.
The soil being almost everywhere alluvial clay and sand, T , ,
Holland possesses little, if any, mineral wealth. No coal de- n US r^’
posits are found ; but extensive beds of marine peat of most
excellent quality abound, especially in Friesland and Holland,
and the manufacture of this into fuel is an important branch
of industry. In 1853 the produce of this industry amounted
to 31,525,998 tons, on which an excise was paid to the govern¬
ment of L. 120,267, after deduction of 10,370,762 tons exempted
from excise as being employed in other manufactures. ;\mong
HOLLAND.
Holland, the branches of industry, ship-building holds the first place.
The ship-building yards are in all 607 ; and in 1854, 220 new
vessels, measuring 54,636 tons, were launched. The Dutch
East Indiamen are handsome ships, well rigged, manned, and
armed, and are not surpassed either in speed or durability by
any similar class of merchantmen in Europe.
In connection with ship-building the saw-mills are worthy
of mention. They are in number 397, driven by wind; 81 of
these at Zaandam work 324,000 beams yearly, representing
an annual value of L.135,000.
The manufacture of bricks and tiles is a great branch of in¬
dustry, and is indeed most necessary in a country where scarcely
any stone is to be found. There are 332 of these manufac¬
tories, 70 of which, in Overyssel, employed 1250 persons in
1853; 46 of them at Ryssen produced 16,000,000 of bricks ;
7 of them at Zwollerskerspel produced upwards of 8,000,000.
In Gelderland this business occupies 4000 persons, and pro¬
duces 36,000,000 of bricks annually. At Gouda 119 tobacco-
pipe manufactories employ 700 persons. Delft still produces
the earthenware for which it was long celebrated, but now
feels the effect of foreign competition. The white-lead made
in Holland is the best in the world, and the use of paint is
there most extensive. The oil-mills are 312 in number, and
steam power in this branch begins to supersede windmills.
There are 112 establishments for the preparation of madder ;
65 of these in Zeeland employ 500 labourers. There are 285
manufactories of tobacco. Those at Amsterdam alone employ
766 persons. At each of five other places about 200 are em¬
ployed. They export largely to North America and Germany.
Gin distilleries are numerous and very active. At Schiedam
in 1853, 172 of these employed 615 men at from 12s. to 20s.
per week. Delfshaven, in that neighbourhood, had 30 more,
with 124 labourers. Great quantities of gin are exported in
bottles to England, for Australia. It is stated that the only
limit to the export is the impossibility of procuring bottles in
sufficient numbers. At Amsterdam there are 17 distilleries of
liqueurs, which export largely to the west coast of America.
The distilleries in all are 324. The breweries 376. There are
27 sugar-refineries. Of three at Amsterdam one employs from
400 to 800 labourers. Here 83,000,000 pounds were refined
in 1853, of which 7,000,000 were exported to Great Britain.
This branch, however, has of late years been declining.
An important branch of industry is the manufacture of
paper. There are 167 paper manufactories, employing more
than 3000 workmen, and using 9823 tons of rags per annum.
The largest is at Wapervelde, where 69 persons earn L.542
of wages yearly. Forty-two of these manufactories at Appel-
doorn exported, in 1853, 20,000 reams of paper to Java ; and
21 at Epe produced 43,000 reams. Shoes are made in consi¬
derable quantities for exportation at 277 establishments in
North Brabant, 128 in Gelderland, 111 in Friesland, and 87
in Groningen. These give full employment at Waalwyk to 475
persons, and at each of six other places to nearly an equal
number. The making of wooden shoes is in some places an
important occupation. At Epe, in 1853, 51,650 pairs of
wooden shoes wTere made. Amsterdam has a monopoly of dia¬
mond-cutting. The diamond-cutters there are 287, employed
with 409 other workmen and three steam-engines of 40, 36,
and 10 horse-power. 1000 families are supported by this
branch of industry. Manufactories of steam machinery and
other iron works are on the increase. The largest at Amster¬
dam employed, in 1853, 1000 hands, paid L.25,605 in wages,
and used 2,000,000 lbs. of iron.
The principal woollen manufactories are at Tilburg, and
these, 61 in number, employ 3300 persons. They have 26
steam-engines from 1^ to 30 horse-power, and produced in 1853
3306 pieces of goods. Three linen manufactories at Leyden,
with 4 steam-engines, employ 400 hands. The Dutch linens
are of the best quality. The principal carpet manufactory is at
Deventer. It employs about 300 persons.
The manufacture of linen and cotton goods is widely ex¬
tended over most of the provinces, and in Overyssel alone gives
employment to 8865 persons. The number of establishments
great and small is given at 528. Silk manufactories have long
been established at Haarlem and Amsterdam. One was com¬
menced at Breda in 1848, which in 1851 was in great activity
with expectation of further increase. Upon the whole, the
Hollanders merit the praise of having attained a high degree
of perfection in the mechanical arts, those especially which are
583
in connection with their peculiar situation. Their hydraulical Holland,
works display not only incredible labour, but wonderful skill ^
and contrivance. They excel all other nations in the construc¬
tion of mills ; they are the best wheelwrights in the world;
indeed, in work of every kind they exhibit the highest degree
of neatness, strength, and economy.
Julius Cassar describes the Batavians as deriving a part of Fisheries,
their subsistence from the fishery. The herring fishery of
Holland was carried on as early as the twelfth century; but
what rendered this branch of industry the gold mine of Hol¬
land was the discovery by Beukels, towards the middle of the
fourteenth century, of the mode of curing and barrelling her¬
ring. At a period when the prohibition of eating butchers’
meat during two days every week and forty days before Easter
was universal, a supply of some sort of subsidiary food was
urgently required throughout Christendom; so that the dis¬
covery of Beukels was of the greatest consequence, and contri¬
buted more, perhaps, than anything else, to increase the mari¬
time power and wealth of Holland. The Emperor Charles V.
being at Biervliet in 1550, where Beukels is buried, visited his
grave, and ordered a magnificent monument to be erected to
record the memory of a man who had rendered so signal a ser¬
vice to his country. For a long period the Hollanders enjoyed
nearly a complete monopoly of the herring fishery. They car¬
ried it on not only in the bays and inlets of their own country,
but along the British coasts, from the Shetland and Orkney
Islands to the mouth of the Thames. Their sense of its im¬
portance was shown by the saying in common use among them,
that “ the foundations of Amsterdam were laid on herring
bones.” In 1610, 3000 vessels, manned by 50,000 fisher¬
men, were employed in this fishery, which then produced
L.2,500,000 sterling yearly. In the middle of the eighteenth
century 100,000 fishermen were employed. In 1780, owing to
the British and other maritime nations giving attention to their
own fisheries, the number of Dutch herring vessels wras reduced
to 200. In 1842 the British vice-consul at Rotterdam reported
165 vessels and 2325 fishermen employed in the herring ana
cod fishery; the whole number of vessels employed in fishing
being 1605, and the fishermen 8350. He stated the produce
to be 40,000 tons of salt herrings, 10,000,000 herrings for
smoking and drying, and 10,000 tons of salt fish. He estimated
the gross value at L.334,000 ; of which the proportion consumed
in Holland was L.30,000 ; and the value of L.304,000 exported
to Germany, Poland, Russia, and Belgium. Since that period
the Dutch herring fishery has considerably declined. In
1854 a commission of the states of N. and S. Holland was
appointed by royal authority to inquire into its state, and to
suggest means for its revival. The whole value of the herrings
in 1853 was L.59,916 ; the quantity being 60,933,800 herrings.
The value exported, L.22,999 in salt herrings, and L.14,402
in smoked. The cod fishery at Doggersbank and Iceland, which
in 1771 employed 121 vessels, in 1853 employed only 35.
The export of fresh fish was valued at L.16,775 ; and of salt
fish at L.5000. But the Hollanders were, if possible, still
more indebted to the whale fishery, which they at one time
prosecuted to an extent and with a degree of success that dis¬
tanced all their competitors. This fishery, when in its most
flourishing condition, was principally carried on in the seas and
bays round Spitzbergen ; and there the Hollanders constructed
the village of Smeerenberg, where they boiled the blubber, and
prepared the oil and the whalebone. The havoc made among
the whales, and their dispersion to the coasts of Greenland and
Davis’ Straits, put an end to the establishment at Smeerenberg,
and, with it, to the golden age of the whale fishery. In 1842
there was only one vessel engaged in this once flourishing fish¬
ery ; in 1853 there were five ; and in 1854 there were three.
The commissioners give the following statement of the Dutch
fisheries at present:—Ships of all sorts employed, 1375 ; value
of produce, L.318,517; men,7753; annual expenses, L.284,783.
The Hollanders, though placed, apparently, under circum- Commerce,
stances the most unfavourable for the accumulation of wealth,
overcame one difficulty after another with matchless perse¬
verance, until they rendered their country the centre of Euro¬
pean commerce, and diffused opulence and a taste for conve¬
niences and enjoyments among the lowest orders of the people.
In 1602 the Dutch East India Company was formed, and the
Indian trade increased rapidly in magnitude and importance.
Ships fitted both for commercial and warlike purposes were
sent out. Amboyna and the Moluccas were wrested from the
584
H O L L A N D.
Holland. Portuguese. Factories and fortifications were established from
the mouth of the Tigris along the coasts and islands of India,
as far as Japan. Alliances were formed with the native princes.
In Ceylon, Malabar, and Coromandel, the Dutch were them¬
selves the sovereigns. Batavia, in the large and fertile island
of Java, formed the centre of their Indian commerce. In 1621
the Dutch formed a West India Company . Within the short
period of 15 years this association conquered the greater part
of Brazil, fitted out 800 trading and warlike ships, and cap¬
tured from the Spaniards and Portuguese 545 ships, which
were supposed to be worth L.7,500,000. In 1651 they founded
the colony of the Cape of Good Hope. Between the years
1651 and 1672, when the republic was invaded by the French,
the commerce of Holland seems to have reached its greatest
height. Not by means of any artificial monopoly, but by the
greater number of their ships, and their superior skill and eco¬
nomy in all that regarded navigation, the Dutch engrossed
almost the whole carrying trade of Europe. In 1690 Sir
William Petty estimated the whole shipping of Europe at about
2,000,000 tons ; that of the Seven United Provinces being then,
according to him, 900,000 tons. The necessities of the Hol¬
landers, and the central situation of their country, no doubt
directed their views to navigation and trade ; but to account
for their astonishing success in commerce, we must refer to
moral causes. Without that free system of government, that
toleration of all religions, and that perfect security of property
which they early, and for a while almost exclusively, enjoyed,
the Dutch could not have figured as they have done among the
nations of Europe. The intolerance, the persecutions, and the
folly of their neighbours, drove many of their most valuable and
intelligent citizens to seek an asylum in Holland, where thej1-
established trades, manufactures, arts, and sciences. From the
beginning of the eighteenth century the commerce of Holland
gradually declined. This was owing to the growth of commerce
and navigation in other countries, especially in England, and
to the increase of taxation caused by the unavoidably heavy
expenses incurred in the construction of the vast works required
to confine the rivers and to keep out the sea, and by the heavy
cost of the wars in which the republic was engaged. As a sub¬
ordinate cause contributing to the decline of Dutch commerce,
may be reckoned the subjection of the trade with India to the
trammels of monopoly. The directors of the East India Com¬
pany did not exert themselves to carry on an extensive trade
with moderate profits, but to have a limited trade with enormous
profits. Unlike their countrymen engaged in other branches of
commerce, this company made no efforts to prosecute trade on
fair mercantile principles. Their whole object was to exclude
competition, to grasp at the monopoly of particular products ;
and when they had obtained it, they took care, by narrowing
the supplies brought to market, to raise the price of their own
articles to many times their real cost.
During the 20 years from 1794 to 1814, when the country
was subjected to France, the foreign trade was annihilated,
and the intercourse with the colonies was suspended; and it
has. been estimated that more than L.100,000,000 sterling,
besides the expenses of government, were extorted from
Holland by their acute masters. This is said, however, to have
been met by such rigid parsimony on the part of private indi¬
viduals and families, that the actual capital of the country
was little, if at all, impaired by the extortion. On the re¬
turn of tranquillity, the capital thus reserved was in a great
degree employed in loans to the several foreign states of Eu¬
rope ; and these loans were made on terms so advantageous to
the lenders, that, in the course of another period of 20 years
from 1814 to 1834, more gain was made by the Dutch capitalists
than had been taken from them in the preceding equal period.
This traffic in money, of which Amsterdam may be considered
as the central market for the whole of Europe, is not confined
to the great capitalists, as in most other countries, but, by va¬
rious modes, is so diffused over the community that those who
have but small reserve funds are enabled to partake of the ad¬
vantages of it, without having their attention withdrawn from
their regular and customary occupations.
A th® return of peace the intercourse had been renewed
• v i® col°nies in the East Indies and in South America,
which had been restored to their former possessors in an im¬
proved condition. A new East India Company was formed, free
from the erroneous principles that guided its celebrated prede¬
cessor. It still carries on a great, but not an exclusive trade.
The old monopoly, with its long train of abuses, is now wholly
abolished throughout all the Dutch possessions in the East. Pro¬
prietors of estates and villages, who have lands assigned to them
by government,are obliged to furnish to its agents a certain quan¬
tity of spice, or of some other article, at a fixed and reasonable
price, as a land-tax or rent. But this is the only obligation
imposed on them. In all other respects they are quite free to
act as they please; and hence these colonies have made extra¬
ordinary progress since 1815.. While thus a profitable com¬
merce "with South-Eastern Asia was re-established, the proprie¬
tors of estates in Surinam were also enabled to realize their
property. The fisheries, the transit trade, the commerce with
the Baltic, and with the Peninsula and the ports of the Medi¬
terranean, were all reopened. During the continuance of the
union with Belgium, that part of the kingdom shared these
branches of traffic, chiefly through the noble port of Antwerp.
But the revolution which separated Belgium threw back the
greater part of the commerce into the hands of the Dutch,
and left the northern kingdom in possession of all the co¬
lonies. The most substantial of the merchants and the larger
shipowners removed from Antwerp to Rotterdam or Amsterdam,
and the trade of Holland has greatly benefited by the separa-
ration of the two countries.
From the tables of commerce and navigation published by
government, it appears that in 1853 the total value of im¬
ports was L.26,754,311, about L.138,333 less than in 1852 ;
and of exports, L.22,733,472, about L.25,000 more than in
1852. The total value of the transit trade was L.9,846,542,
about L.225,000 more than in 1852. The following table will
exhibit the proportions in which this trade was distributed
among the different countries of the world:—
COUNTRIES.
1. Great Britain
2. North Sea, Baltic,
White Sea, and
Central Europe—
German Customs Union
H anover and Oldenburg
Hamburg 
Bremen 
Lubeek  
Mecklenburg 
Denmark 
Sweden 
Norway 
Russia, Baltic, and |
White Sea  (
3. Western Europe—
Belgium 
France  
Spain 
Portugal 
4. Mediterranean and
Black Sea—
Russia 
Turkey and the Levant
Austria 
Italy ...•. 
5. America—
United States ..
Surinam 
Curacao 
South America.
L.
6,954,833
4,458,583
425,000
267,917
96,083
5,000
55,667
184,333
41,417
378,583
1,243,750
7,156,333
2,208,917
1,067,583
47,000
47,750
6. Asia, Africa, and
Australia—
Java 
China 
Coast of Guinea  
Cape of Good Hope, Ca¬
nary Islands, British
India 
Philippine Islands  
Australia  
3,371,250
286.917
226.917
134,500
176,333
824,667
778,000
406,000
14,583
352,417
L.
7,324,667
5,344,250
343,750
410,000
94,917
6,667
9,417
163,667
35,250
383,000
1,268,917
8,059,835
2,097,083
1,044,250
57,250
42,583
EXPORTS.
L.
5,085,167
9,312,083
192,917
631,667
65.667
1,750
14,333
106,333
26.667
61,416
426,000
3,241,166
220,333
143,000
101,750
149,083
1,551,000
6,276,333
208,583
18,833
494,750
20,167
10,838,833
2,047,083
859,250
44,167
34,250
L.
6,164,083
8,345,583
199,167
609.500
81.917
3,333
11,083
83.917
31,500
56,750
286.500
9,709,250
2,009,417
974,000
54,750
28,167
2,984,750 3,066,334
5,833
304,917
311,000
826,000
614,166
562.250
369,917
10,667
631,500
1,574,334
5,310,750
117,583
34,500
446,333
20,917
5,930,083
1,447,750
480,167
122,250
22,917
120,833
746,167
1,569,500
333
16,167
18,083
83
1,604,166
23,000
284,917
372,750
548,000
1,228,667
458,917
105,167
26,833
64,500
655,417
1,817,500
250
20,917
13,333
57,917
1,909,917
Holland.
H O L L A N D.
585
Holland. Butter and cheese figure among the great articles of the
 / industry and the commerce of Holland. It appears, from one
of the published tables, that from 1803 to 1850 the export of
butter has constantly increased, so as to have been qua¬
drupled in half a century. From 3437 tons in 1803, it arrived
at 11,931 tons in 1852. The export of cheese was 9823 tons
at the beginning of the century. In 1852 it was 19,646
tons.
For 1854, instead of a general statement such as the above,
we have found indications regarding particular commodities,
the trade in which was very active. The importation of raw
sugar in 1854 was 108,546 tons, against 102,101 in 1853. The
export of raw sugar rose to 55,536 tons, being 4420 tons more
than in 1853. The importation of coffee from Java, on the
other hand, was less in 1854 than that in 1853 and 1852. In
1852 it was 1,073,838 bags ; for 1853, 938,680 bags ; and for
1854, only 928,230 bags. The trade in indigo, however, was
progressing. The imports in 1854 were 14,130 chests, against
10,200 in 1853 ; 8600 in 1852 ; and 5500 in 1851. The im¬
portation of cochineal was equally increasing—1535 chests in
1854 against 868 in 1851. Tobacco held also a principal place
in the imports of 1854. There were received 13,550 barrels
from Maryland, and 3110 from Virginia. Tin from Banca
furnished 132,864 blocks. The trade in wool revived, and that
in cotton assumed considerable importance. The trade in flax
was 1611 tons in 1854. In 1850 it had not reached 344 tons.
Thus it had been quadrupled in five years.
The account of exports is not for the same period so favourable.
It gives indeed the first notice of direct trade with Australia,
but the result of this new enterprise was not encouraging.
Holland exported its agricultural produce, however, in
great quantity. In 1854 the export of butter was 14,244
tons, against 13,261 in 1853. That of cheese was nearly
25,540, being 982 more than in 1853. That of cattle, 77,198
head of oxen. In 1853 there were 83,074 oxen and 204,148
sheep.
Shipping. The following account is given of the shipping :—
Cleared inwards. Cleared outwards.
Ships. Tonnage. Ships. Tonnage.
1850  6961 1,099,671 7031 1,136.664
1851  6960 1.166,140 7177 1.216,558
1852  7457 1,249,728 7712 1,317.425
1853  6883 1,151,293 7068 1,215,869
The Netherlands’ and foreign ships were in 1853 in the fol¬
lowing proportions:—
Cleared inwards. Cleared outwards.
Ships. Tons. Ships. Tons.
Netherlands’ flag 49|- p. cent. 44|- p. cent. 474 43
Foreign 50^ ... 55| ... 52J 57
To have a full view of the trade of Holland, we must not
only learn its state as carried on by sea, but also by the rivers,
which carry a great amount of it. Tables have been published
of the merchandise which arrived and was forwarded by way
of the Rhine in 1854. There was an increase above 1853 of
7260 tons from Amsterdam to places on the Rhine, and of
12,328 tons from the Rhine to that city. Coffee, rice, and the
oleaginous grains are foremost in this progressive increase.
The export of rice to Germany has had a. remarkable increase.
In 1842-52 it was only 8666 quarters per annum. In 1853 it
was 46,459. The quantity of grain sent from Amsterdam to
the Rhine in 1834 was 15,600 tons.
The vessels engaged in the river navigation were in
1853:—
Cleared inwards. Cleared outwards.
Vessels. Tonnage. Vessels. Tonnage.
Laden 15,973 1,134,748 9844 787.105
In ballast  2,213 148,680 8187 521,975
with 127 wood-rafts, measuring 24,328 cubic ells.
The proportion of these belonging to the Netherlands
was:—•
Of laden vessels 8879 Tonnage...611,578...cleared inwards.
••• 4615  376,009...cleared outwards.
The remainder belonged principally to Belgium and Prussia,
and in smaller proportions to Hanover, Baden, Nassau, Hesse,
Bavaria, Frankfort, and Wurtemberg.
On the 31st December 1853, the merchant fleet of Holland
counted in all 2037 vessels = 239,601 lasts burden. There were
VOL. XI.
142 frigates = 56,142 lasts; 334 barques = 93,091 lasts; 66 Holland,
brigs = 8439 lasts ; 168 schooners = 13,436 lasts; 783 koffs ~ v. >
46,465 lasts ; 250 tjalks = 7259 lasts.
The number of steamers belonging to the Netherlands in
1837 was only 30, with 58 engines of 2200 horse-power. In
1853 there were 100 steamers, with 118 engines of 6911 horse¬
power, not including those of the royal navy. It is stated in
the tables that, independently of the Netherlands’ trade, there
were employed during 1853 in the carrying trade between fo¬
reign parts, Netherlands’ ships which made no less than 2266
voyages, with 207,204 lasts of lading. The Dutch consuls at
foreign ports furnished the data of this enumeration, which was
made in 1853 for the first time. In connection with the great
emigration to the gold fields of Australia more than 50 Dutch
ships were freighted in different British ports for that distant
country during the first six months of 1854.
To these details, gathered from the statistical publications
of the Dutch government, by which it has been attempted to
convey an idea of the present state of the trade of Holland, we
will only add one remark, that with the exception of the old
East India Company’s monopoly above mentioned, the com¬
mercial policy of Holland for a lengthened period was more
liberal than that of any other nation. The same enlightened
policy, if partially departed from during recent years, has been
again cordially entered into after the recent example of Great
Britain. A law enacted on 1st Sept. 1854 abolished the import,
duties on a great number of articles of merchandise, and the
Netherlands’ tariff thus modified, equals, if it does not even
surpass, in liberality all other tariffs in existence. It has evi¬
dently been in consequence of this enlightened policy having
for many generations been generally understood and practised
by the Dutch government, that a country not more extensive
than Wales, and naturally not more fertile, recovered, indeed,
in a great measure from the waters, and kept from being
again submerged by constant watchfulness and a heavy expen¬
diture, accumulated a population of more than three millions,
maintained wars of unexampled duration with the most power¬
ful monarchies, and besides laying out immense sums in works
of utility and ornament at home, lent hundreds of millions to
foreigners. Notwithstanding their want of native timber and
iron, they are abundantly supplied with all the materials of
carpentry, ship-building, and manufactures. And though their
commerce, notwithstanding its revival in later years, is much
diminished from its earlier pre-eminence, the Dutch, even at
this moment, are the richest and most comfortable people of
Europe.
The army and navy force amounted on the 1st Jan. 1840 to Army and
40,265, in 1845 to 24,563, and in 1850 to 21,418 men. Thus navy,
the forces were in the course of ten years diminished by 18,847.
This diminution is explained by the change of circumstances
in relation to Belgium. The state of the army, as shown in
the budget of 1853, was as follows:—
Arms.
Infantry...
Cavalry...,
Artillery-
Engineers.
°n Pdutynent r,uring 3 mths- During 1 mth. Reserve.
  12,807 5964 ... 23,924
  2,970 ... ... 1,272
  4,272 130 ... 4,599
  439 60 60 206
20,488
6154
60
30,001
The contingent for the militia in 1853 was 8834 ; the force
of the communal guard (Schuttery) over the whole kingdom on
31st Dec. 1853 was 83,253, of which number 24,790 were in
active service, and 58,463 in reserve.
In 1853 The Netherlands’ fleet was composed of 5 ships of
the line, 13 frigates, one of which had steam-engines, 13 cor¬
vettes, two of which had steam-engines, 11 brigs, 13 schooner
brigs, one of which had steam-engines, 7 schooners, 17 steamers,
2 transports, 58 gunboats, and 3 vessels serving for exercise,
barracks, or hospital; besides 3 steamers, of 206, 150, and
100 horse-power respectively, equipped by the navy depart¬
ment for the service of the colonies. The number of guns
carried by these different ships-of-war varies from 84 to 74 for
ships of the line, from 60 to 28 for frigates, from 28 to 12 for
corvettes, from 8 to 12 for brigs, from 8 to 5 for schooner brigs,
and from 10 to 1 for schooners. There were thus 145 vessels
in all, of which there were, on the 1st Aug. 1854, employed in
actual service—
4 e .
586
HOLLAND.
Holland.
Vessels.
At home   ^
Abroad   ’
In the Levant    ^
For protection of the herring fishery... 2
Going to the East Indies  2
The Mediterranean •_  1
Returning from the West Indies  1
In the West Indies  9
In the East Indies  28
Guns.
167
82
66
7
48
8
22
86
318
62 804
Add natives of India employed as sailors 
Men.
941
706
562
88
497
99
128
652
2215
5888
580
Total  6468
The principal fortresses are Maestricht, Breda, Bergen-op-
Zoom, Bois-le-Duc, Ylissingen, and the Helder.
Govern- The form of government is prescribed by the fundamental
ment. ]aw which was adopted"by an assembly of 500 notables, called
together as representatives of the nation by the Prince of
Orange at Amsterdam in 1814. In 1848 it received impor¬
tant amendments. According to this magna charta of the
Dutch nation, (1.) all the inhabitants of Holland, resident
foreigners as well as natives of the country, have right to pro¬
tection of person and property. Admission to offices and em¬
ployment is open to all Netherlanders without distinction. The
press is free ; the rights of petition and of assembling are re-
cognised.
Loyal fa- (o.) The crown is hereditary in the House of Orange. Male
mi P heirs are preferred, but females are not excluded. The king
may not accept any foreign sovereignty except that of Lux¬
emburg. The civil list is regulated anew upon every acces¬
sion. In the present reign its amount is L.66,667. The
eldest son of the king bears the title of Prince of Orange. The
king, on accepting the government, takes an oath to observe
and maintain the fundamental law. This oath is taken in an
assembly of the states-general, convened for the purpose of his
inauguration, in the city of Amsterdam as being the capital of
the kingdom. The person of the king is inviolable ; his minis¬
ters are responsible. The executive power is vested in the
king. He has the direction of the external relations of the
state. He declares war, and concludes peace and other treaties.
He is not obliged to communicate them to the states-general if
he shall judge that the communication would compromise the
safety of the state. But without previously obtaining the per¬
mission of the states-general, he cannot ratify any treaty that
would alter the limits of the kingdom. The king commands
the army and navy, and appoints the officers. The adminis¬
tration of the colonies is committed to him. To him is also
confided the management of the finances of the kingdom. He
fixes the salaries of all employes, but pensions are regulated
by special laws. He has the direction of the mint, and the
right to confer titles of nobility. A Hollander may not ac¬
cept foreign titles of nobility. Orders of knighthood are in¬
stituted by special laws. The king grants reprieves, abolition,
and remission of punishment. It belongs to him to propose
projects of law to the chambers. He can dissolve them when
he pleases, but must command new elections in the course of
forty days thereafter, and convene the new chambers in the
course of two months.
stateC1 (3-) There is a council of state presided over by the king.
This council must be consulted regarding every project of law,
and every measure of general interest. The king chooses the
members of this council, and also the ministers or heads of the
departments of administration. All his decrees must be coun¬
tersigned by one or other of the ministers. The council of state
consists at present of 8 members, with the addition of Prince
Frederick of the Netherlands, the king’s uncle. The vice-pre¬
sident receives a salary of 8000 florins. The other members
have 5000 florins each. The ministerial departments are
variously arranged from time to time. In 1855 they were the
minister of the interior; of justice; of finances; of exterior; of
marine ; of war ; of colonies ; of Protestant churches and Jew¬
ish synagogues; and of the Roman Catholic Church. The min¬
isterial salaries are at the same rate as those of the members
„ of tho council. There is no prime minister properly so called.
a ®s Se (4.) The states-general are composed of two chambers. The
members of the first chamber are elected for nine years, a third
of their number retiring every three years ; but they may be
re-elected. They are 39 in number. They are chosen by the
several provincial states from the class who pay the highest
amount of direct taxes. The king names a president for each Holland,
annual session. The provincial states elect the members in ^ L j
the following proportions -North Brabant 5, North Holland
6, Friesland 3, Drenthe 1, Gelderland 5, Zeeland 2, Overyssel
Limburg 3, South Holland 7, Utrecht 2, Groningen 2.
I he members of the second chamber are chosen by electors,
who must be Hollanders, twenty-three years of age, paying
direct taxes from L.l, 14s. to L.13,10s., according to the locali¬
ties and circumstances of their several districts. The country is
divided into electoral districts, on the principle of giving one
representative to each 45,000 of the inhabitants. The number
of members of the second chamber is at present 68, nominated
from 38 electoral districts, each sending 1, 2, or more mem¬
bers, according to their population. Amsterdam sends 5 repre¬
sentatives, 25 other districts have each 2; 13 districts have only
1 each. The total number of electors in 1853 was 82,593, of
Tvhom, at the elections in that year, 56,177 gave their votes.
In 1854 only 41,736 voted, or about one-half of those entitled.
Members of the second chamber must be Netherlanders, in pos¬
session of all the rights of citizenship, thirty years of age or
upwards. They are chosen for four years. Half of the mem¬
bers retire every two years, but may be re-elected. They ought
to vote without consulting or being instructed by their con¬
stituents. Each receives a stated salary of L.166, 15s. per
annum, with travelling expenses. The king chooses a pre¬
sident for each annual session. The ministers of state have
right to sit and deliberate with both chambers, but no right to
vote unless they have been elected members. The same in¬
dividual cannot be a member of both chambers. A member of
either chamber cannot be a member of the high court of justice,
nor of the chamber of finance, nor a governor of a province,
nor an ecclesiastic, nor a military officer on active service. If
a member accept any office under government, he must vacate
his seat unless re-elected by his constituency. The members
cannot be prosecuted in a court of law for their sentiments
expressed in the sittings of the chambers. The states-general
meet every year at the Hague, ordinarily on the third Monday
of September. Their meetings are usually public. On the
death or abdication of the king, the chambers meet in 15 days
without having been summoned. The sessions of the states-
general are opened and closed by the king either personally or
by commission. On these occasions the two chambers assemble
together, and the president of the first chamber presides. The
annual session must be of at least 20 days’ duration. The cham¬
bers cannot discuss any business unless more than half their
members are present. In every question there must be an ab¬
solute majority. If the votes are divided, the question is re¬
sumed at another sitting. Votes are given viva voce, except
in electing to offices, when the ballot is resorted to.
The legislative power resides in the king and the states-
general. Projects of law made by the king, are first debated
in the different sections, before being publicly discussed. The
second chamber has the right of making amendments. A pro¬
ject of law, when adopted or amended by the second chamber,
is by it transmitted to the first chamber. The states-general
have right to offer projects of law to the king, but these must
always originate in the second chamber.
The law fixes the annual budget, along with the ways and
means. Each head of the budget must contain the expenses
of one department only of the administration. The ministers
give account of the receipts and expenses of each department,
by presenting to the states an account previously approved by
the chamber of finance.
(5.) The states-general are so called in contradistinction to provinc;ai
the provincial states, which are legislative and administrative states
councils for the several provinces. The latter, besides electing
the members of the first chamber of the states-general, exer¬
cise other important functions. They are charged with the
execution of the laws of the kingdom within their limits, and
have power (with the sanction of the king) to make particular
laws for the several provinces. They have also considerable
funds under their control, possessing power to levy taxes with
the concurrence of the general legislature. They have charge
of the embankments and other hydraulic works within their
limits. They also co-operate with the general government for
the promotion of religion, education, the maintenance of the
poor, agriculture, manufactures, and trade. Whatever, in¬
deed, relates specially to the internal police and government
of the provinces is left to their regulation and decision. The
HOLLAND.
587
Holland, ting appoints a governor or commissioner to preside over their
^ ^ y meetings and to observe their proceedings. They appoint a
permanent commission to administer affairs during the inter¬
vals of their sessions, and to carry on the ordinary business of
the provincial government. The members of these provincial
states are elected directly by the parliamentary constituency of
each province for a term of six years. One-half retire every
three years. The same individual may not be a member of
the states-general and of the provincial states at the same time.
These councils assemble regularly twice every year. Their
meetings are public. The number of members of the states of
the provinces, severally, is as follows:—North Brabant 64,
Gelderland 62, South Holland 80, North Holland 72, Zeeland
42, Utrecht 41, Friesland 50, Overyssel 47, Groningen 45,
Drenthe 35, Limburg 45.
Communal (6.) The provinces are again subdivided into communes, each
councils, having a local administration, the composition and the powers
of which are regulated by special laws according to the circum¬
stances of each. At the head of this administration is a council,
whose members are elected by the inhabitants for a certain
number of years. To be an elector for the communal council
requires payment of only half the amount of direct taxes ne¬
cessary for an elector to the general or provincial states. The
king names the president or burgomaster. The communal
council superintends the interests of the commune, with reser¬
vation of certain points which must be submitted to the states
of the province. They must submit the account of receipts
and expenditure to the provincial states. The law establishes
general rules for the communal administrations, but in impos¬
ing, changing, or abolishing local taxes (which the several
communes have also the right of levying within their respective
limits) the royal sanction is required. These communes in¬
clude the cities and towns as well as villages and country
districts.
The communes are,—In North Brabant 185, including 10
cities; in Gelderland 118, including 15 cities ; in South Hol¬
land 234, including 13 cities ; in North Holland 145, including
11 cities ; in Zeeland 116, including 19 cities ; in Utrecht 91,
including 6 cities ; in Friesland 43, including 11 cities; in Over¬
yssel 62, including 3 cities; in Groningen 57, including 1 city;
Drenthe 33, including 3 cities ; in Limburg 125, including 5
cities: in all, the communes are 1209, including 87 cities. The
cities, however, and the other communes are all locally go¬
verned in the same general manner ; each country district hav¬
ing its burgomaster with his council, much the same as a city.
Tbe burgomaster and other magistrates receive salaries, as do
also the governors and other officials of the provinces.
Revenue. The following is the budget of receipts and expenditure of
the national revenue for 1856 :—
Revenue—
Direct taxes (land tax, provincial taxes, patents) L.1,597,378
Excise  1,395,871
Stamps, registrations, hypothec successions  958,525
Import, export, and navigation duties  352,664
Duty on pawned gold and silver wares  19,158
Domains  108,975
Post-office  120,833
Lottery  33,333
Sporting and fishing licenses  7,083
Duty on mines    96
Diverse revenues  102,475
Interest of national debt contributed by Belgium   33.333
Interest at the charge of the colonies  900,000
Balance derived from colonial administration at home... 391,667
Derived from sale of the national domains  77,864
Total * L.6,099,255
Expenditure—
1. King’s household L.66,667
2. High departments of state  45,688
3. Department of foreign affairs   40,834
4. Department of Justice  212,225
5. Home department  471,642
6. Reformed and other Protestant churches and Jewish
synagogues  141,180
7. Roman Catholic church  49,246
8. Department of marine  634,715
9. Interest of national debt   2,935,586
10. Department of finance  530,159
11. Department of war  973,750
12. Colonial department   9,645
13. Incidental expenses  8,333
Total L.6,119,670
The following table gives the receipts and expenditure of Holland,
the different provincial governments for 1855 :— *.
Receipts. Expenditure. v ~
North Brabant L.60,925 L.60,363
Gelderland  11,258 11,258
South Holland  19,928 19,928
North Holland  20,524 20,525
Zeeland   9,848 9,848
Utrecht  5,604 5,603
Friesland  28,787 28,777
Overyssel  16,429 16,429
Groningen  26,727 26,721
Drenthe    4,661 4,661
Limburg  6,369 6,369
Total L .211,060 L.210,482
Further, the statistical publications of last year give the
following budget of the communes for 1854 :—
Receipts. Expenditure.
North Brabant L.96,328 L.87,563
Gelderland  119,570 121,693
South Holland  366,725 384,831
North Holland  421,025 424,820
Zeeland  75,981 75,937
Utrecht  59,713 59,687
Friesland  124,361 130,436
Overyssel....  92,804 89,424
Groningen  109,684 109,597
Drenthe  19,863 19,846
Limburg  51,171 40,972
Total L.1,530,225 L.1,524,806
In consequence of the provincial and communal councils
having right to levy taxes as well as the general government,
it is necessary to sum up all the three budgets in order to obtain
the whole amount of the public revenue and expenditure. This
can, however, only be done for 1854, as the communal budgets
for 1856 and 1855, and the provincial for 1856, are not given
in the latest statistical publications :—
Income. Expenditure.
National L.6,656,056 L.6,936,842
Provincial  176,345 176.665
Communal  1,536,225 1,524,806
Total L.8,368,626 LB,638,313
Justice is administered in the king’s name. There are codes Justice,
of civil, commercial, and criminal law, of civil and criminal
procedure, and of the composition of the judiciary body. The
lawT also regulates military justice as well in the army as in
the communal guard (Schuttery). No one can be deprived of
his possessions unless on account of the public good, and then
on receiving indemnification, except in case of war or inunda¬
tion. The law indicates the judges. No one can be arraigned
before a different judge from the one whom the law has ap¬
pointed to try the case. The law regulates the mode of termi¬
nating differences which may arise between the administrative
and judiciary powers. No one can be arrested without an order
from a judge containing the reasons for the arrest, This order
must be shown to the delinquent as promptly as possible. If,
in extraordinary circumstances, a citizen is arrested by the
political power, he who has given the order must inform the
judge of it immediately, and deliver the person to him within
three days. No one may enter the dwelling of another against
his will, unless by order of some power authorized by law.
Confiscation is forbidden. Every sentence must include the
grounds of judgment, and specify the points of law on which
it is founded. It must be pronounced in public. Under the
sanction of the king, the administration of law and justice is
confided to various courts.
1. The High Court of the Netherlands. The king selects
the judges of this court from a list of three candidates for each
vacancy presented to him by the second chamber of the states-
general. The king chooses the president from among the
members of the court. 'With the president it has a vice-pre¬
sident and twelve puisne judges. Members of the states-
general, heads of ministerial departments, members of the
council of state, governors of provinces, and other high func¬
tionaries, are amenable to this tribunal only. All causes in
which the king, the members of the royal family, or the state,
are defenders, must be tried before this court. It is the court
of ultimate appeal, and superintends the execution of the laws
by the lower courts. Its judges are appointed for life. They
are divided into two chambers, one for civil and the other for
criminal causes.
588
HOLLAND.
Holland. 2. Next in order are the provincial courts. Their judges are
appointed by the king from lists of candidates presented to him
by the provincial states. These judges are also appointed for
life. The provincial court of South Holland, seated at the
Hague, alone is divided into two chambers, one for the trial of
Church.
civil and the other of criminal causes.
3. Subordinate to the provincial, there are district courts in
the several provinces (arrondissements or regtbanken). These
district courts have from 5 to 14 judges each, including the
presidents.
4. These arrondissements are still farther divided into can¬
tons, each having a local court of its own.
5. The high military court has its seat at Utrecht, and has
14 judges.
In 1853 the high court had 369 criminal causes, the provin¬
cial courts, 1250; the arrondissfiment courts, 12,482; the canton-
geregten, 11,595 ; and the high military court, 361. Of civil
causes the high court had 119 ; the provincial courts, 454; the
arrondissement courts, 4469 ; the canton-geregten, 7391.
In 1853 there were the following prisons :—8 for criminals,
12 for confinement in civil and military cases, 22 houses of
arrest, 174 houses of detention. These on 31st December 1852
contained only 4087 inmates.
The prison at Rotterdam for juvenile delinquents of the male
sex under eighteen years of age, and that for those of the
female sex of the same age at Amsterdam, merit special notice.
They receive all juvenile offenders from all parts of the kingdom.
The number of males incarcerated at one time has varied from
84 to 116. These prisons are in effect schools under admirable
management, connecting the branches of ordinary school edu¬
cation with religious instruction, according to the several profes¬
sions of the childrens’ parents, and with industrial training.
When their period of imprisonment expires, they are not
turned out to the streets to fall into the commission of new
crimes, but are placed as apprentices or workmen, where they
will be strictly attended to, and for two or three years they
remain, to a certain extent, under the surveillance of the
police.
According to the fundamental law, full liberty of religious
profession is allowed to every one ; but there is a right of ob¬
servation asserted for the civil power, lest sects should arise
which, under the name of religion, might seek to subvert the
order of society. Equal protection is accorded to all religions
recognised by the state. The members of the different churches
and sects enjoy equal privileges as citizens, and have equal right
to all public employments and all dignities. The statistics of
1854 give(the following distribution of the population, according
to their religious professions :—Protestants, 1,935,422; Roman
Catholics, 1,201,891; Israelites, 62,610; religion not ascer¬
tained, 1,479.
Of the Protestants, about 1,700,000 still adhere to the Re¬
formed Church which was established in Holland after the
separation from Spain, and being then taken into the closest
alliance with the states, obtained many privileges. It no longer
enjoys an exclusive establishment, as salaries are now paid
by the state to the ministers of various sects, and even to the
Jewish rabbis. But the Reformed Church has still much the
largest share of such benefits, including the king and the
greatest body of the people among its members and adherents,
and also receiving pecuniary supplies from the state twice as
large in proportion to the number of its members as are accorded
to other denominations. The Reformed Church of the Nether¬
lands continues to hold the Confession of Faith, Catechism, and
liturgical formularies, drawn up according to the doctrines of
Zuinglius and Calvin, which it received at the Reformation and
in the immediately succeeding age. The form of government is
still Presbyterian, in accordance with the Calvinistic institution,
so far as the jealousy of ecclesiastical rule, always manifested
by the civil authorities of Holland, has allowed it to be car¬
ried into effect. The following resolution of the first National
Synod held at Dort in 1578 lays down the basis of the church
government:—“ To establish good and legitimate order in the
church, it is resolved that four sorts of ecclesiastical councils
shall be instituted,—1. The consistory in each congregation.
2. Ihe classis. 3. The provincial synod. 4. The general or
national synod. In these assemblies only ecclesiastical afiairs
shall be transacted. As regards matters that are partly eccle¬
siastical and partly political, these shall be settled by consul¬
tation between the civil and the ecclesiastical authorities.”
1. The consistories were composed of ministers and elders of Holland,
each congregation, the latter selected from the heads of fami- i t_
lies, and appointed for a limited term, generally two years, but
allowed to be re-elected. They managed the discipline and
other spiritual matters of the flock. There were deacons si¬
milarly appointed to take charge of the poor. These were not
constituent members of the consistories, but were allowed to
take part with the elders in the calling of ministers.
2. The classes were composed of the ministers of several
contiguous parishes, together with one elder from each. There
was an appeal from the consistories to the classes. They also
originated measures for the general interests of the parishes
and had charge of the ordination of ministers.
3. The provincial synods consisted of two ministers and two
elders from each classis within the province, together with cor¬
respondents from the synods of the neighbouring provinces.
They assembled once every year, when they could obtain per¬
mission of the civil states of the provinces. But this permis¬
sion was not seldom withheld. They usually had representa¬
tives of the states, called commissaries politic, present during
their deliberations. These did not vote as members, but at¬
tended on purpose to observe, and doubtless to influence their
proceedings. There was an appeal from the classes to the pro¬
vincial synods. They had charge of the trial and license of
candidates for the ministry.
4. From the provincial, there was again an appeal to the
national synod, which consisted of two ministers and two
elders, commissioned not from each classis, but from each pro¬
vincial synod, to whom also foreign divines were sometimes
joined. These national synods were assembled at irregular
intervals when affairs of interest to the whole church had to be
transacted. At the first, at Dort, in 1578, above referred to,
it was resolved that such general synods should be convened
once in three years. Accordingly, another was held at Mid-
delburg in 1581. The next took place at the Hague, but not
before 1586. No other was assembled for more than 30 years,
until the celebrated synod of Dort in 1618. And that was the
last which was held until after the restoration of the sovereignty
to the House of Orange in 1816. These church courts had,
indeed, considerable powers, but different in different provin¬
ces, as conceded or prescribed by the provincial governments.
They were entitled to maintain order in the congregations, to
exercise discipline on offenders against the laws of religion and
morality, to compose differences and disputes between congre¬
gations and their ministers, to debar unworthy members from
the Lord’s Supper, and, if necessary, to excommunicate them.
Classes and synods could suspend ministers, with suspension
also of their stipends, and, if necessary, depose them. But
they were overruled in the exercise of these powers by the
civil authorities, who often prescribed rules to the ecclesias¬
tical courts. Even when these came to' a unanimous finding
on points effecting either whole congregations, or ministers, or
individual members, the party deeming himself aggrieved by
their decision could always appeal to the judgment of the states
of his province, by which the ecclesiastical sentence was not
unfrequently reversed. During the twelve years of French
ascendancy, this system of Presbyterian Church government in
Holland fell into total disorder. It was remodelled in 1818
under the observation of William L, and, in some respects,
greatly improved, yet so as not yet to enjoy any high degree
of that spiritual independence demanded by the principles of
Calvinism. The four graduated courts were restored to the con¬
sistories without any alteration in their constitution. The
classes were restricted to one meeting annually, and (with the
exception of the management of their ministers’ widows fund)
limited in their deliberations to the choosing of deputies to the
provincial synods, and of a small committee called moderators,
to whom were entrusted all the other duties and functions of the
ancient classes. The provincial and general synods were re¬
stored to nearly the same position as under the ancient rule,
with the advantage, however, of being allowed to meet at re¬
gular intervals, and to transact their appointed business without
interruption from the civil power. The general synod, accord¬
ingly, has met every year since 1816 at the Hague, usually for
14 days. This court has the supreme direction of all the affairs
of the Netherlands’ Reformed Church, frames all the general
regulations relating to its government, worship, and discipline,
and has alone the power to depose ministers and excommuni¬
cate unworthy members. This modification of Presbyterian
HOLLAND.
Holland, government, though more orderly than that which preceded it,
i r -m J and free from the tendency by which that was characterized
to tumultuous discussions and collisions with the civil power,
did not prove upon the whole satisfactory to the Church. The
very limited numbers composing all the higher administrations
failed to secure confidence in and respect for their decisions;
and the constant observation of the head of the state, although
he asserted no right of positive interference, was regarded as
inconsistent with religious liberty. A secession of members,
at first attended with some disorder and tumult, and interfer¬
ence of the civil power in a manner that had much appearance
of religious persecution, was, more than twenty years ago, the
effect of this dissatisfaction. In recent statistics, the sece-
ders are numbered 4:2,619. A more popular system of church
government was demanded by many who still remained in the
communion. When, in 1848, alterations began to be made
in the fundamental law of the states, the church was also in¬
vited by William II. to revise its constitution, and to con¬
sider what changes in the mode of its government would be
useful and satisfactory. This important affair was taken up
by the church courts with great deliberation, and excited much
interest among the members. Various changes have been
made, and others proposed; but the whole cannot be considered
as yet settled and arranged. The church courts are still con¬
stituted pretty much as they were from 1816 to 1848; and the
community is not yet disposed to acquiesce in and be satisfied
with their organization and proceedings. They are loudly
accused, in religious periodicals, of too great remissness in deal¬
ing with preachers of erroneous doctrines at variance with
the old Calvinistic Confession, and even of setting the old
standards aside by their positive decisions. But whether these
accusations are founded on fact, or the result of undue jealousy
and suspicion, it is certain that the spirit of true and enlightened
Christianity has mightily revived of late years, both among the
clergy and people of the Netherlands’ Church. For details we
would refer the reader to A Brief View of the Dutch Ecclesias¬
tical Establishment, by the Rev. W. Steven. D.D., Edin., 1839.
There are 1637 ministers in the Reformed Church of Holland,
not including 25 ministers and 8 emeriti of the Wallon Synod,
which is also represented in the General Synod of the Nether¬
lands’ Reformed Church. To these must be added 13 profes¬
sors of theology in the universities and Athenaeum, making in
all 1683 clergy; while 4 ministers of the Scotch Church, 1
English Presbyterian, and several German Protestants are
included in the numbers composing the Dutch classes. Those
ordained and sent to the colonies are,—in the East Indies, 21 ;
in the West Indies, 7 ; making an entire total of 1711. The
licentiates or candidates for the ministry are 92. Holland was
even divided into dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church, by a
papal bull of 4th March 1853. This proceeding on the part of
the Bishop of Rome raised great excitement among the Pro¬
testants of Holland, and a law was made by which this Roman
Catholic hierarchical establishment was sanctioned and agreed
to only on certain conditions. These conditions are, principally,
a modification of the oath usually taken by Roman Catholic
bishops at their consecration, a stipulation that none of them
shall enter on their functions without the special license of the
king, the taking of an oath of allegiance to the national govern¬
ment, and an agreement that the bishops shall reside, not in
the cities from which they assumed their titles, but only in such
places as are appointed them by the king. Accordingly, they
have been all settled, according to the following scheme, in
North Brabant and Limburg, where the greater part of the
population is Roman Catholic.
Support of The Hollanders are very liberal and charitable in their sup-
the poor. p0rt of the poor. In general, the destitute are cared for by
the deacons of the churches to which they belong. The com¬
munes give assistance, which is applied principally to those
unconnected with any church. Official returns for 1853 make
known the existence of 7410 charitable and benevolent ad¬
ministrations, of which 2900 relieve the poor at their own
dwellings to the number of 418,318 ; 494 are hospitals, where
the destitute are lodged; 59 are infirmaries; 41 lying-in hos¬
pitals; 163 are poor schools—the scholars 56,619 : 2262 are
schools, where the poor children are taught gratis, along with
others who pay for instruction; 138 asylums; 2 institutions
for the deaf and dumb; 2 for the blind ; 40 institutions for
employing poor labourers who can find no occupation ; 47 for
relieving poor travellers.
589
There are three great workhouses for the whole kingdom, Holland,
into which all destitute persons who apply obtain admission— v ^ v— z
one at Amsterdam, another at Middelburg, and a third at
Nieuwe Pekel A, near Groningen. Plain ordinary food, in
no great abundance, is supplied to all, with clothing of coarse
materials. There are looms and other implements of industry
for those who will work, wages are paid to the industrious as
means of purchasing such comforts as would improve their
diet. The sexes are kept strictly separated. The inmates,
while they continue such, are not allowed to go abroad ; but
they may at any time obtain their discharge on application to
the governors. Those discharged on their own application can¬
not be re-admitted during the first month thereafter. These
workhouses are very spacious, and, in times when employment
is scarce, as during a severe winter, are resorted to by multi¬
tudes of the destitute. There have also been formed, in part
by government assistance, but chiefly by voluntary subscrip¬
tions, several pauper colonies on waste lands on the borders of
the Zuider-Zee. Poor families are settled there at their own
request. At first they are provided with dwellings, imple¬
ments of work, and means of subsistence for a limited period.
They are encouraged to establish themselves by their own in¬
dustry and frugality. A moderate sura, paid by instalments,
is accepted as the price of their outfit, and ultimately of their
houses and lands, which they are thus enabled to acquire in
full property. They may then, if so inclined, dispose of them
to new settlers, and return with their realized property into
the general community. According to the returns above re¬
ferred to, 665,000 indigent persons were, in 1853, succoured
by the different charitable administrations, being at the rate
of 208 for every 1000 of the population. The expense of
all these charitable establishments amounted to L.1,125,000.
L.694,445 were given to paupers for their subsistence ;
L.2,500,000 were absorbed in expenses of administration and
board of pauper inmates. The expense of the pauper colonies
amounted to L.208,334 more. The receipts were L.1,160,618.
The sources of this income were—contributions from the com¬
munes, L.228,667 ; donations and collections, L.155,192 ; in¬
dividual subscriptions, L.26,147; revenues of hospitals and
other establishments, L.3,714,783.
Among the various benevolent institutions of Holland, special Society for
attention is due to the “ Society for the Promotion of the Public th® Promo-
Good,” which originated in 1784 with John Nieuwenhuizen, atlon of th0
humble Baptist minister at Edam, assisted by a few benevo- Pul,fic
lent individuals. It has now 220 branches throughout Hol-^00*1,
land, supported by 14,000 members, each paying a small yearly
contribution. The amount and variety of good effected by this
institution cannot be easily calculated. It has promoted the
establishment of numberless schools, asylums, and works of
public utility. It is feelingly alive to every interest of the
population, especially the indigent classes. Pervading the
whole country with its cheering influence, its sections hold
fortnightly meetings, at which lectures and essays on useful
subjects are delivered, questions (neither political nor po¬
lemical) of public utility are discussed, and good works of all
kinds originated and provided for. As soon as one section
has got 500 members, a new section is founded to be formed
of those who shall afterwards join. Their meetings are re¬
unions of the various classes in society, and are of great advan¬
tage in promoting intercourse and sympathy among all ranks.
Education is promoted in Holland under the general direc-Education,
tion of the minister of the interior, by three universities—
Leyden, Utrecht, Groningen, and the Athenaea of Amsterdam
and Deventer ; then by seminaries of an intermediate class, and
special schools ; and then by numerous primary schools. The
University of Leyden possesses a library which has been greatly
enriched of late years by donations from individuals, and by a
judicious application of funds dedicated to that object; a bo¬
tanical garden, to which Professor Reinwardt, who died in
1854, bequeathed his valuable herbarium ; an archaeological
museum, where Javanese and Hindu monuments are found,
along with German antiquities ; a collection of papyrus and of
Egyptian monuments; of Roman and Greek antiquities ; a
numismatic cabinet, remarkable for its collection of Lusitanian
and Iberian coins ; and a museum of natural history con¬
taining many rare specimens of animals from the far east and
the Indian Archipelago. Such, along with the library, are the
rich stores of this celebrated university. There are the four
fof’lfioa r>f +V.«r.lna-v. mprbVirtp. law. and sciences. The Latin
HOLLAND.
590
Holland, language is employed in most of the classes of theology, and
also in several of the law and medical classes. The princi¬
ples and the history of Roman law, and of the law of nations,
are taught in Latin. Dutch is generally employed in teaching
civil and commercial law, the history of diplomacy, and poli¬
tical economy. The law faculty of Leyden aspires to the
credit of forming not only lawyers, but men enlightened as to
all the interests of modern life. The faculty of medicine em¬
ploying Dutch in the theoretical instruction, still keeps up the
use of Latin for those practical lectures which are given beside
the couches of the patients. The courses of scientific lectures
are generally given in Dutch. Zoology and comparative ana¬
tomy are still taught in Latin. Oriental studies are prosecuted
with ardour at Leyden. Professors and students rival each
other in the zealous study and investigation of the literary
monuments of the East, and especially of Arabia. The Uni-
Univer- versity of Utrecht has a library containing most interesting col-
sity of lections of theological writings. Along with the library are an
Utrecht. anatomical museum, a chemical laboratory, an observatory in
perfect order, and a botanical garden abounding in rare plants.
In the instruction of Utrecht the theological is the principal fa¬
culty. This university educates numbers of Protestant minis¬
ters for the German provinces of the Rhine, where the system
followed at Utrecht, which consists of combining classical with
theological studies, is greatly approved of. In the other facul¬
ties Latin is also employed, side by side with Dutch, as at Ley¬
den. The faculty of law at Utrecht directs the attention of the
students not only to the essential elements of the Roman law,
but principally to German law and the ancient customs of the
country. The number of foreign students increases at Utrecht:
in 1854 there were 18 students from the Cape of Good Hope.
The University of Groningen reckons among its princi¬
pal resources a very good chemical laboratory. The use of
Dutch and Latin in the delivery of lectures is regulated pretty
much as at Leyden and Utrecht. The Athenaeum at Amster¬
dam has a good library, a museum of natural history, a beau¬
tiful mineralogical collection arranged by Professor von Baum-
hauer, a botanical garden, to which, in the year 1854, 400 new
species were added. This Athenaeum supplies the means of in¬
struction on a great variety of subjects. The Athenaeum at
Deventer, while it continues to provide well for instruction in
the higher branches of knowledge, also atfords the means of a
commercial education. The number of professors at Leyden
is—in theology, 5; law, 5 ; medicine, 5 ; science, 8 ; and litera¬
ture, 10—in all 33, and one lecturer. At Utrecht—in theo¬
logy, 3 ; inlaw, 5 ; medicine, 5 ; science, 6 ; and literature, 4
•—in all 23, and four lecturers. At Groningen—theology, 3 ;
law, 3 ; medicine, 5; science, 5 ; literature, 5—in all 21.
The number of students on 31st December 1853 was as
follows:—
Leyden. Utrecht. Groningen. Amsterdam. Deventer.
Theology  179 223 80 65 1
Law  270 179 97 44 7
Medicine  134 66 70 25
Science  19 7 7 5 4
Literature  41 14 10 4
Total  643 489 264 143 12
Total of university students, 1551. Total of degrees con
ferred in the university, in 1853-54, 149, distributed as fol¬
lows :—Leyden, 60 ; Utrecht, 57 ; Groningen, 32; Amsterdam,
13; Deventer, 0.
Intermediate instruction was given in 1853-54, at 67 esta¬
blishments (40 Latin schools and 27 gymnasia), training 247
masters and 1826 students. With these seminaries may be
classed various special schools, viz.,-—the royal academy for the
army and navy at Breda. Practice is there combined with
theory. The pupils for the navy make a tour of instruction of
six weeks on board a brig. They visit the naval establish¬
ments of England, and cruise in the Atlantic. The pupils
destined for the army form a camp on the heaths of North
Brabant. This academy in 1854-55 had 308 students. There
were admitted from it into the navy 21, and into the army 38.
The royal academy at Delft trains engineers and functionaries
for the East India service. In 1853—54 it had 154 students.
The public school of military surgery at Utrecht in 1853-54
had 122 students. The clinical schools at Rotterdam, Amster¬
dam, Hoorn, Alkmaar, and Middelburg, had together 209 stu¬
dents. The veterinary school at Utrecht had only 7 students.
In the same year the school of rural economy at Groningen,
having a farm connected with it, gave theoretical and practical Holland,
instruction to 30 pupils. A school for instruction in commerce i
and industry at Amsterdam, had 30 pupils. Schools of train-
ing for the merchant navy occupy a distinguished place among
the educational institutions of Holland. The institution at
Amsterdam for the merchant navy, had in 1854, 92 pupils—44
within the institution and 48 on a voyage. The technical
school at Utrecht ought also to be mentioned, which gives
scientific instruction to artisans, and is in a prosperous state.
Nor would we omit the military schools, where practical in¬
struction is given by under officers, superintended by lieuten-
ants-adjutant. The pupils in these were 643.
Primary instruction was given in 1853-54 in 3374 schools,
of which 2469 were public, and 905 private. The teachers in
these were 7027, of whom 6329 were male, and 698 female
teachers. The number of pupils was, 1st January 1854, 392,161;
of whom 218,723 were boys, and 148,680 girls ; on 15th July
there were 321,850, of whom 173,170 were boys, and 148,680
girls. Thus the pupils attending the primary schools alone,
amounted in winter to one-eighth, and in summer to one-tenth,
of the whole population. Allied to these primary schools are
others of particular sorts:—Infant schools, 612 in number, with
32,250 children. Boarding schools, 22 for boys and 17 for girls,
the former having 594, and the latter 365 pupils. Boarding and
day scholars, 196 for boys, and 88 for girls, having 4516, and
2869 pupils respectively. Repetition schools—designed for
young persons who have finished the intended course of their
education, and being now engaged in trades or otherwise,
are encouraged to revise their studies in the evenings—136 in
number, with 3199 male, and 1365 female scholars. Sunday
schools 114, with 5000 male, and 4861 female pupils. In¬
dustrial schools 49, with 349 male, and 4792 female learners.
Popular singing schools 129, with 3287 boys, and 2448 girls.
Schools in the army for the common soldiers, having 177 teach¬
ers, with 2768 scholars. Of those aspiring to the rank of 2d lieu¬
tenant, and requiring scientific instruction, 304 additional pu¬
pils. Taking all the above numbers of pupils into the account;
those studying at universities and the intermediate seminaries,
together with the primary schools, and those others which we
have noted as allied to them, we have of youths under in¬
struction in Holland in January 1854, 466,100, being about 1
in 7 of the entire population. The primary schools (properly
so called) are superintended by local boards, assisted by in¬
spectors, of whom there are 70, or one for each of the school
districts into which the kingdom is divided. In the general
superintendence of the whole, the minister of the interior is
assisted by an inspector-general. No person is allowed to
open a school, or to act as an assistant schoolmaster, or even to
give private lessons (except without fee or reward), until
first he has received a certificate of his ability to teach,
granted after examination by a board, consisting of inspec¬
tors. There are two normal schools for teachers, one at Gronin¬
gen for the northern provinces, and the other at Haarlem for
the centre and the south. In the primary schools the pupils
are admitted without distinction of creeds, and no religious in¬
struction, except a little Bible history, is given by the masters.
Religious instruction is communicated to the scholars by minis¬
ters and catechists at separate hours, and often not in the
schoolrooms, but at the houses of the clergymen.
In no country of Europe has the proportion of highly learned
men to the whole population been so great as in Holland. Literature
Among many, including Thomas a Kempis and his pupil Agri¬
cola, whose writings exercised the most extensive influence,
and who, by the wide diffusion of light, were precursors of the
Reformation, Erasmus holds the highest place. He was born
at Rotterdam, 1467, where a fine bronze statue of him, erected
in 1622, still stands, and is accounted one of the chief orna¬
ments of the city. Subsequently a great impulse to literature
was communicated by William I., Prince of Orange, who, in
1575, founded the University of Leyden as a reward to that
city for its brave defence against the Spaniards in the preced¬
ing year. Men like Scaliger, Lipsius, Heinsius, Gronovius,
and Spanheim, in ancient learning ; Erpenius and Gollius in
Oriental literature; Gomarus, Arminius, Drusius, and Cocceius,
in theology, extended their own fame and that of their uni¬
versity throughout the whole of Europe. Soon afterwards the
universities of Franeker,of Groningen, and of Utrecht, produced
a rivalry highly advantageous to the diffusion of knowledge.
In the seventeenth century, Huygens, Leeuwenhoeck, Zwam-
HOLLAND.
Holland, merdam, and Hartsecker, were Highly distinguished as astro-
. ^ j mers, and as natural historians. In the eighteenth century
Albert Schultens, Hemsterhuis, and the celebrated Boerhaave,
with many others, extended the study of the Greek and of the
Oriental languages, improved their own, and more especially
diffused a more correct knowledge of the healing art. The
science of the law of nations, as well as of law in general, owes
much to eminent Dutch writers ; and nowhere has the re¬
search into antiquities been more assiduously pursued, or with
greater success. The celebrity of Dutch literature, combined
with political and polemical reasons to attract able men from
other countries ; and their works, published in Holland, still
farther extended the renown of the Dutch schools. Thus Sca-
liger and Luzac, men of French origin; Albinus, Yossius, Gro-
novius, Ruhnken, and Vorstius, were Germans ; and Wytten-
bach was a native of Switzerland. Most of the works of
these earlier Dutch writers were published in Latin for the
sake of greater circulation. But a vast number of other writers
who published in Dutch, though little known for that reason,
beyond the narrow limits of their own country, are well de¬
serving of a European reputation. Yondel, born in 1587, not
only merited, but obtained such a reputation in his own time
by his dramatic poems, Palamedes, Gysbrecht, Van Amstel,
and Lucifer, the last of which has been characterized as the
precursor of Milton’s Paradise Lost, which it preceded by
fourteen years, and which bears a surprising resemblance to
it. Contemporary with him was Jacob Cats, a truly national
and popular poet, who has addressed himself to all the best
feelings of his countrymen, and whose works are still highly
prized by Hollanders of all classes. Elizabeth Hoofman, or,
according to her marriage name, Koolaert, born in 1664, was
one of the most learned women, not only of her own, but of
almost any other age or country. Besides several poems in
Latin, she wrote in Dutch the Schouwburg der Venvoesting,
which has enjoyed a lasting reputation. Yan Effen, who was
born in 1684, is one to whom the prose literature of Holland
is most highly indebted. He has deservedly been called the
Dutch Addison, not only as being a distinguished essay writer,
but on account of the terseness and elegance of his style. Jan
de Marre, born in 1696, contributed to the Dutch stage one of
its best and most popular tragedies, viz., Jacoba van Beyeren.
In 1710 and 1713, were born William and Onno van Haren.
The former, author of The Friso, a romantic epopoeia, pos¬
sessing varied and distinguished merits. The latter, however,
was of superior talents. He was author of The Geuzen, a
cycle of national poems, celebrating the leading events in the
history of the Netherlands. This is the chef-d’oeuvre of the
Dutch literature in the eighteenth century. In 1738 was born
the Baroness Cornelia Juliana de Lannoy, who wrote excellent
tragedies. Van Alphen, born in 1746, besides his poetry, has
other claims to fame, as a moralist, a philosopher, and a critic.
Admirable in themselves, his Cantatas have the further merit
of being the first productions of the kind in the language, and
are still unrivalled in it. P. L. van Kasteele, a friend of Van
Alphen, wrote good original poetry, and showed considerable
talent by his translations, among others his version of Ossian
in hexameter verse. Arend Fokke, born 1755, stands with¬
out a rival in the language as a humorous and satiric writer.
His “ Boertige Reize ” Comic Journey through Europe; and
his Ironical Comic Dictionary, are celebrated. Feith Helmers
and Bilderdyk, are writers who lived within our own time,
and such as would do honour to any country. Feith, born
1753, is entitled to admiration both as a poet and a critic.
His Grave is a masterly production. His Thirza, Inez de
Castro, and Lady Jane Grey, exhibit his powers as a tragic
poet; while his Letters, his Essay on Heroic Poetry, &c., place
him in a high rank as a prose writer. Helmers, a merchant,
born 1764, composed poems which breathe the most noble and
generous sentiments. Bilderdyk, born 1756, exhibited his va¬
ried powers with equal success upon the most opposite subjects.
His Ondergang der eerste Wereld, is a very fine poem, but
unfinished. Helmers and Bilderdyk both died in 1813. Kin-
ker, born in 1764, is another excellent poet, and has produced
591
admirable translations from Schiller. Loots, Loosjes, Tollens, Holland.
Immerzeel, Yan Hall, Da Costa, Yan Lennep, Beets, all of i >
them now, or till very lately, living, are writers who do honour
to the literature of their country. We will not, however,
conclude, without honourable mention of van Kampen, who
died in 1839, author of the Beknopte Geschiedenis der Let-
teren, &c., a most interesting work, from which much of the
information above given has been derived.
It is matter of great regret, that the above notice of Dutch Language,
writers, short and imperfect as it is, will be found longer and
more complete than all but a very small minority of our
readers will require as a guide in the selection of authors for
their own perusal, owing to the almost universal neglect of the
Dutch language by our countrymen. On the subject of this
neglect of the language of the Hollanders, the writer just
quoted expresses himself in terms severe, but scarcely more
so than the case demands. The Dutch is a language derived
from the same source with the German, and resembles the
Anglo-Saxon in its declension. As spoken indeed by the com¬
mon people, it sounds rather harsh to English ears, but scarcely
more so, we believe, than provincial English does to foreigners.
As spoken by well educated persons, it is euphonious and agree¬
able. It is of homogeneous construction, having great power
of forming compounds and derivatives from native words, and
not requiring, as English, to borrow terms incessantly from
foreign tongues. Its plastic elements have also been most
carefully wrought up and polished ; nor have any people paid
greater attention to purity of style and elegance of diction than
the Dutch writers of late years. That devotional fervour, and
that regard for the hallowing influence of domestic life, to¬
gether with nobleness and independence of spirit which gene¬
rally pervade the poetical and imaginative writings of the Hol¬
landers, ought to have gained for them the attention of the
British public.
Amidst their fierce contests, and their eager pursuit of gain, Fine Arts,
the Hollanders have been munificent patrons of the fine arts,
especially painting; and their artists have powerfully, but in a
peculiar manner, rivalled those of Flanders and of Italy. The
Dutch school of painting has been praised for the truth of its
representation of natural objects, for its perfect finishing, its
appropriate shading, and the colouring and delicacy of pencil;
but it has been censured for its selection of unworthy objects.
The founder of the school was Lucas of Leyden, born in 1494.
His most eminent followers were, Van Been of Leyden, born
in 1586, said to have been an instructor of Rubens ; Bloe-
mart of Gorcum, who painted historical pieces, landscapes, and
cattle, and died in 1647 ; Cornelius Poelenburg of Utrecht,
born in 1586, and died in 1663, who was peculiarly happy in
his landscapes with figures ; and his two distinguished pupils,
Bertange and Haensberge ; also Rembrandt, who, by his ex¬
quisite colouring, was enabled to hide all his other faults. With¬
out enumerating their peculiarities, and without extending the
list, we insert the following names, most of which are well
known to those who have paid any attention to the history of
painting and painters ;—Zachtleben, Gerhard Terburg, Swan-
velt, Asselyn, Gerhard Dow, Peter van Leer, Wouverman,
Waterloo, Berghem, Paul Potter, Backhuysen, Mieris, Schal-
ken, Jardin, Ruysdael, Van der Werff, and Van Hulst. lo
these we might add many even of recent date. Among the
painters of the present day, Kruseman and Pieneman are highly
celebrated. An extensive collection of modern paintings is
kept in the palace called the Pavilion at Haarlem, itself a very
beautiful work. Of ancient paintings there is one great national
collection at the Hague and another equally celebrated at
Amsterdam, containing most beautiful specimens of Dutch
painting, but also rich treasures of Italian art. Holland is
throughout very rich in paintings. With these not only the
halls of palaces are adorned in profusion, but also those of town-
houses, hospitals, and other public buildings, and the apart¬
ments of private houses even of middle rank. The Dutch have
not equally excelled in statuary and architecture. These arts
have been much cultivated among them, however, of late
years. (j. i—m.)
592 H O L
Holland HOLLAND, Dr Philemon, the “ translator-general of
II his age,” as he was called by his contemporaries, was born
Hollar. at Chelmsford, in Essex. He was educated at the
grammar-school of that town, and afterwards at I rinity Col¬
lege, Cambridge, of which he became a fellow. On being
appointed to the rectorship of the free grammar-school of
Coventry, he began that long series of translations from the
classics which have saved his name from oblivion even to
our own times. He also found time to carry on a very con¬
siderable practice as a physician. By a proper use and dis¬
tribution of his time he reconciled his three professions of
schoolmaster, doctor, and translator, fulfilling the functions
of all three with undiminished vigour and assiduity till his
eightieth year. He died in 1636, in the eighty-sixth year
of his age. His chief translations are those of I^w// ; Plu¬
tarch’s Afora/s; Suetonius; Ammianus Marcellinus; and
the Cyropcedia of Xenophon. He also did good service to
literature by his edition of Camden’s Britannia, to which
he made some valuable additions.
HOLLAR, Wenceslaus, a celebrated engraver, was
born in 1607 at Prague, in Bohemia. His parents, who
were in good circumstances, intended him for the law, but
they were ruined by the capture of Prague in the course of
the Thirty Years’ War; and the young Hollar, who had
already given evidence of artistic skill, was apprenticed to
Matthew Marian, a pupil of Rubens and Yandyck, to learn
engraving. He was only eighteen years old when he pub¬
lished his first pieces, consisting of prints of the Virgin, the
Ecce Homo, and some other pieces. Leaving Prague in
his twenty-first year, he began a wandering life through
Germany, taking views of the chief towns and of the most
striking scenery of the Danube, Rhine, and other streams,
which brought him great fame, but no regular employment.
Even at this early period of his life his pieces were known
for the exquisitely delicate touch and beauty of finish which
they displayed. Hollar’s fortunes were at a very low ebb,
when he fell in wdth the Earl of Arundel (then on his way
through Germany on an embassy to the Emperor Fer¬
dinand II.), who attached him to his service. Soon after
reaching England with his patron he was appointed to in¬
struct the Prince of Wales in drawing ; and in 1640 pub¬
lished his Ornatus Muliebris Anglicanus, or the several
habits of Englishwomen from the Nobilitie to the Country¬
woman, as they are in these times, a highly valuable and
beautiful work. When the Civil War broke out Hollar was
once more left to his own resources ; and having incurred
the suspicions of the parliament, he was thrown into prison.
After a short confinement he made his way over to Ant¬
werp, where Lord Arundel was then residing, and where
be wrought quietly and assiduously for printsellers and
publishers during several years. His pieces never having
fetched prices at all proportionate to their merits he was
obliged, in order to make a living at all, to put a value on
his time. He fixed his tariff at fourpence an hour, which
he marked by a sandglass. So exact was he, that when any
one, even his employers, came to speak with him about the
picture on hand, he always turned down his glass, charging
payment only for the time he was actually engaged with
his burin. It was in this humble way that he produced his
fine engravings after Da Vinci and the great masters of
portrait-painting. On returning to England after the Re¬
storation, Hollar worked with the same unflagging industry,
and with no more profitable result, than in his younger
days. His plates in Dugdale’s Monasticon and History of
Paul's attest his diligence. In 1669 he was commis¬
sioned by Charles II. to take plans and perspective drawings
of Tangier and its fortifications, which, on his return to Eng¬
land, he engraved. His last known engravings are his un¬
finished illustrations of Throton’s Antiquities of Notting¬
hamshire. These and other works brought the artist to
his seventieth year, but without the independence he had
H O L
struggled for all his life. On his very deathbed an execu- Holocaust
tion was served upon his house. His last words were a peti- ||
tion to be allowed to die in his bed, and that he might not be R°lt.
removed to any other prison but his grave. It is not known
whether this prayer was granted. The day of his death was
the 28th March 1677. According to Vertue’s Catalogue
Hollar’s works amount in all to about 2400 pieces. The
best of these possess great spirit, lightness, and freedom of
touch, combined with the most scrupulous accuracy. His
delineations of still life in particular are admirable, but his
figure pieces are generally not very happy.
HOLOCAUST, a sacrifice which is entirely consumed
by fire. See Sacrifice.
HOLOGRAPH, a deed or testament written in the tes¬
tator’s own hand.
H OLSTEIN, a duchy of Denmark. See Denmark.
HOLT, Sir John, the celebrated Lord Chief-Justice of
the Court of King’s Bench in the reign of William, was born
at Thame, Oxfordshire, in 1642. His father, Sir Thomas
Holt, had been sergeant-at-law, and his eldest son John fol¬
lowed also the profession of law. After having been en¬
tered at Oriel College, Oxford, as a gentleman commoner,
he became a member of Gray’s Inn in 1658. He soon dis¬
played a decided predilection for the study of law, became
an able advocate, and well versed in the constitutional law
of England. He was made Recorder of London in 1685,
which important office he held with ability for a year and a
half, when he became unpopular at court. It had been de¬
termined to abolish the test act; but the measure was op¬
posed by Holt, and in consequence he had to retire from
the office of recorder. Subsequently, however, in 1686, he
was made sergeant-at-law. The ability which he displayed
in the Convention Parliament raised him so high in the
estimation of the Prince of Orange, that, upon the acces¬
sion of the latter to the English throne, Holt was made
Lord Chief-Justice of King’s Bench. Upon the removal of
Somers in 1700 from the chancellorship, William was de¬
sirous that Holt should accept the Great Seal, but he de¬
clined. He died in 1709, at the age of sixty-seven.
Sir John Holt as a judge was a model of unbending in¬
tegrity. He persevered in what he knew to be right, irre-
spedtive of the opposition of both houses of parliament. For
twenty-two years his great acquaintance with common lawr,
and strict sense of justice, were devoted to the preservation
of the rights of his countrymen against invasion from what¬
ever quarter. His understanding was sound, and his skill
in seizing the main points of a case amid a mass of details,
as well as his great clearness in stating the case, were valu¬
able qualities in a judge. His physical as well as his moral
courage was at times exhibited. He had been requested to
supply a number of police to help the soldiery in quelling a
riot. He assured the messenger that if any of the people
w’ere shot he would have the soldiers hanged. He went him¬
self, and prevented bloodshed. On another occasion he had
declared in favour of the Aylesbury burgesses, who had
been committed to Newgate for complaining about the non¬
registering of their votes. The House of Commons sum¬
moned him to appear before them ; but as the summons
was disregarded they sent the Speaker to him. Holt peremp¬
torily told the Speaker that unless he returned immediately
to his chair he would have him sent to Newgate.
Chief-Justice Raymond has given a report of Holt’s de¬
cisions. Holt’s character as a judge is highly spoken of in the
Tatler (No. 14), under the name of Verus. The following
reports were published by him in 1708, folio, with notes:—
“ A Report of divers cases in Pleas of the Crown, adjudged
and determined in the reign of King Charles II., with direc¬
tions for justices of the peace and others, collected by Sir
John Keyling, knight, Lord Chief-Justice of the Court of
King’s Bench, from the original manuscript under his hand;
to which is added the Report of three modern cases—viz..
H 0 L
Holt
II
Holy Is¬
land.
Armstrong and Lisle, the King and Plumer, the Queen
and Mawgridge.”
HOL r, a municipal and parliamentary borough of North
W' ales, Denbighshire, on the Dee, which is here crossed by
an old bridge of ten arches. Some traces still remain of
Holt Castle, which having been garrisoned for Charles I. was
taken and dismantled by the parliamentary forces in 1645.
Holt is governed by a mayor, two bailiffs, &c., and is a con¬
tributory borough to Wrexham. Pop. (1851) 1029.
HOLY ALLIANCE, The, a league formed by the
principal sovereigns of Europe after the defeat of Napoleon
at Waterloo. T he basis of this alliance was drawn up by
Alexander of Russia (Sept. 26, 1815), and received the sig¬
natures of Francis of Austria and Frederic William of Prus¬
sia. Its name, which was dictated in accordance with the
popular religious enthusiasm of the time, was fitly expres¬
sive of the vague principles of religious charity and peace
on which it professed to be based. It gained strength by the
accession of England and France, but thenceforward became
an alliance simply for the establishment of existing dynasties
in Europe, as may be seen from the declaration of Novem¬
ber 1819. and from the results of the congresses of Troppau,
Laybach, and Verona. After the secession of England and
France the holy alliance became practically obsolete.
HOL\ HEAD (Welsh, Caer Gybi, i. e., fort of Gybi), a
parliamentary borough, seaport, and market-town of North
Wales, on an island at the western extremity of the county
of Anglesea. It is connected with the main part of the
county by a vast embankment, three-quarters of a mile in
length, and of an average height of 16 feet, with a bridge
near the centre through which the tide rushes with amaz¬
ing velocity and force. The town, formerly a small fish¬
ing village, has acquired importance in consequence of its
being the nearest and most convenient place of embarkation
for Ireland. It is the point of termination of the great par¬
liamentary roads from London and Chester, and of the
Chester and Holyhead railway, in connection with which
steam-packets leave the harbour several times a-day for
Kingston near Dublin. The vast amount of labour and
money expended on public works connected with the har¬
bour has materially contributed to attract and support an
active and thriving population. Holyhead has been selected
by government for a harbour of refuge. The works when
completed will enclose an area of about 316 acres, with a
depth of at least 6^- fathoms water. The church, occupying
the elevated site of an ancient monastery, is dedicated to St
Gybi; and in the south porch is a rude figure of the patron
saint, under a canopy. The churchyard is partly surrounded
by a very curious and interesting Roman waif. The pier
extends nearly 1000 feet, and upon it is an arch of Mona
marble commemorative of the visit of George IV. in 1821.
At the extremity of the pier is a lighthouse, exhibiting a
white light 50 feet above sea-level. On South Stack (Stack),
an isolated rock 3 miles W., is another lighthouse connected
with the harbour, and of essential service in facilitating the
access. The light, which is 212 feet above high-water mark,
is produced by 21 lamps with powerful reflectors. The in¬
habitants are chiefly engaged in the coasting trade and in
shipbuilding. The coast is extremely wild and rugged, pre¬
senting numerous wave-worn caverns, which form the haunt
of innumerable sea-birds. From the summit of Pen-Caer-
Gybi, or the Mountain of Holyhead, 700 feet in height, a
good view is obtained of the town and harbour. On the
sides of the mountain are traces of extensive British fortifi¬
cations, and at the top are remains of a circular building 10
feet in diameter, which was probably a Roman watch-tower.
Market-day, Saturday. The borough is contributory to
Beaumaris in returning a member to parliament. Pop.
(1851) 5622. 1 F
HOLY ISLAND, an island, or rather a peninsula insu¬
lated at high water, on the N.E. coast of England, 9 miles
VOL. XI.
H O M
593
S.S.E. of Berwick-on-Tweed. It was by the Britons called Holy-Stone
Inis Medicante, and also Lindisfarne, from the small rivulet ||
Lindi or Landia, and fahreen, a recess. It received its pre- Home,
sent name from being the site of one of the earliest monas-
teries established in this country. It is connected with the
mainland by sandbanks dry at low water, and affording a
passage to vehicles of all kinds. It has an area of 3320
acres, but about one-half of its surface towards the N. is a
sandy waste, abounding in rabbit-burrows. The rest of it,
however, is very productive. At the S.W. angle of the
island is a small village, formerly a town of considerable
size. The ruins of its celebrated abbey still exist, and are
aptly termed by Sir W. Scott, “ a solemn, large, and dark
red pile.” Pop. (1851) 908.
HOLY-STONE, a large stone used for cleaning ship’s
decks. It receives its name from the unwillingness of sailors
to submit to the drudgery of using it.
HOLYWELL, a municipal and parliamentary borough,
and market-town of Flintshire, North Wales, 15 miles N.W.
of Chester. It is pleasantly situated on an eminence near
the left bank of the estuary of the Dee. The streets are
irregular but spacious and well paved, while many of the
buildings are substantial and elegant, and give the town an
air of prosperity and opulence. Until the commencement
of the present century the town was inconsiderable, but ow¬
ing to the extension of its mines, and the successful esta¬
blishment of several manufactories, it has become the largest
in the county. The church, erected in 1769, but retaining
some columns of a more ancient structure, is a plain edifice,
with a strong embattled tower, dedicated to Gwenfrewi or
St Winefrid. Holywell has manufactures of cottons and
galloons, besides smelting houses and foundries. In the
vicinity are collieries, and valuable mines of lead, copper,
and zinc. It has a station on the Chester and Holyhead
railway. It takes its name from the celebrated well of St
Winefrid, long reckoned one of the seven wonders of Wales.
The spring is estimated by Pennant to discharge 21 tons of
water in a minute; and its temperature is at all seasons
several degrees higher than the mean temperature of the
district. The well is covered by a beautiful Gothic building,
said to have been erected by Margaret, Countess of Richmond,
mother of Henry VII. It is a contributory borough to Flint
in returning a member to parliament. Pop. (1851) 5740.
HOLZMINDEN, a town of Brunswick, on the right
bank of the Weser, at the foot of the Sollinger Mountains,
56 miles S.W. of Brunswick. It is a place of great manu¬
facturing activity, producing largely iron and steel wares,
hosiery, flannel, linen, paper, leather, &c.; and has an active
river trade. It has two churches, a synagogue, gymnasium,
and public library. Pop. about 4000.
HOME, Henry, Lord Kames, a celebrated Scottish
lawyer and writer, was born in Berwickshire in 1696. He
received his early education in languages and mathematics
from the family tutor. He studied civil law and municipal
jurisprudence at the University of Edinburgh. Finding it
necessary, in order to become a finished barrister, to pay
special attention to the forms and business of courts, he at¬
tended the chamber of a writer to the signet. His ability
and great application rendered him a successful advocate, in
which capacity he began to practise in 1724. In 1752 his
genius, in addition to his other qualities, elevated him to
the seat of judge of the Court of Session. This high office
he held under the title of Lord Kames, with distinguished
reputation for thirty years. In 1763 he wvas made one of
the Lords of Justiciary. He died 27th December 1782, at
the advanced age of eighty-six.
Lord Kames applied his vigorous intellect to metaphysics
and criticism as well as to law, and occupied no small por¬
tion of his long life in promoting trade and in the improve¬
ment of agriculture. His publications on subjects relating
to law form a numerous catalogue. In 1728 he published
4 F
594 H O M
Home. Remarkable Decisions of the CouH of Session during the pre-
V'—vious Twelve Years, in 1 vol. folio. In 1732 appeared his
essays on Jus tertii, Beneficium cedendarum Actionum,
&c., 1 vol. 8vo. These essays were received with admira¬
tion. In 1741 appeared his Decisions of the Court of Ses¬
sion during its whole existence, abridged and arranged like
a dictionary, extremely useful to the practical lawyer, 2
vols. folio. In 1747 appeared his British Antiquities, re¬
lating to law, such as the introduction of the feudal law into
Scotland, &c., in 1 vol. 8vo. In 1757 appeared his abridg¬
ment of the Statute Law of Scotland, ivith Historical Notes,
in 1 vol. 8vo. In 1759 he published Historical Law Tracts,
in 2 vols. 8vo. In 1760 appeared his Principles of Equity,
in 1 vol. folio. In 1766 he gave another volume of Re¬
markable Decisions of the Court of Session from 1730 to
1752, 1 vol. folio. In 1777 he published Elucidations re¬
specting the Common and Statute Law of Scotland, 1 vol.
8vo. In 1780 appeared his Select Decisions of the Court
of Session from 1752 to 1768, in 1 vol. folio. These nu¬
merous publications within his proper sphere of law, display
amazing activity and industry extended to the very close of
his life.
But we have now to follow Lord Karnes into another do¬
main ; for useful as were his law publications at the time, and
even still, his fame does not mainly rest on them. He had
corresponded with Butler, Berkeley, and Clarke, at an early
period, and possessed a decided inclination for metaphysical
studies. In 1751 appeared Essays on the Principles of
Morality and Natural Religion, in 1 vol. 8vo, from his pen.
This work gave some offence, because the doctrine of phi¬
losophical necessity, as stated by him, was considered as
coming into collision with the interests of religion. He
altered some of the obnoxious expressions, but adhered to
his doctrine in the main.
He refused to reduce all the springs of human action to
one principle, and to undervalue reason to the extent to
which incautious theologians are sometimes disposed to do.
It is said that a Dissenting professor, mistaking the “ neces¬
sity” of the philosopher for the “ predestination” of Calvin,
had the hardihood to recommend the treatise to his stu¬
dents. In 1761 Lord Karnes published his Introduction to
the Art of Thinking, 1 vol. 12mo. In 1762 appeared his
Elements of Criticism, upon which his fame is chiefly
founded. This work quickly took precedence of such as
had been in moi*e general use before it. Lord Kames, in
this able and original work endeavours to analyze the sub¬
lime and beautiful. Whatever comes under the one or the
other of these denominations must be considered partly as
it is in itself, and partly as to the means which we have of
receiving the impression, i, e., our faculties. But not only
so, the object is to be considered not simply as to itself, but
also as to the circumstances and associations connected
with it. He encounters and freely admits the difficulty
which occurs in the fact, that a pleasurable emotion should
be the result of two things so different as the sublime and
beautiful. His analysis of the sublime is more successful
than that of the beautiful; the latter he sometimes decides
from a merely utilitarian point of view.
In addition to all the foregoing labours, Lord Kames was
a zealous promoter of the agricultural and commercial in¬
terests of Scotland. He had the chief management of
numerous boards of fisheries and manufactures, and was
one of the first patrons of the Physical and Literary Society
—afterwards the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 1772 he
published a work on agriculture, entitled, The Gentleman
Farmer, being an Attempt to improve Agriculture, by sub¬
jecting it to the Test of Rational Principles. His work,
Sketches of the History of Man, appeared in the following
year, but was less accurate than entertaining. His last
work was Loose Hints upon Education, 1781, 1 vol. 8vo.
In this work, written in his 85th year, he earnestly incul-
H 0 M
cates the importance of training up youth in virtue and in- Home
dustry. He attended the Court of Session to within a short II
time of his decease. A few days before he died he ad- v omer
dressed each of the judges separately, and took an affec- ^
tionate farewell. He was of an extremely lively disposition,
and warm in his friendships. His abiding sense of an in¬
telligent Providence continually led him to trace out evi¬
dences of wisdom in nature. For his life, see Woodhouse-
leds Account, in 2 vols. 4to, 1807.
Home, John, the author of the well-known tragedy of •
Douglas, was born in 1722 at Leith, of which place his
father was town-clerk. He was educated at the grammar
school of his native town, and afterwards at the University
of Edinburgh. Admitted into the church in 1745, he was
in the following year appointed to succeed Robert Blair,
author of The Grave, as minister of the parish of Athel-
staneford. Here he composed that play which has hitherto
kept his name from oblivion ; and which, when rejected by
Garrick, was acted with splendid success on the Edinburgh
stage. It is hard for the strictest purists to discover any¬
thing in this tragedy that is not perfectly consistent with
the most rigid code of morals. Its appearance on the stage,
however, raised a storm in the Church ; and one clergyman
was suspended from his office for having gone to the theatre
to see it played. Home was himself threatened with depo¬
sition ; and many of his friends were loaded with abuse.
By the following Assembly, however, he wTas treated with
greater lenity ; and though he resigned his charge on the
June following, and retired to England, it was without the
stigma of ecclesiastical censure. The drama itself is not
altogether that piece of empty and sonorous bombast that it is
sometimes alleged to be. Its moral tone and purport are high;
its plot, if notwTOught out with the highest tragic skill, is at
least interesting; and the diction is chaste and polished, some¬
times even elegant. Home’s subsequent plays of Agis, The
Siege of Aquileia, The Fatal Discovery, Alonzo, oxA Alfred,
did not enjoy even a temporary success ; and his only histori¬
cal work, The History of the Rebellion in Scotland in 1745-6,
was hardly more fortunate. In 1762, the year in which Samuel
Johnson was pensioned, Home was similarly rewarded, and
to the same amount (L.300 a-year), through the influence
of Lord Bute. For ten years after his retirement from the
church, Home lived chiefly in London. In 1767 he re¬
turned to Scotland, where he spent the remainder of his
days, varying the ordinary routine of his life by annual visits
to London. He died at Merchiston, near Edinburgh, in
1808, in his 86th year. The character of his only success¬
ful play has been already indicated. It only remains to add
that in private life he was one of the most amiable men of
his age. Though fond of the society of the great, he
courted rather than shunned that of his humble friends, and
it was one of his chief duties and pleasures to bring forward
and encourage rising talent. Many a youth who afterwards
rose to wealth and fame owed his first step in life to the
good offices of the author of Douglas.
Home, Sir Everard, an eminent surgeon, was born about
the year 1755. He was of Scottish extraction, and his con¬
nection with the Hunters brought him into notice at an
early period of life. Atone time he was held in high esti¬
mation as a surgical practitioner. He was one of the sur¬
geons to St George’s Hospital; and this circumstance,
added to the publication of various works which attained a
considerable share of celebrity, contributed to extend his
reputation, the advantages of which he lived nearly half a
century to enjoy. In 1813 he was created a baronet, and
was also appointed serjeant-surgeon to the king. He died
August 31, 1832, in the 77th year of his age. He was the
author of Practical Observations on Stricture ; Lectures
on Comparative Anatomy; and of various papers in the
Ph ilosoph ical Transactions.
HOMER, the greatest epic poet of Greece, and a name
HOMER.
Homer, of the highest significance, not with regard to Greece only,
but to Europe generally, and to the history of the human
race. For in Homer we have to do not merely with a poet
of the first class, holding the same place in literature that
Aristotle and Newton do in science, but with the oldest
records, after the books of Moses, that have exercised a
permanent influence on the civilization of the west. It is
but reasonable, therefore, that we should give a more full
and minute consideration to the Homeric poems, than even
the high position of their author on the topmost peak of the
Hellenic Parnassus would justify.
The life of Homer did not fall within the strictly his¬
torical epoch of Greek literature ; nor were there any
diligent biographers in his day who made it a business to
collect and to make public the notable sayings and doings
of men of extraordinary genius. The existing literary tes¬
timonies for the facts connected with the life of the poet,
do not carry us further back than the age of Pindar (b.c.
500); that is to say, to a period more than three hundred
years posterior to the age of the great poet, taken at the
latest of the various dates to which it is assigned. What
we know of Homer, therefore, we know only through the
channel of national tradition, uncertain and vague as that
must always be in an age when writing was either un¬
known or little practised, and criticism of literary documents
never dreamt of. We shall not, therefore, be surprised to
hear that even the birthplace of their great national poet
was unknown to the Greeks, and that the period in which
he flourished was a puzzle to their ablest chronologers.
We are not, however, to suppose that on this interesting
subject we know absolutely nothing. However vague po¬
pular traditions may be, and however discrepant in minor
details, they will generally be found to contain a nucleus
of truth which a practised eye can readily distinguish from
the fabulous accretions of idle or impudent imaginations ;
and if the general substance of such traditions regarding
the life of a great poet, is not contradicted, or is rather con¬
firmed, by the internal evidence of his reputed works, a
reasonable man may take his stand upon them as confidently
as he does upon any other conclusion, resting upon evi¬
dence which may reach the highest degree of probability,
but can in no case partake of absolute scientific certainty.
The authorship of the Lives of Homer, printed in Barnes’,
and other editions, and in Westermann’s collection (Bioy-
pdfoi, Brunswick, 1845), is unknown ; but their value as
literary documents depends not on what the authors say
in their own name, which is utterly worthless, but on the
ancient authorities and special popular traditions which they
quote. From them we know what was the account given
by Aristotle of the birthplace of Homer, what Ephorus
said was the local tradition of the people of Cumae, and
what Homeric monuments were shown by the islanders
of los. A very slight consideration of these ancient testi¬
monies thus analysed will suffice to show the vanity of the
claims put forth by various Greek cities as having given
birth to Homer. Of these, seven is the number commonly
mentioned in a well-known distich (Aul. Gell., iii., 11);
but the reader who chooses to turn up Suidas will find
at least half a dozen more; and to increase learning in
this matter will only be to increase scepticism, unless a
man carries with him the sound maxim of the lawyers,
ponderanda sunt testimonia non numeranda. The claims
of Athens, for instance, rest, according to a distinct testi¬
mony (LAves S and e in Westermann), on the mere fact
that the lonians of Smyrna were a colony from Attica, and
that if Homer was a Smyrniote, he might reasonably be
called an Athenian, just as a person born in Sydney may
say he is a Londoner, because his father or his grand¬
father, or his great-grandfather was so. In a similar loose
fashion the claims of Salamis in Cyprus, are found to be
explained by the fact that Stasinus, one of the poets of
595
the Epic Cycle, was a native of that island, and that the epic Homer,
poem called Cypria, written by him, was by some attri-
buted to Homer, from whom Stasinus is said to have re¬
ceived it as a marriage gift with the daughter of the great
poet (Ailian, V. H. ix., 15). Colophon, in a similar way,
claimed to have produced the poet of the//me?, because of a
famous humorous poem called the Margites, of which Homer
was generally supposed to be the author (Welcker, Epic Cycle,
i., 184). But the same critical inspection which enables us
to expose the flimsy pretensions of these places, reveals the
remarkable fact that those other cities which have most to
say for themselves as being the native country of Homer,
unite, by the peculiar form of their traditions, in giving
to Smyrna at least some share in his birth,—a plain admis¬
sion that at the time when these traditions were framed, the
claims of Smyrna were considered so strong that they
could not possibly be ignored. Thus the most detailed
and best known Life, that attributed to Herodotus, which
was for a long time received as authentic, deduces the pa¬
rentage of Homer from Magnesia, in Thessaly; thence Me-
lanopus is said to have crossed the Aegean, and settled in
Cumae, the principal city of the Aolians, in Asia Minor ;
here he married a lady of Cumae, by whom he had a
daughter called Critheis; and this maiden having, unknown
to her guardians, formed a connection with some unknown
individual of the male sex, was, to avoid exposure, sent to
Smyrna, where, on the banks of the River Meles, she brought
forth Homer, thence called Melesigenes. We have already
said that such local traditions are not history ; but when we
find another of the seven cities, namely, los, framing a local
legend, which, while differing from that of Cumae in every
other point, agrees with it in bringing the immortal minstrel
to the banks of the Meles to be born, we must be alto¬
gether blind to the spirit in which local legends are com¬
posed, if we do not see here the strongest proof that the
real country of Homer was that which is distinctly allowed
in the legends of those very cities which are most interested
in denying its claims. We say, therefore, that according
to all human probability, Homer was born at Smyrna ; and
when we say, with equal probability, that he died at los,—
one of the Cyclades in the Archipelago,—for on this point
the various accounts also agree,—we have stated all that
can be said to be known with regard to the father of epic
poetry in Greece. The other events of his life, as given in
the longer biographies, are fictions invented, many of them,
with the plain purpose of giving a historical existence to
certain of the characters mentioned in the ///«r/and Odyssey ;
or they are mere blunders of which the source is innocent
and obvious. That, like all minstrels, Homer was given to
wander about from place to place in the exercise of his vo¬
cation is probable enough without any voucher, and ap¬
pears quite certain from the extensive and accurate geo¬
graphical information displayed in his works ; but the de¬
tails of his travels would be curiously retained in no man’s
memory; and what we have for them bears all the marks of
a vulgar forgery. The much-bespoken circumstance of his
being blind, noticed in all the ancient Lives, if implying a
mere superinduced misfortune, and not a congenital defect,
might, as a matter of popular tradition, be probable enough,
were the origin of the story not too plain in the double
fact that a blind poet is introduced in the Odyssey (viii. 64),
and in the famous hymn to Apollo, which Thucydides (iii.
104) and other ancients accepted as the productions of the
genuine Homer. This hymn, indeed, must be regarded as
the main authority of those who claimed Homer as a
Sciote : for the lines run expressly—
TvtpXoc avrig, oixti ?s Xim cm wai'rKXociriry.
The blind old man who dwells in Chios’ rocky isle ;
and there is certainly no evidence so strong in favour of
Smyrna, provided only it could be proved—what no scholar
now dreams—that these lines were really so said and sung
596
Homer.
HOMER.
by tli6 veritable singer of the Iliad and Odyssey. But after
this line is rejected, there remains no ground for the claims
of Chios, save that weak one expressly mentioned by
Strabo (xiv., p. 645), that in this city theie flouiished the
famous guild or brotherhood of minstrels (of whom more
anon), known by the name of the Homeridae ; a fact of no
more power, when criticallv examined, to prove that Homer
himself was a Chiote, than the fact of Calvinistic theology
beino- very dominant in Scotland would prove that the au¬
thor °of the doctrine was born in Edinburgh.
The age of Homer is a matter about which less that is
satisfactory can be stated, than with regard to his country.
That if not a Smyrniote he was at least a native of that
part of Asia Minor, is proved not merely by the traditional
evidence just adduced, but by the internal evidence of the
poems themselves—by their rich tone, colour, and style, and
also by many well-known facts relative to the early rise and
growth of poetic literature among the Greeks. But chro¬
nology is, in the nature of the thing, a matter with which
popular tradition has nothing to do : and the internal evi¬
dence of the poems themselves on this head, though strong
enough, perhaps, to exclude certain extreme suppositions,
affords a pretty wide range to a merely conjectural chrono¬
logy. Herodotus, in a well-known passage (ii., 53), places
Homer about four hundred years older than himselt; that
is, in the year 850 b.c., or thereabout; Aristotle, in the
account given by him of the legend of los, makes the birth
of Homer contemporary with the great Ionic migration
(1044 b.c.) ; while Dionysius of Samos, the cyclographer,
threw him back as far as the Trojan War, which he de¬
scribes. To determine exactly between these contending
dates, and at least a dozen more given in a very full scheme
by Lauer (HomerischePoesie, p. 124), is ot course hopeless ;
but the circumstances of the case warrant us in refusing to
allow any date for Homer, so early as that assumed by the
cyclographer, or later than that given by Herodotus. For
such an extensive collection of myths as that connected
with the Trojan War requires time to grow; and Homer
manifestly talks of the heroes of the Iliad as belonging to
some age not altogether identical with his own. I he
mingled elements, also, of Ionian and iEolic Hellenism,
which appear in the Homeric poems, did not exist in Asia
Minor at the early date supposed by Dionysius, or those
who come near to him. As little, on the other hand, can
we go beyond Herodotus, in bringing Homer nearer to the
date of the Olympiads than the year 850, for the very un¬
certainty in which the wisest Greeks were as to the age of
the poet, proves that he lived at a period considerably more
ancient than the first year (776 B.c.) of their recognised
national chronology.
Perhaps some reader may have been content that
we should allude to these disputed points in a manner
even more perfunctory than we have done; but in these
days of rampant historical scepticism, imported wholesale
from Germany, it is absolutely necessary to make some at¬
tempt to mark distinctly where the cloud-architecture of mere
imagination ends, and the mainland of actual tradition,
hazy and yet indubitable, commences. In reference to
these sceptical views of the Germans, we cannot avoid no¬
ticing here that some of them have even gone so far as to
deny the existence of such a man as Homer altogether;
and, what is of more consequence to us, the language,
which some of the more wild of that sect are still in the
habit of using, has been adopted by some of our own scho¬
lars whose name is sufficient to make even their incidental
errors dangerous. Mr Grote, for instance, uses the fol¬
lowing language :—“ The name of Homer—/or I disallow
his historical 'personality—means the Iliad and the Odyssey,
and nothing elseand again, “ Homer is no individual
man, but the divine or heroic father of the Gentile Homerids”
(vol. ii., p. 179); that is to say, while the whole of the
Greek nation believed they had once had a great epic poet Homer,
to whose extraordinary genius, as to a natural and adequate v"—
cause, they attributed their two great epic poems (just as the
ordered world finds the best explanation of its existence in
a God) ; we, the learned of modern times, are bound to
doubt whether that poet had any existence, and to treat
these poems as if they were not productions of a great poetic
genius at all, but the creation of some half dozen or a score
of second-rate rhymers, whose names no person ever cared
to know, but who were cunning enough to raise themselves
into a fictitious historical consequence by the creation of a
symbolical head of their corporation called Homer, whom
the silly world has, for nearly 3000 years, been willing to
take for a substantial reality ! Now, it ought at once to be
granted to Mr Grote, and those Germans whose nebulous no¬
tions he has in this matter imported, that there was a tendency
in the earliest times of the Greeks, as perhaps of all highly
imaginative nations, to represent in the historical form cer¬
tain favourite ideas and theories, theological and ethnologi¬
cal; which allegorical or mythical narratives,a modern reader
of a pi'osaic temper may be apt to mistake for realities. Of
the religious myth in particular, the historic was the gene¬
rally accredited form, to such an extent that the original
physico-theological ideas which these narratives were in¬
vented to convey, are now but dimly discernible behind the
motley company of human incarnations by which they are
impersonated. Nay, more, it may even be true in some
cases, according to a favourite notion of the Germans (Us-
chold and others), that the religious symbols of one century
became the anthropomorphic gods of another, and dwindled
down to the merely human heroes of a third. Further,
it is not to be denied that beyond the sphere of religion
the practice seems to have prevailed among the Greeks
to a certain extent of inventing names of characters, appa¬
rently historical, to symbolize the origin and the connection
of certain notable races of men. Thus Hellen, in whose
personality the most critical of ancients believed (see I hucyd.
I. 3), is taken by almost all modern writers, even by Clin¬
ton, for a mere name invented as a symbol of the com¬
mon nationality of the people whom he represented. But
even with regard to national genealogies, we are in nowise
entitled to assume that because they are peculiarly liable to
forgery, therefore no national genealogy is in any case to be
accepted as true. Much less are we to make a general rule
of evaporating all the most deeply-rooted local traditions of
a country into mere misty imaginations and unsubstantial
symbols, and to assume that the “ manufacture of fictitious
personalities” (Grote), was the only or the main function of
the popular intellect of any people, at any stage of their civili¬
zation. Man is a real creature, and he deals with realities; and
of all realities, those which he is least disposed to lose hold of
are the great men whose energy fathers any extraordinary
product of the national life, and whose name marks any great
national epoch. In conformity with this real tendency of
human nature we find that in all popular poetry the actions
of famous men—the national heroes form a much more
prominent element than symbolized religious or physical
philosophy (see some admirable remarks in Lauer, p. 131—
174) ; and the periods of intellectual and political advance¬
ment marked by such names as Homer and Theseus aie
precisely those in which a great reality would be more
powerful to seize the minds of men than the most signifi¬
cant symbol. Extraordinary and even miraculous stories
in the life of a historical personage ought not in the very
least to shake our credit in his fundamental reality ; for it
is precisely because his reality was so striking and so over¬
powering that these miraculous stories were invented, and
naturally found credit. The Israelites carried back the
genealogy of their nation to the son of Isaac, from whom
they sprung. Had the books of Moses, with all their cir¬
cumstantial details and life-like reality never been written,
*
HOMER.
Horner, a German philologer might have said that Jacob was merely
a symbol. In the same way the Athenians ascribed cer¬
tain great political changes in their country to the son of
ACgeus, of whom various wonderful and superhuman stories
are told; but these stories no more justify us in throwing
him into the limbo of symbols, than the ridiculous lies
about Abraham and the other patriarchs, current in the
Koran and other Eastern books, would entitle us to disallow
the historical reality of the father of the faithful. In the
same way—though there are some things of a plainly myth¬
ical nature in the traditional legends of Homer—to con¬
clude from these that Homer himself is a myth, is to argue
with the precipitation of a whim-intoxicated German, not
with the deliberation of a sober-minded and judicious Eng¬
lishman. Indeed, it is only doing the Germans justice to
state that the “ disallowance of the personality of Homer,”
to use Mr Grote’s phrase, is by no means so common among
them now as in the first fever of intemperate Wolfian en¬
thusiasm it might have been without offence. William
Muller, the most popular champion of Wolfian ideas, says
distinctly, in his Vorschule (p. 51), that “we are not called
upon to question the personal existence of Homer;” and
Professor Welcker (to whose learned labours all students of
Homer are so much indebted), Nitsch, C. O. Muller, Dr
Ihne (in Smith’s Dictionary), Baiimlein, Lauer, and others
who have written recently on the subject, show a mo¬
deration of temper, and a soundness of historical judg¬
ment, very far removed from what we are accustomed to
designate as “ German extravagance.” It is becoming evi¬
dent to a thoughtful observer that even among that most
speculative, sceptical, and, intellectually speaking, most
anarchical nation of Europe, the conflict of extreme views
is beginning to produce its natural result in the recognition
of the great human realities which lie at the bottom of the
strong though unpurified historical convictions of the
masses.
So much for the poet. The next question that presents
itself in connection with the name of Homer is that of the
authenticity of the works which go under his name. What
security have we that the poems we now read with such
delight and instruction are the identical works which Aris¬
totle analysed, which Plato denounced, which Thucydides
and Strabo quoted as the best authority for some of the
earliest and most important facts in Greek history and topo¬
graphy ? What guarantee, further, that the works which
the great writers of the classic age of Greece, received as
genuine works of the great Ionian bard, actually were so;
and how far they might not have been made subject to va¬
rious interpolations and mutilations in the three or four
centuries that elapsed between the heroic age, when they
were composed, and the historic age, when we find them
made the subject of literary study and criticism ? The im¬
portance of these questions will appear the more strongly
when we bear in mind that the celebrity of Homer naturally
led to the national practice of stamping with his name many
poetical works of a popular character, in which the stern
tests applied by a severe criticism refuse to find any marks
of so illustrious a paternity. Prominent among these are
the Homeric hymns, treated as authentic by Thucydides,
and published as undoubted works of the great bard in the
Editio Princeps and other notable editions by modern
scholars. 01 the same kind are the Cypria already men¬
tioned, of the contents of which a short account is given by
Proclus the grammarian. To Homer also was very gene¬
rally attributed by the ancients the Colopherian poem called
Margites ; and the Battle of the Frogs and Mice is an ex¬
ample of one of the many Tratyvta, or humorous popular
pieces, with the composition of which the singer of the
wrath of Achilles is supposed to have amused his mighty
mind in his hours of relaxation. With regard to all these
it may be sufficient to state that the ancients them¬
selves were very far from exhibiting a serious agreement as
to their authorship; and their being attributed to Homer '
must be viewed as rather a favourite floating popular be¬
lief than a strong national conviction. Such being their
character, it could not be expected that they should stand
muster before the scrutinizing glance of modern criticism,
and the sceptical analysis of the Germans. In talking of
the Homeric poems we must therefore remove these minor
works altogether from our view ; but the fact of their having
been for a long period so generally received as genuine
works of the poet, leads us to treat with the greater con¬
sideration the caution of those who demand the severest
proof for the real authorship of the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Now, with regard to these two great, works, there is, in the
first place, not the slightest reason to doubt that we possess
and use them, so far as the contents and the text are con¬
cerned, exactly as they were possessed and used by the
Greeks of the classic ages ; and with regard to their author¬
ship the faith which we have that these identical works were
the genuine works of the great Ionian epopceist was the
general faith of the whole ancient world, both Greek and
Roman ; and in the case of the Iliad at least (for there were
some difficulties started by a few curious inquirers with re¬
gard to the Odyssey), a faith for centuries unshaken by a
single breath of contradiction. That the Iliad, which we
now read, is substantially the Iliad of Pindar and of Plato,
can be proved to the satisfaction of any sane man, exactly
in the same way that the Christian Scriptures read now in
the Christian churches are proved to be substantially the
same as those expounded by the earliest bishops, and sanc¬
tioned by the most authoritative councils of the Church.
To the Greeks Homer was in fact a bible, and guarded
with all the care and all the piety that belongs to such a
book ; a fact which at once explains the extravagant, and,
to our feeling, illiberal zeal with which Plato denounces it
in his ideal polity, and at the same time puts into our hands
a guarantee of the surest and most sacred kind for the
general authenticity of the poems as we now read them.
No person who is even superficially read in the Greek clas¬
sics can fail to have observed how constantly all writers of
note, from the severe and stern Aristotle to the light and
sportive Lucian, refer to Homer as to a writer of whom a
universal knowledge might be presupposed in all their
readers, and to whom a universal respect was paid. The
consequence of this frequent reference is, that there is
no writer of antiquity of whom we are more sure that we
possess his genuine words as current in the mouths of the
ancients, than we are with regard to the author of the Iliad
and the Odyssey. But more than this. In the time of the
Ptolemies, and when the productive power of Greek litera¬
ture had begun to faint and die away, there was a special
band of learned critics and commentators, who made it their
business to collate the various recensions of the Homeric
epics, and to transmit their text to us with as much con¬
scientious fidelity as was possible. Prominent among these
were Aristarchus and Zenodotus, of whom the first has
transmitted his name to modern times as a popular appella¬
tive for the literary man who exercises the higher sort of
documental criticism as a vocation; and not only do we
know that such men existed, and exercised their philologic
care on the great national treasure of the Homeric text,
but we have in the Venetian scholia, first published from
the St Mark’s library by Villoison (1788), a series of no¬
tices of their method of critical procedure, and a list of
their asterisks and obelisks, sufficient to dispel all doubts as
to the unadulterated transmission of the Iliad and Odyssey,
at least from the period when letters began to be a study
and an occupation in Greece. But when did this period
begin ? and what have we to say for the nature of the gua¬
rantees of authenticity, whatever they were, that existed
before this period ? I hese are the really serious questions,
597
Homer.
598
Homer.
HOMER.
the answers to which have raised difficulties that have made
wise men pause and foolish men stumble, not without ob¬
servation. On all hands it is allowed that Pisistratus, the
well-known Athenian tyrant (b.c. 560), was the first, so far
at least as Athens is concerned, to collect togethei the va¬
rious books or rhapsodies of the Homeric epics, which weie
generally sung or recited separately, and to ai range and
publish them—to use a modern phrase—in the form in
which they now exist. Pisistratus, therefore, or rather his
literary coadjutors, among whom Onomacritus is promi¬
nently named, must be regarded as our first historical gua¬
rantee for the text of the Iliad and Odyssey as we now
possess it; but the details of his literary labours are un¬
fortunately not in the least known to us ; so from this point
backward we are left to conjecture, to historical probabili¬
ties and internal evidence, and to the hundred and one small
sceptical doubts and sceptical solutions of those doubts,
which will never cease to exercise the wits of those who
are born to torment themselves in this way. rI he ques¬
tion whether the Iliad as arranged by Pisistratus was,
both in point of matter and arrangement, exactly the same
as the Iliad, of which Homer was then the reputed author,
is a question that in the nature of the case admits of
no perfectly satisfactory answer. Absolutely the same of
course in the nature of human things it cannot be ; for even
the Christian Scriptures, guarded as they have been by
the double sanction of individual and corporate authority,
have not been transmitted through eighteen centuries of
literary record without being made subject to several very
notable interpolations: nor can it even be said that any^
man at the present day can feel the same degree of
certainty with regard to the text of Homer that he does
with regard to that of Milton, Tasso, Dante, or even Virgil.
Why ? Not only because of the greater lapse of time ;
for in a question of documentary criticism this is often a
point of comparatively small moment; but because of the
different conditions under which these works were composed,
and the different medium through which, in their earliest
stage, they were transmitted. We read of no Pisistratus
that first collected the scattered books of the AEneid ; the
very MS. which Dante gloried in, or something as good,
is no doubt lying in the Grand Duke’s library in Florence
at the present hour. In the case of these poets people
may be vexed wuth various readings and doubtful lines—
such questions as curious editors will raise even with re¬
gard to modern Scotts and Byrons; but there is no talk
about cutting out whole books, and the strange process
with which learned Germans are so familiar, of restoring a
great poem to its integrity by depriving it of some of its
most beautiful parts. Let us endeavour then to fix a steady
eye on the real state of the Homeric text at the time when
it was collected by Pisistratus. What reason have we to
suppose that it was then to any considerable extent inter¬
polated, or changed in any way from its original condition
as it came from the mouth of Homer ? The answer to
this question depends upon another. W ho were the con¬
servators of that trust previous to the time of Pisistratus ;
and what safeguards were they provided with against those
invasions of spurious matter to which all works of exten¬
sive circulation, and general popularity, are especially sub¬
ject ? The conservators of the trust are, in the first place,
the national aoiSot, minstrels or bards, who, like Homer him¬
self, made a profession of singing songs and epic poems for
the amusement of the people ; and, when these had begun
to wane, they were succeeded by the rhapsodists or popular
reciters, who performed the same functions, but with less
original genius and less social dignity in an age when his¬
torians, and orators, and philosophers, and rhetoricians, had
usurped many of the functions that had originally been ex¬
ercised by the doiSos. Now it is of immense importance in
the criticism of Homer to ascertain clearly if possible what
was the moral position of the original minstrels’ profession Homer,
with regard to the great poet: for on this depends the
likelihood of their either loosely interpolating or conscien¬
tiously respecting the integrity of his works. That they
cannot have felt the same religious sort of respect for him
that arose in the Greeks of a later age, seems pretty evi¬
dent ; they were minstrels by trade as well as he, and
could only look upon him in the exercise of their profession
as primus inter pares. Nevertheless, they did respect him
very much; of which we have ample evidence in the ex¬
istence of the famous guild or institution of poets in Chios,
known by the name of the Homeridce, or sons of Homer,
concerning whom we have the most distinct testimony in
Harpocration. Whether any of the actual descendants of
the poet formed the original nucleus of this fraternity we
cannot tell; but its existence under that designation is am¬
ple proof of the extraordinary respect in which Homer con¬
tinued to be held in the parts of Asia nearest to his birth¬
place, and affords a sufficient practical guarantee that the
professional minstrels who were incorporated under this
name would not, from mere rash conceit, be inclined to
tamper with the tradition of the Smyrnaean muse of which
they were the select depositaries. On the other hand, it
must not be forgotten that a poem like the Iliad, made not
to be read as a continuous book, but to be sung in separate
parts for the public amusement, was peculiarly liable to have
such additions made to it or variations as the occasion might
require. Of this our own ballads (see Chambers Songs
and Ballads of Scotland, p. 106, note) supply everywhere
abundant proof, the existing version of which is often
pieced together from a variety of different texts, presenting
all sorts of deficiencies and redundancies. That something
of this kind should not have taken place with regard to the
Homeric poems in general circulation through the scattered
tribes of the Greeks, would have been positively miraculous ;
and we must suppose that the principal business of Pisis¬
tratus, in collecting these poems, was not, as some have
strangely supposed, to create an order which never ex¬
isted, but to fix an order which was in danger of being
lost. Whether in doing so he had the advantage of any
complete correct text derived from the Homeridae of Chios,
with which to compose and correct the scattered rhapsodies
in popular currency, w’e cannot say ; but it is not at all un¬
likely ;—at any rate he would have little difficulty in restor¬
ing the original arrangement of the books, partly because
that order in the generality of cases shines out manifestly
from the inherent character of the plot, and the progiess
of the story, partly because there could not fail to exist
among the more literate and accomplished of the rhapso¬
dists some one who could recite by memory not merely sin¬
gle books, but the whole concatenation of books, as the
Homeridae of Chios had received them from their great
father. Most assuredly, as has been insisted on both
by Baiimlein and Grote, he never could have set himself
seriously to make extensive modern interpolations in poems,
the contents of which were well known over the whole of
Greece, and had in Athens been made the subject of a spe¬
cial public regulation by their great lawgiver, Solon. (See
Diog. Laert. in Solon 9.)
In the view here given of the respective functions of the
Homeridae, and of Pisistratus, in the transmission of the
Homeric poems, we have said nothing about the famous
question, whether the art of writing teas known in Homer's
time ? because a little reflection will show7 that this ques¬
tion has really very little bearing on the genuineness of the
poems as we now possess them, and besides is a question
that does not admit of a satisfactory answer. At the first
blush, indeed, when a modern who is the slave of pen and
ink, hears it stated that in all likelihood the great bard of
the Iliad could neither read nor write, he is apt to feel- very
much as if the whole foundation for his critical faith in the
HOMER.
Homer, poet was removed from beneath his feet, and there was no
longer any ground for him to stand on. How many an elo¬
quent modern speaker might be struck dumb if pen, ink, and
paper w'ere suddenly removed from the category of things
that be! But they managed these matters differently on
Parnassus and Helicon in the days when Memory was the
mother of the Muses, and the Muses could sing sweetly
without help from a goose quill. We have the most dis¬
tinct testimony of Julius Caesar (B. C. vi. 14), to the
effect “ that the pupils of the Druids learn by heart a great
number of verses ; and some continue twenty years in a
course of instruction. Nor do they think it right to commit
their doctrines to writing, though in other matters they use
the Greek alphabet. This they appear to me to do for two
reasons ; first, that they may ?wt make, their religious mys¬
teries too common and profane by general publication, and
again, that they may not weaken the power of memory in
their scholars by teaching them to trust to written notes ;
for nothing is more common than that the abundance of
literary helps teaches persons to remit their exertions in
committing their knowledge to memory.” This remarkable
passage reveals to us in the most striking manner the real
secret of the transmission of the Homeric poems without
the help of written manuscripts ; the memory of the min¬
strels was not more uncertain, but more true and trust¬
worthy for this very reason, that they were not accustomed
to depend for the faithful recollection of the poems which
they recited, upon a leaf of papyrus or a library itself. In es¬
timating the memorial powers of these men we must never
forget not only that they exercised their art under intellec¬
tual conditions exactly the reverse of those which now ex¬
ist, but also that they had no other business or interests
by which to distract their attention, and so could perform
certain feats with ease, that bear the same relation to our
common exercises of memory, that tumbling and rope¬
dancing do to common walking. It is always in our power,
by exclusive and persevering exercise of a favourite faculty
in a favourite sphere, to perform apparent prodigies. We shall
therefore readily disabuse ourselves of the superficial modern
notion that written memoranda are necessary to the faithful¬
ness of versified tradition; the “ wonder,” as it has been
called by Grote, of the “preservation” of such long poems
from such early ages will become part of the common intel¬
lectual drill of an age eloquent without paper, and poetical
without ink; and the question will only remain, as a mat¬
ter of legitimate curiosity with regard to the Iliad and
Odyssey, whether their author was acquainted with those
useful arts of literary conservation, the knowledge of which
is in our days justly accounted a necessary element in the
lowest stages of popular education. Now with regard to the
use of letters in Greece, the general voice of Hellenic an¬
tiquity pointed to Cadmus as having imported these cunning
symbols from Phoenicia at a period far antecedent to the
age of Homer, or even the supposed date of the Trojan
War; and this tradition is consistent not only with the
philological analysis of their letters of the alphabet, but
with the then general state of the civilization, and the
admitted intercourse between Asia and the West as having
taken place in various forms at a very early period of the
history of the world. There is every probability, therefore,
in favour of the belief that letters, in some shape or other,
were known in Greece, at whatever date, between the Trojan
War and the year 850, which may be assumed as most con¬
venient for the age of Homer. But from this probable be-
599
lief with regard to the epoch of the knowledge of letters in Homer.
Greece, the distance to a reasonable conviction, with regard v ^ J
to the practice of Homer himself in composing and pre¬
serving his poems, is very great, and not lightly to be over¬
looked. That letters, when first introduced, were used
only in great public matters, and for inscriptions in wood,
stone, lead, and other heavy materials, not for writing a long
concatenation of poetic rhapsodies, is conformable to the
nature of the thing, and to every testimony that we have
on the subject. According to the usual slow progress of
human affairs, three centuries at least may well have been
required to transfer letters from the rare service of temple-
porticoes and monumental pillars, to the common use of
literary conservation ; so that, even assuming the use of
letters for public purposes in the days of Homer, the pro¬
bability may be considered very small that they were ac¬
tually used by the poet or his immediate successors for
any merely literary purpose. This probability becomes
even less, when we consider that there is not a single allu¬
sion in the whole forty-eight books of the two poems to
writing or books as a part of the civilization which they de¬
scribe (the aripaTa Xvypa, in Iliad, vi. 168, being ambi¬
guous) ; and though this in itself were no conclusive argu¬
ment, as any poet who uses pen and ink is not even in these
days obliged to make his heroes do so, yet taken in con¬
nection with the general character of the poems, and the
circumstances of the time, as ascertained by historical an¬
alogy, it is in nowuse to be looked on as an altogether in¬
different circumstance.
So far we have confined our remarks to the external
aids and authorities, by means of which the poet and his
works are in the first place commended to our attention.
It now remains from this general basis of outward histo¬
rical probabilities and presumptions, to direct our inquiry
into the character and genius of the poems themselves, and
from this investigation either to transmute our probabilities
into certainties, or throw them aside as unsupported, or con¬
tradicted by a higher, and the highest sort of evidence. For
no mere array of authorities, however venerable, can in the
long run support an incoherent tradition that carries its own
contradiction in its face. This eternal superiority of imma¬
nent and inherent, to merely accredited evidence, has, since
Bentley’s famous dissection of the e])istlesofPhalaris, banish¬
ed from the shelves of authentic classical tradition, many a
hoary tome that had long held an honoured place there, along
with the most venerated worthies of the Greek and Roman
pantheon. How stands the case with regard to the Iliad
and Odyssey ? Are these works what they have for nearly
three thousand years been reputed to be—the great poems
of a great old Ionian poet—or do they bear the trick of
forgery on their face, and show the patch-work of a bung¬
ling fabricator on the phylacteries of their outer garment ?
The severe ordeal which the Homeric poems, in the way
of internal analysis, have undergone, takes its rise in modern
times from the publication of a famous edition, by F. A. Wolf,
a German professor of extraordinary talent, in the year 1795.
This scholar, partly following the bent of his own genius,
partly no doubt carried along by the general revolutionary
tendencies of the age, did, in the Prolegomena prefixed to
his edition, set forth an extremely sceptical doctrine with
regard to Homer and his poetry, with such rare learning,
vigour, and taste, that it was impossible for German minds
to resist him; and though the whole tendency and tone of
English scholarship runs in a directly contrary direction,1 as
1 It is remarkable that the germs of the Wolfian theory travelled from this country over to Germany; and Wolf, in his Prolegomena,
honestly recognizes Wood and Bentley as valuable pioneers of the doctrine which he so eloquently enforces. Bentley’s well known utter¬
ance with regard to Homer is found in his Remarks on a late Discourse on Freethinking, by Phileleutherus Lipsiensis (Works by Dyce, iii.,
304). “ To prove Homer’s universal knowledge, our author says, ‘ he designed his poem for eternity to please and instruct mankind but
take my word for it, poor Homer, in those circumstances and early times, had never such aspiring thoughts. He wrote a sequel of songs and
rhapsodies to be sung by himself for small earnings and good cheer, at festivals and other days of merriment; the Iliad he made for the men,
and the Odyssey for the other sexfrom which passage, thrown out incidentally, however, he it remembered, and not deliberately
600
HOMER.
Homer, the great work of Clinton sufficiently testifies, it cannot be
—denied that beyond the pale of mere Oxonians the Wolfian
views have exercised no small influence in forming the cri¬
tical opinions of some of the best educated minds in Eng¬
land. The critical spirit of the age, the sceptical researches
of Niebuhr with regard to Roman history, and the increas¬
ing action of German scholarship on the learning of this
country, have all tended to produce this result. The theory
of Wolf, founded not merely on a minute critical analysis
of the poems, but, as he imagined also, on satisfactory ex¬
ternal evidence, was to the effect, that whether a great poet
called Homer ever existed or not, the two great poems
generally attributed to him are no homogeneous works
created by the plastic power of a presiding genius, but mere
aggregates of various origin, gathered together from the great
floating element of popular poetry in Greece, and cunningly
licked into shape by certain expert literary artizans in the days
of Pisistratus. Now, with regard to the external evidence on
which this paradox is founded, it seems at this hour gene¬
rally agreed, even among the Germans, that the authorities
relied on by Wolf do in no wise support his extreme con¬
clusion—do not in fact go beyond the historical statement
of the matter which we have just made, a statement per¬
fectly consistent both with the pei’sonal existence of one
great poet, and the organizing action of his presiding spirit
on the two great poems that go by his name. The advo¬
cates of the Wolfian theory, therefore, are now driven to
confine themselves to a series of arguments drawn from the
minute critical examination of the text of the poems, by
means of which they think they have evolved such an im¬
posing array of inconsistencies, as is utterly incompatible
with the belief in the presiding control of one great mind.
Among those who have distinguished themselves in this
field of what we may call Homeric histology, is Carl Lach-
mann, lately deceased, a Berlin professor of great erudition
and subtilty, as attested by well-known works in various
departments of philological investigation. It behoves us,
therefore, to inquire, on what presumptions and on what
principles the analytic criticism of this school is founded;
and when we have shown that these presumptions require
to be inverted, and that these principles are either altogether
false or altogether misapplied, we may spare our readers the
trouble of a minute and curious refutation of the individual
objections. Those who wish to pursue the question into
its details may consult the little tract of Lachmann (Be-
trachtungen iiber Homer's I lias, Berlin, 1847), or the
English work of Colonel Mure (A Critical History of the
Language and Literature of Ancient Greece, 2d edi¬
tion, London 1854, vols. i. and ii.)—a book replete with
the best German learning, and, what is of greater conse¬
quence, animated throughout with a spirit of good sense,
and a fine poetical appreciation, which very few Germans
can boast of.
In an investigation of this kind the pi'esumptions wdth
which a man starts, though not always distinctly set forth, are
of the utmost consequence in determining his procedure.
The false historical presumptions from which Wolf pro¬
ceeded, naturally led him to seek for flaws in the texture
of the Homeric poems; and it is manifest that even Mr
Grote, who justly considers the extreme Wolfian theory as
quite untenable, in propounding his wfild scheme of resolv¬
ing the Iliad into two distinct parts, has been influenced,
partly by his desire to mitigate what he calls “ the wonder”
of the creation, and the preservation of two such long con¬
tinuous poems, bearing the stamp of one mind, in an age
when writing was altogether unknown. That there are no
external historical presumptions of this kind we have already
attempted to show; a presumption of a different kind we
shall now state. It is not to be presumed that Homer would
be anxiously accurate about the mere articulation or joint-
work of his epic poems, for several reasons. First, because
he was a poet, and aimed, as all true poets do, mainly at
producing an effect on the feelings and imaginations of his
hearers, not on their mere cognitive capacity. Small mis¬
takes in incidental matters taken cognizance of by the
curious understanding only, might, without offence, be com¬
mitted by a great singer of poetry, as they would certainly
not be observed by a healthy-minded hearer ; and that
mistakes of this kind actually have been made, and are
even now daily made by poets and novelists of the high¬
est order, has been shown by Colonel Mure in the most
effective manner. Second, because he was a popular poet,
a wandering minstrel with a lyre in his hand, as he is truly
represented in all the old biographies, and not a learned
Southey sitting in a library, with books, and desk, and pen
and ink, printers’ proof sheets, publishers’ quarterly reviews,
and every sort of literary apparatus of the newest and most
approved description. In judging of the Iliad as a whole,
we must never forget, though it seems to be very generally
forgotten, that itvvas not, could not be, Homer’s immediate
object to compose a great whole, for the plain and simple
reason that he had comparatively few opportunities of using
such a whole. His art, therefore, was to concatenate a series
of parts, which, while they might be used with effect on a
few great festive occasions as a whole, were meant to pro¬
duce their general and most appreciable effect, in the shape
of parts either absolutely complete in themselves, or admit¬
ting of being easily supplemented by the indwelling tradi¬
tional lore, which the poet could legitimately presuppose in
the minds of his hearers. Something analagous to this we
have in the great historical plays of Shakspeare, consisting
of several parts, in any of which if there happened to be
some small inconsistencies with the other parts, none but a
curious person making a business of criticism would ever
notice it, as the parts, though connected in conception, are
so constructed as to give the impression of completeness,
when they are represented as separate wholes. If this point
be duly considered, and there is nothing more certain or
more duly attested in the history of these poems, the weak¬
ness of a great number of the objections made by Lachmann
and Grote to the concatenation of the Iliad will instantly
appear. The tenth book, for instance—that in which the
midnight expedition of Diomedes and Ulysses is described,
—has, it is said, no necessary connection with the parts of the
poem that precede or follow, and might be cut out with¬
out injury. Of course; because it was the object of the
poet so to string together a number of little wholes, origi¬
nally independent, that they might still remain little wholes,
and yet become parts of a great whole—an exquisite trick
of art plainly, and which, as the whole history of popular
poetry teaches, it required precisely a mighty genius like
Homer to perform. And this brings us to the third pre¬
sumption, with which we must start in judging of the alleged
inconsistencies of the Iliad. We must bear in mind that
Homer did not make his materials, but received them; the
little wholes which he had to recast and organize into a
great whole, already existed in the minds and in the mouths
of the people whom he addressed, just as the Romaic bal¬
lads that arose out of the war of independence in 1821-7,
exist in the minds and mouths of the Hellenes of the pre¬
sent day, waiting for some second Homer, it may be, to fuse
them into a great epos of Messolonghi, when the day may
Homer.
measured in every word, one thing seems plain, that by using the word “ Sequel,” the great critic gives us plainly to understand that
he held there was an essential unity of plan going through both works, which puts him plainly out of the roll of thorough-going
Wolfians, and advocates of what Nitsch calls the “ Klein-lieder-theorie.” Among other notable anticipators of Wolf’s theory, the case
of the Neapolitan philosopher Vico has often been mentioned. See Sciema nuova libro terzo ; della discoverta del vero Omero, first pub¬
lished in the year 1725, and repeatedly reprinted.
H 0 M E E.
Homer, at length have come for that reconstruction of that Byzan-
tine empire which the late Czar of Russia said he would
on no account tolerate. In the same way, an epic poem of
Caledonian loyalty, were the times favourable, might be
made out of the materials contained in the Scottish Jacobite
songs; and a grander epos still, called “ The Fall of Napo¬
leon,” might be constructed containing many finely dramatic
materials from the war songs composed by Kdrner and others
in the great German rising of 1813. Now, if the rich
materials of popular traditionary song, out of which Homer
constructed the Iliad (and no person who knows anything
about such matters will think it more probable that he made
it out of nothing), contained, as they could not but contain,
certain elements that would be incongruous, when the dif¬
ferent parts were worked up into a new whole ; and if Homer
did not care—as the practice of his art did not require him
to be particularly curious—whether every line or phrase
that marked the original independence of these parts, was
nicely obliterated, it is manifest that the small flaws in the
concatenation which may here and there be visible to the
curious eye, prove, not, as Lachmann imagines, that one poet
did not organize the whole, but that Homer gave himself
no concern to disguise the fact, that the several parts of his
poem, both in the popular tradition and in the actual prac¬
tice of his art, had a complete and independent existence
apart from the magnificent whole into which his genius had
organized them.
These considerations will enable the student of Homer
to make short work, not only with the hypercritical cap¬
tiousness and the peeping anatomy of Lachmann’s Betrach-
tungen, but also with the more large and philosophical ana¬
lysis of Mr Grote. We must not start in our inquiry into the
unity of the Iliad, with the strong inclination to magnify the
importance of small inconsistencies, but with the most
charitable desire possible to overlook them. This poet, as
compared with Virgil, Dante, or Milton, demands the special
indulgence of the critic ; and yet it does rather seem that
from Wolf down to Grote, the whole army of objectors are
keenly set upon being particularly severe, in many cases posi¬
tively ill-natured, and, from a poetic point of view, as Colonel
Mure has triumphantly shown, positively unjust. For not
only do they pay no regard to those kindly considerations
which we have stated, arising out of the peculiar position
of the poet, and the nature of his materials, but with a per¬
verse ingenuity pardonable scarcely in Germans, they insist
on judging poetry by rules applicable only to works com¬
posed with a strictly practical, or a purely scientific view.
If an experienced soldier like Napoleon could criticise with
such a cutting eloquence the description of the taking of
Troy by the polished and learned Virgil, which yet speaks
admirably to the imagination—(see ClassicalMuseum,\
p. 205),—how strange and how unreasonable that a gentle¬
man of Mr Grote’s discernment should urge as a strong
proof against the authenticity of the seventh book of the
Iliad, the circumstance that it represents a ditch or dyke,
as having been made in the ninth year of the war, which,
according to all principles of military tactics, should have
been made, as Thucydides (1.11.) seems to have taken the
liberty of supposing it was made, in the first year 1 The
answer to all such very scientific cavils is this, that Flomer
was neither a soldier nor a critic, but a poet; and that when
composing the seventh book of the Iliad, he had before his
mind’s eye not a future Vegetius or a Grote, but only the
wrath of Achilles, and the place which that occupied in the
popular traditions of iEolia. If critical spectacles were not
used when popular poems were composed, their correct ap¬
preciation can allow no place to scientific microscopes. Many
things may be discovered by scientific eyes,—wonders in
the white rock, and wonders in the blue cheese,—but the
character and effect of popular poetry does not come within
the laws of that particular kind of vision. Even Mr Grote,
VOL. XI.
601
who has so ably exposed the absurdity of the Wolfian Homer.
“ small song theory” iKlein-lieder-theorie), which resolves •'
the Iliad into an aggregate of separate ballads, implying
no common authorship on the ground of alleged incon¬
sistencies, has, in attempting to resolve the same great work
into two separate works, the Achilleid and the Iliad, adopted
a principle of criticism, which every man who has any prac¬
tical knowledge of poets and poetry, must feel to be quite
out of place. “ The last two books of the poem,” he says,
“were probably additions to the original Achilleid; for the
death of Hector satisfies the exigencies of a coherent scheme,
and we are not entitled to extend the oldest poem beyond
the limits which such necessity prescribes.” And in the
spirit of this criticism, he cuts out the whole books, from
the 2d to the 7th inclusive, because the coherent scheme
of an Achilleid is sufficiently satisfied without them, and
there is no necessity for extending the oldest poem beyond
the limits which such exigency requires. But a great poet
is not influenced in the selection or the arrangement of
his material by any exigency of this kind; that nude co¬
herency of scheme which satisfies a mere logical mind,
may omit precisely those elements which work most power¬
fully on his own mind, and that of his hearers; not ima¬
ginative meagreness and parsimony, but luxuriance and
exuberance is his law. On the whole, the candid student
of Lachmann and Grote, if he be a person of native poetical
appreciation, will have no difficulty in coming to the con¬
clusion, that the great mass of the recent sceptical objections
against the organic unity of the Iliad, proceed on essentially
perverse and oblique principles, and that the brave old
minstrel has assuredly fallen on evil days, when men are
eager to judge him for whose judgment he never wrote,
and by canons which he never acknowledged.
The current of these remarks by no means implies that
there are no interpolations in the received text of Homer.
They are merely to the effect, that the sharpest scrutiny of
modern criticism and hypercriticism has failed to point out
any such gross incongruities in the component parts of the
poem, as would distinctly indicate the separate authorship
of those parts. In other words, the positive impression of
an organic unity which the unlearned reader receives from
the perusal of these poems, can in no wise be considered to
have been nullified by the multiform endeavours of learned
men to prove, that these famous poems are, to any con¬
siderable extent, an aggregation of independent and un¬
harmonized integers. That those integers once existed in
that crude state, may be assumed as most certainly true;
but the poems, as we now have them, prove, in the face of
the most cruel analysis, that these crude elements did, in
the earliest ages of Greek culture, come under the fusing and
formative influence of a great poet-mind so completely,
that any attempt to resolve them into their primitive ele¬
ments by the method of mere analysis must prove a failure.
With this understanding, every reasonable man must be
willing to admit that there are, and must in the nature of
the case be, not a few extraneous additions to a work, which
was a sort of public property in every body’s hands for seve¬
ral hundred years before it was finally fixed down to the
literary form in which we now have it. Some of these in¬
terpolations, of course, may be pointed out, with more or
less success, according to the general laws by which incon¬
gruities in literary documents are exposed; but in addition
to the presumptions for leniency of treatment already stated,
the critical reviser of the Flomeric text must bear in mind,
that there prevails in the popular poetry of all countries a
certain current tone, and common property in thought and
in expression, which makes it extremely difficult, from mere
internal evidence, to distinguish the original work of the
great master-mind from the additions made by a skilful in¬
terpolator. Under these extremely delicate and dubious
conditions, it does appear extremely strange, that Lachmann
4 G
602 H O M E E.
Homer, and so many other learned Germans, should talk with as
—much dogmatic decision about the original constituent ele¬
ments of the Iliad, as if they had been present at their crea¬
tion, and personally superintended their manufacture ; and
a plain man can only conclude with regard to the whole
matter, that in philology, as in metaphysics, these minute
investigators have, by an intense special devotion, worked
themselves into a sort of chronic insanity, from which only
time and the gradual operation of certain potent political
and social causes may ultimately achieve their redemption.
Before we leave this part of the subject a few words may
be allowed to the famous question, Whether, assuming Ho¬
mer’s authorship of the Iliad, there be not reasonable grounds
for assigning the Odyssey to the plastic powers of a diffe¬
rent and less mighty minstrel? Now, if this were alto¬
gether an open question, and there were no distinct and
intelligible Hellenic traditions as to the common author¬
ship of these two wonderful poems, not a few things might
be urged in favour of a separate authorship which might
have weight with a reasonable critic. There is a cer¬
tain more mild and subdued tone in the Odyssey, which,
along with certain points of difference in incidental matters,
might be sufficient, were there no contrary evidence, to
authorize the supposition of a different intellectual origin.
But the great error of those who, in modern times, take
upon themselves to assert the separate authorship of these
works, is the groundless assumption that the general voice
and tradition of Hellenic antiquity is to be taken as an ele¬
ment of no weight soever, in the critical estimate of such a
matter. On this point we differ toto ccelo from the Ger¬
mans, and are nothing ashamed to believe, with our learned
countryman Colonel Mure, that Aristotle, Plato, and the
overwhelming majority of the highest intellects in Greece,
had very sufficient reasons for placing a wide gulph between
the two epic poems which they agreed to stamp with the
name of Homer, and the very inferior works of a cognate cha¬
racter, known afterwards under the name of the Epic Cycle.
Nature did not produce twin Homers in those old Greek
days, we may depend on it, any more than she has produced
in these days twin Dantes or twin Shakspeares.1 If there had
been a second Homer of genius large enough to produce
a counterpoise to such a work as the Iliad, no doubt the
Homeridae of some second Chios would have been equally
eager to stereotype his memory in their composition, and
to immortalize themselves with his name. But precisely,
we imagine, because there was only one Homer, was there
only one guild of gentile Homeridse, and one uniform un¬
disputed authorship of the Iliad and the Odyssey among
the Greeks, till some pragmatical grammarians in meagre
Alexandria (among whom a certain Xenon and Hellanicus
are specialized), the prototypes of our modern Wolfians,
began to nibble at imagined incongruities, and to moot the
question of separate authorship. Such being the historical
conditions under which the question is raised, it is mani¬
fest that the presumptions, as in the question about the
unity of the Iliad, are all against the disintegrators ; and a
detailed examination of their array of minute and microsco¬
pic objections to the common authorship will, in all likeli¬
hood, bring the intelligent student, as it has brought Colonel
Mure, to a distinct verdict of not proven. One may, in¬
deed, urge the same objection against all the objections of the
Separatists-—Xcopt^ovTes as they were called—that Mr Grote
has urged against Lachmann and the minute dissectors of
the Iliad. “ The Wolfian theory,” says that eminent
scholar, “ explains the gaps and contradictions throughout
the narrative, but it explains nothing else.” In like manner,
we may say the theory of the Separatists explains the
small incongruities between the Iliad and the Odyssey, but Homer,
it leaves out of account altogether a more difficult matter to
explain—the very remarkable congruity that exists between
the whole style, tone, colour, and materials of these poems.
This congruity has been pointed out with great skill and
effect by Colonel Mure, also by a recent French writer,
Alexis Pierron {Literature Grecque, Paris, 1850), whose
words, after so much heavy discussion with the Germans,
the English reader will doubtless accept as a welcome
relief:—
“ Mais le style, les tours de phrase, 1’ordre et le mouvement des
pensees ! mais la versification ! mais les formules consacrees ! mais
les epithetes traditionelles! e’est la ce que les chorizontes negli¬
gent de comparer dans les deux poemes. Je n’hesite pas a dire,
que cent vers pris an hazard dans 1’un ne ressemblent pas moins a
cent vers pris dans I’autre, et pour la facture, et pour la tournure,
et pour le mouvement general, que ceux-ci ne ressemblent a tous
les vers qui les precedent et les suivent. Si le style est Thomme
meme, comme dit Buffon, le meme style e’est le meme homme.
II n’y a qu’un Homere. Le style ne s’enleve pas: et, malgrd
tous les efforts, on ne prend pas le tour d’esprit d’un autre :
on n’ecrit qu’avec soi-meme, mieux qu’autrui ou plus mal, aussi
bien peut-etre, mais toujours autrement. Sans doute e’est une
grande merveille, que le meme homme qui a compose 1’Iliade soit
aussi 1’auteur de I’Odyssee. Mais le phenomene de ressemblance
admis par le chorizontes est bien plus inoui encore. Le vieux
Pythagoricien, Ennius, disoit que Tame d’Homere avoit passe dans
la sienne; et 1’on sait quel Homere e’etoit qu’Ennius. C’est bien
une autre metempsycose qu’il nous faudrait admettre, pour donner
raison a ces Pythagoriciens nouveaux. II y a une chose cent
fois plus extraordinaire que 1’existence d’un Homere unique,
e’est 1’existence de deux Homeres.”
After having cleared our way through this dreary accu¬
mulation of critical briars and brambles, it only remains that
we state shortly what is the real character and worth of the
Homeric poems, as we have them, and what is their proper
and enduring place in the poetical literature of the world.
And here we must start with a grateful recognition of the
point of view on which our judgment of the Homeric poems
has been placed by the labours of Wolf and his followers.
Their error did not lie in their blindness to the true cha¬
racter of these productions, but in their attributing to a
dozen or a score of Homers a phenomenon which finds a
more obvious and satisfactory explanation in the time-
honoured recognition of one. But the genuine character
of the Iliad and the Odyssey as the poetry of the people,
composed to be sung, not the poetry of the individual,
written to be read, though previously discovered by Bentley,
Vico, and Wood,2 was never generally acknowledged and
felt till it was brought forward by Wolf, and scattered over
Europe by the host of enthusiastic disciples whom his ge¬
nius roused into a new and vivid consciousness of a great
truth. All the errors of that school, in fact, which we have
been obliged to criticise in severe language, wrere but ex¬
aggerations and caricatures of the great truth which Wolf
propounded in his Prolegomena of the essential generic
difference between Paradise Lost, the epos of the scholarly
man Milton, and Homer’s Iliad, the epos of the rude
Greek people. Homer lived in an age when the indivi¬
dual poet had not yet commenced to separate himself from
the general culture of his people, after such a strange
fashion as we see in the Shelleys, the Byrons, the Words¬
worths, and the Tennysons of modern times. The poetry
of Homer, therefore, represents the age of Homer more
completely than the most popular of our highly cultivated
modern poetry represents the age to which the poet be¬
longs. The reason of this plainly is, that in the earliest
ages of society, the minstrel was the only and the uni¬
versal exponent of the highest moral and intellectual
life of his age, and had an existence only as expressing
1 a Some people believe in twenty Homers; we in one. Nature is not so prodigal of her poets.” (John Wilson, in Blackwood's
Magazine, April 1831.)
2 An Essay On the Original Genius and Writings of Homer, by It. Wood, Esq., London, 1770.
H O M E K.
Homer, this culture in a popular and effective way. Whereas,
-mmJ in later times, the man of genius rose into an indepen¬
dent existence, and often expressed merely his own culture,
and that of a select body—more or less numerous—of liter¬
ary sympathizers and admirers whom he might have the
power to attach. The intimate relation that existed between
the heroic dotSos and his hearers may perhaps be best un¬
derstood by comparing that sort of action and reaction which
exists between the writers of leading articles in a newspaper
like the Times and the public to whom their daily appeals
are addressed. A similar case occurs in the weekly ad¬
dresses of a popular preacher to a religious people like the
Scotch, whose faith has not degenerated into decent forma¬
lism or unmeaning ceremonial. Herein, therefore, lies the
invaluable excellence of the Homeric poems, which Wolf
profoundly felt, and which made him careless about the
mere personality of their reputed author—in the fact that,
whether these poems be the composition of one, or of half-
a-hundred minstrels, they are equally inspired by the breath
of a great poetic soul, and that soul the highest life of the
Greek people, at one of the most poetic periods of its exist¬
ence. Recognizing this fundamental truth, the great
German critic could readily let loose from his grasp a great
many much-bespoken excellencies of the mere man Homer,
apart from the Greek people, which were either quite
imaginary, or not at all necessary to the main fact of the
essentially popular and national character of the poems. In
room of a great mass of foolish indiscriminate eulogy heaped
up by various famous critics both ancient and modern,
W’olf enunciated the peculiar excellence of the great king
of Hellenic ballad-singers in the following simple and signi¬
ficant words :—“ Hcec carmina paullo diligentius cognita
admirandam ostendant vim naturae atque ingenii minorem
artis, nullam reconditce doctrines et exquisites" {Prolegom.
12). The first great excellence of Homer’s poetry, as here
expressed, undoubtedly lies in its complete naturalness,
simplicity, and healthiness, with an entire absence of all
those faults which are the natural product of over-stimulated
art in a high stage of intellectual culture. In thought,
Homer exhibits nothing strained, far-fetched, or affected;
in sentiment, no morbid groping, no curious over-nice sen¬
sibility in particular favourite directions; in moral tone,
neither prudery nor wantonness ; no uncomfortable strife
between the real and the ideal, between poetry and life,
between rhyme and reason. With the bard of the Iliad, as
indeed to a great extent with all the Greek poets in the
best ages, the ideal is only the highest step in the ladder of
the real. In style again, we find in Homer, as in the Old
Testament, nothing that smacks of the artist; there is no
forced and studied concentration as in Thucydides and
Tacitus ; no stringing together of brilliant antitheses as in
Velleius Paterculus; much less any theatrical turgidity
and prepared pomp of words as in Lucan, and not a few of
the later classics, both Greek and Roman, who flourished
at a period when language had lost its native modesty and
become vitiated, as a conceited beauty does by an assi¬
duous contemplation of her own perfections. Closely con¬
nected w’ith this complete naturalness of Homer, is his re¬
markable objectiveness, as the German critics call it—that
is to say, the extraordinary clearness, breadth, accuracy, and
vigour of his impressions of the external world ; or, as an
artist would say, his fine eye both for minute delicacy of
detail and grandeur of general effect in his pictures. The
reason of this lies in the fact that Homer lived in a perfectly
natural state of society, when all men, and especially poets,
were constantly called upon to use their eyes, not upon grey
603
parchment and spotted paper, but upon the fresh and ever- jjomer
changing variety of those soul-seizing pictures which nature v ,
and life are continually pouring in upon those whose eyes %
are quick and open to her fulness. In Homer there is
found not the least trace of the anxiously subtle thought,
the loose-floating sentiment, the cloudy imaginations, the
dim speculations, the grey intangible abstractions that never
fail to characterize the poetry of a later age, when the parti¬
cular mental character of the poet assumes an undue pro¬
minence, and the writer wastes himself in a painful struggle
to find adequate expressions for certain infinite longings and
indefinite desires that have no counterpart in the external
world, or in the bosom of any healthy-minded reader. Not
a less remarkable consequence of the nice harmony between
Homer and his audience was the honest faith and unaffected
religiousness that breathes through every page of his two
great works. Poets, indeed, are naturally a religious race,
and, except under peculiar, harsh influences, readily har¬
monize with the theological belief of the country to whose
highest human aspirations it is their high mission to give
utterance. But in ages of high intellectual culture, when
the individual often runs aside into strange tracks of private
speculation, the leading minds of the day, including poets,
often find themselves forced into a state of strange and un¬
comfortable protest against the religious convictions of the
masses whom they are destined to lead ; and in this way-
strange phenomena become visible in the literary heaven—
as in the case of Euripides, Lucretius, Lucan, Lucian, Goethe,
Byron, Burns, Shelley, and many more. With difficulties of
this kind, which always interfere to a great extent with a
poet’s popular influence, Homer had nothing to do. The
theology of his day was no doubt full of puerilities, and not
free from contradictions; but philosophy yet unborn had
not brought these puerilities and inconsistencies into a dis¬
tinctly felt collision with the higher sentiments of a healthy
piety in the mind of the great minstrel. Homer’s piety is
accordingly thoroughly serious, but withal playfully cheerful.
Calvinistic readers might think him jesting sometimes; and
grave German critics have been offended at the tone of the
love affair of Ares and Aphrodite in Odyssey viii., which
they confidently pronounce an interpolation but they are
mistaken—Lucian did not live till 1000 years afterwards, and
he wrote many clever comic sketches indeed, but not an
Iliad. The epic poet, or great popular minstrel of a heroic
age, is always a believer.1 2 * *
The extraordinary excellence of the Iliad and Odyssey
as pattern specimens of the popular epos, may be most rea¬
dily discerned by comparing them wdth the Niebelungen-lay
of the Germans, a poem composed in a similar stage of so¬
ciety, and so much under the same circumstances that
Lachmann actually set himself to analyse it after the Wol-
fian fashion, and resolve it into what he considered its con¬
stituent “small songs.” In this Teutonic epos the unpre¬
judiced reader will, along with many quiet beauties, dis¬
cover an utter want of that equestrian vigour, manfulness,
and fire, which never remit in the sinewy and bracing course
of the Iliad. Homer sometimes seems to take his subject
easily,—either sleeps himself, no doubt, or some interpolated
Homerid is sleeping in his chair,—but he is never flat,
never thin, never weak. Of the Niebelungen-lay, on the
other hand, w7e may say that breadth, dilution, and weak¬
ness, are the characteristics; it is a German Iliad, and a
very German Iliad indeed, as Coleridge said of the Mes¬
siah of Klopstock—an Iliad composed by an old German
in his easy chair, enveloping his ungirt muse in a loose¬
floating atmosphere of tobacco smoke;—Homer in his slip-
1 On this point, and on the subject of Homeric interpolation generally, see some admirable remarks in a paper by W. Watkins Lloyd.
Classical Museum, vol. vi., p. 387.
2 On the interesting subject of the Theology of Homer, see Nagelsbach’s Homerische Theologie, Niirnherg, 1840; and Classical Museum,
vol. vii., p. 414. The work of Granville Penn—“ An Examination of the Primary Argument of the Iliad, London, 1821—contains some ideas
on this subject that must be regarded as high-flown and hyperbolical, and remote from the simple truth.
604 H 0 M
Homer pers. But besides vigour, the Greek asserts his proud
II pre-eminence over the German by the healthy hilarity,
Homicide. an(j gUnny luxuriance of his fine Ionic temper-
ament. One feels that these poems were written in a
clime where, next to Olympian Jove, the shining Apollo
was the great object of local worship. His variety and
many-sidedness have been equally praised; for, though it is
certainly true that there is, for our modern tastes, a very
considerable superfluity of mere fighting in the Iliad, we
must bear in mind that Homer wrote in an age when the
soldier was the only hero, and for a people to whom the
recital of the military exploits of their ancestors was as full
of moral significance, as the trials of the Apostle Paul are
to a modern Christian. Not less admirable, finally, than
his vigour, his sunniness, and his luxuriant variety, are
the sobriety, sense, and moderation—the truly Greek
o-wtppoavvr]—that everywhere regulate, and keep within
chaste limits, the billowy enthusiasm of the old minstrel.
Occasionally, perhaps, when a patriotic feeling interferes,
there may be discerned a little ludicrous exaggeration—as,
for example, in the manner in which Hector is made to com¬
port himself before the might of Achilles, in the 22d book ;
but, generally speaking, the poet’s thorough naturalness and
truth, keep him by a safe instinct within the nicest limits
of good taste. In the Niebelungen-lay, on the other hand,
as in Klopstock’s Messiah, there is a plentiful exhibition,
in the author’s way, of the most appalling exaggei'ation.
The catastrophe of the Odyssey, no doubt, is sufficiently
bloody; but this is the divine retributive vengeance of a
goddess for a long series of offences of a very gross and
wanton description ; and, besides, it may well be called sober
and moderate when contrasted with that gigantic Cyclo¬
pean architecture of terrors cemented with streaming blood,
and wrapt in flames of portentous conflagration, which
forms such a grim catastrophe to the grim epos of the Niebe-
lungen.
The works of Homer have been translated into all the
notable languages of the west; seldom, however, or never,
it is to be feared, with the pervading perception of his true
character as a great popular minstrel, the general under¬
standing of which great truth, as we have stated, dates in
Europe only from the publication of Wolf’s Prolegomena
about 60 years ago. The best Italian translations are by
Cesarotti and Monti; French, by Dacier, de Rochefort, Bi-
taube, and Dugas-Montbel; German, by Stolbergand Voss ;
English, by Chapman, Hobbes, Pope, Cowper, Sotheby, and
Newman. The principal editions are that of Florence, 1488,
curd Demetrii Chalcondylce ; the Editio Princeps, a rare
and beautiful book in 2 vols. folio, of which there is a copy
in the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh, and about 60 copies
altogether dispersed in various parts of England; Francini,
Venice, 1537; H. Stephani, Paris, 1566; Barnes, Can-
tab., 1711; Clarkii, London, 1729; Foulis, Glasgow,
1756-8; Ernesti, 1759; Alter Vindob, 1789; Villoison,
1788; Wofilus, Hah, 1794; Heyne, 1802; Payne Knight,
London, 1820; Spitzner, Gotha, 1836; Bekker, Berlin,
1843; Baiimlein, Leipzig, 1854.
For other details with regard to Homeric literature,
which forms a library in itself, the student, besides Colonel
Mure’s great work, may consult Bernhardy’s Griechische
Literatur, Halle, 1845; Lauer’s Homerische Poesie, Berlin,
1851, and Dr Ihne’s article in Smith’s Dictionary, (j.s.B.)
Homer, or Omer, the largest dry measure amongst the
Hebrews. It was in later times replaced by the Cor, and
is estimated at 7,398,000 Paris grains. See Corus.
HOMICIDE, the killing of a human being, is accidental,
culpable, or justifiable.
Accidental, in law, implies not merely the absence of in¬
tention but of fault. A man employed at some lawful ope¬
ration, and taking due care, is not responsible for unforeseen
fatal consequences—as, if a gun burst; a child unexpectedly
H O M
runs in the way of a carriage; or two friends wrestle for Homicide,
amusement, and death ensues. Such death is excusable.
It is sometimes termed a misadventure. In judging, after
the event, of the degree of caution which should have been
used, it would be unreasonable, in every case, to require
the very utmost that was possible. If two men are felling
a tree, which unexpectedly falls, and one of them is killed,
or if a man lays aside his unloaded fowling-piece, and, in
ignorance of its being reloaded, bandies it and kills his
friend, it may be easy to say what would have averted the
calamity; but the law is not so ex-acting, seeing that, in the
language of an English judge, “ accidents of this lamentable
kind may fall to the lot of the wisest and best of men.” If,
however, the neglect or inattention amounts in any degree
to what a jury regard as reprehensible, the case becomes
Culpable homicide, or manslaughter, meaning not acci¬
dental, and yet not amounting to murder. Cases of this
kind vary from the faintest degree of culpability deserving
only of nominal punishment, to guilt of the deepest dye.
In them there is the absence of the intention to kill, and
yet the party is amenable to punishment on account either
of carelessness or wrong doing. To administer wrong
medicine, neglect a fence, leave a horse on the streets un¬
attended, or to inflict bodily injury, may happen without
any intention to kill; but, if death ensue, the obvious cul¬
pability, high or low as it may be, cannot, on account of the
interests of the public, be allowed to go unpunished. The
last of these cases approximates to murder. If a man go a
step farther, intending to inflict some severe injury, reck¬
less of the consequences, such as beating with the declared
intention of just sparing the life, or giving violent medicine
to a woman to procure abortion, and death ensues, it is
murder.
Murder consists in acts committed with the intention of
killing, or at least of inflicting some grievous bodily injury
which obviously puts life in hazard, followed by death ; as, if
a man strike another on the head with a hatchet, or treat him
with such cruelty as denotes utter indifference whether he die
or not, and he die. To chastise an infant excessively, regard¬
less of his cries and the remonstrances of bye-standers; to
shoot, intending to kill one person, and hit another; to fire
a loaded gun along a street on which people are passing,
though aiming at no one in particular ; to cut the rope of a
scaffold, by which a man is precipitated from a great height;
and many such cases, where life is lost—have been found
to amount to murder, as they show a determination either
to kill or to do a serious wrong at the hazard of all conse¬
quences. The nature of the weapons, or means employed,
such as a knife, a gun, or poison, are often conclusive ; and
when such is the case, jurors should, according to their oaths,
do their duty to the law and to their country. Where the
crime is proved, it is not sufficient to say that the manslayer
was excited to frenzy by some fancied wrong or inadequate
cause, and acted with little premeditation, because he was
bound to maintain the mastery of his passions,—though no
doubt his moral guilt is exceeded by that of the assassin,
who, for hire or revenge, waylays and stabs his victim. On
the other hand, if it appear that a man acted under a
sudden impulse, occasioned by some intolerable wrong, he
will not be held guilty. On the contrary, the killing will
be regarded either as culpable or justifiable homicide, ac¬
cording to its circumstances. For example, if a man be
unwarrantably assaulted with violence and indignity, as, by
a horse whip, pulling his nose, or the like, and he inflict, in
the sudden transport of passion so excited, a mortal wound
on his assailant, the killing will be attributed to human
frailty, rather than to recklessness or malice, and may be
regarded merely as culpable homicide ; but he will not be
allowed after the assault is over to take satisfaction at his
own hand, and kill his assailant. To do so is to commit
murder. In no case will the law, after almost the briefest
HOMICIDE.
| Homicide, lapse of time, permit the indulgence of revenge. An adul-
^ ^ > terer, detected by the husband in the act, may be killed;
but if he escape, and be afterwards met and killed by the
husband, such killing is murder. The shortest interval,
after any provocation, destroys such a defence ; as, if a man,
injured even to the effusion of blood, should search for a
gun, and follow and shoot the party who had assaulted him ;
because the interval afforded an opportunity for the exer¬
cise of reason, and the law could have been appealed to.
An English judge expressed what is the law both of Eng¬
land and Scotland when he said, “ in all possible cases
homicide, upon a principle of revenge, is murder.” One
thing is quite fixed, that as contumelious words will not
justify blows, so neither will blows with the hand justify the
use of a knife, or other lethal weapon. Wherever the use
of a lethal weapon is not justified by dire necessity, in order
to preserve a man’s own life, killing by its use is murder.
Accordingly, the law both of England and Scotland agree
in this, that no attempt to steal or to trespass will justify a man
whose life is not in imminent hazard, in the taking of life.
On a similar principle, to kill a poacher, or to place a spring-
gun to protect a garden, and it kills, is murder. It would,
indeed, be strange if the law permitted a private party to take
the life of another, for an offence which, on conviction after
a legal trial, it would not punish with a penalty so dreadful.
To warrant a conviction, it is necessary that death result
directly from the injury, or from its natural, and not remote
or merely probable consequences. Ifa wounded man die from
grossly erroneous treatment, or from unnecessarily exposing
a wound, so as to irritate it into a mortal complaint, it would be
hard to visit his assailant with the penalty of murder. On the
other hand, if the wound be the direct cause of death, though
if a surgeon could have been got on the instant, the life
would probably have been spared, the assailant must take
the consequences, because he had no right to put life in
hazard; and, on the same principle, it is murder to kill a
man apparently dying from some mortal disease, because no
man has a right to abridge the life of another even by a
moment, or to cut off the feeblest chance of recovery.
It is not necessary, in order to warrant a conviction, that
a man perpetrate murder with his own hand. If he hire
or assist another to commit it, or if he furnish the means,
or watch for the protection of the murderer while the crime
is being committed, he is, both in law and in reason, ac¬
cessory to the commission of the crime, and is most right¬
eously amenable to punishment as a murderer.
The appropriate punishment of murder is death. Long
before the moral law was given from Sinai, the Divine
Being declared that “ whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man
shall his blood be shed and we think that the natural dic¬
tate of the well-regulated mind is to repel the sophistries by
which this solemn declaration is sometimes sought to be
evaded. So repulsive is murder to the Great Author of life,
that, under the law which He gave to Moses, He allowed
no sacrifice to be provided, nor ransom to be taken, for the
life of a murderer—and even the accidental manslayer was
compelled, for the safety of his own life, to remain within
one of the cities of refuge while the high priest of the time
was alive. It is sometimes questioned whether capital pun¬
ishment should take place publicly, or within the precincts
of the prison, in presence of a number of witnesses provided
to attest its execution. The latter opinion isapprovedby some,
as havinga less hardening tendency on the minds of the popu¬
lace. To remove the felon from the bar of earthly judg¬
ment, to immure him within the walls of the prison, from
which he is not to return alive, and to detain him till the
determinate moment at which he shall find himself at the
bar of the Judge of all the earth, may produce in the minds
of the thoughtless something more fearfully solemn than
the parade of a public execution, during which, in our sym¬
pathy for the sufferer, his crimes may be forgotten. But
605
however that question may be settled, and so long as the Homicide,
declaration of the Divine Being, “ I will put my laws into ^
their mind, and write them on their hearts,” is respected by
his creatures, we believe that the punishment of death for
the most fearful of all crimes cannot be relaxed without
multiplying the number of victims hurried into eternity,
without even the murderer’s privilege of time to prepare for
their final account.
The punishment for manslaughter or culpable homicide
is, fine, imprisonment, or transportation, in the discretion of
the judge according to the degree of guilt; and the offender
is further left to the issue of an action of law for civil re¬
paration at the instance of the widow and next of kin of the
person whom he has killed.
Homicide \s> justifiable it is occasioned by unavoid¬
able necessity. Illustrations of this are daily afforded by
soldiers and sailors in battle, or in the necessary defence, when
on duty, of their post or their arms—judges pronouncing, and
inferior officers executing legal sentences of death—and ma¬
gistrates or other officers killing when such is the only mean
of suppressing a riot or breach of the peace. In the case of
private individuals also, the infliction of death becomes jus¬
tifiable when no other means of defence remain against
highway robbery, housebreaking under night, or assaults
involving danger of life, or in the case of a woman as
a last resource in defence of her chastity. The jus¬
tification, however, will only avail when matters have
come to an extremity—and certainly not either before
the danger has reached that point, or after it has passed
away. If the danger be over, killing becomes revenge,
and is justly regarded as murder. Even the clearest
necessity of killing in defence will be unavailing, if it was
brought about by a man’s own criminality, as by his culpa¬
bly irritating and rousing another by wanton and unwar¬
rantable provocation or cruelty to attack him. It becomes,
therefore, always of importance to ascertain all the circum¬
stances connected with the beginning and progress of an
assault, and by whom the first blow was given.
Very delicate questions have arisen in the cases of offi¬
cers of the law bound on behalf of the public to execute a
legal warrant. Their position is different from that of pri¬
vate individuals, in this respect, that they incur responsi¬
bility if they fail to do their duty. Of course, if in the dis¬
charge of their duty their lives are brought into peril, they
are justified, like any private individual, in killing ; but they
differ from private individuals in this, that they may be re¬
quired to do the very thing, under the sanction of law, that
puts their lives in danger. If persons in a smuggling vessel
do not desist from attempting to escape when hailed by a
known revenue cutter, it is lawful to enforce compliance by
firing, for in such a case the fleeing to defraud the revenue
is just that resistance which it is the duty of the officers of the
law to overcome by the only means in their power. But if,
on coming in contact with those whom they are required to
apprehend, they be the first to resort to lethal weapons, or
if, under any circumstances, they use them unnecessarily,
they will be liable for the consequences. It is murder for an
officer to kill a person flying from the execution of a civil pro¬
cess, or even of a criminal warrant for an offence not capital,
or for an assault not at the time known to involve danger of
life. It is only the deep interest which the public has in
the punishment of those who commit the highest crimes,
that justifies an officer armed with a criminal warrant (if in¬
deed the law of Scotland will justify him) in killing such a
criminal when fleeing, who might otherwise altogether
escape. The requirements of military law are necessarily
more strict, but these may be noticed in another place.
In the preceding remarks we have abstained from taking
any notice of the absurd and criminal practice of duelling,
that subject having been already fully treated. See Duei .
(m. l.)
606
H 0 M
H O M
Homily HOMILY (o/^tXia, an assembly), a plain and homely dis-
II course upon some point of religious faith or duty. This
Hor°- term was adopted in the church to indicate the practical
^ j nature of Christian discourses as contrasted with the specu-
Ylative and purely ostentatious harangues of the philosophic
schools.
All the homilies of the Greek and Latin fathers are from
the pens of bishops, because, in the first ages, they alone
were permitted to preach. The privilege was not ordinarily
allowed to priests till towards the fifth century. St Chry¬
sostom was the first presbyter who preached regularly.
Origen and St Augustin also preached, but it was by a
peculiar license or privilege.
Photius distinguishes a homily from a sermon in this,
that the homily was delivered in a more familiar manner,
the prelate interrogating and talking to the people, and they
in their turn answering and interrogating him, so that it
was properly a conversation ; whilst the sermon was spoken
continuously in the pulpit, after the manner of the orators.
The practice of compiling homilies, which were to be
committed to memory, and recited by ignorant or indolent
priests, commenced towards the close of the eighth century,
when Charlemagne ordered Paulus Diaconus and Alcuin
to form homilies or discourses upon the Gospels and Epistles,
from the ancient doctors of the church. This gave rise to
the famous collection entitled the Homilarium of Charle¬
magne, which, being followed as a model in many produc¬
tions of the same kind, composed by private persons, con¬
tributed much to nourish the indolence, and to perpetuate
the ignorance,of a worthless clergy.
The English book of homilies is a collection of plain ser¬
mons on the doctrines of the gospel, especially with a view
to illustrate the principles of the Reformation. The first
part was published by Cranmer during the reign of Edward
VI. ; and the second was added by order of Convocation
during the reign of Elizabeth.
HOMOEOPATHY, a system of medical practice, intro¬
duced by Samuel Hahnemann into Germany in the end
of last century, and having, in the present day, adherents
in most European countries. The homoeopathic system was
reduced by its founder to a very simple expression, or ele¬
mentary therapeutical law, similia similibus curentur—i.e.,
let like things be treated by like. In other words, it is as¬
serted that a disease, having certain external manifestations
or symptoms, is to be treated by the administration of a re¬
medy, or a succession of remedies, which have the power of
originating similar symptoms in the healthy body. The name
Homoeopathy (from the two Greek words o/aoTos, like, and
Tra^os, a morbid state, or perhaps from the compound word
byoLOTrdOeLo., a similarity of feeling), is expressive of this re¬
lation between the effects of the remedy and those of the
disease for which it is presumed to be a cure. Hahnemann
was fond of contrasting the simplicity of the homoeopathic
system with the complexity of the prevailing medical doc¬
trines, which, he alleged, instead of following the indications
of nature by regarding disease as a collection of symptoms,
was engaged in a fruitless search into its proximate or essen¬
tial causes; remedies being administered, not from their
bearing any relation to the evident symptoms, but from a
presumed power over the hidden causes of disease. The
system so characterized, Hahnemann termed allceopathy,
or allopathy (from dAAotos, different, and 'irddos). He ad¬
mitted also another possible therapeutical system, viz., An¬
tipathy (from dvrt, opposed to, and irdOoi), comprising those
cases in which a remedy was selected on account of its pro¬
ducing in the healthy body symptoms of a kind opposed
to those of the disease. Of this method, Hahnemann pro¬
fessed to find numerous examples in the practice of medi¬
cine in all ages. He even found it laid down as a rule {con-
traria contrariis curentur) in some of the Hippocratic writ¬
ings, and constantly refers to it as an established method
against which he protested as fallacious, ineffective, or, at
best, only palliative. Homoeopathy, according to Hahne¬
mann, is not merely a more certain or more effective method
of cure than either of these competing systems; it is, on
the contrary, the only method by which disease ever has
been, or ever can be, truly eradicated by art. It is in theory
a universal as well as an exclusive method; and all the other
principles on which medical men have from time immemo¬
rial been accustomed to act in tbe treatment of disease
stand condemned by its acceptance.
It would be easy to show that with Hahnemann himself
the homceopathic theory was expressly set forth as waging
an internecine war with all previous medical doctrine. The
vilification of ancient and contemporary medicine as a sys¬
tem or a science, and the almost equally unlimited condem¬
nation of its results as an art, form in fact the key to his
doctrine, the corner-stone of his system. Medicine is to
him a “ fatal art,” which has never, except by accident, ren¬
dered a service to suffering humanity. It can be continu¬
ously practised only by those whose conscience is seared,
and whose mental discrimination is destroyed by long-con¬
tinued persistence in mischief; in all others, it reduces
itself to the administration oi'placebos without efficacy, and
of which the best that can be said is that they do little
harm. But it was inconsistent with the justice and mercy
of Divine Providence to leave mankind in this miserable
plight. The discovery of a sure and simple way of treating
all diseases must be possible, if God is a beneficent being,
and not a ruthless tyrant. Now, there are only three pos¬
sible ways of using remedies. For, firstly, all that we
know of diseases, and of remedial agents, is founded on a
knowledge of their palpable effects or symptoms; and,
secondly, the symptoms of the remedy (its effects upon the
sound body) must be either similar to {similia similibus),
or opposite to {contraria contrariis), or different altogether
from, those of the disease. Of the systems founded on
these data, the last two alone have been hitherto tried ; and
multiplied experience having proved that allopathy and
antipathy are equally erroneous and equally destructive,
homoeopathy follows as an inevitable consequence ; and was
thus, in fact, as Dr Henderson says, reasoned out by Hahne¬
mann “ before a single testing experiment had been tried.”
We carefully avoid exaggerating, though undoubtedly
we greatly condense, the argument of Hahnemann, as it
appears in several of his works, when we thus state it. Were
we to enter on what might be called the metaphysics of his
system, we should greatly exceed our limits; still more so
were we to devote any space to the consideration of indivi¬
dual instances, or to the quotation of individual passages.
It must be apparent to any intelligent reader, that the sys¬
tem blocked out above is that of a fanatic, not of a severe
inquirer into nature ; that it begins and ends in assump¬
tions, of which it is difficult to say whether the first or the
last be the more extravagant. It is surely not too much to
suppose, in opposition to Hahnemann, that an art which has
existed, and has been accumulating the elements, at least,
of science, in the experience of several thousand years; which
has laboured assiduously wherever there has been sickness
and suffering, with certainly not less of disinterested feeling,
and certainly not more of wickedness or of stupidity among
its professors, than falls to the common lot of humanity in
almost all professions and callings—that such an art may
have had some little foundation in truth, some glimpses of
principle, some insight into the laws which regulate the
human frame in health and disease. Equally certain is
it that these principles and laws have not been asserted
(like those from which Hahnemann endeavours to deduce
his philosophy) to be final and universal. If the choice be
only between “allopathy” or “antipathy” and “homoeo¬
pathy,” as Hahnemann asserts, we feel little disposition to
pronounce any comparative opinion ; but we place ourselves
Homoeo¬
pathy.
H 0 M (E O P A T H Y.
Homceo- readily on the side of limited but reasonable knowledge, and
pathy. experience tried by ages, against extravagant credulity and
bombastic self-assertion.
The writings of Hahnemann are, for the most part, vio¬
lent and outrageous polemics, not always without plausibi¬
lity, against the systems which he caricatures under the
names of allopathy and antipathy, followed or accompanied
by statements of an equally extravagant kind in favour of
the law “ similia similibus curentur,” which he everywhere
treats as a pure and unadulterated truth, admitting neither
of qualification nor of question. The practitioners who act
upon an uncertain or imperfect apprehension of this truth,
and who attempt, in any degree, to reconcile their practice
with the traditional doctrines of the art, Hahnemann treats
with a contempt and dislike to which even his dislike of
allopathy itself is obliged to yield. This “bastard homoeo¬
pathy” is, in his view, as discreditable as it is dangerous.
Those who practise it are in no sense homceopathists, and
are deserving of the strongest condemnation. It is a crime
against homoeopathy to give even the semblance of an allo¬
pathic remedy ; and Hahnemann does not hesitate to con¬
fess that he has on this account given up the use of some
of those simple palliatives, whose value he had attested by
his own experience before he embraced homoeopathy, but
whose use he considered as being at once superseded by
the new system, and inconsistent with its principles.
A system like this must of course be tried as a whole. It
must stand or fall by its own tests. If true, it demands no¬
thing less than that all previous systems shall give way to
it. But, on the other hand, if it errs in one point, it is guilty
of all. Hence the question between the homoeopathists and
their opponents cannot be settled by an array of instances
on the one hand, or an array of authorities on the other. A
thousand instances of like curing like will not prove the law
universal in the face of half a dozen opposing facts. But all
the authorities in the world will not disprove homoeopathy,
unless they can succeed in establishing a system or a fact
which is at variance with it.
Tried by this simple issue, the strength and the weak¬
ness of homoeopathy (or at least of Hahnemann’s homoeo¬
pathy) are at once apparent. Its strength lies in the con¬
fessed inability of ordinary medicine to oppose to it any
system as simple, and apparently as complete, as its own ;
its weakness, in the total insufficiency of its alleged instances
to support the enormity of the postulate. To the mind
which must at all hazards have a complete and universal
system, it may be conceded that homoeopathy is no worse
than any other, and, in connection with its ordinary practice
of infinitesimal doses, less hurtful than many systems. But
to the mind which regards all systems as subject to the rigid
criticism of facts homoeopathy must ever appear one of the
most unfounded and monstrous of delusions.
In saying that “ like cures like” Hahnemann uses a form
of expression which (especially in Latin) bears a very re¬
spectable resemblance to the enunciation of a great natural
law. But examine that expression, and, still better, try it
by instances. What is “like,” and what unlike? Polo-
nius thought that Hamlet’s cloud was like a camel, a weasel,
and a whale, in turn ; it was probably as like the one as the
other. One man sees a likeness between certain members
of a family; another cannot see it; a third sees it at one
time, and fails at another. In one sense all men are more
or less alike ; in another infinitely varied and dissimilar.
In the region of ideas, the poet and the wit equally see re¬
semblances which duller minds fail to appreciate. The natu¬
ralist discovers likeness in those objects which to the ordi¬
nary sense are the most dissimilar; while flowers and mine¬
rals, birds and fishes—so like that the common eye cannot
distinguish them from each other, or can distinguish them
only with effort and by dint of instruction—are found to be
placed far apart among the genera and species of the care-
607
ful and analytic observer. In short, no feature of objects is Homceo-
more liable to be differently appreciated from different Pathy-
points of view, and by different minds, than precisely this ^
one of external resemblance.
The force of this argument, in its application to the homoeo¬
pathic law, is all the greater that Hahnemann does not admit
identity between the symptoms of the disease and the effects
of the remedy as constituting a reason for its therapeutical
employment. On the contrary, identity is destructive of the
alleged homoeopathic action, which is found to exist only in
connection with great similarity. But it may well be
asked if absolute identity be not, in such a case, merely the
greatest possible amount of similarity.
It is well known to the man of science that nothing is so
apt to mislead the mind as the tracing of analogies. Yet
the whole basis of the law, similia similibus curentur, is
nothing but a series of analogies so vague, and sometimes
so preposterous, that in any department of natural history
they would be rejected as unworthy the name of science.
The truth of this assertion will be admitted by almost any
man (not being a professed homoeopathist), who will examine
the assertions recorded in regard to only a few articles of
the homoeopathic materia medica. But as our limits forbid
this inquiry, it may suffice for the present to mention that a
large proportion of Hahnemann’s instances of the homoeo¬
pathic law are adduced from the writings of physicians who
not only were unaware of the resemblance between the
symptoms of the remedy and those of the disease, but, ac¬
cording to Hahnemann, prescribed those very remedies
upon the antipathic or allopathic principle. Were it true
(as it is not) that ordinary medical practice was founded on
either of these alleged principles, there would be little or no
difficulty in defending one or both of them by a reference
to the very same remedies and the very same diseases as are
adduced by Hahnemann to prove the homoeopathic law.
But in placing his so-called therapeutical law upon a basis
of mere analogy, Hahnemann has scarcely betrayed a greater
misconception of true science than he has of medical his¬
tory, in ascribing to his opponents a practice founded on
“ allopathy” or “ antipathy,”—names as entirely unknown to
medica] science as “ homoeopathy ’ itself.
It may safely be alleged that the favour shown to homoeo¬
pathy as a system by a certain portion of the public depends
much more on the supposed success of its practice than upon
the validity of the evidence adduced in support of its law.
Homoeopathy is embraced, not as a philosophical truth, but
as a method of dealing with the minor ills which flesh is
heir to, certainly much more agreeable, and presumed to
be not less safe, than that of ordinary physic.
This idea is not entirely without foundation, if ordinary
physic be conceived to be nothing else but a succession of
bleedings, purgings, and blisterings. Ihat medical re¬
sources have often been abused, and that a large amount
of suffering and inconvenience, if not of disease and death,
have sprung from the too active use of remedies having
acknowledged power both for good and for evil, no one will
be disposed to deny. The employment of infinitesimal or
very minute doses by the homceopathist has undoubtedly
tended to make that system the natural refuge of those who
have suffered from the nimia diligentia medici. And as a
very considerable portion of diseases require little else than
dietetic and hygienic means for their cure, when cure is
possible, even the pure homceopathist does not always fail
so notoriously as to discredit his system. Many diseases, be¬
sides, are well known to be self-curative; as the most an¬
cient and celebrated of the Greeks has expressed it, “ Our
natures are the physicians of our diseases.” And in those
cases which plainly require the assistance of active remedies
there are now-a-days few homoeopathists who are not found
willing to cast aside their system so far as to employ at
least the simpler and safer varieties of active drugs after a
608 H 0 M HON
Hornceo- fashion confessedly not homoeopathic. With such practi-
pathy. tioners, homoeopathy, with its infinitesimal doses, qualified
by the administration of active drugs in cases of emergency,
becomes merely ordinary practice reduced to the minimum
of activity; and, as such, may be a much better practice
than the opposite extreme. But, on the other hand, such
“ bastard homoeopathy” would, as we have seen above, have
been most severely condemned by Hahnemann. It is, in
fact, homoeopathy in nothing but the name.
The doctrine, or rather the practice, of infinitesimal doses,
is undoubtedly one of the most curious aspects of homoeo¬
pathy, as it is one of the most singular phases of human
opinion in matters medical. The ordinary and universal
persuasion that remedial substances act upon the system in
something like a direct proportion to the quantity in which
they are introduced into it, is not indeed opposed by Hahne¬
mann, so far as the physiological effects of these substances
are concerned. It is not denied that one hundred grains of
arsenic, for instance, are more likely to kill than the hun¬
dredth part of one grain. But it is maintained that the
powers of remedies over disease are so distinct from all their
physiological, and, indeed, all their material properties, as
not to be subject to the same conditions of increase and
diminution. The curative property of a remedy is, accord¬
ing to Hahnemann, developed in a much higher degree by
an inconceivably minute than by a palpable dose. The
latter, indeed, interferes directly with the cure ; because the
symptoms developed by the remedy, being similar to those
of the disease, invariably tend to its aggravation in a degree
corresponding with the amount of the dose and its homceo-
pathicity. It was, indeed, this constant aggravation of
the disease under homoeopathic remedies which first led
Hahnemann to reduce his doses to impalpable quantities as
an indispensable condition of safety in their use. So bigoted
was he to his system that he did not see even in this con¬
tradictory result of his own experience an argument against
his alleged universal law !
The extent of these infinitesimal dilutions is such as to
be inconceivable by the human intellect; they can only be
expressed in the technical abbreviations of the arithmetician,
and even then are with difficulty carried in the memory.
Thus in the thirtieth dilution one grain of the resulting
liquid contains one decillionth of a grain of the remedy, or
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000th part of the whole. If one
entire grain of medicine were thus diluted, it may be shown,
by accurate mathematical computation, that the quantity of
fluid required for the purpose would form an ocean one hun¬
dred and forty billion times as large as our whole planetary
system ; or if a solid substance were used, so that a single
globule might contain a decillionth of a grain of the remedy,
the original grain thus diluted with inert matter would be
equal in weight to “ one hundred and forty billion spherical
masses extending from limit to limit of Neptune's orbit f or
to “ many hundred spheres, each with a semidiameter or radius
extending from the earth to the nearest fixed star." With
which calculations from Dr Simpson’s work on homoeopathy,
revised and corrected as they are by Professor Kelland, we
trust our readers will be satisfied. Yet the homoeopathic
dilutions recommended by some of the more modern ho-
moeopathists far exceed the thirtieth in minuteness; and
Hahnemann himself often recommended the simple smelling
(olfaction) of a globule diluted as above !
Hahnemann was born in 1755, at Meissen, on the Elbe,
near Dresden. His father was a painter on porcelain ; and
his early education, as well as his medical studies, were pur¬
sued under considerable pecuniary pressure. He began
thus early the occupation which for a long time afterwards
was one of his chief sources of emolument, viz., translating
from the English. He graduated at Erlangen in 1779, and
soon after this he commenced practice and married. He
did not at first succeed in gaining public confidence ; and Homonyms
indeed, for a good many years before the great arcanum
was discovered he had almost no actual practice, and occu- Honde-
pied himself chiefly with translations, and with chemistry, oete^•
of which latter science he made some useful and profitable
applications. He himself said, years afterwards, that he had
retired from practice from conscientious motives, finding
that he could not reconcile the responsibilities of medicine
with his scepticism as to the remedies in use. It is rather
inconsistent with this view of the matter, however, that he
was busily engaged in propagating with his pen those very
therapeutical doctrines which he thought it a sin to apply in
practice. He was still translating very largely, and in 1790
was engaged on Cullen’s Materia Medica, which had ap¬
peared in England the previous year. During that previous
year, too, he had written his original work On Syphilis,
and on the Mercurius Solubilis Hahnemanni, a work
which presents no trace of scepticism, but, on the contrary,
an all-devouring faith in the drugs then in use. It w'as
from Cullen’s Materia Medica that he obtained the sugges¬
tion as to the homoeopathic use of Peruvian bark. After
some temporary engagements he removed to Konigslutter
to begin practice in 1795. He continued as before to be
a copious writer, and in 1796 produced his first attempt to
expound the homoeopathic law. In 1799 his practice of
dispensing his own medicines brought him into collision
with the apothecaries of the place, who managed to bring
the laws to bear on a method of practice so much opposed
to their vested interests as tradesmen. The consequence
was that Hahnemann left Konigslutter, and that the unjust
restrictions to which his practice had been subjected pro¬
duced the usual fruit of persecution—sympathy and noto¬
riety, both for the man and for the doctrines, which he now
began to put forward with a bolder front than hitherto.
From Konigslutter he went to several places in succes¬
sion, and ended by settling in Leipzig in 1810. In this
year he published the Organon der Heil-Kunst ; and in the
next a volume on Materia Medica, containing numerous
“ provings ” of drugs on himself and on others. The com¬
pletion of this work occupied him till 1821. He became
at Leipzig a successful practitioner, and left it only in conse¬
quence of a persecution like that to which he was subjected
at Konigslutter. He next went to Anhalt-Coethen, where
the reigning prince was one of his warm partizans. He
remained here, occupied with practice and with his pen, till
1835, when, at the age of eighty, he married a second time,
or rather was married and carried off to Paris by an enthu¬
siastic young lady, Mile. Melanie d’PIervilly, who was
anxious to secure for the French capital the benefits of
homoeopathy and the person of its founder. He died at
Paris on the 2d July 1843, having engaged in a large prac¬
tice during the eight years he resided there, in which he wras
assisted by his wife and daughter. Madame Hahnemann
continued to practise homoeopathy after the death of her
husband, notwithstanding an attempt in the French courts
of law to restrain her as an unlicensed practitioner; on
which occasion she received the powerful support, in the
Chamber of Deputies, of M. Montalembert, who argued,
in a speech of great eloquence and power, against restric¬
tions on medical practice. (w. T. G.)
HOMONYMS, words agreeing in sound, but differing
in signification.
HOMOOUSIANS, a name applied to the orthodox, in¬
dicating that they held the Father and Son in the Trinity
to be of the same nature, thus distinguishing them from
the Arian party, who were called Homoiousians, and who
held only a similarity of nature to subsist between them.
HONDEKOETER, Melchior, a distinguished Dutch
animal-painter, was born at Utrecht in 1636. His father
and grandfather had both made for themselves a considerable
name in that walk of art, but their fame was soon totally
HON
londuras. eclipsed by his. Though he painted most kinds of animals,
his favourite subjects were cocks, hens, ducks, and pea¬
cocks, which he delineated with wonderful correctness and
truth to nature. It is said that he trained a cock to stand
in whatever attitude he desired, and to remain in that pos¬
ture for several hours at a time without moving a muscle.
The landscapes which he introduced as back-grounds to his
pictures were like them wonderfully true to nature, and
finished with a delicate lightness and transparency of touch
that harmonized admirably with the subject of the piece.
In his walk he has never been rivalled, and his genuine
pictures, of which the best are in English collections, often
fetch high prices. Connoisseurs have less difficulty in de¬
tecting copies or forgeries of his pieces than of any other of
the old masters. Hondekoeter died in 1695 at the age of
fifty-nine.
HONDURAS, British, Belize or Balize, a British
settlement on the east coast of Central America, between
N. Eat. 15. 54. and 18. 30., and W. Long. 88. and 89. 30.
It is bounded on the N. by Yucatan, W. and S. by Gua¬
temala, and E. by the Bay of Honduras. It has a coast
line of about 200 miles between the mouths of the Hondo
and Sarstan, and is about 100 miles in breadth.
This coast was discovered by Columbus in the year 1502,
but little that can be relied upon is known of its early set¬
tlement. The abundance and fine quality of the wood, par¬
ticularly mahogany and logwood, seem first to have drawn
attention to it; and at a pretty early period it was occa¬
sionally resorted to by wood-cutters. But the first per¬
manent establishment of British wood-cutters was made at
Cape Catoche by some adventurers from Jamaica, whose
numbers increasing they extended as far S. as the River
Belize, and as far W. as the neighbourhood of Campeachy.
The Spaniards, however, did not quietly submit to this
usurpation of their territorial dominion. Several expeditions
were fitted out against the settlers, but they were uniformly
unsuccessful; and on two occasions, in 1659 and 1678, so
complete was their discomfiture, that the town of Cam-
peachy itself was taken by the logwood-cutters, with only
the assistance of the seamen engaged in the trade. This
last repulse occurred eight years after a treaty had been
concluded with Spain, by which the territorial right of
Britain to the occupancy of Honduras was generally, al¬
though not specifically, embraced. The successes of the set¬
tlers aroused the jealousy of the Spaniards, and led to a re¬
newed discussion of their right to the territory which they
occupied. This would appear to have been again generally
admitted ; but the Spaniards finally succeeded in driving the
woodmen from the Campeachy shore, and confining them
to the limits of the present settlement. An attempt was
again made in 1718 to dispossess the British of the ter¬
ritory on the River Belize ; but the firmness of the wood¬
cutters deterred the Castilians from effecting anything, ex¬
cept the erection of a fortification, which in a few years they
abandoned. In 1754 an expedition was undertaken to ex¬
terminate the colony; but by a treaty of peace concluded
in the year 1763, the Spaniards were compelled to admit
the right of occupancy to the British colonists, which, how¬
ever, they subsequently attempted to annul. In 1779 the
Spaniards again attacked the settlement, and after destroy¬
ing property to a considerable amount, they took a number
of the colonists prisoners, and marched them off' in. irons to
Merida, whence they were shipped to the Havannah, and
there confined till 1782. In 1784 Britain obtained from
Spain a specific grant of “ the lands allotted for the cutting
of logwood and in 1790 an act of parliament conferred on
Belize all the privileges of a British colony. The last at¬
tack on the settlement was made during the w'ar in l^SS,
but the expedition, which consisted of 3000 men, was gal¬
lantly repulsed; and since that period the colony has re¬
mained undisturbed by foreign aggression.
VOL. XI.
HON 609
The coast of the Bay of Honduras is low, and the shore Honduras,
is studded with a number of low islands or keys, which,
however, are verdant. As we recede from the coast, the
land rises into a bold and lofty country, interspersed with
rivers and lagoons, and covered with gigantic forests. The
lagoons or sheets of water, and the falls and rapids of the
rivers, constitute sublime and beautiful features in the
general aspect of the country. The Hondo River, which
forms the northern boundary, is a fine stream. A few7 miles
S. of it is the New River, which has its source in an ex¬
tensive lagoon. The Belize has a N.E. by E. course of
above 200 miles, and discharges itself into the Bay of Hon¬
duras by two mouths about 3^ miles apart, the southern
branch dividing the town of Belize into two parts. The
river and lagoon of Manatee, which is situated 10 leagues
S. of Belize, is considered as extremely grand. At about
a mile from the mouth of the river is the lagoon, a magni¬
ficent sheet of water, extending for several leagues in a
northerly direction. In many places lofty hills ascend from its
margin, overtopping large valleys and wood ranges of great
extent, where the jaguar, capybara, armadillo, large weasel,
opossum, racoon, and several species of deer, abound.
Amongst the feathered tribes there are numbers of quails,
plovers, pigeons, pheasants, and wild turkeys. The deficiency
of streams amongst the mountain ridges is supplied by the
presence of large marshy spots or shallow ponds, the banks of
which are frequented by almost every species of water game.
Fish abound during a great part of the year in these ponds,
but the latter dry up in the season of drought, and then
vast flocks of sea-fow l congregate around them to prey upon
the fish which have been left dry by the evaporation of the
waters. The alligator is also a frequent visitor; and, to
partake of this repast thus yearly provided for him, he has
been known to traverse trackless wilds, and make long jour¬
neys into the interior. The rapids of the Manatee com¬
mence about 8 or 10 miles from the lagoon, and the high
rocky banks of the river assume a romantic and beautiful
appearance. Further on there is a rapid of about a
quarter of a mile in length, and of considerable acclivity.
A cluster of beautiful caves, through which the river wunds
its way, and beneath which the traveller must pass, is next
reached. They have been described as equally singular and
grand. “ These magnificent natural excavations of the
mountains are semicircular at the entrance, and about five
yards in diameter. Within the cave the arch rises to the
height of 100 feet, and leads to another low arch, which
being passed, a second cavern of large size opens, beyond
which is a third with a circular orifice, through which the
river enters. During the floods the mouths of the caverns
are filled with water, which boils up with prodigious fury,
and thus detains travellers many days before they can pass
through the caves or tunnels. In the rainy season, as the
water increases on the upper or inland sides of the moun¬
tains, the river forces its passage through the interstices and
openings in its sides with tremendous noise, forming an in¬
describably grand cascade of from 40 to 50 feet high, issu¬
ing from an hundred orifices.” Of the other rivers of Hon¬
duras little is known.
The country is technically divided into the Pine and the
Cahoun ridges. The soil of the former has a substratum of
loose reddish sand, and its indigenous products consist of
those varieties of vegetation the assimilative powers of
which are strong and perennial. Extensive prairies expand
over this soil, and the pine, from which it derives its name,
is extremely abundant. The soil of the Cahoun ridge con¬
sists of a deep loam, capable of growing every species of
European as well as of tropical aliment. Its fertility occa¬
sions the growth of much brushwood, and it is covered with
the wild cotton tree and other giants of the forest.
Fruits, spontaneously produced, are exceedingly abun¬
dant, and consist of oranges of excellent quality, shaddocks,
4 ii
610 BOND
Honduras, limes, mangoes, melons, pine-apples, water-melons, avocato
y-^ pears, cashew, cocoa-nuts, and many others. They are all
found in the neighbourhood of Belize, but are sometimes
brought in large quantities from more elevated plantations.
The mahogany and logwood trees are at present the staples
of Honduras. The former is found best in elevated situa¬
tions ; and growing generally solitary, it is discernible at a
great distance from the yellow hue of its foliage. It is cut
down at about 12 feet from the ground, and when felled the
logs are dragged to the banks of the streams and floated
down in rafts. The boughs and limbs are said to afford the
finest wood, but it is the size that is principally looked to in
Britain. The logwood is found in low swampy grounds,
growing contiguous to fresh-water creeks and lakes, on the
edges of which the roots, the most valuable part of the wood,
ramify. They are felled during the dry season, and carried
off when the wet season has laid the ground under water.
There is another valuable tree called the Pinus occidentalism
which grows to the height of 60 feet, and covei'S many
thousand acres of country. The pine-wood contains an im¬
mense quantity of tar and turpentine, and is consequently
highly inflammable. In this respect it is very valuable to
the poor, who make torches of it. It likewise powei’fully
resists decay, and is in consequence much used by builders.
The cahoun or cohoon tree yields a valuable oil, which,
when unadulterated, is almost colourless, destitute of any
disagreeable taste, and when burned as a lamp oil it emits
a beautiful palish flame without smoke or smell. There are
various other kinds of wood of beautiful vein and close tex¬
ture, such as iron-wood, clay-wood, rose-wood, palmaletta,
and the like. Amongst minei’als, strata of fine marble and
fox-mations of alabaster are known to exist. Several valuable
specimens of crystals have been found, and gold has occa¬
sionally been detected in some of the streams. Labouring
Creek, which lies on the Belize, about 100 miles inland, is
remarkable for the petrifying properties possessed by its
waters. They have also a powerful cathartic effect on
strangers, and when applied externally to an ulcer have a
healing px-operty.
The country abounds with all kinds of animals fit for the
food of man. Except in very rough weather, the supply
of salt-water fish of excellent quality is abundant. The
common green turtle, when in a healthy condition, is a
staple commodity in the market. The hawksbill turtle is
often five feet long, and weighs from 200 to 250 lbs.
Belize, the capital of the settlement, stands on a low flat
shore immediately open to the sea, and guarded by numer¬
ous small islands, densely covered with trees and shrubs,
and so similar as to render the navigation extremely diffi¬
cult. It is farther divided into two parts by the river, which
is crossed by a substantial wooden bi*idge of 220 feet span
and 20 feet in length. The part of the town which is
situated upon the S. or right bank of the river, along
the eastern edge of a point of land, is completely insulated
by a canal on its western side, which runs across from a
small arm of the sea, and bounds the town on its S. side.
The houses ai'e about 500 in number, and ax*e in general
well built, spacious, and even elegant. They are for the
most part constructed of wood, and x’aised 10 feet from the
ground on pillars of mahogany. The stxeets are regular,
and cx-oss each other at right angles. The main one runs
in a north-easterly direction to the bridge from the govern¬
ment-house, which is situated on the S.E. point or angle
of the island on the right bank of the river, and bounded
on the S. and E. by the sea. Behind the government-
house is the church, on the E. side of the main street. The
whole town is embowei'ed in groves and avenues of the
cocoa-nut and tamarind trees. Fort-George is situated
about half a mile fi'om the river, on a small low islet.
In the neighbourhood of Belize the natural heat of the
climate is tempered by the sea breezes that pi’evail during
U R A S.
nine months in the year, so that, even in the hottest sea- Honduras,
son, the thermometer seldom rises above 83° Fahr., and
dux-ing the wet season it sinks to 60°. In June, July, Au¬
gust, and Septembex*, heavy and frequent rains fall, and
these are the most unhealthy months of the year, from the
decomposition of animal and vegetable matter in the ad¬
jacent lowlands and swamps.
There are various classes of society in this settlement,
including Europeans, coloured people, Indians, and Mos¬
quito men. The blacks of Honduras are distinct from the
aborigines of the country, being of African descent. In
general they are inclined to indulge those low propensities
which are exhibited in a state of barbarism. Having been
derived from various regions, they still retain all their na¬
tional peculiarities, and keep themselves distinct from every
other tribe. The blacks, as a body, have upon the whole
little intelligence, and their dulness of comprehension is re¬
markable. It is asserted, however, that some of them ex¬
hibit an originality of talent and a degree of mental activity
little inferior to their European brethren. They are much
attached to their country, and with a native of his own land
a Honduras black will share his last plantain. The coloured
population has resulted fi’om the intercourse of Europeans
with Africans or Indians. They of course, mox-ally speak¬
ing, assume a medium status, and partake more or less
of the qualities of black and white, according to their dis¬
tance from either. The Mosquito Indians abound in the
colony. They are remarkable for a fine muscular forma¬
tion of body, but in their countenances they exhibit an
utter destitution of intelligence, and their habits are most
bai’barous. They acknowledge the existence of a good and
evil spirit; and the little power of thought which they
possess is displayed in their conduct towards their deities.
The good spiidt is neglected, because, say they, his good¬
ness is so great that nothing is to be feared from his wi’ath,
whilst, on the other hand, the evil spirit is propitiated, in
order to deprecate his malevolence. The whole wealth of a
Mosquito man consists in his canoe, paddle, and harpoon.
With these he satisfies the cravings of nature, and his gro¬
velling nature asks for no more. The Indians, the real
aboidgines of the place, are a timid, inoffensive race, appa¬
rently more under the influence of instinct than of reason.
They perform the most astonishing journeys thi'ough woods,
as ti'ackless as the sea, and impervious to all but themselves
with infallible correctness of direction and amazing x-apidity.
Although fi-ee fl-om vindictive or malicious propensities,
they are addicted to drunkenness to an excessive degree.
The population of the colony is estimated at about 12,000.
The present constitution of Honduras is based upon an
act passed in 1853. By this act the legislature consists of
the superintendent and a legislative assembly of twenty-one
members, eighteen of whom are elected, and three ap¬
pointed by the government. Members are inquired to be of
full age, of native birth, or naturalized, and in the possession
of personal property within the settlement to the amount
of L.400, Electors must be owners or occupiers of x-eal
property to the amount of L.7 per annum. The assembly
lasts for four years, subject to prorogation or dissolution.
The superintendent has also the assistance of an executive
council of six members, three of whom are designated offi¬
cial, and three ai'e appointed by the superintendent, with
the approbation of the crown. The superintendent of Hon¬
duras is under the control of the governor of Jamaica, from
whom he receives his commission. In religious matters,
too, Honduras forms part of the bishopric of Jamaica.
There are two parish churches in Belize, a free Scotch
church, and chapels for Wesleyans and Baptists. There is
also a gi-ammar school, founded in 1846, and having, in
1847, 175 pupils. Petty larceny and misdemeanours re¬
sulting from intemperance frequently occur, but atrocious
crimes are happily seldom perpetrated. In the mechanical
H 0 N D
Honduras, arts the blacks display little or no ingenuity, but the coloured
v ^ v people are considerably above the negroes in this respect.
The exports consist chiefly of mahogany, logwood, rose¬
wood, hides, tortoise-shell, fustic, cochineal, indigo, sarsapa¬
rilla, and cocoa-nuts ; the imports chiefly of manufactured
goods from Britain. Much of the exports are brought hither
from the neighbouring states in small coasters. The total
value of exports in 1851 was L.411,443; in 1852, L.399,223;
in 1853, L.345,377 ; and in 1854, L.452,313. The imports
in 1854 amounted to L.2,417,642. (Martin’s British Colo¬
nies, Parliamentary Reports, &c.; Capt. Henderson’s Hon¬
duras.)
Honduras, one of the republican states of Central Ame¬
rica, lying between W. Long. 83. 20. and 89. 30., and N.
Lat. 13.10. and 16.; and bounded on the N. and N.E. by
the Bay of Honduras and the Caribbean Sea, S.E. by Ni¬
caragua, S. by the Gulf of Fonseca and San Salvador, and
W. by Guatemala. On the N. it has a coast-line of about
400 miles from the mouth of the Rio Tinto, in W. Long. 88.
30., to Cape Gracias a Dios, at the mouth of the Rio Wanks
or Segovia, in Long. 83. 11. The boundary line follows the
Wanks for about two-thirds of its length, and thence deflects
in a south-westerly direction to the sources of the Rio
Negro, which there forms its boundary to the Gulf of Fon¬
seca, along which it has a coast-line of about 60 miles, to the
mouth of the Rio Goascoran. It follows the course of that
river, due N., for about 30 miles to the mouth of one of
its affluents from the N. W., called Rio Pescado. From the
head of this stream it strikes a branch of the Rio Torola,
along which it continues to the mouth of the latter, in the Rio
Lempa. The Lempa, and subsequently its affluent the Rio
Lumpul, constitute its boundary to a point near the source of
the latter, where its waters approach those of the Rio Paza.
From this point it runs nearly N.E., along the mountain chain
of Merendon and Grita to the head waters of the Rio Tinto.
The general aspect of Honduras is mountainous. Ranges
of mountains and hills radiate towards the N. and E. from
the common base of the Cordilleras. This great chain does
not in Honduras approach within 50 or 60 miles of the
Pacific, and on that side presents the general appearance of
a great natural wall. A lower range of mountains, relieved
by volcanic peaks of wonderful regularity of outline, inter¬
venes between it and the ocean. It seems as if the waters
of the Pacific had at one time washed the foot of this great
mountain barrier, and the now intervening coast range had
resulted from subsequent volcanic forces. The great chain
of the Cordilleras does not throughout maintain its general
character of an unbroken range, but occasionally forms in¬
terior basins or valleys, within which are collected the head
waters of the large streams that traverse the country in the
direction of the Atlantic. The northern and eastern coast
of Honduras presents several bold groups of mountains, the
terminations of ranges radiating from the Cordilleras. From
the high plateaux of Guatemala the great range of the Cor¬
dilleras pursues a nearly eastern course to the frontier of
Honduras, where it is deflected to the S.E., while a higher
range, not inferior in height to the main chain, runs oft’ E.
by N. to the Bay of Honduras. At the point of separation
this range is called the mountains of Merendon, afterwards
Grita, and nearer the coast, Espiritu Santo. On the coast,
where it attains the great height of 7000 or 8000 feet, it
takes the name of Omoa. The main chain, at the distance
of a few leagues from the mountains of Merendon, forms a
mass or group known as the mountains of Selaque ; and in¬
termediately lies the great valley or plain of Sensenti, which
is about 30 miles in length by from 10 to 20 in breadth. It
is almost wholly enclosed by mountains, the only outlet
being the narrow valley or gorge through which flows the
Rio Higuito or Talgua, subsequently the Rio Santiago.
The mountains of Selaque constitute one of the principal
centres of elevation in Honduras, rising to the height of
U R A S.
8000 or 10,000 feet. The Rio Mejicote or Rio Grande de
Gracias, a branch of the Santiago, separates them on the E.
from the mountains of Paca with their lofty peak, and from
the terraced mountains of Opalaca or Intibucat with their
truncated summits and elevated plains. The valley of the
Rio Sta Barbara, one of the principal affluents of the San¬
tiago, intervenes between the mountains of Opalaca and the
group of the Montecillos. This group is formed by the true
range of the Cordilleras, which turns abruptly from its pre¬
vious course, E. by S., to a direction due N., and finally
loses itself in diverging ranges toward the coast. The di¬
vergences form another mountain-bound valley, in the centre
of which lies the Lake of Yojoa. At the eastern base of the
Montecillos range, where the interruption of the Cordil¬
leras is complete, lies the plain of Comayagua, about 1900
feet above the sea, from which, extending due N. to the
Atlantic, is the valley of the Rio Humuya, and due S. to
the Pacific is the valley of the Rio Goascoran—thus consti¬
tuting a great transverse valley reaching from sea to sea.
The plain of Comayagua is probably about 40 miles in
length from N. to S., with a general w idth of from 5 to 15
miles. It slopes almost imperceptibly toward the N., where
a range of low hills separate it from the plain of Espino.
These two plains, both of great beauty and fertility, occupy
nearly one-third of the distance between the Bay of Hon¬
duras and that of Fonseca. Beyond the plain of Comay¬
agua the Cordilleras again form a great group or mass of
high mountains, the northern part being known as the moun¬
tains of Comayagua, the southern as the mountains of Le-
paterique. They extend about 80 miles from N. to S., and
near the centre send oft' a high range knowm as the moun¬
tains of Ule. Nearly to the westward of the mountains of
Comayagua, and separated from them by the valley and
river of the Sulaco, is the Sulaco group, standing almost in
the centre of the state, and forming the nucleus of several
extensive ranges little inferior to itself in elevation. That
which extends to the N.E. is called the mountains of Mi-
soco; that to the N. the mountains of Pija, terminating its
numerous spurs in the high peaks of Congrehoy, which
frown over the Bay of Honduras; while that called the
mountains of Chili pursues a tortuous south-western course,
and finally skirts the northern border of the transverse val¬
ley of the Nicaraguan lakes. At the base, and to the E.
and N.E. of the mountains of Sulaco, are the broad and
elevated plains or terraces of the Olancho and Yoro, cele¬
brated for the number and excellence of their cattle. Most
of that wide region between the Sulaco mountains and the
Atlantic, comprising nearly one-half of the territory of the
state, is uninhabited except by detached Indian tribes, and
is but little known, except that it is very diversified and rich
in the nature of its soil and the variety of its minerals. The
northern coast of Honduras presents a diversified surface.
A portion is flat, and covered with vast growths of timber.
In other places the mountains extend to or very near the
coast. Those of Omoa overshadow the Bay of Amatique,
and those of Congrehoy and Poyos form conspicuous land¬
marks from the ocean, which breaks almost at their feet.
Honduras thus presents the greatest diversity of surface;
fertile valleys, wide and elevated plains, and mountains ter¬
raced to their summits, affording almost every variety of
soil, climate, and production.
The rivers of Honduras are numerous, and some of them
of great size. The principal are the Chamelicon, Ulua,
Aguan or Roman, Tinto or Black River, Patuca, and
Wanks or Segovia, flowing into the Atlantic; and the Cho-
luteca, Nacaome, and Goascoran, flowing into the Bay of
Fonseca. The Chamelicon rises in the mountains of Me¬
rendon, and pursues a generally N.E. course to the Atlan¬
tic. It is of great length and rapid, but as it drains only
a small section of country, its body of water is small. The
Ulua, on the other hand, drains a vast expanse of territory,
HONDURAS.
612
Honduras, comprehending nearly one-third of the entire state, and is
the largest river in Central America, the Wanks perhaps
excepted. The principal tributaries are the Santiago, Sta
Barbara, Blanco, Humuya, and Sulaco. It has a bar at
the mouth with only 9 feet of water, but steamers of light
draught mav ascend to the mouth of the Humuya. The
Rio Aguan or Roman River is a large stream rising in the
mountains of Sulaco, and falling into the sea a little to the
E. of Truxillo, after a course of about 120 miles. The
Rio Tinto or Black River, which at a short distance from
the coast takes the name of Foyer or Poyas, is a consider¬
able stream, said to have a course of about 120 miles. The
Patook or Patuca River is the largest on this coast, between
the Ulua and the Wanks. It takes its rise in the depart¬
ment of Olancho, in the vicinity of the town of Juticalpa.
The principal streams which unite to form the Patuca are
the Jalan, Tinto de Olancho, Guyape, and Guallambre.
The principal mouth of the Patuca is obstructed by a shift¬
ing bar, on which there is generally from 8 to 10 feet
of water. An arm of the Patuca, called Toomtoom Creek,
diverging from the main stream at a short distance from its
mouth, connects it with Brus or Brewer’s Lagoon, which
communicates with the sea by a wide mouth, but only ac¬
cessible to vessels of six or seven feet draught. Eastward
from the mouth of the Patuca is the Carataska or Cartage
Lagoon, about 36 miles in length by about 12 in breadth,
and varying in depth from 6 to 12 or 18 feet. The Rio
Wanks or Segovia is certainly the longest if not also the
largest river in Central America. It rises in the department
of Nueva Segovia, in the extreme N.W. corner of Nica¬
ragua, within 50 miles of the Bay of Fonseca, and flows
N.E. into the Caribbean Sea at Cape Gracias a Dios. Its
length is estimated at not less than 350 miles. The three
principal rivers flowing into the Pacific are the Goascoran,
Nacaome, and Choluteca, of which the last named is the
largest. It rises in the Lepaterique Mountains, at the head
of the plain of Comayagua, flows eastward until it reaches
the meridian of Tegucigalpa, then turns abruptly N.,
passes that city, and after describing a circuitous route,
runs nearly S. into the Gulf of Fonseca, having a total
length of 150 miles. The Rio Nacaome collects its waters
on the S. side of the Lepaterique Mountains, while the
Choluteca drains their northern slope. It is not a long
stream, but is very rapid, and carries along a considerable
body of water. The River Goascoran rises among the low
hills which lie at the head of the great plain of Comayagua,
and has a course due S. of 70 or 80 miles. During the
rainy season it is of considerable size, but in the dry sea¬
son it is fordable without difficulty at any point. The only
lake of importance is that of Yojoa or Taulebe. It is closely
shut in by mountains, and is probably about 25 miles in
length, by from 3 to 8 in breadth. The River Blanco, a
narrow but deep stream, flows from its northern extremity
into the Ulua. The Bay of Fonseca, the greater portion
of which belongs to Honduras, is upwards of 50 miles in
length, by about 30 in average breadth, with an entrance
18 miles wide, between the volcanoes of Conchagua (3800
feet, in height) and Coseguina (3000 feet in height). Across
this entrance lie the two islands of Conchaguita and Mian-
guera, and a collection of high rocks called Los Farellones,
forming four distinct channels, each having sufficient depth
of water to admit the largest vessels. On the island of
Tigre, near the centre of the bay, is the free port of Ama-
pala, belonging to Honduras. The largest island in the
bay is the Sacate Grande, 7 miles in length, by 4 in breadth,
and of great fertility, in some parts densely wooded with
cedar, mahogany,and other valuable trees; in others covered
with luxuriant pasture.
The principal ports of Honduras on the Atlantic are
Puerto Caballo, Omoa, and Truxillo. Puerto Caballo,
the first port established by the Spaniards on the northern
coast, is in N. Lat. 15. 49, W. Long. 87. 57. Cortez, in Honduras,
his expedition into Honduras, founded a settlement here
for the purpose of making it the grand entrepot of New
Spain. For upwards of two centuries it was the principal
establishment on the coast; but during the time of the buc¬
caneers it was removed to Omoa, because of the large size
of the bay, which could not be properly defended. This
bay is not less than 9 miles in circumference, of ample
depth—two-thirds of it being from 6 to 12 fathoms—and
has secure holding ground. It is perfectly protected from
the N.N.E. and N.W. winds, which are those that prevail on
this coast. The port of Omoa, in N. Lat. 15. 47., W. Long.
88. 3., is small but secure, and is defended by a strong fort,
called El Castillo de San Fernando. The anchorage is good,
in from 2 to 6 fathoms. The town stands about a quarter of
a mile from the shore, and contains about 2000 inhabitants.
Truxillo is situated on the western shore of a noble bay, in
N. Lat. 15. 55., W. Long. 86. Young estimated the po¬
pulation in 1842 at 2500, of whom 1000 were whites and
Ladinos, and 1500 Caribs. The hatter are described as
tall, athletic, hardy, and industrious.
The coast alluvions of Honduras are generally densely
wooded, the elevated valleys of the interior spread out in
broad savannahs, and the mountain plateaux are covered with
forests of scattered pines, relieved by occasional clumps of
oak. Upon the northern coast, in the broad plain through
which the Ulua and Chamelicon flow, the country is so low
as to be occasionally overflowed for considerable distances.
Here grow immense forests of cedar, mahogany, caiba,
India-rubber, and other large and valuable trees, thickly
interspersed with palms. Farther to the eastward on the
same coast the heavy forests are confined chiefly to the
river valleys, and give place at short distances inland to
sandy savannahs, covered with coarse grass and clumps of
pines and acacias. The alluvions of the Pacific coast are
also densely wooded, but not extensive. At short distances
inland they give place to numerous savannahs, studded with
clumps of acacias, and covered with grass; but the pine
does not appear here except upon the slopes of the hills at an
altitude of about 1200 feet. The valleys of the rivers on both
coasts are thickly wooded ; but as they ascend towards the
interior, vegetation diminishes, and is reduced to a narrow
fringe of trees and bushes \ipon their immediate banks.
These valleys in the high interior country often expand
into broad and beautiful plains—half savannah, half wood¬
land—where the palm and the pine flourish side by side.
The mountains which rise around these valleys are ascended
by terraces crowned with forests of pines and oaks, and covered
with grass. The summits of the mountains sometimes rise
in peaks, but generally constitute broad table-lands, more or
less undulating, and often spreading out in savannahs, tra¬
versed with long ridges of verdure and green belts of trees.
Of the vegetable productions of Honduras the mahogany
tree stands first in importance, and, from its vast size and
magnificent foliage, is deservedly entitled “ king of the fo¬
rest.” It is to be found in nearly all parts of Honduras,
in the valleys of the various streams^ It is, however, most
abundant upon the lower valleys of the rivers flowing into
the Bay of Honduras, where the corles (cuttings) are chiefly
carried on by the Spaniards. A fixed sum is paid to the
government for each tree cut down. Rosewood is common
on the northern coast, wdiere it is beginning to form an ar¬
ticle of commerce. Lignum vitae abounds in the valley of
the Ulua, on the river banks in the plain of Comayagua,
and in other parts. Among the numerous dyewoods for
which Honduras is celebrated, may be mentioned fustic,
Brazil wood, yellow sanders, dragon’s-blood tree, Nicara¬
gua wood (a variety of Brazil wood), and the anotta.
Among the gum and medicinal trees, are the gum-arabic
tree, copaiba tree, copal tree, liquid amber, castor oil, ipe¬
cacuanha, and the Hevea elastica. Among the more com-
HONDURAS.
Honduras, mon of the others are the long-leaved or pitch pine, cedar,
ceiba or silk-cotton tree, live oak, mangrove, iron-wood,
calabash, various kinds of oak and palm, lime, lemon, orange,
cocoa, pimento, citron, tamarind, and guava. Sarsaparilla is
obtained in great abundance, and of superior quality. The
sugar-cane growrs luxuriantly on the plains and among the
mountains, at elevations of 3000 to 4000 feet. Coffee,
indigo, tobacco, maize, wheat, rice, and potatoes are also
grown.
The domestic animals are the horse, ass, ox, sheep, goat,
hog, dog, and cat. The wild animals comprise the deer,
tapir, racoon, opossum, squirrel, ant-eater, armadillo, and
various species of monkey ; also the jaguar, black tiger,
tiger-cat, and the cougar. Numerous varieties of parrot
abound everywhere; and the macawr and toucan are com¬
mon on both coasts. Among the birds of prey are haw'ks,
vultures, owls, and sea-eagles. The crow, blackbird, Mexi¬
can jay, rice-bird, swallow, rain-bird, and numerous varieties
of humming-bird are common. Of water birds the peli¬
can, Muscovy duck, black duck, curlew, plover, spoonbill,
teal, darter, heron, ibis, and crane, are abundant on the
banks of the lagoons and rivers. The Crax alector, Crax
rubra, Pauxigaleata, Guan, Mexican partridge, quail, snipe,
and several varieties of wood-pigeon are most numerous in
the interior. Alligators are common in the lagoons and
rivers of both coasts. Of the lizard tribe there are numer¬
ous varieties ; the most remarkable is the iguana. Serpents
of several kinds are common on the coasts, but they are
mostly harmless. The tortoise and turtle are numerous, and
of several kinds.
Honduras, in point of mineral resources, ranks first
among the states of Central America. Silver, the most
abundant and valuable of the ores existing in the state,
is found in various combinations—with iron, lead, copper,
and in some instances with antimony. Chlorides of silver
are not uncommon. The silver ores are chiefly found upon
the Pacific ranges or groups of mountains, while the gold
washings, if not the gold mines proper, are most numerous
on the Atlantic slope. The mineral district of Yuscuran,
in the department Tegucigalpa, is noted for the number and
value of its mines. The ores are for the most part an ar¬
gentiferous galena yielding from 63 to 1410 oz. per ton.
The mines throughout this department and that of Cholu-
tica yield a similar ore, generally occurring in a matrix of
quartz with varying proportions of brown blende, and sul-
phurets of zinc and iron, and oxides of iron. The mines
of the department of Gracias are equally celebrated with
those of Tegucigalpa. Gold mines are not uncommon in
Honduras ; but, with the exception of those of San Andres
in the department of Gracias, and those in the vicinity of
San Juan Cantaranas in Tegucigalpa, they are no longer
worked. The principal supplies of this metal are drawn
from the gold-washings of Olancho, which are exceedingly
productive. The River Guyape has always enjoyed great
celebrity for the amount of gold contained in its sands ; but
since the early period of Spanish occupancy washing has
not been carried on, except on a very small scale by the
Indians, and even with them the process is generally left
to the women and children. There are also very valuable
mines of copper ; the ores containing also considerable pro¬
portions of silver. Those of Coloal in Gracias contain about
58 per cent, of copper, besides about 80 oz. of silver to the
ton. The mine of Guanacaste, in Olancho, gives upwards
of 80 per cent, of pure copper, besides about 2-9 per cent,
of silver. Iron-ore is common, but no mines of it are
worked except those of Agalteca in Tegucigalpa. Platina
is said to exist in the departments of Choluteca and Gracias ;
but the mines have never been worked. Cinnabar has also
been found in several places, but probably not in sufficient
quantities to admit of being reduced with profit. Zinc,
antimony, and tin also exist. The opal mines of Gracias
613
are worked to a large extent, and have been very produc- Honduras,
tive ; and beds of coal have been discovered in several lo-
calities. An abundance of fine white, blue, and veined
limestone is scattered throughout every department of the
state ; while the hills and mountains at the back of Omoa
have exhaustless quarries of a fine compact white marble,
well adapted for statuary and ornamental use.
The N. and E. coast of Honduras has unquestionably a
higher temperature than any other portion of the state. It
diminishes, however, rapidly as we proceed inland, the mo¬
difying influence of the neighbouring mountains being felt
even before the increase of altitude becomes perceptible.
The table-lands have of course a climate varying with their
elevation and their exposure to the prevailing winds. The
climate at the mouth of the Rio Tinto, or Black River, in
N. Lat. 16., W. Long. 85., is said to be pretty equable,
varying only throughout the year from 62° to 86° Fahr.
The heats are tempered during the greater part of the year
by the grateful sea-breeze, and sometimes by the invigorat¬
ing dry N. wind.
Honduras has an areaof 39,600 square miles, and its popu¬
lation in 1855 was estimated at 350,000, exclusive of the In¬
dian tribes. It is divided into seven departments as follows:—
Departments. Estimated pop. in 1855.
Comayagua  70,000
Tegucigalpa  60,000
Choluteca   50,000
Santa Barbara   50,000
Gracias  55,000
Yoro  20,000
Olancho  45,000
350,000
The department of Comayagua occupies the centre of
the state. Tegucigalpa, the smallest and most populous,
may be described as occupying a great interior basin or
plateau, bounded on the N. and W. by the mountains of
Sulaco and Comayagua, and on the S. and E. by those of
Ule and Chili. Choluteca occupies the extreme S. front¬
ing on the Bay of Fonseca. Santa Barbara lies northward of
Gracias and Comayagua, between these departments and
the Bay of Honduras. Gracias lies in the N.E. angle of
the state touching upon Guatemala and San Salvador. Yoro
comprehends all the northern portion lying E. of Ulua.
Olancho lies immediately E. of Tegucigalpa.
The Indian or aboriginal population predominates in
Honduras, as in Central America generally. In the eastern
portion of the state, within the district which lies between
the Rio Roman and the Segovia River, an area of not less
than 15,000 square miles, the country is almost exclusively
occupied by native tribes, known under the general names
of Xicaques and Payas. Portions of these tribes have ac¬
cepted the Catholic religion, and live in good understand¬
ing wdth the white population. The large town of Cata-
camas, and some others of less note in the vicinity of Juti-
calpa, in Olancho, are exclusively inhabited by Christianized
Payas and Xicaque Indians. Apart from these, there are
considerable numbers who live among the mountains, and
who follow more closely their original modes of life, but who
are also friendly in their intercourse with the Spaniards.
They tacitly recognize the authority of the government,
but it does not interfere with their modes of life. The
names Xicaques and Payas may be regarded as general de¬
signations. The Toacas or Towkas, some of whom live on
the banks of the Rio Patuca, and the Secos, found on the
Rio Tinto or Black River, probably belong to the Payas.
They are described by Young as having “ long black hair
hanging over their shoulders, very broad faces, small eyes,
with a peculiar expression of sadness and docility, which pre¬
possesses the beholder in their favour.” “ They are short,
but remarkably strong, and capable of carrying heavy bur¬
dens over the rocky passes of their steep mountains with-
614 HON
H 0 N
Honduras, out appearing to suffer much fatigue. Their character for
faith and honesty stands high.” The coast around Gara-
taska Lagoon, and westward as far as Brewer’s Lagoon, was
for many years occupied by Sambos or Mosquitos, a mixed
rpce of Negroes and Indians; but the Garibs spreading
rapidly eastward from Truxillo and Black River, have now
nearly displaced them, and driven them to the southward
of Cape Gracias a Dios into the Mosquito territory. The
Caribs are peaceable, active, and industrious, and are much
employed by the mahogany cutters on the coast. The
government of Honduras is popular and representative, all
power emanating from the people, and all public function¬
aries being held responsible to the people for the faithful
discharge of their duties. The executive power is vested
in a president, who must be thirty-two years of age, a native
of Central America, a citizen of the state for five years, and
proprietor of real estate to the value of L.1000. He holds
office for four years, and is incapable of being elected to serve
for two consecutive terms. The legislative body is com¬
posed of fourteen deputies, half of whom retire annually.
A deputy must be twenty-five years of age, a citizen of the
department which he represents, and a proprietor to the
value of L.100, or in the exercise of a profession or art
yielding that annual return. The senators, seven in num¬
ber, must be thirty years of age, proprietors each to the
value of L.200, or licentiates in some of the liberal profes¬
sions. The legislature imposes taxes; nominates, in joint ses¬
sion, the magistrates of the supreme court of justice; grants
the annual appropriations; fixes the military contingent;
controls the educational system ; makes war or peace ; rati¬
fies treaties ; and has the power of impeaching and trying
the executive officers of the state. The supreme court of
justice is divided into two sections of three members each,
one of which is established in the city of Comayagua, and
the other in that of Tegucigalpa. They must be advocates
of established reputation, of at least twenty-five years of age,
and proprietors to the value of L.200. Each department is
presided over by a chief officer, named by the executive,
who must be twenty-five years of age, and a proprietor in
the department over which he is appointed. All persons
born in the state, or in any of the other states of Central
America, and resident in Honduras, are recognized as citi¬
zens ; and foreigners may acquire the rights of citizenship
by legislative act. The right of suffrage belongs to all
citizens above twenty-one years of age, “ but after 1870 it
shall be limited to such only as may then be able to read
and write.” The press is free ; and capital punishment is
abolished. The established religion is Roman Catholic.
There are two universities, one at Comayagua, the other
at Tegucigalpa, with professorships of law, medicine, and
theology.
Comayagua, formerly Valladolid, the capital of the state,
is situated on the southern border of the plain of the same
name, in N. Lat. 14. 28., W. Long. 87. 39. It was founded
by Alonzo Caceres in 1540. In 1827 it was taken and
burned by the monarchical faction of Guatemala. It then
contained about 18,000 inhabitants, and was embellished
with fountains and monuments ; but has never since wholly
recovered. It is the seat of a bishopric, and has a large
and elegant cathedral, and a university. The trade of the
city is small. Pop. about 8000. Tegucigalpa, the largest
and finest city in the state, stands on the right bank of
the Rio Choluteca, which is here crossed by a fine stone
bridge of ten arches, connecting the town with the suburb
of Comayaguita. The town is substantially and regu¬
larly built, and contains six large churches, one of which
is scarcely inferior in size to the cathedral of Comayagua.
Its trade was formerly chiefly carried on through Omoa and
Truxillo, but since the establishment of the free port of
Amapala, it has taken that direction. Pop. about 12,000.
The coast of Honduras was discovered by Columbus in
1502. It subsequently formed part of the Spanish kingdom Hone,
of Guatemala, which comprised the provinces of Guatemala,
Honduras, San Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. These
threw off their allegiance to Spain in 1821, and assuming
the rank of sovereign states soon after united in a confe¬
deracy called the “ Republic of Central America.” This
union, in consequence of internal dissensions, became prac¬
tically dissolved in 1839, and since that time Honduras has
continued to be an independent republic. (See Notes on
Central America, by E. G. Squier. New York, 1855.)
An American work having been chiefly followed in the pre¬
paration of this article, it is necessary to explain that a con¬
siderable portion of country described under Honduras is
claimed by the English for the king of Mosquito; but other¬
wise the work quoted is the principal authority on the
subject.
HONE, or Hone-Slate. These are various slaty-stones
wrought into the form of straight slabs, and used for whet¬
ting or sharpening the edges of tools after they have been
ground. They consist chiefly of the following:—1. Nor-
way ray-stone, the coarsest variety of the hone-slates ; it
gives a finer edge than the sandstones. 2. Charnley Forest
stone, which is used as a substitute for Turkey oil-stone.
3. Ayr stone, Scotch stone, or slate stone, used for polishing
marble, and copper plates, but the harder kinds tor whet¬
stones. 4. Idwall, or Welsh oil-stone, used for small arti¬
cles of cutlery. 5. Devonshire oil-stone, for sharpening
thin-edged broad tools. 6. Cutlers' greenstone, from
Snowdon, which is very hard and close, and is used for
giving the last edge to lancets, &c. 7. German razor-
hone, used almost entirely for razors. It is obtained from
the slate mountains near Ratisbon, where it forms a yellow
vein in the blue slate. It is sawn into thin slabs, and ce¬
mented to a slab of slate which serves as a support. 8.
Blue polishing stone, a dark slate of uniform texture, used
by workers in silver and some other metals, for polishing
off the work. 9. Gray polishing-stone, somewhat coarser
than the blue. 10. Welsh clearing-stone, a soft variety
of hone-slate used by curriers for giving a fine edge to their
broad knives. 11. Peruvian hone, tor sharpening large
tools. 12. Arhanzas stone, from North America. 13.
Bohemian stones—used by jewellers.
Turkey oil-stone is superior to every other substance as
a whetstone; it will abrade the hardest steel, and is suffi¬
ciently compact to resist the pressure required for sharpen¬
ing a graver. The black variety is somewhat harder than
the white. These stones are imported from Turkey in ir¬
regular masses, seldom exceeding three inches square, and
ten inches long, and are cut up by means of the lapidary’s
splitting-mill, and diamond powder, then rubbed smooth
with sand or emery on an iron plate, inlaid in wood, and
secured by glazier’s putty. Sperm or neat’s foot oil, or some
oil which does not readily thicken, should be used with them.
Oil-stone powder is used for grinding together the brass or
gun-metal fittings of mathematical instruments, and also
instead of pumice-stone for polishing superior brass-work.
The following analyses throw an interesting light on the
nature of polishing stones :—
Alumina.
Polishing slate 4-0
Do. do. 7-0
Bohemian stone l-0
Turkey hone... 3-33
Silica.
83-5
66-5
790
72-0
Mag- Carbonic
Lime. Iron. Water, nesia. Acid.
8-5 1-6 90  
1-25 2-5 19-0 1-5
1-0 4,0 140  
13-33  10-33
HONE, William, the author of the Year Book, Every-
Day Book, See., was the son of a dissenting minister of
Bath, where he was born in 1780. Abandoning the law,
to which he was originally trained, he began business as a
bookseller and publisher, and acquired a great name by his
vindication of popular rights in a newspaper which he edit¬
ed under the title of the Reformist Register. His popu-
HON
/
Honfleur larity was greatly extended by his famous series of political
II satires called The Political House that Jack built, which
lI°no ran through upwards of fifty editions, and contributed greatly
Konf, to bring into disrepute the government of the day. En-
couraged by his success, he next published a series of paro¬
dies of the liturgy, also directed against the ruling powers,
who determined to prosecute him for blasphemy. His de¬
fence, which lasted for three days, was conducted by him¬
self with a courage, temper, and ability that recalled the
days of Horne Tooke, and resulted in a triumphant acquittal.
His subsequent publications of the Every-Day Book, &c.,
forming a kind of calendar of popular English amusements,
sports, pastimes, ceremonies, manners, customs, and events
incident to every day in the year, though they rendered
good service to an important department of literature, in¬
volved him in debt, and at last landed him in jail, where
he remained for some time. Released by the kindness
of some friends, he opened the Grasshopper Coffee-house ;
and to eke out his scanty means, published his Year-Book,
which was equally unfortunate with its predecessor. To¬
wards the close of his life a complete change took place in
his religious views ; and from having been a scoffer, and as
nearly an atheist as a man can be, he became a humble
and anxious Christian. One result of this change was his
appointment to the sub-editorship of the Patriot news¬
paper, which office he held till his death in 1842. After
his death his collection of pamphlets, believed to be the best
private collection then extant in England, was sold and
dispersed. An interesting account of his conversion was
published in London in 1853.
HONFLEUR, a seaport-town of France, department
of Calvados, and arrondissement of Port I’Eveque, on the
southern shore of the estuary of the Seine, 8 miles S.E. of
Havre, with which it has regular steam communication.
The town is old and ill built. The harbour is accessible
only at high water, and is chiefly frequented by fishing or
small coasting craft. The herring, mackerel, and whiting
fisheries are actively prosecuted; and numerous vessels sail
annually for the cod, whale, and seal fisheries. Honfleur
sends weekly to England about 7000 dozens of eggs, be¬
sides butter, fruit, &c. Its commerce, formerly consider¬
able, has been almost entirely absorbed by Havre. The
chief manufactures are hosiery, lace, chemical products,
and hardware. There are also shipbuilding yards, rope-
walks, and saw-mills. The chapel of Notre Dame de
Grace, on the hill above the town, is much frequented by
sailors, and filled with their votive offerings. Pop. 9580.
HONG KONG, a small island, now a British colony,
lying off the coast of China, at the mouth of the Canton
River, about 40 miles E. of Macao, in N. Lat. 22. 16. 30,
E. Long. 114. 14. 45. It is about 9 miles in length by
8 in breadth, and is separated from the mainland by a nar¬
row strait varying from less than a mile to 4 or 5 miles in
width. The appearance of the island is barren and unpre¬
possessing. It consists for the most part of ranges of rocky
hills, rising sometimes to the height of 1700 or 1800 feet
above the sea. The highest peak is 1825 feet in height.
There are no trees of any size on the island, and few val¬
leys of any extent. The rocks of Hong Kong consist of
granite intermixed with quartz, mica, and felspar, affording
excellent materials for building. Among the vegetable
productions of the island are mango, lichee, longan, orange,
pear, rice, sweet potatoes, and yams. A small quantity of
flax is grown, and prepared for household uses by the vil¬
lagers. Since the occupation of the island by the English
the potato of Europe and the fruits of Canton and Macao
have been introduced, and lately many European seeds
have been sent out. The land tortoise, a few small deer,
and armadillos, and several kinds of snakes, are found on
the island.
1 he climate of Hong Kong, like that of Macao, is not
HON
615
generally unhealthy, though from the numerous deaths that Honiton
occurred in 1842 and 1843, this was supposed to be the ||
case. Subsequent years, however, have shown that the Honolulu,
climate here is no more prejudicial to health than that of
any of our other eastern tropical possessions.
Hong Kong was first ceded to Britain in January 1841,
and again by the treaty of Nanking in August 1842. The
government is administered by a governor, aided by an
executive council of three members, including the com¬
mander of the troops. There is also a legislative council,
presided over by the governor. The government offices are
at Victoria. The following table exhibits the progress of
Hong Kong from 1848 to 1853, inclusive:—
Pop. exclusive Parliamentary
of Troops. Revenue. Grant. Expenditure.
1848  21,514 L.25,091 L.25,000 L.62,658
1849  29,507 23,617 25,000 38,286
1850  33,292 23,526 20,000 34,314
1851  32,983 23,721 15,500 34,115
1852  37,058 21,331 12,000 34,765
1853  39,017 24,700 9,200 36,418
\\ ith reference to these six years the governor remarks
“ that the call on the home government for parliamentary
grant has been reduced from L.25,000 to L.8500 (L.9200?)
for the current year; that the expenditure has been re¬
duced from L.62,658 to L.36,418; that the number of
square-rigged vessels frequenting the port has increased
from 700 to 1103, while their tonnage is nearly double;
and that the population has in like manner advanced 82
per cent, during the past six years. In conclusion, I have
no hesitation in saying that were this colony taxed in the
same way as are the settlements in the straits under the
government of the East India Company, it could in a year
or two be made to pay its own expenses without the effi¬
ciency of the government being impaired.”
In 1844 the total population (consisting of Chinese) was
19,463; while on 31st December 1853, the Chinese po¬
pulation was 37,536; Europeans and Americans, 476;
other races, 1005. In 1853, 1103 square-rigged vessels,
carrying in all 447,053 tons, arrived in Victoria harbour.
Of these vessels 201 imported, and 154 exported goods into
and from the colony, being an increase over 1852 of 74 and 79
vessels respectively ; while the total tonnage of vessels ar¬
rived as compared with the preceding year shows an increase
of 13,670 tons.
HONITON, a municipal and parliamentary borough
and market-town of England, county of Devon, near the
left bank of the Otter, 16 miles N.E. of Exeter. It con¬
sists of one wide and well-paved street, along which runs
a small stream, supplying the town with water. The houses
have generally a neat and respectable appearance, having
been mostly built since the destructive fires of 1745 and
1765. The parish church, about half-a-mile from the town,
was built by Courtenay, Bishop of Exeter, about 1482,
and is remarkable for a curiously carved screen. A mo¬
dern Gothic church stands in the centre of the town. It
has a free grammar school, national school, hospital, and
several charities. The serge manufacture was formerly
extensively carried on here, but now its chief manufacture
is “ Honiton lace.” Honiton is governed by a port-reeve,
and returns two members to parliament. Pop. (1851)
3427,
HONOLULU, or Honoruru, the principal town of
the Sandwich Islands, and the residence of the king, is
situated on the S. side of the island of Woahoo, in N. Lat.
21, 18, 12., W, Long. 157. 55. It forms an entrepot for
European and Indian goods, whence they are re-shipped
to America. It is also a general rendezvous of whaling
vessels,—and sometimes 80 sail of them, each from 300 to
500 tons, are at anchor here together. In 1851, 446 mer¬
chant ships arrived at the port; in 1852, 235 ; and in
1853, 194. The imports in 1853 amounted to L.256,400,
and the exports to L.56,320. Pop. about 7000.
Honorius
616 HON
Honorius. HONORIUS, Flavils, son of Theodosius the Great,
was born, probably at Constantinople, a.d. 384. His eldei
brother Arcadius was Emperor of the East, and in a.h. 395
Honorius himself came into possession of the ^ est. Being
only in his eleventh year, Stilicho, an able and ambitious
general, was made guardian to the young pi ince. He fought
the battles of the empire against the countless hordes of bar¬
barians who now poured down from the north. In a.d. 398
Stilicho’s daughter Maria was married to Honorius, but they
were both mere children. The close of the century was
marked by the efforts to destroy paganism within the em¬
pire. All temples, altars, and property of any kind, used in
the service of paganism were ordered to be demolished.
During the first years of the fifth century Stilicho was occu¬
pied in driving back the hordes of Alaric. The latter was
routed on the Tanaro, and driven across the Alps. About
a.d. 404 the cruel exhibitions of gladiators were suppressed
in Rome. The frequent ravages committed by the Goths,
Huns, Alans, and other tribes, induced Honorius to change
the seat of government from Milan to the strong fortress of
Ravenna. He had scarcely done so when Rhadagaisus ap¬
peared in Italy with several hundred thousand barbarians,
ravaging all before them. They were ably met, however,
and defeated by Stilicho at Fesulae. Gaul was next ra¬
vaged by the barbarians, including Vandals, Sueves, and
Alans; and Stilicho is suspected of having been concerned
in instigating them to this step. Meanwhile great confu¬
sion was created in Britain. The troops revolted, and ap-
• pointed successively three emperors. The last of these,
named Constantine, passed into Gaul, and defeated the
forces sent against him. Honorius now became suspicious
of Stilicho. The emperor wished to marry Thermantea,
Stilicho’s other daughter (Maria being dead), but Stilicho
objected. Moreover the empire of the East had devolved
upon a child, and it was thought that Stilicho wished to get
the guardianship of the East as he had had of the West.
He and several other officers were seized and put to death.
Whether Stilicho cherished any traitorous designs or not,
it is certain that his death was an irreparable loss to the
empire. Alaric now came and besieged Rome itself, a.d.
408. In the following year he took it, and appointed Attalus
emperor. Shortly after Rome was plundered by Alaric.
Constantine, the usurper, having surrendered on condition
of having his life spared, Honorius broke faith, and had him
put to death. Ataulphus, the successor of Alaric, married
Placidia, the sister of Honorius, and made a treaty with
Honorius. After the death of Ataulphus, Placidia was
married to Constantine, the colleague of Honorius in the
consulship. Honorius was thirteen times consul. He died
of dropsy, a.d. 423, in the twenty-ninth year of his reign,
at the age of thirty-nine.
Honorius I., the successor of Boniface V. to the see of
Rome, was born in Campania, raised to the pontificate in
a.d. 626, and died a.d. 638. The beginning of his pontifi¬
cate was marked by the disturbances of the Welsh clergy,
who resisted both the pretensions of the Bishop of Rome,
and the erection of Canterbury and York into archbishop¬
rics. Honorius has been accused of inclining towards the
heresy of the Monothelites. The justice of the allegation
has been denied by Baronins and others. Still the opinion
that Honorius held on the subject was pronounced heresy
in the 6th Council of Constantinople, a.d. 680. The
existing letters of Honorius to Sergius, the patriarch of
Constantinople, indicate a leaning towards Monothelism—
«.e., the doctrine that our Lord had only a single will; yet
Honorius was not disposed to press the question so as to
raise discussion.
Honorius II. was born in the county of Bologna, and
raised to the see of Rome a.d. 1124. He had been elected
Bishop of Ostia by Pope Pascal. His name was Lambert
de Fagnan. His elevation was opposed by the partizans of
HOG
Tebald, who had been elected and invested with the pontifi-
cal robes. Tebald, however, withdrew when he saw a tumult
arising. Honorius in effect, did the same, but was again in- ^ ^
vested by the cardinals. A dispute arose between Honorius
and Roger Count of Sicily ; and Robert Prince of Capua was
induced by Honorius to oppose him, but Roger came off vic¬
torious. Honorius was no more successful in his interference
with the Bishop of Paris. The bishop, wishing to intro¬
duce some reform, was opposed by the clergy and the king,
Louis VI. The bishop put the royal lands under interdict.
At first Honorius annulled the acts of the bishop ; but owing
to the powerful assistance of St Bernard, who supported
the bishop, Honorius withdrew his opposition. He died
a.d. 1130.
Honorius III., successor to Innocent III., was elected
Pope a.d. 1216. His name was Cencio Savelli. He began
at once to take part in the affairs of the East and the W est.
He assured the king of Jerusalem of his willingness to sup¬
port the crusades. He wrote to the French bishops to
kindle the ardour of the pilgrims, and promised the Empe¬
ror of the East his co-operation in subduing schism. He
took part in the election of Peter of Courtenay, and crowned
him Emperor of the West. Honorius was very anxious to
organize a crusade to the Holy Land. Frederick II. was
crowned for the express purpose of undertaking one, and
promised, upon oath, to be ready in two years. But great
difficulties were encountered, owing to the disturbed state
of Europe. Spain and Portugal were devastated by the
Moors, as well as by the wars of succession between the
Houses of Castille and Leon. In the south of France there
was already a crusade against the Albigenses; and diffe¬
rences existed between the House of Montfort and the
Counts of Toulouse. Honorius died a.d. 1227, in the
eleventh year of his pontificate, and without accomplishing
anything important.
Honorius IV. succeeded Martin IV. in the Papal chair
in a.d. 1285. His name was Giacomo Savelli. Having
the gout both in his hands and feet, he is said to have re¬
quired the help of instruments in celebrating mass. He
induced Philippe-le-Hardi to wage war against Pedro of
Aragon, who held Charles II. of Sicily in prison, but with¬
out succeeding. He died a.d. 1287.
HONOUR, Legion of, an order instituted (3d June
1802) by Napoleon I., when first consul, for civil and military
merit. See France, § xiii.
HONOURABLE, a title conferred on the younger sons
of earls, and on all the children of viscounts and barons.
It is also conferred on persons holding certain situations of
trust and dignity, such as the maids of honour to the Queen,
&c\, and to members of certain public bodies, as the House
of Commons, East India Company, &c. The title of Right
Honourable is given to all peers and peeresses of the United
Kingdom ; to the eldest sons and all the daughters of peers
above the rank of viscount; to all privy councillors ; and to
various civic functionaries in the different capitals of the
kingdom.
HOOD, Robin, a celebrated outlaw, who lived in the
reign of Richard I., about the close of the twelfth and be¬
ginning of the thirteenth century. He dwelt principally in
Sherwood Forest, in Nottinghamshire. At the period dur¬
ing which Robin Hood performed his exploits the forest
laws were enforced with great rigour by the Norman kings ;
and, as a consequence, numbers fled to solitudes and natural
strongholds. Having a common interest, they banded to¬
gether ; and by their acquaintance with unfrequented locali¬
ties they were able to elude the vigilance of pursuers, as
well as at times to present a bold front even to a numerous
enemy. Stow mentions that Robin Hood had a hundred
companions, able-bodied men, and skilful archers, who were
so formidable that four hundred would not attack them.
But Robin pursued a certain system in his robberies. He
HOG
Hood, spared the poor, and plundered the rich. Stow says, “ He
Samuel, suffered no woman to be oppressed, violated, or otherwise
j molested. Poor men’s goods he spared, abundantly reliev¬
ing them with that which by theft he got from abbeys and
rich old carles.” Hence it is not wonderful that Robin be¬
came a very great favourite with the lower classes ot people.
His exploits have been celebrated from early times in great
numbers of popular ballads, setting forth his courage,
strength, skill in deer-hunting, chivalry towards the fair sex,
and humanity towards his poorer neighbours. The poems,
songs, and ballads relating to him have been brought to¬
gether in Ritson’s Robin Hood Collection, 8vo, 1795, Lon¬
don. Not much can be gathered regarding Robin Hood’s
real history from these poems, many of them being written
long after his time. He appears to have been a yeoman,
though Ritson gives some credit to the epitaph at Kirklees
in Yorkshire, which represented him as an earl of Hunting¬
don. As to the MS. in the Sloane Collection, which speaks
of Robin as an earl, the question is at once raised regarding
the antiquity and value of the MS., which probably belongs
to a period long subsequent to Robin Hood. Of his com¬
panions Little John and Friar Tuck, his chaplain, were the
most notable. Robin is said to have been bled to death by a
nun, near Kirklees, a.d. 1247. See Ritson’s Robin Hood
Collection, and Percy’s Reliques of Ancient English Poetry.
Hood, Samuel, better known as Viscount Hood, be¬
longed to a family of which several members have earned a
lasting name in the naval annals of England. He was born
in 1724 at Butley, in Somersetshire, of which parish his
father was rector. Entering the navy at an early age, he
passed rapidly through the inferior grades, and in 1757 was
made captain of the Antelope, a 50-gun ship, with which he
captured a French ship of equal size. After serving in the
Mediterranean and on the American coast with such dis¬
tinction as to earn a baronetcy, he was sent in 1780 to the
West Indies to co-operate with Sir George Rodney, and
while there fought some indecisive actions with the Comte
de Grasse. In the course of the American War he again
engaged that commander off the mouth of the Chesapeak,
and with a similar result. In the actions of the 9th and 12th
April, which followed the capture of the island of St Chris¬
topher by the French, Hood had the brunt of the battle to
bear, and distinguished himself so much that he was created
a peer of Ireland with the title of Baron Hood of Cathering-
ton; and on Rodney’s return home was promoted to the
chief command, which he held till peace was proclaimed in
1783. When the war of the French Revolution broke out
Hood was sent to the Mediterranean, where the royalists in
Toulon received him with open arms, and surrendered that
city to his care. When the republicans, under the command
of Napoleon, were on the point of regaining possession of
the city, Hood destroyed the arsenal, and burned fifteen
sail of the line, besides carrying off eight; and in the fol¬
lowing year signalized himself by expelling the French from
Corsica. Soon after this exploit he returned home, and
was rewarded for his numerous services with the governor¬
ship of Greenwich Hospital, an English peerage with the
title of Viscount Hood of Whitley, and finally with the
Grand Cross of the Bath. He was in his ninety-second
year when he died at Bath, June 27, 1816. In Viscount
Hood were combined the finest qualities of the English
sailor. He certainly had not the genius of Blake or Nelson ;
but among the men of talent who have contributed to raise
the British navy to its present pre-eminence, few stand
higher than he. To great nautical skill he joined high
courage, a prompt decision of movement, and a sagacity of
judgment that won the confidence of the nation as well as
of the fleet. With all his daring he was cautious enough
to avoid risking his ships or men unless the prize were a
very tempting one, or unless, with the means at his com¬
mand, he felt himself justified in trying to secure it.—The
VOL. XI.
H 0 O 617
career of Lord Hood’s younger brother Alexander, after- Hood,
wards Viscount Bridport, was very similar to his own. Pass- Thomas,
ing rapidly through the lower grades of the service, he rose
to be second in command of the fleet which was sent out in
1782 under Lord Howe to relieve Gibraltar. In that com¬
mander’s great victory with the Channel fleet on June 1,
1794, Hood was again his second in command, and contri¬
buted greatly to the successful result of the action. In the
following year, while enjoying an independent command, he
encountered a French fleet off L’Orient, and took three sail
of the line. When Lord Howe retired from the service
Hood succeeded him in the command of the Channel fleet,
which he retained till 1800. In 1801, his numerous and valu¬
able services were rewarded with an English peerage under
the title of Viscount Bridport. He died at Bath in 1814.—
Hardly less distinguished than either of the above was their
cousin Sir Samuel Hood, who earned his laurels at Toulon,
Corsica, and the Nile. In 1806 he greatly signalized him¬
self by the capture of three French frigates in an action off
Rochefort, for which exploit he was rewarded with the Order
of the Bath. Soon after the battle of Copenhagen, in which
he took part, he was promoted to the highest naval command
in India, where he died in 1814. To the remarkable nau¬
tical talents that seemed hereditary in the family to which
he belonged, he superadded a great knowledge of science,
of which he was an arduous student.
Hood, Thomas, humourist and poet, born 1789, the
son of Mr Hood, bookseller, of the firm of Vernor and Hood,
a man of intelligence, and the author of two novels. “ Next
to being a citizen of the world,” writes Thomas Hood in
his Literary Reminiscences, “ it must be the best thing to
be born a citizen of the world’s greatest city.” The best
incident of his boyhood was his instruction by a school¬
master who appreciated his talents, and, as he says, “ made
him feel it impossible not to take an interest in learning
while he seemed so interested in teaching.” Under the
care of this “ decayed dominie,” whom he has so affection¬
ately recorded, he earned a few guineas—his first literary
fee—by revising for the press a new edition of Paul and
Virginia. Admitted soon after into the counting-house of
a friend of his family, he “ turned his stool into a Pegasus
on three legs, every foot, of course, being a dactyl or a
spondee but the uncongenial profession affected his health,
which was never strong, and he was transferred to the care
of a relation at Dundee. He has graphically described his
unconditional rejection by this inhospitable personage, and
the circumstances under which he found himself in a strange
towm without an acquaintance, with the most sympathetic
nature, anxious for intellectual and moral culture, but
without guidance, instruction, or control. This self-depen¬
dence, however, suited the originality of his character: he
became a large and indiscriminate reader, and before long
contributed humorous and poetical articles to the provincial
newspapers and magazines. As a proof of the serious¬
ness with which he regarded the literary vocation, it may be
mentioned that he used to write out his poems in printed
characters, believing that that process best enabled him to
understand his own peculiarities and faults, and probably
unconscious that Coleridge had recommended some such
method of criticism when he said he thought “ print set¬
tles it.”
His modest judgment of his own abilities, however, de¬
terred him from literature as a profession, and on his return
to London he applied himself assiduously to the art of en¬
graving, in which he acquired a skill that in after years be¬
came a most valuable assistant to his literary labours, and
enabled him to illustrate his various humours and fancies by
a profusion of quaint devices, which not only repeated to
the eye the impressions of the text, but, by suggesting
amusing analogies and contrasts, added considerably to the
sense and effect of the work.
4 i
618 H 0 O
Hood. In 1821 Mr John Scott, the e&tov of xhe London Magct-
zine, was killed in a duel, and that periodical passed into the
hands of some friends of Mr Hood, who proposed to him to
take a part in its publication. His installation into this
congenial post at once introduced him to the best literaly
society of the time ; and in becoming the associate of such
men as Charles Lamb, Cary, De Quincy, Allan Cunning¬
ham, Proctor, Talfourd, Hartley Coleridge, the peasant-poet
Clare, and other contributors to that remarkable miscellany,
he gradually developed his own intellectual powers, and en-
joyed that happy intercourse with superior minds for which
his cordial and genial character was so well adapted, and
which he has described in his best manner in several chap¬
ters of Hood’s Own. Odes and Addresses—his first work—
were written about this time, in conjunction with his brother-
in-law Mr J. H. Reynolds, the friend of Keats; and it is
agreeable to find Sir Walter Scott acknowledging the gift
of the work with no formal expressions of gratification, but
“ wishing the unknown author good health, good fortune,
and whatever other good things can best support and en¬
courage his lively vein of inoffensive and humorous satire.”
Whims and Oddities, National Tales, Tylney Hall, a
novel, The Plea of the Midsummer Fairies, followed. In
these works the humorous faculty not only predominated,
but expressed itself with a freshness, originality and power,
which the poetical element could not claim. There was
much true poetry in the verse, and much sound sense and
keen observation in the prose of these works ; but the poeti¬
cal feeling and lyrical facility of the one, and the more solid
qualities of the other, seemed best employed when they
were subservient to his rapid wit, and to the ingenious
coruscations of his fancy. This impression was confirmed by
the series of the Comic Annual, a kind of publication at that
time popular, which Mr Hood undertook and continued,
almost unassisted, for several years. Under that somewhat
frivolous title he treated all the leading events of the day
in a fine spirit of caricature, entirely free from grossness and
vulgarity, without a trait of personal malice, and with an
under-current of true sympathy and honest purpose that will
preserve these papers, like the sketches of Hogarth, long after
the events and manners they illustrate have passed from the
minds of men. But just as the agreeable jester rose into
the earnest satirist, one of the most striking peculiarities of
his style became a more manifest defect. The attention of
the reader was distracted, and his good taste annoyed, by
the incessant play upon words, of which Hood had written
in his own vindication,—
£< However critics may take offence,
A double meaning has double sense.”
Now it is true that the critic must be unconscious of some of
the subtlest charms and nicest delicacies of language, and
which would exclude from humorous writing all those im¬
pressions and surprises which depend on the use of the
diverse sense of words. The history, indeed, of many
a word lies hid in its equivocal uses ; and it in no
way derogates from the dignity of the highest poetry to
gain strength and variety from the ingenious application
ot the same sounds to different senses, any more than
from the contrivances of rhythm or the accompaniment
of imitative sounds. But when this habit becomes the
characteristic of any wit, it is impossible to prevent it from
degenerating into occasional buffoonery, and from supplying
a cheap and ready resource, whenever the true vein of hu¬
mour becomes thin or rare. Artists have been known to
have used the left hand in the hope of checking the fatal
facility which practice had conferred on the right; and if
Mr Hood had been able to place under some restraint the
curious and complex machinery of words and syllables which
his fancy was incessantly producing, his style would have
been a great gainer, and much real earnestness of object,
H O 0
which now lies confused by the brilliant kaleidoscope of Hoofft.
language, would have remained definite and clear. He was
probably not unconscious of this danger; for, as he gained
experience as a writer, his diction became more simple, and
his ludicrous illustrations less frequent. In another annual
called the Gem appeared the poem on the story of “ Eugene
Aram,” which first manifested the full extent of that poetical
vigour which seemed to advance just in proportion as his
physical health declined. He started a magazine in his own
name, for which he secured the assistance of many literary
men of reputation and authority, but which was mainly sus¬
tained by his own intellectual activity. From a sick-bed,
from which he never rose, he conducted this work with sur¬
prising energy, and there composed those poems, too few
in number, but immortal in the English language, such as
the “ Song of the Shirt,” the “ Bridge of Sighs,” and the
“ Song of the Labourer,” which seized the deep human in¬
terests of the time, and transported them from the ground of
social philosophy into the loftier domain of the imagination.
They are no clamorous expressions of anger at the discre¬
pancies and contrasts of humanity, but plain, solemn pic¬
tures of conditions of life, which neither the politician nor
the moralist can deny to exist, and which they are impera¬
tively called upon to remedy. Woman, in her wasted life,
in her hurried death, here stands appealing to the society
that degrades her, with a combination of eloquence and
poetry, of forms of art at once instantaneous and permanent,
and with a metrical energy and variety of which perhaps our
language alone is capable. Prolonged illness brought on
straitened circumstances; and application was made to Sir
Robert Peel to place Mr Hood’s name on the pension list,
with which the British state so moderately rewards the na¬
tional services of literary men. This was done without de¬
lay, and the pension was continued to his wife and family
after his death, which occurred on the 3d of May 1845.
Nine years after, a monument, raised by public subscrip¬
tion, in the cemetery of Kensal Green, was inaugurated with
a concourse of spectators that showed how well the me¬
mory of the poet stood the test of time. Artizans came
from a great distance to view and honour the image of the
popular writer whose best efforts had been dedicated to the
cause and the sufferings of the workers of the world; and
literary men of all opinions gathered round the grave of one
of their brethren whose writings were at once the delight of
every boy, and the instruction of every man, who read
them. Happy the humorist whose works and life are an
illustration of the great moral truth that the sense of humour
is the just balance of all the faculties of man, the best secu¬
rity against the pride of knowledge and the conceits of
the imagination, the strongest inducement to submit with a
wise and pious patience to the vicissitudes of human exist¬
ence. This was the lesson that Thomas Hood left behind
him, and which the people of this country will not easily
forget. (R. m. m.)
HOOFFT, Peter Cornelius, an eminent Dutch poet
and historian, and, with his great contemporary Vondel, the
real founder of the Dutch stage, was born in 1581, at
Amsterdam, of which city his father was burgomaster.
After finishing his education at Leyden, he spent three
years in foreign travelling, chiefly in France, Germany, and
Italy. In the latter country in particular he devoted much
time to the study of the mechanism of verse, which he mas¬
tered so thoroughly that his drama of Granida, published
soon after his return home in 1601, is reckoned to this day
one of the masterpieces of Danish literature, both for the
harmony of its rhythm and the graceful elegance of its dic¬
tion. In 1609 Hoofft was appointed drossard of Muiden,
a village about 5 miles from Amsterdam, where he spent
the remainder of his life. During the whole of this period
his house was the rendezvous of all the cultivators of polite
letters in Flolland, who were attracted to it both by the
H O O
Hoogeveen literary renown and the great social and moral worth of the
II host. Hooff't was twice married, and on both occasions very
Hooghly. happily. His first wife died in 1624; his second survived him.
Unlike most writers, Hoofft’s fame is twofold. His merits
as a historian and prose-writer are nowise inferior to his
merits as a poet; and the services which he rendered to the
prose literature of his country are both in kind and in de¬
gree as memorable as those which he rendered to the poet¬
ical. His History of Holland, one of the earliest, remains
to this day one of the best of the Dutch classics, and is
proudly pointed to by the countrymen of the author as a
model of grace, purity, and vigour, both of thought and
style. Hoofft displays most originality, however, in his
Minnedigte, a collection of miscellaneous pieces in the style
of Anacreon, whose grace, lightness, and fancy, have been
very happily caught. In this vein he is still without a rival
in Holland, unless perhaps Foot may claim the honour of
that title. Hoofft died May 21, 1647, at the Hague,
whither he had gone to attend the funeral rites of the
Stadtholder Frederic Henry.
HOOGEVEEN, Heinrich, a Dutch scholar and phi-
lologer of considerable note, was born at Leyden in 1712.
His parents, who were miserably poor, were hardly able to
send him to the school of his native town, and when at
length they procured the means their son made at first little
or no progress in his studies, chiefly, it was believed,
through the severity of his teacher. A change of masters,
however, developed his latent abilities, and he soon dis¬
tinguished himself so much that at the early age of twenty he
was made co-rector of the school of Gorcum. In the fol¬
lowing year he was called to organize the gymnasium
of Woerden, which, despite his youth, he brought to a
high state of prosperity. From Woerden he was transferred
to Breda, and from Breda to Dordrecht, and at length
found a permanent abode in Delft, where he died in 1791.
His best work is a treatise on the Greek Particles, Leyden,
1769 (of which an excellent abridgment was published by
Schiitz, Leipzig, 1806), and his edition of Vigiers’ work on
Greek Idioms, which has been several times reprinted.
Hoogeveen also wrote a large number of odes and elegies
in Latin, in which kind of composition he had great facility
and no mean talent. None of these works, however, dis¬
play either high scholarship or very refined taste. Perhaps
his most useful contribution to literature in his Dictionarium
Analogicum Linguce Greece, published at Cambridge in
1800. The value of this Lexicon is that all Greek words
with the same termination follow each other in alphabeti¬
cal order according to their final letters—a very con¬
venient arrangement for conveniently tracing etymological
analogies.
HOOGHLY, an extensive district in the province of
Bengal, formerly called Saatgong, situated principally be¬
tween the 22d and 23d degrees of north latitude, and ex¬
tending a considerable distance along the right bank of the
River Hooghly. It is bounded on the N. by the district of
Burdwan, on the S. by the district of Hidjelee, on the E.
by the River Hooghly, and on the W. by Midnapoor. This
district consists of lowr flat land, very fertile ; but that part
which is nearest to the sea is very thinly inhabited; it is
called the Sunderbund, is swampy, covered with wood, and
remarkably unhealthy. It is intersected in every direction
by rivers and their branches, which afford great facilities for
internal navigation. Along the shores of the ocean salt of
an excellent quality is manufactured on account of the
government. The area, according to official return, is
2089 square miles. The population is given at 1,520,840,
an amount which, compared with the area, indicates an ex¬
traordinary density of 728 to the square mile, and it is
nevertheless considered that the numbers of the people are
steadily on the increase. The French settlement of Chander-
nagore is situate within the limits of the district, as are also
H 0 O 619
Chinsura and Serampore, now British possessions, but Hooghly.
formerly belonging the first to the Dutch and the latter to
the Danes. The right of the East India Company to the
district originated in the treaty concluded with Meer Cos-
sin in 1760.
Hooghly, an ancient, and formerly a large town in the
province of Bengal, situated on the western bank of the
Hooghly, nearly 26 miles above Calcutta, and supposed to
have been founded by the Portuguese about the year 1538.
During the Mogul government, it was a town of great con¬
sequence, being the port of the western arm of the Ganges,
where the duties on merchandise were collected. It very
soon drew away all the trade from Saatgong, which had been
before the government port of Bengal. During the pre¬
valence of the Portuguese dominion in India, Hooghly was
fortified, and continued to flourish till the year 1632, when
it was attacked by order of the Emperor Shah Jehan, and,
after a siege of three months and a half, was taken by the
Mogul troops, 1000 of the Portuguese being killed, and 4400
men, women, and children taken prisoners. From this
period Hooghly became the imperial port. All the officers
of the government were ordered to remove thither, and it
was placed under the jurisdiction of a special governor. In
the year 1676 the English, and soon afterwards the Dutch,
obtained the permission of the native government to erect
factories. After this period, every encouragment was given
to commerce; and flooghly, which was called Bukhshy
Bunder, became a great commercial emporium between
Europe, Persia, Arabia, and India. In 1686 hostilities
commenced between the English and the Nawaub. An ac¬
tion ensued, in which the Nawaub’s troops were defeated;
and at the same time the town of Hooghly was cannonaded,
and five hundred houses burned. In 1700 the East India
Company’s factory was transferred from Hooghly to Cal¬
cutta. The population of Hooghly is now estimated at
12,000. The town is situate on the line of railroad recently
constructed from Calcutta to Burdwan. E. Long. 88. 22.,
N. Lat. 22. 54.
Hooghly Hirer, properly the Bhagirutty, a river of Ben¬
gal, formed by the junction of the two westernmost branches
of the Ganges, the Cossimbazar, and the Jellinghy. This is
the port of Calcutta, being the only branch of the Ganges
that is navigated by large vessels; yet the entrance to the
river is rendered extremely dangerous and difficult, by reason
of numerous sandbanks in it, which are frequently shifting.
There is indeed a rumour afloat that the river is gradually
silting up, and must eventually cease to be navigable.
This would prove a fearful blow to the trade of Calcutta, and
the proposed remedy is to connect the River Mutwal with
the capital by railway or ship canal. During the prevalence
of the S.W. monsoon, when a strong current sets in from
the Bay of Bengal, the extraordinary phenomenon, termed
by Europeans the “ Bore, ” occasionally presents itself. It
rises in waves 12 or 15 feet high, and rushes on at the rate
of 20 miles an hour. It commences at Hooghly Point,
where the river first contracts itself, and is perceptible above
Hooghly town; and though the distance is above 70 miles,
it traverses this space in about four hours, running along
the opposite bank to the Calcutta side, whence it crosses at
Chitpoor, about 4 miles above Fort William, and rushes with
great violence past Barnagore, Duckingsore, &c., frequently
oversetting boats and driving ships from their anchorage.
At Calcutta it sometimes occasions an instantaneous
rise of 5 feet. The tide does not rise more than 30 miles
above Calcutta; and during the rainy season its influence
is checked by the large body of water that comes down the
river. The Hooghly contains several kinds of good fish,
particularly Ciprinus Anjana, the mango fish, or Polynernus
paradoxus, and prawns ; and it abounds also in crocodiles
and sharks. It is about three-quarters of a mile broad at Cal¬
cutta, and 8 or 10 miles wide at the mouth. It is only navi-
620 H 0 O
Hook gable for ships as high as the tide reaches, and the upper part
II of it is nearly dry during the hot season ; yet there are few
Hooke, rivers that can boast of a more extensive commerce, its hanks
Nathaniel. ^e|ng with numerous towns and villages. It is es-
" * teemed by the Hindus to be the most sacred branch of the
Ganges, and it is on this account that those who cannot
afford to bury their dead throw them into the Hooghly.
HOOK, Theodore Edward, the son of James Hook,
a musical composer of some merit, was born in London in
1788. At a too early age, and after a very flimsy edu¬
cation, he began life without a profession or definite views
of any kind. While a mere boy he wrote a good many
trashy farces and burlesques for the theatres ; but the tem¬
porary success of a few of them tempted him to devote his
life to authorship. He soon became better known, how¬
ever, from his convivial talents, which floated him into the
aristocratic society of London. There he frittered away in
clever improvisations and other forms of social debauchery,
talents that might have gained for him a respectable posi¬
tion in English literature. His inexhaustible wit, his daring
practical jokes, his amazing power of punning, and his mu¬
sical skill, made him a great favourite with the Prince Re¬
gent, who, in 1812, sent him to the Mauritius as treasurer
of that island. The whole of Hook’s past career had in an
eminent degree disqualified him for such an office, and at
the end of five years he was brought back to England a
prisoner, under a charge of embezzling some L. 12,000 of
the public money. Subsequent investigation induced the
government to drop the criminal charge ; and Hook, though
he never denied that a large sum (L.9000) of the public
money had been lost, through his carelessness and unthrift,
never exerted himself to repay it. After his liberation from
jail, where he spent some months while his case was under
trial, he established the John Bull newspaper. This journal
had at first a large sale, and again opened to its editor a
door into the world of fashion, where, as before, he shone
with a fatal brilliancy. In the attempt to turn his social
advantages to account, he wrote a number of novels of what
has been called “ the silver fork school,” which was for a
time the fashion. But gambling, hard living, and the strain
of incessant writing, made the gay and sparkling wit one of
the unhappiest men in England during the latter years of
his life, and at the time of his death in 1841 he was utterly
broken in mind, body, and estate. Some of his best novels,
such as his Sayings and Doings, in three series, Gilbert
Gurney, and Jack still find admirers among a certain
class of readers, but their interest is entirely limited to the
circles whose follies and fashions they describe.
HOOKAH, an oriental pipe used chiefly in Turkey, by
which the smoke of the tobacco is made to pass through water
in order to cool it and render it more grateful to the mouth.
HOOKE, Nathaniel, the author of a History of Rome,
was born in Ireland, but in what year is unknown. His
Roman History embraces the period extending from the
foundation of the city to the time of Augustus. It was
published in 4 vols. 4to, at intervals of nearly forty years
between the appearance of the first and last volumes. He
had died before the publication of vols. 3 and 4. His work
possesses the virtues of acuteness and clearness. In oppo¬
sition to Middleton, he defended the cause of the Plebeians
against the Patricians. Hooke was a zealous Catholic.
When Pope was dying, a priest was brought to hear his con¬
fession and grant him absolution. This priest was brought
by Hooke. He had been employed and well paid by the
Duchess of Marlborough for assisting her in writing her
memoirs, but he was so zealous in attempting to convert
the Duchess to Catholicism that a quarrel was the conse¬
quence. He was one of the sufferers from the South Sea
Bubble. Besides his Roman History, he wrote Obser¬
vations upon the Roman Senate, 4to, 1758, in which he ad¬
vocated and extended the political views propounded in
II o o
his History. He also translated from the French the Vie
de Fenelon, and Ramsay’s Voyages de Cyrus. He died in
July 1763.
Hooke, Robert, one of the most ingenious philosophers,
was born July 18, 1635, at Freshwater, in the Isle of
Wight. His father was a clergyman, and he himself was
originally destined for the church, but his studies were in¬
terrupted by weakly health. His leisure hours were spent
in devising mechanical contrivances, and his construction
of a wooden clock was a premonition of one sphere in which
he was to excel. In 1648 his father died. After having
been some time with Lely the painter, he went to West¬
minster School, and was initiated in mathematics and the
learned languages, including Hebrew. In 1653 he went to
Christ’s Church College, Oxford. He appears to have
turned his attention somewhat eagerly towards devising a
method by which men should be able to elevate themselves
in the air like birds, but without success. In 1655 he be¬
came assistant to Dr Willis in chemistry, and soon after¬
wards to the Honourable Robert Boyle. To the latter he
was very serviceable in constructing the air-pump. In
1664 Sir John Cutler founded a mechanic school, of which
in the beginning of next year Hooke was made Curator of
Experiments for life. In 1666 he produced a model for
rebuilding London after the great fire, but however much
it was approved of, it was not carried into execution.
Hooke, however, was employed as one of the surveyors—
a post which was very lucrative. In 1677, by the death of
Mr Oldenburgh, the office of secretary to the Royal Society
became vacant, and Llooke was appointed to it. In 1687,
after the death of his niece, who had lived with him, he was
overwhelmed with grief. It affected his temper as well as
his spirits, and his moodiness was still farther increased by
a chancery suit between him and Sir John Cutler. In 1691
a warrant from Archbishop Tillotson conferred on him
the degree of doctor of physic. In 1696 the chancery suit
was determined in his favour. He died at his lodgings at
Gresham College, March 3, 1702, and was buried in St
Helen’s Church, Bishopsgate Street, his remains being fol¬
lowed to the grave by all the members of the Royal Society.
Hooke was remarkably inventive, but being also ambitious
and jealous, he laid claim to inventions which had been
made independently of him; and, distrustful, he accused
others of making known his discoveries to rivals. His per¬
sonal appearance was mean, he being short of stature,
crooked, lean, and pale. His lank brown hair he allowed to
grow long, and to hang over his face. He was penurious ;
and his melancholy and meagre appearance were rendered
worse by the late hours which he kept at night. He wrote
Sectiones Culteriance; Micrographia ; A Description of He¬
lioscopes; A Description of some Mechanical Improvements
of Lamps and Waterpoises ; and from his papers Richard
Waller published posthumous works. For a statement of
his near approach to the discovery of gravitation, his im¬
provements in clock-making, and his claim to other disco¬
veries, see Playfair’s Dissertation.
HOOKER, John, also called kWe//, the uncle of the
famous author of the Ecclesiastical Polity, was born at
Exeter in 1524. He received a college education at Ox¬
ford, and afterwards travelled on the Continent. He studied
law at Cologne, and divinity at Strasbourg under Peter
Martyr. Returning to his native country, he was made
chamberlain of Exeter, the first who ever enjoyed that
honour. In 1571 he became member of parliament for
the same place. Three years previously to this, he had
been sent to Ireland, where also he was elected a member
of parliament. He died a.d. 1601. His work, The Or¬
der and Usage of Keeping of the Parliaments in England,
was written for the use of the Irish Parliament. Also, in
regard to Irish affairs, he made numerous additions to
Holingshed’s Chronicles, of which an edition appeared in
Hooke,
Robert
Hooker.
H O O
Hooker. 1586. He wrote a description of Exeter, a catalogue of its
bishops, and an account of the duties, &c., ol every sworn
officer in it. He wrote also a work, The Events of Comets,
or Blazing Stars, made upon the sight of the Comet Pa-
gonia, a comet which appeared in 1577.^
Hooker, Richard, the author of the Ecclesiastical Polity,
was born in 1553 or 1554 at Heavy-tree, near Exeter, in
the county of Devon. At the school of his native town he
gave such assurance of “pregnant parts” that his teacher,
taking an interest in his destiny, persuaded his uncle, John
Hooker, a wealthy man, and the chamberlain of Exeter, to
supply him with the means of completing his education at
the university. A small allowance from this relative, a
little similar aid from the famous John Jewel, Bishop of
Salisbury, and a clerkship in Corpus Christi College, car¬
ried the young student comfortably through his academic
career at Oxford. In 1573 he was admitted one of the
twenty scholars of the Foundation, and four years later a
fellow of the college. In 1579 he was appointed Hebrew
lecturer to the university ; but after discharging the duties
of this office for three months, he, along with four other
fellows of his college, was expelled by the vice-president.
The grounds for this tyrannical act are unknown ; but they
must have been 'quite untenable, for in less than a month
the ejected members were all restored. After an interval
of three years Hooker took orders, and was appointed to
preach at St Paul’s Cross, London. On reaching the me¬
tropolis he repaired to the house of a Mr Churchman.
This man’s wife succeeded in persuading the young divine
that “ he was a man of a tender constitution ; and that it was
best for him to have a wife that might prove a nurse to
him— such a one as might both prolong his life, and make
it more comfortable ; and such a one she could and would
provide for him if he thought fit to marry.” The guileless
and unsuspecting minister agreed to abide by her choice,
which fell upon her own daughter, Joan; and in the fol¬
lowing year Hooker married her, “ though, as Walton
says, “ she brought him neither beauty nor portion, and
though her conditions were too like that wife’s which is by
Solomon compared to a dripping-house.” She turned out
a “ silly, clownish woman, and withal a mere Xantippe.”
In 1584, on resigning his fellowship after his marriage, he
was appointed to the living of Drayton-Beauchamp, in
Buckinghamshire. During-his incumbency of that parish
two of his old pupils, Edwin Sandys and George Cranmer,
took a journey to see their tutor. They found him, as old
Izaak says, “ with a book in his hand—it was the Odes of
Horace—he being then, like humble and innocent Abel,
tending his small allotment of sheep in a common field,
which he told his pupils he was forced to do then, for that
his servant was gone home to dine and assist his wife to do
some necessary household business. But when his servant
returned and released him, then his two pupils attended
him unto his house, where their best entertainment was
his quiet company, which was presently denied them ; for
Richard was called to rock the cradle ; and the rest of
their welcome was so like this, that they staid but till next
morning, which was time enough to discover and pity their
tutor’s condition ; and they having in that time rejoiced in
the remembrance, and then paraphrased on many of the
innocent recreations of their younger days, and other like
diversions, and thereby given him as much present com¬
fort as they were able, they were forced to leave him to
the company of his wife Joan, and seek themselves a
quieter lodging for next night. But at their parting from
him, Mr Cranmer said, “ Good tutor, I am sorry your lot
is fallen in no better ground as to your parsonage ; and
more sorry that your wife proves not a more comfortable
companion, after you have wearied yourself in your restless
studies.” To whom the good man replied, “ My dear
George, if saints have usually a double share in the mise-
H 0 O 621
ries of this life, I that am none, ought not to repine at what Hooker,
my wise Creator hath appointed for me ; but labour—as in-
deed I do daily—to submit mine to his will, and possess my
soul in patience and peace.” The Edwin Sandys here men¬
tioned was a son of the Archbishop of York, and through
the influence of this prelate Hooker was, in 1585, promoted
to the mastership of the Temple in London, being then in
his thirty-fourth year. On entering upon the duties of his
new office he found that the afternoon lectureship was held
by Walter Travers, a man of learning, ability, and personal
worth, who had been ordained by the Presbytery of Ant¬
werp, and was a vehement upholder of many of the doc¬
trines of Calvin. These he advocated in his evening ser¬
mons ; and in his zeal for their promotion carried on a
warm correspondence with the leading reformers in Scot¬
land and Geneva. Hooker, whose attachment to the Eng¬
lish Church was no less ardent and sincere, soon found
himself, much against his will, involved in a controversy
with his colleague, giving occasion to a wit to observe that
“ the forenoon sermons spoke Canterbury, and the after¬
noon Geneva.” The controversy at length threatened such
evil consequences, that an interdict was laid on Traver’s
preaching by Archbishop Whitgift. Travers appealed,
and petitioned the Privy Council, but without success.
He then published his petition, and found many powerful
adherents both in the Temple and elsewhere. Hooker
made an able reply, which made him many friends among
the upholders of the establishment; but “ that he might
unbeguile and win those of Mr Traver’s judgment, he de¬
signed to write a sober deliberate treatise of the Church’s
power to make canons for the use of ceremonies, and by
law to impose an obedience to them, as upon her children;
and this he proposed to do in Eight Books of the Laics of
Ecclesiastical Polity. To carry out this great plan in the
peace and quiet which he could not find in the city, he
begged to be translated to some country parsonage, and in
1591 was appointed to the living of Boscum, or Boscombe,
in the diocese of Sarum in Wiltshire. In this rural retreat
he completed the first four books of his Ecclesiastical Polity,
which he published in 1594. In the following year he was
transferred from Boscombe to Bishop’s Bourne, near Canter¬
bury, in Kent, where he remained till his death, Nov. 2, 1600.
A few days before his death his house was broken into and
robbed. When informed of the fact he only asked, “ Are
my books and written papers safe ?” Being told that they
were, he merely replied, “ Then it matters not; for no
other loss can trouble me.” He lived to see the fifth book
of his Polity through the press, but the remaining three
were not published till 1647—nearly half a century after
the author’s death. In his personal character Hooker was
one of the most amiable men whose names adorn the annals
of the national church. Even in his youth he was remarked
for the grave calmness and dignified modesty of his de¬
meanour. The genuine mildness of his temper was proved
in his controversy with the Nonconformists. His resigned
and humble piety was memorable in an age that had many
bright examples of that virtue to boast of.
Hooker’s Ecclesiastical Polity marks an era in the his¬
tory of English literature, to which he rendered services
that have been amply acknowledged by critics of all shades
of religious belief. Its literary merits are attested by Hal-
lam, who says, that “ Hooker not only opened the mine but
explored the depths of our native eloquence. So stately
and graceful is the march of his periods, so various the fall
of his musical cadences upon the ear, so rich in images, so
condensed in sentences, so grave and noble his diction, so
little is there of vulgarity in his racy idiom, of pedantry in his
learned phrase, that I know not whether any later writer has
more admirably displayed the capacities of our language,
or produced more passages worthy of comparison with the
splendid monuments of antiquity. If we compare the first
622 H 0 O HOP
Hoole book of the Ecclesiastical Polity with what perhaps bears
II. most resemblance to it of anything extant, the treatise of
Hooping- Qcer0) j)c Legibus, it will appear somewhat perhaps inferior,
i 0U^- j through the imperfection of our language, which with all its
force and dignity does not equal the Latin in either of these
qualities, and certainly more tedious and diffuse in some of
its reasonings, but by no means less high-toned in sentiment
or less bright in fancy, and far more comprehensive and pro¬
found in the foundations of its philosophy.” The substance
of Hooker’s argument is given under the head Episcopacy.
HOOLE, John, the translator of the Gierusalemme
Liberata of Tasso, was born at Moorfields in 1727. Elis
father intended him to follow the trade of watchmaking,
but his being short-sighted was an insuperable objection.
At the age of seventeen he became a clerk in the account¬
ant’s department in the East India House. He occupied
his leisure time in learning Italian in order to read in the
original the Orlando Furioso of Ariosto, Harrington’s
translation of which had greatly pleased him. His next
step was to begin the work of translating. He commenced
t\\c Jerusalem Delivered \n 1758. It was published with
a dedication to the queen by Dr Johnson, in 1773. It is
characterized by elegance and correctness, but exhibits lit¬
tle of the true genius of poetry. The Orlando Furioso
was published in 5 vols. 8vo, 1773-1783. In the mean¬
time he had become an auditor of accounts in the East
India Company, an employment which took up much of
his time. In 1792 he published Rinaldo, an early work
of Tasso’s. His translation of Metastasio’s dramas and
other poems display more spirit and variety. He com¬
posed some dramas for the stage, viz., Cyrus, 1768; 77-
manthes, 1770 ; and Cleonice, 1775. These were not suc¬
cessful. Hoole died at Dorking in 1813.
HOOPER, John, an English martyr, was born in Somer¬
setshire, towards the close of the fifteenth century. He was
educated at Oxford, where he took his degree of bachelor
of arts in 1518. After becoming a Cistercian monk, he
returned to Oxford, where the works of the continental re¬
former, in conjunction with the Holy Scriptures, opened his
eyes to the errors of Popery. In 1539 he became chaplain to
Sir John Arundel, but his leaning towards the principles of the
reformers being discovered, he fled to France. Returning
to England, he was again discovered, and escaped to Ire¬
land, disguised as a sailor. From Ireland he again went
to the Continent, and remained in Switzerland till Edward
VI. ascended the throne in 1547. In 1550 he was con¬
secrated Bishop of Gloucester, but his repugnance to using
the robes of the bishops, which he considered relics of Po-
pery, kept him back for some time from entering upon his
episcopal duties. He was even committed to prison for
non-compliance. In 1552 he was created Bishop of Wor¬
cester in commendam. In 1553, upon the accession of
Queen Mary, he was seized and put in the Fleet. Upon
examination he refused to recant his opinions, and was con¬
demned to the flames. The sentence was executed in the
beginning of 1555, when Hooper was in the 60th year of
his age. He was zealous in the discharge of his sacred duties,
and was a popular preacher. He wrote extensively on the
controverted subjects of the day, and suffered martyrdom
with great Christian fortitude.
HOOPING-COUGLI, Chin-Cough or Kink-Cough
{Pertussis), the Coqueluche of the French, is a disease to
which children are liable, characterized by the presence of
a strangulating convulsive cough, interspersed with a pecu¬
liar crowing sound or whoop, which cough returns at un¬
certain intervals in fits or paroxysms that usually pass off
y vomiting. 1 he disease appears to be contagious, and
usually occurs but once during life ; but if the child should
within a yeai or so be affected with a bronchitic attack, the
attending cough is very liable to assume a form resemblino-
the convulsive paroxysms of this disease.
Hooping-cough begins exactly like a common cold, be- Hoorn
ing usually attended with slight febrile symptoms and a II
cough. The true character of the malady may, however, HoPe-
be suspected if it is observed that the fits of coughing are
most frequent and of longest duration during the night. It
is not, however, till the cough has continued from a fortnight
to three w’eeks that it assumes the true convulsive charac¬
ter, comes on in irresistible fits, and is attended with that
peculiar prolonged crowing inspiration which characterizes
the disease. The fits usually end in vomiting, or in the
expectoration of a small quantity of mucous secretion.
Hooping-cough is a dangerous and fatal malady, and the
more so the younger the child is. In its simple form it
rarely proves fatal, but it is liable to three dangerous com¬
plications, to one or other of which the fatal result is usually
attributable. These complications are,— 1st, with bronchitis
or pneumonia; 2d, with hydrocephalus and convulsions;
and 3d, with infantile remittent fever. Pathology has as
yet thrown no light on the nature of the disease.
In the simple form of the malady little treatment is ne¬
cessary. Keeping the child in a warm equable tempera¬
ture, attending to the state of the bowels, and giving, if
requisite, some simple expectorant mixture, more with the
view of favouring the termination of the fit by vomiting
than with the view of checking the disease, is in general
all that is necessary. When the hoop is fairly formed,
change of scene and air in general causes the malady rapidly
to subside. In many cases where the fits are severe, and
the child delicate, much benefit is derived from the addi¬
tion of quinine to the expectorant mixture. The effects
of external application are, to say the least, doubtful.
When the cases are complicated, they require the greatest
attention to bring them to a successful issue, and all the
usual means must be sedulously employed which are used
in the treatment of each different complication, (j. s—K.)
HOORN, a fortified seaport town of Holland, province
of North Holland, on the Zuider Zee, 20 miles N. by E. of
Amsterdam. It carries on a considerable trade, though in this
respect it is much inferior to what it once was. The exports
are chiefly butter, cheese, cattle, herrings, and other kinds of
provisions. The manufactures comprise woollen cloths,
carpets, &c. Shipbuilding and the herring fishery are ex¬
tensively carried on. It has a naval college. Hoorn was
the birth-place of Schouten, who in 1616 discovered Cape
Horn, and named it after his native town ; and of Tasman,
the discoverer of Van Diemen’s Land and New Zealand.
Pop. about 9000.
HOP {Humulus lupulus), a plant chiefly used in brew¬
ing. See Brewing and Agriculture.
HOPE, Thomas, the well-known author of Anastasius,
or Memoirs of a Modern Greek, was descended of an an¬
cient Scottish family, and was one of three brothers who
had attained to great wealth and eminence as merchants in
Amsterdam. In early manhood he travelled extensively
in Europe, Asia, and Africa, and on settling down in Lon¬
don, became known as a munificent patron of art in all its
branches. His first published work was a volume on
Household Furniture and Decorations, which gave occa¬
sion to Sidney Smith to call its author “the gentleman of
Sphinxes—the CEdipus of coal-boxes—he who meditated
on muffineers, and planned pokers”—but which, despite the
ridicule of the Edinburgh and other reviews, effected a
great reform in the style of domestic arrangements in Eng¬
lish houses. This book appeared in 1805, and four years
later it was followed up by a sumptuous work on the Cos¬
tume of the Ancients, and in 1812, by the no less splendid
Designs of Modern Costumes. His great work, however,
was his Anastasius. The hero of this work is a sort of
Oriental Gil Bias, who is tossed about through all the con¬
ditions of life, and from being a beggar in the streets of
Constantinople, rises to be an officer of distinction under a
HOP
HOP 623
Hope. Bey of Egypt. The strange scenes through which he
passes in this motley career are described with a force and
eloquence which, as Sidney Smith said, would not disgrace
the pen of Tacitus, and with a depth of feeling and a vigour
of imagination worthy of Lord Byron, to whom, indeed, the
novel, on its first appearance, was very generally attributed.
Turning from fiction to metaphysics, Hope next wrote an
elaborate work on the Origin and Prospects of Man,
which, however was not published until after his death.
Amid much that is paradoxical, obscure, and fanciful, this
work contains many ingenious views, some deep think¬
ing, and occasional passages of striking eloquence. A
parallel, in many respects true and correct, has been drawn
between the author of Vathek and the author of Anastasius.
Hope died February 3, 1831.
Hope, Thomas Charles, M.D., the eminent professor of
chemistry for more than half a century in the universities
of Glasgow and Edinburgh, was the third son of Dr John
Hope, the first regius professor of botany in Edinburgh.
Thomas Charles Hope was born on 21st July 1766, and
died on 13th June 1844.
As might be expected, he early imbibed a predilection
for botany, and had made such proficiency in that study
that he aspired to obtain that chair on the death of his father
in 1786. Having at the same time studied chemistry under
the celebrated Dr Black, he applied himself with great in¬
dustry to that science, which became his favourite pursuit;
and when the chemical chair in the University of Glasgow
became vacant, on the death of Dr Irvine in 1787, Hope
was chosen as his successor. Aware of what might be re¬
quired from the successor to the several eminent men who
had preceded him in that appointment, viz., Cullen, Black,
Robison, and Irvine, the young professor was stimulated to
increased exertion, and soon became a favourite teacher of
chemical science.
When Hope commenced his chemical prelections, the
doctrines of the Stahlian school were universally received
and taught. But in 1787 Sir James Hall returned from
Paris to Scotland, and soon convinced Hope of the vast
superiority of the Lavoisierian theory of combustion and
oxygenation to the hypothesis of phlogiston. He became
a convert to the new doctrines; and next winter zealously
taught them in his class.
In 1783 Dr Hope became a member of the Royal So¬
ciety of Edinburgh, and in the summer of that year paid a
visit to Paris, where he was received with marked attention
by Lavoisier and Berthollet,—an honour which he ascribed
to his having been a pupil of Black, but which probably
was no less owing to his having been introduced as the first
British chemist who had publicly taught the new French
chemical philosophy.
With the view of becoming a practical physician, Dr
Hope had for two years, along with his chemical class, as¬
sisted his uncle, Professor Stevenson, in teaching the prac¬
tice of medicine in the University of Glasgow; and, on the
death of that uncle, succeeded him in that office, when he
resigned the chair of chemistry. Yet he continued his
chemical studies in private; and it was during this period
that he made his principal discovery, the presence of a new
earth in a mineral which had been confounded with barytes.
The mineral was found in strontian lead-mines, in Argyll¬
shire, from which circumstance Hope named this earth
strontites. In this masterly analysis he pointed out the
chemical characters that distinguish the two earths, and laid
the results before the Royal Society of his native city in
1793, which established his reputation as an expert analytic
chemist. This discovery has been attributed to several
other persons, but the only one whose pretensions are de¬
serving of notice is Klaproth, who, in the journal Chemische
Annalen for 1793-94, pointed out the distinction between
the minerals strontianite and witherite. Yet though Hope’s
experiments precede those of Klaproth, both may be con
sidered as original investigators of this earthy body.
The success and popularity of Hope’s teaching at Glas¬
gow suggested in 1795 to Dr Black, then in declining
health, the advantage of obtaining his assistance ; and, with
the consent of the patrons of the university, Black made
him the offer of becoming his assistant and successor in the
chemical chair. It was accepted by Dr Hope, who resigned
his prospects in Glasgow, and came to reside in Edinburgh.
For two years he assisted Dr Black in the duties of the
chair, but from 1798 the whole task devolved on Dr Hope.
He soon became sole professor, and continued to fulfil the
important duties of the chair till the end of the session of
Hopital.
1843.
Those who have had the advantage of being Hope’s
pupils have acknowledged the interest and instruction they
derived from his able prelections, and very happily-executed
experimental illustrations of the leading principles of che¬
mistry. These qualities made him the most popular teacher
of the science of his day in Britain ; and his class-room for
many years was constantly crowded to excess. The stu¬
dents in his course of 1799 were about 400, in 1813 they
amounted to 500, and in 1827 to 575. During his career
in Edinburgh his pupils amounted to 16,800.
Some persons have been surprised that Dr Hope, who
had so auspiciously commenced his experimental career,
should have apparently abandoned the pursuit of original
research. But he considered his chief duty as a teacher to
demand his utmost efforts to improve his lectures, and to
devise the most characteristic and striking experimental il¬
lustrations, and in this he sxicceeded almost beyond any of
his contemporaries. He did not, however, wholly give up
original research ; and some of his communications to the
Royal Society are on important scientific questions. In
1804 he produced some ingenious experiments “On the
Point of greatest Density of Water,” which he fixed at tem¬
perature 39° 5' Fahr. (see Edin. Phil. Trans, for 1805).
In the same paper he demonstrated the fallacy of Rumford’s
idea that fluids are absolute non-conductors of heat, which
were afterwards confirmed by Thomson, Dalton, and Traill.
Another curious paper appears in the Transactions in 1836—
“ Observations and Experiments on the Coloured and Co¬
lourable matters in Leaves and Flowers of Plants, upon which
Acids and Alkalis act in producing red, yellow, or green
colours.” In the same year he read a paper “ On the Che¬
mical nomenclature of Inorganic Compounds.” To Dr
Hope, also, we owe a decided improvement on the Eudio¬
meter of Scheele. The year before his death he commu¬
nicated two papers to the Royal Society—1. “ Observa¬
tions on the flowers of Camellia japonica, Magnolia grandi-
Jlora, and Chrysanthemum leucanthemum” in each of which
he discovered the existence of a distinct proximate prin¬
ciple to which he gave the names of camelline, magnohne,
and chrysanthemine. 2. “ An attempt to explain the Phe¬
nomena of the Freezing Cavern at Orenburg.” Such are
his chief contributions to science ; but he considered teach¬
ing as the great business of his life, and to this he made it
his duty to devote his chief energies. See Dr Traill’s Me¬
moir of Hope {Edin. Phil. Trans, xvi.).
HOPITAL, Guillaume Francois Antoine, Mar¬
quis de l’, a celebrated French mathematician, was born
at Paris in 1661. Entering the army, he served for some
time in a cavalry regiment, but his bad eyesight, and a
strong desire to pursue the study of mathematics, induced
him to retire into private life. At a very early age he had
given proof of a strong bent as well as of a large capacity
for the pure sciences. One day at the table of the Due de
Rohan, a problem was mentioned, for which it was said that
Pascal after long thinking had found an elegant solution.
De I’Hopital, then a lad of fifteen, astonished the savants
who were admiring the neatness of Pascal’s method by de-
624 HOP
Hfipital. daring that he believed he could solve it otherwise, and in
a few days he did send in a correct solution on a totally
different principle. Towards the close of the seventeenth
century the calculus was beginning slowly, and amid fierce
opposition, to force its way into general acceptance among
the mathematicians of Europe. One of its ablest advocates,
John Bernouilli, coming to Paris, was engaged by De
I’Hopital to give him instructions in it, and spent some time
in the marcjuis’s house, teaching him the higher mathematics.
So great was De I’Kopital’s progress, that when his tutor
propounded to the mathematicians of Europe his famous
problem of the curve of quickest descent he was the only
Frenchman who sent in a solution. De I’Hopital now be¬
came one of the warmest supporters of the calculus, and
indeed wrote the first systematic treatise on it, which ap¬
peared at Paris in 1696, under the title of DAnalyse des
Infiniment Petits. In the preparation of this work De
I’Hopital is said, though apparently on insufficient grounds,
to have been unduly aided by his old tutor Bernouilli. This
work, which may be fairly regarded as marking an era in
the history of mathematical science, was frequently reprinted
in the course of the eighteenth century. Not long after De
I’Hopital’s death, which took place in 1704, a treatise on
the conic sections, which he had left in MS., was published,
and long maintained its ground as the standard work on this
department of mathematics. See Playfair’s Dissertation,
prefixed to this work.
Hopital or Hospital, Michel de V, chancellor of France,
was born at Aigueperse in Auvergne, in the year 1505.
His father, Jean de I’Hopital, who was at once physician
and councillor to the Constable of Bourbon, sent him to
study law, first at Toulouse, and afterwards at Padua, the
legal school of which then enjoyed great celebrity. In that
age jurisprudence was the principal science cultivated, and
no one could aspire to any employment without having
studied it profoundly. L’Hopital, although he had already
acquired the elements of this science in France, spent six
years at Padua in improving himself in it; he also applied
himself to the study of the belles lettres, in which he made
rapid progress, and at the same time cultivated the Greek
and the Latin languages, with which he rendered himself
perfectly familiar. Flaving completed his studies, and find¬
ing his prospects clouded by the death of the Cardinal de
Grammont, who had induced him to return to France, and
upon whose influence he had placed his hopes of preferment,
he entered himself of the bar at Paris. In this profession,
his merit and virtue were soon appreciated. At the end of
three years, Jean Morin, criminal-lieutenant, a person fa¬
mous in the martyrology of the Protestants, on account of
the severity with which he enforced the laws enacted
against them, gave L’Hopital his daughter in marriage, and
at the same time conferred upon him the office of coun¬
sellor to the parliament of Paris as her dowry.
In this situation, which he held during twelve years, the
toleration he displayed formed a remarkable contrast to the
unrelenting severity by which his father-in-law had ren¬
dered himself but too celebrated. When L’Hopital entered
the parliament, that once illustrious body had much degene¬
rated, owing to the venality introduced or at least overlooked
by F rancis I. A witness of this corruption, L’Hopital deplored
its consequences, and, in concert with some old magistrates
who still remained, endeavoured to set an example of assi¬
duity and application to a crowd of inexperienced young
men, who, by venality, had obtained admission into the par¬
liament, and who had no other title to that honour but the
money they had paid for it. L’Hopital was long cited as a
model in the magistracy. He made it a rule to listen with
patience, to interrupt no one, to express himself as concisely
as possible, and to oppose all unnecessary delays; he was
also punctual in his attendance in court, where he generally
remained until the business of the day had been regularly
HOP
gone through, and always rose with reluctance, however
late, if any portion of it remained unattended to. In short,
he was a laborious and conscientious judge, who to great
talents united the most steady and persevering industry.
The vacations made no material change in his way of life;
his pursuits were indeed different, but his application was
the same ; the perusal of the great writers of antiquity, the
study of French history, and the reading of the Holy Scrip¬
tures, each in its turn formed the occupation of his leisure
time. “ There is nothing frivolous in my amusements,”
says he, in one of his letters ; “ sometimes Xenophon is the
companion of my walks ; sometimes the divine Plato regales
me with the discourses of Socrates. History and poetry have
their turns; but my chief delight is in the sacred writings.”
The next appointment which L’Hopital received was that
conferred upon him by Henri II. of envoy or ambassador to
the Council of Trent, which was then sitting at Bologna.
But having soon grown tired of the inactivity to which he
found himself reduced, he was, at his own desire, recalled,
and, upon his return, experienced some coldness on the part
of the court, which did not altogether relish his evident dis¬
inclination to assist in the proceedings of that famous
council. The coldness, however, proved only temporary,
for ere long he was appointed master of the requests. In
1554 he was made director and superintendent of the royal
finances in the chamber of accounts. At this time the
finances required a guardian at once vigilant and faithful.
Enormous abuses prevailed in the whole fiscal administra¬
tion. On the one hand there existed profusion without
limits, and on the other malversation without shame.
Scarcely a third, or even a fourth part of the sums collected,
ever reached the royal treasury ; the people were exposed
to the most grinding exactions, yet the revenue was in a
state of gradual decline. To put an end to these disorders,
L’Hopital revived the ancient laws which had fallen into
desuetude ; he struck terror into defaulters by some exam¬
ples of wholesome severity ; he refused to sanction any ex¬
penditure except for the immediate purposes of the state;
he defied the enmity of that numerous and vindictive class
whose dishonest gains he had destroyed ; and he acted with
so much personal disinterestedness, that, after having been
five years in office, he was unable to give a portion to his
daughter, and the deficiency was supplied by the liberality
of the sovereign.
After the fatal accident which, in 1559, put an end to the
life of the king, the Cardinal de Lorraine, then at the head
of affairs, introduced L’Hopital into the council of state;
but as one of the articles of the treaty of Chateau-Cam-
bresis had provided that the Duchess De Berri, his benefac¬
tress, should espouse Emanuel-Philibert, Duke of Savoy,
he was appointed to conduct that princess into Piedmont,
whither he attended her in the capacity of chancellor.
The distracted situation of France, however, soon made it
necessary to recall a man of such undaunted firmness and
inflexible integrity. In the midst of faction, turbulence,
and confusion, when the passions of men appeared, like the
evil spirits, to have been for a season unchained, he was ad¬
vanced to the office of chancellor of France, and in this ele¬
vated station conducted himself like a philosopher and a
hero. At this period the destruction of the Protestants had
been determined on ; it was resolved to leave them no al¬
ternative but abjuration or death ; and it was even medi¬
tated to establish the inquisition in France. The new chan¬
cellor durst not attack this project directly, without compro¬
mising himself with the governing party ; but he sought in¬
directly to defeat the odious design, and by the edict of
Remorantin, which declared the crime of heresy to be cog¬
nisable only by the ecclesiastical judge, he ultimately accom¬
plished his beneficent design, and thus decided the clergy
to abandon all idea of establishing the inquisition, which,
they knew, would be powerless when deprived of the aid of
Hopital.
HOP
Hopital. the secular arm. Upon all occasions, indeed, he was the
advocate of mercy and reconciliation, and a declared enemy
to persecution on account of religion ; and hence the more
bigoted Romanists, offended at his wisdom and moderation,
accused him of being a concealed Protestant, unconscious
that by such suspicions and accusations they paid the highest
compliments to the spirit of that faith which they were so
desirous to eradicate. With a man of such character, abi¬
lity, and firmness, at the head of affairs, it was hopeless to
attempt to carry through the violent measures which were
already contemplated; yet when the question of giving him
a successor came to be seriously agitated, Catherine de Me¬
dici found herself involved in very great perplexity. The
ancient relations of L’Hopital with the House of Lorraine ;
the estimation in which he was universally held; his known
love of his country, which, in his mind, absorbed all other
affections ; and the difficulty of finding any one to fill his
place, who would not sink into insignificance and contempt
in comparison with this truly great man—were serious ob¬
stacles to his removal; but as nothing could induce him to
abandon or change the pacific character of his measures, all
other considerations were at length disregarded, and the
queen excluded him from the council of war, upon which
he immediately withdrew to his country-house at Vignay,
near Estampes.
His exclusion from the council was accompanied with in¬
sult. The Constable of Montmorency told him that a man
of his profession, a civilian, ought not to intermeddle in what
related to war. “ That is a subject,” said the constable,
“on which you are not qualified to give advice.” “ True,”
replied the chancellor, “ I do not know how to make war,
but I know when it is necessary.” Several days after his
retirement from office, when the seals were demanded of
him, he resigned them without regret, observing that the
affairs of the world were too corrupt for him to meddle
with them. He spent his time in lettered ease, amusing
himself with writing Latin poetry, and enjoying the society
of some select friends, until his peace was broken by the
bloody tragedy of St Bartholomew, which, with his usual
sagacity, he had foreseen. Of this barbarous and inexpiable
massacre the judgment he pronounced has been ratified by
posterity. He himself narrowly escaped being one of its vic¬
tims. The inhabitants of the country had risen, and were
devastating the fields, and dragging the farmers in chains
towards the city. But the queen, anxious about his fate,
sent a detachment of cavalry for his protection. The sud¬
den apparition of this troop, whose destination was unknown,
produced great consternation in his house, which was open
on all sides. He was asked by the inmates if they would
close the gates. “ No, no,” said he ; “ if the small gate will
not admit them, throw open the large one.” When in¬
formed that the persons who prepared the lists of proscrip¬
tion had pardoned him the opposition which he had always
given to their projects; “ I did not know,” replied he coldly,
“that I had done any thing to deserve either pardon or
death.” But what most deeply affected I/Hopital on this
mournful occasion, was the danger to which his daughter,
who happened to be in Paris, was in consequence exposed.
She was saved by the interference of Anne d’Este, duchess
of Guise, whom L’Hopital thanked for this signal service,
in an epistle overflowing with the warmest feelings of pa¬
ternal gratitude. These cruel events, however, deeply af¬
fected his health and spirits, and he died at Vignay, on the
13th of March 1573, at the age of sixty-eight, and less
than one year after the massacre.
“ L’Hopital,” says Brantome, “ was the greatest, worthi¬
est, and most learned chancellor that was ever known in
France. His large white beard, pale countenance, and aus¬
tere manner, made all who saw him think they beheld a true
portrait of St Jerome, and, in fact, he was called St Jerome
by the courtiers. All orders of men feared him, particularly
VOL. XI.
H 0 P 625
the members of the courts ofjustice ; and when he examined Hopkins,
them on their lives, their discharge of their duties, their capa-
cities, or their knowledge, and particularly when he examined
candidates for offices, and found them deficient, he made
them feel it. He was profoundly versed in polite learning,
very eloquent, and an excellent poet. His severity was
never ill-natured; he made due allowance for the imper¬
fections of human nature; he was always equal and firm.
After his death his very enemies acknowledged that he was
the greatest magistrate whom France had known, and that
they did not expect to see such another.” T he productions
of L’Hopital are—1. Latin poems ; 2. Speeches delivered at
the meeting of the States at Orleans ; 3. Memoires, con-
tenant plusieurs Trades de Paix, &c., from 1551 to 1560,
Cologne, 1672, in 12mo. A work which he had undertaken
on law is lost; and it is said that he had also projected a
history of his own time, on the model of the ancient histo¬
rians ; but of this no part appears to have been executed.
In 1807, M. Bernardi published his Essai sur la Vie, les
Ecrits, et les Loix de Michel de VHopital, in one volume
8vo, from which and other documents Mr Charles Butler pub¬
lished his Essay on the Life of L’Hopital, principally with the
view of exhibiting him as a friend of toleration. An admi¬
rable life and estimate of De I’Hopital will also be found in
Villemain’s Nouveaux Melanges Litteraires. (j. b—e.)
HOPKINS, Ezekiel, bishop of Londonderry, and one
of the standard theologians of England, was born in 1663
at Stanford, in Devonshire, of which his father was curate.
His early education was conducted under Presbyterian and
Independent influences,—a fact which threatened at first
to mar his prospects of church preferment. On leaving
Oxford, where he had been one of the choristers, and finally
chaplain of Magdalen College, he was presented to the liv¬
ing of St Mary Woolnoth, in London. When the great
plague broke out in the capital, Hopkins withdrew to Exeter,
where he obtained the living of St Mary’s. Here he mar¬
ried Araminta, a daughter of Lord Robartes; and when that
nobleman was made lord-lieutenant of Ireland, Hopkins
went with him to Dublin, and through his influence ob¬
tained the deanery of Raphoe. In 1671 he was made
bishop of that diocese, and ten years later was translated to
the see of Londonderry. In the famous siege of that town
by the Irish adherents of James II. in 1689, Hopkins
showed how completely he had rid himself of the influences
of his early training by preaching with the most earnest
zeal the doctrines of non-resistance. In the words of Mac¬
aulay, “ he exhorted his flock to go patiently to the slaughter
rather than incur the guiltof disobeying the Lord’s anointed.”
In the course of the siege he withdrew from the town, and
retired first to Raphoe and afterwards to London, where he
was made rector of St Mary Alderman bury. This charge
he held till his death in June 1690. Hopkins’works, which
have been frequently republished, comprise Sermons, Lx-
positions of the Decalogue and the Lords Prayer, and ela¬
borate discourses on Regeneration and The Vanity of the
World. The purely literary merits of these treatises are
very great. In that sententious brevity which compresses
whole chapters and volumes of meaning into a single line,
Charnock was in that day without a rival, yet many of
Hopkins’ thoughts are expressed with a proverbial force and
conciseness not unworthy of his great contemporary. His
works are a mine of jewels. Their solid worth, apart from
all ornament, their sound theology, their deep spiritual
fervour, their practical good sense, and the acquaintance
which they display with the nature and heart of man, com¬
mend them to our high esteem. But beside all this, the
purity of their style, the clearness and vigour of their
thought, and the abounding beauty of their illustrations,
place them in some respects far above the average of the
pulpit productions of the best known contemporary authors.
Regarded by the Puritans, or at least by some of them, as
626 H O R
Hor a deserter from their ranks, buried in the obscurity of an
II Irish bishopric, Hopkins has never had due justice paid to
Horatius ^ memovy and worth. A candid perusal of his works will
Flaccus. guffice t0 prove his titie to rank with the best and ablest
divines that England had to boast of in the seventeenth
century.
HOR, a mountain of Arabia Petrsea, on the confines of
Idumaea, and forming part of the mountain of Seir or Edom.
It is generally regarded as the modern Jebel Haroun, or
Mount Aaron, lying midway between the Dead Sea and
the Elanitic Gulf. On the summit of this hill is a tomb,
venerated by the Mohammedans as the sepulchre of the
high priest Aaron.
HORAPOLLO, or PIorus Apollo. See Hierogly¬
phics.
HORATII, three brothers of the Horatian gens, who
figure in one of the old Roman legends. See Roman Hist.
BHORATIUS FLACCUS, Quintus, the most popular,
and, next to Catullus and Virgil, the greatest of the Roman
poets, was born vi. Id. Dec. A.u.C. 689 (Dec. 8, b.c. 65), dur¬
ing the consulship of L. Aurelius Cotta and L. Manlius Tor-
quatus, and died Nov. 27, A.u.C. 746 (b.c. 8). Horace is his
own biographer. All the material facts of his personal history
are to be gathered from the allusions scattered throughout
his poems. A memoir, attributed to Suetonius, of some¬
what doubtful authenticity, furnishes a few additional de¬
tails, but none of material moment, either as to his charac¬
ter or career. His father was a freedman (Sat. I. vi., 6,46-47),
and it was long considered that he had been a slave of some
member of the great family of the Horatii, whose name he
had assumed, in accordance with the common usage in
such cases. But this theory has latterly given place to the
suggestion, based upon inscriptions, that he was a freed¬
man of the town of Venusia (the modern Venosa), the in¬
habitants of which belonged to the Horatian tribe (G. F.
Grotefend, Encyclopcidie von Ersch und Gruber, 2d sec., vol.
x., p. 457, Leipzig, 1833 ; and C. L. Grotefend, Ephemerid.
Literar., Darmstadt, 1834, p. 182; and Mommsen’s In-
scriptiones Regni Neapolitani, Lipsiae, 1852). The point
is, however, of little importance, as the name, distinguished
as it was, has derived more lustre from the poet than from
any of the patriots and heroes by whom it had previously
been borne. The elder Horace had received his manumission
before his son was born (Sat. I. vi., 8). He had realized a
moderate independence in the vocation of coactor, a name
borne indifferently by the collectors of public revenue, and
of money at sales by public auction. To which of these
classes he belonged is uncertain, but most probably to the
latter (Sat. I. vi., 86). With the fruits of his industry he
had purchased a small property near Venusia, upon the
banks of the Aufidus, the modern Ofanto, in the midst
of the Apennines, upon the doubtful boundaries of Lucania
and Apulia. Here the poet was born, and in this pictur¬
esque region of mountain, forest, and stream, the boy be¬
came imbued with the love of nature, which distinguished
him through life. The third ode of the fourth book affords a
pleasing glimpse of the child, wandering out of bounds
along the slopes of Mount Vultur, and being found, after
an anxious search, asleep under a covering of laurel and
myrtle leaves, which the wild pigeons had spread to shield
this special favourite of the gods from the snakes and wild
animals. The augury of the future poet, said to have been
drawn from the incident at the time, was no doubt an after¬
thought of the poet’s own, but the picture which the lines
present of the strayed child asleep with his hands full of
spring flowers is welcome, whatever may be thought of the
omen. In his father’s house, and in those of the Apulian
peasantry around him, Horace had opportunities of becom¬
ing familiar with the simple virtues of the poor—their inde¬
pendence, integrity, chastity, and homely worth, which he
joved to contrast with the luxury and vice of imperial Rome.
HOR
Of his mother no mention occurs, directly or indirectly, Horatius
throughout his poems, and it is reasonable to infer from Flaccus.
this circumstance, taken in connection with the indications
which they present of strong natural affection, that she died
during his infancy. He appears also to have been an only
child. No doubt he had at an early age given evidence of su¬
perior powers, and to this it may have been in some measure
owing that his father thought him worthy of a higher edu¬
cation than could be obtained under a provincial school¬
master (Sat. I. vi., 71, et seq.), and, although but ill able to
afford it, carried him to Rome when about twelve years old,
and gave him the best education which the capital could
supply. No expense was spared to save the boy from any
sense of inferiority among his fellow-scholars of the higher
ranks. He was waited on by numerous slaves, as though
he were the heir to a considerable fortune. But at the
same time he was not allowed to entertain any shame for
his own order, or to aspire to a position which he was un¬
equal to maintain. His father taught him to look forward
to filling some situation akin to that in which he had him¬
self acquired a competency, and to feel that in any sphere
culture and self-respect must command influence, and afford
the best guarantee for happiness. Under the stern tutor¬
age of Orbilius Pupillus, a grammarian of high standing,
richer in reputation than gold, whom the poet has con¬
demned to a bad immortality for his flogging propensities,
he learned grammar, and became familiar with the earlier
Latin writers, and with Homer. He also acquired such
other branches of instruction as were usually learned by
the sons of Romans of the higher ranks. But, what was
of still more importance, during this critical period of his
first introduction to the seductions of the capital, he enjoyed
the advantage of his father’s personal superintendence, and
of a moral training, which kept him aloof, not merely from the
indulgence, but even from the contact of vice. His father
went with him to all his classes (Sat. I. vi., 81, seq.), and,
being himself a man of shrewd observation and natural
humour, he gave his son’s studies a practical bearing, by
directing his attention to the follies and vices of the luxu¬
rious and dissolute society around him (Sat. I. iv., 105, et
seq.), and showing their incompatibility with the dictates of
reason and common sense. From this admirable father,
Horace appears to have inherited that manly independence
for which he was remarkable, and which, while assigning to
all ranks their due influence and respect, never either over¬
estimates or compromises its own. Under the homely ex¬
terior of the Apulian freedman we see the soul of the
gentleman. His influence on his son was manifestly great.
In the full maturity of his powers Horace penned a tri¬
bute to his worth (Sat. I. vi., 68, et seq.) with a fervour
manifestly prompted by the full heart of a man who had
often had cause to feel the blessings of that influence
throughout the vicissitudes of a chequered life. It had
given tone and strength to his character, and in the midst
of manifold temptations had kept him true to himself and
his genius.
At what age Horace lost his father is uncertain. Most
probably this event occurred before he left Rome for Athens
to complete his education, as was then the practice, in the
Greek literature and philosophy, under native teachers.
This he did some time between the age of seventeen and
twenty. At Athens he found many young men of the leading
Roman families—Bibulus, Acidinus, Messala, and the
younger Cicero—engaged in the same pursuits with himself.
His works prove him to have been no careless student of the
classics of Grecian literature, and with a natural enthusiasm
he made his first poetical essays in their flexible and noble
language. With his usual good sense, however, he soon
abandoned the hopeless task of emulating the Greek writers
on their own ground, and directed his efforts to transfusing
into his own language some of the grace and melody of
HORATIUS
Horatius these masters of song {Sat i. x., 31-35). In the political
Flaccus. lull between the battle of Pharsalia, A.u.C. 706 (b.c. 48),
and the death of Julius Caesar, A.u.C. 710 (b.c. 44), Horace
was enabled to devote himself without interruption to the
tranquil pursuits of the scholar. But when after the latter
event Brutus came to Athens, and the patrician youth of
Rome, fired with zeal for the cause of republican liberty, joined
his standard, Horace was infected by the general enthusiasm,
and accepted a military command in the army which was
destined to encounter the legions of Anthony and Octa¬
vius. His rank was that of tribune, equivalent to a colonelcy
of foot in our own army, and for this he must have been in¬
debted either to the personal friendship of Brutus, or to an
extraordinary dearth of officers, seeing that he was not only
without experience or birth to recommend him, but pos¬
sessed no particular aptitude, physical or moral, for a military
life. His appointment excited jealousy among his brother
officers, who considered that the command of a Roman
legion should have been reserved for men of nobler blood.
(Sat. I. vi., 46, et seq^) It was probably here that he first
came into direct collision with the aristocratic prejudices
which the training of his father had taught him to defy, and
which, at a subsequent period, grudged to the freedman’s
son the friendship of the emperor and of Maecenas. At the
same time he had doubtless a strong party of friends, who
had learned to appreciate his genius and attractive qualities.
It is certain that he secured the esteem of his commanders,
and bore an active part in the perils and difficulties of the
campaign, which terminated in the total defeat of the re¬
publican party at Philippi, A.u.C. 712 (b.c. 42). A playful
allusion by himself to the events of that disastrous field
(Odes, II. vi., 9, et seq.) has been turned by many of his
commentators into an admission of his own cowardice.
This is absurd. Such a confession is the very last which
any man, least of all a Roman, would make. Horace says,
addressing his friend Pompeius Varius—
“ With thee I shared Philippi’s fiery flight,
My shield behind me left, which Was not well,
When all that brave array was broke, and fell
In the vile dust full many a towering wight.”
Such an allusion to the loss of his shield could only have
been dropped by a man who felt that he had done his duty,
and that it was known he had done it. The lines may thus
be safely regarded, according to the views of Lessing and
others, as a not ungraceful compliment to his friend, who
continued the struggle against the triumvirate with the
party who threw themselves into the fleet of Sextus Pom¬
peius. This interpretation is confirmed by the language of
the next verse, where, in the same spirit, he applies the
epithet “paventem ” (craven) to himself.
“ But me, poor craven, swift Mercurius bore.
Wrapp’d in a cloud through all the hostile din,
While war’s tumultuous eddies, closing in,
Swept thee away into the strife once more.”
It was no shame in Horace to have despaired of a cause
which its leaders had given up. After the suicide of Brutus
and Cassius the continuance of the contest was hopeless ;
and Horace may in his short military career have seen,
in the jealousy and selfish ambition of many of his party,
enough to make him suspicious of success, even if that
had been attainable. Republicans who sneered at the freed¬
man’s son were not likely to found any system of liberty
worthy of the name.
When Horace found his way back to Italy it was to find
his paternal acres confiscated. His life was spared, but
nothing was left him to sustain it but his pen and his good
spirits. He had to write for bread—Paupertas impulit
audax ut versus facerem (Epis. II. ii., 51)—and in so doing
he appears to have acquired not only considerable repute, but
also sufficient means to purchase the place of scribe in the
Quaestor’s office, a sort of sinecure Clerkship of the Treasury,
FLACCUS. 627
which he continued to hold for many years, if not to the Horatius
close of his life (Sat. II. vi., 36). It was upon his return to Flaccus.
Rome that he made the acquaintance of Virgil and Varius,
who were already famous, and to them he was indebted for
his introduction to Maecenas. The particulars of his first
interview with his patron he has himself recorded (Sat. I. vi.,
55, etseq.) It is a curious circumstance in the history of a
friendship, among the closest and most affectionate on record,
that nine months elapsed after their meeting before Maecenas
again summoned the poet to his house, and enrolled him in
the list of his intimate friends. This event took place in the
third year after the battle of Philippi; and as the only claim of
Horace, the man of humble origin and the retainer of a de¬
feated party, to the notice of the minister of Augustus must
have been his literary reputation, it is obvious that even at
this early period he had established his position among the
wits and men of letters in the capital. The acquaintance
rapidly ripened into mutual esteem. It secured the position
of the poet in society, and the generosity of the statesman
placed him above the anxieties of a literary life. Throughout
the intimate intercourse of thirty years which ensued there
was no trace of condescension on the one hand, nor of servi¬
lity on the other. Maecenas gave the poet the place next his
heart. He must have respected the man who never used
his influence to obtain those favours which were within the
disposal of the emperor’s minister, who cherished an honest
pride in his own station, and who could be grateful without
being obsequious. Horace is never weary of acknowledging
how much he owes to his friend. When he praises him, it
is without flattery. When he soothes his anxieties, or
calms his fears, the sincerity of his sympathy is apparent in
the warmth of his words. When he resists his patron’s wishes,
he is firm without rudeness. When he sports with his
foibles, he is familiar without the slightest shade of im¬
pertinence.
By Maecenas Horace was introduced to Octavius, most
probably soon after the period just referred to. In A.u.C. 717,
a year after Horace had been admitted into the circle of
his friends, Maecenas went to Brundusium, charged by
Octavius to negotiate a treaty with Marcus Antonius. On
this journey he was accompanied by Horace, who has left
a graphic record of its incidents (Sat. I. v.) It is probable
that on this occasion or about this time the poet was brought
to the notice of the future emperor. Between the time of
his return from this journey and the year 722, Horace, who
had in the meantime given to the world many of his poems,
including the ten Satires of the first book, received from
Maecenas the gift of the Sabine farm, which at once afforded
him a competency and all the pleasures of a country life.
The gift was a slight one for Maecenas to bestow, but he no
doubt made it as the fittest and most welcome which he
could have offered to his friend. It made Horace happy. It
gave him leisure and amusement, and opportunities for that
calm intercourse with nature which he “ needed for his
spirit’s health.” Never was a gift better bestowed or better
requited. It at once prompted much of that poetry which
has made Maecenas famous, and has afforded ever new de¬
light to successive generations. The Sabine farm was situ¬
ated in a romantic valley about 15 miles from Tibur (Tivoli),
and among its other charms, possessed the valuable attrac¬
tion for Horace, that it was within an easy distance of Rome.
When his spirits wanted the stimulus of society or the bustle
of the capital, which they often did, his ambling mule could
speedily convey him thither ; and when jaded on the other
hand by
“ The noise, and strife, and questions wearisome,
And the vain splendours of imperial Rome,”
he could by the same easy means of transport, in a few hours
bury himself among the hills, and there, under the shadow of
his favourite Lucretilis, or by the banks of the Digentia, either
stretch himself to dream upon the grass, lulled by the mur-
628
Horatius
Flaccus.
horatius flaccus.
murs of the stream, or look after the culture of his fields, and
fancy himself a farmer. The site of this farm has been pretty
accurately ascertained, and it is at the present day a favourite
resort of travellers, especially of Englishmen, who visit it
in such numbers, and trace its features with so much en¬
thusiasm, that the resident peasantry, “ who cannot conceive
of any other source of interest in one so long dead and un-
sainted, than that of co-patriotism or consanguinity, believe
Horace to have been an Englishman by Mr
Dennis. Milman’s Horace, London, 1849, p. 109). Ihe
property was of moderate size, and produced corn, olives,
and wine, but was not highly cultivated. Here Ho¬
race spent a considerable part of every year. Latterly,
when his health failed, he passed the winter in the milder
air of a villa at Tivoli. The Sabine farm was very retired,
being about four miles from Varia (Vico Varo), the nearest
town, well covered with timber, and traversed by a small but
sparkling stream. It gave employment to five families of
free coloni, who were under the superintendence of a bai¬
liff; and, besides these, eight slaves were attached to the
poet’s establishment. With his inexpensive habits this little
property was sufficient for all his wants (^Satis beatus unicis
Sabinis). Here he could entertain a stray friend from town,
—his patron Maecenas, upon occasion,—and the delights of
this agreeable retreat and the charm of the poet’s society,
were doubtless more than a compensation for the plain fare
or the thin home-grown wine, Vile Sabinum, with which
its resources alone enabled him to regale them.
The life of Horace from the time of his intimacy with
Maecenas appears to have been one of comparative ease and
of great social enjoyment. Augustus soon admitted him to
his favour, and sought to attach him to his person in the
capacity of secretary. This offer Horace was prudent and
firm enough to decline; while at the same time he had the
tact not to offend the master of the world by his refusal.
To the close of his life his favour at court continued with¬
out a cloud. Augustus not only liked the man, but enter¬
tained a profound admiration for the poet. Believing in
the immortality of his writings, it was natural the emperor
should cultivate the good will and seek to secure the
“deathless meed” of his favourite’s song. That Horace
had fought with Brutus against him was no prejudice.
To have espoused the cause, and enjoyed the confidence of
one whose nobility of purpose his adversaries never scrupled
to acknowledge, formed, indeed, in itself a claim upon his
successful rival’s esteem. Horace was no renegade; he
was not ashamed of the past, and Maecenas and Augustus
were just the men to respect him for his independence, and
to like him the better for it. They could appreciate his supe¬
riority to the herd of parasites and time-servers around them ;
and like all the greatest actorson the political stage, they were
above the petty rancours of party jealousy, or the desire to
enforce a renunciation of convictions opposite to their own.
It was by never stooping to them unduly that Horace secured
their esteem, and maintained himself upon a footing ol equa¬
lity with them, as nearly as the difference of rank would allow.
There is no reason to suspect Horace, in the praises which
he has recorded of Augustus, either of insincerity or syco¬
phancy. He was able to contrast the comparative security
of life and property, the absence of political turmoil, and the
development of social ease and happiness, which his country
enjoyed under the masterly administration of Augustus,
with the disquietude and strife under which it had languished
for so many years. The days of a republic had gone by, and
an enlightened despotism must have been welcomed by a
country shaken by a long period of civil commotion, and sick
of seeing itself played for as the stake of reckless and ambi¬
tious men. He was near enough to the councils of the world’s
master to see his motives and to appreciate his policy; and
his intimate personal intercourse with both Augustus and Mae¬
cenas no doubt enabled him to do fuller justice both to their
intentions and their capacity, than was possible perhaps to any Horatius
other man of his time. The envy which his intimacy with v jac^‘y
these two foremost men of all the world for a time excited in ‘V**'
Roman society by degrees gave way, as years advanced,
and the causes of their esteem came to be better under¬
stood. Their favour did not spoil him. He was ever the
same kindly, urbane, and simple man of letters he had ori¬
ginally been. He never presumed upon his position, or
looked superciliously oh others less favoured than himself.
At all times generous and genial, years only mellowed his
wisdom, and gave a sharper lustre to the beauty of his verse.
The unaffected sincerity of his nature, and the rich vein
of his genius, made him courted by the rich and noble.
{Odes, ii. xvii., 9, et seq.) He mixed on easy terms with
the choicest society of Rome, and what a society must that
have been which included Virgil, Varius, Plotius, Tibullus,
Pollio, and a host of others, who were not only ripe scholars,
but had borne and were bearing a leading part in the great
actions and events of that memorable epoch ? It is to this
period that the composition of his principal odes is to be
attributed. To these, of all his writings, Horace himself
ascribed the greatest value, and on these he rested his claims
to posthumous fame. They were the result of great labour,
as he himself indicates : “ Operosa parvus Carmina fingo”
{Odes, IV. ii., 31), and yet they bear pre-eminently the
charm of simplicity and ease. He was the first to mould
the Latin tongue to the Greek lyric measures ; and his suc¬
cess in this difficult task may be estimated from the fact,
that as he was the first so was he the greatest of the Roman
lyrists. Quinctilian’s criticism upon him can scarcely be
improved : “ Lyricorum Horatius fere solus legi dignus.
Nam et insurgit aliquando, et plenus est jucunditatis et
gratise, et variis figuris, et verbis felicissime audax.’ In
this airy and playful grace, in happy epithets, in variety of
imagery, and exquisite felicity of expression, the Odes are still
unsurpassed among the writings of any period or language.
If they want the inspiration of a great motive, or the fer¬
vour and resonance of the finest lyrics of Greece, they
possess at all events an exquisite grace and terseness of ex¬
pression, a power of painting an image or expressing a
thought in the fewest and fittest words, and a melody of
tone, which imbue them with a charm quite peculiar, and
have given them a hold upon the minds of educated men,
which no change of taste has shaken. I hat they are in¬
ferior to his Greek models is not to be wondered at. Even
although Horace had possessed the genius of Pindar or
Sappho, it is doubtful whether, writing as he did in an arti¬
ficial language, which he was compelled to make more ai ti-
ficial by the adoption of Grecian terms of expression, and
being therefore without the free and genial medium of
expression which they had at command, he could have found
an adequate utterance for his inspiration. But his genius
was akin to neither of these; and that good sense, which is
his great characteristic, withheld him from ever eithei soai-
ing too high or attempting to sustain his flight too long.
He knew the measure of his powers, and in his greatest
efforts therefore no undue strain upon them is to be de¬
tected. His power of passion is limited, and his strokes
of pathos are few and slight. Above all, he did not pos¬
sess the faculty, which, in a lyrical writer, is the highest,
of losing himself in a great theme. Whatever subject^ he
treats, we never lose sight of the poet in the poem. This
quality, while it is fatal to lyric poetry of the highest class,
helps, however, to heighten the charm of the mass of his
odes, especially those which are devoted to his friends, or
which breathe the delight with which the contact with the
ever fresh beauties of natural scenery inspired him. Into
these he throws his whole heart, and in them we feel the
fascination which made him beloved by those who came
within the circle of his personal influence, and which makes
him as it were the well known and intimate friend of all to
HORATIUS
Horatius whom his writings are a familiar study. Horace was not
Flaccus. and could not have been a national poet. He wrote only
for cultivated men, and under the shadow of a court. The
very language in which he wrote must have been unintel¬
ligible to the people, and he had none of those popular sym¬
pathies which inspire the lyrics of Burns or Beranger. The
Roman populace of his time was perhaps as little likely to
command his respect as any which the world has ever seen ;
and thete was no people, in the sense in which we under¬
stand the word, to appeal to. And yet Horace has many
points in common with Burns. “ A man’s a man for a’
that,” in the whole vein of its Sentiment is thoroughly Ho-
ratian ; but the glow which kindles the heart and fires the
brain is subdued to a temperate heat in the gentler and phy¬
sically less energetic nature of Horace. In his amatory verses
the same distinction is visible. None of his erotic poems
are vivified by those gushes of emotion which animate the
love poetry of the poets we have named and of other modern
song writers. Never indeed was love less ideal or intense in a
poet of unquestionable power. Horace is not insensible to
beauty. No writer hits off with greater neatness the portrait
of a beauty, or conjures up more skilfully before his reader an
image of seductive grace. But the fire of genuine passion is
wanting. Horace’s ardour seems never to have risen above the
transientflushofdesire. His heart iswhole though Cupid may
have clapped him on the shoulder. The Lalages and Lyces,
the Glyceras and Phrynes of his Odes are pretty playthings of
an hour, who amused his fancy and delighted his senses, but
never robbed him of a night’s repose or of a day’s appetite.
The attempt to make them out as real objects of attachment
is one of the many follies in which his commentators have
wasted much dreary labour. Horace might, no doubt, have
sung of himself, like Beranger, in his youth,—
“ J’avais vingt ans une folle maitresse,
Des francs amis, et 1’amour de chansons,”—
and even when he bould count eight lustres, despite his own
protest {Ode ii., 4, 21, et seq.), his senses were probably
not dead to the attractions of a fine ancle, or a pretty face, or
to the fascination of a sweet smile, or a musical voice. But
his passions were too well controlled, and his love of ease too
strong, to have admitted of so many flirtations as would
be implied in the supposition that Tyndaris, Myrtale, and
a score of others, were actual favourites of the bard. To
sing of beauty has always been the poet’s privilege and de¬
light ; and to record the lover’s pains an easy and popular
theme. Horace, the wit and friend of wits, was not likely
to be out of the mode, and so he sang of love and beauty
according to his fashion. Very airy and playful and plea¬
sant is that fashion, and, for his time, in the main compara¬
tively pure and chaste ; but we seek in vain for the tender¬
ness, the negation of self, and the pathos, which are the soul
of all true love poetry. “ His love ditties,” it has been well
said, “ are, as it were, like flowers, beautiful in form, and
rich in hues, but without the scent that breathes to the
heart.” It is certain that many of them are merely imita¬
tions of Greek originals.
His Satires and Epistles are less read, yet they are per¬
haps intrinsically more valuable than his lyric poetry. They
are of very various merit, written at different periods of his
life, and, although the order of their composition may be
difficult to define with certainty, much may be inferred, even
from the internal evidence of style and subject, as to the de¬
velopment of the poet’s genius. This subject has engaged
much of the attention of the commentators, and all concur
in placing the Satires first, and the Epistles, including the
Epistle to the Pisos, De Arte Poeticd, last in the order of
date. As reflecting “ the age and body of the time,” they
possess the highest historical value. Through them the
modern scholar is able to form a clearer idea of the state of
society in Rome in the Augustan age than of any other
phase of social development in the history of nations.
FLACCUS. 629
Mingling, as he did, freely with men of all ranks and pas- Horatius
sions, and himself untouched by the ambition of wealth or Flaccus.
influence which absorbed them in the struggle of society,
he enjoyed the best of opportunities for observation, and he
used them diligently. Horace’s observation of character is
subtle and exact, his knowledge of the heart is profound,
his power of graphic delineation great. A genial humour
plays over his verses, and a kindly wisdom dignifies them.
Never were the maxims of social prudence and practical
good sense inculcated in so pleasing a form as in the Epis¬
tles. The vein of his satire is delicate yet racy, and he
stimulates and amuses, but rarely offends by indelicacy, or out¬
rages by coarseness. He does not spare himself upon occasion.
His sarcasms, moreover, have no spice of malignity, neither
are they tinged by the satirist’s vice of vaunting his supe¬
riority to his neighbours. For fierceness of invective, or
loftiness of moral tone, he is inferior to Juvenal ; but the
vices of his time were less calculated to provoke the “ saeva
indignatio,” or to call for the stern moral censure of the sa¬
tirist of a more recent date. He deals rather with the weak¬
ness and follies, than with the vices or crimes of mankind,
and his appeals are directed to their judgment and practical
sense rather than to their conscience. The idea of duty or
absolute right is riot a prominent one with Horace. He
inculcates what is fitting and decorous, and tends most to
tranquillity of mind and body, rather than the severe virtues
of a high standard of moral purity. To live at peace with
the world, to shun the extremes of avarice, luxury, and am¬
bition, to outrage none of the laws of nature, to enjoy life
wisely, and not to load it with cares which the lapse of a few
brief years will demonstrate to be foolishness, is very nearly
the sum of his philosophy. Of religion, as we understand
it, he had little. He was, however, too observant of the
world around him, and too habitually accustomed to look
into his own soul, not to have been profoundly impressed
with the evidences of Supreme Wisdom governing the ma¬
chine of the universe, and to have felt aspirations for a future
in which the mysteries of the present world should find a so¬
lution. Although himself little of a practical worshipper—
parcus deorum cultor et infrequens—he respected the sin¬
cerity of others in their belief in the old gods. But in com¬
mon with the more vigorous intellects of the time, he had
outgrown the effete creed of his countrymen. He could
not accept the mythology, about which the forms of the
contemporary worship still clustered. The relation of the
universe to its Maker was a mystery to him, and the agency
of an active Providence, if it occasionally startled him out
of the easy indifference of a vain philosophy, seems to have
been by no means a permanent conviction of his mind, in¬
fluencing his actions, or giving a lofty sweep to his specu¬
lations. The morality of enlightened and far-seeing wis¬
dom was attainable by such a mind, and it was attained ;
but to the divine spirit, which raised some of the ancient
writers almost to a level with the inspired authors of the
books of our faith, Horace has no claim. As a living and
brilliant commentary on life, as a storehouse of maxims of
practical wisdom, couched in language the most apt and con¬
cise, as sketches of men and manners, which will be always
fresh and always true, because they were true once, and be¬
cause human nature will always reproduce itself under ana¬
logous circumstances, his Satires, and still more his Epistles,
will have a permanent value for mankind. In these, too, as
in his Odes, Horace helped materially in giving to the Latin
language the highest amount of polish of which it is sus¬
ceptible.
At rio time very robust, Horace’s health appears to have
declined for some years before his death. He was doomed
to see some of his most valued friends drop into the grave
before him. This to him, who gave to friendship the ar¬
dour which other men give to love, was the severest wound
that time could bring. Youth, and spirits, and health, the
630 H O R
Horatius inevitable decay of nature, saddened the thoughtful poet in
Placcus. his solitude, and tinged the gayest society with melancholy.
But the loss of friends, the brothers of his soul, of Viigil,
Quinctilius, Tibullus, and others, and ultimately of Maece¬
nas, without that hope of reunion which spiings fiom the
cheering faith which was soon afterwards to be revealed to
the world, must have by degrees stripped life of most of
its charms. Singula de nobis anni pradantur euntes
(Epis. II. ii., 55) is a cheerless reflection to the man who
has no assured hope beyond the present time. Maecenas s
health was a source of deep anxiety to him, and one of the
most exquisite odes (the 17th of the 2d book), addiessed
to him, in answer to some outburst of despondency, while
it expresses the depth of the poet’s regard, bears in it the
tone of a man somewhat weary of the world :—
“ Ah ! if untimely fate should snatch thee hence,
Thee, of my soul a part,
Why should I linger on, with deaden’d sense,
And ever-aching heart,
A worthless fragment of a fallen shrine ?
No, no! One day beholds thy death and mine!
“ Think not that I have sworn a bootless oath !
Yes, we shall go, shall go,
Hand link’d in hand, whene’er thou leadest, both
The last sad road below!”
The prophecy seems to have been realized almost to the
letter. The same year (a.u.c. 746, b.c. 8) witnessed the
death of both Horace and Maecenas. The latter died in
the middle of the year, bequeathing his friend, in almost
his last words, to the care of Augustus: Horatii Flacci,
ut mei, esto memor. On the 27th of November, when he
was on the eve of completing his fifty-seventh year, Ho¬
race himself died, of an illness so sharp and sudden, that he
was unable to make his will in writing. He declared it
verbally before witnesses, leaving the little all which he
possessed to Augustus. He was buried on the Esquiline
Hill, near his patron and friend Maecenas. No trace of the
tombs of either remains ; but the name and fame of both
are inextricably entwined, and can only perish with the
decay of literature itself. The fame of Horace was at once
established. In the days of Juvenal he shared with Virgil
the doubtful honour of being a schoolbook (Juvenal, Sat.
vii. 226). That honour he still enjoys; but it is only by
minds matured by experience and reflection that Horace
can be thoroughly appreciated. To them the depth of his
observation, and the reach of his good sense are made daily
more apparent; and the verses which charmed their fancy
or delighted their ear in youth, became the counsellors of
their manhood, or the mirror which focalizes for their old
age the gathered wisdom of a lifetime. No writer is so
often quoted, and simply because the thoughts of none are
more pertinent to men’s “business and bosoms” in the
concerns of every-day life, amid the jostle of a crowded and
artificial state of society; and because the glimpses of na¬
ture, in which his writings abound, come with the freshness
of truth, alike to the jaded dweller in cities, and to those
who can test them day by day in the presence of nature
herself. To Petrarch and Wordsworth he was a favourite
study. Richard Hooker made him a manual. Louis
XVIII. had him by heart; and there is scarcely a states¬
man of eminence in whose mouth his sayings are not
household words.
There are no authentic busts or medallions of Horace,
and his descriptions of himself are vague. He was short in
stature ; his eyes and hair were dark, but the latter was
early silvered with gray. He suffered at one time from
an affection of the eyes, and seems to have been by no
means robust in constitution. His habits were temperate
and frugal, as a rule, although he was far from insensible to
the charms of a good table and good wine, heightening
and heightened by the zest of good company. But he
II 0 R
seems to have had neither the stomach nor the taste for Horizon
habitual indulgence in the pleasures of the table. In youth ||
he was hasty and choleric, but easily placable ; and to the Born-
last he probably shared in some degree the irritability which
he ascribes to his class. At the same time, if his writings
be any index to his mind, his temper was habitually sweet
and well under control. Like all playful men, a tinge of
melancholy coloured his life, if that is to be called melan¬
choly which is more properly only that sense of the incom¬
pleteness and insufficiency of life for the desires of the soul,
which must be deeply seated in all earnest natures. Lat¬
terly he became corpulent, and sensitive to the severity of
the seasons, and sought at Baise and Tivoli the refreshment
or shelter which his mountain retreat had ceased to yield to
his delicate frame.
The chronology of the poems of Horace has been the
source of much critical controversy. The earlier labours
of Bentley, Masson, Dacier, and Sanadon have been fol¬
lowed up in modern times by those of Passow, Walckenaer,
Weber, Grotefend, and Stallbaum abroad, and of Tate and
Milman at home. As the subject is not one which admits
of certainty, the speculation is endless, and must always be
in a great measure unsatisfactory. The general result may
be stated as follows. The Satires and Epodes were first
in the order of composition, having been written between
the years 713 and 725, after the return of Horace to Rome,
and before the close of the civil wars consequent upon the
defeat of Antony and his party. The two first books of
Odes appeared between this period and the year 730.
Then followed the first book of Epistles. The third
book of Odes appears to have been composed about the
year 735, the Carmen Secidare in 737, and the fourth
book of Odes between 737 and 741. The second book
of Epistles may be assigned to the period between 741
and 746; and to the same period may be ascribed the
composition of the Epistle to the Pisos. The results of
the speculations of Bentley and several of the leading critics
are presented in a tabular form in the admirable edition of
Horace published by Firmin Didot, Paris, 1855, with the
commentary of Diibner, which is a model at once of typo¬
graphical beauty and editorial skill.
For a list of the best editions of Horace, and of the nu¬
merous works on the topography and chronology of his
poems, reference may be made to Smith’s Dictionary of
Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London,
1850, sub voce Horatius.
The translations of Horace into all the European lan¬
guages are numerous. The English versions are more
numerous than successful. Pope and Swift, in their imi¬
tations, have caught more of his manner than any of the
translators: and probably the rendering which will convey
the best idea of his peculiar charm will be that which hits
a happy medium between the literal and the paraphrastic.
The translation of Francis, which long held a place as the
English representative of this classic, is a poor performance,
and is rapidly falling into merited oblivion. That of Wrang-
ham is weak, colourless, and trivial. Of late years many
versions have issued from the press, among which those of
F. W. Newman, London, 1853 ; Melville, London, 1850;
and Robinson, London, 1846-55, are chiefly remarkable.
But a good English Horace is still a desideratum, and, if
ever supplied, it will probably be the result of the combined
labours of many hands. (t. m—N.)
HORIZON (opt^w, I bound), the plane of a great circle
which divides the upper or visible from the lower or invisi¬
ble hemisphere. See Astronomy ; and Geography.
HORN. The projecting weapons on the head of the ox,
the sheep, the antelope, and the rhinoceros, consist of a
sheath of horn on a core of bone. Horn is composed chiefly
of coagulated albumen, gelatine, and a small portion of
phosphate of lime. It is essentially distinct from bone and
H 0 ft
Horn, ivory; the antlers of the stag, although sometimes called
—horns, consist entirely of bone. Modifications of horn may
be noticed in the scales of the armadillo, the plate armour
of the tortoise, the spines of the porcupine and hedgehog,
the quills of birds, and the hoofs, claws, and nails, of ani¬
mals. For manufacturing purposes, the horns and hoofs of
the bull and cow are in request, and there is a large import
of these from South America, Southern Africa, and from
Russia. The horns of the bison and buffalo, the chamois
and the antelope, are used for the better kinds of work.
The manufacturer first detaches the horn from the bony
core, by macerating the horn in water for a month or six
weeks, when the membrane by which the horn is attached
to the core putrifies and allows the two to be separated.
The ash of the cores makes excellent cupels for the assay
of gold and silver. The solid tips of the horn are sawn off,
and are used for handles for knives, for buttons, &c. ; the
other portion of the horn is cut into short lengths, or soaked
whole in boiling water, or heated at a fire, the effect of
which is to soften it, and allow it to be spread out nearly
flat. The fiats are next pressed between warm and greased
iron plates, the pressure varying according to circumstances.
If intended for lanterns, the pressure is continued until the
horn separates into distinct plates; these are placed on a
board covered with hide, and scraped with a knife having a
wire edge. Some of the shavings which come off are some¬
times dyed and cut into various forms, and are so sensitive
as to curl up by the warmth of the hand. They are sold at
toy-shops under the name of “ sensitive leaves.” After the
scraping, the sheets of horn are polished with a woollen
cloth dipped in charcoal dust and water, next with rotten-
stone, and lastly with horn shavings.
The effect of heat and pressure on light-coloured horn is
to render it transparent; but most of the articles made of
horn are coloured artificially by boiling the horn in infusions
of colouring matter. If the horn be intended for combs, the
pressure must be moderated, or the teeth will be brittle; if
intended for drinking cups, the horn is cut into lengths,
scalded, roasted, and moulded in a cone of wood, and a
wooden plug is driven into it for pressing the horn into the
required shape. After this, the cup is turned and polished
at the lathe, and a groove is cut to receive the bottom ; this
is cut out of a flat piece of horn by means of a crown saw,
and the bottom of the cup having been softened at the fire,
the disk is forced into the groove, and the horn contracting
in cooling makes a water-tight joint. For knife-handles and
similar works, the horn is cut nearly to the required form,
and is moulded in dies with the assistance of heat and a
powerful screw-press. The work is finished by scraping
and buffing with Trent sand and oil, or rotten-stone and oil.
Horn is sometimes used as a vehicle for applying polishing
pow'ders to the flat works of the watchmaker. In the
Great Exhibition of 1851, there were sundry small articles
of chamois horn, consisting of brooches, shirt-buttons,
rings, and watch-keys, by a Swiss exhibitor; there were
also some transparent horn paintings from Hamburg, and
a pair of polished ox-horns from Port Natal, with the
head complete, measuring from tip to tip 8 ft. 4 in., and
21 in. in circumference. The best collection of articles
in horn-work was, however, from Turkey. See Tortoise¬
shell. (c. t.)
Horn, a musical instrument, varying in form and in qua¬
lity of sound. Each horn has a cup-shaped mouth-piece, by
blowing into which, with a particular management of the
lips, the sounds are produced. The ancient coronets, of
different sizes, straight-shaped, formed of wood, &c., need
not be described here, as they are disused. The common
hunting-horn is of copper or brass, and bent into a semi¬
circle. The French horn is made of brass, and consists of
a tube bent into circular convolutions, and terminating in
an expansion of the tube, called the bell or pavilion. There
HOE 631
are generally two French horns used in orchestras, or in Horn
military bands,—a first and a second horn,—and these are II
furnished with crooks which alter the length of the tube, so ^Hcrner.
as to adapt the horns to the different keys of the music to
be played. The natural or open sounds follow the harmonic
progression 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, &c.; but by placing the
hand, or a cone of pasteboard, within the bell, the interme¬
diate tones and semitones may be produced, and a scale
formed, more or less pure and accurate. (See Music, §
Horn?) Finger-keys were at one time applied to some
horns, but have been superseded by pistons. The old
bugle-horn is now the pistoned cornet or cornopean. Of
late years, C. J. Sax of Brussels has greatly improved all
instruments of the horn kind, as well as flutes, clarinets, &c.
The German bass-horns are made of wood, and have finger-
holes and finger-keys. The basset-horn and the English
horn are not really horns, the former being only a large
clarinet, and the latter a large oboe, with some peculiarities
of form. See Appendix to G. F. Graham’s Essay on Mu¬
sical Composition, Edin. 1838.
Horn, or Hoorn, Cape, commonly considered the south¬
ern extremity of America, is not a part of that continent,
but the most southerly point of a small island of the Tierra
del Fuego group; S. Eat. 56. 58. 40., W. Long. 67. 16.
It consists of a lofty, precipitous, bare black rock, running
far out into the sea ; and was formerly considered dangerous
to pass on account of the strong westerly gales that prevail
in its neighbourhood during summer, but as these are re¬
stricted to the vicinity of the cape, vessels avoid the diffi¬
culty by sailing in a higher latitude. It was discovered in
1616 by the Dutch navigator Schouten, who named it after
his native town, Hoorn.
HORNCASTLE, a market-town of England, county of
Lincoln, on the Bain, a tributary of Witham, and naviga¬
ble to this point, 18 miles E.S.E. of Lincoln. It was an¬
ciently a Roman station, and traces of its old walls still exist.
Roman coins and other antiquities have also been discovered
in the vicinity. A considerable trade is carried on by means
of the river. Horncastle has a grammar school, mechanics’
institute, library, literary society, and a savings bank. The
market-day is Saturday; and one of the largest horse
fairs in the kingdom is held here in August. Pop. (1851)
4921.
HORNE, George, author of the Commentary on the
Psalms, was born in 1730 at Otham, in Kent. He was
educated in the school of Maidstone, whence he passed to
University College, Oxford. He afterwards became a
fellow, and finally principal of Magdalen College. In 1771
he was chosen chaplain-in-ordinary to the king, and held
that office for ten years. In 1776 he became vice-chancellor
of the University ; five years later, he was made dean of
Canterbury; and* in 1790 was promoted to the see of Nor¬
wich, which he retained till his death, Jan. 17, 1792.
Bishop Horne’s only important work, his Commentary on
the Psalms, exhibits a deep acquaintance with Hebrew and
biblical lore, and is marked by a spirit of earnest piety. It
has been frequently reprinted, and still retains its ground.
His other works, for the most part fugitive pieces of a con¬
troversial character, are now forgotten. The best of them
were written to defend the views of Hutchinson as against
those of Sir Isaac Newton; which latter, until he understood
them thoroughly, he at first believed were designed to sub¬
vert the theology of Scripture.
HORNER, Francis, was born at Edinburgh Aug. 12,
1778. His father was a merchant in that city, of sufficient
wealth to give him the best education that money could at that
time procure in Scotland. After passing through the ordinary
courses at the High School and University of Edinburgh,
he qualified himself for the bar, and began to practise with
very reasonable prospects of success. His native city, how¬
ever, he found too small a field for his high aspirations and
632 H O R
Horner wide views, and accordingly he removed in 1802 to London,
II where he entered himself of Lincoln s Inn, hoping to find
Horse. j-|jg true sphere in Westminster Hall. The interval that
elapsed between this date and his admission to the English
bar in 1807, he spent in a most comprehensive course of
legal and general study ; and his papers in the Edinburgh
Review (chiefly on subjects connected with political eco¬
nomy) attest the extent and variety of his leading, and the
largeness and soundness of his views. Enteiing pailiament
in 1806 for St Ives in Cornwall, and in 1813 for St Mawes,
he allied himself with the Whigs, and fixed the attention
of England by the ability with which he discussed all the
questions of political economy and finance that came before
the house. On the question of freedom of trade, especially
in corn, he displayed the wisdom of a philosopher, and the
knowledge and foresight of a practical statesman, and anti¬
cipated by nearly half a century the principles that now
regulate the commerce of Great Britain. Perhaps his
crowning achievement in parliament was the part he took
in the great Bullion question. He was a member of the
Bullion committee, and drew up the first part of the report;
and it was mainly through his exertions that the unlimited
issue of paper-money by the Bank of England and the private
banks of the country was stopped, and gold and silver re¬
established as the only legal circulating media. His parlia¬
mentary and literary labours, prosecuted with noble and dis¬
interested zeal for many years, at length wore out a frame
naturally far from robust; and in 1816, having gone to Italy
in the hope of recruiting his shattered health, he died at
Pisa, Feb. 8, 1817.
The most striking characteristic of Horner’s mind was its
comprehensiveness, a quality which shows itself as remark¬
ably in the plan of private study which he drew up for his
own guidance, while only on the threshold of manhood, as
in his matured parliamentary efforts. His independence
H O R
of character was shown in his adoption and manful support Horrocks
of a political creed, which in his early youth it was al most ||
dangerous to profess in Scotland. In choosing this creed Horse,
he was influenced neither by prejudice nor by passion, but
by a simple love of what seemed to him to be the truth,
and throughout life he always sought after truth for its
own sake, wherever it was to be found. Few Britons of
this century have gone to the grave so sincerely and so
generally lamented as Horner, if we except Sir Robert
Peel. His countrymen found in him a safe and powerful
man, who was labouring not for himself or his party but
for them. “ They were convinced of his talents, they con¬
fided in his moderation, and they were sure of his motives;
he had improved so quickly and so much that his early
death was looked on as the destruction of a great statesman
who had done but a small part of the good which might be
expected from him, who would infallibly have risen to the
highest offices, and as infallibly have filled them to the
public good.” On his private character it is hardly neces¬
sary to dilate. Integrity, gentleness, and nobility of nature
are accorded to him by all that ever knew him, without one
dissenting voice. Sidney Smith said of him, “ the com¬
mandments were written on his face, and I have often told
him there was notacrimehemightnotcommitwith impunity,
as no judge or jury who saw him would ever give the smallest
degree of credit to any evidence against him; there was
in his look a calm settled love of all that was good and
honourable—an air of wisdom and of sweetness ; you saw
at once that he was a great man, whom nature had intended
for a Ipader of human beings ; you ranged yourself willingly
under his banners, and cheerfully submitted to his sway”
{Memoirs of Francis Horner, with Selections from h is Cor¬
respondence, Lond. 1843).
HORROCKS, or Horrox, Jeremiah, born 1619, at Li¬
verpool, died 1641. See Fourth Preliminary Dissertation.
HORSE.
The Horse is a distinct genus belonging to the order of
Pachyderrnata, Cuv., and in himself the most serviceable
of all quadruped animals, and ranks with the greyhound
as the swiftest of those brought under the dominion of man.
Notwithstanding these high qualifications, ancient history
informs us that in the primitive ages of the world the ass
was used in preference to him, not only as a mere beast of
burthen, but for the purpose of conveying from place to
place persons of the highest distinction. This, however,
may be satisfactorily accounted for. Previously to the art
of horsemanship being known, the ass, a superior race of
animal perhaps to that generally found in Europe, was more
easily managed than the horse, and better suited to the kind
of food usually met with for his support. He was, in fact,
found to answer every purpose of horses, until mankind in¬
creased in numbers and in wealth, when the complicated
interests that were the result brought their services into use,
and they were trained to the art of war. But another reason
may be given for the late introduction of horses. Their use
was interdicted by the Almighty in the early ages of the
world; first, lest his favourite people, the Israelites, should
be led to idolatry by carrying on commerce with Egypt;
secondly, by their dependence on a well-appointed cavalry,
they might cease to trust in the promised aid of Jehovah ;
and, thirdly, that they might not be tempted to extend
their dominion by such means, and then, by mixing with
idolatrous nations, cease in time to be that distinct and sepa¬
rate people which it was His intention they should be, and
without which the prophecies relative to the Messiah could
not be fully accomplished. Thus, in the Book of Psalms,
the horse commonly appears only on the side of the enemies
of God’s people ; and so entirely unaccustomed to the ma¬
nagement of him were the Israelites at the period of their
signal defeat of the Philistines and other idolatrous nations,
that David, their commander and king, caused the greater
part of the horses of the cavalry prisoners to be cut down.
In the reign of Solomon, however, a cavalry force was esta¬
blished, but to no great extent.
In the infant state of all nations, indeed, we can readily
account for the restrictive use of horses. A great deal of
land that might be applied to the production of human food
is requisite for their maintenance in all countries; and, in
hot and sterile ones, the camel answered better, and was
found ready at hand. It is true they were used in the
armies of the ancient Greeks and Romans, which were not
considered as complete without them. In Greece they were
not so numerous; but in a war with the Italic Gauls the
Romans are said to have had no less than 70,000 horse and
700,000 foot to attack their formidable enemies. The army
of Xerxes, when reviewed by him at Dorsica, in Ihrace,
after it had passed the Hellespont, is reported by Herodotus,
contemporary with him, to have contained 80,000 horse ;
but the judicious reader will be inclined to make consider¬
able abatements from the boasted amount of that celebrated
but ill-fated expedition, resting, as it does, entirely on the
authority of Grecian writers, who represented facts in the
light the most unfavourable to their enemies, and the most
glorious to their own gallant countrymen.
As in the scale of excellence the horse ranks first of all
animals coming under the denomination of cattle, and, as
HORSE. 633
Introduc- Buffon justly says of him, “ possesses, along with grandeur
tion. of stature, the greatest elegance and proportion of parts of
sy—all quadrupeds,” it is not a matter of surprise that, as an
image of motive vigour, he should have been the subject of
the chisel and the pencil of the first artists in the world, or
that the description of him by the pen should have been not
considered as unworthy the greatest writers of antiquity.
But it is only in his native simplicity, in those wild and ex¬
tensive plains where he was originally produced, that we
can form an adequate idea of this noble animal. It is here
that he disdains the assistance of man, which only tends to
servitude ; and it is to a description of his release from this
servitude, his regaining his natural liberty, that we are in¬
debted for two of the finest similes of the immortal Greek
and Roman epic bards. The return of Paris, with Hector,
to the battle of Troy, is thus given in the sixth book of the
Iliad:—
“ Cl;, S’ on ns ffrurcc 'Itvo;, uvKxrrritrix.s tv) Qarvr,,
A irrjjLOv Shiv ‘iribiaio xgoaivuii/,
'Elufvs y-ovurSai Vi^uos vroruftolo,
Kvbiia»' IIoZ b\ )ii.on ixl‘> ^ X*‘Ta‘
*Clfj,ois x'ltrirovrai' o S’ a.y'kdin<pi ‘jeiftoiQu:,
'Pifi.Qct i yovva fiira r tiSiK xat yeuoy 'tTiray.''
And Virgil is considered to have even exceeded Homer in
that splendid passage in the eleventh book of the vEneid,
where Turnus, turning out fully accoutred for the fight, is
compared to a horse that has just broken loose from his
stall:—
“ Qualls, ubi abruptis fugit praesepia vinclis,
Tandem liber equus, campoque potitus aperto,
Aut ille in pastus armentaque tendit equarum,
Aut, assuetus aquae perfundl flumine noto,
Emicat, arrectisque fremit cervicibus alte
Luxurians; luduntque jubae per colla, per armos.”
It is impossible, at this distance of time, to fix upon the
native country of the horse, as he has been found in various
forms and of various sizes in every region of the Old World.
The difference in size is easily accounted for. TLhe origin
of all animals of the same species was doubtless the same in
the beginning of time, and it is chiefly climate that has pro¬
duced the change we perceive in them. Warmth being
congenial to his constitution, and cold naturally injurious to
him, he is produced in the most perfect form, and in the
greatest vigour, when subject to the influence of the one,
and not only diminutive, but misshapen and comparatively
worthless, when exposed to the evils of the other. Buffon,
however, is wrong in making the horse indigenous to Arabia,
as is clearly proved by a reference to the Sacred Writings.
In the reign of Saul horse-breeding had not yet been intro¬
duced into Arabia ; for, in a war with some of the Arabian
nations, the Israelites got plunder in camels, sheep, and
asses, but still no horses. Even at the time when Jerusalem
was conquered and first destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar,
Arabia appears to have been without horses, as the I yrians
brought theirs from Armenia. That the earliest available
uses of the active powers of horses was adopted by the
Egyptians, the same authority satisfies us; for we read in
the third chapter of Genesis that when Joseph carried his
father’s remains from Egypt to Canaan “ there went up with
him both chariots and horsemen.” About 150 years after¬
wards, the horse constituted the principal strength of the
Egyptian army ; Pharaoh having pursued the Israelites with
“ six hundred chosen chariots, and with all the chariots of
Egypt.” The earliest period now alluded to was 1650
years before the birth of Christ; and 1450 years before
that event, the horse was so far naturalized in Greece that
the Olympic Games were instituted, including chariot and
horse races.
The origin of the native horse of our own country is now
merely a question of historical interest, the discussion of
which would not lead to much practical benefit. That
experiments, founded on the study of his nature and pro-
YOL. xi.
perties. which have from time to time been made to im- Race-
prove the breed, and bring the different varieties to the H°rse
perfection in which we now find them, have succeeded, is 'v—
best confirmed by the fact of the high estimation in which
the horses of Great Britain are held in all parts of the civi¬
lized world; and it is not too much to assert that, although
the cold, humid, and variable nature of our climate, is by
no means favourable to the production of these animals
in their very best form, we have, by great care, and by our
attention to breeding, high feeding, and good grooming,
with consequent development of the muscles, brought them
to the highest state of perfection of which their nature is
susceptible. They may be classed under the following
heads, and treated of individually, viz., the race-horse ; the
hunter; the hackney, for various purposes; the charger;
the troop horse ; the coach, chariot, and gig horse ; and the
draught or cart horse.
THE RACE-HORSE.
Although we may safely pronounce that the native breed
of English horses, however esteemed for other purposes,
could not race, in the present acceptation of that word, yet
it is equally obvious that they formed the parent stock of the
renowned English racer. The first step to improve it by a
cross with Eastern blood appears to have been taken by
James L, who gave the enormous sum (in those days) of
L.500 for an Arab stallion, which, however, the Duke of
Newcastle, in his work on horsemanship (great authority at
that time), wrote down on account, chiefly, of his compara¬
tively diminutive size. At the Restoration, however, there
appears to have been a tolerably good breed of horses
in England, which Charles II. improved by an importa¬
tion of Barbs and Turks, whose blood was engrafted on
the original stock, already very considerably ameliorated by
the services of a stallion called Place’s White lurk (im¬
ported by Oliver Cromwell’s Master of the Horse, who bore
that name), and afterwards by those of the Helmsley Turk,
followed by Fairfax’s Morocco Barb. The change was at
this time so visible, that the Lord Harleigh ot that day ex¬
pressed his fears lest it might be carried to such an extreme
as to extirpate the strong and useful horse, which, perhaps,
the majority of hi§ countrymen were well satisfied with be¬
fore. In the latter end of Queen Anne’s reign, however,
the first great trump turned up to secure future success.
This was a stallion called Darley’s Arabian, purchased in the
Levant by a Yorkshire merchant of that name, although
without any real attestation of his pedigree or country. 1 he
prejudice against Arabians and other eastern horses, the
effect of the Duke of Newcastle’s anathema against them,
having now for the most part subsided, a good deal of their
blood had been infused into the mares of that day, when
another stallion, whose services were still more signal, acci¬
dentally made his appearance. We allude to the Godolphin
Arabian, as he was called, purchased out of a cart in Paris,
and consequently of uncertain caste, but evidently the horse
of the desert; who, as will be hereafter shown, may be said
to have won the game. Although at first thought so meanly
of as only to be used as a teazer, yet, fortunately for the
turf, he lived twenty years after his services became noto¬
rious by the accident of his being the sire of a capital racer
out of a mare which the stallion to which he was teazer re¬
fused to cover; and, strange to say, no very superior race¬
horse has appeared in England for many years that cannot
be traced to his blood. The success of this horse was much
facilitated by the lucky coincidence of his arrival in England
at a critical time; that is to say, when the stock from Dar¬
ley’s horse, and the several Arabs, Barbs, and Turks, to¬
gether with the royal mares imported by Charles II. had
been “crossed” (as the term is) on each other, and had
produced mares worthy to be the channel of imparting his
own transcendant qualities to posterity. Taking it for
4 L
HORSE.
granted, then, that the English race-horse is descended
from Arabian, Turkish, and African (Barb) blood; and
also taking into consideration the various peculiarities in the
form and power of each of those kinds, requiring mo i ca¬
tion of shape, qualities, and action suited to the purposes
for which they were intended, it cannot be denied that a
task of no ordinary difficulty was imposed on the English
horse-breeders, and that they have executed that task with
a masterly hand. If other countries furnished the blood,
England has made the race-horse.
With the exception of one Eastern horse, called the
Wellesley Arabian, the grandsire of a winner of the Oaks
in 1826, also of Dandizette, who ran second for that stake
in 1823, and one or two more good runners, the English
turf has benefited nothing during the last three-quarters of
a century from the importation of foreign blood. The fact
is, that having once gotten possession of the essential con¬
stitutional parts necessary to form the race-horse (and which
will be described hereafter), we ourselves have (by a supe¬
rior knowledge of the animal and the means of availing our¬
selves of his capabilities, not only by rearing and training,
but by riding him also) brought him to a pitch of excellence
which will not admit of further improvement. Superior as
is the air of the desert (which is said to be so free from
vapours that the brightest steel is not affected with rust if
exposed to it for a night) to that of our humid and ever-
varying climate, which, especially in Ireland, is said to pro¬
duce blindness in horses; and propitious as it must be to
animals found, as the horse teas found, in the greatest per¬
fection when reared in it; yet were the finest Eastern horse
that could be procured brought to the starting-post at New¬
market, with the advantage of English training to boot, he
would have no chance, at any weight or for any distance,
with even a second-rate English race-horse. They will not
bear what jockeys term “squeezing” in the last fifty yards
of a race, and lose all heart in an instant. The late Mr
Atwood was the last racing man who ran half-bred Arabs
in England, and he scarcely ever won a race with them
from this cause.
Although we have spoken in disparagement of horses of
the East as racers, upon the same terms with those of our
own breeding, we are willing to allow them the merit of
being the parent stock of all our racing blood; as it is
quite evident the indigenae of our own country, or of those
European ones which approximate to it, would never have
produced the sort of race-horse now seen on the British
turf. The nature and character, indeed, of the horse of
the desert, are peculiarly adapted to an animal which, like
the race-horse, is called upon to put its physical powers to
the severest test to which nature, aided by art, can submit.
In the first place, the Arabian horse possesses a firmness of
leg and sinew unequalled by any other in the world. This
excellence, which he owes to climate, arises from his having
larger muscles and smaller hone than other horses have;
muscles and sinews being the sole powers of acting, and on
them depend the lasting qualities of an animal going at the
top of his speed. Bones being the weight to be lifted, serve
only to extend the parts; and it is evident that such as are
small but highly condensed, like those of the deer and the
horse of the desert, are, by occupying less space and con¬
taining less weight, more easily acted upon by muscular
force than such as are large and porous, and for a greater
duration of time, without fatiguing the acting powers. But
the excellence of the Arabian horse, or horse of the desert,
does not end with his highly condensed bone, and flat and
wiry leg, so much esteemed by the sportsman. All the
muscles and fibres of his frame are driven into closer con¬
tact than those of any other breed ; and, by the membranes
and ligaments being composed of a finer and thinner sub¬
stance, he possesses the rare quality of union of strength
with lightness, so essential to the endurance of fatigue in
all quick motions. He thus moves quicker and with more
force, by reason of the lightness and solidity of the materials ^
of which his frame is composed ; and when to these qualifi¬
cations are added the peculiar and deer-like elegance of his
form, and extraordinary share of muscular power for his
inches, he appears to furnish all the requisites of the race¬
horse on a small scale.
It is worth inquiring into the reason of the improvement
of the horse of the desert, and indeed of all the countries
of the East, not advancing towards perfection, as that of
our own breed has done. No doubt it was intended that
we should improve upon animal nature as we improve our
own, and nowhere has the attempt been so successful as
upon our varieties of domestic cattle ; but the horse of the
desert now, if he has not retrograded in his good qualities,
is the same animal that he was nearly two centuries back.
With the exception of the Wellesley Arabian, said to have
been bred in Persia (but the assertion is unaccompanied
by proof), which measured 15 hands 2 inches high, all the
rest that have been imported have been little better than
Galloways, which must be attributed to two causes—first,
the want of being forced, as our own horses are, in their
colthood, by high keep; and, secondly, by adhering too
closely to the indigenous breed, or that whose blood is un¬
mixed, by which means it has dwindled. Accurate observers
must have noticed that the greater part of the horses brought
to this country as Barbs and Arabians have exhibited a pal¬
pable deficiency in the points contributing to strength, and
the want of general substance is apparent at first sight. It
is true that, of late years, their estimation has so diminished
in this country that no great pains have been taken to pro¬
cure stallions of the highest caste, and scarcely any mares
have been imported, and several of those sent over have
been accompanied by very unsatisfactory pedigrees. We
are, however, inclined to think that, as the immediate de¬
scendants of such horses are found quite inefficient as race¬
horses, and but few of the second or third generation have
turned up trumps, unless as a rational experiment, the breed¬
ing of race-horses from Arabians is at an end.
We have reason to believe, that the best use to be made
of Eastern horses, would be for the production of the Eng¬
lish hunter, by the best-shaped hunting mares, nearly
thorough-bred. By the help of the dam, and our present
improved system of keeping young horse-stock, there would
be little fear of the produce not coming to a good size, even
in the first generation, as it is, for the most part, the pro¬
perty of these horses to beget stock larger than themselves;
but by crossing the female produce in the second with our
large thorough-bred horses, hunters for heavy weights might
be looked for, with every prospect of success. We know
that the virtue of the blood, or constituent parts, of the
horse that was no racer (Marske, the sire of Eclipse, for
example), has produced a racing son, by acquiring proper
formation of parts from the dam ; and if to the fine form of
the English hunter, could be added the firmness of leg and
sinew for which the Eastern horse is so conspicuous, but in
which the English hunter is too often deficient, in conjunc¬
tion with the larger muscles, more highly condensed bone,
and well-known powers of endurance of the Eastern horse,
not omitting his action, which is generally first-rate, but of
which a proper judgment could be formed previously to the
choice of the stallion, a great improvement upon our pre¬
sent race of hunters would be effected ; and all such as were
known to be thus bred, would meet a ready sale. It is a
well known fact, that some of the most brilliant hunters
England ever produced, were got by Arabian stallions ; and
one” by Lord Clive’s Arabian, was decidedly the best horse
in Leicestershire, in Mr Meynell’s day, over every descrip¬
tion of country. He was the property of the late Mr Childe,
of Kinlet Hall, Shropshire, who is said to have been the
first to introduce the present very spirited style of riding
HORSE.
Race-
Horse.
after hounds. Of late years, there have been some very
good hunters of this breed in the royal hunt. A powerful
Toorkoman stallion would not, we think, fail in getting hun¬
ters out of good English mares. That breed is the largest
of any of the Eastern horses, owing to being reared on bet¬
ter land.
One word more on the subject of the Eastern horse, as
connected with the English turf. Owing to the doubts
and uncertainties that hang over the pedigrees and coun¬
tries of the most celebrated stallions and mares which laid
the foundation of our present breed of racers, it is impossi¬
ble to determine to which individual breed, whether to the
1 urkish, the Barb, the Arabian, or the Persian, are the
greater advantages derived from them to be attributed.
They appear to us to be pretty equally divided. To the
Byerly Turk we are indebted for the Herod blood (sire of
Highflyer) ; to the Godolphin Arabian, said to be a Barb,
for the Matchem blood, the stoutest of any ; to the Darley
Arabian (the sire of Flying Childers), for the Eclipse blood ;
and to the Wellesley Arabian, believed to be a Persian
horse, to the only real advantage gained to English race¬
horses, by a foreign cross, in later years. It must, how¬
ever, be observed, that the most famous horses of the last
century, such as Childers, Old Crab, Eclipse, and King
Herod, did not appear on the turf before they were five
years old ; which leads us to suppose that the failure of
horses subsequently bred, as they themselves were bred,
from Oriental blood, and trained at an early age, may, in
great part, be attributed to the fact of the immediate pro¬
duce of such horses requiring more time to come to matu¬
rity, or even to a certain degree of maturity, than those,
like our present breed of race-horses, further removed from
such blood; and the cause may be attributed to climate.
It is reasonable to suppose that the produce of stallions and
mares bred in the torrid zone, would come slower to per¬
fection in a damper and colder country than it would have
done in its own ; and we may infer from this, that in pro¬
portion as horses were brought earlier to the post, and races
shortened in distance, Eastern blood got into disrepute.
In Great Britain, from the highly cultivated knowledge
of the mechanical structure of living bodies, with the junc¬
tion of best shapes, although but for racing, this knowledge
would have been comparatively in its infancy, the horse has
arrived at the highest state of perfection of which his nature
is capable ; and in whatever country and in whatever cli¬
mate his racing powers are put to die test, he has scarcely
found a rival, excepting under very disadvantageous cir¬
cumstances. It is true his lasting qualities were doubted,
and he was challenged to rebut the charge ; and the follow¬
ing was the result. On the 4th of August 1825, two second-
rate English racers, Sharper and Mina, contended against
the most celebrated Cossack horses from the Don, the Black
Sea, and the Ural, in a race of the cruel length of 47 miles.
At starting, Sharper and Mina ran away with their riders
more than a mile, and up a steep hill, when the latter horse
broke down, and pulled up. Half the distance was run in
an hour and forty minutes. In the last half, only one of
the Cossack horses was able to contend with Sharper, who,
notwithstanding every foul advantage was taken by chang¬
ing the weight, and dragging along his opponent by a rope,
won his race in gallant style, performing the distance in two
hours and forty-eight minutes. At starting, the English
horses carried three stone more weight than the Cossacks;
and, during the latter half of the race, the one Cossack who
remained in it was ridden by a mere child. Every trial
over the desert, no matter what the distance, during 1826-55,
between English and Eastern horses, has been attended with
precisely the same results.
From the great export trade to the Continent of English
horses, and particularly those of full blood, occupiers of land
cannot turn their attention to a much surer source of profit
than that of breeding horses, provided they go judiciously
to work. But, unfortunately for the speculators in this
branch of rural economics, too much is left to chance and
experiment, and thus horse-breeding becomes absolutely a
matter of speculation, instead of a matter of judgment. It
is true, those noblemen and gentlemen whose studs have
become eminent on the turf cannot be included in this
charge, unless they are extremely prejudiced in favour of a
particular sire ; but even with the benefit of great experi¬
ence, and various other advantages, the utmost exercise of
their judgment is required to ensure even a prospect of suc¬
cess against such a field as they have to contend with. Hav¬
ing said this, we will lay down a few practical rules for
breeding and rearing the various kinds of horses now used
in Great Britain, commencing, as before stated, with that
of the race-horse.
In the first place, it may be observed there has been a
great deal of discussion in various publications on sporting,
but to very little purpose, on the much agitated question,
“ What constitutes full blood, or what is termed a thorough¬
bred horse ?” We consider this question as very easily de¬
cided ; the term “ thorough-bred horse” merely implying
one that can be traced through the stud-book, by sire and
dam, to any Eastern stallion, or to what were called the
royal mares, imported by Charles II., as they, together
with two or three of the first imported stallions, form the
ne plus ultra of all racing pedigrees. As to the asser¬
tion, that for a horse to claim the title of thorough-bred it
is necessary he should be of pure Oriental descent, it can¬
not for a moment be supported ; as, independently of the
fact, that only two mares are stated in the Stud-Book, or
elsewhere, on authority, to have been imported into Eng¬
land in the early days of racing, it is well known that the
first British race-horses were those of British breed, changed,
ameliorated, and at last perfected by the admixture of
Eastern blood, and judicious crossing afterwards.
The effect of what is called crossing blood is as follows:
The first cross gives one-half, or 50 per cent.; the second
75 per cent.; the third 87-^ per cent.; and the fourth 93f
per cent. In sheep, after this, if the ewes have been pro¬
perly selected, the difference in the wool between the ori¬
ginal stock and the mixed breed is scarcely perceptible ;
but with the horse, the breeder must not stop here, if he
means to produce a race-horse ; and a curious fact is stated
respecting sheep, on the authority of the Count Veltheim,
of Brunswick, an extensive breeder of that species of stock.
“ It has frequently occurred to me,” says he, “ that rams,
which, after an improvement of four or five descents, have
rivalled all the visible qualities of the purest Merinos, when
employed in propagation, have got very ordinary lambs,
and consequently they are not fit to be used for breeding.
On the other hand, a fact may be stated, wherein after a
very opposite cross, pure blood, with evident improvement
upon the original stock, was procured on the eighth descent.
The late Lord Oxford, very celebrated for his greyhounds,
finding them degenerating in courage, crossed his best
bitches, with a bull-dog. The result was, after several re¬
crossings with pure blood, that breed of greyhounds for
which he was so eminently distinguished. The immediate
descendants, however, of the Eastern horses, have, almost
without an exception, proved so deficient of late years, that
our breeders will no more have recourse to them than the
farmer would to the natural oat, which is little better than
a weed, to produce a sample that should rival that of his
neighbours in the market.”
Much speculation has also been indulged in as to the
effect of close affinity in breeding the race-horse, or what is
called breeding in-and-in ; a system which has eminently
succeeded in breeding cattle, and also with the late Lord
Egremont’s racing stud. Beginning with Flying Childers,
several of our very best racers have been very closely bred ;
635
Race-
llorse.
636 H O
Race- ant] it certainly appears reasonable that, as like is said to
Horse, produce like, if we have high form and superior organiza-
~~~J tion in an own brother and sister, that high form and supe¬
rior organization would be very likely to be continued to
their incestuous produce. In a work called Observations
on Breeding for the Turf published several years back by
Nicholas Hankey Smith, who resided a long time among
the Arabs, the author gives his opinion that colts bred in-
and-in show more blood in their heads, are of better form,
and fit to start with fewer sweats than others; but when
the breed is continued incestuous for three or four crosses,
the animal, he thinks, degenerates. By breeding in-and-
in, however, he does not insist upon the necessity of breed¬
ing from brother and sister, or putting a mare to her own
sire, or the sire to her own dam ; but after the first cross,
to return to original blood. A proof of the good effect of
a close affinity in race-horses may be found in the produce
of the dam of George I V.’s favourite mare Maria. By those
celebrated stallions, Rubens and Soothsayer, they were
worthless; but by Waterloo and Rainbow, grandsons of
Sir Peter, and thus combining much of her own blood, they
could run to win.
The first and most important point in the choice of a
blood-mare for a racing stud, is the soundness of her con¬
stitution and limbs; although, of course, it is desirable she
should be of good size and shape, with substance. How
highly soever she may be bred, and however well she may
have run, if she have not a sound frame, she cannot be de¬
pended upon to breed racers. If she have never been
trained, of course the risk is increased ; but, in either case,
her form and action must not be overlooked, as it too often
is, rendering the breeding of thorough-bred stock a mere
matter of chance. Should she have appeared in public,
her racing capabilities are to be consulted. For example,
if pace (speed) was her best, as the jockies say, a stallion
should be selected, who, by the known stoutness of his run¬
ning is likely to tie her produce to pace, or, in other words,
to give them both speed and endurance in a race. Her
frame should be roomy, or her produce will be apt to be
small, although, it must be admitted, there are exceptions
to this rule. She should be of what is termed fashionable
blood, for, if she be not, and her produce should come to
the hammer, previous to trial, they would prove utterly
worthless in the market.
It cannot admit of a doubt, that it is trespassing on the
powers of nature to expect a mare, or any other female ani¬
mal, to nourish her foetus, in embryo, so perfectly during
the time she is giving suck, as if she were dry or without
milk. Nevertheless, it is customary to put all blood-mares
to the horse the ninth day after foaling, and it is almost too
much to expect that the owners will let them lie fallow,
although they may in some measure resemble the man who
cut up his goose to get at the golden egg. During the
period of gestation, however, the thorough-bred mare should
be highly kept. All animals well fed, produce their species
of a superior description to those which are not well fed;
and nothing mdre forcibly shows the beneficial effect of
warmth in rearing superior varieties of the horse, than that
the half-starved horse of the desert should be as good as he
is even now found to be.
In a racing-stud, the period of putting mares to the horse
is much earlier in the year than that of any other sort, by
reason of their produce being almost always called upon to
go into work before they are two years old. In fact, they
can scarcely be dropped too soon in the commencement of
a new year, where proper accommodations are provided for
them. A peep into the seven volumes of the Stud-Book
will satisfy inquirers into these matters, that some mares
have produced more than twenty colts and fillies, and, in a
few instances, a third of them have proved good runners;
but, we should be inclined to think that the average would
R S E.
not exceed six, as the produce of each mare. It some- Race-
times occurs that mares are put into a breeding-stud, when Horse,
affected by severe lameness in the feet. When this is the
case, the operations of neurotomy or unnerving is recom¬
mended ; as pain, by producing fevers, not only is injurious
to the formation of the foetus, but often causes abortion.
Bad, putrid smells, or being struck on the nose, also pro¬
duce abortion in brood mares.
Virgil, in his excellent remarks on breeding horses, tells
those of his readers who wished to gain a prize, to look to
the dam ; and, until of very late years, it was the prevail¬
ing opinion of Englishmen, that, in breeding a racer, the
mare is more essential than the horse to the production of
him, in his highest form, and we know it to have been the
notion entertained by the late Earl of Grosvenor, the most
extensive, though not perhaps the most successful, breeder
of thorough-bred stock England ever saw. The truth of
this supposition, however, has not been confirmed by the
experience of the last half century, and much more depend¬
ence is now placed on the stallion than on the mare. The
racing calendar, indeed, clearly proves the fact. Notwith¬
standing the prodigious number of very highly bred and
equally good mares that are every year put to the horse, it
is from such as are put to our best stallions that the great
winners are generally produced. This can in no other way
be accounted for, than by such horses having the faculty of
imparting to their progeny the peculiar external and inter¬
nal formation absolutely essential to the first-rate race¬
horse ; or, if the term “ blood” be insisted upon, that cer¬
tain innate but not preternatural virtue, peculiarly belong¬
ing to some horses but not to others, which, when it meets
with no opposition from the mare, or, in the language of the
stable, when “ the cross nicks” by the mare admitting of a
junction of good shapes, seldom fails in producing a race¬
horse, in his very best form. The blood of some mares
will only cross successfully with one particular horse, and
Phryne has, for instance, not been very successful since
Pantaloon died. Emma, Arcot Lass, and Barbelle have
each produced a brace of Epsom or St Leger winners to a
different horse. Mandane has also a strong claim to rank
with the world-famed Prunella, and she foaled Altisidora
by Dick Andrews, Lottery by Tramp, and Brutandorf
by Blacklock. It is obvious, then, that owners of racing
studs should not hesitate at paying the difference be¬
tween the price of a first-rate stallion and an inferior
one; and there is always one of the former to be found,
to suit every description of mare. Breeders of all kinds
of horses, but of the race-horse above all others, scarcely
require to be cautioned against breeding from mares,
or putting them to stallions, constitutionally infirm. By
“ constitutionally infirm,” is chiefly implied having a ten¬
dency to fail in their legs and feet, during their training,
which too many of our present racing-breed are given to.
Still there are as many good judges who side with the earl,
and affirm that the exterior conformation of the foal is prin¬
cipally derived from the sire, and its interior from the dam ;
thus throwing the responsibility of its sound or unsound lungs,
which are, after all, the great test of a good racer, on the latter.
In consideration of the preference given to the stallion
over the mare in the propagation of racing-stock, may be
quoted the following passage, from part 3d of Percival’s
Lectures on the Veterinary Art, London, 1826 :—“ It
might be supposed that the part the male takes in fecunda¬
tion is comparatively a very unimportant one ; it must be
remembered, however, that the copulative act is the essen¬
tial first cause, that therein the action of the organs is na¬
tural and sympathetic, and that the result is the generation
of a new animal, bearing a likeness to one or both of the
parents ; from which it would appear, although the physi¬
cal part of the male is simply to project the sperm into the
female, who alone has the power of rendering it efficacious,
HORSE. 637
Race- that the influence of the sperm is much greater in the gene-
Horse, rative process than we seem to have any notion of, or at
least than we have been able to reveal the nature of in
physiology.”
Rearing of Young Racing Stock.
Under all circumstances, there is too much resemblance
between the speculations of the turf and a lottery; but, as
the prizes it exhibits are valuable, the most effectual means
of obtaining them should be adopted. It signifies little
what care and circumspection have been exercised in the
selection of stallions and mares, with a view of breeding
racers; the prospect of success is very limited indeed at
the present day, unless the produce be reared according to
the improved system acted upon in our first-rate racing
establishments. Such was the pertinacity of opinion com¬
bined with long-established prejudices, and in direct oppo¬
sition to the daily acknowledged fact, of dry and warm
countries having been the first to produce the horse in per¬
fection, that it is only within a very few years that young
thorough-bred stock has been reared in the manner in
which it should be reared. A thorough-bred colt may now
be said to be in training from the day on which he is
dropped, so great is the care taken to force him into shape
and substance. Not only is he drawing from the teats of
his dam the milk of a highly fed animal, and consequently,
in itself highly nutritious, but, before he is twelve months
old, he eats nearly two bushels of oats per week. The time
for expansion of frame is youth, and, when we see a two-
year-old at the post, with eight stone seven pounds on his
back, looking like a horse able to carry a light man after
hounds, we most cordially assent to the answer given by
the most experienced Newmarket trainer of the present
age to the question, What is the best method of rearing
a racing colt ? “ First observe,” said he, “ that the blood,
or cross, is good; secondly, breed him as you would a
sheep, from a roomy dam; and thirdly, give him as little
green meat as possible, and as much corn as he will eat.”
The trainer we allude to has now retired, but he had all
the young stock of the Duke of Grafton, and many of the
firsthand most successful sportsmen in England, through
his hands, and the annual disbursements of his establish¬
ment exceeded ten thousand pounds. That dry and hard
food, as it is called, is the natural food of the parent stock
from which our race-horses are descended, is beyond all
doubt; and that the firmness of their acting parts is attri¬
butable to that, and to the warmth and dryness of the cli-
' mate, is also admitted. Is it, then, to be wondered at, that
breeders of horses, and not only of race-horses, have at
length found out that dry food and warmth have the same
effect in the Temperate as they have had, and now have,
in the Torrid Zone ? that they have discovered that, when
colts are bred on rich succulent food, and subject to a humid
atmosphere, the bulk of the body increases out of proportion
to the strength of the bones; and to these predisposing
causes are to be attributed most of the false points which
we find in horses, such as fleshy shoulders, deficiency of
muscle, weak pasterns, and flat feet? Virgil discovered
this nearly two thousand years ago, and, when speaking in
praise of Epirus, as suitable to the breeding of horses, em¬
phatically observes :
“ Continuo has leges, aeternaque foedera certis
Irnposuit natura locis” Georg, i. 60.
So careful, however, now are some of our principal and
most successful breeders of race-horses to avoid these evils,
that not only is a thorough-bred colt eating grass ad libi¬
tum become a rare sight, but he is not suffered to be ex¬
posed to rain, even in the midst of summer, no, not even
to a temporary shower. The effect of rain upon horses’
backs, is found to produce the worst of diseases—glanders,
for instance—as is well known to all cavalry officers who
have been on service with their regiments ; and it cannot Race-
be innocuous to the highly-bred foal or colt. That he Horse,
should be sheltered from the cold of winter, need scarcely
be insisted upon here, although we are rather inclined to
think that, in the generality of breeding establishments, he
is more exposed to weather in the winter than he ought to^
be. There is no objection to a moderate allowance of
carrots, and a little green food; but according to the old
Greek proverb, vAAAos j8ios, aAAa Siaira, another life, an¬
ther diet, we must hear no more of the “ natural food of
an animal insisted upon by many, who is so far called upon
to outstrip the laws of nature as to begin to work at four¬
teen months old, and to appear at the starting-post at two^
years old, displaying the form, character, and strength of
one nearly arrived at maturity. Neither is the land on
which a racing-stud is situated oftentimes sufficiently con¬
sidered ; but a want of such consideration has been the
source of great loss. It is in vain to expect success unless
upon that which is dry, and consequently of sound subsoil;
and what is termed “ upland ground” is most favourable.
Walls, independently of security, are preferable to hedges
for inclosures to breeding paddocks, as the latter harbour
flies, which are very injurious to young stock, and also to
their dams, in hot weather; but the present small dimen¬
sions of breeding paddocks, not exceeding a quarter of an
acre, and many still less, preclude the use of hedges.
Racing colts are physicked when foals, and periodically
afterwards; their hoofs, also, are pared with a drawing-knife,
that, by shortening the toe, the heel may have liberty to
expand. Physic, in this case, may be termed the safety-
valve, and such it is in reality, for this system of forcing
nature cannot be free from danger. It is found, however,
materially to promote growth, as indeed does the work that
our racing-colts perform at such a very early age. Mus¬
cular action produces muscular strength, and growth will be
the result; and we have seen colts sixteen months old mea¬
suring 15 hands 2 inches.
Racing colts can scarcely be handled too soon:—
“ Dum faciles animi juvenum, dum mobilis aetas,”
as Virgil says of the bulls; and Horace illustrates the ne¬
cessity of early erudition of the human species by the ex¬
cellence of horses which have been well broken in when
young. The first breaking in of colts is also alluded to by
Ovid, who, like Horace, is in favour of very crtre/w/treat¬
ment of them, and reminds us of the necessity of it in the
following beautiful line :—
“ Prsenaque vix patitur de grege captus equus.”
The system of breaking colts, however, is not only tho¬
roughly well understood in our racing establishments, but is
accomplished with much less severity than it formerly was,
and consequently with less danger to the animal.
The time of foaling is one of great interest to owners of
valuable brood mares, and particularly so when the produce
is engaged, perhaps heavily, or when they are of what is
termed a running family. The attention of the stud-groom
is directed by sundry forewarnings, the most palpable of
which is what is called “waxing of the udder,” and appearance
of milk, which generally precede parturition two or three
days, but in some instances more. As the mare brings
forth on her legs, there is little fear of the foal being over¬
laid by the mother; but the less she is disturbed the better,
lest she should trample on its legs. Her treatment after¬
wards is now so well understood, that nothing requires to
be said about it; but a bran mash, with from four to six
ounces of nitre dissolved in it, given as soon as she has
brought forth, keeps off fever. The great preventative of
accidents to foals, is the simple contrivance of rollers on the
sides of the door-frames, which secure them from being in¬
jured as they rush out of the hovel or shed by the side of
their dams, especially in cases of alarm.
638
HORSE.
Race- Some persons prefer purchasing to breeding young racing
Horse, stock, and it is difficult to determine between the advan-
tages and disadvantages of the systems. It is true that, in
the first case, the purchaser has a certainty of some return
for his money, inasmuch as he gets his colt or filly, which
the breeder may never get, after incurring a great expense
on the mare. The price of a promising yearling, from a
hundred to a thousand guineas, is a large sum to begin with;
and we cannot, in this instance, say with Yarro, that “a good
horse is known from the first.” If purchased after he has
won in public, at two years old, he is often not to be pur¬
chased, if he has good engagements, under one to three
thousand guineas, a large sum to realize, when added to
concomitant expenses. Nothing but the immense amount
of stakes for young racing-stock can justify such a specula¬
tion. For example, in 1824, a filly of the Duke of Grafton’s
won four thousand four hundred and fifty guineas, public
money, by only starting twice; and Crucifix cleared L.4805
during her two-year-old season in 1839.
One of the principal drawbacks from the prospects of
success in a racing establishment, is a complaint called the
distemper, a sort of catarrhal fever, the cause of which is
generally attributed to atmospheric influence, and also to
any other which may produce what is termed a cold. Un¬
like common catarrhs, however, the distemper will run
through a whole stud of horses; and if it do not, as it fre¬
quently does, end in an affection of the lungs, it leaves a
lassitude behind it, which requires some time to remove.
As a hot sun, with cold winds in spring, and the humid air
of the autumn, are the chief predisposing causes of this com¬
plaint, an even temperature in the stable, and warm clothing
when out of it, together with avoiding exposure to extremes
of heat and cold, are the best safeguards against its attacks.
It may be compared to a frost over the blossoms, which in
one night blasts all former hopes of a crop.
A most interesting event to a breeder of thorough-bred Race-
stock is the trial of their racing powers, which at once decides Horse,
the question of their being worth the expense of training to Vs—*v—■
run or not. There is a great deal of judgment necessary in
the act of trying even old horses, but still more is required
to form a just estimate of young ones, from the difficulty of
knowing when they are quite up to the mark, as well as of
keeping them there. They are generally tried early in
their two-year-old season, or very late in their yearling one.
It is also not one jockey in thirty who can “try” well; and,
as a general rule, he ought to ride the trial horse, not the
one whose powers are to be tested. William Scott was
a first-rate “taster,” as it is termed, and so was Frank
Butler.
But we have not yet spoken of the form of the race¬
horse, which we will now describe; and as nothing can be
considered characteristic of a species, but what is perfect of
its sort, we will so far endeavour to make the pen perform
the task of the pencil, as to portray his cardinal points, as
nearly perfect as such means will admit of. Nature her¬
self, perhaps, rarely exhibits perfect models in the animal
world, leaving the completion of her skill to human saga¬
city ; neither is undeviating symmetry absolutely necessary
in a race-horse. In every composite, however, beauty con¬
sists in the apt connexion of its parts with each other; and
just proportions in the limbs and moving levers, coupled
with that elegance of form in which there is no unnecessary
weight to oppress the muscles, so peculiar to the highly
bred race-horse, is all that need be insisted upon in a racer.
It is nevertheless hard to say what horse will make a racer;
and also w'hat will not, until put to the test; for, how many
horses have appeared, which the eye of the sportsman would
not wish to study, and yet have proved themselves very
capital runners ? This excellence, however, in those “cross-
made horses,” as they are termed, not misshapen ones, arises,
as has been before observed, from their possessing parts
conducive to speed and action, not, perhaps, very strikingly
displayed, but, by means of greater length and depth, and a
peculiar manner of setting on of the acting parts, enabling
them to excel others, much handsomer to the eye, but
wanting in either proper declivity, length, or, what is still
more probable, in circular extent of those parts. Thus, as
the wise man, according to the Stoics, alone is beautiful, so
is a race-horse to be admired solely for those points which
make him a good race-horse.
HORSE. 639
Kace- Although symmetry and proportion form a perfect figure.
Horse, and they become deformities when any of the component
parts exceed or fall short of their due proportions, yet it is
not always necessary to measure by the standard of perfec¬
tion. Suffice it, then, to state the generally approved points
of the English race-horse.
We commence with the head, not merely because it has
always been considered as the most honourable member in
the human frame, but as it is one of the leading charac¬
teristics of the thorough-bred horse. His broad, angular
forehead, gives him that beautiful expression of countenance
which no other breed possesses; and the tapering of the
face from the forehead to the muzzle, forms a striking con¬
trast with the large face of the cart-horse, and the forehead
scarcely wider than the face. The race-horse should have
a black, lively, and rather prominent eye, which denotes a
sound constitution ; and as horses do not breathe through
the mouth, but only through the nose, the nostrils should
be rather expanded and flexible, that they may accommo¬
date themselves to quickened respiration, as the speed of
the animal increases. But they should not be over large.
“ Naribus non angustis” says Varro, and he is right.
Beauty in the head of the race-horse, however, is only a
secondary consideration to the manner in which it should
form a junction with the neck, as on that, in a great mea¬
sure, depends the goodness of his wind in a race. His jaws
should not only be thin, and not approach too near together
at the throat, but they should not extend too high towards
the onset, or they will impede his freedom of breathing.
The neck of all horses should be muscular; but what is
called a loose neck in a race-horse, is not so objectionable
as in a hunter, and is considered as indicative of speed.
But as the head of a horse may be called the helm which
guides his course, changes, and directs his motions, it is not
only desirable that, as he cannot move his head but with
the muscles of his neck, those muscles should be pliant,
but that he should also have what is termed a good mouth.
It is asserted that the weight of the head and neck, the
effect increasing with their distance from the trunk, adds to
the speed of the horse, by throwing his weight forward ; but
this is no argument for additional weight or length in those
parts, which ought to be duly proportioned to the trunk.
The neck of the race-horse should be in no extreme, but
rather long than otherwise, and not too much arched.
As horses are said to go with their shoulders, these may
be considered as highly important points. They vary in
form more than any other part of the horse’s frame. Those
of Flying Childers rose very high and fine towards the
withers; whereas, a firkin of butter rested, unsupported,
on the withers of Eclipse, when in covering condition. Up¬
right shoulders, however, being (though not in Tedding-
ton’s case) an impediment to speed, obliquity of the scapula
is absolutely necessary, but we do not insist upon their run¬
ning fine at the withers. We consider the shoulders of
Eclipse to have resembled those of the greyhound, wide at
the upper part, and nearly on a line with the back. Large,
or even what are called coarse shoulders, contribute greatly
to strength, and are no impediment to speed, if there is
proper declivity of the scapula, or shoulder-bone. The
withers, when high, or thin, should enlarge gradually down¬
wards, and there should be four or five inches between the
fore-thighs, but less between the feet.
The true position of the limbs is a most material point
in the race-horse, as it causes him to stand over more
ground than one which is otherwise formed, although pos¬
sessing a more extended frame. One of these essential
points is, the setting on of, and length in, the fore-arm, or
part from shoulder to knee in the fore leg; and another
is, the declension of the haunch to the hock in the hind leg,
which is termed “ well let down in the thigh.” It is from
having those points in excess, that enables the hare to de¬
scribe a far greater circle, and cover more ground at one Race-
stroke, than any other animal nearly double her size. In Horse,
feet, the arm should be set on at the extreme point of the
shoulder, which insures this act of extension, and also adds
to the declivity of the shoulder. The knee should be broad
and flat, and if appearing somewhat prominent, the better.
All the Herod legs had prominent knees (and no legs stood
work better than they did), concussion in galloping being
diminished in legs so formed. The cannon, or shank, from
knee to fetlock, should be of moderate length in the race¬
horse (longer than in the hunter), and, above all, the leg
should appear flat, not round, with sinews and bones dis¬
tinct; and the former appearing to be very firmly braced.
The pastern of the race-horse should be long, lax, and ra¬
ther small than otherwise ; length and laxness serving as
springs, and smallness contributing to agility, and conse¬
quently to perseverance or bottom. Some comparison will
hold good between this point in a horse, and the “ small of
the leg,” as it is called, of a man, in contradistinction to
the calf. Under the pressure of fatigue, no man complains
of the 11 small of his leg” giving him uneasiness, but his
calves often give him notice that he has done too much.
The hoof of the race-horse should be of moderate size in
proportion with the leg above, but, of course, those whose
hoofs are unduly small cannot get well through dirt.
We have already alluded to the bone of the thorough¬
bred horse, which much exceeds that of any other variety
of this animal, in its compactness and solidity ; which qua¬
lities, as the span in the gallop must give a shock in pro¬
portion to its length, are admirably adapted to the race¬
horse. We cannot say of him, what Job said of the behe¬
moth, that “ his bones are like bars of iron yet, as in
proportion to the muscular power of the animal is the dense
quality of the bone, that of the race-horse need not, nor
should not, be large. Experience teaches us, that bones
very rarely break ; fractures, when they do occur in racing,
being almost invariably in the joints; and rather small bone
in the leg of a race-horse, supported by broad and well-
braced sinews and tendons, placed distinct from the bone,
and forming what is called a flat and wiry leg, is most de¬
sirable, and found to be indicative not only of speed and
endurance, but likewise of soundness in severe work. It
is only those who are ignorant of the anatomical structure
of animals, that fix the basis of strength in the bony sub¬
stances alone, not considering the muscular appendages,
which constitute the main-spring of strength and action.
As the strongest bodies owe their vigour to the milk they
receive in their infancy, our recommendation to keep brood
mares well will not be considered as unsuitable; but the
connexion between milk and bone is also deserving of a
remark. When animal bones are divested of their oil and
jelly, the earth which remains is chiefly lime, united with
phosphoric acid. It is worthy of notice, that phosphate of
lime is found in abundance in milk. This seems to indi¬
cate, that Nature thought fit to place, in the first nourish¬
ment of animals, a quantity of osseous matter, with a view
to the necessary celerity of the formation and growth of the
bones in the earliest stage of their lives. This is one of the
numerous instances of the beneficence of the Creator, ex¬
emplified by the science of chemistry, and shows the advan¬
tages to be expected from a good flow of milk in a mare that
is well fed; and it is a remarkable fact, that the nearer the
female approaches to the period of parturition, the more is
the milk charged with this calcareous phosphate. Nor is it
until the digestive organs of the food are sufficiently strength¬
ened to answer the purposes and work of animalization, that
this earthy salt disappears.
But to proceed with the form of a race-horse. The race¬
horse should have length, but the length should be in his
shoulders and in the quarters ; that is, the part posterior to
the hips, and not in his back. To give him that elegance
HORSE.
640
Race- of form for which he is so conspicuous, there should be no
Horse, acute angle or any straight line. His shoulders should go
into his neck at the points, unperceived, and his back should
sink a little behind the withers, which gives his rider a good
seat, and does not in the least diminish his strength. On
the contrary, horses with very straight backs are generally
deficient in their fore-quarters, as well as in their action ;
and we have known some very good racers, Glencoe and
Haphazard for instance, considerably hollow-backed. There
should be a little rise in the loins, just behind the saddle ;
but the race-horse cannot be too closely ribbed up, if you
wish him to stay a distance, and carry weight. The ribs
should stand out from the spine, producing what is called
a round barrel, together with depth of carcass, a formation
which not only gives strength of body and constitution, but,
by admitting the intestines to be comfortably lodged within
the ribs, imparts freedom of breathing, activity and beauty
to the whole frame of the horse, other parts being propor¬
tional. These useful points must not be carried to an ex¬
treme, or the horse may be “ too heavy for his legs and
we know that light-bodied horses save their legs much in
their gallops, which accounts for mares and geldings stand¬
ing the severity of training to a later period oflife than stal¬
lions, by reason of the former requiring less work, from not
generally carrying so much flesh as the latter.
There is no part, excepting the head, so truly charac¬
teristic of high breeding in the horse, as his haunch. If a
little of the elegance of the parts, however, is diminished
by the width of the hips, it will be recompensed by increased
strength in the animal, as is the case with broad-shouldered
men ; and when accompanied with good loins, these protu¬
berances of the ilium can scarcely be too great for the pur¬
poses of power and action. We next come to the thigh,
the form and substance of which is most material to the
race-horse ; for although horses are said to go with their
shoulders, the power to give the impetus in progressive mo¬
tion comes from behind. With all animals endowed with,
and requiring extreme rapidity of motion, the thigh is fur¬
nished with extraordinary powers and length—the hare, for
example, whose thighs are let down to a great extent for
their size, and the lower part of the hinder leg placed under
them, as that of the racer should be, from a proper curve of
the hock. The speed of the ostrich arises from the power
of the muscles from the pelvis to the foot; and the thigh
of the fighting cock is a point much considered by breeders.
It is not necessary that a race-horse’s thigh should be very
large, but it should exhibit well developed muscle. De¬
scending lower in the limb, we arrive at the hock, a very
complicated joint, but the form of which is most important
in the race-horse. It should be large and lean, and the
point of it projecting behind the body, which greatly in¬
creases the power of the lever in action, as will presently be
most satisfactorily shown.
Size.
The point of perfection in most things lies at a middle
distance between two extremes, and such is the case here.
The medium height, about 15 hands 2 inches, to 15 hands
3 inches—4 inches to a hand—is the best for a race-horse.
As the long beam breaks by its own weight, so large animals
have rarely strength in proportion to their size. On the Eng¬
lish turf, however, the very large horses that have appeared
have, with a very few exceptions, not been found so good un¬
der high weights, as those of a medium height; and several
instances are on record (Meteora, Whalebone, and others, for
example), of the best horse of his year being very nearly the
lowest. Ancaster Starling, Gimcrack, Highlander, Milk¬
sop, and several of the best 14 hand 2 inch horses of the
last century, could also defeat 16 hand horses cleverly at
4 miles, under 12 stone; and those modern dwarfs Mickey
Free and Midas have carried 8 st. 7 lbs. with good sue- Race-
cess. Horse.
The following are amongst the principal and essential
points of a race-horse, pointed out by Mr Darvill in his
Treatise on the English Race-horse, London, 1834:—
“ His head should be small and lean ; his ears small and
picked ; his eyes brilliantly large ; his forehead broad and
flat His throat should be clean, and fine
from the butt of the ear down to its centre, with a good
wide space between the jaw-bones, which latter should be
thin. . . . , The neck should be moderate in length.
I prefer its being wide ; I mean its width should be formed
by the substance of muscles which pass along each side of
the top part of it; from the withers to the head it may
gradually rise a little in its centre, but by no means to any
extreme, as I have a great aversion to a high-crested race¬
horse. Indeed, I would prefer that his neck should be
rather of the ewe or deer-like shape, than that it should be
loaded on the top, As to the lower part of the neck, I have
no very particular remarks to make, further than the trachea
or windpipe should be spacious and loosely attached to the
neck on its way to the lungs.
“ The withers may be moderately high, and, if the reader
like, they may also be moderately thin; but, with respect
to this latter point, I am not so very particular, provided the
shoulders lay well back. From the withers the back com¬
mences. I confess that appearance may be in favour of a
horse that has his back a little low or hollow. As a saddle-
horse this may be all very well, but for a race-horse to have
strength and liberty of stride his back should be straight
and moderately long, with the shoulders and loins running
well in at each end. The loins should have great breadth
and muscular substance, so much so as for them to have the
appearance of being raised as it were on their surface ; and
those muscles posterior to the loins should fill up level the
top part of the quarters to the setting on of the tail, which
latter should be set on pretty high up.”
After describing the fundament, which, if small, close,
and tight, and rather projecting than otherwise, Mr Darvill
considers as a good constitutional point, he thus proceeds:—
“ I now come to speak of the body, or what is by some
people commonly called the ‘ middle piece’ of the horse,
and which is divided, internally, into two cavities by a mus¬
cular substance called the ‘ diaphragm.’ The anterior cavity,
the chest, contains the lungs, the heart, &c. The posterior
one, the abdomen, contains the stomach, intestines, liver,
kidneys, &c. Now, with respect to the external form of
the body, which contains and protects all those numerous
organs so important to life, I shall first make my observa¬
tions on the chest. To use a common phrase, and some¬
what an expressive one, a horse in this part should be what
is called ‘ well over the heart,’ that is, he should be deep in
his girth, round or well arched in his ribs. I mean by this,
that a rider on the back of a race-horse (as they are gene¬
rally better about the chest than horses in common use),
should feel he has some breadth or substance between his
legs; and there should be a good swell of muscle before
his knees, or the centre of the flaps of the saddle. The
chest, thus spaciously formed, gives room for respiration, so
that in training the horse’s wind can be brought to the
greatest perfection, which enables him to run on in long
lengths. The next part to be treated of is the abdomen or
belly, or what is usually called the carcass. It may perhaps
appear a little strange, but I have a great aversion to what
is commonly called a good-carcassed horse, nor am I parti¬
cularly partial to a large sheathed one. I like both these
parts to be in the medium, as I do also that of his being
well ribbed up. It is true that a horse being well ribbed
up denotes strength, and a short close-made race-horse is,
in running, handy at his turns, and, as I have already no¬
ticed, he is generally a pretty good one under high weights
HORSE.
Race- over a small round cock-pit course ; but this description of
Horse, course and sort of running is not now so much practised as
formerly, or rather it is a sort of racing that does not exactly
suit long-striding horses, as most of those are that run in
Newmarket. Another thing is, that horses with large car¬
casses are mostly great gluttons; they put up flesh very
rapidly, and are very difficult and troublesome to train, in
consequence of their constitutions being too strong, or pro-
portionably too much for their feet and legs. Such horses
not only seldom remain long in training, but they cannot
remain long in condition without their becoming stale in
themselves, as also on their legs, and those are my reasons
for objecting to very large-carcassed horses ; yet I do not
wish horses to he what is termed ‘ tucked up’ or waspish in
their carcasses. I like a horse s carcass to be in the me¬
dium ; that is, it should be straight and handsome from be¬
hind the girths of his saddle ; and what will make up suffi¬
ciently well, and give him sufficient strength of constitution,
is the well formation of the parts already noticed, as the
chest, the loins, and the fundament.
“To return to the fore extremities. The shoulders com¬
mence from a little below the withers ; they should lie most
particularly well back, should be deep, broad, and muscu-
larly strong ; yet those muscular parts should appear to the
eye as being moderately so, that is, not unproportionally
loaded. These muscles should be distinctly seen, there
should be no appearance of fat, or, as it is technically termed,
‘adipose membrane.’ The shoulders cannot well be too
oblique in their descent to the front of the chest; here, on
each side, a joint is formed by the lower part of the scapula
or shoulder-blade being united with the upper part of the
humerus or arm-bone. Those joints, thus formed, are
usually called the points of the shoulders, which points
should appear straight or level. There should be no coarse,
projecting, or heavy appearance about the points of the
shoulders of such horses as are intended to race ; nor in¬
deed does this often occur, unless where it happens that
the chest or counter of the horse is unproportionally wide.
In taking a front view of the chest, it should appear mo¬
derate as to breadth ; and if its prominency is at all to the
extreme, it should be in consequence of the fulness or sub¬
stance of those muscles covering the breast, which muscles
should be lengthy, and their divisions distinctly to be ob¬
served. The fore-arm should be broad and long, and most
particularly well furnished with muscles on its top parts,
inside as well as out; I mean by this, that the muscles on
the top and inside of the arm should here be so large as to
leave but a moderate space between the fore-legs, imme¬
diately under the chest, and which muscles should appear,
as those in front of the chest, distinctly divided. The pos¬
terior part of the top of the arm is called the ‘ elbow,’ this
should appear (the horse in condition) somewhat on a level
with the body ; if it at all deviates from this appearance, I
would prefer its standing in, to that of its standing unpro¬
portionally out. The knee-joint should be large, broad, and
flat in front; generally speaking, the larger and broader all
joints are in reason the better and stronger they are; and
the longer, coarser, and rougher, their projecting points or
processes are, the greater and more secure will be the lever
for the muscles or tendons to act upon, provided such pro¬
jecting parts or joints (as the hocks and pasterns) do not
amount to disease, as that of producing spavins and ring
bones. The legs from the knee to the fetlock cannot well
be too short, neither can they well be too broad or too flat,
nor their flexor tendon scarcely be too large or appearing
too distinctly divided, as it were, from the leg. The fet¬
lock-joint should also be large, and the pastern proportion¬
ally strong, but its length and obliquity should be in the
medium. The wall or crust of the feet should also be mo¬
derately oblique, with the heels open, and frogs sound; this,
indeed, is generally the state of racing-colts on first bear-
VOL. XI.
641
ing their paddocks, if their feet have been paid proper at- Race-
tention to during the time they may have remained there. Horse.
Yet the feet of such of them as have been some time in V^v^/
work will occasionally get out of order; they grow upright
and strong; the horn gets hard and brittle, and the heels
more or less contracted; almost all of which defects are too
often occasioned from the want of proper attention being
paid to them at the time of shoeing, and of proper applica¬
tions being applied to them in the stables. Previous to
concluding my remarks on the fore extremities, it may not
be amiss to observe to the reader, that, supposing him to
stand opposite to those parts of the horse, if the animal is
formed in them, as I have already described, the centre of
the top part of the fore-arm, to be well placed, ought to be
nearly or quite in a parallel line with the top or fore-part of
the horse’s withers; and again, from the top part of the
form-arm down to the foot, for the horse to stand firm and
well, and have the power of using his fore-legs well, he
should stand perfectly straight on them; I mean by this,
they are not to appear too much under him, or too much
out or away from him. Suppose again, for example, a man
standing in front of the horse, and here taking a view of the
foot, the centre part of the wall or crust should be in or on
a parallel line with that lower part or joint of the shoulder,
commonly termed its point. A horse’s feet, thus placed,
will neither be too much out nor too much in ; but should
his feet deviate from what I have here observed, by amount¬
ing to a fault, in turning too much out or too much in, I
should prefer their being a little out, to that of the other
extreme of turning in, and being what is called ‘ pigeon-
toed.’
“ I shall now proceed to describe the hind-quarters or
posterior extremities. As may be supposed, the well for¬
mation of those parts is of the utmost importance to a race¬
horse in his running; it is, therefore, necessary that they
should be, in breadth, substance, and length, of very supe¬
rior dimensions. The hips should have a great breadth
between them ; and if they are a little coarse or projecting
so much the better, provided such coarse projections are
not in the extreme, or appear vulgar or unsightly. From
the centre and posterior part of the loins to the top of the
tail is called the ‘ croup,’ and should be of great length;
and, if it deviates from that of a straight line, it may be
somewhat arched in the centre; the croup being thus
formed gives great breadth to the top of the quarters, the
length of which, from the croup down to the hock, cannot
scarcely be of too great an extent, in order that there may
be sufficient room here for the attachment of those broad,
powerful, lengthy, and distinctly divided muscles on the
outside of the quarters and thighs; and there should also
be a similar portion of such muscles on the inside of the
quarters and thighs; so that a man, who is a good judge,
taking a posterior view, may observe how the horse is made.
In this position he should be, as it were, struck by the ap¬
pearance of the great breadth and length of the back part
of the quarters, and as he moves his head to the right or
left, the centre and outside of the quarters and thighs, and
the swell of the muscles, should appear beyond a level with
the hips. The upper part of the muscles on the inside of
the quarters should appear quite close to each other, so that
no vacant space should be visible between them, as that of
an appearance of the horse being (if I may thus express
myself) chucked up in the fork. Such should be the lengthy
and muscular quarters of a well-made race-horse.
“ The stifle-joint should be in a direct line under the hip,
and the length from this joint to that of the hock cannot
reasonably be too long, and the farther out of the angular
or oblique position of the thigh-bone the better, so as to ad¬
mit of the back part or projecting point of the hock appear¬
ing some distance out beyond the top of the hind-quarters;
those parts being thus formed, admit of a very considerable
HORSE.
642
Race- lever for the main tendon here to act upon the tendon
Horse. Achilles, which, like the flexor one of the leg, can scarcely
be too large or too distinctly seen in its commencement,
from the lower part of the quarter to its insertion into the
posterior or projecting point of the hock, the os ccilcis.
The hock should be broad and wide, with a clean lean ap¬
pearance, and those soft parts which are occasionally the
seat of through-pins and bog spavins, in a sound well formed
hock, should appear more as cavities than as having the
above-mentioned projections, and which are sometimes the
cause of lameness. The hind-leg, like the fore one, should
be short, broad, flat, and straight; the trifling angle formed
by the hock should, together with the moderate obliquity
of the pastern, bring the extremity of the toe nearly under
the stifle-joint.
Action of the Race Horse.
As amongst the Egyptians the lion was the hieroglyphic
of strength, so was the horse of agility ; and truly nothing
displays it more elegantly than he does, when in a state of
liberty. In the race-horse, action, as in eloquence, is the
next thing to substance ; and virtus in actione should be
the horse-breeders’ motto. But the action of the race-horse
is of a nature peculiar to his calling. He must not only pos¬
sess great stride in his gallop, the result of great proportion
in his limbs and moving levers, but also a quickness in re¬
peating that stride, or he would lose in time what he gains
in space. It is then when stride and quickness are united,
that the fleet racer is produced ; and in his race with Dia¬
mond, Hambletonian is asserted to have covered twenty-
one feet at a stroke at the finish of it; and Eclipse is gene¬
rally believed to have covered eighty-three and a half feet
of ground in a second, when going at the top of his speed,
which, by a calculation by Monsieur Saintbel, amounted to
about twenty-five feet of ground covered at a stroke. Dif¬
ferent ground requires different action ; and the long strid¬
ing horse may be beaten on a hilly, or turning course, by
one of a smaller size, but with a shorter stride, which pre¬
vents the Newmarket courses being a certain criterion of a
good runner at Epsom, which is very trying ground. The
state of the ground, likewise, whether wet or dry, soft or
hard, tells so much in a race, as often to give it to a horse
very little thought of at starting, as was the case with Tar-
rare and Saucebox, winners of the St Leger, at Doncaster,
in 1826 and 1855. The celebrated Euphrates, the winner
of so many gold cups, and who ran till he was in his teens,
was nearly a stone below his usual form, after even a hard
shower of rain. This variation of fleetness corroborates
our assertion, that the virtue of what is termed blood is
mechanical, or that the excellence of all horses is mecha¬
nical, and that the smallest deviation from a true formation
of the acting parts operates so powerfully as to render them,
under certain exertions, nearly valueless.
Wind.
It is true, “ speed wins the racebut to make it avail¬
able to the race-horse, it must be accompanied by endu¬
rance, or “ bottom.” A great promoter of this is clear wind,
or freedom of respiration, the want of which makes the
war-horse rebel in the manege, the hunter run into his
fences, the draught-horse fall, as if he were shot, and the racer
either stop, or bolt out of the course. In fact, when the
organs of respiration are fatigued, all animals are nearly
powerless. Ihe cause of good wind may be distinguish¬
able to the eye, and arises chiefly from depth in the fore¬
quarters, which implies a capacious thorax or chest. How¬
ever wide a horse may be in his foreparts, he will not be
good-winded unless he is, at the same time, deep. But
still wind in the race-horse depends on something more—
on the nature of his constituent and component parts, Race-
which, if in proper proportion, impart to him strength and Horse,
agility, giving him that easy action which will not readily
fatigue these organs of respiration ; and so enable him to
run on, when others, less gifted by nature than himself, are
forced to slacken pace. The good effect of clear wind in a
race-horse is in fact twofold ; first, it gives him signal ad¬
vantage in a race ; and, secondly, horses thus organized re¬
quire less work to make them fit to start.
The following passage on this point is worthy of remark:—
“ When the animal powerfully exerts himself, a more ample
supply of pure blood is required to sustain the energies of
life, and the action of the muscles forces the blood more
rapidly through the veins ; hence the quick and deep
breathing of a horse at speed; hence the necessity of a
capacious chest, in order to yield an adequate supply, and
the connection of this capacity of the chest with the speed
and the endurance of the horse ; hence the wonderful re¬
lief which the mere loosening of the girths affords to a
horse blown and distressed, enabling the chest to expand,
and to contract to a greater extent, in order to yield more
purified blood; and hence the relief afforded by even a
short period of rest, during which this expenditure is not
required, and the almost exhausted energies of these organs
have time to recover. Hence, likewise, appears the neces¬
sity of an ample chest for the accumulation of much flesh
and fat; for, if a considerable portion of the blood be em¬
ployed in the growth of the animal, and it be thus rapidly
changed, there must be provision for its rapid purification;
and that can only be effected by the increased bulk of the
lungs, and the corresponding largeness of the chest to
contain them” {Farmers' Series, “The Horse,” part vi.,
p. 182).
Certain thorough-bred horses would deceive an inexpe¬
rienced observer as to the real state of their organs of
respiration, by an appearance of difficulty of breathing,
which in reality they do not possess. The term for this
apparent defect is, in one instance, hard breathing, or high-
blowing ; and, in another, “ cracking the nostrils.” Of the
first description was the celebrated Eclipse, whose breath¬
ing in his gallop could be heard at a considerable distance ;
and of the latter (still more common) may be reckoned
many of the best racers of past and present days. Indeed,
a race-horse cracking his nostrils in his exercise, and snort¬
ing well afterwards, are considered indicative of good-
windedness. On the other hand, when a race-horse be¬
comes a roarer, which is a common effect of a severe attack
of the epizootic, called the distemper, he is rarely able to
struggle in a race, although there have been several in¬
stances of winners under such very unfavourable circum¬
stances.
Temper is a property of much importance to the race¬
horse, subject as he is to its influence under more trying
circumstances than most other descriptions of horses. In the
first place, his fine and nearly hairless skin, softened and
cleansed as it is by frequent copious perspiration, is so
highly sensible to the friction of the wisp and brush, as to
induce him to try to rid himself of his tormentor by attack¬
ing the person who is dressing him, and thus becomes
vicious in the stable. It will also be recollected that he is
at this time perhaps in the very highest state of condition
and good keep of which his nature is susceptible. On the
race-course, again, he has often to encounter the (to him)
unnatural sound of music, and many strange objects; per¬
haps two or three false starts before he gets into a race;
and too often, when doing his best in a race, very severe
punishment both by whip and spur. It is in his race, how¬
ever, and chiefly in the last struggle for it, that the temper
of the race-horse is most put to the test; and, if really bad,
he either runs out of the course, to the great danger of his
rider, and to the inevitable loss of his owner and those who
HORSE.
Race- have betted on his winning, or he “ shuts up,” as the term
Horse. jS} and will not head his horses. It is evident, then, that
—breeders should not send mares to stallions of known bad
temper, as nearly all those propensities are found to be
hereditary.
It would be absurd to draw a comparison between the
English race-horse in training and the horse of the desert
“ educated,” as Mr Gibbon eloquently says of him, “ in the
tents, among the children of the Arabs, with a tender fami¬
liarity, which trains him in the habits of gentleness and at¬
tachment.” Nevertheless, we are inclined to believe that
the tempers of many naturally quiet horses are made un¬
certain, and oftentimes decidedly vicious, by want of proper
judgment, as w7ell as good temper, in those also who have
the management of them. Brutes, like men, demand a
peculiar mode of treatment when we require them to do their
utmost for us ; and it is certain that this principle holds
good in regard to both—namely, that in general kindness
gains its point, cruelty provokes resistance, and a proper
degree of severity produces obedience. The panther in the
fable knew w ho fed her with bread, and who pelted her with
stones ; and we may be assured, that so noble and high-
spirited an animal as the horse feels with acuteness sensa¬
tions of pleasure and pain.
We often hear it asserted that the British thorough-bred
horse has degenerated within the last few years, and is no
longer the stout and long-enduring animal that he was in
the bygone century, particularly during the last twenty
years of it. We are inclined to believe that there is some
truth in this. We do not think we have such good four-
mile horses, as they are termed, as formerly, which we con¬
sider easily accounted for. They are not wanted, very few
tour-mile races being now run, even at Newmarket or in
the country, and therefore a different kind of race-horse is
sought for. It may, however, be true that the inducement
to train colts and fillies, at a very early period of their lives,
for these short races, has had an injurious effect on their
stamina, and, consequently, on the stock bred from them.
Formerly a horse was wanted for a lifetime, now he is cut
up in his youth to answer the purposes of perhaps but one
day—a system, we admit, quite at variance with the original
object of horse-racing, which was intended to benefit the
community, by being the means of producing, as well as
displaying, the constitutional strength of the horse in its
very highest perfection. Another cause may have operated
in rendering thorough-bred horses less powerful than they
were, or less capable of enduring severe fatigue. During
the period of high weights and long courses, horses and
mares were kept on in training until after they had arrived
at the age of maturity, neither did they begin to work so
soon ; whereas now, no sooner have they won, or run well
for some of our great three-year-old stakes, than they are
put into the stud to produce racing stock, which is perhaps
to be used much in the same manner as they themselves
have been used, or, we should have rather said, abused.
The amount of work which horses now get through at two
years’ old is enormous. Lord Alfred, for instance, ran
twenty-four races at this age, and won nine; and Cloth-
worker won twenty-nine out of fifty-nine ; and Rataplan
thirty-eight out of sixty-three races during two consecutive
seasons. Zohrab, and Isaac and Naworth, also retained their
racing powers for seven or eight seasons ; and Alonzo, who
began to race as a two-year-old in 1849, is still in good
winning form in 1856.
But to return to the alleged alteration for the worse in the
British race-horse. We admit the fact, that he is not gene¬
rally so good at high weights over the Beacon at Newmarket,
or any other four-mile course, as his predecessors were,
whose descent was closer than his is to the blood of Herod
and Eclipse, and the descendants of that cross, said to be
the stoutest of any. Nevertheless he is, in his present form.
643
more generally adapted to the purposes to which the horse Race-
is applied. He has a shorter but more active stroke in his Horse,
gallop than his predecessors had, which is more available to
him in the short races of the present time than the deep rate
of the four-milers of old times ; and as he is now required to
start quickly, and to be on his legs, as the term is, in a few
hundred yards, he is altogether a more lively active animal
than formerly; and, as such, a useful animal for more ends
than one. In former days not one trained thorough-bred
horse in fifty made a hunter. Indeed few sportsmen had
the courage to try the experiment of making him one. He
went more upon his shoulders, as well as with a straighter
knee, than the modern race-horse does, and required much
greater exertion in the rider to pull him together in his
gallop. All those sportsmen, however, who remember such
horses as the late Earl Grosvenor’s John Bull and Alexan¬
der must admit that in form and substance they were equal
to carrying the heaviest weight across a country, and the
last-mentioned horse was the sire of several very powerful,
at the same time very brilliant hunters. But as it is action,
after all, that carries weight, the thorough-bred horses of
this day are not deficient in that respect, unless undersized;
and there are more thorough-bred hunters at this period,
and have been more for the last thirty years, than were
ever known before. This improvement in action also quali¬
fies the full-bred horse for the road ; whereas formerly not
one in a hundred was fit to ride off turf.
“ The Druid,” in his new work, The Post and the Pad-
dock, after mentioning that the late Lord George Bentinck
had thirty-eight horses in training one season, and that his
losses on his colt Farintosh, in stakes and forfeits alone,
reached L.3000, thus epitomizes the leading points of the
turf as it is :—“ Mr Mostyn’s winnings in stakes are said
to have been about L.22,500 in 1847, an amount which
has, we believe, never been exceeded. In value the L.6325
Derby of 1849 still keeps the lead ; while the L.3378 which
was taken at the Doncaster Grand Stand in Stockwell’s
year is said to be the largest sum of the kind on record.
The subscribers to the above Derby numbered 237, and
the luckiest of handicaps was the Chester cup of 1853,
when 131 out of 216 horses accepted. This cup also
brought out forty-three starters in 1852, which is more than
have ever been seen at the starting-post in the memory of
man before or since the handicap era—that inevitable re¬
sult of railway facilities for “ getting a length” set in with
such intensity. None of these “ great facts” bear date in
1855 ; but taking Weatherby’s Calendar our guide, we
may characterize the turf of that year as a vast institute for
sport, comprising 144 meetings in Great Britain and Ire¬
land, which were attended by 1606 horses, of whom only
680 were winners, fed by L.60,000 of added money, inclu¬
sive of the value of cups and whips, and diffusing L. 198,000
in added money and stakes, “ more or less.”
Speed of the Pace-Horse.
All animals in a state of domestication exhibit powers far
beyond those that are natural to them in their wild state,
and writers on the horse have advanced to the utmost verge
of possibility, in recording the maximum speed of the Eng¬
lish race-horse. Most of the instances stated by them, such
as Flying Childers having run a mile in a minute, are un¬
supported by authority, and therefore not worthy of regard.
That the horse, however, has ever been considered the
swiftest beast of the forest, may be gathered from the fre¬
quent allusions to his fleetness by inspired as well as by
heathen writers. Thus, the chariot-horses of Oenomaus,
King of Elis, were said to be begotten by the winds, em¬
blematical of their prodigious swiftness ; and Homer repre¬
sents the steeds of Achilles to be the produce of Zephyrus
(the west wind, said to be the swiftest of any), and Podarge,
HORSE.
644
Race- whose name signifies speed. Nor is Virgil far behind the
Horse. rest in his encomium on the fleetness of his colt, which he
's'—makes to challenge the very whirlwind itself. As it is speed,
however, that wins the race, it is most essential to the race¬
horse, provided it be accompanied by stoutness ; and unless
we wish to fly through the air like Pacolet on his wooden
horse, we may be contented with the speed of the present
English race-horse. One minute and forty-five seconds is
considered first-rate time for a mile \ and the one mile six
furlongs, and one hundred and thirty-two yards, St Leger
course, is done, on the average, by three-year-olds, carrying
8 st. 7 lbs., in 3 minutes 20 seconds. West Australian’s
Ascot cup race, in 1854, when he ran the very severe
miles course with 8 st. 5 lbs. in 4 minutes 27 seconds, is the
best modern time we have.
Expenses of a Breeding Racing-Stud.
Some persons must be breeders of race-horses, but whe¬
ther to profit or loss, depends on various circumstances.
Amongst them may be reckoned the following:—Judgment
in selecting the parent stock or blood; conveniences for
keeping the produce well and warm, and on land suitable to
breeding; and plenty of money at command to enable a
breeder to purchase mares of the very best racing families,
and to put them to the best of stallions. When this is the
case, we think breeding (we mean quite distinct from risk in
racing) would seldom fail to pay, if the foals were sold off
at weaning time, or even at a year old. The price fetched
by the two hundred blood yearlings, which are usually
brought to the hammer in England, averaged, during the
racing seasons of 1854-55, about 127 guineas, which is cal¬
culated for all prices, from 10 guineas to 1000 guineas, or
in the case of Lord of the Hills, 1800 guineas. Within the
fifteen months which preceded this remarkable (1855) sale
at Doncaster, to Mr S. Crawfurd, 1000 guineas, 1020 guineas,
1000 guineas, 1200 guineas, and 1400 guineas, were got
for yearling colts in public and private ; and 900 guineas
and 810 guineas for yearling fillies. The average price at
the royal sale of 1854 was 441 guineas for fourteen, many
of whom were of the Orlando blood, which fetches a higher
price than any other we have. No doubt, in all studs, great
loss is sustained by a certain proportion of the young stock
which promise to be small and not worth training; but here
breeders are often deceived. For example, the late Lord
Grosvenor sent Meteora, the best mare in England of her
day, to Chester Fair, when two years old, to be sold for
L.16, because she was considered as too small; and he also
suffered Violante, the best four-mile racer of her day, to be
sold, untried, for L.50, but fortunately purchased her again.
The great prices, however, occasionally paid to breeders for
some horses (4000 guineas, for example, to the Earl of Jersey
for Mameluke, and 3500 guineas for Bay Middleton), make
up for the loss inseparable from such as, by misshape, di¬
minutive size, and casualties, are culled out, and sold for
what they will fetch, which seldom amounts to much. Five
thousand guineas was refused for Plenipo; and the greatest
price ever given for a race-horse was 6500 guineas for the
two-year-old, Hobby Noble, in 1851. We may, however,
cease to wonder at such prices, when we find that the Fly¬
ing Dutchman won his owner nearly L.20,000 in stakes
alone, and that the winnings of himself and his half-brother,
Van Tromp, who belonged to the same owner, amounted to
nearly L.34,000. Cotherstone won, at three years old,
L. 12,765, West Australian, L.l 0,975, and Surplice, L.10,375.
Colour of the Thorough-bred Horse.
The prevailing colour of the thorough-bred horse is pecu¬
liarly elegant and chaste, being a bright bay, with black
mane and tail, and black legs to correspond, although occa- Race-
sionally relieved with a small white star on the forehead, or Horse,
a white heel. It is remarkable that what may be termed
vulgar colours, such as light sorrel, or dun, or brown with
mealy muzzle, are very seldom met with in the thorough¬
bred horse ; and we know but one instance of the pie-bald,
and very few roans.1 Black is not common, nor approved of,
although several of our best racers, almost all of the Trum-
pator blood, have been of that colour. The real chestnut
prevails a good deal, and is quite equal to the bay in the
richness and brightness of its hues. Such was the colour of
Eclipse ; and, as is the case with game-fowls, in the breed¬
ing of which there are instances of a reversion to the origi¬
nal colour, after fifteen descents, it is not uncommon for
thorough-bred stock to be chesnuts, although got by a bay stal¬
lion out of a bay mare, or from a sire and dam of any other
colour, provided the blood runs back to his, Eclipse’s, source.
Indeed, a small dark spot which that celebrated horse had
on his quarter, has been frequently found in his descend¬
ants in the fifth or sixth generation. It is an old and trite
saying, that “ a good horse cannot be of a bad colour
nevertheless, colours of horses are, to a certain extent, in¬
dices of their physical powers. Such has proved to be the
case with men ; and it was found in the ill-fated Russian
campaign, that men of dark complexions and black hair bore
the severity of the climate better than men of an opposite
appearance to them. It is, however, rather a remarkable
fact, that by far the greater number of eminent English
prize-fighters have been men of light, not dark, complexion.
The ancients reckoned thirteen colours of horses, giving the
preference to bay (badices); and the dark bay, or “Jersey
bay,” is still the favourite English colour, though foreigners
prefer a “ black brown.”
A second-rate description of racer was once very preva¬
lent in England, known by the term “ cock-tail,” or half-bred
horse, as he is called; but improperly so termed, because the
stain in him is generally very slight indeed, and too often diffi¬
cult to be traced. Many objections are raised by sportsmen,
who are thorough racing men, and who wish well to the
turf, against the cock-tail racer, and for very good reasons.
In the first place, if really half-bred, he resembles the royal
stamp upon base metal, for no half-bred horse is deserving
the name of racer; and, secondly, what are called half-
bred stakes, some of which are very good, have been the
cause of a great many frauds being committed, by bring¬
ing horses to run for them under false pedigrees, which
will ever be the case, from the great difficulty of proving a
horse to be thorough-bred, whose dam may have been pur¬
chased by accident, or in some clandestine way, and still
perhaps of pure racing blood. An animal is produced
against which no half-bred horse, in the proper acceptation
of the term, has a chance, and he sweeps the country of
all the good stakes; and some such horses (Habberley and
Combat, for example) have proved themselves superior to
many of the thorough-bred racers of their year. But the
breeding of horses for these stakes is anything but bene¬
ficial to the country, the great object of racing. It en¬
courages a spurious race of animals, often possessing the
faults of the blood horse without the strength and activity
of the hunter, and it was for the latter description of horse
that this stake was first intended. Bona fide hunters’
stakes would be advantageous, if open to all horses bringing
certificates of their having been regularly hunted through¬
out a season, but not merely ridden by a boy to see a fox
found; and giving no allowance to the horse called “ half-
bred.” Let the best hunter win, which would encourage
the breeding of strong thorough-bred horses, which make
the best hunters of any;—a fact no one who has ridden
many of them will deny.
1 See “ The Cocker,'” by W. Sketchley, Gent. London, 1814.
HORSE.
645
Hunter. Weatherbi/s General Stud-Book^
To assist in the detection of spurious blood, and the cor¬
rection of inaccurate pedigrees, is the chief purpose of this
excellent publication, now increased to a seventh volume,
and forms a part of every sportsman’s library ; but, unfor¬
tunately, many breeders who do not race are careless about
entering their foals in it. “ The Druid,” in his recently
quoted work, gives it as his opinion, that about 1550 blood Hunter,
mares annually bring 1150 foals to the birth in Great Bri- -
tain. Taking 1851 as the basis of his calculations, he con¬
siders that about 1160 foals were born in that year, of which
not 1100 were alive on the next new-year’s day. Of these
574 ran in 1853, which number decreased in 1854 to 516,
but in 1855 the remnant of that high-bred band only num¬
bered 280.
THE HUNTER.
There is no description of horse which could be applied
to so many purposes, racing excepted, as the powerful Eng¬
lish hunter. Setting aside his own peculiar services in the
field, he is fit to carry a man on the road, in the field ot
battle, and he answers for every kind of draught. Indeed, we
are inclined to believe no horse would equal him in plough¬
ing ; and as for road-work on harness, either slow or fast,
nothing could touch him, in a carriage properly suited to his
powers. It is, however, no less true than singular, that out
of a hundred sportsmen assembled at the meeting of a pack
of fox-hounds, not half a dozen would be found mounted on
horses which they themselves had bred. This arises from
two causes: First, the greater part of them have not pa¬
tience to await the arrival of a young horse at his best, and
consequently sell the few they do breed, without giving
them a fair trial; and, secondly, such has, of late years,
been the prejudice against riding mares in the hunting field,
that they have been chiefly left in the hands of farmers and
yeomen, who are become the principal breeders of English
hunters. Neither do hunters find their road direct from the
breeder to the studs of noblemen or gentlemen. They
generally go through the hands of an inferior country dealer,
from whom they are bought by the principal London and
country dealers, and sold by them to the sportsmen of the
various hunts. There are, of course, exceptions to this
proceeding. A great proportion of English yeomen and
farmers are very excellent horsemen, and, as such, having
the capability of making their young horses into hunters,
and, distinguishing them by riding them afterwards with
hounds, obtain now and then as high a price for them as
they fetch after having passed through the hands we have
described. It is, however, to be lamented that the last-
mentioned description of persons, the breeders and trainers
of young hunters, do not, for the most part realize such
large prices as the first, although fully entitled to it, as a
reward for their trouble and skill.
It is impossible to lay down any precise rules for breed¬
ing hunters, so many collateral circumstances being neces¬
sary to be taken into consideration. For example, Pen¬
nant, in his Zoology, says, “ Our race-horses are descended
from Arabian stallions, and the genealogy faintly extends
to the hunter.” From this we learn the interesting fact,
that a wonderful change, within the last sixty or seventy
years, has taken place in the form and character of this sort
of horse, inasmuch as, in the opinion of some of the first ot
our English sportsmen, and such as put the powers of the
horse to the most severe test, the hunter of the present day
is not in his perfect form unless quite thorough-bred. This
part of the subject we shall discuss hereafter ; but as there
are several of our hunting counties not at all suited to this
description of horse, the thorough-bred hunter, and a large
portion of our sportsmen who, some by reason of their
weight, and others from prejudice against them, neither
can nor will ride them, we may safely assert, that not more
than a twentieth part of English hunters are at this time of
quite pure blood. We will, however, set forth what we
consider the best properties of the full-bred and the half-
bred hunter, as he is called, as also the most probable means of
breeding each kind to advantage; at the same time venturing
an opinion, that, when their individual capabilities are put
into the scale of excellence, the balance will incline to the
former.
646 HORS E.
Hunter. One great obstacle to the general success in breeding
v—'' hunters is, not so much the difficulty of access to good stal¬
lions, but of making breeders believe that it would be their
interest to send their mares to such as are good, although
at an extra expense. Most rural districts, in other respects
favourable to horse-breeding, swarm with covering stallions,
the greater part of which have proved very bad racers ; but
which, falling into the hands of persons who are popular
characters in their neighbourhood, and covering at a low
price, get most of the farmers’ brood mares sent to them,
their owners never reflecting, as they gaze upon these mis¬
shapen animals, that nature will not go out of her course to
oblige them, but that, in the animal creation, “ like begets
like.” Neither does the evil stop here. So much is this
made a matter of chance instead of one of judgment, should
the produce of a mare sent to one of these bad stallions
be a filly foal, and she proves so defective in shape and ac¬
tion, as to be unsaleable at a remunerating price, she re¬
mains the property of her breeder, and in time becomes
herself a brood-mare. What, then, can be expected from
such produce ? Why, unless chance steps in and supplies
the defect of judgment, in the first instance, admitting that
she is sent to a better stallion than her sire was, by the
procreative powers of the male so far exceeding those of
the female, as to produce a foal free from the defects of the
dam, another shapeless, unprofitable animal is produced.
Nevertheless, in the course of time, perhaps this produce,
if a female, however bad she may prove, is also bred from,
and thus a succession of shapeless horses is produced, to the
certain loss of the breeder, and much to the injury of the
community. Under the most favourable circumstances, and
with the aid of good judgment, we cannot consider horse-
breeding to be a certain source of gain ; yet there are many
inducements to try it as one branch of rural economics.
The money goes out a little at a time, or by degrees, and
therefore it is suitable to such occupiers of land as cannot
embark in more extensive speculations, and it returns in a
lump, oftentimes at a most welcome moment, and, in many
instances, of sufficient amount to render the average of
former less profitable years sufficient to cover expenses, if
not to leave a profit. There is likewise another inducement
to breeding horses; we mean the interest inseparable from
all human speculations, from which more than an ordinary
return may be looked for, which is the case here; added to
the nearly universal interest attached to the breeding and
rearing of every species of domestic animals.
With respect to brood-mares designed for breeding hun¬
ters, we admit that circumstances, not always within con¬
trol, have their weight. An occupier of land is possessed
of a mare or two which he thinks may breed hunters,
and having them, it may not be convenient to him to re¬
place them by those which might be more likely to breed
good ones. But the choice of a stallion is always within
his control, and he should not spare trouble, and moderately
increased price, in his selection. It is well known to all
hunting men, that the stock of certain horses have been
remarkable for making good hunters (President, Belzoni, and
Sir Harry Dimsdale, for instance), and that there are such
horses always to be found, on seeking for them. A few
pounds extra, laid out by the breeder in putting his mares
to such horses, were sure to be amply repaid; for the produce
would be generally sought after and purchased, even pre¬
viously to their being tried. Englishmen know of no such
restrictions, nor do we wish they ever should; but the in¬
terference of the governments of several European states
as to stallions for the use of their respective countries, reads
us a useful lesson on this head; for it is well known, on the
other hand, that a great number of stallions to which Eng¬
lish hunting mares have been put, have been equally re¬
markable for begetting soft infirm stock, quite unequal to
endure, for any length of time, the severe work of a hunter.
It should alsp be borne in mind, that even a first-rate racer Hunter,
may not be a propagator of first-rate hunters. The former *.
is called upon to exert his powers on very different grounds
and under very different weight to the latter, and the ac¬
tion which may suit one may not suit the other. This ac¬
counts for the stock of certain thorough-bred horses, which
were very indifferent racers, proving very excellent hunters.
We have already given it as our opinion, that a cross of
Arabian blood is a great desideratum in that of an English
hunter, and we need not urge this point farther; but if
breeders would reflect, that the expenses of rearing a bad
colt equal those of rearing a good one, they would at¬
tend more than they do to the following nearly unerring
directions :—
First, Observe similarity of shape in horse and mare. As
length of frame is indispensable in a hunter, if the mare be
short, seek for a stallion likely to give her length. Again,
if the mare be high on her legs, put her to a short-legged
stallion, and vice versa; for it is possible that even a hunter’s
legs may be too short, a racer’s certainly may be. In fact,
to form a complete hunter, it is necessary he should be
more perfect in his shape than a racer, which will admit of
imperfections that would quite disqualify the other.
Secondly, Look to constitution. As no description of
horse endures the long-continued exertion that a hunter
does, this is a point to be attended to. But it may be over¬
done. Horses of a very hard nature, very closely ribbed
up, consequently great, feeders, with large carcasses, seldom
make the sort of brilliant hunter now the fashion in Eng¬
land. Besides, one of this description requires so much
work to keep him in place and in wind, that his legs must
suffer, and often give way when his constitution is just in
its prime. Horses with moderately sized carcasses last
longest; and, provided they are good feeders, will come out
quite as often as they ought to do, and are invariably good
winded and brilliant, if well-bred and of good form, with
a few other requisites.
Thirdly, and lastly, Let the breeder of any kind of horse
be careful in avoiding either sire or dam that has proved
constitutionally infirm. As has been already shown on
very high authority, perfect or defective conformation is not
more likely to be the result of a proper selection of horse
and mare, than disease to be inherited from parents that
have been constitutionally diseased. We could name stal¬
lions whose stock have been blind; others afflicted with
splints, curbs, and spavins, and a mare which produced three
roarers by three different sires. But it may be said, that
splints, curbs, and spavins, are the result of malformation
of the parts. Granted; but avoid all such malformation
which is quite apparent to the eye in a breeding stud. It
may perhaps be carrying this objection too far, were we to
say, we would not breed from a mare or horse, which had
become groggy or lame in the feet, from diseased navicular
joints. Had the feet been more vigorously constituted,
perhaps such lameness might not have occurred; yet it is
but too probable that here the predisposing cause may be
traced to over-severe treatment, and not to constitutional
defect. The choice of sires is by no means limited, as
there are about 300 blood sires in the United Kingdom, at
the service of the public, at all prices for blood mares, from
50 guineas to 2 guineas, or even gratis, if the mare is the
dam of a winner. Birdcatcher (whose winners number 148),
Touchstone, Melbourne, and Bay Middleton, are at the
head of the senior division, and Touchstone has no less
than 26 of his stock, headed by Orlando, at the stud.
Beeswing was very successful as a brood mare ; but the
same cannot be said of many very high class mares who
have worked hard for some seasons on the Turf. Barbelle,
the dam of the Flying Dutchman and Van Tromp, left the
turf early, and the dam of Alice Hawthorne and Rebecca
never had a bridle on.
HORSE.
Hunter. Next in importance to the judicious selection of sire and
dam, is the rearing of the colt which it is intended should
make a hunter. It was the remark of a gentleman who
kept fox-hounds more than half a century, that “ great part
of the goodness of a horse goes in at his mouthand no¬
thing is more true. Nimrod, in his Letters on the Condition
of Hunters (p. 223, first edition), says, “ It is my confirmed
opinion, that unless a colt be what is called £ deformed,’ it
is in the power of good keep, exercise, and physic, to make
him what is termed ‘ a fine horse,’ and one which will sell
for a large price, either for harness or the saddle. No one
who has not witnessed it, is aware of the improvement in
shoulders, thighs, gaskins, &c., from good old oats, accom¬
panied by regular work and proper riding.” Breeders of
hunters may be assured that such is the case ; and that it
is of little use to breed colts with the expectation of their
making first-rate horses, unless they keep them very well
in their colthood. They should also be treated as horses at
a very early age. They should be ridden gently, and by
a light man, or boy, with good hands, at three years old,
across rough ground, and over small fences; and at four
they should be shown hounds; but they should only follow
them at a distance, and after the fences are broken down;
for, if put to take large leaps at that tender age, they are
apt to get alarmed, and never make first-rate fencers after¬
wards. Above all things, avoid getting them into boggy
ditches, or riding them at brooks; but they should be prac¬
tised at leaping small ditches, if with water in them the
better, in the middle of a field, the rider putting them at
them in rather a brisk gallop. This gives them confidence,
and, the natural result, courage. With respect to the use
of the bar, and teaching colts to leap standing over it, the
practice is now condemned, and the system of letting them
become timber jumpers, by taking it, as it comes, in crossing
a country, is preferred, the present rate of hounds not ad¬
mitting of the time occupied in a standing leap.
Some sportsmen adopt, and we believe with good effect,
what is termed the “ circular bar.” Every description of
fence that a hunter is likely to meet with, is placed within
a prescribed circle of ground, and in this is the colt lodged,
the man who holds him standing upon a stage in the centre.
As another man follows him with a whip, he is forced to take
his fences at a certain pace ; and, in a very short time, a
good tempered colt will take them with apparent pleasure.
At five years old it is customary to consider a horse as a
hunter; but we are inclined to demur here. It is true,
that if a colt has been very well kept, on the hard meat
system, he is enabled to go through a good day’s work with
hounds at five years old, being quite equal to a six-year
old, which has been kept on soft food, and not sufficiently
forced by corn ; yet it is always attended with danger of
injury to his joints and sinews, if not to his general consti¬
tution ; and w£ cannot pronounce a horse to be a hunter un¬
til he has passed his fifth year. As muscular action, how¬
ever, produces muscular growth, he should not be kept in
idleness during his fifth year, but should be ridden to cover,
or with harriers, before Christmas; and when the ground
gets dry and light in the spring, a good burst with fox¬
hounds may not do him harm. We do not, however, con¬
sider any five-year old horse fitting or safe to carry a gen¬
tleman over a country, as he cannot be sufficiently expe¬
rienced to take a straight line.
We have known some masters of fox-hounds who have
preferred purchasing yearling colts, or weanlings, at Michael¬
mas, to breeding them for their own use.
There are undoubtedly certain advantages attending pur¬
chasing yearly colts, with the view of making hunters of
them. Such only may be selected as appear calculated for
the country they are intended to cross, and the weights they
will be called upon to carry; whereas, were the master of
hounds to depend on the produce of his own mares, he
647
might be disappointed in being able to select the number he Hunter,
would require to replace, in due time, the vacancies which
occurred annually in his stud. We should consider the sum
of 35 or 40 guineas for a good colt, at weaning time, a fair
remuneration to the breeder, and well laid out by the
purchaser.
Previously to giving directions for the purchase of a full-
grown hunter, we shall proceed to exhibit him in his highest
form, although we are aware of the difficulty, on certain
subjects, of conveying, clearly, an idea from our own mind
to that of another. We shall, however, endeavour to make
ourselves understood by describing each individual point.
As to the form and shape of a hunter’s head, as we do not
ride upon it, it is not of much consequence, provided it be
well hung on; and that is of the very highest importance,
not only, as we have shown in the race-horse, on account
of his respiration or wind, but unless it be so, he cannot
be pleasant to ride. Not only must his jaws be wide, but
when we consider that the head of a horse hangs in a slant¬
ing position from the extremity of the neck, and that the
neck itself projects a considerable distance from the chest,
on the muscular strength and proper formation of the neck
must also depend whether a horse be light or heavy in hand,
and consequently pleasant or unpleasant to ride. A weak
or loose neck may not be so material, as we have before
observed, to the race-horse; he is generally ridden in a
martingal, and in that case always ; add to which, his race is
soon run. Nevertheless, we like to see the neck of the
race-horse rise out of the shoulder with a tapering curve, in
which case he is pleasant to ride in his gallop, and, if a hard
puller, his jockey has much more power over him than if
his neck were loose and low. But, in a hunter, the proper
position of his head is a pond of the greatest moment, as
without it his rider cannot handle him properly at his fences;
and if he be not a regular star-gazer, he is always dan¬
gerous to ride over a country. The proper junction of the
head with the neck, and the carrying of it well or ill, de¬
pend chiefly on two particular muscles contained in the
neck. The most important of these is called the splenius
muscle, which constitutes the principal bulk of the neck
above, and its action is sufficiently evident, namely, very
powerfully to elevate the head and neck. The principal
beauty of the neck, indeed, as well as the carriage of the
head, depends on this muscle ; and its ample developement
is a point the sportsman should attend to in the choice of
horses that are to carry him with hounds. A certain de¬
gree of muscularity of the neck is absolutely necessary in a
hunter, and it is greatly promoted by good keep in colt¬
hood ; also by delaying the period of castration till the
second year, which should invariably be done, when the
want of this muscularity is apparent in the first. It must,
however, be observed, that there is a medium in this mus¬
cularity of the neck, although excess is the better extreme
of the two; for when the neck of a horse appears, like that
of a sheep, to rise out of the chest, and so far from being
arched above, and straight below, is hollowed above, and
projects below, such a horse is nearly worthless for any
pleasurable purpose, as his head cannot, by any means what¬
ever, be got into a proper place.
It has been said that a horse with a long neck will bear
heavy on the hand. We do not believe that either the
length of the neck, or even the bulk of the head, has any
influence in causing this. They are both counterbalanced
by the power of the ligament of the neck. The setting on of
the head is most of all connected with heavy bearing on the
hand; and a short-necked horse will bear heavily, because,
from the thickness of the lower part of the neck consequent
on its shortness, the head cannot be rightly placed. The
head and neck, however, should be proportioned to each
other. A short head on a long neck, or a long head on a
short neck, would equally offend the eye.
HORSE.
648
Hunter. Although length of neck in a hunter is not desirable,
length of shoulder is indispensable. Horses have raced well
with short upright shoulders; but it is impossible that one
so formed, however good he may be in his natuxe, or even
in his general action, can be a safe hunter, and for this
reason: A hunter is constantly subject—by down-hill
leaps, leaping into soft ground, and getting his fore-legs
into grips or unsound ground to have the centre of gravity
thrown forward beyond the base of his legs ; and it is more
or less recoverable according to the length or shortness of
his shoulder. By length of shoulder is meant obliquity of
the scapula or shoulder-bone, by which the point of the
shoulder is projected forward, and which, added to the ob¬
liquity of the scapula, enables the rider to sit considerably
behind, instead of nearly over the fore-legs or pillars of
support, which, on a short and upright-shouldered horse, he
must do. One remark, however, must be made respecting
the oblique shoulder. It is sometimes not sufficiently sup¬
plied with muscle, with which the upright shoulder generally
abounds. We therefore recommend purchasers of young
horses for hunters to give the preference to what may appear
coarse shoulders, nay, even inclined to be somewhat x’ound
or flat on the withers, provided they are accompanied by the
necessary and absolutely essential obliquity of the shoulder-
bones.
The setting on of the arm—which should be strong,
muscular, and long—is of much importance to a hunter.
By the length of this part in the hare, as we have already
observed, added to the obliquity of her shoulder, she can
extend her fore-parts farther than any animal of her size ; in
fact she strikes nearly as far as the greyhound that pursues
her, by the help of this lever. The proper position of the
arm, however, is the result of an oblique shoulder. When
issuing out of an upright shoulder, the elbow joint, the centre
of motion here, will be inclined inward; the horse will be
what is termed “ in at his elbows,” which causes his legs to
tall powei'less behind his body, and he is seldom able to go
well in deep ground. There are exceptions, but they are
rare. A full and swelling fore-arm is one of the most valuable
points in a hoi’se, for whatsoever purposes he may be re¬
quired; and although we have occasionally seen hunters
with light thighs carry weight well, we never have seen it
so carried by horses deficient in their arms.
If sportsmen were to see the knee of the horse dissected,
they would pay more attention to the form and substance of
it than they genei'ally do. It is a very complicated joint,
but so beautifully constructed that it is seldom subject to
internal injury. Its width and breadth, however, when con¬
siderable, ax-e great recommendations to hunters, as admit¬
ting space for the attachment of muscles, and for the accu¬
mulation of ligamentous expansions and bands greatly con¬
ducive to strength. Below the knee is a point on which
we will not say much here, as we have already alluded to it
in our remarks on the race-horse; we mean the shank or
cannon bone, and its appendages. It can scarcely be too
short in a horse that has to carry a heavy man ; round legs
are almost sure to fail; those of the hunter should be flat,
with the back sinews strong and well braced. This consti¬
tutes what sportsmen call a “ wiry leg.”
The fetlock is also a complicated joint, and very liable to
injury. In a hunter it should be large and strong. But,
as regards his action, the pastexm is still more material, and
also to his standing sound. Very few horses with short
pasterns can go well in deep ground, and for this obvious
reason: The action of the joint is desti’oyed by getting
below the surface of the ground, and is of course sooner
immersed than when it is longer. But a greater evil than
this attends a short pastern ; it is the predisposing cause of
navicular lameness, particularly in horses carrying weight,
owing to the foot being deprived of that elasticity which a
longer pastern affords, and which consequently relieves the
concussion on the foot coming to the ground in galloping Hunter,
and leaping, as well as on the hard road. Horses with short, ^
and consequently upright pasterns, cannot be pleasant to
ride, and they seldom stand many seasons’ work. Excess
in either should be avoided, but of the two a hunter is less
objectionable fi'om the extreme of length than of shortness
in this most material part.
That the foot of the hunter should be wide, and not low
or weak at the heel, is also obvious to the meanest capacity,
independent of its being the form most conducive to health.
The nature of the ground he has to travel over requires at
times the widest base he can present to it as a foundation
for his great bulk, and thus the farmer carries out his
manure upon tender land in a broad cart. Xenophon
relates that certain people of Asia were accustomed, when
snow lay deep, to draw socks over the feet of their horses,
to prevent them sinking in it up to their bellies; and we
know why an ox sinks less in soft ground than a horse does.
It is because his foot enters it expanded, by means of the
division of the claws, and when he draws it out it is con¬
tracted. The foot of the hunter, however, should not be
too wide, or it may operate against his speed.
The position of the fore-legs of the hunter admits of more
latitude than that of his hinder ones, or indeed of any other
part of his frame. We have seen brilliant hunters standing
in all positions and postures as regards their fore-legs. Some
very much over the knees, that is, with the knees bent and
projecting outward ; many upon very twisted fetlocks, turn¬
ing the toes out; and a few, though only a few, turning the
toes in. In the human frame, a certain squareness in the
position of the feet is consistent with strength, as we see in
the statues of Heixules, but the lightness of a Mercury is
indicated by the direction of the toe outwards. This is to
a certain extent the case with the horse. Although, if mea¬
sured by the standard of perfection, his toe is required to be
in a direct line with the point of his shoulder, yet we have
seen and heard of some of the speediest and best racers and
hunters, the position of whose fore-feet have deviated con¬
siderably from this supposed essential line ; but the inclina¬
tion of the toe outwards is so common in horses used for
these purposes, that it can scarcely be called a fault. In¬
deed, some persons argue that a leg so placed affords a
broader base to the superincumbent weight than when quite
in a line with the shoulder, that is, provided the twist arises
from the fetlock, and not from the setting on of the arm.
Be this as it may, we are well assured that, provided the
hinder legs and quarters are good, a hunter will admit of a
considerable deviation from the true line in the fore-legs,
and carry his rider brilliantly. It is well known that a much
more twisted fore-legged horse could not well be seen than
the celebrated Clipper, for many years said to be the most
brilliant hunter in Leicestershire; and one of the best
hunter-sires in Shropshire had this deformity.
But there is one portion of the fore-quarters of the hunter
to which a rule must be applied that will not admit of an
exception : he must be deep in his chest or brisket, that is,
from the top of the withers to the elbow. Numerous are
the narrow, but deep horses, in their “ girth,” as the term
is, that have carried heavy weights in the first style with
hounds*; but no matter how wide a horse may be, if he have
not depth he cannot carry weight, and is very seldom a
good-winded horse, even under a light man. One of the
greatest compliments, then, that can be paid to a hunter at
first sight is, that he appears 2 inches lower than he really
is. Such, liowever, is the case with horses whose growth
has been forced in their bodies by good keep when young,
and thus they come under the denomination of “ short¬
legged horses,” so much esteemed by hard riders. They
are likewise, for the most part, better leapers than such as
have less growth in the body and stand upon longer legs.
We have before observed, when speaking of the race-
HORS E. 649
Hunter, horse, that large bone is not required in his cannon or shank
■ «- v—' (the part from knee to fetlock), neither is it in the hunter.
The real power of all animals is in the muscles, sinews, and
tendons; and the leg best calculated to carry weight and
endure to a good old age is that in which the bone is small,
but of a dense and perfect texture, and in which three con¬
vexities can be very plainly distinguished, namely, the bone,
the elastic ligament behind the bone, called the sinew, and,
behind that, the flexor tendons, large, round, and strong.
The rare combination of strength with lightness is here
beautifully displayed, and is one of the many instances which
might be produced to show how nature delights to work
with the least possible expense of materials.
The hunter should have length in his shoulders and quar¬
ters, and to a certain extent also in his back. It is true that
horses with short backs carry weight best up a steep hill,
which, as that is the worst method in which this animal can
employ his strength (in man it is the best), shows that heavy
men should ride short-backed horses. For hunters, how¬
ever, that are ridden in our best hunting countries, which,
previously to being laid down in grass, were thrown up by
the plough into high ridges, with deep furrows, must have
moderate length of back, or they cannot go smoothly over
such ground. Good loins, with width of haunch (the vis a
tergo being so necessary in leaping as well as galloping on
soft ground), need scarcely be insisted upon ; and we now
proceed to the hinder-legs, the proper or improper form of
which makes the difference between a good or bad hunter,
if a horse with badly formed hinder-legs can be called a
hunter at all. But a horse with short, straight, and weak
thighs, cannot make a good hunter. Even admitting that
they are not weak, but short and straight, yet the objection
remains, because he cannot, in the latter case, be pulled
together in his gallop, nor have his stride collected to enable
him to take his fences properly; and, what is not generally
known, he is almost certain to be a hard puller. Indeed,
some good judges go so far as to assert that horses with
straight hinder legs never have good mouths, and there is
much truth in the remark, as their form will not admit of
their being “ pulled together,” as the horseman’s term is,
in their quick paces, and without it no horse is safe. A long
and muscular thigh, then, with a clean well-placed hock, is
one of the most material points in a hunter, and also one by
which the duration of his services may very nearly be mea¬
sured ; as when much out of the true form, either inclining
inwards, like the cow, or outwards, like the bandy-legged
man, disease is almost certain to attack this very complicated
but beautifully contrived joint, when put to severe exertion,
especially in soft ground. The shank bone of the hinder
leg, below the hock, ought to be equally well supported
by sinews and tendons with that of the fore-leg; and the
pastern of the hind-leg should resemble that of the fore-leg,
moderately long, strong, and oblique.
But such is the paramount importance of the hock in
the hunter, that we transcribe the following admirable
description of one most material point in it (from part ix. of
The Horse, Farmer’s series, p. 272) :—“ The most power¬
ful of the flexor or bending muscles are inserted into the
point of the hock or the extremity of the os calcis ; and in
proportion to the projection of the hock, or, in other words,
the length of this bone, will two purposes be effected,—the
line of direction will be more advantageous, for it will be
nearer to a perpendicular ; and the arm of the lever to which
the power is applied will be lengthened, and mechanical
advantage will be gained to an almost incredible extent.
Suppose this bone of the hock to be 3 inches in length,
the joint formed by the tibia and the astragalus is evidently
the centre of motion, and the vyeight concentrated about
the middle of the shank is the obstacle to be overcome. If
the weight be four times as far from the centre of motion as
the power, a force equal to four times the weight would raise
VOL. XI.
it. It is, however, here to be remembered, that it is not Hunter,
merely the weight of the leg which is to be raised, but the >
weight of the horse, for the time resting upon the leg, and
that weight to be propelled or driven forward. At what
shall we calculate this? We may fairly suppose that the
muscles, whose tendons are inserted into the point of the
hock, exert an energy equal to 4000 lb. Let us further
suppose that an inch is added to the point of the hock, which
will be an addition of one-third to its length; a muscular
power of less than 3000 lb. will now effect the same purpose.
The slightest lengthening, therefore, of the point of the hock
will make an exceedingly great difference in the muscular
energy by which the joint is moved, and a difference that
will wonderfully tell in a long day’s work. On this account,
the depth of the hock, or the length of the bone of which we
are speaking, is a point of the greatest importance. There
is, however, a limit to this. In proportion to the length of
this bone, must be the space which it passes over, in order
sufficiently to bend the limb ; and in that proportion must be
the contraction of the muscle, and consequently the length
of the muscle, that it may be enabled thus to contract;
and, therefore, if this bone were inordinately lengthened,
there would require a depth of quarter which would amount
to deformity. A hock of this advantageous length is, how¬
ever, rarely or never met with; and it is received among
the golden rules in judging of the horse, that this bone of
the hock cannot be too long.”
Hunters which carry very heavy men cannot excel in
the field, unless they exhibit those just proportions in their
limbs and all the moving levers necessary to produce full
liberty of action, but not too long a stride. Well placed
hinder legs, with wide hips, w'ell spread gaskins, and great
depth of chest, are essentials, and as much of the vis a tergo
as is consistent with a not unsightly back, commonly called
“hog-backed.” Well knit joints, short cannon bone, mo¬
derately oblique pasterns, with rather large feet, are not only
points from which great physical powers may be expected,
but they are necessary to the duration of them in the horse
we are now alluding to. As, however, it is an axiom in the
animal creation that the parts which add to strength dimi¬
nish swiftness, hunters to carry more than 16 st. well
with hounds, at the pace they now run, are always difficult
to be procured, and ought to command good prices. The
stamp of animal most approved of for this purpose is the
short-legged, thick, but well-bred horse, not exceeding
16 hands in height, but appearing to the eye half a hand
below that standard. As for his general appearance, it is
“ handsome is, that handsome does,” in this case; and we
must not look for beauty in all his points.
Having now described each individual external part of
the horse essential to his being a good hunter, we shall, in
a few words, exhibit him to the reader’s view in what we
consider his best form. He should have a light head, well
put on, with a firm, but not along neck ; lengthy, and con¬
sequently oblique shoulders, with very capacious chest, and
great depth of girth; a long, muscular fore-arm, coming
well out of the shoulder, the elbow parallel with the body,
neither inclining inward nor outward ; a short cannon or
shank, with large tendons and sinews, forming a flat, not
round leg; an oblique pastern, rather long than short, and
an open circular foot; the back of moderate length, with
well-developed loins and fillets, and deep ribs, making what
is termed by sportsmen a good “ spur-place.” From the
loins to the setting on of the tail, the line should be carried
on almost straight, or rounded only in a very slight degree.
Thus the haunch will be most oblique, and will produce
a corresponding obliquity in the thigh-bone, which forma¬
tion is peculiarly characteristic of the well bred horse. The
dock of the tail should be large, the buttocks close together,
and the fundament small, and somewhat resembling the
front or eye of the pippin apple. The thighs should be
4 N
650
HORS E.
Hunter, muscular and long, rather inclining inwards, with large
lean hocks, the points appearing to stand somewhat behind
the body, which will bring the lower part of the hind-leg,
or shank, under it. The shank, fetlock, and pastern of the
hinder-leg, should exactly resemble those of the fore-leg,
as also should the foot. The legs should appear short, from
the great depth of chest, and well-proportioned substance
of the body, or middle-piece.
The stature of the horse is no more absolutely fixed
than that of the human body, but a medium height is
considered as best for a hunter, say 15 hands, 2 or 3
inches. For one good horse over this height, there are a
hundred under it. In fact, there are, in the operations of
nature as well as of art, limits which they cannot surpass
in magnitude, and no very large animal has strength in
proportion to its size. That the horse has not, the pony
affords proof, if any other were wanting. Even the hea¬
viest weights find horses about the height we have fixed
upon best calculated to carry them. There have been
many extraordinary instances of horses, little more than
14 hands high, being equal to the speed of hounds over
the strongest counties in England, for example, Mr Wil¬
liam Coke’s “ Pony,” as he was called, many years cele¬
brated in Leicestershire, and Mr Green’s “ Piccolo but
they are not pleasant to ride, by reason of the fences, when
high, appearing higher to the rider than when he is mounted
on a taller horse.
Temper and mouth are essential points in a hunter.
The former adds much to his value, not only as it contri¬
butes to the pleasure and safety of his rider, but a horse
of a placid temper saves himself much in a long day’s work
with hounds, and especially when there is much leaping.
Indeed, fretful horses are proverbially soft, and not gene¬
rally to be depended upon at a pinch, which caused Shak-
speare to make them the symbol of false friends. Thus
Julius Caesar exclaims, '
“ Hollow men, like horses, not at hand,
Make gallant show, and promise of their mettle;
But when they should endure the bloody spur,
They fall their crest, and, like deceitful jades,
Sink in the trial.”
A hunter should have courage, but nothing more, to
make him what he is required to be, namely, not afraid to
leap at any fence his rider thinks proper to put him at.
His mouth will depend upon two things ; first, upon the
judgment of the person who breaks him in, in his colthood,
and, secondly, upon the position of his hinder legs, but
chiefly upon the first. It ought to be endowed with so
great sensibility, that the slightest motion of the bit should
give him warning, and direct his course, which is signifi¬
cantly implied by Horace, when he said, “ the ear of a horse
lies in his bridle.” It is true, that what we call the “ mouth”
of a horse, is an artificial feature, at all events, a figurative
term for his being easily acted upon by the bridle; but it
is a point of the utmost importance in a hunter. Without
it, in short, he is absolutely dangerous to ride ; for although
the skill and power of his rider may prevent his running
away, yet he is always in danger of being placed in some
unpleasant situation or other by him. In the first place, he
cannot be a large fencer, nor safe at all sorts of leaps, if he
will not suffer his rider to pull him together, to collect him
for the effort of rising at them. Secondly, he is as dangerous
in going through gates only partly opened. Thirdly, if
the horse immediately before him should fall at a leap, he
is veiy apt to leap upon him, or his rider; and, lastly, his
stiength is sooner exhausted than that of a horse, perhaps
not naturally so good, which is going quietlv, and within
himself; by his side. & » ^
No doubt many of the ancient writers were good judges
of horses, although they were deficient, compared with the
moderns, in availing themselves of their highest capabili¬
ties. Were a purchaser of a hunter to look no further Hunter,
than the first chapter of Zenophon wept liririKrjq, he would
find hints that would be well worthy his attention ; and
nothing can be more expressive of the evils attending a
bad mouth, in a horse of this description, than the follow¬
ing sentence from Pliny, “ Equi sine fraenis deformis ipse
cursus, rigida cervice, et extento capite, currentium,” which
may be thus translated :—The career of a horse without a
bridle is disagreeable, carrying his neck stiff, and his nose
in the air. When we consider how often it is necessary to
pull up, or to turn a horse very short in crossing inclosed
countries, the value, even on the score of comfort, of a good
mouth cannot be too highly appreciated by the sportsman.
We now come to the action of the hunter, which, after
all, is the main consideration. He should have energy in
all his paces, but he may have too much of what is gene¬
rally called action. Nothing conveys to us a better idea
of that which is adapted to his business, than the conclud¬
ing sentence of a huntsman of former days, when describ¬
ing to his master a capital run with his hounds. “ The old
mare,” said he, “ carried me like oil." The action of the
hunter should be smooth, or it will not last. His stride in
his gallop should be rather long than otherwise, provided
he brings his hinder legs well under his body; and the
movement of the fore-legs should be round, but by no
means high. Above all things, there should be no “ dwel¬
ling" as it is called, in the limb, coming to the ground;
a great obstacle to speed, but often the accompaniment of
excessive action in the fore-legs. But the test of action
in the hunter, is in what sportsmen call “ dirt,” that is, in
soft, tender ground, or when passing over such as appears
dry on the surface, but is not sufficiently so to bear his
weight. It is not exactly in the power of the best judges
to determine whence this peculiar excellence, which some
horses possess over others apparently well-proportioned,
arises, for which reason the eye should never be depended
upon in the selection of horses for the field. Wisdom
here can only be the produce of experience ; and many
sportsmen have paid dear for it on this particular point.
In fact, nothing next to ascending steep hills under great
weight, puts the physical powers of a horse to so severe a
test as carrying a heavy man, at a quick rate, over a country
that sinks under him at every step. Mere strength alone
will not do it. It must be the result of a combination of
strength with agility, good wind, and speed, to produce
which the most perfect arrangement of the acting parts,
although the exact symmetry and proportion of them may
not be exactly discernible to the eye, are requisite, and, we
may be assured, are present. As the beauty of all forms
is, in great part, subordinate to their utility, a horse of this
description, that is, one which can carry sixteen stone well
up to hounds in any or in all countries, at the rate they
now run, not only, as has before been observed, commands
a very high price, but, to a person who loves to study na¬
ture, presents a feast to the eye.
A hunter should be what is called very quick as well as
very fast; by which is implied, that he should not only
have great speed, but that he should be very quick in re¬
gaining his speed after taking his leap, or being pulled up
from any other cause. One so gifted will cross a country,
especially a close one, in less time than one that is more
speed}7, but not so “ quick on his legs,” as jockies term it.
It is also very agreeable that a hunter should be safe in
his slow paces on the road; and, if a fast trotter, he re¬
lieves himself by changing the action of the muscles, when
the pace of hounds so far abates as to allow him to break
into a trot.
Leaping.
One of the greatest accomplishments in a hunter is being
a perfect and safe leaper. The situation of a sportsman
HORS E.
Hunter, riding a horse that is u uncertain,” as the term is, at his
fences, may be compared with that of the philosopher whom
Cicero describes in his Tusculan Questions (5, c. 21) as
seated on the throne of Dionysius, gazing upon the wealth
and splendour that surrounded him, with a naked sword
suspended over his head by a single thread. But a horse
following hounds often leaps under very great disadvan¬
tages, which accounts for the numerous falls sportsmen get.
Putting aside the labour of rising from the ground, which,
to the horse, with a weight on his back, must be great,
from the earth’s attraction and the body’s gravity, he has
often to take his spring without any fixed point for support;
whereas, in most other cases, leaping takes place on a fixed
surface, which possesses the power of resistance in conse¬
quence of its firmness. Nevertheless, although the surface
yield to a certain degree, leaping can still be performed,
notwithstanding the retrograde motion of the surface pro¬
duces a great diminution in the velocity of the leap, com¬
pared with that which is made from firm ground ; and the
velocity is always greater in proportion as the resistance
is perfect. Thus it is, that we find horses able to cover
much greater obstacles in Leicestershire, and the other
grass countries, where the taking off for the leap is gene¬
rally good and sound, than they can cover in ploughed and
marshy districts, where they have not that advantage, from
the less firm state of the soil. We shall now endeavour to
point out the form most likely to constitute a good leaper.
The very wrorm that crawls on the ground first carries
its contraction from the hinder parts, in order to throw its
fore parts forward ; and it is chiefly from the vis a tergo,
or strength of back, and hinder quarters, that the power of
leaping in a horse is derived. It must, however, be ad¬
mitted that oblique shoulders give him a great advantage,
by enabling him to extend his fore quarters ; but if his
loins be loose and w'eak, and his hinder legs ill placed,
with weak hocks, he cannot make, in any one’s hands, a
safe and perfect leaper. But the position of his head has
something to do with it. A plank placed in equilibrio can¬
not rise at one end unless it sinks at the other ; and although
a horse in light harness cannot, for appearance sake, carry
his head too high, provided he be obedient to the rein, the
hunter should carry his low. A colt, running wild, never
raises his head when he leaps, but rather lowers it, and so
should the hunter; and he is always less liable to fall in
galloping over a country when he carries his head low ;
likewise, in horses with lengthy shoulders, the seat of the
rider is rather benefited than injured by it.
The sort offence that stops hunters more than any other
description of obstacle, is a wide brook; and, like all other
wide places, it takes a good deal out of him, if he clears it.
Lengthy horses are the best brook jumpers ; but they re¬
quire good loins and hinder quarters as well, and, above all
things, courage. Unless a horse takes a wide brook in his
stroke, he is almost sure to be in it; ibr which reason he
is generally ridden fast at it, and, for the most part, not
allowed to see it till he comes close to it. Immense space
has been covered by horses when jumping brooks, particu¬
larly when there has been a difference of elevation of the
banks in favour of the horse. We have heard of thiity
feet and upwards from hind foot to hind foot; but half that
space in water is considered a good brook, and even if the
banks are sound, stops a great part of the field. When
unsound, it requires a horse coming under the denomina¬
tion of a “ good brook-jumper” to clear it without a iall,
and particularly if towards the end of a run.
rlo be a good timber leaper is a great desideratum in a
hunter, although many horses are great timber leapers, but,
from their form, can never make good hunters. It only
requires a short backed, truss-horse for this purpose ; and
he can dispense with the general length so necessary to
the complete hunter. Good and well-formed thighs, how-
651
ever, are necessary. For those hunting countries, such as Hunter.
Cheshire, where the hedge is generally placed on a bank
or “ cop,” as it is there styled, rather a short but very ac¬
tive horse performs best. But he must be very good in
his hinder legs, and very quick in the use of them. Wall
jumpers come within the same class with timber jumpers
as to make and shape.
There is one faculty in which the horse is wanting, that
would, if he possessed it, give him a great advantage in
leaping. In the human species, the power and influence
of feeling are inherent, in a great degree, to the very tips
of the fingers ; but the horse has no proper organ of feeling
or touch. When a man takes his spring for a leap, or leaps
on the top of any substance, he has a distinct and certain
sense or knowledge of the nature of the ground from which
he has sprung, and of the substance on which he has
alighted ; but, from the insensible nature of the horse’s
hoof, such feeling is, in a great measure, denied to him, and
indispensably so too. Still, however, there are a few in¬
stances upon record of horses going very well over a coun¬
try even after having undergone the operation of neuro¬
tomy, by which all sensibility, from the fetlock downwards
has been destroyed.
The necessitg for the thorough-bred horse in the field is
belied, by the experience of all unprejudiced sportsmen,
and in Leicestershire, where the best studs are to be found,
very many of the hunters have a bend sinister in their es¬
cutcheon. But this perhaps arises from three causes. First,
there is a difficulty in procuring full-bred horses to carry
even moderate weights, and speed is but a second attribute
to a hunter. Lie must have sundry other qualifications,
and the most prevailing objections to the thorough-bred
horse are generally these : He is apt to be deficient in sub¬
stance to carry high weights over rough and deep countries,
without trespassing too much on the virtue of his high de¬
scent. Secondly, he is inclined, and especially if he have
been trained, to be shy effacing rough and thorny fences,
by reason of the delicate nature of his skin, rendered so by
repeated sweats in clothes, when in training. It often
happens, indeed, that even the cheering influence of hounds,
which has so much effect on other horses, will not induce
him to take them. In fact, which may appear extraordinary,
he does not appear to have in the field the courage of the
half-bred horse. Lastly, his feet are apt to be small, in
which case he sinks deeper in soft ground than does the
lower-bred horse, whose feet are larger and wider, and thus
suffers more than the latter does, in crossing a deep country.
As for his powers of endurance under equal sufferings, they
doubtless would exceed those of the cocktail, and being, by
his nature what is termed a “better doer” in the stable, he
is sooner at his work again than the other. Indeed, there
is scarcely a limit to the work of full-bred hunters of good
frame and constitution and temper.
A sportsman, partial to thorough-bred hunters, should
either breed them, or purchase them, not exceeding two
years old. If he breeds them, he should select large and
bony mares, putting them to horses who have hunting ac¬
tion, such as Tramp had ; and, if he buy them, it will be
his fault if he do not buy those of the right stamp. From
their never having been trained, but ridden over rough
ground in their colthood, they would have freer and higher
action, and, when castrated at a proper age, would very
rarely fail making first-rate hunters. The reason for sub¬
jecting them to the enervating operation of castration is,
that by far the greater number of entire horses, used as
hunters, are either dangerous in a crowd, and when pressed
upon in gateways ; or given to refuse their fences, when
they feel themselves somewhat distressed; and, if once well
tired, are not to be depended upon afterwards. The late
Earl of Lonsdale’s Julius Caesar was, nevertheless, a good
instance to the contrary ; and so was Mr Arkwright’s Dr
652
HORSE.
Hunter.
Faustus. If free from these defects, they are doubtless
superior to either geldings or mares.
Purchase of a Hunter.
Although it mav not be necessary that a person should be
perfectly acquainted with the mechanical structure of the
horse’s frame, according to the laws ot nature, to render him
a good judge of a hunter, yet, fortunately for such as have
them to sell, vast numbers of persons purchase hunters from
very slio-ht experience of them, regardless of the proverb o ,
“he hath a good judgment who doth not rely on his own.
There is also another proverb, prevalent, we believe, in
Spain, which well applies here : “ He that would buy a mule
without a fault must not buy one at alland, although
faultless hunters may be as rare as faultless riders of them,
we will offer a few hints to a person in the act of purchas¬
ing one, addressing him in the colloquial style.
First, bear in mind the country you are about to hunt in,
whether flat, hilly, firm, soft, open, or inclosed, and refer to
the remarks we have made on the sort of horse we have
adapted to each ; only be assured that in an open country,
especially if a hilly one, nothing has a chance with a tho¬
rough-bred horse, in good form, and not over-weighted.
Secondly, consider well your weight, and be sure to have at
least a stone to spare. A light man on a light horse throws
away all the advantage of being light, and can go no faster,
or leap larger fences, than a heavy man on a strong horse,
for strength will be served. Until you try him, it is haul to
say what horse will make a hunter, but the following in¬
dices may induce you to try him:—If he appear well-bred,
with a loose, bright skin, which may be called his complexion;
observe that his hair does not stand hollow from the skin,
particularly about the poll of his neck. If you find him
standing over a good deal of ground, it is a sure sign that
he has got length where it ought to be ; not in the back,
but from the obliquity of his shoulders, and the arm being
set on at the extreme point of his shoulder, which so much
contributes to the act of extension of the fore parts in gal¬
loping, leaping, and clearing grips. Next examine minutely
his thighs and hocks, being especially careful to observe the
position of the point of the hock bone. Above all things,
avoid a shoig^ or an overtopped horse. The former will
never carry'fou to your satisfaction, however good he may
be in his nature ; and the latter, from being too heavy ibr
his legs, will seldom last many years. As for the minor
points, common observation alone is wanting. Flave his
head placed in such a situation as will enable you to satisfy
yourself that he has perfectly organized eyes, free from in¬
cipient cataract, sometimes rather difficult to be detected ;
and as for his age, there are but two ways of satisfying your¬
self on that point. By his teeth till about eight years old ;
afterwards by the state of his legs, which are, in fact, the
best test of his value, the best proof of what he has done,
and the sure source of speculation as to what he may here¬
after be expected to do. Observe, also, his joints, that no
material injury has been done to them by blow, &c., and
that they are strong.
But the purchaser of a hunter must not trust to his eye.
Neither must he be satisfied with him, how well soever he
may gallop with him upon sound land. It is the peculiar
excellence of “going well through dirt” that renders a
horse valuable for all our best hunting countries ; and no
man can assure himself that a horse has this peculiar ex¬
cellence, until he puts him to the test. The best method
of doing it is this: The rider should put him along at a
good pace, with a slack rein, upon sound ground, letting him
find himself all at once upon that which is soft and holding.
If, on quitting the former, he cringes more than might be
expected under the weight, and shortens his stroke much,
lie must not purchase him for a hunter. Fie may go well
over a light, down country, but he will never distinguish Hackney,
himself over a heavy one, as he will be going in distress,
when other horses are going comparatively at their ease.
Horses possess gradations of excellence in this natural qua¬
lification, or gift, more than in any other, but in it consists
the summum bonum in a hunter; inasmuch as, whatever
may be his other good qualities, they are all useless, when
the acting parts are, from this cause, deep ground, easily
over-fatigued. With regard to his wind, he must not judge
hastily of that, in a horse not in work. Should he not per¬
ceive” anything like whistling in his respiration when he
puts him along at a quick pace, and his chest is capacious
and deep, and his head well set on, he is not to reject him
in case he appears blown by a short gallop. Condition and
work will rectify that; but many a good hunter has been
rejected on this account, by persons not taking into con¬
sideration the state of his bodily condition, in a trial of this
nature.
The price of the hunter varies with the times, and, no
doubt, is as much regulated by the price of wheat as the
quartern loaf is. During the war prices, the sum of 1000
guineas was occasionally given, and that of 500 guineas
frequently. From 150 guineas to 300 guineas now com¬
mands a first-rate hunter. But first-rate horses, in all ages
of the world, have ever produced extravagant prices ; and it
is recorded of Alexander the Great, that he gave four Ro¬
man talents for the celebrated Bucephalus, by mounting
which the young prince gave the first token of the skill and
daring which carried him through so many difficulties.
THE HACKNEY.
Under this term are comprised the following:—The Cover
Hack, the Pack Hack, the Lady’s Horse, the Roadster, the
Cob, the Galloway, and the Pony.
The difficulty of procuring really good hacks is admitted
by all persons who have kept them for the various purposes
of either business or pleasure, and for the following obvious
reasons. First, very few people try to breed hackneys,
therefore, although we require them to be nearly perfect in
shape and action (and perfect they should be to be “ really
good hacks ”), they may be said to be failures in the breed¬
ing stud after all. Secondly, by reason of their appearing
to be failures in their colthood, they are not forced into
good shape, as more promising young horses are, by high
keep and care. Lastly, if a man has a really good hack,
he is unwilling to dispose of it at the price generally given
for such animals. But a question arises, What is a good
hack ? It cannot be answered but with reference to an¬
other question, namely, What description of person is he
to carry ? The horse that a sober citizen ot London or
Edinburgh would call a perfect hackney to carry him to his
country seat, would not be worth five shillings to a New¬
market or a country jockey, or as a cover hack to a Leices¬
tershire or Warwickshire sportsman. We will commence,
then, with the cover hack, and describe the others in their
turns.
The cover hack of the present day is very difficult to be
procured, because he must unite, with the good qualities of
the roadster, the requisites and accomplishments of the
hunter. In fact, he must be a hunter in miniature; and
after all, the form of the hunter is the best calculated for a
roadster. He must be fast in all his paces, able to gal¬
lop well on deep or soft ground, and equal to carrying his
rider over moderately sized fences ; and if taught to leap
timber, standing, his value is proportionally increased. But,
above all things, he must go from 12 to 15 miles in the
hour, when wanted, without showing any symptoms of dis¬
tress ; and he is too often unnecessarily called upon to per¬
form much more than this, by his owner delaying the period^
of his leaving home in the morning, for the purpose of
HORSE. 653
Hackney, meeting hounds. It may also be observed, that it is not
, j every sportsman who keeps two cover hacks, although
'J“~v he may keep six or eight hunters; and it often happens
that the cover hack does more work than any horse in the
stable, although in justice it should be stated, that the same
care in the stable is now taken of him as of the best hunter
in it.
Unless to carry a great weight, the cover hack should Hackney,
be all but thorough-bred, if he cannot be procured of quite 'v—
full blood; with excellent legs and feet, lengthy and ele¬
vated shoulders, and with a susceptibility of mouth that will
not only enable his rider to keep him well on his haunches,
to guard against danger when going fast on all sorts of roads,
but as tending to lessen the fatigue of riding him ; and the
strength of his rider should be reserved for his day’s diver¬
sion after hounds. The chief pace of a cover hack should
be tbe canter, and his temper should not be overlooked, for
if fractious, and a puller, he will add much to the fatigue of
a severe day’s sport. A horse of this description, nearly 15
hands high, young and sound, will command from L.60 to
L.100. The other points essential to a good road hackney,
which will be noticed hereafter, apply equally to the cover
hack.
The park hack of the present day is the race-horse in
miniature. To be quite d let mode, he should be thorough¬
bred, with a very neat head, beautifully set on, and a switch
tail; and so well bitted as to be ridden with a slack rein.
He should have much liberty in his walk, which, and the
canter, should be his chief paces. He must have great
obliquity of shoulder, with a corresponding true formation of
hinder quarters, and above all, tbe well-bent hinder legs ; in
which case, if the position of his fore legs enable hint to
put his feet down properly, which will be explained in de¬
scribing the general action of the hackney, he will be, it
good tempered, and not given to fret, the perfect park hack;
The lady’s horse is, after all, the most difficult to obtain*
because he ought to approach very near to perfection. His
paces, mouth, and temper, should each be proportioned to
the power and capability of his rider; and he should be
proof against alarm from either noises or sights, which
otherwise might cause him to run away. This description
of horse should likewise be well bred, as in that case his
action will be easier, and his appearance and carriage more
in character with the generally elegant appearance of his
rider. His pace should be the canter ; the trot causes an
ungraceful movement in the person of a woman, to enable
her to rise to it; and if she do not rise to it, she is much
shaken in her seat. Neither is the form of the side-saddle
fitted for the trot; and the canter of a well-bitted horse is
more safe, because his haunches are more under him in that
pace than they can be in the trot. A good, bold, walk,
however, with the head in propel* place, is essential to a
horse that has to carry a woman ; and his action should be
very true, that is, he should not “ dish,” or throw, his legs
outward, as the term is, in any of his paces, or he will cover
the lower garments of his rider with mud when the roads
are wet and dirty. To provide against the latter inconve¬
nience, however, all horses intended for this purpose, should
not be much under 15^ hands in height, which size corre¬
sponds with the lengthened drapery of a lady’s riding cos¬
tume. As a preventive against accidents, ladies’ horses,
however well broken and bitted, should not be too highly
fed; and, if at all above themselves, should be ridden by a
careful servant, with good use of his bands, before ladies
mount them. It is, however, an acknowledged fact, that
horses go more quietly under women than they do under
men, which is accounted for by the lightness of their hand,
and the backward position of the body in the saddle. We
have, in fact, known several instances of horses being very
hard pullers with men, standing up in their stirrups, and,
consequently, inclining their bodies forward, but going per¬
fectly temperate and at their ease under women.
The power and parts conducive to action in the roadster,
or hackney, are derived much from the same shape and
make as we have shown to be best fitted for the hunter;
but it is desirable that he should be more up in his fore¬
hand than the hunter is required to be, as such form gives
confidence to the rider. The most dangerous form he can
654 HORSE.
Hackney, exhibit, if we may be allowed such a term, is, with his fore
legs standing too much behind the points ot his shoulders,
and those points loaded. Even with the best-formed hin¬
der legs, the centre of gravity being thrown so far forward
beyond the pillars of support, is, in this case, with great
difficulty preserved on the horse making a stumble ; but
with straight hinder legs, a horse so formed in his fore
quarters is only fit for harness, where he can recover him¬
self by the assistance of his collar, having no weight on his
back. Provided a hackney do not cut his legs, by striking
one against the other, which is oftener caused by imperfection
in the upper than the lower extremity of the legs, he is not
to be rejected because he may turn out his toes a little, some
of the very best, fastest, and safest road-horses being so
formed. Cutting the hinder legs is a worse failing than
cutting the fore ones, as it is a certain sign of weakness;
and although we may be told that shoeing will prevent it,
we bring to our recollection the old adage, that “ a goose
always goes like a goose.” What is called the “ speedy cut”
with the fore legs, arises from excess of action, and is a great
objection, by reason of the wound given to the leg, which is
struck just under the knee. Many good hunters, especially
when ridden in hilly countries, such as parts of Surrey,
where they traverse the hills on loose and stony ground, are
subject to this failing, which is remedied by a boot; and,
after all, the danger attributed to speedy cut, in throwing
horses down, is much overrated.
The size for a road hackney must be regulated by the
size of the person to ride him ; but, generally speaking,
from 14 to 14£ hands, is the proper height. His strength
must also be thus calculated, for a light man does not ride
pleasantly on a horse equal to double his weight. But a
road hackney should have strength of shoulder, with around
barrel, but not a large carcass, which only wears out his
legs. His constitution and feeding can only be proved upon
trial; but there are certain indices, such as deep ribs, hardy
colour, brown muzzle, &c., which very rarely deceive us.
As to the necessity of well-placed hinder legs, it is most
clearly shown by the answer given to the following ques¬
tion :—If a horse make a serious blunder forward, and the
centre of gravity of his body fall beyond the pillars of sup¬
port, and is for a moment lost, what restores the equili¬
brium ? Is it merely the chuck under the chin to an ani¬
mal of his bulk and weight, and that “ chuck” given perhaps
by the weak, powerless wrist of a feeble old man, or deli¬
cate young lady ? No : the main effect of the bit, or curb,
in this case is, first, warning the horse of his danger ; and,
next, by the momentary raising of his head, he is better
able to bring a hinder leg instantly to his assistance, by ad¬
vancing it under his body, and thus restoring the equili¬
brium. In the walk, in fact, the horse actually begins to
move by advancing the hinder leg under the body, before
the fore leg quits the ground; and if he did not do so,
there would be no equal support for the body, during the
suspension of the fore leg in the air; nor could the body be
moved forwards, until the hinder leg had, by quitting its
station, taken a new point of support. Seeing then, that in
the walk, as in all other paces, the centre of gravity in the
horse is maintained, as well as the body propelled, by the
action of the hinder legs, the greatest attention should be
paid to the position and action of them in the hackney, as
the best safeguard against his falling. We should observe,
then, when he is exhibited to our view, that, in his walk,
the hinder foot oversteps the fore foot, at least a shoe’s
length, which a horse with straight ill-formed hinder legs
cannot do; and if such action be accompanied by generally
good hind quarters, it is a great indication of safety, as far
as one-half of the body of the horse is concerned. But as
the false step is made, not with the hinder, but the fore leg,
the chief safeguard against falling is to be found elsewhere,
namely, first, in the length of the shoulder, which throws
the centre of gravity further back than a short one; and, Hackney,
secondly, proceeding also from the free use of the shoulder,
in the act of setting the fore foot down on the ground. It
is a general but very mistaken notion, that the safety of a
roadster depends upon his lifting his fore feet high from the
ground, when he is said to “ go well above his ground;”
whereas it all depends on the manner in which he places
them down upon it. Not only are the highest goers often
the most unsafe to ride, for, when they do fall, they fall with
a violence proportioned to the height of their action ; but,
although we do not advocate such extremes, there are
thousands of instances of horses going very near to the
ground, and never making a trip. It is, however, a well
established fact, that if the form of a horse’s shoulder, and
the position of the fore leg, enable him to put his foot to the
ground fiat, with the heel well down, his lifting up his foot
high is not at all necessary; whereas, on the other hand,
if, by an improper position of the leg, issuing out of a short,
upright, ill-formed shoulder, the toe touches the ground
first, and, as it were, digs into it; no matter how high such
a horse may lift up his leg, in any of his paces, he will al¬
ways be dangerous to ride. And this will be clearly shown,
if we consider the position of the fore leg, when off the
ground, or in action. It is bent in the form of a C, and
the foot suspended in the air, turning inwards, with a curve
towards the body. When in this state, were the foot to
come in contact with a stone, or any other substance, it
would pass over it without resistance, the limb being at
that time in a flaccid state; but when it approaches the
ground, the limb being extended, and having the whole
weight of the fore quarters about to be thrown upon it, if
it strike against a stone, or any hard substance, then the
case is greatly altered, and a stumble is the inevitable con¬
sequence. The base now requires to be firm and even,
which it can only be by the foot being placed flat upon the
ground. Man, in fact, walks very near the ground, but his
toe rarely strikes it. If it did so frequently, he would soon
become a cripple, putting falling out of the question. His
action proceeds from his hips; that of the horse, as regards
the fore legs, from his shoulders ; but the principle is the
same with each ; each is a piece of curiously-wrought me¬
chanism, and according to the correctness of that mechanism
is their action true. A wrong notion, however, prevails
here, which may lead the purchaser of a hackney astray.
It has been asserted by various writers, that if the shoe of
a roadster be found worn at the toe, it is a sure sign ot his
possessing the dangerous action to which we have alluded.
This is false; many horses wear at the toe, solely by the
act of picking up the foot, and quite independently of
placing it down. That many hackneys, however, fall Ifom
their shoes being neglected and suffered to wear too much
at the toes, we are well aware, as well as from their press¬
ing upon the heels and quarters, from the want of being
removed in proper time. When a horse is given to wear
at the toe, the wearing part should be steeled.
The best method of ascertaining the manner of putting
down the foot, on which we have shown the safety of a hack¬
ney depends, is, to ride a horse with a slack rein, on a foot¬
path, on which there are trifling undulations, scarcely per¬
ceptible, but sufficient for our purpose. If he walk smoothly
over such ground, and do not strike it with his toe, we may
be sure he puts his foot properly down, and will not, from
that cause, be a tumble-down. But there are various ways
in which horses fall on the road ; bad shoeing, as we have
already said, being one of them, and bad condition another.
What is called a false step, very different from a stumble,
may occur to any horse, and is occasioned by his acciden¬
tally putting his foot on a loose stone, that rolls away from
under it, when, of course, his footing is lost. In this case,
his chance of recovering himself is in his shoulders being
oblique and lengthy (for upright shoulders are always short)
HORS E. 655
Hackney, ani well placed hinder legs. Thrushes and corns are like-
wise the cause of stumbling; as likewise is starting, one of
the worst failings a hackney can have. In some horses it
is a nervous affection, rather difficult to account for in ani¬
mals of such strength of frame ; and often arises from im¬
perfectly formed eyes, such as flatness of the cornea, or out¬
ward surface of the eye, generally a small one, causing
short-sightedness. In the latter case, this fault in a hackney
may be guarded against, by employing a veterinary surgeon
to inspect him previous to purchase.
The old adage of “ no foot, no horse,” applies particu¬
larly to the road-horse. The hunter can cross a country
upon feet that are very far from good; and by the help of
bar-shoes, the coach-horse, with no weight on his back, and
with the support the harness gives him, gets pretty comfort¬
ably over his stage on unsound feet; but the road-horse
must have sound feet. Previously to the use of horse-shoes,
the value of a solid hoof was so great as to have been made
the image by which ihe Prophet Isaiah set forth the strength
and excellence of the Babylonish cavalry, “ whose hoofs,”
says he, “ shall be counted as flints.” Both Homer and
Virgil mention it as an indispensable requisite in a good
horse, the latter making it to resound as it strikes the
ground—
“ et solido graviter sonat ungula cornu.”
We are not going here to enter on a long discussion upon
the foot, but only to observe, that the wide hoof and ex¬
panded heel of the hunter is not so essential to the road-
horse as many persons suppose. Indeed the hoof that has
been found to stand severe road-work best, is one rather
high at the heel, and not very wide, provided the pastern
above do not approach too near the perpendicular; forming
what is called “ an upright pastern,” which, by the jar the
foot receives from it, when it comes to the ground, is nearly
certain to produce disease. The strong foot, however, of
which we are speaking, is one that requires care, by being
frequently drawn out with the knife, to prevent its becom¬
ing too strong; and by giving moderate pressure to the
frogs, to prevent the heels getting nearer together than w'e
find them, and they already approximate to contraction in
a foot of this description. The just form of the hoof in
front, upon which mainly depends its form behind, is said
by Clarke to be at an elevation from the ground of 33° j1
and we are inclined to think, that a much greater elevation
than this would approach too near the perpendicular, for
any kind of foot. As the inner heel or quarter has more
weight thrown upon it than the outer, it is the principal seat
of corns arrd sandcracks, for which reason great care should
be taken that an even bearing to the whole of the crust be
given by the smith to the foot of the hackney, previously
to his setting on the shoe, the inner heel being given to
wear away more than the outer on that account.
In the action of the hackney consists his chief merit. It
should be smooth, and with not too long a step, or stride,
or he will tire. He should also go straight on his legs, as
the term is; for although horses that dish their legs may
be, and commonly are, safe goers, yet they are disagreeable
to ride in wet roads, as they cover the rider with mud.
As we have already observed, the action of a hackney
should not be high, as that tends to fatigue the rider and
destroy himself; and if he puts his foot well down on the
ground, he will never fall by reason of his action being
low, and he will last the longer for its being low.
1 he paces of the hackney are in a great measure depen¬
dent on the will of his owner. The walk and the canter
are most essential to what may be called the pleasure hack¬
ney ; but for general purposes, the trot is the most useful
and available pace in a roadster, and one in which he will
continue longer, according to the rate he is going at, than Hackney,
in the canter. There are instances, however—and here is
perfection in a hackney—of horses with very oblique shoul¬
ders, and excellent hinder legs, being able to carry their
riders in a canter, over every variation of road, downhill as
well as uphill, without offering to break into a trot, for a
great distance of ground ; and although not appearing to
go more than at the rate of nine miles in the hour, are really
going twelve. This is the result of the perfection of the
points to which we have alluded, and can never be looked
for in horses of a contrary make, whose shoulders are short
and stiff, and their hinder legs straight. Above all things,
what is called “ fighting action ” in a hackney should be
avoided ; neither ought the fore leg to be thrown out with
a dart, as it is always attended with a dwelling or temporary
suspension of the foot previously to its reaching the ground.
Most horses have some peculiarities about them, if not
absolute “ tricks,” as vicious practices in horses are desig¬
nated. Starting has already been noticed ; but plunging is
still more dangerous, as in that case a horse seldom stops
until he have unseated his rider, at least made many attempts
to do so, or thrown himself upon the ground. This latter
trick often proceeds, not from sheer vice, but from a sense
of pain in the horse, from being too tightly girthed ; or from
the to him very unpleasant sensation of a cold saddle, with
a weight upon it, being pressed to his back; and having
once taken a dislike to it, he is very apt to continue it.
Against each of these evils it is in our power to provide.
Against the first, by not girthing the horse tightly, for the
doing of which there is no good reason ; and against the
second, by having the saddle put on an hour before the
horse is wanted, in which time it will become warm, and
not disagreeable to the skin of his back, which, in some
horses, we know to be extremely susceptible. It is upon
this principle that the collars are left day and night upon
such road coach-horses as are given to “jib” at starting,
the consequence of tender shoulders. But there is one
failing to which hackneys are subject, not proceeding from
vice, but still attended with danger, as it is often the cause
of their falling; and we will endeavour to exhibit this fail¬
ing. We need scarcely insist upon a good mouth, with
neck and head in good place, in the best description of
roadhorse; nevertheless, if he will not suffer his rider to
avail himself of those advantages, they are useless to him.
Such, however, is the case when a hackney, as he is going
along in his fast paces, throws his head backwards, which
he has always the power to do, his rider being unable to
prevent him. Twofold danger attends this fault. First,
when in the act of doing it he sees not where he places his
feet; secondly, his rider loses his mouth for the moment,
and in that moment he may fall. Independently of this, it
gives the rider the idea that the horse is becoming fatigued,
and doubtless it is an indication to that effect. Our idea,
then, of a perfect hackney to carry a gentleman is this: A
well-bred, short-legged, lengthy horse, with verp good legs
and feet, not under fourteen nor above fifteen hands high,
that will walk four miles in the hour, trot eleven or twelve,
and, if wanted, will go fifteen in that time in a canter or
hand-gallop, without once throwing up his head, or requiring
to be pulled up. We are, of course, supposing him to be
in good condition, and in strong work, or it would not be
fair to exact so much from him. But it is only in cases of
necessity that any horse should be made to perform the
latter task ; for we are averse to trespassing unnecessarily
upon the powers and capabilities of so noble an animal. On
the contrary, we recommend every indulgence that can be
granted to him on a journey, and especially in hot weather.
At all times, indeed, it is our interest to do so ; but, in very
hot weather, a few sips of soft water, often given, keep off
1 White says forty-five.
656
HORSE.
Hackney, fever, and replenish the loss he sustains by exhaustion from
excessive perspiration.
One word more respecting action. We are no advocates
for very fast trotting. It forces the animal to the very ex¬
tent of his powers, which, of course, wears him out; it in¬
duces his owner either to be constantly displaying these
powers in private, or matching him against time in public.
Add to this, fast trotting is not a gentlemanlike pace ; that
is it has not a gentlemanlike appearance, neither is it
agreeable to the rider. This is apparent at first sight,
when we follow two horsemen on a road, one on a fast
trotter, and the other on a good canterer ; although going
at the same rate, the cantering horse and his rider are both
much more at their ease. With the ancient Romans, in¬
deed, a trotting horse was called a tormentor. Neverthe¬
less, we admit that fast trotting is a proof of action, in ex¬
cess, but of a peculiar nature, and is, perhaps more than
any other, transmitted from sire to son, as the produce of
the various Norfolk and American trotters have shown.
The amble is a pace very little known in England, al¬
though very general on the Continent, where the act of
rising in the stirrups by the horseman, in the trot, is not
practised. We wonder, however, that horses are not of-
tener broken to this pace than they are, for the use of
women, or of men unequal to fatigue. Although the am¬
ble is not allowed to be a pace in the manege—the walk,
trot, and gallop being all—it is said to be the first pace of
the horse when a foal, but when he has strength to trot, he
quits it. Another peculiarity attends it. A horse, we
know, can be put from a trot to a gallop without stopping,
but he cannot be forced from an amble to a gallop without
a halt.
The Pack-Horse.—This description of horse is not now
in use. His capabilities were prodigious in carrying weight,
but were abused by being trespassed upon. When crossed
with the heavy cart-horse, a most useful breed for draught
was produced, as also what was called the farmer s hackney,
that is, a sturdy animal between the cart-horse and the
hackney, useful for all purposes of agriculture, as well as
for carrying his owner, and always ready to give help upon
a pinch, either in the plough, the harrow, or the harvest-
cart.
The Cob.—The word cob is one of new mintage in the
sporting world, signifying a powerful, short-legged horse,
about fourteen hands high, without any pretensions to blood,
but able to carry a great weight, at a certain pace, on the
road. He is generally the produce of a light, active cart-
mare, and either a thorough-bred or half-bred stallion ;
and, failing to grow in height, often increases in lateral
growth to substance equal to that of the old pack, or mil¬
ler’s horse, of former days. When gifted with action, com¬
bined with good shape and appearance, this description of
horse is much sought after in London, as also in the coun¬
try, and often sells for a hundred pounds, to carry heavy
elderly gentlemen. The attempt to breed him, however,
is a hazardous one, as in case of fault in his action for the
saddle, he is not suitable to the coach-horse market, the
present rate of travelling requiring more lofty as well as
higher bred cattle.
The term Galloway now applies to any horse not ex¬
ceeding 14 hands in height, although it originated with a
breed peculiar to the county of Scotland known by that
name. In the early days of English racing, there were
several capital thorough-bred Galloways in training, at the
head of which was the Bald Galloway, sire of Cartouch,
and also of the Carlisle Gelding, who, as the Stud-Book
informs us, “ was remarkable for having supported the fa¬
tigue of running as a trial horse in private, and with success
in public, till the age of eighteen, at which period, after
winning a heat near Stilton, in Huntingdonshire (1731),
he broke his leg, and died.” The celebrated Mixbury
Galloway, of the middle of last century, was only 13 hands Charger.
2 inches in height.
Previously to the improved system of coaching, and the
cheapness and expedition of that mode of travelling, the
well-bred galloway was the favourite hackney of jockeys,
graziers, horse-dealers, and cattle jobbers, and in fact of all
lisjit weights who had occasion to travel long distances on
the road in a short space of time ; and no description of
horse is better adapted to the purpose. Many years since,
there was a little entire horse in Devonshire, called Katter-
felto, the sire of many most extraordinary galloways, to
whose labours on the road, indeed, there appeared scarcely
to be any limit.
The Pony.—A horse is called a pony when under the
height of 13 hands, 4 inches to the hand. It is difficult to
account for this diminutive breed, unless we believe it to
have been imported from countries farther north than Great
Britain, which appears probable from the fact of ponies
being found in greater abundance in Scotland and Wales
than in any other part of the island ; the effect, no doubt,
of climate. In Ireland they are very rare.
There is no animal that improves in form and character
so much as the pony does from the effect of good grooming
and high keep. A real Welsh mountain pony, in very good
condition, especially7 if not castrated, is a perfect war-horse
in miniature, uniting almost every good property his species
possesses. As a proof of one essential quality, we can state
upon authority, that the Earl of Oxford had a mare pony,
got by the Clive Arabian, her dam by the same horse, out
of a Welsh mare pony, which could beat any of his racers
4 miles at a feather weight. Whether Welsh, Scotch, or
Hampshire (New Forest), ponies have properties belonging
to them, which should attract the notice of the hippopatho-
logist, among the most prominent of which are the follow¬
ing ;—They are never lame in the feet, nor become roarers.
A broken-winded pony is a very rare sight, and they live
to the extreme of old age, if not unfairly treated. I hey
are also very little susceptible of disease, in comparison with
other horses ; and as for their powers of endurance, they
stagger belief. A rare instance of the latter excellence may
be produced, from the well-known fact of the pony Sir
Teddy, only 12 hands high, accompanying the royal mail
from London to Exeter, and arriving in that city fifty-nine
minutes before it, distance 172 miles, in twenty-three hours
and twenty minutes. It may scarcely be necessary to state
that he carried no weight, being led between two horses all
the way; nevertheless it was a task that wTe think no full-
grown horse would have performed. A correct likeness of
this pony was painted by the elder Marshall, of Newmarket.
In 1784 a Shetland pony, 11J hands high, carried a rider,
weighing five stones, from Norwich to Yarmouth and back,
44 miles, in three hours and forty-five minutes. As a
proof, also, of their powers in crossing a country, the fact
may be stated of the late Sir Charles Turner riding a pony
JO miles in forty-seven minutes, and taking thirty leaps in
his course, for a wager of 1000 guineas with the late Duke
of Queensberry, then Earl March. During the drawing of
the Irish lottery, the expresses from Holyhead to London
were chiefly conveyed by ponies, at the rate of nearly 20
miles in the hour.
THE CHARGER.
No kind of horse, no animal, indeed, of any sort, makes
so prominent a figure in history, sacred or profane, as “ the
goodly horse of the battle,” or war-horse. The description
of him by Job is admitted to exceed the powers of human
eloquence ; “ and,” as M. Rollin says of it, “ every word
would bear an explication to display its merits.” The
Guardian (No. 86) has a very ingenious critique upon it;
HORSE.
657
Charger, and Bochart devotes seventeen pages to this and all the
^ other passages in Scripture in which the horse is men¬
tioned. Virgil’s representation of him, in his third Georgic,
is considered as the nearest approach to that of the sacred
writer; and the speech, in the tenth JEneid, of the hero
Mezehtius to his favourite charger, when on the point of
sallying forth to avenge the death of his son, is not ex¬
ceeded, in the pathetic, by any other passage in the poem.
Homer is blamed for his too frequent allusions to the horse ;
but the history of all wars produces materials for panegyrics
on this noble animal. The far-famed Bucephalus is said
to have preserved the life of Alexander, by carrying him
out of reach of the enemy, although he had received his
mortal wound, and dropped down dead immediately on his
(Alexander’s) alighting from his back. In the battle
which was to decide the fate of Persia, on the ground
upon which the great Nineveh once stood, the merit of the
victory was chiefly ascribed by the Byzantine historians,
not to the military conduct, but to the personal valour of
their favourite hero, in which his horse bore his share.
“ On this memorable day,” says the eloquent Gibbon,
“ Heraclius, on his horse Phallas, surpassed the bravest of
his warriors. His lip was pierced with a spear, the steed
was wounded in the thigh, but he carried his master safe
and victorious through the triple phalanx of the barbarians.
How many British soldiers have owed the preservation of
their lives to the courage and docility of their horses.
The movement of turning being the most difficult with
the horse, by reason of the inflexible nature of his back¬
bone, the one selected for a charger should have great free¬
dom of action, having his hinder legs well bent under his
body, so that he may be easily thrown upon his haunches ;
also much liberty in his shoulders, and pliancy in the mus¬
cles of the neck; in which case he will seldom fail in hav¬
ing the proper requisites for his calling. The position of
his hinder legs, however, is most particularly insisted upon,
because, should they be straight, that is, not inclining in¬
wards from the hock, after the form of the ostrich’s leg, he
will with great difficulty be made the supple, short-turning,
handy animal that he ought to be, to render him perfectly
available to his rider, at the head of his regiment, or in the
ranks. Perhaps those horses which were destined to mount
our ancient nobility, or courteous knights of old, for feats
of chivalry, and gained them the palm in that field of ro¬
mantic honour, were more highly “ dressed,” as the term
is, in the manege, than an officer’s charger of these days
should be; nevertheless, as Colonel Peters observes, in his
Treatise on Equitation, London, 1835:—“Although it
might spoil a good horse for military purposes to form him
perfectly after the higher manege principles, yet he would
be equally unfit for that duty if he were left in a raw and
ignorant state.”
Amongst the ancient Greeks, all horses, as well as all
men, were strictly examined before they were admitted
into the cavalry; and the precedent cannot be too closely
followed. It is well known, that in the various campaigns
of the last war, several British officers lost their lives, in
consequence of being mounted on chargers not equal to
their weight over every description of ground. In one
particular instance, a colonel of a light dragoon regiment
was cut down in retreating, by reason of his handsome,
but powerless charger, being unable to gallop with him
over a deeply-ploughed field. At the battle of Waterloo,
the ground became excessively wet and soft, owing to con¬
tinued rain ; and, in consequence of it, the Duke of Wel¬
lington gave a large price to an officer on his staff for a fine,
powerful mare, which had been purchased out of an Eng¬
lish fox-hunting stud. In fact, the sort of horse best fitted
for an officer’s charger, is one which possesses most of the
essential qualifications, as well as accomplishments, of a
hunter, as his rider, when on service, knows not how soon
VOL. XI.
they may be called for. He should, however, be of airy Troop-
form, with light action, and well-bred, or he will not look Horse,
in character with the smart costume of his rider ; but to his ^1
appearance there must not be sacrificed those essential
points, substance and strength, which will enable him to
struggle through difficulties, in which a weaker, though
more highly-bred, animal might sink. But a trifling devi¬
ation in form in the charger, from the points insisted upon
in the hunter, may be admitted. For example, the short-
i ess of leg, that is, in the cannon or shank bone, is not ex¬
actly desirable in the charger, as his action is required to be
of a grander and more showy appearance than we wish to
see in the hunter. A moderate length of leg, then, is fa¬
vourable to such action, and gives lightness, as well as
gracefulness, to his movements.
We cannot imagine any brute animal more likely to insure
the gratitude of man than the horse which has borne him in
safety throughout even a single campaign ; and it is not be
wondered at its having been made a subject for rebuke to Cato,
that he left his charger in Spain, to avoid the expense of
bringing him home ; or that it should be recorded in praise
of Andromache, that she fed the horses of Hector with her
own hand. A case parallel with the first, we would not
produce if we could ; but without having recourse to his¬
tory beyond the period of our own time, we may set forth
a flattering resemblance to the second. T. he late Duchess
of Wellington, during her grace’s residence at Strathfield-
saye, in Hampshire, seldom omitted for a day feeding, with
her own hands, the favourite charger of her gallant husband.
The height of a charger should not exceed fifteen hands
and a half, horses of that size being more easily set upon
their haunches, and also made to turn more readily than
taller ones. His colour must depend upon circumstances ,
but next to the silver gray, which best displays his trap¬
pings, and which, we may presume, was the colour of the
celebrated Phallas (the Greeks called a gray horse <£oAios),
bay, black, and chestnut, are the best.
THE TROOP-HORSE.
A change for the worse has taken place in this descrip¬
tion of horse, in several British light dragoon regiments, the
effect of which was apparent in the last European war. It
originated in a wish to imitate the style and character of
the hussar, without taking into consideration the fact, that
that description of cavalry was intended more for out-parties
and skirmishing, than for coming in contact with the body^
of an enemy ; and that consequently the slender sort of
horse on which the English light dragoon has of late been
mounted, has not been found efficient, under the immense
weight he carries when in marching order, or even in battle,
which averages at least seventeen stone. I he heavy <Ea'
goon horse is, indeed, very little more powerful now than
that of the light dragoon was thirty or forty years back.
The horse best calculated for a light dragoon trooper, is
something between the modern coach-horse and the hack-
ney ; upon short legs, with good bone, and with much sub-
stance in the body. His back should be short, and well
ribbed up, his barrel round and large, to allow plenty of
room for food, as he is often a long time without it; and
hardiness of constitution is a very material point in a sol¬
dier’s horse. It is true they are purchased when young,
many of those for the household troops, at three years old ;
and their good keep, upon hard food of the best quality,
forces them into shape, and makes them what we see them.
Most of the troop-horses are picked up at Stourbridge Fair;
but the late Sir Walter Gilbert considered that the dragoon
guards were never so well mounted as they were in India,
when the Cape-bred hackneys were imported for their use.
The Duke of Wellington was always very particular about
658
HORSE.
Coach- giving them regular exercise, and it is stated by the Druid
Horse. in the Post and the Paddock, that they did 6 miles out of
Brussels and back again every morning in two hours; 8
miles of it at a sharp trot, and the other 4 in a walk.
THE COACH-HORSE.
If it cannot be absolutely asserted that the first use of
the horse was in harness, it is quite certain that the chariot-
horse was held in high estimation in very early times, and
is alluded to by poets and historians of all nations and in
all languages. Homer says that Dioraed, an Asiatic prince,
had ten chariots, with a particular sort of horses for each;
and he also makes Nestor, at the funeral games of Patro-
clus, harness the horses for his son with his own hands ;
and, by his skill in directing him in the race, he wins it.
But the Grecian bard goes still further into minutiae. He
even represents Menelaus, on the same occasion, using
(Ethe, one of the horses of Agamemnon, with one of his
own ; and Priam is found harnessing his favourite steeds
to the car, in which he returns, with the dead body of his
father, from Achilles’s camp, on the plains of Troy. It
would be endless to turn to other writers to show the esti¬
mation in which the chariot-horse has been held.
In its present acceptation, the term “ coach-horse” in¬
cludes two varieties ; namely, the horse that draws the gen¬
tleman’s carriage, and the one that is employed in fehose
public conveyances called “stage-coaches.” As regards
the former animals, wre believe a similar alteration has taken
place in the form, appearance, and breeding of them, as has
been seen in the English hunter within the last half century.
The Flanders mares, so highly esteemed, and seen only in
the carriages of families of distinction ; the well buckled-
up, long-tailed blacks and roans—have all disappeared, and
we find in their stead the sort of horse nearly approaching
to the one which was formerly considered quite well-bred
enough for the chase. But the fact is, that nothing but
well-bred horses have a chance to stand what is called har¬
ness-work on our roads. Those used also for “ town-work,”
as the term is, are of a superior description, amongst which
hundreds of good hunters might be selected ; but such have
been the high prices given for them by the dealers, at an
age which would not admit of their being tried in the field,
they have found their way into harness, and when once
there they remain in it.
The form, however, of what may be termed a splendid
town coach-horse, need not be, by any means perfect; and
were a judge to examine minutely the points of vast num¬
bers of those handsome horses seen in the carriages in Lon¬
don, or other large towns, he would find them very deficient
in several points, essential to any purpose but harness—shoul¬
ders and hinder legs especially. But it is fortunate for
breeders of horses, that it does not require true symmetry
and action to form a grand coach-horse. His false points
are, for the most part, concealed by his trappings ; and if
he be anything near the following form he will make an
excellent appearance in harness. His head is not so ma¬
terial, as the bridle covers so much of it; but his neck should
rise well out of his shoulders, as the higher he carries his
head the better, provided the form of his neck admits of its
being drawn inward by the bearing rein, when only moder¬
ately tight, in which case he will be easily acted upon by
the driving rein. The back of the coach-horse is a material
point, as, without an easy slope behind the withers, his fore¬
hand will not appear grand, nor will the pad sit well upon
him. His hinder quarters should be straight and blood¬
like ; his gaskins well spread ; and his tail should be set on
high. His action should not be too short for town-work,
but the knee should be thrown well up in the trot, to give
him a grand appearance. This peculiar action, the result
of strong flexor tendons, suited nearly to this purpose only,
is observable in colthood, but is increased afterwards by the
horse being thrown more upon his haunches by the bit;
and the act of drawing is not unfavourable to it. Light
work in harness, indeed, is favourable to all action, that of
galloping excepted.
The North and East Ridings of Yorkshire maybe called
HORSE.
Coach- the modern Epirus, as the greater part of the London coach-
Horse. horses are bred there, and get into the dealers’ hands at
Howden and Northallerton fairs. The most usual cross is
between the thorough-bred horse and the Cleveland-bay
mare ; but the appearance of too many of them incline us
to believe that breeders resort, ofteuer than they should,
to the half-bred horse, as well as to the half-bred mare.
This, added to the rich grass land they are bred upon, ac¬
counts for the coarse, ill-placed shoulders, and flat, fleshy
feet that so many of the London coach-horses exhibit. For
road-work, in noblemen and gentlemen’s carriages, horses
cannot be too nearly full blood, provided they have strength
equal to their work. Here, as over a country, “ it is the
pace that kills and as, in considerable velocity, the power
of a horse is nearly exhausted in moving his own body, he
needs every advantage we can give him.
The colour of the gentleman’s coach-horse is, for the
most part, bay or brown ; but by far the most imposing in
harness is the silver-gray, with black mane and tail. This
colour was held sacred by the ancients ; and Camillus is said
to have given great offence to the Romans by being drawn
through Rome, in his triumph, by four gray horses, no gene¬
ral having before ventured to do so. Gray coach-horses,
however (in which Sir Henry Peyton latterly delighted),
require the nicest grooming, and the best appointed harness.
The piebald look conspicuous, but very few like to drive
them. The skewballs are equally unfashionable, although
the late Duke of Beaufort, whose taste in these matters was
irreproachable, would have nothing else in his carriage.
Virgil was partial to the piebald, or party-coloured breed,
and mounts young Priam upon one of them in the fifth,
and Turnus in the ninth JEneid, both Thracian horses.
There are, however, a few points very necessary to be
observed in the purchase of the road coach-horse. As in
drawing, the force applied proceeds from the fulcrum formed
by the hinder feet, well spread gaskins and thighs form a
main excellence. His fore legs also should be good to
make him a safe wheel-horse, nor can he throw his whole
weight into his collar, unless he be sound in his feet. But
alas, how many are thus deprived of their natural powers,
by being worked upon unsound feet, and expected to exert
themselves to the utmost.
There is no truth so easily proved, or so painfully felt
by the post-master, at least in his pocket, as that it is the
pace that kills. A horse at a dead pull, or at the begin¬
ning of his pull, is enabled, by the force of his muscles, to
throw a certain weight into the collar. If he walk 4
miles in the hour, some part of that muscular energy must
be expended in the act of walking; and, consequently, the
power of drawing must be proportionally diminished. If
he trot 8 miles in the hour, more animal power is expended
in the trot, and less remains for the draught; but the
draught continues the same, and, to enable him to accom¬
plish his work, he must tax his energies to a degree that is
cruel in itself, and that must speedily wear him out.
Let it be supposed, what every horse cannot accomplish,
that he shall be able, by fair exertion and without distress,
to throw, at a dead pull, a weight into his collar, or exert a
force equal to 216 lb.; or, in other words, let him be able
to draw a load which requires a force of 216 lb. to move.
Let him next walk at the rate of 4 miles in an hour; what
force will he then be able to employ? We have taken
away some to assist him in walking, and we have left him
only 96 lb., being not half of that which he could exert
when he began his pull. He shall quicken his pace to
6 miles an hour, more energy must be exerted to carry
him over this additional ground. How much has he re¬
maining to apply to the weight behind him ? 54 lb. only.
We will make the 6 miles an hour 10; for it seems now
to be the fashion for the fast coach, and for almost every
coach, and every vehicle, to attempt this pace. How stands
659
the account with the poor beast? We have left him a Coach-
power equal to 32 lb. only to be employed for the purpose Horse,
of draught.
The load which a horse can draw is about fifteen times
greater than the power exerted, supposing the road to be
hard and level, and the carriage to run with little friction ;
and the horse which, at starting, can throw into the collar
a weight or force equal to 216 lb., will draw a load of 3200.
Let him, however, be urged on at the rate of 10 miles in
the hour; deduct the power used in swiftness of pace from
the sum total of that which he possesses, and what re¬
mains ? not a sixth part, not that which is equal to a
quarter of a ton, or, if it be a stage-coach, the energy
exerted in draught by the four horses will not be equal to
a ton.
The coach, and its passengers, and its luggage, weigh
more than this, and the whole is still drawn on, and must
be so. Whence comes the power ? from the overstrained
exertion, the injury, the torture, the destruction of the
horse. That which is true of the coach-horse, is equally
true of every other. Let each reader apply it to his own
animal, and act as humanity and interest dictate.
It would be in vain to attempt any standard for road
coach-horses. They must be picked up where they can
be found, and, if possessed of action, the rest must be left
to chance. A good constitution is desirable, for many die
in the “ seasoning,” as it is called, on the road, and a young,
green horse cuts a poor figure in a fast coach. Coach-
masters are too much given to purchase infirm horses, by
which they incur loss, for, if quite sound, it is as much as
can be expected that they remain so for any moderate
length of time; and we believe the average duration of
horses in fast work is not more than four years, if pur¬
chased sound. Unsound horses, then, cannot be supposed
to last nearly so long, independently of the cruelty of
driving them. The most likely horse, however, to stand
sound, and do his work well in a fast coach, is one that,
with sufficient strength and a good set of limbs, has action
sufficiently speedy to admit of his keeping time without
going at the top of his pace. When this is the case, he
runs his stage, from end to end, within himselfj and is as
good at the last as he was at the first; but when he can¬
not command the pace, he soon becomes distressed, and is
weak at the end of his stage. This accounts for sundry
accidents having occurred by wheel-horses being unable to
hold back a loaded coach down hill, at the end of the stage,
although they would have been more than equal to it at
the beginning of it. In fact, many coach-horses are very
good for 8 miles, but very bad for 10, so nicely are their
powers measured in harness. Above all things, we recom¬
mend good legs and feet in working horses, if they are to
be had; and an extra price is well laid out in procuring
them. Whether they are strong in their harness, in very
fast work, cannot be discovered until they are tried; but
well bred ones, having substance, are most likely to prove so.
Coach-horses are subject to many accidents, and some
diseases nearly peculiar to themselves. Amongst the for¬
mer is the fracture of a leg, or the coffin-bone of the foot,
occasioned generally, it is supposed, by treading on a stone,
or any other uneven surface, when the limb is strained in
draught. It, however, sometimes happens when the horse
is trotting along on very fair ground, and in such cases the
accident is rather difficult to account for. In very heavy
draught, when the foot is much overcharged with the weight
and pressure of the body, a fracture will sometimes take
place at the first step the horse takes. Perhaps these acci¬
dents may be independent of what is called shape and make,
but coach proprietors would do well to purchase their horses
with good legs and feet, and then they are less liable to
these accidents, and, with good care and good shoeing, may
last many years in very quick work.
660
HORSE.
Gig- The diseases peculiar to coach-horses are the megrims
Horse. an(j the lick. The former attacks the head, and is caused
by irregular motion of the fluids within the vessels of the
brain, stopping, for a time, all voluntary motion. The
horse in consequence staggers and falls, if not immediately
pulled up, and that does not always prevent him. Phis
species of vertigo is generally produced by the effect of a
hot sun, especially if the horse be running in the face of it,
for which reason horses subject to megrims are generally
worked at night. In fact, many coach-horses are good
horses by night, although they cannot keep their time by
day, in the summer, particularly thick-winded horses. Blind
horses also do not like sun, but “ as healthy as a blind horse
in the winter” is a proverb.
The lick can scarcely be called a disease, but it greatly
injures the condition and appearance of coach-horses. When
under its influence, they are almost constantly, when not
feeding, licking each other’s skins, or else the rack or man¬
ger. It proceeds from a heated state of the stomach, from
the excitement of high food, and almost daily profuse
sweating, and is invariably removed by alterative medicines
or physic.
A great mistake is made by too many coach-masters in
being under instead of over horsed for their ground. In¬
stead of keeping five horses to work a certain length of
ground, and feeding them very high to perform it, it would
answer them better to keep six horses on the same allow¬
ance of corn that the five horses are eating. The stock
would last longer, and the money they cost be “ kept to¬
gether,” as the term is, longer, by such means. Each horse
wrould then rest two days out of six, when they were all fit
for work, which would keep him very fresh in condition;
and there would always be one spare horse left, in case
either of the six wanting physic or rest. It is the almost
every-day excitement that breaks down the constitution of
coach-horses.
THE GIG-HOUSE.
Once on a time a country parson and his wife, or a
wealthy old farmer, were the only persons seen in England
in two-wheeled carriages, then called Whiskies. They
were useful though far from ornamental vehicles, having
what is termed a “ head” to protect the inmates from wea¬
ther, and, with a very quiet horse, were considered as nearly
equal in security to close four-wheeled carriages. In the
character and appellations of these carriages, however, a
wonderful alteration has taken place within the last fifty
years, and even royalty itself has been seen seated in gigs,
cabriolets, Stanhopes, and Tillburies; the two last taking
their names from the inventors of their peculiar forms.
The build of these two-wheeled carriages has reached the
very summit of perfection, not only as regards their firm¬
ness but their elegance ; and it is scarcely necessary to add,
that the horses driven in them, as likewise their harness,
have equally altered their character. From 200 to 300
guineas (and, in one instance, 700 guineas were paid) have
been no uncommon prices given for gig and cabriolet
horses ; and for gentleman’s work we might put 70 as the
average of the last forty years.
The choice of a gig-horse (for we confine ourselves to
that term for the present) must be regulated by local cir¬
cumstances. If for London streets, his action should be
rather lofty or “ grand,” as the term is, than fast; that is to
say, he should step with his knee much elevated, which of
course is unfavourable to speed. His appearance also
should be of the first order of his species, not under 15
hands 2 inches in height; and if of a fancy colour, the more
money will he fetch in the market. He must be well
bitted, carrying his head high, and very quick in getting
into his trot, or “ upon his legs,” as coachmen say, to en¬
able his driver to make his way in crowded streets. We
should also add, that this quickness in his motions should
be accompanied by perfectly good temper, and freedom
from all vice ; in which case he is always worth 100 guineas,
or more, if in the prime of life and sound.
For the country a different sort of gig-horse is required.
In drawing a gig on a soft or newly gravelled road, the
resistance is much the same as a continual hill; and there¬
fore a horse with a quick, short step is best calculated for
the road, as such action fatigues less than that which we
have recommended for London. For all purposes, how¬
ever, a horse in single harness, to be safe, should be well
up before; that is to say, he should go with his fore quar¬
ters high up, and not boring on his shoulders. In this case,
if he have well-placed shoulders, good legs, and sound feet,
free from corns and thrushes; good natural courage to in¬
duce him to “ run up to his bit,” and a good mouth, there
will be very little danger of his falling down in a gig; but
accidents from vice must depend upon other circumstances.
These accidents, however, are often the result not of real
vice, or even of ill temper, but of want of knowledge in his
owner of putting him properly into his harness, as well as
of driving him afterwards.
Innumerable accidents to horses in gigs arise from some
part of the harness pinching him, particularly about his
withers or back, when he will endeavour to kick himself
out of it, to rid himself of the torment. Indeed we have
more than once seen a road coach-horse, in regular work,
set a-kicking merely from a twisted trace rubbing edgeways
against the outside of his thigh.
We consider mares objectionable in single harness, for
reasons which are obvious; and few of them are to be
trusted at certain periods of the year, particularly in the
case of a rein getting under the tail. When driven, the
precaution of the safety rein should not be omitted. We are
also of opinion that numerous accidents from gigs would be
prevented, if horses intended for them were to be broken
in to them in bridles without winkers, as a great portion
of the horses on the Continent are driven. The not know¬
ing what they have behind them is a natural cause of alarm,
and would by this means be obviated.
Post-
Horse.
THE POST-HORSE.
This description of horse, although its day is quite gone
by, is one of the most useful we have. He is spoken of by
Xenophon, in allusion to the posts instituted by the first
Cyrus, and as the most expeditious method of travelling
by land {Cyropcedia, lib. viii., p. 496, edit. Hutchinson) ; al¬
though, perhaps, he was chiefly made use of to forward
public despatches. Augustus was the first to introduce
post-houses, and consequently post-horses and post-chaises,
amongst the Romans, disposed at convenient distances
(Suet, in vit. Aug. vi., 49), but these were chiefly for the
purpose of political intelligence. Thus, in a letter from
Pliny to Trajan, we find him informing the emperor of his
having granted a courier a warrant to make use of the public
posts, as he wished him to be quickly in possession of some
important facts, communicated to him by the King of Sar¬
dinia; and he subsequently (Letter cxxi.) apologizes to his
royal master for having ventured, on his own responsibility,
to grant an order for his wife to be forwarded by post-
chaises, on occasion of a domestic affliction. His letter pro¬
duced a kind answer from the emperor, approving, in this
peculiar instance, of the use of the warrants which he had
entrusted to his care.
The character and appearance of this class of horses, as
well as of all others, has undergone a marked improvement
in comparatively modern times. Up to the end of the last
century the post-horse was, except in a few instances, an
HORSE.
Cart- object of commiseration with travellers. With galled sides
Horse, and sore shoulders, and scarcely a sound limb, he would
—v—not go without the lash or spur; whereas he now comes
out of his stable in high condition, and runs his 10 miles
stage in an hour with a carriage of the average weight, and
12, if required, with a light one. He is also seen to per¬
form either of these tasks without being distressed, unless
in immoderately hot weather, when humane persons would
check his speed. Montaigne says, “ There is a certain
general claim of kindness and benevolence which every
creature has a right to from man,” a sentiment in which we
heartily concur; for, although man may be considered as
the delegate of heaven over inferior animals, he has no right
to go to the very extremity of his authority. It is, however,
much to be feared that a thoughtless indifference to the
sufferings of the post-horse is too frequently to be laid with
661
truth to travellers in our own country, who, without any Cart-
sufficient reason, urge him to a rate of speed which cannot Horse,
be unattended with suffering.
The form of the good post-horse should resemble that of
the hunter, which is generally ridden in the deep and close
hunting counties of Great Britain; that is, with as much
blood as can be got, in conjunction with good bone and
strength. The riding horse of the pair must have sound
legs and feet; but, if a little the worse for wear, an old
hunter makes an excellent hand-horse (if he will not lie
down the moment he has to take to his collar at a hill), and
innkeepers generally avail themselves of the saving occa¬
sioned by putting horses of a less price in that place than
the one which carries the driver. Notwithstanding this, the
average purchase money of a useful pair of post-horses can¬
not be estimated at less than from L.oO to L.70.
THE CART-HORSE.
Errors detected by experience are allowed to be equal
to demonstration ; but this truism is not admitted by a vast
majority of English farmers, who persevere in the use of the
heavy horse for agricultural purposes, for which, solely, he
is by no means fitted, from the slowness of his step (inde¬
pendently of his weight), unless very highly fed. As long,
however, as the ponderous vehicles made use of in London
and elsewhere for the transmission of heavy goods are per¬
severed in, this equally ponderous animal, which sometimes
weighs a ton, may be necessary ; but it is certain that lighter
horses in lighter vehicles would do the business better, that
is, more speedily and at less cost. Notwithstanding the ob¬
jections to him, the heavy cart-horse pays well for rearing;
for, being always saleable at two years old, a certain profit
is insured, as for the first year the expense of keeping him
is trifling. If on a large scale, and promising to be fit for
the London market, or the best-conducted road waggons,
he commands a price that leaves a handsome surplus to the
breeder.
The chief desiderata in the cart-horse are substance and
action. If possessed of the latter, his shoulders and fore¬
quarters can scarcely be too coarse and heavy ; for drawing
being an effort of the animal to preserve himself from the
tendency which his weight gives him to the centre of gravity
when he inclines forward, so the more weighty he is before
and the nearer he approximates this centre, the more ad¬
vantageously will he apply his powers. Notwithstanding
this, we are not advocates of heavy horses for farmers’ work,
much less on the road. The lighter horse gets over in eight
hours what would take the heavy one ten ; and the great
improvement in the present mode of culture, and the imple¬
ments used for agricultural purposes, do not require more
weight or strength than what the Suffolk, Clydesdale, Cleve¬
land-bay, and other lighter breeds, are masters of. Besides,
there are periods of the year when despatch of business is
of great moment to the fanner, which he cannot command
in those mountains of horse-flesh which we see labouring in
most of the finest districts in England, tiring themselves by
their own weight.
Travellers on the Continent, occupying land in England,
should carry in their eye the form and action of the horses
which draw the public carriages, particularly those bred in
Picardy, in France. The prevailing colour is iron roan,
and their nature appears to sympathize with that colour; for^
ertion, as also to the safety of the rider. Irish hunters are Scotch
generally good brook jumpers, being educated, indeed bred, Horse,
amongst drains ; but field gates, or stiles, being of rare oc-
currence in the pastoral districts of Ireland, they are not
to be relied upon as timber leapers, until they have been
initiated to that description of fence.
Persons who have had experience in Irish hunters have
found them very shy of having a whip, with a thong to it,
made use of by the rider, either for the purpose of smack¬
ing it, or to strike an unruly hound. This, we fear, pro¬
ceeds from unnecessary severity in the exercise of the whip
in breaking, but which would be obviated if breeders were
aware of the inconvenience it occasions to servants, who
are called upon to ride Irish horses with hounds in the ca¬
pacity of huntsmen or whippers-in. We have seen a few
of these horses nearly useless from this cause, as servants’
horses; although well suited, in every other respect, to
this peculiar purpose from their style of fencing and hardi¬
ness.
The Irish race-horse was formerly far behind the Eng¬
lish; but he has latterly—as Harkaway, Foig-a-Ballagh,
The Baron, Irish Birdcatcher, Russborough, and Knight of
St George, have proved—shown himself a match for them
both in the stud and on the Turf. For their first good run¬
ners the Irish were principally indebted to Lords Sligo and
Rossmore, and to the late Mr Bowes Daly, who was es¬
teemed the best judge of breeding racers that Ireland ever
could boast of. It must, however, be admitted that horses
bred and trained in one country, and running in another,
meet their rivals under disadvantageous circumstances, in
consequence of the loss of condition consequent on a sea
voyage.
speaking figuratively, they are as hard as iron itself. It is not
unusual to find four or five of them drawing those cumbrous
diligences, weighing perhaps 6 or 7 tons, a 20-mile stage at
the rate of 6 miles an hour, preserving up their condition
to the highest pitch; and this with hay and corn very in¬
ferior in quality to that grown in England. To keep up
the condition of the English cart-horse, requires him to con¬
sume nearly as much as his labour is worth ; and unless he
lives well he is only half alive, which his sluggish action de¬
notes. In fact, his chief fault lies in his having too great a
body and too little spirit, consequently he exhausts himself
in the mere act of carrying that body. The nimbleness of
the smaller kinds of cart-horses to which we have alluded,
is owing to their moderate size ; and their immense powers
in lifting weight (with the Suffolk Punch, and Clydesdale
breeds, in particular) to the same cause, combined with the
low position of the shoulder, which occasions weight to be
acted upon in a just and horizontal direction. The Welsh
cart-horses, especially those in use in the counties of Den¬
bigh, Merioneth, and Montgomery, are eminently adapted to
all agricultural purposes, combining much strength with a
great share of activity; and the general criteria of a wide
breast, with low shoulders, good carcase, and small head,
indicate their being good workers, with hardihood of consti¬
tution. Their height is about 15 hands 2 inches; and their
colour black or brown.
THE IRISH HORSE.
The Irish hackney may be reckoned amongst the indi-
genae of his country, a sui generis animal, not mixed as the
English hackney is, with the black cart-horse, originally
and still brought over by dealers from Flanders. He is
remarkable for the general soundness of his feet, which are
stronger in the heels than those of English horses, and he
stands his work well, if not too much abused in his youth.
Almost all Irish horses coming under this description have
been broken into the plough and the car, so they, for the
most part, go in harness ; but the worst fault they have is
not having been properly broken in, and bitted, which is
the cause of many of them being restive.
The Irish hunter is a very different animal from what he
was half a century back. He was always celebrated for
leaping, but until lately the want of breeding rendered him
nearly useless as a hunter, in the countries wdiich require
speed, as well as the accomplishment of leaping. At the
present time great numbers of excellent well-bred Irish
hunters are annually imported into England, and being
found to answer well, fetch good prices. This is the result
of horse-breeders in Ireland seeing the necessity of putting
their hunting mares to thorough-bred stallions, and not, as
before, to the slow, great-jumping hunter, no matter how
low his breed. The improved cross, being again put to the
thorough-bred stallion, of course has produced a still better
kind of animal, and thus are Irish hunters “ progressing”
towards perfection.
The method of leaping of the native Irish horse is pecu¬
liarly suited to some of our English counties, Cheshire and
Lancashire, for example, and likewise to those inclosed
with walls both in England and Scotland. To use an ex¬
pressive Irish phrase, “ they have always a leg to spare,”
implying that they have a ready use of their hinder legs ;
which is the fact, in tipping or touching walls or banks,
with one or both, which gives them a fresh fulcrum, from
which they can extend their leap, in case of their finding
an unforeseen difficulty or obstacle on the landing side. In
the wall counties of Ireland, indeed, the horses are taught
to alight on their hinder legs upon the summit of the wall,
after the manner of the dog when he leaps a gate, which,
if the wall be broad and firm, adds to the facility of the ex¬
THE SCOTCH HORSE.
Like all cold countries, Scotland is unfavourable to breed¬
ing the race-horse in his best form; and the only prospect
of rearing him to anything approaching perfection is to
shelter him with unusual care from the weather, when either
cold or wet, and to force him with the highest keep.
Scottish-bred hunters, however, are esteemed in the hunt¬
ing world as a stout, hardy race; and they, like the Irish,
are now well enough bred to live with any hounds at the
speedy rate at which those animals run, according to the
fashion of the present day. Of the native Highland pony
it is unnecessary to say much, its merits being so well
known; and the Scotch cart-horses are decidedly the best
in Great Britain. The peculiar variety known as Clydes¬
dale horses stand first in repute. Of the origin of this race
various accounts have been given, but none of them so
clear or so well authenticated as to merit much notice.
They acquired their appellation, not because they are pecu¬
liar to Clydesdale, as the same description of horses are
bred in the other western counties of Scotland, and over
all that tract which lies between the Clyde and the Forth,
but because the principal markets at which they are sold—
namely, Lanark, Carnwath, Rutherglen, and Glasgow—are
situated in that district, where they are also preserved in a
state of greater purity than in most other parts. They are
rather larger than the Suffolk-punch, and the neck is some¬
what longer ; their colour is black, brown, or gray ; all the
essential points for heavy draught are very conspicuously
developed ; and they are extremely docile withal, and ex¬
cellent at what is called a dead pull. Mr Charles Philips,
of Cracrop, Cumberland, is the best English breeder of
them; and some of his two-year-olds, according to The
Druid, have been sold in Canada at 4 shillings and 8 pence
per pound ! Some magnificent specimens of this breed are
to be seen in the streets of Glasgow, in the service of mer¬
chants and carriers. We have reason to believe that, if
tried by a dynamometer, the Clydesdale horse would exceed
HOUSE.
663
Treatment any other of his inches and weight in his powers of draught;
of Horses, and his quick step adds much to his value.
GENERAL TREATMENT OF HORSES.
Humanity and mercy are esteemed the choicest charac¬
teristics of man ; and there is hardly a greater instance of
ill-nature, or a more certain token of a cruel disposition,
than the abuse of dumb animals, especially of those who
contribute to our convenience and pleasure. Judge Hale Treatment
beautifully expresses himself on this subject in his Contem- of Horses.
plations. “ There is a degree of justice,” says he, “ due i ■-v—'
from man to the creatures, as from man to man; and an
excessive use of the creatures’ labour is an injustice for
which he must account. I have therefore always esteemed
it a part of my duty to be merciful to my beasts.” We
know of no remedy for this ; but it is pleasing to reflect that
in all classes of society so noble, generous, and useful an
animal as the horse, is now freed from many evils to which
1.1.1. Muzzle, parts
about, the
mouth.
2. Gullet.
3. 3. Windpipe.
4. Crest.
5. Withers.
6. Chest,or coun¬
ter.
7. 7. Girth.
8. Back.
9. Loins.
10. Hip, or ilium.
11. Croup.
12. Haunch, or
quarters.
13. Thigh.
14. Hock.
15. Shank, or can¬
non.
16. Fetlock.
17. Pastern.
18. Shoulder-hone,
or scapula.
19. Elbow.
20. Fore-thigh, or
fore-arm.
21. Knee.
22. Coronet.
23. Point of the
hock.
24. Ham-string.
he was formerly subjected. In fact, if the Society for the
Suppression of Cruelty to Animals hear of a case, they will
send their agent any distance to prosecute it. The short¬
docking of the cart-horse, the effect of prejudice and igno¬
rance, it being supposed to add strength to his back, is very
generally discontinued, and he is allowed the use of a full
tail, the only natural defence against the torment of flies in
the summer. Those barbarous operations, nicking the tail,
and cropping the ears of pleasure horses, are very seldom
had recourse to; neither is firing the limbs nearly so fre¬
quent a remedy as it was, veterinary science having substi¬
tuted other equally efficacious, but less painful means. And,
though last, not least, the improved condition, and the effect
of better stable management, on all horses employed in fast
work, has very considerably lessened their sufferings. On
this subject we offer the following remarks:—
Condition, or Stable Management of the Horse.
The improvement in training the race-horse has been the
result of two distinct causes, each equally likely to produce
the desired effect. First, practical experience, an excel¬
lent schoolmaster in such matters; and, secondly, both
breeders and trainers of this animal now look into books,
not only reading them, but reflecting upon what they read.
As we have already observed, trainers dislike green meat,
and a racing-colt may now be said to be in training, if not
from the day on which he is foaled, from that on which he
is weaned; for his condition, at least the foundation of it,
is from that period in progress. Again, the early period of
his going into work, compared with what it formerly was,
but now become so general, has not been without its effect.
It has called forth additional exercise of the trainer’s pro¬
fessional skill; for it may easily be imagined that bringing
very young horses to the post, in the perfect state of con¬
dition and full development of muscular power in which we
now-a-days see them at every race-meeting in our island, is
a very difficult task, and that it is a still more difficult one
to preserve them in that state, even for a few days. On the
whole, the training system of the present day is not nearly
so severe as it was ; and railways have done much towards
keeping horses in condition, by allowing them to stay at
their own stables and training-ground till within a few hours
of the race, instead of losing condition by a long walk on
the road, and even to say nothing of a fresh stable and fresh
water every night. Many of the great favourites have now
their own food and water brought to a race-meeting with
them for fear of risks, as change of water especially is most
detrimental to a horse in form. Both constitution and tem¬
per being to be consulted, the very refinement of the art is
called for; in fact, the trainer must act upon principle, and
very cautiously too, in his efforts to forestal nature. Inas¬
much, however, as muscular action produces muscular
strength, the racer of the present day, reared as he is reared,
and consequently in a more condensed form, does not, with
few exceptions, require the very severe work which it was
formerly necessary to give him to increase his natural
powers, as well as to rid him of the bulk of flesh and hu¬
mours he acquired in his colthood under the old system of
rearing him. A sight of our two-year-olds at the starting-
post is the best demonstration of what is here stated. They
exhibit a developement of muscle in their forced and early
maturity almost equal to that of the adult horse, and carry
8 st. 7 lb. and even upwards, at a racing pace; a weight
664
HORSE.
Treatment unheard of upon so young an animal in former times. How
of Horses. farj however, this forced maturity and its consequences
v—namely, severe work, and the excitement of high keep, at
so tender an age—are favourable to him or to his produce
in after life is another question; but the use of a system
should never be estimated by the abuse of it. If our race¬
horses are not, and we believe they are not, so stout in theii
running as formerly—that is to say, twenty years back—the
cause may fairly be traced to the great value of produce
stakes and others, which bring them to the post at so early
an ap-e ; so much so, that, in the language of the turf, a four-
year-old colt of the present day is called “ the old horse”
But a still more material alteration for the better has
taken place during the last thirty years in the stable ma¬
nagement and condition of the British hunter, arising prin-
cipally from a different treatment of him in the non-hunting
months. It had, from time immemorial, been the usual re¬
mark of the sportsman, on his hunters being turned out of
their stable in the spring, for the supposed necessary advan¬
tage of the “ summer’s run at grass,” that it was to be
lamented that the hunting season was concluded, as the
condition of his stud was so perfect. The fact was that
until then, or nearly till then, they had not been in condi¬
tion at all; and, how strange soever it may appear to any
one reflecting upon this subject, by the act of turning them
to grass for this “ summer’s run,” he was about to undo all
that his groom and himself had been doing during the nine
preceding months—namely, to destroy the perfect state of
condition which he was at that time lamenting over. Still
more strange, however, is the fact, that although the evils
of this out-of-door system for three months in the year to
an animal who lived the other nine in warm stables and
well clothed, were hinted at by Mr Beckford in his cele¬
brated Letters upon Hunting, and abandoned by a few of
our first-rate sportsmen of, and subsequent to, his day, and
particularly about the commencement of the present cen¬
tury, by the example of the Earl of Sefton, when he was
owner of the Quorndon hounds in Leicestershire, still the
ruinous system of the three, and generally four months’ run
at grass (viz., from 1st of May to the 12th or 20th of Au¬
gust) continued to be practised until these evils were ex¬
posed in all their appalling deformity, and the advantages
of an opposite system made manifest in a series of letters
in the Old Sporting Magazine, under the signature of
“ Nimrod,” which have since been published in a separate
form, and very widely circulated. We may also add that
the effect of this exposure has been nearly a general aban¬
donment of the grazing system in the studs of all men who
mean to ride near hounds.
Previously to our enumerating the real advantages of the
modern system of “ summering the hunter,” we will state
the imaginary ones of the old one, and which, as may be
supposed, are still held to be such by those who reluctantly
acquiesce in any kind of reform. First, the purging by
spring grass is insisted upon. Secondly, a relaxation of the
muscles, and what is called a letting down of the whole
system to its natural state. Thirdly, the benefit the feet
receive from the dews of the evening, and coming in con¬
tact with the cool earth. Fourthly, the saving of expenses.
Fifthly, a kind feeling towards the animal, who, they say,
is entitled to his liberty for a certain period of the year, also
to the free enjoyment of his natural state. And, lastly, the
absolute necessity of rest to the limbs, after the labours of
the preceding season. We will now make our own com- Treatment
ment on each of these presumed facts. of Horses.
And, first, we admit there is a laxative, and therefore a
cooling, property in early spring grass, but as a purgative it
is insufficient, which is admitted by the fact of its having^
been generally considered necessary to give two doses of
physic to hunters previously to their being turned abroad
for the summer (thus administering the antidote, as it were,
before the poison), and to physic them immediately when
taken up. Here, then, is at once an answer to the first ob¬
jection to the improved system of in-door treatment in the
summer; even supposing that spring grass could not be given
to a horse in a loose box, whereas it is evident that it can.
Secondly, the entire letting down of the system, by a
sudden change of food from that which is highly invigorat¬
ing to that which is only succulent and relaxing, is neither
called for, nor can it be wholesome. It is never had re¬
course to with the race-horse during his period of inactivity,
and why should it be with the hunter? We would ask the
owner of a horse so treated, how he thinks it would agree
with his own constitution and his digestion, to be suddenly
taken from beef and port-wine to a purely vegetable diet;
and the analogy holds good.1
Thirdly, a great mistake has prevailed on this point, the
preservation of the feet. A certain degree of moisture is
beneficial to the foot of the horse, a continued exposure to
wet most injurious to it, as the certain cause of thrushes,
and in time total destruction of the frogs. Thus, history
informs us that the horses in Hannibal’s army were rendered
unserviceable by travelling many days in succession in very
wet ground. But we have better authority here than that
of Livy, because it applies to horses which wore shoes,
whereas Hannibal’s wore none. Mr Goodwin senior, late
veterinary surgeon to his Majesty George IV., in his
work on the Diseases of the Feet (p. 209, 1st edit.), has the
following passage, in allusion to the evils of having the feet
of horses saturated, as they must be during a summer, with
wet at one time, and then suddenly exposed to a hot sun
and a drying wind at another. “ I have invariably ob¬
served,” says Mr Goodwin, “ where horses are turned out to
grass during the dry and hot summer months, that on
bringing them up to be put into stable condition, their feet
are in a much worse state than they were when they went
out, dried up, and so hard and brittle, that, on the applica¬
tion of a tool to bring them into a form to receive a shoe,
the horn breaks like a piece of glass, and all the naturally
tough and elastic property is lost, so that it requires some
months to remove the bad eftects. If it is necessary that a
horse should be put out of work during the hot and dry
weather, I prefer a large box or shed, and soiling with green
food; by which means two objects are gained, viz., all the
injurious effects of a drying wind or a meridian sun on the
hoof are avoided, which create such an excessive evapora¬
tion of the natural moisture absorbed into the horn from with¬
in, that it not only becomes dry, hard, and biittle,^ but the
whole horny box tightens on the sensible parts, and frequent¬
ly produces great mischief. But in a loose place, moistuie
may be applied in any desirable way. In addition to the
above, Mr Goodwin says, “ Horses at grass are much in¬
clined to thrusheswhich renders it unnecessary for us to
say more on this subject at present, although we shall by-
and-bye offer the result of our own experience in the treat¬
ment of horses’ feet in the summer.
i In No. 59, vol. v, p. 645, of the Vmrinarian, we find the Editor coinciding with Nimrod on this point, in his second review of
his Letters on Condition. “ These pithy and valuable extracts,” says he, “ at the same time that they serve to expose our author s
views in regard to summering the hunter, demonstrate a sagacity and experience on the subject, no less worthy of t e a mira ion o
the professional man, than of the sportsman himself. The leading consideration in summering the hunter is to maintain is con i ion,
or rather, we should say, to guard against his losing that which we know, both by education as medical men, and experience as sP°i s*
men, once lost, will require much time and pains to be re-acquired. Change of food is necessarily productive, in the anima cons i u-
tion, of alteration of structure; though parts cannot be said to change their nature under their influence, yet they do become grea y
altered both in texture and in tone.”
HORSE.
Treatment Fourthly, a saving in expense. This is an objection too
of Horses, trifling to be admitted in opposition to any real advantages.
It was calculated by Nimrod1 (allowing only 4s. per week
to have been the charge for each horse, supposing him to
have been summered at grass), that the extra expense of
his six hunters summered after his system, which we shall
further explain, amounted to only L.13, 18s. The mere
chance in favour of exemption from accidents to which
horses abroad are liable, is worth more than this inconsider¬
able sum to the man who keeps six hunters in his stable ;
but twice its amount would be realized in the sale of any
of the six, if offered at the hammer in November, beyond
the sum he would have produced had he been summered
solely in the fields.
Fifthly, we would go any length in advocating the extreme
of kind treatment to so noble an animal as the horse ; but
experience has taught us, that neither the open field, nor
the shade, is a bed of roses, in the summer months, to the
well-bred, and naturally thin-skinned hunter; for the oes¬
trum, or blood-sucker, pursues him in each; and the
desperate attempts he often makes to avoid them, shows
the horror he has of their attacks. But, unluckily for the
advocates of this system, one of the greatest evils of the
out-of-door system here stares us in the face. If the horse
cannot get away from this host of tormentors, his only re¬
medy against them is, galloping from one end of his pasture
to the other, or else stamping with his feet against the hard
ground, and often against the roots of trees, to scare them
from one part of his body, only to settle upon another. The
injury to both feet and legs from a daily succession of these
operations, may be left to the imagination of the reader;
but against the charge of cruelty, we quote the following
remark from Nimrod’s Letters (p. 268, first edition) : “ In
the very hot weather” (he is speaking of the summer of
1825, which was remarkable for the intenseness of its heat),
“ I made a few observations, which are not irrelevant to
my present purpose, particularly as to the charge of cruelty
in keeping hunters in the house in the summer. On the
29th of July, one of the hottest days, the thermometer was
one degree higher, at 2 o’clock at noon, in my two four-
stall stables, in each of which three horses had stood for
sixteen days and nights, than it was in the entrance-hall of
my house, which is 23 feet high, and contains three large
windows and six doors, and the aspect due east. Now, will
any one tell me, that the most tender animal could be in¬
jured by breathing such an atmosphere as this? But all is
not yet told. I removed the thermometer on the same day,
and at the same hour, into the shade, and there it was four
degrees higher than in my two four-stall stables. Here,
then, the objection to horses standing ‘ sweating in the
stables in the summer time,’ returns to its real insignifi¬
cance.”
Lastly, upon the subject of rest, and the means of pro¬
curing the advantages of it to the hunter by a summer’s run
in the fields, we cannot do better than quote from the same
author. “ When discussing the subject,’ says he (p. 262),
“ of summering hunters, w ith a friend who is an advocate for
the grazing system, he made use of the following expres¬
sion : ‘ I dare say it may be all very well to keep them in the
house in the summer, but then they have not the benefit of
the rest which they get when at grass.’ I could not help
smiling at this strange perversion of facts ; and ventured to
ask him, Whether, if he were examined in natural philoso-
665
phy, and asked, what is rest, he would answer, motion ? Treatmont
and that would not be a whit less absurd. If rest be de- Horses.
sirable, as we know it is, for a hunter’s legs, after the la-
hours of a winter, surely he must obtain it more effectually
in a small confined place, than when suffered to run over a
large tract of land, and to stamp the ground with his feet
for so many hours each day.” Neither does the labour to
the legs end here. All persons who have ridden horses
whose growth has been forced in their bodies, as that of
most hunters has been, must have perceived that, when
letting them drink in shallow water, their fore legs totter
under them, in the attempt to reach the water with their
mouth. Such is the case with the hunter, at least with the
properly formed one, when in the act of grazing (for the
horse prefers a short bite); and the tremour in his legs
shows the stress that is laid upon them, to enable him to
reach his food. In fact, many horses (and we could name
some well-known hunters) cannot reach the ground at all
with their mouths, unless it be by the painful position of
placing one fore foot close to their mouth, and the other
even with the hinder legs; and consequently their owners
have not been able to turn them out, had they been inclined
to do so.
It is now our turn to be heard on this important subject
to all owners of hunters; and we proceed to state, that the
principal objection to summering a horse abroad, consists
in the danger we expose him to by the violent change from
a stable at the temperature of 63° (the common one of
hunting stables), and the addition of warm clothing, to a
bed upon the cold ground on a wet night; or, which often
happens in the month of May, to the influence of sharp
frost; all this, also, when the animal has scarcely any coat
on his back to provide against the effects of bad weather;
and with a skin highly porous, from long continued friction
in the stable. As well might we expect to find animals
and plants that can sustain the heat of the torrid, and the
cold of the frigid zone, as horses to bear those extremes
with impunity! On the contrary, it is the confirmed opi¬
nion of most veterinary surgeons, that more hunters have
been ruined by becoming roarers, broken-winded, or blind,
from this cause, than from any other to which they are sub¬
jected ; and they are backed in their opinion by reason.
For it is not necessary that the newly-turned-out hunter
should be exposed to either a wet or a frosty .night, to pro¬
duce disordered functions; the common exhalations from
the ground in the evening, are sufficient to produce them,
by a sudden constriction of the pores, opened as they have
been by the effect of a hot sun during the day. “ Heat
and cold, moisture and dryness,” says Mr Percival, veterinary
surgeon to the First Life Guards, and author of the Ana¬
tomy of the Horse, in his last work on the Horse (p. 64),
when treating on the theory of inflammation, “ all in their
turn become excitants of inflammation ; their mischievous
agency residing more in the vicissitudes from one state to
its opposite, than in any obnoxiousness in our climate, from
their excess or continuance. They may operate either
directly as excitants, or indirectly, simply as predisposing
causes.” Few veterinarians, indeed, as Mr Percival ex¬
presses himself, now-a-days feel inclined to deny the unr
congeniality of cold and wet to the constitutions of horses,
or to maintain that they do not very often, in such situa¬
tions, contract the foundations for disease, which at some
future time is apt to break out and prove fatal to them.
1 Two tons five hundred-weights of hay, at L.4 per ton   L.9 0 0
Seventy-one bushels of oats, at 4s. 6d. per bushel   14 4 0
Beans   1 10 0
L.24 14 0
Six horses at grass nine weeks, at 4s. per week    10 16 0
4 P
VOL. XT.
L.13 18 0
666 HORSE.
Treatment Nor are the remarks of this scientific practitioner and most less due attention be paid to the temperature of the stable, Treatment
of Horses, perspicuous writer, less to our purpose, when speaking of are often the subjects of catarrhal attacks. . ofllorses.
the horse that is turned out of his stable in the winter. Perhaps the summer of 1835 may be produced in proof
“ Take a horse ” savs he, in his chapter on ‘ Hide-bound’ of the danger of subjecting stabled horses to atmospherical
(p 296) <( fat and sleek in condition, out of a warm stable, changes. In the first week of June, 78, 80, 82, and 84
where he has been well clothed and fed, turn him, during degrees of heat were marked by the thermometer. On the
the cold and wet of winter into a straw-yard, and go and 13th, the maximum of heat was 15 degrees less than that of
look at him three months afterwards, and you will hardly the preceding day; and on the 23d, the thermometer fell
recoo-nise your own horse. You will find him with a long, to 47 degrees, succeeded by four days’ rain, with wind
shaggy, staring coat; a belly double the size it was when veering to S.E., back to W., then to N. and N.E., at
in condition ; and a skin sticking close and fast to his ribs, times furiously high.
which may now be readily counted with the hand, if not We must be allowed two more remarks on the evils of
with the eye.” But here "the analogy between the horse the out-of-door system. Amongst the physical changes
turned out to grass in the summer, and the horse sent to a which the body is capable of receiving, none is so visibly
straw-yard in the winter ceases. The latter loses flesh, effected as in the diminished or increased size of the belly ;
and becomes hide-bound, both of which will find a remedy and the latter alternation of form is speedily effected by a
in a return to more generous food in the stable, with the horse eating grass, and nothing but grass. When a man
assistance of alterative medicine ; and he will speedily re- goes into training for a match against time, or a prize-fight,
sume his condition. But it will not be so with the grass- the first act of his trainer is, to reduce the size of his belly;
fed hunter. He has accumulated a load of soft, unhealthy for, until that is done, his respiration is not free enough
flesh, which must be got rid of at the expense of his legs to enable him to make such bodily exertions as are essen-
and feet; or, in the language of grooms, “ it must be ex- tial to augment his natural vigour, and put him into the
changed for better flesh, the produce of hay and corn.” best possible condition ; and this exactly applies to the
By feeding ad libitum, however, he has so plethorized his grass-fed hunter taken up in August. He has exchanged
system, and trespassed upon his digestive organs, that this an active untiring frame for a bloated and breathless carcass;
is become not merely a work of labour and time, but one and nothing can be done with him until, by purging and
of no small risk to the general soundness of his constitu- severe work, when he is not in a fit state to endure it with
tion. Nor is even this the extent of the mischief. Under impunity, the nature of his frame is altered from weakness
the most favourable circumstances, it is not in the power to vigorous health. But this must be the work of time, for,
of a groom, how good soever he may be, to bring the grass- although Nature will admit of improvement, she will not
fed hunter into the field, fit to be ridden, with hounds, un- allow herself to be hurried by the unreasonable innovations
til the hunting season is half expired. For proof of this of man.
assertion, we need only go to the race-horse, which cannot be Our next remarks relate to bodily infirmities and local
made fit to run under at least four months’ preparation, diseases, to which the horse, by the severity of his labours,
although he has not been at grass since he was six months is always more or less subject. Several of these, such as
old. Nature will not be put out of her course by violence ; splents, spavins, curbs, and ring-bones, are easily checked,
and horses can only be got into good condition by de- if discovered in their incipient state; but when, by being
grees, by long-continued slow work at first, increasing in undiscovered for only a short time, a certain progress is
pace as their condition increases ; and it has been the made in them, the cure is far from certain, at all events,
attempt to get the grass-fed hunter into something ap- more difficult. Now, under the old system of the summer’s
preaching to condition, by hurrying him in his work, under run abroad, this was most frequently the case. Horses,
a load of flesh, and with his muscles in a relaxed state, that when taken up, were found to have thrown out those ex-
has ruined thousands of good horses, by the injury done to crescences unperceived, which, as soon as they began to
their legs especially ; and will ruin thousands more, if per- work, caused lameness and disappointment; whereas, under
severed in. The change of food, again, has been the cause the improved system of summering the hunter, they could
of more broken-winded horses than anything else that can not have escaped the constant inspection of the groom, and
be named. “ It must dispose,” says Mr Percival, “ from an immediate check would have been given to them. The
its being the chief cause of plethora, to general diathesis of short-cough, vulgarly and stupidly called a “ grass-cough,”
the system; and so far it contributes to the production of also too often swelled the catalogue of disasters; and, in
pneumonia, or any other inflammatory affection.” To this six cases out of ten, ended in broken wind or roaring. But
we may add blindness, the natural consequence of the de- it may not here be amiss to address ourselves to owners of
pendent posture of the head when feeding, in an animal hunters, who may adopt either one system or the other of
in the plethoric state that a previously highly-fed hunter treating them in the summer months ; we mean, as regards
must fall into, after being some weeks at grass ; and like- their legs, the treatment of which now forms a conspicuous
wise of constant irritation from flies and sun. Neither feature in the science of the stable, particularly the racing
should the following remark of Mr Percival’s be forgotten stable. Many valuable animals are ruined in consequence
by gentlemen who turn out their hunters during a wet of their owners and their grooms not knowing, perhaps not
summer. “ Cold,” says he, “ abstractedly from wet, even wishing to know, when their legs are going amiss, and con-
although it be alternated with heat, is not found to be near sequently stopping them in their work, belbre the evil gets
so prejudicial as when moisture is present too; hence we a-head. It is irksome, no doubt, to give up the use of a
are in the habit of viewing frosty weather as a season of hunter, especially if a favourite one, and in blooming con-
health among horses; and hence it is that the spring and dition ; but it is only by such prudent conduct that we can
autumnal months are the most unhealthy, the weather expect a lengthened enjoyment of his services. It is a
being then moist and variable, and the wind generally in lamentable fact that, generally speaking, good-constitutioned
a cold quarter.” Again, “ Two undomesticated horses,” horses would wear out two sets of legs and feet, which
says he, “ out of three, under five years old, that are taken shows the urgent necessity of taking care of them,
from cold situations, and kept in warm stables, will receive We now take our leave of the old, and, we may add,
catarrh. But even domesticated horses that are advanced ruinous system of treating hunters in the summer, and pro¬
in years, and that have been accustomed to such changes, ceed to state how, in our opinion (the result of much ex-
do not always escape, unless some precautionary measures perience), they ought to be treated in the non-hunting
be taken ; for hunters taken up from grass in August, un- months; as also to offer a few directions for the manage-
H O K S E.
Treatment ment of them when in work. To begin, we are far from
of Horses, averse to resting the hunter in the summer, although we
cannot shut our eyes to the fact of horses working hard for
a great many years in succession, without experiencing
what is. here meant by “ rest” (namely, not having a saddle
on their backs for three or four months), and remaining
sound and healthy to the end of a long life. Our great
object is, to give the hunter fair play, by preserving, in¬
stead of destroying, his condition at the same time that we
rest him ; and in this we think, that, by preventing ex¬
haustion in his work when he returns to it, we offer him
much more than an equivalent for the fancied enjoyment
of his “ snuffing the air in his native liberty,” and “ making
his bed on the cool ground,” so stoutly insisted upon by
many of the old school, who will not inarch with the times,
and who cannot divest themselves of prejudices, how dear
soever they may cost them.
The period of “ turning up” not “ out” hunters towards
the close of the season should depend on circumstances.
Those whose legs may be doubtful, should be the first thrown
out of work ; and after them old ones, who, how well soever
they may go over a country when it is soft, are in danger
of breaking down when it becomes hard, as it always does
in March, particularly in ploughed countries.
The first act of a groom, when his horses have done their
work for the season, is to give them two doses of mild phy¬
sic, which, by their effect on their legs, will greatly assist
him in discovering the amount, if any, of the injury that
may have been done to them. Should anything serious
exhibit itself, we recommend him (unless he be a first-
rate professor of his art) to avail himself of the advice of a
veterinary surgeon, as to the steps proper to be taken ; and
the sooner those steps are taken, the better will it be for
his horses. The barbarous, the senseless, practice of blis¬
tering, generally the two fore legs, and often the hinder ones
also, previously to turning out, under the old system, is
now, we are glad to say, abandoned, not only on account of
its inutility, but, by the spread of veterinary science, sports¬
men have found out that the application of blisters to healthy
legs is injurious. The merely irritating the surface of the
skin cannot be productive of advantage ; on the contrary,
it often rouses the sleeping lion, which it is afterwards diffi¬
cult to pacify. As counteractors of internal inflammation,
or as counter-irritants, as they are called, blisters are highly
useful; likewise to all bony ex*1 rescences, such as splents,
spavins, or ring-bones, when in an incipient state ; but, in
order to render them efficacious, they should be repeated
till healthy pus is obtained. If judiciously applied in
strains, they are also not unserviceable, as they help to un¬
load the vessels near the affected part. Supposing, then,
no serious mischief has been done to the legs of a hunter
during the season, we thus proceed in our course of treat¬
ment of him :—
Previously to stripping him of his clothes, he should go
through his second dose of physic, and be treated exactly
as if he were in work for at least a fortnight afterwards, with
the exception of his having only walking exercise, a dimi¬
nished allowance of corn, and the wisp, without the brush,
applied to his body. We now arrive at a point on which
there is some difference of opinion, at all events, one which
must be left to the option of the owner; namely, whether,
as is the practice in the stables of some of our first-rate
sportsmen, the hunter is to be kept in gentle work through¬
out the summer, or to be thrown entirely aside for a certain
number of weeks, varying from nine to twelve ? We will,
however, state the best method of proceeding under each of
these systems.
The horse kept in work (we should rather have said ex¬
ercise) during the summer, should be exercised very early
in the morning on soft, but not wet ground (a low meadow,
or rather a marshy common, for example), that his feet may
667
have the advantage of moisture, and also that he may not Treatment
be tormented by flies, or exposed to a hot sun. Two hours ofHorses.
will be sufficient, the pace to be varied alternately from the
walk to the jog-trot. It is desirable that a horse thus treated
should not be tied up in a stall, but have the enjoyment of
a large loose house. Of course, attention should be paid
to his feet, removing his shoes every third or fourth week;
and they should be stopped with wet tow every second^
night. To those who object to this in-door treatment of
the hunter on the score of danger to his feet, we can only
say, from our own experience, that their fears are ground¬
less ; and we also refer them to the first cavalry barrack
they pass by, or even to the stables of our innkeepers on
the road, in which they will find feet in the highest state of
preservation, that have been subject to in-door treatment
for many years. We prefer damp tow to any other sort of
stopping for horses’ feet, because, exclusive of the mois¬
ture, it affords a uniform pressure to the frog and outer sole
of the foot, which is favourable to their healthy state. In¬
deed, to some of the finely-formed, open feet which we see
on first-rate hunters, the soles of which are apt to be thin,
this pressure is most advantageous in preventing a disposi¬
tion in them to become flat or convex, instead of moderately
concave ; and for this purpose was the “ horse-pad,” or
“ elastic stopping,” invented by Mr Cherry, veterinary sur¬
geon of London, which may be preferable to the tow, but
not always at hand. When the latter is used, it should be
forced into the foot with all the strength of a man’s fingers
or thumb.
The food of hunters thus summered should be regulated
by circumstances. Good flesh, we know, is strength; but
that which is generated in comparative idleness only con¬
tributes to weakness. Our object, then, should be to pre¬
vent a horse, treated in the manner we now allude to, from
throwing up much flesh, and we must therefore feed accord¬
ingly, and also study constitution. At all events, three
small feeds of oats (we do not feel ourselves justified in re¬
commending beans—although we know some sportsmen
give them—except in very peculiar cases, such as extreme
delicacy of constitution, a disposition to scour, or throw off
food) per day are sufficient for any horse, with the addition
of a large, sloppy, bran mash twice a-week. As to green
food, we recommend that with caution. We approve of its
being given occasionally for three or four days in succes¬
sion, merely as soiling, to attenuate the blood, not to pro¬
duce flesh ; and this repeated now and then at intervals,
whilst the green meat (be it what it may) is young, but by
no means afterwards. Many grooms mix hay with green
food, which, after the first two or three times of giving it,
we think a judicious plan. But, be it observed, for reasons
we have already given, we object to a hunter acquiring a
load of flesh in the summer, the produce of succulent food.
A moderate use of alteratives is beneficial throughout the
summer to horses which live well, but do not work, as, by
their mild and gradual impression, a healthy action of the
bowels is kept up, as well as insensible perspiration in¬
creased.
The horse not kept in work should be thus treated in
the summer: He should run loose in the bay of a barn, or
any large covered place where he gets exercise, and breathes
fresh air, without exposure to the sun. His physic, food,
&c., should be as before directed ; but as he is now unshod,
and consequently cannot have his hoofs filled with any¬
thing which can impart moisture to them, he should be
made to stand two hours every day, under cover, in wetted
clay. Unless after firing, or severe blistering, when the
sedative powers of cold air are efficacious in checking local
inflammation, we prefer the hunter being housed through¬
out the night, to his lying out even in a paddock, as he is
less liable to disease and accidents ; but we admit that the
danger of exposure to night air is greatly diminished by his
668 H O E S E.
Treatment having been kept cool throughout the day, by which he is
of Horses. ]ess susceptible of atmospheric influence, or the alternation
from warmth to cold, than if his arterial system had been
acted upon by exposure to a mid-day sun. The sticklers,
then, for the “ dews of heaven,” and the “ bed upon the
cool earth,” may here indulge their predilections ; but, for
our own part, we give the preference to the house at night
with horses free from disease.
The state of the horses, summered as we have now de¬
scribed, will, in great measure resemble each other, although,
as may be supposed, the one which has been kept on in his
exercise will be most forward in condition. Neither of
them, however, will have lost much of their proper form;
but a distinction must be made in our proceedings with
them, when preparing them for the forthcoming season.
t£ Suffer a horse to be idle,” says Mr Percival (Hippopa-
thology, p. 14), to do little or no work, and feed him well
during the time, and the redundant nourishment floating in
his blood will be laid up in the form of fat; put the same
animal to work, and that blood, which otherwise would have
been turned into fat, will now be transformed into materials
of strength.” Here, then, it is evident that the horse which
has been kept in exercise will require somewhat of a dif¬
ferent preparation to the one which has remained unshod,
and consequently idle. The first will require very little
alteration in his proceedings until nearly the approach of
the hunting season, as he will soon be prepared for quick
work; but it will be by long-continued slow work, increas¬
ing in pace as his condition increases, that the second will
be quite himself again, from the relaxed state of his mus¬
cles, somewhat redundant flesh, as well as his distended
belly. In either case, however, there will be no occasion
for all that physicking, galloping, and sweating, to get rid
of bad, superfluous flesh, that the grass-fed hunter has been
subjected to ; for if the groom has done his duty by them,
neither of these horses will have accumulated much more
flesh than we like to see on hunters when they first begin
to work, and when that flesh is good. We would have our
second horse, the unshod one, taken into his stable early in
August; and during the latter end of that month and the
next, in addition to his daily exercise, he should, about
three times in a fortnight, have a gentle sweat in clothes,
which is best effected in a trot, in a large fallow field that
has been lately harrowed down, and which is firm, not soft,
to the tread.
But we fancy we hear the question asked, Is it not ne¬
cessary to give physic to all hunters when the summer is
past, and previously to their taking the field again in the
winters We answer, No. The principal end of physicking
hunters is to allay excitement, occasioned by severe work
and high keep ; and the next, for the benefit of their legs.
Ihus, for example, as the first-named horse (the one that
has been in gentle work throughout the summer), will not
sweat so easily as the unshod one, a light dose or two of
physic may be serviceable to him during his first prepara¬
tion for the field, say in August or September, as the means
of saving his legs, should he be a strong-constitutioned
horse, and have thrown up too much flesh. But there is
no absolute necessity for physic at this period to horses
that have been properly treated throughout the summer,
and not suffered to get foul or fat; and it will be given with
more advantage to them after they have been some time at
work, or nearer to the commencement of the hunting sea¬
son, which, after the manner of the racing stable, may be
termed a second preparation. We think, however, we can¬
not do better here than to quote the following passage on
this subject from the April No., 1835, of the New Sport¬
ing Magazine (vol. viii. p. 353), as the ideas exactly corre¬
spond with our own.
To hoises summered in the house, physic is now only
administered when it is wanted, as is the case with the race¬
horse ; and the groom or his master ought to be able to say Treatment
when. There are many directing symptoms with horses in of Horses,
work, which cannot escape an observant eye; and we do
not, as formerly, wait for the swollen leg or the running
sore. The barbarous practice, also, of three doses in suc¬
cession (as was the practice with the grass-fed hunter on
being stabled), £ the first to stir up the humours, and the
last to carry them off,’ with two strong urine balls to wind
up, by way of a remedy for consequent debility, is also
happily exploded. The strength of the dose is likewise
greatly diminished, and consequently all danger is avoided.
We take upon ourselves to say, there is no more risk at¬
tending administering physic to a horse, than there is in
giving him a pailful of cold water, perhaps not so much ;
that is, provided the drugs are good, and well put toge¬
ther. We, however, strongly recommend all sportsmen
and others to obtain physic from the profession, as veteri¬
narians bestow much attention on the making of it up, and
obtaining the best aloes, in which there is much difference.
The sooner it passes off the better; and this will be much
expedited by three loose bran mashes on the day preceding
the dose, and exercise previously to its working. Recollect
there is no virtue in this case in the aloes, beyond doing its
duty in clearing and cleansing the bowels. Calomel, when
administered to the horse, should not be hurried, as it is
intended to act upon the system, and should therefore be
given twelve hours previous to giving the purge. Horses
whose bowels are difficult to be moved, should be kept short
of hay a day or two before they are physicked, with an ad¬
ditional allowance of bran mashes, and encouraged to drink
before they experience nausea.”
It may, perhaps, be well to state the “ directing symp¬
toms ” for administering physic to the hunter, which are
thus detailed by Nimrod:—“ Among the distinguishing
symptoms of foulness in a hunter are these: He appears
unwell, without any specific disease: his mouth is hot, his
eyes look dull, and sometimes yellow: his coat loses some
of its usual gloss, and stares between the hip-bones, and on
the poll of the neck : his appetite frequently remains good,
but he is more than usually anxious for water; his heels
are scurfy, and sometimes crack ; he stales often, but a
little at a time: his urine is highly-coloured, and his ex¬
crements hard, and often covered with a slimy fluid : he is
dull when at exercise, and frequently coughs without any
appearance of having taken cold: he loses flesh, and looks
dry in his skin : his legs and ears are often cold, the latter
frequently wet after exercise and sometimes deprived of
part of their natural covering : his crest falls ; the whole tone
of his system appears relaxed; and, without his groom exactly
knowing why, he is not the horse he was a week ago.”
{Condition of Hunters, p. 173.) To this we have nothing to
add, unless it be to congratulate owners of horses on the
terrors of physicking them having vanished with the present
improved method of administering the doses ; and on the fact,
that only a few days’ cessation from labour is now required
to afford them this relief. We should say, that a hunter is
never more fit to go through a sharp run, than on the tenth
day after his physic has ££ set.”
But we do not consider that we can close this part of our
subject, without a few words on the treatment of the grass-
fed hunter, as there are still some who yet abandon him to
shift for himself in the summer, and are content to see him
return to his stall in August, the very reverse of what he
was when he left it in May. Nor is this the worst of it. He
cannot be reinstated in the condition in which he was when
he went out in May, until hunting is three parts over the
the following season. However, we will lay down what we
consider the most likely plan to pursue, to fit him for the
work he is intended for :-^-
From the redundancy of blood and humours, and disten¬
sion of bowels beyond their proper size, which the grass-
HORS E. 669
Treatment fed hunter acquires, all violent exertion must be avoided,
of Horses. until such obstructions are removed, which must be the
, work of time. It is in vain to attempt to hurry a horse in
this state into condition, but the first step taken should be
to have ,him clipped, for reasons which we shall presently
give. Long-continued slow exercise is the chief agent in
hardening his muscles, and strengthening his organs of res¬
piration ; but all galloping when in the state in which he
will be for the first two months, to get off his flesh, is very
highly to be reprobated, as his legs will surely suffer by it,
if nothing else does. Two light doses of physic may be
useful to him, if he have had none given him at grass ; and
care should be taken not to use the brush to his coat till
the month of November be passed, in case he should not
be clipped. Again, veterinary science has informed us, that
danger always accrues to horses in the vicissitudes of heat
and cold, from one state to its opposite; but more from the
latter to the former, as an excitant to general inflammation.
Horses taken from grass, then, should be put into very
cool stables, and the fewer in one stable the better, for at
least the first month. Windows should be left open day
and night, merely taking the precaution of coarse matting,
or anything else that will stop the entrance of flies; and
nothing does that better than matting, frequently saturated
with water. Having been clipped, and kept out several
hours in the day in slow work (which, by the way, grooms
are too often shy of), increasing his pace gradually as his
condition progresses, the grass-fed hunter may be brought
fit to look at by the first week in November; but he will
be at least by a stone a worse horse than he was when he
was turned out. We are no friends to quacking in either
man or beast; but, knowing that mischief to horses so fre¬
quently arises from a long respite from work in the winter,
unless some preventive measures are had recourse to, we
recommend the repetition of a light dose or two of physic to
the grass-fed hunter during frost, or even during open wea¬
ther, about Christmas.
Having recommended the fashionable operation of clip¬
ping to the grass-fed hunter, we will give our reasons for
having done so. Nine horses out of ten, treated as he has
been treated in the summer, break out into a cold sweat,
after work, during the first part of the season, the natural
consequence of debility; and the dew on their coat has all
the chilling influence of a wet blanket on their body. The
removal of the coat by the scissors, then, although it is no
remedy for the former, prevents the ill effects of the latter ;
which, by producing cold on the surface of the body, occa¬
sions a determination of blood to the lungs, or other impor¬
tant viscus, and is a great enemy to condition. Although
we deny the necessity of clipping a horse that has been
properly summered (for, admitting that he may have a long
coat, he will not in that case break out after work), we al¬
low it the merit of expediting condition, by giving increase
of bulk, and promoting the vigour of the horses’ renovating
powers; and, therefore, in this case useful. Looking at it,
however, in another light, we find many objections to it;
amongst the greatest of which is the deprivation of the pro¬
tection of the coat or hair, to an animal so much in want of
it as the hunter is, and therefore an outrage on nature.
In fact, it is, to a certain degree, a substitute for good
grooming, and as such will continue to be in favour with
many grooms, as also with such of their masters as submit
to be dictated to by them, or who may pay too much regard
to appearances.
Having alluded to grooms, a remark or two may not be
ill placed. Such of them as have the care of large studs
cannot be expected to work, but to overlook those who are
under them ; and their responsibility is considerable. There
is much in the choice of helpers ; for none but persons who
have narrowly watched it, are aware of the effects of a good
dressing to a hunter, not merely in having his skin cleared
from impurity, and in improving its elasticity, as well as the Treatment
tone and colour of the hair, which may be termed the of Horses,
complexion of a horse, but it greatly promotes general
health by its effect on the circulation of the blood, as well
as all other secretions, and in bad weather is a substitute
for exercise.
Good stables are indispensable to the well-doing of hunt¬
ers, equally so with a comfortable house and a warm bed to
those who ride them. Even the veterinary professors have
at length acknowledged the benefit of the genial warmth
of a stable to horses at work, although, in common with
ourselves, they insist on the necessity of well ventilated
stables. No doubt it is injurious to any animal to breathe
an under-oxygenated air, and the effluvia arising from ani¬
mal excretions are injurious to eyes and lungs. A hunter
should live in a temperature of about 63° of Fahrenheit in
the winter, and as much below that point as it can be made
in the summer, by means of exclusion of the sun, open
doors, &c. But it is essential that a stable in the winter
should not only be warm but dry; and if not dry, the
ground under and around it should be drained. A delicate
horse never arrives at perfection of condition in a damp
stable, and it operates powerfully against all others, often
being the cause of fever in the feet. Stalls should not be
more than six feet wide, nor raised towards the manger;
but there should be a slight inclination in the flagging to¬
wards the centre of them, to enable the urine to find its
way to a drain, which there always ought to be, as it con¬
tributes much to cleanliness, and consequently to health.
“ Loose places,” or “ boxes,” as they are termed, are most de¬
sirable for all horses after severe work, and nearly all veteri¬
nary surgeons (more especially the late Mr Turner, to whom
the public is so much indebted for his illustration of the navi¬
cular disease in the foot) have given it as their opinion, that
if all horses were suffered to lie loose after work, there
would not be half the cases of lameness in the feet that
now occur. Desirable as such treatment may be, it is uni¬
versally impracticable, on account of the space which large
studs would occupy; but every sportsman should have
boxes about his premises, and his hunters should be inva¬
riably put into them for two or three days after work. To
their general use there is one objection, although not a
serious one. Horses always lying loose are apt to refuse
to lie down in stalls, when removed to premises where
boxes cannot be had, but they become reconciled to them
after a few days. It is, however, the opinion of a cele¬
brated sportsman that if a hunter should have stood his
work ten seasons being always tied up, he would have
stood it twelve if he had lain loose.
We quote the following extract from Nimrod on Condi¬
tion of Hunters, on the subject of warm stables. After
proving, by the fact of the horse degenerating in all cold
countries, that warmth is congenial to its existence, he
thus proceeds:—“ They who attend to such matters will
find that the constitution and habit of a horse undergo a
change when kept in a warm stable, favourable, no doubt,
to the work he has to perform as a hunter in the stable of
a hard-riding man. He is not that gross animal which he
might otherwise be, if a hard feeder, and kept in a state
more nearly approaching to a state of nature. This we may
attribute to the increase of insensible perspiration occasioned
by increased circulation, whereby the grosser particles of
the body fly off and are got rid of. In this state he would
bear some comparison with a well-fed English farmer,
when put to perform feats of activity with a man of more
refined habits of life, where nineteen times out of twenty
he would be defeated.” Again : “ As there is an analogy
between a man and a horse in work, let us carry it a little
further, and ask, Whether, after a hard day’s exercise in
the winter, a man would recover sooner if he passed his
evening in a warm room, or if he passed it in a bivouac, or
670 HORSE.
Treatment in a room that was cold and damp.” He concludes by
of Horses, giving it as his opinion, that if it be possible to get a horse
to look well in a cold stable, it is not in the power of a
groom to put him into the height of condition in a damp
one; and in this we heartily concur.
We subjoin Nimrod’s plan of stabling for six hunters.
“I would have,” says he, “two four-stalled stables, in
which I would keep only six horses, that is, three in each ;
and I would have a box at the end of each. If possible, I
would have a southern aspect, with windows opening from
the top or downward, or else on a pivot in the centre, and
placed so high in the wall, that, when open, the air may
be circulated through the stable, without affecting one
horse more than another, and the height of the interior
should be only twelve feet in the clear. I would have the
stalls paved nearly flat, with .only a trifling inclination to
the centre; in each of which there should be a small grat¬
ing over the drain, and the stalls should be no more than
six feet wide. There should be at least twelve feet behind
the horses, and the exterior walls and doors should be very
thick. The wooden partition walls of the boxes should
be only 9 feet high, with wooden bolts to the doors ; and
each box should not exceed 10 feet square. The saddle-
room, well fitted up with saddle-cupboards, boiler, &c.,
should be in the centre of the building; in the front of
which there should be a passage, under cover, for horses
to stand in when their legs are washed. Of ventilation I
say nothing, that being a matter of course; but I would
have the sides of the stalls 9 feet high at the head, with
small iron racks, and pillar-reins for each horse to be dressed
in. I should be very particular about the stall-posts, for
these are frequently the cause of severe injury. When I
went to see the king’s stables at the palace at Pimlico, I
was astonished to see almost every other horse in them
with capped hocks. On inspecting the stall-posts, I
perceived the cause. They were of fluted stone, and
with angles, which proved that Mr Nash (the architect)
knows nothing about the inside of stables. Stall-posts
should be made of wood, quite smooth and circular; and
they should extend to the ceiling, or be at least ten feet high.”
Paddocks.—Some persons turn their hunters into the
fields in the summer, because they have no small paddocks,
or any outlets to their buildings, and are averse to their
horses remaining all the year round in the house. Nothing,
however, is easier than making temporary paddocks, or
outlets that will restrain stallions, or any horse that may be
put into them, without the chance of their breaking out of
them. Let a small space, say 30 or 40 yards, be hurdled
around, and the hurdles lined with faggots reared up from
seven to eight feet high. The faggots will be all the bet¬
ter for the exposure to the air during a summer; and as
horses cannot see through a fence of this sort, they will
never attempt to break through it.
Food.—The proper feeding of hunters has much to do
with their condition, and likewise with their remaining
sound. Food should be proportioned to work, and it should
also be of the very best quality. Hay that has been much
heated in the stack is above all things to be avoided, as,
from its powerful diuretic properties, it debilitates, and
creates thirst; and mow-burnt or heated oats are equally
productive of mischief. Eight or ten pounds of hay per
day are as much as any hunter should eat, and that which
is produced on dry upland ground is best. Indeed, we are
far from thinking that rich meadow hay, finely scented as
it is, and apparently so full of nourishment, is fitted for any
description of horse that is required to go fast, and we are
quite certain that thousands of horses are destroyed annually
by the effects of hay and water. The latter cannot be too
soft, and when not so, it should be kept in the stable some
days previous to use, and with a small portion of bran in
it. Mr Percival (Hippopathology, p. 25) mentions forty-
nine horses being killed in one stud, in France, by a dis- Treatment
ease produced by eating bad hay and oats. of Horses.
But nothing puts the groom’s knowledge of the art of
feeding hunters more to the test than the management of
such as are either naturally thick-winded, or afflicted with
chronic cough; and as in man the digestive organs are
oftener than any other disordered, so the respiratory organs
in the horse are the most common seat of disease. It is,
however, in the power of a groom, by great attention to
feeding, keeping the habit of body from becoming foul and
plethoric, and well regulated work, to make horses of this
description tolerably fit to go with hounds ; whereas in bad
hands they would be nearly useless, at all events danger¬
ous to ride. Such horses are generally hearty feeders, and
when so, should have a setting muzzle, as used with race¬
horses, put on them on the night before hunting, unless
they have been out with hounds within three days. Water
also should be sparingly given to them on that day, and not
after three o’clock p.m. Frequent mild aperients, or altera¬
tive medicines, are very efficacious here; for, as in the
human subject the lungs often become the seat of disease
as a second cause of indigestion, the state of the digestive
organs should be minutely attended to with horses of this
description.
A broken-winded horse is never seen in a stud of hunt¬
ers ; but Nimrod’s remark on this subject is in accordance
with what we have now written upon it. “ Most veteri¬
nary surgeons,” he says, “ attribute this disease to the con¬
sequences of high keep. Here, no doubt, they are in a
great measure correct; but if good grooming were not for
the most part a match for the effect of high keep, what
would be the fate of our race-horses, which eat almost as
much corn as they can swallow from the first month of
their existence ? Amongst them a broken-winded horse
is a rarity.”
Many nostrums are prescribed for thick-winded horses—
amongst them, carrots in the winter, and green meat in the
summer. We approve of a few carrots in the winter, but
object to green meat, unless in small quantities. Is not
flatulency the distinctive feature of a disordered respiration?
And what promotes that equally with loading and distend¬
ing the stomach with green food ? The small dimensions
of a horse’s stomach evidently show what nature intended
him for, namely, to go fast ; and the pathologist would very
soon convince us that, in proportion as that organ is dis¬
tended, will the respiratory organs be oppressed. Hence
the indispensable practice of not allowing hunters their
usual allowance of food and water on the morning of hunt¬
ing ; as also of putting the setting muzzle on the racer the
night before he runs. The food most proper for all horses,
but particularly for such as are not perfect in their wind, is
that which contains most nourishment in the smallest com¬
pass or space.
But we must not overlook the treatment of the sound
hunter before and after hunting; as we consider the lives
of more than half of those hunters which have been lost
from the effects of severe chases, to have been lost from
want of knowledge of how they should have been treated,
at either the one or the other of these periods. Nimrod,
in his letters on this subject, doubts whether it be in the
power of hounds to maintain a chase long enough to cause
the death of a horse, fairly ridden with them, provided that
horse have been properly treated in the summer, and is in
what is called strong work, or quite fit to go, on the day of
the run. Without stopping to argue this point, which is
not capable of proof, we will proceed to show in what state
a hunter ought to be taken into the field, to meet fox¬
hounds, giving him fair play ; and the man who takes him
there when not fit to go, must always be prepared for the
consequences.
We consider a hunter, in proper condition, equal to at
HORSE.
671
Treatment least three days’ hunting in a fortnight, taking the average
of Horses. Qf Sp0rt5 which will, of course, at some certain periods, send
's—him oftener into the field in one given time than in another,
as, after a severe day, he should have a week’s clear rest.
But since the second-horse fashion has been so general, it
is impossible to speculate on this point, as it so often hap¬
pens that one of the two horses the sportsman sends to cover,
returns home without having done much. The chief point,
however, to be insisted upon is, that the hunter should have
a good gallop, causing him to sweat freely, on the day be¬
fore he goes to hounds, and if for half a mile on rising
ground, it will be more favourable to his wind. His food
on that day should also be attended to, in reference to his
constitutional peculiarities ; for, if not the best winded horse
in the stud, or given to throw off his meat on his road to
cover, he should have no water after three o’clock the pre¬
ceding afternoon, with the exception of a few swallows to
make him relish his corn, on the morning of hunting. Send¬
ing hunters out now with full bellies has no excuse ; where¬
as one was found for it, when they left their stables five
hours sooner in the morning than they do at present, and
returned to them often five hours later. We allude to past
days in which there were few artificially made covers, and
when foxes were found by the “ drag,” through long chains
of woods, and certainly ran over much more ground than
modern foxes do, which, being generally bred near game
preserves, run shorter, and are not so stout as for¬
merly.
After Hunting.—The treatment of a horse now will de¬
pend on what he has been doing. If not a severe day, no
further notice of him is requisite than to ascertain whether
he feeds as usual; and if not, an alterative ball,1 with a
liberal allowance of tepid water, will soon restore his appe¬
tite, by allaying the over-excitement that has checked it.
It is after a severe day’s work that danger to a hunter is to
be apprehended, the consequence of over-excitement of the
vascular system, and he should be in this case narrowly
watched. If merely fatigued, such are the restorative
powers of the animal, rest, in a large loose box, with an
hour’s exercise daily in the open air, will soon bring him
about; but we should be on the alert against fever. Here,
however, we generally have notice,—some directing symp¬
toms which cannot be mistaken, such as hurried respiration,
extreme thirst, restlessness in his stall, a considerable re¬
laxation of the muscles in the interstices of the hips, red¬
dened eyelids, and a quick pulse. But unfortunately for
hard-riding sportsmen, it too often happens, that such is the
rapidity with which what is termed accidental inflammation
takes place in the horse, that the most prompt measures
will not always arrest its progress, and the most common
termination of it here is in the feet. Not only does the
animal suffer great pain, but should he not cast his hoofs
entirely (the fore feet are most commonly affected), he be¬
comes what is called pomice-fboted, and of no value after¬
wards as a hunter. Knowing this to be the case, we are
advocates for some prophylactic measures to be taken after
a very hard day ; something repellant and sedative adminis¬
tered, which may not only prevent an inflammatory attack,
but, by cooling the system, and consequently restoring the
appetite, enable the horse to go sooner into the field again,
than if he had been entirely abandoned to his own restora¬
tive powers.
But the most critical period with the over-ridden hunter
is when he first appears to show distress, which he often
does on his road home, or even before he quits the field ;
and here mistakes have been made, which have caused the
death of many a good animal. In the first place, his rider
fancies it necessary to drag him home, perhaps many miles Treatment
on a cold winter’s evening, to “ his own comfortable stall,” of Horses,
than which, just at this time, a large and cold stable, and
the first he could be put into, would be far more beneficial
to him. Again, he says, “ I’ll not do any thing to him till
I get him home, when I will have him bled whereas, since
all horses that die from exertion beyond the limits of vital
power, die from suffocation, it will then be, in all proba¬
bility, too late, as instant relief is wanted. A stimulating
cordial is likewise at this time good (a pint of sherry as
good as any other), but both are bad it inflammation has
commenced ; also keeping up a strong determination of
blood to the surface by friction of the body, head, and legs,
with warm clothing afterwards on the body and head ; a
well littered down stall, with plenty of fresh air. A gallon
of blood should be at first drawn; and if the increased action
of the heart and arteries continues, the horse should be well
blistered behind the elbows, and lose another gallon of
blood. Blood-letting from the foot veins is also highly to
be recommended in cases of extreme exhaustion, after a
hard day with hounds. It is a very simple operation, and
can never do harm ; but we advise it to be performed by a
veterinary surgeon.
They who have never before experienced it, may be
alarmed by an inward noise in a distressed horse, which
may be mistaken for a beating of the heart, whereas it pro¬
ceeds from a convulsive motion of the abdominal muscles,
or muscles of the belly. It is, however, a symptom of deep
distress, and is only relieved by relief given to the lungs,
by bleeding and other preventive means.
Treatment of Horses’ Legs.—We have already said that
the management of horses’ legs forms part of the science of
the stable, and a most important part too. It is no where
so well understood as in racing stables ; but from the violent
nature of his work, the hunter is equally indebted to it.
The barbarous practice of blistering all four legs previously
to turning out is now happily exploded ; but as in less vio¬
lent exertion than following hounds, a certain insecurity
from accidents is inseparable from the delicacy of all animal
structure, the legs of hunters will occasionally fall amiss.
It being useless, however, without stating the extent of the
injury, to talk of prescribing remedies, we have only to state,
that a very efficient one has been found for the torturing
one of firing, in many cases where the actual cautery was
considered as the only one. For example, for ligamentary
enlargements, cases of enlarged joints, tendons showing
symptoms of giving way, or any other appearance in the
limbs, of a departure from their primitive tone and vigour.
This consists in the application, during the non-hunting
months, or any other period of rest, of the mercurial charge,
in either of the following forms. It consists of the com¬
mon mercurial plaster (not ointment) of the shops, made up
according to the London Pharmacopoeia; and in the pro¬
portion of half a pound to a leg, applied in a warm and con¬
sequently liquefied state, and when covered by deer’s hair,
bound to the limb by means of a linen roller. At the end
of a fortnight, the stitches of the bandage being decayed,
the charge will slough off, when another, if necessary, is
put on. It is to the highly absorbent property of mercury
that the benefit here derived is to be ascribed; and it is no
small recommendation to it that, in addition to the general
restoration of the limb, the painful operation of the actual
cautery, as also the blemish occasioned by it, are avoided.
Major’s remedy has also of late years very much super¬
seded firing, and has been applied with great success to the
Reiver, Scythian, and several other capital race-horses. It
requires, however, to be applied by a very skilful hand, as
^ The following alterative and sedative medicines are found efficacious at this time: Cinnabar of antimony, 3 oz.; balsam of
sulphur, 2 oz.; camphor, 1 oz.; nitre, 4 oz. To be made into ten balls ; one ball a doze. These are known among grooms by the
term “ red balls.”
672
HORSEMANSHIP.
Horseman'
manship.
Treatment it has played sad havoc with hair and hoofs, where the
of Horses operator lias not understood his business.
It is, however, a well known fact, that hunters will work
and stand sound, for many successive seasons, with legs ap¬
parently much out of form. Enlargements take place in
the sheath of tendons after strains ; also from blows, where
the parts become lined by a thick coat of lymph; and some¬
times the body of the bone itself is found thickened, from
a deposition of bony lamina over the original bone. When
all this has been in progress, we question the propriety of
any active measures, unless, as is generally the case, a feel¬
ing of soreness is expressed after work, by a shifting, or
favouring of the limb or limbs in the stall; or by a “ feel¬
ing” manner of going on first quitting the stable. When
legs are really callous, little impression can be made upon
them, unless by active measures; but physic, rest, and good
grooming, are the best preservatives of these most essential
members of the horse’s frame ; with the friendly auxiliaries
of hot-water, flannel bandages, and loose boxes, after severe
work, and good shoeing at all times.
The Foot.—Owners of valuable horses may congratulate
themselves on the assurance that, by the aid and extended
influence of veterinary science, they have no longer to ap¬
prehend injury to the feet from the mere application of
shoes. On the contrary, they may rest satisfied that, pro¬
vided no internal disease attack them, from over-excitement
by work (and that often is created on ground where shoes
would be unnecessary, such as crossing a very deep coun¬
try), they will be not only as sound and healthy, but in
better form, from having been properly shod, than if they
had not been shod at all. Some hoofs, however, having a
greater disposition to secrete horn than others, and thus
called strong feet, should never remain more than three
weeks without being subject to the drawing knife of the
blacksmith (the ruinous butteris is now put aside), and the
shoes properly replaced. Neither should stopping with
damp tow be omitted ; as moisture, not wet, is beneficial to
the health of the foot. Here then, again, are at once ap¬
parent the evils of the out-of-door summering of hunters.
The foot of a horse so exposed, is at one time saturated
with wet, and at another exposed to a drying wind and a
burning sun, the contractile powers of which upon horn are
too well known to require comment. Do what we may,
however, horses that are required to “ go the pace” will
always be more or less subject to diseased feet, quite un¬
connected with shoeing ; and against such diseases there are
but two precautions on which much reliance can be placed :
—First, let hunters be well prepared for their work, and
properly treated after it; and, secondly, let them have suf¬
ficient obliquity of pastern-joint (in our opinion one of the
most important points in the whole structure of the horse), Treatment
to break the force of concussion ; which, together with over- of Horses
excitement of the vascular system, is the parent of that ir- II
remediable disease of the navicular bone, formerly called1 or^man*
“ founderand by the wiseacres of old times, “ chest- ^
founder,” because the muscles in that part wasted, from the
inability of the suffering animal to exert them. The pos¬
ture of a horse in his stall, when afflicted with this com¬
plaint, or fever in the feet, is too characteristic to be mis¬
taken.
We have only one more remark on shoeing. In follow¬
ing hounds across deep countries, hunters are apt to strike
a hinder foot against a fore foot, and inflict a severe wound.
There have, indeed, been many instances of the total sepa¬
ration of the back sinew by this, often unavoidable act,
particularly in leaping brooks. It was formerly very gene¬
rally believed, that the blow was inflicted with the toe of
the hinder shoe, to obviate which, shoeing smiths were
ordered, by hunting grooms, to let part of the hoof protrude
over the front of the shoe, but still the evil continued. It
was, however, asserted, in the letters of Nimrod, that it
was by the inside edge, or the rim of the hinder shoe, and
not by the toe, that the act of over-reaching was performed.
This was at first doubted, but experience has confirmed
the assertion ; and we have reason to believe, there has
not been an instance of serious mischief by cutting, from
an over-reach, since the inside edge, or rim, has been
rounded off, or bevelled. Indeed, a moment’s reflection
would dispel all doubts on the subject; for the obtuse
form of the toe of a horse-shoe could not inflict the severe
wounds we have seen inflicted (often cutting off part of
the fore-heel); whereas the inside rim of a worn shoe is
nearly as sharp as an ordinary knife. Besides, the act is per¬
formed after the hinder foot has overstepped the fore foot,
and therefore cannot be performed by the toe, but in the act
of drawing the hinder foot back, after it has overstridden its
bounds. Bruises from over-reaches still occur, which,
though sometimes serious, are comparatively, with cutting,
harmless, as fomentation and a few days’rest will effect acure.
The action of the hinder leg reminds us of one useful
hint to grooms travelling hunters on the road. If we fol¬
low a well-formed horse, with the free use of his limbs, on
a road upon which his footsteps are imprinted, we shall find
the hinder foot oversteps the fore foot in the ivalk, but falls
behind it in the slow trot. Exclusive of relief to the muscles
by change of action then, it is safer to vary the pace from a
walk to a slow trot on a journey, as causing less fatigue to the
hock-joint, by which curbs and spavins are frequently thrown
out. Add to this, the slow trot is the safest pace a horse
goes, because his step is shortest. (c. a.) (w. h. l—y.)
HOKSEMANSHIP.
As to the question, Who was the first horseman ? it would
be in vain to inquire, for even the writers of ancient fables
do not agree upon the point. By some it is pretended
that Bellerophon first mounted a horse; that Pelethronius
first bridled him; that he was harnessed by Erichthonius,
and fought upon by the Centaurs of Thessaly. But quit¬
ting fiction, we learn from the Sacred Writings, that to
Egypt we are indebted for the equestrian art, from which
country, by the aid of the colonists who emigrated from it
and from Phoenicia, it was introduced into Greece (perhaps
by Erichthonius, fourth king of Attica), where it attained
to great perfection. Although there was no cavalry em¬
ployed in the Trojan War, equestrianism must have been
much practised and well understood in Homer’s time, which
is at once proved by a reference to his works. In the fifth
book of the Odyssey, the shipwrecked Ulysses, tossed by
the waves on a plank, is compared to a skilful horseman on
an unruly steed; and in the fifteenth Iliad, we find one
man managing four horses at once, leaping from the back
of one to another, at their full speed. Herodotus (in Tha¬
lia) speaks of hunting on horseback in the time of Darius,
even descending to the particulars of an accident in the
field to the noble satrap of Persia; and likewise the same
writer (in Melpomene') mentions the Amazonian women
hunting with their husbands on horseback. Xenophon also
says that Cyrus did so, when he exercised himself and his
horses. Again, with reference to those early times, we
should not pass over the introduction of horses and horse¬
manship into the public games of Greece, and particularly
the Olympic Games, which, according to an expression of
Pindar, as far transcended all the others as gold is superior
to the baser metals.
Horseman¬
ship.
HORSEMANSHIP.
673
From the same authority we learn, that the Ethiopians
and inhabitants of India, as cavalry, formed part of the ex¬
pedition of Xerxes against the Greeks. But it appears that
the Arabs and the Parthians, who afterwards became so
famous for their equestrian accomplishments, were ignorant
of the art at the period in question; at least both these
nations fought under Xerxes, the former on camels, and the
latter on foot. The Persians were more celebrated for their
horses than for their riding. According to Athenaeus, they
were more solicitous of their ease and safety, than anxious
for reputation of boldness and dexterity in horsemanship.
The Scythians and the Sarmatians were both famous about
this period, as well for their breed of horses as for their skill
in riding them. In fact, so renowned were the former
people, that, according to Gibbon, they were supposed by
strangers to perform the ordinary duties of civil life on
horseback; “ to eat, to drink, and even sleep, without dis¬
mounting from their steeds.”
The people of Mauritania, Numidia, Massilia, Nasamo-
nia, and other adjacent parts, are also spoken of as having
possessed breeds of excellent horses, but were still more dis¬
tinguished for their singular mode of managing them (on
the authority of Livy, and Caesar) without the aid of a
bridle, and even in battle by means of a small switch or
wand, turning them to the left by striking on the right side
of the head, and vice versa ; and stopping them by striking
the front of the face. These practices are also confirmed
by Ausonius, who celebrates the Emperor Gratian as hav¬
ing excelled in them. All we have to remark here is, that
we are glad such practices are abolished, not only on our
own account, but for the sake of horses, who must have
been greatly tortured before they were brought to such a
state of obedience as to be ridden infrceni (without bridles),
as Virgil says of the Numidians, and this in the confusion
and excitement of a battle. There is an elegant passage
on this subject in Lucan’s Pharsalia, descriptive of the
several tributary nations which Juba took into the field in
the cause of Pompey, against Curio’s army, which he en¬
tirely defeated.
“ Autololes, Numidajque vagi, semperque paratus
Inculto Gaetulus equo,” &c.
Thus translated by Rowe :—
“ With him unnumber’d nations march along,
Th’ Autololse, with wild Numidian throng;.
The rough Gaetulian, with his ruder steed;
The Moor, resembling India’s swarthy breed;
Poor Nasamons, and Garamantines join’d;
With swift Marmaridans, that match the wind;
The Marax, bred the trembling dart to throw.
Sure as the shaft that leaves the Parthian how;
With these Massilia’s nimble horsemen ride;
They nor the bit, nor curbing rein provide,
But with light rods the well-taught coursers guide.
Prom lonely cots the Lybian hunters came,
Who, still unarm’d, invade the salvage game,
And with spread mantles tawny lions tame.”
The Greeks transmitted the art of horsemanship to the
Romans, who soon equalled, if they did not excel, their
instructors; and nearly one of the first public acts of their
first king was to establish the equestrian order, the second
order in Rome; the equites, or horsemen, being placed far
above the commonalty, and next to those of the highest
quality and fortune in the state. In short, were proof want¬
ing that horsemanship, as an accomplishment, was held in
the greatest esteem in the early ages of the world, it would
be found in the fact of the accomplished Cicero (De Off.
lib. 2, c. 13) telling his son Marcus, with the vanity that now
and then breaks forth in the splendid effusions of that great
man’s pen, that the eyes of the world were upon him, on
account of his father’s fame ; and that he had received the
praise of the whole army for his excellence in riding. But
the exercise and art of horsemanship occupied much of the
VOL. XI.
study and attention of the Roman youth; and we find Horseman-
Horace inviting them to the practice of it, in the eighth ode shlP-
of the first book.
Descending from the heroic ages, in which the earliest
history we possess informs us the art of horsemanship wras
in full force and vigour, to comparatively modern times, the
first notice we find in our own history of the art of riding
horses, is in the tilts and tournaments; the earliest mention
of which we find in the French historian Nithard, who re¬
ports, that, at an interview which took place at Strasburg
between Charles the Bald and his brother Lewis of Ger¬
many, the followers of both these princes fought on horse¬
back ; and, by way of marking the period, it may be ob¬
served, that Charles the Bald succeeded to the throne of
France a.d. 840. Ducange affirms, that these combats were
for some time peculiar to France, and expressly called
French combats, conflictus Gallici. Scarcely anything dis¬
tinct, however, is known about them till we find them prac¬
tised in England, about the year 1140, in the reign of
Stephen, after which time they became general all over
Europe, particularly in England, where they were displayed
on all great occasions. The spots most famous for them in
London, were the Tilt-Yard, near St James’s Park, and
Smithfield; which the neighbourhood of the latter place
confirms, by the names of the streets, such as “ Giltspur,”
“ Knight-rider,” and so on. They are also known to have
been practised on the spots now called Cheapside, Barbican,
and Bridewell; and to have been exhibited in considerable
splendour in various parts of the country besides, which a re¬
ference to Sir Walter Scott’s romance of Ivanhoe will show.
These were the days when “ to witch the world with noble
horsemanship” was one of the chief accomplishments of a
gentleman ; in which the management of the horse and the
lance was amongst the principal requisites of knighthood ;
when the contest, both in real and in mimic war, was de¬
cided by the superiority of such means ; the days of chi¬
valry, in fact, which, as a well-known historian says of it, in
his portrait of the character of a perfect knight, the accom¬
plished Tancred, “ inspired the generous sentiments and
social offices of man, far better than the base philosophy,
or the baser religion of the times.”
Not only is good horsemanship well suited to the pith
and nerve of the English character, but it has always been
considered as one of the corporeal accomplishments of a gen¬
tleman. Thus Clarendon, in his character of the Duke of
Newcastle of his day, says of him, that “ he wras a very
fine gentleman, active, and full of courage, and most accom¬
plished in those qualities of horsemanship, dancing, and
fencing, which accompany a good breeding; in which his
delight was.” But there are other than mere personal ad¬
vantages attending good horsemanship. It is the habitual
contempt of danger that ennobles the profession of the sol¬
dier ; and horsemanship, as practised in England at present,
and with the esprit de corps of the several hunts, tends
much to the same end. Those who pursue it in the field,
learn to expose themselves to danger with less reluctance,
are less anxious to get out of it, or given to lose their pre¬
sence of mind when in it, than persons whose pursuits have
been of a difierent turn; in fact, it may be said to increase
natural courage. It was with this view, that the late Duke
of Wellington always gave every facility to officers who
wished to hunt or ride steeple-chases. Such persons, again,
as merely ride on horseback for exercise, find in it the
great preservative of health. Nay, more than this, persons
of tender constitutions have surmounted the weakness of
their nature entirely, by horse-exercise and hunting; in
proof of which, many cases could be quoted. The follow¬
ing, of a patient of the celebrated Dr Sydenham, is perhaps
as conclusive as any other :—A gentleman, a relation of
the Doctor’s, who was brought so low by consumption, that
there appeared to be no possibility of a recovery by medi-
4 Q
674 H O R S E M
Horseman- cinej was induced by him to try horse-exercise, and a jour-
ship. ney t0 jjjg native country. On leaving London, he was so
weak as to be lifted on his horse, and was refused admit¬
tance to the first inn he stopped at, being supposed to be
in a dying state. Notwithstanding, he persisted in riding,
by easy stages, to Exeter, and gained so much stiength by
the way, that though one day his horse lay down with him,
in some water, and he was forced to pass many hours in his
wet clothes, he not only sustained no harm by the accident,
but arrived at Exeter greatly recovered. Thinking he had
gained his point, he left off horse-exercise, and had a re¬
lapse ; but, on betaking himself again to the saddle, he ob¬
tained a perfect recovery. Nimrod, in one of his hunting
tours, says,—“ My time was almost divided between my
saddle and my bed; but I never knew what it was to be
fatigued when I lived temperately, and went early to rest.
Indeed, such a life bade defiance to disease. A celebrated
physician of the last century used to recommend riding on
horseback to his patients. ‘ Live,’ said he, ‘ in a saddle.’
That riding is the most wholesome of all exercises, I have
little doubt. Despite of all the vile stuff that finds its road
down his throat, who ever heard of a bilious post-boy ?”
To this might be added, the no small advantage a person
mounted on horseback derives from breathing a purer air
than when on foot, and consequently nearer to the ground.
The salutary effect of the motion of a horse, also, on a slug¬
gish or diseased liver, is acknowledged by all medical men.
We shall now take a view of horsemanship in the only
forms in which it is at present applied to any useful or
pleasurable purposes; namely, military, hunting, racing, and
on the road, leaving the art of instructing horses for the
circus to those who find it profitable to fit them for it,
which we admit they do to very great perfection, though
we fear not without the necessary privation and punish¬
ment unavoidable, we believe, in such kind of instruction;
or, in other words, in making animals perform far more, we
conceive, than the Creator of them ever intended they
should perform.
The military seat approaches nearer than any other to
that of the manege; and, by reason of the horse-soldier
having, in general, but one hand to hold his bridle with, is
one which gives him great command over his horse, without
disturbing his seat. He sits well down in his saddle, on his
fork, or twist, with his body erect, and in perfect equili¬
brium with his horse; his legs well stretched down the
sides, with a firm pressure of the calves, as well as of the
knees and thighs, and the feet firm in the stirrups. But it
is not by any one of these aids that he becomes a good
horseman. He must be in perfect unison, as it were, with
his horse’s actions and paces, to maintain a good and grace¬
ful seat; and, in proportion to the just balance of his body,
will he be able to have a steady hand, a point of vast im¬
portance to the dragoon. The importance of this balance,
and keeping himself in a proper equilibrium with his horse,
is increased by the fact of his not being allowed to rise to
the horse’s trot, and therefore requiring a still finer use of
the bridle hand. “ The man who rides with the aid of the
proper equilibrium,” says Colonel Peters, “ will, in case of
necessity, know when to apply the strength he has retained
with a steady, light hand, and govern every motion accord¬
ing as he finds it necessary for his purpose; play light with
his own weight upon the saddle (by a gentle spring in the
instep of both feet on the stirrups), with an easy pressure
of both thighs, knees, and calves of the legs. When the
horse jumps or plunges, then these aids are also requisite
to keep the seat; but, in an easy, steady pace forward, it
is most particularly to be pointed out to a young man, and
cannot be too often repeated, that, to become an easy, ele¬
gant, or proper horseman, he must learn to ride with com¬
fort and pleasure to his horse as well as to himself; he must
learn to seek his balance from his hip upwards, to keep the
A N S H I P.
body with a slight inclination backwards from the perpendi- Horseman-
cular, and balance himself thus gradually on his horse in all ship.
the different paces; which, of course, cannot be expected v'—
all at once. A man that rides by the force of his knees
alone, shaking his arms and hands, although he rides his
distance in the same period of time that the good rider
would, yet he cannot be said to ride his horse, or to have
any part of his body in the proper equilibrium ; but the
man who rides his horse with a light, steady hand, and
elastic body (which, when disturbed even, has the power of
restoring itself to its former seat), in unison with the horse’s
action, may be truly said to ride in the proper equilibrium.”
The act of mounting may be called the first step in prac¬
tical horsemanship. With horses perfectly quiet, it matters
little in what manner we approach them; but in every
thing that relates to horses, a certain precaution is neces¬
sary. Let the person who is about to mount, then, walk
up to his horse, not directly in his face, lest he may alarm
him, nor behind him, lest he may strike at him, which he
would thus give him an opportunity of doing. Let him
rather approach him on the left side, over against his shoul¬
der, inclining something more to his head than to his flank.
In the summer time, when the flies are troublesome, this
caution is not ill bestowed, because the quietest horses will
sometimes strike out, sidewards, after the manner of cows,
to rid themselves of their tormentors ; and many a man has
been injured in the abdomen, or thigh, from this cause.
Old writers on horsemanship recommend the horseman,
when about to place himself in the saddle, after having put
the left foot firmly into the stirrup, to take the reins and
the pummel of the saddle in his left hand, and laying his
right hand fast upon the hinder part of the saddle, thus to
spring into his seat. We should prefer his taking a lock of
the mane, together with the reins, into the left hand; be¬
cause, if he be a man of any considerable weight, his hav¬
ing recourse to the saddle for all the assistance he may re¬
quire, would be very likely to displace it, especially as no horse
in the hands of a good horseman is now tightly girthed.
When he is mounted, the proper adjustment of his reins
is the next thing to be attended to. If a single-rein bridle,
he has nothing to do but to draw the reins with his right
hand through his left, till he finds he has got hold of his
horse’s mouth equally on both sides of it, when he shuts the
left hand, letting the little finger separate the two reins.
The same should be done with a double-rein bridle, only
observing, as they are drawn through the hand, that the
horse’s mouth is to be consulted, as to whether that at¬
tached to the bridoon or to the bit is the one required to
be first acted upon. Many an inexperienced horseman has
met with accidents from want of a proper discrimination as
to the right use of the reins, when mounted on high-spirited
horses, with finely made, that is to say, highly susceptible,
mouths, and unused to a rough hand. The bridle reins
should be held at a convenient length ; for, if short, they
will discompose the attitude of the body, by pulling the left
shoulder forward ; and they should be held with a firm
grasp, dividing them, as before mentioned, with the little
finger. When a horse pulls at his rider, he should advance
his8arm a little, but not the shoulder, towards the horse’s
head, raising his hand towards his breast, and the lower
part of the palm rather than the upper ; but he should not
shorten the rein in his hand if he can command his horse
without it, or he may lose the proper appui, or bearing of
his mouth. Old writers recommend the bridle-hand to be
held perpendicular, the thumb being uppermost, and placed
on the bridle. Modern practice is in favour of the knuckles
being uppermost. The perpendicular hand may do very
well in the school, or with the severe bit of the highly-
drilled dragoon horse ; but no man could ride a free-going
race-horse over a course, or a hasty hunter over a country,
in that form.
HORSEMANSHIP.
675
Horseman- In dismounting a horse, the bridle and mane should be
ship. held together in the left hand, in the same manner as in
mounting. Unless the horseman be very active, he may
put his right hand on the pommel of the saddle to raise
himself, previously to throwing his right leg back over the
horse; when, by grasping the hinder part of the saddle
with the right hand, he lets himself down with ease. The
right leg, however, should not be bent at the knee, or the
spur may strike the horse’s side, in the act of being thrown
backward.
The Seat.—It was well observed by Don Quixote, in
one of his lectures to Sancho, that the seat on ahorse makes
some people look like gentlemen, and others like grooms.
But a wonderful improvement has taken place within the
last half century in the seat on horseback, of all descrip¬
tions of persons, and effected chiefly by the simple act of
giving the rider a few more inches of stirrup-leather. No
gentleman now, and very few servants, are to be seen with
short stirrups, and consequently a bent knee, which, inde¬
pendently of its unsightliness, causes uneasiness to the
horse as well as to his rider ; whose knees being lifted above
the skirts of the saddle, deprive him of the assistance of the
clip, by his thighs and legs. The short stirrup-leather,
however, was adopted with the idea of its giving relief to
the horse, although a moment’s consideration would have
proved the contrary, and for this reason ; the point of union
between a man and his horse, as well as the centre of ac¬
tion, lies just behind the shoulder-blades, which, as must be
apparent to every one, is the strongest part of the horse’s
body, and where the sack of wheat or flour is placed by the
farmer or the miller. With short stirrup-leathers, the seat
of the rider is thrown further back on the saddle, instead of
being exactly in the centre of it, and consequently his
weight thrown upon the part approaching the loins, the
weakest part of the body, and very easily injured. From
the same mistaken notion was the saddle formerly placed
nearly a hand’s-breadth from the shoulders, which, of course,
added to the mischief; but modern practice has entirely
remedied this, as it is now placed as near as possible to
the shoulder-bones, so as not to interfere with the action
of them.
Next to the advantages of a good seat to the horse, stands
the ease and elegance of it in the rider. In the first place,
what is natural is easy, and there must be no formal stiff¬
ness of the body of a man, or of a woman, who wishes to
look well on horseback. When we see a man sitting as up¬
right as if he were impaled, and his body not appearing to
yield at all to the motion of his horse, w^e cannot fancy his
having a good hand upon him, because he cannot be in
unison witli him in his action ; neither can he be firm in
his seat. But to some persons a good seat is denied by
their shape and make. For example, a man with short
legs with large calves, and very round thighs, cannot sit
so close to his saddle as another whose legs are thinner and
longer, and of course yield him a firmer clip; and whose
thighs, instead of being round, are hollowed out on the in¬
side, as we see in the form of our most eminent jockeys.
The seat of the short-legged, large calved, round thighed
man, has been jocularly termed the “ wash-ball seat,” and
not inaptly neither, for, like a wash-ball in a basin, he is
seldom at rest in his saddle, from the absence of a proper
clip. The thighs, in fact, are a most essential part of the
horseman in giving him a good, graceful, and strong seat,
as on the form of them depends greatly a good or bad
position of the knee, which is a point of the utmost import¬
ance, not only to the eye, but to the firmness of his seat.
The thighs, in fact, should be applied to the saddle and to
the sides of the horse, chiefly by their inner surfaces, or the
knees and toes would be too much out; and although the
line is by no means required to be perpendicular, yet the
shoulder, the hip, the knee, and the foot, should not de¬
viate too far from it, to render a seat perfect. When this Horseman-
is the case, we may be certain the disposition of the thighs
and legs is correct, as they will hang down sufficiently
straight, and without force or restraint; which can never
be the case, unless the body of the rider is placed evenly
on the saddle, opening his knees a little, whereby his fork
will come lower in the saddle, giving him the appearance,
as Shakspeare expresses it, of being “ incorpsed and demi-
natured with the brave beast.”
The position of the foot of the horseman is material both
to comfort, safety, and elegance. In the old style of rid¬
ing, the heels were turned outwards, which, of course,
threw the toes inwards, and very near to, as well as paral¬
lel with, the shoulders of the horse ; but this is all wrong.
The toes should be turned a little outward and upward,
which the slight opening of the knee induces. No animal,
human or brute, can look well, or exert its strength well,
with toes turned in ; and the position is contrary to every¬
thing approaching to elegance.
The position of the foot in the stirrup, however, varies
with the pursuits of the horseman. The soldier always,
the rider for pleasure, or on the road, generally, rests on
the ball of the foot, with a gentle play of the instep. But
the man who rides after hounds, and the jockey when he
rides a race, find it necessary to have the foot more home
in the stirrup, with the toes turned a little upward, as well
as a little outward. The advantages of all this are two¬
fold. First, it gives them more power over their horses,
by furnishing them with a more substantial fulcrum ; and,
secondly, to the man following hounds, it is a great security
against the foot being chucked out of the stirrup, by the
seat being disturbed in a leap, or from any of those causes
which perpetually occur in crossing a country.
Great as has been the alteration for the better in the seat
of Englishmen, in general, by increasing the length of the
stirrup-leathers, and thereby placing them more properly in
the saddle ; yet, in the schools of the military this system has
been said to have been carried too far, so as to endanger the
safety of the rider. Indeed both Hippocrates and Galen
speak of a disease which, in their time, was occasioned by
long and frequent riding with the legs hanging down with¬
out any support, stirrups then not being in use. How it
happened that an advantage so obvious was so long in being
made available, is not for us here to inquire; but we con¬
sider the support of the stirrup to be the sine qua non of
the management and services of the saddle horse, for all
essential purposes. Nevertheless its most essential use is
confined to Great Britain alone, and that is, in enabling
the horseman to rise in his saddle to meet the action of
the horse in his trot, by which means a pace, otherwise
most disagreeable and fatiguing, is rendered nearly the
pleasantest of any. So long as the demi-pique saddle was
in use, in which the horseman was so deep-seated and
trussed up as to make falling almost impossible; and he
rode, as Sir Walter Scott made King James to ride, “ a
horse keeping his haunches under him, and seldom, even
on the most animating occasions of the chase, stretching
forward beyond the managed pace of the academy;” pres¬
sure on the stirrup might have been dispensed with, but
with the saddles of the present day, and the more natural
action of the horse, we consider it quite indispensable. It
is indeed to the disuse of this practice in France, and other
parts of the Continent, where rising in the stirrups is never
resorted to even on the hardest trotting horses, that is to
be attributed the almost rare occurrence of persons riding
any distance, or at a quick rate, for pleasure. To this pecu¬
liar system in our horsemanship also are we indebted for our
rapid style of posting, as without it post-boys could not en¬
dure the fatigue the action of a horse creates, especially in
hot weather, over a fifteen miles’ stage, at the rate of ten
or twelve miles an hour, without a moment’s intermission;
676 H O R S E M
Horseman- whereas, by means of it, he performs that task with com-
shiP* parative ease and comfort. The objection to it on the part
of foreigners lies in the fancied inelegance, if not inde¬
cency, of the motion, which we consider not worthy of an
argument; but of this we are certain, that what is called
“ riding hard,” that is, not rising in the stirrups in the trot,
nor leaning any weight upon them in the gallop or canter,
must be extremely distressing to horses, and especially to
such as carry high weights.
Previously to our describing the various kinds of seat, it
is necessary to observe, that how well soever a man may
be placed upon his horse, his performance upon him will
mainly depend on the use he makes of his hands. It is
on this account that old writers on horsemanship have
dwelt upon the difficulty of the art, rendered more so, in
their time, when the airs of the manege formed part of it.
The fact, however, is notorious, that not more than one
man in a hundred of those who have been riding horses all
their lives, has what is called “a good hand upon his
horse,” much less a fine one, which falls to the lot of but
few. When, however, we consider, first, that the hand of
the rider is to the horse what the helm is to the ship, that
it guides his motions and directs his course ; and, secondly,
that we have recourse to a severe and cutting instrument,
acting upon so sensible and totally unprotected a part, as
the natural mouth of a horse must be,—it is at once appa¬
rent, that not only a fine hand, with an easy bit, must be
most agreeable, and, at the same time, most serviceable to
the horse, in anything he is called on to perform, but that
it constitutes the very essence of fine horsemanship. It
has been before observed, that a horse’s ear has been figur¬
atively said to lie in his mouth, and no doubt he receives
the instruction from his rider chiefly through that medium.
How material, then, is it that it should be conveyed to him
in a manner in which he is not only most likely to under¬
stand it, but in one the least disposed to irritate him ? How
often have we seen a horse fractious and unpleasant both to
his rider and himself, when ridden by an indifferent horse¬
man (allowing him even a good seat), but going placidly
and pleasantly when mounted by another with a low and
fine hand, which appears to sympathize with all his motions,
and all his wishes. It is here that Art becomes the hand¬
maid of Nature ; and it is the assistance which it is in the
power of a jockey with a fine hand to give a horse, which
alone exhibits the superiority of one horse over another in
AmseZjf equally good.
Whence this superiority of hand arises, it is very difficult
to determine, particularly as it is so frequently apparent in
men possessing equally good seats on their horses. From
the well-known fact, that it is an accomplishment which in
thousands and ten thousands of cases never can be acquired
by the practice and experience of a long life, we may almost
consider it to be, like the poets, an ex re natd property in
the human composition, and thus sought for in vain by those
to whom nature has denied it. That it is intimately con¬
nected with the nervous influence of the touch is obvious,
from its being the result of the action of the hand and arm ;
and it is in being delicately alive to every motion of the
horse, that the excellence of a good hand consists.
Seat on the Road.— Of the various and too often fatal
accidents that occur to horsemen, the majority occur on the
road. The reason of this is obvious. They are generally,
with the exception of cases of inebriation, the result of
horses running away with their riders, and either coming
in contact with something in their course, which suddenly
stops their career, when either one or both are thrown
headlong to the ground. Accidents of this description are
very fiequently attended with the most serious consequen¬
ces, and. show the necessity of persons who get on horse¬
back being capable of commanding their horse. Next
come accidents from horses falling, which are often attended
A N S H I P.
with fracture of limbs, if not loss of life, chiefly, perhaps, Horseman-
from the hard nature of the ground on which the horse and ship*
his rider are thrown; for, if a twentieth part of the falls
sportsmen get in the field, their horses so frequently falling
upon them, were to occur upon hard ground, the danger in
hunting would put a stop to it. Falls from horses starting
only happen to persons who have a loose seat, and such
should ride none but horses free from that fault. But the
greatest safeguard on the road, next to a firm seat, is de¬
rived from the hand of the rider, who should never trust
himself entirely to his horse, however safe he may consider
him. He may tread on a rolling stone ; the ground may
give way from under him ; he may step into a hole; or, by
the effect of sudden alarm, he may lose the centre of gra¬
vity, and then, in all or either of these cases, the fall is
worse, by reason of his getting no assistance from the rider,
which he may have looked for, until past recovery, when
he comes to the ground with a crash. We therefore re¬
commend persons who ride the road, always to feel their
horses’ mouths lightly, by which means not only will the
proper equilibrium be sustained, and they will be carried
better for it; for, observe, a horse with a weight upon his
back, and one without a weight upon his back, are by no
means in relative positions, but, should a false step be made,
the aid of the rider being instantly at hand, is nearly cer¬
tain to recover him. By which rein the mouth should be
felt, supposing the bridle to consist of a bit and a bridoon,
must depend on the sensibility of it, although by changing
the pressure from one to the other, the mouth is kept fresher
and more lively than when one only is used, and especially
if that one should be the bit. There is a certain, but not
a large, proportion of horses, that are rideable for all pur¬
poses on the snaffle only, whose mouths are generally kept
fresh by the light pressure they receive. These are per¬
fect mouths ; but, nevertheless, horses that have them in
this perfection should not be left quite to themselves in any
one pace.
Previously to the general use of coaches and railways,
road-riding was much more in use than it is at present; and
immense distances were travelled over in a day by graziers,
horse and cattle dealers, racing jockeys, and others, whose
habits of being so much on horseback rendered them supe¬
rior to fatigue. A hundred miles, from sunrise to sunset,
on the same horse, was no uncommon day’s work, and this
when the roads were in a very different condition from that
in which they now are, abounding in ruts and quarters, so
that horses were travelling over half their ground, either on
a narrow ridge, between two ruts, or over loose unbroken
stones ; and these were the days in which really good road¬
sters fetched large prices, as only horses with very good
legs and feet could stand fast work long, or be depended
upon as to safety. But all modern feats of men on horse¬
back, or indeed the feats of any other period, on the authen¬
ticity of which we can ~ely, retire into the shade before that
performed, November 5th, 1831, by George Osbaldeston,
Esq. of Hummanby Hall, Yorkshire, over Newmarket
Heath, who rode 200 miles in 8 hours and 42 minutes, win¬
ning his herculean match with 1 hour and 18 minutes in
hand. As may be supposed, he was not restricted to the
number of horses, which consisted of twenty-nine, then in
training on the heath; but he rode one of them, Mr Gul¬
ly’s Tranby, by Blacklock, 16 miles, at four 4-mile heats.
Mr Osbaldeston, also celebrated for his bold and judicious
riding to hounds, appeared very little fatigued; and, after
the use of the warm bath, and a short repose, joined in the
festivities of the evening, and did not retire to rest till an
hour after midnight.
An easy seat in the saddle is very important to persons
who ride many hours in succession on the road. To ac¬
complish this the following rules should be observed:—
To sit well down in the middle of the saddle, with just that
HORSEMANSHIP.
677
Horseman- length of stirrup leathers that will allow of the fork clearing
ship. the pummel of the saddle; for a greater length than this
would add to the fatigue of a journey, and lessen the
rider’s command over the horse. On the other hand, short
stirrup leathers create fatigue by contracting the knees,
and thereby adding to the exertion of rising to the action of
the horse in the trot, which should chiefly proceed from a
gentle play of the instep. The body of the rider should in¬
cline forwards in the trot, as, by forming a proper counter¬
poise, the movement of the horse is facilitated ; and, above
all things, steadiness of seat is required, or the latter will be
much incommoded in his action. So distressing, indeed,
is a swaggering unsteady seat, that it is a well established,
though not a universally known fact, that horses will carry
some persons of considerably greater weight than others,
long distances on the road, or over a country in hunting,
with less fatigue to themselves, solely because they ride
them with a firm seat and an easy hand. In a long day’s
journey on the road, great relief is given to a horse by
now and then dismounting from his back, and leading him
a few hundred yards; as also by frequent sips of water,
particularly if the weather be hot. As to frequent baiting
of a hackney in a day’s journey, the practice is not recom¬
mended. In a journey of 60 miles, he should only be
stopped once, but then it should be for at least 2 hours,
during 1 hour of which time he should be shut up in a plen¬
tifully littered stall. It is well known that a horse in good
condition would perform this distance without hurting him,
if he were not baited at all, but we are far from recom¬
mending the practice. Short stops, however, on the road
are injurious rather than beneficial, and teach horses to
hang towards every public-house they pass by, in their
journey.
Most horses should be ridden in double-reined bridles
long distances on the road, and all should be ridden with
spurs. Should they flag, or become leg-weary towards the
end of a day, the use of the curb may be the means of avoid¬
ing falls; and, by the gentle application of the spur, a sort
of false, that is, more than natural, action is created, which
will have the same beneficial effect. As to the rate at
which horses should be put on the road, that is a point so
much under the control of circumstances, that no line can
be drawn respecting it; but our experience assures us, that
if a horse has to perform the distance we have already taken
as a fair day’s work, namely, 60 miles, under not a very
heavy man, he would perform it with more ease to himself,
and feel less from it the following day, if he travelled at
the rate of 7 or 8 miles in the hour, than less. In the first
place, this rate of speed is no great exertion to a horse of
good action, and also in good condition; and in the next, by
performing his day’s work in less time than if he travelled
slower, he gets sooner to rest, and is, of course, sooner fit
to go to work again. Let it, however, be observed, that
he should have 2 hours quiet rest in the middle of the
journey, which will enable him to perform it without fa¬
tigue. But we do not recommend this rate of travelling,
when a much greater extent of ground is before us. If a
horse is to be ridden 200 or 300 miles or more, he ought
not to travel, in the best of weather, more than from 30 to
40 miles per day, and he should rest the entire of the fifth
day, or he will become leg-weary, hit his legs, or perhaps
fall. We are of course alluding to valuable horses, writh
which extra expense is not to be put into the scale against
the risk of injuring them. The earlier travelling horses, in
the summer particularly, start in the morning, the better,
that they may get their day’s journey over in good time,
and be early shut up for the night.
The following good advice to persons riding on the road
is very much to the purpose, and may be quoted here :—
“ When you ride a journey, be not so attentive to your
horse’s nice carriage of himself, as to your encouragement
of him, and keeping him in good humour. Raise his head ; Horseman-
but if he flags, you may indulge him with bearing a little ship-
more upon the bit than you would suffer in an airing. If
a horse is lame, tender-footed, or tired, he naturally hangs
on his bridle. On a journey, therefore, his mouth will de¬
pend greatly on the goodness of his feet. Be very careful,
then, about his feet, and not let a farrier spoil them.” lo
this we add, that, as has been already observed, horses often
fall on the road, from the state of their shoes being ne¬
glected ; in journeys, and on hot and dusty roads especially,
the feet as well as the shoes demand care. They should
be stopped every night with moist clay, or cow-dung, or
what is better, wetted tow, which, whilst it cools and mois¬
tens the foot, acts beneficially, by causing pressure to the
sensible sole and the frog.
The Hunting Seat.—Next to that of a jockey, on whose
skill in the saddle thousands of pounds may be depending,
the seat of the fox-hunter is most essential of any con¬
nected with amusement. He must not only be firm in his
saddle, to secure himself against falls when his horse is in
the act of leaping, but he must unite with a firm and steady
seat a light and delicate hand, to enable him to make the
most of his horse, as well as to preserve himself as much
as possible against danger. His position in the saddle
should resemble that which we have recommended for the
road, with the exception of the length of his stirrup leathers,
and the position of his foot in the stirrup irons. The for¬
mer, the length of stirrup leather, should depend on the
form and action of his horse, as well as the nature of the
country he has to ride over. With a horse very well up in
his forehand, with his haunches well under him, and going
perfectly collected and within himself, his stirrup leathers
may be long enough to admit of the knee being very nearly
straight, and the foot resting on the ball. But, on the other
hand, if his horse be somewhat low in his forehand (which
many first-rate hunters are), with very powerful action in
his hind quarters ; if ridden in hilly countries, or if at all
disposed to be a puller, he will require to be at least two
holes shorter in his stirrups; and his foot will be firmer if
placed “home” in them, instead of resting on the balls.
Above all things, he must acquire a firm, close, and well-
balanced seat in his saddle, which is not merely necessary
in leaping, but in galloping over every description of ground.
A swagging seat in the last-mentioned act is sufficiently
bad to make a great difference to a hunter in a severe chase;
but when we picture to ourselves a horse alighting on the
ground, after having cleared a high fence, and his rider
alighting two or three seconds afterwards in his saddle, so
far forward, perhaps, as to fall beyond the pillars of support,
or backwards behind the centre of action and the part (just
behind the shoulders) which ought to form the junction
between the rider and his horse, we can readily imagine how
distressing it must be to him, and how much a large fence,
so taken, must exhaust him over and above what would be
the case if he had had the assistance of a firm hand to sup¬
port him on alighting; but which, however, with such a
seat as we have been describing, no man can possess. The
first requisite, then, for a person who follows hounds is the
combination of a light hand with a firm seat; and fortunate
is it for his horse, as well as for himself, if he possess it to
the degree required to constitute a fine horseman over a
country.
But as the science of war cannot be learned perfectly by
anything short of experience in the field, neither can the
art of horsemanship, as far as the sportsman is concerned,
be learned perfectly in the riding-school or the academy. If
our own observation did not confirm this fact, it would ap¬
pear evident, from the variety of situations in which the
man following hounds may be placed, in one individual
run; and we will endeavour to enumerate them. First,
there is galloping at very nearly full speed, not over turf as
678 H 0 R S E M
Horseman- smooth as a carpeted floor, and with nothing beyond a daisy s
ship. bead to come in contact with the horse’s feet, but (cursu
undoso) over every description and every variety of ground;
over the high ridge and across the deep furrow ; over ground
studded with ant-hills, which, unlike the mole-hill, are often
as hard as if they had been baked in an oven ; over stones
and flints, the latter so sharp as frequently to sever the
sinews of a horse’s leg so completely as to cause his toe to
turn upwards, when his throat must be cut on the spot;
over grips covered by weeds, and thus, it visible to the
horseman, too often invisible to his horse ; over deep under¬
drains, with rotten coverings, which frequently give way,
and let in a horse nearly to his shoulders ; down steep hills,
stony lanes, through deep sloughs and treacherous bogs ;
and all this very frequently on infirm legs, as those of hun¬
ters which have been long in work are very apt to be.
Next come the “ fences,” as all obstacles to the follower
of hounds are now technically termed; and let us just see
of what they are composed. There is the new and stiff*
gate, with always five, and sometimes six bars, and each
bar, perhaps, as firm against the force or weight of a horse
and his rider as if it were made of wrought iron. Then
there is the nobleman or gentleman’s park-paling, full six
feet high, and too often a turnpike road on the other side
to alight on. The stiff* four-barred stile, generally to be
taken from a narrow and slippery foot-path, and not unfre-
quently on the declivity of a hill. The double post and
rail fence, as it is called, too much to be cleared at one
leap, in which case the horse has to leap the second rails
from the top of a narrow bank, and sometimes from out of
a ditch which is cut between them. Every now and then,
in the rich grazing countries, which are far the best for
hunting, and in which hounds run faster than in others,
there is the ox-fence, which may thus be described: If taken
from one side of it, there is, first, a ditch, then a thick and
strong black-thorn hedge, and about two yards beyond it,
on the landing side, is a very strong rail, placed to prevent
feeding bullocks from running into the hedge, to avoid the
oestrum or gadfly in the summer. This fence, covering a
great space of ground, must be taken at once, or not at all,
from either side on which it is approached. In these coun¬
tries, from the goodness of the land, the black thorn attains
great strength ; but in places where it happens to become
weak, instead of the ox fence, four strong rails are put,
which, in addition to the ditch, makes also rather an awful
fence ; at least, if a horse do not clear it, he must fall, as the
rails very rarely will give way. Some of these hedges being
impracticable, from their thickness, the sportsman makes
his way to one corner of the field, where he finds a flight of
very high and strong rails, but without a ditch, and every
now and then a sheep-fold. The former is somewhat of a
more severe fence than it appears to be, owing to the ground
on each side of it being either poached by cattle, or, what
is worse, rendered slippery by sheep, which are driven into
the corner to be examined by the shepherd, in the case of
there not being a sheep-fold in the field. The sheep-fold
or sheep-pen, as it is called in Leicestershire, is a still more
serious undertaking. To get into it, the horse must leap
four strong bars, about the average height of gates, and
then, with a very short space to turn himself round in, must
do the same thing to get out of it. Next comes the brook,
from 12 to 20 feet in width, often bank-full, and sometimes
overflowing its banks, which are often hollow, and generally
rotten. In most of our best countries, few runs of extent
take place without a brook or brooks being to be crossed;
and no description of obstacle to which the sportsman is sub¬
ject in crossing a country is the cause of so many disasters.
In what are termed the Provincial Hunting Countries,
in contradistinction to Leicestershire, and the other chiefly
grazing countries, timber, with the exception of stiles, is not
so frequent, nor is the ox-fence to be seen at all; but there
A N S HIP.
is comparatively more fencing, though chiefly hedges and Horseman-
ditches. In many of these, Dorsetshire in particular, the sap¬
iences are generally what is termed double; that is, there v-"-''
is a ditch on each side of the hedge, which it requires a
horse to be prepared for, by receiving, if not his education,
a good deal of instruction in the country. In other parts of
England—Cheshire and Lancashire, for example—we find
fences that require an apprenticeship; they consist of a
hedge and ditch, not of large dimensions, but in consequence
of the former being planted on a cop or bank, a horse must
land himself on the cop before he can get his footing to
clear the fence, provided the hedge be on the rising side.
Were he to spring at it from the level of the field, and clear
the bank, together with the hedge and ditch, the exertion
would be so great as soon to exhaust his powers. Those
fences require horses very active and ready with their hin¬
der legs, and also riders with good hands. In all strong
plough-countries, as our fine loams and clays are termed by
sportsmen, hedges with ditches (for the most part only one
ditch) prevail. For height and width they are not equal, by
much, to those of the grazing districts, but circumstances
render them equally difficult and trying to the skill of a
horseman and the judgment of his horse, and oftentimes
still more so. In the former, although the fence is large
(brooks excepted), the ground on the rising side is almost
always sound and firm; whereas in deep-plough countries
it is generally soft, and often, what is worse, it is sticky.
Neither is this all. It very often happens that the headland
of a field is ploughed to within a foot or two of the ditch,
when a small ridge, or “ balk,” as it is termed in some dis¬
tricts, is left to prevent the soil of the field washing into the
ditch. This ridge is often very perplexing to the horseman.
He must either put his horse at the fence so as to clear all
at once, or he must let him take his footing from off* this
narrow ridge, which, if his head be not in a very good place,
and his rider’s hand an indifferent one, makes even a small
fence dangerous. The objection to a ploughed country
also holds good as regards the other, the landing side of the
fence. In the grass countries a horse alights on turf suf¬
ficiently elastic to break the concussion from the weight of
himself and his rider, but seldom soft enough to sink him
below his hoofs. On the other hand, in the ploughed dis¬
tricts, he is perpetually alighting in fallowed ground, or in
that sown with wheat or other corn, which, particularly after
a severe frost, is so far from being firm enough to bear his
weight, that it sinks him nearly to the knees. This is very
distressing, especially to a horse which carries a heavy man ;
and here the skill of the rider is shown in his preventing his
jumping at fences of this description higher or farther than
is absolutely necessary to clear them. To a man who
follows hounds, indeed, this art of handing his horse easily
over fences is one of the very highest value; and to the
possession of it to perfection is to be attributed the extra¬
ordinary performance of hunters under some of our heaviest
sportsmen (such as Mr Edge and his brother, Mr Richard
Gurney, Sir Bellingham Graham, Mr Maxse, Lord Alvanley,
and others), in fast runs of an hour or more, over strongly
inclosed countries. Taking England throughout, there are
fewer fences than there used to be; but more land is, year
by year, being laid down in plough.
Walls are, we believe, the only fence met with in Great
Britain whi£h we have as yet left unnoticed. They are of
two descriptions, namely, fast, by means of mortar, and
loose, being built without mortar. The first do not often
come in the way of the sportsman; and it is well that they
do not, for, in the event of a horse striking them, they do
not yield to his weight. The last, the loose walls, particu¬
larly those met with in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire,
are the least dangerous fences he can ride at; for, unless
his horse be blown, or he is himself a very powerless horse¬
man, they seldom resist him sufficiently to throw him down.
HORSEMANSHIP.
Horseman- Their height varies from 3 to 5 feet; but as there never is
ship. a ditch on either side of them, and the ground is generally
firm in the parts of those counties which are inclosed with
walls ; those even of the last-mentioned height may be taken
with safety by a good horseman, on a horse that is accus¬
tomed to them, and is not distressed at the time by the
pace; for, as “ it is the pace that kills” so is it the pace
that causes falls.
The following directions may be serviceable to a young
beginner in the hunting field:—When hounds find and go
away, place yourself well down in your saddle, on your fork,
or twist, and dont be standing up in your stirrups (as for¬
merly was the fashion, and the cause of many a dislocated
neck), sticking out your rump as if it did not belong to you.
Let your knee be not very far from straight, with your foot
well out in front of it, and feeling in the stirrup as if it formed
a sufficient fulcrum for your bodily strength to act upon in
the assistance your horse may require from you. Be assured
that the military seat, with the very long stirrup leathers,
will not do here, however graceful it may appear on a parade.
There must be a kind of ohstando power in the rider to act
against the preponderance of his horse, particularly at what
are called drop-leaps, in very deep ground; or, in case of
his making a blunder, or getting into false ground, in his
gallop. Having got well away with the pack, keep your
head up, with your reins in the left hand, and your whip in
your right, held perpendicularly upwards, with the thong
falling loosely through your hand, when it will be ready for
all purposes. Cast your eye forward, to take a view of the
country, and then on the body of the hounds, to satisfy
yourself that they are well settled to the chase. And now
comes the young fox-hunter’s trial. You must neither take
liberties with the hounds nor with your horse. Ride wide
of, that is, on the left, or on the right of, the former, turning
as you see them turn, and never find yourself exactly behind
them, on their line ; and no matter how perfect may be the
latter, never trust him to himself, nor upset him by going
too fast for him, or, in other words, over-marking him for
pace. However good his mouth, never ride him in chase
with quite a slack rein, for, independently of your own safety,
it is not giving him a fair chance. He requires your sup¬
port, and he should have it.
In riding to hounds, there is much to be gained by
what is termed picking out your country. Avoid going
straight across land highly ridged, and consequently deeply
furrowed, if possible to avoid it, but rather take your line
diagonally. If the furrows are very deep and holding, make
for the side, or the headland, where, of course, it is compara¬
tively level ground. Even if it takes you a little out of your
line, you will find your advantage in this, for you may in¬
crease your rate of going, and that with ease to your horse,
more than equal to the extra distance you have to go. If
your horse appear somewhat distressed, it is on a headland,
or still more on a long sideland, that you have a good oppor¬
tunity of recovering him ; and here you may have recourse
to the old-fashioned style of riding a hunter. You may
stand up in your stirrups, catching fast hold of your horse’s
head, and pulling him well together, when you will find that,
without slackening his pace, he has recovered his wind, and
can go on. Avoid deep ground as much as possible; but
when in it keep a good pull on your horse, and by no means
attempt to go so fast over it as you have been going over
that which was sound. After Christmas, turnip fields should
be skirted, if possible; for, by reason of the many plough-
ings they receive at seed-time, the land sown with turnips
becomes so loose and porous after severe frost, that it can¬
not carry a horse. Also avoid crossing fallows, or land sown
with wheat. If obliged to go athwart them, get on the head¬
land ; or, if you ride straight down them, choose the wettest
furrow you can see. It is sure to have the firmest bottom,
which is proved by the water standing in it.
679
As no man can say where a fox-chase will end, have an Horseman-
eye to your horse, and endeavour to give him all the advan- ship,
tages in his favour that the country and the pace will admit
of. Next to a judicious choice of your ground, is quickness
in turning with hounds, as the difference between riding in¬
side and outside of them, in their turns (be it remembered
hounds very seldom run straight) is very considerable in¬
deed ; and to a certain degree corresponds with what is
called “ the whip-hand” in a race. Again, if you wish to
stand well with the master of the pack, and to obtain the
character of a sportsman, observe the following rules:—
Never press upon hounds, even in chase. When they have
lost the chase (in other words, when they are at fault), pull
up your horse and keep wide of them ; and, in the words of
a celebrated old sportsman, “ always anticipate a check.”
Never, for the sake of displaying your horsemanship or
your horse, take an unnecessary leap when hounds are run¬
ning, nor a large one when a smaller is in your view, unless
the latter take you too much out of your line, or for a reason
which we shall presently give. If your horse is a good tim¬
ber leaper and not blown, prefer a moderate timber fence to
a rough and blind hedge-and-ditch fence, as less likely to
give you a fall, neither will it take so much out of your horse.
But when your horse becomes distressed avoid timber, for
if he do not clear it he will give you a worse fall in that
state than if he were quite fresh. A blown horse falls nearly
as heavy as a dead one. There is, however, another pre¬
caution to be observed with horses a good deal beaten by
the pace. Have an eye, then, rather to the nature of the
ground on which it is placed, than to the size of the fence;
that is, prefer a good-sized fence, where you see firm ground
for your horse to spring from, to a small one where it is soft
and sticky. Moreover, a distressed horse will often rise at
a fence of some height and appearance, whereas he will
run into, or, at all events, endeavour to scramble through,
a small one. If you decide upon the smaller place, let him
go gently at it, as he will be less likely to give you a fall;
at all events, he may not give you so bad a one as if you
went fast up to it. Some horses get out of scrapes better
than others; but it is as well not to give them an oppor¬
tunity of showing their prowess in such matters, and one
of the worst faults they can possibly have is not to care
for falling.
A chief requisite to a good rider across a country is
courage, one of the most common qualities of human nature ;
and another is coolness. No man, when flurried, can do any
one thing well; but when we consider the variety of objects
that the sportsman following hounds has to attract his notice,
and the many obstacles he may have to encounter, it is evi¬
dent that, according to the old adage, “ he must have all his
wits about him.” The perfection of fine horsemanship in the
hunting-field, then, is in a man riding well up to hounds, when
going their best pace over a stiff country, and yet appearing
to be quite at his ease, and his horse, as it were, sympathizing
with him in his calmness. Such a man (and there are some
such in every hunt, but not many) is capable of taking every
advantage that can be taken of country, hounds, and all
obstacles which appear to oppose him in his career. Another
signal advantage to the sportsman also arises from his cool¬
ness in these moments of no small mental as well as bodily
excitement and exertion. He is able to observe the beauti¬
ful working of the hounds, which is displayed to advantage
with a burning scent; and he enjoys it the more in conse¬
quence of the superiority of his horsemanship having placed
him in a situation where he is not molested by the crowd.
Although speed in the hunter is now absolutely neces¬
sary, from the much increased rate of hounds, yet it is
equally necessary, in most of our hunting countries, that
he should be a perfect fencer as well, and that his rider
should be an accurate judge of the extent of his fencing
powers. Thus it often happens that horses, not equal in
680 H O R S E M
Horseman- speed to others, get quicker over a stiffly-inclosed country
ship. than they do, because, by the means of their superior f’enc-
v-"*-'' ing, they are able to cut off angles and go straighter. In
fact, there are frequent instances of one individual sports¬
man beating every other in the field, and being alone
throughout a run, merely by clearing a great fence in the
direct line of the hounds at starting ; in avoiding which, so
much ground had been lost by the rest of the field, that it
could not be recovered by them until the chase was ended.
It is a common saying among steeple-chasers, that five
times as many horses rick their backs at a grip or small
blind fence, which they hardly care to rise at, than at a
rasper; and from the effect of the exertion of leaping, in
horses, which is pretty accurately ascertained by the obser¬
vation and experience of sportsmen, some rather curious
facts are drawn. A very large fence, as has been before
observed, exhausts a horse, or, in the language of the field,
“ takes a good deal out of him nevertheless, a hunter be¬
comes sooner distressed over quite an open country, when
the pace is very severe, than he does over an inclosed one,
provided the fences are not very large indeed. This is
accounted for in two ways: First, fences check the speed
of hounds, and consequently the speed of horses. Secondly,
the mere act of pulling or gathering a horse together, to
shorten his stride previously to his taking his leap, is a very
great relief to his wind, as we know from the effect a good
pull at his bridle, towards the end of his course, has on that
of the race-horse. At several kinds of fences, likewise, it
is necessary that he should be pulled up nearly, if not quite,
into a walk, to enable him to take them with safety, such as
fences by the sides of trees, hedges with ditches on each
side of them, particularly if they are what is termed “ blind:’
in short, all places known in the hunting vocabulary as
cramped places, as well as now and then a timber fence,
which must be taken nearly at a stand. And it was the old
system of taking all upright fences, such as gates, rails, stiles,
and hedges without ditches, at a stand, that enabled the
low-bred hunter of the early part and middle of the last
century to live with hounds as well as he did live with
them. The very short time that it takes for a horse to re¬
cover his wind, to a certain extent, might be proved by a
reference to stage-coach work. Previously to the perfect
manner in which it was latterly performed, and the superior
condition of the cattle, from their owners having at length
found out how to feed them, it was not unusual for a coach¬
man to have a high blower, as a thick or bad-winded horse
is called on the road, in his team, which might scarcely be
able to keep time. If he found him distressed, he would
pull up his coach on the top of a hill, and draw back the
distressed horse from his collar. But how long would he
keep him in this position ? Why, not many seconds, before
he would be sufficiently relieved to proceed. Thus the
country of all others which puts the physical powers of
horses to the greatest test in following hounds, is one which
is hilly, and totally without fences, of which the Sussex
South Downs, in the neighbourhood of Brighton, may be
taken as a sample. Nothing but a thorough-bred horse,
and a good one too, can live quite alongside hounds, going
their very best pace, more than half an hour over such a
country as this, and very few can do even so much, if they
carry more than average weight. The open ploughed coun¬
tries, such as great part of Wiltshire and Hampshire, are for
the same reason very distressing to horses, and require them
to have a great share of blood; but hounds do not, neither
can they, run so fast over ploughed ground, as over old, or
maiden turf, which the Sussex Downs are clothed with.
In the first place, the scent is seldom so good ; secondly,
the ground is not only not elastic, which the other is, but
it impedes the progress of hounds from two other causes ;
its surface is less even, and the soil of all ploughed land
sticks more or less to the feet of hounds; or, in the language
A N S H I P.
of the huntsman, it “ carries” invariably after a slight frost Horseman-
on the previous night. ship.
We now resume our advice to the young fox-hunting
horseman : It is the practice of all first-rate horsemen over
a country—and no man was a greater advocate for it than
Sir Harry Goodricke—to ride slowly at the majority of fences.
For example, if the ditch be on the rising side, you may
cause your horse to put his feet into it before he rises at the
hedge, if you hurry him at it. Should the ditch be on the
landing side, the case is somewhat altered, as the pace you
ride at must be regulated by its width. If you have reason
to believe it is of moderate width, do not go fast at the fence,
because it will cause your horse to leap further than he needs
to leap, and of course help to exhaust him. But if, when
within a few yards of the hedge, going slowly at it, you per¬
ceive the ditch is a broad one, “ put in some powder,” as
the modern sporting term is; that is, urge your horse by
the hand and spur, and he will be aware of what you wish
him to do, namely, to extend himself so as to clear a wide
space of ground. If the ground on the landing side be
lower than that on the rising side, causing what is called “ a
drop leap,” or even if the ground be not lower, but soft or
boggy, your horse will look for assistance from you on
alighting, which you should give him by throwing your
body back, having at the same time a resisting power from
your stirrups. But another precaution is necessary when
the ditch is on the rising side, or indeed with all fences ex¬
cept those (as will be hereafter named) which require to
be ridden quickly at. This is, to fore-shorten the horse’s
stroke so as to enable him to gather himself together for
the spring, or he may misjudge his distance, and get too
near to his fence to rise at it. In fact, to judge accurately
of the distance from the fence at which the spring should
be taken, is a great accomplishment in a man and a horse.
In the former, it is the result of experience and a quick
eye; with the latter, it is in great measure dependent
on temper; and consequently violent horses—“ rushing
fencers,” as they are termed—never perfectly acquire it.
It is a serious fault in a horse to take his spring sooner than
he need take it; and perfect fencers go close up to their
fences before they rise at them, particularly to hedges
when the ditches are on the landing side. Horses, how¬
ever, of hasty tempers, particularly well-bred ones, with
great jumping powers, cannot always be made to do so.
Neither will they save themselves by walking into, or push¬
ing through, places which do not require to be jumped ; on
the contrary, many otherwise excellent hunters will scarcely
suffer a brier to touch their legs. A good bridle-hand here
comes into play, more especially with horses who are rather
difficult to handle, either from too fine a mouth, or a loose,
ill-formed neck. It is difficult, however, to offer instruction
here, as there ought to be an absolute interchange of feel¬
ing between the instructor and the instructed, to render
them intelligible to each other; but we will endeavour to
make ourselves understood:—When you approach a fence
with a horse of this description, you should leave him as
much to himself as you find it prudent to do, particularly
when within a few yards of it. If you are obliged to check
his speed, do so with as light a hand as possible ; and if he
shows a dislike to be much checked, by throwing up his
head, or otherwise, drop your hand to him, and let him go.
He has by this time most probably measured the fence by
his eye, and it may not be safe to interfere with him.
Double fences, particularly with a horse not quite perfect
in his mouth, and the setting on of his head, try the hand
of the horseman. The first part of the fence, usually a
ditch, may be cleared without any difficulty, and so may
the second, if visible; but it often happens that neither
horse nor rider is prepared for the second. Here it is that,
in our opinion, lifting a horse is to be recommended, and
in very tew cases besides. Our objection to it arises from
H 0 R S E M
Horseman- the horse being led to expect it; and if he do not get it at
ship. the critical moment, it may mislead him. In fact, it re-
quires a hand nicer than common to make a practice of
lifting a horse at his fences. Nevertheless, in the instance
we have alluded to, the unforeseen ditch, it is useful; as
also towards the end of a run, when a horse, from distress,
is given to be slovenly at his fences, if not disposed to run
into them. In leaping timber fences, we consider the at¬
tempt to lift a hunter dangerous ; for a horse becomes a
good timber-leaper from confidence; and if he finds he is
to wait, as it were, for your pleasure for him to rise at a
gate or a stile, he will be very apt to make mistakes.
We have already observed that timber fences are the most
dangerous of any, by reason of their general strength; if
a horse strikes them with his fore legs, or gets across them,
as it were, by not being able to bring his hinder quarters
clear of them, they are nearly certain to cause him to fall.
And he falls from timber in a form more dangerous to his
rider than when he merely stumbles and eventually falls, by
putting his feet into a ditch. In the latter case, his fore
quarters come to the ground first; and by breaking the
force of the fall, the rider has time to roll away from him
before he himself rolls over, should the violence of the fall
cause him to do so. In the former, if the timber be strong
enough firmly to resist the weight and force of a horse that
strikes it with his fore legs, especially if above the knees,
the first part of his body which comes to the ground is either
his back or his rump. Should the rider then not be thrown
clear of him, he must be made of hard materials if no bones
are broken, or some serious injury sustained. All this, then,
enforces the advice we have already given, of avoiding
strong timber with horses not perfect at leaping it, as much
as may be compatible with keeping your place with hounds ;
and still more so with horses, how perfect soever they may
be at it, that are blown, or very much distressed. It like¬
wise induces us to point out the best and safest method of
riding at this description of fence.
Never ride a horse fast at a timber fence, unless it be a
low one, with something wide to be cleared on the landing
side. If a man or boy is seen exercising himself in jump¬
ing heighth, you do not see him run quickly at it, nor does
he run over any considerable space of ground before he
springs. On the contrary, he only takes a few steps, and
those at a moderate rate. Never, then, ride your hunter
fast at gates, stiles, &c., unless in the one case alluded to.
Mr Thomas Assheton Smith, who was for many years at
the head of the Quorndon (Leicestershire) Hunt, and whose
riding of Jack o’ Lantern in particular was justly regarded
as the very essence of horsemanship, never rode fast at any
fences, brooks excepted, and then only under circumstances
which will be explained when we treat on that part of our
subject. When riding at timber, however, take a firm hold
of your horse’s head, chiefly by the aid of the bridoon, if
his mouth is good enough for it; and let him understand,
by assuming an air of resolution on your part, that you not
only mean him to leap it, and that you will not suffer him
to turn his tail to it, but that it is something at which his
best energies will be required of him. But above all things
do not interfere with his stroke or stride, unless absolutely
called upon by some peculiarity of the ground, such as a
grip on the headland, or a small ditch on the rising side.
A horse making up his mind to leap a timber fence, will of
his own accord regulate that matter, and gradually gather
himself together on his haunches, previous to being required
to take his spring. He will also, if you let him, often make
choice of his pace at which he goes up to a gate, &c. It is
true the deer can clear a greater height in its trot than in
any other pace ; but a horse prefers the very slow gallop,
or canter, when thus called upon to exert himself; for if he
do trot to any upright fence, we generally see him break
into a canter in the last few yards. As the fulcrum for the
VOL. XI.
A N S H I P. 681
spring comes from behind, the canter is the most natural Horseman-
pace, the haunches being at this time more under him. 8
The same instructions to the horseman hold good with
regard to stone walls as to timber fences, at least to those
met with in England, which are loose, and without ditches.
But in several parts of Scotland the case is different, as the
sportsman very frequently has to encounter walls with ditches
on one side or the other of them. In consequence of their
being placed at some distance from the wall, to prevent the
water which runs down them undermining the foundation
of it, there is frequently room, when the ditch is on the ris¬
ing side, for a horse to leap the ditch, and take a second
spring from the intermediate space, and so clear the wall.
But when he has to leap the wall, with the ditch on the
landing side, it becomes a very difficult fence, and must be
ridden at with judgment. If the ditch be not too far from
the wall to come within the stretch of a hunter, he should
be ridden quickly at it, and well roused by the rider, to
make him extend himself sufficiently ; but if it be too far,
he should be put very slowly at the wall, so as to enable
him to drop, with his hinder legs at least, on the interme¬
diate space, and from thence spring over the ditch. This
fence is very trying to horses not accustomed to it; and
with those which are, one fact becomes apparent, namely,
that the mere holding the reins of a bridle does not consti¬
tute what is called “a hand” on a horse. A workman with
a “ finger” is wanted here.
In riding at every description of timber your seat as well
as your hand requires attention. You have already been
told on what part of your horse you ought to sit, namely,
in the middle of your saddle, which should be placed close
to the shoulder bones, when your seat will be most secure,
from its being just in the centre of motion when your horse
springs at his fence ; as, in the rising and falling of a board
placed in equilibria, the centre will be most at rest. Your
true seat, indeed, will be found nearly in that part of )rour
saddle into which your body would naturally slide if you
mounted without stirrups. But other security than this is
required to insure safety over very high fences. It is not
the horse’s rising that tries the rider’s seat; the lash of his
hinder legs is what ought to be chiefly guarded against, and
is best done by the body’s being greatly inclined backward.
Grasp the saddle lightly with the hollow or inner part of
your thighs, but let there be no stiffness in any part of the
person at this time, particularly in the loins, which should
be as pliant as those of a coachman on his box, when tra¬
velling over a rough road. A stiff seat cannot be a secure
one, because it offers resistance to the violent motions of
the horse, which is clearly illustrated by the cricket-player.
Were he to hold his hand firm and fixed when he catches
a ball struck with great force, his hand or arm would be
broken by the resistance; but by yielding his hand gra¬
dually, and fora certain distance, to the motion of the ball,
by a due mixture of opposition and obedience, he catches
it without sustaining injury. Thus it is in the saddle. A
good horseman recovers his poisp, by giving some way to
the motion, whereas a bad one is flung from his seat, by
endeavouring to be fixed in it. In old times, when hunters
were trained to leap all upright fences standing, these pre¬
cautions were still more necessary, because the effect of the
lash of the hinder quarters was more sudden and violent, in
consequence of the horse being so close to his fence, that
he rose perpendicularly at it, and not with the lengthened
sweep of a flying leap.
Although Virgil, in his third Georgic, speaks of not suf¬
fering the brood mare to leap fences (non saltu superare
viam), we find nothing on this subject in the classics to in¬
duce us to believe that the ancients, although they hunted,
were given to ride over fences. Here they sustained a
loss ; for we know few more delightful sensations than that
experienced in the act of riding a fine flying leaper over a
682 HORSEMANSHIP.
Horseman- high and broad fence. Nothing within the power of man
ship- ^ approaches so nearly to the act of flying; and it is aston-
ishing what a great space of ground has been covered at
one leap by horses with first-rate horsemen on their backs.
In the grand Leicestershire Steeple-Chase of 1829, a gray
horse, called “ The King of the Valley,” the property of
Mr Maxse, and ridden by the celebrated “Dick Christian”
of Melton-Mowbray, cleared the previously unheard-of
space of 33 feet; and in the “ Grand National ” at Liver¬
pool, Mr Elmore’s Lottery cleared 33 feet over the wall
erected in front of the stand; Mr Tilbury’s Culverthorpe
jumped 37 feet over hurdles at Newport-Pagnell; and at
Leamington Captain Little’s Chandler cleared 39 feet over
the brook, in which three or four horses and their riders
were scrambling at the time. Yet, after all, the most ex¬
traordinary fact relating to the act of leaping in horses, is the
power they have of extending themselves by a second spring,
as it were, when they perceive something on the further side
of a fence, for which they were not prepared. That they oc¬
casionally do this under good horsemen, all good horsemen of
experience can vouch for; but whence the fulcrum is derived
it would be difficult to determine. All horses which have been
in Leicestershire, and other counties where the fences are
large and wide, become more or less accomplished in the
act of throwing themselves forward, as well as springing
upward, causing a very pleasant sensation in the rider, as
well as an assurance that he is not likely to drop short
into the ditch or brook. The most accomplished hunt¬
ers generally touch their fences, and many of the Irish
horses carry this habit of thrusting themselves with their
hind legs off a bank to such an extent, that the rider feels
as if he were never coming to the ground again.
We have already said that brooks stop a field more than
any other description of fence, and for the following rea¬
sons:—Very few men, and still fewer horses, like jumping
brooks. In the first place, as concerns the rider, they are
very apt to injure his horse by a strain, or a bad over-reach ;
secondly, water is deceiving as to the extent of it; thirdly,
a wide brook takes much out of a horse; and, lastly, the
banks often give way, after the horse supposes he has
landed himself; and although it is easy for him to get into
a brook, it is often very difficult for him to get out of one.
Few' horses become very good water-jumpers, unless they
have been hunted a good deal in countries where brooks
abound, and also have been fortunate in not getting into
one of them in their noviciate; and Lottery, the most tho¬
rough steeple-chaser under all weights that was ever crossed,
invariably bungled at them. For this reason, it is a ha¬
zardous experiment to give a large price for a hunter, how
high soever may be his character, that has been only hunted
in counties like Hampshire or parts of Wiltshire, where there
are no brooks but such as, from the soundness of their bot¬
toms, horses may walk through. We have already stated
the most likely way to make a young horse a good brook-
jumper, a very superior accomplishment in a hunter, and
chiefly to be attained by his acquiring confidence.
I here is one other untoward circumstance attending
leaping brooks with hounds. They are, for the most part,
met with in the middle of a field, and it often happens that,
until the horseman arrives on the very brink of them, he
cannot form a correct estimate of their nature or extent.
1 hey also vary much in both these respects, we mean in
the soundness or unsoundness of their banks, and in their
width, in the space of a few yards; so that it is in some
measure a matter of chance whether you have to leap a
wide brook or a narrow one. But, then, it may be said,
you can always satisfy yourself on these points. True;
you may do so; but what would too often be the conse¬
quence ? Why, if you show your horse a brook before
you ride him at it, it would too frequently happen that he
would not have it at all; add to which, whilst you were
doing this, on a good scenting day, the hounds would get Horseman,
a long way a-head of you. Besides, the vis vivida, or mo- ship,
mentum of the horse’s gallop, so necessary to get him well ^ y
over wide brooks with rotten banks, is wanted, but in this
case would to a certain extent be lost; and if he is once
pulled up, and turned round, it is not so readily acquired
again, as he is always more or less alarmed, after having got
a sight of what he is going to encounter. Wide brooks,
then, with uncertain banks, are the only fences which
should be ridden very fast at; for, exclusive of the advan¬
tage the horse gets from the impetus derived from the speed
should he fall on the other side from false ground, he will
generally save himself from dropping backwards into the
brook, an object of no small importance to him, as also to
his rider. There are, however, exceptions to the rule of
riding/a^ at brooks. When they are not wide, and the
banks are sound, it takes less out of a horse to put him at
a moderate rate at them. Neither should he be ridden
quickly at them when they overflow their banks, as it will
then require all his circumspection and care to know when,
or where to spring from, to cover them. In fact, over¬
flown brooks are rather formidable obstacles; but (a fine
trial of hand) numerous instances do occur in the course
of a season, where they are leaped when in that state by
some of the field, but not by many.
Although, when the sportsman rides over a very wide
brook, or any other fence which requires much ground to
be covered, he has a certain hold by his bridle : yet, as
may be supposed, it is very unequal to the weight of his
own body, increased by the resistance of the air. How
happens it, then, that his horse does not leap from under
him ? or, at least, how is it that, when the horse alights,
the rider alights in the very same spot in the saddle on
which he sat when his horse rose at it ? The fact is, his
body so far partakes of the speed of his horse, and increases
in common with it, that, with very little assistance from his
bridle-reins, he keeps himself in his proper place. If it
were not so, what would become of the rider in the circus,
who leaps directly upward, through a hoop perhaps, or over
his whip, whilst his horse is going at considerable speed ?
He would, of course, alight upon the ground, perpendicu¬
larly, under the point at which he sprung from his saddle.
It is evident, however, that on leaving the saddle the body
of the rider has equal velocity with that of the horse ; and
the spring, which he takes perpendicularly upward, in no
degree diminishes the velocity ; so that, while he is ascend¬
ing from the saddle, he is still advancing with the same
speed as his horse, and continues so advancing until his
return to the saddle. In this case the body of the rider
describes the diagonal of a parallelogram ; one side of
which is in the direction of the horse’s motion, and the
other perpendicularly upward, in the direction in which he
makes the leap. From these facts, these striking instances
of the composition of motion, then, may the advantages of
good, and the disadvantages of bad, horsemanship be ap¬
preciated ; and as it appears that the motions of the rider
and his horse are so intimately connected and in unison
with each other (for were the circus rider to project his
body forward, in his leap through the hoop, as he would
do if it were on the ground, he would alight on his horse’s
head or neck, or perhaps before his head, for he would then
advance forward more rapidly than his horse), the import¬
ance of a steady seat and a good hand is apparent, and ac¬
counts for some men crossing a country on middling horses,
quicker and better than others do upon really good ones.
Having spoken of overflown brooks, and being aware of
the many fatal disasters that have occurred to sportsmen in
water, and the narrow escapes of others from drowning
by crossing flooded rivers, within the last twenty years, we
are surprised that the exercise of swimming horses in the
summer months is not more generally resorted to. It was
HORSEMANSHIP. 683
lorseman- practised by the ancients ; for we find Alexander swim-
ship. ming the Granicus with thirteen troops of horse. But the
horses should be practised in swimming as well as their
riders, or it would not avail the sportsman so much, as we
know some horses are very much alarmed when they lose
their legs in water, and often turn themselves over. That
the act of swimming on horses is a most simple and safe
one to those who practise it, may be proved at any of our
watering places in the summer, where boys swim them out
to sea, two at a time, changing their seats from one to ano¬
ther with the greatest ease. We observe they generally
lean their body forwards, so that the water gets under it,
and partly floats it, interfering as little as possible with the
horse’s mouth ; at all events, never touching the curb rein.
When the sportsman or the traveller has occasion, or is
accidentally called upon, to swum his horse through deep
water, and the banks will admit of it, he should enter it as
gradually as possible, as not only will his horse be less
alarmed at the loss of his footing, but less liable to turn
himself over in it. Thus in fording a brook too wide to
leap, and with a soft bottom, a horse should be ridden very
slowly into it, which will enable him to get his hinder legs
well under his body before he makes his spring to ascend
the opposite bank; which he cannot do if he enter the
brook quickly.
As the young sportsman may be induced to “ make his
own horses,” as the term is for qualifying them for the ap¬
pellation of hunters, it may not be amiss to offer him a few
words of advice. Be careful, the first season, how you ride
them at very cramped places, especially where there is tim¬
ber, for they cannot be expected to be au fait at such
things ; and many of the worst falls that some of our hard-
riding sportsmen have experienced, have been from ex¬
pecting young horses to do what old, or at least experienced
ones, only can do. Avoid also taking the lead w ith hounds,
especially if they run hard, with a young horse, for it may
cause him to refuse a big fence which he might have fol¬
lowed another horse over, and thus become a refuser ever
afterwards. Although horses do not understand languages,
they understand the arbitrary signs of their masters or riders ;
and if a young hunter makes a slovenly mistake with you
at a fence, he should be corrected with either spur or whip,
and also by the voice. The merely calling out to him, or
exclaiming, “For shame! what are you about, eh?” ac¬
companied by a slight stroke of the w'hip, has often a very
good effect, and will be visible at the next fence, when he
will be more careful where he puts his feet, and take a
greater spring. A horse knows his errors ; also, when he
is corrected, and when cherished, each of which he should
be subject to in their turns; but as, according to the old
adage, a coward and a madman are equally unfit to be
horsemen, the correction of a young hunter should not be
severe. Nothing w'ould be more likely to make him what
is called a “ rushing,” and consequently an unsafe fencer
for the rest of his life, than beating him severely, for any
trifling faults he may commit in the field. Martingals on
hunters and racers are now generally condemned ; but, in
our opinion, more generally than they deserve to be, par¬
ticularly during the first season of a young horse, as a long
martingal serves to steady his head, if he is a little impe¬
tuous, and saves him many falls, which, putting his rider
out of the question, are injurious to him, as all horses be¬
come safe fencers, in a great measure, by having confi¬
dence in themselves, which falls must necessarily shake.
All horses, indeed, whose necks are w^eak and loose, may
be ridden with advantage by the aid of a martingal on the
bridoon rein, the rings coming quite up to their jaws, when
it cannot interfere with their galloping or their leaping.
The perfect command of a horse in the hunting field is
in nothing more essential than in passing through half-
opened gates, and many have been the bad accidents that
have arisen from the want of it, horses being often stuck Horseman-
fast between the gate and the post, to the no small injury sh’P-
to their rider’s legs or knees. Indeed the being handy in
opening a gate, is no trifling accomplishment in a hunter;
and here a few lessons in the school may be of advantage
to him. He would there be taught to obey the leg as well
as the hand ; and, by a slight touch of the spur, would
throw his haunches round to the left, on his rider unfasten¬
ing the latch with his right hand, and thus enable him to
throw the gate behind him, and pass through it. This has
reference to gates that open towards the horseman ; such
as open from him require not the horse’s aid. But it often
happens when a horse is blown, or beat, that unless he have
a very good mouth, he will hang upon a gate, and nearly
prevent his rider from opening it at all. One precaution,
however, should always be taken with gates; the rider
should never trust to catching the topmost bar, or what is
called the head of the gate, but should pass his hand inside
of it, when he will be certain to come in contact with some
part of it.
Falls.—There is a proverb, and a true one, which says,
“ He that will venture nothing, must not get on horseback.”
All men, however, who ride a-hunting are subject to falls,
but those who ride near the hounds, or “ hard,” as the term
is, seldom escape without having several in the course of a
season. It is well, then, that the young sportsman should
know that there is an art in falling, as well as in preventing
falls. This consists in getting clear of the horse as soon as
possible, which a man in the habit of falling has a better
chance to do than one who runs less risk of it, having
greater self-possession at the moment. Next to a horse
coming neck and croup over a high timber fence, a fall in
galloping at full speed is most dangerous, and apt to dislo¬
cate the neck, by the head coming first to the ground;
and from the velocity of the fall, the rider has no time for
precautions. However, even in this case he should endea¬
vour to put out one hand, if not both, to break the force of
the fall, as well as to act in resistance to his head coming
first to the ground, and receiving the whole force of the
concussion. By so doing, it is true, the collar-bone stands
a great chance of being fractured ; but that is an accident
merely of temporary inconvenience, and unattended with
danger, whereas a dislocated neck is very rarely reduced.
But^it is a curious fact, that there are fewer instances of
broken necks in the field in the present age than there
were nearly a century ago, notwithstanding that for one
man who rode a-hunting then, there are fifty now; and
the pace of hounds, as well as style of riding, much altered
as to speed. This has been accounted for in two ways ;
first, the modern sportsman sits, for the most part, down
on his saddle, whereas the sportsman of olden times stood
up in his stirrups, and, when his horse fell with him in his
gallop, was nearly certain to fall on his head. Secondly,
he did not ride the well-bred, clever-actioned horse that
the modern sportsman rides, which would account for his
falling oftener in his gallop, and particularly as the surface
of the country, in his day, was very uneven and unculti¬
vated compared to what it now is. Neither was the hunt¬
ing cap of much service to him in accidents of this de¬
scription. On the contrarjr, from its being so low in the
crown, as it was then made, coming in immediate contact
with the top of the head, the concussion was greater if
he were thrown upon his head, than if it had been cased in
a hat which, from the depth of it, would break the fall.
In all falls, the horseman should roll away from his horse
as soon as he possibly can, lest in his struggle to rise again
he strike him with his legs or head. Coolness in this hour
of peril, likewise serves the sportsman in another way. In¬
stead of losing hold of his reins, and abandoning his horse
to his own will, as the man who is flurried at this time in¬
variably does, he keeps them in his hand, if not always,
684 H O JR S E M
Horseman- perhaps in nine falls out of ten, and thus secures his horse.
S^P- It was the remark of a gentleman to whom we have before
alluded, and who (singulus in arte) was, from his desperate
system of riding, and despite of his fine horsemanship,
known to have more falls than any other man during the
time he hunted Leicestershire, that nothing had so low an
appearance as that of a man running on foot over a field,
calling out “ Stop my horse !”
Before quitting this part of our subject, it may be well
to observe, that in cases of bad falls, particularly those
affecting the head, where the lancet cannot be immediately
had recourse to, a large wine glassful of equal parts of strong
vinegar and water, drunk by the sufferer, is found to be
very efficacious, from the revulsive powers of the vinegar
acting on the general circulation of the system. In coun¬
tries where there is much timber to be leaped—stiles parti¬
cularly—calkins to the shoes of the hinder feet of a hunter
should never be omitted, as should those feet slip under
his body, the fulcrum to spring from is lost, and a fall
nearly certain.
We have only a few words more to offer to the young
sportsman. Nature is invariably the standard of excellence,
and unless she have endowed you with a cool head, a vi¬
gorous body, and a stout heart, you will not long distinguish
yourself in the hunting field as what is now termed “ a
Jirst-Jlight horseman.” You may sing with Hector,
“ The foremost place I claim,
The first in danger, as the first in fame
but you will not obtain it unless you possess the above-
named requisites. But having them, do not consider the
following admonitions unworthy of your notice : “ Never
ride at impenetrable or impracticable places ; you may get
over or through them with a fall, but your horse will surely
be the worse for the attempt, and will the sooner sink under
you in a good run. Never abandon your horse to himself
over any ground, but be sure to hold him fast by his head,
either up or down hill, and in soft ground. If you doubt
the effect of a tight hand at these times, ask the first New¬
market jockey you meet, and he will fully satisfy your
doubts. In the daring movements of that “ lawless moment”
which the first start after hounds, in some countries, may
now be termed, from the desperate attempts hard-riding
men make to get the lead, do not fail to have your eyes
about you, and also keep a good command over your horse.
In plain English, do not ride over any man. Some of the
worst accidents to sportsmen have arisen from this cause.
In the first place, one man will often ride so close to another
who is going to leap a fence, that if the first horse falls, the
second is almost certain to leap either on or over him and
his rider, as he can rarely be pulled up, or even turned, in
so short a space. But even should the second man see the
first man’s horse in the act of leaping the fence, he should
allow him some time to get away from it, for in the event
of his clearing it, it is still possible he may fall, by stum¬
bling over something after landing; stepping into a grip or
rut, or into false ground, all of which he is subject to, but
more especially towards the end of a chase, when, of Course,
his strength and action are reduced. It is better, if you can,
to take a line of your own than to follow any one at this time,
as your horse is now fresh ; and, by not having cause to pull
him up to let others go before you, you have a better chance
to get a good start, which gives you a great advantage.
When once alongside the pack, quit them not until they
have finished their work, or at least as long as your horse
can go without trespassing too hard on his powers. If,
however, you get the lead and can keep it for forty minutes
best pace over the grass, with rasping fences and two wide
brooks in your way, the laurels Caesar won would be weeds,
and withered ones too, compared with those which would,
for that one day, be yours.
A N S H I P.
There have been, and are now, some splendid specimens Horseman-
of horsemanship, and the management of horses in other slllP-
ways, amongst servants, and it appears there always were
such. Amongst the celebrated ones of antiquity we find
the following, moving in this humble sphere :—Automedon,
servant to Achilles; Idaeus to Priam ; Metiocus to Turnus,
king of Rutuli; Myrtilus to CEnomous, a son of Mars ; Co¬
heres to Darius ; and Anniceris, servant to Cyraneus. And
why should not the servant, by practice, become as fine a
horseman as his master ? The question appears to be easily
answered, namely, that the chances are equal, with equal
instruction and experience. But such has not been found
to be the case; and although amongst the various hunts¬
men, whippers-in, and what are known by the appellation
of second-horse-men (namely, those grooms who ride horses
with hounds to supply the place of those their masters ride
when they become fatigued, a most humane as well as eco¬
nomical plan with all who have a stud of hunters), some
super-excellent horsemen may be found, the generality of
servants are deficient in that first essential to good horse¬
manship, a fine or sensitive hand. Nor is this a matter of
surprise. The nervous influence proceeding from the organs
of touch may be said chiefly to constitute what is termed
the “ hand ” of the horseman ; and that influence may easily
be supposed to be greater in a person whose situation in life
has not subjected him to rough and laborious employments
which must necessarily tend to deaden it. Until of late
years the seat of servants was unfavourable to a good hand
on their horse, as they, with very few exceptions, rode with
too short stirrups, and, consequently, by being not well
placed in their seats, were perpetually interfering with their
horses’ mouths from their unsteadiness. So fully aware of
these objections was the late Mr Childe of Kinlett Hall,
Shropshire, that he had only one servant that he suffered to
mount the horses he himself rode, and that was William
Barrow, afterwards more than twenty years huntsman to
the late Mr Corbet in Warwickshire, and who was remark¬
able for his fine bridle-hand. Mr Osbaldeston also seldom
intrusted his best horses to any one but Jack Stevens.
Notwithstanding this, it may fairly be maintained, that, from
the fact of the comparatively small number of good horse¬
men who have obtained instruction from the schools, there
is more of nature than of art in the acquisition of skill and
talent on the saddle.
Saddles and bridles form no unimportant feature in the
equestrian art, as well as in the establishment of a sports¬
man. Nothing sets off the appearance of a horse and his
rider more than a good saddle and bridle ; nor does anything
contribute more to the comfort and safety of the latter than
a well-made, roomy saddle, with spring bars for the stirrup-
leathers—stirrups rather heavy than otherwise, and suf¬
ficiently large for the feet. Some persons, not contented
with the spring bars, require spring stirrups as well; but, in
our opinion, no man can hang in a common stirrup, provided
he do not wear thick boots nor use small stirrup-irons. Of
the various sorts of bridles, the snaffle is most in use on the
turf, and the curb for military horses, hunters, roadsters,
and coach horses. Not one hunter in twenty has a mouth
good enough for a snaffle only, although there are a few
horses in every hunt that will not face the curb. Some,
however, go very well on the snaffle up to a certain period
of a run, when all at once they require the assistance of the
curb. Such horses should be ridden with a double bridle,
so that the rider may have recourse to the curb-bit when
wanting.
There is often great nicety required in fitting a horse with
a bridle, if irritable in his temper, or a very hard puller. If
the former, he must have a bit of just sufficient severity to
control him, and not anything more. The one called the
“Pelham” is well adapted to horses of this description, as
it partakes of the double properties of snaffle and curb. With
H 0 R S E M
Horseman- very hard pulling horses, the curb to a severe bit must be
ship. used ; but the evil of this is, that, after a certain time, the
mouth thus acted upon becomes “ dead,” as the term is, and
the horse is unpleasant to ride and difficult to turn. To re¬
medy this, three players should be attached to the port of
the bit, which, by hanging loosely over the tongue, keep
the mouth alive. A bridle of this description, very long in
the cheek, is known in the hunting world as the “ Clipper
bit,” being the one in which that celebrated horseman Mr
Lindow rode a horse called the Clipper several years over
Leicestershire, in which far-famed county he was supposed
to be the best hunter going. If a horse rushes at his fences,
a moderately tight nose-band is useful, as also to prevent
his opening his mouth, and snatching at his rider’s hand.
The less a horse opens his mouth in his work the better, as
it tends to make it dry ; whereas, it cannot be too moist for
his own good. Bits very high in the port are of course the
most severe, owing to the increased purchase; but with
every description of bits care should be taken that they are
sufficiently wide for the mouth, so as not to press against
the horse’s cheeks, and that the headstall is sufficiently long
to let the bit drop well into the mouth.
As we read in the 22d chapter of Genesis, 3d verse, that
“ Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his
ass.” saddles of some sort must have been used in very
early days; but few things appear more extraordinary to
those persons who look into ancient history than the fact
of saddles with stirrups being a comparatively modern in¬
vention. Although a French translator1 of Xenophon by
an oversight makes a governor of Armenia hold the stirrup
of the Persian king when he mounted his horse (“ II lui
tenoit Vetrier lorsq’il montoit a cheval ” ), it is well known
that the ancients had no stirrups, but that men of rank
among them were accompanied by a person whose office it
was to lift them into the saddle, whom the Greeks called
ava(3o\ev<;, and the Romans strator. There is no mention
of stirrups in any Greek or Latin authors, no figure to be
seen in any statue or monument, nor any word expressive
of them to be met with in classical antiquity. In the cele¬
brated equestrian statues of Trajan and Antoninus the legs
of the rider hang down without any support; whereas, had
stirrups been used at that time, the artist would not have
omitted them. Neither are they spoken of by Xenophon
in his two books upon horsemanship, in which he gives di¬
rections for mounting ; nor by Julius Pollux, in his Lexicon,
where all the other articles belonging to horse-furniture are
spoken of. The Roman youth, indeed, were taught to
vault into their saddles (JEneid, xii., 287),—
 “ Corpora saltu
Subjiciunt in equos
and in their public ways stones were erected, as in Greece
also, for such as were incapable of doing so. As another
substitute for stirrups, horses in some countries were taught
to bend the knee, after the manner of beasts of burden of
the East ;2 3 and in others portable stools were used to assist
persons in mounting. This gave birth to the barbarous
practice of making captured princes and generals stoop
down, that the conqueror might mount his horse from their
backs; and in this ignominious manner was the Roman
Emperor Valerian treated by the Persian king, Sapor, who
outraged humanity by his cruelty. The earliest indisputable
mention of stirrups is by Eustathius (the commentator of
Homer), about 600 years back, who uses the word stabia.
Although the history of the saddle has not exercised the
A N S H I P. 685
learned world so much as the antiquity of the stirrup, a Horseman-
good deal has been written and said about it. Like all ship,
other inventions, it appears to have been suggested by the
necessity of making the rider sit easily upon his horse, and
some kind of covering, consisting of cloth or leather (skins
or hides, perhaps), was placed on the animal’s back. These
coverings, however, became afterwards extremely costly;2
they were made to hang down on each side of the horse,
and were distinguished among the Greeks and Romans by
various names. After they became common, however, it
was esteemed more manly to ride without them; and thus
we find Varro boasting of having ridden bare-backed when
young. Xenophon also reproaches the Persians with having
placed as much clothes under their seats on their horses’
backs as they had on their beds. It is certain that no
coverings to the horses’ backs were for a long time used in
war; and, according to Caesar, the old German soldiers
despised the cavalry of his country for having recourse to
such luxuries. In the time of Alexander Severus the
Roman soldiers rode upon very costly coverings, excepting
at reviews, when they were dispensed with to show the
condition of their horses. But we should imagine we must
look to later times for the costly trappings of the horse. In
his description of the city of Constantinople, the author of
the Letters of the Turkish Spy says,—“The next thing
worthy of observation is the Serayan, or house of equipages,
where are all sorts of trappings for horses, especially saddles
of immense cost and admirable workmanship. There can¬
not be a more agreeable sight, to such as take pleasure in
horses and riding, than to see 4000 men here daily at work
in their shops, each striving to excel the rest in the curiosity
of his artifice. You shall see one busy in spangling a saddle
with great oriental pearls and unions intermixed, for some
Arabian horse, belonging, perhaps, to the Vizier Azem;
another fitting a curb or bit of the purest gold to a bridle of
the most precious Russian leather. Some adorn their trap¬
pings with choice Phrygian work; others with diamonds,
rubies, and the most costly jewels of the East.”
But to return to the history of the saddle, its invention,
and general use, the latter a point very difficult to be ascer¬
tained. The word ephippium, by which the ancient Romans
expressed it, being merely derived from the Greek words l-n-l,
upon, iTTTros, a horse, leads us to conclude that, by degrees,
the covering spoken of was converted into a saddle. The
Greek word e’Spa, used by ancient authors, is believed to
have been used to express a saddle, and is more than once
used by Xenophon, in his De Re Equestri ; and Vegetius,
who wrote on the veterinary art nearly 400 years b.c., speaks
of the saddle-tree. Perhaps the clearest proof of the use
of anything approaching to the form of the modern saddle,
is the order of Theodosius (see his Code), in the year 385,
by which such persons as rode post-horses in their journeys
were forbidden to use those which weighed more than sixty
pounds ; if heavier, they were ordered to be cut to pieces.
What would the people of those times have thought if they
could have seen one of our Newmarket racing saddles,
weighing two and a half pounds, but giving the rider a very
comfortable seat. The order here alluded to, doubtless ap¬
plied to something resembling a saddle, although of rude
workmanship, as its weight bespeaks. Every traveller, we
may conclude, was provided with his own saddle; and
about this time the Latin word sella more frequently oc¬
curs. In the fifth century, again, we find articles bearing
something of this stamp, and made so extravagantly mag-
1 D’Ablancourt.
2 See Silius Ital., lib. x., 465.—•
“ Inde inclinatus coll am, submissus et armos
De more, inflexis prsebebat scandere terga
Cruribus.”
3 See Virgil, ^Eneid vii., 276 ; viii., 552 ; Ovid. Metam. lib. viii., 33; also Livy, lib. xxxi., cap. 7, who speaks of a man who dressed
his horse more elegantly than his wife.
686 HORSEMANSHIP.
Horseman- nificent as to call forth a prohibition by the Emperor Leo
S^'P’ I. against any one ornamenting them with pearls or pre-
^ cions stones. The saddle-tree is also mentioned by Si-
donius Apollinaris, a Christian writer, who was born a.d.
430; and in the sixth century, the saddles of the cavalry,
according to Mauritius, who wrote on the military art, had
large coverings of fur ; and about this period, the Greek
word 0-eX.Xa {sella) is used. It is considered probable, how¬
ever, that the merit of the invention of saddles may be due
to Persia, not merely from the circumstance of Xenophon’s
mentioning the people of that country as being the first to
render the seat on the horse more convenient and easy, by
placing more covering on their backs than was common in
other parts, but also because the horses of Persia were
made choice of for saddle-horses in preference to any
others. That the word saddle is derived from the Latin
word sedeo, to sit, may fairly be presumed. That the pro¬
per saddle itself, however, was unknown in England until
the reign of Henry VIE, we have good reason to believe;
and in Ireland, from the absence of any representation of it
on their coins, it may be conjectured, not till many years
subsequent to that period. The woman’s saddle, called
by us the side-saddle, first appeared in Richard II.’s time,
when his queen rode upon one; but from the pictures of
men and women’s saddles used in England’s early days, we
find they were miserable apologies for our modern saddles.
Indeed at the present time, Great Britain is the only coun¬
try in which proper saddles are made. Hunting saddles
should have their pannels well beaten and brushed to pre¬
vent sore backs ; and no sportsman, even if light, should use
a short saddle, under sixteen inches from pommel to cantle.
The antiquity of the spur does not appear to have much
excited curiosity : but the use of this instrument was known
in the very earliest age of which we have any satisfactory
history. At least we may presume that it was so, from the
Hebrew word signifying horseman {Pavash), appearing to
be derived from a Hebrew root signifying to prick or spur.
So at least says Buxtorff'; and he adds, that the horseman,
or spurrer, was so called on this account: Eques quod
equum calcaribus pungat; and he quotes Aben Ezra in
confirmation of his opinion :—A calcaribus quce sunt in
pedibus ejus. Spurs occur but seldom on seals, or other
antiques, in the eleventh century, but in the thirteenth
they are more frequent. As it is necessary that a horse
should obey the leg as well as the head, all military and
parade horses are ridden in spurs ; and, as we have already
said, they are very useful to the sportsman in riding across
a country, particularly in the act of opening gates; also all
race-horses that will bear them are ridden with them, be¬
cause, should punishment be wanting in a race, it is more
easily inflicted by the heel than by the hand ; add to which,
these horses not only require the jockey’s two hands at the
same time, but are apt to swerve, or shut up, if struck
severely by the whip.
Race-Riding, or Jockeyship.—Race-riding and riding
over a country cannot be called sister arts. Indeed the
former bears little relation to any other system of horseman¬
ship, because, from the rapidity with which the race-horse
gets over the ground, there is neither time nor necessity
for a display of the various aids which it is in the horseman’s
power to afford to his horse in most other cases. Never¬
theless, the very refinement of the art, the nice and deli¬
cate hand, together with a firm and strong seat, is absolutely
essential to a good jockey. Neither is this all. He must
possess a stout heart and a clear head.
Something like jockeyship was practised in very early
times, the Greeks having introduced it at their celebrated
games. In the 33d Olympiad they had their race of full-
aged horses. In the 71st Olympiad thejr instituted that
for mares called the Calpe, bearing a resemblance to our
Oaks Stakes at Epsom ; and an interesting anecdote is hand¬
ed down to us, relating to this race. A mare, called Aura, Horseman-
the property of one Phidolas, a Corinthian, threw her jockey, ship,
but continued her course as if he had kept his seat, increas-
ing her pace at the sound of the trumpet, and, finally, as
the story goes, presenting herself before the judges, as if
conscious of having won. The Eleans, however, declared
her to be the winner, and allowed Phidolas to dedicate a sta¬
tue to her. In the 131st Olympiad, the race of the ttwAos
KeXrjs, or under-aged horses, was established; but with re¬
spect to all these races, we are left in obscurity as to the
weight the horses carried, as also the distance they ran;
and whether or not such matters were regulated by their
age, and not at all by their size. It is the general opinion
that they were left to the discretion of the judges (the Hel-
lanodicae, as they were called), who regulated all matters at
Olympia, as the members of our Jockey Club do at New¬
market ; but, as may be expected from the character of the
times, exercising a power over their brother sportsmen,
which would not be relished at the present day, although,
in some respects, well worthy of imitation. For example,
they not only excluded from the games and imposed fines
upon such as were convicted of fraudulent or corrupt prac¬
tices, but inflicted bodily correction upon them besides.
But some very interesting facts are the result of the rigid
scrutiny of this Elean Jockey Club. Alexander the Great
was ambitious of obtaining the Olympic crown, but was ob¬
jected to as being a Macedonian, the prize he wished to con¬
tend for being confined to Grecians. Alexander cleared
himself by showing, that although he was a prince of Mace-
don, he was descended from a family that came originally
from Argos ; and the Hellanodics allowed him to start, but
he did not win. Themistocles objected to Hiero, King of
Syracuse, as a tyrant, and proposed that the magnificent pa¬
vilion which contained his race-horses should be pulled
down. The objection, however, was overruled, and he be¬
came a winner; but we do not wonder that in a Grecian
assembly the name of tyrant should have been abhorred.
The seat of the jockey is one of peculiar elegance, height¬
ened by the almost universal symmetry of his form or
figure, for very few ill-proportioned men are seen in the
racing saddle. The good appearance of the jockey is also
increased by the neat fit of his clothes ; his costume appro¬
priate to his calling; the extreme cleanliness of his person,
produced by his necessary attention to it during his prepa¬
ratory course of exercise ; and, though last, not least, his
almost affinity with the noble animal we see him mounted
upon. But for this he is indebted to Nature—to the rela¬
tion that the bodies of animals hold to natures altogether
external to their own ; and it is most happily exemplified
in that of a man to his horse, which appear to have been
especially formed for each other. But, as a celebrated mo¬
ral philosopher has observed, “ There is throughout the
universe a wonderful proportioning of one thing to another.
The size of animals, of the human animal especially, when
considered with respect to other animals, or to the plants
which grow around him, is such, as a regard to his conve-
niency would have pointed out. A giant or a pigmy could
not have milked goats, reaped corn, or mowed grass ; could
not have rode a horse, trained a vine, or shorn a sheep,
with the same bodily ease as we do, if at all.”
Previously to describing the proper seat of the jockey,
we will now endeavour to exhibit him in the most likely
form to acquire that seat. In height he should be about
5 feet 5 inches. We are aware there are several excellent
jockeys under this standard; but they do not look so well
on their horses, neither can they be so firm in their seat
from want of a better clip, which the firm grasp of a longer
thigh gives them. He should be rather long in the fork
for his height, and powerful, long arms, and a very quick
eye. He should be of a naturally spare habit, to save the
expense to his constitution by wasting; but he should have
H 0 R S E M
Horseman- as much muscle in his arms and thighs, as his diminutive
ship. form will admit of; in short, to ride some horses at such
v'—'' very light weights, he should be a “ pocket Hercules.” But
there must be nothing like rigidity in his frame. On the
contrary, there should be a great degree of pliability about
his arms, shoulders, and back-bone, to enable him to be in
perfect unteon with his horse. He should have very free
use of his hands, so as to change his reins from one to
the other in a race, and to whip with the left, as wrell as with
the right, when occasion requires it; he should possess much
command of temper; and, lastly, he should have the ab¬
stinence of a Brahmin, and be able by medicine and hard
walking in the sweaters to get off the two stone he gains
during the winter, without fever, in about three weeks or a
month.
The seat of the jockey may be described in a few words.
He should sit well down in his saddle when he walks his
horse to the post, with his stirrups of moderate length, so
as to enable him to clear his pommel, and have a good re¬
sisting power over his horse. No man can make the most
of a race-horse with long stirrup leathers, because, when
he is going at the top of his speed, he sinks down in his
fore quarters, in his stride, to the extent of several inches.
It was calculated that Eclipse, naturally a low fore-quar¬
tered horse, sank nearly 8 inches. The circumstance, then,
of the use of the stirrup, in ancient racing, being unknown,
fully accounts for racing on horseback as we now race, being,
comparatively with chariot-racing, but little resorted to ;
and the excellency of a jockey in the Olympic Hippo¬
drome, consisting more in a sort of harlequin feat of jump¬
ing from one horse, and vaulting upon another, in a race,
than in riding and finishing it, as it is now finished, in a
severe trial of speed, bottom, and jockeyship. Indeed, some
racers go with their heads so low as to bear up their rider
from the saddle whether he will or not, and they would pull
him over their heads, if he had not the power of resistance
from Ins stirrups. Much was written by Samuel Chiffney,
in a pedantic pamphlet called Genius Genuine, on riding
the race-horse with a slack rein, which system has never
been adopted by any jockey but his son on a few oc¬
casions. Exclusive of the necessity of restraining a free
horse, who would run himself to a stand-still if suffered to
do so, or of making “ a waiting race,” all race-horses feel
relieved by a strong pull at their heads, and many will “ shut
up ” at once if their heads are loosed. In our opinion, the
hand of a jockey should always be firm, though at times de¬
licate to an extreme ; and he should never unsettle his horse
by any sudden transition from a slack to a tight, or from a
tight to a slack rein. In fact, everything in horsemanship
is best done by degrees, but at the same time with a firm¬
ness and resolution which a horse well understands; and
the hand which, by giving and taking, gains its point
with the least force, is the best and most serviceable,
as well as most agreeable to a horse. Chiffney always in¬
sisted that a horse should beinvited to ease himself an inch
at a time,” and he certainly proved the truth of his curious
slack-rein theory by winning on Knowsely (whom no other
jockey could hold in the severest curb) in a plain snaffle at
Guildford ; and on Eagle at Newmarket.
We will now bring our jockey to the starting post, where
the first thing he does is to strip. Having inspected the
saddling of his horse, and found everything about him se¬
cure, he cocks up his left leg, and is chucked into his saddle
by the trainer, who generally wishes him “ luck ” as he per¬
forms this office for him. After he has seated himself firmly
down in it, and tried the length of his stirrup-leathers, he
takes a preliminary canter of about a quarter of a mile;
and then walks his horse quietly to the starting post. But
his method of starting his horse depends entirely on circum¬
stances. If for a half-mile-race—in which a good start is a
great advantage—he catches fast hold of his horse’s head,
A N S H I P.
687
and, if he will not start quickly without, sticks both spurs Horseman-
into his sides as soon as the signal is given, taking his
chance of getting his head down into its place when and
how he can. If for a two-mile race, or over that distance,
he need not be in such a hurry at starting, provided he do
not lose too much ground; but all this must in great mea¬
sure be regulated by his orders, whether to make running
or to lie by, and wait. We will, however, put him in all
these different situations.
The Half-mile Race, generally straight. Orders, “ To
make running? Having turned his horse round beyond,
or we should rather say behind, the post, he brings him as
quietly as he can back to it. On the word being given, he
gets him on his legs as soon as he possibly can, dropping his
hand to him to enable him to feel his mouth, and endeavours
to “ steady him.” He lets him go perhaps half the distance
he has to run with only his head hard held, before he gives
him \\\s first pull; but this event (the half-mile race) being
soon over, there is no time for much speculation, and the
pull must be but a short one. He then runs up to his horses
again ; lives with them to the end and wins, if he can, with¬
out a second pull; but if he finds other horses too near to
be pleasant, or, in other words, appearing to be as good as
his own, he takes a second pull within the last 100 or 200
yards, when he “ comes ” again and wins. The same direc¬
tions hold good in a mile race, with the exception that the
jockey need not be quite so much on the qui vice at starting,
and his pulls may be longer, and the last nearer home.
The Half-mile Race. Orders, “ To wait? In this case
the jockey gets well away with his horses, but never more
than a length or two behind any of them, as more than that
distance is difficult to make up in so short a race. Within
150, or perhaps only 30 yards, from home, he makes his
effort, or it may be that he never gets up till the last stride,
and wins, as the saying is, a head on the post.
The Mile Race. Orders, “ To wait? The jockey may
start last of all if he like, but he must not lose much ground.
However good judge a jockey may be of pace, it is a fault
to lie far out of his ground. Let him'then also lie well with
his horses all the way, creeping up to them inch by inch,
and not quit them to win till he feels certain he has the race
in his hand; that is, till he sees that the other horses have
run themselves out. His orders to wait have been given
him from the supposition or knowledge that speed, not stout¬
ness, was the best of his horse, and, consequently, that if he
had made the running or “play,” he would not have run
home.
The Tivo-mile Race. Orders, “ To make running? No¬
thing, next to the struggle of the last 150 yards between
two horses very nearly equal, called on the turf “ the set-to,”
is so difficult in racing horsemanship, as making running or
“play” by a jockey, solely for the benefit of the horse he
himself is riding.. In other words, it is a great accomplish¬
ment in a jockey to be a superior judge of pace, that is, of
not merely the pace he himself is going, but how that pace
affects the other horses in the race. And this task is diffi¬
cult with idle or lurching horses, which, when leading, re¬
quire urging by the hand or leg every yard they go. In this
case the jockey works hard to keep his horse going. He has
to use his hands, arms, legs, and feet, and occasionally to
turn his head round, with all his limbs in action, and yet
not disturb his horse’s action. The upshot is, if his horse
answers the opinion entertained of him, by cutting up his
competitors by severe “ play,” he wins his race, and has
the character of being a stout, honest horse. One of the
greatest triumphs of a jockey is to get in front and ride
what is styled a waiting race in front, when he dreads the
effect of a severe pace from end to end on his horse.
The Two-mile Race. Orders, “ To wait? In this case
the jockey goes off at a steady pace, with a good hold of his
horse’s head, as near to the other horses as he likes, but not
ship.
683 H O R S E M
Horseman- attempting to go in front. Thus he continues in his place
shiP- to within a certain distance from home, probably specified
in his orders, when he brings out his horse, challenges the
leaders one after another, and wins, if his horse be good
enough. This style of race requires immense judgment,
as, if a jockey lays too much out ot his ground at stai ting,
he would never be able to catch his opponents in time to
get a pull at his own horse.
The duty of a jockey is to win his race if possible, and
not to do more than win it; and a very clever one, if he is
opposed to another of less science in a finish, will “ gammon ”
he is beat; and then if his opponent eases his horse or be¬
comes at all careless, he catches him with a tremendous rush
on the post. The “ Chiffney rush ” has passed into a proverb ;
and Job Marson’s victorious one on “ Nutwith,” for the St
Leger of 1843 has also been greatly famed. Perhaps one
of the finest specimens of jockey science was displayed by
those celebrated Newmarket riders, Robinson and Chiffney,
on “ Camarine” and “ Rowton ” in the Ascot cup of 1832.
Buckle was also very great in the saddle, especially when
he had an idle horse to “ set-to ” on ; but, although these
artistes have quitted the scene, and Frank Butler was taken
from it in his very zenith, we have still some first-rate talent
left. Amongst the elder ones may be specially reckoned
Flatman (better known as “ Nat”) Rogers, J. Marson,
Templeman, Marlow, Bartholomew, and Alfred Day ; whilst
Wells, Aldcroft, Charlton, Ashmall, J. Mann, J. Osborne,
G. Oates, Quinton, and Fordham, are at the very head of
the younger generation, who have splendid chances of early
distinction in these handicap days.
All good jockeys avoid the use of the whip as much as
possible. When a race-horse is in the fullest exercise of his
powers and doing his best, it is unnecessary, for it cannot
make him do more, and it often has the effect of making
him shut up at once. One of the gamest horses that has
run during the last twenty years flinched at the finish of a
severe race at Doncaster in consequence of a chance blow
from his jockey’s whip on the tail. The spur, properly used,
is a much better instrument for increasing the speed of a
horse, although there are times when the application of the
whip, or the mere act of flourishing it in the hand, is emi¬
nently serviceable to the jockey; we mean when his horse
hangs to one side of the course or the other, or towards
other horses in the race, or exhibits symptoms of running
out of the course, or bolting. A jockey ought to be able to
use his whip with vigour when necessary, and (though this
do not often happen) with his left hand as well as with his
right, in case of his losing what is called the whip-hand, when
he cannot use his right. The nature and form of the race¬
course also will call for accurate knowledge of the peculiar
action of his horse.
Our remarks on the art of race-riding may be concluded
by stating the manner in which horses of various tempers,
dispositions, and capabilities, are to be ridden, with the best
chance of being made the most of. Nine racers in ten are
free-going ones, if not hard pullers. On one of this descrip¬
tion the great art of the jockey is to economize his powers
according to the length he has to go, as also the weight he
is carrying, so as not to let him over-pace himself, and have
little or nothing left in him at the finish. If other horses
make running, this can only be done by his sitting perfectly
still in his seat, dropping his hands, and having fast hold of
his horse’s head. The less he interferes with his mouth the
better; and if he likes to be well up with the other horses,
he is better there, supposing him not to be a regular jade,
than pulled at, to be kept back. Temper is a great thing
in this case—we mean in the jockey ; for a hasty horse and
a hasty rider are sure to disgrace themselves. Every un¬
necessary movement in the one is instantly responded to
by the other, who becomes flurried, and pulls more deter¬
minedly than he did before.
A N S H I P.
The lazy, sluggish, or “ craving” horse, as trainers call Horseman-
him, requires riding from end to end of his race. By this shiP-
we mean, that although the body of his jockey should not
move, he is often obliged to raise his hands off his horse’s
withers, to shake him now and then ; as well as to use his
feet to urge him to a better pace, or even to keep him at
the one he is going. Indeed, he will sometimes require a
blow with the whip, or at least to be very much roused, to
make him extend his stride towards the finish of his race.
This is the sort of horse that used to distinguish himself
in four-mile races at Newmarket, and was, of course, not
thought the worse of by his owner for taking so much riding
to make him do his best.
But the most ticklish and difficult horse, next to the de¬
termined restive one, or bolter, is what is known by the
appellation of the “ Flighty Horse,” one which is as diffi¬
cult to train as he is to ride, being delicate in constitution,
of extremely irritable temper, and very easily alarmed.
The jockey that has to ride a horse of this description,
should have a temper the very reverse of his, and a hand
as delicate as a woman’s. He must also indulge him in every
way save one, which is, in not allowing him to overpace
himself. But here, also, he must be careful; for this horse
will neither bear to be pulled nor hustled, but must be let
to go nearly in his own way, with the exception of being
kept well together by a steady hold of his head. If chal¬
lenged in the race, he must accept the challenge, and come
out of the conflict as well as he can.
Jockeys, of whom there are about 180 in the United
Kingdom, riding all weights from 8 st. 7 lb. to 4 st. 7 lb.,
delight in finding themselves on a fine-tempered racer;
such as Zinganee was in the year 1829, and of which year
he was considered the best horse. In a plain snaffle bridle,
without even a martingal, as he was ridden, and with an
obedient mouth, it is a pleasing instead of an irksome task.
A horse of this description is easily held, is kind at his
turns, in fact, will nearly make them of his own accord ; will
either wait or make play, as his rider’s orders may be; and
when called upon to challenge, is ready to do his best.
More than this, he is always going within himself, because
he is obedient to his jockey’s hand ; and his temper is at
least equal to 4 lb. weight in his favour.
We now conclude our remarks on jockeyship with a
short description of the last 400 yards of a race ; the
leading horses lying close together, and all well up. The
set-to is about to begin. But before the jockey does this,
he alters his position in his saddle. He has been previously
standing up in his stirrups, with his body leaning forward
over the horse’s withers, and his hands down, somewhat be¬
low them. He now seats himself firmly down in his saddle,
and, raising his hands off his withers, first gives his horse
an easy pull, and then the set-to begins. He now moves
his hands, as if describing a circle, by way of rousing his
horse ; and although he does not quite slacken his reins, he
allows him to reach with his head, as a distressed horse will
always do, and which is technically termed “ throwing him
in.” Then comes the last resource. If he finds, when
within a few yards of home, that he cannot win by these
means, and that his horse appears to sink in the rally, he
pricks him a few times with his spurs; gets his whip up in
his right hand, giving a good pull with his left, and uses it
as occasion may require.
Steeple-Chase Racing.—A new system of racing jockey-
ship has come into fashion in Great Britain and Ireland
within the last forty years, which, however daring, we know
not how to commend. We think it an unreasonable de¬
mand on the horse, to require him to go at a racing pace over
rough and soft ground, with the addition of having too often
a country selected for him to run across, which, if it is not
deemed difficult, is dotted with artificial fences and brooks.
Several human lives have already been sacrificed, and, we are
HORSEMANSHIP.
689
Horseman- sorry to say, several horses have died from broken backs in
ship. steeple-chases. The four miles and a quarter of the Liver-
pool course is often covered in little more than ten minutes,
by horses, who have no claim to rank with Grimaldi, Vy-
vian, Lottery, and Discount, the whilom heroes of this
amusement; which is at a low ebb now to what it was when
Captain Ross and “ The Squire” met on Clinker and
Clasher for their great matches in Leicestershire.
Qualifications for a Steeple-Chase Rider.—These are
exactly what are wanting in a very fast run over a stiffly
inclosed country with fox-hounds ; namely, a fine bridle-
hand, a steady seat, a cool head, undaunted courage, and
above all things, great quickness, and very prompt decision.
But the steeple-chase jockey has one evil to guard against,
which the racing jockey is, comparatively, but little subject
to, and this is a fall. The best preventive of it is keeping
a horse well together, and making him go in a collected
form at his fences, as well as over rough ground. But,
at the same time, he must not overpace his horse, or he
will not be able to rise at his fences when he gets to them.
And here lies the great difficulty after all, as far as the
horse is concerned. He must go, at least he is called upon
to go, at a much quicker rate than he can reasonably be
expected to maintain, for any considerable length of time,
without becoming distressed, because his competitors in the
race are also doing so, and he will be left behind, to a cer¬
tainty, if his rider do not endeavour to make him keep with
them. That horse, then, has the best chance to win which,
barring a fall, is the stoutest runner and surest fencer, and
whose rider is good enough, and strong enough, to give him
all the assistance he requires, at least as much as a rider
can give him, to enable him to struggle through his diffi¬
culties to the end. But there is one quality in a horse,
especially calculated for steeple-chase racing, and that is
quickness. After fencing some are on their legs again, and
get away instantly, as soon as they alight on the ground, be
the fence ever so large, whilst others dwell for some time
after landing, previously to their recovering their equili¬
brium, and so lose time. It is evident, then, that a quick
horse, with a quick man on his back, is best adapted to a
steeple-chase; and would beat another, supposing leaping
and other qualifications, this excepted, to be equal, which Horseman-
could give him half a stone weight over the Beacon Course, shiP-
and beat him.
It is no great compliment to this species of horseman¬
ship to show its origin, which is thus given in a work called
The Gentleman's Recreation, written nearly 200 years
back: “ But before I enter upon the subject proposed ”
(training of horses), says the author, “ I think it convenient
to tell you the way our ancestors had of making their
matches, and our modern way of deciding wagers; first,
then, the old way of trial was, by running so many train
scents after hounds, this being found not so uncertain and
more durable than hare-hunting, and the advantage con¬
sisted in having the trains laid on earth most suitable to the
nature of the horses. Now others choose to hunt the hare
till such an hour prefixed, and then to run the wild-goose
chase, which, because it is not known to all huntsmen, I
shall explain the use and manner of it. The wild-goose
chase received its name from the manner of the flight which
is made by wild-geese, which is generally one after another,
so that two horses, after the running of twelve score yards,
had liberty, which horse (qr. rider ?) soever could get the
leading, to ride what ground he pleased, the hindmost horse
being bound to follow him within a certain distance, agreed
on by articles, or else to be whipt up by the tryers or
judges which rode by, and whichever horse could distance
the other, won the match. But this chase was found by
experience so inhumane, and so destructive to horses, espe¬
cially when two good horses were matched; for neither
being able to distance the other, till ready both to sink un¬
der their riders through weakness, oftentimes the match
was fair to be drawn, and left undecided, though hath horses
u-ere quite spoiled. This brought them to run train scents,
which was afterwards changed to three heats, and a straight
course.” Our readers will acknowledge the resemblance
between the modern steeple and the ancient wild-goose
chase ; and we trust that ere long, the example of our an¬
cestors will be followed, and the man who is capable of
exhibiting his horsemanship in a modern steeple-chase, will
reserve his prowess for a better if not a nobler cause.
(c. a.) (w. h. l—Y.) l
HORSE-POWER, a unit of force introduced by Watt
to enable him to determine what size of engine to send to
his customers to supersede the number of horses which the
new power was to replace. Watt ascertained at one of the
London breweries that the average force exerted by the
strongest horse was sufficient to raise 33,000 lbs. one foot
high in a minute ; thus, an engine of 200 horse-power
would be a force equal to that of 200 horses, each lifting
33,000 lbs. one foot high per minute.
Watt had two methods of estimating and comparing his
engines—viz., by the power and by the duty. By the power
is meant the quantity of work which an engine can effect in
a given time; by the duty is meant the quantity of work
which it can effect by a given expenditure of fuel. Now,
it is evident that without any change in the size of an en¬
gine, but simply by increasing the pressure of the steam,
the power of an engine may be greatly increased—that is,
the load remaining constant, the speed of the piston may be
increased, the number of strokes may be increased, and,
consequently, the work done per minute will be increased
also. Hence it is difficult to apply a limit to the power ob¬
tainable from the smallest cylinder, provided the boiler be
large enough to evaporate the increased quantity of water,
and strong enough to resist the increased bursting pressure.
In fact, no size of cylinder can be reckoned as having a par¬
ticular power, since the power depends not on size but on
VOL. XI.
strength. Nevertheless, in modern engineering the term
horse-power refers rather to the size of the cylinder than to
the power exerted, and the value of the unit has undergone
many changes; so that in a modern engine, a horse-power
may imply 52,000 lbs., or 60,000 lbs., or 66,000 lbs., raised
one foot high per minute. The plan now adopted for ascer¬
taining the performances of different engines is by an instru¬
ment called an indicator. This consists of a small cylinder
fitted with a piston, which is pressed down by a spring. By
the height to which this piston rises against the spring the
steam pressure within the cylinder of the engine is indi¬
cated ; and the number of lbs. pressure on the square inch
multiplied into the number of square inches in the area of
the cylinder, and by the number of feet travelled through
by the piston per minute, gives the impelling power : de¬
duct in large engines about for friction, and the re¬
mainder is the efficient moving power, which, divided by
33,000, gives the actual horse-power. See Steam, (c. t.)
HORSHAM, a parliamentary borough and market-town
of Sussex, on a branch of the Arun, 37 miles S.S.W. of
London. It is a borough by prescription, and returned
two members to parliament previous to the Reform Act,
by which it was deprived of one of its representatives. The
borough is governed by a steward and two bailiffs. Horsham
consists of two streets, crossing each other at right angles,
one of them being adorned with rows of trees. The town-
4 s
690 HOE
Horsley, hall is a handsome Gothic building. St Mary’s church is
a spacious and elegant edifice in the early English style,
with a tower surmounted by a lofty spire. I he grammar
school, founded in 1532, is now in a very flourishing state;
the present rental of its endowment is upwards of L.400 per
annum. There are no manufactures of importance ; but a
considerable trade is carried on with the surrounding
country. Market-days, Monday and Saturday. Pop. (1851)
5947.
HORSLEY, Samuel, a very learned prelate of the
Church of England, the son of the Rev. John Horsley, for
many years clerk in orders at St Martin’s in the Fields, and
afterwards rector of Thorley in Hertfordshire, was born at
his father’s residence in St Martin’s Churchyard in October
1733. He received his early education from his father, and
was entered at Trinity-hall, Cambridge, where he applied
himself to the study of mathematics, and the writings of the
ancient and modern divines and logicians. Why he took
no degree in arts cannot now be ascertained. We find,
however, that in 1758 he took that of bachelor of laws, and
became his father’s curate at Newington, which living
he succeeded to the following year, and held until his eleva¬
tion to the episcopal bench in 1793, as Bishop of Ro¬
chester.
In April 1767 he was elected a fellow of the Royal So¬
ciety, of which he continued for many years an active mem¬
ber ; and about the same time he published a pamphlet on
the Poiver of God, “ deduced from the computable instan¬
taneous productions of it in the solar system.” This he
allows to be a “ very singular and whimsical speculation.”
In 1768 he went to Christ-Church, Oxford, as private tutor
to Heneage Earl of Aylesbury, then Lord Guernsey. In
1770, his first mathematical publication, Apollonii Per-
gcei Inclinationum libri duo, was elegantly printed at the
Clarendon press. This work, though severely criticized at
the time, and in reality not distinguished by any peculiar
felicity of restoration, does not appear to have injured his
rising reputation ; for in November 1773 he was appointed
secretary to the Royal Society, and in 1774 he had the de¬
gree of doctor of civil law conferred on him at Oxford, and
was presented by the Earl of Aylesbury to the rectory of
Aldbury, in Surrey, along with which he obtained a dispen¬
sation to hold that of Newington. The same year he pub¬
lished Remarks on the Observations made in the Voyage
towards the North Pole, for determining the acceleration
of the Pendulum in Lat. 79. 51.
Dr Horsley having long meditated a complete edition of
the works of Sir Isaac Newton, issued in 1776 proposals for
printing it by subscription, in five volumes 4to; but the
commencement of the undertaking was delayed by severe
domestic affliction, nor was it completed until 1785. In
the meanwhile his diligence and proficiency in science at¬
tracted the notice of Dr Lowth, who, on his promotion to
the see of London in 1777, appointed Dr Horsley his
domestic chaplain, collated him to a prebend in St Paul’s
Cathedral, and procured for him the situation, which had
been held by his father, of clerk in orders at St Martin’s in
the Fields. In 1778, during the controversy between Dr
Priestley, Dr Price, and others, on the subject of materialism
and philosophical necessity, Dr Horsley published a sermon
on Providence and Free Agency, in which he attempted to
draw a distinction between the philosophical necessity of the
moderns and the predestination of their ancestors. This
discourse was evidently directed against the writings of Dr
Priestley, but the latter did not take any immediate notice
of the attack. In 1779 Dr Horsley resigned Aldbury, and
in 1780 was presented to the living of Thorley, which he
held by dispensation along with that of Newington. In
1783 he became deeply involved in a dispute with some
members of the Royal Society, which ended in his with¬
drawing himself from that learned body.
H 0 R
Dr Horsley was now about to engage in that celebrated
controversy with Dr Priestley, which was conducted on
both sides in the fiercest spirit of polemical contention, but
on that of Horsley with superior learning and ability. In
1782 Dr Priestley published a work in two volumes 8vo,
entitled A History of the Corruptions of Christianity ; at
the head of which he placed both the Catholic doctrine of
Christ’s divinity, and the Arian doctrine of his pre-existence,
in a nature far superior to the human, at the same time re¬
presenting the Socinian doctrine of his mere humanity as
the unanimous faith of the first Christians. Dr Horsley,
conceiving that the best antidote to the poison contained in
this work would be to destroy the credit of the writer and
the authority of his name, made its imperfections, moral as
well as literary, the subject of review in a charge delivered
to the clergy of the archdeaconry of St Albans, at a depu¬
tation held on the 22d of May 1783. The specimens pro¬
duced as evidence of the imperfections of the work and the
incompetency of the author, may be reduced to six classes.
First, instances of reasoning in a circle ; second, instances
of quotations misapplied through ignorance of the subject;
third, instances of testimonies perverted through artful and
forced constructions; fourth, instances of passages in the
Greek fathers, misinterpreted through ignorance of the
Greek language ; fifth, instances of passages misinterpreted
through ignorance of the Platonic philosophy ; and, sixth,
instances of ignorance of the phraseology of the earliest
ecclesiastical writers. Dr Horsley concludes his charge by
observing, “ I feel no satisfaction in detecting the weakness
of this learned writer’s argument, but what arises from the
consciousness that it is the discharge of some part of the
duty which I owe to the Church of God.” This vigorous
and systematic attack staggered the admirers of Dr Priest¬
ley ; but he himself felt none of the apprehension with
which they were seized. His reply was entitled, Letters to
Hr Horsley, in answer to his Animadversions on the His¬
tory of the Corruptions of Christianity, with additional
evidence that the primitive Christian Church was Unitarian,
1783, in 8vo. To this production, in which there are more
errors of haste and infirmities of argument than could have
been expected from one who had so much at stake, Dr
Horsley replied in the same epistolary form, by Letters
from the Archdeacon of St Alban’s, in reply to Dr Priestley.
Dr Priestley, in his Letters, had attempted to draw his ad¬
versary into a controversy respecting the divinity of Jesus
Christ; but the latter, knowing that question to have been
long since exhausted, defended his own argument, and con¬
fined himself to the collection of proofs from Dr Priestley’s
publicationsof his inability to throw any light upon the subject.
Dr Priestley, finding that his Letters had failed to pro¬
duce the expected impression, now lost all temper; and in
a second set of letters to the Archdeacon of St Alban’s,
Horsley.
which appeared in the autumn of 1784, threw aside all pro¬
fession of personal regard, or even of ordinary civility. The
charge of incompetency and ignorance was warmly retorted,
and “ the incorrigible dignitary” was charged with manifest
misrepresentation of his adversary’s argument; with injus¬
tice to the character of Origen, whose veracity he had called
in question; and with the grossest perversion of ancient
history. In a word, he was stigmatized as a “ falsifier of
history, and a defamer of the character of the dead.” Re¬
gardless of this reproach, Dr Horsley remained silent for
eighteen months. A sermon on the Incarnation, preached
upon the feast of the Nativity in 1785, formed the prelude
to the renewal of the contest on his part, and was, early in
the ensuing spring, followed by Remarks on Dr Priestley’s
Second Letters to the Archdeacon of St Alban’s, with Proofs
of certain Facts asserted by the Archdeacon. This tract
consists of two parts ; one containing new specimens of Dr
Priestley’s temerity in assertion; and the other defending
the attack upon Origen, and proving the existence of a
H O R
Horsley, body of Christians at ^Elia after the time of Hadrian, which
was the fact upon which the Archdeacon’s historical fidelity
had been so loudly arraigned by Dr Priestley. With this
publication Dr Horsley had intended that the controversy
on his part should close; but having been induced to col¬
lect and republish what he had written (in one vol. 8vo,
1789), this led to a second perusal of Dr Priestley’s Let¬
ters, which produced not only many important notes, but
some disquisitions of considerable length; and as the Lie-
marks on Dr Priestley's Second Letters had elicited a third
set, in which he endeavoured to support the veracity of
Origen, and to maintain his position respecting the ortho¬
dox Hebrews of the church at AClia, these are replied to
partly in the notes, and partly also in two of the disquisitions.
The reputation which Dr Horsley had now acquired, re¬
commended him to the patronage of Lord Chancellor Thur-
low, who presented him to a prebendal stall in the cathe¬
dral of Gloucester ; and, by the interest of the same eminent
person, he was, in 1788, promoted to the see of St David’s.
As a bishop, his conduct was exemplary and praiseworthy;
in this character he fully answered the high expectations
of eminent usefulness, which his elevation to the mitre had
so generally raised. In his diocese, he carried through a
general system of reform, regulated the condition of the
clergy, introduced greater strictness with respect to candi¬
dates for admission into holy orders, preached frequently in
the parish churches, and acted with Christian liberality
towards the poor. Bishop Horsley’s first charge to the
clergy of St David’s was delivered in 1790, and deservedly
admired, as was also his animated speech in the House of
Lords 31st May 1791, on the subject of the Catholic Bill.
These effective displays are understood to have occasioned
his subsequent promotion to the bishopric of Rochester and
the deanery of Westminster, upon which he resigned the
living of Newington.
During the agitating period between 1793 and the close
of the century, Bishop Horsley ranged himself on the side
of the government, and with great zeal and warmth opposed
the enemies of the constitution, and the professors of de¬
mocratic principles, under which categories were then in¬
cluded all those who sought for reform in the representa¬
tion of the people as a guarantee for the removal of abuses,
and the progressive improvement of our institutions, eccle¬
siastical as well as civil. As a senator, his talents and ac¬
tivity necessarily gave him weight; and there were few
discussions of importance in which he did not take part.
He was not, however, an every-day speaker, nor desirous
of protracting the debate, unless he had something original
or important to communicate. In 1802, he was translated
to the bishopric of St Asaph, and resigned the deanery of
Westminster. Until 1806, his vigour of body and mind
remained unimpared. In the month of July of that year
he went to his diocese, and after a residence of two months
intended to visit his patron Lord Thurlow at Brighton, where
he arrived on the 20th of September, after learning on the
road that his noble friend was no more. On the 30th, he
became affected with a complaint in the bowels, which,
slight at first, soon terminated in mortification, and on the
4th of October proved fatal. He died in the seventy-third
year of his age.
Bishop Horsley was a hard student all his life. His ac¬
tive mind was ever directed to some pursuit. He was an
acute and original thinker, with a powerful intellect. He
was proficient in languages and Scripture criticism, and thus
well fitted for controversy. He was naturally warm and
uncompromising, and considering the agitated period in
which he lived, whether as to church or state, it is no more
wonderful that he exhibited at times the Iftats and aspe¬
rities of controversy, than it is that his opponents did the
same. Though a high churchman, he possessed more true
liberality, and understood better the broad principles of
H O R
691
practical toleration, than many of his clamorous opponents.
His sermons display vigour, depth, precision, originality, and
judgment. His patient research and extensive erudition
often enable him to render easy a difficult subject.
Horten-
sius.
Besides the works already mentioned, Bishop Horsley was the
author of the following, viz.,—1. On the Properties of the Greek and
Latin Languages, 1796, in 8vo; 2. On the Achronical Rising of the
Pleiades, appended to Dr Vincent’s Voyage, of Nearchus, 1797; 3.
A Circular Letter to the Diocese of Rochester, on the Scarcity of
Corn, 1796; 4. Another Circular Letter to that Diocese on the De¬
fence of the Kingdom, 1798 ; 5. Critical Disquisitions on the 18th
Chapter of Isaiah, 1799, in 4to ; 6. Hosea translated from the He¬
brew, with KAtes explanatory and critical, 1801, in 4to ; 7. Elemen¬
tary Treatises on the fundamental principles of Practical Mathe¬
matics, for the use of Students, 1801, in 8vo. Since his death have
appeared,—1. Sermons, 1810 and 1812, in three vols. 8vo ; 2. Tracts
in controversy with Dr Priestley, upon the historical question of the
belief of the first ages in the Divinity of Jesus Christ, revised and
augmented by the author, with an Appendix by his Son, 1812, in
8vo; 3. The Speeches in Parliament of Samuel Horsley, 1813 ; and,
4. The Charges delivered at his several visitations of the dioceses of
St David's, Rochester, and St Asaph, 1813, in 8vo.—(Chalmer’s
Biog. Diet., art. Hoksley ; Edinburgh Review, vol. xvii. p. 465,
468.) (j. b—E.)
HORTENSIUS, Quintus, one of tbe greatest orators
of Rome, was born of an equestrian family, b.c. 114. At
the early age of nineteen be appeared in the forum, and
distinguished himself so as to attract the notice of the con¬
suls Scaevola and Crassus, the former the greatest jurist,
and the latter the greatest orator of that day. Attaching
himself to the Sullane faction, he found ample scope for his
professional services in defending the numerous adherents
of that party who were tried for misgovernment or extor¬
tion in their provinces. His success in these trials was so
great that till the appearance of Cicero he was called the
“ rex judiciorumbut Hortensius was never very scru¬
pulous as to the means he took to secure a verdict in favour
of his clients. Extant evidence proves that he was only
too well acquainted with all the arts of bribery, and that he
often practised them in flagrant defiance of justice. Though
both at the bar, as well as in politics, Hortensius was always
opposed to Cicero, yet in private life the rivals seem to
have been on terms of intimacy, if not of friendship, with
each other. On Cicero’s side, however, the friendship seems
never to have been wholly cordial. Perhaps friendship was
impossible to a man of so suspicious and irritable a temper
as he. At all events, when Cicero was obliged to leave
Rome after failing in his impeachment of Clodius, he sus¬
pected that Hortensius had a share in procuring his exile,
and censured this supposed duplicity in no measured terms.
All the efforts of Atticus to undeceive him failed, and it
was only after his return that he acknowledged the ground¬
lessness of his suspicions. For ten years before his death
Hortensius had retired from political life, and confined him¬
self to his practice as an advocate. He had gone through
the usual career of public office; and had distinguished
himself by the almost unparalleled splendour of the games
which he celebrated when quaestor, aedile, and praetor. His
luxurious tastes and habits remained with him to tbe last;
and as his professional gains were enormous, he had ample
means of gratifying them. He lived in a style not inferior
to Lucullus; and his villas at Bauli, Tusculum, and Lau-
rentum were proverbially magnificent. He died b.c. 50,
two years before the final overthrow of the Republic. Cicero
remarked it as of a piece with Hortensius’ usual good luck
that he had been spared the pain of seeing this catastrophe
completed. He is mentioned by Cicero and Quinctilian
as the author of Orations and Annals, which have all pe¬
rished. He also wrote love songs, some of them not very
decent. Nearly all that is known of Hortensius is gathered
from the works of his friend and rival Cicero. An analysis
of his genius as an orator is given by Cicero in his Brutus,
and in the opening chapters of the De Claris Oratoribus.
692
HORTICULTURE.
Introduc- Horticulture is that branch of rural economy which
tion- consists in the formation and culture of Gardens. It is
the science of the cultivation of culinary vegetables, fruits,
and flowers. On one side it is allied to Agriculture,
from which, however, it is distinguished by the nature of
its products, and by the smaller extent and greater com¬
plexity of its operations; on the other side, in its pro¬
cesses of embellishment, it approaches the arts of the
Landscape Gardener and the Forester. For these latter
departments of rural art, considered as distinct from
Horticulture, see Landscape Gardening.
Like other arts, Horticulture borrows its principles
from the general sciences. To Botany it is indebted for
the facts and theories of vegetable physiology ; to
Chemistry for assistance in reference to soils, manures,
and artificial heat; and to Meteorology for a knowledge
of many circumstances which very materially affect
the labours of the gardener. On these subjects, with
which the philosophical horticulturist will not fail to
make himself familiar, we refer to the various scientific
articles in this Encyclopedia. It is very desirable
that such information should be extensively diffused
among practical men; as it is only from this quarter
that much improvement, in our present state of know¬
ledge, can be expected. Gardening has, until lately, too
generally been practised, and treated as an empirical art.
Those who were minutely conversant with its numerous
manipulations were generally deficient in that intellectual
training necessary to enable them to wield general prin¬
ciples with effect. This useful art is based on the imi¬
tation of Nature; for although the processes of nature
may be in some measure originated—as when a seed is
inserted in the ground, or modified—as in the artificial
training of fruit-trees, they can neither be entirely con¬
trolled nor counteracted. The principle of vegetable life
will not suffer interference beyond a certain point, and
our theoretical views should be so directed as to interfere
with this principle as little as possible. Accordingly the
rapid advancement of Horticulture in recent times may
be traced to the strictly scientific basis on which it has
been placed, and the close adherence to the laws of
vegetable physiology which has supplanted the prejudices
of former days. The writings of De Candolle, Dutrochet,
Bonnet, Papin, Sennebier, Duhamel, Mai’iotte, Liebig,
Saussure; and those of our own countrymen, Keith,
Knight, Priestley, Lindley, and Balfour, have greatly
contributed to this result.
Gardening was undoubtedly among the first of the arts
to which the attention of man was directed. If we would
ascend into remote antiquity, we can have recourse only
to conjecture, for although, in the Sacred Writings, and
in the earliest profane authors, allusions to gardens occur,
little is told us either of their productions or their culture.
At the close of the Roman commonwealth, the catalogue
of fruits had become considerable, the principles of graft¬
ing and pruning were understood and practised, and
shortly afterwards, even artificial heat seems to have
been partially employed. With the decline of the empire,
horticulture also declined or became stationary; but at
the revival of learning, it arose from the slumber of the
dark ages, encumbered, it is true, by the dreams of the
alchy mists, the restrictions of unlucky days, and the imagi¬
nary effects of lunar influence. From these fetters it was
ere long emancipated by the diffusion of knowledge, and it Introduc-
has hitherto kept pace with the general improvement of
society. Modified by climate and other circumstances in
different countries, its advancement has been various;
but nowhere has it made greater progress than amongst
ourselves. Introduced into England at an early period,
gardening made great progress in the reign of Henry
VIII. and his immediate successors, and met with con¬
siderable attention during the reigns of the Stuarts. In
the first half of the eighteenth century, Miller, Switzer, and
others, laboured with success in improving the operations,
and unfolding the principles, of the art; and these were
succeededby Abercrombie, Speedily, and ahost of writers,
who added greatly to our stores of knowledge. In 1805
was established the Horticultural Society of London,
which was soon followed by the institution of the Cale¬
donian Horticultural Society at Edinburgh ; and in their
train have sprung up a multitude of provincial gardening
societies, all of which have given an impulse to the
public mind, and stimulated the exertions of individuals.
Experimental gardens have been formed, in which,
amongst other things, the important work of distinguish¬
ing and classifying the numerous varieties of our hardy
fruits has been zealously prosecuted. The mass of in¬
formation now collected is immense, and the labour ex¬
pended in its diffusion unwearied. Judging from the
literature of the day, we shall scarcely find any art, how¬
ever nationally important, which receives more attention,
or on which the liberality of the wealthy is more abun¬
dantly bestowed. The public nursery-gardens, too, both
at London and elsewhere, establishments intimately con¬
nected with our subject, and which, in a manufacturing
nation, are not the least wonderful amongst the applica¬
tions of skill and capital, prove the extent and perfection
to which gardening has advanced.
We shall, in what follows, confine our attention almost
exclusively to the horticulture of Great Britain, and en¬
deavour to give such an exhibition of its practice as may
suit the middle districts of the island. It would be un¬
profitable to describe all the methods of culture in prac¬
tice; and we shall therefore notice such only as are
deemed the best.
The subject naturally divides itself into the Fruit, the
Kitchen, and the Flower Garden ; but as the first two
generally occupy the same locality, or are intermingled
with each other, we shall, to some extent, take them
together. Then will follow the Flower Garden ; Conser¬
vatory and Plant-houses; and by way of conclusion to
the whole, a short Calendar.
Before proceeding to these departments, it may prevent
unnecessary repetitions, to offer a few brief remarks on
the general principles of vegetable origin and existence.
The first principles of vegetation are those which
regulate Propagation and Growth. All plants are pro¬
pagated by Seed, Cuttings, Layering, Budding, or Graft¬
ing. Imported seeds should be sown as soon as they are
received, unless in the case of those that vegetate speedily,
which should be sown neither late in autumn, nor early
in winter, as in the event of their vegetating during the
dark months the young plants would likely perish.
Hard seeds, and such as do not vegetate rapidly, may
be committed to the soil at those periods when it is cal¬
culated their growth will commence.
HORTICULTURE.
693
Introduc- Propagation by Seed.—Germination, or the sprouting of
tion. t}ie see(jj depends on the presence of moisture and a due
~~ amount of heat and air. No seed will germinate at 32°
Fahr., nor if enclosed in hermetically sealed vessels, nor
even if too deeply covered with soil. A full account of
the requisites for germination, and of the chemical
changes which occur, is given under the article Botany,
Part I. § iv. 2.
Propagation by Cuttings of the Wood, the mode next
in importance and general use, consists in originat¬
ing new individuals by means of portions of the parent
plant. Sometimes pieces of the roots are employed,
but more generally portions either of the young wood
of the current season of growth, as in the case of
Heaths; or portions of the ripened wood of the pre¬
vious season, as in Currants and Gooseberries; or
occasionally single eyes or buds, as in the Vine; or
truncheons of the stem and older branches, as in the
Willow and Mulberry; or the leaf, as in Gloxinia; or
any part of the plant, as in the majority of Succulents.
The immediate cause of the formation of roots is as yet
unknown, but the remote cause is conjectured by Bindley
to be the elaboi’ation of organisable matter by the leaves,
for, as he observes, “ there can be no doubt that the de¬
velopment of roots is much assisted by the descending
sap. When a ring of bark is removed from a branch, if
the wound is wrapped in damp moss, roots will invari¬
ably push from the upper lip of the wound, while the
lower will produce none, a fact so well known, that it
has been one of the causes of an opinion, that roots are
bundles of wood liberated from the continual perpen¬
dicular system, and that the wood itself is nothing but a
mass of roots formed by the leaves and buds.” Roots,
for the most part, are formed in the dark, and hence the
seed, the cutting, and the layer, are buried more or less
under ground.
Heat has a very considerable effect on the formation
of roots in cuttings, and hence the most successful mode
is to place the cuttings in a mild bottom heat. Many
hardy plants which strike roots when their cuttings are
planted in the open soil, would do so much sooner if
placed in heat. Some hard-wooded trees, as the common
White Thorn, refuse to root when their cuttings are
planted in the natural soil, yet they will do so readily if
placed in a bottom heat. We must first obtain roots to
our cuttings before leaves need be looked for, and to
obtain this the temperature of the soil in which the
cuttings are placed, must be several degrees higher than
that of the atmosphere. It is an invariable rule through¬
out plant culture that the root action shall be in advance
of that of the leaves. Deciduous trees and shrubs suc¬
ceed best when the cuttings are planted early in autumn,
while the soil retains the solar heat absorbed during
summer. Evergreens propagate by these means best,
... when the cuttings are planted during April or May,
August or September. Greenhouse and stove plants
are propagated in this way during the spring and sum¬
mer months. The great object to be attained is to get
them established with active roots before the approach
of winter.
The following, from “ Lindley’s Theory of Horticul¬
ture,” contains the main essentials required in this process
of propagation. “ What is demanded when cuttings or
plants are to be struck, is a due adjustment of heat,
light, and moisture. The first stimulates the vital
processes, the second causes the formation of matter, out
of which roots and leaves are to be organised ; the third
is at once a vehicle for the food required by the cutting,
and a part of it. The great difficulty is to know how to
adjust these agents.
“ If the heat is too high, organs are formed faster Introduc-
than they can be solidified, if too low, decay comes on
before the reproductive forces can be put in action.
When light is too powerful, the fluid contents of the
cutting are lost faster than they can be supplied; when
too feeble there is not a sufficiently quick formation of
organisable matter with which to construct the new roots
and leaves. If water is deficient, the cutting is starved ;
if over-abundant, it rots. It is, then, the adjustment of
these forces to the peculiar nature of the cutting to be
acted upon that constitutes the art of propagation. It is
this which theory cannot supply, but which depends
upon skill and experience. If any part of the operations
of cultivation can be called empirical, it is this. And
yet the operator is not without rules to guide him in
this adjustment; the misfortune is that they are too
general. The softer the cutting, the quicker must be
the excitement and the application of the formative pro¬
cess. The more hard and woody the cutting is, the
slower will be the operation.”
Light and moisture have also a considerable effect on
the constitution of the cutting. When intense light is
allowed to strike on a cutting before its roots are formed,
and especially if the cutting be a soft-wooded one, undue
transpiration is excited ; this transpiration therefore must
be modified by partial shading, and the loss of sap made
up for by keeping the atmosphere and soil moist. These
precautions must be continued until the roots are formed,
when they will imbibe fluid from the soil as fast as the
sun dries it off from the leaves. An artificial atmos¬
phere, so to speak, is formed around the cutting when
it is covered with a bell-glass. “ Ignorant people,” Dr.
Bindley remarks, “ believe that the use of the bell-glass
is to keep out air, which is impracticable and useless.
Bell-glasses act by keeping in moisture. From the
surface of warm damp soil, water is perpetually escaping
in the form of invisible vapour; if the soil is freely
exposed that vapour is dispersed as fast as it is formed ;
but when it is confined beneath a bell-glass the air is
unchanged, and the vapour remains in a state of sus¬
pension, bathing and invigorating the whole surface of
the cuttings. When this is well managed, the whole of
the injurious effects of sunlight are prevented, and all
the advantages of it secured.” Great care, however,
must be taken to keep the temperature of the air which
surrounds the bell-glass as warm as that which is en¬
closed, to prevent condensation within, which would
induce rottenness, or what is practically termed damping
off. Cutting off the leaves of cuttings, or even reducing
them in size—a very common error—should be avoided.
Many cuttings will strike root if their end be placed in
water, and those plants do so most successfully which
are termed hard-wooded, because the dense texture of
the wood prevents their absorbing too much of the water,
as is the case with soft-wooded plants.
This absorption in such cuttings is one if not the
principal cause of their so often damping off. Mr. Low,
with a view to prevent this, has proposed to dip their
ends in Collodion, an adhesive substance, impenetrable
by water. Its general application is not, however, recog¬
nized. There is a singular phenomenon, somewhat
analogous to irritability in animals, known to exist in
vegetables, the cause of which has not been discovered
by physiologists. They have, however, applied the
term Vegetable Excitability to it. Its effect is the
well-known fact that the young cuttings taken from trees
growing in the open air will not produce roots, whereas,
if the same trees were taken up and placed in a forcing-
house, cuttings from them would certainly succeed.
Cuttings taken from plants growing in a cool green-
694
H O R T I C U L T U K E.
Introduc- house will, in a like manner, not succeed if placed in a
ti°n. propagating pit at a high temperature, but it the same
plants are set in a warm house for a few days, the
cuttings from them are sure to succeed.1
Propagation by Layering is practised in the case ot
roses and other shrubs which do not so readily strike by
cuttings. It is somewhat analogous to Inarching, that
is, forming an individual plant from the branch of anothei
still adhering to it. .
Propagation by Suckers is seldom adopted, except in the
case of some hardy shrubs, and the Pine Apple. Plants
originated by this process amongst the former aie in gene-
ral°considered inferior. In the latter case it is otherwise.
In good culture a sufficient stock is easily kept up for
private supply by choosing the strongest suckers that are
produced on the stem, which are more or less numerous
according to the amount of check the plant may sustain
by the formation of the fruit. Rare sorts may be wonder¬
fully increased by retaining the stump, instead of throwing
it away as is usually done after the fruit is ripened, and
placing it in a damp pit, with a bottom temperature
of 90°. Every latent eye would then spring, and a large
amount of young plants be produced.
Propagation by Single Leaves.—The leaves of some
plants produce adventitious buds upon their edges and
upper surfaces, and some leaves like those of the Eche-
verias strike root soon after they fall on the soil. Some
genera like Gloxinia, Clianthus, Gesnera, &c., require
to have only the footstalk of their leaves planted in sandy
soil in a proper temperature, to produce young plants.
These leaf cuttings first form a callosity at their base,
then roots, and lastly, a bud, from which last the future
plant is organised. Some plants form this bud more freely
than others, while a few seem unwilling to form it at all.
Propagation by Guttings of the Root.— Some plants pro¬
duce on their roots what are called adventitious buds,
which are used for the purpose of propagation. It is a
singular and beautiful arrangement in the vegetable
economy that such plants as do not propagate freely by
cuttings in the ordinary way, do so freely by substituting
portions of the root for that of the bi'anch. The Japan
Quince, the Cydonia japonica, so common in our gardens,
is a good example of this. It can scarcely be propagated
in the usual manner, but the roots from £ to ^ inch in
diameter, if cut into pieces about 2 inches in length, and
planted even in the open border, will take root freely,
The Acacia pubescens, which is rarely if ever struck by
cuttings of the wood, propagates freely by this method.
But the most extraordinary instance within our know¬
ledge is that of coniferous trees being so multiplied.
This discovery is due to M. Neuman of the Jardin des
Plantes of Paris, who, in his interesting work on propaga¬
tion, states this fact in regard to the Araucaria Cunning-
hamii, and he believes that all conifers may be propagated
in the same manner. His process is briefly this :*—In
spring the cuttings are made, being portions of the roots
| of an inch in diameter, and from 2 to 3 inches in length;
they are planted in pots in March, and placed in a mode¬
rate temperature ; in April they are transferred to a warm
tan bed, and in a month afterwards vegetation becomes
excited.
Propagation by Single Eyes.—This is now almost uni¬
versally practised in the case of the vine, the plants so
produced being remarkable for the shortness of their
joints, that is the multiplicity of their buds. It is
believed, theoretically, that all plants may be so increased. Introduc-'-
In some cases the eyes disengage themselves spontane-
ously from the mother plant, fall down, and strike root;
in others the propagator cuts out the eye, with a small
portion of the wood. In some plants the eyes are more
excitable than in others, and hence this mode of propa¬
gation is not of universal application in practice. The
rationale of this is given by Mr. Knight, in the 2d vol.
of the Hort. Trans, p. 115.
Analogous with this mode of propagation is that of
originating plants from knots or excrescences, which are
cut out of the bark, and called by the Italians novoli, in
English, knaurs. These embryo buds or concretions are
spoken of by Dr. Bindley, as being found “ in the bark
of many, and probably of all trees, and are supposed
to have been adventitious buds developed in the bark,
and, by the pressure of the surrounding parts, forced
into those spheroidal woody masses, in the shape of which
we find them.” These are found sometimes singly, as
in the Beech, but often in groups or clusters, as in the
Elm. They often remain dormant for years, at other
times lengthen out into small branches. They have
been seldom used for the purpose of propagation in this
country, but have been so in Italy in the propagation of
the Olive. The process is explained by Signor Manetti
in the 7th vol. of the Gardener’s Magazine.
Propagation by Budding and Grafting.—This operation
is in some respects analogous to that of propagation by
single eyes, buds, or cuttings. In the cases we have
already treated of, the eye, bud, or scion, is transferred
from the tree to the earth at once, whereas, in the
present case, the bud or scion of one tree is transferred
to another tree, or in other words planted into it.
Grafting is so nearly akin to budding, that the French,
who are great operators, do not distinguish them by
separate words, but use the general term greffe for both.
The theory has been very fully explained by De Candolle,
in his “ Physiologic Vegetableby D’Albret, Knight,
and others. Mons. Thouin, in his “Monographic des
Greffes,” and also in “ Nouveau Cours complet d’Agri¬
culture,” has described above 40 methods, while M.
Louis Noisette published a description, with figures of 137
forms. The most valuable information on the subject,
however, is to be found in Dr. Lindley’s “Theory of
Horticulture,” new edition, 1855. Glancing only at the
more important parts of our subject, we find that strong
and healthy stocks increase the vigour of scions of weakly
plants; hence delicate sorts of vines should be wrought
upon plants of robust varieties. Delicate and shy¬
flowering roses, when wrought on strong growing sorts,
produce and develope their flowers, which they would
not do in our climate if upon their own roots; and,
singular to say, the most delicate variegations are retained
when budded, which would not happen if not so treated.
Blossom buds of one tree may be transferred to the
barren branches of another, and fruit thus produced.
Buds of a variegated-leaved plant inserted into a branch
of a plant of the same genus, having only green leaves,
will, even should the inserted bud not push into growth,
produce variegation in the leaves of the green-leaved
plant. In this way, the curious Cytisus Adami, produced
apparently by grafting Cytisus purpureus in Cytisus Labur¬
num, exhibits both purple and yellow flowers. The
stock has also a considerable influence over the scion,
and therefore great care should be taken in its selection.
1 That portion of the wood, whether old or young, intended for a cutting, must be furnished with buds upon its surface. Hence those
parts denominated internodes, that is, the smooth parts between two joints, as exemplified in the JSat. Order Graminece, need not be
tried, but the same plants, cut transversely, close under a node or joint, root freely. In other plants, as in the Pelargonium, for example,
internodes also intervene between leaf and leaf, hence cuttings of them must be made just under a leaf, because a bud is certain to
exist in the axil of the leaf. Flower stalks seldom contain buds, and hence they are useless for the purpose of making cuttings.
HORTICULTURE.
Introduc- If mere multiplication of individuals were all that was to
tl0n expected of budding or grafting, then the stocks most
easily procured, if sufficiently akin to the scion or bud,
would be the best. But the operation is of far greater
importance than this; it ennobles the tree by changing
its character from a worse to an improved condition,
as to its production either of floAvers or fruits. To a
certain extent it increases the hardiness of a tender sort,
when wrought on a stock capable of better resisting cold,
or one which is more suited to the low soil temperature of
northern latitudes than that natural to the tree from
which the bud or scion is taken. Mr Knight denied this
fact, but Dr. Bindley supports it, and says, in his “Theory
of Horticulture”—“Probablyin Persia, the nativecountry
!of the Peach, that species, or its wild type, the Almond,
is the best stock for the former fruit; because the tem¬
perature of the earth is that in which it was created to
grow. But in a climate like that of England, the summer
temperature of whose soil is so much lower than that of
Persia, the Plum, on which the Peach takes freely, is a
hardy native, and suited to such soil, and its roots are
aroused from their winter sleep by an amount of warmth
insufficient for the Peach. Experience, in this case,
completely confirms what theory teaches ; for although
there may be a few healthy trees in this country growing
upon the Almond stock, it is certain that the greater part
of those which have been planted have failed; while in
the warm soil of France and Italy it is the stock upon
which the old trees have in almost all cases been budded.”
Stocks must also be chosen to suit the soil. From a
careful series of experiments made in the Horticultural
Society’s Garden at Chiswick, we find that in loamy soils
the Apple succeeds best on the Doucin stock, in chalky
soils on the Crab, and in light soils, slightly enriched
with decayed vegetable matter, on the Doucin. The
Pear in loamy soil, or in light soils enriched with decayed
vegetable matter, succeeds best on the Quince, while on
chalky soils the wild Pear is preferable. The Plum suc¬
ceeds best in loamy soils, when wrought on the Plum
stock, while on chalky and light soils it does better on
the Almond. The Cherry succeeds best in loamy, or in
light rich soils, when wrought on the wild Cherry, and
on chalk when on the Mahaleb stock.
The stock also has considerable influence on the fruit,
as well as on the strength of the scion. This we find to
be the case in regard to the Stanwick Nectarine, so apt to
crack and not to ripen when wrought in the ordinary way.
It is said to be cured by being first budded on a very
strong growing Magnum Bonum Plum, wrought on a
Brussels stock, and inserting the buds close to the ground,
then the buds of the Nectarine on the Magnum Bonum
Plum, about a foot from the ground. The quality of the
fruit is in general also improved by the process. “ This
may be conceived,” says Dr. Bindley, “ to happen in
two ways—either by the ascending sap carrying up with
it into the scion a part of the secretions of the stock, or
by the difference induced in the general health of a scion
by the manner in which the flow of ascending and
descending sap is promoted or retarded by the stock. In
the Pear the fruit becomes higher coloured and smaller
on the Quince stock than on the wild Pear; still more so
on the Medlar. On the Mountain Ash the Pear becomes
earlier; and in these instances the ascent and descent of
sap is obstructed by the Quince more than by the wild
Pear, and by the Medlar moi’e than by the Quince.
Similar effects are produced in the Apple by the Paradise
and Siberian bitter and sweet stocks.”
From these facts we learn that the quality of fruit
must become deteriorated when wrought on stocks, the
fruit of which is worthless. For example, Peaches would
695
be so when wrought upon the Almond or Wild Plum ; Introduc-
the Apple, when wrought on the Crab; and the Pear, ..l10-.
when Avrought on the White Thorn or Mountain Ash.
Analogy would lead us to expect that using as stocks
those trees whose fruits are of known excellence, still
greater excellence would follow. This is asserted to be
the case. In the same way double working or ennobling
is said to improve the quality of fruits, an idea we have
long entertained.
Planting.—Transplantingnaturally follows propagation.
We will now briefly glance at the leading features of this
important part of our subject. Every plant Avhen re¬
moved from one place to another sustains, to a greater
or less degree, a check. It is for us to consider how this
check can be obviated, or reduced. The season of the
year, the state of the atmosphere, the condition of the
plant, the soil, its age, size, and the disposition of its
roots, are all matters to be duly considered.
As to season, as regards deciduous trees and shrubs, it
is now admitted by those most competent to judge, that
the earlier in autumn the operation is performed the
better; although some extend it from the period when the
leaves fall to the earliest part of spring, before the sap
begins to move, and the cold dry winds to prevail. Were
it possible, we would say, let the operation be completed
by the end of November, because up to that period the
soil has not parted with the solar heat absorbed during
summer; heat being, as already sheAvn, so necessary for
stimulating growth in the roots. We are aware that in
large operations this cannot in all cases be effected, but
in regard to rare and delicate plants it should not be lost
sight of. Early autumn planting enables the wounded
parts of the roots to be healed 0A7er, and to form spon-
gioles, which Avill be ready in spring to collect food for
the plant, at the time it most requires it. Bate winter
and spring planting should, as far as possible, be avoided,
for at that time the buds begin to become excited, and
the draught upon the roots becomes great. Some believe
that as the surface of the young leaves is small, the trans¬
piration is feeble; but they should take into considera¬
tion that the newly formed tissue is unable to resist the
drying action of the atmosphere, which is exceedingly
great in spring, unless it is abundantly supplied with sap
from the roots.
Not only is evaporation great in our climate at the
period the buds begin to burst, but our temperature is
also low, which prevents the free circulation of the sap.
Indeed, as regards deciduous trees and shxmbs, we are confi¬
dent that the proper season fortransplanting is during Sep¬
tember, October, and November. Experiencehastaughtus
during forty years’ practice, and in this we are fully borne
out by our greatest physiological authority, who says, in his
Theory of Horticulture, “As soon as a plant has shed
its leaves it is as much at rest for the season as it will be
at any subsequent period, unless it is frozen; its torpor
is indeed greater at that time, because its excitability is
completely exhausted by the season of groAvth, and it has
had no time to recover it. If at that time a root is
wounded, a process of granulation or cicatrization will
commence, just as it does in cuttings; and from that
granulation, which is a mere development of the cellular
system, roots will eventually proceed. Now, as it is
obvious, that since roots must be Avounded in the process
of removal, the sooner the wound is made the better,
because it has the longer time in which to heal; and
therefore, the earlier in the autumn transplanting is
effected, the less injury Avill be sustained by the plant
submitted to the process. Deciduous trees usually begin
to assume their autumnal hue in September, and as soon
as that has happened they may be transplanted with
696
HOETICULTURE.
Introduc- safety.*’ The humidity of the atmosphere also, as is
. — . well known, is much greater in our climate during the
autumn and winter months than in spring, and hence this
season is more favourable for the perspiration of plants
which, although they are enfeebled by the loss of their
leaves, is not entirely suspended. Besides, the functions
of absorption and perspiration are going on through their
bark, and therefore a saturated atmosphere is extremely
favourable to this important action.
We only refer to one other circumstance in favour of
autumnal planting, and that is the production of roots
during the absence of leaves. Some physiologists sup¬
port a theory, that roots are formed by the action of the
leaves, and therefore that trees make no roots during
winter. This theory is, however, unsupported by facts,
for it is proved that roots do grow during that period.
Closely connected with the proper season is the best
means of performing the operation of transplantation.
This depends greatly on the size of the trees, the soil
in which they grow, and the mechanical appliances made
use of in lifting and transporting them. The smaller
the tree, the more successfully can it be removed. The
more argillaceous and the less silicious the soil, the more
readily can balls of earth be retained about the roots.
Most planters prefer balls, some, however, care less for
this, so long as the roots are preserved to their greatest
possible extent. Others lay great stress on the preser¬
vation of the spongioles, while all admit them to be indis¬
pensable as absorbing points, destined to collect food for
the plant, which derives nourishment from them by means
of the roots. The point principally disputed is the neces¬
sity of preserving them during the process, or the practica¬
bility of allowing them to be cut off and replaced again.
Their careful preservation has been strongly advocated by
De Candolle, Dutrochet, Bonnet, Papin, Sennebier, Keith,
and Bindley; while Link, Ohlert, Rogers, and others, deny
this to be a matter of consequence. Trees and shrubs
removed from thick plantations, or from sheltered warm
places, are ill fitted to be planted in bleak and cold places.
During their removal it is important that the roots be in
some way covered, if only to prevent their suffering from
being dried up by the action of the air, so that they
may retain nearly the same degree of humidity which
they had when growing in the soil. Damp days are
therefore the best for the operation, hence March, April,
and May being our dryest months, are the most unfavour¬
able. Of mechanical appliances, there is no doubt that
M‘Grlashen’s tree-lifter, where the soil is free of stones
and of sufficient depth, is the best at present in use, and
that the common timber carriage or janker is compara¬
tively a barbarous invention.
The best time for removing evergreens is during
August and September, or during April and May. The
month of September, however, should have the pre¬
ference. But they may even be safely planted, if
judiciously gone about, at any time from April till the
end of October. Evergreens differ from deciduous trees,
inasmuch as they have no season of repose, that is to say,
they are in a perpetual state of growth, their circulation,
assimilation, transpiration, and process of root-making,
being continually in operation. Much of the success
in transplanting depends on the humidity of the atmos¬
phere at the time the operation takes place; but the
principal point of importance is warmth in the soil.
Humidity can be supplied artificially, but heat cannot.
It is upon this temperature of the soil that Mr Glendinning
appears to found his arguments in favour of September
planting, as described by him in an excellent paper in the
“Journal of the Horticultural Society,” and his opinion
is one in which theory and practice completely coincide.
Pruning.—Bindley says “ that if well directed, pruning
is one of the most useful, and if ill directed, it is amongst
the most mischievous operations that can take place upon
a plant.” The object of pruning is to regulate the
number and bulk of the various parts of a plant, to
modify the form of trees, to promote the growth of timber
in forest trees, and the formation of blossom buds in fruit
trees, to cure disease, proportion the head to the roots,
or increase the size of the fruit. In fruit-bearing trees,
it is performed on the roots to induce fruitfulness.
The season for pruning varies according to the nature
of the tree, but in general it is performed at mid-winter
or mid-summer, practically called winter and summer
pruning. The latter should, properly, extend during the
greater part of the growing season of the tree, beginning
with disbudding or finger pruning, and ending by a
reduction of points of the shoots where not specially
required, to admit light and air to the ripening crop and
young wood. Early autumn pruning has the effect of
strengthening the shoots of the succeeding season, and by
some is said to hasten the ripening of the crop, a fact we
are unable to certify. The former is thus accounted for
by Dr. Bindley, “ During the season of rest (winter) a
plant continues to absorb food solely from the earth by
its roots ; and if its branches are unpruned, the sap there
and then introduced into the system will be distributed
equally all through it. If late pruning is had recourse
to, and the branches are removed, of course a large
portion of the sap that has been accumulating during the
winter will be thrown away. When, however, early or
autumnal pruning is employed, and the branches removed
before the sap has accumulated in them, then all the sap
which the roots are capable of collecting during the
period of repose will be deposited in the branches left,
and they will necessarily push with increased vigour.
As, however, pruning is by no means intended at all
times to increase the vigour of a plant, late or spring
pruning, if not deferred till the sap is in rapid motion,
may be more judicious.” Hardy trees and shrubs, with
few exceptions, may be pruned during autumn and winter,
the most tender should be left till spring, lest they suffer
from frost while their wounds are unhealed. Besides
many of them lose portions of their branches, and the
extent of this loss cannot be determined till spring.
Pruning is an art which requires experience, and a
knowledge of the character of the plant to be operated
upon. Two important lessons require to be learned,
namely, how to cut, and where to cut. The cut should be
clean, and always in a sloping direction upwards, at about
an angle of 45°, and this can only be performed with a very
sharp and thin knife. The cut should commence at the
back of the bud, and not on the opposite side of the shoot,
as by this means the bark soon covers over the wound.
When the cut is too low, leaving the bud exposed, it is
faulty, because the bud is exposed to the drying air, and
is liable to be broken off. Cutting too far above a bud
is equally bad, as it leaves a dead portion of the branch
which can never be covered with bark, and must either
be cut away afterwards, or left, as it often is, a staring
evidence of want of care or skill in the operator.
The question of pruning, or cutting back trees at
planting, is a disputed point amongst horticulturists.
The matter has been explained in “ The Theory of Hor¬
ticulture,” of which the following is the substance :—In
pruning plants, when transplanted, there can be no
doubt that it is more frequently injurious than bene¬
ficial. The roots of a transplanted tree not being fully
in action in consequence of the injui'ies sustained during its
removal, they are capable of exercising but little influence
on the branches, as compared with an established tree, and
HORTICULTURE.
Fruit and therefore heading hack the branches will not cause the
Kitchen i)Udg to break with more force than if the pruning had not
been performed. The great point to be attained, in the
first instance, is the renovation of the roots, and that
will happen only in proportion to the healthy action
of the leaves and buds; if, therefore, the branches are
removed, a great obstacle is opposed to this renovation ;
but if they remain, new roots will be formed in propor¬
tion to the healthy action of the leaves. The danger to
be feared is that the transpiration of the leaves may be
so great as to exhaust the system of its fluid contents
faster than the roots can restore them; and in such cases it
is certainly requisite that some part of the branches
should be pruned away. The shortening of the roots
at the time of planting, although pretty universally
practised in nurseries, can only be useful in cases
where they have sustained injury in course of their re¬
moval. In all cases, therefore, where roots have been
broken or bruised, it is proper to cut off the injured parts
smoothly, in order to prevent decay and to promote the for¬
mation of granular matter along the edges of the wounds,
from which new fibres or spongioles are certain to be
produced. This operation, however, should take place
in autumn, when the roots are comparatively devoid of
fluid, and not in spring, when they are fully charged.
Summer pruning consists merely of a removal of all
young wood not required for the extension of the tree
or formation of fruit-buds. One species of summer
pruning should be here adverted to, namely, a partial
removal of the leaves. This is a dangerous operation in
unskilful hands, as by means of the leaves the important
functions of digestion and respiration ai’e carried on.
Strip a tree of its leaves during its growing season,
and it dies; reduce their number, and a reduction of
its energies is the consequence. Hence it is only with
the greatest care that a few leaves may be removed
towards the ripening season to admit light and air to
assist in the ripening of the fruit and the maturation of
the young wood.
Training.—The sap in all trees has a natural tendency
to flow upwards, and hence the buds at the extreme
points of the branches will be the strongest and most
disposed to produce leaves and wood. Upright training
is consequently the best when these results are desired,
but the worst when fruit is desired; and hence a con¬
trary direction, or some modification from the perpen¬
dicular, should be given to the branches. Again, weak
growing trees should have their branches trained per¬
pendicularly, or nearly so, while strong growing ones
should be placed in a horizontal or even pendant position.
We find trees trained between these extremes, and all
that practice has exemplified in the various modifications
is borne out by the soundest theory. It would be quite
out of place here even to give an enumeration of the
various forms. We will, however, give a few illustrations
of the most popular forms in their respective places.
FRUIT AND KITCHEN GARDEN.
Although fruits and culinary vegetables are for the
most part cultivated within the same enclosure, and
even in many works on the subject of their management
we find them treated as inseparable, yet it will be found
best in practice, particularly where high culture is
attempted, to keep the culinary garden and that dedi¬
cated to fruit-trees distinct. This systematic arrange¬
ment, however, applies more especially to large establish¬
ments, where order and system are considered leading
features. Grave objections may be also raised against
placing hot-houses, plant-houses, and often a large
VOL. XI.
697
amount of flowers, in juxtaposition with cabbages and Fruit and
potatoes, and even with one another. In places of limited
extent, this medley system can scarcely be avoided.
The beau ideal, however, of a perfect garden establish¬
ment would be to have each department a perfect whole
in itself; and these may be so arranged as to adjoin
each other, or be separated, according to local circum¬
stances. Long cherished associations (prejudices, may
we call them?) will require much softening down, ere
the promiscuous style be entirely abandoned. Unfortu¬
nately we have only few examples to adduce in favour
of the systematic style; yet, when it has been adopted,
an ample amount of satisfaction has been the result.
The first thing to be considered is the plan of the
garden. This should be prepared before commencing
operations, and in it should be laid down the most
minute arrangement even of all the details. It does
not, however, follow that the proprietor is to carry
into effect the entire plan at once, or possibly, in many
cases, at any future period. He can adopt such parts
of it as suit his taste or circumstances at once, and
when afterwards disposed, proceed from time to time
with the remainder. The want of such an arrangement
at the outset accounts for the confusion and want of unity
displayed in many gardens of high standing. Indeed
we have few instances to point to, in which the grossest
incongruities are not to be found.
Size.—The size of a walled garden ought evidently to
bear some proportion to the splendour of the mansion-
house of which it is an appendage, and to the extent of
the park. In style also, in its principal erections, it
should harmonise with that of the proprietor’s residence ;
and although the architectural details are not required
to be carried out in all their minutiae, still so much of
them is required as to show a connection between
the one and the other. Such a garden should com¬
prehend from four to six acres. In many places this
extent will not afford an adequate supply of culinary
vegetables, and therefore, as at Chatsworth, Petworth,
Belvoir, Dalkeith, &c., the extent varies from twelve to
twenty acres, and that of Her Majesty at Frogmore
exceeds thirty acres. From an acre and a half to three
acres may, however, be regarded as forming a good size
for a garden, it being always better, in the first formation
of a garden, to enclose too large a space than too small
a one. Some, from mistaken notions of economy, attempt
to procure a supply of the hardier vegetables from the
farm; but, with the exception of the winter supply of
potatoes, nothing can be so well or economically pro¬
duced as in the garden.
Situation.—The position of the garden in relation to
the mansion-house properly belongs to the province of
Landscape-Gardening, as it obviously should be in keep¬
ing with the general features of the park scenery. As a
place of interest to every well-informed proprietor, it
should be so near as to be conveniently accessible on foot,
probably within little more than a quarter of a mile; while
it should be so distant as to avoid the possibility of offence
arising from gardening operations and the resort of work¬
men. A position on either side of the house is to be pre¬
ferred, unless a much better can be found behind it.
Wherever it be placed, it should be so masked by ever¬
green shrubs and trees, as not to be visible from the
principal lawns, nor from the walks in the shrubbery and
flower-garden. If the surface of the domain be undulating,
the garden is almost unavoidably seen from some point or
other, and the coup d'oeil of the enclosure walls, presenting
the idea of a large box, is apt to produce an unpleasant im¬
pression, which should by all means be avoided or lessened
by plantations judiciously placed. Where the irregular
698
HORTICULTURE.
Fruit and form of exterior enclosure is adopted, this great defect is
Kitchen obviated; and gardens in this form present many advan-
tages over those of stiff and formal shapes; while, at the
same time, space is secured in the suirounding slips fox
furnishing an abundant supply without the expense of
high walls. Also much of the formality of regular
figures is taken off when south walls are either dispensed
with, as exemplified in the new gardens recently laid out
by Mr. M‘Intosh at Braco Castle and Maulsden; or where
they are transformed into sunk terrace walls, as in the
new gardens at Panmure House and elsewhere.
Ground possessing a gentle inclination toward the
south is desirable for a garden. On such a slope effec¬
tual draining is easily accomplished, and the greatest
possible benefit is derived from the sun’s rays. The
lower part of a gentle declivity is perhaps to be preferred;
but a very low situation should never be chosen, as the
subsoil is apt to be damp, fogs often brood over such
spots, and frosts are more injurious there than on higher
ground. It is beneficial to have an open exposure
towards the south, the east, and west, so that the garden
may enjoy the full benefit of the morning and evening
sun.
Shelter is absolutely necessary ; and that afforded by
natural objects, such as rising grounds, is the best.
Where this is wanting, its place should be supplied by
masses of forest-trees, disposed at such a distance, how¬
ever, as not to shade the wall-trees, perhaps not nearer
than 150 feet. The purpose of such screens is to break
the force of the winds ; and as every situation is, in this
respect, liable to some peculiarities occasioned by the
general structure of the country, as for instance to aerial
currents from adjacent eminences, these peculiarities
should be carefully observed and obviated. The idea
that crowded plantations increase the warmth of a place
is fallacious ; and, in the opinion of many, they do more
harm than good, by producing an unhealthy atmosphere.
The trees employed may be various, but lime-tree, horse-
chestnut, beech, sycamore, weeping birch, and the smooth¬
leaved wych elm, should prevail. There may also be a
proportion of evergreen trees, such as hollies, Portugal and
common laurels, and evergreen oaks. When these masses of
wood are planted at the time the garden is formed, poplars,
and other fast-growing trees, should be thickly intermixed to
act as temporary trees and nurses, which are afterwards to be
weeded out, as the permanent trees more slowly advance to
maturity.
“Experience,” says Towers, who has written most judiciously
on this subject, “has proved the correctness of Forsyth’s
opinion on the prevalence of blights in situations surrounded
by woods.” “I believe,” he says, “that prevalence to be
dependent on the phenomena of conduction, effected by the
proximity of innumerable vegetable points, by which the
chemical constitution of the atmosphere is somewhat changed,
so that the juices of the plants partake of the change, and
acquire a saccharine quality. Insects are thereby enticed, but
not produced; and in every case of blight, it appears much
more probable that the altered or diseased juices invite the
insect than that it is imported by this or that current of air,
whether it blow from the east, or from any other point.”
The points from which shelter from winds is most required,
varies very much according to the geographical position of the
place. Thus we find by the calculations of the Royal Society
of London that the prevailing winds in England are as follows:—
S. W. 112 days, N. E. 58, N. W. 50, JSI. 16, S. 18, W. 53,
E. 26, S. E. 32. And according to Dr. Meek, from observa¬
tions taken during 7 years, the prevailing winds of Scotland
are—S. W. 174 days, N. E. 104, S. E. 47, andN. W. 40 days.
And it may be stated that the prevailing Avinds in Scotland
are the same throughout Europe, namely S. W. and N. E.
Those prevailing in Ireland, from its geographical position,
are W. and S. W.
Water is one of the most important elements in vege¬
table life. It is, as Switzer remarks, “ the life and soul Eruit and
of a garden.” Gart“
Yet we do not find one garden in twenty, where even
ordinary precautions have been taken to secure a compe¬
tent supply. Rain water is the best, next to that, river or
pond water, and last of all, that from springs. A chemical
analysis, hoAvever, should be made of its properties, before the
expense of bringing it in is thought of. Many waters con¬
taining mineral ingredients are exceedingly injurious to vege¬
tation. Iron pipes are the best conductors, and they should
lead to a capacious open reservoir placed without the garden,
and at the highest convenient point of level, to secure sufficient
pressure, so that not only the whole surface of the ground, but
the wall trees also may be conveniently watered. Short
flexible tubes should be made to fit on branches of the main
pipes, so as to traverse the whole garden, and these of a calibre
capable of conducting a supply even to the extent of irrigation
in certain cases. They should also be placed under the walks
for safety, as well as for being easily reached when repairs
are required. Pipes should also be laid having a connection
with an underground cistern and a communication with every
hot-house, as well as with the various offices.
Notwithstanding the vast importance of water, it is far from
expedient to admit of large basins or ponds, and far less of a
running stream through a garden, unless they can be com¬
pletely turned off during Avinter. Where water is introduced,
whether by bringing it from a distance in pipes, or by raising
it to the surface by means of artesian rvells, the expenditure, be
it what it may, will, in the long run, be far less than rvhat
attends the very imperfect means employed in most gardens.
There are many contrivances by Avhich water can be procured
in abundance in almost all situations. We may merely refer
to Lucas’s self-acting force and lift-pump, the hydraulic ram,
and other mechanical appliances.
Connected with the situation is the approach to the
garden from without, a matter requiring some taste and
contrivance. If possible, it should be from the south,
when the range of glazed houses will he seen at once,
and produce a pleasing effect. Sometimes a lateral
entrance is very suitable, leading, it may be supposed,
from the flower-garden through an intermediate shrub¬
bery, and coming upon the hot-houses in flank. Such
would be the case in passing from one garden to another,
as we have previously suggested, and much more so, if
the department in which the principal hot-houses are
placed, be entered, so as to get the first d'ceil of them
from a point nearly in a parallel line with their front.
The worst of all entrances is from the hack or north.
Form.—The form of a garden, it is obvious, must
chiefly be determined by the nature of the situation and
the taste of the proprietor. In general, gardens are
either squares or oblongs, chiefly, it is presumed, because
walls of this configuration contain the greatest space
within the least perimeter, a result of very questionable
value. They may be of any form, with this limitation,
that attention should be paid to facilitating the transport
of manures and garden products, for when the grounds
are straggling, or complicated in structure, the labour of
cultiAmtion is much increased. Straight lines of walls
and geometrical forms are perfectly admissible when
near a mansion of a high architectural character, but
not when the mansion which may be considered as the
datum point is so subordinate as to fall under the deno¬
mination of a cottage or picturesque structure. In this
case a garden of an irregular form will be in much
better keeping. Prejudice is strong against gardens of
irregular form, but when well adapted to the conditions
of the locality they are far from being objectionable, as
they associate better with surrounding objects and forms.
Exterior Fence.—All gardens should be encii'ded by
an outer boundary, formed by a sunk wall or ha-ha,
surrounded by an invisible Avire fence to exclude hares,
or by a hedge and low wire fence on its inner side.
Occasionally this sunk wall is placed on the exterior of
HORTICULTURE.
Fruit and the screen plantations, and walks leading out among the
Garden. t1’1368* to give favourable views of the adjacent country.
Although the interior garden receives its form from the
walls, the ring fence and plantations may be adapted to
the shape and surface of the ground. The spaces between
the outer fence and the walls are called Slips, and, where
circumstances render it eligible, a considerable extent of
ground is- sometimes included, and appropriated to the
culture of small fruits and vegetables. If possible, the
gardener’s house should be situate here, as being con¬
venient for him, and as tending to scare depredators.
Walls. For the production of the finer fruits, such as
peaches, apricots, hardy grapes, and most of the delicate
I rench and Flemish pears, the aid of walls is indispens¬
able in our climate. Indeed in the northern and higher
parts of the country, where there is no walled garden, the
dessert can seldom consist of more than small fruits, and
ill-ripened apples and pears. The north wall having, in
the interior, a south aspect, is of course appropriated to
the more tender kinds of fruit-trees; here,it is generally
estimated, they enjoy an increased temperature equal to
/ ° of south latitude ; that is to say, the mean temperature
within a few inches of their surface is equal to the mean
temperature of the open plain 7° farther south. The
east and west walls are set apart for fruits of a somewhat
hardier character.
The north wall is generally placed nearly perpendicular
to the meridian, that is, so as to have the sun directly in
front at 12 o’clock. Minute directions have indeed been
given to make it face towards 11 or 111 AiM.5 on t}ie
ground that thus it would sooner meet the rays of the
morning sun; but it does not appear that this arrange¬
ment has been the subject of direct experiment, and cer¬
tainly the arguments, by which the superiority of this
aspect is supported, are far from being satisfactory. The
east and west walls are commonly placed at right angles
to that already mentioned, but they may follow the shape
of the ground, and if this slope to the south, they descend
with the declivity. This descent, however, should not
be carried in a direct line parallel with the surface of
the ground, but should be stepped or ramped, so that
the cope may be level between each of the breaks.
South walls are the most valuable in cold climates, and
against them the hot-houses have generally been placed.
This appropriation of them along the northern side of
the garden, has led to the erection of a corresponding
wall on the southern side also, and not unfrequently,
when the garden is large, a cross wall is carried through
the centre. To such walls there are objections, inasmuch
as they shade the ground behind them, and render it cold
by the exclusion of solar heat. The only advantage gained
by them is that of their southern side, the opposite being
next to useless, as no fruit-trees trained against it derive
any advantage above being planted as open standards.
Such walls also give the garden a confined appear¬
ance, and practically render it cold and deficient in
ventilation. It is better, therefore, to extend the
length of the principal wall beyond the space covered
with glass, or to place the hot-houses in the centre of
the garden, or, still better, in a compartment by them¬
selves, constructing them of glass on all sides to within
two feet of the ground, in the span-roofed, ridge and
furrow, or curvilinear fashions. Thus little or no shade
would be occasioned by them, and the front or south side
of the garden would be open to the sun and air. The fence
surrounding the slips will afford sufficient protection, or
if no such exterior fence exist, the ends of the east and
west walls may be connected by a rabbit-proof wire
fence. However, as walls with a southern exposure are
of so much importance for the ripening of our superior
699
fruits, these ends may be better secured by running sunk Fruit and
or terrace walls across the ground than by the lofty Kitchen
walls at present in use. Where the inclination of the P^den'
ground is considerable, such walls may not only be
readily constructed, but they give a character of design as
well as of utility at the same time. Their top should in no
case rise more than three feet above the level of the
ground behind, and a gravel walk should run parallel to
them. As dryness is favourable to an increase of heat,
it is necessary that such walls be either built hollow, or
that they be packed behind to the thickness of three or
four feet with rubble stones, flints, brickbats, or similar
material, thoi’oughly drained at bottom, and forming the
foundation of the walk referred to. Where the inclina¬
tion of the ground is not great, then sunk walls may be
employed, and the ground in front of them sloped back,
so that the rays of light and heat may not be intercepted.
Walls so situated will be warmer and much more shel¬
tered than such as are built entirely above the surface.
Regarding the height of walls, it is better to extend
the surface by elongation than by carrying them to a
great height. Twelve feet is in general taken as the ave¬
rage height, but this depends greatly on the extent en¬
closed. The largest garden should have its northern
or principal wall 14 feet, and its side walls 12 feet
in height. Spaces of an acre or so should have their
principal walls 12 feet and side walls 10 feet in height.
It is important to extend projecting wings to the extent
of 12 feet, or the breadth of the exterior border at the
four corners of the garden, as they break the force of the
wind considerably. It is better, however, that these pro¬
jections extend in a diagonal direction rather than in a
straight line with the wall.
Material.—Bricks have almost universally been em¬
ployed in England for this purpose, because brick is the
material of the country. For a similar reason stone has,
until within late years, been greatly used in Scotland.
The manufacture of bricks has now reached as great
perfection in the latter country as in the former, and the
means of procuring them in all parts has led to their more
general adoption. The principal advantage of brick
walls is that they can be more readily built hollow than
stone walls, which is of itself important. The cavity
(about 9 inches) between the sides of the wall renders
them dryer than any solid wall, as the capillary attrac¬
tion of damp is arrested; and the more so as the cavity
is charged with air admitted through small openings
placed near the surface of the ground. Such walls also
readily admit of having hot water pipes placed in them.
A considerable economy in material is effected, and an
equally strong wall is the result. Bricks cannot be too
well burnt for garden walls ; the harder they are the less
moisture will they absorb. Their colour becomes softened
down during the process from the harshness of brick
colour to that of a dark stone colour, which is more in
harmony with all surroundingobjects. Aprejudice, indeed,
was long felt in favour of bricks, on account of the facility
they afforded for training trees. That prejudice,
however, is now set aside by the use of eyed
cast-iron studs (vide fig. 1), which are placed in
the wall during its erection, and pushed into
the joints before the mortar becomes set.
They are placed in straight lines, both ver¬
tically and horizontally, and are permanent.
For Peaches, &c., they are 9 inches apart,
I and for Pears, &c., 15 inches. The trees
'< are fastened to them by passing a piece of
soft twine through the eye and round the
branch.
excellent walls are, however, built of stone.
TOO
hoeticulture.
Garden.
Fruit and The best is dark-coloured whinstone {the greenstone and
Kitchen hasait 0f mineralogists), because it absorbs a very small
• amount of humidity. The best, however in Scotland
would be Caithness pavement, 4 inches thick, whic
absorbs even less moisture than the celebrated Bangor
slate Walls of that material could be built in regulai
courses, and cut (in the quarries) to any required length.
Common rubble walls are the worst of all, and where
necessity compels their erection, they should be covered
with Portland cement, and drawn off in imitation ot ashlar.
Coping is an important element in garden walls, both
for their preservation, and for throwing the rain-water
off their surfaces; for, whatever produces dryness,
tends to increase heat. The extent to which the coping
should project must be regulated by local circumstances.
On the west coast of Britain, where a much greater
amount of rain falls than in the midland, and more espe¬
cially on the east coast, the projection should, for a 12
feet wall, be 5 inches. In the very dryest districts l£
inch, or merely as much as will throw the drip clear
of the wall, but not of the trees, will be sufficient. A
broader projection would deprive the trees of their natural
supply of moisture by rain or dews. Of all material none
is better than Caithness pavement.
As regards colour, no doubt black absorbs more and
reflects fess beat than any other colour; yet, although
this is scientifically true, in practice little benefit is found
to be derived from it.
Hot Walls.—Heating walls by means of smoke flues,
as formerly practised, is worse than useless ; and we may
add, the application of the flues was just the reverse of
what it ought to have been. The effect of a furnace on
a smoke-flued wall is only to the extent of heating 400
superficial feet, or, in other words, 40 feet in length of a 10
feet wall; whereas the same furnace and the same con¬
sumption of fuel applied to a boiler and hot water pipes,
will heat more efficiently 3000 superficial feet, that
is, 300 feet in length of a 10 feet wall. In arrangement
the boiler should be placed in the centre of the space to
be heated, and the circulation made to flow right and
left, on either side. The disadvantage of smoke flues is,
that with them it is impossible to guard against extremes
of heat at certain parts; that part nearest the furnace
being too hot for the trees, while even towards its limited
extremity little heat is perceptible. Also they discolour
the wall by soot-stains which it is difficult to remove.
The advantage of heating by hot water consists in its
greater economy and uniformity of operation, the wall
deriving as much heat at 150 feet from the boiler as it does
close to it. The first expense is doubtless somewhat greater,
but it requires no expense afterwards. East and west
walls are better adapted for heating than south ones, be¬
cause in them the trees on both surfaces derive an equal
heat, whereas, in the other case, much of the heat will be
absorbed by the side from which no good is to be derived.
The application of artificial heat to walls should on no
account be practised in early spring, because the later the
trees become excited and the blossom formed, the greater
chance have they of escaping our spring frosts. The
whole use of heated walls is to increase our summer
temperature, and prolong it as late in autumn as will
secure not only the ripening of our finest fruits, but
also the ripening of the wood and maturation of the
buds for the following season.
Espalier-Rails.— Subsidiary to walls as a means of
training fruit-trees, espalier-rails were formerly much
employed, and they still prevail in many parts of the
country. In their simplest form, they are merely a row
of slender stakes of larch, driven into the ground, and
connected by a slight rod or fillet at top. Espalier-rails
of wood, formed into pannels, fixed between upright
standards, set on (not in) stones, are also employed.
Their expense has, however, in most cases, been found sj—
nearly as great as that of walls of the same dimen¬
sions, while the advantage to the trees has been compa¬
ratively little. Cast and malleable iron rails have also
to some extent been erected, but the well known property
in all metallic substances to act as powerful conductors
of both heat and cold in equal extremes, has led to their
almost entire disuse. Modern improvements in pomology
have shown that dwarf standard trees produce as fine
fruit, and at a vastly less expense than espaliers, whether
set in a vertical or horizontal position.
Soils.—It is of great importance that the ground selected
for a garden should be naturally of a good quality. A
hazel-coloured loam, of a light or sandy texture, is well
adapted for most crops, whether of fruits or culinary vege¬
tables. As it is more easy to render a light soil sufficiently
retentive, than to make a tenacious clay sufficiently porous, a
light soil is preferable to one which is excessively^ stiff and
heavy. It is advantageous to possess a variety of soils; and if
the garden be on a slope, it will often be practicable to render
the upper part light and dry, while the lower remains of a
heavier and damper nature. The soil should be good to the
depth of three feet, and any necessary additional deepening by
manures or otherwise, should not be neglected.. The nature
of the subsoil demands particular attention. If it be strongly
impregnated with metallic substances, or composed of cold till,
it will prove pernicious to the roots of fruit-trees, and will
scarcely admit of a remedy. A decomposing rock, or a bed of
sand, is preferable. Perhaps the best of all is a dry bed of
clay, overlying sandstone, which crops out within the enclosure.
If the inferior strata be retentive, and if water lodge in any
part of the garden, draining should be carefully executed, so
as to carry off the superfluous moisture.
Irrespective of the removal of water, drainage is of
vast importance, by admitting air, and with it solar heat,
to the roots of plants. Vegetable physiology teaches us
that plants depend greatly on a supply of air to their
roots, and if it be denied them they ultimately perish.
(See Wall Borders.)
The thorough drainage, and even vaulting of fruit-tree
borders cannot be too much insisted upon, nor should
gardeners overlook the important fact that drained land
is in summer from 10° to 20° warmer than water-logged
land lying contiguous to it. Professor Schabler, long
ago, came to the conclusion, that the loss of heat,
caused by evaporation in undrained lands, amounted
from 11^° to 13^° Fahr. Mr Park has also shewn, in
his “ Essay on the Philosophy of Drainage,” that the
thermometer in drained moss land rose in June, 1837, to
66° at 7 inches below the surface, while in the neighbour¬
ing water-logged land it would never rise above 47°. In
the garden of the Hort. Soc., the mean temperature of
the thoroughly drained soil at 1 foot below the surface,
in the month of July, is 63° 49', so that, if we take that of
water-logged land to be the same as spring water, or 47°,
there is a gain of 16^°. The reason why drained land
gains heat, consists in the well known fact that heat cannot
be transmitted downwards through water. The experi¬
ments made on vaulted borders at T ester bear out
these facts in a remarkable manner.
Preparatory to the distribution of the several parts of a
garden, it is proper that the ground be trenched to the depth
of three feet at least; but the deeper the better. In this
operation all stones larger than a man’s fist are taken out, and
all roots of trees, and of perennial weeds, are carefully
extracted and cleared away. When the soil is not tolerably
good to the depth of three feet, it will often be proper to
remove a portion of the subsoil; and its place should be made
up by a proportional quantity of turf or fresh loam from the
fields. If the subsoil be gravel, and the upper layer sandy,
the additional earth should be clayey loam ; but if the original
body of soil be of a compact texture, the materials introduced
HORTICULTURE. 701
Fruit and should be mixed with sand, marl, and other light opening sub-
Kitchen stances. When the whole ground has been thus treated, a
Garden. moderate liming will, in general, be useful. After this, sup-
posing the work to have occupied most of the summer, the
whole may be laid up in ridges, to expose as great a surface
as possible to the action of the winter’s frost. The draining,
trenching, and other operations here recommended, will un¬
avoidably be attended with considerable expense, which will
not immediately be followed by any perceptible beneficial
result. The lapse of a few years, however, will develope the
vast advantages of such a mode of procedure, which, if neg¬
lected at first, cannot be adopted at a subsequent period but
with indifferent success, and a great increase of care and labour.
Manures.—In enumerating the general appendages of
gardens, it may be proper to say something of manures.
Where there are extensive melon grounds, an abun¬
dance of stable and other litter is required ; and
this substance, in its partially decomposed state, as
afforded by exhausted hotbeds, supplies a manure well
adapted to aid the processes of vegetation. Decayed
leaves, which are plentiful where there are extensive
pleasure-grounds, also form an excellent manure for
many purposes. Some practical men prefer composts,
or such substances as have undergone fermentation,
to simple dungs. For fruit-trees, turf from rich pas¬
tures, mixed with vegetable earth, is the best stimulant
which can be applied. No trees are permanently bene¬
fited by the application of crude manures to their roots;
and it is certain that many have been irremediably
injured by this practice. But whatever caution may be
necessary in their use in the fruit-garden, the prudent
horticulturist will find it expedient to pay particular
attention to the collection of manures. He cannot go on
long without them in the kitchen-garden; for ground
which is exhausted by continual cropping, requires to be
continually repaired.
Internal Arrangement of Gardens.—A considerable por¬
tion of the north wall is usually covered in front with
glazed structures, called hothouses, or forcing houses.
To this practice there are exceptions. (See Forcing
Garden) To these the houses for ornamental plants are
sometimes attached ; but the last are more appropriately
situate in the flower garden, when that forms a separate
department. It is well, however, that every thing else
connected with the forcing, whether of fruits or flowers,
should be concentrated in one place. The melonry and
pine-pits should occupy some well-sheltered spot in the
slips, or on one side of the garden. Adjoining to this
may be found a suitable site for the compost ground, in
which various kinds of soils may be kept in store, and
composts prepared. To this department free access should
be had, so that carts may be admitted, a precaution
seldom thought of, until the inconvenience is discovered
by the increased expense and labour of wheeling in and
out material. #
Extensive gardens, in exposed situations, are often divided
into compartments by hedges so disposed as to break the
force of winds. Where these are required to be lofty yet
narrow, holly, yew, or beech is preferred ; but if space be no
object, common laurel-bay is one of the most beautiful plants
that can be employed for this purpose. Smaller hedges may
be formed of evergreen privet, or of tree-box. These subor¬
dinate divisions, though often neglected, are worthy of atten¬
tion ; for, in addition to shelter, they furnish shade, which, at
certain seasons, is peculiarly valuable. Gardens upon a large
scale, and especially those laid out in the irregular manner,
may have narrow belts of shrubbery running through them,
producing picturesque beauty, and affording, at the same time,
shelter and shade. These should be planted on elevated
borders several feet above the general surface, combining all
the beauties of the shrubbery and the utility of the kitchen-
garden. And this is the more necessary if these shrubberies
be so broad as to admit of walks passing through them, with
occasional openings or outlets to the culinary departments.
The distribution of the area of the garden in walks, Fruit and
borders, and compartments, may be regulated very much kitchen
by the shape of the ground and the taste of the owner.
In general, a gravel walk, six or eight feet broad, is led
quite round the garden, both within and without the
walls. A walk of similar dimensions is often constructed
in the centre of the garden in the direction of the glazed
houses, and this is sometimes crossed by another at right
angles. Some times these walks are led diagonally from
the corners. The space between the wall and the walk
that skirts it, is called the wall-border, and is commonly
from fifteen to twenty feet broad. On the interior of the
walk there is usually another border five or six feet
broad, which is generally occupied by fruit-trees trained
to espalier-rails, or by dwarf standard trees. The middle
part of the garden is divided into rectangular compart¬
ments for raising the various culinary crops. It is
advantageous to have several small beds, in which to
cultivate the less bulky articles, such as basil, sage,
tarragon, &c., which, in large spaces, are apt to be over¬
looked or neglected.
Wall-Borders.—The preparation of borders for fruit-
trees is a matter of the utmost importance, and no pains
should be spared upon them. Where borders are not in
good condition, the care and toil of the most experienced
gardener will avail but little to the production of fruit.
The most perfect wall-tree borders must be admitted to
be those that are vaulted below, and have the soil lor the
roots placed upon a pavement flooring, which is supported
by stone or brick piers, so constructed as to leave a
cavity below of eighteen inches or two feet, into which
air is admitted by small vertical eyes, placed along the edges
of the walk and covered with open iron gratings. The next
are those having earthenware tubular drains laid across
the border, at distances of from eight to ten feet, with
openings both at the side of the walk and also along the
bottom of the wall, so as to introduce a circulation of
air. Over these drains rubble stones, flints, brickbats, or
similar material, are loosely laid, and these are again
covered by a coating of coarse gravel, upon which the soil
is to be placed. It is important, even beyond these precau¬
tions, that drains be placed so as to render the bottom per¬
fectly dry. Formerly concrete and impervious bottoms
were recommended, with a view of preventing the roots
penetrating into the subsoil or descending too deep, and
being beyond the reach of solar heat and air. Such
bottoms were found defective, inasmuch as they retained
water, and consequently excluded air. Good soil to the
depth of two feet and a half is quite sufficient for any
fruit-tree, it being better to extend the range of the roots
horizontally than vertically, hence such borders should
not be less than twelve feet in breadth. It is also well
to give them a fall of six or eight inches from the wall.
Three-fourths rich loam, and one-fourth light sandy
earth, form a mixture congenial to the generality of fruit-
trees.
Fruit-tree borders should never be cropped with culi¬
nary vegetables, the process of digging destroys the loots
of the trees, which should, by every possible means, be
induced to keep near the surface. In selecting the soil,
regard may be had to the particular trees which are to
cover different portions of the wall. Thus, a heavy soil
may be allotted to pears and plums ; loam of a medium
character, inclining to be strong, to peaches, nectarines,
and apricots ; and a lighter earth to cherries and figs.
Above all, care should be taken to render the borders
sufficiently rich and substantial at their formation.
Standard Fruit-Trees should not be planted, if it can be
avoided, in the borders of the kitchen-garden. Their
roots are either mangled b; digging about them, or their
702
HORTICULTURE.
Fruit growth becomes too luxuriant, in consequence of the
so^ becoming too rich. They shade and injure other
crops, and destroy that unity of expression which ought
to exist in every highly kept kitchen-garden. They
should be planted in the outer slips, where they may be
allowed to attain a large size or be kept in a dwarfish
state. Each sort of fruit should be planted by itself, to
give an appearance of order and system, as well as to
facilitate their protection by being covered with nets.
THE FRUIT GARDEN.
We shall first direct our attention to the culture of
hardy fruits, or of such as, in our climate, do not require
the assistance of much artificial heat. But before pro¬
ceeding to a minute detail of the management of the
different varieties, it may be proper to attend to some of
the operations which are common to all.
The Preliminary Operations may be classed under the
heads, Propagation, Planting, Training, and Protection
of Blossom.
Propagation.
Propagation of Fruit-Trees by Seed.—Although fruit-
trees are furnished with all the natural means of repro¬
duction, it is not in general expedient to attempt to
propagate them by the sowing of seed. This method is
found to be equally tedious and precarious, requiring the
labour of many years; and after all, existing varieties of
fruits can be propagated by seed, so as to resemble the
parent tree upon which they grew, only to a very limited
extent; and the chance of an improved variety being
produced by their means is exceedingly rare. This is
so far owing to the great change which took place in the
individual at the period of its origin, when by some
cause to us unknown it appeared possessed of properties
superior in size, colour, and flavour, to its parent. In
other words, a seed is capable of growing into a new
individual of the same species, but not, in the case of our
cultivated fruits, into the identical variety of that species.
In the great maiority of cases, while the new individual
retains its specific characters, it will be very different
from the variety, in general very inferior to it; for, follow¬
ing a natural law, it will recede towards its original
tyP6? e. g. the wild crab in the case of the apple, and
the almond in the case of the peach. “ But while it
will with certainty become the same species as that in
which it originated, it does not possess the power of
reproducing any of the peculiarities which may have
existed in its parent. For instance, the seed of a Green
Gage Plum will grow into a new individual of the Plum
species, but it will not produce the peculiar variety called
the Green Gage. This latter property is confined to
leaf-buds, and seems to be owing to the seed not being
specially organized after the exact plan of the branch on
which it grew, but merely possessing the first elements
of such an organization, together with an invariable
tendency towards a peculiar kind of development.”—
(Lindley’s Theory of Hort.) All our present admired fruits
Jire regarded as seminal varieties obtained from the wild
inhabitants of the forests, which have been trained into
an artificial condition; and when sown seem to have a
tendency to resume their original constitution. In the
peach-orchards of America, for instance, which are
planted with the kernels of choice sorts, there are seldom
more than a few trees affording fruit fit for the table ; the
produce of the majority being so worthless, that it is
usually employed for feeding hogs. Notwithstanding
this inconvenience, there are some considerations which
render this mode of propagation at once interesting and
important to horticulturists. It is the only way by
which we can procure new kinds of superior qualities.
The late Thos. And. Knight promulgated the theory that
by rearing fruit-trees from seed he could produce a re-
invigoration of our older varieties, which he believed to be
hastening to decay, if not total extinction; and further,
that new generations of fruits reared from seed would
become hardier and better adapted to our climate, by
what he denominated acclimation. Modern vegetable
physiologists deny the truth of both these theories, and
assert that no deterioration has taken place in even our
oldest fruits, some of which have been in cultivation since,
if not prior to, the days of Pliny.
The well known Pomme d’Apis or Lady Apple is historically
asserted to have been brought to Rome from Peloponnesus by
Appius Claudius. Dalechamps and Harduin are of opinion that
it is the Petisia of Pliny, who describes it—“ Odor est his Coto-
nearum, magnitude qum Claudianis, color rubens.” This variety
does not appear to have changed its character during this long
succession of ages. In further corroboration of this, Mr Hogg,
in “ British Pomology,” remarks, “ the Pearmain, which is the
oldest English apple on record, shows no symptoms of decay,
neither does the Catshead, London Pippin, Winter Queening,
nor any other variety—those only having been allowed to dis¬
appear from our orchards which were not worth perpetuating,
and their places supplied by others infinitely superior.”1 As re¬
gards acclimation, Mr Knight’s theory is proved to be equally
erroneous, as we have no evidence that plants long cultivated
in this country are able to withstand our winter cold better
than formerly. The Dahlia, Heliotrope, and the Potatoe, are
affected in the same way by frost as when they were first intro¬
duced. Mr Knight entertained the opinion, deduced, we may
presume, from experiment, that more is to be expected from
hybrid varieties than from the mere reproduction of old kinds;
he therefore had recourse to the nice operation of dusting the
pollen of one kind on the pistil of another. He opened the
unexpanded blossom of the variety destined to be the female
parent of the expected progeny, and, with a pair of fine-pointed
scissors, cut away all the stamens, while the anthers were yet
unripe, taking care to leave the style and the stigma uninjured.
When the female blossom, thus prepared, came naturally to
expand, the blossoms of the other variety destined to be the
male parent were applied. Mr Knight has often remarked in
the progeny a strong prevalence of the constitution and habits
of the female parent, a circumstance confirmed by subsequent
experiments.
Although the expected results are not obtained, yet cross¬
impregnation or hybridization is followed by certain results
of immense importance in the production of improved varieties.
By this means the Strawberries of the present day are so much
improved, in size at least, that many of them bear little resem¬
blance to their original parents of several generations back.
The Apple, the Pear, the Peach, and the Plum, have all been
so improved, but no perceptible difference has been effected
in rendering them hardier than their progenitors.
The process of crossing, or even raising from seed, should
nevertheless be encouraged, as it is the only means by which
improved sorts are to be procured.
In the case of cross-impregnation, every seed, though
taken from the same fruit, produces a different variety ;
and these varieties, as might be anticipated, prove to be
of very various merit. In general, those seeds are to be
preferred which are plump and round. An estimate of
the value of the seedlings may he formed, even during
the first summer of their growth, from the resemblance
Fruit
Garden.
yo essor oi a German physiologist of the highest repute, thus speaks of the fallacy of Mr Knight’s theory—“Thousands of
.penmen s ave shewn that the young shoots of old trees, when used as grafts, slips, &c., furnish as strong plants as the shoots of
.°11 e single experiment speaks in favour of the opinion promulgated by Mr Knight, that all parts of a tree have a
, , ,, ielr hfe arid that the different trees from which they have been raised from one and the same tree by grafts, decay
about the same time as the parent plant.” j a > j
HORTICULTURE.
Fruit they bear to those of highly cultivated and approved
Garden, trees. The leaves of promising seedlings improve in
character, becoming thicker, rounder, and more downy
every season. Those whose buds in the annual wood
are full and prominent, generally prove more productive
than those whose buds are small and shrunk into the
bark. An early disposition to produce blossom buds, late
flowering in spring, and the production of hardy blossoms,
are desirable characteristics. It has been observed, that
even after a seedling tree has commenced bearing, its fruit
has a tendency to improve as the tree itself acquires
vigour, so that, if, in the first season, there is any con¬
siderable promise, a great improvement may be expected
in succeeding years.
The slowness with which seedlings reach the bearing
state has been the subject of complaint among horticul¬
turists, and indeed is the principal reason why this mode
of propagation has not been more frequently practised.
According to Mr Knight, the pear requires from twelve
to eighteen years to reach the age of maturity; the apple
from five to twelve or thirteen years; the plum and
cherry four or five ; the vine three or four; and the rasp¬
berry two years. The peach he found to bear in two,
three, or four years. This period, however, must depend
on the soil, situation, and mode of culture. In the warm
and highly manured garden of M. Yan Mons at Brussels
(called “ Pepiniere de la Fidelite,”) seedling pear-trees
produced fruit in considerable quantities in the sixth and
seventh summers. The best means of accelerating the
epoch of bearing seems to be to make the trees grow
vigorously when young. Crude manures are to be
avoided; but vegetable earth, and, above all, a liberal
supply of rotted turf, are wholesome and excellent stimu¬
lants. The seed-bed, and the ground on which the
seedlings are transplanted, should be extremely well
worked and comminuted with the spade ; and should not
be too much exposed to the parching rays of the sun,
or the action of the wind. Great care ought to be taken
to prevent the young plant from becoming stunted. In
pruning, the small twigs in the interior should be
removed, so as to relieve the tree from the bushy appear¬
ance which it frequently assumes. It has been wisely
recommended to transfer scions and budsof promisingindi-
viduals into other trees in a bearing state. This is pecu¬
liarly advantageous with respect to the peach and other
stone fruits, as it both hastens the period of maturity, and
economises the space which must be occupied on the wall.
Propagation by Cuttings.—Gooseberries, currants, figs,
vines, and some others, are increased by means of cuttings.
An annual shoot is taken off, along with a thin slice, or
heel, as it is called, of the former year’s wood, which is
found to facilitate the production of roots. The cuttings
are placed firmly in the soil, at various depths, according
to their length, the buds or eyes which would thus come
beneath the surface having been previously removed.
Vines should in all cases be propagated from small pieces
of shoots having a single bud; a shoot of an inch in length
may suffice. Most of the codlin apples may be increased
by cuttings; and even large branches of those which
produce burs, may be planted at once, with success. In
all deciduous trees, the operation is most advantageously
performed in winter.
Propagation by Layers.—This is not much resorted to
in the fruit-garden. It is occasionally employed as the
means of dwarfing trees. “ Laying,” says Mr George
Lindley, “ is nothing but striking from cuttings which
are still allowed to maintain their connexion with the
mother plant by means of a portion at least of their
stem.” The operation is performed by bending down a
branch to the earth, and pinning it there with pegs. A
703
notch or slit is cut upwards, generally from the inser- Fruit
tion of a bud. Sometimes the shoot is pierced with a Garden,
number of holes; a wire is bound round it; or even a
ring of bark is removed. The object of these expedients
is to retard the descending sap, and thus to promote the
formation of radicles, or young roots. This is also aided
by bending the branch upward from the point at which
the roots are wanted; and the whole branch, except a
few buds at the extremity, is covered with soil. The
seasons best fitted for these operations are early spring
and midsummer, that is, before the sap begins to flow,
and after it has completely ascended. One whole
summer, sometimes two summers, must elapse before the
layers will be fully rooted.
Propagation of Fruit-Trees by Grafting.—By this method
apple and pear trees, sometimes plum and cherry trees,
are propagated. Our attention must be directed to the
stocks into which the shoots or scions, as they are called,
are inserted; to the scions themselves, and to the mecha¬
nical operations employed in grafting.
The following are the principal kinds of stocks, includ¬
ing, by anticipation, such as are used in budding. For
apples, seedlings of the crab apple, layers of the doucin
or paradise, and of the codlins, with cuttings of the bur-
knot varieties. Yor pears, seedlings of the common and
wilding pear ; with seedlings or layers of quince. For
plums, seedlings of any of the common sorts, particularly
the muscle, the Brussels, and the Brompton; also the
Bullace plum. For cherries, seedlings of the small black
cherry or gean, Prunus Avium ; and, for dwarfing, P.
Mahaleb. For apricots, seedlings of the wilding apricot,
with the muscle and Brussels plums. For peaches and
nectarines, seedlings of the muscle, white pear-plum, and
Damas noir plum, the almond, and the wilding peach.
Stocks for this purpose are commonly divided into two
classes, viz. free-stocks and dwarfing-stocks. The former
consist of seedling plants, chiefly of the same genus or
species as the trees from which the scions are taken. The
latter are plants of diminutive growth, either varieties of
the same species, or species of the same genus as the scion,
which have a tendency to lessen the expansion of the
engrafted tree. The Paradise or Doucin is the dwarfing
stock for apples, the Quince for pears, the Bullace, and
more recently the Sloe for plums, and Prunus Mahaleb
for cherries. The nature of the soil in which the grafted
trees are destined to grow, should also have weight in
determining the choice of stocks. When the garden is
naturally moist, it is proper to graft pears on the quince,
because this plant agrees with a moist soil, and at the
same time serves to check the luxuriance thereby pro¬
duced. In France, peaches are commonly budded on
almond stocks, to adapt them to the dry soils of that
country. The seeds from which stocks are to be raised,
are generally sown in beds in March ; but the germina¬
tion of some kinds is promoted by placing the seed, for
a time, in moist sand in a greenhouse. Kext season the
seedlings are transplanted into nursery rows, in which
they are allowed to reach the size necessary for the
various forms of fruit-trees hereafter to be mentioned.
The scion is always a portion of the wood of the pre¬
ceding year. As the diseases incident to fruit-trees are
transmitted by this mode of propagation, it is desirable
that the parents should be as healthy as possible. In
the shy-bearing kinds it has been found beneficial to select
shoots from the fruitful branches. The scions should be taken
off some weeks before they are wanted, and half-buried in the
earth, as it is conducive to success that the stock should, in
forwardness of vegetation, be somewhat in advance of the
graft. During winter, grafts may be transferred from great
distances, as from America, or any part of the Continent of
Europe, if carefully wrapped in hypnum moss. If they have
HORTICULTURE.
704
Fruit been six weeks or two months separated from the parent plant,
v2^den- they should be grafted low on the stock, and the earth should
be ridged up around them, leaving only one bud of the scion
above ground.
Success in grafting depends almost entirely on accu¬
rately applying the inner bark of the scion to the inner
bark of the stock, so that the sap may pass freely from
the one to the other. They are therefore fitted together,
and held fast by a bandage of strips of bast matting. To
lessen evaporation, a portion of ductile clay is moulded
around the place of junction, and is retained until it
appears, from the development of leaves, that the ope¬
ration has succeeded. The best season for grafting is
the month of March ; but it may be commenced as soon
as the sap in the stock is fairly in motion, and may be
continued during the first half of April.
The most usual mode of grafting is called whip-grafting, or
tongue-grafting, a, b. The top of the stock and the base of the
scion are cut off obliquely at corresponding angles, as nearly
as can be guessed by the eye; the tip of the stock is then cut
off horizontally ; next a slit is made downwards in the centre
of the sloping face of the stock, and a corresponding slit
upwards in the corresponding face of the scion. The tongue
or upper part of this sloping base is then inserted into the
cleft of the scion, and so adjusted that the inner bark may
unite neatly and exactly on one side. The junction is then
tied up and covered with clay. Several other methods may
be mentioned, such as Cleft-grafting, c, d, e, in which the scion
is sloped at the base, and inserted like a wedge into a cleft in
the stock ; Side-grafting, f g, which resembles whip-grafting,
but is performed on the side of the stock without heading it
down; Crown-grafting, in which the scions, m, p, are inserted
between the bark and the wood of the stock ; Grafting by
approach or inarching, resembling whip-grafting, except that the
scion h remains attached to the parent plant, till its union at k
and l with the new stock i be complete; when that portion of the
stock above the union may be headed down, and the scion at
the same time detached from the parent plant.
Root-grafting is performed in the modes just described, except
that the scion is placed on a piece of root (as a stalk), of proper
thickness, and with fibres and fibrils attached to it. In the
most unfavourable soils, some sorts of fruit-trees thrive better
than others; and it has been suggested, that by using root¬
stocks of such flourishing trees, and grafting other desirable
kinds on them, canker may often be avoided, and the. better Fruit
kinds of fruit produced. Garden.
Propagation by Budding.—Most kinds of fruit-trees s,—
may be propagated by budding; and there are some,
such as peaches and apricots, which can scarcely be
multiplied in any other manner. It consists in remov¬
ing a bud with a portion of the bark from one tree, and
inserting it in a slit of the bark of another tree. The
season for performing this operation is in July or
August, when the buds destined for the following year
are completely formed in the axils of the leaves, and
when the portion of bark parts freely from the wood
beneath. The buds to be preferred are those on the
middle of a young shoot. There are many forms of
budding, but that which is simplest, and is generally
practised in this country, called Shield-budding, may
alone be described. The operator should be provided
with a budding-knife, in which the cutting edge of the
blade is rounded off at the point, and which has a thin
ivory or bone handle, like a paper-folder, for raising the
is made in the bark quite down to the wood, and from
this incision a perpendicular slit is drawn downwards,
to the extent of perhaps an inch. The slit has now a
resemblance to the letter J as at <7; a bud is then cut
from the tree intended to be propagated, having a portion
of the wood attached to it, so that the whole may be an
inch and a half long, as at s. The bit of wood is then
gently withdrawn, care being taken that the bud adhere
wholly to the bark or shield, as it is called, as at r,
which is the reverse of s. The bark on each side of the
perpendicular slit being cautiously opened with the
handle of the knife, the bud and shield are inserted, as
at t. The upper tip of the shield is cut off horizontally,
and brought nearly to fit the bark of the stock at the
transverse incision. Slight ties of moist bast-matting
are then applied. In about a month or six weeks the
ligatures may be taken away, when, if the operation
has been successful, the bud will be fresh and full, and
the shield firmly united to the wood. Next spring a
strong shoot is thrown out, and to this the stock is
headed down in the course of the summer.
Planting Fruit-Trees.
In transferring the young trees to those places, whether
in the open border or against the wall, where they are
to remain, it is important that the situations should be
carefully selected; adapting the trees to sites suitable in
respect of soil, shelter, and aspect. The trees should be
cautiously lifted from the nursery lines, all mutilation or
bruising of the roots being carefully guarded against; and,
to prevent the desiccation of the fibres, they should be
planted as soon as possible after being lifted. When
they have to be carried to a distance, the roots should
be enveloped in damp hypnum-moss. In the ground,
which is presumed to have been previously trenched or
otherwise prepared, pits or holes are formed, and the
H 0 E T I C
Fruit soil is finely pulverized; and in these the trees are
Garden, placed, their roots being spread out and intermingled
with the earth. Shallow planting is strongly recom¬
mended, two or three inches of soil being in general a
sufficient covering. The doucin or French paradise
stocks are preferable for this reason, that they throw
out delicate fibres which readily spread along the sur¬
face, instead of bundles of hard roots which generally
characterize crab stocks. On filling up the hole, a sur¬
face of at least an equal size is mulched, that is, covered
with dung or litter, so as to restrain evaporation, and
preserve moisture. In the case of wall-trees, a space of
fivo or six inches is usually left between the stem at the
insertion of the roots and the wall, to allow for the
effects of growth. Young standard trees are tied to
stakes, to prevent their roots being ruptured by the
wind-waving of the stems. During the dry weather
of the first summer, the trees should be watered from
time to time as occasion may require.
The selection and distribution of the different kinds of
fruit-trees is an important and interesting point in the
formation of a garden. Regard must necessarily be had
to local situation and climate, as the selection ought
manifestly to be different for a garden in the south-west
of England, and for one in Yorkshire or in Scotland ; for
one near the level of the sea, and for another elevated
several hundred feet above it. The best walls, having
a south or south-east aspect, are devoted to the grape¬
vine, the fig-tree, the peach and apricot. The finer
varieties of French and Flemish pears require and deserve
a good aspect, as also the early sorts of cherries. The
later cherries, and the generality of plums, succeed very
well either on an east or west aspect. In Scotland, the
mulberry requires the protection of a wall, and several
of the finer apples do not arrive at perfection without it.
The wall-trees intended to be permanent are called
dwarfs, from their being grafted near the ground.
Between each of these, trees with tall stems, called riders
in Scotland, and standards in England, are planted as
temporary occupants of the upper part of the wall. The
riders should always be five or six years trained in the
nursery, in order that when planted out they may come
into bearing as speedily as possible. The distances at
which the permanent trees are planted is to be regulated
by the known growth of the different sorts, and by the
height of the wall. When the walls are about twelve
feet high, the following average distances have been
recommended:—For vines, 10 or 12 feet; peach and
nectarine trees, from 15 to 20 feet; fig-trees, 20 feet at
least; apricots, from 15 to 24 feet; plums and cherries,
from 15 to 20 feet; pear-trees, 20 feet if on quince stocks,
and 30 feet on free stocks; apple-trees, 12 feet if on
paradise stocks, and 15 to 25 feet on free stocks. Where
the walls are only seven or eight feet high, the distance
should be increased by nearly one-fourth, as in this
case the want of height must be compensated by greater
breadth.
Apples and pears make the best espalier-rail trees.
These should be of the more robust sorts, and should be
planted at the distance of 15 or 20 feet. Cherries and
plums are sometimes introduced into the espalier-rail
row, but succeed only where they would do equally well
or better as standards.
In many small gardens, dwarf standards are preferred
to espalier-rail trees. They are placed along the inner
borders at 8 or 10 feet apart. When proper attention is
paid to such trees, the effect is very pleasing, each being
in itself a handsome object, and generally clothed with
fine fruit. Where the situation is warm, and the climate
favourable, a few of the finer pears which have hardy
VOL. XI.
U L T IT E E. 70,
blossoms should be planted out in this form. Though Fruit
they may fail to ripen in some seasons, they will often ^Garden,
add greatly to the resources of the fruit-room, their pro-
duce being frequently superior in flavour to the fruit
grown on walls.
Training.—Two functions belong to training,—that,
namely, which modifies the form of the tree, and that
which regulates the bearing wood, and consequently the
supply of blossom. The latter, more accurately termed
pruning, being of a varied character, will more properly
fall to be considered when treating of the several fruits;
at present we shall make a few remarks on the former.
The essential properties of training are, that it should be
simple, not requiring frequent amputation ; that it should
be appropriate to the growth of the tree; and that it
should be such as to facilitate the production of fruit.
The knife is the great instrument in training, and who¬
ever can wield it skilfully, will have a perfect command
over his trees: at the same time, it may be laid down
as a maxim, that it should be used with some degree of
reserve, as nothing is more prejudicial to the health and
fruitfulness of all sorts of fruit-trees, than severe and
injudicious cutting.
Training of Standards.—Orchard-trees are generally
worked in the nurseries with stems five or six feet high.
All that is necessary, in pruning trees of this sort, is
merely to cut out the branches which cross or press upon
one another. Bushy heads should be thinned out, and
those which are too lax cut back. Three or four leading
branches may be selected, to pass ere long into boughs,
and form a handsome skeleton for the tree; hut it is
useless to be finical in this matter, as these branches will
soon grow beyond the power of the pruner, and of any
artificial system which he may adopt. Dwarf standards
being more accessible, are more under the dominion of
training. When worked on paradise stocks, they may
be kept not much superior in size to gooseberry bushes,
and in a state of abundant fruitfulness. The more fanci¬
ful Dutch modes of training apple-trees, in the cup-and-
ball fashion, and after many other curious devices, have
never been relished in Britain. In this country, they
are generally allowed to grow en huisson, that is, as
bushes. For pears, the French forms, en pyramids, fig.
2, and en quenouille, fig. 3, are in most esteem.
Training of Wall-Trees.—A fruit-tree planted against
a wall is evidently in a constrained and artificial situation,
from which it makes continual efforts to escape. Much
attention is necessary to repress this tendency, which,
were it permitted to act, would disfigure the tree, and
neutralize the advantages of a wall, without imparting in
4 u
706
HORTICULTURE.
Fruit their place the freedom of a standard in the open air.
Garden. rpQ pe successful, the operator should be acquainted with
the theory of vegetation, should study the mode of
growth in different trees, and, above all, remember the
purpose of all training, viz. the production of bearing
wood.
One great difficulty is to preserve equilibrium in the
growth of the several parts of the same tree; for the
attainment of this object, excellent hints are to be found
in the Pomone Francaise. A shoot will grow more vigo¬
rously whilst waving in the air than when nailed close
to the wall; a weak shoot should therefore be left free,
whilst its stronger antagonist should be restrained. A
shoot diverging slightly from the perpendicular, will,
other things being equal, obtain a more copious supply
of sap than one that is laid out horizontally, or is de¬
flected downwards. A luxuriant shoot may be retarded
for some time by having its tender extremity pinched off,
and may thus allow a weaker brother to overtake it. By
these and other expedients, which will suggest themselves
to an attentive horticulturist, and by the prudent use of
the knife, it will be easy to execute the following forms,
which, on account of their simplicity and general excel¬
lence, we select out of many to be found detailed in
works on gardening.
The horizontal form (fig. 4.) has long been a favourite in this
country. There is one principal ascending stem, from which the
branches depart at right-angles, at intervals of ten inches or a
foot. In trees of ordinary vigour the vertical shoot is cut back
every winter to within fourteen inches of the highest pair of
branches : a number of shoots are produced in the beginning of
each summer, out of which three are selected: one is trained in
Rig. 4.
the original direction of the stem, and one on each side of it
parallel to the base.of the wall. By pinching off the point of the
leading shoot about midsummer, another pair may be obtained
in autumn. In luxuriant trees, the vertical shoot may be left
two feet in length, by which means, and by summer pruning,
four pairs of branches may sometimes be added in one season.
The great object, at first, ought to be to draw the stem up¬
wards : when it has reached the top of the wall, it is made to
divaricate into two, and the tree, thus completed as to its
b a
height, is henceforth suffered to increase in breadth only.
■Horizontal training is best adapted to those trees which pro¬
duce strong shoots, as the Ribston Pippin apple, or the Jar- Fruit
gonelle pear. For the more twiggy kinds, the form represented G^den.
in fig. 5 is more suitable. In tins the horizontal branches are
eighteen or twenty inches distant, and the small shoots are
trained in between them, either on both sides, as below letter
a in the figure, or on the under side and downwards, as below
h. I his last is an excellent method of reclaiming neglected
trees of this description. Every alternate branch being taken
away, and the spurs cut off, the young shoots are trained in,
and soon produce good fruit. It is rather singular that the
late M. Thouin, in his account of the Ecoie d'Horticulture pra¬
tique du Museum, classes the horizontal form among les tailles
heteroclites, and says, that, in consequence of ite invariably
producing a tete de saule, that is, a hedge of young shoots at
the top, it has been long since abandoned. From this remark,
we cannot help drawing the conclusion, that in France the
theory of training must be in advance of the practice.
The other principal form is called /im-trammg* In this
there is no leading stem, and the branches are arranged some¬
what like the spokes of a fan. Fig. 6 represents this shape as
it commonly occurs in gardens. In the case of apple and pear
trees, this mode, though frequently adopted, is tfot superior,
perhaps not even equal, to the horizontal configuration : it is
evident, that when the branches reach the top of the wall, where
they must be cut short, a tete de saule is inevitable. It would
be better to adopt a modification of the fan shape used for
stone fruits (fig. 7) ; to establish a certain number of mother
branches, and on these to form a series of subordinate mem¬
bers, chiefly composed of bearing wood. The mother branches
or limbs should not be numerous, but well marked, equal in
strength, and regularly disposed. The side branches should
be pretty abundant, short, and not so vigorous as to rival the
leading members. To ensure regularity, training should com¬
mence with maiden plants, or such as have only one year’s
growth from the graft; leaders of equal strength should be
selected, and encouraged to grow out longitudinally as much
as possible, and all crowding among the inferior shoots should
be prevented. In riders this form passes into the stellar
arrangement. The French have made considerable improve¬
ments in this mode of training, some of which will be noticed
when we come to treat of the training of the Peach.
Intermediate between horizontal and fan training, is the
half-fan. It is nearly allied to the horizontal form, but the
branches form an acute angle with the stem, and this disposi¬
tion is supposed to favour the equal distribution of the sap.
In the winter pruning, three and sometimes four central
branches are cut back; the shoots which arise from these are
HORTICULTURE.
Fruit arranged in the fan order, and, as they elongate, are gradually
Garden, brought into the horizontal position. The tree is finished at
Kg. 8.
top as in the horizontal form. Sometimes, as in fig. 8, two
vertical stems are adopted. For vigorous trees, tins fmure
seems to combine the advantages of both the foregoing. °
The choice of particular modes of training is too often
determined by mere fashionable prejudice, which leads to
the application of the same form to all sorts of trees. Thus
the French are apt to reduce every thing to the fan system,
while some English horticulturists are inclined to force trees of
the most rambling growth into the pillory of a horizontal
arrangement. Such a uniformity cannot possibly be in accor¬
dance with nature. The enlightened cultivator will employ
various forms, and will determine for himself which is the most
appropriate, not only for every species, but even for each par¬
ticular variety of fruit-tree. By attentive observation and
rational experiment, more knowledge in this department may
be attained in a few years, than by a whole life spent in
routine practice.
Of the expedients for inducing a state of fruitfulness in trees,
the most common is the cutting back of the roots to within
three or four feet of the stem ; an operation which is generally
found efficacious, when barrenness proceeds from over-luxuri¬
ance and too copious a supply of sap. To attain the same
end, recourse is sometimes had' to ringing the branches or stem,
that is, removing a narrow annular portion of the bark. The
trees, it is said, are thereby not only rendered productive, but
the quality of the fruit is at the same time apparently improved.
The advantage is considered as depending on the obstruction
given to the descent of the sap, it being thus more copiously
afforded, in its elaborated state, for the supply of the buds.
The ring should therefore be made in spring, and of such a
width that the bark may remain separated for the season. It
ought to be observed, however, that none of the stoned fruit-
trees are benefited by ringing. The operation, however, is a
species of mutilation, rendered unnecessary by judicious root
pruning. Sometimes barrenness proceeds from defect of
climate and poverty of soil; in which case, a warmer situation
and more generous treatment are the most effectual remedies.
Fruit-trees should never, if possible, be allowed to become
stunted; for in this state they produce only worthless fruit,
and acquire a habit which scarcely admits of amelioration.
Protection of Blossom.—In our variable climate, and
particularly in the northern and eastern parts of the
island, it is very desirable that the horticulturist should
be provided with the means of defending the blossom of
his fruit-trees from the late frosts in spring. Some re¬
commend frames covered with bunting, osnaburg, or
similar light fabrics, set in a sloping position in front of
the trees. The best protection for wall trees are port¬
able wooden copings, about nine inches in breadth, fixed
to permanent iron brackets placed in the wall imme¬
diately under the stone coping. These wooden pro¬
tectors should be put on during spring before the blos¬
som buds begin to expand, and to them should be
attached scrim cloth (a sort of very thin canvas), ad¬
mitting light pretty freely, yet of itself sufficient to ward
off our ordinary frosts. This canvas to be let down to¬
wards evening, and drawn up again in the morning.
Any contrivance that serves to interrupt radiation,
though it may not keep the temperature much above
freezing, will be found sufficient. Standard fruit-trees
must be left to their fate, and, indeed, from the late¬
ness of their flowering, they are generally more injured
by blight, and by drenching rains, which wash away
the pollen of the flowers, than by the direct effects of
cold.
CULTURE OF HARDY FRUITS.
We now proceed to the more special culture of the in¬
mates of a British fruit-garden. We shall begin with
the more tender, but for details regarding these, we must,
to a considerable extent, refer to the forcing department,
in which alone many of the finer fruits can be perfected.
We will confine our lists of fruits to selections from the
very best kinds in cultivation. Those who are curious
in this department of pomology, may further consult
the “ Fruit Catalogue of the London Hort. Soc.,” “ The
Book of the Carden for American fruits, “ Downing’s
Fruits and Fruit-trees of America;” for apples alone,
“ Hogg’s British Pomology;” and for coloured represen¬
tations, the “ Pomological Magazine,” and “Pyrus Malus
Brentfordensis.” The recently established “Pomological
Society of London” will hereafter be the medium through
which information will be gained of all that is interesting
regarding the nomenclature and merits of new fruits.
The Grape Vine (Vitis vinifera) can scarcely be said
to be a hardy fruit in our climate. In every case it
requires a good aspect; and north of York, a crop of
dessert grapes cannot be expected without the aid of a hot
wall. In the extreme south-west districts of England,
indeed, grapes fit for the manufacture of wine, perhaps
equal in quality to those in the north of France, might be
produced on dwarf standards ; and there is abundant
historical evidence that productive vineyards once existed
in that part of the country.
In the Lond. Hort. Soc. Catalogue, 197 varieties of
grapes are enumerated. Some of these, however, have
not as yet been well ascertained ; some are pronounced
indifferent, and others worthless. We shall name only
a few of those most deserving the attention of the cul¬
tivator.
Black Damascus. Bunches large, with round berries and sweet
juice. This valuable late variety does not set well, and the bunches
are improved by the blossom being dusted with the pollen of some
hardy kind.
Brontignan (or Frontignac). Five varieties under this appella¬
tion, and distinguished by the names of black, blue, grizzly, red, and
white, are mentioned in horticultural catalogues. They vary in
colour and form of the cluster. The berries are round, the skin thick,
and the juice of a rich muscat flavour. They are all of the highest
excellence.
Black Hamburgh. This is a well-known grape, of great value,
and perhaps more generally cultivated for the dessert in this country
than any other sort. It ought to be in every collection. Of this
excellent grape there has long existed seminal varieties, and late
years have added to their number the following, viz.:—Wilmot’s
Black Hamburgh ; Black Prince Hamburgh ; Pope’s Hamburgh ;
Judson’s Kichmond Villa Hamburgh; Mill Hill Hamburgh; and
more recently a white variety said to be a hybrid between the mus¬
cat of Alexandria and Black Hamburgh.
Black Lombardy (or West's St. Peter's.) Bunches large, berries
round, skin thin, with a sweet flavour ; an excellent late sort. The
fruit will hang on the vines till March.
Chasselas Musque. Bunches medium size, long and loose, berries
globular, yellowish when ripe, and apt to crack if grown in too damp
an atmosphere ; one of our very best grapes.
Royal Muscadine, L. Hort. Cat. or White Muscadine of Bindley.
Usual Chasselas of Paris. This, though not a first rate grape, is a
favourite with many. Bunches large, berries white, round, with
sweet flavour.
Muscat of Alexandria. Bunches long, berries white and oval,
with a delicious muscat flavour. This most admirable variety
requires a high temperature, and should properly have a small
vinery for itself.
White Sweet Water. Bunch loose, berries round, flavour sweet.
It ripens early, generally from the middle to the end of September;
and in the south ot England it succeeds against the open wall.
707
Fruit
Garden.
HORTICULTURE.
708
Fruit The bunches should be allowed to hang until they are perfectly ripe,
Garden, when the berries acquire a slight russet colour. It has long been a
favourite grape. .
Nice, or White Nice. Bunches extremely large, berries medium
size, greenish white, globular. Habit robust, foliage large and
downy underneath, keeps long after ripening. T . •. .
Stillward's Sweetwater, or Chasselas precoce. It is desirable tor
earliness, and the bunches possess the property of keeping good on
the plant for two or three months after the berries are ripe..
Trebbiana, a comparatively new grape, somewhat resembling the
Tokay, esteemed for its keeping long after ripening.
The Black Prince is of easy cultivation, and the berries are of a
pleasant flavour.
The Verdelho has loose bunches, berries of a greenish-yellow
colour, small, oval, numerous ; when fully ripe, of a rich saccharine
flavour. It is the principal grape cultivated in Madeira for making
the celebrated wine of that island.
Barbarossa. Of this kind there are a black and a white variety,
both recently introduced and esteemed for their properties of long
keeping.
The Esperione, or Turner s Early Black, has the bunches large
and shouldered, not unlike those of the Black Hamburgh. The
berries are of a fine dark colour, with a bluish farina or bloom ; the
pulp adheres to the skin; and though neither highly flavoured nor
melting, it is very pleasant. This grape ripens on the open wall
near London.
The Syrian Grape is remarkable only for the extraordinary size and
beauty of its bunches ; it is a late variety, and the berries are sweet
and not without flavour, when properly ripened; but, in general, it
is a worthless variety.
For an ordinary vinery the following may be recom¬
mended :—Black Hamburgh, Black Tripoli, Chasselas
musque, Stillward’s Sweetwater, Royal Muscadine, White
Frontignan, and Black Lombardy. For a stove or
late vinery may be particularized the Grizzly Fron¬
tignan, Black Tripoli, Muscat of Alexandria, Canonhall
Muscat, Barbarossa black and white, Hamburgh, Nice,
and Chasselas musque. For training against the rafters
of a greenhouse, the Black Prince, Verdelho, Esperione,
and Black Cluster, are among the best.
The kinds commonly grown against the open wall in
England are the Miller Burgundy, Esperione, White
Muscadine, White Sweetwater, Early Black, Grove-End,
and Pitmaston White Cluster. In the north of England,
and in the south of Scotland, vines always require hot
walls. Vine culture on the open wall, in this country,
can never be calculated upon with any degree of cer¬
tainty.
THE FIG.
The Fig-Tree (Ficus Carica) is not generally a favourite
in this country. Every good garden ought, however,
to contain a few trees to furnish a supply during the
natural season. The foliage of the tree is large and
elegant, and the mode of fructification is curious: the
pulpy part, which we call the fruit, being, in fact, a
common receptacle, and the anthers and stigmata being
produced inside.
The following are the most esteemed :—Angelique, Brunswick,
Large White Genoa, Black, White, and Brown Ischias, Malta, Lee’s
Perpetual, Marseilles, Nerii, Brown Turkey, and Pregussata.
Of these, the Marseilles, the Black Ischia, Lee’s Per¬
petual, and Brown Turkey, are the best adapted for
forcing; the others are suitable for walls.
Fig-trees should be propagated by cuttings put into
flower-pots, and placed in a gentle hotbed. They are,
however, most speedily obtained from layers. The
shoots laid down should be two or three years old ; and
these, when rooted, will form plants ready to bear fruit
the first or second year after planting. Suckers ought
never to be used.
In some places in England fig-trees are planted out
as standards ; and in Kent and Sussex a few small fig
orchards exist. In Scotland a south wall is indispen¬
sable, but if this is procured in a good situation, and when
the trees are old enough, they bear remarkably well. The
best soil for a fig border is a rich friable loam, on a
subsoil not retentive of moistm-e, or which has been Fruit
effectually drained. To correct the over-luxuriance of
their growth, the roots should be confined within spaces
surrounded with walls enclosing about one square yard.
It is the nature of the fig-tree to produce two sets of
shoots, and two crops of fruit in the season. The first
shoots generally shew young figs in July and August,
but these in our climate very seldom ripen. These
should, therefore, be rubbed off. The late or midsummer
shoots likewise put forth fruit-buds, which, however, do
not develop themselves till the following spring, and then
form the only crop of figs on which we can depend in
this country.
Various modes of training fig-trees have been proposed.
Bindley recommends the horizontal form. Mr Knight
carried up a central stem perpendicularly to the top
of the wall, and then radiated the side-branches hori¬
zontally and pendently, in close contact with the wall.
Luxuriance of growth is supposed thus to be checked,
and the branches thrown into a bearing habit. Root-
pruning and walling-in the roots have more effect in
inducing fruitfulness than any other sort of pruning.
The Rev. G. Swayne in recommending rubbing off all
the young figs which appear in autumn on shoots of the
same year, observes that for every young fig thus dis¬
placed, the rudiments of one or perhaps two others are
formed before winter, and developed in the following year.
The winter dressing of the fig-tree takes place imme¬
diately after the fall of the leaf. The immature figs
which may remain are removed, irregularities are cor¬
rected, and the shoots nailed neatly to the wall. Various
modes of protecting the branches during winter have
been adopted. Mr Swayne mentions that he wraps up
the young shoots with waste paper. Mr Forsyth recom¬
mends covering wall fig-trees with the spray of laurel or
yew, and then tucking in short grass or moss (Jiypnum)
among the spray.
Sir Charles Monck states that the same fig-tree seldom
produces fruit containing both perfect stamens and pistils,
and conjectures that this is the cause of the fruit being
so often prematurely shed. Caprification, or assisting
the fructifying and maturation of figs, has often been
sneered at; but here we see the propriety of that kind of
it which consists of hanging or shaking the branches of
the wild fig (caprijicus) over the cultivated tree at the
time when both were in blossom.
The Peach (Amygdalus persicd) is a stone-fruit of orien¬
tal origin, said to have been brought from Persia by
the Romans, about the beginning of the empire; but the
precise period of its introduction into our gardens, of
which it has long been the pride and ornament, is not
well ascertained. There are two principal varieties : the
Peach, properly so called, with a downy skin; and the
Nectarine, with a smooth skin. These, following the
authority of Linnaeus, we consider as one species; and
as their culture is precisely the same, we shall speak of
them as distinct only when referring to their sub-
varieties. Each of these varieties is again divided by
gardeners into freestones or peches, and clingstones or pavies,
according as the stone parts freely from the pulp, or
adheres to it. We shall here treat chiefly of the free¬
stones, as being most hardy, and fittest for the open wall
in Britain.
Mr George Bindley, whose arrangement is the best
that has hitherto been published, enumerates 60 kinds
of peaches and 28 of nectarines. In the Horticultural
Catalogue, the names of 183 peaches and of 65 necta¬
rines are recorded. We shall notice only a few of those
which are most distinct, and best adapted to our climate.
HOETICULTURE.
709
Fruit
Garden.
Peaches.
Red Nutmeg, or Avant rouge. This is one of the earliest
peaches, ripening about the beginning of August. The fruit small;
colour pale yellow towards the wall, bright vermilion next the sun;
pulp white, but red at the core; the juice rich and musky. The
tree is an abundant bearer.
Acton Scot. This was raised by Mr Knight between the
noblesse and the nutmeg peach, in 1814. The fruit is red next the
sun, and white on the other side ; the pulp rich, juicy, and saccha¬
rine ; the tree is a good bearer, and not apt to be affected with
mildew. It ripens in August.
Spring-Grove. This is another of Mr Knight’s peaches, raised
from the grosse mignonne crossed with the pollen of the nutmeg.
It is dark red on one side, and bright yellow on the other; pulp
firm, but melting, and of excellent flavour. The tree is a good
bearer, but succeeds best on an apricot stock. The fruit ripens in
the beginning of September.
Grosse Mignonne. Fruit large; skin pale yellow, and deep
purple next the sun ; flesh melting ; juice plentiful, and of delicious
flavour. This excellent peach is a good bearer, and forces well,
but the fruit does not bear carriage. It ripens in the end of
August and beginning of September.
Madeleine de Courson; Red Magdalene of Miller. Blossoms
large; fruit rather below the middle size ; colour yellowish white
next the wall, beautiful red next the sun ; flesh white, with very little
red at the stone; juice rich and vinous. Tree a good bearer; fruit
ripening about the beginning of September. “ An excellent peach,’’
says Mr. Bindley, “ and ought to be found in every collection.”
Royal George. This is a well-known peach, much cultivated.
By nurserymen it is often given out as the Red Magdalene ; but it
is at once distinguished from the Red Magdalene of Miller, by the
blossoms being small. Against a good wall it ripens in the begin¬
ning of September, even in indifferent seasons. Fruit large,
purplish red next the sun, whitish where shaded; flesh.white, varied
with red next the stone, which is free ; melting, rich, with an abun¬
dant sugary juice. It is also one of the best kinds for a peach-
house, fruiting freely, and ripening well. The foliage is, however,
rather subject to mildew.
Noblesse. This has long and deservedly been a favourite in our
gardens. It is a very large fruit; the skin pale red when ripe, the
flesh juicy and rich. The tree is a good bearer,'and the fruit ripens
in September.
Bellegarde; the GalanAe of the nurseries. Fruit large and
globular; skin deep red, with purple streaks on the sunny side ;
flesh pale yellow, very melting; juice rich. An excellent peach;
the tree forces well, and the fruit ripens on the open wall about the
middle of September.
Late Admirable, or La Royale. Fruit large; skin pale green
next the wall, pale red on the sunny side ; flesh greenish white, red
at the stone ; juice abundant, and, when well ripened, of a high
flavour. “ One of the very best late peaches,” says Mr Thomson,
“ and ought to be in every collection ; it is very proper for the
peach-house, to succeed the earlier sorts.”
Nearly allied to the preceding is the Teton de Venus, a beautiful fruit,
but requiring a warm situation. In a good season, it ripens at the
end of September ; is saccharine, and at same time of fine flavour.
Among other excellent peaches may be mentioned:—Freestones,
Barrington, Chancellor, Knight’s Early, Downton Early, Malta,
Morrisania Pound, Royal Charlotte, Royal George Mignonne,
William’s Early Purple, Early Admirable, Alberge, Late Warbur-
ton, and Petite Mignonne ; Clingstones, Catherine, Heath, and Old
Newington.
Nectarines.
Fairchild's Early. A beautiful little freestone, chiefly, however,
cultivated for its earliness. It ripens about the middle of August.
Elruge is an excellent fruit of a moderate size; flesh white,
almost to the stone, which is free. The tree forces well, and is a
good bearer. Fruit ripens about the beginning of September. The
best sort grown.
Hunt's Tawny. Size moderate ; skin pale orange next the wall,
russet-red tow’ards the sun ; flesh deep orange, juicy, and well-
flavoured ; a freestone. A very distinct sort, worthy of cultivation
for its earliness.
Early Newington. A fine large clingstone ; pale green on the
shaded side, bright red next the sun; juice saccharine and well-
flavoured. Ripens in August.
Red Roman. An excellent old clingstone, now seldom to be found
genuine, but worthy of re-introduction.
A few other first-rate nectarines may be enumerated:—Free¬
stones, Brinion, Downton, Murrey (i. e., murrey-coloured), Pitmaston
Orange, Violette grosse, Yiolette hative, Due de Tello, Hardwick
Seedling, New White. The Barker and the Stanwick nectarines are
very recent acquisitions, and are natives of Syria. Clingstones,
Imperatrice, Newington Tawny. The above sorts are equally
suited for open air culture or for forcing, with the exception of the
last.
To perpetuate and multiply valuable varieties, peaches Fruit
and nectarines are budded upon plum or almond stocks. , Gynkm
For dry situations, almond stocks are preferable ; and _ f
for damp or clayey loams, it is better to use plums. An
almond budded on a plum stock may be rebudded with a
tender peach, greatly to the advantage of the latter. The
peach border should be composed of turfy mellow loam,
such as is suitable for the vine and the fig, put in as rough
as possible, or not broken small and fine. It should be
vaulted to render it free from latent dampness. It need
not be of greater depth than eighteen inches; for the
peach-tree thrives best, and is most productive, 'when the
roots are near the surface of the ground. We believe
that in many instances, all that is required to remedy
sickly and unfruitful trees is to bring up their roots
within five or six inches of the surface. In this country
nothing is a greater obstacle to success in peach culture
than trenching the borders, and cropping them heavily
with culinary vegetables.
The fruit of the peach is produced on the twiggy shoots
of the preceding year. If these be too luxuriant they
yield nothing but leaves ; and if too weak, they are
incapable of maturing the fruit. To furnish these, then,
in sufficient abundance, and of requisite strength, is the
great object of peach training and pruning. All twiggy
trees naturally fall into the fan form; and, accordingly,
this has generally been adopted in the culture of peaches.
We shall first, therefore, notice the old English method,
and then briefly the French, and other new modes of
training.
The old fan form is very nearly that already given
(fig. 6) as a specimen of fan training for twiggy trees.
The young tree is often procured when it has been
trained for two or three years in the nursery; but it is
generally better to commence with a maiden plant, that
is, in the first year after it has been budded. It is
then in ordinary practice headed down to five or six buds,
and in the following summer two to four shoots, accord¬
ing to the vigour of the plant, are trained in ; the laterals
also being thinned out, and properly nailed to the walls.
Suppose there are four branches ; in the subsequent win¬
ter the two central ones are shortened back to produce
others, and the inferior ones are laid in nearly at full
length. In the following season additional shoots are
sent forth ; and the process is repeated till eight or ten
principal limbs or mother branches are obtained, forming,
as it were, the framework of the future tree. These
mother branches are occasionally raised or depressed,
so as to maintain their equilibrium, and are as much en¬
couraged to grow outwards as is consistent with the
regular filling up of the tree. The laterals are carefully
thinned out (by pinching off with the fingers) in summer,
and the remainder are nailed in, to afford subordinate
members and bearing wood. When the centre of the
tree has been filled up, all the training necessary is
merely to prevent the inferior members from acquiring
an undue ascendancy over the mother branches. It is
highly advantageous to have abundant space, and to
draw the tree outwards, so as to render it thin, without
being anywhere destitute of young shoots.
Meanwhile the pruning for fruit has been going on.
This consists in shortening down the laterals which had
been nailed in at the disbudding, or summer pruning.
Their length will depend on their individual vigour, and
the luxuriance of the tree. The buds, which are gene¬
rally double, or rather two together, with a fruit bud
between them, seldom occur quite close to the insertion
of the shoot. Perhaps two or three pairs are left with
a wood bud at the point to afford a growing shoot, in
order to act as its lungs: for it is necessary that there
no
HORTICULTURE.
Fruit should be leaves above the fruit. The extent to which
Garden, fruit js thinned must depend on the vigour of the tree ;
a pair of fruit to each square foot of wall being an ave¬
rage allowance. When the fruit begins to swell, the
point of this leading shoot is pinched off, that it may not
drain away the sap. Any young shoot from the wood-
eyes at the base of the bearing branch is carefully pre¬
served, and in the following winter it takes the place of
the branch which has borne fruit, and is cut out. It
there be no young shoot below, and the bearing branch
is short, the shoots at the point of the latter are pruned
for fruit; but this must be done cautiously; and if the
bearing branch be long, it is better to cut it back for
young wood. It is the neglect of this which constitutes
the principal error of the English fan system as it is
usually practised. Several times during summer the
trees ought to be regularly examined ; the young shoots
respectively to be topped and thinned out; those that
remain to be nailed to the wall, or braced in with pieces
of peeled willow, and the whole trees ought occasionally
to be washed with the force-pump.
The Montrueil forvi is represented by fig. 9. The
principal feature is that which constitutes the great prin¬
ciple of all French training, viz., the suppression of the
direct channel of the sap. Four, more commonly two,
mere branches are so laid to the wall that the central
angle contains about 90°. The other branches are all
treated as subordinate members. This form is open to
the objection, that if the under branch should die, the
upper one cannot be brought down into its place.
The form a la Dumoutier (so called from its inventor,
and described at great length by Eelieur), is merely a
refinement on the Montrueil method. It will be suffi¬
cient to mention to the experienced trainer (and none
other can be expected to execute this form), that the for¬
mation of the tree commences with the inferior limbs
and proceeds towards the centre, the branches being
lowered from time to time, as the tree acquires strength.
What is most worthy of notice in this method, is the
management of the subordinates in the pruning for fruit.
When a shoot promises blossom, it is generally at some
distance from the point of insertion into the old wood,
and the intermediate space is covered with wood buds.
All the latter, therefore, which are between the old wood
a and the blossom c, in the outer figure, except the lowest
b, are carefully removed by ebourgeonnement. This never
fails to produce a shoot b in the inner figure, the growth Fruit
Garden.
of which is favoured by destroying the useless spray
above the blossoms, and pinching off the points of those
which are necessary to perfect the fruit. A replacing
shoot is thus obtained, to which the whole is invariably
shortened at the end of the year. The branch thus
treated is called the branche de reserve.
The form a la Sieulle is another modification of the
Montrueil training, of which fig. 13 will give a general
idea. The two mother branches are laid in very ob¬
liquely, and are never shortened. On the subordinate
branches only three buds are left at the winter pruning,
one terminal, and two at a considerable distance from
each other on the sides of the shoot. This method is
not well adapted to our climate.
Mr Seymour's form approaches more nearly to the
French methods than any other practised in this coun¬
try. It will be seen, however, from the annexed figure
(fig. 14), that he does not suppress the direct channel of
the sap. This circumstance, although considerable stress
seems to be laid upon it, is not essential to the plan, nor
is perhaps the best part of it. The principal novelty is,
that the bearing shoots are all on the upper sides of the
mother branches, and that these bearing shoots are wholly
reproduced once a-year. The one side of this figure repre¬
sents the tree after the winter pruning, the other side
before it has undergone that operation. It will be ob¬
served that on this latter side there are pairs of shoots on
the upper parts of the mother branches. The lower
shoot, that, namely, which has borne fruit, is cut out, and
the other is brought down into its place. This replacing
shoot is shortened to about eight or nine inches, care being
taken to cut at a wood-bud; and at the time of disbud¬
ding, the best situate buds, together with those nearest the
base, are left for the future year’s bearing. To this plan
it has been objected that the annual excision of the bear¬
ing shoots produces a series of rugged and increasingly
ugly protuberances at their base and along the upper
H 0 R T I C
Fruit surface of the principal members; an objection which
also militates against Dumoutier’s form. Others, on
the other hand, declai'e that Mr Seymour’s mode is the
most perfect in theory that has been described. For
ourselves, we are inclined to prefer the old fan form,
when well executed, as nearest the natural habit of the
tree, and as best adapted to our uncertain climate. In
the training of peaches, “ whatever is best administered
is best;” and there is no doubt that many ingenious
gardeners have only partial success, because, from the
multiplicity of their engagements, their trees can receive
only partial attention.
For cold and late situations, Mr Knight has very judi¬
ciously recommended the encouraging of spurs on the
young wood, as such spurs, when close to the wall, gene¬
rate the best organized and most vigorous blossoms,
and ensure a crop of fruit. They may be produced,
by taking care, during the summer pruning or disbud¬
ding, to preserve a number of the little shoots emitted by
the yearly wood, only pinching off the minute succulent
points. On the spurs thus procured, numerous blossom-
buds form early in the following season. This practice
is well adapted to cold situations.
Peach-trees, particularly in the north of England, and
also in Scotland, require protection from atmospherical
influences, especially at the period of blossoming. Can¬
vass or bunting screens are most effectual. If the pro¬
tecting screens be applied eaidy in the season, great benefit
may be derived from retarding the blossom till the frosty
nights of spring be past. If the night frost has been
severe, a copious sprinkling of water over the whole tree,
before the influence of the morning sun be felt, has been
found by Harrison to be very useful in gradually raising
the temperature of the foliage and blossoms, and thus
preventing injury from the sudden transition.
The Almond-Tree (Amygdalus communis), a native
of China, may be noticed here rather on account of its
affinity to the peach and apricot, than because of its im¬
portance as a fruit-tree in this country. Every good
garden should contain a tree or two trained as standards;
for in very fine seasons they will yield a crop, and they are
always ornamental in spring from the beauty of their
blossoms. The sorts most worthy of notice are :—the
Tender-shelled Sweet Almond or Jordan, and the Com¬
mend Almond or Bitter.
The Almond is generally budded on seedlings of its
own kind; but for heavy soils, plum stocks are prefer¬
able.
THE APRICOT.
The Apricot {Prunus armeniacd) is a native of the
Caucasus and China ; it was cultivated by the Romans,
and was introduced into England from Italy in the reign
of Henry YIII. It has always, and deservedly, been
a favourite. The principal varieties are the following:—
_ Blenheim. Flowers large ; fruit large ; form oval; colour orange,
tinged with deep yellow ; flavour good ; stone roundish and imper¬
vious ; kernel bitter; a good bearer, and of English origin.
Breda. Flowers large ; fruit roundish, sometimes almost four-
cornered, orange-coloured ; juice rich, stone small and impervious;
kernel sweet. The true Breda is an apricot of first-rate excellence,'
and in the south of England the tree bears well as a standard.
Roman. Flowers large; fruit oblong, compressed, pale yellow;
flesh soft; stone impervious; kernel very bitter. The tree is a
good bearer, but the fruit is fit only for preserving. It is some¬
times called the Brussels,—a name also occasionally given to the
preceding.
Moorpark. Flowers large; fruit roundish, compressed, orange
and red ; flesh parting from, the stone, juicy and rich; stone per¬
vious ; kernel bitter. Ibis is generally considered the best apricot
in this country. '1 here are several sub-varieties known under diffe¬
rent names ; and among these Shipley’s is the best. It scarcely
differs from the Abricot Peche of the French.
ULTURE. 7ii
Hemskirka. Like a small Moorpark, but with a more tender and Fruit
juicy pulp, and with the rich flavour of a green-gage plum; kernel Garden,
small, sweetish. A desirable early fruit, ripening on an east wall ^
in the end of July or beginning of August.
Turkey. Flowers large; fruit middle-sized, spherical, deep
yellow; flesh juicy and rich, parting from the stone, which is im¬
pervious ; kernel sweet. This is an excellent late variety.
Kaisha, new early. Introduced in 1847 from Aleppo. A valu¬
able early variety, completely superseding the Red and White
Masculines, which were formerly our earliest sorts.
Musch-Musch.. Fruit small; tree rather delicate, requiring a dry
soil and warm situation. It is extensively cultivated in Upper
Egypt, where the fruit is dried as an article of commerce.
Besides these we may mention the Large Early, the
Orange and Royal. The last is a French variety ; it is
excellent, and ripens earlier than the Moorpark.
Apricots are propagated by budding on muscle or
common plum-stocks. Mr Knight recommends the
wilding apricot as a stock for the Moorpark variety.
Some gardeners have adopted the horizontal form of
training, but the most usual, and certainly the best, is
the common fan arrangement; for the larger the tree,
the greater the produce of fruit. The fruit is produced
on shoots of the preceding year, and on small close spurs,
formed on the two-year-old wood. The apricot is a tree
of much stronger growth than the peach, and therefore
requires more room; this and the peculiarity of the
spurs being kept in mind, the observations made on the
training and pruning of the peach may be readily ap¬
plied to this tree. It requires a summer and winter
pruning. The former should begin early in June, at
which period all irregular fore-right and useless shoots
are to be pinched off; and, shortly afterwards, those
which remain are to be fastened to the wall, to become
bearers. At the winter pruning, all worn-out branches,
and such as are not duly furnished with spurs and fruit-
buds, are removed. The young bearers are moderately
pruned at the points ; care, however, being taken to leave
a terminal shoot or leader to each branch. The most
common error in the pruning of apricots, is laying in
the bearing shoots too thickly.
The blossom comes early in spring, but is more hardy
than that of the peach : the same means of protection,
when necessary, may be employed. The fruit often sets
too numerously; and in this case it is thinned out i»
June and in the beginning of July, the later thinnings
being used for tarts, for which purpose they are in much
request. In the south of England, apricots are some¬
times trained against espalier-rails, and occasionally
planted as dwarf standards; and in good seasons the
fruit from such trees is more highly flavoured than that
from walls. In general, however, the protection of a
wall is required. An east or west aspect is preferred in
England, the full south being apt to induce mealiness of
pulp. In Scotland the late varieties require the best
aspect that can be afforded.
THE PLUM.
The Plum-Tree {Prunus domesticci) is considered a
native of England. Many of the best cultivated varie¬
ties, however, have been introduced from France. The
Horticultural Society’s Catalogue enumerates 274 sorts,
though probably all of these are not well ascertained.
We shall first notice a few of the best dessert plums,
and then give a list of select kitchen sorts.
The Green-Gage is the Reine Claude of the French, a great
favourite at Paris (as it is everywhere else). It is supposed to have
been introduced into England by the Gage family, and the foreign
name having been lost, it obtained its present appellation. It is a
fruit of first-rate excellence, the flavour being exquisite. The tree
deserves a place against an east or west wall, where the fruit ac¬
quires a larger size without materially falling off in richness of
■ flavour. Treated as a wall-tree, it seldom bears well till it is old,
712
Fruit
Garden.
HORTICULTURE.
and it is very impatient of exact training, as indeed most plums are.
In warm situations it may be properly grown on an espaher-rai, or
as a dwarf standard. , „ „ , T . i *
Angelina Burdett, along with Standard of England and Woolston
Black Gage, originated a few years ago from seed by Mr Dow mg
of Woolston, near Southampton, are all plums of the highest excel¬
lence. Of them Mr Thomson says :—“ These plums are first-rate,
and I should recommend their extensive cultivation. As regards
the last, it throws the Green gage into the shade, for it contains all
the properties of that fine plum with more sugary sweetness. _
The Bran d’ Or is a small yellow plum of high flavour, ripening
in the beginning of September. On a light soil the tree is a tolerable
bearer; but on a heavy soil it seldom succeeds. _ The fruit
precedes the Green-gage in ripening, and resembles it in quality
Coes Golden Drop is a fine large oval plum; excellent either for
the table or for preserving. It keeps well; and Mr Lindley informs
us that he has eaten it exceedingly good twelve months after it
had been gathered. It requires a wall of the best aspect; and will
scarcely answer in a bleak climate.
For a standard, Gisborne's Early Plum is one of the best and
most productive that can be recommended, particularly for the
northern portion of Britain.
Jefferson, a comparatively new plum, of American origin. Fruit
very large, golden yellow, tinged with purple on the side next the
sun ; tree hardy, and an abundant bearer. This is the best of all
American plums, and only surpassed with us by the Green-gage,
Angelina Burdett, and Woolston Black-gage.
The Precoce de Tours is an early sort; of a dark blue colour,
with a violet bloom; pulp yellow, and of a very pleasant flavour.
The tree succeeds as a standard.
The Blue Imperatrice is a fine late plum; the tree is a good
bearer, but requires an east or west wall.
Peine Claude Violette. A very high-flavoured variety, resem¬
bling, colour excepted, the Green-gage. It succeeds on standards,
but is improved by a wall. The tree is a good bearer.
Washington. Fruit large, roundish oval, pale yellow on the
shaded side, and of a fine glaucous light purple on the exposed side ;
of excellent quality, little inferior to the Green-gage._ The tree is
vigorous, and bears well against a wall, the fruit ripening about
the middle of August. Being an early plum, it will, in favourable
situations, succeed as a standard. It is, as the name imports, of
American origin. It ought to be in every collection.
Peine Claude de Bavay. The most valuable late plum of its
class. Originated with M. Bavay, of Vilvorde, near Brussels.
Coupers Large Bed is a plum of large size, oval; suture deeply
cleft on one side ; skin of a bluish glaucous purple on the exposed
side; on the other dull red; flesh firm, adhering to the stone ;
ripening in Scotland in the beginning of September on a south wall.
Although this is only a plum of the second quality, yet the tree
well merits a place, on account of its great productiveness.
The following are also first-rate plums :—D’Agen, Coe’s Late
Red, Downton Imperatrice, Kirke’s, Blue Perdrigon, White Per-
drigon, and Lawson’s Golden-gage.
The Cheston, Fotheringham, Goliath, Orleans, Wilmot’s New
Orleans, La Royale, Sharpe’s Emperor, Morocco, and some of the
Damasks, though generally regarded as only second-rate plums,
deserve notice, and should always have a place in large gardens.
The Early Violet is an excellent bearer, and strongly recommended by
Lindley to be planted in cottage gardens. Lucomb’s Nonsuch plum
should not be omitted; for when well ripened, it makes an approach
to the Green-gage in flavour.
As kitchen and preserving plums, we may specify the Shropshire
Damson, Imperial Diadem, Isabella, White Magnum Bonum, Red
Magnum Bonum or Imperiale ; the Caledonia or Nectarine Plum, a
large and handsome fruit; the Mirabelle, St Catheriue, Wine Sour,
and Bullace. Dean’s Jedburgh Seedling, Denniston’s Superb,
Gisborn’s, Guthrie’s new Apricot Plum, Tay-bank Plum, Topaz,
Guthrie’s Minette, and Pond’s Seedling.
Plums are propagated chiefly by budding on Muscle
or St Julian stocks. They are sometimes grafted, but
gum is apt to break out at the place of junction. The
damson, wine sour, and other varieties, planted as
standards, are generally increased by suckers, which the
old plants afford plentifully. For placing against walls,
trees which have been trained for two years in the nursery
are to be preferred.
Plum-trees require ample space. On common walls
they should be allowed from twentv to twenty-five feet of
breadth over which to extend themselves. The horizontal
mode of training is adopted by many. The fan form is
also very commonly followed, and undoubtedly, where
there is room, it is the best. The shoots ought to be laid
in at full length. The fruit is produced on small spurs,
on branches at least two years old. The same spurs Fruit
continue fruitful for several years.
Standard plum-trees require only to have a portion of
their wood thinned out occasionally when they are young.
The hardy kinds grown in this way are very productive,
and in some places in the north of England, their pro¬
duce forms a considerable article of food for several
weeks, and also an article of commerce, particularly
the wine sour and damson, which is in great request for
preserves. It is matter of regret that this branch of
fruit culture has not, as yet, met with due attention in
Scotland.
The Cherry-Tree {Prunus Cerasus), is said to have
been introduced into Europe from Pontus, by the cele¬
brated Lucullus, b.c. 73. From the “London cries” of
Lydgate, it appears that “ cherries in the ryse,” or in
twigs, were hawked in London at the beginning of the
15th century. Excellent sorts have at various times
been introduced from the Continent, and, of late years,
several first-rate new varieties have been raised in
England. Geans included, the Horticultural Society’s
Catalogue enumerates no fewer than 219 varieties ; the
following may be accounted some of the best:—
The Early Purple Griotte may be first mentioned as being the
earliest of all cherries, generally ripening in the end of May.
The May-Duke is one of the most common, and, at the same time,
one of the most valuable cherries. In fine seasons, and on a good
aspect of wall, it begins to colour in May ; and in such situations it is
generally ripe from the middle to the end of June. The tree also
bears well as a dwarf standard, but against a wall the fruit gets
larger, and does not fall off in flavour.
The Late Duke is a rich sweet cherry, with most of the qualities
of the May-Duke. It is identical with the Arch-Duke.
Bigarreau or Graffion. This is an excellent fruit, especially when
it gets the protection of a wall. In the cherry orchards of England,
this sort is now pretty extensively cultivated, the fruit meeting with
a ready sale, and vast quantities being required for the London
market.
Harrison's Heart is nearly allied to the Bigarreau; it is rather
of larger size and of finer appearance in the dessert, but inferior in
flavour. The fruit has this advantage, that it is not liable to crack
in wet weather.
Belle de Choisy, an excellent cherry. The fruit come in pairs,
red, mottled with amber colour, tender and sweet. The tree bears
well as a standard.
Black Tartarian. Fruit large, obtuse heart-shaped; flesh half
tender. “ The quality is good, and in appearance it is one of the
finest.” It is a good bearer, and well adapted for forcing.
Waterloo. Raised by a daughter of Mr Knight, from the Bigar¬
reau and May-Duke. Fruit hlack, large,obtuse heart-shaped, pulp
tender. It ripens in July, and the tree is a free bearer.
Elton. Raised by Mr Knight from the Bigarreau and White
Heart. Fruit large, heart-shaped, pale red, with a sweet delicious
juice. The tree is a good bearer and hardy; the fruit ripens shortly
after the May-Duke.
Kentish Cherry. One of the oldest and most prevalent cherries
in England, abounding in the orchards of Kent. When ripe, it is
of a full red colour, and its subacid flavour is very agreeable. It is
commonly grown on standards, and ripens in the end of July. The
Hort. Cat. distinguishes this from the Flemish or short-stalked, also
a good cherry, to which it is certainly closely allied.
The Morello. This is a well-known late cherry, much in request
for confectionery. The tree is a copious bearer as a standard, and
on a south wall the fruit acquires a peculiarly rich subacid flavour.
It succeeds perfectly well on a north aspect, where its fruit may be
retarded to the end of October.
The Amber, or Yellow Spanish, is a late fruit, and useful in pro¬
longing the cherry season till the beginning of September. It
requires a west wall.
Among other excellent varieties may be mentioned the Black
Eagle, Black Heart, Bowyer’s Early Heart, Carnation, Downton,
Florence, Knight’s Early Black, and the White Heart.
Buttner's October Morello. An excellent German variety of this
useful section of cherries, remarkable for its hanging on the tree till
the end of November. The Late-Duke, White Tartarian, and
Buttner’s Black Heart are also valuable. To that useful section
(the Morello), we may add a new acquisition, the Frogmore new
Morello, and Rumsey’s late Morello.
What are called geans or guignes, are cherries less
removed from their natural state. They are usually
H 0 R T I C
Fruit grown as standards, and bear abundantly, particularly
when old. The principal sorts are the Amber gean, a
plentiful bearer, with sweet tender fruit; and the Lundie
gean, a small black cherry of high flavour.
In the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, the black-fruited
cherry-tree, or Guignier, is considered as a variety of
Prunus Cerasus. The forest cherry-tree, P. avium, is
named Merisier; and, besides varieties with red and
with black fruit, there, is a marked variety called Bi-
garotier.
The great quantities of pale-coloured cherries yearly
sold in the London market are chiefly of the kinds called
White Heart and Bigarreau. The dark-coloured cherries
are chiefly the Courone, which is often passed upon
buyers for the Black Heart.
The stock preferred for cherries is the wild gean. Mr
George Bindley recommends that dwarf cherry-trees
should be grafted, and two or three year-old stocks will
do for them.
For standard trees the stocks should be at least four
years old, and they should be budded or grafted five or
six feet from the ground. High-stemmed cherry-trees,
or riders, are often temporarily employed to fill up the
vacant spaces on newly planted garden walls, till the
dwarf trees make sufficient progress; for these, stocks six
or seven feet high are required. For dwarf cherry-trees,
the best stocks are procured from the Prunus (or Cerasus)
Mahaleb, the sweet-scented cherry.
Cherries are generally produced on small spurs which
appear on the wood of the second year, and these spurs
continue productive for an indefinite period. Any form
of training may therefore be adopted ; but as the fruit is
always finest on young spin’s, perhaps fan-training, which
admits of the frequent renovation of the bearing branches,
is the most advantageous. A succession of young shoots
should be laid in every year. For the Morello, which is
of twiggy growth, and bears on the young wood, the fan
form is absolutely necessary. Whatever method be
adopted for general practice, care should be taken not to
crowd the branches; for nothing is more unfavourable
to the productiveness of the trees than overcrowding of
branches.
The Prunus Marasca, from the fruit of which is pre¬
pared the celebrated liqueur called Maraschina di Zara,
is a native of Dalmatia, and would doubtless succeed in
Britain, if fairly tried.
THE PEAR.
The Pear-Tree {Pyrus communis) is considered by
botanists as a native of England. Many cultivated va¬
rieties seem to have been introduced by the monks.
Remains of perry orchards attached to monasteries of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are not uncommon,
even in Scotland, and very ancient trees of the finer des¬
sert pears, such as the Colmar and Longueville, are
occasionally found.
The list of cultivated pears amounts to more than
600 names; but the number of those truly desirable is
not large. We shall specify some of the best dessert
fruit, following the usual division of Early and Late;
the former class being in season in the months of August,
September, and October, and the latter in November,
December, and January. It is only a few years since
pears fit for the dessert in January were known in Bri¬
tain ; such as the Glout morceau, the Easter Beurre
and the Winter Beurre; and they deserve the best at¬
tention of horticulturists. It is to be premised, however,
that even within the limits of Britain, climate makes
an important difference in the culture and ripening of
pears, of which a remarkable and extreme example may
VOL. XI.
IT L T U R E.
be seen in the Chaumontelle—a fruit which is produ¬
ced abundantly and ripened on standards in the south¬
west of England, and even in the environs of Lon¬
don, while it requires a south wall near Edinburgh.
1. Early.
Citron des Carmes [Madeleine of Linclley, and in Scotland often
called the Premature). This is the earliest pear; it ripens in July,
acquiring a yellowish-green colour ; it is sweet, hut without much
flavour. One tree may suffice. It requires a sheltered situation.
Beurre d Amalis. Above medium size ; colour greenish-brown;
form obovate ; quality excellent; ripe in September.
Doyenne ilanc. Colour pale yellowish; about medium size ;
pyriform ; quality excellent; ripe in September and October.
Dunmore. Brownish-green russet ; size large ; obovate;
quality first-rate. Tree hardy and an excellent bearer; ripe in
September.
Flemish Beauty. Colour russet-red ; obovate; size large;
quality excellent; tree hardy ; ripe in September.
Fondante d'Automne. Colour pale green ; obovate ; under
medium size ; quality excellent; ripe in September and October.
Mansuette. Pale green and brown; size large ; oblong obovate ;
quality excellent; ripe in September and October.
The Summer Bose. A handsome round pear, of a russety-red
colour, much resembling an apple, flesh white, rich and sugary.
This is an excellent variety, succeeds on a standard, and ripens in
August.
I he Jargonelle of Britain is the Grosse Cuisse Madame of the
French. This is the most common and most esteemed of our early
autumn pears. Against the wall the fruit attains a large size and
a beautiful appearance ; hut it is not of so high a flavour as from
standards or espalier-rails. The fruit does not keep well, and the
tree should therefore be planted in various situations to prolong its
season, as it is rather difficult, when it disappears, immediately to
supply its place in the dessert.
The Summer Francreal, or the Yat of Holland, may be noticed
as another pear to follow the Jargonelle, as it ripens about the
middle of September. The tree proves, in general, a great bearer.
The Duhamel is a good autumn pear, with a delicate flavour.
From a wall, it comes in immediately after the Green Yair, and"
helps to fill up a gap in the pear season, especially in Scotland ;
standards produce freely, and their fruit is ready in November.
The Seckle, of American origin, is of dwarfish size, suited for a
border standard, and it seldom fails to yield a crop. The fruit is
small, but melting and perfumed. It does not keep.
The Bed Doyenne, or as it is sometimes called Gray Doyenne,
is also an excellent autumn pear, succeeding best on a quince stock.
The Flton. Capital as a standard, in ordinary situations. The
tree produces healthy wood, and the fruit ripens in September
and October.
The Early Bergamot was introduced from France in 1820.
It is one of the very best early pears, as the tree hears freely
as an open standard.
The Autumn Bergamot, or English Bergamot, has been long
known as one of the most highly flavoured pears. It is not the
Bergamotte d' Automne of the French, which is liable to canker
in this country, while the English bergamot is not. In England
the tree succeeds perfectly well as a standard; and in Scotland
it answers in. good seasons, where it is deserving of a west
wall. The fruit is of a depressed globular shape, not large; the
flesh juicy, sugary, and rich, a little gritty next the core. It
ripens towards the end of October, but does not keep.
The Van Mans Leon Leclerc is one of the best autumn pears,
ripening from the middle to the end of October. It is of the
size and shape of the Duchesse d'Angouleme; sugary, and with
rich pine-apple flavour.
To the list of summer and early autumn pears might be added
the Musk Rohine, Summer Francreal, Summer Bonchretien, and
William’s Bonchretien, generally requiring the protection of a
wall; and Ambrosia, Caillot Rosat, and the Hazel Pear.
2. Late.
The Brown Beurre (Red,Gray,Royal Beurre of various authors).
This is a first-rate melting pear. Against a wall with a good
aspect, and with a fresh soil, the tree is an abundant bearer. Ripens
in October and November.
Belle et Bonne. Yellowish green; size large ; roundish ; quality
good ; ripe in September and October.
The Beurre de Capiaumont. This is one of the best Flemish
varieties. The fruit is beautiful and well flavoured. It ripens in
October and November. The tree is a great bearer and hardy.
.The Moorfowl Egg. There are two varieties, both of Scottish
origin, of which the Galston Moorfowl Egg is the best. The fruit
is not attractive in appearance, hut it is of admirable quality. The
tree is hardy, and should he grown as a standard.
4 X
713
Fruit
Garden.
714
Fruit
Garden,
HORTICULTURE.
The GanseVs Bergamot (sometimes called Brocas _ Bergamot).
This noble pear, which has scarcely been rivalled, certainly not sur¬
passed, by any of the imported varieties, is ol English origin. Its
blossoms are too tender to enable the tree to succeed as a standard ,
hut it deserves a wall, and it should be placed on various aspects to
prolong its season. The fruit ripens in November and December
GanseVs late Bergamot, having many ot the properties of the
original, but is harder and sets better. . _
Bergamotte de Hollands. Esteemed for its long keeping. In
use from March till June. _
Beurre Bose. Russet coloured ; size large; pyramidal; quality
excellent. In use in October and November.
Beurre Gris d’ Hirer. Size large ; quality first-rate ; very
productive) one of the best pears m cultivation. In use during
February. .
Beurre Biel. Yellowish brown ; obovate; size large; quality
excellent. In use in October and November. One of the most
profitable of the Flemish pears.
Beurre Langelier. Size large ; obovate ; quality first-rate. In
use in October and November. One of the very best autumn pears,
and exceedingly hardy.
Bezi de La Motte. Pale yellowish green, with russety dots; size
medium; roundish ; quality good. In use in October. Deserves
a place in every garden.
The Marie Louise. This excellent and large pear was raised by
the Abbe Duquesne. “ It is,” says Mr Thompson,“ one of the very
finest, even as a standard, on which it hears abundantly ; it succeeds
also well on a north wall.” In Scotland it is the better for an east
or west aspect; but on a standard in a sheltered garden at Luffness,
East Lothian, the fruit has attained the weight of 15 ounces. It
ripens in October and November.
Beurre d' Aremberg. Is perfectly melting and without grittiness,
and rich, sweet, and high-flavoured. The tree succeeds. either
trained against an east or a west wall, or as a standard in any
sheltered situation.
Crasanne. An old French sort, of excellent quality, with a
tender and finely flavoured pulp. The tree deserves an east or west
aspect on the wall, and it succeeds also on an espalier-rail. The
fruit ripens in November and December.
The Urbaniste is a very good variety, of a large size, and ovo-
globular shape ; skin of yellowish colour, with small russety spots ;
flesh white, melting, with a sweet well-flavoured juice. In Scotland
ripens against a south wall by the beginning of November.
Colmar. This is a first-rate pear, with a white flesh, and of high
flavour. In Scotland the tree requires a south wall. This is the
Poire d’Auch of the Continent. It keeps till February or March.
Passe Colmar. An admirable Flemish variety; of excellent
flavour ; hardier, and a more abundant bearer than the preceding,
and more easily ripened. It is in maturity in December and
January.
Poire Neill was raised by M. Yan Mons of Louvain. It is a large
handsome fruit, with a very white pulp, mellow, and abounding
with a saccharine and slightly musky juice. It is in season during
the month of October, and should be gathered a few days before it
is ripe. The tree succeeds as a standard at Edinburgh, and bears
freely.
The Easter Beurre. Fruit large, obovate, green and brown;
flesh whitish-yellow, buttery, and extremely high-flavoured. “ It
is,” says Mr Thompson, “ hardy and a good bearer ; one of the most
valuable spring sorts, compared with which the early pears of short
duration deserve not a wall; its extensive cultivation for a long and
late supply is, without hesitation, strongly recommended.” In
season from January to March. As the tree ripens its wood readily,
it succeeds as a standard, even in Scotland, and yields fruit superior
in flavour to that from the walls.
Beurre, Ranee. A Flemish variety, raised by the late M. Har-
denpont; “ the best very late sort yet known,” Hort. Cat. It
ripens with difficulty in Scotland.
The following, also, may be considered highly valuable sorts
as late autumnal and winter pears: — Autumn Colmar, Aston-
town, Echassery, Delices d’Hardenpont, Beurre Spence, Bezi
Yaet, Bezi de la Motte, Chaumontelle, Sylvange, Downtown, Glout
Morceau, St Germain, Duchesse d’ Angouleme, Hacon’s Incom¬
parable, Winter Nelis, Swan Egg, Doyenne gris, Flemish Beauty,
Napoleon, Beurre d’Aremberg, Bonchretien Fondant, Brougham,
Calebasse, Chaptal, Comte de Lamy, Althorp Crasanne, Winter
Crassane, De Louvain, Dundas, Elton, Emerald, Eye wood, Fon-
dante du Bois, Forelle, Fulton, Groom’s Princess Royal, Jean de
Witte, Louise Bonne of Jersey, Moccas, Knight’s Monarch, Ne
Plus Meuris, Thompson’s.
Of the Kitchen Sorts, or stewing pears, we may name
the Bellisime d’Hiver, Catillac, Uvedale’s St. Germain,
Warden or Black Worcester, and the Gilogil. These
are placed on inferior walls, or upon espalier-rails, or
kept as dwarf standards. The Uvedale’s St. Germain
fruit often attains a large size, especially against a wall.
Pear-trees are grafted either on what are called free-
stocks or on dwarfing stocks: for th^former, which are
intended for full-sized trees, the seeds of the wilding pear
should be sown; but frequently the pips of the perry
pears, and sometimes of the common cultivated sorts,
are used. For dwarfing, the quince is preferred; but the
white-thorn, as already mentioned, is occasionally em¬
ployed. Where the space is limited, or the ground is
damp, the dwarfing stocks are the more suitable. It is
a favourite doctrine with some, that by budding or
grafting on quince or hawthorn, pears of too melting
and sugary a quality acquire firmness and acidity; to
what extent this holds good has not been correctly as¬
certained, but that the stock exerts a certain degree of
influence on the fruit is beyond dispute. Some of the
finer pears do not take readily on the quince. In this
case double working is resorted to. For example, the
Yirgouleuse may be easily budded on the quince, and
the Beurre d’Aremberg will afterwards succeed freely
on the Virgouleuse. It may be mentioned in passing,
that the ancient horticulturists seem to have supposed
that a fruit was improved by double working; and that
the term reinette, a name applied to a class of apples, is
considered as having been derived from the Latin renata,
that is, a tree grafted upon itself.
In selecting young pear-trees, some prefer maiden
plants, that is, plants one year grafted ; but if good trees,
trained for two or three years, can be procured, so much
the better. It is important to ascertain that the stock
and stem be clean and healthy, and to take great care
that no injury be done by bruising or tearing the roots,
in lifting and removing. The trees should be planted
immediately after the fall of the leaf. AYall-trees require
from 25 to 30 feet of lineal space when on free stocks,
and from 15 to 20 feet when dwarfed. Standards on free
stocks in the orchard should be allowed at least 30 feet
everyway, while for dwarfs 15 feet may suffice. AYhere
the trees are trained en pyramids or en quenouille (see
figs. 2, 3), they may stand within eight feet of each other.
It is very desirable that the pear orchard should be in a
warm situation, with a soil deep, substantial, and well
drained, or free from injurious latent moisture. AYith-
out attention to these circumstances, pear-trees seldom
succeed. Mr Rivers, one of our most successful pear
cultivators, recommends planting pear trees on quince
stocks, so that the stock may be covered up to its junc¬
tion with the graft. This is effected by raising up a
small mound of rich compost around it, a contrivance
which induces the graft to emit roots into the surface soil,
and also keeps the stock from becoming hard or bark-
bound.
The fruit is produced on spurs, which appear on shoots
more than one year old; the object of the pruner there¬
fore ought to be to procure a fair supply ot these spurs.
The mode most commonly adopted of training wall
pear-trees is the horizontal; but each of the forms
already mentioned has its advantages, and is pecu¬
liarly adapted to some particular habit of growth in the
several varieties. For the St Germain, and other twiggy
sorts, the fan form is to be preferred ; for the Gansel’s
Bergamot, and other strong growers, the half-fan or the
horizontal. In the latter form the trees may often be
found fifteen, twenty, or even thirty years old, during
which time they acquire an undue projection from the
wall, and become scraggy and unmanageable. On the
other hand, the finest fruit is produced on young spurs,
clearly indicating the necessity of a frequent renovation
of the spurs. This would lead to a preference of the
fan form, not, indeed, that which is commonly practised,
for in it the spurs are as immovable as in any other
Fruit
Garden.
HORTICULTURE. 715
Fruit arrangement; but rather that recommended for peaches,
Garden. whick there is a continual renewal of the branches.
Or, if the horizontal form, which has certain advantages,
be adopted, it should he that modification exhibited in fig.
5, a. This is the method followed by Harrison in treat¬
ing the Jargonelle. Or a portion of the old spurs should
be cut out annually, which will induce young ones to form.
The summer pruning of established wall or espalier-
rail trees, consists chiefly in the timely displacing or
rubbing olf the superfluous shoots, retaining only those
which are terminal or well placed for lateral branches.
In horizontal training, the winter pruning is nothing
more than adjusting the leading shoots, and thinning
out the spurs, which should be kept close to the wall,
and allowed to retain only two, or at most three buds.
In fan-training, the subordinate branches must be regu¬
lated, the spurs thinned out, and the young laterals,
which had been loosely nailed in during summer, must
be finally established in their places. No crowding of
branches should be permitted. When horizontal trees
have fallen into disorder, they may be renovated in the
manner represented at fig. 5, 5, a method approved by
Knight; or all the branches may be cut back to within
nine inches of the vertical stem and branch, and trained
in afresh, as recommended by Mr Lindley. Or they
may be grafted with other sorts if a variety is wanted.
When some of the finer pear-trees produce an abun¬
dance of blossom, but do not set well, as not unfrequently
happens, artificial impregnation may be partially re¬
sorted to; that is, the blossom of some other kind of
pear, plentifully provided with pollen, may be taken,
and the farina dusted over the best-looking blossoms of
the less productive tree.
Summer and autumn pears should be gathered before
they are fully ripe, otherwise they will not in general
keep more than a few days. The Jargonelle, as Forsyth
rightly advises, should be allowed to remain on the tree,
and pulled daily as wanted, the standard fruit thus suc¬
ceeding the produce of the wall-trees. In reference to
the Crasanne, Mr Geo. Lindley recommends gathering
the crop at three different times, the first a fortnight or
more before it is ripe, the second a week or ten days
after, and the third when fully ripe. The first gathering
will come into eating latest, and thus the season of the
fruit may be considerably prolonged. It is evident that
the same method may be followed with the Brown
Beurre and Gansel’s Bergamot, or with any others which
continue only a short time in a mature state.
THE APPLE.
The Apple-tree {Pyrus Mains') is, under the name of
the Crab, known as a native of Britain. Most of the
cultivated sorts, however, are of foreign origin. The
finer, high-flavoured apples are prized for the dessert;
the juicy and poignant sorts are in request for tarts and
sauce ; while those of a more austere nature are manu¬
factured into cider, and on the continent very largely
into brandy. In the second edition of the London Hort.
Society’s Catalogue, no fewer than 1400 varieties are
enumerated; many of them doubtless not well ascer¬
tained, but about 175 ai'e pronounced to be excellent
sorts. And a few have been since added in the supple¬
ment to the 3d edition, the best of which will be noticed.
With such a multitude before us, it would be vain to
attempt detailed descriptions ; we shall therefore do little
more than give a list of those most worthy of attention.
Table Apples.
The earliest of these are the following:—The Juneating, or
White Geniton, which begins to ripen in the end of July, and being
sugary and slightly perfumed, forms a welcome addition to the Fruit
dessert. The Early Margaret, or as it is sometimes called Eed Garden.
Juneating or Striped J uneating, and in Ireland Peach Apple. The
Summer, or White Crofton, is of Irish origin : the tree hears abun¬
dantly ; and if the fruit be scarcely equal to the Juneatings for the
dessert, it is very desirable for culinary purposes in August. The
Oslin or Arbroath Pippin, and the Early Julien of Clydesdale, also
deserve notice. The Summer Golden Pippin, the Eed Quarrenden
of Devonshire, and the Early Harvest, are likewise excellent early
dessert apples.
To succeed these in the autumn we have many fine sorts, such
as the Early Nonpareil or Hicks’s Fancy ; the Doonside ; Autumn
Pearmain or Eoyal Pearmain of the London Nurseries ; Shepherd’s
Fame ; Baird’s Favourite ; White Astrachan; Eed Astrachan :
Maclean’s Favourite; Pearson’s Plate; Pomme de Niege, and
Bourassa; Franklin’s Golden Pippin, fruit not equal to the Old
Golden Pippin, but the tree more productive ; Old Golden Pippin ;
King of the Pippins or Hampshire Yellow, a valuable sort; Kerry
Pippin, one of the finest Irish apples ; and the Cole Apple or
Scarlet perfumed; Leisham’s Pippin, a large fruit; Longville’s
Kernel, of good quality.
The winter dessert apples are very numerous, so that only a few
can be mentioned. The Eibston Pippin has long maintained a
pre-eminent character, for its rich juiciness and highly aromatic
flavour. Hubbard’s Pearmain is a Norfolk apple of the very finest
quality, and too little known, especially in Scotland. The Dutch
Mignonne is another admirable dessert apple, too little known or
attended to. The Golden Harvy, or Brandy Apple of Forsyth, is
a beautiful though small fruit, and Mr Lindley characterizes it as
rich, juicy, spicy, and high-flavoured: the tree is not a large
grower, is very har8y, and a great and constant bearer; and no
garden, adds Mr Lindley, “ capable of containing ten trees, ought
to be without one of it.” The Downton Pippin, raised by Mr
Knight from the Orange Pippin of Herefordshire, dusted with the
pollen of the Old Golden Pippin, must not he omitted. The tree
is a great bearer; the fruit ripens in the end of October and keeps
till January. The Yellow Ingestrie, raised by the same gentleman,
is likewise excellent. To these may be added the Beachamwell;
Borsdoffer; Court of Wick Pippin, excellent, though of small size ;
Wood’s Transparent; Margill; Scarlet Crofton ; Golden Pearmain ;
Scarlet Pearmain ; Dutch Mignonne ; Fearn’s Pippin ; Graven-
stein ; Paradise Pippin; Old Nonpareil; Boss Nonpareil; Brad-
dick’s Nonpareil, very fertile; Scarlet Nonpareil; Pitmaston
Nonpareil; Sturmer Pippin ; Kirke’s Golden Eennet; Eeinette de
Canada; Sykehouse Kuss'et; Cornish Aromatic, of first-rate quality ;
and the Sam Young, an excellent Irish apple brought into notice
by Mr Eobertson of Kilkenny. The Courtpendu plant is a capital
winter dessert fruit: the tree is hardy and productive, and the
blossom being late in expanding, it is a kind well adapted for cold
situations. The Norfolk Beauiin is the best apple for drying and
preserving, making an excellent winter preserve.
Dessert Apples.
Ashmead’s Kernel; Baddow Pippin; Barton’s Incomparable ;
Breedon Pippin; Christie’s Pippin ; Clara Pippin ; Cockle Pippin ;
Colonel Vaughan’s White Crofton; Cornish Gillyflower; Creed’s
Marigold; Flford Pippin; Forman’s Crewe; Scarlet Golden
Pippin; New Golden Pippin; Golden Eusset; Winter Golden
Pearmain; Lucombe’s Pine Apple; Morris’s Court of Wick;
Morris’s Eusset; Newtown Pippin; Pitmaston Nonpareil; Ord’s
Apple; Adam’s Pearmain; Clay gate Pearmain ; Herefordshire
Pearmain ; Mannington’s Pearmain ; Lamb Abbey Pearmain;
Scarlet Pearmain ; Hubbard’s Pearmain ; Eoyal Pearmain ;
Eavelston Pippin; Eeinette Franche; Eeinette Grise; Powell’s
Eusset; Keeping Eusset.
Of American Apples, the best for our climate is the Boston
Eusset. Mr Thompson states that the tree is quite hardy, very
reductive, and suitable for dwarf training; the fruit juicy, with a
avour between that of the Eibston and Nonpareil, and in season
from December fill April. The Newton, or Long Island Pippin,
seldom comes to perfection in this country.
Kitchen Apples,
Or such as are chiefly used for tarts or for sauce, are very numerous,
and the names of a few of the best can only be given. The Eed
Fulwood, the Nonsuch, Minshul Crab, Han well Souring, Cat’s
Head, Alexander, Wheeler’s Eusset, Blenheim Orange, Hunthouse
of Yorkshire, and Forman’s Crewe, all are good. The Bedfordshire
Foundling is a large and handsome apple and the tree a sure
bearer. The Cellini is a good kitchen apple for November, the
tree hardy and very productive, and the fruit beautiful. Among
the best long-keeping apples are the Scottish Gogar Pippin, some¬
times called Moncreiff Pippin, or Stone Pippin ; Wormsley Pippin ;
and the Yorkshire Greening and Northern Greening, particularly
the latter; Baxter’s Pearmain; Winter Strawberry Apple ; the
Tulip, a small Dutch fruit, of a dark red colour, and with a lively
juice ; Calvill Malingre; Dutch Mignonne; Winter Lud; Pent-
horticulture.
716
Fruit caitland Pippin; Cambusnethan Pippin. The Cockle Pippin or
Carden. Nutmeg Apple, an excellent apple, and the tree a fertile bearer.
Dumelow’s Seedling is a very juicy kitchen apple, and keeps firm
till April, and the tree is not liable to canker. The Green Fulwood
is a good kitchen apple, and keeps till May. The same may be
said of the Hoary Morning, and the tree is a great bearer. The
Cockpit is a useful culinary apple for ■winter; the tree hardy and a
great bearer. The New Cockpit is an excellent apple, remarkably
perfumed. An apple, called the French Crab (but which is of a
considerable size, notwithstanding this name), keeps firm in sub¬
stance till the return of the apple season ; and the subvariety of
this, called Hambledon’s or Deux-ans, is described in Ronald’s
“Pomona” as still superior. Alfriston; Beauty of Kent; Belle
Bonne; Bess Pool; Brabant Bellefleur; Calville Blanche d’Ete;
Calville Blanche d’Hiver; Chalmers Allan Bank Seedling; Cob-
ham ; Keswick Codlin; Manx Codlin; Carlisle Codlin; Dumelow’s
Seedling; Easter Pippin ; Ecclenville Seedling; Flower of Kent;
Gloria Mundi; Glory of England ; Hawthornden ; Hoary Morn¬
ing ; London Pippin ; Melrose; Pope’s Apple ; Royal Russet.
Several kinds of stocks are used for apple-trees. The
Dutch paradise, propagated by layers, has long been
used as a stock for dwarf apple-trees, whether intended
for the wall or for standards. The doucin of the French
seems closely allied to this, if not identical with it. The
bur-knot varieties increased by cuttings, or young cod¬
lin plants pi'ocured from layers, furnish convenient stocks
for trees of a very diminutive habit. For common pur¬
poses, the stocks raised from the pips of crabs or of cider
apples ai’e preferred. Stocks kept one or two years in
nursery-lines are fit for grafting upon ; but if a consider¬
ably tall stem be wished, they must remain three or four
years in the nursery, and be pruned up, till they attain
five or six feet of height. Any common soil, provided
the subsoil be dry, suits the apple-tree. Shallow planting
should, in all cases, be practised, and young trees should
be carefully staked, to prevent wind-waving.
The fruit, as in the pear-tree, is produced on spurs,
which come out on the branchlets of two or more years’
growth, and continue fertile for a series of years. There
is, therefore, no very material difference in the pruning
and training of the pear and of the apple tree. On
walls, the horizontal mode of training is commonly fol¬
lowed, as best calculated to repress the too vigorous
growth of the tree; but for the Nonpareil, and other
twiggy varieties, perhaps the fan form, or some modi¬
fication of the fan form, is preferable. For standards,
where the soil is rich and the growth rapid, all that is
necessary in pruning is to thin out the branches, and
to prevent their crossing and rubbing against each
other. Where there is little luxuriance, as in the case
of all dwarfs, it is useful to shorten the branches occasion¬
ally, and to remove useless twigs. Dwarfs on paradise
stocks may be treated almost like currant-bushes; that
is, making them open in the centre, or cup-shaped, to
the great advantage both of the size and beauty of the
fruit. The general winter pruning may take place any
time from the beginning of November to the beginning
of March. After the winter pruning, some cultivators
delay the shortening of the young wood of the former
year till the middle or end of April, when the buds have
swollen. Cankered or diseased wood, and all unfruitful
snags or ragged spurs, are then to be neatly cut out.
Where the scars are large, they should be laid over with
some composition calculated to resist the action of the
air and rain.
If the American blight, or woolly aphis (the Eriosoma
Mali of Leach) make its appearance on a tree, the utmost
care should be taken to clean every part of the bark
with a hard brush and some searching wash ; for, should
the insect be left unmolested, it will speedily spread over
all the apple-trees in the neighbourhood. Mr Waterton,
in his Essays on Natural History, recommends a simple
remedy, which he found effectual, viz., mix clay with
water till it be of a consistency to be applied like thick Fruit
paint to the injured parts, either with a trowel or a Gartkri
brush ; a second coat upon the first fills up every crack
which may shew itself when the first coat becomes dry ;
the clay resists for a sufficient length of time the effects
both of sun and rain, and before it gradually falls off,
every insect is completely smothered. Painting the trees
during winter with vegetable spirits of tar is also an
effectual remedy.
For the Storing of Pears and Apples, there should be
attached to every considerable garden a commodious fruit-
room, well ventilated, and fitted up with a variety of
shelves, drawers, &c. A northern aspect is the most
suitable; and it is also desirable that there should be a dry,
cool cellar under it, to beemployed in retarding the matu¬
ration and decay of some of the more fugitive varieties. All
the fruit intended for keeping should be plucked with the
hand, and when it is perfectly dry. For the finer dessert
fruits the shelves should be made of hard wood, not of fir,
and the fruit should be laid upon cartridge or writing
paper, to prevent its imbibing any taint from the wood.
The kitchen fruit may be kept in layers two or three deep,
but not in heaps, and should be occasionally examined
when decaying fruit is to be removed. The siveating of
apples and pears, formerly much practised, is now aban¬
doned, as being attended with no useful effects. Dark¬
ness, and a low uniform temperature are essential condi¬
tions. To ensure the latter, the walls should be built
hollow, and lined internally with boarding kept an inch
or two from the walls. The roof must also be rendered
impervious to sun, heat, and frost.
THE QUINCE.
The Quince (Cydonia vulgaris), allied to the apple, is
a native of the south of Germany. It is but little culti¬
vated in Britain. The fruit, which is austere when raw,
is well calculated for giving flavour and poignancy to
stewed or baked apples. The two principal sorts are the
Portugal Quince and the Pear Quince, of which the latter
is the most productive, while it serves the usual culinary
purposes equally well as the other. Quinces may be pro¬
pagated by layers, or by cuttings, or by grafting. Two
or three trees planted in the slip or orchard are in general
sufficient. In Scotland, the fruit seldom approaches ma¬
turity, unless favoured by a wall.
THE MEDLAR.
The Medlar (Mespilus germanicd) is a native of the
south of Europe, but has been naturalized in some parts
of the south of England. The varieties worth notice are
the Dutch Medlar, with broad leaves; and the Notting¬
ham Medlar, with narrow leaves; of these the latter is
considered the best. The fruit is gathered in November,
and kept till it begins to decay, when it is served up in
the dessert, and highly relished by some. The treatment
recommended for the Quince may be applied to the
Medlar.
THE SERVICE-TREE.
The Service-Tree (Pyrus domestica) is a native of the
mountainous parts of Cornwall, and though not much
cultivated, may be here noticed. The fruit has a pecu¬
liar acid flavour, and is used only when thoroughly mel¬
lowed by keeping. There is a pear-shaped, and also an
apple-shaped variety, both of which may be propagated
by layers, and still better by grafting on seedling plants
of their own kind. Two or three trees may have a place
in the orchard, or perhaps in a sheltered corner of the
lawn. The tree is seldom productive till it has arrived at
a goodly age. The fruit is brought to Covent Garden
i
II 0 R T I C
Fruit Market in winter; but it is never seen at Edinburgh.
Garden. , Near Paris, the tree is a good deal cultivated under the
name of cornier; and there are several varieties of the
Service grown in the north of Italy.
THE MULBERRY.
The Mulberry (Moms nigra) is a native of Persia, and
in this country requires a warm sheltered situation. The
fruit is in request for the dessert during the months of
August and September, having a rich aromatic flavour,
and a fine subacid juice. Where it is abundant, wine is
made from it. In Devonshire, a little of the juice added
to full-bodied cider, produces a delicious beverage, called
Mulberry Cider, which retains its flavour for many months.
The Mulberry is propagated by cuttings or by layers, and
also by branches of an inch or more in diameter. Mul¬
berry standard trees succeed only in the southern counties.
These require no other training than an occasional thin¬
ning out of the branches. They are generally planted on
grassy lawns, so that when ripe fruit falls from the higher
branches, it can be gathered up without having sustained
injury. In the middle districts, espalier-rails may be
employed. In colder situations, the mulberry must be
treated as a wall-tree; and it has been recommended that
the bearing shoots should be trained perpendicularly
downwards. The Mulberry as a fruit is little known in
Scotland; but a few aged trees exist in old gardens, and
in favourable seasons afford berries.
THE HAZEL-NUT.
The Hazel (Corylus Avellana), one of our indigenous
edible nuts, is the original parent of the red and white
Filbert, Cobnut, Cosford-nut, Frizzled, Spanish, and
other improved varieties. These succeed best on a rich
dry loam, carefully worked, and receiving from time to
time a slight manuring. They are generally planted in
the slip, but thrive best in an open quarter by themselves.
The varieties are propagated by layers or by suckers;
but where there are stocks of the common hazel, the
other kinds may be grafted upon them. The Cosford is
generally preferred, being thin-shelled, and having a
kernel of high flavour. If the Filbert or the Cosford be
grafted on small stocks of the Spanish nut, which grows
fast, and does not send out side suckers, dwarfish pro¬
lific trees may be obtained; and by pruning the roots in
autumn, the trees may be kept dwarf.
The neighbourhood of Maidstone in Kent has long
been celebrated for the culture of nuts for the London
market; and as the best Kentish practice is scarcely
known in other parts of Britain, we may enter a little
into detail. The young plants are almost always suckers
from old bushes, and are planted about ten or twelve
feet apart. They are suffered to grow without restraint
for about three years, and are then cut down to within
a few inches of the ground.' They push out five or six
shoots; and these in their second year are shortened
one-third. A hoop is then placed within the branches,
and the shoots are fastened to it at nearly equal dis¬
tances. In the spring of the fourth year, all the laterals
are cut off close by the principal stems, and from these
cut places short shoots proceed, on which fruit is ex¬
pected in the following year. Those which have borne
fruit are removed by the knife, and an annual supply
of young shoots is thus obtained. The leading shoots
are always shortened about two-thirds, and every bear¬
ing twig is deprived of its top. In the early spring-
pruning, attention should be given that a supply of
male blossoms be left, and all suckers should be care¬
fully eradicated. These Kentish nut-plantations some-
U L T U R E. 71-
what resemble large quarters of gooseberry-bushes, few Fruit
of the trees exceeding six feet in height. Garden.
THE WALNUT.
The Walnut (t/wg'Zatts regia) is a native of Persia, and
the south of Caucasus; in Britain, therefore, the fruit
seldom comes to complete maturity, except in the warmer
districts. Besides the common walnut, there are several
varieties cultivated, particularly the Large-fruited or
Double Walnut, the Tender-shelled, and the Thetford
or Highflyer, which last is by far the best walnut grown.
The varieties can be propagated with certainty only by
budding ; but the operation is rather nice, and not unfre-
quently fails. Plants raised from the seed seldom become
productive till they are twenty years old. The fruit is
produced at the extremities of the shoots of the preceding
year; and therefore in gathering the crop, care should
be taken not to injure the young wood. In Kent, the
trees are thrashed with rods or poles ; but this is rough;
and far from being a commendable mode of collecting
the nuts.
THE CHESTNUT.
The Chestnut (Castanea vesca,) like the preceding, has
long been an inmate of our woods, in which it grows to
a great size ; but it seldom ripens its fruit in the northern
parts of the island. Several varieties, remarkable for
their productiveness and early bearing, have risen into
notice, particularly Knight’s Pi-olific, the New Prolific,
and the Devonshire. These are propagated by grafting
upon stocks raised from nuts ; and when grafts are taken
from bearing wood, fruit may be produced in a couple of
years. The tree thrives best on a dry subsoil,
SMALL FRUITS.
The Red, White, and Black Currant, the Gooseberry,
the Raspberry, the Strawberry, and Cranberry, are
usually cultivated in our gardens, under the title of
Small Fruits. Their economical uses in cookery, con¬
fectionery, and in the manufacture of home-made wines,
attach to them considerable importance, and render de¬
sirable a separate account of them, however brief.
The Currant. — The Itibes rubrum includes as its
varieties our Red and White Currants. The principal
subvarieties are:—
Dutch Red, Raby Castle, Wilmot’s Large Red, Knight’s Sweet
Red, Knight’s Early Red,Woolly-leaved Dutch, Goodwin’s Red,
Champagne, Dutch White, Wilmot’s New White, Victoria White,
which to us appears to be identical with Speary’s White, and Pearl
White.
Black Currants comprise the Common Black, Black Naples,
and Ogden’s Black Grape.
Red and white currants are readily propagated by
cuttings. They succeed in any sort of common garden
soil; but seem to thrive best in warm moist situations,
where they enjoy an abundance of air. A few plants are
sometimes placed against walls, on which they are trained
perpendicularly. They are best when planted in compart¬
ments by themselves, and trained as dwarf standards or as
bushes, from single stems of about a foot in height, care
being taken to prevent the main branches from crossing
each other. They are sometimes trained with stems three
or four feet high, after the manner of standard Roses.
In winter the young bearing wood on the sides of the
branches is shortened down into spurs from an inch to
two inches in length. The leading shoots are left about
six inches long. Some careful cultivators reduce the
young shoots to about half their length as soon as the
fruit begins to colour, an operation which, in consequence
HORTICULTURE.
718
Fruit of the more free admission of sun, is found to increase
Garden. ^ gjze an(| improve the flavour of the berries.
The black currant thrives best in a moist, deep soil
and shady situation. Its culture is much the same as
that of the the other currants, but the young shoots are
not spurred. _A.11 the pruning necessary is to keep the
branches free of each other, and to promote a succession
of young wood.
The Gooseberry.—Botanists distinguish two species;
Ribes Grossularia, or rough-fruited gooseberry, and R.
Grossularia Uva-crispa, or smooth-fruited gooseberry.
The gooseberry has always been a favourite fruit in
Great Britain, and is said to be produced in the middle
districts of the island in greater perfection than in any
other part of the world. Many very large sorts have
originated in Lancashire, where the culture has been
carried to a high degree of refinement; but it is to be
regretted that weight seems, unreasonably enough, to be
regarded, in the prize competitions in that duchy, as the
sole criterion of excellence. Berries of 30 or even 34
pennyweights are boasted of; but such Goliaths are
almost always inferior in flavour. The following are
some of those sorts recommended in the catalogue of the
London Horticidtural Society:—
Red.—Red Champagne, Ironmonger, Rob Roy, Small Red Globe,
Keen’s Seedling, Lord of the Manor, Leigh’s Rifleman, Red War¬
rington, Wellington’s Glory, Shipley’s Black Prince.
Yellow.—Yellow Ashton, Yellow Champagne, Golden Yellow,
Smiling Beauty, Smooth Yellow, Yellowsmith, Rumbullion, Sulphur.
White.—Bright Venus, White Champagne, Cheshire Lass, White
Crystal, White Damson, Whitesmith, White Honey.
Green.—Green Gascoigne, Pitmaston Green-gage, Langley Green,
Late Green, Green Laurel, Gregory’s Perfection, Green Walnut,
Jolly Tar, Cupper’s Bonny Lass.
In forming his collection, the horticulturist should
especially select a few early and a few late sorts, and by
properly disposing the bushes in various situations in his
garden, he may prolong the fruit season by several weeks.
The same object may be further promoted by defending
the fruit of the late sorts from the attacks of wasps, which
is accomplished by surrounding the bushes with bunting
(the thin stuff of which ship’s flags are often made) ; and
still better with Haythorn’s hexagon netting; and also
by retarding the ripening of the fruit, which is done by
planting the latest sorts against north walls. This last
contrivance answers equally well with currants as with
gooseberries.
The gooseberry-bush affects a loose rich soil, which
readily imbibes, but does not retain, much moisture.
Gooseberries, like currants, may be grown in lines or
compartments. They are propagated by cuttings, and
should be transplanted as early in autumn as the beginning
or middle of October. They are trained with single stems,
from six inches to a foot high ; and all suckers, which are
apt to spring up from the roots, should be carefully
removed. Formerly it was the practice in Scotland to
spur all the annual wood; but now the black-currant
system of pruning is more generally and advantageously
followed. The ground on which the bushes stand should
be slightly forked over once a year, and manure applied,
either as a top dressing or else in a liquid form, since dis¬
turbing the ground so deep as to cover it in the ordinary
manner would be extremely injurious to the roots. No
further culture is requisite than keeping down weeds, and
preventing the extensive ravages of caterpillars. This
last object is best attained by dusting the leaves with
powdered hellebore, syringing them with lime or tobacco
water, and in many cases covering the surface of the
ground with fresh tanner’s bark has been found effica¬
cious. Gooseberry plants are sometimes trained on
walls or espaliers, to accelerate the ripening, or increase Fruit
the size of the fruit. garden
The Raspberry (Rubits Idceus) is, like the preceding
small fruits, a native of Great Britain. The principal
varieties are:—
Red Antwerp, Yellow Antwerp, Barnet, Red Globe, Cornish,
'Williams’ Double Bearing, Belle de Fontenay, Cox’s Honey, Fran¬
conia, Rivers’ large-fruited Monthly, Roger’s Victoria, White Globe,
White Monarch, Folstaff, which last is the most profitable.
Raspberries are propagated from suckers, which are
planted in rows five or six feet apart, and at three feet
from each other in the rows. The fruit is produced on
small branches which proceed from the shoots of the
former year. Every year they throw up a number of
shoots or canes from the root, which bear fruit the sub¬
sequent year, and then decay. In dressing the plants,
immediately after the crop is gathered, all the decayed
stalks are cut away, and of the young canes only
three or four of the strongest are left, which are
shortened about a third. As the stalks are too weak
to stand by themselves, they are sometimes connected
together by the points in the manner of arches, so as to
antagonise and mutually support each other, and some¬
times they are attached to stakes. The best support is
obtained by fastening the points of the shoots to a slight
horizontal rail or bar about four feet high, and placed a
foot and a half on the south side of the rows. By this
means the bearing shoots are deflected from the perpen¬
dicular to the sunny side of the row, and are not shaded
by the annual wood. The ground between the rows
should never be disturbed by digging. Fresh planta¬
tions of raspberries should be made every six or seven
years. The double-bearing varieties, which continue to
bear during autumn, require light soils and warm situa¬
tions. It may be mentioned that the crop of any of the
varieties may be retarded by breaking off the points of
the bearing shoots at an early period in spring; but, like
all other fruits, the flavour of the raspberry is highest when
it is allowed to ripen at its natural season.
The Strawberry (Fragaria) belongs to the same
natural family as the raspberry. Amongst the numerous
kinds cultivated in our gardens, botanists have distin¬
guished several species, but as these distinctions imply
no difference in culture, and as it is difficult to trace them
amid the sportings of the hybrids, we shall not pretend
to enumerate them. Scarcely any plant more readily
slides into seminal varieties, the nomenclature of which
was a mass of confusion, till revised by Mr Thompson.
In the Catalogue of the London Horticultural Society,
no fewer than 112 varieties are enumerated; but the
following are sufficient, and most worthy of cultivation
in any garden :—
Grove End Scarlet is the most proper for preserving, on account
of its fine carmine colour; Cutliil’s Black Prince, for its early-
ripening; Myatt’s Pine; Elton, on account of its late ripening;
British Queen, Deptford Pine, Eleanor, Keen’s Seedling, Ingram’s
Prince of Wales, Princess Alice Maud, Princess Royal, Nicholson’s
Ajax, Trollop’s Victoria, Large Flat Hautbois, White and Red
Alpine, Sir Harry, Myatt’s Mammoth, and Comte de Paris, allied to
the Elton.
The strawberry plant is propagated either from runners
or from seed. When runners are employed, they should
be taken off as soon as their first rootlets are formed—
the sooner the better—and be planted in nursery beds,
in well prepared- soil, and about seven inches apart.
They should be shaded and watered till their roots have
been formed, and the plants excited into growth, so as to
be strong and well developed the same season. They
may be then transplanted either in October or early in
November, or the operation maybe delayed till March.
H 0 R T 1 C
Fruit By this process a good crop of fine fruit will be obtained
Garden. |pe fp-gt season.
The desire of new varieties has encouraged the prac¬
tice of propagating by seed; and Keen, Knevett, Myatt,
and others, have been extremely successful. The late
Mr Knight having observed that the young runners of
the alpine strawberry flower and ripen fruit the first year,
was led to adopt this mode of reproduction, and followed
it with the happiest success. Early in spring he sowed
the seed in flower-pots, which were put into a hotbed ;
and as soon as the plants attained a sufficient size, they
were transplanted into the open ground. They began to
blossom soon after midsummer, and continued to produce
fruit till interrupted by frost. Thus Mr Knight was
inclined to treat the alpine strawberry as an annual plant.
A clayey soil or strong loam is considered as best
suited to strawberry plants. On a sandy or very light
soil they seldom succeed; and in very close situations,
and over rich ground, most varieties produce little else
than leaves. Before planting, the ground should be
manured and trenched, or digged over deeply, and when
stiff and compact it should be very carefully worked.
The market-gardeners in the neighbourhood of London
grow their strawberries in beds, three rows in each, with
an alley between them; while those of Edinburgh plant
them in rows two feet asunder, and from a foot to fifteen
inches in the rows. High cultivators allow three feet
between the rows, and two feet between each plant in the
line. When the weather is dry, the young plants are
watered till they are well established. In May the runners
are cut off, with the view of promoting the swelling of the
fruit. During dry weather careful cultivators water their
plants after the fruit is set, and occasionally till it begins
to colour. The old practice, from which the fruit derives
its name, of laying straw between the rows to prevent
the soiling of the fruit, has been recently revived; and
where there are dressed lawns, the short cut grass may
be employed for the same purpose. As soon as the fruit
season is over, the runners are again removed; the straw
or grass is taken away, and the ground hoed and raked.
In October the runners, but not the leaves, are cut away,
and the surface of the earth is stirred with a three-pronged
fork, great care being taken not to injure the roots.
Strawberries may be raised from the same ground for an
indefinite space of time; but the plants should be renewed
every second or third year. They are, however, never
so good after the third year, unless the soil is a stiff and
rich clay. In the garden they are generally put in a
quarter by themselves, and it should be one fully exposed
to the sun and air. The alpine and wood varieties may
be placed in situations rather moist and shady, or in rows
behind walls and hedges, in which situations they succeed
perfectly well, and produce fruit late in the season.
The culture of strawberries is the most lucrative part
of the employment of the market-gardener, at least near
large towns. It is not uncommon for him to realize a
clear profit of £25 or £35, or even more, per imperial
acre of strawberry ground. The greater the diligence
and assiduity of the cultivator, the greater will be his
returns. It is a common and just remark, that too little
labour is in general expended upon the strawberry, and
by the ignorant and unskilful gardener least of all.
Strawberries are extensively forced. Keen’s Seedling,
British Queen, and Cuthil’s Black Prince, are the best.
Some cultivators have their plants in a state of prepara¬
tion for nearly a year before fruit is expected. Others
provide new plants for forcing every year. But the
same plants may be forced for several successive years,
provided they are shifted in August, and, at the time of
re-potting, the black torpid roots are cut off, leaving
U L T U K E. 719
only those of a paler colour, and those which are connected Forcing
with the new shoots or offsets. Entirely new plants are,
however, the best. They should be potted as early in
summer as it is possible to procure rooted plants, and
encouraged in growth till autumn, by shading till rooted,
watering, &c. By the beginning of November they
should be placed under the cover of glass pits or frames,
to protect them from too much damp, but not to induce
them to prolong their growth. By the 1st of January
they should be plunged into a mild bottom heat, admitting
abundance of air, in order to excite the roots into activity
before the tops. When this is effected they are to be
placed in a mild temperature in a pit, or on suspended
shelves near the roof of a forcing-house close to the
glass. After the fruit is set, additional heat may be
applied, and during their growth they should be abun¬
dantly supplied with water.
THE CRANBERRY.
The American Cranberry grows freely, and produces
fruit readily in any damp situation; but where there is a
pond, it may be cultivated with the greatest success, if
planted around its edges in a bed prepared for the purpose.
A layer of small stones is deposited in the bottom, and over
these, peat or bog earth, mixed wdth sand, to the extent of
about three or four inches above, and half a foot below
the usual surface of the water. Plants of the American
cranberry placed on this bed, soon cover the whole sur¬
face with a dense matting of trailing shoots. There is
a variety which is very shy in yielding its fruit, and
this should, of course, be avoided. If the prolific variety
be employed, from a bed thirty or forty feet in length,
by five or six in breadth, a quantity of berries may be
procured sufficient for the supply of a family throughout
the year. The fruit is easily px-eserved in bottles.
The native Cranberry (Oxijcoccus palustris) may he treated in
the same manner, and in some places is very successfully cultivated.
At Culzean Castle in Ayrshire, the cranberry ground was sur¬
rounded by a ditch, the water of which was made to filter through
among stones and stakes to the interior, so as to keep the cran¬
berry plants constantly supplied with moisture. In the same
garden a second compartment was dedicated to small fruits ot this
class, having in the centre a rock-work planted with whortleberries
(Vaccinium Vitis Idcea), and around the rock-work beds ot American
Cranberry, of Scottish Cranberry, and of Crowberry (Empetrum
nigrum), also native.
The following plants produce fruit, some of them abundantly in
a wild state, others sparingly in our gardens ; but they can scarcely
be said to come within the province of Horticulture: Herberts dulcis,
and other species of Barberry; Sambucus nigra, the Elder ; Prunus
spinosa, the Sloe; P. insititia, the Bullace; and Bubus Chamce-
morus, the Cloudberry, with various species of Vaccinium and Gaul-
theria Shallon,
THE FORCING GARDEN.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
The term forcing is strictly applicable only to those
artificial processes by which vegetation is in a consider¬
able degree accelerated; but in common language it has
been applied to all those operations in which glazed
frames or houses are concerned, though they may be
employed merely in aiding the common progress of nature,
or in counteracting the great vicissitudes of our climate.
For the sake of convenience, we shall adopt the term in
its broadest acceptation. After some preliminary obser¬
vations, we shall first treat of the structures, and then of
the fruits and vegetables which are cultivated in them.
The principal object of hothouses, and other structures
of a similar nature, is to produce an artjficial tempera¬
ture and humidity of the atmosphere, which shall resemble,
HORTICULTURE.
720
Forcing as nearly as possible, the climate in which the fruits or
Garden, plants naturally flourish. Acommandof heat is obviously
a primary requisite. A regulated admission of air, and
the presence of a certain degree of moisture, are, in the
next place, necessary.' Lastly, without the free access of
light, plants become blanched, or are destroyed by the
moisture which they generate. These, then, are the con¬
ditions which limit the form of hothouses; when these
are attained, any form may be adopted which invention
can devise, or wealth execute; but every true lover of
the art will aim at simplicity, and will deprecate useless
expenditure, so often exhibited in this department, as
injurious to the character as well as to the progress of
horticulture.
Artificial Heat.—Forcing-houses are heated in various
ways ; by means of flues conveying smoke and heated air;
by pipes conducting steam or hot water; by so construct¬
ing the glazed house as to increase the calorific action of
the sun’s rays; and sometimes by the heat generated in
the course of the fermentation of vegetable substances.
Smoke flues have been long in use; but they are now very
properly almost universally superseded by hot-water pipes.
The latter have many advantages over the former. They
are far more durable, they occupy much less space, they
can be placed in situations where flues can not, they give
out a more steady and uniform heat, and can seldom be
overheated, they require no repairs or cleaning, and are
more elegant in appearance. Flues, on the other hand, are
liable to bursting, from the explosions which may arise
by the ignition of inflammable gases. Noxious gases
cannot be prevented from entering the structure, be the
flue ever so well built, and when we consider that these
gases consist of sulphurated, phosphorated, and carbu-
retted hydrogen, besides various comparts of nitrogen and
carbon, all of which are exceedingly injurious to animal
and vegetable life, we need not wonder at the preference
given to the one mode of heating over the other. The
difference of expense in erection is somewhat more for
hot-water pipes than for flues, but they, on the other
hand, are the cheapest in the end.
The bricks employed in building flues have, from their
soft nature, the property of very strongly absorbing from
the air of the house the moisture necessary for the health
of plants. Hot-water pipes, on the other hand, being
unabsorbent, produce no such effect.
The Furnace.—Very much of the success of all modes
of heating depends not only on the construction of the
furnace, but also on the working of it afterwards. The
most perfect furnace is that which gives the greatest
amount of heat from the smallest amount of fuel, and
which is capable of being applied to the purposes for
which it is intended in the most convenient and most
effective manner. Although this has been the study of
engineers for above a century, truth compels us to admit
that no perfect furnace has hitherto been constructed.
The construction of furnaces, whether for smoke-flues
or hot-water boilers, is in principle nearly the same.
Hood, an engineer of eminence, and author of the best
practical work on heating, observes of furnaces, that “ the
heat, should be confined within the furnace as much as
possible, by contracting the farther end of it, at the part
called the throat, so as to allow only a small space for
the smoke and inflamed gases to pass out. The only
entrance for the air should be through the bars of the
grate, and the heated gaseous matter will then pass
directly upwards to the bottom of the boiler, which will
act as a reverberatory, and cause a more perfect com¬
bustion of the fuel than would otherwise take place. The
lightness of the heated gaseous matter causes it to ascend
the flue, forcing its passage through the throat of the
furnace, with a velocity proportioned to the smallness of Forcing
the passage, the vertical height of the chimney, and the Garden-
levity of the gases arising from their expansion by the
heat of the furnace.” Tredgold assumed that a furnace
for burning a bushel of coals per hour should have a fire
grate not less than eight, nor more than sixteen square
feet, and the surface of the boiler should be four times
the area of the grate, with 32 feet of side flues. This we
believe to be considerably more than necessary. Hood,
on the other hand, says, in the work already quoted 
“ Supposing the ordinary kind of furnace bars afford
about 30 inches of opening for the air in each square
foot of surface measured as the bars are placed in the
furnace, and allowing half-inch openings between the
bars, where the bars themselves are about H inches wide,
then the relative proportions between the area of the
bars and the length of the pipe should be as follows:—
75 square inches of area of bars will supply 150 feet in
length of a 4-inch pipe, 200 feet of a 3-inch pipe,
and 300 feet of a 2-inch pipe ; 100 square inches of area
of bars.will supply 200 feet of a 4-inch pipe, 266 of a 3-
inch pipe, and 400 feet of a 2-inch pipe; 150 square
inches of area of bars will supply 300 feet of 4-inch pipe,
400 feet of a 3-inch pipe, and 600 feet of a 2-inch pipe,
and so on in proportion.
All the air necessary for causing combustion of the
fuel should be made to enter from below, that is, through
the ash-pit, and not through the door or sides of the fur¬
nace, as by so doing it becomes heated to between 900°
and 1000° before it comes in contact with the fuel. To
produce this effect it is necessary to have double furnace
doors and ash-pit registers, the first suggested by Dr.
Black, and the latter by Count Rumford. By such
arrangements only can the gardener have control over
his furnace, for by shutting up the ash-pit and furnace
door closely combustion is lessened, and the fire may be
kept almost in a state of suspension for many hours
together; while, on opening either the door or ash-pit
register, air is admitted and combustion goes on.
Smoke-consuming Furnaces.—The attention of modern
inventors has of late years been very properly directed
to the consumption of smoke. That of Witty, or rather
of Chanter, was amongst the first, and has been found to
work well for garden purposes. The very best constructed
furnace will not work satisfactorily, unless proper atten¬
tion is paid to it by the fireman. A vertical section of
Fig. 15.
Witty’s furnace is given in fig. 15. The fuel is supplied
by the door at a, and is pressed down the inclined plane
towards the grate, c, by a screw placed at the head of it
(but this method has given way to the use of the common
tools used for feeding furnaces); b is the door for regu¬
lating the fuel on the grate c. In its progress the whole
surface of the coal along the inclined plane is constantly
kept in a state of inflammation, the flame having naturally
a tendency to burn upwards. In this way the greater
part of the fresh coal is carbonized, that is, the gas is
separated from it and inflamed, leaving only coke. The
strong combustion of the coke at the grate produces heat
m
H 0 R T I C
Forcing
Garden.
enough to carbonize the coal, and air enough to inflame
the gas. This furnace, therefore, not onl)r consumes most
of the smoke, but effects a considerable saving of fuel.
The principal smoke-consuming furnaces adapted to
garden purposes are, Williams’ improved or argand fur¬
nace, that of Mr Wye Williams of Liverpool, and Mr
Joseph Williams of the same city. Experiments made as
to the action of the latter have shewn that in the front
flue of a furnace of common construction the thermometer
seldom rose above 1100°, and often fell below 900°, the
mean being 975° ; while in the same furnace, while con¬
suming its smoke upon Mr Williams’ principle, the mean
temperature was 1160°, ranging between 1400° and
1000°.
The consumption of smoke not only economises fuel to
a very considerable extent, but also prevents surrounding
buildings, &c., being discoloured by the escape of uncon¬
sumed carbon.
Steam as a heating medium has been so completely super¬
seded by hot water for all horticultural purposes, unless it
may be in cases where the waste steam of manufactories,
&c., may be turned to account in some adjoining garden,
that our observations on it here will be brief. The first
expense of a steam apparatus, its expense of maintenance,
and liability to get out of order, are some of the principal
objections to its use. It is also less uniform and certain
in its operation. This is explained by the high authority
of Hood, who says, “ The Aveight of steam at the tem¬
perature of 212°, compared with the weight of water at
212°, is about as one to 1694 ; so that a pipe which is
filled with Avater at 212°, contains 1694 times as much
matter as one of equal size filled with steam. If the source
of heat be withdrawn from the steam-pipes, the tempera¬
ture Avill soon fall beloAv 212°, and the steam immediately
in contact Avith the pipes will condense ; but in condens¬
ing the steam parts with its latent heat, and this heat
passing from the latent to the sensible state, will again
raise the temperature of the pipes. But as soon as they
are a second time cooled doAvn beloAv 212°, a further
portion of steam will condense, and a further quantity of
latent heat Avill pass into the state of heat of temperature;
and so on until the Avhole quantity of latent heat has been
abstracted, and the Avhole of the steam condensed, in Avhich
state it will possess just as much heating power as a
similar bulk of Avater at the like temperature, that is, the
same as a quantity of Avater occupying 1-1694, the part
of the space which the steam originally did.” It has also
been proved that a given bulk of steam Avill lose as much
of its heat in one minute as the same bulk of Avater would
in three hours and three quarters.
Hot Water.—Heating by causing hot Avater to circulate
in iron pipes or vessels was brought into notice in 1827,
and may be said to have now superseded all other modes
of heating whatever, which is a sufficient proof of its
superiority. For several years after its invention the
true cause of the circulation of the Avater in the pipes
was misunderstood ; nor Avas it till the publication of Mr
Hood’s “ Treatise on Heating, &c.,” that this Avas ex¬
plained. The erroneous opinion of Mr Tredgold, which
has found its way into many standard works, requires to
be noticed. This can, however, best be done by quoting
Mr Hood’s own words—“Let us suppose heat to be applied
to the boiler A (fig. 16); a dilatation of the volume of the
water takes place, and it becomes lighter—the heated
particles rising upAvards through the colder ones, that
sink to the bottom by their greater specific gravity ; and
these in their turn become heated and expanded like the
others. This intestine motion continues until all the
particles become equally heated, and have received as
much heat as the fuel can impart to them. But as soon
VOL. XI.
U L T U R E.
721
as the Avater in the boiler begins to acquire heat, and to Forcing
become lighter than that which is in the opposite vessel i^, Garden,
the Avater in the loAver horizontal pipe d is pressed by a
greaterweight atzthan aty, and it therefore moves tOAvards
awith avelocity and force equal to the difference in pressure
at the two points y and z. The water in the upper part
of the vessel b Avould hoav assume a lower level, Avere it
not that the pipe c furnishes a fresh supply of water from
the boiler, to replenish the deficiency. By means of this
unequal pressure on the lower pipe, the Avater is made to
circulate through the apparatus, and it continues to do
so, so long as the water in B is colder, and therefore
heavier than that which is in the boiler; and as the Avater
in the pipes is constantly parting with its heat, both by
radiation and conduction, while that in the boiler is as
continually receiving additional heat from the fire, an
equality of temperature never can occur; or else, if it
did, the circulation Avould cease. We see then that the
cause of circulation is the unequal pressure on the lower
pipe of the apparatus, and that it is not the result of any
alteration Avhich takes place in the level of the Avater,”
as erroneously stated by Tredgold, Atkinson, and others.
Fig. 16 referred to in the preceding quotation, repre¬
senting the common tank boiler, surrounded by a flue,
Avith a cistern at the extremity of the pipes, exhibits the
form in Avhich the apparatus was first erected ; but as in
this arrangement the process of heating was very slow,
many changes have been made; the cistern has gene¬
rally been abandoned, and boilers of various configu¬
rations have been adopted. Fig. 17 is a longitudinal
Kg. 18.
section, and Fig. 18 is a trapsyerse section of a fluid
tank boiler, in which the surface exposed to the heat
being increased, the effect required is accelerated, and at
the same time a considerable saving of fuel is effected.
4 Y
II 0 K T I C U L T U 11 E.
722
Forcing The conical boiler, invented by Mr Rogers, of Seven
Garden. Oaks, Kent, is formed of two truncated concentric cones,
with a space of two or three inches between them for
the water, the furnace being in the inner cone, and the
fuel supplied from the top.
Mr Rogers’ boiler was originally surrounded with
brick-work, but several modifications and improvements
of it have been introduced: in some cases it has been
fitted up in a sheet-iron case, like Arnott s stove. In
Fig. 19, the boiler is placed in a cast-iron stand, with
Kg. 19.
ground circular furnace, and register ash-pit doors,—a
being the furnace, b the boiler, c flow and returning
pipes, d the furnace door, e smoke-pipe to the vent, /
ash-pit, g grating, h hole for cleaning the furnace. The
best kinds of fuel for this furnace are coke, gas-cinders,
and anthracite; but common coal which does not cake
very much has been found to be well adapted for the
purpose, as it is soon formed into coke.
The following is the rationale of the process of the
heating of this boiler, as given by Mr Rogers in the
Gardener's Magazine:—
“ As fuel cannot be consumed without air, if a furnace be
constructed of considerable depth, and filled with fuel, and air
be admitted only at the bottom, that fuel alone is consumed
which lies immediately on the bars, and first receives the
draught of air. The fuel above, provided it transmits the air,
becomes red-hot, or nearly so, but does not consume until
that below it is destroyed. In this manner, one of these
conical furnaces being lighted and filled with fuel, that portion
in the upper part of the furnace which cannot burn absorbs
the heat of the burning fuel below, and radiates or transmits
it to the water on every side. So perfect is this absorption of
heat,_ that for several hours after the furnace has been filled
up with cinders, though there may be a fierce fire below, little
or no heat escapes by the chimney—the whole being taken up
by the surrounding water. The economy, therefore, of fuel in
such an apparatus is very great. It is evident that excess of
draught must be carefully guarded against, so much only being
allowed as will consume the fuel steadily, but this is easily
learned by experience. The necessity, also, of keeping the
aperture in front close, so that air enters the furnace only
through the ash-pit, is hence evident. The water (as may be
observed from the above figure) is in close and immediate
contact with the red-hot fuel on all sides, no black smoking
coals intervening, as in most kinds of boilers; hence the great
power in proportion to size.”
_ The economy of fuel in these boilers is not their prin¬
cipal advantage; their great recommendation is a long-
continued and steady heat. When properly managed,
they may be depended on for preserving the heat for
from fifteen to twenty hours. They have been success¬
fully applied to all descriptions of hothouses, but for pits
they are eminently useful from the small space they
occupy; and when fired with coke, gas-cinders, or an¬
thracite, they give off very little smoke.
The number and variety of forms recommended for
boilers are now very great, although many of them, it
will be admitted, are of no practical utility. The simpler
the form and least complicated the whole apparatus the
better, at the same time, those forms are the best that
present the greatest surface to the action of the fire,
such as Bailey’s (fig. 20); and Cottam and Hallen’s (fig.
PL
Kg. 20.
21) boilers, which of themselves form the dome (fig. 22)
or roof of the fire-place, having the fire burning below
Kg. 21.
them and round their sides, are valuable in that respect.
Burbridge and Healey’s fluted boiler presents a larger
Kg. 22.
surface to the flame than a plain surfaced one of the
same dimensions; and Weeks and Co.’s tubular boiler
possesses this merit in an eminent degree.
Boilers constructed so that several hothouses may be
heated by one fire, deserve attention, as they are more
conveniently wrought, and are less expensive than having
stop-cocks or valves placed upon the pipes at various
distances from the boiler. In practice we have found
Kg. 23.
Waldron’s boiler (fig. 23) to work well. As will be seen
by the diagram, the hot water from the boiler rises in a
vertical pipe, and flows into an iron box fixed on its top,
from which issue as many pipes as there are houses or pits
to heat, allowing one pipe for each. Each of these pipes is
furnished with a stop-cock, by which the water is turned
off or on as may be desired. The return pipes are all
connected with a similar box fitted to the end or side
Forcing
Garden.
Forcing
Garden.
HORTICULTURE.
of the boiler, and from it through a single pipe the cold
water enters the boiler near its bottom.
Connected with this distribution of heated water is
Critchley’s patent heat-regulator, figs. 24, 25. It is placed
a little on one side of the boiler, and to prevent the loss
of heat by radiation should be enclosed Avithin double
walls of brickwork.
It is unnecessary to describe all the numerous modi-
723
Forcing
Garden.
Kg. 1.—Exterior of Apparatus.
A. —Iron Box, fitted up water tight.
B. —Pipe for supply of water from Boiler.
C. D.—Pipes for circulating hot water.
E-1’.—Pipes for return of water to Iron Box.
Gv—Pipe for returning water to Boiler.
H. -Air Pipe to prevent explosion.
I. J. K. L. M. N.—Piston Rods for opening and closing Valves.
O.—Brass Plate, covering Stuffing Boxes, and for marking the
regulation of Valves.
Kg. 25.
Kg, 2.—Section or Interior of Apparatus.
A. —Valve when closed.
B. —Valve half opened.
C. C.—Stuffing Boxes, through which Piston Rods work to close
or open the Valves.
fications of this apparatus; but it may be proper to direct
the attention of the reader to the close boiler represented
in fig. 26, in which is shewn how the circulation may
be conducted over a door or other obstacle. In this
case the upper pipe must not ascend and descend twice:
air-tubes ought also to be placed in the boiler, and on
the highest part of the pipes ; and the whole must be
made considerably stronger than on common occasions,
to resist the pressure.
To cause heated water to descend below the level of
the boiler, by carrying it under a passage (which should
be avoided if possible), it is necessary to raise the water,
as it is heated, to as great a height above the boiler as it
is intended to carry it below it. This depression must
take place once only
In the early stages of this mode of heating, flat pipes
were used for the flow or upper range of pipes, from a
mistaken idea that they presented a greater radiating
surface than round ones of the same calibre. These are
now abandoned, and both flow and return pipes are
made cylindrical. The number of pipes must be regu¬
lated by the extent to be heated, and the degree of tem¬
perature required. Hence it is often w-ell to have three
or even four upper or flow pipes, and only one under
or. return pipe. As to size, 4-inch pipes are almost
universally employed.
As to position, they should be placed near the front
or lowest part of the house, and should, to prevent loss
of heat by conduction, be supported clear of the ground,
upon cast-iron chairs, so as to clear them of the borders
not less than six inches.
An ingenious mode of heating has been shown by Mr.
Fowler in his tract on the Thermosyphon, as he calls it,
by which he has shown how walls, as well as glass¬
houses, may be heated. He says, “ Any one may prove
that hot water will circulate in a syphon, by taking a
piece of lead pipe, say of half an inch bore, and four or
five feet long, bending it like a syphon, but one leg a
good deal more bent than the other, in order to give the
descending water time and space for giving out its heat;
and then, filling this tube with water, and placing one
hand on each end to retain it full, immerse the extre¬
mities in a pot of water over a fire, as repre¬
sented in the annexed fig. 27. Supposing
the water of a uniform temperature in both
legs of the syphon, no circulation vvould take
place ; but supposing it to cool sooner in
the long leg a than in the short leg 5, then
the equilibrium would be destroyed, and the
water in the long leg a would descend, and
draw up water through the short leg 5; and
this circulation would continue as long as
the water c was maintained at a temperature
above that of the surrounding atmosphere.”
Mr Kewley’s adaptation of the syphon is one of the
Fig. 28.
simplest and most efficient that has been proposed. In
724
HORTICULTURE.
Forcing fig. 28, a, c, e, are the two legs of a syphon, through
Garden- the Upper 0f which the heated water ascends, and by
the lower descends. Immediately over the descending
bend, a pipe connected with an air-pump is inserted,
in order to fill the pipes, or remove the air which col¬
lects in the superior limb. Instead of the air-pump,
a funnel with air-tight valves is sometimes employed.
Hot water may be beneficially applied to garden-walls,
whether they are covered with glass or not. To this
end the walls must be built hollow, and the pipes placed
near the bottom of the cavity, and supported on cast-iron
chairs placed on the top of the foundation course of
material. This method was first exemplified by Mr
Atkinson in the gardens of the Duke of Bedford at Wol-
burn Abbey in 1828. The most extensive application
of the principle is to be found in the gardens of the Duke
of Buccleuch at Dalkeith House, where the whole of the
principal brick walls are heated in this manner.
Mr Perkins has constructed an apparatus of small
tubes hermetically sealed, in which water circulates, of
a temperature varying from 300° to 400° Fahrenheit.
The contrivance is very ingenious, and has been pretty
extensively employed in London and Edinburgh, in
heating public offices and warerooms. It is not, how¬
ever, adapted to horticultural purposes. For further
information we may refer to MTntosh’s Book of the
Garden, in which above 250 illustrations of various
methods of heating are given; and for the principles of
heating, to “Hood’s Treatise on Heating and Venti¬
lation,” new edition, “ Tomlinson on Warming, &c.”
“ Bernan’s History of the Art of Warming and Venti¬
lating, &c.”
Mr Corbett introduced what has been called the gutter
mode of heating. From a common boiler proceeds an
upright tube, and this tube leads to a continued series of
open gutters. Heat being applied to the boiler, the
water rises in the tube and flows forward in the gutters,
giving out moisture in proportion to the degree of heat.
As the water cools or becomes more dense, it gradually
falls back to the bottom of the boiler, through a connect¬
ing pipe.
Mr Rendle, of Plymouth, has also introduced a mode
of heating, in which he employs tanks instead of pipes,
or gutters, for both surface and bottom heat. These
tanks are formed of wood, brick, stone, or cast-iron.
When formed of wood, they require to be made of good
sound plank, not less than two inches thick, properly
jointed, and are usually covered with slates. If they
are formed of stone or brick, the insides require a thick
coating of Roman cement, and for covers, stone, slate,
or brick pavement is employed. The cast-iron tanks
have covers of the same materials.
When only one tank is fitted up in a house or pit, a
division is made along the centre, leaving an opening at
the end farthest from the boiler, for the water to flow
through, the hot water or flow pipe from the boiler being
fixed to the end of the tank, on one side of the division,
and the cold water, or return pipe to the boiler, being
fixed to the end on the opposite side of the division.
When two tanks are used, they are joined to the flow
and return pipes respectively, and united at the extreme
ends. In pits, the tanks may be carried round the sides
and ends of the pit, with a division between the flow and
return pipes.
The principal advantage of the application of this
mode of heating consists in the production of bottom
heat. Proper provision ought, however, to be made for
preventing no more of the steam or vapour rising from
the hot water (into the house) than is requisite ; for. if
this precaution be not adopted, there will be too much
damp in the winter season for the proper growth or pre¬
servation of the plants.
The rays of the sun, especially by being reflected from
walls and other surfaces, become a source of artificial heat.
This species of heat, however, is materially affected by the
admission of the air necessary to the growth and healthy
state of the plants. Solar heat, if properly regulated by
ventilation, is of immense importance in the ripening of
many of our finer fruits. In the orchard houses recently
brought into notice by Mr Rivers, fruits are ripened by
the influence of solar heat alone. The idea is, however,
by no means new. We have known many glass houses
in which peaches and grapes have ripened in the greatest
perfection, without any other heat than that from the
sun. Mr Rivers’ orchard houses are by far too small,
and of too temporary a character. They should be per¬
manent structures, covering a considerable space, and, at
the same time, must be kept low. The management of the
temperature consists solely in the proper regulation of the
ventilators, securing as much solar heat during the day as
possible, ventilating early in the morning, and shutting
up early in the afternoon.
The use of vegetable substances in the production of
heat, is rapidly disappearing from our best gardens
before the application of hot water, which is far more
economical and certain in its effects.
In the management of artificial heat, a considerable
degree of caution is required. All the operations of
nature are gradual; and in forcing, it is well to follow
these as the safest examples. The judicious gardener
will therefore apply his heat very gradually at first; he
will increase it by degrees for several weeks, and, in
particular, he will guard against any sudden decrease of
warmth, as nothing is more necessary to success than
that the course of vegetation be continued uninterruptedly
through foliation, inflorescence, and fructification. He
will cause the temperature to increase ly day and decrease
by night, to rise in summer and fall in winter. He will, in
short, imitate, as much as possible, the natural and
varying influence of the sun.
It is scarcely necessary to say that a Fahrenheit ther¬
mometer is an indispensable instrument to the gardener,
not only in the forcing-house, but in every department.
Six’s Registering Thermometer is very convenient for
pointing out the extreme temperatures during night or
day. Besides the thermometer the hygrometer is equally
necessary in all hot-houses. Its use is to ascertain the
degrees of humidity by measuring the quantity of elastic
vapour in the atmosphere. The hygrometers of Daniell,
Mason, Leslie, and Simmons are the best. It is justly
remarked by Dr Lindley, in his Theory of Horiicul-
ture, that “ skilful balancing of temperature and mois¬
ture in the air, and a just adaptation of them to the
various seasons of growth, constitute the most compli¬
cated and difficult part of a gardener’s art. An excess
of dampness is indispensable to plants in a state of rapid
growth, partly because it prevents the action of perspira¬
tion from becoming too violent, and partly because, under
such circumstances, a considerable quantity of aqueous
food is absorbed from the atmosphere, in addition to that
obtained by the roots. But it is essential to observe
that, when not in a state of rapid growth, a large amount
of moisture in the air will be prejudicial rather than
advantageous to a plant; and if the temperature is at the
same time high, excitability will remain in a state of con¬
tinued action, and that rest which is necessary will be
withheld, and the result of which will be an eventual
destruction of the vital energies. But on the other hand,
if the temperature is kept low while the amount of atmos¬
pheric moisture is considerable, the latter is absorbed
Forcing
Garden.
HORTICULTURE.
Forcing without its being possible for the plant to decom-
Garden. p0Se it.”
The Admission of Air.—The deteriorating influence
which all living plants are supposed to exert on the
atmosphere, must operate with tenfold force in a glazed
house, where the proportion of air to vegetable substance
is infinitely smaller than under the open sky, and where
the corrective agitations of the wind, and the changes of
temperature, are much less perceptibly felt. The respi¬
ration of plants, and the exhalations of putrescent vege¬
tables, require a constant circulation of the aerial fluid,
and this is maintained by means of moveable ventila¬
tors in the roof and walls of the house.
The best modes of securing a proper amount and equal
distribution of air in hothouses, we may as well add in
dwelling-houses also, has until lately been little under¬
stood. “ All ventilation is founded upon the simple prin¬
ciple that cold air is heavier, and has a tendency to sink
downwards, while hot air is light and rises to the top.
At first sight it may appear that for the purpose of ven¬
tilating any building, it is only necessary that holes
should be made at the bottom of the apartment for the
air to enter, and other holes be placed in the upper part,
for the hot air to escape. Practically, however, ventila¬
tion is far from being so simple an affair.”—{The Book
of the Garden, vol. i. p. 271.) Plants in the open atmos¬
phere are constantly surrounded with air, which is itself
incessantly in motion, and this motion is increased during
the night, the time when they are feeding most especially.
“ The atmosphere,” as Dr. Lindley rightly expresses it,
‘‘is their pasture, and its ever varying density is a
natural phenomenon most intimately connected with the
maintenance of vegetable health. It is a beautiful com¬
pensation for their want of locomotion ; as plants cannot
move to the atmosphere, the atmosphere is ever moving
towards them. It is therefore certain, without inquiring
into the exact philosophy of the matter, that free access
of abundant air must be secured, if the health of plants
in glass houses is to equal that in the open air.”
To secure this important end, it will be necessary to
abandon the means, hitherto almost invariably in use,
namely, by throwing open the sashes, whether at the top
of the house or in front. The sliding down of one sash
over the other, as in the former case, greatly augments
the shade in oblique sunshine, a glimpse of which we
can ill afford to spare in our cloudy atmosphere, and in the
latter case the openings being opposite the tender foliage
are hurtful to it, particularly when the external air is, as it
often is, many degrees below that of the internal.
Fixed roofs should therefore be adopted, and ventila¬
tion effected by bringing in fresh air through the para¬
pets, and so close to the floor that it cannot reach the
plants in a direct manner. The vitiated or exhausted
air should be made to escape through the apex of the
ridge.
Most commonly, air is given only during the day, and
is excluded at night, with—as is too often the case—an
increase of fire-heat. Judicious horticulturists should
always reverse this process, since in all countries chilly
and cold nights usually succeed the hottest days, and
plants require air by night as well as by day.
An injudicious admission of air is often attended with
consequences as bad as its almost total exclusion. Cold,
dry air, admitted into a glass-house in which the air is
moist, and at a much higher temperature, has the effect
of abstracting from the plants and the soil in which they
grow a great part of their moisture, and thus producing
a very injurious effect upon their constitution. The
rapid evaporation too, which takes place by the admission
of cold, dry air, produces a degree of cold upon the leaves,
725
which, although not measurable by instruments, produces Forcing
an effect somewhat analogous to the chill experienced by Garden,
persons sitting in a tvarm room and exposed to the cold
draught from the door or AvindoAV.
To remedy this defect in ventilation, what has been
called of late years aeration, or subterranean ventilation,
has been adopted. This is effected by bringing in sup¬
plies of fresh air through tubes or drains placed several
feet under the surface of the borders, and having one end
opening into the open air, while the other opens through
various parts of the floor or border, and often very pro¬
perly under the hot-water pipes. By this means we
admit fresh air at almost the same temperature as that
of the air, close to the front of the house, and also
charged Avith the moisture which it receives in passing
through the damp pipes or drains.
Air admitted in this manner is often beneficially
allowed to operate during the night as Avell as during the
day. For plants, like animals, cannot long exist without
their necessary supply of that element by night as well
as by day.
The Admission of Light.—In addition to the heat Avith
which natural light is always accompanied, it seems to
possess another property necessary to vegetation, Avhich,
from some cause hitherto unexplained, is partly deranged
by its transmission through glass. This fact, though
strange, is evident from the circumstance that though the
intensity of light is apparently undiminished, plants thrive
better near the glass than at a distance from it. The
distance from the glass at Avhich this phenomenon takes
place has never been determined, although it is an optical
problem, the solution of which Avould be of much impor¬
tance to the garden architect. The amount of solar light
which plants in glass-houses require for the fullest develop¬
ment of their various parts is probably more than even our
best hot-houses transmit. Certainly it is much greater
than is transmitted through the roofs of houses as gene¬
rally constructed. Let us first see the beneficial effects
of light on plants placed under such circumstances, and
then consider how it can be best insured. “It is the
property of solar light, when striking upon the leaf of a
plant, either directly or indirectly to cause—First, a decom¬
position of carbonic acid ; secondly, an extrication of oxy¬
gen ; and thirdly, invisible perspiration. By their vital
forces plants appear to decompose water, independently of
the action of light. Carbonic acid is originally introduced
into the interior of a plant, either dissolved in the Avater
it imbibes by its roots, or by attraction from the atmos¬
phere, or by the combination of oxygen—resulting from
the decomposition of water or from other sources—with
the carbon in its interior. When a leaf is exposed to
the direct influence of the sun, it gives off oxygen by
decomposing the carbonic acid; Avhereupon the carbon
remains behind, in the interior of the leaf, in a solid state.
In the total absence of solar light, there is little or no
extrication of gaseous matter, and what little is gh’en off
Avill be found to be carbonic acid, which plants exhale
at all times in small quantities ; oxygen, however, which
was before expelled, is inhaled. Hence plants decompose
carbonic acid during the day, and acquire it again during
the night, and, during the healthy state of a plant the
decomposition of this gaseous matter by day, and its re¬
covery by night, is perpetually going on. The quantity
of carbonic acid decomposed is in proportion to the
intensity of light which strikes a leaf, the smallest amount
being in shady places; and the healthfulness of a plant
is, cceteris paribus, in proportion to the quantity of car¬
bonic acid decomposed; therefore the healthiness of a
plant should be in proportion to the quantity of light it
receives by day.”—Theory of Horticulture.
726
HORTICULTUEE.
Forcing Can we, therefore, with glass-houses constructed as
-Garden^ they have generally been hitherto, secure light, if not to
itg fullest, at least to its necessary extent? Certainly not.
Nor can we expect it with so large a proportion of their
surfaces rendered perfectly impervious to light, with
dead walls, massive rafters, framed sashes, and inferior
glass, inserted in small fragments with numerous over¬
laps, and either cross-puttied or filled with dust or mus-
coid matter. The calculations made in regard to obscurity
occasioned by the above, irrespective of solid walls,
amounts to 10 feet taken up with laps choked with dirt
out of every 60 superficial feet of glazing, and from 18
to 20 feet of unnecessarily heavy timbering and multi¬
plicity of astragals. Hood, in making his calculations of
thelossofheatbyradiationinglass-houses,arrives at pretty
nearly the same conclusion. He estimates the surface of
wood alone at an eighth of the whole roof, and adds,
that in the generality of horticultural buildings, the wood
work fully amounts to this quantity.
Connected with the admission of light, is the deter¬
mination of the pitch or angle of elevation of the roofs
of glazed houses. It is evidently of advantage that the
rays of light should fall upon glass perpendicularly, as
loss by reflexion is then a minimum, or indeed little or
nothing. The angle necessary to obtain this result is
easily deducible from the sun’s place in the ecliptic.
At the equinoxes, the sun’s meridional height above the
horizon at any point of the earth’s surface is equal to
the complement of the latitude of that place : and hence,
in order that the sun’s rays may be perpendicular at
that period, it is only necessary to make the elevation
of the roof of the hothouse equal to the latitude of the
place. The angle, for any other season, may be ob¬
tained by subtracting from the latitude the declination
of the sun, if at that time to the north of the equator, or
by adding it, if to the south.* These periods are of
course selected in accordance with the time at which the
direct rays are most required. Mr Knight proposed a
general elevation of 34° for the latitude of London, an
angle which corresponds to the 20th of May and 21st
of July. This would afford four months, from the 20th
of April to the 21st of August, during which the angle
of incidence at mid-day would not at any time amount
to 9°, while the deviation at the winter solstice would
be 43°, and the loss of light from reflexion would
be little more than The Rev. Mr Wilkinson recom¬
mended 45°, a pitch extremely suitable for early vineries
and pine-stoves. In this case, the midsummer deviation
would be 19°, and the loss and the midwinter devi¬
ation 30°, while the loss is nearly the same. From these
statements, however, it is manifest that much greater exact¬
ness has been sought in this matter than is at all necessary.
The reduction of the opacity of the roof, arising from
the breadth and depth of rafters and astragals, is of
much greater consequence. Accordingly, the best hot¬
house builders now construct these roofs, whether of
metallic substances or timber, entirely without rafters or
framed sashes, and only use glass of the best quality, and
in panes 12 inches in breadth at least, and from two to
four feet in length.
Hothouses are in general constructed of the best
Baltic pine timber, and unless they are of gigantic
dimensions, this material is found to answer better than
any other. Metallic structures are far more expensive in Forcing
their erection, and are liable to great and sudden changes Garden.
of temperature on account of their being both conductors
of heat and cold, whereas timber is a non-conductor of
both. The relative difference in cost between metallic
and wooden houses, may be taken in ordinary cases as
two to one, and in many cases as three to one.
In order to secure the greatest possible influx of light,
some scientific horticulturists recommend hothouses with
curvilinear roofs. It was remarked by Sir George Stuart
Mackenzie, to whom the anerit of the proposal is pri¬
marily due, that if we could find a form for a glass-roof,
such that the sun’s rays should be perpendicular to some
part of it, not on two days, but during the whole year,
that form would be the best. Such a figure is the
sphere, and he therefore proposes a quarter segment of
a globe, or semidome, the radius of which is about fif¬
teen feet.
This form of hothouse roofs was warmly patronised
by the late Mr Knight, who, however, was of opinion,
that the house proposed by Sir George Mackenzie was
too high, in proportion to its length and breadth, and
therefore recommended a smaller section of a sphere,
with a greater radius. His dimensions are forty feet
long, fourteen wide in the centre, and, including the
front parapet, twelve feet high. The late Mr Loudon,
who, it is believed, was the first that actually erected
hothouses on this principle, proposed several sub-varie¬
ties of form. He describes, in his “ Encyclopaedia of
Gardening,” the accuminated semidome, the accuminated
semiglobe, the semi-ellipse, and the parallelogram with
curved roof and ends.
As far as we are aware, no very satisfactory experi¬
mental investigation of the comparative merits of curvi¬
linear houses has hitherto been made. A writer in the
“ Gardener’s Magazine” (vol. ii.) states, that he found it
necessary, during the summer months, to shade his pine¬
apples growing in such a house, from nine or ten o’clock
in the morning, to three or four in the afternoon, in
order to prevent the plants from assuming a rusty tinge,
and unhealthy appearance. Another practical gardener
complains (vol. v.), that “ the circular roof concentrated
the sun’s rays so immoderately, that the tops of the vines
were actually scorched, even when the doors and ven¬
tilators at the back were all open. This was always the
case in summer: and in winter, it was Avith the greatest
difficulty, and only with the assistance of mats, that they
could keep out frost; the thermometer frequently indi¬
cating only 40° Avhen strong fires Avere burning.” A
considerable portion of the superior lightness of the cur¬
vilinear houses is due to the absence of rafters, and as
these may also be dispensed with in plain roofs, the effect
of these ought to be deducted in making a comparison.
Span, and ridge and furrow roofs are noAv the prevailing
forms. Amongst the advantages of these forms is their
admission of the greatest amount oflightwhich our climate
affords, especially when they are glazed to within a few
inches of the ground. The former should always be
placed with their ends towards the south and north, and
apart from walls and all opaque surfaces. The latter has
the advantage of being carried (without sustaining walls)
to any extent of area, even whole gardens may be thus
covered in—the internal columns of support being neces-
* The following is part of Bougner’s Table of Reflexions.—Of 1000 incident rays, when the
Angle of incidence is 75°
70
65
60
50
299 rays are reflected.
222
157
112
57
Angle of incidence is 40°
30
20
10
1
34 rays are reflected.
27
25
25
25
HORTICULTURE.
727
Forcing sary at the same time for conducting the rain water off that the back wall has to be built. Fig. 30 is an example
the roof to underground drains or reservoirs. Indeed, of this form. The parapet walls all round are supported
it has been proposed to support such roofs to a great
extent upon suspension principles. Any form is better
than that of the lean-to, both for internal arrangement
as well as effect.
Since the repeal of the duty upon glass, small panes
have been disused, and glass not only of much larger
size, but of greater strength and better quality is now
always employed. The advantage of this is the greater
admission of light, an element of all others over which we
have the least control. The greater the surface of glass,
and the less space is occupied by rafters and astragals,
as well as overlaps, the better; for these latter, whether
cross-puttied or not, all tend to the exclusion of light.
The height of such structures has also a good deal to do
with the healthy development of vegetable life, as the rays
of light pass so as to be beneficial to plants only to a
supposed distance beyond the surface of the glass, but
what that distance is, appears not to have been very
accurately determined. This is the more extraordinary,
for while it is universally admitted that the heat of the
sun is the cause of growth, and also that light is the
cause of maturity in the vegetable kingdom, no one has
said whether the beneficial effects of light extend to the
distance of six inches or sixty feet beyond the inner
surface of the glass, or at what intermediate distance it
is most effective.
In closing these preliminary remarks, it is proper to
observe, that although the construction of a forcing-house
is always a matter of considerable importance, it is not
the only, nor even the most important condition necessary
to insure success. Much care in management, skill in
pruning, and knowledge in physiology must be possessed
and applied, in order to obtain abundant and regular
crops of fine fruit.
The more minute details respecting the structure of
glazed houses, we shall notice along with the peculiar
culture required in each; and we shall take them in the
following order:—The Vinery, the Peach-house, the
Cherry-house, the Fig-house, the Pinery, the Orangery,
and the Melonry. The greenhouse and other botanical
structures, will come more appropriately under review in
treating of the Flower Garden.
The Vinery. Structure.—The vinery is susceptible
of great variety of form ; and, indeed, in this respect,
seems more pliable than any other forcing-house. That
form, however, which has been most commonly used,
till of late, is the plane roof with sliding sashes, of
which fig. 29 is offered as an example. Span-roofed
houses are now preferred, as affording a greater surface
for training the vines to, being more elegant in form, and
constructed at a much less expense, that is, presuming
fig. 30.
on a foundation wall piered and linteled over just
under the surface line. The parapets themselves con¬
sist of a base course of ashlar 12 inches thick each way.
The stone piers 18 inches in height, and a foot thick,
are placed 3 feet apart, the spaces between being filled
with glass ventilators, made to open and shut simul¬
taneously. A cope 6 inches in thickness is placed on
the top and upon this the superstructure rests. The sides
and roof are of glass and fixtures, but without rafters or
framed sashes. The top ventilation is secured by the
sides of the lanthorn top being furnished with gun-metal
rollers, and made to slide upon an iron rail. The vines
are planted within, and trained to a trellis under the
roof, sides, and ornamental arched supports, as shewn in
the cut. An ornamental cast-iron grating forms the
passage which runs along the centre of the house. In
the case of span-roofed vineries, double the breadth
may be given, and where hot water is employed instead
of flues, several such houses can be heated by the same
fire. The trellis used for training is generally formed
of wires drawn across the roof, at the distance of a foot
from each other, and 18 inches from the glass, and attached
to iron ribs placed under it. Sometimes the trellis is
placed vertically, but this is more appropriate for the
peach-house than the vinery. This form, exhibited in
Kg. 31.
fig. 31, is called the hanging trellis. It must, however,
be admitted that, according to the experience of some,
this arrangement is inferior to the common trellis, that
is, so far as vines are concerned.
It is of importance that the included soil and front
border of a vinery should be fresh and rich. It should
not exceed 2^ feet in depth, and should be laid over a
vaulted foundation, or one rendered perfectly dry by
drainage, and all borders of forcing-houses should be
elevated in height equal to their depth above the
general ground level. The soil is of far less conse¬
quence than a dry bottom, and the following is as
good as any—“ one-half of good loamy soil with its
turf, one quarter of rich old dung, and one quarter of
brick and lime rubbish ; the turf well rotted, and the
whole well incorporated.” Plants raised from eyes, and
Forcing
Garden.
728 HORTICULTUR E.
Forcing prepai’ed for two years in pots, are preferred for the fur-
Garden. nishing of a vinery ; and when planted inside the house,
there should not be fewer than two plants to each four
feet of space.
It is scarcely necessary to enumerate the particular
varieties of the grape-vine, as adapted for a vinery, for
every good variety deserves a place where there is room,
and all those which have been already mentioned are
occasionally planted. It may be remarked, however,
that the kinds should be assorted according to the order
of their ripening. The early grapes, such as the Mus¬
cadines, Chasselas Musque, and Hamburgs, should be
planted in a house by themselves ; those of a medium
character, the Frontignacs, for example, may occupy a
second; while the Tokay, the Muscat of Alexandria,
Nice, Syrian, Barbarossa, and others, would be fit inmates
for a third. This would produce a regular succession,
and admit a uniformity of treatment in each house.
Where there is not a suite of vineries, but only one large
house, the late varieties should be planted near the en¬
trance of the hot-water pipes.
Pruning and Training. Very numerous have been the
directions given in reference to these particulars ; but we
cannot here go into such details, nor is it necessary. The
great object is the reproduction of bearing, that is, annual
wood, over the whole surface of the house. When this is
accomplished, the next matter to be determined is the
number of eyes or buds to be left on each shoot, that is,
whether we shall adopt the short or the long system of
pruning. The former is most allied to the practice
of foreign vineyards, and has been most successfully
employed in this country. According to this method, all
the lateral shoots are cut down to single eyes, as described
in Land. Hortic. Trans, iv. 104. For a particular de¬
scription of the long system, we refer to the same voh, or
to “Loudon’s Encyclopcedia of Gardening.” To these re¬
ferences we add a few general remarks. (1.) In this
country, it ought to be the great aim of the gardener to
make his vines grow as luxuriantly as possible ; for the
quality of the grapes, when properly ripened, is generally
commensurate with the size of the berries. The borders
should therefore be made rich ; but they ought to be
rather wide than deep, deep planting being adverse to the
ripening of the fruit. (2.) In order to secure a proper
degree of vigour, vines should be limited in extent, and
pruned rather severely than otherwise. To enable us
to circumscribe the plants, it would be well to introduce
as many separate plants into the vinery as can be done
without confusion. (3.) From the peculiar mode of
growth in the grape-vine, the bearing branches have a
tendency to recede from the cenh’eto the extremities, and
are often found in abundance only at the top of the trellis.
Every young shoot near the front of the house should
therefore be carefully husbanded, and cut back by way of
reserve. Old wood ought to be removed as frequently
as possible ; and the skilful pruner will look at least two
years before him. Nothing contributes more to regularity
in the succession of bearing wood than simplicity in
pruning and training; and therefore, all bending, and
twisting, and traversing of branches should be avoided.
The summer pruning consists in removing with the
fingers the useless lateral shoots, and pinching off the ten¬
der points of the bearing branches. The extent to which
these bearing branches are allowed to run will depend on
their vigour, and the position which they hold in the
plant. Sometimes it may be needful to leave them ten
or twelve feet long, but, in general, two or three feet will
be sufficient. The shorter the better. They seldom or
never fail to send out secondary laterals from their points:
these and the others which succeed them are stopped at
the second or even first eye, and the operation is continued Forcing
until vegetation ceases. When the fruit is set, all super- Garden,
fiuous branches should be cut off, leaving only the best,
and the number of these ought to be in proportion to the
strength of the vine. When the young grapes begin to
swell, the bunches are thinned out, that is, berries are
removed wherever they are too much crowded together ;
and the shoulders or sides of the bunches are supported by
slender threads of bass-mat. The quality and weight of
bunches should be regarded rather than their number.
Nothing seems more contemptible than numbers of small
and ill-ripened bunches of grapes, smeared, as they fre¬
quently are, with dust and honey-dew. Avarice not
unfrequently cheats itself in this matter ; and it generally
happens in the vinery, as elsewhere, that not he who
desires most has most. The ripening, colour, and flavour
of grapes on the tree are promoted by free ventilation ;
this is to be done, however, only after the fruit has
attained full size and is beginning to colour.
The forcing of the earliest vinery may commence in
January. At first the temperature may vary from 50°
to 55° Fahrenheit in the mornings and evenings. When
the buds have burst, it may be raised to 70°, and in the
flowering season it may be kept at 75°. At this season
it is necessary that the air should be preserved moist by
frequent syringings. Upon the appearance of colour in
the fruit, the waterings cease, and air is copiously ad¬
mitted. In the early vineries, it is necessary to continue
the fire-heat without intermission; in the later houses
this is not required, but it must be used occasionally, even
in warm weather, to obviate the effects of damp.
The Peach-house.—A peach-house, of the lean-to
form, like the vinery of the same configuration, intended
to be commanded by one furnace, is generally about forty
feet long, ten or twelve feet wide, and fourteen feet high :
but these dimensions may be varied considerably, accord¬
ing to the time at which the crop is desired to come into
season. For early forcing, perhaps twenty-five or thirty
feet in length, and seven or eight in breadth, are suffi¬
cient ; while a house, in which the operations of nature
are only to be slightly accelerated, may be extended to
fifty feet. The span, and ridge and furrow-roofed houses
are equally adapted for peaches as for vines, as in such
the trees can be treated as standards, which is their
natural habit; and in them the fruit is placed in a better
position as regards light and air, than in any form of
training that can be employed. Fig. 32 is an example of
this form. As in the vinery, the front wall is piered to
permit the egress of the roots. A common form of
a peach-house is represented, of which fig. 33 is a vertical
section; a, a, are the flues or hot-water pipes, placed
side by side, h is the table trellis, c the trellis on the
back wall; along with which, a hanging trellis, as in
HORTICULTURE.
Forcing fig. 31, is sometimes employed, although this is not
approved of by many. The flues or hot-water pipes,
which are built on pillars, occupy the centre of the
house. The trees are trained to the two trellises b and
c, and to the hanging trellis, if such be in use. Against
the back wall three or four dwarf trees are planted, with
intermediate riders, the latter being taken out at the end
of four or five years at farthest. These, with three for
the front trellis, make in all nine or ten trees for each
house.
Fig. 29, used as a vinery, represents another form of
the peach-house, not so generally used as the former, but
of equal if not superior merit. We have shewn it heated
by a water apparatus, a, a. There is no front glass, nor
any trellis on the back wall, the trees being planted in
front, and trained on a wire trellis b, attached to the roof,
and covering the whole surface of it. As the peach-tree
is not found to extend much more than twelve or thirteen
feet on the open wall, the length of the roof, inside
measure, need not do more than approach to fourteen feet.
But span-roofed houses may be much broader, conse¬
quently the length of the sloping roof will be greater,
especially as the trees are to be grown as standards.
The pruning and training of peach-trees in the peach-
house does not differ materially from the practice out of
doors. Fire-heat is commonly applied about the begin¬
ning or middle of February; but where there is a large
suite of houses, and an extended succession is wanted,
forcing, as it then truly becomes, may begin a month
sooner. At first the temperature is kept about 45°, but
it is afterwards gradually increased to 50° or 55° Fahren¬
heit. While the trees are in flower, and till the fruit be
set, the house is occasionally steamed by sprinkling
water on the warm pipes, but much better, in order to
secure a more genial evaporation by placing shallow
troughs of water so as partly to surround the lower or
returning pipe, the lower pipes being less heated than the
upper ones. After this period, the foliage is washed,
from time to time, with the garden-engine. When the
fruit has stoned, or the kernels have been formed, the
temperature is raised to about 60°. Water is now
copiously supplied to the border; the fruit is thinned
out; the various operations of disbudding and tying are
performed, and air is admitted in abundance. After the
end of April, little fire-heat is required for the peach-
house. The trees often suffer from mildew: the best
preventives consist in keeping the borders of the peach-
house clear, and sufficiently moist, dry air being greatly
promotive of that malady, and in observing that nothing
be permitted to obstruct the free circulation of air and
full admission of sun.
729
Tropical Fruit-houses.—Several uncommon kinds Forcing
of exotic fruits are occasionally grown with success in Gar,Fu-
this country. They should, however, be grown in a
house, or houses, by themselves. Such now exist, and
are denominated Tropical Fruit-houses. Among tropical
fruit may be mentioned the Loquat, Eriobotrya japonica;
the Jamrosade Eugenia Jambos; the Purple Granadilla,
Passijlora edulis; the Granadilla vine, P. quadrangularis ;
the May-apple, P. incarnata-, the Water-lemon, P. lauri-
foha; and the Sweet Calabash, P. maliformis; the Papaya,
Canca Papaya; and the Banana, Musa sapientum. The
Leechee, Euphoria Litchi; the Long-yan, Euphoria
Longana; the Mango, Mangifera indica, the China Guava,
Psidium Cuttleianum, and the Carambola, Averrhoa Ca-
rambola, of the East Indies. These have all ripened
in great perfection in the tropical fruit-houses of the
Duke of Northumberland at Sion House, and several
others have ripened in various other establishments in
Britain. Indeed, tropical fruit culture has now assumed
an important place in British horticulture.
The Fig-house scarcely differs in form and manage¬
ment from the Cherry-house, the trees being trained to
a back trellis, with the addition, however, of dwarf
standard trees in front. Figs are very successfully cul¬
tivated in the forcing-houses of the Royal establishment at
Frogmore, near Windsor. This delicious fruit is, however,
less popular in Britain than most others, and is therefore
not found in all gardens. The fig succeeds very well as
a dwarf standard in the front of a vinery, provided the
roof be not too closely covered with the foliage of the
vines. Of late, small standard figs have very commonly
been grown in large pots, fourteen or fifteen inches in
diameter, and placed in any of the forcing-houses. In
this way considerable crops of fruit have been raised.
The Figue blanche and the Marseilles are amongst the sorts
best adapted for forcing.
The Orange Tribe (Citrus) are cultivated in Britain,
rather as objects of curiosity and beauty, than for the
purpose of affording a supply of fruit. Commerce with
Portugal, Spain, Italy, and China, has brought this class
of fruits within the reach of every one ; and the copious
importations which annually take place, have no doubt
discouraged the cultivation of the plants. A few orange
trees are nevertheless to be met with in most collections,
and in large and sumptuous gardens, it is not uncommon
to meet with glazed houses set specially apart for their
reception.
C. Medica, the Citron, the Cedrate of the Italians, is a small
evergreen tree. The fruit is large, of an oval form, and covered
with a rough skin or rind, which is charged with a highly flagrant oil.
The citron is generally used in confections. It is supposed to he a
native of Media, and will not ripen without protection in Britain.
Three subvarieties of citron are described by ftisso.
C. Limetta, the Sweet Lime. This is rather a tall tree, with
diverging branches. The flower is of a fine white colour, composed
of five oblong petals. The fruit is globose, with a black nipple-like
protuberance at the apex, having a firm rind, and sweet pulp. The
colour is pale yellow. It is a native of Asia, but cultivated in Italy.
Seven varieties have been described.
C. Limonum, the Lemon. The petioles of the leaves somewhat
winged ; fruit oblong, with a thin rind adhering closely to the pulp,
which is very acid. This, like the preceding, is a native of Asia,
but is cultivated in the south of Europe. There are numerous
varieties.
C. Aurantium, Sweet Orange. The petioles almost naked ; fruit
globose, with a thin rind, and sweet pulp. Risso has enumerated
nineteen varieties ; of which the principal are, the China, the Por¬
tugal, and the Maltese.
The Cherry-house, in its general arrangements, has
4 z
VOL. XI.
HORTICULTURE.
730
Gardeif ^*^ier*;0 general resembled the peach-house, with the
exception of the front trellis, the place of which is com¬
monly occupied by a stage for pots of early strawberries
or kidney beans. The cherry trees are trained against
the back wall; the house should therefore be narrow,
and the roof steep. The operation of forcing generally
commences early in January, with a very moderate tem¬
perature. Air is admitted freely till the flowers begin
to expand, when great caution becomes necessary. When
the fruit is setting, the temperature is kept as steadily as
possible at 50° : after it is set, abundance of water is
applied to the roots and foliage of the trees. When the
fruit is colouring, water is almost entirely withheld, and
air is now freely admitted. During the whole process
of forcing cherries, any excessive heat from the sun’s
rays must be carefully guarded against, by shading or by
the admission of air. The kind of cherry usually pre¬
ferred for forcing is the Common May-duke. A cherry-
house ought to form a part of every large garden esta¬
blishment ; for nothing graces the tables of the opulent,
in March and April, better than ripe cherries and straw¬
berries in the dessert at that season of the year. The
best construction of the Cherry-house is the span-roof,
whether the trees be planted permanently in the borders,
as they sometimes are, or grown in large pots, which they
generally are. In the Cherry-house apricots and plums
should also be found, their treatment being almost the
same.
The Pine Apple, Bromelia ananas, (Linn.) is a native
of the new world, although it has been found in such
abundance in Africa as to have led some botanists to
consider it to be indigenous there also. It reached China
from South America, and is now naturalized in most of
the West India Islands, to which it was introduced from
Peru by Europeans. It appears to have been introduced
into Europe about the middle of the 17th century, to
England about 1690, and to Scotland by James Justice
of Crichton prior to 1744, as he gives plans of his own
pine stoves in his British Gardener’s Directory, published
in that year.
The pine is propagated rarely by seed, frequently by
crowns which grow on the top of the fruit, but more
generally by suckers which rise from the stem.
Select list of Pines. Black Antigua, Enville, Globe, Eussian
Globe, Old Jamaica, New Jamaica, Montserrat, Queen, Antigua
Queen, Moscow Queen, Ripley’s Queen, Smooth Cayenne, Prickly
Cayenne, Prince Albert, Providence.
Its propagation and culture have long been carried on
in three separate structures, each capable of affording
the necessary bottom and atmospheric heat congenial to
it. I hese are denominated the nursing-pit, succession-
pit, and . fruiting-stove. Many excellent cultivators
carry on its various stages of growth in one and the same
structure. We shall, howevever, yield to common
custom, and speak of them separately.
The nursing-pit has occasionally assumed a great variety
of forms, respecting which, however, it is not necessary
to go into minute detail. For summer use, the Alderston
Melon-pit, and Atkinson’s Melon-pit, described under
the head Melonry, are very suitable. In winter, it is
desirable to have the assistance of fire-heat from hot
water.
I he succession-pit performs the same functions as the
nursing-pit, but at a more advanced stage of the growth
of the plant, and consequently, requires an increase of
size. With this difference, Atkinson’s Melon-pit does
very well foi summer use. In colder seasons, we should
prexer a pit similar to that represented, figs. 34, 35, in
which a hot-water apparatus on the siphon principle is
employed to heat the atmosphere
of the pits, and the bottom-heat
is communicated by the circula¬
tion of hot water from the same
boiler, in troughs resting on the
bottom of the pit. The boiler
a is placed nearly on a level with
the bottom of the pit; b pipes on
the syphon principle for warming
the air of the pit; CC troughs
for communicating the bottom-
heat, placed in the bottom of
the pit on a level with the boiler.
The water is drawn from the
boiler to the ends of the troughs
d d by small moveable syphons,
which promote its circulation.
The bed e, in which the plants
are plunged, is supported by a
flooring of slate, resting on
brick piers between the troughs.
A boiler placed in the centre is
sufficient for a range of sixty
feet. Another form of a succes¬
sion-pit is exhibited in fig. 36,
entirely heated by hot water.
The surface-heat is supplied by
pipes in front; the bottom-heat
is kept up by small pipes from the
boiler, passing through cisterns
of water extending the whole Kg. 35—Section,
length of the pit. In this case it would be necessary to
apply the top heat only during the day.
In tbQ fruiting-house, more room, greater height, and a
Forcing
Garden.
pa II
i |l IK '
Kg. 34—Ground Plan.
Ft
Fig. 36.
more powerful temperature, are requisite; and to attain
these objects, many varieties of structure have been
devised : we shall notice those only which are most
worthy of attention. Fig. 37 is a section of Baldwin’s
Fruiting-pit. The roof is unequally ridged, the north or
shorter side being slated and furnished with ventilators,
to admit air. With the exception of the slated part of
the roof, and the absence of hot-water for bottom and
top heat, both of which are great defects, these differ
little from the excellent pits of Mr Fleming at Trentham.
They have, however, the advantage of being low-roofed,
and easily wrought. The sashes are immovable, and the
laps of the panes are closely puttied. There is a path
within, and a single turn of a flue behind. We should
prefer the form exhibited by fig. 38, in which there are also
ventilators a a, and a hot-water apparatus surrounding the
HORTICULTURE. 731
Forcing whole pit. The dimensions of this may be fifty feet long,
Garden, and nine feet wide; the glass being two feet and a half
from the curb of the bark-pit in front, and five feet
behind. Fig. 39 is a section of a pine-pit with a cur¬
vilinear roof, in which the astragals are parallel. A
segment of an elliptical arch somewhat less than a
quadrant, the origin of the curve being on the front wall,
seems better adapted for a pit than any portion of a circle.
This pit is supposed to be heated by a small steam-pipe
passing through a large iron tank or cistern a, filled with
water. A section of the old-fashioned pine-stove is given
in fig. 40. This was a lofty structure, in the vinery form,
with front sashes. It used to be forty or fifty feet long,
and twelve or fourteen feet broad, and was commanded
by two flues. The flues ought to be exchanged for hot-
water pipes, those at the back being placed under the
passage, with sufficient cast-iron moveable ventilators let
into the pavement for the upward escape of the heat.
Or the whole passage ought to be covered with an open
cast-iron grating to allow the heat to ascend. In addition
to the pine plants in the pit, the roof was also partly
covered with vines, a practice justly condemned by
Nicol. We are also disposed to agree with that expe¬
rienced writer regarding the disuse of the pine-stove itself.
Besides other grievous faults, a single house affords too
little room; and it is a matter of experience, that where
the stock of pine plants is not extensive, certain and
abundant crops of fruit cannot be expected. Instead,
therefore, of a succession and fruiting-house of the old
form, with two fires each, involving an enormous waste
of fuel, it would be better to have four pits, all of which
could be wrought by one fire and boiler. There might
be two succession-pits of the form of fig. 34 or fig. 36,
and two fruiting-pits similar to fig. 38 or fig. 39. These
would contain a much greater number of plants than
two pine-stoves, would be much less expensive in erec¬
tion, and, as the number of fires would be reduced to one, Forcing
would not consume so much fuel. UU-L
The pine being a plant which grows naturally under a
tropical sun, it requires all the light our murky climate
affords. It is, therefore, better to build the pits of a
much greater width than those shewn in our illustrations,
for the greater the distance between the side-walls, the
more will be the light which obtains access to the plants.
A pit, therefore, on the span-roofed principle, 35 feet
long, 17 feet wide, and 8 feet from the floor of the
passage to the ridge, would be an improvement upon
those mentioned. Such a pit could be supplied with
both bottom and atmospheric heat from one boiler, the
former by placing hot-water pipes v/ithin a shallow tank
of water placed under the beds, and the latter by carrying
a flow and return pipe along the whole length of the
sides. Still further to economise fuel, a smoke flue
should be placed under the passage, so as to get the
benefit of such heat as is not taken up by the water in
the boiler, and which usually escapes at the chimney top.
The pine is to be cultivated in its highest state of per¬
fection only when grown in low pits, just sufficient for
the full development of the foliage and crown of the fruit.
So closely is this adhered to by Mr Fleming of Trentham,
one of our most successful cultivators, that he has had
occasion to take out a pane of glass to allow the crown
of the fruit to protrude into the open air. A passage
along the centre of such pits is exceedingly useful,
particularly in the fruiting department.
Bottom-Heat. As a substitute for the warmth absorbed
by the earth from the powerful rays of the sun in tropi¬
cal countries, the pots of pine-plants are generally
plunged in a bed of tanners’ bark, decaying leaves, or
other fermenting substances. Tanners’ bark is most
commonly used.
We have elsewhere stated that no vegetable matter
undergoing fermentation can be so economically applied
as hot water circulating in properly constructed vaults
immediately under the bed in which the plants are set.
That the heat may reach by conduction to the roots near
the top of the soil in the pots, it becomes necessary that
they be plunged in heat-conducting media. When plunged
in fermenting material, young pine plants may no doubt
be successfully enough grown during summer, nay, even
during winter. The question, however, is, does the
saving of fuel and the interest on the outlay for the
apparatus at all balance the expense of labour and mate¬
rial, the waste of valuable manures, to say nothing of
the litter occasioned, and the accidents to which the plants
are liable from having their roots burnt or their leaves
frozen during winter.
The proper management of bottom-heat is a matter of
some difficulty, and in this there have been more failures
than in any other part of the pine-apple culture. The
heat arising from violent fermentation is greater than
the tender roots can bear, and if great watchfulness be not
employed, the labour of many months may be blasted in
a single day. Bottom-heat is almost universally kept
too high. Perhaps the upper limit of its temperature
may be fixed at blood-heat, or at most 100°, while the
under or winter limit may be brought down to 70° or
75°. The principle of the application of bottom-heat
has, until lately, been little understood. In practice, its
value has been acknowledged for ages, having been an
element in Roman gardening in the days of Claudius.
The roots of fruit-trees, even of the hardiest description,
become paralyzed whenever they descend too deep into
the soil, and this paralysis is one of the evils of deep
planting. The summer temperature ofr our ordinary
warden soils is 61° at 6 inches under the surface, 57° at
O
HORTICULTURE.
732
Forcing 18 inches, and 44° at 36 inches, but these temperatures
Garden. are veiy much diminished if the land is wet or un-
drained. The roots of trees, therefore, when placed
within 6 inches of the surface, or at 61° of temperature,
as shewn above, are very differently circumstanced
from those which are buried 3 feet, and in a temperature
of 44°, when the mean temperature of the air is about
63°. In the former case, there is only 2° of diffe¬
rence, while in the latter there is 19° between the
temperature of the air at the roots and that of the air
around the leaves, a most serious difference, yet one of
frequent occurrence. Hence the necessity of surface¬
planting and shallow borders, if such borders are not
artificially heated below.
The advantage of having the temperature at the roots
higher than that in which the leaves are placed, is easily
accounted for. Warmth acts as a stimulus to the vital
forces, and its operation is in proportion to its amount,
within certain limits. If, therefore, the branches and leaves
of a plant are stimulated by warmth to a greater degree
than the roots, they will consume the sap of the stem faster
than the roots can renew it; and therefore nature takes
care to provide against this, by giving to the roots a
medium permanently more stimulating, that is, warmer,
than to the branches and leaves.” In all countries where
the temperature of the soil is highest, vegetation is
strongest, and vice versa. Bottom-heat must, however,
be regulated, particularly in our forcing-houses, with
great care to prevent excess or defect. In its applica¬
tion, bottom-heat must be regulated by the amount of
light and of temperature in the air; and hence, so far as
practicable, it should be less during the night than during
the day, and also less during winter, when we have a
deficiency of light, than during summer.
Bottom-heat must also be regulated by the season of
the plants ; during their winter or season of rest it should
be comparatively low—during their summer or season of
active growth, it should be considerable; and during
their ripening season, it should be highest of all. The
necessity of studying these three points may be shewn
from the condition of the roots of vines in a cold damp
border during the season of forcing, when there is often
a thermal difference of 20° between the roots and leaves.
This is forcing in the true acceptation of the term. It
causes the grapes and peaches to set badly, or not at all,
it causes stem or aerial roots to appear on the vines, it
causes shanking in the fruit, and the exhaustion and
ultimate death of the plants. The malformation in the
fruit of the pine, and its starting into fruit at too early
a stage of its growth, are also owing to a want of proper
unison between the bottom and top temperatures. It is
the want of warmth in the soil, fully more than in the
atmosphere, that prevents the fine American apples and
Flemish pears from ripening so well with us as in other
countries, where the winters are much colder than ours,
but the summers and soil are much warmer.
_ Various nice and minute directions have been
given respecting composts for pine plants. Any com¬
post, however, will be found suitable, which is at once
rich, fresh, and simple. A mixture of the top-spit, in¬
cluding the turf of an old pasture, and about a half of
good, well-rotted dung, combines these qualities as com¬
pletely as possible. When it is necessary to lighten
these materials, a compost of decayed leaves, and a little
sand, may be added. It is of importance that the com¬
post, whatever it may be, should be prepared a con¬
siderable time beforehand, and frequently turned over.
It should be broken with the spade, but not screened;
and when used, it should not be too moist. Pine-apple
plants are found to shew fruit more readily in a rich Forcing
light soil, than in strong loam, but do not produce large Gard«i.
fruit. In selecting his compost, the cultivator must make
his selection between these advantages. At all events
the soil must be rich ; it can scarcely be too rich. “ The
pine,” says an intelligent writer in the “Gardener’s Maga¬
zine,” vol. ix. “ is a gross feeder, and will thrive in vege¬
table manure, however rich and fresh.”
Propagation. The pine is propagated by planting the
crowns which grow on the fruit, or the suckers which
appear at the base of the stem. These, when removed
from the fruit or the stem, are laid aside for a few days,
till the scar at the place of separation has dried or healed,
as a precaution to prevent their rotting; after which they
are potted immediately. Sometimes late in the season,
they are merely thrust into exhausted tan, without pots,
where they remain till the following spring. In general
the offsets should be as large as possible. Speedily did
not break ofl his suckers before they were twelve or four¬
teen inches long, and he reserved only the largest crowns.
These large suckers and crowns grow with greater rapi-
dity, and come sooner into fruit than those of smaller
size: and in this, in truth, consists the principal secret
of what has been called the short method of culture, by
which fruit is obtained in a much briefer space of time
than usual. The soil employed in propagation is rather
lighter than that afterwards applied. The pots may be
from three to six inches in diameter, and, to promote
draining, should contain at bottom a layer of shivers or
clean gravel. For some time the plants are shaded from
the rays of the sun, and in about eight or ten days they
receive a little water. As already stated, the older and
more common routine of pine-apple culture embraces a
period of three years; but recent improvements have
reduced these to two years, or even to eighteen months.
Biennial Course. The method of culture which we
have denominated the biennial course, was first brought
into notice by Abercrombie, and afterwards strenuously
recommended by Baldwin. Its chief feature is the ac¬
celeration of the growth of the plants by the application
of higher temperatures than it was formerly supposed they
could bear. They are, in fact, made to attain the growth
of two summers in one; and this is the course followed by
the best cultivators of the present day.
About the beginning of March, the most forward of
the plants potted over winter, or the suckers kept in tan,
are taken out, and the earth or tan is shaken away. They
are then put into pots about five inches in diameter, which
are plunged into frames or pits heated with tan or leaves.
They are shaded as usual, and after they begin to grow,
receive moderate waterings. When the roots appear
around the balls of soil, which will be about the middle
of June, the plants are again shifted into larger pots,
from six to seven inches in diameter, and, if the heat be
declining, are removed into other pits or beds. In the
beginning of August they are ti’ansferred into larger pots,
in which, unless they are intended for early spring
forcing, they stand during the winter ; and in February
they are finally shifted into pots twelve or fourteen inches
in diameter. For spring forcing, the last shifting takes
place in October, and the pots may be two inches
narrower. At every shifting the ball of earth is pre¬
served entire. From March the temperature is gradually
increased; air is admitted, and a lively bottom-heat is
kept up. When there is danger of burning the roots,
the pots are partially drawn up, or even set upon the
surface of the bed. The following table will give an
idea of the temperature (Fahrenheit’s thermometer) and
its progressive increase:—
HORTICULTURE.
Forcing
Garden.
During Night.
March 60° to 70°
April 70 — 75
May 75 — 80
June 80 — 85
During Day.
70° to 80°
80 — 85
90 - 100
100 —120
After the beginning of August, the heat is allowed to
decline by degrees, until it arrives at the winter tempera¬
ture of G0°. Where fire-heat is used, and it should always
be through the medium of hot water, the nocturnal tem¬
perature should only approach towards 80° ; and there
should be some expedient for the slow admission of steam
into the atmosphere of the pit. During the whole
summer, care is taken to prevent the plants from being
drawn, and for this purpose they are allowed much space,
and are placed as near the glass as possible. In August
and September abundance of air, and more copious sup¬
plies of water, are given. In winter the chief care is to
preserve the roots from damping off, and for this reason,
winter pits should have the command of fire-heat.
This mode of driving, as it has been significantly called,
is by some thought applicable only to the varieties called
the Queen. Most of our best cultivators, however, adopt
this course, and the fruit produced is larger than that
formerly grown upon the triennial course. Those who
wish to cultivate such large and coarse sorts as the
Providence, may, to a certain extent, adopt the triennial
course, either as to time, or to a limited number of
plants. This plan will necessitate the following addi¬
tional routine.
Fruiting-House.—About the beginning of August, the
plants, now two years old, are shifted for the last time.
The pots are from twelve to fourteen inches in diameter,
and the balls are preserved entire. They are then
plunged into the bed, and the plants are so treated as to
keep them in a growing state during the whole of
autumn. In winter, the nocturnal temperature is kept
at 60° ; but towards the end of January it is gradually
raised to 70°. This rise, however, should follow, and
not precede or be a cause of, the vernal growth of the
plants. About the middle of February, the second
fruiting-house may be prepared for the reception of the
plants in the biennial succession pit. These are existing
in a mild temperature, and start during the general pro¬
gress of the season.
That period at which pine-apple plants first shew
their fruit-stalks, or, as it is technically termed, start, is
the most critical in their whole culture. It is generally
desirable that this should happen at a certain age, and
at a particular season ; but these are circumstances over
which the cultivator can scarcely be said to have a direct
control, and accordingly, while the most successful can
hardly deem themselves beyond the reach of failure, the
less skilful are almost sure to err. We are not aware
that the rationale of starting has been investigated on the
principles of vegetable physiology ; and it is certain that
the most absurd practices have been resorted to, in order
to force the plants into fruit. We pretend not to give a
theory ; but a few practical remarks may be of advantage.
It is evident that the plant must be of a certain age, or
at least of a certain magnitude, before it will start freely
or to good purpose. Suckers of the first year are wholly
taken up with the production of roots and foliage; and
if any of them happen to start, they exhibit little more
than a tuft of leaves where the fruit should be. In the
second year a Queen pine is capable of producing a per¬
fect fruit; and in the third year the New Providence
and other large varieties arrive at puberty. The solid
part of the stem is then observed to have increased in
bulk, and to have ascended considerably above the soil.
It is of more practical importance, however, to remark,
that the fruit-stalks do not appear until the pot is filled
with roots. Apparent exceptions there may be to this
principle, but in every case where it does not hold good
the plant will be found to be diseased, or the roots to
have been violently destroyed. The grower should there-
foie take care that the roots shall have nearly occupied
all the new soil before the end of autumn, and that in
the course of the winter the tender fibres be neither ex¬
siccated by drought, nor rotted by excessive moisture.
Again, it is probable that at starting there is a peculiar
check in the growth of the plant, which causes it to
divert the sap from the formation of leaves, and, like
most other vegetables in straitened circumstances, to
piovide the means of reproduction, by throwing out
flower-buds. This diversion of the sap is influenced by
the quantity of vigorous fibres, for it is observed that
when, from some accident, plants not well furnished in
this xespect, do shew fruit, they bestow the greater part
of the sap upon the leaves. Lastly, it is probable that
the proper check consists in a transition from growth,
however slight, to a temporary suspension of vegetation,
which again is followed by a copious flow of the sap,
circumstances which, as might be easily shewn, occur
both in the winter and summer starting. If these obser¬
vations be correct, it follows that starting is a natural
process, requiring certain conditions in the state of the
plant, and therefore not to be forced by violent treatment,
or any sudden changes in temperature and watering.
After the plants have shewn fruit, they are never
shifted; but the surface soil may be removed, and re¬
placed by a little fresh and rich compost. Water is
supplied from time to time as necessity requires ; but it
is impossible to give any definite rule on this subject.
The observant gardener will soon, from experience, dis¬
cover the proper measure. Water should never be given
in a colder state than the average temperature of the house;
when, therefore, there is no tank within the house, the
watering-pots should be filled, and left in the house for
some time before the water be applied. Fire-heat is
kept up either continuously or at intervals, during the
greater part of the season. It should always be mode¬
rate, never exceeding, by itself, 70°. During sunshine,
the temperature may range from 70° to 100°. The
greater proportion there is of the latter the better.
Whilst the fruit is swelling, care must be taken to carry
on the growth of the plant with equability and modera¬
tion. Violent checks are pernicious ; they debilitate the
stalk, and cause a stringiness and deformity in the fruit.
As the fruit approaches maturity, water is gradually
withheld, lest the flavour should be injured. Pine-apples
should be cut a short time before they obtain complete
maturity. The larger varieties will keep only a day or
two ; the smaller varieties a week or more.
The Melonry—a department deriving its name from
the melon, the principal plant cultivated in it—is an im¬
portant appendage of the forcing garden. After noticing
some of the most necessary apparatus employed in it, we
shall treat of the melon, cucumber, &c., and their culture
respectively.
The common hotbed frame is most usually employed in
the absence of more complete structures, and is so well
known as to require no description.
The Alderston Melon Pit, of which fig. 41 is a section,
is partly above and partly below ground. The front and
back walls a, a, are of brick, supported on piers or stone
pillars : b, b, are spaces enclosed within outer walls, and
covered with boards to contain linings, which communi-
733
Forcing
Garden.
734
Forcing cate, without any object intervening,
Garden. suijStances in the interior of the pit.
be two feet wide : the interior pit should seldom be more
than six feet in breadth. A principal quality of this
structure is its neatness and cleanliness.
West’s Melon and Cucumber Pit is also built of brick.
It has (fig. 42) a chamber a to contain dung; & a square
Fig. 42.
opening by which the dung is introduced; c rafters of
wood or cast-iron, sustaining the interior soil; d, d,
openings to permit the ascent of steam. The walls are
nine inches thick, and the pit may be seven feet wide,
inside measure.
Atkinson’s Melon Pit (fig, 43) is a brick structure.
The back wall a and the end walls are four inches thick,
built in the pigeon-hole fashion, that is, with square in¬
terstices between the bricks. The front wall b is double ;
the interior portion is brick in bed, the exterior brick on
edge, with piers under each rafter. The included space
communicates with the inside of the bed c. The pit d is
filled with fermenting litter or tanners’ bark: e, e, are
spaces for linings. The whole is sometimes formed of
wood, or sometimes only the part above ground.
The extent of the melonry must depend upon the size
of the garden, and the amount of the demand. Where
there is a large family, and especially where pine-apples
are cultivated (to the forwarding of which some portion
of the melonry may frequently be auxiliary), sixty or
seventy sashes may be considered as a moderate com¬
plement.
Until within a few years, both the melon and cucum¬
ber were grown on beds of fermenting material, or in
such pits as have just been described. As a matter of
course, the fruit in both cases lay on the damp soil in
which the plants wei’e grown ; in general only separated
from it by having a piece of slate or glass placed below
them. That neither of these fruits could be brought to
their fullest state of perfection in such circumstances
will be apparent, when it is considered that they were
grown in a high moist temperature, largely charged with
ammoniacal and other gases evolving from the vegetable
substances employed to produce heat. The underside of
the fruit in both cases being deprived of light and air
never assumes its natural colour, and the whole fruit often
becomes flattened and deformed by its own weight.
The improvements of the present day have provided for Forcing
these defects by the erection of both Cucumber and
Melon-houses, and th eemployment of large pits, heated
by hot water, the plants being trained to trellises under
the roof, and the fruit thus allowed to hang suspended
in a pure wholesome atmosphere, and exposed on all sides
to the influence of the sun and air. These structures are
chiefly of the span-roofed form, and are, except in size,
exactly similar to span-roofed vineries.
In such structures, cucumbers can be grown during
winter with a success unknown in former times, and
as the melon is not worth growing during that season
on account of the absence of solar influence to ripen it,
the Melon-house may be used for forcing kidney-beans
or strawberries during the winter months.
The Melon (Cvcumis Meld) has long been cultivated
in Britain, but the period of its introduction and its native
country are not well ascertained. The plant is a tender
annual, requiring considerable care and skill to rear it in
perfection; but it repays the labours of the horticulturist
by affording a large, and to most persons a highly pala¬
table fruit. The varieties are numerous, and, from their
tendency to sport or vary, are rather fugitive in their
duration. Many of the old favourites have disappeared,
and those at present in vogue will doubtless take the same
course, or will at least assume new forms, while they
retain their old names. In these circumstances, it is
deemed unnecessary to enter into minute description, or
to do more than give a list of the sorts at present deserv¬
ing of cultivation. It may be premised that they all
belong to the species usually called the Musk-Melon
(Cucumis Meld). The Water Melon (Oucumis Citrullus)
appertains to the same genus, and is seldom reared in
this country except as a curiosity.
Select List of Melons.—Beechwood; Broomham-Hall; Trentham
Hybrid, green-fleshed; Cuthill’s Early Cantaloupe, remarkable for its
hardiness and earliness; Green-fleshed Masulipatam ; Green-fleshed
Egyptian; Cassabar; Sweet Melon of Ispahan, and Green Valencia.
It is important that none but such seeds as have been
procured from approved genuine specimens of the several
sorts should be sown. In general, the fresher or more
recent that garden seeds are, the better; but the case is
different with the melon. Here it is desirable that the
seeds should have been kept in a dry state for some
years : it is found that plants produced from recent seeds
push too vigorously, sending their shoots to a great
length before they shew a single fruit; while those from
old seeds are less luxuriant in growth, but more fruitful.
The melon succeeds best in a strong, rich soil. A com¬
post, formed of two-thirds of rotted turf, and one-third
of old cow-dung, will be found very suitable. This
should be prepared some months before being employed
in the melon bed.
It is seldom expedient to sow before the middle or end
of January, and sometimes it is soon enough a month
later. A seed-bed capable of receiving a frame with a
single sash is previously prepared. This bed, composed
of fermenting stable litter, should be of considerable
thickness, perhaps about five feet. Immediately upon
its formation, the frame and sash are placed on it, and
they are kept close till the heat begins to rise, when the
hot vapour is permitted to escape. Three or four days
after the bed has been formed, it is covered over to the
depth of three inches with earth prepared beforehand.
Bieh, light, dry earth, is best adapted for this purpose ;
and that it may be dry enough, it is proper to use such
as may have been protected from rain during winter.
A few small flower-pots are filled with the same earth,
and kept in the hotbed, that the soil in them may ac¬
quire a suitable temperature. The seeds are then sown
HORTICULTURE.
with the fermenting
These spaces may
H 0 H T 1 c
Forcing jn the flower-pots, and covered half an inch deep ; after
which the pots are plunged a little way into the earth
of the bed. This bed, of course, answers for rearing the
early supply of young cucumber plants, and afterwards
Chilies, and seeds of other tropical plants. This method
is found now to be less expensive than manufacturing the
necessary temperature in legitimate Melon or Cucumber-
houses during the process of preparing the plants for
planting out where they are to produce their fruit.
When hot vapour rises copiously, fresh air is admitted
by raising the sash a little. The frame is covered every
evening by sunset with mats, and is again exposed in
the morning about nine o’clock, sooner or later according
to the state of the weather. A single mat is sufficient
at first, as the heat in the bed is generally strong. In
two or three days after the seed has been sown, the plants
appear, and the glasses are raised a little, to admit
fresh air, and permit the escape of vapour. Unless this
be done, the plants are apt either to damp off or become
yellow and sickly. To guard against the casualties of
the season, and the chance of miscarriage, it is pi’operto
make two other sowings at short intervals, so that, if
any accident befall the first plants, the others may sup¬
ply their place. Two or three days after the plants have
come up, they are transplanted into other small pots,
only two or three being put in each pot. If the earth be
very dry, it is now moistened with a little tepid water.
The pots are then plunged into the earth, and much care
and watchfulness are necessary to prevent the roots from
being scorched. When the transplanted seedlings begin
to grow, they are watered occasionally in the warmest
part of the day. As the heat of the hotbed declines,
it is supported by linings, applied from time to time,
around its outer surface. The lining should not exceed
fifteen or eighteen inches in thickness, and should rise
above the level of the bed, upon the sides of the frame.
About a month after the seeds have been sown, the
beds are prepared in the Cucumber and Melon-houses
for the reception of the young plants. This is done by
setting the hot water apparatus to work, and by placing
upon the beds a supply of compost to become warmed
for the reception of the young plants. By the following
day, the compost and atmosphere of the house generally
acquire a sufficient warmth, and the bed is ready for the
reception of the plants. After the tops of the hillocks
of earth have been flattened a little, in the centre of each
a hole is made capable of containing one of the balls of
earth which is to be turned out of the pots. Some of
the pots containing the strongest plants are selected, and
the young melon-plants are planted out, with balls entire,
into the ridges or hillocks already prepared. After this
operation has been performed, they receive a gentle
watering. When the roots begin to shew themselves
through the surface of the hillocks, a quantity of fresh
earth is applied all around them, and from time to time
additions are made till the whole surface of the bed is
covered nearly as high as the top of the hills.
When the plants have got two or three rough leaves,
the top of the stalklet, which now begins to elongate, is
trained upwards until it reaches the trellis to which the
shoots are to be trained. The top is then pinched off,
and lateral shoots are produced, which are trained to
the trellis as they advance. These laterals will some¬
times shew fiowers at the second or third joints ; if they
do not, they are topped in their turn, and afford laterals,
which seldom fail to be fruitful. As these runners
advance, they are trained along the trellis, and all weak
useless shoots are removed. This should be done fre¬
quently, as it is found injurious to cut out a great quan¬
tity of shoots and foliage at one time. No plant, as has
ULTURE. 73j
been shown by Mr Knight (Hortic. Trans, vol. i.), is more Forcing
beholden to its leaves, both as respects health and flavour Garden-
of fruit, than the melon.
It is seldom proper to leave more than one fruit on
each shoot, and in the large kinds perhaps not more than
four or five fruit should be left on one plant. During
the process of growth, the fruit is, from its suspended
position, fully exjjosed on all sides to the rays of the sun.
At this period water is given with moderation, and abun¬
dance of air is admitted. The fruit should be gathered
before being quite ripe. Itsapproaching maturity is known
by the appearance of a number of cracks near the foot¬
stalk, and by the emission of a rich odour. It is cut in
the morning, and is kept in a cool place till served up ; if
this precaution be not attended to, there will be a con¬
siderable deficiency of flavour.
The average heat required for the successful growth
of melons is about 70° Fahrenheit. In the common hot¬
bed, this is maintained by defending the bed during the
night, and by applying linings from time to time. In
pits or houses heated by hot water circulation, this is
easily effected at any season ; and such pits doubtless
supersede the hotbed frame altogether.
The Cucumber (Cucumis salivas'), like the melon, is a
tender annual, requiring the assistance of artificial heat.
It properly belongs to the class of culinary vegetables,
being used in salads and pickles, and has long been
cultivated in this country. Its culture, however, requires
the closest attention of the gardener.
Select' List of Cucumbers.—Like the melon, these run into end¬
less varieties, if more than one sort be grown in the same structure.
The present leading varieties are :—Victory of Bath, Tiley’s Capti¬
vation, Tiley’s Phenomenon, Victory of England, Cuthill’s Black
Spine, Lord Kenyon’s Favourite, Hunter’s Prolific, Sir Colin
Campbell, Canrohert, Conqueror of the West, Allen’s Victory of
Suffolk, Snow’s Prize, Duncan’s Victory, and Sussex Hero.
The culture of early cucumbers so much resembles that
of the melon, that it would be useless repetition to enter
into minute details. The cucumber, indeed, is somewhat
hardier, and therefore in summer requires less heat;
but in every other respect the management of the plants
is precisely the same. The first crop of cucumbers is
generally sown in the end of December, or the beginning
of January; a second in March, and a third in June.
In summer, cucumber plants, after they have been fairly
established, require scarcely any other attention than to
thin them out occasionally, and to supply them with
water. Seed for a winter supply is sown in August.
Cucumbers, particularly the prickly sorts, are often
raised in the warmer months under hand-glasses. A
cavity is made in a border in front of a wall or other
warm place, and is filled with hot dung. This dung is
covered with earth, and two or three plants are put into
it, and sheltered with a hand-glass. They are watered
and dressed from time to time; and by this means a
sufficient supply of small cucumbers, or girkens, is obtained
for pickling.
In the southern counties of England, pickling cucum¬
bers are easily raised without any artificial heat, being
sown in drills in the open ground. The earth is made
fine and level, and shallow circular hollows are formed
with the hand, a foot wide, and half an inch deep in the
middle. The distance between each hollow is three feet
and a half, and the distance between the rows five or six
feet. Eight or ten seeds are deposited in each cavity.
This is done in the beginning of June. When the plants
appear, they are thinned out to three or four, the weakest
or least healthy being rejected. They are watered
occasionally, according to the state of the weather.
736 H 0 E T I 0
Forcing The cucumbers are gathered chiefly from the middle
Garden. en(j 0f August. Vast quantities of these open
, ground girkens are taken to the London market. Ihe
village of Sandy, in Bedfordshire, has been known to
furnish 10,000 bushels of drilled cucumbers in one week.
Gourds, species or varieties of the species of the
genus Cucurbita, may be grown like drilled cucumbers,
or trained against walls or on pales. Though occasion¬
ally used as esculents, they are regarded chiefly as
curiosities. The Succada, or vegetable marrow^is a very
useful sort, and in request for the table, being eaten
stewed with sauce or mashed like turnips. It may be
raised in an exhausted melon-frame or pit; or it may be
sown under a hand-glass, and afterwards transplanted
into a good aspect, and trained against a wall or trellis.
The Mushroom (Agaricus campestris), though not pro¬
perly an inmate of the Melonry, may appropriately
enough, from the nature of its culture, be taken along
with the plants grown in this department of the garden.
It is a well-known fungus, a general favourite, and
esteemed a delicacy during winter and the spring months.
Mushrooms are much grown in England on ridges or
prepared beds, in sheds, or covered with litter in the
open air. The Russian form of the mushroom-house
was introduced into Britain by Mr Isaac Oldacre, and is
now in very general use. Its arrangement is simple
enough, and may be understood from the following de¬
scription :—Two tiers of boxes, three in each tier, and
supported by a strong frame-work, are constructed round
the whole house, with the exception of the spaces occupied
by a door and two windows. The boxes may be from two
feet and a half to three feet and a half broad, and about
a foot deep. The house is supposed to be heated by
hot water circulation. In the centre is a narrow pit,
by which the house may be worked by means of ferment¬
ing litter instead of the hot water, or in which rhubarb
stalks, &c. may be forced. The windows are furnished
with shutters to regulate the admission of light, and are
moveable, to permit the ingress of air.
It was long, and by some is still, considered essential to
grow mushrooms in darkness. This view is erroneous,
and upon correct principles they are grown in houses
with as much light as is found in almost any other
forcing-house. Mr. John Hawkin has shewn that the
principal requisites for its successful culture are heat,
light, air, and a humid atmosphere. His manner of
making up the beds does not essentially differ from that
of Oldacre, except that instead of earthing them over
with soil, he covers them with turf, having the green or
grassy side uppermost.
Mushrooms are propagated from what is technically
called spawn, which is a collection of vegetable threads
pervading dried dung or other similar substance, having
the smell of mushrooms, and is apparently the fungus in
its undeveloped state. It may be obtained from old
pastures, decayed mushroom beds, or purchased from
nurserymen in the form of bricks charged with spawn.
When once obtained, it may, like leaven, be indefinitely
preserved. If not otherwise procured, it may be pro¬
duced, or in a manner generated, by placing quantities
of horse-dung and rich earth in alternate layers, and
covering the whole with straw, to exclude the rain and
air. Mushroom spawn commonly appears in the heap
in about two months after the dung and earth have been
laid together. The droppings of stall-fed horses, or of
such as have been kept on dry food, are found preferable
for this purpose.
The old or ridge method of growing mushrooms has been
U L T U E E.
referred to above; and, as it has some conveniences, par- Forcing
ticularly for those who have not extensive apparatus, it
may be proper to give some account of it. The beds ai’e
formed of horse-droppings which have been laid out for
some time without having fermented, and may be made
two or three feet broad, and of any length. A layer of
dung about eight or ten inches thick is first deposited,
and covered with light dryish earth to the depth of two
or three inches ; then another layer of dung of the same
thickness, covered like the former; and lastly a third
layer, with its covering. The whole should grow nar¬
rower as it advances in height. When the bed is finished,
it is covered with straw to protect it from rain, and from
the parching influences of the sun and wind. In ten
days the bed will be ready for planting or spawning.
Pieces of spawn-bricks are inserted in the sloping sides
of the bed, about four or five inches asunder. A layer
of fine earth is then placed over the bed, and the whole
is covered with a thick coat of straw. When the
weather is temperate, mushrooms will appear in about a
month after the bed has been made; but at other times,
a much longer period may elapse. The principal things
to be attended to are to preserve a moderate state of
moisture, and a proper degree of warmth; and the treat¬
ment at different seasons must vary accordingly.
Of the many other methods of raising mushrooms, Mr
Oldacre’s, already referrrd to, may deserve to be particu¬
larized. In forming the compost, he procures fresh short
dung from a stable, or from the path of a horse-mill. To
this is added about a fifth part of sheep-droppings, or of
the cleanings of a cowhouse, or of a mixture of both.
The whole ingredients are thoroughly mixed and incor¬
porated. A stratum of the prepared mixture, about
three inches thick, being deposited in the boxes already
described, is beat together with a flat wooden mallet.
Another layer is added, and beat as before; and this is
repeated till the beds are rather more than half a foot
thick, and very compact. The boxes are then placed in
the Mushroom-house, or any outhouse where a slightly
increased temperature can be commanded. A degree of
fermentation generally takes place ; but if heat be not
soon perceptible, another layer must still be added, till
sufficient action is excited. When the beds are milk-
warm, or between 80° and 90° Fahrenheit, some holes
are dibbled in the mass to receive the spawn. The holes
are left open for some time ; andrwhen the heat is on the
decline, but before it be quite gone, a piece of spawn-
brick is thrust into each opening, and the holes are
closed with a little compost. A week afterwards the
boxes are covered with a smooth coating, an inch and a
half thick, of rich mould mixed with about a fifth part of
horse-droppings. The apartment is now kept as nearly
and equably at 55° Fahrenheit as circumstances will
allow. When the boxes become dry, a little soft water
may be sprinkled over them, but sparingly and with
circumspection. The more that free air is admitted the
better is the flavour of the mushrooms; but the exclu¬
sion of frost is indispensable. If a number of boxes
has been prepared at first, a few only at a time may be
covered with mould and brought into bearing, the rest
being covered and cropped in succession, as mushrooms
may be in demand.
Mr Callow, in a tract on the artificial growth of
mushrooms, describes a method in which the pits are
wrought by means of dung heat. His structure some¬
what resembles Aitkinson’s Melon-pit, only the roof is
covered with thatch, and a suite of air-flues is formed
within the interior of the pit, with branches crossing the
principal bed which occupies the floor. Linings of fer¬
menting litter are applied to the exterior of the house at
HO RTICULTURE.
Kitchen
Garden.
the back and front. The atmosphere of the pit, in the
_ earlier stage, is kept at 50° to 65° Fahrenheit, and
when the bed is in full bearing, about 70°. The other
details of this method, or indeed those of the majority of
writers on this subject, scarcely differ from those of Mr
Oldacre’s.
KITCHEN GARDEN.
In this department those plants are cultivated which,
after being subjected to various culinary processes, are
used as articles of food. They may be enumerated in
the order of their importance, each, for the sake of pre¬
cision, being accompanied by its botanical name.
Cabbage Tribe.
The Brassica oleracea, Lin. is a plant indigenous to our
rocky shores; but no one, seeing it waving in its native
habitat, could possibly anticipate that it would ever appear
in our gardens, disguised as the ponderous drumhead or
sugar-loaf cabbage, or on our tables as the delicate cauli¬
flower and broccoli. The cultivated varieties are nume¬
rous ; but the following are the most important.
Common White Cabbage. The economical uses of
this vegetable are well known. Its principal subvarie¬
ties are the following :—
Atkin’s Matchless, Knight’s Early Dwarf, Sutton’s Dwarf Comb,
Sutton’s Imperial, Early Dutch Twist, M'Ewen’s, Cattel’s Dwarf,
Barn’s, Shilling’s Queen, Enfield Market, King of the Cabbages,
Chappel’s Colewort, London Market, Sprotsboro, Pomeranian,
Large Drumhead, Flattened Drumhead. The names in seed lists
are endless.
The Cabbage is propagated from seed, which may be
sown in beds four feet wide, and covered over with a thin
layer of earth. The proper seasons for this operation are
the middle of August, the beginning of March, and mid¬
summer. By observing these times, and employing dif¬
ferent sorts, the succession may be kept up through the
year. For the early spring crops, the late sown plants
are in October transferred from the seed-bed to some
open and well manured ground, where they are arranged
in rows two feet asunder. The principal supply may be
put out in Februaiy, affording the larger sorts more
width between the rows. The crops sown in spring are
planted out in May and June. For subsequent culture,
all that is necessary is, to keep the ground clear of
weeds, and to draw up the soil about the stems. In
some situations watering in summer is beneficial.
The cabbages grown late in autumn and in the be¬
ginning of winter are denominated Coleworts, from a
kindred vegetable no longer cultivated. The object is
to have them with open or slightly closed hearts. Two
sowings are made, in the middle of June and in July,
and the seedlings, when they acquire sufficient strength,
are planted out in lines, a foot or fifteen inches asunder,
the rows being eight or ten inches apart.
The Red Cabbage, of which the large or Dutch red is
the common variety, is much used for pickling. It is
sown along with the white varieties in August and in
spring, and the culture is in every respect the same.
737
The Savoy. This variety, like the preceding, forms
into a close head, but is distinguished by the wrinkling of
its leaves. It is a very useful vegetable during the winter
months. The principal subvarieties are :—
The Early Green, Globe, the Yellow, the Winter, Marcellin, Flat
Green Curled, Large Green German, Early Ulm, and the Feather¬
stemmed, of which there are various forms.
The seed is sown in autumn and in the end of spring, and
two plantings may take place, in April, and in June or July.
VOL. XT.
Brussels Sprouts. This vegetable is allied to the
foregoing, but does not close or cabbage. From the
axillm of the stem-leaves proceed little rosettes or sprouts,
which resemble Savoy cabbages in miniature. The seed
should be sown in spring, and the seedlings planted out
before midsummer, during showery weather. In October
the plants should have additional earth drawn to their
roots, to firm them, and save them from being destroyed
by frost. The earliest sprouts become fit for use in
November, and they continue good, or even improving
in quality, till the month of March following. Mr Van
Mons of Brussels mentions that by successive sowings
the sprouts are there obtained for the greater part of the
year. In spring, when the plants have a tendency to
run to flower, their growth is checked by lifting them,
and replanting them in a slanting direction, in a cool
shady situation.
Open Kale. The principal subvarieties are :—
German Greens or Curlies, Scotch Kale or Green Borecole,
Purple or Brown Kale, Delaware Greens, Buda Kale, Jerusalem
Kale, Woburn Kale, and Couve Tronchuda or Portugal Kale.
Of these the first three are considered the most valuable,
and are the sorts chiefly cultivated in this country. The
seed is sown at various times from February to May, and
the seedlings are planted out in moist weather during
summer, in rows two feet asunder. The Buda Kale is
sown in May, planted out in September, and being hardy,
affords a supply in the following spring.
Turnip-rooted Cabbage, or Kohl-rube. Of this there
are two varieties, one swelling above ground, the other
in it. There is nothing peculiar in the culture, unless
that, in the case of the first mentioned, the earth should
not be drawn so high as to cover the globular part of the
stem, which is the part used. The seed may be sown in
the beginning of June, and the seedlings transplanted in
July ; they are thus fit for use at the approach of winter.
Kitchen
Garden.
Cauliflower. This variety is cultivated for the sake
of the flower-buds, which form a large dense cluster or
head, and afford one of the most delicate products of the
kitchen-garden.
The varieties are Early London White, Early Dutch, London
Particular, Large Asiatic, Walcheren, Wait’s Alma.
The sowing, for the first or spring crop, is made in the
latter half of the month of August; and, in the neighbour¬
hood of London, the growers adhere as nearly as possible
to the 21st day. A second sowing takes place in Feb¬
ruary on a slight hotbed, and a third in April or May.
The cauliflower being tender, the young plants re¬
quire protection in winter. For this purpose they are
sometimes pricked out in a warm situation at the foot of
a wall with a southern exposure, where, in severe
weather, they are also covered with hoops and mats. A
better method is to plant them thickly in the ground un¬
der a common hotbed frame, and to secure them from
cold by coverings, and from damp, by giving air in mild
Aveather. For a very early supply, it is useful to be at
the pains of potting a few scores of plants ; these are to
be kept under glass during winter, and planted out
in spring, defended with a hand-glass, and watered when
necessary. Sometimes, as in market-gardens, patches of
three or four plants are sheltered by hand-glasses through¬
out the winter in the open border. It is advantageous
to prick out the spring-sown plants into some sheltered
place, before they are finally transplanted and committed
to the open ground in May. The later crop, the trans¬
plantation of which may take place at various times, is
treated like early cabbages. Cauliflower succeeds best
in a rich soil and a warm situation. After planting, all
5 A
738
HORTICULTURE.
Kitchen that is necessary is to hoe the ground, and draw up the
Garden so^ ab0ut the roots.
j(- jg foun(i that this vegetable, being induced to form
its large and crowded clusters of tiower-buds in the
autumn, may be kept in perfection over winter. Cauli¬
flowers which have been planted out in July, will be
nearly ready for use in October, iowards the end of
that month, the most compact and best shaped are selected
and lifted carefully with the spade, keeping a ball of
earth attached to the roots. Some of the large outside
leaves are removed, in order that the plants may occupy
less room, and at the same time, any points of leaves
that immediately overhang the flower are cut off.
Where there are pits unoccupied, the plants may be ar¬
ranged close together, but without touching. Or they
may be placed in the same manner in hotbed frames.
In mild dry weather the glass frames are drawn off, but
they are kept close in rain ; and in severe frost they are
thickly covered with mats. In this way cauliflower may
be kept in an excellent state for several months.
Broccoli has a close affinity to cauliflower, being,
like it, of Italian origin, and differing chiefly in the
greater hardiness of its constitution. The subvarieties
are numerous, and exceedingly diversified. The follow¬
ing are those which are in most repute at present:—
Purple Cape, Green Cape, Grange’s Early, Early Purple, Early
White, Cream-coloured, Sulphur-coloured, Spring White, Late
Purple, Late Danish, Gillespie’s, Ellitson’s Gigantic Late White,
Wilcove’s Late White, Hammond’s White Cape, Dilcock’s Bride,
Knight’s Protecting, Chappel’s Large Cream, Portsmouth, Russian
Dwarf, Stewart’s Early White, Addison’s, and Penzance.
Of the autumnal sorts there should be two sowings, one
in the middle of April, and one in the middle of May.
As the plants acquire strength they are shifted into the
open ground, where they are placed in lines two feet
apart. The Cape varieties are of great excellence, being
of a delicious flavour when dressed; but on account of
the plants being apt to start into flower, their cultiva¬
tion has in many places been neglected. With proper
management, however, this tendency may be overruled.
The first sowing may be made on any border of light
soil, scattering the seed very sparingly. In about a
month the plants may be transferred directly into a
quarter consisting of sandy loam, well enriched with rot¬
ten dung. The greater part of the second crop should
be planted in pots likewise directly from the seed-bed.
These pots are to be sunk in the open ground till the
heads be formed; and in the end of November they are
to be placed under a glass frame, where very fine broc¬
coli may be produced during the severest weather of
winter.
The spring varieties are extremely valuable, as they
come at a season when the finer vegetables are scarce.
They are sown in the middle of March or the beginning
of April, and afford a supply from March to May inclu¬
sive of the following year.
To obtain seed of the Brassica tribe, true specimens
of the different varieties should be selected, in such a
state of advancement as that they will flower as early as
possible in spring. They should be planted in a an open
situation, and kept as far apart from other kinds of the
same tribe as possible. As they are very liable to cross
or hybridize, it is perhaps better, except in the case of
some favourite variety, to procure supplies from a re¬
spectable seedsman, from whom they are almost uni¬
formly to be had genuine, the extensive seed-growers
being at great pains to prevent intermixture of crops.
Leguminous Plants.
Of the Pea (Pisum sativum), there are two principal
varieties, the Field or Gray Hog Pea, and the Garden Pea. Kitchen
The latter alone requires our attention here. Its chief Garden,
subvarieties are :—
Bishop’s New Long Pod, Prince Albert, D’Auvergne, Dancer’s Mo¬
nastery, Knight’s Dwarf Marrow, Fairbeard’s Surprise, Fairbeard’s
Champion of England, Flack’s New Large Victory, Victoria Marrow,
Bedman’s Imperial, Hair’s Dwarf Mammoth, Lyn’s Prolific, True
Early Frame, Warwick. The last two and Prince Albert are
adapted for early crops, and the others for successional supplies.
In the Sugar Pea, of which there are two sorts, the tall and dwarf,
the inner filmy lining of the pod is absent, and the young legumes
are used like kidney-beans.
The first crop of peas is sown about the beginning of
November, in front of a south wall; and these, after
they have appeared above ground, are defended by spruce
fir branches, or other spray, throughout the winter. In
January and February other sowings are made, and
sometimes the seed is put into flower-pots and boxes,
and the young plants afterwards planted out in spring.
From the end of February moderate sowings should be
made twice a month till the middle of August, thus in¬
suring a supply of successive crops of delicate green peas.
For the latest crops, the Early Frame and the Charlton
are the best. Peas are in general sown in rows from
three to five feet asunder, according to the height which
the different sorts are known usually to attain; but it is
better to sow them in single lines at from ten to fifty or
sixty feet apart, and sow the intermediate spaces with
other crops. As they grow up the earth is drawn up
to the roots, and the stems are supported with stakes, a
practice which, in a well kept garden, is always advis¬
able, although it is said that the early varieties, when
recumbent, arrive sooner at maturity.
The early crops come into use in May and June, and
by repeated sowings, the supplies are prolonged to No¬
vember. Peas grown late in autumn are subject to mil¬
dew, to obviate which, Mr Knight has proposed the fol¬
lowing method. The ground is dug over in the usual
way, and the spaces to be occupied by the future rows
of peas are well soaked with water. The mould on each
side is then collected, so as to form ridges seven or eight
inches high, and these ridges are well watered. On these
the seed is sown in single rows. If dry weather should
at any time set in, water is supplied profusely once a-week,
In this way the plants continue green and vigorous,
resisting mildew, and not yielding till subdued by frost.
Of the Garden-bean (Faba vulgaris), amongst many
varieties may be mentioned:—
The Early Mazagan, Early Lisbon, Long Pod, Green Genoa,
Windsor, Green Windsor, White-blossomed, New Royal Dwarf
Cluster, Marshall’s Early Dwarf Prolific, Green China, Dwarf Crim¬
son-seeded.
The Mazagan and Lisbon are sown in November, and
are defended during winter in the same manner as early
peas, but they are more difficult to preserve. The same
sorts should be sown again in January and February.
In March the New Royal Dwarf Cluster and Long-pod
may be put in the ground for a general crop, and subse¬
quently the Windsor and White-blossomed. The latter
is a variety of considerable merit, and when the pods are
taken at an early stage, they have little of the peculiar
bean flavour, or only enough to render them pleasant.
During the growth of the bean crop, all the culture
necessary is, that the earth be drawn up about the roots.
Topping the plants is usually practised, being found to
promote the filling of the pods.
Kidney-bean. Under this general title are included
the common kidney-bean (Phaseolus vulgaris, Lin.) of
many varieties ; and also the Scarlet Runner (P. multi-
HORTICULTURE.
739
Kitchen Jlorus, Willd.) Kidney beans are the haricots of the
Garden^ ^ French, who enumerate upwards of 200 varieties. The
sorts usually cultivated in this country are :—
Early Red Speckled, Early Black, Early White, White Battersea,
White Canterbury, Black Speckled, Brown Speckled, Scarlet
Runner, Dutch White, Early Dwarf Dutch, Fulmer’s Early Dwarf,
Wilmot’s Forcing Cream-coloured, Black Belgian, Newington
Wonder—the last two are the best of the family—Dwarf Negro,
Long-podded Negro, Sabre.
The first three, and Fulmer’s Early Dwarf, are the
earliest; the others are more productive, and better fitted
for a general crop. As the plant is of tropical origin,
our climate is scarcely sufficient for the extensive cultiva¬
tion of the ripe beans, which are the principal object in
France and Italy. The immature legumes are chiefly
used in this country.
It is seldom advantageous to sow kidney-beans in the
open ground before the middle or end of April; after
which period successive sowings may be made every
fourteen days to the end of July. The plants are grown
in rows two feet apart, and the earth is carefully drawn
to the roots. Kidney-beans are well adapted for forcing,
in hotbeds, or in hothouses; the climate of the Peach-
house, when it can be obtained, being considered the
best. The sowings may begin in January; they are
made in pots, and a supply may be thus obtained in the
months of March, April, and May. Wilmot’s, Fulmer’s,
and Newington Wonder, are the best for forcing.
Esculent Roots.
The Potato (Solanum tuberosum). This well-known
plant is a native of the elevated regions of equatorial
America. It was introduced into Europe about the
middle of the 16th century, but remained little known
or regarded till within the last hundred years ; it is now
so generally cultivated, as to have effected almost an
economical revolution in this country. Most of the
original British sorts were derived from Ireland. Its
multitudinous varieties now set enumeration at defiance,
and many are indeed appearing and disappearing every
year. The descriptive list of Messrs P. Lawson and
Son contains 175 sorts. The culture of the late sorts
properly belongs to the farm, and when the gardener
has to take them under his care, he will find it best to
adopt such as are common in the agriculture of the dis¬
trict. Of the early kinds, most of which are supposed
to have originated in Lancashire, the following may be
esteemed the best:—
Early Royal Dwarf, Early Ash-leaved, Early Frame, Early Kid¬
ney, Walnut-leaved Kidney; Tyer’s Early and Golden Dwarf are the
best fitted for forcing and very early crops; and the Forty-fold, Ameri¬
can Early, Lapstone Kidney, Fluke, Alstone Kidney, are the best for
general crops ; while the Prince Regent, Stafford Hall, and Pink
Eyed, continue good till May or June.
Potatoes are commonly propagated by dividing the
tubers, leaving to each segment one or two eyes or buds.
The sets are then planted by the aid of the dibble or
spade, in x-ows at a distance varying from fifteen inches
to two feet. It has been suggested by Mr Knight
{London Hortic. Trans, vol. vii.), and his views have been
amply confirmed by experiment, that by planting whole
tubers, and at greater distances, a larger produce will be
obtained. Mr Knight proposed to leave four feet be¬
tween the rows, a distance which, except with the larger
varieties, was found to be too great. An experienced
horticulturist in Scotland states, that by planting whole
tubers, and by leaving in the case of dwarfs two feet, and
in the tall varieties two feet and a half, between the
rows, a return from one-third to one-half more was
obtained than could be had by the old method. Of
course a greater quantity of tubers is required for plant¬
ing, but this bears no proportion to the great increase Kitchen
which results ; and besides, early potatoes at the planting Gar<leu.
season being unfit for eating, there is little economy in
sparing them.
The earliest crops should, if possible, be placed in a
light soil and in a warm situation, and be planted about
the middle of March. Sometimes the eyes of the tubers
are made to spring or vegetate on a hotbed, and the
plants are put out as soon as the leaves can bear the open
air. When the sprouts are about two inches long, they
may be planted out towards the end of March. Young
potatoes are thus procured in seven or eight weeks. A
secondary planting of tubers should be made before the
middle of April. When the stems are a few inches
above ground, the earth should be drawn to them; an
operation, however, which, while it improves the crop,
delays its maturity for two or three weeks. Mr Knight
recommends removing the flowers as they appear, and
states that by this means the produce is increased by a
ton per acre. The fine early varieties, however, scarcely
produce any flowers.
An important fact in the cultivation of the potato
was observed about the year 1806, by Mr Thomas
Dickson of Edinburgh, viz., that the most healthy and
productive plants were to be obtained by employing as
seed-stock unripe tubers, or even by planting only the
wet or least-ripened ends of long-shaped potatoes ; and
he proposed this as a preventive of the well-known
disease called the Curl. This view has been confirmed by
Mr Knight. An intelligent writer in the Gardener's
Magazine (vol. ii. p. 171) states a method by Avhich
sprouting of the eyes is accelerated. He takes up the
seed potatoes a considerable time before they are ripe,
and exposes them for some weeks to the influence of a
scorching sun. The resulting crop is at least a fortnight
earlier; but it is not said how this practice affects the curl.
The forcing of early potatoes on hotbeds has long
been practised; but it is attended with considerable
trouble and expense. Small supplies of young waxy
tubers are now often produced during winter, in boxes
placed in a Mushroom-house, or in a common cellar, if
free from frost. In October, old potatoes are placed in
layers, alternating with a mixture of tree leaves and
light mould. Vegetation soon proceeds ; and there being
no opportunity for the unfolding of stems and leaves,
the energies of the plants are expended in the production
of young tubers. Before midwinter these often attain
the size and appearance of early potatoes; but they are
much inferior, being watery and of little flavour. Of
late years the potato has been so seriously attacked by
an epidemic disease, as almost to threaten its total ex¬
tinction. The cause of this has led to much controversy
without any satisfactory result. Potatoes were more
healthy in 1855 than they have been in any year since
the appearance of the disease, and there is hope that the
malignity of the epidemic is passing away.
Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), or
tuberous-rooted sunflower. This plant, which is a native
of Brazil, derives its epithet Jerusalem from a corruption of
the Italian Girasole, a sunflower, and Artichoke from the
resemblance, in flavour, which its tubers bear to the
floral receptacles or bottoms of the artichoke. It is pro¬
pagated by means of its tubers in the manner of potatoes.
In March they are planted out in rows three or four feet
asunder, and in autumn the new tubers are fit for use.
For the sake of convenience, it is advantageous to store
them, though the roots are hardy enough to bear the
Avinter frosts. Some, indeed, alloAv them to remain in the
ground, and dig them up when required. In this way a
HORTICULTURE.
740
Kitchen sufficient number of sets is generally left in the ground,
^Garden. ^ an(j gtai]jS are thinned into rows in summer; but this
is a slovenly mode of treatment, and seldom produces
well-flavoured crops. To insure large tubers, a rich soil
is required, and if of a peaty nature so much the better.
The Turnip (Brassica Rapa), like the potato, has, to a
great extent, migrated into the fields, and become the
care of the husbandman more than of the gardener. The
following are the most esteemed garden sorts:—
Early 'White Dutch, Early Stone, Green-topped White, Long
White, Early Yellow Maltese, Dutch Yellow, Aberdeen Yellow,
Long Yellow, Robertson’s Golden Stone, Yellow Jelly, Finland,
Early Six Weeks.
Besides these, the Navet of the French (Brassica Napus
v. esculenta) is occasionally cultivated, and more frequently
the Swedish Turnip (Brassica campestris v. Napo-bras-
sica, L.), which is a most excellent winter sort, though it
belongs more properly to the farm. For early crops, the
wdiite Dutch is the principal variety; the other white
sorts, and the beautiful yellow Maltese, are useful in
summer and in the beginning of autumn. The yellow
Dutch, being capable of enduring any degree of frost,
affords the best winter supplies.
Turnips succeed best in a rich, well-worked soil, of a
light or medium quality. The first sowing is made about
the end of March, in a warm situation; and it is usual
to put in additional sowings, once a fortnight or three
weeks, till the end of August. The early crops are
sown broadcast, and the later in drills. After the plants
have shewn a rough leaf or two, they are thinned out,
being left at the distance of eight or ten inches in the
drill; and the ground is hoed and kept free from weeds.
As turnips which have stood the winter throw up their
seed-stalks early in spring, after which their roots be¬
come stringy, and are much deteriorated, it is useful to
store the turnips in winter, keeping them in a close place,
and covering them with straw. Seed from three to four
years old is better than that of the preceding season,
particularly for the early varieties, the plants from such
being less liable to run to seed without forming bulbs.
The same holds good in field culture, while the plants
run less to leaves and expend their energies in the forma¬
tion of larger and better formed bulbs.
The young plants, while in the seed-leaf, are often
destroyed by a small beetle called the turnip-fly (Haltica
nemorum). Many remedies have been proposed ; it has
been found beneficial to dust the rows with quicklime ;
but perhaps the best precaution is to sow thick, and thus
insure a sufficient supply both for the insect and the crop.
The Carrot (Daucus Carota) is one of our native
Umbelliferae, but has been much transformed by cultiva¬
tion. The best varieties are the Early Horn and the
Long Horn, the former for early, the latter for general
cultivation. The Altringham is also a good garden
sort. The carrot loves a light, deep, fresh soil, in which
it may be at liberty to push down its long spindle-shaped
roots. A few Early Horn carrots may be sown in
February on a moderate hotbed. In the beginning of
March, the same sort may be sown in the open air. In
April, the other sorts may follow as a general crop;
it succeeds best in drills. In many old gardens the early
plants are liable to the attacks of a small grub, the larva
of Psila rosce, or carrot-fly; it is therefore a useful pre¬
caution to sow a moderate crop of the Early Horn
variety in July. After sowing, it is only necessary to
thin the plants and keep them clear of weeds. The roots
are stored in winter in the manner of turnips.
The Parsnep (Pashnaca sativa) is now less cultivated
than it was in Catholic times, when it was a favourite Kitchen
accompaniment to dried fish in Lent. To some its ,^r^en-
flavour is not agreeable ; but it is a very nutritious
vegetable, and of easy digestion. Like the carrot, its
root is long and tapering, differing chiefly in being of a
whitish colour. Its culture is also very much the same.
The best sorts are :—
The Long Jersey, Early Short Horn, Turnip-rooted, and Hollow-
crowned.
Red Beet (Beta vulgaris) is a biennial plant, a native
of the shores of the south of Europe. The boiled root is
eaten cold, either by itself or as a salad; it is also often
used as a pickle. The varieties are numerous, but the
best are—
Barrat’s New Crimson, Whyte’s Black, Glen Dwarf Red, Atkin’s
Crimson, and New Blood-red or Mulberry.
There is a fine French variety called Castelnaudary,
from a town in Languedoc, which is esteemed for its
peculiar flavour.
Red beet prospers in a rich, deep soil, not recently
manured, and which has been well pulverized by the
spade. During April the seeds may be sown in drills,
fifteen inches asunder, and the plants are afterwards to
be thinned to eight inches from each other in the lines.
In the northern parts of the island, the roots are stored
in winter, care being taken not to break them or cut off
the leaves too closely, as they bleed when injured.
Skirret (Sium Sisarum) is a native of China, too sel¬
dom seen in our gardens. Its tubers are used like pars-
neps. It is a perennial, and may be propagated by
separating the roots in spring; but it succeeds better by
annual sowings, which may be made in April.
Scorzonera (Scorzonera Hispanica) and Salsify (Tra-
gopogon porrifolius) are generally associated together in
gardens, and are now less cultivated than they deserve.
The roots are used in soups, and sometimes as dressed
side dishes. They are sown in lines, and treated like
the crops of red beet or parsnep.
The Radish (Raphanus sativus) is a native of China.
There are two principal varieties, the spindle-rooted and
the turnip-rooted radish; and of these the subvarieties
are numerous. The following may be mentioned :—
Early Frame Scarlet, Short-topped Scarlet, Scarlet Salmon, Long
White, White Turnip, Yellow Turnip, White Spanish, Black
Spanish.
The first two and the white turnip radish are best suited
for early crops; the scarlet salmon for summer, the
yellow turnip for autumn, and the white and black
Spanish for winter.
Some cultivators sow their earliest crop in November,
in a warm situation, at the foot of a wall or in front of a
pinery, and continue sowing once a-month, if weather
permit, during winter. Others grow their first radishes
under frames, aiding vegetation by a slight bottom-heat.
As the season advances, successional supplies are sown
once a fortnight. From the middle of July to the
middle of September, the turnip-radishes are sown from
time to time ; and on the approach of frost they may be
stored up in sand like carrots, and kept throughout
winter.
Oxalis Roots (Oxalis crenata, Jacq. ; 0. arracacha,
G. Don) and some other species of the genus, have of
late years been cultivated for the table in this country.
They are not, however, held in much esteem, and are
HORTICULTURE.
Kitchen very rarely cultivated. The same may be said of the
^uaroen^ recently introduced Dioscoria Japonica.
Alliaceous Plants.
The Onion {Allium Cepa) is too well known to require
description ; it has been cultivated in this country from
time immemorial. Among the varieties may be enume¬
rated :—
Strashurgh, Deptford, James’s Keeping, Silver-skinned, White
Portugal, Blood Red, Potato Onion, Brown Globe, New White
Globe, Reading, Tripoli, Madeira Large, Lisbon.
Besides these, the Welsh Onion or Ciboule {Alliumjistu-
losum, L.), a native of Siberia, is sometimes grown for
scallions. For a general crop, the Strasburgh, Deptford,
and. Globe varieties may be esteemed the best. The
White Portugal grows to a large size, but does not keep
well. The Silver-skinned is chiefly used for pickling.
The onion affects a light, rich, well-worked soil, which
has not been recently manured. The principal crop may
be sown in the course of the month of March, according
to the state of the weather and the dryness of the ground!
Onions are grown in drills, ten inches apart, and are
regularly thinned, hoed, and kept free from weeds. About
the beginning of September the crop is ripe, which is
known by the withering of the leaves ; the roots are taken
up, and, after being well dried, are stored in a garret
or loft, where they may be perfectly secured from damp.
Towards the end of August a secondary crop is sown,
to afford a supply of young onions or scallions, as they
are called, in the spring months. The Strasburgh and
White Portugal may be used for this purpose. Those
which are not required for the kitchen being allowed to
stand, if the flower-bud is picked out on its first appear¬
ance, and the earth stirred about them, frequently pro¬
duce bulbs equal in size and quality to the large ones
that are imported from the Continent.
Some horticulturist srecommend the transplanting
of onions. Knight sows the White Portugal onion in
spring under the shade of a tree, where it remains of a
diminutive size. The onions are kept over winter, and
are planted out in the succeeding spring. Some cultiva¬
tors used to collect all the minute bulbs of the ordinary
crop, and use them, in the same way ^ while others con¬
fined the operation to one summer, and sowed in Feb¬
ruary on a slight hotbed, or sometimes merely under a
glass frame. In the first or second week of April,
accoi ding to the state of the weather, they are transplanted
in rows, eight inches asunder, and at the distance of four
or five inches in the row. Previously to planting, the roots
of the seedlings are dipped in a puddle of one part of soot to
three parts of earth, an expedient which is found to secure
the transplanted onions from the grub. Onions thus
treated attain a large size. Autumn-sown onions sub¬
mitted to a similar treatment produce excellent crops.
The Potato Onion is propagated by the lateral bulbs,
which it throws out, under ground, in considerable
numbers. It is planted about mid-winter, and ripens in
summer. Its flavour is strong, and not unpleasant; but
the plant being rather delicate and troublesome in culti¬
vation, is not likely to supersede the common onion.
The Pearl Onion produces clusters of small bulbs at
the root. These little bulbs are of a fine white colour,
like the silver-skinned onion, and very fit for pickling.
The Leek {Allium Porrum) is a native of Switzerland,
but has probably been cultivated in this island for many
centuries. The varieties are :—
n,Pe ^nd°n flaf- Musselburgh, Dutch flag, Erfurt, and Rouen,
Ot tnese the Musselburgh leek is considered the most hardy.
Leeks are sown in beds in spring; and in June or July
are planted out in rows fifteen or eighteen inches apart,
and six inches asunder between the rows. When the
weather is moist, it is found beneficial merely to lay the
plant into the hole made by the dibble, without closing
the earth upon it, the stem being by this means encou¬
raged to swell out and fill the hole, as well as bein0-
blanched at the same time.
Shallot {Allium Ascalomcuni) is a native of Palestine.
It is much used in cookery for high-flavoured soups and
gravies, and is sometimes put into pickles. It is propa¬
gated by offsets, which are commonly planted in Sep¬
tember or October. Some recommend the mixing of
soot with the manure as a protection against maggots,
by which this plant is greatly infested. Autumn planting,
however, is found the best expedient, as the bulbs are
ripe before the larvae commence their depredations,
There are two sorts, the Common, and the Russian which
is much larger and less pungent.
Garlic {Allium sativum) and Rocambole {Allium
Scorodoprasum), though common ingredients in Conti¬
nental cookery, are comparatively seldom used in this
country. A few rows will generally be found sufficient,
They are propagated by offsets from the roots, or by the
bulbils which grow on the flower-stem. The Chive or
Give {Allium Schcenoprasum), a pleasant little native plant,
is used occasionally as salad and alliaceous seasoning.
A single row may be planted as an edging, and it is
easily increased by parting the roots in spring and autumn.
Spinaceous Plants.
Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) is an annual plant, and is
a native of M^estern Asia. It has long been cultivated
foi the sake of its succulent leaves, which, when properly
dressed, form a pleasant and nutritious article of food.
There are three varieties; the round-leaved or smooth-
seeded, the angular-leaved or prickly-seeded, and the
Handers. The two latter, as being the most hardy,
are used for the winter crop.
The first sowing is made in August, in some sheltered
but not shaded situation ; the plants, as they advance,
are thinned, and the ground is hoed. In the beginning
of winter the outer leaves become fit for use ; in mild
weather, successive gatherings are obtained, and, with
proper management, the crop may be prolonged to the
beginning of May.
To afford a succession crop, the seeds of the round¬
leaved variety should be sown in the end of January,
and again in February and March. From this period
it is proper to sow small quantities once a fortnight,
summer spinach lasting only a very short time. The
open spaces between the lines of peas will generally afford
enough of room for these transient crops. They are
generally sown in shallow drills, and are thinned out
and weeded as may be required.
White Beet (Beta Cicla) is cultivated for the leaves,
which are used as spinach. The midribs and stalks of
the great white beet, when separated from the leaves,
are stewed and eaten as asparagus, under the name of
Swiss Chard. The culture does not differ materially
from that of the red beet.
Garden Orache (Atriplex hortensis), Wild Spinach
(Chenopodium Bonus Henncus), and Garden Patience
741
Kitchen
Garden.
742
HOETICULTUEE.
Kitchen (Rumex Patientia), are sometimes used in place of com-
Garden. mon spinach ; but as, in this country at least, they are
deemed rather curious than useful, it may be sufficient to
indicate their names. The same may be said of the
New Zealand Spinach (Tetragonia expansa), and Quinoa
Spinach (Chempodium Quinoa.)
Asparaginous Plants.
Asparagus {Asparagus officinalis) is a perennial plant,
a native of the shores of Britain, where it occurs spar¬
ingly, and of the steppes in the east of Europe. Though
somewhat unpromising while in a state of nature, it
affords, in cultivation, an esculent of considerable value,
and is therefore grown extensively both in private and
in sale gardens. The principal varieties are the Red-
topped and the Green-topped, of which the latter, while it
is less succulent, is considered the better flavoured.
There are numerous subvarieties, such as the Battersea,
Gravesend, Giant, &c., which differ only slightly or not
at all from those already mentioned.
Asparagus, growing naturally on loose sand, loves a
light deep soil, through which it may be able to shoot its
long stringy roots. Two feet and a half is considered a
desirable depth, but in France the ground is sometimes
prepared, by sifting to double that depth. A consider¬
able portion of well-rotted dung or of recent sea-weed is
laid in the bottom of the trench, which may be from two
to three feet deep ; and another top-dressing of manure
should be digged in preparatory to planting or sowing.
The older horticulturists used to grow their asparagus in
beds four or five feet wide, with intervening alleys of
about eighteen inches in breadth. At present, in Scot¬
land, it is customary to sow or plant in rows from three
to four feet asunder; a method which, in every way, is
found to be most convenient. Except where the garden
is new, when, of course, it is advantageous to procure a
supply of ready grown plants, it is thought preferable to
keep up the stock of asparagus by sowing.
The sowing is made in March, in slight drills; and,
as a portion of the seed often fails to germinate, it is a
good precaution to employ nearly a double quantity of
seed. If the plants come up too thickly, they may be
thinned out towards the end of the first summer, to the
distance of about six inches in the rows. The ground is
hoed, and kept clear of weeds. It is a common practice
to take slight crops of onions, lettuce, cauliflower, or tur¬
nip, between the lines of asparagus during the first, and,
if the rows be wide, also during the second year. The
young heads or stalks, the part used, should not be cut
before the third spring, and they are not in perfection
till the fourth or fifth.
The asparagus quarter can scarcely be over manured.
The proper time to perform this operation is in the end
of autumn, when the annual flower stalks are removed,
preparatory for winter. When beds are employed, their
surface should be stirred with a fork; a layer of well-
rotted hotbed dung is then laid on, and the whole
covered with a sprinkling of earth from the alleys. If
the plants are grown in rows, the manure is simply dug
in by means of a three-pronged fork, care being taken
not to injure the i-oots. This operation is repeated
annually. No other culture is required; but it is ne¬
cessary to observe a due moderation in reaping the crop,
as the shoots, when much cut, become progressively
smaller and less valuable. Hence a considerable quan¬
tity of ground is required for the cultivation of this vege¬
table, and it is a general rule never to gather it after peas
have come into season.
Asparagus readily admits of being forced. The most
common method is to prepare, early in the year, a
moderate hotbed of stable litter, and to cover it with a
common frame. After the heat of fermentation has
somewhat subsided, the surface of the bed is covered
with a layer of light earth or exhausted tan-bark, and in
this the roots of plants five or six years old are closely
placed. The crowns of the roots are then covered with
two or three inches of soil. A common three-light frame
may hold 500 or 600 plants, and will afford a supply for
several weeks. After planting, linings are applied when
necessary, and air is occasionally admitted. Care must
be taken not to scorch the roots. Where there are pits
for the culture of late melons or succession pine plants,
such as the Alderston-pit, or the succession-pit with the
hot water circulation, they may advantageously be ap¬
plied to this purpose ; but a pit heated in the tank manner
is by far the most convenient and certain.
It has been recommended {Lond. Hortic. Trans, vol. v.)
to force asparagus on the ground on which it grows.
This practice is very generally followed on the Continent,
but the result is by no means to be compared with that of
taking up the roots and treating them as above. A
succession of crops must be maintained by annually sow¬
ing or planting new beds so as to keep up the supply.
Before leaving this subject, it may be mentioned, that
about Bath, the young flower-spikes of Orniihogalum py-
renaicum, found native in that neighbourhood, are used
like asparagus, under the name of Prussian grass.
Kitchen
Garden.
Sea-kale {Crambe maritima) is a perennial plant,
growing spontaneously on the shores of the southern
parts of the island. The roots are spreading, the leaves
waved, glaucous, and covered with a fine mealy bloom,
and the stalks rise to about two feet high, bearing white
flowers, which smell of honey, followed by seed-pods,
each containing a single seed.
The country people in the west of England have long
been accustomed to use in spring the young shoots,
which, by passing through the sand and gravel on which
they grow, are somewhat blanched and rendered tender.
In conformity with this practice, the cultivation formerly
recommended consisted merely in covering the beds on
the approach of spring with a little dry earth or sand,
in order to blanch or intenerate the shoots. These
were cut as they appeared in March and April. Now,
however, the blanching is not only much more com¬
pletely effected, but simple means have been devised for
supplying the table for half the year, including all the
winter months. It has, within these few years, become
a vegetable of common occurrence in the markets both
of London and Edinburgh.
Sea-kale seems partial to a light dry soil. If manure
be added, it should consist of sea-weed or leaves of trees.
The plants may be propagated by offsets, or small pieces
of the roots having buds or eyes attached to them ; but
the most eligible method is by seed. We have seen very
tolerably blanched stalks produced by plants only nine
months old from the seed, and after two summers, seed¬
ling plants will have acquired sufficient strength for gene¬
ral cropping. The soAving is made in March, the seeds
being deposited in patches of three or four together, the
patches being arranged in lines three feet apart, and two
feet in the line. In order to secure a succession, and to
obviate the bad effects of forcing, it is proper to sow a
few lines of sea-kale every year.
With the aid of pots, sea-kale is forced in the open
border in the way now to be described. In the latter
end of autumn, the plants are dressed, that is, the stalks
are cut over, and the decayed leaves are removed. The
ground is, at the same time, loosened about the eyes, and
a thin stratum of gravel or sifted coal-ashes mixed with
HORTICULTURE.
743
Kitchen galt5 is laid on the surface to keep down earth-worms.
A pot with a moveable cover is placed over each plant
or each patch of plants. Leaves of trees are then closely
packed all round the pots, and raised up to about a foot
above them ; the whole thus assuming the form and ap¬
pearance of a large hotbed. When fermentation com¬
mences, a thermometer should be occasionally introduced
into a few of the pots, to ascertain that the temperature
within does not exceed 60° Fahrenheit, and the depth of
the leaves is to be regulated accordingly. The vegetation
of the included plants is speedily promoted ; so that, in
the space of a month or six weeks, the shoots will be
ready for cutting, and, being thus excluded from the light,
they are most effectually blanched, and are exceedingly
tender and crisp. By means of the moveable lids, the
plants are examined and the shoots gathered without ma¬
terially disturbing the covering. By commencing at
various times, a supply for the table can be readily fur¬
nished from the middle of November till the middle of May.
The Artichoke (Cynara Scolymus) is a perennial plant,
a native of the south of Europe, and is a well-known
inhabitant of our gardens. It resembles a thistle on a
large scale. In France, the entire head or whole leaves
of the involucre of the artichoke are eaten, when in a
young and tender state, en poivrade, or with pepper, salt,
and vinegar ; but in this country the only parts used are
the base of the leaves of the involucre, and the immature
floral receptacle, or phoranthium, commonly called the
bottom, freed from the bristly seed-down which has been
called the choice. The varieties are the Conical or French,
the Globe or Red Artichoke, and the Dwarf Globe. Of
these the first is the highest flavoured, the second is well
adapted for a general crop, and the third is prolific, and
occupies little room.
The artichoke loves a deep cool dry soil. It is propa¬
gated by parting the roots in April, the sets being planted
in rows four or five feet asunder, and two feet apart in
the rows. The young plants generally afford a crop
which succeeds that of old plants; and for this reason a
new plantation is made in some gardens every year.
During summer the plants are kept clear of weeds, but
require little other attention. In November the decayed
stems and leaves are removed, and the ground cleared.
In some gardens the earth is ridged slightly around the
roots, in order to defend the stools from the frost. This,
however, is done more effectually by a covering of sifted
coal ashes or rotten tan, of the depth of a foot, drawn
close round the base of the leaves. In April this pro¬
tection is taken away, the stocks are examined, and two
or three only of the strongest shoots are permitted to re¬
main. The offsets, which are carefully removed, afford
materials for a young plantation. The ground between
the rows is forked over. At this time manure may be
applied; well-rotted hotbed dung, and above all sea¬
weed, being considered preferable.
The Cardoon {Cynara Cardunculus) is a perennial
plant, a native of the south of France and Spain. It has
a close resemblance to the artichoke, but surpasses it in
size. The edible part, or chard, as it is called, is com¬
posed of the blanched and crisp stalks of the inner leaves.
Besides the common sort there is a prickly variety, known
in France by the name of the Cardoon of Tours. The
common artichoke is also used for the production of
chard. Cardoons are found to prosper on light deep
soil. The seed is sown annually about the middle of
May, in shallow trenches, like those for celery, and the
plants are thinned out to ten or twelve inches from each
other in the lines. In Scotland it is preferable to sow
the seed in small pots, one seed in each, placing them in Kitchen
a mild temperature, and when the plants have attained
the height of eight or ten inches, to transplant them into
the trenches. In dry weather water is copiously sup¬
plied, not only to increase the succulence of the leaves,
but to prevent the formation of flower-stalks, which
render the plant useless. In autumn the leaves are ap¬
plied close to each other, and wrapped round with bands
of hay or straw, the points of the leaves only being left
free. Earth is then drawn up around the leaf-stems to
the height of fifteen or eighteen inches. Sometimes car¬
doons are blanched by a more thorough earthing up, in
the manner of celery, but in this case the operation must be
carried on from the endof summer. During severe frost the
tops of the leaves should be defended with straw or litter.
The Rampion (Campanula Rapunculus) is an English
native biennial, the roots of which, under the nanTe of
ramps, are used as a salad, or boiled like asparagus. It
is but little cultivated in this country. The seed is sown
broadcast about the beginning of June, in a cool situa¬
tion, and the young plants are merely to be thinned and
kept clear of weeds. On the approach of frost, the roots,
which somewhat resemble small radishes, are stored in
sand, and will keep fresh and firm till spring.
Salads, fyc.
Lettuce {Lactuca sativa) is a hardy annual, hut of
what country it is a native is unknown. Some suppose
it to be a seminal variety of the native L. virosa, a
poisonous plant, “which,” says Professor Lindley,
“ would not be more remarkable than the fact, that the
indigenous celery is one of our strongest poisons.” Be¬
sides its well known uses, it may be mentioned that the
late Dr. Duncan senior, of Edinburgh, prepared from its
milky juice a medicine denominated Lactucarium, simi¬
lar in its action to opium, but capable of being adminis¬
tered in cases where that powerful drug is inadmissible.
There are two principal varieties, the Cos or upright,
and the Cabbage-lettuce. The subvarieties are nume¬
rous ; we may mention the following:—
Early Forcing Cos, White Cos, Cilicia, White Cabbage, Brown
Dutch Cabbage, Imperial Cabbage, Grand Admiral, Green Paris
Cos, Paris White Cos, Brown Cos, Wait’s White Cos, Neapolitan
Cabbage, Malta Cabbage, Hardy Green Hammersmith, Tennis
Ball, Black-seeded Grotte.
By proper care fresh lettuce may be had throughout the
whole year. The first sowing is made in January, in
some sheltered situation, or under hand-glasses, or in
February on a gentle hotbed. The seedlings are trans¬
planted as soon as the weather will permit. A second
sowing may be made in the beginning of March, and an¬
other in April. Besides the ordinary compartments, the
seedlings may be planted on celery ridges, between rows
of slight crops of other vegetables, and, in short, in any
odd corner which may occur. To obtain a winter sup¬
ply, a sowing is made in August or September, and the
plants are pricked out in October, along the bottom of
walls, or under glazed frames.
Endive (Cichorium Endivia) is an annual plant, a native
of China, from which it was introduced in 1548. It is
the lettuce of winter, the blanched hearts being used for
salads and in soups.
There are two highly marked varieties, namely, the Batavian or
broad-leaved and the Curled, and of these there are many sub-
varieties, the best of which are, the Broad-leaved Batavian, Narrow¬
leaved Batavian, and Lettuce-leaved Batavian. Of Curled sub-
varieties, Large Green Curled, Small Green Curled, White Curled,
Italian Green Curled, and Triple Curled Moss.
A sowing maybe made in the beginning of June, and
another in July, the seeds being scattered very sparsely,
HORTICULTURE.
744
Kitchen that the plants may not come up in clusters. The seed-
Garden. ljngg are transplanted into a rich soil, and are arranged
in rows twelve or fifteen inches asunder, and at the dis¬
tance of ten inches in the row. Sometimes they are
planted in drills to facilitate the operation of blanching.
The latter crop should be placed in a sheltered situation,
where it may be able to withstand the winter. When
the plants have reached their maturity, the leaves are
gathered up, and tied together an inch or two below the
tips, and afterwards about the middle of the plant. In
two or three weeks they are found sufficiently blanched
for use. In winter it is necessary to draw the earth quite
up about the leaves. At that season, too, the plants
may be inserted into a sloping bank of earth, or blanched
in boxes in the Mushroom-house, or in a cellar.
Succory {Cichorium Intybus) is an indigenous plant,
the cultivation of which may be said to have been intro¬
duced by the foreign refugees during the French revolu¬
tionary war. By the French it is much esteemed as a
winter salad, and Avhen blanched, is known by the name
of Barbe du Capucin. When intended for winter use, the
seed is sown in Mayor June, commonly in drills, and the
plants are thinned out to four inches apart. If at first the
leaves grow very strong, owing to wet weather, they are
cut off perhaps in the middle of August, about an inch
from the ground, so as to promote the production of new
leaves, and check the formation pf flower-stems. About
the beginning of October the plants are raised from the
border; all the large leaves are cut off; the roots are also
shortened. They are then planted pretty closely together
in boxes filled with rich light mould, and watered when
needful. When frost comes on, the boxes are protected
by any kind of haulm. As the salad is wanted, they are
removed into some place having a moderately increased
temperature, but with little light, such as a Mushroom-
house or cellar off the kitchen. Each box affords two
crops of blanched leaves, and these are reckoned fit for
cutting when about six inches long. The roots of this
plant, it may be added, have been employed as a substi¬
tute for coffee-beans, and in Flanders, and some parts of
France, a portion of them is very often mixed with
coffee.
Parsley (Apium Petroselinurn) is a biennial plant, of
well-known use in cookery. It is said to be a native of
Sardinia, but it now grows spontaneously in various parts
of Britain. The varieties are the Common, the Curled¬
leaved, and the Hamburg, the last of which is cultivated
for the sake of its tuberous roots. Parsley loves a light
rich soil. It is sown in drills about the beginning of
March, and the seed lies some weeks in the ground
before the plants appear. As they grow up they are
thinned out, and are defended by branches or other
coverings from hard weather in winter. The Hamburg
variety being cultivated for its roots, is sown about the
same time in a well trenched soil, in drills a foot apart,
and it is thinned to about nine inches in the rows. In
the beginning of November the roots are taken up and
stored in sand.
Celery {Apium graveojens) is a native biennial, an
inhabitant of the sides of ditches near the sea. In its
wild state it is of an acrid nature, and of a coarse rank
flavour; but by cultivation it is improved into one of
the most agreeable salads. There are two principal
varieties; celery properly so called, with upright stalks
and fibrous or slightly tuberous roots ; and celeriac with
large turnip-shaped roots. Of the former, the principal
subvarieties are:—
Cole’s Superb Eed, Cole’s Superb "White, Lion’s Paw, Seymour’s Kitchen
White Champion, Nutt’s Champion, Manchester Giant Eed, Wall’s Garden.
White, Cole’s Crystal White, and Cole’s Dwarf Eed.
Celery is usually sown at three different times; on a
hot-bed in the beginning of March, and in the open
ground in March, and again in April. The seedlings,
when about two inches high, are pricked into rich soil, in
which they are allowed to stand till they are four or five
inches high. The first crop is defended by frames or
hand-glasses, and is planted wide to admit of being
lifted with balls of earth adhering to the roots. Towards
the end of May trenches for blanching the celery are pre¬
pared. These trenches are three and a half or four feet
apart, fifteen inches wide at the bottom, and about a foot
below the natural level of the surface. The soil at the
bottom of the trench is carefully digged and manured,
and a single row of plants is placed in each trench.
Sometimes where a large supply is required, the trenches
are made six feet wide, and after a similar preparation,
rows fifteen or eighteen inches apart are planted across
the trenches. As the plants advance in growth, earth
is laid up about the stalks of the leaves, an operation
which is repeated at the end of every ten or fifteen days,
care being taken not to choke the plants. Many delay
the earthing up until the plants have nearly attained their
full size, when the operation is performed at once, and
it is believed that by this process the stalks are rendered
more crisp and tender. As the celery approaches maturity,
scarcely any thing but the tips of the leaves appear above
the ridges, and, when lifted, the stalks are found to be
completely blanched. Successional crops should be
planted out from the 1st of June till the 1st of August.
Celery loves a rich light soil and an abundance of moisture.
Celeriac, or turnip-rooted celery, is treated at first
like the early crop of common celery. In the beginning
or middle of June it is planted out in a flat bed, in drills
fifteen inches apart. A single earthing afterwards
suffices. Its large round roots are used in soups, and
are much relished by some. It is, however, more
attended to in France and the Low Countries than in
Britain.
Garden Cress (Lepidium sativum), and White Mus¬
tard (Sinapis alba) are generally associated in their use
as salads, and in their culture in the garden. They are
annual plants, and are eaten only when very young. In
winter they may be raised on a slight hotbed, or in
shallow boxes or pans placed in a temperature of 60° or
65°, in spring under hand-glasses, or in drills near a
south wall, and in summer, when they should be sown
once a fortnight, in drills, in any cool shady situation.
Table mustard (which is made from Sinapis nigra L.),
belongs rather to the department of agriculture. Durham
mustard, which is distinguished for its pungency, though
not remarkable for fine colour, is said to be made prin¬
cipally from the seeds of the common yellow field mus¬
tard or charlock {Sinapis arvensis L.)
Of Rhurarb {Rheum), several species and many varie¬
ties are cultivated for the purpose of supplying materials
for tarts, the foot-stalks of the leaves being well adapted
for that purpose, and coming into use at a most convenient
season. R. rhaponticum and palmatum were the species
first employed; but the sorts now preferred are seminal
varieties, mostly allied to R. hybridum and R. undulatum.
The following are the most worthy of notice:—
Myatt’s Victoria, Myatt’s Linnseus, Eoyal Albert, Britannia,
Goliath, Elford or Buck’s Early Scarlet.
They may be multiplied by dividing the roots, and
HORTICULTURE.
Kitchen this is the common practice ; hut they thrive much bet-
ter when grown from seed. Sir Joseph Paxton recom¬
mends sowing on a slight hotbed in spring, and trans¬
planting out in rows in the month of May. No stalks
are gathered from them for the first two years, but in the
third season they are fit for use. A portion of the crop
is allowed to come on under the general influence of the
season ; but much also is forced, which may be done in a
variety of ways. Some treat it like sea-kale, covering
the root, which is allowed to remain in the ground, with a
large pot or box, and wrapping it round with litter. Others
take up the roots in autumn, pot them, and force them in
the pits or Mushroom-houses. The best method is to
procure long narrow boxes of a moderate depth, and
to place them, packed full of roots, in a Mushroom-
house or cellar, where there is a considerable tem¬
perature. The rhubarb soon throws up its stalks,
and these being partially etiolated, possess a delicacy
and flavour superior to those grown in the open
air. It is easy, by varying the time of subjecting the
boxes to the increased temperature, to keep up a succes¬
sion of rhubarb stalks, from the period at which kitchen
apples become scarce or begin to lose their flavour, till
green gooseberries come into season.
The following annual plants are occasionally used in cookery, or
as salads:—Chervil, Scandix cerefolia; Purslane, Portulaca oleracea;
-Lamb's-lettuce, Fedia olitoria; Indian Cress, Tropseolum majus;
Marigold, Calendula officinalis ; Borage, Borago officinalis. These
may he sown in spring, or in the beginning of summer, in any fresh
light soils. In general a small quantity will suffice.
The Common Sorrel, Rumex acetosa; and the French Sorrel,
Rumex scutatus, which should give place to the Large Dutch; and
the Horse radish, Cochlearia Armoracia, are perennials, and are in¬
creased by parting their roots. They thrive in any cool shady situa¬
tion.
The Capsicum or Chile, Capsicum annuum, and the Love-Apple,
Solatium Lycopersicum, are tender annuals from tropical climates.
Both are sown in hotbeds in spring, and after being transplanted
and nursed in separate pots, are planted out, the former in a warm
border, and the latter against a wall. In Scotland the Capsicum
will scarcely mature its fruit without the aid of glass.
Bill, Anethum graveolens, and Angelica, Angelica archangelica,
are umbelliferous biennials, which have been for a long period,
though not extensively, cultivated in our gardens. They are easily
raised from seed. With these may be associated the beautiful peren¬
nial, Fennel, Anethum Foeniculum, used in salads and sauces.
It may be propagated either by parting the roots, or by seeds, which
should be sown in autumn soon after they are ripe.
In every garden there is a small department set apart for the
culture of Sweet Herbs and Medicinal Plants. We need not here
enter into details respecting their uses or culture, but shall merely
give classified lists.
Shrubby Plants increased by parting the roots, or by cuttings:—
Thyme, Thymus vulgaris ; Sage, Salvia officinalis; Winter Savory,
Satureja montana; Rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis ; Lavender,
Lavandula Spica ; Hyssop, Hyssopus officinalis; and Rue, Ruta
graveolens.
Perennial Herbaceous Plants, increased by parting the roots :—
Spearmint, Mentha viridis; Peppermint,. M. piperita ; Pennyroyal,
M. pulegium; Balm, Melissa officinalis; Tarragon, Artemisia
Dracunculus; Tansy, Tanacetum vulgare; Costmary, Balsamita
vulgaris ; Chamomile, Anthemis nobilis.
Biennial or Annual Plants, increased by sowing the seeds :—•
Clary, Salvia Solaria ; Coriander, Coriandrum sativum ; Caraway,
Carum Carui; Sweet Marjorum, Origanum majorana; Summer
Savory, Satureja hortensis ; Sweet Basil, Ocimum basilicum; and
Bush Basil, 0. minimum. These last, the basils, which are natives
of_ the Fast, and in much request for their delicate flavour, are
raised on hotbeds in spring, and transplanted with halls, into some
warm situation. In Scotland, they are mostly treated as tender
annuals, and are grown, under glazed frames, in flowerpots.
There are besides a few others, which, in each of the classes,
more properly belong to Dietetics, and Materia Medica. The young
green leaves of Prunus Laurocerasus (under the name of laurel),
may properly enough be employed in garnishing; but they ought
never to be used, as they too often are, for giving a nutty flavour,
or for greening^ other articles ; hydrocyanic acid being given out
and proving injurious, even in small quantities.
VOL. XI.
Flower
THE FLOWER GARDEN. Garden.
The cultivation of flowers, if not the most useful, is at
least one of the most pleasing occupations of the horticul¬
turist, and has generally shared largely in his attention.
It is probable that at first, flowers, as objects of curiosity,
were confined to a few patches or borders in the garden,
as is still the case in many old places; but in the
progress of art, and the diffusion of taste, separate
departments were allotted to them under the name of
Flower Gardens. After some general remarks on style
and situation, we shall treat of the component parts of
flower gardens, their various decorations, and of floricul¬
ture.
The designing of flower gardens unquestionably belongs
to the fine arts, involving in it, the exercise of invention,
taste, and foresight. Its principles are more vague and
evanescent than those of any of the sister arts. The hand
of the designer is not here guided by the imitation of
nature, for his work is wholly artificial in its arrange¬
ments and appliances; neither does utility come in, as in
architecture, to supply a form and frame-work, which it
is the artist’s part to adorn. “ As flower gardens,” says
Loudon, “are objects of pleasure, the principle which
must serve as a guide in laying them out, must be taste.
Now, in flower-gardens, as in other objects, there are
different kinds of tastes ; these embodied are called styles
or characters ; and the great art of the designer is, having
fixed on a style, to follow it out unmixed with other
styles, or with any deviation which would interfere with
the kind of taste or impression which that style is cal¬
culated to produce. Style, therefore, is the leading
principle in laying out flower gardens, as utility is in
laying out the culinary garden. As objects of fancy and
taste, the styles of flower gardens are various. The
modern style is a collection of irregular groups and
masses, placed about the house as a medium, uniting it
with the open lawn. The ancient geometric style, in
place of irregular groups, employed symmetrical forms;
in France, adding statues and fountains; in Holland,
cut trees and grassy slopes; and in Italy, stone walls,
walled terraces, and flights of steps. In some situations
these characteristics of parterres may, with propriety, be
added to or used instead of the modern sort, especially
in flat situations; such as are inclosed by high walls; in
towns, or where the principal building or object is in a
style of architecture which will not render these appen¬
dages incongruous. There are other characters of gar¬
dens, such as the Chinese, which are not widely different
from the modern ; the Indian, which consists chiefly of
walks under shade, in squares of grass; the Turkish,
which abounds in shady retreats, boudoirs of roses and
aromatic herbs; and the Spanish, which is distinguished
by trellis work and fountains ; but these last gardens are
not generally adapted to this climate, though, from con¬
templating and selecting what is beautiful or suitable in
each, a style of decoration for the immediate vicinity of
mansions, might be composed preferable to any thing now
in use.” It may, however, be remarked, that the flower
garden properly so called, has generally been too much
governed by the laws of landscape-gardening, and these
often ill-understood, and misapplied. In the days of
“ clipped hedges and pleached alleys,” the parterres and
flower-beds were of a description the most grotesque and
intricate imaginable. At a subsequent period, when the
natural and the picturesque became the objects of imita¬
tion in the park, there appeaipd the most extravagant
attempts at wildness in the garden. The result has been
unfortunate. It is not meant that when there are merely
5 B
746 H O R T I C
Flower a few patches of flowers by way of foreground to the
Garden. }awr]> ghould not be subordinated to the principles
which regulate the more distant and bolder scenery ; but
wherever there is a flower garden of considerable magni¬
tude, and in a separate situation, it should be constructed
on principles of its own. In such a spot, the great object
must be to exhibit to advantage the graceful forms and
glorious hues of flowering plants and shrubs; and it is
but seldom that mere elegancies in the forms of compart¬
ments, and other trickeries of human invention, can bear
any comparison with these natural beauties. To express
the peculiar nature of garden scenery, as distinct from
the picturesque in landscape, Loudon has invented
the term gardenesque; and, whatever may be thought of
the term itself, it is very desirable that the distinction
should be preserved.
Two varieties of flower gardens have chiefly prevailed
in Britain; one, in which the ground is turf, and the
pattern, so to speak, is composed of a variety of figures
cut out of the turf, and planted with flowers and shrubs ;
and another, when the flower-beds are separated by
gravel walks, without being interspersed with grass at
all. The choice of one or other of these varieties ought
greatly to depend upon the situation. When the flower
garden is to be seen from the windows, or any other
elevated point of view, from which the whole or the
greater part of the design may be perceived at once, per¬
haps the former should be preferred. Where the surface
is irregular, and the situation more remote, and especially
where the beauty of flowers is the chief object of contem¬
plation, the choice should probably fall on the latter.
This variety, too, seems preferable, on the principle of
contrast, where there are large lawns in the outer
grounds, in order that kept (or smoothly mown) grass
may not be found every where.
Respecting the situation of the flower garden, no very
precise directions can be given, as it must be influenced
by the nature of the lawns, and of the site of the man¬
sion to which it is attached. Generally speaking, it
should not be at any great distance from the house ; and
in places where there is no distant view of importance,
it may be constructed under the windows. In retired
scenes, it is delightful to step out of the drawing-room
into compartments of flowers, in the vicinity of a green¬
house or conservatory. On the other hand, when the
park is spacious, and the prospects extensive and pictu¬
resque, it is perhaps better that the flower garden should
be at some distance, say not more than a quarter of a
mile, and out of sight of the house, but with an easy
access in any sort of weather; an arrangement which
would give an agreeable termination to a short walk, a
desirable matter in most cases, for it has been often
remarked that many parts of extensive grounds remain
unvisited, because they afford no remarkable object to
attract the attention.
The particular form of a flower garden is equally be¬
yond the inculcation of specific rules. Indeed, it may
be of any shape, and, except where the dimensions are
extremely limited, the boundaries should not be conti¬
nuously visible. The taste of the proprietor or designer,
and the capabilities of the situation, must determine not
only the external configuration, but also the arrangement
of the interior parts. By judicious management, it may
be made to pass through shrubbery, gradually assuming
a more woodland character, and groups of trees, into the
paik on the one hand, and into the kitchen garden or
orchard on the other. In most cases, even when it is in
the vicinity of the manSion-house, the flower garden
should be encircled with some sort of fence, in order to
convey the idea of protection, as well as to furnish secu-
UL T URE.
rity to. the vegetable inmates of the parterres, it being Flower
impossible to carry on floriculture to any great extent ^ar(len-
in open places which are accessible to hares and rabbits. ^
In detached localities, the fences may be made sufficiently
strong to preclude the intrusion of every species of vagrant;
and these it is not difficult to mask with shrubs and trees.
The style of the mansion should determine that of the flower
garden, and also its position. The flower garden attached
to a highly architectural mansion, should, for the most part,
occupy the lawn on the south, the east, or the west front;
and the carriage-entrance, where possible, should be on
the north front, the park extending close up to the front
door. There are cases, however, where this arrange¬
ment must be departed from, and the flower garden must
occasionally be placed even on the north front. These
deviations are caused in a great measure by the difficul¬
ties of providing a proper approach to the entrance-door ;
and also by the position of the principal sitting-rooms,
which should always command a view of the flower gar¬
den. A flower garden on the north front, if sufficiently
distant from the house to prevent injury from shade, has
this advantage, that the flowers will naturally turn to¬
wards the windows, whereas, when placed on the south
front, their faces are directed towards the sun, and much
of the effect of colour is lost. Flower gardens in con¬
nection with highly architectural mansions should be in
the geometrical or systematic style, and bounded by para¬
pet walls, with the appropriate mural decorations of
ballustrading, piers, vases, &c. When upon a large scale,
and especially where a natural inclination in the ground
exists, or can be formed artificially, winding terraces and
parapet walls should be introduced, with flights of steps,
and the necessary embellishments in connection with
them, as well as a profusion of fountains, statuary, sculp¬
ture, &c. Grass terraces have always a mean appear¬
ance in such a position. The parapet walls afford excel¬
lent accommodation for half-hardy and beautiful flowering
plants.
Formerly the flower-beds were made either circular,
straight, or in curves, and were turned into knots, scrolls,
volutes, and other compartments; and this taste pre¬
vailed, perhaps, in some measure from a desire on the
part of the contrivers, to compensate by their ingenuity
for the paucity of the ornamental plants which they then
cultivated. Now that the riches of Flora have poured
into our gardens, a simpler taste has obtained. It is
needless as well as impossible to specify the numerous
configurations of flower-plots, for they abound in kaleidos¬
copical variety. Good taste wdll suggest that those
only should be associated which harmonize well together ;
and it is better to incur the hazard of an apparent mono-
tony, than to excite wonder by incongruous combination.
When the figures are separated by turf, it is necessary
that the little lawns or glades should have a certain de¬
gree of breadth, as nothing has a worse effect than over¬
crowding. A multitude of little figures should also be
avoided, as they produce what Gilpin calls spottiness,
and which, as he has correctly pointed out, is a grievous
deformity. In this sort of flower garden, it is desirable
that a gravel walk should skirt along at least one side of
the principal figures; in our humid climate, the grass
would otherwise render them inaccessible with comfort
during a great part of the year. In those gardens in
which turf is wholly or partly excluded, the compart¬
ments should be of a larger and more massive character.
Narrow borders, bounded by parallel straight lines and
concentric curves, should be avoided. The centres of
the figures should be filled with tall-growing shrubs, and
even with an occasional low evergreen tree, such as a
yew or a holly. The walks, arranged in long concave
H 0 R T I C
Flower curves, may communicate here and there with one another.
A dial, a few seats and arbours, with an urn or two or
a vase, may be introduced with good effect. It is to be
regretted that few good specimens of this species of flower
garden have hitherto been executed in Britain.
Amongst the accompaniments of the flower garden
may be mentioned the Rock-work. This consists of va¬
riously grouped masses of large stones, generally such as
are remarkable for being figured by water-wearing, or
for containing petrifactions or impressions ; and into the
cavities between the stones, filled with earth, alpine or
trailing plants are inserted. In proper situations, a small
piece of water may be introduced, for the culture of
aquatic plants. One of the walks is sometimes arched
over with wire-work, and covered with ornamental
climbing shrubs, forming a delightful promenade in the
glowing days of summer. A separate compartment,
generally of a regular figure, is set apart for roses, under
the name of the Rosary. A moist or rather a shady bor¬
der, with bog earth, is devoted to that class of shrubs,
commonly, but not very accurately, designated <i: Ameri¬
can plants.” In extensive places, a separate “ American
Garden ” is often formed, in a locality which, if not damp,
has at least the command of water, and occupies generally
some warm corner of the park.
Some writers have advocated the formation of Winter
and Spring Gardens in separate localities; but we are
not aware that their ideas have ever been embodied to
any great extent. It is proposed that in the winter
garden should be assembled all the most beautiful ever¬
green shrubs and plants, together with the few flowers
that bloom during the winter months. The situation, it
is recommended, should be well sheltered, and open only
to the warm rays of the sun, which are peculiarly grateful
in our cold winter seasons. Masses of evergreens have
a sombre and monotonous effect, even in winter, unless
occasionally broken and varied by deciduous trees, which
to some extent may be introduced. The contrast of these
leafless neighbours relieves the intenseness of the gloom,
and sets off the brilliancy of the rest. If the shrubs be
grouped carefully accordingto their habits, instead of being
planted promiscuously, the monotony will be softened
down by the irregularity of surface which such groups
present, and still more so when plants with variegated
foliage are grouped together in masses proportionable to
the extent of plantation. Though a winter garden, the
very name of which is chilling, is perhaps in the estima¬
tion of some not very desirable by itself, the object to be
attained in it should be kept in view in the formation of
the park or flower garden. We can easily suppose a
particular section of the latter to contain a predominance
of evergreens, and to possess the principal characters of
a winter garden, without the formality of its name and
purpose. In the immense variety of situations, it is not
difficult to imagine a sloping bank, for instance, facing
the sun, with a long walk skirting its base, the lower
side of which might be adorned with a border or narrow
parterre planted with arbutus and periwinkle, whilst the
slope is covered with the higher evergreens, and the
summit of the acclivity is crowned with groups of de¬
ciduous trees, interrupted by a few straggling firs,
through which the wind, unfelt below, might sigh its
melancholy music. Again, the spring garden, which
need not be of very great extent, may take refuge in the
vicinity of the greenhouse or conservatory, with which it
is naturally allied.
Soil. A variety of soil is required in the flower garden,
to suit the very different kinds of plants that fall to be
cultivated. American plants require a peaty earth, vary¬
ing from boggy peat to almost pure sand. Alluvial peat,
ULTURE. 74
that is, boggy earth which has been washed away and Flower
incorporated with white sand, is to be preferred; peat, cut Gar(len.
from its natural bed and only partially decomposed, is
of no value at all, or is positively prejudicial to plants.
In collecting soil from the surface of a moor, it is proper
to take no more than the upper turf or sod, with the peat
adhering to it, and only from the driest parts of the
ground, where, besides the common heath, fescue-grasses
occur. Where this cannot be procured, a good substi¬
tute is found in vegetable mould, that is, decayed leaves
swept from lawns or woods, and allowed to lie in heaps
for a year or two. For the general purposes of the
flower garden, a light loamy soil is advantageous; and
where the natural covering is thin, or requires making
up, recourse should be had to the surface-earth of old
pastures, which, especially when incumbent on trap-
rocks, is found to be excellent. It is expedient to have
a large mass of this material in the compost yard. The
turf, and the surface-soil adhering to it, should be laid
up in a rough state, in which way it is continually
ameliorating by the decomposition of the vegetable mat¬
ters, and the action of the air.
Garden Walks.—During the'prevalence of the Dutch
taste, grass-walks were common in our gardens; but,
owing to their frequent humidity in our climate, they
have in a great measure disappeared. Their disuse is
perhaps to be regretted, as in some situations, particularly
behind lengthened screens of trees, or in gardens from
which grass has been in a great measure excluded, an
example or two of them would be agreeable. It is justly
observed by Sir William Temple, that “ two things
peculiar to us, and which contribute much to the beauty
and elegance of our gardens, are the gravel of our walks,
and the fineness and almost perpetual greenness of our
turf;” and therefore no trouble should be spared in
securing excellence in these respects. In old times grass
walks were formed with much care. After the space
which they were to occupy had been digged and levelled
that it might subside equally, a thin layer of sand or
poor earth was laid upon the surface, and over this a
similar layer of good soil. This arrangement was to
prevent excessive luxuriance in the grass. In selecting
the seed, all annual, wiry, and coarse sorts of grass
should be avoided. The best mixture of grasses for this
purpose, and their proportions per acre, is as follows,
viz.:—Cynosurus cristatus, 51bs., Festuca duriuscula,
31bs., F. tenuifolia, 21bs., Lolium perenne tenue, 201bs.,
Poa nemoralis, 1-^lbs., Poa nemoralis var. semper-virens,
l^lbs., Poa trivialis, l^lbs., Trifolium repens, 71bs.,
and T. minus, 21bs. This is also very suitable for
lawns upon light soils.
Gravel-walks, in this department, are formed precisely
in the same manner as those in the kitchen garden. It
may, however, be remarked, that a multitude of gravel-
walks, particularly when narrow, have a puny effect.
All the principal lines should be broad enough to allow
at least three persons to walk abreast; the others may
be narrower. Much of the neatness of walks depends
upon the material of which they are made. Gravel from
an inland pit is to be preferred; though occasionally
very excellent varieties are found upon the sea-coast.
The gravel of Kensington and Blackheath has attained
considerable celebrity; and is frequently employed in
remote parts of the kingdom, the expense being lessened
by its being conveyed to different sea-ports as ballast
for ships. In summer a gravel-walk requires hoeing
and raking from time to time, to clear it from weeds and
tufts of grass. After this operation, or even after a
simple sweeping, it is rolled down with a hand-roller ; and
this is repeated as often as the surface is ruffled. Nothing
748
HORTICULTUKE.
Flower contributes more than frequent rolling to the elegance
Garden. an(j convenience of garden walks.
Edgings. — Walks are generally separated from the
borders and parterres by a variety of plants planted
closely in line. By far the best edging is afforded by
the Dwarf Dutch Box. It is extremely neat, and, when
annually clipped, will remain in good order for many
years. It may be planted at any season, except when
in full growth or mid-winter. Excellent edgings are
also formed by Sea Pink (Statice Armenia) and Double
Daisy (Beilis peremis.) Dwarf Gentian {Gentiana
acaulis) and London Pride (Saxifraga umbrosa) are also
sometimes used. Indeed, any low-growing herbaceous
plant, susceptible of minute division, is fitted for an
edging. Edgings may also be formed of narrow pieces
of sandstone flag, slate, fire-clay tiles, wire, or cast-iron.
In shrubberies and large flower-plots, verges of grass-
turf, from a foot to three feet in breadth, according to the
size of the border and width of the walk, make a very
handsome border to walks. These should not be allowed
to rise high above the gravel: an inch and a half may
be assigned as the limit they should not exceed. The
grass is kept short by repeated mowings, and the edges
are defined by clipping with shears, or cutting once a
year with a paring iron.
Shrubs.—Much of the beauty of the pleasure garden
depends upon the proper selection and disposition of
ornamental trees and shrubs; and it is to be regretted
that this department of the art has often been greatly
neglected. In many gardens we still find only a few
evergreens, and a parcel of rugged deciduous species,
introduced probably before the age of Miller. No wonder
is it, therefore, that we sometimes hear of the insipid scenes
of the shrubbery. Nevertheless, shrubs are highly elegant
in themselves, and they afford a most efficient means of
diversifying garden scenery. Of the many beautiful
species now to be had in Britain, and affording the mate¬
rials of exquisite decoration, we can mention only a few.
Of Evergreens, besides the Common Laurel (Prunus
Laurocerasus) and the Portugal Laurel (P. lusitanica),
we may notice the American Arbor Vitas {Thuja occiden-
talis), as adapted to large masses of shrubs; and the
Chinese Arbor Vitas (T. orientalis), whose size and mode
of growth fit it for smaller compartments. The different
varieties of Rhamnus Alaternus, and the species of
Phillyrea and Juniperus, have long and deservedly been
favourite evergreens. The Sweet Bay (Laurus nobilis),
in favourable situations, rises into a handsome shrub or
low tree, and may convey to the student of the classics
an idea of the Delphic laurel. The Strawberry tree
(Arbutus Unedd), a native of Ireland as well as of the
south of Europe, will always find a place as one of the
most elegant of plants, equally beautiful as regards foliage,
flower, and fruit; nor should its countryman, the Irish
Yew, ascending like the pillared cypress, be forgotten.
The Cypress itself, though rather a denizen of the park,
may be sparingly introduced. The Laurustinus (Vibur-
num Tinus), with blossoms approaching the snow in
whiteness, enlivens the winter season, when nothing else
is in flower in the shrubbery. The Swedish and Irish
Junipers deserve a place. Different species of Daphne
will not be forgotten; it may be sufficient to enumerate
pontica, collina, Cneorum, and hybrida. As extremely low
evergreens, we may mention Gaultheria procumbens and
Shallon, Polygala Chammbuxus, and Astragalus Tra-
gacantha ; but these would probably be better placed
among what are popularly called American plants. Of
the more tender evergreens, we should name the An-
drachne (Arbutus Andrachne), a beautiful shrub, but
liable to be injured by severe frosts. The Broad-leaved
Myrtle (Myrtus romana), in warm places, and with the
aid of a covering in the depth of winter, may be made to
clothe the walls with its brilliant verdure for eight
months in the yeax-, and with its white flowers for some
weeks in the end of summer. Aucuba japonica and
Buxus balearicus are handsome shrubs, of a somewhat
stronger constitution ; the former is very ornamental in
dull shady places, where no other shrub will grow. The
beautiful ti’ibes of Cistus and Helianthemum, some of
which are quite hardy, are admirable for adorning slop¬
ing banks.
Amongst the shrubs that require a peaty soil, or at
least a damp and shady situation, the splendid genus
Rhododendron holds the principal place. Of the larger
species may be mentioned R. ponticum, Catawbiense,
and maximum, with their many beautiful varieties. In
early spi'ing, R. dauricum expands its blossoms among
the first of flowering shrubs. Nor should we oveidook
R. punctatum, hirsutum, ferrugineum, and Chamaecistus,
of humbler growth, but not inferior in beauty. With
these the closely cognate genus of Azalea, with its
multitudinous species and varieties, disputes the palm of
elegance. The pale and drooping Andromedas are
scarcely of inferior interest. The more recently intro¬
duced ai’e the Taxodium, Cryptomei'ia, Torreya, Podo-
carpus, Dacrydium, and smaller growing Coniferm.
The hardy Heaths, particulai'ly Erica carnea, Tetralix,
and stricta, Menziesia polifolia and ccerulea, and the
Canadian Rhodora, combine to bring up the rear of this
department of Floi’a’s train.
The deciduous flowering shrubs are too much neglected
in many gardens. They are seldom well managed, either
in point of arrangement or in the evolution, by pruning,
of picturesque effect. Very often they are huddled to¬
gether promiscuously, and grow up into the shape of
huge sheaves of rushes. With judicious management,
thei’e is not a finer object in the vegetable kingdom than
the common Lilac (Syringa vulgaris), or the hybrid var.
(S. rothomagensis). Even the old Guelder-Rose ( Vibur¬
num Opulus) is worthy of the poet’s eulogy; the “ scent¬
less rose,” which he describes as “ tall,”
Flower
Garden.
“ And throwing up into the darkest gloom,
Of neighbouring cypress, or more sable yew,
Her silver globes, light as the foamy surf
That the wind severs from the broken wave.”
It would lead us into disproportioned detail to specify a
tithe of those showy shrubs which should be dear to
every floriculturist. Suffice it to name Ribes sanguineum,
Daphne Mezereum, Spartium of many species, Cytisus,
Amygdalus, and Pyrus. The Ribes speciosum, or
Fuchsia-flowered gooseberiy, seems to requix-e the pro¬
tection of a wall, but deserves it. The fine suffruticose
plant Paeonia Moutan, requires the most sheltered posi¬
tion in the shrubbery, where, in May and June, its
flowers excel all others in magnificence.
There are many fine climbing shrubs, such as the
species of Clematis, and of Lonicera or Honeysuckle.
Others, though not precisely of this class, are much be¬
holden to the shelter of a wall, such as the beautiful
Magnolia conspicua, Edwardsia teti’aptera, microphylla,
and gi’andiflora, Glycine sinensis, Ecci'emocarpus scaber,
and Jasminum nudiflorum. The numerous species or
varieties of Fuchsia, Escallonia, and Ceanothus, when
planted against a wall, or even in the open ground, and
shaded with (an occasional covering in Avinter, convey to
us a better idea of the 1’iches of Chilian vegetation,
than when they are confined to the shelves of the green¬
house. Many roses are also well adapted for walls, such
as the varieties of Noisette, Boursault, and the different
species from China.
HORTICULTURE.
Flower A separate compartment, called the Rosary, is generally
Garden. ^evoteci to the cultivation of roses. It is often of an oval
or circular form, with concentric beds, and narrow inter¬
vening walks of grass or gravel, but it may assume any
configuration which is suited to display this favourite
plant. Of the thousand varieties of roses which exist in
the nurseries, we pretend not to give any selection. It
may, however, be remarked, that in planting the Rosary,
care should be taken to classify the sorts according to
the sizes and affinities, otherwise the effect will be much
impaired. The climbing sorts may be advantageously
introduced, being trained to pillar-like trellises. When
the rosary is extensive, it is judicious to intersperse
some of the most showy hollyhocks; for thus the beauty
of the quarter is maintained in the later months of autumn,
when the roses are chiefly past. Standard roses are well
adapted to stand singly on the little lawns in flower
gardens, or to break the uniformity of low flower
borders.
Nearly all shrubs may be propagated by layers, some
by budding or grafting, many by separating the roots.
In planting, shrubs may be arranged either singly or in
masses: the latter method is the most efficient in the
production of effect, but it should not be very servilely
adhered to, as it is apt to beget monotony. Some kinds
should never appear in masses: the white Portugal
broom, for instance, when so arranged, gives a limy tint
to a garden. Perhaps it is better that groups should
contain a predominance of one shrub, set off by a few
others of a contrasting figure or colour, than that they
should be entirely homogeneous.
Herbaceous Plants.—Common perennial flowers, whe¬
ther strictly herbaceous or bulbous, afford the principal
materials for floral decoration. Botany supplies, as it
were, the colours for the picture, and gardening grinds
and prepares them for use. The painting is continually
varying, and new shades are arriving and departing in
succession. The least consideration of the subject will
suggest the rule, that in planting flowers they should be
arranged according to their stature, otherwise many of
the most beautiful little flowers would be lost among
their taller compeers. The lowest plants should therefore
stand next the margin of the border or parterre, and
they should increase in height as they go back. To pro¬
duce a full show, a profusion, just not amounting to
crowding, is requisite. The flower-plots should present a
regular bank of foliage and blossom, rising gradually
from the front; but as this might convey an idea of too
great precision, a few staring plants, on the same principle
as those employed in greenhouses, should be thinly
scattered over the surface. These may be shrubs, or
any tall showy plant, such as Bocconia cordata, Papaver
bracteatum, Gladiolus Byzantinus, or Lilium candidum.
The management of colour is more difficult. When the
length of the flowering season is considered, it will be
obvious that it is impossible to keep up the show of a
single border or plot for six months together, and con¬
sequently that much of the labour employed in mixing
colours is misspent, since plants, as they are commonly
arranged, come dropping into flower one after another;
and even where a certain number are in bloom at the
same time, they necessarily stand apart, and so the effects
of contrast, which can be perceived only among adjacent
objects, are entirely lost. To obviate this defect, it has
been recommended that ornamental plants should be
formed into four or five separate suites of flowering, to
be distributed over the garden. Not to mention the
more vernal flowers, the first might contain the flora of
May; the second that of June; the third that of July;
and the fourth the tribes of August and the following
749
months. These plants should be kept in separate com- Flower
partments, arranged either singly or in masses; but the .^ar^en_.
compartments themselves should be so intermingled, as
that no particular class should be entirely absent from any
one quarter of the garden. The May parterres should,
however, chiefly occur in the vicinity of the greenhouse or
conservatory, or, when these are absent, in a warm sunny
situation. The flowerings of June and July, as being
highly showy, should occupy the most conspicuous parts
of the garden. The autumnal perennials, not being so
imposing, may retire into the more secluded situations,
as they are supplanted by the superior brilliancy of the
annuals, which fill the vacant beds of florists’ flowers, or
are scattered over the faded clumps of May and June.
Before attempting to plant, the floriculturist would do
well to construct tables or lists of flowers, specifying their
respective times of flowering, their colours, and altitudes.
These tables, when skilfully used, would prevent mis¬
takes, produce a greater facility of execution, and put the
colours nearly as much under control as they are on the
painter’s pallet. To diversify properly and mingle well
together the reds, whites, purples, yellows, and blues,
with all their intervening shades, requires considerable
taste and powers of conception; but if success is not
attained in the first attempt, inaccuracies should be
noted, and rectified at the proper time next season. Cer¬
tain series of colours have been given, but these it is
needless to mention, as it is quite immaterial whether the
first flower in a row be red or white. The principal
object is to preserve an agreeable contrast; and as at
particular seasons a monotony of tint prevails, it is useful
at such times to be in possession of some strong glaring
colours. White, for instance, should be much employed
in July, to break the duller blues and purples which then
preponderate. Orange, too, is very effective at this
season. On the other hand, yellows are superabun¬
dant in autumn, and therefore reds and blues should
then be sought for.
Besides mere vividness of colour and elegance of form,
there are other qualities which render plants desirable in
the flower garden. Whoever has visited a botanic gar¬
den, must have been sensible of an interest excited by
the curious structure or by the scarcity of some plants.
Even quaintness of form is deserving of attention. The
writer of this article has seen Allium fistulosum (the com¬
mon Welsh onion) making a conspicuous figure in a
flower garden ; and he remembers well a plant of sea-
kale (Crambe maritima), which the good taste of the
owner had introduced into the parterre, to the great
disturbance of the ideas of the gardener. At the same
time, it must be admitted that such expedients should be
employed with reserve. No handsome plant should be
rejected because it is common, nor any inconspicuous
weed preserved merely because it is scarce. The flower-
gardener should have a small nursery, or reserve garden,
for the propagation of finer plants, to be transferred into
the borders as often as is required.
We shall enumerate merely the names of a few of the
most showy flowers, adapted to the British flower
garden.
Vernal Herbaceous Plants.—Helleborus niger, lividus, olympi-
cus, atrorubens ; Eranthis liyemalis ; Hepatica triloba var. j Pri¬
mula vulgaris var., veris, elatior, marginata, helvetica, nivalis, vis-
cosa, integrifolia, cortusoides ; Cortusa Mattbioli; Soldanella alpina,
Clusii; Viola odorata, tricolor, biflora, altaica; Dodecatheon Meadia
vars.; Orobus vernus ; Adonis vernalis ; Omphalodes verna; Cory-
dalis lutea, longiflora; Sanguinaria canadensis ; Iris pumila; Ane¬
mone apennina, Hallerj, Pulsatilla.
Vernal Bulbous Plants.—Galanthus nivalis ; Leucojum vernum;
Crocus, species; Cyclamen coum, vernum; Corydalis bulbosa;
Erythronium dens canis ; Narcissus Pseudo-narcissus, moschatus,
odorus, Jonquilla, &c.; Eritillaria imperialis, meleagris, persica;
750
HORTICULTUEE.
Flower Gagea lutea ; Tulipa sylvestris ; Iris persica ; Trillium grandiflo-
Garden. rum, &c.; Scilla verna, prmcox, bifolia, sibirica.
' Herbaceous Plants flowering in May.—Anemone narcissiflora,
sylvestris, dichotoma ; Primula farinosa, scotica ; Convallaria maja-
lis ; Uvularia grandiflora, perfoliata; Phlox verna, divaricata, subu¬
late, setacea, &c.; Asphodelus luteus, ramosus; Draba aizoides;
Viola cornuta, obliqua; Gentiana verna, acaulis; Lupinus poly-
phyllus; Gaillardia bicolor; Iris florentina, cristate, &c.—Bulbs:
Leucojum sestivum; Scilla non-scripta, italica, &c ; Hyacintbus
monstrosus; Muscari moschatum, botryoides, comosum ; Narcissus
Bulbocodium, poeticus, &c.
June—Herbaceous Plants.—Pseonia officinalis, albiflora, corallina,
Humei, &c.; Dianthus, species; Geranium sanguineum, Lancas-
triense, Wallichianum, striatum, &c.; Monarda didyma, Kalmiana;
Papaver bracteatum; Saxifraga, species; Spirasa, species; Mimu-
lus luteus, moschatus ; Trollius americanus, europseus; Lysimachia
verticillata; Veronica latifolia, &c.; Geum coccineum; Aconitum
Napellus, &c.; Potentilla nepalensis, &c.—Bulbs: Allium Molle;
Gladiolus byzantinus, communis; Lilium Pomponium, bulbiferum,
aurantiacum, monadelphum, penduliflorum, concolor, &c.; Iris Xi-
pbium, xipbioides, &c.
July—Herbaceous PZarate.—Phlox intermedia, and many other
species of that fine genus ; Pentstemon, numerous species ; GUno-
thera, various species; Campanula persicifolia, &c.; Asdepias
amcena, syriaca j Iris fulva, pallida, variegata; Gentiana lutea, as-
clepiadea, cruciate,, septemfida, &c.; Chelone obliqua, barbata,
Lyoiii. Bulbs: Liliuin Martagon, canadense, tigriiium, superbum,
&c.; Gladiolus cardinalis; Tigridia pavonia; Commelina ccelestis ’
Cyclamen hedersefolium.
Autumnal Herbaceous Plants.—Phlox decussata, pyramidalis,
tardiflora, &c.; Lobelia cardinalis, fulgens, splendens, &c.; Aster
sibincus, amellus,. pulcher, &c.; Eschscholtzia californica; Soli-
dago,.several species; Aconitumjaponicum, volubile, variegatum ;
Gentiana Saponaria; Pentstemon, several species.—Bulbs: Colchi-
cum autumnale; Crocus nudiflorus, serotinus*; Tritoma pallida me¬
dia, nparia, Burchellii.
It is with regret that we thus confine ourselves to a
dry list of border flowers; but to do them any thing like
justice, would require many pages. Within the last few
years great accessions have been made to our stores.
The Lupins and Pentstemons from the Columbia River,
the Verbenas and Calceolarias from South America, and
the Potentillas and Geraniums from Nepal, have in a
great measure changed the face of our flower gardens,
while the industrious florist has added an almost count¬
less number of hybrid productions, combining every
shade of colour and diversity of form. While thus our
riches have increased, the difficulty, as well as the neces¬
sity, of making a selection has increased also.
Most herbaceous perennial plants are propagated by
parting the roots, or by cuttings; but some most con¬
veniently by the sowing of seed.
Biennial Plants—Plants whose existence is limited to
two years, in the, latter of which they flower and then
decay, are called biennials. Many of them possess con¬
siderable beauty; and by their easy propagation and
rapid growth, they afford a ready means of decoratino-
borders. The following may be considered most worthy
of notice Agrostemma coronaria ; Antirrhinum majus;
Hedysarum coronarium; Lunaria biennis; Campanula
media; QEnothera sinuata,biennis; Verbascum formosum;
Hesperis matronalis; Scabiosa atropurpurea ; Matthiola
simplicicaulis. When a very desirable variety is pro¬
cured, such as the striped Antirrhinum majus, attention
should be paid to the striking of cuttings during the
summer, as the only means of continuance.
Biennials are sown in beds in the end of spring, and
are generally transplanted in the course of the autumn,
into the places where they are intended to stand, that
they may be confirmed before winter, and shoot up
leadily into flower in the following summer.
Annual Plants.—Many of the annual species, though
of fugitive duration, are possessed of much beauty of hue
and elegance of form. They are further valuable from
their pliability, so to speak, and the promptitude with
which they may be used. They are besides of easy
culture, many requiring nothing more than to have the
seeds sown in the spot where they are to grow. Annuals Flower
may be divided into three classes, the hardy, the half- harden.
hardy, and the tender. The first class, as stated above,
are sown at once in the ground which they are to occupy;
the half-hardy succeed best when aided at first by a
slight hotbed, and then transplanted into the open air;
the tender are kept in pots, and treated as greenhouse or
stove-plants, to which departments they properly belong.
It is scarcely necessary to remark that the hardy and
half-hardy sorts may be grown either in patches or in
beds, and are subjected to all the rules which regulate the
disposition of common border flowers.
Hardy Annuals. Anagallis; Bartonia; Calliopsis ; Iberis um¬
bellate ; Knautia orientalis; Alyssum, several species; Linaria,
various species ; Delphinium Ajacis, consolida; Silene Armeria;
Campanula speculum, Lorei; Lavatera trimestris; Malope trifida '
Hibiscus trionum, bifrons ; Nolana, various species; Papaver som-
niferum, numerous varieties; P. Rhoeas, varieties; Gilia capitata,
tricolor; Collinsia grandiflora; Kaulfussia amelloides; Clarkia
pulchella, elegans ; CEnothera rosea, rosea-alba, tenella, Lindleyana,
Romanzovii; Rudbeckia amplexicaulis; Senecio elegans ; Matthiola
annua; Lupinus, several species ; Godetia; Nemophila; Lasthenia;
Leptosiphon ; Oxyura; Platystemon ; Saponaria; Silene, &c.
Half-hardy Annuals. Callistemma hortense; Lopezia racemosa;
Tagetes patula, erecta, racemosa, &c.; Zinnia elegans, pauciflora ;
Xerantbemum annuum ; Helichrysum fulgidum; Chrysanthemum
carmatum; Amaranthus caudatus; Schizanthuspinnatus, porrigens,
Grahamf Hookeri; Salpiglossis atropurpurea, straminea; Petunia
nyctaginiflora; Mirabilis Jalapa; Ageratum ; Argemone ; Brachy-
coma; Chamostoma; Clintonia; Cuphea; Grammanthes; Hemi-
mens ; Lotus ; Phlox ; Rhodanthe; Podolepis; Portulaca; Senecio ■
Talinum, &c.
Tender ArmwaZs—Impatiens Balsamina; Browallia elata; Celosia
cristate, Gomphrsena globosa; Solanum melongena ; Mbsembryan-
themum crystallinum. J
We have been able to enumerate only a small selec¬
tion of species out of a multitude which is continually
receiving accessions. Many of the sorts mentioned above
have been introduced during the last few years; and we
doubt not that, at no distant period from the present,
many more will come into notice.
Before leaving this part of the subject, it may be
propel to mention that it is now the practice to grow
and treat as annuals, or rather as biennials, great quan¬
tities of the more hardy Pelargonia, Verbena}, Salvirn,
Calceolarias, I uchsim, Hemimeres, and other genera.
Many gardeners every season propagate, by cuttings, or
seeds, several thousands of these plants. Grown in
moderate-sized pots, they are kept in cool pits, yet pro¬
tected from frost during winter. About the end of May,
or as soon as there is no longer any apprehension of injury
from frost, the plants are taken out of the pots and planted
in the open ground in the flower garden. Some cultivators
shift their plants, particularly scarlet geraniums, into pots
nine or ten inches in diameter, in spring, and plunge them
into the parterres instead of planting them out, with a
view to lessen the size of the foliage, and induce a dispo¬
sition to a more profuse production of bloom. Towards
the middle of July they begin to grow vigorously, and in
August or September present, in luxuriance at least, if
not in magnitude, a better representation of their native
vegetation than we see elsewhere in our gardens. Upon
the approach of frost, they are, with the exception of the
Fuchsias, taken up and potted and placed in pits till the
following season, at least the best grown plants are, and
a supply is also secured by striking them for cuttings
during July and August. These plants, with the fine
new annuals, and the gorgeous Dahlias, give a splendour
to the autumnal flower garden which in former times it
did not possess.
Florists Flowers. This technical appellation has
been restricted to certain flowers, which have been
especial favourites with florists, and have consequently
received a large share of their attention. Though pos-
H 0 E T I C
Flower sessed of great individual beauty, few of them are
calculated to make a show at a distance, and the arrange¬
ments requisite for their culture do not harmonize well
with the general disposition of a flower garden. It is,
therefore, desirable, particularly when considerable
refinement is aimed at, that a separate garden, or a
separate section of the garden, should be set apart for
their culture. The more robust or less valuable varieties,
however, which are often as showy as the most esteemed,
may be introduced into the general parterres. We shall
notice the most considerable, in the order in which they
naturally attract attention.
The Hyacinth {Hyacinthus orientalis), one of the most
beautiful and fragrant of the spring flowers, is a native
of the Levant, where it occurs abundantly, in form not
unlike our common harebell. It has long been a favourite
in the East; but it has been brought to its present arti¬
ficial perfection in Holland, chiefly since the beginning of
last century. The catalogues of the Haarlem florists used
formerly to enumerate 2000 sorts, some of which sold as
high as £200 a bulb ; they are now less numerous, and
much less expensive.
Hyacinths are either single, semidouble, or double, and
exhibit a great variety of tint.
The criterion of a perfect flower of this sort is given hy Mr
Glenny, in his little work on the “ The Properties of Flowers and
Plants.”
“ Each pip or flower should he round, and not ragged. The
petals should be broad, thick, blunt at the ends, not pointed, and
reflex enough to threw up the centre well. The foot-stalk should be
strong, and hold the flower out stiff in a vertical position, and by no
means weak, to allow the pip to hang with the face sloping down¬
ward. The foot-stalk should be of a length to make the pips touch
and no more. The pips should be large, and the flowers close on
the stem. Double flowers should have the rows of petals above
each other very regularly imbricated, so as to throw up the centre.
The spike should be bold, round, compact, and pyramidal. The
flower should be very strong, and diminishing to a single flower at
top. The flower-stem should be very strong and upright, and no
part of it should be seen in consequence of the closeness of the pips
to each other. The colours should be bright, clear, and dense, what¬
ever the shade, and any better approach to scarlet, blue, or yellow,
than those shades we now possess, would be highly esteemed.”
The hyacinth delights in a rich light sandy soil; and
it is chiefly owing to the want of these qualities in his
composts, that the British florist fails in the growth of
this beautiful plant. The Dutch compost is the follow¬
ing :—One-third coarse seaor river sand; one-third rotten
cow-dung without litter ; and one-third leaf mould. The
natural soil is removed at least two feet deep, and the
vacant space filled up with compost, previously prepared
and well mixed. These materials retain their qualities
for six or seven years, but the Dutch do not plant
hyacinths upon the same place for two years successively.
In the alternate years they plant it with narcissus or
crocus.
About the 25th of October is the best time to plant
the bulbs. They are arranged in rows, eight inches
asunder, there being four rows in each bed. The bulbs
are sunk about three or four inches deep, and it is re¬
commended to put a small quantity of clean sand below
and all around them. As the roots are liable to be in¬
jured by frost, it is usual to cover the beds with decayed
tan-bark, with litter, or with awnings. The first may be
considered the neatest during winter, but an awning is
indispensable in spring, when the lingering colds prove
exceedingly hurtful to the young flower-stems. As the
flower-stems appear, they are tied to little rods, to pre¬
serve them from accident. In order to perfect the colours,
the rays of the sun are admitted in the morning or in
the evening, but the glare of mid-day and the cold of the
night, are both excluded. When the season of blossom
is over, the awning is removed or only replaced to keep
ULTUEE. 75]
off heavy rains. Much of the success, in the culture of Flower
this flower, depends on the subsequent management of Garden,
the bulbs. It is the practice in Holland, about a month
after the bloom, or when the tips of the leaves assume a
withered appearance, to take up the roots, and, cutting
off the stem and the foliage within half an inch of the
bulb, but leaving the fibres, to lay the bulbs sideways on
the ground, covering them with half an inch of dry earth.
After three weeks, they are again taken up, cleaned, and
removed to the store-room. In the store-room the roots
should be kept dry, well-aired, and apart from each
other.
Where forcing is practised, a few bulbs may be forced
in deep flower-pots filled with light earth, and when
coming into flower, transferred to the greenhouse, which
they enliven at the deadest season of the year. In
chambers, they are grown in water-glasses made for the
purpose; or, with still greater advantage, in boxes filled
with damp hypnum moss.
New varieties _ of hyacinths are procured by sowing the seed ;
hut this is a, tedious process, and seldom followed in this country!
The established sorts are propagated by offsets or small bulbs,'
which form at the base of the parent bulb. Almost all the hyacinths
cultivated in this country are imported from Holland, and the
quantity of roots annually introduced must be very considerable.
The Tulip {Tulipa Gesneriana), is a native of the East,
whence ifwas introduced into Europe about the middle of
the 16th century. Gaudy as it is, it has no proper
corolla, but only a calyx of six coloured sepals. About
the year 1685 the culture of the tulip was very engros¬
sing ; and, indeed, the rage for possessing rare sorts had
become so great in Holland, as to give rise to a strange
species of gambling, known to the collectors of literary
and scientific anecdotes by the name of Tulipo-mania,
which has tended to bring unmerited discredit on this
fine flower. At present the finer tulips are mostly of
moderate price, and, though not to be met with in every
garden, have yet some ardent cultivators.
There are some varieties, such as the early Due Van
Thol, the Clarimond, the Parrots, and the Double Tulips,
which belong, properly speaking, to the general cultiva¬
tor. In this country, the florists’ tulips are arranged
under four classes. 1. The Bizarres, which have a
yellow ground marked with purple or scarlet. 2. The
Byblomens, with a white ground marked with violet or
purple. 3. The Roses, with a white ground marked with
rose-colour. 4. The Self or Plain-coloured tulips, which
are of one uniform colour, and are chiefly valued as
breeders. The Bybloemen class includes most of those
tulips which are held in highest esteem in this country.
The properties of a fine late tulip, as specified by Mr
Glenny, are the following, somewhat abridged :—
The cup should form, when quite expanded, from half to a third of
a hollow ball. To do this the petals must be six in number ; broad
at the ends, smooth at the edges, and the divisions between the
petals scarcely to shew an indenture. The three inner petals should
set close to the three outer ones, and all being so close as to shew
no openings between them. The petals should be smooth; thick
and stiff, and should keep their form well. The ground colour should
be clear and distinct, whether white or yellow. The least stain, even
at the lower end of the petal, would render a tulip comparatively
valueless. Whatever be the disposition of colours or marks upon a
tulip, all the six petals should be marked alike, and be therefore per¬
fectly uniform. _ The feathered flowers should have an even close
feathering forming an . unbroken edging, all round. If the flower
have any marking besides the feathering at the edge, it should
be a beam, or bold mark down the centre, but not to reach
the bottom of the cup; the mark or beam must be similar in all
the six petals. Flowers not feathered, and with flame only, must
have no marks on the edges. None of the colour must break
through to the edge. The colour must be perfectly uniform in all
the petals, and not to go too near the bottom. The colour, whatever
it be, must be decided, distinct in outline, and neither shaded,
flushed, or broken. The height should he from 18 to 36 inches, the
HORTICULTURE.
752
Flower former is right for the outside row in a bed, and the latter is
Garden, right for the centre or highest row.
* Tulips prosper in a light sandy soil, similar to that for
hyacinths, and their season of planting and after-manage¬
ment is so much the same as to require no separate
notice here. After the sepals have fallen, the seed-
vessels are broken off close by the stem, to prevent the
plant from exhausting itself in perfecting seed, and to
direct its energies to the forming of the new bulb. When
the leaves have withered, the bulbs are taken up, dried,
and stored until the planting season come round.
Tulips are readily propagated by offsets, which are taken off from
the parent bulbs, and nursed in separate beds till they be full grown.
New varieties are raised from seed; they are from five to seven
years old before they flower, and, if raised from promiscuous seed,
they often turn out worthless. Seedling tulips, it may be remarked,
present this anomaly for the first two or three years, that they form
their new bulbs several inches below the old ones, so that an inexpe¬
rienced cultivator is sometimes apt to miss them at the time of
lifting.
The Ranunculus (R. asiaticus) is, like many of the
other florists’ flowers, a native of the Levant, where it is
a favourite of the Turks. It has sported into innumer¬
able varieties, and those now in cultivation in this country
are mostly of British origin.
According to the canons of floral criticism, laid down
by G-lenny, the properties of a fine double ranunculus
are the following :—
The flower should be of the form of two-thirds of a ball, two
inches in diameter, and the upper part of it square or horizontal.
The outline of the bloom should form a perfect circle. The petals
should be thick, smooth on the edges, and gently cupped; they
should lie close, so that little but the edges should be seen. The
flower should be symmetrical to the centre, which should be close,
so as perfectly to conceal the seed vessel. The colour should be
very dense, whatever be its hue; if an edged flower, the edging
should be well defined, and the marking even and uniform ; in no
case should the ground colour break through the edging ; but spot¬
ted flowers with one spot on each petal are allowable. The stem
should be strong, and long enough to raise the flower clear six inches
above the foliage. Striped flowers are not perfect, nor are flowers
speckled at the edges ; they ought not to exhibit a single break.
The ranunculus requires a stronger and moister soil
than most other flowers. Maddock preferred a fresh,
strong, rich loam. Hogg recommended a fresh loam,
with a considerable portion of rotten cow or horse dung.
The Rev. Mr Williamson (Hort. Trans, vol. iv.) uses a
stiff clay loam, with a fourth of rotten dung, and this
compost is still used by more modern florists. “ The
bed should be dug from eighteen inches to two feet deep,
and not raised more than four inches above the level of
the walks, to preserve the moisture more effectually: at
about five inches below the surface should be placed a
stratum of two-year-old rotten cow dung, mixed with
earth, six or eight inches thick ; but the earth above this
stratum, where the roots are to be placed, should be per¬
fectly free from dung, which would prove injurious if
nearer. The fibres will draw sufficient nourishment at
the depth above mentioned; but if the dung were placed
deeper, it would not receive so much advantage from the
action of the air.” The principal object, however, is to
maintain throughout the bed a genial moisture; and this
is to be done by avoiding all hot gravelly earths, and
particularly soils that are apt to cake. The tubers are
planted late in autumn or early in spring, in rows five or
six inches apart, and three or four inches separate in the
rows. They should be so close that the foliage shall
cover the surface of the bed, for in this way a salutary
degree of shade and moisture is preserved. The autumn
planted roots must be sheltered from frost by old tan or
sifted coal-ashes. When in flower, the plants are covered
with an awning. When the leaves wither, the roots are
taken up, dried, and stored.
Scarcely any florists’ flower is more readily propagated Flower
from seed, or sooner repays the care of the cultivator. Garden.
The seed is obtained from semi-double sorts, which are
often of themselves very beautiful flowers. It is gene¬
rally sown in boxes in autumn or spring. We have
often seen it committed with success to the open ground.
The young plants thus raised flower often in the second,
and always in the third year.
The Anemone of the flower garden includes two species,
Anemone coronaria, a native of the Levant, and A. hor-
tensis, a native of Italy. These have long shared the
attention of the florist, and in his arrangements have
generally been associated with the ranunculus, resembling
it in its natural affinities and mode of culture. In a fine
double anemone, the stem should be strong, erect, and
not less than nine inches high. The flower should be at
least two and a half inches in diameter, consisting of an
exterior row of large well rounded petals, in the form of
a broad shallow cup, the interior part of which should
contain a number of small petals, mixed with stamens,
imbricating each other. The colours should be clear and
distinct when diversified in the same flower, or striking
and brilliant when there is only one tint.
The soil and culture are so nearly the same as in the
ranunculus, that it is needless to specify them. The
plant continues longer in flower, and the leaves often re¬
main so long green, that it is difficult to find a period of
inaction in which to take up the roots. It has been re¬
commended, that as soon as the bloom is over, the bed
should be screened from rain by mattings until the leaves
wither. As the roots are rather brittle, they require con¬
siderable care in handling. Anemones are easily raised
from the seed. A bed of single anemones, it may be re¬
marked, is a valuable addition to a flower garden, as it
affords, in a warm situation, an abundance of handsome
and often brilliant spring flowers, almost as early as the
snowdrop or crocus.
The Narcissus is an extensive genus, including a great
many interesting species and varieties. It belongs, how¬
ever, rather to the botanico-florist than to the florist pro¬
per; but as it contains many plants of great elegance, it
ought to receive more general attention. The Polyan¬
thus Narcissus (N. Tazetta) affords the varieties which
are chiefly cultivated by florists. These prosper in a
rich light soil, containing a little dung. The roots should
not be stirred more frequently than once in three years;
and this remark applies also to Narcissus Jonquilla and
odorus, the small and large jonquil, of which fragrant
plants there should be beds in every flower garden. N.
Tazetta, like the hyacinth, may be grown either in pots
or in water-glasses.
The Lily. Of the genus Lilium there are many species,
some of which have not been exhibited to the extent of
their capabilities in the flower garden. The old white
Lily (X. candidum, L.), after supplying the poets with so
much imagery, has retired into the modest station of a
common border flower. The flaunting Orange-Lily (X.
bulbiferum) may be allowed, if it pleases, to follow its
example. L. Martagon may occupy the same place.
The scarlet Turk’s Cap (X. chalcedonicum) is worthy
of more care, as being more beautiful and more tender.
It does not relish being disturbed, and it dislikes peat.
On the contrary, the splendid Tiger Lily (X. tigrinura),
which propagates rapidly by axillary bulbs, succeeds
best in peaty soil. The same remark applies to the rarer
L. canadense, and superbum (magnificent species), as well
as to L. concolor, pennsylvanicum, and others, which
ought to be more common in our gardens. L. japoni-
cum and longiflorum, in which the genus attains its
greatest magnificence, unfortunately require a finer
HORTICULTURE.
Flower
Garden.
climate than ours, and must therefore be grown in pots
under glass.
The same ma)r be said of L. eximium, and the more
recently introduced L.lancifolium and its hybrid varieties.
The Dahlia, of which there are two species (Z). varia-
bilis and D. coccinea), is a native of Mexico, from which
it was introduced in 1789, but afterwards lost by our
cultivators. It was reintroduced in 1804 ; but it was
not till ten years later than it was generally known in our
gardens. At present the varieties are endless, each dis¬
trict of the country possessing suites of its own, and cul¬
tivators occasionally raising at one sowing a dozen or two
of sorts, which they think worthy of preservation. The
results have been most propitious to the flower garden,
from which, indeed, the Dahlia could nearly as ill be
spared as the potato from the kitchen garden.
A perfect Dahlia flower, according to Glenny, should be circled,
the petals should be broad at the ends, smooth at the edges, thick
in substance, perfectly free from indenture or point, it should cup a
little, but not enough to show the under surface. The flower should
form two-thirds of a ball when looked at sideways. The petals
should rise above one another symetrieally, each petal covering the
joinings of the two under it. The centre should be perfect, the un¬
bloomed petals lying with their points towards the centre, should
form a button, and also the highest part of the flower. The petals
should open boldly, without showing their under side, and should
form circular rows, uniformly laid, evenly opened, and enlarging by
degrees to the outer row of all. The flower should be very double.
The petals should cover one another very nearly ; not more should
be seen in depth than half the breadth ; the more they are covered
so as to leave them distinct, the better in that respect; the petals,
therefore, though cupped, must be shallow. The size of the flower
should be four inches in diameter, and not more than six. The
colour should be dense, whatever it be, whether tipped or edged, it
must be free from splatches and blotches, or indefinite marks of any
kind.
New varieties are, of course, procured from seed. If
sown in flower-pots, and aided by a little heat, the seed¬
lings, speedily planted out, will flower the first season.
Established varieties are propagated by dividing the large
tuberous roots, but in doing so, care must be taken to
have an eye to each portion of tuber, otherwise it will
not grow. Sometimes shoots of rare varieties are grafted
on the roots of others.
They are best, and most generally propagated by cuttings, and for
this purpose, the old tubers are placed in heat in January, and as
the young shoots, which rise freely from them, attain the height of
three inches, they are taken off and planted singly in smafl pots
filled with fine white sand, and plunged in a moderate heat. They
root speedily, and are then transferred to larger pots in light rich
soil. Their growth is encouraged until the planting out season
arrives, which is about the middle of June.
Dahlias succeed best in an open situation, and in rich
deep loam ; but there is scarcely any garden soil in which
they will not thrive, with manure. They are, however,
injured by being repeatedly planted on the same spot.
They may stand singly like common border flowers ; but
have the most imposing appearance when seen in masses
arranged according to their stature. Old roots often throw
up a multitude of stems, which render thinning necessary.
As the plants increase in height, they are furnished with
strong stakes, to secure them from high winds. Dahlias
generally flower till they are interrupted by frost in
autumn. The roots are then taken up, dried, and stored
in a cellar, or some other place, where they may be
secured from frost and moisture.
The Auricula {Primula Auricula) is a native of the Alps and the
Caucasus. It has long been an inmate of our gardens; and has
generally been a favourite with those florists whose means and
appliances are of a limited kind.
Besides the double varieties which have never been in much
repute, Auriculas are classed under two divisions: the seifs or plain-
coloured, and the variegated or painted sorts. Professed florists
confine their attention to the latter: it must, however, be confessed,
that their criteria of fine flowers are often arbitrary, and that
although many of their favourites are examples of undoubted beautv
VOL. XI.
the eye of the uninitiated would generally prefer the simpler hues of
the self-coloured flowers.
The auricula, though now almost wholly an artificial plant, and
strangely transformed from its original appearance, still loves a moist
soil and shady situation. The florists’ varieties are grown in rich
composts, for the preparation of which numberless receipts have
been given. We quote that of Mr Hogg, an experienced grower, as
stated in his Supplement, p. 166. “One barrow of rich yellow loam,
or fresh earth from some meadow or pasture land or common, with
the turf well-rotten ; one barrow of leaf mould, one ditto of cow-
dung, two years old at least; and one peck of river, not sea sand.
For strong plants intended for exhibition, add to the same composi¬
tion, as a stimulant, a barrowful of well decayed night soil, with the
application of liquid manure before the top-dressing in February,
and twice more, but not oftener, in March. A portion of light sandy
peat-earth may be added, as a safe and useful ingredient, particu¬
larly for plants kept in low7 damp situations.” The treatment of
modern growers does not differ essentially from this.
Auriculas may be propagated from seed. It is to be sowm in
January or February in boxes, which are kept under cover, and ex¬
posed only to the rays of the morning sun. When seed has been saved
tiom the finer sorts, the operation is one of considerable nicety, as
it not unfrequently happens that the best seedlings are at first’ex¬
ceedingly weak. They generally flower in the second or third year;
and the florist is fortunate who obtains three or four good sorts out
of a large sowing. The established varieties are increased by divid¬
ing the roots, an operation which is performed in July or in the
beginning of August.
Fine auriculas are grown in pots about six inches in diameter.
These are kept in frames, or stages constructed for the purpose.
For winter use, perhaps there is nothing better than a common hot¬
bed frame, as this admits of an exact adjustment of air and tem¬
perature, things to which attention is absolutely necessary wdien the
plants approach the flowering season. After the bloom is over, the pots
may be placed on stages slightly elevated, and facing the north.
Though not absolutely necessary, it is useful to have the power of
sheltering them from long continued rains. It is usual every year
to shift the plants, shortening the roots, and giving them a large
portion of new soil, soon after the flowers have decayed.
I he Polyanthus is supposed to be a seminal variety of Primula
vulgaris, and is much cultivated by some florists. Like the auri¬
cula, it has sported into many hundred varieties. It is not neces¬
sary to give a detailed account of its culture, as it scarcely differs
from that of the auricula. The polyanthus, however, is the hardier
of the two, and seldom perishes from cold. It may be mentioned
that there are several beautiful double varieties of the common prim¬
rose, which are deserving of a place in every garden.
Ihe Carnation {Dianthus caryophyllus) has long been a favourite
flower, not only for the beauty, but for the delightful fragrance of its
blossoms. It is a. native of Germany, and is occasionally found
in an apparently wild state in England. The cultivation of it, how¬
ever, is by no means easy, and calls forth all the resources of the
florist. The varieties, which are very numerous, have been arran¬
ged under three heads: Flakes, having two colours, with their stripes
running quite through and along the petals ; Bizarres, irregularly
spotted, and striped with not fewer than three colours; Picotees,
spotted, with serrated or fringed petals. Mr Hogg, who wrote a
treatise expressly on this flower, has given a catalogue of nearly
350 sorts.
Carnations are propagated by layers or pipings: the former
method is most practised, but with some weak sorts piping should
be preferred. Layering is performed when the plant is in full bloom.
Proper shoots are selected; a few of the lower leaves are then
removed ; an incision is made a little below a suitable joint passing
up through it, and the shoot is then pegged down and covered with
some fresh soil, the tip being left above ground. Layers are gene¬
rally found to be rooted in about a month after the operation has
been performed. Pipings are little cuttings, separated at a joint,
and planted thickly under bell-glasses on a slight hotbed. They
require great attention, and are precarious in their success, but form
excellent plants.
Numerous directions have been given respecting composts for
carnations. These differ more in words than in material. The
following is that generally employed:—Take three barrows of loam,
one-and-a-half of garden mould, two of horse-dung, and one of coarse
sand; let these be mixed, and thrown into a heap, and turned over
two or three times in the winter, particularly in frosty weather.
Towards the end of November a barrow-load offline is added, while
hot, to aid in the decomposition of the soil, and to destroy worms.
For the varieties which are liable to sport, a poorer compost maybe
recommended.
The more robust carnations are planted out in beds or singly in
the flower garden; but the finer and tenderer sorts are grown in
pots of about a foot in diameter. The time of potting is about the
end of March. When the flower-stems shew themselves, they are
furnished with rods, to which they are tied as they lengthen, to
prevent their being broken by the wind or other accident. When
5 c
753
Flower
Garden.
HORTICULTURE.
Botanical the plants begin to expand their blossoms, they are removed to a
Structures, stage calculated to exhibit their beauties. Some florists attach
ligatures of matting to the flower-buds, in order to prevent irregular
bursting, and even arrange the petals, by removing distortions with
scissors.
New varieties are raised from seed. The seed of the hardier
double or semi-double sorts often affords a very beautiful bed of
flowers, and should not be neglected by those who have the com¬
mand of extensive flower gardens.
The Pink is considered by botanists as merely a variety of the
preceding. It is, however, very distinct in its character, and con¬
stant in its habits. It is one of the mechanics’ flowers, and is
cultivated most extensively in the neighbourhood of some of the
manufacturing towns. Its simple elegance does credit to the taste
of those who select it for their favourite ; and it deserves a place in
the garden of the highest as well as of the lowest of the land. Pinks
are numerous, growers enumerating about three hundred varieties.
Those are preferred which have the limb of the petals nearly entire,
and are well marked in the centre with bright crimson or dark
purple.
Pinks are mostly propagated by pipings in slight hotbeds or
under hand-glasses ; and when proper attention is given to the due
admission of air, they generally succeed. Rare sorts, wdiich are
scantily furnished with grass, are occasionally propagated by layers.
This flower does not require such elaborate composts as some others,
but it likes fresh light soils, well manured with decayed cow dung.
Not more than two years of blooms should be taken from the same
bed, and it is the practice of most florists to have a new bed every
year. The flower stalks are supported by small sticks. As in the
carnation, ligatures of matting, or collars of card, are sometimes
applied to the calyces of the flowers : but this practice, however it
may be followed by those who judge according to the technical
“ criteria of a fine flower,” will scarcely be adopted by any who
have an eye for natural beauty.
It would lead us too much into detail to speak minutely of Cal¬
ceolaria, Phlox, Chelone, Pentstemon, (Enothera, Roses, Pansies,
Cinerarias, Chrysanthemums, Lobelias, Verbenas, Picotees, Holly¬
hocks, Fuchsia, Petunia, &c., for all these are now considered as
florists’ flowers. To have them in perfection, they should be kept in
beds by themselves; and we are persuaded that, were a moiety of the
care bestowed upon some of the preceding flowers, which are con¬
ventionally supposed to belong peculiarly to the florist, expended
on them, they would amply repay the labour of the cultivator.
BOTANICAL STRUCTURES.
Under this denomination are included those glazed
structures dedicated to the cultivation of exotic plants
and the production of tropical fruits, which are now
generally regarded as indispensable appendages of the
flower garden. The former has been in use in this
country for nearly two centuries; but the latter is com¬
paratively of recent introduction. The earliest notice we
have of either is given by Plato in his Phgedon ; and
after him, Columella speaks of similar structures, as used
in Italy in his day, for the cultivation of the plants and
trees of India and Arabia. In Seneca we have a de¬
scription of the application of hot wnter as a means of
securing the necessary temperature. The earliest plant-
houses in the north of Europe were those of the botanist
Jungerman at Altorf in Saxony; while those of Loader,
a London merchant, and the conservatory in the Apothe¬
caries’ Botanic Garden at Chelsea, may be noticed as the
first structures of the kind in Britain.
The construction of these, however, was ill adapted to
the end in view, as they consisted of little else than a
huge chamber of masonry, having large windows in
front, and the roof was invariably opaque. The next
step was taken, when it became fashionable to have con¬
servatories attached to mansions, instead of having them
in the. wilderness, as the pleasure grounds were then
denominated. This arrangement brought them within
the province of the house-architects, and for nearly a
century, utility and fitness for the cultivation of plants
was sacrificed, as it is in many cases still, to the unity
of architectural expression between the conservatory and
the mansion. In other words, the conservatory was
made an appendage to the house, and so disguised by
massive architectural details, as to form merely a part of Botanical
it. The admission of light, which is the principal ele- Structures
ment in plant culture, was completely disregarded, and
is so still, when the construction of such houses is
extended to those who are destitute of a knowledge of the
laws of vegetable physiology.
Garden architecture has now, however, undergone a
complete revolution, and such structures are now erected
on principles of their own, elegance of design being
invariably combined with utility or practical fitness for
the purpose of their erection. For this we are mainly
indebted to the late Sir George M‘Kenzie, and to
Messrs T. A. Knight and Loudon, who directed their
practical and theoretical skill to details of this subject.
The abolition of the duty on glass has greatly aided in
carrying out those views, and the improvement in that
material has left us little more to wish for. Without
going into the details of recent changes, we may briefly
state that the smallest extent of opaque surface con¬
sistent with stability, and the largest extent of glass,
and that of the best quality, are the principal things
to be aimed at in such erections. To attain these ends,
the early improvers of hothouse architecture dis¬
pensed with massive wooden rafters, and expensive
framed sashes, and for the most part, with the costly and
useless masses of back-walls. In their zeal, however,
they unfortunately fell into an opposite error by the
employment of metallic substances instead of timber for
their roofs. With a greater amount of light thus secured,
the conducting power of metal caused a great irregularity
of temperature, which it was found difficult to control;
and notwithstanding the great elegance of metallic houses,
this circumstance, together with their greater cost, and
it is feared their limited durability, has induced most
recent authorities to give the preference to wood. The
combination of the two, however, as in the Crystal
Palace of 1851, and more recently in that at Sydenham,
shews clearly that, without much variation of heat or loss
of light, spaces to any extent may be covei’ed, and houses
of any degree of altitude may be constructed.
The next improvement on the curvilinear structures of
the authorities above quoted, was the ridge and furrow
form, first suggested by the late Mr Loudon, but brought
into use by Sir Joseph Paxton. This form, besides pre¬
senting better angles to the sun’s rays than the antiquated
lean-to buildings, has the advantage of being capable of
extension to an indefinite extent without side-walls,
whereas the other could not be extended in breadth
beyond twenty or thirty feet, and even then involved the
construction of a back-wall of corresponding height, which
often cost as much as the half of the rest of the structure.
The span-roof is a modification of the ridge and furrow
style, and adapted to small as well as large houses.
Figs. 30 and 32 are cross-sections of this style in its
simplest form. It is now extremely popular, not only
for greenhouses and conservatories, but for fruit-pro¬
ducing houses also. In these it will be observed the
superstructure stands on a basement or pai'apet only two
feet and a half in height, and is broken up into panels,
better seen in fig. 47, into which glass ventilators are
placed for the supply of fresh air, as near the floor of the
house as possible, thereby avoiding the evils of cold
draughts of frosty or cold dry air blowing in upon the
tender foliage. The escape of heated and impure air is
through the lanthorn ventilation along the apex of the
ridge, the whole of the rest of the structure being a
fixture.
When such forms are used as greenhouses, and it is
universally admitted that it is the best form for such a
purpose, the plants are set on a centre stage or stages,
HORTICULTURE.
Botanical and along the sides, as shewn in the cross-section of the con-
servatory, fig. 46. When it is desirable to have a per¬
spective view along the centre of the house, the side
stages are increased in breadth, leaving an open passage
down the middle.
Fig. 44 exhibits a greenhouse upon the old or lean-to
principle, the plants being set on a stage reclining towards
the back of the house. Plants so situated present only
one side to the light, and hence soon become unsightly
and one-sided, which no care on the part of the cultiva¬
tor can remedy, short of turning them round once a day,
and even that is attended with great labour and a small
amount of benefit.
The conservatory may be, and often is, built in con¬
nection with the mansion, so as to be opened into from the
drawing-room or boudoir. In many cases this arrange¬
ment has the defect of suffering from the shade of the
building, and therefore, where circumstances will admit
of it, it may be placed at a convenient distance from the
house, and a connection formed by a glass corridor, so
that a dry and comfortable communication may be at all
times secured. It is also desirable that a conservatory
755
connected with the mansion should be kept gay with Botanical
flowering plants ; and to accomplish this, the plants must Structures.
be kept in a portable state, so that as they go out of
bloom they may be removed to a subsidiary structure,
and others brought in to replace them. Hence arises a
vital objection to planting out flowers in beds of earth,
as is so often done. There are also other objections to
this, of a strictly cultural nature.
Conservatories are often with great propriety placed
in the flower garden. Fig. 45 is offered as an example
of this arrangement, and shews a conservatory con¬
structed for Lord Overstone, in Northamptonshire, under
Fig. 43.
the superintendence of Mr MTntosh. Fig. 46 is a cross-
section of the same. The plants are arranged in pots,
placed on highly ornamental cast-iron stages, which occupy
the centre, with a passage down the middle, and another
crossing the house at right angles with the former, while
a third passes round the centre stages, separating them
from the elegant plant tables of elaborate casting, which
surround the sides and ends of the house. Fig. 45
shews the structure placed upon an elevated terrace,
and forming the termination of a long and spacious
Kg. 45.
gravel walk. The basement is of highly polished York¬
shire . ashler, richly moulded, panelled, and piered.
Within the panels are placed plate-glass ventilators,
opening three feet by twelve inches each, and extending
all round the structure. The upright sides of the super¬
structure are constructed of open pilasters filled with plate-
glass, one-fourth of an inch in thickness, and eighteen
inches in breadth. The fan lights above, which are also
moveable for extra ventilation during very warm weather,
and the whole of the spaces between the pilasters, is
glazed with the same material.
rlhe roof is covered with Hartley’s patent glass, one-
eighth of an inch in thickness. The top compartments
of the pilasters are furnished with elegant cast-iron orna¬
ments placed in front of the glass, and a series of similar
ornaments is carried round the gutter for the reception
of the water from the roof, and others of a smaller size
are placed round the sides and apex of the top ventila¬
tion. The ventilators open and shut simultaneously by
machinery. The roof is supported {vide cross-section)
by ornamental iron columns, which also serve as con¬
ductors for creeping-plants. The floor is laid with
polished Yorkshire pavement, and is twelve inches above
the level of the terrace walk, admitting of three steps at
756
HORTICULTURE.
Botanical the entrance porch. The astragals of the roof are sup-
Structures. ported bj a bar of T or angle iron, which goes round the
house,andto it is connected the ornamental uprightcolumns
and the arches which spring from them. 'Ihe columns are
anchored to large stones placed below the pavement-floor,
thus tying down the roof and supporting it atthe same time.
Glass-houses, in any of the forms we have referred to,
are infinitely superior to the old shed-looking forms,
which have scarcely a redeeming quality. The former
are cheaper in construction, in proportion to the accom¬
modation they afford, better adapted to all the purposes
of culture, and more elegant in appearance. Ranges of
span-roofed houses, having their end or gables facing the
south and north, and connected together by a glass cor¬
ridor either running through their centres, or placed
along their northern ends, have a connected and elegant
appearance, and may appropriately be placed in the
Kg. 47.
centre of a flower garden, whether intended for the
cultivation of flowering plants or of fruits. Figs. 47
Kg. 48.
and 48 give a front view and section of such a structure.
There is no incongruity in such a construction, nor does it
in the least interfere with the routine of culture. The
Avhole being heated by hot water, the smoke is carried
away in an underground tunnel beyond the precincts of
the garden, and the stoke holes, with the coals and ashes,
are placed in vaults under ground. Such a range should be Green-
placed on an elevated terrace, from two or three feet house
above the surrounding ground line, and have a broad ^-an!s^
terrace .walk and narrow flower parterre occupying the
space between the houses and the extreme parapet wall.
The Plant Stove differs in no respect from those we
have alluded to, except in having a greater extent of hot
water pipes for the purpose of securing a greater degree
of heat, which tropical plants require, compared with
those from extra tropical countries. Indeed, to grow to
perfection plants whose native habitat is under the bright¬
ness of a tropical sun, houses having the greatest amount
of light become absolutely necessary.
Aeration, or subterranean ventilation, is one of the most
important features in the new order of hothouse build¬
ing. The roots of trees, when planted within our glass¬
houses, require warmth and air as well as the leaves and
buds. Beyond this, also, aeration, properly conducted,
brings in a healthy supply of air to the atmosphere of
the house, night and day, and in all states of the exter¬
nal temperature. This is effected either by vaulting
under the borders, or by laying down a system of four-
inch drain-tiles, four feet apart, level with the founda¬
tions, and covering them, to the depth of eighteen inches,
with rubble-stones, brick-bats, flints, &c., and upon
these forming the soil borders. These vaults, or air-
drains, have a connection with the external air, which,
entering them, will diffuse itself through the drains or
open joints of the pavement, and thus reach the roots.
Vertical openings are also made upwards through the
holders, to cause an in-draught of atmospheric air into
the house, and air so procured has the advantage of
being modified in temperature, and charged with humidity
during its passage from the external orifice, and thus
being in a state of all others the most beneficial to vegeta¬
tion. The orifices of such air-drains are usually placed
in the terrace wall which encloses the gravel walk and
parterres, and which should in all cases surround such
ranges of houses. In some cases the air is made to
descend through vertical openings in connection with
the horizontal pipes.
The inner openings should be placed either under the
hot water pipes, or as near the boilers as possible, the
difference of temperature at these points increasing the
in-draught current. In plant-houses, even where there
are no borders, this system of aeration should not be
neglected. In fig. 45 the floor is elevated four feet
above the foundations, thus affording a capacious vault
beneath, which is supplied with atmospheric air from
the exterior. This air is admitted into the interior of
the house through brass ventilators placed in the pave¬
ment-flooring, which can be opened and shut at pleasure.
Night aeration is important, when we consider that plants,
like animals, breathe, and require fresh air during the
night as well as during the day.
Greenhouse Plants.—This beautiful class of plants has
become so numerous, that, in a sketch like the present, it
is impossible to give the names of even a limited selec¬
tion. The recent increase of species makes the work of
selection at once more necessary and more difficult; a
work which it must be confessed is often negligently
performed. Many of the finer sorts of woody plants are
propagated with difficulty, and consequently, being high
priced in the nurseries, are possessed in requisite abun¬
dance only where there is considerable liberality on the
part of the proprietor.
Light mould, produced by the rotting of turf from pas¬
tures, and reduced with sand if necessary, or enriched
with leaf-mould, is well adapted for most greenhouse
plants. Some require a mixture of peat earth ; others
HORTICULTURE.
Green¬
house
Plants.
thrive only in pure sandy peat. The common mode of
propagation is by cuttings inserted in earth or sand, and
covered, if necessary, with bell-glasses. A few sorts are
increased by grafting or layers. Nearly all may be
raised from seed, large quantities of which are annually
imported from abroad ; and, it may be added, many
greenhouse plants ripen their seed in this country.
Many of these plants require shifting and fresh earth
twice a year; all of them should be repotted once a year
at least. It is the common practice to examine their
roots in spring or the early part of summer, and, un¬
coiling or loosening the matted fibres, to put them into
larger pots if necessary. As room is extremely valuable
in limited greenhouses, it is desirable that the plants
should be kept of a moderate size ; and they are, there¬
fore, rather to be under-potted than otherwise. Many
of the free-growing plants require to be shifted again in
August; at which period of the year it is considered
preferable to repot those which require to be disturbed
only once a year. During the summer months, a great
proportion of the inmates of the greenhouse are placed in
the open air, on a spot paved or laid with ashes, to pre¬
vent the entrance of earth-worms into the pots, and not
too much exposed to winds. Meanwhile, their place in
the greenhouse is occupied by balsams and other tender
annuals of a showy character. On the approach of
winter the plants are again placed under cover. All that
is necessary in the management of the greenhouse in
winter, is to keep up a steady but very moderate tem¬
perature, to preclude the access of damp by regular
airing in mild dry weather, and to attend to moderate
watering where it may be needed.
Of late years, particular genera of plants have come
greatly into vogue, and it would be an omission not to
notice some of them. Among the foremost may be men¬
tioned the Pelargonium, with its affinities. This beautiful
tribe has varied nearly as rapidly as the Dahlia; to the
discomposure of some botanists, whose scientific logic has
been brought into jeopardy. Pelargoniums are of easy
culture, propagating readily by cuttings, and requiring
only to be shifted from time to time. Equal to these in
point of beauty of colour, and certainly superior in
elegance of form, is the family of Cape heaths, the Erica
of botanists. Of this genus there is said to be 600 species,
considerably more than the half of which exist in our col¬
lections, and a very great number of hybrids have been
raised in Britain, many of which are superior in beauty
to the original parents. Many heaths may be raised from
seed, which occasionally ripens in this country : the most
common mode of propagation, however, is by cuttings,
and this in some species is attended with difficulty.
Heaths require a peaty soil, and attention in watering.
For further information, we may refer to the excellent
little treatise of the late Mr M‘Nab of the Botanic Gar¬
den, Edinburgh, whose success in this department was
quite unidvalled, and in whose hands heaths attained a
splendour which, we believe, they never reach in the
environs of the Table Mountain itself. The superb genus
Camellia is the only other that particularly claims our
attention. To the elegance of the finest evergreen it
unites the beauty of the fairest rose. The Camellia,
though a native of Japan, is not particularly tender, but
from some peculiarities in its constitution, its culture re¬
quires a considerable degree of attention and care. Cut¬
tings of the single red variety strike freely, and upon
these as stocks, the finer sorts are grafted by inarching
or side-grafting. The soil generally employed is a mix¬
ture of peat and light loam. Care must be taken not to
allow the roots to become matted in the pots. The
young plants should be shifted at least once a year;
757
when old, and in large tubs, once in two years will be Conserva-
sufficient. It is found beneficial to apply a certain de°ree tory an(i
of heat while the plants are growing, and till they form pj^ts
flower-buds for the following season. To have Camellias -w
in perfection, a house with a span roof should be appro¬
priated for their reception. There are some splendid col¬
lections of this noble plant in the nursery-gardens in the
neighbourhood of London, and also in private gardens.
Conservatory Plants.—These are composed of a selection
from the numerous inmates of the greenhouse. They
should be naturally of an elegant form, capable in general
of sustaining themselves, and somewhat hardy in their
constitution. Many of the Australian plants, particularly
the genera Acacia, Banksia, Dryandra, Chorozema,
Corraea, Daviesia, Dillvvynia, Epacris, Eutaxia, Gas-
trolobium, Goodia, Gompholobium, Hovea, &c., are well
adapted for this purpose. The ascending Proteas of the
Cape, and many others of a similar habit, may likewise
take their place in this department. To these may be
added a few of the hardier Heaths and Camellias, to¬
gether with Azaleas from Japan, double-flowering
Pomegranate, Camphor-laurel, Tea-tree, and some of
the varieties of the magnificent and consecrated Khodo-
dendron arboreum. Such climbing plants as Lonicera
flexuosa, Passiflora, Cantua, Bignonia, Kennedya, Mande-
villa suaveolens, Zichya, Tacsonia, and the trailing
Pelargonium. In the management of the conservatory,
abundant air should be admitted, and care should be taken
not to draw the plants; that is, not to cause them to become
too tall and spindle-formed by over-crowding. They
should be so pruned as to keep them comparatively short
and bushy; but after all pains have been taken, the sorrow¬
ful time at length arrives, when they either disfigure them¬
selves by pressing against the glass, or must submit to the
no less distorting process of a violent amputation. To meet
such exigencies, it is recommended that, wherever there
is also a greenhouse, a few plants should be kept in
training for the conservatory, and substituted in the room
of any that become unmanageable. After all, the fourth,
fifth, and sixth summers of the conservatory will always
be the finest; and when a longer series of years have
gone by, and the plants have outgrown the space allotted
to them, perhaps the best thing that can be done is to
change the whole interior of the house, plants and all.
If this operation be anticipated, and for a year or two
prepared for, sufficiently large plants may be had in
readiness, and the appearance of a well-furnished house
be attained in one or two seasons. It is scarcely needful
to add, that the neatness which is so desirable everywhere
in the flower garden is absolutely indispensable in the
conservatory.
Stove Plants.—There are many beautiful plants, natives
of tropical regions, which are cultivated in our stoves,
but which, from the elevated temperature they require,
can be only occasionally visited with pleasure. This
may account for the fact that stoves are seldom found
except in first-rate gardens, even where the price of fuel is
inconsiderable. It is unnecessary to be minute respect¬
ing their culture, which is precisely that of greenhouse
plants, differing only in the degree of heat. Many stove
plants are succulent, such as the Cactus, Aloe, and their
congeners, and of course require an arid soil, composed
of a little light loam mixed with lime-rubbish or shivers.
The compost generally employed consists of 1 part of
rotted dung, 1 rotted leaves, 1 heath mould, 11 loam, and
1 coarse sand, all well mixed together; and the pot
tided nearly one-third with shreds, so as to form an
effectual drain. Some of the species, such as the Cactus
speciosus and Cereus flagelliformis, are improved and
made to flower more freely by being kept growing
758 HORTICULTURE.
Calendar, vigorously in the greenhouse during summer, and also
by being grafted on the stronger growing species of the
same genera. Stove plants thrive best in the tepid
vapour peculiar to the equatorial climes. In order to
furnish bottom-heat, a pit is prepared in form of a vault,
through which hot water is made to circulate in pipes.
Over this a bed of small stones or gravel is laid, and in
it the pots are plunged, or set on the surface, according
to circumstances. On the front shelves are occasionally
placed the smaller and younger plants, that part being
most accessible to light and air. Small cisterns too are
introduced to contain tender aquatics. Along the roof
some of the more elegant species of Passiflora, such as
P. quadrangularis, may be trained ; and through the
branches of some of the woody plants, Cuscuta, Com-
bretum, Quisqualis, and other tender climbers, may be
allowed to twine themselves. In the pit may be plunged
some of the Palms, those princes of plants. In short,
there is no end of those numerous tribes, “ the potent
sons of moisture and of heat,” with which the teeming
regions of the equator are filled; and no suit of stoves in
this country, however extensive, can come up to the
wishes of the botanist. The management of this depart¬
ment of floriculture is laborious and trying to the
constitution. A strong heat, both in the pit and in the
atmosphere, must be maintained ; the air must be kept
charged with vapour, and the plants require frequent
shifting and repotting. To these, if space allowed it, we
ought to speak of such structures as are devoted to the
cultivation of Orchids, the Camellia, the Geranium, Suc¬
culent-plants, and others, as wTell as of pits in which young
plants are nursed and brought forward.
CALENDAR.
tions abundance of air ; but keep them rather dry, to prevent damp- Calendar
ing off. r ' _ , 'r
February.
Kitchen Garden.—Sow beans and peas in the beginning and end
of the month ; a few early cabbages, to replace the last sowing in
August; red cabbages and savoys in the last week. Sow also early
horn carrot; Dutch turnip; onions for a full crop in light soils,
with a few leeks. Sow chervil and fennel, and lettuce for succes¬
sion, with radishes and round-leaved spinach, twice in the course of
the month ; small salads every fortnight.
Plant Jerusalem artichokes, garlic, horse-radish, and early
potatoes. Strawberries may be planted about the end of the month.
Transplant for seed, if not done before, all the brassica tribe, in¬
cluding cabbage, cauliflower, turnip, &c.; also carrots, onions, beet,
celery, endive, leeks, and parsnips. Transplant to the bottom of a
south wall a few of the peas sown in November for the first crop.
Prune apricots, peaches, nectarines, and plums, before the buds
be much swelled; also apples, pears, cherries, gooseberries, currants,
andyaspberries, before the end of the month. Finish the dressing
of vines, keep the fruit-room free from spoiled fruit, and shut it close.
Forcing Department.—Plant out melons and cucumbers on hot¬
beds and in pits, sowing more for succession. Sow carrots, turnips,
and early celery ; cauliflower, to be afterwards planted out. Plant
early potatoes on slight hotbeds. Continue the forcing of asparagus,
rhubarb, and sea-kale. Pine-apple plants require little water at
this season ; young plants in dung-frames ought to be kept free
from damp. Shift fruiting plants by the middle of the month, if not
done in August. Continue the forcing of all sorts of fruits. Those
who have not commenced sooner will find this one of the best seasons
to begin. . Be careful to protect the stems of vines that are outside
of the forcing houses.
Let the greenhouse and conservatory have plenty of air in mild
weather. Put in an extra quantity, if not done in autumn, of cuttings
of Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, Calceolarias, Heliotropes, and Salvias,
&c., for the flower garden. Sow stocks, a few tender annuals, and
dahlia seed, on a slight hotbed, or in pots.
Flower Garden.—In good weather plant dried roots, including
most of the finer florists’ flowers; continue the transplanting of
hardy biennial flowers, and herbaceous plants.
Sow in the last week mignonette, and hardy annuals, in a warm
border, for subsequent transplanting.
January.
Kitchen Garden.—Sow early frame and other early peas in the
beginning of the month, and dwarf marrowfats about the end of the
month; early mazagan and longpod beans during the first and last
weeks; onions on very light soils ; as also parsley, if not done in
August, on a warm border; short-topped radish in two or three
sowings, at a week’s interval, in the same situation. In the last
fortnight sow hardy green and brown Dutch lettuce.
Plant fruit-trees, if not done in autumn, which is the proper
season, in open weather, mulching over the roots to protect them
from the drought which may occur in spring. Plant shallot.
Prune all sorts of fruit-trees in mild weather or in moderate
frosts, nailing only in fine weather ; wash those trees infested with
insects, with soap-suds and flowers of sulphur, and tobacco liquor.1
Forcing Department.—-Prepare, for making up hotbeds for early
cucumbers and melons, at least where pits heated with hot water is
not in use. Sow. salads, carrots, and kidney-beans on slight hot¬
beds. Sow peas in cold frames for transplanting. Force asparagus,
sea-kale, and rhubarb, in hotbeds, in pits, in the mushroom-house,
or in the open garden by covers surrounded with litter. Give air
in fine weather, and water sparingly, in the pinery and cucumber-
pit, and to other forcing-houses, according to the progress of the
trees. Attend to the forced kidney-beans and strawberries. Give
abundance of air to the greenhouse, conservatory, and alpine frame,
but little water. Begin to force roses, kalmias, rhododendrons, &c.
and hardy flowers and bulbs.
Flower Garden.—dried tubers and bulbs of bordered
flowers, if not done in autumn ; but roots of the finer florists’
flowers ought to be deferred till next month.
Transplant herbaceous plants in light soils, if not done in autumn •
weatheerCldU°US treeS’ ShrUbS’ ^ lledgeS- La^ edSinSs in fine
Sow mignonette, stocks, &c., in pots; sow sweet peas, and a few
ardy annuals, on a warm border. Give stage auriculas and carna-
March.
Kitchen Garden.—Sow main crops of peas, beans, cabbages,
onions,, leeks, carrots, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, borecoles, lettuces,
and spinach. In the beginning, and also in the end of the month,
sow turnips and savoys. In the last fortnight sow asparagus,
cauliflower, sea-kale, cardoons, celery, and most of the culinary
aromatics, as dill, fennel, parsley. Small salads should be sown
every ten days.
Plant early potatoes in the first week, and a main crop during
the last fortnight. Jerusalem artichokes, sea-kale, asparagus, and
peas, raised in frames, may now be planted. Full crops of cabbages
should now be planted out, and cauliflowers under hand-glasses.
Propagate by slips the various pot-herbs, as mint, sage, savoy,
tansy, &c.
Fruit Garden. — Finish the pruning of fruit-trees before the
middle of the month. Protect those coming into blossom. Begin
grafting in the third week; dig and dress between the rows of
gooseberries, currants, and other fruit-trees, if not already done.
Kill wasps when they first appear, for the dbath of every individual
now is equal to the destruction of a colony in autumn.
Forcing Garden.—^Proceed with the forcing of melons and cucum¬
bers, giving air, and maintaining the proper temperatures. Examine
pine-suckers and crowns, potting those that are kept in tan during
winter; repotting those that require large pots, and dressing the
roots of such as are sickly ; about the middle of the month, shift to
the succession pit, and give a top-dressing to the fruiting plants ;
turn the tan, and add new bark to the pits, to keep up bottom-heat,
where such is used. In the vinery and peach-house, attend to the
keeping down of insects by watering; and promote the growth of
the young shoots, by gentle steaming in the evenings. Sow the
seeds of capsicum and tomato.
Greenhouse.—More water may be given than formerly. Sow
seeds of greenhouse and hothouse plants ; also the different sorts
of tender annuals ; pot off those sown last month; shift greenhouse
mended m-ovine- verv to treat 8eparately, or at.length, of the means of destroying insects; many of the nostrums recon
trees Some nfefer mnVir, U ie w.asl‘ here mentioned is perhaps the best and simplest for the stems and branches of wall frui
not to be anxious to bill tuf ^ of th® c.onsl8tence of paint, and laying it on with a brush. One advice we would tender to all gardeners,-
attackinrblssom or ^ i tr ier ^ 0fthe. “ered songsters, the soft-billed warblers of the garden, which are often suspected <
walls and frame work rle™ p1 fley ar® °n/- Plckmg off caterpillars or aphides, their favourite food. In hothouses, the keeping of th
filling them with tile smote of toblwco^aper^and’tl^i’tLrougE^’eyTnigliig6’^ ^m^or^an* ’ “d ”<* re“lts *—•**«*
HOETICULTURE.
Calendar, and stove plants; plant tuberoses in pots for forcing. Begin to
propagate greenhouse plants by cuttings.
Flower Garden and Shrubbery.—In the last week, sow hardy
annuals in the borders, with biennials that flower the first season ;
as also perennials. Plant anemone and ranunculus roots. Trans¬
plant from the nursery to their final sites annuals sown in autumn,
with biennials and herbaceous plants. Propagate perennials from
root-slips and offsets. Protect tulips, hyacinths, and choice flowers,
from severe weather. In the first week put into heat the finer sorts
of dahlias, so as to spring them, and prepare them for propagation by
cuttings and by division of the roots. Likewise finish the pruning
of all deciduous trees and hedges as soon as possible. Attend to
the dressing of shrubberies, laying of turf-edgings, and to the state
of gravel walks.
Apkil.
Kitchen Garden.—Sow asparagus, sea-kale, beet, salsify, scorzo-
nera, skirret, carrots, and onions on heavy soils ; also peas, beans,
turnips, spinach, celery, cabbages, savoys, and German greens, for
succession. Sow broccoli and kidney-beans both in the second and
in the last week ; and small salads should be sown twice or thrice
during the month; also all sweet herbs, if not done last month.
Plant cauliflower, cabbages, sea-kale, lettuce ; and finish the
planting of the main crops of potatoes. Propagate all sorts of pot¬
herbs, and attend to the hoeing and thinning of spinach, onions,
turnips, &c. Earth up cabbages, cauliflower, peas, beans, and
early potatoes. Stake up peas; blanch sea-kale and rhubarb in
the open air, by covering with straw or leaves.
Fruit-Trees. — No pruning ought to be left undone till this
period; stone-fruits, in particular, are much injured by spring
pruning. If vines have been neglected, rubbing off the buds that
are not wanted is safer than pruning. Pi'otect the finer sorts of
fruit-trees on the walls.
Forcing.—Continue the preparation of succession beds and pits
for cucumbers and melons. Sow gourds and basil. Pot love-
apples and capsicums. Attend to the routine culture of the pinery,
giving water and air when necessary. In the forcing-houses, from
the variable state of the weather, considerable vigilance is required
in giving air. Keep down red spider (acarus) in the more advanced
houses by frequent syringings. Continue the usual operations of
disbudding and thinning of fruit, and take care to keep up the
proper temperatures.
'Greenhouse.—Still sow all sorts of tender annuals. Proceed
with all necessary shiftings. Propagate rare and fine plants by
cuttings or grafting. Pot off tender annuals, and cuttings of half-
hardy greenhouse plants put in in February for the use of the
flower garden.
Flower Garden and Shrubbery—Sow main or succession crops
of annuals of all sorts ; half-hardy annuals in warm borders, or on
slight-hotbeds. Biennials and perennials should be sown before
the middle of the month. Plant Tigridia pavonia and fine stocks.
Finish the transplanting of herbaceous plants by the end of the first
week. Protect stage auriculas and hyacinths from extremes of
every description of weather ; and tulips from hoar-frosts and heavy
rains. Plant out tender deciduous trees and shrubs raised in pots.
Remove part of the coverings of all tender shrubs and plants in the
first week, and the remainder at the end of the month. Form and
repair lawns and grass walks, by laying turf and sowing perennial
grass-seeds. Plant evergreens.
May.
Kitchen Garden.—Sow small salads every week; radishes and
lettuces thrice; spinach once a fortnight; carrots and onions for
late drawing; kidney-beans in the first week and last fortnight.
Peas and beans, cauliflowers, cabbages, Brussels sprouts, borecolej
broccoli, savoys, and German greens, for late crops. Sow pumpkins
and cucumbers on a warm border in the last week. Continue the
various- operations of hoeing and earthing up the difi'erent crops.
Fruit-Trees.—Disbud peaches, nectarines, and other early trees
against the walls ; also attend to the thinning of fruit. Give occa¬
sional-washings with the engine to keep down insects. Pick
caterpillars from gooseberries and wall trees on their first appearance.
Mulch, if not done before, all newly planted fruit-trees, watering
abundantly in dry weather. Remove from raspberries and straw-
berries all suckers and runners that are not wanted.
Forcing. Plant melons, and cucumbers, and some basil, on the
hotbeds prepared for vegetables in February, and now free. Plant
out pumpkins on dung-ridges, under hand-glasses. Sow late crops
of cucumbers and melons ; attend to the various particulars in their
culture, heat, air, water, shade, and insects. Go on with the usual
culture of the pinery ; give abundance of heat and water, keeping
down all manner of insects.
Greenhouse, lurn out hardy plants about the middle, and the
more tender at the latter end of the month. Sow tender annuals
for succession ; potting and shifting those sown at an earlier period.
Pot oft likewise all rooted cuttings. Put in cuttings of the different
759
desirable species which are now fit for that purpose. Sow a few Calendar
hardy annuals and ten-week stock, &c., for late crops. ^
Flower Garden.—Sow annuals for succession; biennials in the
last week, in the nursery compartment, for next year. Propagate
by cuttings, dahlias, pansies, double wall-flowers, rockets, scarlet
lychnis, and lobelias, by dividing the roots. Plant out, during the
last week, dahlias, hardy pelargoniums, stocks, and calceolarias
protecting the dahlias from slight frosts. By the end of the month]
masses of the following plants may be formed with safety in warm
localities :—pelargonium, heliotropium, fuchsia, salpiglossis, nierem-
bergia, salvia, verbena, bouvardia, and lobelia. Protect tulips,
ranunculuses, and anemones, from the mid-day sun, from rains, and
winds. Remove the coverings from all tender plants in the open
>S7irw5&en/.-—Transplant all kinds of evergreens this month and
September, being the proper seasons. The rarer coniferse should
be planted-now and in June, after they have commenced to grow.
Proceed with the laving down of lawns and gravel-walks.
June.
Kitchen Garden'.—Sow peas and beans for late crops. The
kinds used for early crops are likewise best for this purpose. Sow
sahiding every ten days; also carrots and onions for drawing young.
In the beginning of the month sow endive for an early crop. In
the first week sow turnips for succession ; and in the third week for
a full autumn crop. Scarlet and white runners for a late crop;
cabbages for coleworts. ’
Plant full crops of broccoli, Brussels sprouts, savoys, German
greens, and leeks ; ridge out early celery, successional crops of cab¬
bage and cauliflower. In the first fortnight of the month, plant
cucumbers for pickling, in a warm border, placing hand-glasses over
them. - Pull and store winter onions, if ripe.
Fruit Trees.-—Train and prune the summer shoots of all descrip¬
tions of wall and trellis trees. Standards do not require this, except
those are trained en pyramide or en quenouille. Mulch and water
fruit-trees and strawberries in dry weather, desisting from watering
as soon as the fruit begins to ripen. Net over cherry-trees, to pro¬
tect the fruit from birds. Destroy insects by frequent washings,
and directing tobacco-smoke against them, or by strewing snuff1 (or
the fine powder of tobacco) over them. In the first week, plant out
love-apples in vacant spaces along the bottom of a south wall.
Forcing' and Greenhouse Department. Hotbeds and Pits.—
Proceed with planting melons and cucumhers raised from seeds and
cuttings, for late crops. Keep up the necessary temperatures for
ripening of the fruits. Continue the operations in the pinery stated
under last month; but, if very large sized fruit be desired, remove the
whole suckers from the stem and roots, and apply heat and water in
abundance. Shift suckers and succession plants in the beginning
and middle of the month, as the state of the plants may require.
Forcing-houses may have the same treatment as stated last
month. Little water and abundance of air must be given to those
houses where the fruit is beginning to ripen. Those in which the
fruit is past, ought to be constantly under a system of thorough
ventilation.
The Greenhouse will now be occupied with tender greenhouse
plants and annuals, and the more hardy plants from the stove, for
here they will remain longer in flower. Shift, re-pot, and propagate
all plants, fine perennials, biennials, or annuals, and cuttings of all
sorts that are desirable. Sow fragrant or showy annuals, to flower
in pots during winter.
Flower Garden.—Take up bulbs and tuberous roots, and dry
them in the shade before you remove them to the store-room. Fill
up with annuals and greenhouse plants those beds from which the
bulbs and roots have been raised. After this season, keep always a
reserve of annuals in pots, or planted on beds of thin layers of fibrous
matter, from which they are easily removed with balls, to fill up
any blanks which may occur in the border or parterre. Sow peren¬
nials, if neglected last month, to be planted out in the spring. Lay
and pipe carnations and pinks in the end of the month.
July.
Kitchen Garden.—In the first week, sow peas for the last crop of
the season. In the last week, sow yellow turnip for a full winter
crop, and spinach for an early winter supply. Endive, for autumn
and winter use, in the beginning and end of the month ; also suc¬
cessional crops of lettuce and small salads.
Plant full crops of celery, celeriac, endive, about the middle and
end of the month; late crops of broccoli, cauliflower, and coleworts,
in the last week. _ Gather and dry medical and pot herbs; also pro¬
pagate such by slips and cuttings.
Fruit-Trees.—Continue the summer pruning and training of all
wall and espalier-rail trees, with the destruction of insects. Plant
strawberries in pots, for forcing next winter. Propagate different
sorts of fine fruit-trees, by budding on other trees, or on prepared
stocks.
HORTICULTURE.
760
Calendar. Forcing.—Attend to the pruning of melons and cucumbers, giv-
ing air and water, and maintaining^ heat, &c. Go on with the
usual cultivation of the pinery, hut withhold water froni the plants
when the fruit begins to ripen. Have the old plants with suckers
on them put into a brisk bottom-heat, giving proper supplies of
water: this will increase their size very. much, and materially
shorten the period of their coming into fruit. The forcing-houses
ought to have the same treatment as stated for last month.
In the Greenhouse, little alteration will take place in the culture
and management from that given for last month ; necessary atten¬
tion being paid to potting, shifting, and putting in cuttings, and
giving abundance of water to the potted plants, both in the house
and out of doors.
Fbwer Garden and Shrubbery—Take up the remainder of
tuberous roots, such as anemone, ranunculus, &c., finishing by the
end of the first week ; fill up their places, and any vacancies that
may have occurred, with annuals from the reserve ground. Propa¬
gate herbaceous and other plants that have gone out of flower, by
means of cuttings and slips ; also roses and American shrubs, by
laying, budding, or cuttings. Go on with the laying and piping of
carnations and pinks; attend to the staking and tying up of dahlias
and strong herbaceous plants.
August.
In the Kitchen Garden, sow winter and spring spinach in the
beginning and about the end of the month; parsley and winter
onions, for a full crop, in the first week; cabbages, cauliflower,
savoys, and German greens, about the middle of the month, for
planting out in spring; lettuce in the first and last week; small
salads occasionally ; black, Spanish, red and white queen radish, for
winter crops.
Plant and earth up celery and endive. A few coleworts may
still he planted.
In the Fruit Garden, proceed in the training and regulation of
summer shoots of all fruit-trees as directed for the three last months.
Net up, in dry weather, gooseberry and currant bushes, to preserve
the fruit till late in the autumn. Every exertion must now be used
by the gardener to preserve the ripening fruits on the walls from
insects, and to destroy wasp nests.
Forcing.—The same routine of cultivation in hotbeds and pits
may be proceeded in as stated for last month. Sow, and propagate
by cuttings, in the beginning of the month, cucumbers, to be after¬
wards grown in hot water pits, or in boxes in the front of the pine-
stove, for a winter crop. In the pinery most of the fruit will be cut
by the middle of the month, when a general shifting of succession
lants will take place; as also a potting of suckers; hut these will
e strengthened by being allowed to remain on the old plants until
the end of this month. In the forcing-houses where the crops are
past, part of the sashes may be removed, so as to permit thorough
ventilation.
Greenhouse.—Attend to the propagation of all sorts of green¬
house plants by cuttings, and to the replacing in the greenhouse
and stoves the more tender species, by the end of the month in
ordinary seasons, but in wet weather in the second week. Sow half-
hardy annuals, as Clarkia, Schizanthus, Coreopsis, &c., to flower
during winter.
Flower Garden and Shrubbery.—Sow in the second and the
last week, on a warm border of a light sandy soil, with an east
aspect, for planting in spring, Clarkia pulchella and elegans, Co¬
reopsis tinctorea, CEnothera Lindleyana and roseo-alha, Collinsia
grandiflora, Schizanthus pinnatus, &c. Auricula and Primula seeds
in pots and boxes. Propagate all sorts of herbaceous plants by
rooted slips; lay chrysanthemums; take off layers of carnations,
pinks, and pansies. Transplant evergreens in moist weather, about
the end of the month: and propagate them by layers and cuttings.
September.
Garden.—Sow a few small salads for late crops; lettuce and
spinach, if not done last month, for spring crops. Plant endive
and lettuce. If broccoli be too strong or tall to withstand the winter,
lift them and lay them nearly up to the neck in the earth. Lift
onions, and lay them out to win on a dry border or gravel walk.
Lift potatoes and store them.
Fruit-Trees, &c.— Finish the summer pruning and training.
Assist the maturing of the fruit, and, what is equally important,
the ripening of the young wood for next year, of peaches and nec¬
tarines on hot walls, with fires during the day. Gather and lay up
in the fruit-room with care the autumnal sorts of apples and pears.
Plant strawberries for a main crop.
For(%ng. —Take care that late crops of melons and cucumbers be
not injured by damping, from getting too much water and too little
air. In the pinery the usual routine of cultivation may be carried
on; in the first week take off and pot all strong suckers, if not done
in the middle of last month ; the remainder may he taken off at the
end of the month, and planted in old tan in a frame or pit prepared
for that purpose. In this way they will he found to keep much Calendar,
better over the winter, and to he better supplied with roots than if
they had been potted, which ought never to be done after this
season. Expel damp, and assist the ripening of late crops of grapes
and peaches, with fires during the day. Prune early vines and
peaches.
Flower Garden, &c.—Sow in the beginning of this month all
half-hardy annuals stated for last month, if not done at that time.
Sow also the different species of primula; and the seeds of all such
plants as, if sown in spring, seldom come up the same season, hut
if sown in September and October, vegetate readily the succeeding
spring. Continue the propagation of herbaceous plants, taking off
the layers of carnations, pinks, pansies, and chrysanthemums, by
the end of the month. Plant evergreens ; lay and put in cuttings
of most of the hard-wooded sorts of shrubby plants.
October.
Kitchen Garden.—Sow small salads and radishes in the first
week; mazagan beans and early frame peas in the last week. If
the winter prove mild they will be somewhat earlier than those sown
next month or in January.
Plant cabbages in beds or close rows till wanted in spring.
Cauliflowers in the last week, to receive the protection of frames,
or, at any rate, at the bottom of a high wall or hedge in a sheltered
situation.
Store potatoes, beet, salsify, scorzonera, skirret, carrots, parsnips,
by the end of the month.
Fruit Garden.—Such fruit-trees as have dropped their leaves
may he transplanted, for which this is the best season, whether the
leaves have fallen or not. Protect fig-trees, if the weather prove
frosty, as soon as they have cast their leaves. Cover late crops of
grapes on hot walls with woollen nets or mats, to prevent injury from
frost. Store and lay up very carefully during the month all sorts
of apples and pears, the longest keeping sorts not before the end of
the month, if the weather be mild. A part of them may he placed
in a close cellar.
Forcing.—Assist hotbeds and pits with fresh linings, to keep
up the declining heat of such beds as have not ripened off their
crops. Give abundance of air in good weather. Gradually lower
the heat of the pinery.
Dress vines and peaches; clean and repair the forcing houses
and their flues.
Greenhouse.—Replace all sorts of greenhouse plants. Fill the pits
with pots of stocks, mignonette, and hardy annuals for planting out in
spring, along with many of the hardy sorts of greenhouse plants.
The whole ought to he thoroughly ventilated, except in frosty
weather. Begin to force roses, hyacinths, and a few other bulbs,
for winter and early spring decoration.
Flower Garden.—Sow a few pots of hardy annuals in a frame,
or on a sheltered border, for spring use, as directed for August.
Plant the greater part of the common border bulbs about the
end of the month, with a few anemones for early flowering. Trans¬
plant strong plants of biennials and perennials to their final situations.
Protect alpine plants, stage auriculas, and carnations, with glass
frames; half-hardy greenhouse plants, such as fuchsias, &c., about
the end of the month, with coverings of broom or spruce-fir, pre¬
ferring the latter. Take up, dry, and store dahlias and all tender
tubers in the end of the month; pot lobelias and similar half-hardy
plants from the open borders.
Transplant all sorts of hardy evergreens and shrubs, especially
in dry soils, giving abundance of water. Put in cuttings of all sorts
of evergreens, &c.
November.
Kitchen Garden.—Sow early frame peas and mazagan beans, in
the second week, for an early crop. Protect endive, celery, artichoke,
sea-kale, with stable-litter or ferns; mulch asparagus with hotbed
dung; take up endive, late cauliflower, early broccoli, and lettuces,
and lay them in an open shed, or in old cucumber and melon pits,
which will protect them from frost, and afford a supply during
winter. But pits constructed for the express purpose are much
better. They should be placed behind a north wall. Force rhubarb
and sea-kale in the open border, under boxes or cases, surrounded
and covered with well-fermented stable dung. Plant all sorts of
fruit-trees in fine weather—the earlier in the month the better.
Commence and carry on the various operations of pruning and
nailing when the weather may permit. Take off such late sorts of
apples and pears as may remain on the trees, and lay them carefully
past in the fruit-room; which place will require frequent examina¬
tion, and the removal of all decayed fruit.
Forcing and Greenhouse.—In hotbeds and pits keep up the
requisite degree of heat. Cucumbers and pines, on hotbeds, will
require more than ordinary attention, to prevent them damping off
from too much moisture. Where a circulation of hot water in pipes
is employed for heating, the necessary temperature and dryness are
HORTICULTURE.
Calendar, much more under the control of the gardener. Force asparagus,
rhubarb, and sea-kale, in the mushroom-house or pits.
In the forcing-houses prune and train the trees; fork over and
dress the borders of such houses as have not been already done.
Continue the forcing of roses, hyacinths, &c. The directions for the
greenhouse and conservatory in January apply also to this month
generally.
Flower Garden, &c.—Plant dried tubers of border flowers, but
the finer sorts bad better be deferred till spring. Protect such half-
hardy plants as were not sheltered last month. Plant deciduous
trees and shrubs as long as the weather continues favourable, and
before tlm soil has parted with the solar heat absorbed during sum¬
mer. This is tbe reason why early autumn planting is so strongly
recommended. Dig and dress such flower borders and shrubberies
as may now be cleared of annuals and the stems of herbaceous plants.
December.
Kitchen and Fruit Garden.—Sow a few peas and beans, as in
761
November Very few_ operations can be carried on during this Calendar,
month, with the exception of trenching and digging in drv weather
operations which should by all means be attended'to. The advan¬
tages of deep cultivation are now sufficiently acknowledged.
Plant all sorts of fruit-trees in mild weather. Proceed with prun¬
ing and nailing wall-trees, whenever an opportunity occurs. Examine
the fruit-room every week, removing the fruit found in a state of
decay.
Forcing, &c.—The same degree of attention to hotbeds and pits
will be necessary as in the last month. Continue the forcing of
asparagus, rhubarb, and sea-kale, in pits and in the mushroom-house.
Proceed with the usual routine of culture commenced last month,
makmg the necessary preparations to begin forcing by the last week
of this, or the first of next month.
Flower Garden, c6c.-—The directions for last month will be found
equally applicable to this. Rake and sweep leaves from lawns and
gravel-walks, repairing the latter as occasion may require.
(P. N.) (C. M‘l.)
HOSANNA, a Hebrew word, meaning Save, we pray.
At the Feast of Tabernacles the Jews carried branches of
the palm and myrtle tree, repeating verses 25 and 26 of
Psalm cxviii., which begins with Hosanna, The expres¬
sion became a term of acclamation, and was applied to the
prayers of the several days during which the feast lasted.
The feast itself was called the Great Hosanna, and more
specially the seventh day of the feast.
HOSEA, Book of, a canonical book of the Old Testa¬
ment, occupying the first place among the twelve minor
prophets in the Hebrew, Alexandrian, and Vulgate Scrip¬
tures. This position has been vindicated by some from
the opening verse, in which are found the words, “ The be¬
ginning of the word of the Lordbut it is more probable
that it was assigned to Hosea from the greater extent, and
perhaps the peculiar national character, of his book. The
tribe to which the author belonged has been matter of ques¬
tion. Maurer pleads for Judah, and—(1.) takes the case
of Amos, as showing that a Jewish prophet might be sent to
Israel; (2.) appeals to the mention by Hosea of Uzziah,
Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, as showing
that he regarded these as his sovereigns, and must therefore
have belonged to Judah. It is replied (1.) by Credner,
that the case of Amos is peculiar, and was regarded as such
(Amos vii. 12), and cannot therefore be made the ground of
an argument in the present case ; and (2.) by Hengstenberg,
that the separation of Israel from Judah during the theo-
ciacy could not have been regarded by the inspired prophet
as anything but rebellion against the House of David, to
whom the promises were made; that, accordingly, in the
sight of God, Israel and Judah (the twelve tribes) were
regarded as one religious confederation by Hosea, as they
were by Elijah, when he took the twelve stones, one for each
tribe; (3.) also, by Hengstenberg, that, in a chronological
point of view, it was important to make the reference to
the successors of Uzziah, because confusion existed at this
time in the Israelitish chronology owing to interregna. The
majority of commentators—such as Rosenmiiller, De Wette
Eichhorn, Hengstenberg, and Uhland—adopt the opinion
that Hosea was an Israelite. The probable period of his
prophetical career has been made out as follows:—
During Uzziah’s reign.    26 years.
... Jotham’s  16
... Ahaz’s   16
... Hezekiah’s  2
60
Some, however (as Horsley), make the period longer;
others (as Rosenmiiller) make it shorter. The style of
Hosea is abrupt, and often obscure ; abounding in idiomatic
and anomalous expressions and phraseology. His prophecies
are mainly directed against Israel, whose history during his
career was one dark tissue of robbery, assassination, and
VOL. XI.
usurpation amongst the higher, and very general degrada¬
tion amongst the lower ranks of the people. The command of
God to the prophet to take to himself a wife of whoredoms,
and beget children of whoredoms, has given rise to much
difference of opinion :—(1.) Was it real ? Cyril, Theodoret,
Basil, Augustine, Grotius, Houbigant, Horsley, and Stuck,
believed it to be so. (2.) Was it an allegory? It was so
considered by the Chaldee paraphrast, Jerome, Drusius,
Bauer, Rosenmiiller, and South. Or, (3.) Was it a vision ?
So thought Maimonides, and some others. In any case, it
is allowed that the transactions were of a typical character.
Hengstenberg’s explanation is substantially that the transac¬
tions are allegorical. The leading objection to the literal
interpretation is, that the events must have spread over a
period of several years, which would have been fatal to the
impressiveness of the lessons intended to be taught.
HOSPITAL, Hospitale, in cloisters, the place of shel¬
ter for strangers, whether rich or poor; thus equivalent to
our hotel, the Xenodocheion of the Greeks, the Hospitium
of the Romans. The hospitalia of the Romans correspond
with our inns. They were small erections on the right and
left of the main house. In Greece, a person who had done
any great public service might be rewarded with money and
provisions, but he required to look after a place of abode
himself. Bearing some resemblance to our present hospi¬
tals were the public buildings for the aged women of Delos,
built on the island called Rhene ; and those buildings which,
at a later period, were erected near the temple of Aescula¬
pius, for sick persons coming in search of health. It was
possibly a similar institution which Antoninus built at Epi-
daurus. Another appears to have existed on the island
of the Liber at Rome, to which sick slaves were brought
to be healed. Bethesda (house of mercy), with five porches,
was a place in Jerusalem to which the sick were brought
to await the moving of the waters. Also the Taberna
Meritorum at Rome appears to have been an hospital for
invalids.
Hospitals for the poor and sick are prominently charac¬
teristic of Christianity. So early as the Council of Nice,
a.d. 325, they are spoken of as commonly known. The
first celebrated hospital was that of Caesarea, a.d. 370-380,
richly endowed by the Emperor Valens. It was of im¬
mense dimensions. After it followed the hospital of Chry¬
sostom, at Constantinople. In the ninth century there were
24 hospitals in Rome alone. A foundling hospital was first
established at Milan, a.d. 787; a lazaretto about the same
time in Constantinople ; and an orphan hospital in the same
city, a.d. 1090, by Alexius I.
Hospitals are now universally established in all parts of
Christendom, and appropriated for all classes of the commu¬
nity, and for all kinds of diseases. The great hospitals of
London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Paris, &c., are described under
these towns respectively.
5 D
762 H 0 U
Hound. HOSPITALLERS,orKmGHTSOFMALTA. SeeKNiGHT-
V—HOOD, Orders of.
HOSPODAR, a title borne by the governors of Walla-
chia and Moldavia. Although nominated by the Porte,
they possessed absolute power within their own dominions.
Formerly they were chosen from the Greeks of Phanar,
but lately they have been taken from amongst the native
boyards or nobles. By the treaty of Adrianople in 1829,
the Principalities were placed under Russian protection, and
from that time till the treaty of Paris 1856, the Hospodars
were virtually the nominees of Russia.
HOST, from hostia, a victim offered in sacrifice. In the
service of the Church of Rome, the consecrated wafer is
called the host. See Sacrifice.
HOTTENTOTS. See Africa.
HOTTINGER, Johann Heinrich, an eminent Swiss
orientalist and biblical scholar, was born at Zurich in 1620.
At the gymnasium of his native town, he distinguished him¬
self so much that the curators determined to supply him
with the means of pursuing his studies at the best foreign
universities. He first settled at Groningen, and afterwards
at Leyden, where he became assistant to Golius, the best
orientalist of that age. He also took lessons in Arabic and
Turkish from Ahmed Jon Ali, a Mohammedan, from Mo¬
rocco, of whom he often speaks in his works. Golius had
hoped to take his pupil with him to the East, but the senate
of Zurich interfered, and Llottinger, after visiting France
and England, returned home. In 1653, the chairs of rheto¬
ric, logic, and scriptural theology were offered him, and he
had only filled them for two years, when, at the urgent re¬
quest of the Elector Palatine, he was allowed to remove to
Heidelberg for three years. He there taught the Eastern
tongues and biblical criticism with such success and distinc¬
tion, as to revive and spread the fame of the university.
Prolonging his stay in the Palatinate till 1661, he returned
to Zurich in that year, and was made rector of the univer¬
sity. His reputation still continued to increase, and in
1667 he received such flattering offers from Leyden, that
he resolved to accept them. Before setting out for this
new sphere of labour, he went to visit a small property
which he possessed a few miles from Zurich. In crossing
the Limath, the boat in which he was seated, with his wif§
and family, was upset, and Hottinger, who might have pre¬
served his own life, was drowned in attempting to save that
of his wife.
Hettinger’s principal works are,—Eseercitationes Anti-Moriniance
de Pentateucho Samaritano, Zurich, 1644, in 4to ; Erotematum Lin¬
guae Sanctce libri duo, cum Appendice Aphorismorum, ibid. 1647;
Thesaurus Philologicus, seu Clavis Scriptures qua quidquid fere Ori-
entalium, Hebrceorum maxima et Arabum habent monumenta de Reli¬
gions ejusque variis speciebus, Judaismo, Samaritanismo, Muhamed-
H 0 U
ismo, Gentilismo, &c., ibid. 1649 ; Historia Ecclesiastica Novi Testa- Hound.
menti, in nine parts, 1651—1667 ; Historia Orientalis ex variis \
Monumentis Collecta, ibid. 1651, in 4to; Grammaticce Chaldceo-
Syriacee libri duo, ibid. 1652; Analecta Historico-Theologica, octo
Dissertationibus proposita ; Dissertationum miscellanearum Pentas,
ibid. 1654, in 8vo; Dissertatio de Subsidiis Analyseos Sacrce, ubi pro-
lixe de Sensu Verborum Institutionis Coence Dominical, ibid. 1654, in
8vo; Juris Hebrasorum leges 261, juxta Legis Mosaicae ordinem ac
seriem depromptce ; Smegma Orientale sordibus barbarismi contemptui
praisertim Linguarum Orientalium appositum, Heidelberg, 1657, in
4to ; Grammalica Ling. Hebr. Chald. Syr. et Arabicce Harmonica,
ibid. 1657 ; Cippi Hebraici, ibid. 1659, in 8vo; Primitice Heidel-
bergenses, ibid. 1659 ; Dissert. Theolog. Philolog. fasciculus, ibid. 1660;
Etymologicon Orientale, sive Lexicon Harmonicon Heptaglotton, 1661,
in 4to ; Epitome utriusque Juris Juda'ici, Aphorismis Maimonides
exhibita, ibid. 1661 ; Compendium Theologies Christiance Ecclesiarum
Orientalium, Syrorum cum primis, uEthiopum, Arabum, et AEgypti-
orum ; Compendium Theatri Ismaelitici sive Saracenici, ibid. 1662,
in 8vo; Bibliothecarius tripartitus, Zurich, 1664, in 4to.
HOUBRAKEN, Jacob, an eminent engraver, was the
son of Arnold Houbraken, a native of Holland, and was
born Dec. 25, 1698. For some time he worked in obscu¬
rity, and had attained the meridian of life before he engaged
in the undertaking by which he is best known ; a work
founded on a plan of George Vertue, who proposed a series
of engravings of the greatest men of ancient and modern
times. The persons who brought out this great national
work were the Knaptons, who employed both Vertue and
Houbraken, but chiefly the latter. Some of Houbraken’s
heads were carelessly executed, especially those of the mo¬
derns; but others display a wonderful union of softness and
freedom, with good drawing, and a masterly determination
of the features, such as are shown in the works of Nanteuil,
Edelink, and Drevet. In his desire to avoid the appear¬
ance of an outline, he frequently neglected the little sharp¬
nesses of light and shadow which appear in nature, and
please, like the accidental semitones in music, in proportion
as the variation is judiciously managed. For want of atten¬
tion to this essential beauty, many of his prints have a hazy
appearance, and do not strike the eye with the force which
might be expected from the excellence of the engraving.
Houbraken lived to a good old age, and died at Amster¬
dam in 1780. No complete set of Houbraken’s prints is
now extant, in this country at least. The last that was
known to exist w'as the property of the Duke of Bucking¬
ham, but it was broken up and dispersed at the great sale
at Stowe in 1848.
HOUGHTON-LE-SPRING, a market-town of Eng¬
land in the county of Durham, and 6 miles N.E. of the town
of that name. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in the
coal-mines and iron-works. The parish church is a cruci¬
form edifice in the early English style. There is a free
grammar-school founded in 1574. Pop. (1851) 3224.
HOUND.
From the combination of various causes, the history of
no animal is more interesting than that of the dog. First,
his intimate association with man, not only as his valuable
servant and protector, but as his constant and faithful com¬
panion throughout all the vicissitudes of life. Secondly,
from his natural endowments, not consisting solely in the
exquisite delicacy of one individual sense, that fineness of
olfactory nerve which enables him to follow his master or
to track his victim ; not merely combining memory with
reflection that soars above instinctive preservation or self-
enjoyment; but qualities of the mind that absolutely stagger
us in the contemplation of them, and which we can alone
account for in the gradation existing in that wonderful
system which (by different links of one vast chain, extend¬
ing from the first to the last of all things, till it forms a per¬
fect whole) is placed, as Professor Harwood elegantly ex¬
presses it, “ in the doubtful confines of the material and
spiritual worlds.” It might have been instinct that enabled
Ulysses’ dog to recognise him on his re-landing in Ithaca,
after an absence which must have set the powers of memory
at defiance ; and he recognised him with all the acuteness
and affection which instinct boasts ; but what earned him
to expire at his feet on the sudden dawn of unexpected hap¬
piness ? The heart of man could go no further than this ;
and although perhaps the poet’s fiction is only present to
us in this instance, by what name can we call those tender
affections, those sincere attachments, those personal con¬
siderations, which we ourselves have witnessed in these
faithful creatures towards human kind ? Virtue alone is
too cold a term, as almost every good quality to be found
HOUND.
Hound, in animated nature is to be found here ; and when we re-
fleet upon the miserable existence so often the lot of this
kind-hearted animal in this world, and the more than un¬
certainty that, as Byron says, he will be
“ Denied in heaven the soul he held on earth,”
we cannot but feel regret that he should be without his re¬
ward. But yet this is a point not exactly decided upon by
man ; at least it has been considered as a fit subject tor spe¬
culation by deep and able thinkers. Locke, for example,
doubted whether brutes survive the grave, because there is
no hint given qf it in revelation ; but Dr Priestley thought,
if the resurrection of the dead be within the proper course
of nature, and there be something remaining of every or¬
ganized body that death does not destroy, there will be
reason to conclude that they will be benefited by it as well
as ourselves. “ The misery,” says this forcible w'riter, and
great moral philosopher, “some animals are exposed to in
this life, may induce us to think that a merciful and just
God will make them some recompense hereafter.”
But no animal has met with more variety of respect
shown towards him than the dog has. By the law of Moses
he was declared unclean, and was held in great contempt
by the Jews, as also by the Turks, and kept by both merely
for the purposes of scavenging their streets. In every part
of the sacred writings, as also in those of Greece and Rome,
not only are images introduced from the works of nature,
and metaphors drawn from the manners and economy of
animals, but the names of them are applied to persons sup¬
posed to possess any of their respective qualities. Thus
our Saviour, adopting this concise method, applies the word
“ dog” to men of odious character and violent temper ; and,
as with us at present, the term of reproach, “ he was a son
of a dog,” was in common use among the Jews. The wife,
Abigail (1 Samuel xxv. 3), “ was a woman of good under¬
standing, and of a beautiful countenance ; but the man
(Nabal) was churlish and evil in his doings, and was of the
house qf Caleb.” Literally it is, “ he was the son of a dog.”
The Egyptians, however, held the dog sacred, and were re¬
proached with worshipping him in their god Anubis, as
Juvenal complains in his fifteenth satire :
“ Oppida tota Canem venerantar, nemo Dianam,”
—although hieroglyphic researches now show the head of
this deity to have been that of a jackal, not that of a dog.
Anubis, says Strabo, is also the city of dogs, the capital of
the Cynopolitan prefecture. “Those animals,” says he,
“ are fed there on sacred aliments, and religion has decreed
them a worship.” This absurd adoration is confirmed by
Diodorus Siculus and Herodotus; and Rome having adopted
the ceremonies of Egypt, the Emperor Commodus, when
celebrating the Isiac feasts, shaved his head, and himself
carried the dog Anubis.
We have good reason to believe that England (in a great
measure from the congeniality of its climate) has long been
famous for dogs, which, on the authority of Strabo (lib. iv.,
p. 199), were much sought after by all the surrounding
nations. So high indeed in repute were British dogs amongst
the Romans after the reduction of our island, not only for
excellence in the chase, but fierceness in the combat, that
an officer from that country was appointed to reside in the
city of Winchester, for the express purpose of collecting
and breeding them to supply the amphitheatre, as well as
the imperial kennel, at Rome. Nor was this all. As a
kind of earnest of our present celebrity in the various sports
of the field, all the neighbouring countries, as Dr Campbell
remarks, “have done justice to our dogs, adopted our terms
and names into their language, received them thankfully as
presents, and, when they have an opportunity, purchased
them at a dear rate.”1 Thus we find, that when King Al-
763
fred requested Fulco, archbishop of Rheims, to send some Hound,
learned ecclesiastics into England, he accompanied his letter ^
with a present of several dogs, being the most valuable he
could, in those times, bestow. The congeniality of our
climate has contributed much to this excellence, as our dogs,
hounds especially, are found to degenerate in most others ;
which Somerville alludes to in his poem of the Chase.
“ In thee alone, fair land of liberty,
Is bred the perfect hound, in scent and speed
As yet unrivall’d, while in other climes
Their virtue fails, a weak degen’rate race.”
We do not benefit much by research into ancient authors
on the subject of dogs ; for although they have been much
written upon, and immortalized in song by Oppian, Claudian,
Gratius, and others (Virgil says little about them), yet, from
our ignorance of the sort of animal bred in their time, and
the use they made of them, as sportsmen, we can draw no
parallel between them and our own that would tend to a
good purpose. No doubt the “ canis vesligator” of Collu-
mella, and the “ canis odorus” of Claudian, were of what
we term a low-scenting sort, as the epithets applied to them
signify ; but it W’ould be difficult to pronounce an opinion
upon the KaoTopiai, or the d/Wre/aSes, of Xenophon, although
the characteristic properties of good hunting hounds are
very well and accurately laid down by him in the third
chapter of his Kw^yerucos, as well as their defects in form,
&c., equally clearly exposed ; and his observations on these
points might be perused with advantage by huntsmen of
the present day.
Great encouragement has been given to the breeding
of hounds in England by the various monarchs who have
reigned over it. Henry II. was perhaps the first who made
himself conspicuous in this department of the sportsman’s
occupation, being, as one of his historians says of him,
“ particularly curious in his hounds, that they should be
fleet, well-tongued, and consonous.” The last epithet is in
reference to a property not only little regarded, but nearly
lost now, namely, the deep tongue of the old English blood¬
hound, which Shakspeare alludes to in his celebrated de¬
scription of those “ of the Spartan kind”—
“ So flowed, so sanded, and their heads are hung
With ears that sweep away the morning dew.
Crook-knee’d, and dewlapt, like Thessalian bulls;
Slow in pursuit; but match’d in mouth like hells,
Each under each
which would now be considered a disgrace to any man’s
kennel, and we believe nowhere to be found bearing the
faintest resemblance to the picture drawn of them by this
master-hand.
In Queen Elizabeth’s time a classification was made by
Dr Caius, physician to the queen, in his treatise De Canibus
Britannicis, of the different kinds of dogs peculiar to Great
Britain ; but many of the names (the sleute or sleuth hound
of the Scotch, for example) having since become obsolete,
they were again classed by Mr Daniel, in his Rural Sports,
which work contains a full and satisfactory historical account
of their origin, different crosses, &c., under the following
genealogical heads:—Shepherd’s Dog, Iceland Dog, Lap-
land Dog, Siberian Dog, Hound, Terrier, Large Spaniel,
Small Spaniel, Water Dog, Small Water Dog, Bull Dog,
Large Danish Dog, Irish Greyhound, English Greyhound,
and Mastiff. Taplin, \n\\\s, Sporting Dictionary, expresses
his surprise that the Pointer is omitted; but we consider
the Pointer as a dog of foreign extraction, and to our early
ancestors certainly unknown.
The original stock from which English hounds have been
bred would be very difficult to determine upon ; but one
thing is certain—namely, that the several sorts with which
the country once abounded have been becoming fewer and
Campbell’s Political Survey, vol. ii., p. 205, note D.
764
HOUND.
Hound, fewer in the course of the last hundred years, and now
centre in three varieties,—namely, the fox-hound, the har¬
rier, and the beagle. The stag-hound is gone, at least there
is no pack of stag-hounds now kept in Great Britain, the
last having been disposed of and sent abroad soon after the
stag-hunting establishment in Devonshire was broken up, a
few years ago. The beagle is also become rare ; and otter¬
hounds, such as we may conclude the Kaoropiai of Xenophon
to have been, never existed in this country, the dog used
in hunting the otter being the common harrier; and per¬
haps the parent of all, the majestic blood-hound, whose
“ Nostrils oft, if ancient fame sings true,
Trace the sly felon through the tainted dew,”
is at present very thinly scattered, here and there only, at
keepers’ lodges in some of our royal forests. But we more
than doubt whether a true specimen of the original English
blood-hound exists in England at all at the present day;
nor is this a matter of regret, as, unlike the rest of his spe¬
cies, his character is said to be that of decided enmity to
man. Strabo describes an attack upon the Gauls by these
animals, and likewise says they were purchased in Britain
by the Celtae for the purposes of war, as well as those of the
chase; but it is doubtful whether the most savage of this
race would devour man without being trained to it, which we
know that they were on a late horrible occasion, when, as
stated in Rainsford’s History of St Domingo, they were fed
upon blood; and a figure representing a negro, containing
blood and entrails of beasts, was the object they were led to
pursue. In the West Indies the blood-hound was reared
and kept solely for following the track of runaway ne¬
groes, as the sleuth-hound of the Scotch was early applied
to discover the haunts of robbers; and to the same pur¬
pose also on the confines of England and Wales, where
the borderers preyed on the flocks and herds of their
neighbours whenever an opportunity offered. Of deer-
stealers, who were so numerous a century or two ago, they
were likewise the terror; and well might they have been
so, for when once fairly laid upon the foot of one, they sel¬
dom failed to hunt up to him. But it is in the civil wars of
our own country that blood-hounds are placed in the most
conspicuous light, when used to reveal the hiding-places
of Wallace and Bruce ; and the poetical historians of the
two heroes allude to their services to their masters, as well as
to the escapes they had from those of their various enemies.
The distinguishing features of the English blood-hound
are long, smooth, and pendulous ears, of from eight to nine
inches in length, with a wide forehead, obtuse nose, expan¬
sive nostrils, and deep flewed, with an awfully deep but
highly sonorous tongue. The prevailing colour is a reddish
tan, darkening to the upper part, often with a mixture of
black upon the back, and extending over. In short, the
deep-dewed southern hare-hound, now almost extinct in
England, very nearly resembles the English blood-hound
in form and colour; and a person may picture to himself
the latter, by supposing an animal considerably larger than
the old southern hound. In height he is from twenty-six
to twenty-eight inches, and sometimes more ; but he is very
seldom to be found except in the neighbourhood of a deer-
park, where he is kept to track venison stealers. “ Asso¬
ciations for the prosecution of felons” also keep them to
assist in sheep-stealing cases. The Duke of Bedford has
some fine specimens of this kind of dog, whose pedigree can,
it is affirmed, be traced back for 300 years. Lord Yar¬
borough’s breed is also very famous, and it was very much
improved about 1840 by a cross with Lord Fitzwilliam’s
“ Bellman,” who was considered to be to blood-hounds what
“Furrier” and “ Irogan” were to fox-hounds. Modern
blood-hounds are rather deficient in the head, lips, and ears,
but still they are very handsome, and swifter of foot than
their ancestors. The blood-hound of the West Indies is
also about the same height, but differs much in form. He
has small, erect ears, the nose more pointed, and the hair Hound,
and skin hard. His countenance is ill-featured and feroci-
ous ; and although not so heavy as the English blood-hound,
he is quite as muscular, and very active. The distinguishing
property of the blood-hound consists in his never changing
from the scent on which he is first laid; and he will hunt
by the shed blood of a wounded animal as truly as he will by
the foot.
The Stag-Hound.
The English stag-hound, now nearly gone, is little more
than a mongrel blood-hound; at least it is reasonable to
conclude, that the cross which produced him was directly
from the English blood-hound with some lighter animal of
a similar species (perhaps a greyhound, or lurcher) approxi¬
mating his form, to which conjecture his figure and dispo¬
sition, as well as his comparative inferiority of scent, appear
to add strength. It is asserted in the Sportsman’s Cabinet,
that the stag-hound “was originally an improved cross be¬
tween the old English deep-tongued southern hound and
the fleeter fox-hound, grafted upon the basis of what was
formerly called, and better known by the appellation of
blood-hound.” But this assertion must have been made
without proper reflection ; for, in the first place, a cross
between the deep-tongued southern and the fox-hound will
not produce an animal nearly so large or so strong as the
stag-hound; and, secondly, the stag-hound was known in
England long before the fox-hound was made use of, or,
indeed, before there was an animal at all resembling the
one which is now known by that term.
We confess we regret the prospect of the total extinction
of the English stag-hound, which, although his form possessed
little of that symmetry we now see in the English fox¬
hound, was a majestic animal of his kind, and possessed the
property peculiar alone to the blood-hound and himself, of
unerringly tracing the scent he was laid upon, amongst a
hundred others; which evinces a superiority, at all events
a peculiarity, of nose entirely unknown to our lighter
hounds of any breed. The want of being able to distinguish
the hunted fox from a fresh-found one is the bane of Eng¬
lish fox-hunting; and there are not wanting those who
think, that in the breeding of the modern fox-hound, the
minor points of high form and blood are more frequently
considered than they should be, in preference of a regard
to nose.
The Fox-Hound.
The English fox-hound of the present day is a perfect
living model; but how he has become such, it is in no one’s
power to determine. Although we do not like to apply the
term of mongrel to an animal we so highly respect, yet
HOUND. 705
Hound, there can be no doubt of his being one of a spurious race,
engrafted with care on the parent stock, namely, the old
English blood-hound. There is, we believe also, no doubt
that a century and a half ago there was no animal in the
world resembling the present breed of tbx-hounds ; and that
the fox, when hunted at all in Great Britain, was hunted by
a dog much resembling what is now known as the Welsh
harrier, rough-haired and strong, but of very far from sightly
appearance. As all animals, however, improve under the
care and guidance of man, until at length they assume the
character of a distinct breed; such has evidently been the
case with hounds, the breeders of which have, by going
from better to better in their choice of the animals from
which they have bred, progressively arrived at the perfec¬
tion we see in them. And such has been the case with all
our domestic animals, the breeders of which have alone
attained their ends by the choice of individuals of the
highest excellence in their kind, and by a judicious selec¬
tion of size, form, and qualities likely to produce the result.
There can be no doubt, then, but that by pursuing this
course throughout a number of generations with the hound,
an animal has been produced of what may be called quite
a new variety in the canine race, answering the description
and purposes of our present fox-hound. But the questions
may be asked, Whence the necessity for this change, and
forcing, as it were, nature from her usual course ? Why
not be content with the low-scenting, plodding hounds of
our forefathers, which, from the superiority of their nose,
not only displayed hunting, in the strict acceptation of that
term, to the highest advantage, but very rarely missed the
game they pursued? These questions are satisfactorily
answered in a few words; first, as the fox is not now found
by the drag, and the number of those animals is so greatly
increased, the necessity for this extreme tenderness of nose
does not exist; and, secondly, by reason of the blood of the
race-horse having gradually mixed with that of our hunters,
the sort of hound we have been alluding to was not found
to be adapted to their increased speed; and particularly as,
in proportion as nature lavished this fine sense of smelling
on the old-fashioned hound, was he given to “hang” or
dwell upon the scent, thereby rendering the length of a
chase (which, to please the present taste, should, like
Chatham’s battle, be “sharp, short, and decisive”) beyond
the endurance of a modern sportsman. It is true Mr
Beckford, in his Thoughts upon Hunting, gives an instance
of a pack of old-fashioned hounds, which ran in a string, as
it were, one following the other, and yet killing twenty-nine
foxes in twenty-nine successive runs, each fault being hit
off by an old southern hound. But what would our hard- Hound,
riding, modern sportsmen think of this as pastime ? Never-
theless, all who witnessed, as we have done, the style of
hunting of the Devonshire stag-hounds, will remember that
there was a close similarity between them in chase, and the
pack Mr Beckford speaks of. But, as the same eminent
author afterwards observes, it is the dash of the fox-hound
of the present day that distinguishes him from all others of
his genus, and hounds must now “ carry a head.”
1 he breeding a pack of fox-hounds to a pitch bordering
on perfection is a task of no ordinary difficulty; the best
proof of which is to be found in the few sportsmen who
have succeeded in it. Not only is every good quality to
be regarded, and if possible obtained, but every fault or
imperfection to be avoided ; and although the good quali¬
ties of hounds are very soon reckoned, their faults in shape
and performance present a longer catalogue. Indepen¬
dently of shape, which combines strength with beauty, the
highest virtue in a fox-hound is not in the exquisiteness of
his nose, but in his being true to the line his game has
gone, and a stout runner to the end of a chase. But he
must not only thus signalize himself in chase ; he must also
be a patient hunter, with a cold scent, or with the pack at
fault. In short, to be a hard runner and a good hunter,
and steady on the line, which “ a good hunter” implies,
constitutes a perfect hound, when combined with good form.
I he faults of hounds, too often innate, can only be cured
by education. The greatest of all are, skirting, or not being
true on the line, and throwing the tongue improperly;
first, without a scent, which is known by the term babbling;
secondly, not throwing it at all, or running mute; and,
thirdly, on a wrong scent, which is called running riot.
The latter, however, is the least vice of the two, because
generally curable by the lash; but the fault of skirting is
too often innate ; at all events, too often incurable. Thus
has the breeder of the hound to guard against propensities
as well as faults ; and a late accredited writer on the sub¬
ject says, “ In modern times, the system of hunting is so
much improved, so much more attention is paid to the
condition of hounds and their style of work, that in this
enlightened age a master of hounds thinks it a reflection on
his judgment it’one hound in his pack is detected in a fault.”1
I he selection of dog and bitch to breed from is a nice
point for a master of hounds, or his huntsman, to decide
upon ; but if he aim at excellence, he must keep his eye
on perfection. In no animal is perfect symmetry so de¬
sirable as in a fox-hound, for without it there is no depen¬
dence on his services, however good may be his nature.
We will first describe him in the words of a very old
writer, and afterwards in those of Mr Beckford, when it
will appear that there is a strong resemblance in the
portraits drawn by each. “ His head,” says the former,
“ ought to be of middle proportion, rather long than round;
his nostrils wide ; his ears large; his back bowed ; the fil¬
lets great; the haunches large ; the thighs well trussed ;
the ham straight; the tail big near the reins, and the rest
slender to the end ; the leg big; the sole of the foot dry,
and formed like a fox’s, with the claws great.” The latter
says, “ There are necessary points in the shape of a hound
which ought always to be attended to ; for if he be not of
perfect symmetry, he will neither run fast nor bear much
work ; he has much to undergo, and should have strength
proportioned to it. Let his legs be straight as arrows; his
feet round, and not too large; his shoulders back ; his
breast rather wide than narrow ; his chest deep ; his back
broad ; his head small; his neck thin ; his tail thick and
brushy; if he carry it well so much the better.” Now
the hound that would answer to either of these descriptions
would disgrace no man’s kennel, and one resembling the
1 Colonel Cook’s Observations on Fox-hunting, &c.
766 HOUND.
Hound, latter would be an ornament to it; but with regard to the
former, it must be borne in mind, that it is from the pen
of a sportsman who wrote a century and a half ago, when,
as has been before observed, there is reason to believe no
animal in the perfect form of the modern fox-hound was to
be found in this or in any other country. Judges of the
animal, however, will be disposed to think with us, that
there is much of the real character of the hound in the
sentence we have quoted from this old writer ; such as the
long rather than round head ; the wide nostrils (Pliny says
they should be flat, solid, and blunt); and the dry fox’s
foot. But the “ bowed back” appears to spoil all, unless
by it is meant that gentle rise in the loins which the judge
of hounds admires, and without which the late Mr Chute of
the Vine, in Hampshire, who hunted that country for more
than thirty years, gave it as his opinion, no hound was able
to maintain his speed for an hour over hilly and ploughed
countries when “ it carries—a technical term for the
earth clinging to the foot, which it will do after a slight
frost on the preceding night; necessarily adding much to
the natural weight of the hound. Beckford gives us the
modern fox-hound, and perfect, with the exception of the
mention of one or two material points. “ His chest should
be deep,” says he, “ and his back broad but he has
omitted a point much thought of by the modern sportsman,
namely, Ihe back ribs, which should also be deep, as in a
strong-bodied horse, of which we say, when so formed, that
he has a good “spur-place,” a point highly esteemed in
him. Nor is either of these writers sufficiently descriptive
of the hinder legs of the hound ; for although the “ large
haunch and well-trussed thigh” of the former denote power
and muscle, nevertheless there is a length of thigh discern¬
ible in first-rate hounds, which, like the “ well let-down
hock” of the horse, gives them much superiority of speed,
and is also a great security against laming themselves in
leaping fences, which they are more apt to do when they
become blown, and consequently weak. The fore legs
“ straight as arrows” is an admirable illustration of perfec¬
tion in those parts, by Beckford; for, as in a bow or bandy
legged man, nothing is so disfiguring to a hound as his
having his elbows out, which is likewise a great check to
speed. In some countries the round, cat-like foot is indis¬
pensable, and agreeable to the eye in all; but we would
not reject a well-shapen puppy in other respects for some¬
what of an open foot, provided his ancles or fetlocks were
good, a point we consider of the greatest consequence to all
quadruped animals. The shoulders of the fox-hound
should resemble those of the horse—joblique, but at the
same time strong; for a narrow-chested hound is almost
certain to get shaken by hard work, and consequently un¬
likely to endure beyond his third season.
As Beckford recommends the small head, we may pre¬
sume the form and fashion of this point began to be
changed in his time, and has, we think, been carried to too
great an excess in the fox-hound of the present day, par¬
ticularly in one or two kennels (the Belvoir, for example),
where very short, as well as small heads, were a leading cha¬
racteristic. For ourselves, we like some length of head in
the fox-hound, not being able to divest ourselves of the
idea of a cross with the pointer when we see him with a short
head and a snubbed nose. Beckford also says the neck
should be thin. We would add, moderately thin. We
dislike a thin neck in any animal but the cow or the stag ;
at the same time we dislike a short, thick neck in a hound.
His neck should be moderately long and moderately thick,
with the muscles clearly developed ; it should rise grace¬
fully out of his shoulders, with a slight curve or crest, and,
completely to satisfy the eye, should be quite free from
exuberances of flesh and hair on the lower side of it, called
by huntsmen “ chitterlings” or ruffles, the hound having
them being termed “ throatyalthough there are nume¬
rous exceptions to this rule, as some of the best hounds Hound.
England ever saw have been throaty ; and although we are wr
aware that one individual instance will prove neither the
rule nor its exception, we can go as far back as to Mr Mey-
nell’s famous stallion hound Gusman, tor as throaty, and
yet as good a fox-hound as we ever remember to have
seen. We agree with Beckford that the “ tail,” now called
stern, of a hound, should be “thick,” and moderately
“ brushy ;” and if well carried, it is a great ornament to a
fox-hound. But there is one part of it which the master of
a pack likes to see nearly deprived of its covering, and that
is its tip, which, when in that state, is an infallible proof of
a hound being a good, and not a slack, drawer of covers.
But to return to breeding the fox-hound. In the breed¬
ing of some animals, beauty of shape is often dependent on
the caprice of fashion, or the taste of the breeder; but in
the breeding of hounds no such latitude can be given, for
here beauty, or symmetry of shape, is alone in reference to
utility, and adaptation of parts to the purposes to which
they are to be applied. Yet the breeder of fox-hounds has
one point further to go ; he must, as we before remarked,
guard vast propensities, which run in the blood of these
animals perhaps stronger than their good qualities, and will
sooner or later break out in their work. In the election
then of a dog for a bitch, or a bitch for a dog, these matters
mustbeattentively considered: and no man should breed from
hounds of either sex that come under any of the following
denominations, viz., not of a docile sort, but very difficult to
enter to their game; given to run mute; to hang on a
scent; or to be skirters ; not only not true to the line, but
given to run riot either in cover or in chase ; and, above all
things, if found evidently deficient in nose, and not able to
run at head. Good constitution should likewise be looked
to ; but we would not reject a stallion hound, or a brood
bitch, merely for being slack drawers, or for not being
always at the head in chase, provided they were well bred,
of good form, and true to the line, in cover, and out.
As to the proper combination of form, that must be self-
evident to the breeder of hounds. If a bitch is a little high
on her leg, or light, she should be put to a short-legged,
strong dog, and of course vice versa ; if rather light in her
tongue, that defect may be remedied by an opposite pro¬
perty in a dog. The defects in legs and feet can only be
remedied by such means; and fortunate is it for the owner
of an otherwise perfect and excellent bitch, that such re¬
medies are at hand. Length and shortness of frame, as
well as coarse points, are all to be obviated and altered in
the same way, making allowance for the fact, that the laws
of nature are not always certain. Constitution can like¬
wise be mended by having recourse to that which is good
(and none so easily detected as the dog’s) ; and colour
changed if required. In fact, as Beckford says, “It is the
judicious cross that makes the complete packand it was
the remark of this practical writer, therefore high authority
amongst sportsmen, that “ he saw no reason why the breed¬
ing of hounds may not improve till improvement can go no
further.” The question may be asked, is not his prediction
verified ?
But the act of crossing hounds, as indeed all other ani¬
mals, although never thoroughly divested of chance, is one
of more difficulty than most people would imagine, and one
indeed which, by its results, would often baffle, if not
puzzle, the profoundest of our modern physiologists. Our
space will not admit of our going at length into this intri¬
cate subject, but great mistakes, we conceive, have been
made by masters of fox-hounds, in breeding too much in-
and-in, from nearest affinities, instead of having recourse to
an alien cross. This was peculiarly apparent in the packs
of two very celebrated masters of fox-hounds, the late Sir
Thomas Mostyn, Bart., and the late John Corbet, Esq., of
Sundorne Castle, Shropshire (the former of whom hunted
HOUND.
Hound. Oxfordshire, and the latter Warwickshire, each forupwardsof
thirty years), who bred in-and-in—Sir Thomas from a bitch
called Lady, and her produce; and Mr Corbet from a
hound called Trojan, and his produce—to the great injury
of their respective packs. We are aware it is asserted that
a pack of fox-hounds should have the appearance and cha¬
racter of being of one family; but this expression is not
to be taken in its literal construction. It is in the confor¬
mity of their character and appearance that they should
bear a close resemblance to each other, and not in their
close consanguinity. It is true, the celebrated pack of Mr
Warde, the present father of the field, and a master of fox¬
hounds for the unparalleled period of fifty-seven years,
which sold for 2000 guineas, only contained, in 1825, three
couples of hounds not of his own blood, and those the pro¬
duce of one stallion hound, Mr Assheton Smith’s Reubens.
But we have no proof of Mr Warde’s hounds being better
for adhering so closely to his own sort; on the contrary, it
is the opinion, we believe, of the sporting world, reluctantly
admitted, in consideration of the well-merited celebrity of
of their owner, that, latterly, the slackness of this renowned
pack, unrivalled in fine form, was to be attributed to that
circumstance. On the other hand, the rare but valuable
combination of dash and nose, a match for the cold and
ungenial Oxfordshire hills, for which the Duke of Beau¬
fort’s pack has been so long conspicuous, has been traced to
his grace’s late huntsman, Philip Payne (said by Colonel
Cook, in his Observations on Fox-Hunting, “ to be the best
judge of breeding hounds in the kingdom ”), going from
home for his blood, and sending his bitches to the celebrated
stallion hounds of the best kennels within his reach. This,
however, it must be remembered, is not within the command
of every man’s purse, the expenses attending sending
bitches to a distance, under any circumstances, being heavy;
as not only must they be placed under the care of a trusty
servant on their journey, but there are other occult ex¬
penses attending them, which none but masters of hounds
are aware of. It is, however, a notorious fact, that the pro¬
duce of some stallion hounds, if they have a fair chance by
the bitches, seldom fail in turning out well; and, perhaps,
the most signal instance of “like begetting like” in this
species of animal is that of Mr Osbaldeston’s /Wrfer having
been the sire of an entire pack in that gentleman’s kennel
when he hunted the Quorndon country in Leicestershire,
which he would occasionally take to the field, amounting to
more than thirty-five couples, although, as may be supposed,
they were generally mingled with the rest of his kennel,
which at that period contained a hundred couples of hounds.
These Furrier hounds gave little trouble in the entering
of them, and proved very true line-hunters, and everything
that fox-hounds should be. The annals of fox-hunting
likewise record similar instances of the peculiar properties
of stallion hounds transmitting their virtues to many suc¬
ceeding generations, especially in the instances of the
Pychley Abelard, the Beaufort, and the New Forest Jus¬
tice, Mr Ward’s Senator, Mr Meynell’s Gusman, Mr Mus¬
ter’s Collier, Mr Corbet’s Trojan, Lord Yarborough’s
Ranter, with many others of more recent days, but too
numerous to mention here. Perhaps at present the Yar¬
borough and Fitzhardinge kennel blood is in the highest
repute, and they generally run about twenty-three inches.
The size, or, we should rather say, the height of a fox¬
hound, is a point upon which there has been much differ¬
ence of opinion. The long-established pack of the late Mr
Chute were at least three inches below the standard of his
neighbour Mr Yillebois’s large pack; also as much below
that of his Grace the Duke of Cleveland, who had for
many years also a large and a small pack ; and at least four
inches lower than Mr Warde’s, in whose kennel were hounds
full twenty-six inches high. Various arguments are made
use of by the advocates of large and small hounds. Those
767
of the former assert that they get better across a deep and Hound,
strongly fenced country than smaller ones ; whilst the ad- ^
mirers of the latter insist upon their being better climbers
of hills, more active in cover, and quicker out of it when
their fox is gone; and are oftener found to be perfect in
form and shape. As to uniformity in size, how pleasing
soever it may be to the eye, it is by no means essential to
the well-doing of hounds in the field, and has been disre¬
garded by some of our first sportsmen, the great Mr Mey-
nell for one, who never drafted a good hound for being
over or under size; neither did Mr Assheton Smith, when
he succeeded to his, Mr Meynell’s, country. The great
object of both was to breed them with muscular power and
bone, combined with as much symmetry as could be ob¬
tained ; and to be equal in speed and good qualities, rather
than equal in height.
We consider the proper standard of height in fox-hounds
to be from twenty-one to twenty-two inches for bitches,
and from twenty-three to twenty-four for dog hounds ;
but some masters of hounds consider that the perfection of
breeding is to get the bitches to twenty-three. The late
Sir Richard Sutton had once several twenty-five inch Fife
dogs in his kennel, but he eventually preferred them smaller.
The minimum and maximum size of the last seventy years
would have been found in the kennels of Mr Chute and Mr
Warde; the Duke of Cleveland and Mr Villebois coming next
to Mr Warde in what may be called the maximum class. Mr
Chute’s motto over his kennel door was “ multum in parvo;”
and although full of power, and neat, his hounds did not
more than average twenty-one inches. On the other hand,
many of Mr Warde’s bitches, the most splendid animals
of their kind and sex, were better than twenty-three, and
some of his dog hounds twenty-six, inches high, which
was about the standard of the original Devonshire stag-
hounds. It may be said of hounds, however, as has been said
of horses, that their height has little to do with their size, as
far at least as their powers of action are concerned; and doubt¬
less in all animals that labour, a medium height is the best.
The amount of hounds bred annually will depend on
the strength of the kennel, and the number of days’ hunt¬
ing in the week which the country they are intended for
requires. From sixty to eighty couples are about the
complement for a four-days-a-week country, which will
require the breeding of a hundred couples of puppies every
year, allowing the usual diminution of the entry by mal-
confbrmation, under size, and that bane to the kennel, the
distemper, which often takes off a moiety of them. As the
period of gestation in the female dog is somewhat over
two calendar months, the fox-hound bitch should, if she
can be spared, be put to dog in January, as then she will
litter in the spring, when the weather is comparatively
mild (cold being destructive of young animals of this sort),
and the puppies will then come early into kennel, gene¬
rally be of good size, and powerful; and be entered with¬
out loss of time. The tips of their sterns being pinched off,
and their dew-claws cut, whelps should be taken to their
walks at about two months old ; and if to one where there
is plenty of milk or whey, they will be the better for it.
Whelps walked at butchers’ houses grow to a great size,
but they are apt to be heavy-shouldered and throaty, and
otherwise out of shape. If possible to avoid it, puppies
should never be tied up, as perpetually drawing at the
collar-chain throws their elbows out, and otherwise da¬
mages their legs, particularly by spreading their feet, and
altering the form of their ancles, although it is sometimes
almost impossible to avoid it, from their proneness to do
mischief. If old bitches are bred from, they should be put
to young dogs, and of course, vice versa ; and a bitch should
not be worked for at least the last month of her time ; and
immediately on her whelps being taken from her, a dose of
physic should be given her.
768 H O U N D.
Hound. It is said that the dog in a state of nature is subject to
few diseases, and for these he finds his cure by an instinc¬
tive faculty ; in a domesticated state, however, he is sub¬
ject to many, and some of an awful nature, which may be
classed among the opprobria medicorum, no certain remedy
being discovered for them. Amongst these is one called
the distemper, not known by our forefathers, but at present
become a sort of periodical disorder in kennels, to the de¬
struction of thousands of young hounds annually. The
first symptoms of this disease are, generally, a dry husky
cough ; want of appetite, and consequent loss of flesh ;
extreme dulness, and a running from the nose and eyes.
As the disease advances, it is attended with twitchings of
the head, while the animal becomes excessively weak in
the loins and hinder extremities; is greatly emaciated ;
runs at the eyes and nose, and smells very offensively.
At length the twitchings assume the appearance of con¬
vulsive fits, accompanied with giddiness, which cause the
dog to turn round; he has a constant inclination to dung,
with obstinate costiveness at one time, or incessant purg¬
ing at another. Finally, the stomach becomes extremely
irritable; everything swallowed is instantly thrown up;
and the dog generally dies in a spasmodic fit.
For the cure of this disorder many remedies have been
prescribed; but as none of them can be relied upon as
specific, we decline giving them,1 * * and prefer transcribing
the following observations of an intelligent and experi¬
enced huntsman in the service of a noble duke, accom¬
panied by a comment upon it by a noble lord, also a prac¬
tical sportsman, hunting his own fox-hounds.
“ As soon,” says the former, “ as the young hounds
come in from quarters, a sharp look-out is kept for the
distemper; and as soon as any of its symptoms appear, a
dose of cold-drawn castor-oil is given, and the following
morning a dose of calomel and jalap. About seven grains
of the former and twenty of the latter made into a bolus,
and put over their throats before they have tasted any¬
thing, and their heads coupled up above the level of their
bodies for two hours, so as to prevent them from vomiting
up the medicine, which they are certain to do if this is not
carefully attended to. They are then to have their broth
and their meat. The oil and bolus to be repeated in a
day or two as symptoms require ; that is to say, if the fever
runs high, repeat the bolus, and, if only to keep the bowels
open, the oil in small quantities. Indeed the great thing
is attending to circumstances, and acting accordingly;
as, for instance, nothing can be more different than when
flux attends the distemper, and when fits and obstinate
costiveness is the case. I believe, however, that at first
a good scouring in both cases is of service. In .flux, of
course, don’t repeat the calomel, but take moderate means
to stop it, as flux in a minor degree tends to keep off both
fever and fits. To allay the flux, arrow-root, or boiled
milk and flour porridge. There is no doubt that laudanum
is the surest method to stop it, but then it is sure to end
with fits. Fits at the beginning are no bad sign, and at
the end nothing can be worse. I never either approved
of bleeding or vomiting in the distemper ; the first weaken¬
ing too much, the latter creating and adding to the irritable¬
ness of their stomachs.”
“With the foregoing plain, sensible, and simple treat¬
ment,” says the noble lord in his comment on the foregoing
observations, “ my junior experience perfectly agrees with
the opinion of ; but I revert to what he justly
adds about 4 circumstances,’ and differ with him about the
bleeding, as I think a good scouring out, and bleeding,
before anything symptomatic of the disease has fairly be¬
gun, highly commendable. But, vice versa, for instance, Hound,
if you bleed, after the disease has fairly taken root, the 'v—
lungs, nine cases in ten, being affected, it is ten to one you
kill the dog; but if done early in the day, I cannot but
think it is of much service, prevents fever, and in many
cases makes the disease less violent. I think perhaps the
treatment of whelps, after they come in from their healthy
walks to the close confinement of sometimes an ill-kept
kennel, is the cause of the distemper taking more violent
hold of them than it otherwise would do ; and amongst the
hundred pretended receipts of many huntsmen, the remark
is a justly correct one, of what may cure one dog will kill
another. But here and his ‘ circumstances’put
you right. What might be advisable would be this:—As
soon as your puppies come in, look them attentively over;
divide the well-walked whelps from those that have been
ill-walked; bleed and scour well out the fat lot, paying of
course attention to their diet, cleanliness, and exercise ;
and cherish the poor lot by the best food, giving them the
castor-oil without the calomel or the lancet. But a lot of
well-bred fox-hound whelps are not to be left to the care
of a whipper-in or a boiler, unless he is a perfectly sober, at¬
tentive, and experienced man ; for in this disease in the ani¬
mal, as in the human species, the patient must be most at¬
tentively and closely watched.”
Kennel Management.
The management of hounds in kennel has undergone
great changes for the better since Mr Beckford’s day; and,
divesting the mind of the inferiority of horse flesh over cow
or bullock flesh, the food of hounds, both in its nature and
the cooking of it, is such as man might not only not reject,
if necessity compelled him to have recourse to it, but such
as he would thrive and do well upon. It is a common ex¬
pression, that “ anything will do for dogs,” and experience
informs us they will exist upon very miserable fare; but
hounds, to be in condition, must have everything good of
its kind, and also well cooked. Were a master of hounds,
or huntsman, of the present day, to follow Beckford’s ad¬
vice, of putting his hounds to a horse fresh killed after a
hard day, his brother sportsmen would think him mad ; nor
is there scarcely anything now used in our first-rate kennels
but the best oatmeal (Scotch or Irish is the best) one year
old, and well-boiled horse fle§h, quite free from taint. The
meal is put into the copper when the water boils, and should
be boiled up a second time, and, in all, for at least two
hours; for nothing is worse for the wind of hounds than
meal not thoroughly boiled. When taken out of the boiler,
it forms a substance resembling coarse rice pudding; and
when the fresh flesh, which is shredded, and the broth in
which it is boiled, are added to it in the trough, and very
well mixed, it forms the best and highest food that can be
given to hounds. In some kennels, after the example of
that famous huntsman the late Thomas Oldacre, the meal
and flesh are boiled up together, with the idea that more
of the virtue of the flesh is then imparted to the meal than
when it is merely mixed with the broth ; but the practice
is not general. But such is the difference of constitution in
hounds, and the aptitude of some, over others, to gain flesh,
or become foul, that persons who are particular as to the
condition of their pack have troughs filled accordingly, that
is, one with thinner food than another for hounds of the
former description. No animal in the world is so soon up
and down in his condition as the dog ; and, strange as it
may appear, the effect of two or three extra mouthfuls of
thick meat will be visible on some hounds on the second
1 Colonel Cook says he has “ sometimes” found the following efficacious:—Calomel three grains, cathartic ext. seven ditto, soap seven
ditto, emetic tartar one-half grain. Make three pills, and give one every other day. Vaccination was tried in some kennels as a pre¬
ventive, but it failed, and was abandoned.
HOUND.
Hound, day after they have eaten them. Nevertheless, the dog
being strictly a carnivorous animal, cannot stand hard work
without flesh, which he should have a fair allowance of once
a-day, according as his constitution may require it. Some
masters of hounds, however (the justly celebrated Mr Ralph
Lambton one of them), do not teed with flesh on the day
before hunting, giving only meal and broth ; and this on the
supposition that the faculty of scent is more delicately sus¬
ceptible without it. Young hounds lately come from walks
should be fed twice in the day, as they do not always, at
first, take to kennel food.
Colonel Cook is thus explicit and correct on the subject
of feeding hounds, and their condition, the result of many
years* experience and great attention to the kennel. “ It
is quite certain,” says he, “ a hound too high in condition
cannot run a burst, neither can a poor half-starved one kill
an afternoon fox; a hound, therefore, cannot be considered
as fit to be brought out, if he is either too high or too low.
I like to see their ribs, but their loins should be well filled
up, and they should be hollow in their flanks: he that is
full in the flanks is sure to be fat in the inside, and conse¬
quently not fit for work. The feeding of hounds, and the
bringing them to cover, able to run a burst, or kill an after¬
noon fox, is not altogether a thing so easy as some people
imagine; in fact, it requires nearly as much trouble to get
a hound into condition as it does a horse; and if the greatest
attention is not paid to this particular, you cannot expect
to catch many foxes. It is the condition of a hound which
gives him the advantage over the animal he hunts. Never¬
theless their constitutions differ as much as those of the hu¬
man species; some require thick food, others thin; the
same quantity which may be requisite for Ranter, if given
to Rallywood, would render him unable to run a yard.
Some time before hunting (say about three weeks), they
should have plenty of walking exercise, and salts given
them once a-week. If a hound is at any time very foul,
the following receipt is very efficacious:—Three grains of
iEthiops mineral, five grains of calomel, made into a ball:
the hound must of course be carefully kept from cold water.”
In the summer time, when hounds are out of work, they
do not require flesh more than twice a-week, and succulent
vegetables in their food are at this time useful. They are
also physicked and bled at the close of one season, and be¬
fore the commencement of the next; and, if necessary,
dressed over with a sulphurous mixture during the idle
months. But some owners of hounds, and huntsmen, ob¬
ject to dressing them, conceiving that it opens their pores
too much, and subjects them to rheumatic affections.
One recent and great improvement in kennel discipline
is a small reservoir of w’ater within the walls, of sufficient
depth to cleanse the legs of hounds, but not to wet their
bodies, which they are made to walk through immediately on
their coming home. Upon being turned into their lodging
room, they commence licking themselves dry, which, as a
dog’s tongpe is proverbially called his “ doctor,” is most
beneficial to their feet by clearing them of sand or gravel,
as well a§ healing any trifling wounds which they may have
received. In the Duke of Cleveland’s kennel, this reser¬
voir is filled with broth, which, in addition to its healing
properties, induces hounds to lick their feet still more than
water does. In flinty countries, the feet of hounds are very
frequently wounded, which is a great disadvantage to those
a little inclined to do wrong, as they are compelled to miss
their turn, and so get above themselves. It also obliges a
gentlemen to keep a larger number of hounds than this
country would otherwise require.
Hounds are fed on the day before hunting about eleven
o’clock a.m., but some delicate feeders require to be let into
the troughs a second time. After hunting, they are fed as
769
soon as they have licked themselves dry, which, by the Hound,
warmth that arises from their bodies when shut up, is very
soon effected; and in the summer time it is reckoned safer
to feed them in the evening, as they then rest quieter
throughout the night, and are less disposed to quarrel.
Colour of Hounds.
In no animal is variety of colours more conspicuous than
in hounds, and it adds greatly to their appearance when we
see them in a body in the kennel, but still more so in the
field. The prevailing ones with the fox-hound are these :
Tan (not common) ; black (not common) ; black and white
and tan (the most common); milk white (not common) ;
red (very rare) ; blue (the same). Next come the blended,
or mixed colours, known in the kennel as “ pies.” There
is the red pie ; the blue pie ; the yellow pie ; the gray pie ;
the lemon pie (very handsome); the hare pie; and the
badger pie, which last is very characteristic of the fox-hound.
The fox-hound is sometimes ticked, that is, his coat is dot¬
ted with small white specks on a dark ground, but he is
rarely w hat is called “ mottled” (motley): and, we believe,
what is known by “ a blue mottled hound” is not to be found
among fox-hounds, being peculiar to harriers and beagles.
There was for many years a pack of “ blue mottled” harriers
kept near Croydon, in Surrey.
It is asserted that the original colour of the English fox¬
hound was fallow, or pale yellow (Shakspeare speaks of a
fallow greyhound) ; and we are inclined to this opinion from
its being spoken of in several old works upon hunting, as
the “best colour for hounds that hunt the hart or roe and
there can be no doubt of our fox-hounds being originally
descended from that breed of dog, be it what it may. As
we know that a recurrence to original colour frequently
takes place in animals and birds, after its disappearance
throughout several generations, this may probably account
for the various pied hounds we see in kennels, the produce
of hounds of distinct colours, perhaps merely black and
white, and often of those nearly black. Moreover, at Ash¬
down Park, in Berkshire, an old seat of the Craven family,
there is a picture of a pack of fox-hounds, above a hundred
years old, in which every hound is either fallow-coloured
or red.
The Tongue, or Cry of Hounds.
The cry of hounds, melodious and heart-cheering as it
even now is, has lost much of its poetical interest, from the
change man has made in the natural organization of the
animal from which it proceeds: and we shall never again
hear of a master of a pack, after the manner of Addison’s
knight, returning a hound that had been given to him as
an “ excellent bass,” whereas the note he wanted was a
“ counter-tenor.” The acute Beckford, however, was some¬
thing of the worthy knight’s, opinion; for he says, in his
Thoughts upon Hunting, “ If we attended more to the va¬
riety of the notes frequently to be met with in the tongues
of hounds, it might greatly add to the harmony of the pack.”
This is well in theory. The natural organization of the
dog is musical: he is, in fact, a victim to musical sensibi¬
lity ; and we may reasonably suppose that the notes of his
companions in the chase may be as pleasing to himself as
to the huntsman ; but we more than doubt whether a hunts¬
man of this day would draft a highly-bred and beautiful young
bitch, as good too as she looks to be, merely because her
light, fox-hunting tongue might be somewhat drowned, and
now and then lost, in the general chorus of the pack. He
would rather say, “ Let every tongue he a fox,1 and I’ll leave
the rest to chance.” But, on a good day for hearing it.
5 E
VOL. XI.
1 “ Every tongue a fox,” is a well-known sporting phrase.
770 HOUND.
Hound, what natural sound is more delightful and animating than
that of hounds in full cry, in the deep recesses of an echo¬
giving wood ?
The Age of Hounds.
The dog exhibits no exact criteria of age after the first
two years, during which time the whiteness and evenness
of his teeth are a pretty certain test of his not exceeding
that period. An old hound, however, cannot be mistaken
if only looked in the face, where he shows old age nearly
as distinctly as man. As to the length of services of hounds,
that depends upon circumstances. Few are found in a
kennel after their eighth year, and very few after their ninth;
and not many hard-working hounds can “ run up,” or keep
pace with the rest, after their fifth season at most. Hounds
are in their prime in the third and fourth years; and
although there are a few instances, such as the late Sir
Richard Sutton’s Lucifer, the Beaufort Nector, and the
Cheshire Villager, of their hunting in their twelfth, eleventh,
and tenth year, the average of their work cannot, we fear,
be placed beyond four seasons. Old hounds are useful in
the field, but when they cannot run up with the pack, they
should be drafted. The perfection of a pack consists in
the great body of it being composed of hounds quite in their
prime.
Separation of the Sexes.
The separation of the sexes in the kennel and in the
field is one of the late innovations in the sporting world,
and generally considered as a good one. In the first place,
it pleases the eye to see a pack of hounds nearly all of a
size, which cannot be the case when it is composed of dogs
and bitches mixed ; and the character of the animal is like¬
wise more uniformly displayed when confined to one indi¬
vidual sex. Secondly, by the total separation of dogs and
bitches in the kennel and in the field, the former are less
inclined to quarrel, and the latter are more at their ease,
than when subject to the constant, and, at times, impor¬
tunate solicitations, of the male sex. Of their performances
in the field, however, when taken into it separately, some
difference ot opinion exists; and each sex has its advocates.
W ith a good fox before them, and a warm scent, bitches
are decidedly quicker, and more off-hand in their work,
than dog hounds ; but with a colder scent, or at fault, the
general opinion is, that they are not so patient, and more
given to over-run it. That they are superior in “ dash,”
which, Beckford says, is the distinctive characteristic of a
fox-hound, we believe is universally acknowledged ; and a
celebrated master of hounds,1 who hunted them himself
several seasons in Leicestershire, has been heard frequently
to say, that if his kennel would have afforded it, he would
never have taken a dog hound into the field. That, in the
canine race, the female has more of elegance and symme¬
try of form, consequently more of speed, than the male, is
evident to a common observer ; but there is nothing to lead
us to the conclusion, that, in the natural endowment of the
senses, any superiority exists. It is however remarkable,
that the Latins, when speaking of hunting, or “ sporting
dogs,” as we call them, generally use the feminine gender,
one instance of which is to be found in the second ode of
the fifth book of Horace {mult/l cane), which ode every
sportsman ought to read, as it gives so pleasing a picture of
a country life.
Names.
The naming of hounds and horses has nearly exhausted
human invention, as well as classical research. Beckford
furnishes a list of more than eight hundred names for hounds,
alphabetically arranged. But the naming of hounds is some¬
what under metrical control; for it is not only confined to Hound,
words of two and three syllables, but their quantity, or rather
their time, must be consulted. For example, a dactyl, as
Lucifer, answers well for the latter ; but who could holloa
to Aurora ? a trochee, or an iambus, is necessary for the
former, the spondee dwelling too long on the tongue to be
applied smartly to a hound. But there ought to be a no¬
menclature, as of old, at every kennel door ; for it is but few
persons unconnected with a pack that can recollect their
names until after a rather long acquaintance with them,
from the great similarity of form, character, as well as some¬
times of colour, in old-established kennels. “ How is it
possible,” said a young master of fox-hounds a few years
ago, “ that I should distinguish every hound in my kennel
by his name, when I find three spots on one side of their
body, and five perhaps on the other ?” There have been,
however, and still are, persons who can see a large kennel
of hounds once drawn to their feeding troughs, and call
them all by their names afterwards, the result alone of a
keen and practised ej'e.
The price of hounds is strangely altered within the space
of half a century, or less ; and on this subject we cannot do
better than quote Colonel Cook. “ Hounds,” says he (p. 6),
“ have always been much undervalued ; we sometimes hear
of eight hundred or even a thousand guineas as the price of
a hunter, and the sum of three or four hundred is often
considered as a mere trifle ; whereas a pack of hounds, on
which everything depends, was only considered worth a
a few hundreds. Yet Shakspeare himself appears to have
known the value of a hound ; for in his “ Induction” to the
Taming of the Shrew, a nobleman returned from hunting
thus speaks of his hounds with delight to his huntsman ;—
Nobleman. Huntsman, I charge thee, tender well my hounds ;
Brach Merriman,—the poor cur is imboss’d,
And couple Clowder with the deep-mouth’d brach.
Saw’st thou not, boy, how Silver made it good.
At the hedge-corner, in the coldest fault ?
I would not lose the dog for twenty pound.
Huntsman. Why, Belman is as good as he, my lord ;
He cried upon it at the meerest loss,
And twice to-day pick’d out the dullest scent;
Trust me, I take him for the better dog.
“ The sum of twenty pounds for a single hound in Shak
speare’s time,” continues the colonel, “and that not the
best in the pack either, was no inconsiderable price. I am
not alluding to ‘a lot of curs;’ but surely a well-bred, esta¬
blished pack of fox-hounds including brood bitches, and
puppies at walk, must be cheap at a thousand or twelve
hundred pounds.”
How far an established pack of fox-hounds is cheap at a
thousand or twelve hundred pounds, is a matter of con¬
sideration with reference to concomitant circumstances.
We should put the average price at something less than
the highest of the above sums, although several packs have
been sold for the former sum ; and the justly renowned one
of Mr Warde fetched two thousand guineas. When blind¬
ness unhappily compelled Mr Folgambe to lay aside the
scarlet in 1845, his pack was sold for three thousand guineas.
The late Lord Middleton gave Mr Osbaldeston two thou¬
sand guineas for ten couples of hounds out of his kennel, and
the Earl of Stamford gave four hundred and seventy guineas
for four couples of Mr Richard Sutton’s hounds !
The Harrier.
The modern harrier bears no greater resemblance to the
one in use fifty years back, than the hunter of the present
day to that ridden by our grandfathers. In fact, he is now
nothing less than the fox-hound in miniature, which it is
the endeavour of all breeders to have him. Their qualities
1 “ Sir Bellingham Graham, Bart, of Norton Conyers, Yorkshire.
HOUND.
Hound, also are as opposite as their form, the one delighting to
—dwell upon the scent, the other a little inclined, perhaps,
to the other extreme. But the taste of the day for all
sports of the field would not endure the tedious exactness
ot the old psalm-singing harrier; and not only in point of
diversion, but on the score of the pot, the balance is greatly
in favour of the improved variety. Before the old-fashioned
harrier, the hare had time to play all sorts of tricks, to
double on her foil, and so stain the ground that she often
escaped by such means; whereas the modern hound, if the
scent be tolerably good, forces her from her foil to fly the
country, and very often beyond her knowledge, when a
good straightforward run is the almost invariable result.
The observation of Mr Beckford holds good here. He
could not, he said, imagine a hound too well bred to show
sport, and kill his game ; but he could readily conceive the
reverse, when the game ran stout and well.
To the late Sir John Dashwood King, Bart, of West
Wycombe Park, Bucks, is the credit due for what may be
termed the living model of the present improved harrier;
and so characteristically stamped is his sort of hound, now
widely spread, that they are recognised by a sportsman at the
first glance. Their standard height did not exceed eigh¬
teen inches, and therefore, in that respect, they were not
an overmatch for their game ; but from the great equality of
their size and speed, combined with rare hunting qualities,
they killed more hares, with good runs, than any other pack
in the kingdom, and lor many, many years in succession cer¬
tainly “ bore the bell.” Sir John kept them more than
thirty years, at Bourton-on-the-Hill, Gloucestershire, near
the four-shire stone on the Oxford and Worcester road,
where his father kept them before him ; hunting partly in
the vales of Warwickshire and Worcestershire, and partly
over the Cotswold Hills, which latter country is famous for
the stoutness of its hares, frequently standing an hour before
this celebrated pack, after having been driven beyond their
knowledge by their pressing method of hunting up to them,
a method quite unpractised by the old long-eared harrier.
The parent stock of this pack was a small fox-hound from
the Duke of Grafton’s kennel, called Tyrant, whose blood,
form, and character, were strikingly apparent throughout;
and so great was its celebrity, that it fetched the highest
price ever known to be given for harriers, namely, seven
hundred guineas, by Lord Sondes of Rockingham Castle,
Northamptonshire. Sir John, however, deserved success.
He bred upwards of seventy couples of hounds every year,
and had an establishment of horses, &c., nearly equal to fox¬
hounds. The hare-hounds bred for many years by Mr
Yeatman of Stock House, Dorsetshire (who lately resigned
the Blackmore vale country, in which he hunted foxes),
came next to Sir John’s in the true form and character of
the modern harrier.
The Beagle.
This variety of the dog is now nearly extinct, and for
the same cause as the stag-hound. Time is at present con¬
sidered as too precious to afford an hour at least, and per¬
haps two, to the hunting down one hare, which is now ac¬
complished in a more off-hand manner, in twenty minutes.
To an admirer of nature, however, and of the endowments
given to inferior animals, the busy, intelligent, and highly-
gifted beagle certainly affords a treat. His form, also,
when not out at his elbows, is handsome in the extreme,
and his perseverance in chase is exceeded by none. But
he has one of the greatest faults that hounds can possess ;
he is noisy, and dwells upon the scent, whilst his game is
flying the country before him. In fact, his only use or
value now is (independently of being looked at and ad¬
mired, for he is a perfect animal of his kind), to accompany
a brace of greyhounds when a hare is wanted, and not
ready at hand. There is, however, one pack of beagles
kept in Dorsetshire, known as the Mountain Harriers, whose
performances are much spoken of in the sporting world.
Mr Honeywood of Essex had also a most famous pack,
averaging from 9 to 10 inches in height, and 9 lbs. in
weight, which he sold to Prince Albert; and the cele¬
brated O’Connell used to beguile his winter leisure with a
dozen of these tiny favourites, such as have never been
surpassed for breed in Ireland.
The Greyhound.
The greyhound has now lost his place in the catalogue
of the dogs used in chase, neither can be classed as such,
771
Hound.
572
Hound.
HOUND.
since man has deprived him of the necessary faculty of
smell; but he was held in such high estimation in the
middle ages, as to be considered as the peculiar companion
of a gentleman. He never went abroad without these dogs ;
the hawk which he bore upon his fist, and the greyhounds
which ran before him, were certain testimonies of his rank ;
and in the ancient pipe rolls, payments appear to have been
often made in these valuable animals. But at no period of
his existence was the greyhound the symmetrically elegant
animal we now see him, nor possessed of nearly so much
speed; neither was the diversion of the leash at any time
carried on with so much spirit as within the space of the
last thirty years, in various parts of Great Britain. But
the necessity for, or rather the cause of, the change in the
form of the greyhound, may be traced to his being no
longer, as formerly, made use of to course and pull down
deer, but chiefly to exhibit his speed at our different spirited
coursing meetings, for the various prizes contended for, as
also in private matches.
The Courser’s Manual or Stud-Book, by Thomas Good-
lake, Esq. (1828), has the following interesting passages
on the alteration effected in this species of dog. “ In the
days of Elizabeth,” says the author, “ the greyhound seems
to have been a fine and effective animal, but approaching
more to the bony, wire-haired make of the Highland grey¬
hound represented in the pictures of Edwin Landseer, and
deficient in the symmetry and fine glossy coat which mark
a high-bred kennel of modern times. It is probable, that
during the early part of the seventeenth century, judicious
crosses were made, partly from the beautiful Italian grey¬
hounds, which we often see in family pictures, accom¬
panying our fair ancestresses in their parks and plaisances,
and partly from the stouter breed of dogs represented in
Flemish hunting-pieces ; and that even Persia and Arabia,
whose greyhounds are not to be despised in point of form
and speed, contributed their quota of blood; as it is shown
by the history of Cromwell’s Coffin Nail, that the wealthier
gentry of that period spared no expense or pains in im¬
proving the more highly-prized breeds of sporting animals.
If we mistake not, some of the pictures of Charles the First
contain portraits of greyhounds approaching nearly in point
of coat and shape to the present breed.”
Speaking of the late Lord Orford, who established the
first coursing club that we read of, at Swaffham in Nor¬
folk, in the year 1776, the same writer says, “He could
command such an immensity of private quarters, or walks
as they are generally called, for greyhounds, that he bred
largely, and few possessed the same advantages of selec¬
tion. He is recorded as having at one time fifty brace
of greyhounds; and it was his fixed rule never to part
with a single whelp till he had had a fair trial of his
speed; consequently he had chances beyond almost any
other individual, of having a collection of very superior
dogs. Intent on obtaining as much perfection in the
breed as possible, he introduced every experimental cross,
from the English lurcher to the Italian greyhound. He
it was that first thought of the cross with the English
bull-dog, in which he persevered in opposition to every
opinion, until, after breeding on for seven removes, he
found himself in possession of the best greyhounds at the
time ever known; and he considered that this cross pro¬
duced the small ear, the rat-tail, the fine, thin, silky
coat, together with that quiet, innate courage which the
high-bred greyhound should possess, preferring death to
relinquishing the chase.” There is something curiously
analogous to the sense conveyed by the concluding words
of this extract. His lordship fell dead from his horse im¬
mediately after witnessing the triumph of his famous bitch
Czarina, in a match at Swaffham, having been in vain ad¬
monished on the impropriety of taking the field in his then
indifferent state of health ; and his memory is introduced
as a toast at most coursing meetings, as father and patron Hound,
of the sport. Earls Craven and Stradbroke, and the late
Earl Sefton, have always been great patrons of the leash ;
and on the whole the blood of Figaro is the most uniformly
successful that we now possess.
It would be hopeless to speak with any degree of cer¬
tainty as to the relative running forms of dogsj as nearly
every great courser has his beau ideal among cracks, past
or present, and his own notion as to the best blood. In old
times, Snowball stood pre-eminent; and King Cob is said
by many to have been the most perfect of greyhounds in
his shape. The far-famed litter of six by Figaro out of Bessy
Bedlam, produced seven hundred and eighty-two guineas
at Mr Brown’s sale at Doncaster in 1854. This gives an
average of fifty-six guineas for five, while Bedlamite was
bought in for five hundred guineas, a price which has, we
believe, never been exceeded for a dog. Bessy Bedlam
“ the invincible” was never led to her hare, and never
beaten, winning the twenty-two courses she ran in public.
In fact, she and her “Bedlamite litter” won twenty-five
first-class cup or stakes, divided eight, and ran up for six,
in which 944 dogs were engaged. Cerito and Mocking
Bird were also wonderfully successful bitches ; and perhaps
one of the best “ workers” ever out was Lady Harkaway,
the property of Father Tom Macguire. The Emperor,
Bugle, and Dusty Miller, strains rank very high; and Mr
Webb’s “ War Eagle litter,” which owned Foremost as
their sire* was “ a great fact” in its day.
Stonehenge, who is by far the greatest living authority
on the greyhound, considers that there are six varieties of
it, and all with different characteristics. The principal of
these is the Newmarket greyhound, which is the oldest, and
was brought to the highest perfection in the days of Lords
Rivers and Orford. They combine stoutness with very
high speed, but are seldom first-rate workers with their hare.
They require, in fact, a very fast hare to show themselves
to advantage, and are often beaten in working by dogs,
which but for them, would never have reached the hare at
all. The Lancashire greyhound is very like his Newmarket
ancestor, but does not show so much “ quality” about the
head and neck, and is generally rather larger ; and some of
the best of them have measured 28 inches, and weighed
70 lbs. Their stride is very great, and so is their power of
jumping ditches, which are so rife at Lytham and Altcar.
Bedlamite, who forms the subject of our plate, is half Lan¬
cashire and half Newmarket, and so is Sackcloth, who tra¬
velled nearly 3000 miles by the rail in 1853—54 to meet¬
ings the season but one before his noble owner died. York¬
shire greyhounds are quite as speedy as either their Lan¬
cashire or Newmarket rivals, and are generally of a great
size, and rather coarse. No dogs are “ cleverer,” but this
talent sometimes degenerates into a tendency to lurch. I he
smooth Scotch greyhound has been very much crossed with
English blood, and the principal strains are Jason’s, Fleather
Jock’s, Waterloo’s, and Mr A. Graham’s kennel, which has
a great deal of the Emperor and Bugle blood in it. A great
majority of them run remarkably well in puppy produce
stakes, and though their tempers have a degree of uncer¬
tainty, and they are not so fast as the Newmarket dogs, they
work much more close with a bad hare. T. he speed of the
rough Scotch greyhound is not very great, and they are
slow at their turns, but they are exceedingly hardy, and
stay well in a long severe stretch with a straight-backed
hare. The sixth section, or the Wiltshire dog, is especially
bred for stoutness, to cope with the extraordinary hares
which are generally met with at Amesbury, Marlborough
Downs, and sometimes at Ashdown Park ; and his power of
stopping himself and getting away at his turns is something
marvellous. Modern Wiltshire greyhounds are rather small,
stout, and terrier-like, but many of the best old Wiltshire
blood, like Billy-go-by-’em, were much larger.
H 0 U
The terrier is no longer the accompaniment to a pack of
fox-hounds, and for the best of all reasons—foxes are not
nearly so often digged for as formerly; and his only use
was, by his bay, to inform the diggers whereabouts the fox
H o u 773
lay ; and we suppose he took his name from his being so Hound
eager to get under ground. There is also a second reason II
why he is better left at home. He was seldom steady Household
from wing, if he was from foot, and thus often the cause Royal* y
of riot. It was* however, a matter of astonishment to be- 's—
hold those which were very highly bred, making their way,
as they did, to the end of the longest chases, over strong
and wet countries, as well as through the thickest covers,
and so often making their appearance at the end of them.
At all events, if left behind, they were sure to find their
way home in the course of the night, whatever the dis¬
tance might be. One peculiarity of form was essential to
their being sure of getting up to their fox, viz., not too full
in the shoulder; and those whose colour was pure white,
and who were broken-haired, were generally most esteemed
by huntsmen. It was often their lot to lose their life, by
scratching up the earth behind them, and cutting off their
means of retreat; and they were now and then killed by
a fox, the latter a rare occurrence. I hey were commonly
entered to a badger, whose bite is more dangerous than
that of a fox. Rough Scotch terriers are considered rather
softer in the mouth than they used to be ; and the best
English terriers are now bred out of a bull-bitch by a smooth
English terrier, and run from 11 to 12 lbs. Mr Collier has
a good breed of them, and the Duke of Beaufort's are also
especially famed. (Ci a.) (w. h. l—y.)
HOUSEHOLD, The Royal. In the preface to the
Liber Niger Domus Regis Edw. IV., we are told that
King Edward III. was “ the first setter of certainty among
his domesticks upon a grounded rule. He appointed duties
to his offices and officers by a formal and more convenient
custumate, more certain than was used before his time ; he
framed his new statutes, commandments, and charges, upon
every officer inward and outward.” Upon this work Kino-
Edward IV., with the advice of his great council, founded
his Household Rook, dhe table of the king, and the daily
allowance of provisions, fuel, and lights to peers of each
nmk when in attendance upon the king, and to all his chief
officers, attendants, and servants of every degree, on ordi
nary and on festival occasions, are carefully particularized;
as are also the king’s alms and gifts, the wages of every
class of his servants, and the robes and liveries for his
knights, officers, and domestics.
Henry VII. ordained new articles for the government of
his household. Henry VIII. found it necessary to make still
further regulations, particularly to prevent the court from
being overrun by idlers and the retainers of the officers
In the ordinances made in the 31st Hen. VIII., the
porters at the gate are enjoined “ not only to exclude ser¬
vants, vagabonds, and rascalls, but alsoe that they doe not
sufrer any vagabonds, rascalls, or boyes to enter in at the
gate at any time, and that one of them shall, three or four
times in the day, make due search throughout the house
in case that negligently at any time any boyes or rascalls
have escaped by them, and entred the gates, that thereby
they may find them out and put them out againe.”
In the royal household in feudal times the lowest offices
were filled by persons of consideration, unfitted both by
their rank and incapacity to perform the duties attaching
to them. I he supplies for the extensive establishment
were made on the system of 'purveyance and receipt in
kind; and the royal purveyors seized provisions wherever
they could find them, paid for them only in such manner
and at such prices as the household officers thought proper
*° q,X’. an^ deP0s’ted them in the king’s magazines.
1 his system of purveyance, after many previous attempts
i o wm te t®mo^erate its obnoxious uses, was abolished in
12th Chas. II. In 1780 Mr Burke introduced his plan of
economical reform, in which the royal household formed a
conspicuous part. He represented it as formed upon man¬
ners and customs which had long since expired, and as re¬
taining ancient officers whose duties had long since ceased.
He succeeded, two years later, in obtaining an act (22 Geo.
III., c. 82) by which the following offices were suppressed:—
Principal officer of the great wardrobe, principal officer of
the jewel office, treasurer of the chamber, cofferer of the
household, offices of the six clerks of the board of green
cloth, paymaster of the pensions, master of the harriers and
fox-hounds, and master of the stag-hounds.
The household expenses must have been very great.
Madox remarks upon the magnificence of the Norman
kings; and Stow, in his Annals, relates that “the person of
King Richard II. was guarded wheresoever he lay by 200
men ; that he had about him thirteen bishops, besides
barons, knights, esquires, and others, inasmuch that to the
household came every day to meat 10,000 people.” The
charge for King Edward IV.’s household was L.l3,000
yearly. I he statutes of Eltham, 7th Hen. VIII., give par¬
ticular articles of diet, wine, &c., to be served to every per¬
son of the household, and the quantity and price of every
article, the expenses of the stables, and the salaries of all
the members and servants of the establishment. In the
Household Book of King William and Queen Mary, 1689,
the diet of the household is computed at L.15,000 yearly,
and the total charge at L.76,038. Since the reign of King
William III., parliament at the commencement of each
reign has appropriated a fixed sum for the civil list of the
sovereign. Thus—
To Wilfiam III   L.700,000 a-year.
• ••Anne  700,000
...George I    700,000
... George II...   800,000
... George III.     800,000
Increased in 17th year of reign ... 900,000
... George IV    1,050,000
...William IV  510,000
... Victoria..  385,000
Of this last the application is thus limited :—Privy purse,
L,60,000; household salaries, and retired allowances,
L.131,260; household expenses, L.l72,500; royal bounty’
alms, and special services, L.l3,200; leaving an unappro¬
priated balance of L.8040, which maybe applied in discharge
of any of the other classes of charge.
HOUSEHOLD ROYAL.
774
Household But these sums throw little light upon the comparative
Royal, grants for the sovereign’s household and personal expenses,
v—Prior to the Revolution the sums granted were voted with¬
out any specification as to whether they should be applied
to the maintenance of the army, the navy, the civil govern¬
ment, or the household. From that time the expenses
of the army and navy were at once separately voted, and
charges of civil government have from time to time been
removed from the civil list, until, on the accession of Wil¬
liam IV., by the separation of the salaries of the judges,
the lord-lieutenant of Ireland, the diplomatic salaries and
pensions, and the civil-list pensions of previous reigns, the
civil-list charge has been properly reduced to the personal
and household expenses of the sovereign.
The internal regulations of the royal household may be
described under the names of the officers by whose autho¬
rity they are maintained—the Lord Steward and his
Court of Household, and the Lord Chamberlain ; two great
officers who, from the earliest times, have divided the au¬
thority over two distinct branches of the establishment.
The Lord Steward is the chief officer of the household.
His authority extends over the offices of treasurer, comptroller,
and master "of the household, the two former of whom act
as his deputies ; and all the household officers and servants
are subject to his authority, except those of the chapel, the
chamber, and the stable. The first two are subject to the
Lord Chamberlain, and the latter to the Master of the
Horse. The duties of these three high officers are thus de¬
scribed in the Liber Niger, Edw. IV.:—The Steward of the
Household receives his charge and staff from the king him¬
self,— “ Seneschall tenez la baton du notre hostiell,”—and by
these words is at once constituted Steward of the whole
Court of Marshalsea, The secondary estate and rule of the
household, under the king, is wholly committed to his
charge, and his orders are to be obeyed and observed. Out
of the king’s presence he is always to be served covered,
whatever other great estate may be present. He may per¬
mit such to depart as he thinks pleasing to the king. While
he is present in court, no new commandments or orders to
officers or other persons should be given without his orders
first had. In all the household rules and judgments he re¬
presents the king; and his staff is taken for his commi&ion.
— The Treasurer of the Household takes his charge and oath
before the king, or his council. He is second estate next to
the steward, whose office he represents, and whose privileges
he enjoys in his absence. He has the chief charge of the
policy and economy of the household, which depend upon
his sober and diligent purveyance. It belongs to the trea¬
surer, with the steward and comptroller, to remind the king
of his dispositions and purposes, and to make, from time to
time provision for the household. To declare what the
treasurer’s duties are is to say that he should know and
overlook every office and officer.— The Comptroller takes
his charge in the king’s presence. He is third in estate in
the household after the steward, and by his supervision the
treasurer is relieved of many details and accounts of things
dispensed, of which he takes the charge. He sees that all
goods purveyed for the household are sound and w'holesome,
and of reasonable price ; also that the servants are diligent
in their duties, and that their allowances do not exceed
their receipts, which are returned into the exchequer, Up
to the present time, but little change has taken place in the
authorities of these three officers. The treasurer’s office
appears to have been united wfith that of the comptroller,
and to have been hereditary (stat. 33, Hen. VIII.).—The
Master of the Household is now under the treasurer, and
examines a portion of his accounts, as was formerly done by
the cofferer. His chief duties, however, consist more par¬
ticularly in superintending the selection, qualification, and
conduct of the household servants. The three former are
always sworn of the Privy Council. They fill political
offices, which are held only during the continuance in power Household
of the party to which they belong. The master of the Royal,
household is appointed during pleasure, and his continuance
in office is not dependent upon party. The yearly salaries
of these officers at different periods have been as follows:—
Under Elizabeth, 1578— Yearly.
Lord Steward  L.200 0 0
Treasurer  123 14 0
Comptroller  167 14 0
Under William and Mary, 1689—
Lord Steward...L.100 0 0 and board wages, L.1360 0 0
Treasurer (and
Cofferer)  223 14 8 ... 1076 5 4
Comptroller  107 17 6 ... 1092 2 6
Under Victoria, 1856—
Lord Steward  L.2000 0 0
Treasurer  904 0 0
Comptroller   904 0 0
Master of the Household  1158 0 0
The Court of the Household is held under the Lord
Steward and his officers. It is called—
The Court of Marshalsea or Green Cloth, and derived its
power from the Common Law, confirmed by several statutes.
It had exclusive jurisdiction in the palace of the king, and
within the verge, which is defined to include a circuit of 12
miles around. The Court of Marshalsea and of Green
Cloth, though exercising at different times very different
powers, cannot be described as two separate courts. It is
of very ancient constitution, for in the Household Book of
Edw. IV., ordinances of Hen. I. are quoted as relating to it.
The Steward of the Household is described as “ Steward
of the whole Court of Marshalsea, of which he is judge of
life and limb; and, except those causes, the treasurer,
comptroller, cofferer, two clerks of the Green Cloth, and
the chief clerk of the enrolment, for any matters else done
within the household, or appertaining thereto, they sit with
him at the board of doom within the household, that is, the
board of Green Cloth in the counting-house, as recorders
and witnesses to the truth.” The court had, when sitting
under the steward as a criminal court, the power to inflict
the highest penalties. False compassings and confederacies
to destroy the king, or any of the household officers, by the
king’s servants, was declared felony by 3d Hen. VIL, and
the trial and judgment were committed to this court. By
the 33d Hen. VIII., e. 12, its powers were extended to all
treasons, misprisions of treasons, murders, manslaughters,
bloodsheds, and malicious strikings, by reason whereof blood
is shed, done within any of the royal houses, or houses where
the king may be residing, without limitation to offences com¬
mitted by the servants of the household, with the penalty of
death, and forfeiture of lands and goods for all the offences
except the malicious striking. For this the penalty was to
have the right hand stricken off’; and the statute appoints
the specific duties of each of twelve of the household ser¬
vants who are to take a part in this execution, commencing
with the chief surgeon, who is to “ sear the stump.”
Charles L, by letters patent of the sixth year of his reign,
in order to remove doubts as to the civil jurisdiction of this
household court, and to obviate its frequent removals—
for it necessarily followed the court in all its progresses—
erected a new court of record called the Palace Court,
with jurisdiction over all manner of personal actions what¬
soever arising between any parties within 12 miles of his
palace at Whitehall. The Lord Steward, the Knight
Marshal, and the Steward of the Marshalsea, were named
as judges, but the Deputy of the Steward of the Marshalsea
usually sat alone. Charles II., by a charter of the six¬
teenth year of his reign, reinstituted the court, which con¬
tinued to be held under that charter till 1849, when it was
abolished by stat. 12 & 13, Viet. cap. 101, on the general
establishment of the new county courts for the recovery of
small debts.
H
0
USEHOLD ROYAL.
Household The extensive criminal jurisdiction of the Lord Steward’s
v R°yaI- t court gradually fell into disuse, and the statutes quoted of
Vv^ J Henry VII. and Henry VIII. were repealed by 9th Geo.
4, cap. 31. The court became restricted in its functions
to the control of the household affairs, and exercised the
duties of a board, as it is now alone styled, and no longer
those which belong to a court. It took account of all the
expenses of the household. It made provision for the
household, which in early times comprised the store^and
purveyance of large supplies of grain, meat, &c., and paid
all such charges. It had the good government of the
numerous servants and retainers. The steward, treasurer,
or comptroller, were required of very special duty to be
present daily at the audit of accounts, one or all of them,
and to hear complaints, and to correct or appease them
after due examination. It was their duty to keep the peace
within the palace, and to punish the evil-doers ; and for any
wrong done to the king’s officers or household servants in
executing their office or commission, if the offender were
the servant of the queen or prince, or any of the judges or
lords, he was summoned to answer before the Green Cloth.
The usual penalties were,—first, warning in fair manner at
the counting-board openly; second, the loss of wages for
one month ; third, imprisonment for one month ; fourth,
to be put out of court, and to swear never knowingly to
come near it again for ever.
The Lord Chamberlain is at the head of another great
branch of the household. He is described (Lib. Niger, Edw.
IV.), as sitting in the King’s chamber, and when it requires
for matters to be communed of in the King’s Council, then
in his own chamber. He was not, therefore, at that time, as
has now long been the practice, a member of the Privy
Council. “ The chamberlain presenteth, chargeth, and dis-
chargeth, all such persons as be of the King’s chamber,
except all such officers of household, as minister for any
victuals for the king’s mouth, or for his chamber; for all
these take their charge at the Green Cloth in the counting-
house. He hath the punishment of all those belonging to
the chamber for any offence or outrage. The chamberlain
taketh his oath and staff of the king, or of his council. He
shall at no time within this court be covered in his service.”
He is “busily to search and oversee the King’s chambers,
and the estate made therein.”
In the present day the duties of the Lord Chamberlain
continue nearly those described above. He is an officer
of great honour and trust. He is always sworn of the Privy
Council. He has control over all the officers and servants
of the royal chambers (except the bedchamber), and over
the establishment of the chapel-royal, and the physicians,
surgeons, and apothecaries of the household ; also over the
queen’s band, and all comedians, trumpeters, and messen¬
gers, and all artificers in the queen’s service. The per¬
formance of stage plays in the metropolis, and wherever
there is a royal palace, is illegal, unless the premises in
which the performance takes place are licensed by him;
nor can any play, or part of a play, be legally acted in any
part of Great Britain without his license. It is the Lord
Chamberlain’s duty to see that persons who wish to be pre¬
sented to the sovereign at the drawing-rooms and levees
are entitled by station and character to that distinction ;
also to issue, in the Queen’s name, invitations to Her Ma¬
jesty’s balls, parties, &c.
I he \ ice-Chamberlain is an ancient officer of the house¬
hold. The office is shown to have existed in the 13th
Richard II. (1389). It is described as of high rank in
the reign of Henry IV. The Vice-Chamberlain is now
usually sworn a member of the Privy Council. He is the
deputy and assistant of the Lord Chamberlain, in whose ab¬
sence he conducts the Sovereign, and acts with full authority
oyer all the officers and servants subject to his control. Like
his principal, he quits office on a change of the government.
The yearly salaries of these officers under different reigns
have been as follows :—
Under Elizabeth—
Lord Chamberlain 200 marks.
Vice-Chamberlain 100
Under William and Mary—
Lord Chamberlain..L.100 0 0 Board wages..L.1100 0 0
Vice Chamberlain.. 66 13 4 ... 492 15 0
Under Victoria—
Lord Chamberlain L.2000 0 0
Vice-Chamberlain  924 0 0
In the same book (Lib. Niger, Edw. IV.), and in the
following order, are also described the officers who formed
the chamberlain’s branch of the household, with most parti¬
cular accounts of their places in the house, their allowances,
perquisites, and number of attendants. Four bannerets ox-
bachelor knights, called knights of the chamber, twelve
knights of the household, a secretary (origin of the secx-e-
tary of state), with four clerks ; four chaplains, four esquix-es
of the body; server of meats, a surveyor of cooks for the
king, a wardrober, four gentlemen ushers to pay special at¬
tention to strangers; twenty-four yeomen, the watchmen
of the px-evious reign, four yeomen to make beds, an officer
of wai'dx-obe of robes, officer of wardrobe of beds, ten
grooms of chamber, three pages of chamber ; the keeper of
the king’s jewels, the doctor of physic, the master surgeon,
the apothecary, the barber for the king, six henxmen
(pages) and their master, and forty esquix-es of household of
different counties, men of education, to give the king
counsel.
All the foregoing officers, except the wardrober, either
daily or during their rotation of attendance, have their stated
allowances; those of higher degree, who take their meals
in their own chambers, have livery of “ messes of grete
mete and roste,” wine, toi'ches, candles, faggots, &c.; and
those of lesser rank have “ etyng in the hall,” and take
allowances for their chamber at night of wine, ale, bi-ead,
candles, and firewood, the quantities being regulated accord¬
ing to the rank of their offices. The number of servants
allowed to be brought into the household, and to have
livery out of the household, and the allowances which these
servants ax-e entitled to receive daily, are also regulated
with the same precision.
rI hen follow the kings of arms, heralds, and pursuivants,
whose number is not given. Four serjeants of arms, thir¬
teen minstrels, a wayte, four messengers, priests, dean of
chapel, tw-enty-six chaplains, two yeomen of the chapel,
eight children of the chapel, the clerk of the closet, the
master of grammar, the officer of vestuary, and the clerk of
the crown.
Of the foregoing officers of the Lord Chamberlain’s depart¬
ment, the chief, who at presen trepi'esent their duties, are—The
Lords-in- Waiting, who attend in rotation, form part of the
ordinary court of the Sovereign, and are present on all state
occasions. Their appointments are deemed political, and
depend upon the existence of the ministry. The Grooms-
in- Waiting attend in a similar manner. The Gentlemen
Ushers of the Privy Chamber, who are in constant atten¬
dance, and conduct the Sovei’eign in the absence of the
higher officers. The Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber.
This latter office has become a merely honorary appoint¬
ment as, of late years, no services have been required.
During the present female reign the office of Groom of the
Stole is in abeyance. His authority in the last reign was
exclusive in all matters relating to the bed-chamber. He
had no fixed routine of duty, attending only on state occa¬
sions. Under his authority were twelve Lords of the Bed¬
chamber, officers also in abeyance, and thirteen Grooms of
the Bedchamber.
The Yeomen of the Guard and the Gentlemen-at-Arms
are the ancient guards of the household. The former corps
775
Household
Itoyal.
776 H O U
Household was established by Henry VII. as his body-guard in 1486,
R°yal- and as a royal guard a detachment is still mustered daily
in the guard-chamber. The corps now consists of a cap¬
tain, lieutenant, ensign, four exons, and one hundred yeo¬
men. The yeomen are selected by the commander-in¬
chief from meritorious men who have served in the army.
The captain is usually a peer and a privy councillor, and
holds a political appointment dependent upon the govern¬
ment of the day, as does also the captain of the Gentlemen-
at-Arms. This latter corps was established by Henry VIII.
in 1509, and was called the Band of Gentlemen-Pensioners,
until 1834 when it was re-modelled by William IV., and
resumed its ancient title. The appointments are made by
the crown on the recommendation of the commander-in¬
chief, and are restricted to officers of the British army or
marines. The corps consists of the captain, lieutenant,
standard-bearer, and forty gentlemen, who form the guard to
the Queen’s person : but their duties now chiefly consist in
attendance at drawing-rooms, levees, and state ceremonials.
The Master of the Horse is the third great officer of the
household, and his office is always described as of great an¬
tiquity and trust; but no mention is made of it in the
Household Books of Hen. VI. or Edw. IV. He is appointed
by letters-patent, and has the government and direction of
the royal stables, and of all horses and breeds of horses be¬
longing to the crown. His authority extends over all the
equerries and pages, grooms, coachmen, saddlers and farriers
—and he has the appointment and control of all artificers
working for the royal stables. He has the disbursement of
the money assigned for the expenses of this department of
the household, and exhibits his accounts for the audit of the
Green Cloth. He alone is privileged to use the royal horses
and carriages, and upon state occasions he rides next to the
Sovereign. The Clerk-Marshal and Chief Equerry has au¬
thority next to the Master of the Horse, and has power to
act for him in all matters when absent. He attends the
Queen on her rides and upon all state occasions. The four
equerries, and four pages of honour, are the remaining
head officers. They are the personal attendants upon the
Queen, and form part of the state of her court. On at¬
taining a suitable age the pages receive a commission in
the Guards without purchase. The Master of the Buck-
hounds is another ancient office connected with this part of
the household. His duties seem now to be restricted to
the management of the royal hunt. The offices of the
Master of the Horse, the Chief Equerry and the Master of
the Buckhounds, are dependent upon the duration of the
political party in power.
The yearly salary of the Master of the Horse under dif¬
ferent reigns has been as follows :— i
Under Queen Elizabeth  1000 marks
Under William and Mary L.1200
Under Victoria  2500
The Ladies of the Household fill a more important rank
in the court of a female sovereign. The Mistress of the
Robes is at the head of this part of the household. Her
office is ancient and of high dignity. She has the superin¬
tendence of all duties belonging to the bedchamber, within
which the Lord Chamberlain has no authority. She regu¬
lates the rotation and times of attendance of all the ladies.
She has the custody of the robes ; and on state occasions
sees that the ceremony of robing the Queen is properly
performed. She rides in the same carriage with the Queen
on state occasions. The Ladies of the Bedchamber are
the personal attendants upon the Queen, and form part
of her court on state occasions. There are now eight, and
two extra. The Bedchamber Women, also eight, and one
extra, are subordinate to them. The Maids of Honour,
eight, are the immediate attendants upon the Queen. They
are on duty in rotation, and accompany Her Majesty upon
all occasions.
H O U
The yearly salaries attached to each of the foregoing
offices are as follow :—
Lords-in-Waiting L.703
Grooms-in-Waiting  335 10s.
Groom of the Stole j qqqq
(in abeyance) j
Lords of the Bed- \
chamber (in abey- V 1000
ance) J
Grooms of the Bed¬
chamber  500
Yeomen of the guard—
Captain 1000
Lieutenant  500
Ensign  300
Exons  150
Yeomen  60
Gentlemen-at-arms—
Captain  1000
Gentlemen-at-arms—
Lieutenant  L.500
Standard-bearer  310
Clerk of the Cheque 120
Gentlemen  70
Master of the Horse... 2500
Clerk-Marshal, &c  1000
Equerries   700
Pages  200
Master of the Buck-
hounds  1700
Ladies of the Household—
Mistress of the Robes 500
Ladies of the Bed¬
chamber  500
Bedchamber Women 300
Maids of Honour.... 400
Houssa.
The household officers described in the foregoing are dis¬
tinct from a class of hereditary officers of great considera¬
tion and rank, who on certain state ceremonies perform
duties to the sovereign. (s. R.)
HOUSSA is the name of an extensive portion of Cen¬
tral Africa, which, along with Bornou, bears the general
name of Soudan, or Land of the South. It consists of
various petty kingdoms or states, which occupy territory
stretching E. and W. from the upper course of the Yeou
nearly to the Niger, the boundaries of which on the S. and
N. and W. have now for the first time been determined by
Dr Barth. This region appears in several respects to be
superior to the countries on either side of it. It is less
sultry, an advantage which it probably owes to its higher
elevation. The face of the country bears marks of greater
cultivation, the fields being covered with large crops of
several kinds of Indian corn, two of which are annually
produced; and, to prevent the grain from being destroyed
by insects, it is secured in granaries raised on poles. The
soil is well watered by the rivers Sokoto, Mariadi, Zyr-
mie, Bugga, Zoma, and others, which, with several tribu¬
taries, flows westward to join the Niger. On its eastern
quarter it is traversed by the Yeou, and on its southern by
the Benueh or Chadda. Besides these natural supplies of
water, artificial irrigation is diligently practised.
The dominant people in Houssa are the Fellatas, this
country forming, in fact, a considerable portion of the em¬
pire of Sokoto, which again comprises the eastern part of
the Fellata dominions. The following provinces consti¬
tuting Houssa are, according to Dr Barth—
X. Kano, with the governor or sultan of Osman Ben Ibrahim Dabo.
Important on account of the market, which yields 10,000 cow¬
ries daily for the household of the great sultan at Sokoto. The
military power consists of 7000 horse.
2. Boshi, or Bautschi, S.E. from Kano, with the capital Yakoba,
the most powerful province after Kano. The sultan, Ibrahim
Ben Yakuba, has a force of 2000 horse, and his troops of archers
which are numberless, besides their being known as the best
in Soudan.
3. Zegzeg, a province of great extent S. of Kano. The sultan, Mo¬
hammed Sani, resides at Zaria, and has about 2000 horse, as
well as numbers of archers.
4. Khadedsha, or Hadija, a small province E. from Kano, with the
sultan Kammedu, having a force of about 2000 horse.
5. Katagum, S.E. from Kano. The sultan, Abd-er-Rahman, is said
to bring 1500 horse into the field.
6. Katsena, N.W. of Kano, with the residence of the same name.
Owing to its vicinity to the hostile countries of Mariadi and
Gober, this province has greatly declined in power ; the sultan,
Mohammed Bello Ben Mallem Romaro, has a force of not much
more than 1000 horse.
7. Daura, E. of Katsena, a province greatly devastated. The free-
booting governor, Mohammed Bello, though he has but 400
horse, is feared by all his neighbours.
8. Zanfara, a large province W. from Katsena, with Ahmedu the
sultan, who resides at Bakura, and has a force of 3000 to 4000
horse in command.
H 0 U S S A.
Houssa. 9. Gober, to the N.E. of Sokoto, and adjoining the Desert. The
ir- J residence of the sultan Wurno belongs to this province, and
forms the southernmost boundary.
10. Kebbi, the eastern portion of it, comprising the capital of the
eastern Fellata empire, Sokoto.
Kano, the capital of a province of the same name, and
the principal commercial city of Houssa, is situated in N.
Lat. 12. 0. 19., and E. Long. 8. 30. It may contain be¬
tween 30,000 and 40,000 inhabitants, of whom a great
proportion are slaves. This number is exclusive of stran¬
gers, who crowd thither during the dry months from all
parts of Africa. The city is of an irregular oval shape,
about fifteen miles in circumference, and surrounded by a
clay wall thirty feet in height, having a dry ditch on both
sides of it. There are fourteen gates made of wood, and
covered with sheet iron, and these are regularly opened
and shut at sunrise and sunset. A platform inside, with
two guardhouses below it, serves to defend each entrance.
The houses within the walls do not occupy more than one
fourth of the ground inclosed, the remaining space being
laid out in fields and gardens. The city is almost divided
into two parts by a large morass, which stretches from E. to
W. This swamp is crossed by a small neck of land, which
is overflowed during the rainy season, but in the dry sea¬
son the market is held upon it. On account of this morass,
and also of the many pools of stagnant water made by digging
clay for building houses, the city is rendered very unhealthy.
Captain Clapperton thus describes the houses of Kano.
“ They are built of clay, and are mostly of a square form,
in the Moorish fashion, with a central room, the roof of
which is supported by the trunks of palm-trees, where visi¬
tors and strangers are received. The apartments of the
ground-floor open into this hall of audience, and are gene¬
rally used as store-rooms. A staircase leads to an open
gallery overlooking the hall, and serving as a passage to
the chambers of the second story, which are lighted with
small windows. In a back court-yard there is a well and
other conveniences. Within the inclosure in which the
house stands, there are also a few round huts of clay, roofed
with the stalks of Indian corn, and thatched with long grass.
These are usually very neat and clean, and of a much larger
size than those of Bornou. The governor’s residence
covers a large space, and resembles a walled village. It
even contains a mosque, and several towers three or four
stories high, with windows in the European style, but with¬
out glass or framework. It is necessary to pass through
two of these towers in order to gain the suite of inner
apartments occupied by the governor.”
The great market, as already observed, is held upon the
neck of land which intersects the morass. Here streets
consisting of sheds or stalls of bamboo are regularly ar¬
ranged, different places being allotted to those who traffic
in different commodities. The latter consist of cattle,
vegetables, fi uits, the fine cotton fabrics of the country,
goora or kolla nuts, which are called African coffee, and
crude antimony, with which every eyebrow in Houssa is
dyed. The Arabs also dispose of sundry commodities,
such as various dresses. The slaves, who constitute the
staple article of trade, have a special market appropriated
to them, consisting of two long ranges of sheds, one for
males and the other for females. Here these poor crea¬
tures, drawn up in regular array, and dressed in attractive
attire, are inspected and scrutinized by purchasers, in much
the same manner as horses are in the cattle-markets of this
country. 1 he market of Kano is under the superintendence
of a sheik, who regulates the police, and is said also to pos¬
sess the exorbitant power of fixing the prices. The me¬
dium of exchange consists of the small shells called cowries,
four hundred and eighty of which make a shilling, so that
paying a large sum is here rather a tedious process. Kano
is celebrated all over Central Africa for the dyeing of cloth,
VOL. xi. ' ° ’
777
for which process there are numerous establishments. Houssa.
Some ingenuity is displayed in the manufacture of leathern
jars, which are fashioned upon a clay mould out of the raw
hide. The inhabitants are also acquainted with the art of
tanning. The negroes here are very polite and ceremo¬
nious, especially to those advanced in years. A part of
the city is appropriated to the use of those who are afflicted
with blindness, which is a prevalent disease.
Adjoining the province of Kano on the E. there is a por¬
tion of territory called Katagum, which in Captain Clapper-
ton’s time was able to send into the field 4000 horse and
20,000 foot, armed with bows, swords, and spears. The
city is built in the form of a square, the sides facing the
cardinal points of the compass, with four corresponding
gates, which are regularly opened and shut like those of
Kano. It is defended by two walls, which have ditches on
each side, and one between them. The governor and
principal inhabitants have houses made entirely of clay.
They are flat-roofed, and sometimes consist of two stories,
with square or semi-circular openings for windows. The
city may contain from 7000 to 8000 inhabitants. There
are other towns comprised within the boundaries of this
province, but none requiring particular description. Many
parts of Katagum are highly cultivated, and laid out in
plantations of cotton, tobacco, and indigo, which are sepa¬
rated from one another by rows of date-trees, and shaded
by large umbrageous trees.
The next considerable town is Sokoto, situated nearly
at the western extremity of Houssa. The country which
lies between Kano and Sokoto is remarkably fine, and
under high cultivation. It is diversified with forests of
noble trees, and various rivers and streams, and traversed
by picturesque ridges of granite, amongst which villages
are romantically situated.
Sokoto stands in N. Lat. 13. 4. 52., and E. Long. 5. 20.
“ It occupies,” says Captain Clapperton, “ a long ridge
which slopes gently towards the N., and appeared to me
the most populous town I had visited in the interior of Af¬
rica ; for, unlike most other towns in Houssa, where the
houses are thinly scattered, it is laid out in regular wrell-
built streets. The houses approach close to the walls,
which were built by the present sultan in 1818, after the
death of his father; the old walls being too confined for
the increasing population. There are two large mosques,
including the new one at present building by the Gadado,
besides several other places for prayer. There is a spaci¬
ous market-place in the centre of the city, and another
large square in front of the sultan’s residence. The dwell¬
ings of the principal people are surrounded with high walls,
which inclose numerous coozees and flat-roofed houses,
built in the Moorish style, whose large water-spouts of
baked clay, projecting from the eaves, resemble at first sight
a tier of guns. The inhabitants are principally Fellatas,
possessing numerous slaves. Such of the latter as are not
employed in domestic duties reside in houses by themselves,
where they follow various trades; the master, of course,
reaping the profit. Their usual employments are weaving,
house-building, shoemaking, and iron work; many bring
firewood to the market for sale. Those employed in rais¬
ing grain and tending cattle, of which the Fellatas have
immense herds, reside in villages without the city. It is
customary for private individuals to free a number of slaves
every year, according to their means, during the great feast
after the Ramadan, d he enfranchised seldom return to
their native country, but continue to reside near their old
masters, still acknowledging them as their superiors, and
presenting them yearly with a portion of their earnings.
The trade of Sokoto is at present inconsiderable, owing to
the disturbed state of the surrounding country. The ne¬
cessaries of life are very cheap; butcher-meat is in great
plenty, and very good. The exports are principally civet
5 F
778 H 0 U
Houssa. and blue check lobes called sharie, which are manufac-
tured by the slaves from Nyffi, of whom the men are con¬
sidered as the most expert weavers in Soudan, and the wo¬
men as the best spinners. The common imports are brought
from the borders of Ashanti; and coarse calico and woollen
cloth, in small quantities, with brass and pewter dishes, and
some few spices, from Nyffi. Ihe Arabs, from Iripoliand
Ghadamis, bring unwrought silk, ottar of roses, spices, and
beads. Slaves are both exported and imported. A great
quantity of Guinea corn is taken every year by the Tua-
ricks, in exchange for salt. The market is extremely well
supplied, and is held daily from sunrise to sunset. On the
N. side of Sokoto there is a low marsh, with some stagnant
pools of water, between the city and the river; this, per¬
haps, may be the cause of the great prevalence of ague, as
the city stands in a fine airy situation.”
Subsequently to the writing of the above description,
nearly two-thirds of the city was destroyed by a conflagra¬
tion ; but when Clapperton visited it a second time, it had
been rebuilt, in a manner so closely resembling what it had
formerly been, that little alteration could be perceived. The
palace, or house of the sultan, forms a sort of inclosed town,
with an open quadrangle in front. A painted and orna¬
mented cottage constitutes the hall of audience. Sokoto
even then was on the decline, on account of the residence
of the court having of late been transferred to Magaria.
According to the more recent information as supplied by
Dr Barth, the town of Wurno, previously quite unknown,
has become the capital instead of Magaria.
Wurno is situated 15 geographical miles N.E. from Sokoto,
and is quite a new town, having been founded by Sultan
Bello in 1831. It lies on a gentle eminence in a bend of
the River Rima, which here flows towards Sokoto. It con¬
tains at present 12,000 to 13,000 inhabitants, among which
are the most opulent inhabitants of Sokoto, who left that
town when Wurno was founded. As to the market, how¬
ever, that of Sokoto is still superior to that of Wurno, and
forms one of the best provided markets in all Central Africa.
Regarding the number of inhabitants, Sokoto is also much
above Wurno,—still possessing, as it does, 20,000 to 22,000
souls. Dr Barth resided for upwards of a month at Wurno,
where he was very kindly received.
Sokoto is described by Dr Barth as forming nearly a re¬
gular square, and having eight gates, not twelve, as formerly
supposed. Dr Barth found the house of the gedado, Clap-
perton’s old friend, who died only two years previously,
while that of the Sultan Bello was almost in ruins. The
best inhabited quarter of the town, at present, is that round
the large residence of Hammedu, the valiant son of Atiku,
the brother and successor of Bello, during whose reign the
roads were so safe that a single traveller could go from
Sokoto to Kano without the least danger, whereas they have
since become so insecure that almost all communications
with Kassena and Kano have ceased, and the Arab traders
have discontinued their visits, so much so, that at present
not a single Arab lives either at Sokoto or Wurno; the
commerce of those places with the Mediterranean shores is
now in the hands of the people of Air and Ghat, who arrive
annually with the large salt caravans of the Hesan and Kel-
geres. Sokoto has a mixed population, the Zoromana form¬
ing the chief portion of the inhabitants. They are, unlike
the tribes of pure Pullo or Fellan origin, very industrious,
and are excellent workmen in leather, iron, and gebbega
or cotton-stripes. The articles of iron made at Sokoto are
the best in all Soudan ; and Dr Barth purchased some
specimens of beautiful workmanship. The Zoromana are
the principal inhabitants of the town, while the Syllebana,
a very interesting tribe, different from, but united with the
Fellatas from time immemorial, inhabit the villages round
the town. There are also a great many Nyffi (or Nufi),
and Yariba (or Yoriba) people living in Sokoto.
S S A.
The same recent traveller describes the country in the Houssa.
vicinity of Wurno and Sokoto as a tableland of sandstone V—
formation, the more elevated portions being chiefly culti¬
vated with dhurra, while the faddamas or valleys, which are
greatly inundated during a portion of the year, form excel¬
lent ground for the cultivation of rice and cotton, besides
which, rogo, a large palatable root, is extensively grown.
The country in the immediate vicinity of Wurno is very
bare of trees ; but in other parts there are plenty of doom
trees, kurna, tamarind, and gonda.
The countries of Guber and Zamfra or Zanfara are in¬
habited by a rude and warlike race, who have sometimes
assumed authority over Houssa, and are at present, or were
lately, in open rebellion against Sokoto. Coonia, the
capital of Guber, was a strongly fortified place, and in 1829
repulsed the whole military force of Houssa, consisting of
50,000 or 60,000 men, but has been since, according to Dr
Barth, entirely destroyed. Zirmie occupies a peninsula
formed by a small river, which has here very high and steep
banks covered with mimosas and prickly bushes, through
which a narrow path winds to the gates. It is surrounded
with a clay wall and a dry ditch. The governor of this
stronghold bears the character of a freebooter, and the in¬
habitants, whom Clapperton represents as having a reckless
independent look, are esteemed the greatest rogues in all
Houssa. Runaway slaves from all quarters make Zirmie
an asylum, where they are always well received.
To the N.N.W. of Kano lies the considerable province
of Kashna or Kassina, which at one period held supreme
sway over all Houssa, and which has recently shaken off the
yoke of Sokoto. Kashna, the capital, is situated in N. Fat.
12. 59., on a ridge of sienite, one of a number of ridges of
this rock which run from N.N.E. to S.S.W. The walls are
of clay, and very extensive ; but, as in the case of Kano,
the houses do not occupy above one-tenth of the ground
inclosed, the rest being laid out in fields, and covered with
wood. The houses are mostly in ruins, the principal com¬
merce of the country having been transferred to Kano since
the Fellata power became predominant. Notwithstanding
its abject state, it has nevertheless a considerable trade, which
is carried on with the Tuaricks, or with caravans coming
across the desert by the route of Ghadamis and Tuat. The
manufactures of Kashna are chiefly of leather, such as w ater-
skins, red or yellow cushions, bridles of goat-skin, and hides.
There is likewise some trade in fruits, such as figs, melons,
pomegranates, and limes.
To the S. of Sokoto and Kano lies the country of Zeg-
zeg, one of the finest in all Africa, and the most extensive
province in Houssa. It is bounded on the E. by Kano, on
the S.E. by Boshi, on the S. by a mountainous tract inha¬
bited by pagans, on the S.W. by Nyffi, and on the N. and
W. by Guari and Kashna. Travellers represent Zegzeg as
resembling in appearance the finest parts of England, being
beautifully variegated with hill and dale, over which are
spread rich pastures and extensive fields, yielding plentiful
crops, particularly of rice. Zaria, the capital, is situated in
N. Lat. 10. 59. and about E. Long. 8. 0. It occupies a
great extent of ground, the houses being detached, or rather
clustered together in small villages, which are separated
from each other by corn fields, and even woods. The whole
is surrounded with high clay walls, and the population has
been estimated at about 50,000. To the S. of Zegzeg, the
country, though diversified by rising grounds, is fertile and
well cultivated, and contains a number of considerable towns.
Lander describes Cuttup as consisting of “ nearly 500 vil¬
lages almost joining each other, occupying a vast and beau¬
tiful plain, adorned with the finest trees. Among these,
the plantain, the palm, and the cocoa-nut tree were seen
flourishing in great abundance, and the aspect of the country
strikingly resembled some parts of Yariba. A considerable
traffic is carried on here in slaves and bullocks, which are
H 0 U
Houssa. alike exposed in the daily market. The bullocks are bred
—by the Fellatas, who reside here for no other purpose.
Among the other articles brought here for sale, are red cloth,
gum, salt, goora-nuts, trona, beads, tobacco, native cloth,
rings, needles, cutlery, honey, rice, and milk ; people from
the most distant parts resorting hither in vast numbers.”
To the south of this place stretch a range of hills, which,
Lander was told, were inhabited by a ferocious race of yam-
yams or cannibals, who a short time previously had lylled
and eaten a whole caravan of people. In a country fertile,
but rocky, is situated Dunrora, a town containing about
4000 inhabitants.
In the western tracts of Houssa there are few towns of
any importance : some were visited, and have been de¬
scribed by Captain Clapperton. After leaving Boogawa,
a small town in the province of Katagum, and passing first
through a thickly-wooded tract, and then over an open,
well cultivated country, this traveller reached Katungwa, a
walled town. A range of low rocky hills was seen stretch¬
ing nearly S.W., called Dooshee (the rocks), from which a
large town takes its name. These were the first rocks that
had occurred after leaving the southern borders of the Great
Desert, the whole country thus far being alluvial clay.
Near the extremity of the Dooshee Hills is situated Zangeia,
within the walls of which town there is a ridge of loose
blocks of stone connected with the range. These masses
of rock are about 200 feet in height, and give a romantic
appearance to the neat huts clustering round the base, and
to the fine plantations of cotton, tobacco, and indigo, and
the rows of date and other trees. From the extensive walls
which remain, Zangeia must have once been a very large
town. Now, however, it consists merely of a collection of
thinly scattered hamlets. The country between this place
and Kano is highly cultivated, and beautifully diversified by
hill and dale. Captain Clapperton passed several walled
towns, the principal of which was Girkwa. As in the other
towns already described, the houses here are in groups, with
large intervening vacancies. The disproportion in the size
of the walls of towns and the number of houses, to the
amount of inhabitants, which is exhibited in many parts of
Houssa, is to be accounted for by the usurpation of the
country by the Fellatas, who generally massacred the for¬
mer occupants, or carried them away captives. To com¬
plete our description of Houssa, it will be necessary to give
an account of this singular people, who are gradually ex¬
tending their authority over Central Africa.
By the most correct accounts, it would appear that the
Fellatas are an off-shoot from the Foolahs of Western Africa,
and may be identified with them. They are a mixture of
Moors, Arabs, Berbers, and probably other races of men.
They are much superior to the native negroes, with whom
they very rarely mix their blood. Captain Lyon, speaking
of the Fellatas, observes, “ their complexion being of a
much lighter hue than that of the other tribes, they call
themselves white ; their colour resembles that of our gypsies
in England. Many female slaves are brought to Mourzouk
from their nation, and are very handsome women.” Other
observers describe their complexion as being very dark, and
of a shade intermediate between that of the deepest African
and the Moors. The fact seems to be, that their colour
varies in a very remarkable manner, from being nearly white
to nearly black. Both men and women pay considerable
attention to their dress, which amongst the wealthy inhabi¬
tants is rather showy. In their domestic habits they are
regular, orderly, and cleanly, and the slaves are generally
well treated. The Mohammedan is the predominant re¬
ligion, and considerable attention is paid to keeping up an
appearance of it. Prayers are regularly said five times a
day in the Arabic language, which both the male and female
children of the better sort of Fellatas are taught to read and
write. T heir marriages are celebrated without any pomp
II O Y 779
or noise, and such contracts are of a less arbitrary nature than Houston
we find them to be amongst the inferior races of mankind. ^
Captain Clapperton makes the following remarks regarding ove en'
Houssa:—“ The government of the Fellatas in Soudan is
in its infancy. The governors of the different provinces are
appointed during pleasure ; and all their property, on their
death or removal, falls to the sultan. The appointment to
a vacancy is sold to the highest bidder, who is generally a
near relation, provided that his property is sufficient to enable
him to bid up to the mark. All the inferior offices in the
towns are sold in like manner by the governors, who also
succeed to the property of those petty officers at their death
or removal. A great deal of marketable property is claimed
by the governor, such as two-thirds of the produce of all the
date-trees and other fruit-trees, the proprietor being allowed
only the remaining third. A small duty is also levied on
every article sold in the market; or, in lieu thereof, a cer¬
tain rent is paid for the stall or shed. A duty is also fixed
on every tobe that is dyed blue, and sold. On grain there
is no duty. Kano produces the greatest revenue that the
sultan receives; it is paid monthly, in horses, cloth, and
cowries. Adamowa pays yearly in slaves ; Yacoba in slaves
and lead ore; Zegzeg in slaves and cowries ; Zamfra tbe
same; Hadeja and Katagum in horses, bullocks, and slaves ;
Cashna in slaves, cowries, and cloth ; Ader, or Tadela, in
bullocks, sheep, camels, and a coarse kind of cotton cloth,
like what is called by us a counterpane.” Of the number
of negroes and Fellatas who inhabit the country of Houssa
no correct idea can be formed. Much additional and more
precise information on these countries may be expected
from the pen of Dr Barth, that energetic traveller, who has
so thoroughly explored these regions. (a. p.)
HOUSTON, a city of Texas, United States of North
America, capital of Harris county, and the second commer¬
cial city in the state. It is situated on Buffalo Bayou, at
the head of its steamboat navigation, and 45 miles above
its mouth in Galveston Bay. It is the principal shipping
port for the cotton, sugar, and maize of the adjacent coun¬
ties. Pop. (1853) estimated at 6000.
HOVEDEN, Roger, de, an ancient English chronicler,
was a native of Yorkshire, and is believed to have been born
in the town of Hoveden or Howden, from which he took his
name. The dates of his birth and death are not known
with certainty, but he seems to have been born about the
middle of the twelfth century, and to have lived some years
into the thirteenth. He was well acquainted with civil law,
and his knowledge of canon law recommended him to
Henry II., who employed him to inspect the houses of the
religious orders, and keep watch over such of their re¬
venues as fell in to the king on the death of any of the
superiors. Taking up the narrative of his History at the
year 732 (the point at which that of the venerable Bede
comes to a close), Hoveden brings it down to 1202, the
third year of the reign of King John. By far the largest
portion of the work is occupied with the reigns of Henry
IL, Richard, and John. The historical details of this period
are very fully given, and are illustrated by a large number
of letters of kings, popes, and leading nobles. The writing
itself is the most condensed to be found in any of our old
chronicles, and is in fact carried to such an extreme, that
the chronicler never stops the dusty march of his narration
to indulge in a single reflection, or indicate his own opinion
by a solitary adjective. His strict accuracy and fidelity,
however, are unanimously attested by all the best antiqua¬
ries. So high, indeed, did his character for these qualities
stand in his own times, that Edward I. is said to have sought
out his history with a view of settling, on its authority, the
justice of his claims to homage from the king of Scotland.
Hoveden’s History is published in Sir Henry Savile’s col¬
lection of the Scriptores post Bedam, and was reprinted
at Frankfort in 1601. A translation of it by H. F.
780 H O V
Hovellers Riley, B.A., forms vols. xx. to xxiii. of Bohn’s Antiquarian
Library.
Howard, HOVELLERS, The, a hardy and useful race of boat-
llenry. men residing principally at Deal, Dover, Ramsgate, and
Margate. They are distinct from the ordinary maritime
population, and annually save a large amount of property
and many lives by their skill and seamanship. They have
different kinds of boats, according as they have to land pas¬
sengers or help ships in distress. An important part of their
task is that of taking out anchors and chains to ships in
stormy weather. A service of this kind done one day may
be rewarded with L.50, and next day the same service with
L.500. The reason of the difference is, that while in fair
weather the hovellers are paid for their labour, they are
paid, in bad weather, for the risk they run, according to a
systematic principle introduced by the late Henry Dove,
Esq., R.N. of Margate. The awards are determined by a
commission of naval officers appointed for the purpose.
HOWARD, Charles, Lord Howard of Effingham was
the son of Lord William Howard, and grandson of Thomas
Howard, second duke of Norfolk. Under his father, who
was lord-high-admiral of England, he served with much dis¬
tinction both by land and sea; and when the Spanish Ar¬
mada was approaching the shores of England in 1588, he
was himself promoted to the office which his father had so
ably filled. It was mainly owing to his valour and nautical
skill that that mighty armament was foiled, and Elizabeth
evinced her sense of his services, by granting him a life-
pension. In 1596, he held the joint command along with
Essex of the English expedition against Cadiz, and on re¬
turning home was again rewarded for his services by the
queen, who created him Earl of Nottingham. This act of
Elizabeth’s is the more creditable to her, that Essex, piqued
at not being entrusted with the supreme command, had un¬
generously tried to poison her mind against one of her most
able and faithful servants. In 1599, when danger again
threatened on the side of Spain, and Essex’s conduct in
Ireland seemed to indicate rebellion, Howard was made
lieutenant-general of the kingdom, with the command-in¬
chief of all the forces, naval and military. In the six weeks
during which he held this office, he crushed his old rival
and brother-in-arms, who had raised the standard of revolt
in Ireland; but instead of trampling upon his fallen foe, he
treated him with a noble generosity and forbearance, of
which that foe had shown himself little worthy. Elizabeth’s
death made no change in Howard’s position at court. Her
successor frequently availed himself of his services in deli¬
cate and important affairs. Some years before his death,
Howard resigned his office of lord-high-admiral in favour of
Villiers Earl of Buckingham, receiving in exchange a pen¬
sion of L.1000. He died, December 14, 1624, in the
eighty-seventh year of his age, after one of the most useful
and honourable careers that ever fell to the lot of an English
seaman to pass through.
Howard, Henry, Earl of Surrey, one of the most gal¬
lant and accomplished of English nobles, and the first of
our poets who composed in blank verse, was the eldest son
of Thomas the third Duke of Norfolk. The exact date
and place of his birth have not been ascertained, but the
former is usually assigned to the year 1517. Of a family
illustrious for rank, fortune, alliances, and public services,
Surrey was early introduced to court, and he formed an in¬
timacy, which soon ripened into a close and tender friend¬
ship with the king’s natural son, Henry Fitzroy, Duke of
Richmond. While yet a boy, we find Surrey in attendance
at court as cup-bearer to the king. In 1532, along with
his young friend Richmond, he accompanied the sovereign
to Boulogne, and in the following year he assisted as one
of the sword-bearers at the marriage of Henry with Anne
Boleyn. About this period, or even earlier, Surrey was
affianced to the Lady Francis Yere, daughter of the Earl
HOW
of Oxford, while Richmond was in like manner contracted Howard,
to the Lady Mary Howard, Surrey’s sister. The actual Henry,
marriage of Surrey did not take place till 1535, and that of
Richmond was prevented by his premature death, in July
1536. Previous to this time Surrey seems to have been
enamoured of a certain Lady Geraldine, who has puzzled
his biographers, and served as the groundwork of a series
of romantic fictions. Some of the love sonnets of the noble
poet may be purely fanciful imitations of Petrarch, in ac¬
cordance with the taste and chivalrous gallantry of the age,
but in one he gives a minute account of the lady of his
affections:—
“ From Tuscane came my lady’s worthy race;
Fair Florence was some time her ancient seat:
The Western Isle whose pleasant shore doth face
Wild Camber’s cliffs first gave her lively heat;
Fostered she was with milk of Irish breast;
Her sire an earl, her dame of prince’s blood,
From tender years in Britain did she rest
With king’s child, where she tasteth costly food.
Hunsdon did first present her to mine eyen,
Bright is her hue, and Geraldine she hight.
Hampton me taught to wish her first for mine,
And Windsor, alas! doth chace me from her sight.”
This array of biographical particulars indicates a real per¬
sonage, and Horace Walpole set himself to prove that the
lady was a daughter of Gerald Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare,
whose family is said to have been descended from one of
the Dukes of Tuscany. Various circumstances concur to
establish this theory, but the lady could only have been a
child when Surrey wrote his sonnet, unless we suppose that
his attachment had, contrary to good faith and true knight¬
hood, taken place after his marriage. Founding upon this
sonnet, Tom Nash, one of the most lively and unscrupu¬
lous satirists and miscellaneous writers of the reign of Eliza¬
beth, put forth a singular romance, the pretended journey
and adventures of Surrey in Italy on a visit to Florence,
the assumed birth-place of his Geraldine. Nash’s inven¬
tion imposed upon Drayton, and being adopted by Anthony
a Wood in his Athence (with sundry additions, and Nash’s
authorship concealed), was continued as a genuine narra¬
tive by Walpole, Warton, and others. According to this
historical romance, Surrey travelled like an Amadis, pro¬
claiming the charms of his mistress, and prepared to defend
her beauty in the spirit of knight errantry. On his way to
Florence he passed a few days at the emperor’s court, and
there met Cornelius Agrippa, a celebrated adept in natural
magic, who, in his mirror of glass, showed him the lively
image of his Geraldine, “ weeping on her bed, and resolved
all into devout religion for the absence of her lord.” In¬
flamed by the spectacle, Surrey hastened to Florence, and
published a defiance to all knights and lovers, whether
Christian, Jew, Turk, Saracen, or cannibal, who should pre¬
sume to dispute the superiority of his Geraldine’s beauty.
The challenge was accepted, the Grand Duke permitting
the combat, and opening the lists to all nations, and Surrey,
of course, proved victorious. The shield which he pre¬
sented to the duke before the tournament began, being pre¬
served by the Norfolk family, and engraved by Vertue!
The whole of this story—the continental journey, magic
mirror, and tournament, was the invention of Nash, and is
related in his Life of Jack Wilton, published in 1594. The
literary fraud remained undiscovered till 1810, when Alex¬
ander Chalmers, in his edition of the English Poets, par¬
tially separated the truth of Surrey’s history from the fable
that had been blended with it, and Dr Nott, in his Memoir
of Surrey, completed the detection. At the time of the
pretended journey, the noble poet was in England antici¬
pating the birth of his son, who was born on the 10th of
March 1536. In May, of this year, the trial of Anne
Boleyn took place, and Surrey was present as Earl Mar¬
shal, in the room of his father, who presided as Lord Trea-
HOWARD.
Howard, surer. In October he obtained the honour of knighthood
Henry. from the king. At all the pageants and tournaments of
the court, he was a conspicuous actor, and when war with
France was threatened, we find him no less prominent in
important public service. In 1540 he was joined in a com¬
mission with Lord Russell and the Earl of Southampton
to visit the English Pale at Guisnes, and place the defences
in proper order. He returned before Christmas. In the
following year an incident is related, which, though involved,
like other events in his career, in some obscurity, seems to
illustrate at once his personal influence and magnanimity
of character. Sir Edward Knyvett, a person high in court
favour, assaulted Surrey’s friend and attendant, Thomas
Clere, having struck him within the precincts of the palace.
The indignity would probably have been passed over as in¬
flicted only on a subordinate, but Surrey took it up warmly,
and succeeded in bringing Knyvett to trial, the result of
which was, that the knight was convicted and sentenced to
lose his right hand. At this point Surrey again interposed.
The public trial and conviction he deemed sufficient punish¬
ment, and at his intercession the sentence was remitted.
In 1542, the king conferred upon Surrey the distinction of
the order of the garter. He seems, however, to have fallen
into temporary disgrace the same year, in consequence of
having quarrelled with, and challenged a certain John-a-
Leigh of Middlesex. His conduct in this matter must have
been violent and blameable, for he was committed to the
Fleet, and only obtained his release after making a humble
supplication to the privy council (in which he speaks of the
“ fury of reckless youth,” and promises to “ bridle in his
heady will”), and by entering into recognizances to keep
the peace to John-H-Leigh and his friends. A better field
for his impetuosity and courage was soon opened up. War
with Scotland was declared. Henry, indignant at his
nephew, James V., who had failed to meet him at a confer¬
ence appointed to be held at York, and who had otherwise
offended the imperious monarch, ordered the Duke of Nor¬
folk to proceed to the borders with a force of 40,000 men
to chastise and lay waste the country. Surrey, attended
by Thomas Clere, accompanied his father on this expedi¬
tion, and the English army unresisted, ravaged the border
districts, burning two towns and twenty villages on the
banks of the Tweed. What part Surrey took in this affair,
or what command he held, is not stated, but in his epitaph
on Clere, he mentions that his follower, tracing the steps of
his lord, “saw Kelsal [Kelso] blaze.” The short and de¬
structive raid was over by the end of November 1542. On
the 1st of April following, Surrey is ascertained to have
been in London, the records of the privy council of that
date furnishing another instance of his “ heady will.” It
appears that with two companions, Wyatt and Pickering,
he was summoned to the council on a complaint by the
mayor, recorder, and aldermen, of the city, charging him
with having, “ in a lewd and unseemly manner,” walked in
the night about the streets, breaking the windows of the
citizens with his stone-bow; and farther, that he had been
guilty of eating flesh during the time of Lent. The first and
most serious of these offences he did not attempt to deny:
he acknowledged that he had “ very evil doings therein ;”
but touching the eating of flesh, he alleged a license, “ albeit
he had not so secretly used the same as appertained.” He
was sent to the Fleet for a month ; and he took revenge on
the citizens, by inditing a poetical satire against them, in
which he gravely alleges, that he woke the sluggards with his
bow as a reproof to them for their dissolute life and sins—
“ The which by words since preachers know
What hope is left for to redress,
By unknown means it liked me,
My hidden burthen to express.”
1 his must be taken as ironical ; but throughout the whole
satire Surrey appears in the character of a devout and in-
781
dignant denouncer of the vices of “ false Babylon,” on which Howard,
he says the martyrs’ blood calls for justice, and the Lord Henry,
would hear their desire ! We cannot but think that there 's-—v—^
was something more in this case than mere riotous excess
and youthful folly. But Surrey was soon called off by
military service from any further display of his unruly piety.
War had been declared against France, and Surrey joined
the auxiliary army under Sir John Wallop, encamped before
Landrecy. He applied himself diligently to the study of
military fortifications and tactics, and one day, when visit¬
ing the trenches, he made a narrow escape from a piece of
ordnance shot towards him. On the approach of winter
the siege of Landrecy was raised, the army went into quar¬
ters, and Surrey returned to England. Next summer he
was again in the field, holding the important post of marshal
of the vanguard commanded by his father. The troops
under Norfolk and Surrey besieged Montreuil, but were
inadequately supported, owing chiefly, it is said, to the jea¬
lousy and enmity of the Earl of Hertford, who kept back
supplies ; but there was no lack of military skill or bravery.
Surrey distinguished himself by daring expeditions against
the enemy, and on an attempt to storm the town he effected
a lodgement within the gates, but was dangerously wounded
and carried off by his attendant Clere. In this service
Clere himself received a hurt which ultimately proved fatal.
“ At Montreuil gates, hopeless of all recure,
Thine Earl, half dead, gave in thy hand his will,
Which cause did thee this pining death procure.”
The English were compelled to raise the siege of Mont¬
reuil. The Dauphin was approaching with an army of
60,000 men, and Norfolk’s vanguard, though strengthened
by reinforcements, was unable to cope with such a force.
A retreat was resolved upon, which was ably conducted by
Surrey as marshal of the camp. Boulogne had capitulated
to Henry in person, and it was necessary to guard and
maintain an acquisition so dearly purchased and highly
valued. In the summer of 1545 Surrey again sailed for
France, as commander of a body of 5000 men raised and
equipped for a new expedition. He was shortly afterwards
appointed governor or king’s lieutenant of Boulogne; and
both in his plans of defence, and in operations in the field,
he fully sustained his reputation. One great effort, how¬
ever, unfortunately proved a failure. He attempted to in¬
tercept a convoy of provisions for the enemy near St
Etienne, but the defence was obstinate, and one of Surrey’s
attacking columns of infantry fled back in a sudden panic,
which threw the army into disorder, and the day was lost.
This disastrous affair was seized upon by Lord Hertford to
incense the king against Surrey, and within a few months
he was recalled, his successful rival being appointed the
king’s lieutenant-general. Prudence was never one of the
virtues of Surrey, and his indignation at the intrigues of
Hertford was openly and fiercely manifested, accompanied
by expressions importing that he would be revenged in the
next king’s reign. The jealousy of Henry was roused by
these declarations, and Surrey was sent a prisoner to Wind¬
sor Castle. He succeeded, however, in softening if not
removing the royal displeasure, and in August of the same
year he is again seen in attendance at court. This glimpse
of favour soon vanished never to be renewed. On the
12th of December Surrey was arrested and committed to
the Tower, and on the same day his father was also con¬
signed to the Tower, each being ignorant of the other’s fate.
There can be no doubt that it is to the Hertford faction that
we must attribute this decisive step. The king was known to
be dying, and Hertford, as uncle of the heir to the throne,
aspired to be protector of the kingdom during the minority
of his nephew. The family of Norfolk stood between him
and his ambition. The Duke was head of the Roman Ca¬
tholics, and the most opulent and powerful nobleman in the
kingdom. His son, the Earl of Surrey, was likely to extend
782 H O W
Howard, and perpetuate these advantages. Now, therefore, while
Henry. Henry yet lived was the time to stimulate the natural
v——cruelty and suspicion of the monarch, and secure to Hert¬
ford and the Protestant interest the removal of these dan¬
gerous and formidable rivals. They were aided by parties
from whom no such help could have been expected. The
Duchess of Norfolk, a passionate and revengeful woman,
who had long been separated from her husband, and the
Duchess of Richmond, Surrey’s own sister, were brought
forward as accusers. Their depositions only went to assert
that Surrey was rash, and had spoken bitterly against Hert¬
ford ; that the Duke of Norfolk had expressed dissatisfac¬
tion at the changes in the church (no such charge being
preferred against his son); and that Surrey had persisted
in quartering what seemed the royal arms on his escutcheon.
A suspicion was thrown out that the earl also had a design
upon the king’s daughter, the Princess Mary, though the
fact that Surrey’s wife was in existence must have been
known to all. In the mockery of a trial which ensued, the
only legal charge brought against Surrey was that of his
assumption of the royal arms. The indictment exists, and
was published by Sir Francis Palgrave in 1842 in his Ca-
lendar of the Baga de Secretis, compiled from the public
records. The indictment commences with a description of
the royal arms before the Conquest, which description is
proved to have been false and fabricated, and Surrey is then
accused of having put up, painted, and joined to his own
proper arms, “ the said arms of the king, with the three
labels silver, in order to deprive, destroy, annul, and scan¬
dalize, the title of the king to the crown of England.” Sur¬
rey, it is stated, made a spirited and eloquent defence. He
proved that his father had borne the same arms as himself;
that their ancestor, Thomas Mowbray, had received a grant
of these arms from Richard II.; that the heralds had for¬
mally decided on his right to wear them, and that he had
worn them for years unchallenged even in the king’s pre¬
sence. Never was defence more complete or irresistible ;
but it was in vain. The jury pronounced him guilty, and
the “ flower of the English nobility” was beheaded on Tower
Hill on the 21st of January 1547. Norfolk—who had
meanly truckled for a pardon, and basely sought to incul¬
pate his own son—was ordered for execution on the 28th,
but the king dying the night previous, his life was
spared.
The poetical works of Surrey were not printed until ten
years after his death, but had been extensively circulated
in manuscript. They were first published in 1557 in Tot-
tel’s Miscellany, a collection of poetical pieces, the earliest
work of the kind in our language, and which was highly
popular. Surrey attempted no great original composition.
His poems consist of amatory verses, sonnets, elegies, and
epitaphs—transcripts of his own feelings and fancies, but
carefully and brilliantly polished. He paraphrased the first
five chapters of the Book of Ecclesiastes, and translated the
Second and Fourth Books of the 2Eneid. The latter was
his most elaborate performance, and being in blank verse,
is remarkable as a first attempt in a new and difficult style.
The versification is regular, but wants flexibility and variety
of pause, which our blank verse can scarcely be said to have
attained before Shakspeare. The shorter poems of Surrey
show a great advance in taste and in poetical diction. Be¬
tween Chaucer and Surrey there is a long and dreary waste,
in which only the name of Hawes is worthy of mention ;
but English poetry received an impulse and refinement from
Surrey which was carried forward by a succession of elegant
versifiers till it attained the glory of the Elizabethan pe¬
riod. The fulness, breadth, humour, and tenderness of
Chaucer were never reached by his noble successor. The
Italian poets were Surrey’s models. But when we reflect
that this gallant and unfortunate nobleman was cut off at
the age of thirty, and that his life was chiefly spent at the
A R D.
court, or in public business—in scenes of pomp, love, war, Howard,
and danger—we shall be disposed rather to wonder at the John,
extent of his attainments as a scholar and poet, than to re-
mark that he has left but few and slight memorials of his
fine intellect and cultivated genius. (r. c—s.)
Howard, John. John Howard, the philanthropist, be¬
longs to the rare order of men who have won from the
world special titles of distinction. Many persons have
earned the title of Great, from Macedonia’s madman to
the Swede ; but mankind has endowed only one man with
the appellative Just. In Howard’s case the complimen¬
tary addition of the Philanthropist is not a mere figure of
speech.
Howard was born at Enfield {not at Hackney, as the
monument in St Paul’s asserts), where his father, a retired
London merchant, had a country house. He was born on
the 2d of September 1726. His father was wealthy, and
was elected to serve as sheriff; but the Test-Act being then
in force, he paid the fine usually paid by Dissenters to escape
that honour, a policy which his son afterwards, happily for
the world, refused to follow. Howard was a sickly child,
and country air was found necessary to his health. He was
removed to Cardington, a village in Bedfordshire, near to
Woburn, where his father had a small estate. The facts
of his early life are fewr, and are soon told. He grew in
years and strength, a quiet, simple, original boy; not
bright, not vigorous, not ambitious. From his two school¬
masters, the Rev. John Horsley (author of a Latin Gram¬
mar and translator of a version of the New Testament), and
Mr John Eames, F.R.S., he learned but little Latin and less
Greek ; yet even in his early years he acquired some know¬
ledge of living languages, and a fair acquaintance with na¬
tural science, geography, and medicine. At sixteen he was
apprenticed to a grocer in the city, paying L.700 as a pre¬
mium. But his father now died, and he was his own
master. He therefore bought off his apprenticeship, tra¬
velled into France and Italy, bought pictures, visited famous
churches and cities, and, after an absence almost of two
years’ duration, during which he perfected himself in
French, so as to speak the language like a native, he re¬
turned to England. Here he lodged at Stoke Newington,
studied medicine and meteorology, put himself on a diet of
bread and tea, fell seriously ill, and married his nurse, an
old woman, who was also a confirmed invalid. He was
twenty-five, she about fifty-three. He married her because
he believed that she had saved his life, and that no other
return for her motherly kindness was sufficient.
She lived three years as his wife, when her malady wore
her out, and she was buried in the churchyard of St Mary’s,
Whitechapel. A plain tombstone marks the spot. At her
death Howard broke up his house. The earthquake at
Lisbon had just occurred ; that earthquake, the effect of
which on the minds of men Goethe has so powerfully de¬
scribed in his Wahrheit and Bichtung. The philanthropic
impulse was stirred in Howard; he believed that he could
help to alleviate the calamity, and he took a berth in the
“Hanover.” But the Seven Years’ War was then raging.
French, Austrian, and Prussian armies wTere fighting in
various parts of Europe, and English and French cruisers
swept the seas in every direction. Providence threw the
“ Hanover” in the way of a French privateer ; she and her
passengers were carried into Brest. The crew and passen¬
gers were treated with extreme cruelty, were hurried from
place to place, starved, and cast into loathsome dungeons.
Howard’s heart almost broke with indignation at the treat¬
ment suffered by his gallant and unhappy countrymen.
“ I had evidence,” he says, “ of their being treated with such
barbarity that many hundreds had perished, and that thirty-
six were buried in a hole in Dinan in one day.” When he
obtained his release on parole he went to the government,
described in powerful language the scenes he had witnessed,
HOW
Howard, and compelled the Commissioners of Sick and Wounded Sea-
John. men to take measures for securing an exchange of prisoners.
A naval officer replaced himself; and in a few days he had
the satisfaction to hear of the release of his fellow captives
in Britanny.
Howard still retreated from public life. His scientific
studies were continued, and on May 13, 1756, he was elected
a Fellow of the Royal Society, to the Transactions of which
he contributed three papers. Two years later he married
again. “ My second wife was Henrietta Leeds, whom a good
God gave me the 2d of May.” Such are his own words.
They lived together in the seclusion of a country house for
nine years, when their only child, a son, was born, and the
mother died in the exhaustion of nature. Howard’s public
career began afterher death. During her life his energies were
chiefly confined to the village of Cardington, in which he com¬
menced a reform, then new and startling, but which has, since
his age, and greatly through his example, received a happy
development. He was the first builder of model cottages.
When Howard went to reside at Cardington that village
was about as filthy, wretched, and unwholesome as any spot
in England. The neighbouring gentry followed the hounds,
and exacted their rents. The poor were idle, dirty, im¬
moral ; the men passed their days in the ale-house, and
their nights in the preserves; the women were ill-used,
the children ignorant and neglected. Howard’s property
was small in the district compared with that of his neigh¬
bours, and before he began his plan he wisely added to his
estate by two purchases, at once to increase his influence in
the place and to obtain a larger field for operations. He then
built a school for boys and a school for girls, procured
good teachers, and invited the villagers (not merely his
own tenants) to send their children, his only conditions be¬
ing regularity, cleanliness, and attendance at some place of
worship on the Sunday. At the same time he pulled down
the wretched hovels in which his poorer tenants lived—
hovels of a single room in which father, mother, and grown -
up children had to eat and sleep—and erected larger and
more commodious cottages to replace them. With the
sure instinct of a reformer he saw that such hovels were
not, never could be, happy homes—residences in which
men with any sense of shame, any feeling of self-respect,
could live contentedly while the ale-house offered its cheer¬
ful lights and jovial company as a change. He therefore
undertook to remove them. His model cottages were oc¬
cupied as fast as they were raised. They cost more money,
yet he did not raise the rent; for, in spite of his commer¬
cial training, he had scruples about putting out money at
interest, and looked upon wealth as a sacred and moral de¬
posit placed in his hands for the benefit of mankind, not for
his own private use and pleasure. In a few years some of
his rich friends and neighbours, especially Samuel Whit¬
bread (the famous brewer, and father of the celebrated poli¬
tician Whitbread), seeing the success of his scheme, lent a
hand in the good work. The schools flourished; the chil¬
dren grew clean and rosy; poaching became rare; the
chapels and churches were filled; little patches of garden
rose at the cottage doors; ale-houses lost some of their
strong attractions; and Cardington began to strike the
stranger’s eye as a pretty, clean, and prosperous village.
After his second wife’s death Howard busied himself with
his books, his schools, and cottages. He travelled into
Holland. He went to France, to Switzerland, to Italy ;
but he found no rest for the sole of his foot. He returned
as far as Holland (his favourite country, next to his own),
and went back thence to Rome and Naples. He admired
the Apollo and the Gladiator, and he felt the usual raptures
before the paintings of Titian, Guido, and Raphael. He saw
the P°pe and the Pretender; the first, “ a worthy good
man ;” the second, “ a mere sot, very stupid, dull, and
bending double.” He went up the mountain to Vesuvius,
A R D.
783
and down the lagune to Venice. He came home through Howard,
Munich, Augsburg, and the Rhine—came home to find John. ’
himself unexpectedly named sheriff of Bedford, and to begin
his public career. This was in 1773. He accepted the
office of sheriff, though a Dissenter, resolved not to take the
usual sacraments, but to brave a bad law, and, if prosecuted,
defend himself in the courts. No one prosecuted him.
When the assizes opened he sat in the court, and when the
trials of the day were over he descended into the jail to see
in what state the prisoners were. It was the prison in
which Bunyan had been thrown, and in which he wrote his
immortal Pilgrim's Progress. Howard found it, like all
the jails of the time, dirty and close; without decent ac¬
commodation for the women, and with scarcely any practi¬
cal separation of the two sexes. The air was bad, the food
worse, the water intolerable. The fees were high, and
rigorously exacted; the jailer and his subordinates living-
on the wretched wages they could wring from the misery
of the poor prisoners. What most of all astonished his
humane heart, and violated his sense of right, was the fact
that some of the accused who had been freed by judge
and jury, and who had left the court without a stain, were
kept in the horrid jail (for longer or shorter periods, accord¬
ing to their circumstances, but in some cases for years)
until they paid the fees of jail delivery. Howard instantly
brought this monstrous form of wrong before the county
magistrates, and proposed that an order should be issued
for the discharge of these innocent sufferers, and that a rule
should be adopted in future for the instant liberation in
open court of all such persons as were found not guilty.
The magistrates were startled at such bold reforms; the
jailer protested against the loss of his fees, which were his
income, his means of life, as he had no salary from the
county. The clerk of assize put in a similar protest.
Howard proposed to redeem these fees by paying regular
salaries to these servants of the public ; but the magistrates
knew of no precedent for such a course, and without a pre¬
cedent they could not act. Howard undertook to find it,
if such existed in any neighbouring county. He went to
Cambridge, to Huntingdon, to Northampton, to Leicester,
and to Nottingham, and this journey gradually extended to
every town in England where there was then a prison. The
object of his search eluded inquiry. He could find no pre¬
cedent for charging the county with the wages of its ser¬
vants ; but he discovered so many abuses in the manage¬
ment of prisons which imagination had never conceived,
and so many sufferings of which the general public knew
nothing, and of which the law took no account, that he de¬
termined to devote to the examination of these wrongs, and
the reform of these abuses, whatever time and money might
be needful. The task cost him a fortune, and the remain¬
ing years of his life.
The inquiry now attracted public attention. At the close
of his first rapid survey of our prisons, the House of Com¬
mons resolved itself into a committee, and heard his report
at the bar of the House. Popham, member for Taunton, had
already forced the unwilling legislature to discuss the pro¬
priety of paying fixed salaries out of the county rates; but
the House had dropped the bill. Howard’s revelations
completed Popham’s arguments. Nearly fifty years before
that time the House had appointed a committee to inquire
into the state of Newgate, the Marshalsea, and other London
jails, when abuses came to light which caused the House
to order the arrest of several governors of jails, who were
tried for high misdemeanours (Reports of the Committee
Appointed to Inquire into the State of the Gaols, 1729).
But the public, as well as the parliament, shrank from the
investigation of scenes so horrid, so that after an explosion
of virtue on the part of Mr Oglethorpe, magnificently re¬
warded by a couplet in Pope, the subject was allowed to die
out of recollection until the researches of Howard and the
HOW
Howard, zeal of Popham raised it in a more favourable age. W hen
John, the House resumed, Sir Thomas Clavering, at the instance
of the committee, moved “that John Howard, Esq., be
called to the bar, and that Mr Speaker do acquaint him that
the House are very sensible of the humanity and zeal which
have led him to visit the several gaols of this kingdom, and
to communicate to the House the interesting observations
which he has made upon that subject.” i his vote put the
seal of public sanction on his inquiries, so that his subse¬
quent investigations had a sort of semi-official character, of
vast use to him in dealing with morose jailers and imprac¬
ticable magistrates of the very old school.
From St Stephen’s, Howard went to the Marshalsea,
afterwards to each of the London prisons, which he minutely
examined. From London he passed to the north of England,
whence he was recalled by the passing of two new bills,
based on Popham’s abandoned measure of the previous
session and on his own communications to the House. The
first bill provided for the liberation, free of all charges,
of every prisoner against whom the grand jury failed to
find a true bill, giving the jailer a sum from the county-
rate in lieu of the abolished fees. The second bill required
justices of the peace to see that the walls and ceilings of all
prisons within their jurisdiction were scraped and white¬
washed once a-year at least; that the rooms were regukrly
cleaned and ventilated; that infirmaries were provided for
the sick, and proper care taken to get them medical advice ;
that the naked should be clothed ; that underground dun¬
geons should be used as little as could be; and generally
that such courses should be taken as would tend to restore and
preserve the health of the prisoners. That such simple
provisions should have been denied in Christian England,
and in the days of Addison and Johnson, is not easy to
conceive, after the changes of eighty years, brought about
through the exertions of one strong man. Yet the corrobo¬
rative evidence of the state of prisons leaves no room for
doubt. Defoe and Fielding have both left descriptions of
jail life, which, though relieved by gross humour, and ani¬
mated by studies of eccentric character, are not less revolt¬
ing than the plain and tragic revelations of Howard. Men
were callous to sufferings which seemed inevitable to mis¬
fortune, as well as to crime. Even horrible catastrophies,
when they occurred, excited no more than a passing in¬
terest. The jail distemper always raged more or less in
the county town, and especially during assizes. Judges
and juries were sometimes swept away by the awful pest
(Baker’s Chronicle, 353) ; and yet no one cared to remove
the causes of the jail distemper, until the Howard-Popham
bill was carried on the 2d of June 1774.
It was one thing to have the bill carried in the House of
Commons ; it was another to have it carried into the jails.
Mostof the jailers were ignorant, rapacious fellows; and some
of them were women—as a rule more ignorant and rapacious
than the men. The new law struck at their interests, and
cordial feeling towards it was not expected from human frailty.
Howard resolved to see it executed with his own eyes ;
he caused the provisions of the act to be printed at his pri¬
vate cost, in large type, and he sent a copy to every jailer
and warder in the three kingdoms, so that no one could be
able to plead ignorance of the law, if detected in the flagrant
violation of its provisions. He then recommenced his in¬
spections—travelled into the west of England, into Ireland
and Scotland. Beyond the special cause to which he had
given up his time, he took little interest in political mat¬
ters, though he entertained strong opinions about the un¬
just aggression of the government in America, and ex¬
pressed these opinions in a way to render the possibility of
his appearance in the House of Commons as an indepen¬
dent member extremely distasteful to ministers. When,
therefore, an election took place for Bedford, and Howard’s
friends proposed him as a candidate, all the arts of corrup-
A K D.
tion were used to keep him out. He was nevertheles Howard,
elected. On the return being disputed, the election com John,
mittee, which was completely under the ministers’ hand v>—
allowed a number of pauper votes which had been bought
up and recorded in favour of the opposition candidates,
though these votes had been refused before—just enough to
unseat Howard by a minority of four votes. “ I was made
a victim by the ministry,” he writes to a friend; “ most
surely I should not have fallen in with their severe mea¬
sures relative to the Americans; and my constant declara¬
tion that not one emolument of five shillings, were I in
parliament, would I ever accept of, marked me out as an
object of their aversion.” It was a fortunate decision, as it
left him to his own peculiar work. Set free from all other
occupations, instead of embodying his observations on Eng¬
lish prisons at once in a book, he thought it better to make
a tour of France, the Austrian Netherlands, Holland, and
Germany, to see the most famous and infamous prisons on
the continent of Europe, collect their various laws and re¬
gulations, and compare their structure, their action, and
results with those of our own. In Paris he was denied
access to the prisons ; but in looking over the old legisla¬
tion on the subject, he found a provision in an act of 1717,
that any person wishing to distribute alms to the prisoners
was to be admitted to the interior, and allowed to dis¬
pense his bounty with his own hand. The law had fallen
into disuse, and was unknown to the keepers. Howard ap¬
pealed to higher authority, and the validity of the old act
was allowed. At some expense in charities, he inspected
the Bicetre, the Force 1’Eveque, and other places of con¬
finement: but neither money nor interest could open the
Bastile to his inspection. He once stepped inside its gates
at some personal risk. A suppressed pamphlet, describing
the interior, written by a man who had suffered confine¬
ment, he obtained after much trouble, brought back to
England, translated, and gave it to the world in his own book,
an offence which the French government never forgot and
never forgave. At Ghent he examined with deep interest
the Great Reformatory Prison, a model for all Europe,
combining the elements of industry and privation, which
are still esteemed the most efficacious means of reforma¬
tion. At Amsterdam he was struck with the slight amount
of crime in the Dutch cities, contrasting as it did so fear¬
fully with the crime in his own country. For 100 years
then past the executions in Amsterdam, a city of 250,000
inhabitants, had averaged no more than one in twelve
months. London, with its 750,000 inhabitants, had an
average of 29^ executions a-year, or, reckoning popula¬
tion against population, ten in London to one in Am¬
sterdam (Janssen’s Tables, 1772). In the United Pro¬
vinces he found that the industrial system penetrated the
jail. In England we only thought of punishing offences ;
there they sought to reclaim offenders for society. We put
them into dungeons; they put them into workshops. They
made the criminals work their way back to freedom. Their
professed maxim was—“ Make them diligent and they will
be honest.” Howard did not forget the hint. In Germany
he found little that was useful, much that was disgusting.
In Hanover and Osnaburgh, under English rule, he found
traces of torture. Hamburgh was less revolting, as were
generally the commercial cities. He returned to England
with his papers, plans, and rules, a voluminous and precious
collection, as original in character as it was humane in
purpose; but before putting his materials in the printer’s
hands, he undertook another comprehensive tour through
England, revising his former observations, adding new notes
to the record, relieving distress, liberating poor debtors, su¬
perintending the operation of the new jail act; and when
these enormous labours were completed after seven months
of daily toil, the gains from this careful revision seemed so
important to his mind, that he resolved to give his con-
HOW
Howard, tinental experiences the benefit of a similar collation, and
John. a]s0 extend his researches into some countries, the prisons
of which he had not yet seen. He set out for Lyons,
crossed to Geneva (where he was rejoiced as a republican
to find only five persons in confinement), whence he passed
on to Berne, through cantons in which there was not a
single prisoner ; he went on to Soleure and Basle, delighted
with the cleanliness, the Christian discipline, and considerate
government of all the jails of Switzerland, and struck* into
Germany and Holland, visiting or revisiting the most cele¬
brated prisons. He returned to London, and published
his remarkable book, The State of Prisons in England and
Wales, in 1777. In collecting his materials he had spent be¬
tween three and four years, travelling not less than 13,418
miles. He contrasted in its pages the condition of our
own and of foreign prisons, very much to the disadvantage
°f the former. “ The reader,” he says, “ will scarcely feel
from my narrative the same emotion of shame and regret
as the comparison excited in me on beholding the differ¬
ence with my own eyes; but from the account I have
given him of foreign prisons he may judge whether a design
of reforming our own be merely visionary—whether idle¬
ness, debauchery, disease, and famine be the necessary
attendants of a prison, or only connected with it in our
ideas, for want of a more perfect knowledge and more en¬
larged views.”
I he book made a sensation. One of the first results was
to give a new impulse to the question—What to do with
our convicts ? America refused to take them any longer ;
Australia had not yet offered itself as a receptacle for the
rascality of England. Government was at its wit’s end; ami
crotchety people were urging every kind of scheme on its
attention. A hulk (the “Justitia ”) had been already sta¬
tioned in the river, off the arsenal at Woolwich, for the
reception of convicts, who were treated as in the worst
prisons of the old school, so that every kind of disorder
existed in the ship. Howard hoped for no success without
a change of system; but his continental experience con¬
vinced him that home discipline was better for the criminal
than deportation to a new country; and, after much con¬
sideration by ministers, his idea of trying the discipline of
hard work was adopted, and Sir William Blackstone and
Mr Eden were requested to make out the draft of a bill for
the creation of a fitting establishment. A new prison was
needed for the new plans ; no jail in the country could an-
swei for a tiial; and Howard volunteered to go abroad
and collect plans and other precise information.
He went to Amsterdam, and carefully examined the
spin-houses and rasp-houses for which that city was famous.
He passed into Prussia, Saxony, Bohemia, and Austria,
through the lines of the German armies commanded by the
Great Frederick and the Emperor Joseph II. His fame
had gone before him, and he was received with the greatest
distinction in Berlin and Vienna. He spent a morning with
the Prince of Prussia, and dined with Maria Theresa. From
Vienna he went to Italy, which he traversed from Venice
to Naples, inspecting prisons, hospitals, and workhouses, and
carefully hoarding up the peculiar merit or fault of each, for
the use of Sir William Blackstone and his colleague. On
his return from Naples towards Leghorn, he encountered a
violent storm, which raged for three days with great fury.
The little shallop, unmanageable, was driven on the Tuscan
coast, but the inhabitants, fearful of plague, refused to allow
the passengers to land. Driven back again upon the storm,
they were carried by its force to the African shore, to be
again driven off by the same fears. They had started from
Civita Vecchia while the pest was raging there, and their
foul bill of health alarmed Christian and Mohammedan
alike. Howard suffered fearfully in health by this trial;
and, after his prison labours were accomplished, and his
health fully restored, he turned to the new and fearful
VOL. XI.
A R D. 785
enemy, and finally lost his life in an attempt to discover the Howard,
cause and the remedy for plague. John. ’
During this rapid continental tour he travelled 4600 ^
miles. While in France his attention was again drawn to
his old subject—the infamous neglect and unchristian treat¬
ment of prisoners of war. He was told that these prisoners
were treated worse in England than elsewhere; that their
loyalty was tampered with; and that they were syste¬
matically ill-used in order to compel them to forswear their
allegiance, and enter the English service. Burning with
indignation, he went to the Commissioners of Sick and
Wounded Seamen, who expressed their astonishment at
such assertions; and, on his saying that he meant to look
into this affair for himself, they offered to assist his inquiries.
Our prisoners of war had reason to be grateful for his inter¬
ference.
I he information obtained during his foreign tour was
placed at the service of the House of Commons. A bill
was introduced and passed for building two penitentiary
houses in Middlesex, Surrey, Kent, or Essex (as might be
determined afterwards), in which to try the experiment of a
discipline of work. Howard was appointed first supervisor of
this Act; Mr Whatley, of the Foundling Hospital, second ;
and Howard was allowed to name the third, Dr Fothergill
(stat. 19 Geo. III., cap. /4). 4 he scheme, however, under
official restraints, proceeded slowly; Howard felt that his
life was being wasted in small quarrels and unimportant
discussions with Mr Whatley as to the sites of the proposed
penitentiaries ; and both Sir William Blackstone and Dr
Fothergill dying while Mr Whatley was disputing, he wrote
to Lord Bathurst, president of the council, besrgins' the
king s permission to resign his office. An impulse, however,
had been given. Howard’s ideas were adopted in many
places. In all the new prisons erected from that time pro¬
vision was made for setting the criminals to work. He
turned his face to the continent, with a view to collect
whatever might be useful to his countrymen in those lands
which he had not yet visited ; and began a new and longer
journey, which gradually embraced the whole circle of
Europe, his route lying through Holland, Schleswig, Den¬
mark, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Poland; thence back to
London, and so on to Portugal, Spain, France, and the
Austrian Netherlands. This journey was full of curious
and romantic incidents. At its completion Howard gave
his collections to the public in a new edition of his State of
Prisons, with appendices.
Being now free from serious responsibility as regards the
subject of prisons, and being determined not to enter parlia¬
ment (as he was again requested to do), he reverted to the
terrible idea of the Plague. English commerce with the
Levant was rapidly extending, and serious thoughts were
entertained in official circles of establishing a regular quaran¬
tine (as at Marseilles and Venice) against all vessels arriving
from the East. But nothing was known in England about
lazarettos and quarantine establishments ; and the plague it¬
self (from vague historical recollections of the London pests
of 1603 and 1665, when the disease swept away each time
one-fifth of the population) (Petty’s Political Arithmetic,
1686) was regarded with a terror more superstitious than
rational. Government desired information ; Howard offered
to procure it, and equipped himself for the journey. He
proposed to begin his studies at Marseilles with the newest
of the lazarettos; afterwards to visit those of Venice and
Leghorn; and, having gained all preliminary information
in these cities, to proceed to Smyrna and Constantinople,
the proper homes of the plague, and there study its symp¬
toms and modes of treatment. The French government,
however, mindful of the Bastile pamphlet, refused him a
passport; so that, instead of gaining facilities for inspecting
the lazaretto at Marseilles, he was peremptorily forbidden to
set foot in the territory of France. Lord Carmarthen, our
5 G
786 H 0 W
Howard, ambassador in Paris, tried in vain to remove the bann;
John, bnt, as Howard considered that bis journey would lose much
of its interest, and its chief use as regarded his own country,
if he missed the fine lazaretto at Marseilles, he defied the
threats held out, put himsell into a good disguise, and entered
France in the usual way among travellers in the diligence.
A police agent attended him to Paris, for the French am¬
bassador at the Hague had received intelligence from M.
Le Noir, director of police in Paris, to keep watch over his
movements ; and it was by a miracle of rapid and courageous
action that he escaped a dungeon in the Bastile. Some¬
times as a French physician, sometimes as an exquisite of
the Faubourg St Germain, he traversed France as far as
Marseilles, obtained admission to the lazaretto, and shelter
in the house of a Huguenot pastor, although the police
were on the look-out for him, with a description of his per¬
son in their hands. His courage, his disguise, and his per¬
fect manners, threw them oft' their guard; yet the risks he
ran were very serious, and he breathed more freely when
he had crossed the frontier. “ I have now taken a final
leave of France,” he wrote to a friend from Leghorn ; “I
am sensible that I ran a great risk, but I accomplished my
object. Happy was I to arrive at Nice, out of the country
of a deceitful, jealous, and ungenerous people.” He went
to Florence, liome (where he had an interview with Pope
Pius), and Naples ; and thence to Smyrna, where his skill as
a doctor opened all the prisons and hospitals to his inspection.
He remained at Smyrna, performing a few simple cures
which rumour vastly magnified, until a fatal form of the
plague broke out, and he had first-rate opportunities of
studying it. He went on to Constantinople, whither the
fame of his cures had gone before, and as soon as he arrived
he was called in by a great pasha to treat the case of his
daughter, who had been given over, it was said, by all the
Italian doctors. She recovered; and of course Howard’s fame
rose with his wonderful work. He confined his visits, how¬
ever, to the pest-houses, the prisons, and hospitals; he said
he was only a physician to the poor. Our ambassador,
Sir Robert Ainslie, aware of his patriotic and humane ob¬
ject, offered him a home at the embassy. This he declined,
as being unwilling to expose another to the fearful risk of
contagion, and took up his residence in the house of' a
physician, to whom he could communicate the course of his
daily experience, as well to receive sound advice as to pre¬
pare his host for prompt action in case he brought the
plague home. But he bore a charmed life. The smitten fell
dead at his feet. He went into infected caravansaries and
into pest-houses whither physician, guide, and dragoman,
all refused to follow him. From these fearful visits he re¬
turned with a scorching pain across the temples, though an
hour of fresh air and vigorous exercise served to carry it away.
At length his researches were complete. With a trunk full
of papers—plans of lazarettos, opinions of celebrated physi¬
cians living in the Levant, and copies of regulations and
instructions—he prepared to return, and wrote to inform his
friends of his intention to cross overland to Vienna. But
while his preparations for departure were in progress, the
idea flashed across his mind that all his acquired knowledge,
various as it was, had been obtained from others—was second¬
hand, not original; that he had seen but not suffered the
discipline of a European lazaretto ; and that, possibly, some¬
thing of material import to the practical working of the
scheme (the want of which would be felt as soon as the
system was commenced, if it ever were commenced, in
England) had escaped his notice. The fear was enough.
Altering his plan, he resolved to return; to find a foul
ship, make the voyage in her to Venice, and there undergo
the usual confinement of the suspected in the famous laza¬
retto of that city. Such a plan was full of peril. A late
ambassador, Mr Murray, had died of the plague in that
very lazaretto ; but nothing would deter him from his pur-
A R D.
pose, and he departed. Plague broke out in the ship, and a Howard,
strong man died in a few hours ; yet he went on to Smyrna, John,
deliberately sought out a foul vessel, took his berth, and
started for Venice. On the way they were attacked by
pirates, when Howard astonished the Venetian sailors by his
courage and by a lesson which he gave them in the noble
art of gunnery. They acknowledged that the English phy¬
sician had saved them from the slave market of Tunis or
Tripoli. On the sixtieth day of the voyage they arrived in
Venice, and were all transferred to the lazaretto, where
Howard’s health suffered severely from the confinement,
though he was supported with the thought that he was
gaining precious experience. His minute account of the
discipline of this famous lazaretto is most interesting (La¬
zarettos of Europe, pp. 10-22).
Howard came out of his confinement reduced to a ske¬
leton and flushed with fever. However anxious to get
home (for a dreadful domestic calamity had occurred; his
only child, now a young man, had lost his reason, and was
under the charge of a keeper), he was too weak to travel for
some days. Fie went to Trieste and Vienna, where he
held a long and exceedingly curious interview with the
Emperor Joseph II., himself a reformer, or rather an inno¬
vator, during which the English gentleman told the German
ruler some very unusual truths. He reached England in
February 1787, having been absent on his extraordinary
mission sixteen months.
As soon as his domestic concerns were put into such or¬
der as they admitted, and his great work on the Lazarettos
of Europe was published, Howard begun a fresh and final
review of the prisons of the three kingdoms. He visited all
with care, and presented a bible to each of those in the county
towns. Vast improvements had already taken place in the
management and discipline of the prisons, in the food, cloth¬
ing, work, and Christian teaching of the prisoners. Fore¬
most among the magistrates who adopted the new system
were those of Manchester. They built on the banks of the
Irwell a large prison, with an express view to carrying How¬
ard’s ideas into effect; and on the foundation-stone of the
edifice they set this inscription—“ That their may remain
to posterity a monument of the affection and gratitude of
this country to that most excellent person, who has so fully
proved the wisdom and humanity of the separate and soli¬
tary confinement of offenders, this prison is inscribed with
the name of John Howard.” This final tour of the Eng¬
lish jails occupied him for eighteen months; and the results
of his inspection were recorded in a new edition of his
State of Prisons.
While in the Levant he had enjoyed many opportunities
of hearing the opinions of merchants and consular agents on
the prospects of our trade with the East. It was said that
were it not for fear of the plague that trade might be at
once doubled. As we were without quarantine establish¬
ments, the people were afraid of any ship from infected
districts ; the consequence of which fear was, that the Dutch
ran away with the traffic, without taking sufficient care about
the plague. So we lost the profits without escaping the
risks, as the Dutch ships might as easily introduce the pest
at second hand as our own at first. This idea settled in
Howard’s mind, and helped to shape towards a more prac¬
tical end those purposes which he pursued from purer and
more romantic motives. In the postscript to his new book
on Lazarettos, he told the public of his intention to follow up
the new inquiries. “ To my country,” he said in a few noble
and simnle words, the last he addressed to it in print, “ I
commit the result of my past labours. It is my intention
again to quit it for the purpose of revisiting Russia, Turkey,
and some other countries, and extending my tour into the
East. I am not insensible of the dangers that must attend
such a journey. Should it please God to cut off my life in
the prosecution of this design, let not my conduct be im-
H O W
Howden putcd to rashness or enthusiasm, but to a serious conviction
I' ^ am Pursuing the path of duty.” These words were
John ProP‘letic‘
^ London he went to Riga, thence to St Petersburg
and Moscow, from which place he proposed to travel to
Warsaw, and through Vienna to Constantinople. But the'
wai overruled his plans. Russia and Turkey were strug¬
gling fiercely on the Dnieper and the Pruth. Bender had
just fallen, and the Muscovites were hurrying their forces to
the south. Sad as had been his experiences, Howard had
seen nothing to compare in atrocity with the reckless waste
of life in Russia in time of war. The roads were almost
choked with dead bodies. Raw recruits, most of them too
young to bear privation, were hurled by forced marches,
and at every sacrifice, towards the theatre of war. They
dropped, and were left to die. Hunger, hardship, fever,
thinned the ranks as they staggered on towards the Black
Sea.. Howard had no sympathy with military glory; and
the sickening sights which he witnessed on the roads from
Moscow to Kherson disgusted him with the hypocrisy of
Russia s boast ot having become a civilized power. Even
the great question of the plague was laid aside for a while,
in piesence of all these horrors to be brought to light, all
these miseries to be assuaged. In his portmanteau he had
cairied out, for the use ot his expected plague patients, a
quantity of James’s powders, a medicine believed to possess
all save miraculous powers ; and he thought he should do
wisely in placing these powders at the service of the poor
Russian serfs who were falling in crowds around him, the
victims of an infernal military system. So he went down to
the coasts ot the Black Sea, visited the hospitals of Crement-
schouk, Otschakow, St Nicholas, Kherson, and other places.
His letters and his notes in his journals are heart-rending.
1 hey are dreadfully neglected. A heart of stone would
almost bleed ! I he abuses of office are glaring, and I want
not courage to tell them so.” Russian officials, with the
cunning of an Asiatic race, so soon as they saw that Howard
u ould expose their cruelties, and disabuse the western pub¬
lic of its false estimate of Russian civilization, an estimate
drawn from the splendid misrepresentations of Voltaire and
those French theorists who were willing to depose Providence
in favour of the Czars—began to throw dust in his eyes.
iey piepared the hospitals for his reception, removed the
more unsightly objects, pretended that he had inspected all
where he had only seen a few prepared wards ; but his ex-
peiience defeated these attempts at imposition, and his
conductor gained nothing save the dishonour attaching to
a mean trick. Whoever wishes to see the military system
of Russia in its true character, as conducted in the villages
and cities of the Muscovite empire, must study the memo¬
rials of Howard’s last visit to Russia.
He died in the midst of his labours. He cauo-ht the
camp fever at Kherson, from a young lady whom°he at¬
tended as a physician, and died in that city on the morning
of January 20, 1790, and was buried on the road to St
.Nicholas.  N \
HOWDEN, a market-town of England, East Riding^ of
Yorkshire, 20 miles S.S.E. of York, and about a mile N. of
the Ouse, where there is a ferry and a small harbour for
boats. The church, formerly collegiate, is a spacious cru¬
ciform edifice, chiefly in the decorated English style, 255
feet long by 66 feet wide, with an elegant square embattled
tovver 13o feet high. The chapter-house is an octagonal
building with 30 stalls. Near the town, and now used as a
farm-house, are the remains of an ancient palace of the
bishops of Durham, Market-day, Saturday. One of the
greatest horse fairs in England is held here annually on
oth Sept., and 6 following days; and here most of the
horses for the army are obtained. Pop. (1851) 2235.
HOWE, John, in some respects the greatest of the
Puritan divines, was born at Loughborough, in Leicester-
H O W
shire, May 17, 1630. His father had been presented to the
living of that parish by Archbishop Laud, but refusing to
comply with the tyrannical edicts of that prelate, had been
compelled to fly for safety to Ireland, along with his son, at
that time hardly five years old. When the Irish Rebellion
of 1641 broke out, the exiles returned to England. Fixing
his abode in Lancashire, the elder Howe conducted in person
the studies of his son, who in his seventeenth year entered
Christ’s College, Cambridge, as a sizar, and in the following
year giaduated as a bachelor of arts. During his residence
at this university, he had the good fortune to make the
acquaintance of the famous Cudworth, and the ingenious,
though eccentric, Dr Henry More; from intercourse with
whom, as Calamy suggests, his mind received that “ Platonic
tinge” which distinguishes his writings. Immediately after
graduation, Howe removed to Oxford, where he took the
same degree in the following year. Anthony Wood has
traced his various remaining steps at Magdalen Colleo-e
where he was first appointed a “ demy” by the parliamen¬
tary visitors, soon afterwards raised to fellowship, and in
1652, when he was only twenty-two years of a<m, “ pro-
ceeded” master of arts. On leaving Oxford, he5 returned
to his father s retreat in Lancashire, and soon after received
ordination at Winwick from the hands of Mr Herle, the
clergyman, and the ministers of the neighbouring chapelries.
In a little time “an unexpected conduct of divine Provi¬
dence” bore him to Great Torrington, in Devonshire, where
he was engaged as pastor. It was here that he preached
those discourses which at a later period took shape in his
ti eatises on Ike Blessedness of the Righteous, and on De¬
lighting in God. It was here also that he married the
daughter of his “inner friend,” Mr George Hughes, a mi¬
nister of great name and influence at that time in Plymouth.
In the beginning of 1657, a journey to London accident¬
ally brought Howe under the notice of Cromwell, who,
struck by his appearance and preaching, made him his do¬
mestic chaplain. It was in vain that Howe pleaded the
interests ot his people at Great Torrington; Cromwell
would take no refusal; and the result was that Howe was
soon installed in Whitehall.
His conduct in this high position was such as to extort
the praises of even the warmest enemies of his party.
Without overlooking the due claims of the Puritans, he
omitted no opportunity of advancing pious and learned men
of other denominations. Ward, the future bishop of Exeter,
and Thomas Fuller, were in the number of those who profited
by Howe’s kindness, and were not ashamed subsequently
to express their gratitude for it. Cromwell’s charities
were for his age munificent, and Howe was his frequent
advisei and almoner; but he dispensed so liberally to others,
and asked so little for himself, that the Protector could not
help remarking upon his self-denial: “ You have obtained
many favours for others,” said he, “ I wonder when the time
is to come that you are to ask anything for yourself or your
family,” Howe, in common with Dr Owen, appears to have
believed in Cromwell’s religious sincerity, but his conscience
would not allow him to be silent when he saw the Protector
countenancing doctrines that seemed to savour of fanaticism.
It was at one period a pet idea at Whitehall that “ the par¬
ticular thing asked by Christians in prayer will be granted,
whatever it be.” Howe, convinced of its dangerous ten¬
dency, opposed it from the pulpit. Cromwell was observed
to knit his brows as his unflinching censor proceeded ; and
his subsequent bearing towards him was colder. At the
suggestion of Baxter, he embodied, in “ a number of small
volumes, his notes on the leading personages and events
that illustiated the 1 xotectorate, Ihese volumes, which
must of necessity have thrown much light on many of the
dark passages of that period, were unfortunately consigned
to the flames by Howe’s son, in compliance with strict in¬
junctions issued by himself shortly before his death.
787
Howe,
John.
788
Howe,
John.
HOWE.
After the Restoration, Howe returned to Great 1 orrmgton.
Like all who had played a conspicuous part in the Common¬
wealth, he soon found himself an object of suspicion and ha¬
tred to the new government. Spies were set. upon his tiac ;
his words were watched by base informers; he was even
accused on one occasion of uttering seditious and treason¬
able language in his sermons ; and tried before the quarter-
sessions. His accusers, however, could prove nothing
against him, and he was honourably acquitted. When the
“ Act of Uniformity” silenced more than two thousand of
the best ministers in England, Howe was driven from his
parish, and for several years led a wandering and uncertain
life preaching in secret, as occasion offered, to handfuls ot
faithful hearers. More than once his liberty was in immi¬
nent jeopardy, and it is understood that for some months
in 1665 he was confined in the Isle of St Nicholas, in
Plymouth Sound. On his liberation, he proceeded to
meet the demands of pressing want by publishing his Bless¬
edness of the Righteous, which, among other advantages,
procured him an invitation from Lord Massarene of An¬
trim Castle, in Ireland, to become his domestic chaplain.
Ecclesiastical espionage was not so rigorous in the sister
island. And Howe, accepting the invitation, returned in
1671 to that Ireland which had already afforded him an
asylum when a child.
During the five years which he spent in this peaceful and
safe retreat, he frequently preached in public, with the approval
of the bishop of the diocese, and also found time to produce
the most eloquent of his shorter treatises, The Vanity of
Man as Mortal, and his Delighting in God ; the latter of
which he dedicated to his Torrington parishioners. Here,
too, he planned his largest and greatest work, A Good Man
the Living Temple of God, which, in its metaphysical specu¬
lations, anticipated the profoundest reasonings of Samuel
Clarke, and in sustained sublimity of thought is not sur¬
passed in English theology.
In 1676 Howe returned to England, and became pastor
of a Nonconformist congregation in Silver Street, London.
His fame had by this time increased so much that the lead¬
ing men of the national church, such as Stillingfleet, fillot-
son, Kidder, and others, gladly courted his friendship. In
the society of these men, and in miscellaneous literary work,
Howe spent the troubled years that followed his settlement
in London in tolerable peace and safety. The first part of
his Living Temple appeared in 1676 ; the second part was
delayed till 1702. In 1677 appeared his tractate On the
Reconcileableness of God's Prescience of the Sins of Men,
with the wisdom and sincerity of His counsels, exhortations,
and whatsoever means He uses to prevent them. This latter
work was attacked from various quarters. In the number
of those who stepped forward in its defence was Andrew
Marvel. His work On Thoughtfulness for the Morrow fol¬
lowed in 1681 ; those on Self-Dedication and Union among
Protestants, in 1682. The execution in 1683 of that most
virtuous patriot of his times, Lord William Russel, drew forth
from Howe a letter of condolence to his lordship s widow,
which James Montgomery has pronounced to be “ one of
the noblest and most pathetic pieces of epistolary composi¬
tion in the language.” In 1684 he gave to the world the
most pathetic of his works, The Redeemer's Tears Wept over
Lost Souls. Meanwhile, anxiety and over-work had under¬
mined his health ; and in 1685 he gladly accepted the invi¬
tation of Philip Lord Wharton to travel with him on the
Continent. It affords a striking picture of the times that
his departure from London needed to be managed with so
much secrecy and suddenness that he first announced it to
his people by a letter written from the other side of the
Channel.
His journey extended over the greater part of a year,
during which he visited the most celebrated cities on the
Continent. At the end of that period, as matters still
seemed hopeless in England, he determined to settle for a
time at Utrecht. He secured an honourable maintenance
by keeping a boarding school, officiating in the English^
chapel on Sundavs, and by reading privately with English
students at the university. In the number of his private
friends was Burnet, the future bishop of Salisbury, by
whose influence he obtained access several times to William
Prince of Orange. The future king of England, as Calamy
assures us, “ conversed with Howe with the greatest free¬
dom.” Meanwhile, as Howe was looking wistfully for tid¬
ings from England, the news reached him of James II. s
“ Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, and Howe took
advantage of it to return to London, where his presence
was keenly desired by his congregation. Another year
brought William of Orange to the British throne, and placed
liberty of worship on a stable basis, which was rendered still
more secure by the passing of the Act of Toleration. Howe
fitly headed the procession of Nonconformist divines who
went to congratulate William on his accession to the Eng¬
lish throne; nor did the monarch, amid his new caies and
dignities, forget the confidential intercourse of Utrecht, but
sent for Howe repeatedly to Kensington, and showed espe¬
cial delight in asking questions about his ‘ old mastei,
Cromwell.” To quell those troubles and divisions that broke
out among the Nonconformists on disputed points of doc¬
trine and church government, Howe published, in 1693, his
three discourses, so full of Christian wisdom and charity,
On the Carnality of Religious Contention, which, however
able, as they confessedly were, remained for many years
unheeded.
Some of the most acute writers of the age, such as
Wallis, Sherlock, South, and Cudworth, had already given
to the world dissertations on the subject of the Trinity; and
in 1694 and 1695 Howe published various treatises on the
same theme, the principal of which was entitled, A Calm
and Solemn Inquiry concerning the Possibility of a Trinity
in the Godhead. His aim in these essays is not so much to
state the Scripture testimony on this doctrine, as to show
what incompetent judges men must be of the nature of the
Divine simplicity, and how presumptuous all a specu¬
lations must be on such a matter as the mode of the Divine
existence. It had been Howe’s aim throughout his long
life to combine with the assertion of his individual convic¬
tions, a recognition of the essential unity and brotherhood of
all true Christians; or, as Bacon expresses it, to see
** charity moving on the poles of truth. In vindication of
his right of private judgment, he had separated from the
establishment; in expression of his charity, he had con¬
tinued to practise occasional communion within its pale.
The propriety of this conduct, in which Howe had many
followers, was keenly agitated in the ecclesiastical world to¬
wards the beginning of the last century, and Howe led the
van in defence of ^‘occasional communion.” Few may
concur with him in every practical application which he
made of his principles, but the principles themselves, which
this controversy was the occasion of elucidating, aie now
generally admitted, and have been reproduced in some of
the most splendid treatises of Robert Hall.
In his seventieth year, Howe, warned of his own ap¬
proaching end by the death of his great contemporaries,
Owen, Baxter, Bates, and Mead, produced one of his richest
treatises, The Redeemer's Dominion over the Invisible
World As if to leave no important department of inspired
theology untouched, he gave forth in 1701, Discourses on
Man's Enmity against God and Reconciliation to Him.
In the spring of 1705 appeared his last publication, entitled,
On Patience in Expectation of Future Blessedness. The
symptoms of failing strength now became apparent in ‘‘fre¬
quent languishments, aggravated by more than one painful^
malady. 'Multitudes now came to visit the death-bed ot
the great Puritan, and retired from the solemn interview
Howe,
John.
H O W E.
789
Howe, feeling that there was something as uncommon in his death
John, as in his life, and that his converse was “ like that of an in-
habitant returned from another world.” Among the num¬
ber was Richard Cromwell, now an old man. “ There was
a great deal of serious discourse between them,” says
Calamy, “ tears were freely shed on both sides, and the
parting was very solemn and affecting.” Howe did not
long survive this interview. He died April 2, ] 706, in the
77th year of his age.
It was the rare achievement of this great man to pass
through an age of social convulsion and tempest, and to
occupy positions the most perilous for the trial of character,
and to emerge from the ordeal unscathed. Baxter’s im¬
petuous temperament betrayed him at times into inconsist¬
ency. Owen was more than once too diplomatic for a
divine ; but even detractors, in their most bitter denuncia¬
tions of the Puritans, have usually excepted Howe. That
must indeed have been no common moral greatness which
awed Cromwell into silence, moved Tillotson to tears, over¬
came the constitutional reserve of William, and “ smoothed
the raven-down” of the monkish Anthony-a-Wood, until he
smiled and praised.
Considered intellectually, he may be affirmed to have
combined many great qualities, the possession of any one of
which, in an equal degree, would have been sufficient to
raise him to eminence and fame. Excelled by Baxter in
pulpit oratory, and by Owen in theological learning and
exegetical tact, he was by far the most profound and phi¬
losophical thinker of all the Puritans, and perhaps pro¬
duced a greater number of original and uncommon thoughts
than any other theologian of his age. Scarcely surpassed
by Edwards in logical acumen, or by Butler in ingenuity
and depth, how far does he transcend both in pathos and
imagination. And yet his imagination does not overlay
his thoughts, as is sometimes the case with Jeremy Tay¬
lor ; it is a trained faculty, the beautiful handmaid of rea¬
son, bearing it up into the sunlight “ on wings of silver
and feathers of yellow' gold.” His writings abound in
sublimity, but are comparatively passionless. In this re¬
spect Baxter’s style resembles the impetuous flow of the
broad river, Howe’s is that same river expanded into a calm
lake, whose quiet depths are the mirror of innumerable stars.
One characteristic effect of his writings is to tranquillize and
elevate the soul. You feel yourself seated on some lofty
mountain, in a serene air, and looking down upon clouds
and storms far beneath your feet. As w^e read him, he
brings up Milton’s picture of contemplation to our
thoughts,—
“ With even step, and musing gait,
And looks commercing with the skies.”
Yet, as a writer, Howe is not without the characteristic
faults of the Puritan divines. The tendency to dilate on
what should only have been touched, and to check the con¬
tinuous flow of thought and style by minute and perplexing
subdivisions, has seriously diminished his popularity as a
writer. Often his diction is not equal to his thoughts, and
we almost wash, after he has brought out and shaped the
marble, that he had invited Bates or Tillotson to add
the tracery ; though in some of his greatest passages, such
as his immortal comparison of the soul of man to a temple
in ruins, the flight is nobly sustained, and his words come
with all the opulence of Jeremy Taylor’s finest passages,
and take their place, as if guided by a magician’s wand.
But when all these deductions are made, John Howe must
be recognised as one of the primary stars in the firmament
of English divines, shining with a serene lustre peculiarly
his own ; and if Jeremy Taylor has been styled the Spenser,
Howe may with equal justice be styled the Milton of Eng¬
lish theology. (A- Ti)
Howe, Richard ( Viscount Howe), the first naval officer
of his day, was born in 1725. His father was Emanuel
Scrope Howe, governor of Barbadoes, and his mother was
a daughter of Baron Kielmansegge, master of the horse to
George I. when elector of Hanover. Leaving Eton at the
age of fourteen, he entered the navy, and joined the fleet
which the English were then sending out under Anson to
carry on the war against Spain in the Pacific. In this ex¬
pedition he distinguished himself so much that in his twen¬
tieth year he rose to the rank of lieutenant. After some
minor exploits, he signalized himself by gallantly defeating,
off the Scottish coast, two French vessels of greatly superior
size and strength to his own which were carrying supplies and
reinforcements to the Pretender. For this exploit he was
made a captain on his arrival in England. The next seven
years of his life were spent in miscellaneous service in the
West Indies, Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Northern
Atlantic. When the Seven dears’ War broke out, Howe
was chiefly engaged in watching the southern and western
coasts of France, and besides many minor exploits, defeated
the French squadron under De Conflans, and took two of
the enemies’ ships. His brilliant career attracted the notice
of the king (George II.) himself, who expressed the senti¬
ment of the nation when he told Howe on his return home
that his life had been an unbroken series of services to his
country. Shortly before the close of the war Howe had
married, and on the death of his elder brother, had inherited
the title and estates of the Viscounts of Howe. On the
proclamation of peace, he was made treasurer of the
navy, with a seat at the Admiralty Board, and afterwards
sat in parliament for Dartmouth. In 1770 he was made
rear-admiral of the blue, and commander-in-chief of the
Mediterranean fleet. Six years later, in the war of the
American independence, he maintained his high character
by the dashing success of his attack on the French fleet,
which was cruising off Rhode Island under the Count d’Es-
taing with the view of aiding the revolted colonists against
the mother country. On returning home he took command
of the English fleet, which sailed to relieve Gibraltar, and
in the teeth of many difficulties was completely successful.
Ihe remark made upon him some eight years before, by
Lord Hawke in the House of Peers, continued to the last to
hold as true as when it was first uttered, “ I have tried my
Lord Howe on many important occasions ; he never asked
me how he was to execute any service, but always went and
performed it.” On his arrival in England after this exploit,
he was created Earl Howe, and succeeded Lord Keppel as
first lord of the admiralty. When the war of the French
Revolution began, Howe was chosen commander of the
Channel fleet, and on June 1, 1794, gained the greatest of
all his victories—that in which he defeated the French fleet
off the western coast of France, dismasting ten of the ene¬
my’s ships, and taking seven, of which he brought off’ six in
safety into Portsmouth harbour. The seventh, the Ven-
geur—about whose glorious resistance the French, on the
lying report of Bertrand Barrere, sang so many lo Paeans—
was so much shattered that she sank in the attempt to tow
her away. (See Carlyle’s Essay on the “ Vengeur,” in his
Miscellanies^) Less brilliant, but not less useful, was the
service which Lord Howe next rendered to his country,—by
his suppression of the terrible mutiny of the British fleet
at Portsmouth and Spithead. The means he took to recal
the sailors to their duty, such as his dismissal of the ob¬
noxious officers, &c., were a good deal canvassed at the time,
but they certainly had the desired effect. Age and long
service now began to make rapid inroads upon the old ad¬
miral’s constitution, and he found himself compelled to re¬
tire from the service which he had graced with so many
triumphs. He did not live long to enjoy the repose he had
so dearly earned, dying under a violent attack of the gout,
Aug. 5, 1799.
Lord Howe was the ablest British seaman of his day,
and his ability and technical skill had endeared him above
Howe,
Richard.
790 HUD
Howitzer all his brother officers to the sailors, among whom, from the
II darkness of his complexion, he was familiarly known as
Iludders- Biack Dicki He used no mean arts to gain this popularity,
v for he was extremely reserved in manner, and a most rigid
disciplinarian. But his cool courage and presence of mind
in the midst of danger, the strength and soundness of his
judgment, and his strict impartiality, fully compensated the
want of those graces which sometimes gain for their pos¬
sessor a temporary and factitious repute. In person he was
tall, strong, and well-made, and capable of enduring almost
any amount of fatigue. His features, until lighted up by
his smile, were harsh even to grimness.
HOWITZER, a short piece of ordnance. See Gunnery.
HOWTH, a small town of Ireland, county of Dublin,
8 miles N.N.E.of the capital, with which it is connected by
railway. It stands on a peninsula of the same name, rising
567 feet above the sea, and forming the northern boundary
of Dublin Bay. An artificial harbour, formed here at an
expense of above one-third of a million sterling, is now
almost choked up with sand, and is accessible only to ves¬
sels of small burden. Pop. (1851) 829, chiefly engaged in
fishing.
HOY. See Orkney Islands.
HUAMANGA, a town of Peru. See Guamanga.
HUBELY, a town of Hindustan, in the British collec-
torate of Dharwar, presidency of Bombay. It is large and
populous, defended by a mud rampart and ditch, and has
for many years carried on an extensive trade, particularly
with Goa, to which are sent sandalwood and elephants’
teeth, and in return raw silk, cottons, woollens, and rice are
received. There are also manufactures of raw silk and
cotton, great quantities of which are sold for the dresses of
the country people. It is a wealthy place, the residence of
many rich bankers, who, by means of their agents, extend
their commercial intercourse to Surat, Hyderabad, Seringa-
patam, and even to more distant places on which bills of
exchange can be negotiated, and who regulate the standard
of the currency in all the adjoining countries. The East
India Company formerly had a factory here, which was
plundered by the Mahrattas in 1673, when the company
sustained a great loss. In 1685 it was taken by the Mogul
troops of Aurungzebe, and soon after the death of that
monarch in 1707 it was again taken by the Mahrattas, with
whom it continued until 1818, when, on the overthrow of
the Peishwa, it lapsed to the British, together with the
rest of that prince’s dominions. E. Long. 75. 13., N. Lat.
15. 20.
HUBER, Francois, author of the Nouvelles Observa¬
tions sur les Abeilles, belonged to a family of which several
members had already distinguished themselves in various
walks of science, and was born at Geneva in 1750. At the
age of fifteen he lost his eye-sight from the intensity with
which he had applied himself to his studies ; but the means
he inherited from his father placed him beyond the reach
of want, and enabled him to follow his bent for natural his¬
tory. The devotion of his wife and of an attached secre¬
tary compensated to him in some measure the loss of his
sight; and having selected the bee as the subject of his
special studies, he, with their assistance, wrote on that
theme the most accurate and comprehensive work that has
yet appeared. (See Bee.) Huber died at Lausanne in
1831. An interesting account of his methods of study is
given in Dr Kitto’s Lost Senses.
HUDDERSFIELD, a parliamentary borough, and large
manufacturing town of England, in the West Riding of
Yorkshire, on the Colne, a tributary of the Calder, 14 miles
S.W. of Leeds. The town is situated on the slope and
summit of an eminence, and is traversed by regular and
well-paved streets. The market-place is spacious, and sur¬
rounded by handsome buildings. The parish church, an
elegant edifice in the perpendicular style, was rebuilt in
H U D
1837 at a cost of about L.9000. Trinity Church, erected Hudson,
in 1819 at a cost of L.12,000, is in the pointed Gothic Henry,
style, and has an embattled tower at its W. end. St Pauls’
Church, built by the parliamentary commissioners in 1831,
is in the early English style, and has a tower surmounted
by a light spire. The Cloth Hall is a commodious circular
building two storeys in height, erected in 1765 by Sir John
Ramsden, the proprietor of the town, and enlarged by his
son in 1780. The lower storey is bisected by an arcade,
the one half being occupied by shops, the other by rows of
stalls. The average attendance of manufacturers every mar¬
ket-day (Tuesday) is upwards of 600. There is a proprie¬
tary college, founded in 1838, in connection with London
University ; also a collegiate school. The Philosophical
Hall is an elegant Grecian building, belonging to the Philo¬
sophical Society, and used for lectures and public meetings.
The infirmary is a large and elegant stone edifice of the
Doric order, with wings and a portico supported by four
fluted columns. The town is well supplied with water from
reservoirs four miles to the W. of it. About half a mile from
the town is a sulphureous spa, with warm, cold, vapour, and
shower baths. Huddersfield is one of the principal seats of
the woollen manufacture in England. Its importance is
chiefly owing to its extensive canal and railway communi¬
cation, and its plentiful supply of water and coal. The
Ramsden Canal, 4 miles in length, communicates with the
Calder ; while another 19f miles long, passing Marsden and
Stayleybridge, joins the Ashton-Under-Lyne Canal. The
latter passes through a tunnel miles long, cut through
Standedge Hill. Huddersfield is connected by railway with
Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, &c. It was created a parlia¬
mentary borough by the Reform Act, and returns one mem¬
ber to parliament. Its rapid progress may be inferred from
the fact that its population has been more than quadrupled
during 50 years ;—in 1801 it contained 7268 inhabitants,
and in 1851, 30,880.
HUDSON, Henry, a distinguished and ill-fated navi¬
gator of the seventeenth century. His early history is quite
unknown, and he did not emerge from obscurity till the
year 1607, when he was sent out by a company of rich
London merchants in quest of a shorter passage to China
than that by the Cape of Good Hope. In that year he
penetrated as far as the 82d degree, beyond which his pas¬
sage was barred by the ice. In the following year, altering
his course, he sailed eastwards, and, coasting along Spitz-
bergen, reached the straits of Waygatz. Unable to force
his way any further in that direction, he again returned
home without effecting his purpose. In 1609 a company
of Dutch merchants supplied him with the means of again
attempting the N.E. passage. Again the ice stopped his
progress, and Hudson abandoning his original plan sailed
away to America, where he discovered the great river which
now bears his name, and at the mouth of which New York
is situated. Scarcity of provisions drove him once more to
England, which he reached on the 7th November. In the
following year (1610) he sailed from London on the forlorn
quest of the N.W. passage. In the end of May his sailors
mutinied, and the revolt was only quelled with great diffi¬
culty. In June he entered the strait and bay now called
by his name, and was in high hopes that he had at last
solved the mystery that had baffled so many enquirers.
Stricter investigation, however, showed him that he had
been caught in a cul-de-sac, and as summer was now draw¬
ing to a close, he found himself compelled to winter on
these inhospitable shores with a mutinous crew, and a very
scanty stock of provisions. Commander and sailors were
alike out of temper at the bad success of the whole expe¬
dition, and heart-burnings and dissensions embittered the
winter bivouac. On the way home in the summer of 1611,
the crew again mutinied, and taking possession of the ship,
they turned adrift Hudson and such of the crew as remained
H U D
Hudson, faithful to him, in an open boat and with a very scanty sup-
°||in P]Y provisions. What was the fate of the boat and her
Hudson’s CieZ iS un^nown ; ^ther was ever heard of. The details
Bay Terri- °* Hudson’s voyages are given at length in Purchas’ Pil-
tory. grims, and in Harris’s Voyages.
Hudson, .John, a distinguished classical scholar, was born
at Widehope, near Cockermouth, in Cumberland, in 1662.
He was educated at Queen’s College, Oxford, but after
graduating as M.A. in 1684, he removed to University Col¬
lege, of which he became a fellow and tufor. In 1701 he
was made principal keeper of the Bodleian Librarv, and in
1712 principal of St Mary’s Hall, both of which offices he
retained till his death in 1719.
Hudson obtained considerable repute both at home and
abroad in consequence of his critical editions of some of the
classics, of which may be mentioned his Velleius Patev-
cu/us, Oxford, 1693; Thucydides, 1696; Dionysius Hali-
carnassensis, 1 < 04; Geographies veteris Scriptores Grceci
minores, with DodwelPs notes and comments, 1698, 1703,
1712; Longinus, 1710; Mceris Atticista, 1712; Fahu-
larum AEsopicarum Collectio, 1718; Josephus, 1720. These
editions are now for the most part superseded, with the
exception of the last, upon the texts and notes of which he
bestowed very great pains. He did not live to see it through
the press, but his friend Hall charged himself with that
duty, and prefixed to the edition, when complete, a biogra¬
phical sketch of the deceased critic. (Biog. Brit.)
HUDSON, a city of North America, Columbia county,
state of New York, on the left bank of the Hudson River,
at the head of its ship navigation, and on the Hudson River
raihoad, 116 miles N. of New York city. It stands on an
elevation, called Prospect Hill, which rises behind the city
to the height of 200 feet. The river bank, 60 feet high,
piojects into the river in the form of a bold promontory,
affoiding a delightful promenade, and having on either side
a fine bay with depth of water sufficient for the largest
ships. Along the margins of these bays, and at the foot of
the promontory, are the wharves. The town is for the most
part regularly built, with streets crossing each other at right
angles. T he court-house is a handsome edifice constructed
of marble and limestone, and surmounted by a dome. Hud¬
son was formerly extensively engaged in the West India
tiade, but of late this has mostly given place to the whale-
fisheiies. Its river trade is important, great quantities of
pi oduce being brought to its markets from the interior. It
also carries on various manufactures, for which the streams
in the vicinity afford good water-power. Pop. (1850) 6289.
HUDSON’S BAY, a large sea of North America,
lying between 51 and 69 degrees of N. Lat., discovered
in 1610 by Henry Hudson. (See Hudson, Henry ; and
1 olar Regions.) A charter for a company, incorporated
under the name of the Hudson’s Bay Company, was ob¬
tained in the year 1670. See Fur Trade.
Hudson’s Bay Territory. The first internal explorers
of the vast region surrounding Hudson’s Bay were traders
fiom Canada while it was yet in the possession of France.
Canadian traders had, previous to the conquest, ascended
t ic St Lauience and Ottawa Rivers to their sources, and
had formed establishments on the great Lakes. From the
north-western end of Lake Superior, they threaded the in¬
tricate communication which leads by lakes, streams, and
portages to Lake Winipeg, and thence penetrated some
distance up the Saskatchewan River, where their most distant
establishment was situated, in N. Lat. 53., W. Long. 103.
These enterprises were in a great measure suspended by
the struggles which ended in the conquest of Canada by
Great Britain. In 1767 a party headed by a British subject
again penetrated to the Saskatchewan. The Missinipi, or
Churchill River, was visited bv Mr Joseph Frobisher in
1 (to, and Lake Isle-a-la-Crosse m 1776. In the year 1781
the fur trade had reached the limits of Lake Athabasca,
HUD
791
nearly 1000 miles beyond the most distant point attained Hudson’s
by the French. These explorations were greatly extended Bay Terri-
by the establishment in 1783 of the North-West Company tory-
of Montreal—an association formed of the leading indivi-
duals engaged in this traffic—who, in the energetic pursuit
of the fur trade, extended their establishments to the Arctic
Circle and the Pacific Ocean. The charter of the Hud¬
son’s Bay Company, conferring the exclusive right of trade
with the Indians, having been granted without the sanction
of parliament, has generally been held invalid ; and it was
probably the dread, owing to this defect, of attracting pub¬
lic observation to their proceedings that induced the Com¬
pany for many years to confine their trading stations almost
entirely to the coast. In 1769, a century after the date of
their charter, their farthest advance was but 400 miles in¬
land. In that year, however, being desirous of obtaining
information regarding some mines of copper described by
the natives as existing near a river flowing into the sea to
the northward, called the Coppermine River, they directed
Mr Hearne, a gentleman in their service, to proceed over¬
land for that river, which he had orders to survey, if pos¬
sible, down to its embouchure—an enterprise in which, after
two unsuccessful attempts, he succeeded, reaching the sea
at^ the mouth of the Coppermine River on the 13th July
1771, having been thus the first to establish the existence
of a great Northern Ocean washing the shores of North
America. Mr Hearne’s journals and charts were, however,
withheld from the public for nearly twenty years after the
date of his journey. On the capture of Fort Churchill by
the French these documents fell into the hands of La
Perouse, who commanded the French squadron, and were
restored to the Company only on condition of their bein<>-
published. It was doubtless owing to this circumstance
that Hearne s claims to this important discovery were for
many years discredited ; and although the existence of a
Northern Ocean was confirmed by Sir Alexander M‘Kenzie,
who in 1789 descended the river issuing from Great Slave
Lake, which bears his name, it was not until the overland
expeditions of Franklin and Richardson in 1820 and 1825
that Hearne’s merits as a discoverer were fully recognised.
1 o the expeditions last named we owe the first accurate
geographical delineation of this extensive region, from the
shores of Hudson’s Bay as far as M‘Kenzie’s River. Of the
country west of this stream, and extending as far as Russian
America, a careful survey has been more recently executed
by Professor A. K. Isbister of London, and published in
the journal of the Royal Geographical Society for 1846. To
this gentleman we owe also an elaborate geological map of
the .entire region, published in 1856 by the Geological
Society of London.
I he circumstances which led to the union of the North-
West and Hudson’s Bay Companies have been stated in the
article on the Fur Trade. The new association, which
retained the name of the Hudson’s Bay Company, obtained
in 1821 a license of exclusive trade for twenty-one years,
renewed in 1842 for a similar period, over the territories W. of
the Rocky Mountains—the country on the E. side being con¬
sidered sufficiently protected from rival traders by the esta¬
blishments of the two companies already formed there, and
such vague rights as might be claimed under the charter of
1670. Grave doubts existing as to the validity of this
charter, and numerous complaints having arisen from the
arbitrary exercise of the powers claimed under it by the
Company, an address to the Crown has been recently moved
by the House of Commons for an inquiry (which is now
pending) into the legality of the very wide and anomalous
powers at present exercised by the Company.
1 he territory embraced within the present operations of
the Hudson’s Bay Company may be roughly estimated at
nearly 4,000,000 of square miles, or somewhat greater than
the entire extent of Europe. This vast area, which is covered
792 II U D
Hudson’s by a net-work of about a hundred trading-posts scattered at
Bay Terri- distances of about three or four hundred miles apart, is
v tory* divided into four large departments—1st., T he Montreal de-
partment, which includes all the establishments situated be¬
tween the River St Lawrence and the great lakes of Canada,
and along the N. shore of the Gulf of St Lawrence and the
coast of Labrador ; 2d, The Southern department, which in¬
cludes the country along the N. shores of Lake Superior
and the southern shores of Hudson’s Bay ; 3d, I he INorth-
ern department, which comprehends all the establishments
N. of this as far as the shores of the Polar Sea; and, Ath,
The Columbia department, including the territory watered
by the Columbia and other rivers W. of the Rocky Moun¬
tains. The departments are divided into a number of dis¬
tricts, each under the direction of a superior officer; and
these again are subdivided into numerous factories, forts,
posts, and outposts.
In a geographical view the Hudson’s Bay territories may
be divided into four great natural regions—1. The Columbia
or Oregon territory, a country of varied features, extending
from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific ; 2. The wooded
region, occupying the country from Canada northwards
along the shores of Hudson’s Bay, and extending along the
valley of the M‘Kenzie and Peace Rivers nearly to the
Arctic Ocean ; 3. The prairie region, situated between the
forfcmentioned divisions, and occupying the valley of the
Saskatchewan and Red Rivers and the upper waters of the
Missouri and Mississippi; 4. The strip of sterile country
along the northern shores of Hudson’s Bay and the coast
of the Polar Sea, familiarly known as the Barren Grounds.
Of these divisions the wooded region is the most extensive
and the most valuable for the purposes of the fur trade ; all
the finer skins which find their way to the London market
being obtained from it. It has, in consequence, been long
occupied and thoroughly worked by the trading-posts and
agencies of the company. The Indians inhabiting it are in
general a mild, inoffensive race. Long familiarity with the
whites, and the habits of trade, have produced a friendly
feeling among them towards Europeans; and their de¬
sire to supply them with the commodities of trade renders
them by far the most valuable and industrious class of the
population of the Hudson’s Bay territories. The relation
of the Company towards them is an extremely simple one :
the Indians hunt and trap for the furs which the Company
receive, giving in exchange such articles as are suited to
the simple wants and tastes of the natives. Trade is carried
on by means of a standard valuation, based on the market
price of a beaver-skin, and hence denominated a made
beaver. This is to obviate the necessity of circulating
money, which is quite unknown in any part of the Indian
country. A beaver-skin is considered, in the Indian trade,
equivalent to two, three, or more skins of inferior value.
The rates at which the skins can be obtained under the
complete monopoly enjoyed by the Company render the fur
trade probably one of the most lucrative species of traffic in
the world.
It is difficult to form an estimate approaching to accu¬
racy of the population of the Hudson’s Bay territories.
From forty to fifty different tribes, speaking distinct dialects,
have been enumerated ; but the discordant estimates even
of the oldest and most experienced residents in the Indian
country forbid all idea of arriving at any accurate estimate
of their numbers. They probably do not exceed 150,000.
Their numbers are, by the most trustworthy accounts,
rapidly diminishing. Through the benevolent exertions of
the Church Missionary and other societies, missions and
schools have been established in various parts of the country
E. of the Rocky Mountains. These missions, supported
entirely from the funds of benevolent bodies in England and
Canada, afford the only means of education hitherto avail¬
able to the inhabitants of those remote regions.
HUE
The climate and soil of the Hudson’s Bay territories, ex- Hudson
cept in the extreme northern districts, differ little from Biver
those of Canada, and are equally adapted for colonization. II
On the banks of the Red River, flowing into Lake Wini- v ue 'a'
peg, a small settlement has been formed, consisting chiefly
of retired servants of the Company, with their families. The
colony now numbers a population of about 10,000 souls ;
but from its isolated position, the bulky nature of such ex¬
ports as could be furnished, and the long and dangerous
navigation to Hudson’s Bay, there is but little probability
of its rising to commercial importance. (a. k.i.)
Hudson River, the principal river in the State of New
York, North America. It rises in the Adirondack Moun¬
tains, in two streams, which unite in Warren county about
40 miles from their sources. Its course is irregular to
Sandy Hill, being first S. by E. then E., after which it flows
almost in a straight line nearly due S., and falls into New
York Bay, in N. Lat. 40. 42., W. Long. 7. 1. 30. Its en¬
tire length is rather more than 300 miles ; its breadth below
Albany varies from 300 to 900 yards. Between Haver-
straw and Piermont, for 10 or 12 miles, it expands into a
broad basin 4 or 5 miles wide. It has few tributaries: the
Mohawk flowing into it near Troy, and the Walkill at
Kingston are the principal. The scenery is in the highest
degree picturesque, its elevated banks not unfrequently
rising in lofty and precipitous eminences. The largest ships
ascend to Hudson about 117 miles, and schooners sail as
far as Troy, 166 miles.
HUE AND CRY,a custom of ancient origin for spreading
an alarm. When a cry was raised by one it was caught
by a second, and passed by him to a third till the whole
country was roused. It was thus the ancient Britons sum¬
moned their warriors to battle. Amongst the Highlanders
a half-burnt stick, dipped in the blood of a goat slain by
the chieftain himself, was carried by the messenger as a
threat of fire and sword to all who did not obey the sum¬
mons. In 1745 this cross tarric, or fiery cross, was carried
32 miles in three hours. Csesar speaks of a case in which
an alarm was carried 160 miles in sixteen or seventeen
hours.
The hue and cry {putesium et clamor) is also a legal
method of procuring arrests. By 13th Edw. I., c. 3, the
hundred in which the offence was committed was held re¬
sponsible unless the felon was caught; by 27th Eliz., c.
13, the hue and cry required to be made by both horsemen
and footmen ; and by 8th Geo. II., c. 16, the officer ne¬
glecting or refusing to make the hue and cry is liable to a
penalty of L.5. When the hue and cry is raised, all parties
are obliged to join in pursuit of the criminal. A printed
hue and cry is issued three times a week at Bow Street,
and contains descriptions of stolen property and deserters.
HUELVA, or Huelvas, a province of Andalucia, Spain.
It has ranked as a province only since 1833, and is bounded
on the N. by Badajoz, S. by the ocean, E. by Sevilla, S.E.
by Cadiz, and W. by Portugal, from which it is separated
to some extent by the rivers Guadiana and the Chanza.
Its area is 4130 square miles, which is intersected in a
S.W. direction by the western part of the Sierra Morena,
locally called the Sierra Arrocha. The Odiel and the
Zinto are the principal streams that drain its surface, and
both fall into the Atlantic, the one at the Puerto de Polos
whence Columbus set sail on his first voyage to the West.
On the opposite slope of the mountains are the basins of
the Guadiana and its tributaries, the Chauza, Malagon, and
Albagarilla. The E. parts of the province of Huelva are
composed to a large extent of vast sterile plains; but in
other portions the surface presents a pleasing variety.
The highest peak is San Cristobal, at whose base are the
copper mines of Rio Zintp. The soil possesses great fer¬
tility, and produces excellent pasturage, as well as oranges,
lemons, citrons, grain of various kinds, and wine. The
HUE
Hufilva mountains are clothed with pine, oak, beech, holly, and
II chestnut forests, affording excellent timber. Pop. 153,462.
uesca. Huelva (ancient Onoba), a seaport-town of Spain, capital
v^ of the above province, on a bay formed by the mouth of the
Odiel and Tinto, 50 miles W.S.W. of Seville. It carries
on a considerable trade in fruit and floor-mattings, and some
tunny fishing. The vestiges of a Roman aqueduct are fast
disappearing. Huelva was the birthplace of Jose Isidore
Morales, and of Alonso Sanchez de Huelva, who discovered
Espanola Island. Pop. 7173.
HUERTA, Vicente Garcia de la, an eminent Spanish
poet of the last century, was born at Zafra, in Estremadura,
in 1729. His name marks an era in Spanish literature.
The eighteenth century had introduced into Spain, along
with a French dynasty, a French fashion in literary matters
which had completely supplanted the old national tastes,
and been naturalized in the country by the genius of Luzan.
Huerta was the first to rise in open rebellion against the
canons of the Gallic school, and the reaction which he
created and impelled was finally successful. His best work
was his tragedy of La Raquel. The fame of this piece
speedily spread far and wide, and it was soon translated into
the tongues and acted in the theatres of nearly all the na¬
tions of Europe. His other tragedy of Agamemnon Ven-
gado fell far short of the merit of La Raquel. Huerta’s
other works were his Obras Poeticas, in 2 vols. To vin¬
dicate Spanish literature more completely from the attacks
of Voltaire and the French critics, Huerta made a collec¬
tion of the best specimens of the national drama, in 16 vols.
8vo, which he edited with great care. His only prose work
was his Vocabulario Militar Espanol, a kind of biographi¬
cal dictionary of the most illustrious warriors of Spain.
Huerta died at Madrid in 1797.
HUESCA, a province of Aragon, Spain, bounded N.
by France, S. and S.W. by Saragossa, E. by Lerida, and
W. and N.W. by Navarre. It is one of the three provinces
into which Aragon was divided in 1833, and has an area of
7530 square miles, occupied by a population of 247,105.
Huesca is drained by the rivers Arva, Aragon, Galego,
Alcanadre, Cinca, Essera, and Noguera-Ribargoranza, and
belongs entirely to the basin of the Ebro. The offshoots
of the Pyrenees render the northern portion of the pro¬
vince mountainous ; and some of the loftier summits are
covered with perpetual snow. The mountainous portions
are well wooded, but being generally precipitous possess
little capability of culture. The more level districts are
fertile and productive wherever water is sufficiently plenti¬
ful. The chief products of the soil are hemp, flax, fruits,
legumes, wine, and cereals. The mountain pastures are
excellent, and afford grazing for large numbers of mules, of
superior quality, and cattle. Though hitherto little wrought,
iron, copper, and other metals exist in great abundance
throughout the mountainous districts of the province. The
chief manufactures are linens, cloths, earthenware, glass,
soap, and leather, and alpargatas, a kind of sandal peculiar
to the locality.
Huesca, a very ancient town of Spain, capital of a cog-
nominal province in Aragon. It stands on the slope of a
hill in the centre of an extensive plain near the right bank
of the Isuela, 35 miles from Saragossa, and 70 from Lerida.
The houses are generally two storeys in height, and built
with considerable uniformity; and there are several public
squares ; but the walls which anciently surrounded the city
are now almost altogether in ruins. The principal public
buildings are the cathedral, four parish churches, the royal
College of Santiago founded by Charles V., and those of
St Vincent, Santa Orosia, and Santa Cruz; the “ Sertorio”
University founded in 1354 by Pedro IV. ; and the town-
hall. There are also a foundling hospital, and numerous
convents ; two public granaries and two cavalry barracks.
The industry of Huesca is chiefly confined to articles of
VOL. XI.
hue 793
domestic use, common coarse cloths, and leather. The Huescar
annual fair held in Huesca is well frequented.
This city is so ancient that no account of its foundation IIuet-
was known at the birth of Christ. Strabo gives its name
Ueosca (iii. 224), as the capital of the Vascitani, when it
was chosen by Sertorius as the seat of the university, which
he founded 77 b. c. Julius Caesar names it Vencedora; and
in the time of Augustus it was known by the name of Urbs
victrix Osca which was stamped on its coins, and has been
preserved on its arms. In 1096 A.D., Pedro I. of Aragon
conquered this city after having gained in its immediate
neighbourhood the battle of Alcoraz, where he slew 4000
Saracens and four Moorish kings or sheiks. This battle
v as fought Nov. 25, after a siege of two years. From this
date it has borne for its arms the heads of the four Moorish
kings, with the addition of a cross which appeared miracu¬
lously in the heavens. Pop. 9200.
HUESCAR, a town of Spain, province of Granada, in
an elevated plain, between two mountain chains, 70 miles
N.E. of Granada. It contains three convents, an hospital,
and three churches. Its chief manufactures are cloth, linens,
woollen coverlets, and damasks. Pop. 5640. At a short
distance from Huescar are the ruins of a very ancient city
said to have been founded by the Carthaginians, and now
called Huescar la Vieja or Old Huescar.
HUET, Pierre Daniel, one of the most versatile sa-
vam of his own, or, indeed, of any age. Born at Caen in
1630, he was brought up in the Roman Catholic faith, to
which his parents were attached. Huet’s was one of those
minds (so common in French literary history) which attain
to a moderate proficiency in every branch of inquiry ; and
without being naturalized (so to speak) in any department,
may become acclimated to all. Of this inquisitive tempera¬
ment he gave ample evidence at the university of his native
town, where his studies were prosecuted with an ardour
which communicated itself to his instructors; and to the
Jesuit Mambrun, the professor of philosophy, he always
considered himself under peculiar obligations for a degree
of attention which was all the more acceptable as the early
loss of his parents had rendered it the more necessary. On
attaining his majority he succeeded to an independence,
which allowed him to satisfy, though not to satiate, his pas¬
sion for knowledge. It was about this time that Bochart,
then a fellow-townsman of Huet’s, had received an invita¬
tion to Stockholm from Queen Christina, and prevailed on
the young scholar to accompany him. This was an impor¬
tant event in the life of Huet, as he obtained access, in the
great public library of the Swedish capital, to an excellent
manuscript of Origen on St Matthew, which perhaps sug¬
gested his well-known edition of that father. On returning
to his native town, after a brief stay at Stockholm, he de¬
voted the next twenty years of his life to a diversified but
systematic and profound course of study, comprising many
of the exact sciences, and, above all, to the preparation of
his great edition of Origen. He relieved the severity of
his literary labours by cultivating the acquaintance of dis¬
tinguished contemporary savans, and in this way his repu¬
tation spread so widely as to place his name on Colbert’s
list of literary pensions. In poetry also he found an agree¬
able source of relaxation, and his natural love for scenery
developed itself in many a copy of verses Latin and French.
The vast number of novels which he would seem to have
read, may be inferred from his elaborate essay on the Origin
of Romance, prefixed to the Contesse La Fayette’s cele¬
brated Zaide. Local antiquities always occupied much of
his attention ; and his work entitled Les Origines de la Ville
de Caen, written in his declining period, reached in 1706
a second edition, which, however, is a great improvement on
its predecessor. But in spite of these frequent side-glances
to other subjects of inquiry his attention was mainly fixed
on his edition of Origeris Exegetical Works, which was
5 H
794 HUE
Huet. finally published in 2 vols. folio, in 1669. The biographi-
v— J cal and historical portions of his annotations far outweigh
the value of his textual labours ; and even yet no critical
edition of Origen is reckoned complete which does not con¬
tain Huet’s Origeniana. Shortly after the accomplishment
of this great work, his love for the sequestered life of the
cloister induced him to retire to the Jesuit’s College of La
Fleche, but he was not suffered long to enjoy his literary
seclusion. In 1670 he was appointed sub-preceptor to the
Dauphin who was then only nine years of age, and in su¬
perintending the education of that prince, he was detained
at court for the next ten years. During this period he
completed his most considerable w ork—his Demonstratio
Evangelica, which w^as published in 1679. This laid the
foundation of his theological fame. During the preparation
of this colossal work he superintended the w^ell-known series
of the Delphin Classics, of which he was partly the origina¬
tor. On the marriage of the Dauphin in ] 679, the publi¬
cation of the Delphin Classics ceased, and Huet was al¬
lowed to retire from court. The king presented him with
an abbey at Aulnai, 12 miles to the south of Caen, and
he was thus enabled to resume his former and favourite
pursuits. For ten years he continued to spend his summers
in this delightful retreat, and his winters at Paris or Caen;
but though his literary zeal never flagged, his special sub¬
jects of study had not been sufficiently well chosen, for
nothing which he has written after his fiftieth year has done
much for his reputation. In 1685, however, he was ap¬
pointed by the king to the see of Soissons, which he shortly
afterw'ards exchanged for that of Avranches, in the neigh¬
bourhood of Caen. He was bishop of this see for not more
than seven years, and he resigned its arduous duties for that
literary ease of which he was so enamoured. The residue
of his long life was spent at the Abbey of Fontenai, near
Caen, where in spite of his increasing infirmities he devoted
his leisure mainly to literary studies ; and after an illness
in 1712, so severe that his life was despaired of, he was
busily engaged in compiling his Memoires of himself, and
those miscellaneous memoranda which were published after
his death, under the name of Huetiana. But the care of
his medical advisers and the baths of Bourbon, though they
had long kept death at a distance, were unable to avert it,
and in the Jesuit House in Paris, on the 26th of January
1721, he expired in his 91st year as happily as he had lived.
Ever since his retirement from court, Cartesianism had been
gradually advancing to importance, and its adherents, among
whom were numbered the most influential men of the time,
were devoting all their energies to its propagation. The
main object of their attack was Aristotle, or more properly
Aristotelianism ; and as the Stagirite embraces or discusses
in his works nearly every department of ancient literature,
the entire remains of antiquity were included in their de¬
nunciations, which were promulgated in French to the ne¬
glect of Latin. All this was viewed by the Jesuits with
intense dislike. Huet warmly espoused the cause of his
order, and with reasoning and raillery he did his utmost to
discomfit his opponents. In his Censura philosophice Car-
tesiance, however, which was published in 1689, he shows
an utter incompetency to meet the Cartesians on philoso¬
phical grounds, and cannot discriminate between the lead¬
ing doctrine of their master and Pyrrhonism. His ridicule
was equally ineffective; and the Nouveaux Memoires pour
servir a VHistoire du Cartesianisme did as little for his
cause or his reputation as his Censura. The most notable
of his later works was his Traite Philosophique de la Foi-
hlesse de l’Esprit Humain, published posthumously in 1723,
which caused more excitement than all his other works put
together. It contains little more than the foreshadowings
of that doctrine which Berkeley and Hume carried to its
utmost limit; and probably it was from the undeveloped
state of his views that Huet’s work was regarded with such
H U L
horror at the time. He was considered a thorough sceptic Huguenots
for harbouring opinions which the pious bishop of Cloyne has ||
shown to be quite compatible with a belief in the great truths Huil-
of Christianity. Huet’s is a name familiar in our day only to
scholars as deeply read as he was in his own. Few scholars
have lived with so much pleasure to themselves or have had
their lot cast in easier circumstances. His long day was
hardly visited by a cloud ; it seems to have had all the feli¬
city of one unbroken lucid interval; and perhaps it is for this
reason that the pleasure he himself enjoyed in his literary
labours has not been shared by posterity. (Quarterly Re¬
view, No. 194.)
HUGUENOTS, a name derisively applied to the
French Protestants in the sixteenth century. It is pro¬
bably a corruption of the word eidgenossen, or confederates,
as the Genevese were called who entered into a league
with the other cantons to oppose the tyranny of Charles
HI., Duke of Savoy. The doctrines of the Reformation
in France were first publicly taught at Meaux by Lefevre
and Farel in 1521. The flames of persecution were soon
kindled by Francis I., and raged with increased fury after
the decree against the Vaudois of Provence in 1540. The
Reformed doctrines increased rapidly ; and under Henry II.
several whole provinces and considerable towns, numbering
about a sixth of the population of France, were adherents
to these doctrines. In 1559 a synod was held at Paris,
consisting of members from thirteen churches. Under
Francis II. they became involved in political quarrels. The
conference at Poissy between Beza and Lorraine, as the
representatives of the Reformers and the Papists respec¬
tively, showed the difficulty of effecting a compromise be¬
tween the two parties. Under Charles IX. the opposi¬
tion of the two parties assumed the aspect of a civil war.
A peace was brought about by Catherine de Medicis ; but
when the Protestants had disbanded their forces, the old
maxim was revived, that faith need not be kept with here¬
tics. The larger Protestant towns now became scenes of
butchery and bloodshed. For the massacre of St Bartho¬
lomew, at which Admiral Coligny of the noble house of
Chatillon, was assassinated, see France. The edict of
toleration passed in 1577 was renewed by Henry IV. in
1591, and is known as the Edict of Nantes. The oppres¬
sion of the Calvinists, however, led to a religious war dur¬
ing the reign of Louis XIII. The dragonnades of Louis
XIV. were a systematic attempt to compel the Calvinists,
by all sorts of torture short of death, to abjure. These
prepared the way for the revocation of the Edict of Nantes,
which took place on the 18th October 1685. Hundreds of
thousands of the most industrious population of France were
reduced to ruin, and sought an asylum in surrounding
countries. Still more stringent edicts were passed against
the Calvinists, and their condition became worse and worse
till 1760. In 1787, under Louis XVI. an act of toleration
was passed in their favour. See France.
HULL, or Kingston-upon-Hull, one of the principal
commercial towns of England, is situated on the north bank
of the Humber, at the mouth of the River Hull, 35 miles
S.E. of York. It is a municipal and parliamentary borough,
and though locally in the East Riding of Yorkshire, is a
county in itself. The ancient name of this town was Wyke
or Wyke-upon-Hull. For more than a century previous
to 1296 it was a place of considerable mercantile import¬
ance, and possessed from the Abbot of Meaux, who was
lord of the manor, the privilege of holding a weekly market
and a yearly fair. The natural advantages of its position
for trade as well as for defence, attracted the attention of
Edward L, who prevailed upon the Abbot and the other
proprietors to sell him the lordship of Myton with the town
of Wyke. The name of the town he changed to Kings-
town-upon-Hull, and constituted it a separate and inde¬
pendent manor under the government of a warden and
HULL.
bailiffs. He afterwards, upon the petition of the inhabitants,
made it a royal burgh. During his reign the duties on ex¬
ports collected here amounted to nearly one-seventh of the
duties collected throughout the kingdom. In the twenty-
eighth year of this monarch’s reign, it was appointed one of
the places for the erection of furnaces for the use of the
mint; and by his orders the roads leading to the town were
improved, the streets paved, ferries established across the
Humber, and embankments erected on the river. In the
reign of the following Edward the town was regularly for¬
tified by walls, bastions, and ditches; and these were after¬
wards strengthened in the reign of Richard II. When
Edward III. invaded France in 1359, Hull contributed 16
ships and 470 mariners for the expedition. During the
Civil War it was held for the parliament, and was twice un¬
successfully besieged by the royalists.
The town of Hull stands on a level plain, so low as to
render embankments necessary to protect it from inunda¬
tion. It has been greatly enlarged and improved of late
years. The streets in the older part of the town are irre¬
gular and narrow, but in the more recent portions they are
generally wide and regular, and lined with handsome build¬
ings. The houses are almost all of brick. The public
buildings are numerous, but are not geneially remarkable
for beauty. Among the principal are the custom-house,
dock-office, pilot-office, excise office, stamp office, post-office,
exchange, infirmary, two theatres, conceit-hall, colleges,
mansion-house, and gaol. The church of the Holy I rinity
is a handsome cruciform edifice in the florid Gothic style,
with a highly ornamented pinnacled tower rising from the
point of intersection to the height of 140 feet. In the
market-place is an equestrian statue of William III. A
handsome Doric column, surmounted by a colossal statue,
has been erected to Wilberforce, who was a native of this
town. The educational institutions comprise two proprietary
colleges, furnishing instruction on a plan similar to that
pursued at the University and King’s Colleges, London, a
medical school, grammar school, Cogan’s charity school for
forty girls, Trinity-house school affording a nautical edu¬
cation for thirty-six boys, and the vicar’s school for sixty
boys. The charter-house is an hospital for the maintenance
of fifty-seven poor persons. The Trinity-house was founded
in 1369 for the support of decayed seamen and their widows.
The citadel stands on the triangular piece of ground be¬
tween the Humber and the Hull.
The town of Hull is admirably situated for trade. Ves¬
sels of the largest size can come up to the town ; while the
Hull, Ouse, and Trent, affluents of the Humber, with their
tributary streams and canals, afford facilities for trade with a
large extent of country. (See Navigation, Inland?) It is
also connected by railways with all parts of the kingdom.
These advantages have been improved by the activity of
the inhabitants, so that Hull ranks as the third port in the
kingdom, the value of its exports being inferior only to
those from Liverpool and London. The site of the old for¬
tifications is occupied by docks, and thus the old town is
surrounded with water from the Hull to the Humber. The
old harbour was that part of the River Hull which faced the
old town; but, as it was found to be inconvenient for the
shipping, an act was passed in 1774 for forming a dock, now
called the old dock, which has its entrance at the upper end
of the old harbour. It is 1703 feet in length, 254 in
breadth, and 24 in depth. Between 1805 and 1809 ano¬
ther dock was erected called the Humber dock. It com¬
municates with the Humber by a lock, and is 914 feet in
length, 342 in breadth, and 31 in depth. The accommo¬
dationbecoming insufficient for the increasing trade, another
dock was constructed between 1826 and 1829, called the
Junction dock, from being formed on the land that inter¬
vened between the old and the Humber docks, and thus
forming a connection between them. It is 914 feet in
length, 342 in breadth, and 31 in depth. The locks are
120 feet long, 36 broad, and 25 deep. The two bridges
across the locks are of cast iron, and 24 feet wide. The
Railway dock, near the terminus of the Hull and Selby
railway, and the Victoria, to the east of the citadel, are of
recent construction. The following table exhibits the area
and cost of the different docks :—
Docks. Area.
a. r. p.
Old dock 10 1 11
Humber dock  9 3 24
Junction dock  6 0 5
Railway dock  2
Victoria dock 20
3 9
1 3
Cost.
L.73,330
233,086
165,033
115,000
470,000
Total 49 1 12 L.1,056,449
A considerable quantit y of shipping is also accommodated
within the old harbour, which may be computed at 10 acres
of tidal water. A timber pond of 9 acres was constructed
in 1853. The quays around the docks are spacious, and are
entirely surrounded with warehouses and deal yards. Hull
has of late years become a principal steam-packet station.
Steamers sail regularly to and from London, Leith, Aber¬
deen, Newcastle, Yarmouth, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Copen¬
hagen, Antwerp, &c. Hull is the principal entrepot of the
Baltic timber trade on the E. coast of Britain. The
staple imports are timber, deals, grain, and seeds, sheep’s
wool, tallow, hemp, flax, hides, iron bars, green fruit, bones,
madder, bark, turpentine, cattle, sugar, &c. The chief
articles of export are cotton stuffs and twist; woollen goods
and woollen yarn; iron and hardware ; linens and linen
yarn; earthenware; machinery and mill work; coal, salt,
and more recently raw cotton, brought from Liverpool and
Manchester. The whale fishery was formerly extensively
carried on. In 1819 it employed 64 vessels, but from that
period it rapidly declined to 1837, and in that and the seven
subsequent years employed only one vessel annually. More
recently, however, a reaction has taken place, and from 1846
to 1852, inclusive, from 12 to 14 vessels have annually set
out for this fishery. The number and tonnage of vessels
registered at the port on 31st December 1854 were as fol¬
lows :—Sailing vessels,—under 50 tons, 238, tonnage, 8822;
above 50 tons, 195, tonnage, 42,861. Steam vesssels,—
under 50 tons, 10, tonnage, 324; above 50 tons, 36, ton¬
nage, 9924. The following table gives the ships and ton¬
nage (including both sailing and steam vessels) employed
in the colonial and foreign trade for 1854 and the three
preceding years:—
1851
1852
1853
1854
Inward.
British.
hips. Tonnage.
1185 295,859
1087 285,957
1107 285,641
1042 256,721
Foreign.
Ships. Tonnage
1433
1220
1753
1747
212,709
175,755
269,212
247,627
Outward.
British.
Ships. Tonnage.
843
758
776
705
235,781
223,260
217,411
197,850
Foreign.
Ships. Tonnage
1081
950
1285
1179
173,363
139,193
190,591
177,009
H
The number and tonnage of vessels that entered and
cleared coastwise during 1854 were :—Entered, sailing
vessels, 716, tonnage, 52,414 ; steam vessels, 424, tonnage,
76,406: cleared, sailing vessels, 1162, tonnage, 117,279;
steam vessels, 468, tonnage, 84,072. In 1852 the amount
of dock duties paid was L.34,961; the amount of customs
revenue, L.324,819 ; and the value of British manufactured
goods exported, L.9,915,414. The staple articles of im¬
port being subject to low duties, or altogether free, the cus¬
toms revenue is smaller than thatof less important ports. The
port charges of Hull have been reduced in the aggregate
about L.18,000 per annum. The industrial establishments
of Hull are chiefly connected with the building and equip¬
ment of ships, comprising shipbuilding yards, rope walks,
and manufactories of canvas, chains, chain cables, and
£.
796 II U M
Humber steam machinery. Hull is divided into 7 wards, and go-
II verned by a mayor, 14 aldermen, and 42 councillors. It
j-umpo (t. returns 2 members to parliament. Pop. (1851) 84,690.
HUMBER, a large river or rather estuary of England,
formed by the junction of the Ouse and Trent, and sepa¬
rating Yorkshire from Lincolnshire. It flows first E. for
about 18 miles to Hull, and then S.E. for 22 miles to its
mouth between the Spurn-head on the N., and the opposite
coast of Lincoln on the S. Its average breadth is from 2
to 3 miles, but near its mouth it widens to 6 or 7. By
means of its numerous tributaries it drains about 10,000
square miles, comprising some of the most fertile and popu¬
lous districts of England. Vessels of considerable burden
can ascend to its head, and those of the largest size to Hull.
HUMBOLDT, Karl Wilhelm yon, a distinguished
statesman and philologer, and the elder brother of the
illustrious traveller and naturalist, was born at Potsdam,
June 22, 1767. His father, who at the time of his birth,
was chamberlain to the Princess Elizabeth of Prussia, was
a man of wealth, and was thus able to give his sons the best
education that money could procure. He trained them at
home until they were of age to begin independent study;
he then sent them to the university of Frankfort-on-the-
Oder, which they soon exchanged for that of Gottingen.
It was now that the path of the brothers began to diverge.
The younger devoted himself to the study of nature ; the
elder found his sphere in law, the philosophy of language,
and ancient literature. In the number of his friends Wil¬
helm von Humboldt began at this time to reckon the illus¬
trious men who have created the literature of modern Ger¬
many. To Schiller he was especially attracted, and their
correspondence from 1793 to 1803 (published at Stuttgart
in 1830) shows on what terms of esteem and affection the
friendship was maintained on both sides. His intimacy
with Goethe gave birth to his famous critique on the Her¬
mann and Dorothea of that poet, in which he gave to the
w orld his profound discussions on the laws of epic poetry in
HUM
general. Marrying in 1791, Humboldt spent the early Humboldt,
years of his wedded life in the strictest seclusion, contribut-
ing occasional essays to the periodicals, chiefly on his con¬
temporaries. These were reprinted in a collective form at
Berlin in 1799. In the following year he was made Prus¬
sian minister at the Papal Court, and his residence at Rome
gave a strong impulse to the classical bent of his tastes and
studies. On his return home in 1808 he was made minis¬
ter of public instruction. Unable to give effect to his views
in this capacity, he retired altogether from public life for
two years, and it was with some difficulty that at the end
of that time he could be persuaded to go as ambassador to
Vienna. For the next few years he was engaged in all the
great diplomatic transactions consequent on the wars of
Napoleon—at Prague, Chatillon (where, along with the
chancellor, Hardenberg, he signed the capitulation of Paris),
Vienna, and Frankfort. It was he too who in 1815 signed
the treaty by which Saxony was compelled to abandon to
Prussia a large portion of her territory. When the great
European war came to an end, he was sent as ambassador-
extraordinary to London ; in 1818 he took part in the de¬
liberations of the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle. On his
return to Berlin he found the tone of political feeling so
little consonant to his ideas and his hopes that he retired
from public life altogether, and, dividing his time between
his estate of Tegel and the town of Berlin, lived entirely
for literature. He died April 8, 1835. His works, which
are very numerous, range over a wide field, and display the
rich endowments and versatility of his mind. But his"best
chances of fame rest on his philological works, and especi¬
ally on his researches into the Basque, Sanscrit, and Malay
tongues. At the time of his death he had nearly finished
two important treatises; one on the languages of the Eastern
Archipelago, derived from the Sanscrit, and the other on
the philosophy of language. All the works essential to his
fame have been recently collected by his brother Alex¬
ander, assisted by the famous Brandes.
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