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are a hart couchant in the water; but they are probably derived from the name of the town. Alfred erected a castle here to check the depredations of the Danes, who came by water from the Thames to Ware; and several Saxon monarchs held courts here. There are in Hertford two parish churches, All Saints' and St. Andrew's. The governors of Christ's Hospital, in London, have a gallery in the latter for the accommodation of the children of their school here, which contains about 400 boys and sixty girls. Here are three dissenters' meeting-houses, a well-established Sunday-school, and a public charity-school for boys and girls. The county gaol and penitentiary-house is a new and commodious building. The town has had several charters of incorporation, but is now governed by a mayor, a high-steward (who is generally a nobleman), a recorder, nine aldermen, a town clerk, a chamberlain,ten capital burgesses, sixteen assistants, and two sergeants at mace. The county election is held here in the shire-hall, a noble building erected by Mr. Adam, in 1780. The electors of the borough consist of householders, and such freenien as were inhabitants when made free. The number of voters exceeds 620. In the reign of William I. a priory of Benedictine monks was founded here, under the abbey of St. Alban's: the remains of its castle consist at present of a gate-house, and an ancient wall with angular towers. The market on Saturday is well supplied with grain. Fairs, second Saturday before Easter-Sunday, Old May-day, Old Midsummer-day, and November 8th, all for

cattle.

HERTFORD COLLEGE, is an important establishment of the East India Company at Hertford. The establishment of this college arose out of a project of the marquis of Wellesley; who, during his administration in India, founded at Calcutta a collegiate institution, to provide the means of acquiring a knowledge of the languages, the laws, and the local usages of our Indian empire, The directors of the East India Company disapproved in part of the plans of the governor-general; but they at the same time felt the necessity of giving some knowledge to those whom they had nominated as writers: the result was the establishment of the Hertford College.

The system of instruction here adopted holds a medium between the strictness of our public schools and the laxity of the English universities. Every youth, upon being nominated by a director, must, previous to his admission, produce a testimonial from his schoolmaster, and pass an examination in Greek, Latin, and arithmetic, before the professors: those who are found deficient are remanded till another period; for the lectures of the different professors in the college are given in a manner to make preparation necessary, and to encourage most effectually habits of future application. They embrace, in substance, all the important parts of classical literature, the oriental languages, the elements of mathematics and natural philosophy, the laws of England, general history, and political economy.

Examinations take place twice a year, which

continue twelve days; and are conducted upon the general plan of the collegiate examinations of our universities, particularly of Cambridge, The questions are framed with a view to ascertain the degree of progress and actual proficiency in each particular department on the subjects studied during the term; and the answers, in all practicable cases, are given in writing, in the presence of the professors, and without reference to books. After the examination is over, the professor of each department reviews, at his leisure, the papers he has received, and places, as nearly as he can, each individual in the nume rical order of his relative merit, and in certain divisions implying his degree of positive merit. These arrangements are finally subject to the control of the whole collegiate body. Besides these classifications, prize-medals, books, and honorary distinctions, are awarded to those who are the heads of classes, or as high as second, third, fourth, or fifth, in two, three, four, or five, departments. The course of study occupies two years, and is designed to commence at such an age, that the student may be ready to proceed to India by the time he is eighteen or nineteen years old: having thus begun the study of the oriental languages, he is prepared to prosecute them with advantage at Calcutta, so as to proceed to any official appointment on arriving at his majority.

Each pupil, of whom there are eighty, pays £100 per annum to the college; which is not thought to cost the company more than £10,000 a year. Among its professors this college has already ranked the distinguished names of Sir James Mackintosh and Mr. Malthus.

HERTFORDSHIRE, a county of England, which, as well as those of Bedford and Bucks. belonged to the Cassii, or Catieuchlani, terms signifying men in hostility, or of battle; the latter particularly meaning warriors of the coverts. After the Romans had obtained possession of the island, it was included in the province or district called Flavia Cæsariensis. During the Saxon usurpation it was unequally divided between the kingdom of the East Saxons and that of Mercia. The name of Hertford, the county town, seems to be derived from much the same source as that of the county just described. It was also written Hereford by the Saxon authors, which is thought to be a corruption of Here Ford, i. e. the Army's Ford.

This is an inland county, situated between the parallels of 51° 37′ and 52° 5' N. lat. It is bounded on the north and west by Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire, by Buckinghamshire on the west, by Essex on the east, and by Middlesex on the south. 'It measures,' says Mr. Young, 'twenty-eight miles from east to west, thirty-six miles from north to south, and 130 miles in circumference.' It contains eight hundreds, nineteen market-towns, 120 parishes, and 949 villages. It is in the dioceses of London and Lincoln, the province of Canterbury, and is included in the home circuit.

Of the climate of this county Mr. Young writes, "I met with no registers of the weather: nor would they probably have contained any thing materially different from other counties

equally southern. The harvest is not forwarder here than in Cambridgeshire; and in the thick est woodland parts, where the soil is wet, it is not so forward as in the more open parts of that adjacent county.' The air, however, is deemed generally mild and healthy. The surface is in many parts richly diversified with hill and dale, clothed with noble woods, and thickly studded with numberless parks attached to the seats of the nobility and gentry.

The soils, as delineated on Mr. Young's map, are of the following character: Much the largest portion, occupying all the western border, and extending diagonally beyond the middle of the county, as far as Wotton-Wood Hall, and also round Hertford, is loam of different qualities. The next portion is clay, occupying two districts; the smallest of which is the southern, a stiff, harsh, and tenacious soil; the other, which is much the largest, is the north-east district, consisting of rather a strong wet loam, on a stiff basis of clay-marl. The chalky district extends along a great part of the north-west borders, south-west and due east of Baldock the eastern extremity. But chalk forms the basis, at different depths, of the whole county. The surface chalk consists of two variations:-chalk with no other mixture than what ages of cultivation and manuring have added, and what is called marm, which is a white marl, from a mixture of a portion of clay. Both these soils are good, but the latter is the best. The fourth, or last district, is denominated poor gravel.' It is a small triangular patch, having the town of Hatfield nearly in the centre of its base. Besides these, there is a small slip of rich loam extending along the borders of the county, between Theobald's and Hoddesdon. But all these soils are extremely varied and intermixed.

The principal rivers are the Lea and the Colne, and these two are composed of many inferior streams, most of whose sources lie in this county. The Lea rises near Lea-Grove Bedfordshire, enters Herts near Bower Heath, and, traversing the county in a north-westerly direction, joins the Stort about a mile east of Hoddesdon, then runs nearly south, and continues with that river, for the most part, the boundary of the county towards the east. The Colne, being the same river that is called Verulam, Verlam, or Muse River, rises in the hundred of Dacorum, near Marget Street, and the confines of Bedfordshire. It runs S.S. E. to St. Alban's, and by the walls of the Roman Verulam; thence nearly south till it loses its original name of Verulam and its consequence, near Colney Street, in the river Colne, which is there a small stream, and rises near Kit's End in Middlesex. Besides these, there are several smaller streams, particularly the Maren, the Beane, the Rib, the Quin, the Ash, and the Gade. The Nine-Sister Spring of the celebrated Cam at Ashmead, the source of the Hix near Hitchin, and the sources of other rivers are in this county.-The Grand Junction Canal, from Braunston Wharf on the Coventry Canal to Old Brentford, where it joins the Thames, enters the county of Hertford above Berkhamstead, and follows the course of the Bulbum and Gade to Rickmansworth; and

thence the course of the Colne, till it leaves the county.-The few medicinal springs of this province are chiefly chalybeate; these are confined to the south part. Some incrustating springs have been noticed near Colthall, in the northern part of the county.-The agricultural produce consists principally of wheat, barley, and apples: there are no minerals of any consequence.

Hertfordshire sends six members to parliament: viz. two for the county, two for Hertford, two for St. Alban's.

Hertfordshire has produced the following celebrated characters: viz. St. Alban, the protomartyr of England, born at Verulam, now St. Alban's, in the third century. He suffered during the Dioclesian persecution, A. D. 303.John Shute, lord viscount Barrington, a learned and pious nobleman and theological writer, was born at Theobalds, 1678. Died 1734.-Nicholas Brekespeare, Pope Adrian IV., the only Englishman who ever attained that dignity, was born at Langley near St. Alban's; he died, not without suspicion of poison, in 1159.-The pious and amiable poet Cowper, was born at Berkhamstead, 1741; died April 25th, 1800.—Richard Cromwell, eldest son of Oliver, was born at Cheshunt, 1626; died 1712.-Sir Richard Fanshawe, a statesman and poet, born at Ware, 1607; died 1666.-Robert Hill, a remarkable self-taught linguist; born at Tring, 1699; died 1777.-Sir John King, an eminent lawyer, born at St. Alban's, 1639; died about 1677.-Sir John Mandeville, a remarkable traveller, born at St. Alban's; died at Liege, 1371.-Thomas Stanley, a learned poet and historian, born in this county, in 1644; died 1678.—John Walker, the worthy author of the Pronouncing Dictionary, and several other valuable works,born at Barnet, 1732; died 1807.-Seth Ward, a learned divine and mathematician born at Buntingford, 1617; died in a state of insanity, 1689. Hertford, the county town, gives the title of marquis to the Seymour-Conway family. This county may be said in general to be destitute of manufactures; yet not entirely so. Plaiting straw is a resource for poor women and children in one part of the county, and is carried on to a great extent in and near Dunstable, and at Redbourne, St. Alban's, Berkhamstead, Hitchin, &c.—Malt is also made to a considerable extent.

HERTHA, or HERTHUS, in mythology, a goddess worshipped by the ancient Germans. She is mentioned by Tacitus, in his book De Moribus Germanorum, cap 40.. Vossius supposes that this goddess was Cybele: but she was more properly Terra or the Earth; for the Germans still use hert for the earth, whence also the English word earth.

HERVEY (James), a clergyman of exemplary piety, was born in 1714, and succeeded his father in the livings of Weston-Favell, and Collingtree, in Northamptonshire. These, being within five miles of each other, he attended alternately with his curate; till, being confined by ill health, he resided constantly at Weston; where he diligently pursued the labors of the ministry and his studies. This excellent divine died on Christmas day 1758, leaving the little he possessed to buy warm clothing for the poor in

that severe season. No work is more generally or deservedly known than his Meditations and Contemplations: containing Meditations among the Tombs, Reflections on a Flower-garden, a Descant on Creation, Contemplations on the Night and Starry Heavens, and a Winter Piece. The sublime sentiments in these pieces have the peculiar advantage of being conveyed in a a flowing elegant language, and they have accordingly gone through many editions. He published, besides, Remarks on lord Bolingbroke's Letters on History; Theron and Aspasio, or a Series of Dialogues and Letters on the most Important Subjects; some sermons and other tracts. HERY, v. a. Sax. þeɲian, to praise; to celebrate. To hallow; to regard as holy. Now no longer in use.

And whan that folk it to his fader told, Not only he, but all his contree mery

taken place January the 7th, 1660. Two letters which he wrote on military service have been published; 1. Concerning the revolt and recovery of Tinemouth Castle; London, 1648, 4to.; and 2. A Letter to William Lenthall, concerning a great victory obtained by the Parliament Forces in Northumberland, London, 1648, folio.

HESHUSIUS (Tilleman), a German Lutheran divine, born at Wessel in 1526. He wrote, 1. Commentaries on the Psalms: 2. On Isaiah: 3. On St. Paul's Epistles; and, 4, On Justification and the Lord's Supper. He died in 1588.

HESIOD, a very ancient Greek poet; but whether contemporary with Homer, or a little older, is not agreed among the learned. His father, as he tells us in his Opera et Dies, was an inhabitant of Cumæ, one of the Æolian Isles, now called Taio Nova; and removed thence to

Was for this childe, and God they thanke and hery. Ascra, a little village of Boeotia, at the foot of

Chaucer. The Clerkes Tale.

But by the mouth of children thy bountee, Parfourmed is, for on the brest sinking Sometime shewen they thin herying.

Chaucer. The Prioresses Tale. Then wouldst thou learn to carol of love, And hery with hymns thy lasse's glove.

Spenser. HESBON, ESEBON, or HESHBON, in ancient geography, the royal city of the Amorites, in the tribe of Reuben, according to Moses; though in Josh. xxi. 39, where it is reckoned among the Levitical cities, it is put in the tribe of Gad; which proves its situation to be on the confines of both.

HESDIN, a well built and fortified town in the department of the Pas-de-Calais, France, situated among the marshes of the small river Canche. Including the four suburbs contiguous, Hesdin contains about 5000 inhabitants, chiefly employed in the manufacture of stockings, caps, &c. It is twelve miles south-east of Montreuil, and twenty-seven west of Arras.

HESELRIGE (Sir Arthur), Bart., was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Heselrige, of Nosely, in Leicestershire, a gentleman of an ancient family, and succeeded to the title on the death of his father, in 1629. He was one of the representatives in parliament for the county of Leicester in 1640, when he distinguished himself by his opposition to the arbitrary measures of the court; and was active in procuring a bill of attainder against lord Stafford. His name appears among the members of parliament, whose arrest was the object of Charles I.'s visit to the house of commons. In the civil wars, Sir Arthur Heselrige was governor of Newcastle; and commanded a regiment of cuirassiers, which he had raised. He also acted at the head of a committee at Leicester, for the confiscation of the property of the royalists. He particularly attached himself to Cromwell, whose confidence he enjoyed; and, after the death of the king, was appointed one of the council of state. The protector likewise nominated him a member of his house of peers. At the beginning of the Restoration, he endeavoured to counteract the designs of Monk; and did not live to witness the triumph of the royal cause, his death having

Mount Helicon,where Hesiod was probably born. Of what rank his father was is no where said; but that he was driven by misfortunes from Cuma to Ascra, Hesiod himself informs us. His father seems to have prospered better at Ascra, than he did in his own country; yet Hesiod could arrive at no higher fortune than keeping sheep on the top of Mount Helicon. Here he first devoted himself to the service of the Muses, as he boasts in his Generatio Deorum :

Erewhile as yet the shepherd swain behold, Feeding beneath the sacred mount his fold, With love of charming song, his breast they fired: There me the heavnenly muses first inspired; There, when the maids of Jove the silence broke, To Hesiod thus the shepherd swain they spoke, &c. On the death of the father, an estate was left, which ought to have been equally divided be tween Hesiod and his brother Perses; but Perses defrauded him in the division, by corrupting the judges. The last circumstance he mentions relating to himself is his conquest in a poetical contention. Archidamus, king of Eubœa, had instituted funeral games in honor of his own memory, which his sons afterwards took care to have performed. Here Hesiod was a competitor for the prize in poetry; and won a tripod, which he consecrated to the Muses. When he was grown old (for it is agreed by all that he lived to a very great age), he removed to Locris, a town about the same distance from mount Parnassus as Ascra was from Helicon. His death was tragical. The man with whom he lived at Locris, a Milesian born, ravished a maid in the same house; and though Hesiod was entirely ignorant of the fact, yet, being maliciously accused to her brothers as an accomplice, he was unjustly slain with the ravisher, and thrown into the sea. The Theogony and Opera et Dies are the only undoubted pieces of this poet now extant; but it is supposed that even these have not come down to us complete. A good edition of Hesiod's works was published by Le Clerc, at Amsterdam, in 1701.

HESIONE, in fabulous history, the daughter of Laomedon, king of Troy, and sister of king Priam. Being exposed to be devoured by a sea-monster, Hercules killed it and delivered

her; but, Laomedon refusing him the promised reward, he sacked Troy, and gave Hesione to Telamon.

HESITANCY, n. s. Fr. hesiter; Lat. HESITATE, v. a. hæsito Indecision, HESITATION, n. s. doubt, suspense: hesitate, to faulter, demur, pause: hesitation, intermission of speech; difficult utterance; sus pense; delay.

The reason of my hesitancy about the air is, that I forgot to try whether that liquor, which shot into crystals, exposed to the air would not have done the like in a vessel accurately stopped. Boyle. I cannot foresee the difficulties and hesitations of every one: they will be more or fewer, according to the capacity of each peruser.

Atterbury.

Woodward, Natural History. Some of them reasoned without doubt or hesitancy, and lived and died in such a manner as to show that they believed their own reasonings. A spirit of revenge makes him curse the Grecians in the seventh book, when they hesitate to accept Hector's challenge. Pope.

Pope.

Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike; Alike reserved to blame or to commend, A tim'rous foe, and a suspicious friend. Many clergymen write in so diminutive a manner, with such frequent blots and interlineations, that they are hardly able to go on without perpetual hesitations. Swift. HESPER, HESPERUS, Gr. σTEρog, in astronomy, the evening star; an appellation given to Venus when she sets after the sun. See HES

PERUS.

HESPERIA, or HESPERIA MAGNA, an ancient name of Italy; so called by the Greeks from its western situation.

HESPERI CORNU is called the Great Bay by the author of Hanno's Periplus; but most interpreters, following Mela, understand a promontory; some Cape Verd, others Palmas Cape: Vossius takes it to be the former, since Hanno did not proceed so far as the latter cape. HESPERIDÈÆ, in botany, from the Hesperides; golden or precious fruit: the nineteenth order in Linnæus's natural method. See Bo

TANY.

HESPERIDES, in ancient mythology, the granddaughters of Hesperus, the brother of Atlas. According to Diodorus, these brothers possessed great riches in the western parts of Africa. Hesperus had a daughter called Hesperia, who married her uncle Atlas, and from this marriage proceeded seven daughters, called Hesperides from the name of their mother, and Atlantides from that of their father. According to the poets, the Hesperides were three in number, Egle, Arethusa, and Hesperethusa. Hesiod, in his Theogony, makes them the daughters of Nox, Night, and seats them in the same place with the Gorgons; viz. at the extremities of the west, near mount Atlas; because the sun sets there. They were fabled to have had the keeping of certain golden apples, on the other side of the ocean. A dragon watched the garden, but Hercules slew him, and carried off the apples. Pliny and Solinus suppose the dragon

to

mean an arm of the sea, wherewith the garden was encompassed, and which defended

the entrance; and Varro supposes, that the golden apples were sheep. Others, with more probability, say they were oranges.

HESPERIDES, GARDENS OF THE, in ancient geography, are placed by some authors at Larach, a city of Fez; by others at Bernich, a city of Barca, which accords better with the fable. Others take the province of Susa in Morocco for the island wherein the garden was seated. And, lastly, Rudbecks places the Fortunate Islands, and these gardens, in his own country, Sweden.

HESPERIDUM INSULA, in ancient geography, islands near the Hesperi Cornu; but the accounts of them are so much involved in fable, that nothing certain can be affirmed of them.

HESPERIS, ROCKET, dame's violet, or queen's gilliflower; a genus of the siliquosa order, and tetradynamia class of plants; natural order thirty-ninth, siliquosæ. The petals are turned obliquely; there is a glandule within the shorter stamina; the siliqua almost upright; the stigma forked at the base, connivent, or closing at the top CAL. close. The species are,

1. H. inodora, the scentless rocket, with a fibrous root; upright, round, firm stalks, two feet high, garnished with spear-shaped, acute, pointed, sharply indented, close-sitting leaves; and all the branches terminated by large spikes of scentless flowers, with obtuse petals, of different colors and properties in the varieties. This species makes a fine appearance, but has no scent.

2. H. matronalis, the common sweet-scented garden rocket, having fibrous roots, crowned with a tuft of long, spear-shaped, rough, leaves; upright, single, hairy stalks, two feet high; garnished with oval, lanceolate, slightly indented, close-sitting leaves; and the stalk and branches terminated by large and long spikes of sweetscented flowers of different colors and properties in the varieties, of which there are a great number. All the varieties of this species are so remarkable for imparting a fragrant odor, that the ladies were fond of having them in their apartments. Hence they derived the name of dame's violet; and, bearing some resemblance to a stock gilliflower, were sometimes also called queen's gilliflower; but are now most commonly called rocket.

3. H. tristis, the dull-flowered night-smelling rocket, has fibrous roots, upright, branching, spreading, bristly stalks, two feet high; spearshaped pointed leaves; and spikes of pale purple flowers, of great fragrance in the evening. All the species are hardy, especially the first and second, which prosper in any of the open borders, and any common garden soil; but the third should have a dry warm situation, and a few may be placed in pots to be sheltered in case of inclement weather. They may be propagated either by seeds, by offsetts, or by cuttings off the stalks.

HESPERUS, in mythology, the brother of Atlas, and grandfather of the Hesperides. Diodorus, lib. iii. relates, that Hesperus, having ascended to the top of Mount Atlas, the better to observe the stars, never returned; and hence he was fabled to have been changed into the star

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Much of the surface of these provinces is occupied with hills abounding with wood and minerals; and interspersed with valleys devoted to pasturage. Upper Hesse is partly occupied by the lofty range of Wesergebirge. The elevated parts of Fulda are Vogelsberg and Rhoen; and Schmalkalden is principally occupied by the forest of Thuringia. The climate, on the whole, is cold and uncongenial in comparison with the latitude. Hanau produces the most useful vegetables; its soil is rich, and its climate comparatively mild. It is the only district in which the vine flourishes. But agriculture is altogether in a backward state.

The chief rivers of Hesse Cassel are the Maine, the Fulda, the Werra, the Edder, and the Lahn. Tobacco is grown along the banks of the Werra and the Maine; but potatoes supply a great part of the population with food. Flax is raised in some places, and is a valuable article for domestic purposes. The mountainous districts afford large supplies of timber; and many useful metallic productions. Among these are silver, copper, iron, cobalt, vitriol, salt, alum, marble, basalt, and coal. Cassel, the capital of the electorate, is situated on the Fulda, in the district of Lower Hesse. Other chief places are Hanau, Marburg, and Fulda. Linen, made from the flax grown in the country, is the staple manufacture; besides supplying the home consumption, the linen and yarn annually exported amount to about £300,000. Much of the native iron and steel is wrought upon the spot in Schmalkalden. The silk manufacture is carried on in a few places; and cotton spinning has been lately introduced. The commerce of Hesse Cassel languishes for want of free channels. Its principal streams, the Maine and the Werser, traverse only corners of its territory, and heavy

duties are levied on the navigation of others, by the states through which they pass to the sea.

Education is restricted to the higher ranks by law; and the press is greatly restrained here. The constitution is a limited hereditary monarchy: the states, consisting of the prelates, and nobles, deputies from the towns.

The reigning family and most of the inhabitants are Calvinists; they amount to about 340,000. The Lutherans are stated at 150,000; the Catholics at about 90,000, and the Jews at 8500. Smaller sects make up the remainder of the population. The contingent to the confederate army is 5400 men, but the whole of the armed force amounts to 8000 or 10,000, and the revenue to about 500,000. A public debt has lately been incurred, equal to about one year's revenue.

HESSE DARMSTADT, or the GRAND Duchy of HESSE, is situated near the Rhine, and belongs to another branch of the House of Hesse. It is divided into two parts, by the country of Hanau and the territory belonging to Frankfort, which stretches along the right bank of the Maine. The southern portion of these dominions, which is the most fertile, contains an area of 2000 square miles, and a population of 350,000. The other division contains about 1900 square miles, and a population of 250,000. territorial extent of the whole grand duchy, including its possessions on the left bank of the Rhine, has been lately stated by M. Pauli to include only 3617 square miles, and 620,630 inhabitants, which is about 171 persons to each square mile.

The

None of the minor states of Germany have bene→ fited by the French Revolution more than this. The landgrave became an early member of the confederation of the Rhine, and, with the title of

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