The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 244

HITCHIN (9), a very old and still prosperous town of Hertfordshire, on the Hiz, 14 m. NW. of Hertford; does a flourishing trade in corn, malt, and flour; brewing and straw-plaiting are important industries, and it has long been noted for its lavender and lavender water.

HITOPADESA (i. e. good instruction), a celebrated Sanskrit collection of fables, which in the substance of them have pa.s.sed into all the civilised literatures of the world.

HITt.i.tES, one of the original tribes of Canaan, and one of the most powerful, whose dominion extended at one time as far as the border of Egypt on the one hand, and Mesopotamia on the other, and northward beyond the Taurus Mountains, traces of which have been discovered over all Asia Minor, while they were strong enough to engage in war with the Egyptians; they had two capitals, Kadesh on the Orontes, and Carchemish on the Euphrates.

HITZIG, FERDINAND, a German Orientalist and biblical scholar, born in Baden; devoted himself to Old Testament studies; was professor of Theology first at Zurich and then at Heidelberg; his princ.i.p.al works bore on Old Testament exegesis (1807-1875).

HOADLY, BENJAMIN, an English prelate, born in Kent; was a keen controversialist; argued stoutly in defence of civil and religious liberty, and was an opponent of the pretensions of the High Church party (1676-1761).

HOANG-HO ("Yellow River"), one of the chief rivers of China, rises in the plain of Odontala, south of the Kuen-lun Mountains, and sweeps with impetuous current in a more or less north-easterly direction, discharging into the Gulf of Pechili after a course of 3000 m.; it is for the most part quite unnavigable, and its frequent floods are a constant menace to the districts through which it flows.

HOBART (25), capital of Tasmania, is situated on the estuary of the Derwent, at the base of Mount Wellington; is handsomely laid out in the form of a square; is the seat of government, and has many fine public buildings; has a splendid natural harbour; the manufacture of flour, jam, leather, besides brewing, shipbuilding, and iron-founding, are its chief industries; it has extensive suburbs, and is a favourite health resort.

HOBART PASHA, Turkish admiral; was a son of the Duke of Buckingham; distinguished himself in the British navy before he entered the Turkish service; had during the Russo-Turkish war in 1877 to withdraw from the service of the Queen, and shortly afterwards died (1822-1886).

HOB'BEMA, MEINDERT, a famous Dutch landscape painter, born at Amsterdam; lived chiefly in his native town, and died in poverty; his fine, subdued pictures of woodland life and scenery are ranked amongst the masterpieces of Dutch landscape painting, and are the valued possessions of the National Galleries in London, Berlin, Vienna, &c.

(1638-1709).

HOBBES, THOMAS, an English philosopher, psychologist, and moralist, born at Malmesbury; was educated at Oxford; connected all his days with the Cavendish family, with members of which he travelled on the Continent, and was on friendly terms with Charles II., Bacon, Descartes, &c.; translated Thucydides, wrote a number of works, "De Cive" among others, and the "Leviathan," all more or less leading up to the doctrine that the absolute sovereign power in all matters of right and wrong is vested in the State as the achieved fact of the emanc.i.p.ation of the race from savagery (1588-1679).

HOBHOUSE, JOHN CAM, English politician, a friend of Byron; represented Nottingham and Norwich in Parliament in the Liberal interest, and held several ministerial appointments (1780-1869).

HO'BOKEN (59), a city of New Jersey, on the Hudson River, adjoining Jersey City and opposite New York; is an important railway terminus and shipping-port; does a large trade in coal, lead-pencils, iron-casting, &c.

HOBSON, a Cambridge stabler who let out horses on hire, the choice always limited to the one next the door, the one that had been longest in, hence Hobson's Choice.

HOCCLEVE or OCCLEVE, THOMAS, an early English poet; had an appointment in the Exchequer Office in Henry V.'s time; his chief work is the "Government of Princes," but his poems have more linguistic than poetic interest; has left us an interesting portrait of his contemporary, Chaucer (1368-1448).

HOCHE, LA, French general, born near Versailles; rose from the ranks to the command of the army of the Moselle; drove the Austrians out of Alsace, and suppressed the rising in and pacified La Vendee; while yet a sergeant bore a hand conspicuously at the overturn of the Bastille (17681797).

HOCHKIRCH, a village in Saxony where Frederick the Great was defeated by the Austrian Marshal Daun in 1758.

HODGE. CHARLES, an American theologian, born at Philadelphia; graduated at Princeton, and in 1822 became professor in the Theological Seminary in Princeton, a post he held till the close of his life; besides founding and editing the Princeton Review, was the author of various commentaries, but is best known by his "Systematic Theology," which is still a standard text-book (1797-1878).

HODGKINSON, EATON, a distinguished engineer, born at Anderton, near Norwich; was professor of Engineering in University College, London; became a leading authority on bridge construction, and carried through elaborate experiments testing the strength of iron girders; co-operated in planning the Britannia Tubular Bridge (1789-1861).

HODGSON, BRIAN HOUGHTON, Orientalist, born near Macclesfield; served in the East India Company, and was Resident in Nepal for more than 20 years; was a voluminous writer on Eastern ethnology, languages, and zoology, and his valuable collection of MSS. remains the chief source of our knowledge of northern Buddhism (1800-1895).

HODSON, MAJOR WILLIAM, a noted leader during the Indian Mutiny; joined the Indian Army in 1845, fought through the first Sikh War, and subsequently held a civil post in the Punjab; on the outbreak of the Mutiny he became head of the Intelligence Department, and won celebrity as the daring but wild leader of an irregular cavalry regiment known as Hodson's Horse; he took part in the sieges of Delhi, and at Lucknow captured the Mogul Emperor; shot down with his own hand the young princes, and a few months later fell himself while storming a palace in the city (1821-1858).

HOF (25), a town of Bavaria, on the Saale, 40 m. NE. of Baireuth; has flourishing textile factories, breweries, and iron-works; is a.s.sociated with the early struggles of Jean Paul Richter.

HOFER, ANDREAS, Tyrolese patriot; was leader of the Tyrolese against the Bavarians and the French, and the emanc.i.p.ator thrice over of his country, but was eventually betrayed by his enemies into the hands of the French, condemned by court-martial at Mantua, and shot; his family were indemnified afterwards by the Emperor of Austria, and his son enn.o.bled (1767-1810).

HOFFMANN, AUGUST HEINRICH, poet and philologist, born at Fallersleben; studied literature and philology under the influence of the Grimms, and in 1835 was appointed professor of the German Language at Breslau, a post he forfeited seven years later by publishing "Lays" of somewhat radical tendencies; he led an unsettled life till 1860, when he became librarian to the Duke of Ratibor; his writings include "German Social Songs of the 16th and 17th Centuries," "German Philology," an "Autobiography" in six vols., lyrics, &c. (1798-1874).

HOFFMANN, ERNST THEODORE WILHELM, a celebrated German writer, whose versatility displayed itself in numerous tales, sketches, art-criticisms, &c., all bearing the impress of a strong, if wayward, intellect; born at Konigsberg, was trained to the law, and entered the State service; his position at Warsaw was lost to him on the entry of the French troops in 1806, and for some years he supported himself by musical criticism in Leipzig, and as Director of a Dresden Opera Company; in 1816 he was again in government service at Berlin, where he continued till his death; his writings are strongly characteristic of the romanticism of his time, while he himself was a witty, restless leader of Bohemian life (1776-1822).

HOGARTH, WILLIAM, a famous English painter, caricaturist, and engraver, born in London; served his time as a silversmith's apprentice; studied painting, and began to support himself by engraving and etching; unsuccessful in his attempts at portrait-painting, he at length found his true vocation in depicting the follies and vices of his age; "A Harlot's Progress," a series of six pictures engraved by himself, appeared in 1731, and was soon followed by others of a like nature, including "A Rake's Progress," "Strolling Actresses dressing in a Barn," "Marriage a la Mode," "Idleness and Industry"; he also produced some indifferent historical paintings; in 1757 he was appointed sergeant-painter to the king; in his own department Hogarth has never been equalled, and in the opinion of Sir Joshua Reynolds, never will be; the deep moral purpose of his best pictures, made known throughout the country by abundant prints, must have helped not a little to reform the manners of his time (1697-1764).

HOGG, JAMES, a Scottish poet, born in Ettrick; had little or no schooling; was bred a shepherd; took to rhyming; fell in with Sir Walter Scott, whom he a.s.sisted with his "Border Minstrelsy"; rented a farm, and first came into notice by the publication of his poem, the "Queen's Wake"; he wrote in prose as well as poetry, with humour as well as no little graphic power; "was," says Carlyle, "a little red-skinned stiff sack of a body, with two little blue or grey eyes that sparkled, if not with thought, yet with animation; was a _real_ product of nature"

(1782-1835).

HOHENLINDEN, a village in Upper Bavaria, 20 m. E. of Munich; celebrated as the scene of a victory by the French under Moreau over the Austrians under Archduke John on 3rd December 1800.

HOHENSTAUFFENS, THE, the third dynasty of the Romish kaisers, which held the imperial throne from 1138 to 1254, commencing with Frederick I., or Barbarossa, and ending with Conrad IV., five in all; derived their name from a castle on the Hohenstauffen Berg, by the left bank of the Danube, 30 m. below Stuttgart.

HOHENZOLLERNS, THE, the family which in 1415 became Electors of Brandenburg, kings of Prussia, and are now at length emperors of Germany; derived their name from an old castle so called near the springs of the Danube, a little way north from Constance and its lake.

HOLBACH, BARON VON, a French philosophe born in Heidelsheim, in the Palatinate, of wealthy parents; lived from youth all his days in Paris, kept a good table, and entertained all the "Encyclopedie" notabilities at his board; wrote "Systeme de la Nature," and was a materialist in philosophy and an atheist in religion, but a kind-hearted man (1723-1789).

HOLBEIN, HANS, a German painter, born at Augsburg, trained by his father; attracted the attention of Erasmus, who took a great interest in him, and persuaded him to go to England, and introduced him to Sir Thomas More, who in turn introduced him to Henry VIII.; here under Henry's patronage he remained, executing numerous portraits of his courtiers, till his death of the plague; his "Last Supper" and "Dance of Death" are well known (1497-1554).

HOLBERG, LUDWIG, BARON, an eminent Danish author, born at Bergen, in Norway; graduated at Copenhagen, where, after travel, he became professor of Metaphysics; subsequently he held in turn the chairs of Eloquence and of History; he was an author of great versatility, excelling as a writer of satires, comedies, and as historian of Church and State; his autobiography is an interesting work, and many of his plays and other works are among the accepted cla.s.sics of Danish literature (1684-1754).

HOLCROFT, THOMAS, journalist and political novelist, born in London; began life as an actor; wrote "Road to Ruin"; was charged with treason, but acquitted; left "Memoirs" (1744-1809).