situated on the river Orontes, By some travellers it is corruptly called Amarl and Amant. Some mistake it for the ancient Apamea, now called Afamiyah, but that town is a day's journey from Hamah; and Dr. Pococke supposes Hamah to be the ancient Epiphania; whilst Theodoret, and other good geographers, maintain it to be Emesset in Syria. Hamah is seated among hills, and has a castle on one of them. It has always been a considerable place, and in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries had princes of its own. Among these Ismael Abulfeda, prince of Hamah, from the year 1342, to 1345, was famous for his skill in geography. It is very large, and, being seated on the ascent of a hill, makes a fine appearance; but, like other towns under the Turkish government, is going to decay. Many of the houses are half ruined; but those which are still standing, as well as the mosques and castle, have their walls built of black and white stones, disposed so as to form various figures. The river Assi, the ancient Orontes, runs by the castle, and fills the ditches round it, which are cut very deep into the rock; it passes through the town from south to north, and, in its course, turns eighteen great wheels, called saki, which raise great quantities of water to a considerable height, and throw it into canals supported by arches, which run into the gardens. There are some pretty good marketplaces in Haman. Linen is manufactured there, and sent to Tripoli to be exported into Europe. The sheiks of the town enjoy a high consideration. They inhabit a splendid palace, and have the title of emir. It is at present the only market for the Arabs, who roam over the extensive desert which intervenes between it and Tadmor, and who are under a sort of tacit agreement not to plunder the caravans coming to the city. Sixty-two miles S.S. W. of Aleppo. Long. 36° 15′ E., lat. 35° 15' N. HAMAMELIS, witch hazel, a genus of the digynia order, and tetrandria class of plants. The involucrum is triphyllous, the proper calyx tetraphyllous; there are four petals; the nut horned and bilocular. There is but one species, a native of Virginia. It has a shrubby or woody stem, branching three or four feet high; oval, indented, alternate leaves, resembling those of common hazel; and flowers growing in clusters from the joints of the young branches, but not succeeded by seeds in this country. It is hardy, and is admitted as a variety in our gardens. Its flowers are remarkable for appearing in November and December, when the leaves are fallen. It may be propagated either by seeds or layers. HAMAMET, a considerable sea-port on the east coast of Tunis, in a bay or gulf of the Mediterranean of this name. Dr. Shaw derives its name from Haman, wild pigeons, with which the country abounds. It contains some antiquities from the neighbouring ruins of the Civitas Siagitana, and is thirty miles south of Tunis. HAMATH, in ancient geography, a kingdom of Syria. Toi, one of. its monarchs, cultivated the friendship of David. 2 Sam. viii. 9. HAMATH, the capital of the above kingdom, was seated on the Orontes. The entering into Hamath,' spoken of Josh. xiii. 5., Judges iii. 3, 2 Kings xiv. 25, and 2 Chron. vii. 8, is the narrow pass leading from the land of Canaan through the valley between Libanus and Antilibanus. This entrance is set down as the north boundary of Canaan, in opposition to its southern limits, the Nile. Joshua (xix. 35) assigned Hamath to the tribe of Naphtali. It was taken by the kings of Judah, and retaken from the Syrians by Jeroboam II. 2 Kings xiv. 28. The kings of Assyria at last took it, and transplanted the inhabitants into Samaria. 2 Kings xvii. 24, and xviii. 34, &c. It is the same with HAMAH. See that article. HAMAXOBIANS, НАМАХОВІІ, ОГ НАМАХОBITE. From αμαξα, a chariot, and βιος, life. A people who had no houses, but lived in carriages. They were an ancient people of Sarmatia Europæa, inhabiting the southern part of Muscovy, and instead of houses had a sort of tents made of leather, fixed on carriages to be ready for travelling. Some say they inhabited the countries now called Bessarabia, Moldavia, Wallachia, and part of Transylvania. HAMBURGH, one of the most important commercial cities in Europe, is situated at the confluence of the little rivers, Alster and Bille, with the Elbe, and about eighteen leagues from the sea. It is built in the Gothic style; the streets narrow and crooked; and it has many canals, crossed by eighty-one bridges. It is surrounded by a wall, on the top of which two carriages can drive abreast, and has six gates. The French, while in possession of it, constructed many other works: its population is about 120,000, and the territory about 15,000 more. In the new town many of the houses are neatly built, and some streets elegant, particularly on the Alster, where the Jungfernsteig, planted with trees, is a fashionable promenade. Hamburgh has several suburbs: on its east side, between the Elbe and Alster, stands that of St. George, surrounded by a regular wall, and forming a separate parish. On the west is the Hamburger Berg, separated from Altona only by a wall. Here, adjacent to the Elbe, are the large oil works belonging to the Greenland fisheries, and at some distance two hospitals and a workhouse. On the north side of Hamburgh, along the Alster, is a new suburb, containing a number of elegant buildings. Outside of the town the Alster forms a large basin; and within the town another of less extent, called the Binnen Alster, which serves as a barbour. An arm of the Elbe also forms two ports, one on the east for boats, and another on the west, called the Niederbaum, for ships. The depth of this harbour is twenty feet; but on account of a sand-bank opposite to the village of Blankenese, nine miles below Hamburgh, vessels that draw more than fourteen feet of water must discharge part of their cargo, except at spring tides, when the depth on the bank is eighteen feet. The hour of high water at new and full moon is six o'clock. Besides the Alster, a small river, called the Bill, flows by the east side of the city. There are in Hamburgh five large and eleven small churches; that of St. Michael, a modern edifice, and that of St. Peter, are remarkable for their elegant spires; St. Nicholas for its fine chimes. The exchange hall is a new building, fitted up with great elegance, and containing a hall for the display of works of art, and a reading-room on a large scale. The other public buildings are not constructed in very good taste. The principal are the old exchange, the hospitals, and an obelisk in honor of professor Busch. In former times brewing was a chief employment here; but it has long given place to other occupations. In the beginning of this century the refining of sugar employed more than 300 houses, and is still a considerable pursuit. The printing of cotton, linen, and handkerchiefs, is next in importance; then, perhaps, the dyeworks, and machinery for twisting tobacco. Other manufactures, on a comparatively small scale, are those of jewellery, whalebone, soap, wax, whale-oil, silk stuffs, gold and silver lace, needles, cards, sailcloth, and particularly stockings. For many years Hamburgh has been gradually exchanging its manufacturing for a mercantile character. Its transactions partly consist in agency, but more in the purchase and sale for account of its merchants. They buy the commodities of Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, the West Indies, the United States of America; and supply all the countries lying along the Elbe, different districts on the Rhine and the Lower Maine, and a part of the Prussian and Austrian dominions. They also buy up the products of these countries, linen, thread, &c. The trade in timber is also of great importance, especially during a maritime war. The other articles of trade comprise flax, hemp, potash, tar, tobacco, dye-stuffs, wax, honey, hides, wool, woollen yarn, smoked and salt meat, mineral products, iron wares; in short, all the products of the north-east of Germany. The following list of vessels which arrived at Hamburgh, in 1817, will show the prominence of our trade with this city :From Britain 589 Heligoland. The transit trade, or conveyance of goods by the Elbe, for account of foreign merchants, has hitherto been inconsiderable, but has been increased since 1816 by the heavy duties imposed by the Dutch government on merchandise forwarded into Germany by the Rhine; and by the regulations which have freed the Upper Elbe from a number of vexatious tolls. The bank here was founded in 1619, to afford a permanent and uniform currency; it has never issued notes, and very seldom makes a cash payment; a merchant, depositing cash or bullion, receives credit for the amount in the books; this he makes use of, not by withdrawing the money, but by transferring it by draft or cheque to others, who again make similar transfers. Bank money having a permanent value, while coin was liable to degradation, the former soon rose in relative price, and often bears an agio, or premium of 25 per cent. The denominations of money in Hamburgh are not simple. Accounts are kept in marks, schillings, and pfennings lubs, thus: 12 pfennings 1 schilling. 3 marks 1 mark. = 1 dollar. A mark is somewhat more than eighteen pence sterling; but the exchange with London is computed in Flemish money, of which £13 6s. 8d. are equal to 100 marks; the computation is thirty-two shs. Flemish, and upwards, for a pound sterling. With Amsterdam and Paris the computation of exchange is by marks, schillings, and pfennings; and the bill transactions are reckoned more important than those of any other place in Germany. The established religion is the Lutheran, but complete toleration is granted: Catholics and Calvinists go to the chapels of the envoys from Catholic or Calvinist countries. The manners of the citizens much resemble those of Holland. The favorite taste, in respect to amusement, is music; and, before 1807, the higher class of merchants lived not only with hospitality, but luxury. This city has been at different times the residence of literary characters of the first eminence; and its charitable institutions are numerous. The revenue of the orphan-house is estimated at £6000 sterling; there is an hospital for receiving poor travellers that fall sick; and, in the well known lombard, or place of deposit for pawned articles, the town lends money at an interest of 6 per cent. on every kind of goods or merchandise. If the goods are not reclaimed, within a certain time, they are sold for their full value, and the excess over the money lent is returned to the owners. At the town library, containing, it is said, 100,000 volumes, is published the Hamburger Correspondenten, a newspaper of great circulation. The constitution of the government is an aristocracy, checked by the citizens at large. The aristocratic part comprises the senate, to the number of twenty-eight voting members, who receive an annual salary, and constitute the executive; they have no hereditary right or distinction, but they have the privilege of electing their own members. Such elections, however, are almost always in concurrence with the popular wish. The burgesses, or citizens, act by delegation in various ways; by a commission of fifteen, called the council of elders; by the council of sixty; and by an assembly of 180. These bodies are each entitled to confer with the senate on questions of importance. The senate alone can propose a law; its adoption or rejection rests with the representatives of the citizens. To be a citizen, in a legislative sense, it is requisite to be of the Lutheran faith, and to possess permanent property within the walls to the value of 1000 rixdollars (£240), or 2000 without the walls; but, within the territory, the right of citizenship, for mercantile purposes, is of easy acquisition, particularly to our countrymen. The whole of this constitution was framed by a commission appointed by the emperor of Germany in 1712, previous to which the government of Hamburgh had been a source of frequent strife between the senate and citizens. The city revenue exceeds £150,000, arising chiefly from customs and assessed taxes. These defray the public salaries, and the pay of the military, who are in number 2000. An annual expense of £15,000 is incurred on account of the river, in buoys, light-houses, and in keeping it clear of mud; and is raised by a toll on the shipping. The territory of Hamburgh hardly exceeds 133 square miles. It consists of a small district lying around the city, of the town and bailiwic of Cuxhaven, at the mouth of the Elbe, and some villages in the duchy of Holstein. Hamburgh is connected with Frankfort, Lubeck, and Bremen, in some commercial regulations; and they all retain the old name of Hanse Towns. In 833 Louis the Pious erected Hamburgh into a bishopric, and afterwards into an archbishopric. Adolphus III. duke of Saxony, among other privileges, granted it the right of fishing in the Elbe, eight miles above and below the city. It was declared a free imperial city in 1618. The kings of Denmark, when they succeeded to the counts of Holstein, claimed the sovereignty of this place, and often compelled the citizens to pay large sums to purchase the confirmation of their liberties. The year 1768 was remarkable for a renunciation of this claim, and for a full confirmation of Hamburgh in her rights as an independent city. Her trade and population now continued to increase: the French revolution for some time augmented them; and when, after 1796, Germany felt the shock of invasion, Hamburgh was secure under the protection of Prussia. It thus preserved its independence amid all the partitions of territory until, at the end of 1806, a large French garrison was stationed here, and Buonaparte seized a part of the public funds. In 1810 it was incorporated into the French empire, as the capital of the department of the Mouths of the Elbe. The decrees of Buonaparte, prohibitory of commerce, continued with immense loss to this city from 1808 until the spring of 1813, when the hope of support from the troops of the allies led to a memorable, but premature effort (18th of March) against the French. Hamburgh was re-occupied by the latter on the 30th of May, when a con tribution of nearly £2,000,000 sterling was imposed on it, and orders given to defend it at whatever sacrifice against the allies. This led to great distress, to the destruction of the houses on the ramparts, the seizure of a great deal of merchandise, and finally of the bank funds. At last it was evacuated, May 1814, and part of the bank funds have been restored by the Bourbons. The congress of Vienna accorded to Hamburgh a vote in the Germanic diet, in conjunction with Frankfort, Lubeck, and Bremen. It is thirtynine miles S. S.W. of Lubeck, eighty-four north of Hanover, and 448 north-east of London. HAME, n. s. Sax. pama. The collar by which a horse draws in a waggon. HAMEL. See HAMLET. At HAMEL (John Baptiste Du), a learned French philosopher of the seventeenth century. eighteen he wrote a treatise, in which he explained in a very simple manner Theodosius's three books of Spherics; to which he added a tract upon trigonometry, designed as an introduction to astronomy. He next published his Astronomia Physica. In 1666 M. Colbert proposed to Louis XIV. a scheme for establishing a royal academy of sciences; and appointed Du Hamel secretary. He was also regius professor of philosophy, and published a great number of books. He died at Paris in 1706, aged eighty-three. He wrote Latin with purity and elegance. HAMELN, a town and fortress of hanover situated at the conflux of the Weser and Hamel. Here is a large sluice on the Weser, erected in 1734, by George II. It contains 5000 inhabitants, and carries on an active trade in tobacco, hats, and woollens. The churches and other public buildings are large for so small a place. On the other side of the river is a very strong fortification, called Fort George, considered of great importance for the possession of Hanover. It was garrisoned by the Prussians in 1806. Twenty-two miles south-east of Minden, and twenty-five south-west of Hanover. HAMELIA, in botany, a genus of the monogynia order, and pentandria class of plants. The corolla is quinquefid; the berry quinquelocular, inferior, polyspermous. HAMESĚCKEN, or HAMESOKEN. Burglary, or nocturnal house-breaking, was, by the ancient English law, called Hamesecken, as it still is in Scotland. HAMILCAR, the father of Hannibal. See AMILCAR and CARTHAGE. HAMILTON (George), earl of Orkney, a brave warrior, was the fifth son of William earl of Selkirk. Being made colonel in 1689-90, he distinguished himself by his bravery at the battle of the Boyne; and soon after at those of Ahrim, Steinkirk, and Landen, and at the sieges of Athlone, Limerick, and Namur. His eminent services in Ireland and Flanders, recommended him so highly to king William III. that, in 1696, he created him earl of Orkney; and his lady, the sister of Edward viscount Villiers, afterwards earl of Jersey, had a grant made to her, under the great seal of Ireland, of almost all the private estates of the late king James. Upon the accession of queen Anne, he was promoted to the rank of major-general in 1702, and in 1703 to that of lieutenant-general, and was likewise made K. T. He afterwards served under the duke of Marlborough, and contributed by his bravery and conduct to the glorious victories of Blenheim and Malplaquet. In 1710 he was sworn of the privy-council, and made general of the foot in Flanders. In 1712 he was made colonel of the royal regiment of Fusiliers, and served in Flanders under the duke of Ormond, In 1714 he was appointed gentleman extraordinary of the bed-chamber to king George I., and afterwards governor of Virginia. At length he was appointed governor of Edinburgh castle, lordlieutenant of Clydesdale, and field-marshal. He died at his house in Albemarle Street, in 1787. HAMILTON (John), the twenty-fourth bishop of St. Andrew's, to which he was translated from Dunkeld, was the natural son of James, the first earl of Arran; and one of queen Mary's privy council, and a steady adherent to her interest. He baptised her son; and was made lord privy seal, and lord treasurer. By the regent earl of Murray, he was declared a traitor, and obliged to seek shelter among his friends. Being in the castle of Dumbarton, when it was taken, he was carried to Stirling, where on April 1st, 1570, he was hanged on a tree. The following sarcastic lines were written upon it: Vive diu, felix arbor, semperque vireto Frondibus, ut nobis talia poma feras. HAMILTON (William), of Bangour, a celebrated Scots poet, the friend and poetical correspondent of Allan Ramsay, was born at Bangour, in Linlithgowshire, in the beginning of the eighteenth century, and was for some time a lieutenant in the royal navy. Lieutenant Hamilton lived many years at Gilbertfield in Lanarkshire, and afterwards at Latrick, where he died 24th of May, 1751. His works were printed at Edinburgh, in 12mo., in 1760. HAMILTON (William Gerard), an orator of the last century, who, on account of the extraordinary impression produced by the first and almost the only speech he ever delivered in the house of commons, obtained the name of Single-speech Hamilton. His father was a barrister of Lincoln's Inn, where he was born in 1729. He was sent to Winchester, whence he removed to Oriel College, Oxford; and then studied at Lincoln's Inn, but never was called to the bar. In 1754 he obtained a seat in parliament, and subsequently was made one of the lords of trade. On the appointment of lord Halifax to the viceroyalty of Ireland, Hamilton went thither as his secretary, and was accompanied by the celebrated Edmund Burke. In the Irish parliament he supported the reputation he had previously gained; and for many years held the office of Irish chancellor of the exchequer. He relinquished that post in 1784, and spent the latter part of his life in retirement. His death took place in 1796. A posthumous publication of his works, including a tract, entitled, Parliamentary Logic; Speeches, &c., appeared in 1808. The letters of Junius have been attributed to him. HAMILTON (Elizabeth), a modern literary lady, and a native of Ireland, was born at Belfast 25th of July, 1758. She was brought up under the care of her uncle, who resided near Stirling in Scotland, and produced Cottages of Glenburnie; Letters of a Hindoo Rajah, 2 vols. 8vo. ; The Life of Agrippina, 3 vols. 8vo. ; and Memoirs of Modern Philosophers; works which, under the form of novels, are replete with good sense and information. Her other writings are, Hints for Public Schools; Popular Essays, 2 vols. 8vo.; Rules of the Annuity Fund, &c. ; Exercises in Religious Knowledge, 12mo.; Letters on the Formation of the Religious and Moral Principle, 2 vols.; and, On the Elementary Principles of Education. Miss Benger, after her decease, printed a selection from Miss Hamilton's correspondence, with an account of her life and habits. Her death took place at Harrowgate, in Yorkshire, 23d of July, 1816. HAMILTON, a town in a parish of the same name, seated on the Clyde, in the middle of a very agreeable plain, on the east side of a large park nearly seven miles in circumference, enclosed with a high wall, full of deer and other game, belonging to the duke of Hamilton. The original name of this place was Cadzow, or Cadyow, a barony granted to an ancestor of the noble owner, on the following occasion :-In the time of Edward II. lived Sir Gilbert de Hamilton, or Hampton, an Englishman of rank; who happening at court to speak in praise of Robert Bruce, received an insult from John de Spenser, chamberlain to the king, whom he fought and slew. Dreading the resentment of that potent family, he fled to the Scottish monarch; who established him at the place possessed by the duke of Hamilton. In after times the name changed from Cadzow to Hamilton; and in 1445 the lands were erected into a lordship, and the then owner Sir James sat in parliament as lord Hamilton. He founded a collegiate church at Hamilton in 1451; and the town was made a burgh of barony in 1456. Weaving is the chief manufacture. Hamiltonpalace is at the end of the town; a large pile, with two deep wings at right angles with the centre: the gallery is of great extent, and furnished with most excellent paintings. Hamilton is eleven miles south-east of Glasgow, and thirteen N. N. W. of Lanark. HAMILTON, a county in the south-west corner of the state of Ohio, United States, bounded south by the Ohio River, east by Clermont county, north by Butler county, and west by Indiana. It is thirty miles long, by twenty broad. It is watered by the Ohio, Whitewater, and Great and Little Miami. Its surface is hilly and uneven near the large streams; in other parts it is level, or undulating. The valleys are well cultivated. The chief town is Cincinnati. Population, in 1815, 18,700. HAMILTON, a district of Tennessee, United States, containing the counties of Knox, Jefferson, Blount, Sevier, and Grainger. HAMILTON, a town of the county of Butler, state of Ohio, United States. It is pleasantly situated on the east bank of the Miami, and contains a post-office, and a printing-office, from which issues a weekly newspaper. HAMILTON, a township and village of the United States, in Maddison county, New York. The township was erected in 1801, and in 1810 its inhabitants amounted to 2220. The village is situated on the main branch of the Chenango. HAMLET, n. s. From Saxon, ham, a village; with the diminutive termination. Within the self-same lordship, parish, or hamlet, lands have divers degrees of value. Sometimes with secure delight Bacon. Milton. His mighty camp, and, when the day returned, HAMLET, a prince of Denmark whose history has been rendered interesting, by being the subject of one of the noblest tragedies of Shakspeare. Adjoining to a royal palace, which stands about half a mile from Cronburg in Elsineur, is a garden, which, Mr. Coxe informs us, is called Hamlet's Garden, and is said to be the spot where his father was murdered. The house is of modern date, and is situated at the foot of a sandy ridge near the sea. The garden occupies the side of the hill, and is laid out in terraces rising above each other. The original history, from which the poet derived the principal incidents of his play, is founded upon facts, but so deeply buried in remote antiquity that it is difficult to discriminate truth from fable. Saxo Grammaticus, who flourished in the twelfth century, is the earliest historian of Denmark who relates the adventures of Hamlet. His account is much altered by Belleforest, a French author, a translation of whose romance was published under the title of The Hystorye of Hamblet, from which Shakspeare is supposed to have formed the ground-work of his play. HAM'MER, n. s. & v. n.` Saxon, þamen; Danish, hammer. The instrument, consisting of a long handle and heavy head, with which any thing is forged or driven. Figuratively any thing destructive or powerful: to beat; to forge; to contrive by dint of intellectual labor; to work; or to be busy; in these senses generally spoken contemptuously: sometimes to be greatly agitated. Lamekes sone Tubal, That found out firste the arte of song; Upon his anvelt up Therof, be toke the firste sowne. Chaucer. Boke of the Duchesse. The armureres also With file and hammer pricking to and fro. Id. The Knightes Tale. His bones the hammered steel in strength surpass. Sandys. Nor needest thou much importune me to that, Whereon this month I have been hammering. Shakspeare. I must pay with hammered money instead of milled. ld. Hammerhard is when you harden iron or steel with much hammering on it. Moxon. Every morning he rises fresh to his hammer and his anvil. South. There beings deathless as their haughty lord Are hammered to the galling oar for life, And plow the winter's wave and reap despair. Young's Night Thoughts. The first an hammer called, whose out-grown sides Lie on the drum. Fletcher's Purple Island. A HAMMER has an iron head, fixed crosswise upon a handle of wood. There are several sorts of hammers used by blacksmiths; as, 1. The hand-hammer, which is of such weight that it may be wielded with one hand at the anvil. 2. The up-hand sledge hammer, used with both hands, and seldom lifted above the head. 3. The about-sledge hammer, which is the biggest of all, and held by both hands at the farthest end of the handle; and being swung at arm's length over the head, is made to fall upon the work with as heavy a blow as possible. smallest hammer used by smiths is called a rivetting hammer, but is seldom used at the forge unless upon small work. These and a great variety of other hammers of different sizes are used by goldsmiths and jewellers. Watchmakers, saddlers, carpenters, and joiners, have likewise hammers accommodated to 'their several purposes. The HAMMERMEN, in the royal boroughs of Scotland, the name of an incorporation, which comprehends most of those artizans who make use of hammers; such as goldsmiths, jewellers, watch-makers, coppersmiths, braziers, blacksmiths, tin-plate-workers, cutlers, gun-smiths, founders, saddlers, &c. In Edinburgh, however, the goldsmiths, by the set of the burgh, form a distinct incorporation, which ranks second in order, next to the surgeons; while the other artizans above mentioned form the fifth incorporation, under the title of hammermen. НАММОСК, n. s. Sax. pamaca. A swinging bed. Prince Maurice of Nassau, who had been accustomed to hammocks, used them all his life. Temple. |