Part 239 (1/2)
HELST, BARTHOLOMaeUS VAN DER, one of the greatest of the Dutch portrait-painters, born at Haarlem, but spent his life in Amsterdam; he enjoyed a great reputation in his day, and many of his pictures are to be found in European galleries; his ”Muster of the Burgher Guard” was considered by Sir Joshua Reynolds to be ”the first picture of portraits in the world” (1613-1670).
HELVELLYN, one of the c.u.mberland mountains, 3118 ft. high, rises at the side of Ulleswater, midway between Keswick and Ambleside.
HELVETII, a Celtic people mentioned by Caesar as occupying territory in Central Europe now embraced in Switzerland; they suffered tremendous slaughter at the hands of Caesar when endeavouring to make their way to a wider territory in Southern Gaul.
HELVeTIUS, a French philosophe, born in Paris, of Swiss origin; author of a book ent.i.tled ”De l'Esprit,” which was condemned by the Parlement of Paris for views advocated in it that were considered derogatory to the dignity of man, and which exposed him to much bitter hostility, especially at the hands of the priests; man he reduced to a mere animal, made self-love the only motive of his actions, and the satisfaction of our sensuous desires the principle of morals, notwithstanding which he was a man of estimable character and of kindly disposition (1715-1771).
HEMANS, FELICIA DOROTHEA, _nee_ Browne, poetess, born in Liverpool; her marriage was an unhappy one, and after the birth of five children ended in permanent separation; she was the auth.o.r.ess of a number of works, a complete edition of which occupies 7 vols., the best of her productions being lyrics; and she enjoyed the friends.h.i.+p of Wordsworth, Scott, and other literary celebrities of the time (1791-1835).
HeNAULT, French historian, born in Paris, president of the Parlement of Paris; was author of ”Abrege Chronologique de l'Histoire de France”
(1685-1770).
HEMEL HEMPSTEAD (10), a busy market-town in Herts, 23 m. NW. of London; noted for its straw-plaiting, and has paper-mills, foundries, &c.
HEMS or HOMS (35), a noted Syrian city known to the Romans as Emesa, on the Orontes, 63 m. NE. of Tripoli; here stood in ancient times a famous temple of the Sun, one of whose priests, HELIOGABALUS (q. v.), became Roman emperor (218); the Crusaders captured it from the Saracens in 1098; it does a good trade in oil, cotton, silk, &c.
HEMSTERHUIS, Dutch philologist, born at Groningen; was professor of Greek at Leyden; one of the greatest Grecians of his day; had for pupils Ruhnken and Valckenaer, and edited a number of cla.s.sical works (1685-1766).
HENDERSON, ALEXANDER, a celebrated Scotch divine; became professor of Rhetoric and Philosophy in St. Andrews, and subsequently held the living of Leuchars, in Fife; he actively espoused the cause of the Covenanters, and became a prominent leader in negotiations with the king; in 1643 he drafted the ”Solemn League and Covenant” which pa.s.sed into force, and he was one of Scotland's representatives to the a.s.sembly of Divines at Westminster (1583-1646).
HENDERSON, THOMAS, astronomer, born at Dundee, astronomer first at the Cape and then Astronomer-royal for Scotland, calculated the distance of the nearest fixed star [Greek: alpha] Centauri and found it nearly 19 billions of miles from the sun.
HENGIST AND HORSA, two Saxon brothers who came over to a.s.sist Vortigern against the Picts, and were rewarded by a gift of Thanet, though they were afterwards defeated by Vortigern and the latter slain.
HENGSTENBERG, a German theologian, born in Westphalia; was editor of the _Evangelische Kirchenzeitung_, and the valiant unwearied a.s.sailant of Rationalism in its treatment of the Scriptures and the old orthodox faith; his princ.i.p.al works bear on Old Testament literature, such as its Christology and the Psalms, as well as on the New, such as St. John's Gospel and the Apocalypse (1802-1869).
HENLEY, WILLIAM ERNEST, poet and critic, author of a ”Book of Verses” and ”Song of the Sword,” in which he reveals superior powers as a poet, and of a volume ent.i.tled ”Views and Reviews,” in which he evinces discriminative criticism of the highest order; he has edited, along with T. F. Henderson, in a workmanlike style, the ”Centenary Edition of the Poetry of Burns,” accompanied it with a ”Life of the Poet,” and a characterisation somewhat damping to the prevailing enthusiasm in connection with the poet; _b_. 1849.
HENLEY-ON-THAMES (5), a borough of Oxfords.h.i.+re, on the Thames, near the Chiltern Hills, 36 m. W. of London; the river is spanned here by a fine five-arch bridge, and the annual amateur regatta is a noted social event; malting and brewing are the chief industries.
HENOTHEISM, a polytheism which a.s.signs to one G.o.d of the pantheon superiority over the rest.
HENRIETTA MARIA, wife of Charles I., born at the Louvre; daughter of Henry IV. of France and of Marie de Medicis; a beautiful and able woman, much beloved, and deservedly so, by her husband, but from her bigotry as a Roman Catholic disliked and distrusted by the nation, not without good reason; by her imprudent conduct she embroiled matters more seriously than they were; menaced with impeachment by the Commons, had to flee the country; returned, indeed, with a supply of money and ammunition ”purchased by crown jewels,” but in 1644 was obliged to seek refuge again in France; revisited the country for a short time after the Restoration, and died near Paris at her retreat there (1609-1669).