HESIOD, one of the earliest Greek poets, born in Boeotia, lived in the 8th century B.C., chiefly at Orchomenos, probably of humble birth; of the works ascribed to him the principal were the "Works and Days" the "Theogony," and the "Shield of Hercules"; his poems treat of the quiet pursuits of ordinary life, the origin of the world, the gods and heroes, while those of Homer are occupied with the restless and active enterprises of the heroic age.
HESPERIDES, maidens of high degree appointed to guard the golden apples presented to Hera by Gaia on her marriage with Zeus, assisted in their office by the dragon Ladon; the apples were stolen by Hercules, but were afterwards restored by Athene.
HESPERUS, the personification of the evening star and an object of worship.
HESSE or HESSE-DARMSTADT (993), a grand-duchy of the German empire, lies partly in, and partly on the border of, SW. Prussia; consists of two large portions, divided by a strip of Hesse-Nassau, and 11 enclaves; half the land is under cultivation, and the greater part of what remains is covered with forest; its many rivers belong mostly to the Rhine system; corn is raised in large quantities, iron and manganese are found, and there are flourishing manufactures of leather, upholstery, tobacco, &c.; the legislative power is vested in two chambers; Mainz is the largest town, and Darmstadt the capital.
HESSE-CASSEL (745), a government district in HESSE-NASSAU (q. v.); as an electorate it sided with Austria in 1866, which brought about its incorporation with Prussia.
HESSE-NASSAU (1,664), a province in the SW. of Germany, between the Rhine on the W. and Bavaria and Saxony on the E.; was formed in 1868 out of the electorate of Hesse-Cassel, duchy of Nassau, &c.; the country is hilly, abounds in minerals, which are extensively worked, but agriculture and cattle-rearing are the chief industries; the medicinal springs of Homburg, Wiesbaden, &c., are celebrated; Cassel is noted for its gold and silver ware; damasks and other textiles are produced at Fulda, and at Hanau are flourishing iron-works; Marburg has a fine university.
HESTIA, called Vesta by the Romans, the Greek goddess of the hearth, or rather the fire that burns in it, the guardian of domestic life, conceived of as a most sacred charge.
HESYCHASTS, a religious sect of the 14th century belonging to the Greek Church; consisted chiefly of a community of monks who dwelt at Mount Athos; they professed a kind of QUIETISM (q. v.), and were noted for their practice of sitting for hours daily with their eyes fixed upon the navel (regarding the stomach as the seat of the soul); in this position they professed to see a divine light beaming out upon them, and to enjoy therein a specially intimate communion with God. See ATHOS, MOUNT.
HESYCHIUS, a Greek grammarian of the 5th century, born at Alexandria; produced a Greek lexicon of great philological value.
HEUSCHRECKE, HOFRATH (i. e. State-Councillor Grasshopper), a loose, zigzag figure in "Sartor," a mend and blind admirer of Teufelsdrockh's, an incarnation of distraction distracted, and all the counsellor the "editor" had to advise him and encourage him in his work; a victim to "timidity" and preyed on by an uncomfortable sense of mere "physical cold," such as the majority of the State counsellors of the day were.
HEXATEUCH, the name given to the first six books of the Bible.
HEXHAM (6), an interesting old town in Northumberland, prettily situated on the Tyne, 24 m. W. of Newcastle; has a fine cruciform abbey church, portions of which belong to the 12th century, and beautiful remains of a 7th-century monastery; the staple industries are glove and hat making; the river is spanned by a stone bridge of nine arches.
HEYLIN, PETER, English divine, born at Burford; graduated at Oxford, and in 1629 became chaplain-in-ordinary to Charles I.; was a zealous champion of the Church of England; forfeited his livings and property during the Puritan ascendency, but was reinstated at the Restoration; he wrote a "Defence of the Church of England," "Life of Bishop Laud," &c.
(1600-1662).
HEYNE, CHRISTIAN GOTTLOB, a German classical scholar, born at Chemnitz, son of a poor weaver, and reared all along almost on the verge of destitution; became eminent by his heroic devotion to scholarship, both as a translator and editor of classical works, his edition of "Virgil" the chief in the latter department; Carlyle almost ranks him among his heroes, and ascribes superlative merit to his book on Virgil (1729-1812).
HEYSE, PAUL JOHANN, German poet and novelist, born at Berlin; in 1854 he settled at Munich, where he enjoyed the patronage of King Max of Bavaria; he has been a voluminous writer of popular novelettes, novels, dramas, and narrative poems, besides which he has executed translations of Leopardi, Giusti, and other Italian authors; _b_. 1830.
HEYWOOD (23), a town of Lancashire, 9 m. N. of Manchester; owes its rapid growth to the neighbouring coal-fields and the development of the cotton industry; has also flourishing iron and brass foundries, woollen factories, &c.
HEYWOOD, JOHN, a dramatic poet, a favourite with Henry VIII. and his court; wrote farces, the characters of which were drawn from real life, presumably not hard to identify at the time (1479-1565).
HEZEKIAH, a king of Judah; reigned from 725 to 697 B.C.; distinguished for his zeal in the celebration of the worship of Jehovah and for his weakness in making a parade of his wealth; reigned in the golden age of Hebrew prophecy, Isaiah and Micah being his contemporaries.
HIAWATHA, the subject of a poem of Longfellow's; a personage reverenced by the North American Indians as the founder among them of the arts of peace, as well as the clearer of the forests.
HIBBERT LECTURES, unsectarian lectures instituted by the trustees of Robert Hibbert, a West India merchant, devoted to the discussion of unsolved problems in theology.
HIBERNIA, the classical name for Ireland, which to the ancient world was in the main a _terra incognita_.
HICKS, ELIAS, an American preacher of the Quaker connection, who adopted Unitarian views and caused a split in the body (1748-1830).
HICKS-BEACH, SIR MICHAEL EDWARD, Conservative politician, born in London; educated at Eton and Oxford, and in 1864 entered Parliament; took office as Under-Secretary for Home Affairs under Disraeli, and in 1874 became Secretary for Ireland; four years later he was Lord Carnarvon's successor at the Colonial Office, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons in 1885, Secretary for Ireland in 1886, President of the Board of Trade in 1888, and in 1895, on the formation of a Coalition Ministry, again became Chancellor of the Exchequer; _b_. 1837.
HIERAPOLIS, 1, an ancient city of Syria Cyrrhestica, now in ruins, situated between Antioch and Mesopotamia, 14 m. W. of the Euphrates; had considerable commercial importance, and was famous for its great temple of Astarte. 2, A city of ancient Phrygia, 5 m. N. of Laodicea; the birthplace of Epictetus, and where Paul founded a church; was celebrated for its hot springs.
HIERO I., tyrant of Syracuse; broke the naval power of Etruria by victory over the Etruscan fleet near Cannae, 474 B.C.; was an enlightened patron of men of letters, many of whom he entertained at his court, aeschylus, Pindar, and Simonides among the number; _d_. 467 B.C.
HIERO II., king of Syracuse, for near half a century the steadfast friend and ally of the Romans; unlike his namesake he was averse to display, and was accustomed to appear in public in the garb of a common citizen; he ruled his country well; _d_. 216 B.C. at the age of 92.
HIERONYMUS. See JEROME.
HIGDEN, RALPH, author of the "Polychronicon"; was a Benedictine monk, who spent his long life in St. Werburgh's monastery, Chester; the work with which his name is associated is an account of the world down to the end of Edward III.'s reign, but the chronicle of the last 50 years is supposed to have been written by other hands; Caxton published a translation made by John Trevisa; _d_. about 1307.
HIGGINS, MATTHEW JAMES, essayist, wrote under the _nom de plume_ of "Jacob Omnium," born at Benown, Ireland; was educated at Eton and Oxford, and spent many years in European travel; his numerous papers, which appeared in the leading magazines and newspapers, were principally directed against social abuses, and are characterised by a humour and pungent irony not unlike his friend Thackeray's (1810-1868).
HIGGINSON, THOMAS WENTWORTH, an American author and abolitionist, born at Cambridge, Massachusetts; graduated at Harvard, and took orders, but resigned in 1858 to devote himself to politics in the anti-slavery interest; during the Civil War he commanded the first regiment of freed slaves; subsequently he resumed literary work, and in 1880 became a member of the Massachusetts Legislature; he wrote a "History of the United States," "Army Life in a Black Regiment," &c.; _b_. 1823.
HIGH CHURCH, that section of the Episcopal Church in England who attach supreme importance to the administration of word and sacrament by clergy duly ordained, and regarded by them as such, the sole divinely appointed media of divine grace.
HIGH PLACES, elevated spots on which altars were erected for worship in the rude belief that, as they were nearer heaven than the plains and valleys, they were more favourable places for prayer. The practice of worship on these spots, though from the first forbidden, became frequent among the Jews, and was with difficulty abolished, though denounced time after time by the prophets as an affront to Jehovah.
HIGH SEAS, as understood in international law means the entire sea or ocean area which lies beyond a three-mile belt of coast water. This coastal strip is called the _mare clausum_, and the rights of fishing, &c., in it are reserved to the country upon which it borders.