but a loud, though yet gentle noise came from the heavens (for it was like nothing on earth), which did so comfort and cheer me, that I took my petition as granted, and that I had the sign demanded. Of the truth of this narrative he makes the most solemn assertions, and there is no reason to doubt that he fully believed it.

HERBERT (George), an English poet and divine, brother to Edward, was born in 1593, and educated at Cambridge. In 1619 he was chosen public orator of that university, and afterwards obtained a sinecure from the king. In 1626 he was appointed prebendary of Leighton Bromswold, in the diocese of Lincoln, and in 1630 rector of Bemerton, near Sarum. The great lord Bacon had such an opinion of his judgment, that he would not suffer his works to be printed before they had passed his examination. He wrote a volume of devout poems, called The Temple, and a prose work, entitled The priests to the Temple, or The Country Parson, &c. He died about 1635.

HERBERT (Mary), countess of Pembroke, sister of the famous Sir Philip Sidney, and wife of Henry earl of Pembroke. She was not only a lover of the Muses, but a great encourager of polite literature. Her brother dedicated his Arcadia to her. She translated a dramatic piece from the French, entitled Antonius, a tragedy. She also turned the Psalms of David into English metre; but it is doubtful whether these works were ever printed. She died in 1621. The following well known epitaph was written on her by Ben Jonson:

Underneath this sable hearse
Lies the subject of all verse,

Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother: Death! ere thou hast killed another, Fair, and good, and learn'd as she, Time shall throw a dart on thee. HERBERT (William), a modern bibliographical writer, was a native of Hertfordshire, and was educated at Hitchin. He carried on trade for some years as a hosier, in London; and subsequently went out to the East Indies as a purser's clerk. Here he employed his time in making charts and plans of the coasts and harbours, for which he obtained a handsome acknowledgment from the East India Company on his return. He then commenced business as a map and print seller, in which he was so successful as to be enabled to purchase an estate at Cheshunt. He now reprinted Sir Robert Atkyns's History of Gloucestershire: but his chief literary labor was an edition of Ames's Typographical Antiquities; or Account of the Origin and Progress of Printing in Great Britain and Ireland, considerably augmented, 1785-1790, 3 vols. 4to. He died at Cheshunt in 1795, aged seventy

six.

HERBINIUS (John), a native of Birschen in Silesia, born in 1632. He wrote a work entitled De Statu Ecclesiarum Augustana Confessionis in Poloniâ; 4to., 1670: and several curious tracts on cataracts and waterfalls, also in Latin. He died in 1676, aged forty-four.

HERBORN, a town of Germany, on the Dill, in the duchy of Nassau. Here is a celebrated high school, founded in 1584, which has the

privileges of a university; and an academy having four teachers. Population 2400. Three miles S. S. E. of Dillenburg.

HERBST (John Frederick William), a German entomologist, was born November 1st 1743, at Petershagen, in the principality of Minden; After having been for some years a teacher at Berlin he obtained the situation of almoner to a Prussian regiment; and, his talents becoming known, he was appointed preacher in severa churches of Berlin. He is, however, principally known as a naturalist; was director of the society of Friends of Natural History at Berlin; of the Royal Academy of Bavaria at Burghausen ; and of the Economical Society of Potsdam. His death took place November 5th 1807. He was the author of treatises on the natural history of crustaceous animals, insects, worms, scarabæi, butterflies, and apterous insects; all which works were published collectively at Berlin, 1785— 1804, under the title of a Natural System of all the known Insects, indigenous and exotic, with plates. Collections of his sermons have also been published.

HERCULANEUM, an ancient city of Campania in Italy, which together with Pompeii wa destroyed by an eruption of Vesuvius in the first year of the emperor Titus, or the seventyninth of the Christian era, and lately rendered famous on account of the curious monuments of antiquity discovered in its ruins: of these we purpose giving a detailed account under the article POMPEII AND HERCULANEUM.

The epocha of the foundation of Herculaneum is unknown. Dionysius Halicarnassensis conjectures that it may be referred to sixty years before the war of Troy, or about A. A. C. 1242; and therefore that it lasted about 1300 years. The thickness of the heap of lava, by which the city was overwhelmed, has been much increased by fiery streams vomited since that catastrophe ; and now forms a mass twenty-four feet deep of dark gray stone, which is easily broken to pieces. The precise situation of this subterraneous city was not known till 1713, when it was accidentally discovered by some laborers, who, in digging a well, struck upon a statue on the benches of the theatre. Many others were afterwards dug out, and sent to France by the prince of Elbœuf. But little progress was made in the excavations till Charles, infant of Spain, ascended the Neapolitan throne, by whose unwearied efforts and liberality a very considerable part of Herculaneum was explored. A large portion of these relics is deposited in a museum at Porteci, and in the royal palace at Naples. Of these the most valuable are doubtless the MSS., which are all however calcined, and a number of them, when exposed to the air, sunk to dust. Among the 1800 preserved, it has long been expected that some of the missing classics may be found. Those first examined were Greek; but a portion of them have been found to be in Latin. A plan for unrolling these MSS. was first invented by a Neapolitan monk; and his present majesty, when prince of Wales, undertook to defray the expense of this proceeding, and sent out Mr. Hayter, an English clergyman, to superintend it.

See HAYTER. But in 1806 the occupation of Naples by the French stopped his labors, the fruits of which were presented by the prince regent to the university of Oxford: no distinct account of them has as yet been given to the public. See POMPEII.

HERCULES, in fabulous history, a renowned hero, who after death was ranked among the gods, and received divine honors. According to the ancients, there were many persons of this name. Diodorus mentions three, Cicero six, and some Greek authors enumerate forty-three, either because several persons thought to do themselves honor by assuming this name, or, perhaps, because Hercules was not a proper name, but an appellative, derived, as Le Clerc conjectures, from the Phoenician word Harokel, merchant; and this learned author alleges, that the name was formerly given to the famous traders who migrated for the discovery of new countries, and for planting colonies there, and who frequently signalised themselves by clearing them of the wild beasts, &c. Of all these, one generally called the Theban Hercules is the most celebrated; and to him the actions of the others have been attributed. He is reported to have been the son of Jupiter by Alcmena (wife to Amphitryon, king of Argos), whom Jupiter enjoyed in the shape of her husband, while he was absent. Amphitryon, having soon after accidentally killed his uncle and father-in-law Electryon, was obliged to fly to Thebes, where Hercules was born. The jealousy of Juno prompting her to destroy the infant, she sent two serpents to kill him in the cradle, but young Hercules strangled them both. He was early instructed in the liberal arts: Castor, the son of Tyndarus, taught him to fight; Eurytus, to shoot; Autolycus to drive a chariot; Linus to play on the lyre; and Eumolpus to sing; while the instructions of Chiron, the centaur, rendered him the most valiant and accomplished hero of the age. In his eighteenth year he delivered the neighbourhood of Mount Citharon from a huge lion, which preyed on the flocks of Amphitryon, and laid waste the adjacent country. He went to the court of Thespius, king of Thespes, who shared in the general calamity, by whom he was hospitably entertained for fifty days; during which time, or as some say even in one night, he debauched the king's fifty daughters. He next delivered his country from the tribute of 100 oxen, annually paid to Erginus. Such public services became universally known; and Creon, king of Thebes, rewarded his patriotic deeds by giving him his daughter in marriage, and entrusting him with the government. Eurystheus, the son of Amphitryon, having succeeded his father, became jealous of Hercules; and, lest he should deprive him of his crown, left no means untried to get rid of him. On this, Hercules consulted the oracle; but, being answered that it was the pleasure of the gods that he should serve Eurystheus twelve years, he fell into a deep melancholy, which at last ended in a furious madness; during which, among other desperate actions, he put away his wife Megara, and murdered all the children he had by her. As an expiation of this crime, the king

imposed upon him twelve labors, surpassing the power of all other mortals to accomplish, which, nevertheless, our hero performed with ease, the favors of the gods having indeed completely armed him. He had received a coat of armour and helmet from Minerva, a sword from Mercury, a horse from Neptune, a shield from Jupiter, a bow and arrows from Apollo, and from Vulcan a golden cuirass and brazen buskin, with a celebrated club of brass. His first labor was the killing of a lion in Nemaa, a wood of Achaia; whose hide was proof against any weapon, so that he was forced to seize him by the throat and strangle him. He carried the dead beast on his shoulders to Mycenae, and ever after clothed himself with the skin. Eurystheus was so astonished at the sight of the beast, and at the courage of Hercules, that he ordered him never to enter the gates of the city when he returned from his expeditions, but to wait for his orders without the walls. He even got a brazen vessel made, into which he retired whenever Hercules returned. The second labor was to destroy the Lernæan hydra, which had seven heads according to Apollodorus, fifty according to Simonides, and 100 according to Diodorus. This monster he first attacked with his arrows; but soon after, by means of his heavy club, he destroyed the heads of his enemy. This, however, was productive of no advantage; for as soon as one head was beaten to pieces by the club, two sprang up; and the labor of Hercules would have remained unfinished, had not he commanded his friend Iolaus to burn with a hot iron the root of the head which he had crushed to pieces. This succeeded; and Hercules became victorious, opened the belly of the monster, and dipped his arrows in the gall, to render the wounds they should give incurable. He was ordered in his third labor to bring alive and unhurt into the presence of Eurystheus a stag, famous for its incredible swiftness, its golden horns, and brazen feet. This celebrated animal frequented the neighbourhood of Enoe; and Hercules was employed for a whole year in pursuing it; at last he caught it in a trap, when tired. The fourth labor was to bring alive to Eurystheus a wild boar which ravaged the neighbourhood of Erymanthus. In this expedition he destroyed the centaurs, and caught the boar by closely pursuing him through the deep snow. Eurystheus was so frightened at the sight of the boar, that, according to Diodorus, he hid himself in his brazen vessel for some days. In his fifth labor Hercules was ordered to cleanse the stables of Augeas, where 3000 oxen had been confined for many years. For his sixth labor he was ordered to kill the carnivorous birds which ravaged the country near the lake Stymphalus in Arcadia. In his seventh labor he caught alive, in the Peleponnesus, a prodigious wild bull, which laid waste the island of Crete. In his eighth labor he was employed in obtaining the mares of Diomedes, king of Thrace, which fed upon human flesh. He killed Diomedes, and gave him to be eaten by his mares, which he brought to Eurystheus, who sent them to Moun. Olympus, where they were devoured by wild beasts;

though some say they were consecrated to Jupiter, and that a breed of them still existed in the age of Alexander the Great. For his ninth labor, he was commanded to obtain the girdle of the queen of the Amazons. In his tenth labor he killed the monster Geryon, king of Gades, and brought to Argos his numerous flocks, which fed upon human flesh. This was in Iberia or Spain; in the furthest parts of which he erected his two pillars as the utmost limits of the then known world. These ten labors he achieved in about eight years. In this last expedition he likewise killed Antæus, a monstrous giant, who, when weary with wrestling or labor, was immediately refreshed by touching his mother the Earth. Hercules overcame him in wrestling,. and slew him; and after him the tyrant Busiris, king of Egypt, who used to sacrifice all strangers upon his altars; but was slain by Hercules, with all his attendants. His eleventh labor was the carrying away the Hesperian golden apples kept by a dragon. See HESPERIDES. The twelfth and last, and most dangerous of his labors, was to bring up to the earth the threeheaded dog Cerberus. Descending into hell by a cave on mount Tænarus, he was permitted by Pluto to carry away his friends Theseus and Pirithous, who were condemned to punishment in hell, and Cerberus also was granted to his prayers, provided he made use of no arms to drag him away. Hercules carried him back to hell after he had brought him before Eurystheus. Many other exploits were performed by Hercules. He accompanied the Argonauts to Colchis before he delivered himself up to Eurystheus. He assisted the gods in their wars against the giants, and it was through him that Jupiter obtained the victory. He conquered Laomedon, and pillaged Troy. When Iole, the daughter of Eurytus king of Echalia, of whom he was deeply enamoured, was refused to his entreaties, he fell into a second fit of insanity, and murdered Iphitus, the only one of the sons of Eurytus who favored his addresses to Iole. He was afterwards purified of the murder, and his insanity ceased; but he was visited by a disorder which obliged him to apply to the oracle of Delphi for relief. The coldness with which the Pythia received him irritated him, and he resolved to plunder Apollo's temple, and carry away the sacred tripod. Apollo opposed him, and a severe conflict was begun, which nothing but the interference of Jupiter could have settled. He was upon this told by the oracle that he must be sold as a slave, and remain three years in the most abject servitude to recover from his disorder. He complied, and Mercury, by order of Jupiter, conducted him to Omphale, queen of Lydia, to whom he was sold as a slave. Here he cleared all the country from robbers; and Omphale, astonished at the greatness of his exploits, married him. Hercules had Agelaus and Lamon by Omphale, from whom Croesus king of Lydia was descended. He became also enamoured of one of Omphale's female servants, by whom he had Alcæus. After he had completed the years of his slavery, he returned to Peloponnesus, where he restored to the throne of Sparta Tyu

darus, who had been expelled by Hippocoon. He became one of Dejanira's suitors, and, after overcoming all his rivals, married her. He was obliged to leave his father-in-law's kingdom Calydon, because he had inadvertently killed a man with a blow of his fist; and on this account he was not present at the hunting of the Calydonian boar. From Calydon he retired to the court of Ceyx king of Trachina, who received him and his wife with great marks of friendship, and purified him of the murder which he had committed at Calydon. He next made war against Eurytus, who had refused him his daughter lole, and killed him with three of his sons. Iole fell into his hands, and accompanied him to mount Eta, where he intended to offer a solemn sacrifice to Jupiter. As he had not then the shirt and tunic in which he sacrificed, he sent Lichas to Trachin to Dejanira, to provide him a proper dress. Dejanira had some time before been attempted by the Centaur Nessus, as he was ferrying her over the river Evenus; and Hercules, beholding it from the shore, had mortally wounded him with one of his poisoned arrows. Nessus finding himself dying, advised her to mix some oil with the blood which flowed from his wound, and to anoint her husband's shirt with it, pretending that it would infallibly secure him from loving any other woman; and she, apprized of his inconstancy, had actually prepared the poisoned ointment accordingly. Lichas, coming to her for the garments, acquainted her with his having brought away Iole; upon which she anointed his shirt with the fatal mixture. This had no sooner touched his body than he felt the poison diffused through his veins; the violent pain of which made him disband his army, and return to Trachin. His torment increasing, he sent to consult the oracle for a cure; and was answered, that he should cause himself to be conveyed to mount Eta, and there rear up a pile of wood, and leave the rest to Jupiter. Having obeyed the oracle, and his pains becoming intolerable, he dressed himself in his martial habit, flung himself upon the pile, and desired the bystanders to set fire to it; or, as others say, his son Philoctetes, who, having performed his father's command, had his bow and arrows given him as a reward. At the same time Jupiter sent a flash of lightning, which consumed both the pile and the hero; Iolaus, coming to take up his bones, found nothing but ashes; from which it was concluded, that he was gone to heaven, and admitted among the gods. His friends raised an altar where the burning pile had stood; and Mencetius the son of Actor sacrificed a bull, a wild boar, and a goat; and enjoined the people of Opus to observe these ceremonies annually. His worship soon became as universal as his fame; and Juno, forgetting her resentment, gave him her daughter Hebe in marriage. Hercules has many surnames, from the places where his worship was established, and from the labors he had achieved. His temples were numerous and magnificent, and his divinity revered. No dogs or flies entered his temple at Rome: and that of Gades, according to Strabo, was always forbidden to women and pigs. The Phoenicians of fered quails on his altars; and, as he was

supposed to preside over dreams, the sick and infirm were sent to sleep in his temples, that they might receive in their dreams the agreeable presages of their approaching recovery. The white poplar was particularly dedicated to his service. None even of the twelve great gods of antiquity have so many ancient monuments as Hercules. The famous statue of Hercules, in the Farnese palace at Rome, is well known to the connoisseurs. It represents him resting after the last of his twelve labors above recited, leaning on his club, and holding the apples of the Hesperides in his hand. In this statue, as in all the other figures of him, he is formed, by the breadth of his shoulders, the spaciousness of his chest, the largeness of his size, and firmness of his muscles, to express strength and a capacity of enduring great fatigue, which constituted the chief idea of virtue among the ancient heathens. His other attributes are his lion's skin, his club, and his bow. Hercules is represented by the ancients as an exemplar of virtue: however, the Hercules bibax, or drunken Hercules, is no uncommon figure; and his amours are described both by the poets and artists. Thus the Cupids are made to take away his club, and he is exhibited in the posture of bending under a little boy; by which is meant, that he who conquered all difficulties was a slave to love. His children were as numerous as the labors and difficulties which he underwent; and indeed they became so powerful soon after his death, that they alone had the courage to invade Peloponnesus. See HERACLIDE. The apotheosis of Hercules, or the establishment of his altars in the principal cities of Greece, is fixed by Thrasybulus twentynine years before the taking of Troy. Hercules has been honored by the Greeks by the name of Musagetes, the conductor of the Muses; and at Rome by that of Hercules Musarum. represented on medals with a lyre in his hand; and the reverse is marked with the figure of the nine Muses, with their proper symbols.

He is

HERCULES, in astronomy, a constellation of the northern hemisphere. See ASTRONOMY.

HERCULES'S PILLARS, in ancient geography, two lofty mountains, one situated on the most southern extremity of Spain, and the other on the opposite part of Africa. They were called ABYLA and CALPE (see those articles); were reckoned the boundaries of the labors of Hercules; and were fabled to have been joined together till they were severed by that hero, and a communication opened between the Mediterranean and Atlantic.

HERCYNA, a river of Baotia, issuing from a rock in two streams, near the town of Livadia. One from its muddy appearance was called by the ancients by the name of Lethe or Oblivion; the other Mnemosyne, or Memory, being a small limpid stream.

HERCYNIA SILVA, the Hercynian Forest, in ancient geography, the largest of forests. Its breadth was a journey of nine days. From the limits of the Helvetii, Nemetes, and Rauraci, it extended along the Danube to the borders of the Daci and Anartes, a length of sixty days' journey, according to Cæsar, who appears to have been well acquainted with its true breadth, as it VOL. XI.

occupied all Lower Germany. It may therefore be considered as covering the whole of Germany; and most of the other forests may be considered as parts of it, though distinguished by particular names; consequently the Hartz, in the duchy of Brunswick, which gave name to the whole, was one of its parts. By the Greeks it was called Orcynius, a name common to all the forests in Germany; and Hercynius by the Romans; both from the German Hartz.

HERD, n. s., v. a. & v. n.
HERD'GROOM, n. s..
HERD'MAN, n. s.

HERDS MAN, n. s.

Saxon peop; Goth.herd; Swed. herde; originally signifying a guard

or keeper, then the flock or thing guarded. A number of beasts together; a word peculiarly applicable to black cattle: a company of men, in contempt or detestation; anciently a keeper of cattle, as goatherd: herd, to run in companies; to associate; to throw or put into a herd. The other words signify persons employed in keeping and tending herds; or the owners thereof.

Almighty Lord! o Jesu Crist! quod he, Sower of chast conseil! hierde of us aile!

Chaucer. The Second Nonnes Tale. "Ther n'as baillif, ne herde, ne other hine, That he ne knew his sleight and his covine. Id. Prologue to the Cant. Tales. And many a floite, and litlyng horne, And pipes made of greenè corne, As have these little herdegromes That kepen bestes in the bromes.

Id. The House of Fame. But who shall judge the wager won or lost? That shall yonder herdgroom, and none other. Spenser.