Part 242 (1/2)
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 princ.i.p.al were the ”Works and Days” the ”Theogony,” and the ”s.h.i.+eld of Hercules”; his poems treat of the quiet pursuits of ordinary life, the origin of the world, the G.o.ds 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, a.s.sisted 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 wors.h.i.+p.
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-Na.s.sau, 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 quant.i.ties, iron and manganese are found, and there are flouris.h.i.+ng manufactures of leather, upholstery, tobacco, &c.; the legislative power is vested in two chambers; Mainz is the largest town, and Darmstadt the capital.
HESSE-Ca.s.sEL (745), a government district in HESSE-Na.s.sAU (q. v.); as an electorate it sided with Austria in 1866, which brought about its incorporation with Prussia.
HESSE-Na.s.sAU (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-Ca.s.sel, duchy of Na.s.sau, &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; Ca.s.sel is noted for its gold and silver ware; damasks and other textiles are produced at Fulda, and at Hanau are flouris.h.i.+ng iron-works; Marburg has a fine university.
HESTIA, called Vesta by the Romans, the Greek G.o.ddess 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 G.o.d. 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 Gra.s.shopper), 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 cla.s.sical scholar, born at Chemnitz, son of a poor weaver, and reared all along almost on the verge of dest.i.tution; became eminent by his heroic devotion to scholars.h.i.+p, both as a translator and editor of cla.s.sical 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 Lancas.h.i.+re, 9 m. N. of Manchester; owes its rapid growth to the neighbouring coal-fields and the development of the cotton industry; has also flouris.h.i.+ng iron and bra.s.s 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).