The remaining works of Hawes are all of them bibliographical rarities.The Conversyon of Swerers(1509) andA Joyfull Medytacyon to all Englonde, a coronation poem (1509), was edited by David Laing for the Abbotsford Club (Edinburgh, 1865). ACompendyous Story ... called the Example of Vertu(pr. 1512) and theComfort of Lovers(not dated) complete the list of his extant work.See also G. Saintsbury,The Flourishing of Romance and the Rise of Allegory(Edin. and Lond., 1897); the same writer’sHist. of English Prosody(vol. i. 1906); and an article by W. Murison in theCambridge History of English Literature(vol. ii. 1908).
The remaining works of Hawes are all of them bibliographical rarities.The Conversyon of Swerers(1509) andA Joyfull Medytacyon to all Englonde, a coronation poem (1509), was edited by David Laing for the Abbotsford Club (Edinburgh, 1865). ACompendyous Story ... called the Example of Vertu(pr. 1512) and theComfort of Lovers(not dated) complete the list of his extant work.
See also G. Saintsbury,The Flourishing of Romance and the Rise of Allegory(Edin. and Lond., 1897); the same writer’sHist. of English Prosody(vol. i. 1906); and an article by W. Murison in theCambridge History of English Literature(vol. ii. 1908).
HAWES, WILLIAM(1785-1846), English musician, was born in London in 1785, and was for eight years (1793-1801) a chorister of the Chapel Royal, where he studied music chiefly under Dr Ayrton. He subsequently held various musical posts, being in 1817 appointed master of the children of the Chapel Royal. He also carried on the business of a music publisher, and was for many years musical director of the Lyceum theatre, then devoted to English opera. In the last-named capacity (July 23rd, 1824), he introduced Weber’sDer Freischützfor the first time in England, at first slightly curtailed, but soon afterwards in its entirety. Winter’sInterrupted Sacrifice, Mozart’sCosi fan tutte, Marschner’sVampyreand other important works were also brought out under his auspices. Hawes also wrote or compiled the music for numerous pieces. Better were his glees and madrigals, of which he published several collections. He also superintended a new edition of the celebratedTriumph of Oriana. He died on the 18th of February 1846.
HAWFINCH,a bird so called from the belief that the fruit of the hawthorn (Crataegus Oxyacantha) forms its chief food, theLoxia coccothraustesof Linnaeus, and theCoccothraustes vulgarisof modern ornithologists, one of the largest of the finch family (Fringillidae), and found over nearly the whole of Europe, in Africa north of the Atlas and in Asia from Palestine to Japan. It was formerly thought to be only an autumnal or winter-visitor to Britain, but later experience has proved that, though there may very likely be an immigration in the fall of the year, it breeds in nearly all the English counties to Yorkshire, and abundantly in those nearest to London. In coloration it bears some resemblance to a chaffinch, but its much larger size and enormous beak make it easily recognizable, while on closer inspection the singular bull-hook form of some of its wing-feathers will be found to be very remarkable. Though not uncommonly frequenting gardens and orchards, in which as well as in woods it builds its nest, it is exceedingly shy in its habits, so as seldom to afford opportunities for observation.
(A. N.)
HAWICK,a municipal and police burgh of Roxburghshire, Scotland. Pop. (1891), 19,204; (1901), 17,303. It is situated at the confluence of the Slitrig (which flows through the town) with the Teviot, 10 m. S.W. of Jedburgh by road and 52¾ m. S.E. of Edinburgh by the North British railway. The name has been derived from the O. Eng.heaih-wic, “the village on the flat meadow,” orhaga-wic, “the fenced-in dwelling,” the Gadeni being supposed to have had a settlement at this spot. Hawick is a substantial and flourishing town, the prosperity of which dates from the beginning of the 19th century, its enterprise having won for it the designation of “The Glasgow of the Borders.” The municipal buildings, which contain the free library and reading-room, stand on the site of the old town hall. The Buccleuch memorial hall, commemorating the 5th duke of Buccleuch, contains the Science and Art Institute and a museum rich in exhibits illustrating Border history. The Academy furnishes both secondary and technical education. The only church of historical interest is that of St Mary’s, the third of the name, built in 1763. The first church, believed to have been founded by St Cuthbert (d. 687), was succeeded by one dedicated in 1214, which was the scene of the seizure of Sir Alexander Ramsay of Dalhousie in 1342 by Sir William Douglas. The modern Episcopal church of St Cuthbert was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott. The Moat or Moot hill at the south end of the town—an earthen mound 30 ft. high and 300 ft. in circumference—is conjectured to have been the place where formerly the court of the manor met; though some authorities think it was a primitive form of fortification. The Baron’s Tower, founded in 1155 by the Lovels, lords of Branxholm and Hawick, and afterwards the residence of the Douglases of Drumlanrig, is said to have been the only building that was not burned down during the raid of Thomas Radcliffe, 3rd earl of Sussex, in April 1570. At a later date it was the abode of Anne, duchess of Buccleuch and Monmouth, after the execution of her husband, James, duke of Monmouth in 1585, and finally became the Tower Hotel. Bridges across the Teviot connect Hawick with the suburb of Wilton, in which a public park has been laid out, and St Leonard’s Park and race-course are situated on the Common, 2 m. S.W. The town is governed by a provost, bailies and council, and unites with Selkirk and Galashiels (together known as the Border burghs) to send a member to parliament. The leading industries are the manufacture of hosiery, established in 1771, and woollens, dating from 1830, including blankets, shepherd’s plaiding and tweeds. There are, besides, tanneries, dye works, oil-works, saw-mills, iron-founding and engineering works, quarries and nursery gardens. The markets for live stock and grain are also important.
In 1537 Hawick received from Sir James Douglas of Drumlanrig a charter which was confirmed by the infant Queen Mary in 1545, and remained in force until 1861, when the corporation was reconstituted by act of parliament. Owing to its situation Hawick was often imperilled by Border warfare and marauding freebooters. Sir Robert Umfraville (d. 1436), governor of Berwick, burned it about 1417, and in 1562 the regent Moray had to suppress the lawless with a strong hand. Neither of the Jacobite risings aroused enthusiasm. In 1715 the discontented Highlanders mutinied on the Common, 500 of them abandoning their cause, and in 1745 Prince Charles Edward’s cavalry passed southward through the town. In 1514, the year after the battle of Flodden, in which the burghers had suffered severely, a number of young men surprised an English force at Hornshole, a spot on the Teviot 2 m. below the town, routed them and bore away their flag. This event is celebrated every June in the ceremony of “Riding the Common”—in which a facsimile of the captured pennon is carried in procession to the accompaniment of a chorus “Teribus, ye Teri Odin,” supposed to be an invocation to Thor and Odin—a survival of Northumbrian paganism. Two of the most eminent natives of the burgh were Dr Thomas Somerville (1741-1830), the historian, and James Wilson (1805-1860), founder of theEconomistnewspaper and the first financial member of the council for India.
Minto House, 5 m. N.E., is the seat of the earl of Minto. Denholm, about midway between Hawick and Jedburgh, was the birthplace of John Leyden the poet. The cottage in which Leyden was born is now the property of the Edinburgh Border Counties Association, and a monument to his memory has been erected in the centre of Denholm green. Cavers, nearer Hawick, was once the home of a branch of the Douglases, and it is said that in Cavers House are still preserved the pennon that was borne before the Douglas at the battle of Otterburn (Chevy Chase), and the gauntlets that were then taken from the Percy (1388). Two m. S.W. of Hawick is the massive peel of Goldielands—the “watch-tower of Branxholm,” a well-preserved typical Border stronghold. One mile beyond it, occupying a commanding site on the left bank of the Teviot, stands Branxholm Castle, the Branksome Hall ofThe Lay of the Last Minstrel, once owned by the Lovels, but since the middle of the 15th century the property of the Scotts of Buccleuch, and up to 1756 the chief seat of the duke. It suffered repeatedly in English invasions and was destroyed in 1570. It was rebuilt next year, the peel, finished five years later, forming part of the modern mansion. About 3 m. W. of Hawick, finely situated on high ground above Harden Burn, a left-hand affluent of Borthwick Water, is Harden, the home of Walter Scott (1550-1629), an ancestor of the novelist.
Minto House, 5 m. N.E., is the seat of the earl of Minto. Denholm, about midway between Hawick and Jedburgh, was the birthplace of John Leyden the poet. The cottage in which Leyden was born is now the property of the Edinburgh Border Counties Association, and a monument to his memory has been erected in the centre of Denholm green. Cavers, nearer Hawick, was once the home of a branch of the Douglases, and it is said that in Cavers House are still preserved the pennon that was borne before the Douglas at the battle of Otterburn (Chevy Chase), and the gauntlets that were then taken from the Percy (1388). Two m. S.W. of Hawick is the massive peel of Goldielands—the “watch-tower of Branxholm,” a well-preserved typical Border stronghold. One mile beyond it, occupying a commanding site on the left bank of the Teviot, stands Branxholm Castle, the Branksome Hall ofThe Lay of the Last Minstrel, once owned by the Lovels, but since the middle of the 15th century the property of the Scotts of Buccleuch, and up to 1756 the chief seat of the duke. It suffered repeatedly in English invasions and was destroyed in 1570. It was rebuilt next year, the peel, finished five years later, forming part of the modern mansion. About 3 m. W. of Hawick, finely situated on high ground above Harden Burn, a left-hand affluent of Borthwick Water, is Harden, the home of Walter Scott (1550-1629), an ancestor of the novelist.
HAWK(O. Eng.hafocorheafoc, a common Teutonic word, cf. Dutchhavik, Ger.Habicht; the root ishab-,haf-, to hold, cf. Lat.accipiter, fromcapere), a word of somewhat indefinite meaning, being often used to signify all diurnal birds-of-prey which are neither vultures nor eagles, and again more exclusively for those of the remainder which are not buzzards, falcons, harriers or kites. Even with this restriction it is comprehensive enough, and will include more than a hundred species, which have been arrayed in genera varying in number from a dozen to above a score, according to the fancy of the systematizer. Speaking generally, hawks may be characterized by possessing comparatively short wings and long legs, a bill which begins to decurve directly from the cere (or soft bare skin that covers its base), and has the cutting edges of its maxilla (or upper mandible)sinuated1but never notched. To these may be added as characters, structurally perhaps of less value, but in other respects quite as important, that the sexes differ very greatly in size, that in most species the irides are yellow, deepening with age into orange or even red, and that the immature plumage is almost invariably more or less striped or mottled with heart-shaped spots beneath, while that of the adults is generally much barred, though the old males have in many instances the breast and belly quite free from markings. Nearly all are of small or moderate size—the largest among them being the gos-hawk (q.v.) and its immediate allies, and the male of the smallest,Accipiter tinus, is not bigger than a song-thrush. They are all birds of great boldness in attacking a quarry, but if foiled in the first attempts they are apt to leave the pursuit. Thoroughly arboreal in their habits, they seek their prey, chiefly consisting of birds (though reptiles and small mammals are also taken), among trees or bushes, patiently waiting for a victim to shew itself, and gliding upon it when it appears to be unwary with a rapid swoop, clutching it in their talons, and bearing it away to eat it in some convenient spot.
Systematic ornithologists differ as to the groups into which the numerous forms known as hawks should be divided. There is at the outset a difference of opinion as to the scientific name which the largest and best known of these groups should bear—some authors terming itNisus, and others, who seem to have the most justice on their side,Accipiter. In Europe there are two species—first,A. nisus, the common sparrow-hawk, which has a wide distribution from Ireland to Japan, extending also to northern India, Egypt and Algeria, and secondly,A. brevipes(by some placed in the groupMicronisusand by others called anAstur), which only appears in the south-east and the adjoining parts of Asia Minor and Persia. In North America the place of the former is taken by two very distinct species, a small one,A. fuscus, usually known in Canada and the United States as the sharp-shinned hawk, and Stanley’s or Cooper’s hawk,A. cooperi(by some placed in another genus,Cooperastur), which is larger and has not so northerly a range. In South America there are four or five more, includingA. tinus, before mentioned as the smallest of all, while a species not much larger,A. minullus, together with several others of greater size, inhabits South Africa. Madagascar and its neighbouring islands have three or four species sufficiently distinct, and India hasA. badlus. A good many more forms are found in south-eastern Asia, in the Indo-Malay Archipelago, and in Australia three or four species, of whichA. cirrhocephalusmost nearly represents the sparrow-hawk of Europe and northern Asia, whileA. radiatusandA. approximansshow some affinity to the gos-hawks (Astur) with which they are often classed. The differences between all the forms above named and the much larger number here unnamed are such as can be only appreciated by the specialist. The so-called “sparrow-hawk” of New Zealand (Hieracidea) does not belong to this group of birds at all, and by many authors has been deemed akin to the falcons. For hawking seeFalconry.
(A. N.)
1In one form,Nisoides, which on that account has been generically separated, they are said to be perfectly straight.
1In one form,Nisoides, which on that account has been generically separated, they are said to be perfectly straight.
HAWKE, EDWARD HAWKE,Baron(1705-1781), British admiral, was the only son of Edward Hawke, a barrister. On his mother’s side he was the nephew of Colonel Martin Bladen (1680-1746), a politician of some note, and was connected with the family of Fairfax. Edward Hawke entered the navy on the 20th of February 1720 and served the time required to qualify him to hold a lieutenant’s commission on the North American and West Indian stations. Though he passed his examination on the 2nd of June 1725, he was not appointed to a ship to act in that rank till 1729, when he was named third lieutenant of the “Portland” in the Channel. The continuance of peace allowed him no opportunities of distinction, but he was fortunate in obtaining promotion as commander of the “Wolf” sloop in 1733, and as post captain of the “Flamborough” (20) in 1734. When war began with Spain in 1739, he served as captain of the “Portland” (50) in the West Indies. His ship was old and rotten. She nearly drowned her captain and crew, and was broken up after she was paid off in 1742. In the following year Hawke was appointed to the “Berwick” (70), a fine new vessel, and was attached to the Mediterranean fleet then under the command of Thomas Mathews. The “Berwick” was manned badly, and suffered severely from sickness, but in the ill-managed battle of Toulon on the 11th of January 1744 Hawke gained great distinction by the spirit with which he fought his ship. The only prize taken by the British fleet, the Spanish “Poder” (74), surrendered to him, and though she was not kept by the admiral, Hawke was not in any degree to blame for the loss of the only trophy of the fight. His gallantry attracted the attention of the king. There is a story that he was dismissedfromthe service for having left the line to engage the “Poder,” and was restored by the king’s order. The legend grew not unnaturally out of the confusing series of courts martial which arose out of the battle, but it has no foundation. There is better reason to believe that when at a later period the Admiralty intended to pass over Hawke’s name in a promotion of admirals, the king, George II., did insist that he should not be put on the retired list.
He had no further chance of making his energy and ability known out of the ranks of his own profession, where they were fully realized, till 1747. In July of that year he attained flag rank, and was named second in command of the Channel fleet. Owing to the ill health of his superior he was sent in command of the fourteen ships detached to intercept a French convoy on its way to the West Indies. On the 14th of October 1747 he fell in with it in the Bay of Biscay. The French force, under M. Desherbiers de l’Étenduère, consisted of nine ships, which were, however, on the average larger than Hawke’s. He attacked at once. The French admiral sent one of his liners to escort the merchant ships on their way to the West Indies, and with the other eight fought a very gallant action with the British squadron. Six of the eight French ships were taken. The French admiral did for a time succeed in saving the trading vessels under his charge, but most of them fell into the hands of the British cruisers in the West Indies. Hawke was made a knight of the Bath for this timely piece of service, a reward which cannot be said to have been lavish.
In 1747 Hawke had been elected M.P. for Portsmouth, which he continued to represent for thirty years, though he can seldom have been in his place, and it does not appear that he often spoke. A seat in parliament was always valuable to a naval officer at that time, since it enabled him to be useful to ministers, and increased his chances of obtaining employment. Hawke had married a lady of fortune in Yorkshire, Catherine Brook, in 1737, and was able to meet the expenses entailed by a seat in parliament, which were considerable at a time when votes were openly paid for by money down. In the interval between the war ofthe Austrian Succession and the Seven Years’ War, Hawke was almost always on active service. From 1748 till 1752 be was in command at home, and he rehoisted his flag in 1755 as admiral in command of the Western Squadron. Although war was not declared for some time, England and France were on very hostile terms, and conflicts between the officers of the two powers in America had already taken place. Neither government was scrupulous in abstaining from the use of force while peace was still nominally unbroken. Hawke was sent to sea to intercept a French squadron which had been cruising near Gibraltar, but a restriction was put on the limits within which he might cruise, and he failed to meet the French. The fleet was much weakened by ill-health. In June 1756 the news of John Byng’s retreat from Minorca reached England and aroused the utmost indignation. Hawke was at once sent out to relieve him in the Mediterranean command, and to send him home for trial. He sailed in the “Antelope,” carrying, as the wits of the day put it, “a cargo of courage” to supply deficiencies in that respect among the officers then in the Mediterranean. Minorca had fallen, from want of resources rather than the attacks of the French, before he could do anything for the assistance of the garrison of Fort St Philip. In winter he was recalled to England, and he reached home on the 14th of January 1757. On the 24th of February following he was promoted full admiral.
It is said, but on no very good authority, that he was not on good terms with Pitt (afterwards earl of Chatham), and it is certain that when Pitt’s great ministry was formed in June 1757, he was not included in the Board of Admiralty. Yet as he was continued in command of important forces in the Channel, it is obvious that his great capacity was fully recognized. In the late summer of 1757 he was entrusted with the naval side of an expedition to the coast of France. These operations, which were scoffingly described at the time as breaking windows with guineas, were a favourite device of Pitt’s for weakening the French and raising the confidence of the country. The expedition of 1757 was directed against Rochefort, and it effected nothing. Hawke, who probably expected very little good from it, did his own work as admiral punctually, but he cannot be said to have shown zeal, or any wish to inspirit the military officers into making greater efforts than they were disposed naturally to make. The expedition returned to Spithead by the 6th of October. No part of the disappointment of the public, which was acute, was visited on Hawke. During the end of 1757 and the beginning of 1758 be continued cruising in the Channel in search of the French naval forces, without any striking success. In May of that year he was ordered to detach a squadron under the command of Howe to carry out further combined operations. Hawke considered himself as treated with a want of due respect, and was at the time in bad humour with the Admiralty. He somewhat pettishly threw up his command, but was induced to resume it by the board, which knew his value, and was not wanting in flattery. He retired in June for a time on the ground of health, but happily for his own glory and the service of the country he was able to hoist his flag in May 1759, the “wonderful year” of Garrick’s song.
France was then elaborating a scheme of invasion which bears much resemblance to the plan afterwards formed by Napoleon. An army of invasion was collected at the Morbihan in Brittany, and the intention was to transport it under the protection of a powerful fleet which was to be made up by uniting the squadron at Brest with the ships at Toulon. The plan, like Napoleon’s, had slight chance of success, since the naval part of the invading force must necessarily be brought together from distant points at the risk of interruption by the British squadrons. The naval forces of England were amply sufficient to provide whatever was needed to upset the plans of the French government. But the country was not so confident in the capacity of the navy to serve as a defence as it was taught to be in later generations. It had been seized by a most shameful panic at the beginning of the war in face of a mere threat of invasion. Therefore the anxiety of Pitt to baffle the schemes of the French decisively was great, and the country looked on at the development of the naval campaign with nervous attention. The proposed combination of the French fleet was defeated by the annihilation of the Toulon squadron on the coast of Portugal by Boscawen in May, but the Brest fleet was still untouched and the troops were still at Morbihan. It was the duty of Hawke to prevent attack from this quarter. The manner in which he discharged his task marks an epoch in the history of the navy. Until his time, or very nearly so, it was still believed that there was rashness in keeping the great ships out after September. Hawke maintained his blockade of Brest till far into November. Long cruises had always entailed much bad health on the crews, but by the care he took to obtain fresh food, and the energy he showed in pressing the Admiralty for stores, he was able to keep his men healthy. Early in November a series of severe gales forced him off the French coast, and he was compelled to anchor in Torbay. His absence was brief, but it allowed the French admiral, M. de Conflans (1690?-1777), time to put to sea, and to steer for the Morbihan. Hawke, who had left Torbay on the 13th of November, learnt of the departure of the French at sea on the 17th from a look-out ship, and as the French admiral could have done nothing but steer for the Morbihan, he followed him thither. The news that M. de Conflans had got to sea spread a panic through the country, and for some days Hawke was the object of abuse of the most irrational kind. There was in fact no danger, for behind Hawke’s fleet there were ample reserves in the straits of Dover, and in the North Sea. Following his enemy as fast as the bad weather, a mixture of calms and head winds would allow, the admiral sighted the French about 40 m. to the west of Belleisle on the morning of the 20th of November. The British fleet was of twenty-one sail, the French of twenty. There was also a small squadron of British ships engaged in watching the Morbihan as an inshore squadron, which was in danger of being cut off. M. de Conflans had a sufficient force to fight in the open sea without rashness, but after making a motion to give battle, he changed his mind and gave the signal to his fleet to steer for the anchorage at Quiberon. He did not believe that the British admiral would dare to follow him, for the coast is one of the most dangerous in the world, and the wind was blowing hard from the west and rising to a storm. Hawke, however, pursued without hesitation, though it was well on in the afternoon before he caught up the rear of the French fleet, and dark by the time the two fleets were in the bay. The action, which was more a test of seamanship than of gunnery, or capacity to manœuvre in order, ended in the destruction of the French. Five ships only were taken or destroyed, but others ran ashore, and the French navy as a whole lost all confidence. Two British vessels were lost, but the price was little to pay for such a victory. No more fighting remained to be done. The fleet in Quiberon Bay suffered from want of food, and its distress is recorded in the lines:—
“Ere Hawke did bangMounseer ConflangYou sent us beef and beer;Now Mounseer’s beatWe’ve nought to eat,Since you have nought to fear.”
“Ere Hawke did bang
Mounseer Conflang
You sent us beef and beer;
Now Mounseer’s beat
We’ve nought to eat,
Since you have nought to fear.”
Hawke returned to England in January 1760 and had no further service at sea. He was not made a peer till the 20th of May 1776, and then only as Baron Hawke of Towton. From 1776 to 1771 he was first lord of the Admiralty. His administration was much criticized, perhaps more from party spirit than because of its real defects. Whatever his relations with Lord Chatham may have been he was no favourite with Chatham’s partizans. It is very credible that, having spent all his life at sea, his faculty did not show in the uncongenial life of the shore. As an admiral at sea and on his own element Hawke has had no superior. It is true that he was not put to the test of having to meet opponents of equal strength and efficiency, but then neither has any other British admiral since the Dutch wars of the 17th century. On his death on the 17th of October 1781 his title passed to his son, Martin Bladen (1744-1805), and it isstill held by his descendants, the 7th Baron (b. 1860) being best known as a great Yorkshire cricketer.
There is a portrait of Hawke in the Painted Hall at Greenwich. HisLifeby Montagu Burrows (1883) has superseded all other authorities; it is supplemented in a few early particulars by Sir J. K. Laughton’s article in theDict. Nat. Biog.(1891).
There is a portrait of Hawke in the Painted Hall at Greenwich. HisLifeby Montagu Burrows (1883) has superseded all other authorities; it is supplemented in a few early particulars by Sir J. K. Laughton’s article in theDict. Nat. Biog.(1891).
HAWKER, ROBERT STEPHEN(1803-1874), English antiquary and poet, was born at Stoke Damerel, Devonshire, on the 3rd of December 1803. His father, Jacob Stephen Hawker, was at that time a doctor, but afterwards curate and vicar of Stratton, Cornwall. Robert was sent to Liskeard grammar school, and when he was about sixteen was apprenticed to a solicitor. He was soon removed to Cheltenham grammar school, and in April 1823 matriculated at Pembroke College, Oxford. In the same year he married Charlotte I’Ans, a lady much older than himself. On returning to Oxford he migrated to Magdalen Hall, where he graduated in 1828, having already won the Newdigate prize for poetry in 1827. He became vicar of Morwenstow, a village on the north Cornish coast, in 1834. Hawker described the bulk of his parishioners as a “mixed multitude of smugglers, wreckers and dissenters of various hues.” He was himself a high churchman, and carried things with a high hand in his parish, but was much beloved by his people. He was a man of great originality, and numerous stories were told of his striking sayings and eccentric conduct. He was the original of Mortimer Collins’s Canon Tremaine inSweet and Twenty. His first wife died in 1863, and in 1864 he married Pauline Kuczynski, daughter of a Polish exile. He died in Plymouth on the 15th of August 1875. Before his death he was formally received into the Roman Catholic Church, a proceeding which aroused a bitter newspaper controversy. The best of his poems isThe Quest of the Sangraal: Chant the First(Exeter, 1864). Among hisCornish Ballads(1869) the most famous is on “Trelawny,” the refrain of which, “And shall Trelawny die,” &c., he declared to be an old Cornish saying.
SeeThe Vicar of Morwenstow(1875; later and corrected editions, 1876 and 1886), by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, which was severely criticized by Hawker’s friend, W. Maskell, in theAthenaeum(March 26, 1876);Memorials of the late Robert Stephen Hawker(1876), by the late Dr F. G. Lee. These were superseded in 1905 byThe Life and Letters of R. S. Hawker, by his son-in-law, C. E. Byles, which contains a bibliography of his works, now very valuable to collectors. See also Boase and Courtney,Bibliotheca Cornubiensis. HisPoetical Works(1879) and hisProse Works(1893) were edited by J. G. Godwin. Another edition of hisPoetical Works(1899) has a preface and bibliography by Alfred Wallis, and a complete edition of his poems by C. E. Byles, with the titleCornish Ballads and other Poems, appeared in 1904.
SeeThe Vicar of Morwenstow(1875; later and corrected editions, 1876 and 1886), by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, which was severely criticized by Hawker’s friend, W. Maskell, in theAthenaeum(March 26, 1876);Memorials of the late Robert Stephen Hawker(1876), by the late Dr F. G. Lee. These were superseded in 1905 byThe Life and Letters of R. S. Hawker, by his son-in-law, C. E. Byles, which contains a bibliography of his works, now very valuable to collectors. See also Boase and Courtney,Bibliotheca Cornubiensis. HisPoetical Works(1879) and hisProse Works(1893) were edited by J. G. Godwin. Another edition of hisPoetical Works(1899) has a preface and bibliography by Alfred Wallis, and a complete edition of his poems by C. E. Byles, with the titleCornish Ballads and other Poems, appeared in 1904.
HAWKERSandPEDLARS, the designation of itinerant dealers who convey their goods from place to place to sell. The word “hawker” seems to have come into English from the Ger.Hökeror Dutchheukerin the early 16th century. In an act of 1533 (25 Henry VIII. c. 9, § 6) we find “Sundry evill disposed persons which commonly beane called haukers ... buying and selling of Brasse and Pewter.” The earlier word for such an itinerant dealer is “huckster,” which is found in 1200. “For that they have turned God’s house intill hucksteress bothe” (Ormulum, 15,817). The base of the two words is the same, and is probably to be referred to Germanhocken, to squat, crouch; cf. “hucklebone,” the hip-bone; and the hawkers or hucksters were so called either because they stooped under their packs, or squatted at booths in markets, &c. Another derivation finds the origin in the Dutchhock, a hole, corner. It may be noticed that the termination of “huckster” is feminine; though there are examples of its application to women it was always applied indiscriminately to either sex.
“Pedlar” occurs much earlier than the verbal form “to peddle,” which is therefore a derivative from the substantive. The origin is to be found in the still older word “pedder,” one who carries about goods for sale in a “ped,” a basket or hamper. This is now only used dialectically and in Scotland. In theAncren Riwle(c.1225),peoddareis found with the meaning of “pedlar,” though thePromptorium parvulorum(c.1440) defines it ascalathasius,i.e.a maker of panniers or baskets.
The French term for a hawker or pedlar of books,colporteur(col, neck,porter, to carry), has been adopted by the Bible Society and other English religious bodies as a name for itinerant vendors and distributors of Bibles and other religious literature.
The occupation of hawkers and pedlars has been regulated in the United Kingdom, and the two classes have also been technically distinguished. The Pedlars Act 1871 defines a pedlar as “any hawker, pedlar, petty chapman, tinker, caster of metals, mender of chairs, or other person who,withoutany horse or other beast bearing or drawing burden, travels and trades on foot and goes from town to town or to other men’s houses, carrying to sell or exposing for sale any goods, wares or merchandise ... or selling or offering for sale his skill in handicraft.” Any person who acts as a pedlar must have a certificate, which is to be obtained from the chief officer of police of the police district in which the person applying for the certificate has resided during one month previous to his application. He must satisfy the officer that he is above seventeen years of age, is of good character, and in good faith intends to carry on the trade of a pedlar. The fee for a pedlar’s certificate is five shillings, and the certificate remains in force for a year from the date of issue. The act requires a register of certificates to be kept in each district, and imposes a penalty for the assigning, borrowing or forging of any certificate. It does not exempt any one from vagrant law, and requires the pedlar to show his certificate on demand to certain persons. It empowers the police to inspect a pedlar’s pack, and provides for the arrest of an uncertificated pedlar or one refusing to show his certificate. A pedlar’s certificate is not required by commercial travellers, sellers of vegetables, fish, fruit or victuals, or sellers in fairs. The Hawkers Act 1888 defines a hawker as “any one who travelswitha horse or other beast of burden, selling goods,” &c. An excise licence (expiring on the 31st of March in each year) must be taken out by every hawker in the United Kingdom. The duty imposed upon such licence is £2. A hawker’s licence is not granted, otherwise than by way of licence, except on production of a certificate signed by a clergyman and two householders of the parish or place wherein the applicant resides, or by a justice of the county or place, or a superintendent or inspector of police for the district, attesting that the person is of good character and a proper person to be licenced as a hawker. There are certain exemptions from taking out a licence—commercial travellers, sellers of fish, coal, &c., sellers in fairs, and the real worker or maker of any goods. The act also lays down certain provisions to be observed by hawkers and others, and imposes penalties for infringements. In the United States hawkers and pedlars must take out licences under State laws and Federal laws.
The occupation of hawkers and pedlars has been regulated in the United Kingdom, and the two classes have also been technically distinguished. The Pedlars Act 1871 defines a pedlar as “any hawker, pedlar, petty chapman, tinker, caster of metals, mender of chairs, or other person who,withoutany horse or other beast bearing or drawing burden, travels and trades on foot and goes from town to town or to other men’s houses, carrying to sell or exposing for sale any goods, wares or merchandise ... or selling or offering for sale his skill in handicraft.” Any person who acts as a pedlar must have a certificate, which is to be obtained from the chief officer of police of the police district in which the person applying for the certificate has resided during one month previous to his application. He must satisfy the officer that he is above seventeen years of age, is of good character, and in good faith intends to carry on the trade of a pedlar. The fee for a pedlar’s certificate is five shillings, and the certificate remains in force for a year from the date of issue. The act requires a register of certificates to be kept in each district, and imposes a penalty for the assigning, borrowing or forging of any certificate. It does not exempt any one from vagrant law, and requires the pedlar to show his certificate on demand to certain persons. It empowers the police to inspect a pedlar’s pack, and provides for the arrest of an uncertificated pedlar or one refusing to show his certificate. A pedlar’s certificate is not required by commercial travellers, sellers of vegetables, fish, fruit or victuals, or sellers in fairs. The Hawkers Act 1888 defines a hawker as “any one who travelswitha horse or other beast of burden, selling goods,” &c. An excise licence (expiring on the 31st of March in each year) must be taken out by every hawker in the United Kingdom. The duty imposed upon such licence is £2. A hawker’s licence is not granted, otherwise than by way of licence, except on production of a certificate signed by a clergyman and two householders of the parish or place wherein the applicant resides, or by a justice of the county or place, or a superintendent or inspector of police for the district, attesting that the person is of good character and a proper person to be licenced as a hawker. There are certain exemptions from taking out a licence—commercial travellers, sellers of fish, coal, &c., sellers in fairs, and the real worker or maker of any goods. The act also lays down certain provisions to be observed by hawkers and others, and imposes penalties for infringements. In the United States hawkers and pedlars must take out licences under State laws and Federal laws.
HAWKESWORTH, JOHN(c.1715-1773), English miscellaneous writer, was born in London about 1715. He is said to have been clerk to an attorney, and was certainly self-educated. In 1744 he succeeded Samuel Johnson as compiler of the parliamentary debates for theGentleman’s Magazine, and from 1746 to 1749 he contributed poems signed Greville, or H. Greville, to that journal. In company with Johnson and others he started a periodical calledThe Adventurer, which ran to 140 numbers, of which 70 were from the pen of Hawkesworth himself. On account of what was regarded as its powerful defence of morality and religion, Hawkesworth was rewarded by the archbishop of Canterbury with the degree of LL.D. In 1754-1755 he published an edition (12 vols.) of Swift’s works, with a life prefixed which Johnson praised in hisLives of the Poets. A larger edition (27 vols.) appeared in 1766-1779. He adapted Dryden’sAmphitryonfor the Drury Lane stage in 1756, and Southerne’sOronookoin 1759. He wrote the libretto of an oratorioZimriin 1760, and the next yearEdgar and Emmeline: a Fairy Tale, was produced at Drury Lane. HisAlmoran and Hamet(2 vols., 1761) was first of all drafted as a play, and a tragedy founded on it by S. J. Pratt,The Fair Circassian(1781), met with some success. He was commissioned by the admiralty to edit Captain Cook’s papers relative to his first voyage. For this work,An Account of the Voyages undertaken ... for making discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere and performed by Commodore Byrone, Captain Wallis, Captain Carteret and Captain Cook(from 1764 to 1771)drawn up from the Journals ...(3 vols., 1773), Hawkesworth is said to have received from the publishers the sum of £6000. His descriptions of the manners and customs of the South Seas were, however, regarded by many critics as inexact and hurtful to the interests of morality, and the severity of their strictures is said to have hastened his death, which took place on the 16th of November 1773. He was buriedat Bromley, Kent, where he and his wife had kept a school. Hawkesworth was a close imitator of Johnson both in style and thought, and was at one time on very friendly terms with him. It is said that he presumed on his success, and lost Johnson’s friendship as early as 1756.
HAWKHURST,a town in the southern parliamentary division of Kent, England, 47 m. S.E. of London, on a branch of the South-Eastern & Chatham railway. Pop. (1901), 3136. It lies mainly on a ridge above the valley of the Kent Ditch, a tributary of the Rother. The neighbouring country is hilly, rich and well wooded, and the pleasant and healthy situation has led to the considerable extension of the old village as a residential locality. The Kent Sanatorium and one of the Barnardo homes are established here. The church of St Lawrence, founded from Battle Abbey in Sussex, is Decorated and Perpendicular and its east window, of the earlier period, is specially beautiful.
HAWKINS, CAESAR HENRY(1798-1884), British surgeon, son of the Rev. E. Hawkins and grandson of the Sir Caesar Hawkins (1711-1786), who was serjeant-surgeon to Kings George II. and George III., was born at Bisley, Gloucestershire, on the 19th of September 1798, was educated at Christ’s Hospital, and entered St George’s Hospital, London, in 1818. He was surgeon to the hospital from 1829 to 1861, and in 1862 was made serjeant-surgeon to Queen Victoria. He was president of the College of Surgeons in 1852, and again in 1861; and he delivered the Hunterian oration in 1849. His success in complex surgical cases gave him a great reputation. For long he was noted as the only surgeon who had succeeded in the operation of ovariotomy in a London hospital. This occurred in 1846, when anaesthetics were unknown. He did much to popularize colotomy. A successful operator, he nevertheless was attached to conservative surgery, and was always more anxious to teach his pupils how to save a limb than how to remove it. He reprinted his contributions to the medical journals in two volumes, 1874, the more valuable papers being onTumours,Excision of the Ovarium,Hydrophobia and Snake-bites,Stricture of the Colon, andThe Relative Claims of Sir Charles Bell and Magendie to the Discovery of the Functions of the Spinal Nerves. He died on the 20th of July 1884. His brother, Edward Hawkins (1789-1882), was the well-known provost of Oriel, Oxford, who played so great a part in the Tractarian movement.
HAWKINS,orHawkyns,SIR JOHN(1532-1595), British admiral, was born at Plymouth in 1532, and belonged to a family of Devonshire shipowners and skippers—occupations then more closely connected than is now usual. His father, William Hawkins (d. 1553), was a prosperous freeman of Plymouth, who thrice represented that town in parliament, and is described by Hakluyt as one of the principal sea-captains in the west parts of England; his elder brother, also called William (d. 1589), was closely associated with him in his Spanish expeditions, and took an active part in fitting out ships to meet the Armada; and his nephew, the eldest son of the last named and of the same name, sailed with Sir Francis Drake to the South Sea in 1577, and served as lieutenant under Edward Fenton (q.v.) in the expedition which started for the East Indies and China in 1582. His son, Sir Richard Hawkins, is separately noticed.
Sir John Hawkins was bred to the sea in the ships of his family. When the great epoch of Elizabethan maritime adventure began, he took an active part by sailing to the Guinea coast, where he robbed the Portuguese slavers, and then smuggled the negroes he had captured into the Spanish possessions in the New World. After a first successful voyage in 1562-1563, two vessels which he had rashly sent to Seville were confiscated by the Spanish government. With the help of friends, and the open approval of the queen, who hired one of her vessels to him, he sailed again in 1564, and repeated his voyage with success, trading with the Creoles by force when the officials of the king endeavoured to prevent him. These two voyages brought him reputation, and he was granted a coat of arms with a demi-Moor, or negro, chained, as his crest. The rivalry with Spain was now becoming very acute, and when Hawkins sailed for the third time in 1567, he went in fact, though not technically, on a national venture. Again he kidnapped negroes, and forced his goods on the Spanish colonies. Encouraged by his discovery that these settlements were small and unfortified, he on this occasion ventured to enter Vera Cruz, the port of Mexico, after capturing some Spaniards at sea to be held as hostages. He alleged that he had been driven in by bad weather. The falsity of the story was glaring, but the Spanish officers on the spot were too weak to offer resistance. Hawkins was allowed to enter the harbour, and to refit at the small rocky island of San Juan de Ulloa by which it is formed. Unfortunately for him, and for a French corsair whom he had in his company, a strong Spanish force arrived, bringing the new viceroy. The Spaniards, who were no more scrupulous of the truth than himself, pretended to accept the arrangement made before their arrival, and then when they thought he was off his guard attacked him on the 24th of September. Only two vessels escaped, his own, the “Minion,” and the “Judith,” a small vessel belonging to his cousin Francis Drake. The voyage home was miserable, and the sufferings of all were great.
For some years Hawkins did not return to the sea, though he continued to be interested in privateering voyages as a capitalist. In the course of 1572 he recovered part of his loss by pretending to betray the queen for a bribe to Spain. He acted with the knowledge of Lord Burleigh. In 1573 he became treasurer of the navy in succession to his father-in-law Benjamin Gonson. The office of comptroller was conferred on him soon after, and for the rest of his life he remained the principal administrative officer of the navy. Burleigh noted that he was suspected of fraud in his office, but the queen’s ships were kept by him in good condition. In 1588 he served as rear-admiral against the Spanish Armada and was knighted. In 1590 he was sent to the coast of Portugal to intercept the Spanish treasure fleet, but did not meet it. In giving an account of his failure to the queen he quoted the text “Paul doth plant, Apollo doth water, but God giveth the increase,” which exhibition of piety is said to have provoked the queen into exclaiming, “God’s death! This fool went out a soldier, and has come home a divine.” In 1595 he accompanied Drake on another treasure-hunting voyage to the West Indies, which was even less successful, and he died at sea off Porto Rico on the 12th of November 1595.
Hawkins was twice married, first to Katharine Gonson and then to Margaret Vaughan. He was counted a puritan when puritanism meant little beyond hatred of Spain and popery, and when these principles were an ever-ready excuse for voyages in search of slaves and plunder. In the course of one of his voyages, when he was becalmed and his negroes were dying, he consoled himself by the reflection that God would not suffer His elect to perish. Contemporary evidence can be produced to show that he was greedy, unscrupulous and rude. But if he had been a more delicate man he would not have risked the gallows by making piratical attacks on the Portuguese and by appearing in the West Indies as an armed smuggler; and in that case he would not have played an important part in history by setting the example of breaking down the pretension of the Spaniards to exclude all comers from the New World. His morality was that of the average stirring man of his time, whether in England or elsewhere.
See R. A. J. Walling,A Sea-dog of Devon(1907); and Southey in hisBritish Admirals, vol. iii. The original accounts of his voyages compiled by Hakluyt have been reprinted by the Hakluyt Society, with a preface by Sir C. R. Markham.
See R. A. J. Walling,A Sea-dog of Devon(1907); and Southey in hisBritish Admirals, vol. iii. The original accounts of his voyages compiled by Hakluyt have been reprinted by the Hakluyt Society, with a preface by Sir C. R. Markham.
HAWKINS, SIR JOHN(1719-1789), English writer on music, was born on the 30th of March 1719, in London, the son of an architect who destined him for his own profession. Ultimately, however, Hawkins took to the law, devoting his leisure hours to his favourite study of music. A wealthy marriage in 1753 enabled him to indulge his passion for acquiring rare works of music, and he bought, for example, the collection formed by Dr Pepusch, and subsequently presented by Hawkins to the British Museum. It was on such materials that Hawkinsfounded his celebrated work on theGeneral History of the Science and Practice of Music, in 5 vols. (republished in 2 vols., 1876). It was brought out in 1776, the same year which witnessed the appearance of the first volume of Burney’s work on the same subject. The relative merits of the two works were eagerly discussed by contemporary critics. Burney no doubt is infinitely superior as a literary man, and his work accordingly comes much nearer the idea of a systematic treatise on the subject than Hawkins’s, which is essentially a collection of rare and valuable pieces of music with a more or less continuous commentary. But by rescuing these from oblivion Hawkins has given a permanent value to his work. Of Hawkins’s literary efforts apart from music it will be sufficient to mention his occasional contributions to theGentleman’s Magazine, his edition (1760) of theComplete Angler(1787) and his biography of Dr Johnson, with whom he was intimately acquainted. He was one of the original members of the Ivy Lane Club, and ultimately became one of Dr Johnson’s executors. If there were any doubt as to his intimacy with Johnson, it would be settled by the slighting way in which Boswell refers to him. Speaking of the Ivy Lane Club, he mentions amongst the members “Mr John Hawkins, an attorney,” and adds the following footnote, which at the same time may serve as a summary of the remaining facts of Hawkins’s life: “He was for several years chairman of the Middlesex justices, and upon presenting an address to the king accepted the usual offer of knighthood (1772). He is the author of aHistory of Musicin five volumes in quarto. By assiduous attendance upon Johnson in his last illness he obtained the office of one of his executors—in consequence of which the booksellers of London employed him to publish an edition of Dr Johnson’s works and to write his life.” Sir John Hawkins died on the 21st of May 1789, and was buried in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey.
HAWKINS,orHawkyns,SIR RICHARD(c.1562-1622), British seaman, was the only son of Admiral Sir John Hawkins (q.v.) by his first marriage. He was from his earliest days familiar with ships and the sea, and in 1582 he accompanied his uncle, William Hawkins, to the West Indies. In 1585 he was captain of a galliot in Drake’s expedition to the Spanish main, in 1588 he commanded a queen’s ship against the Armada, and in 1590 served with his father’s expedition to the coast of Portugal. In 1593 he purchased the “Dainty,” a ship originally built for his father and used by him in his expeditions, and sailed for the West Indies, the Spanish main and the South Seas. It seems clear that his project was to prey on the oversea possessions of the king of Spain. Hawkins, however, in an account of the voyage written thirty years afterwards, maintained, and by that time perhaps had really persuaded himself, that his expedition was undertaken purely for the purpose of geographical discovery. After visiting the coast of Brazil, the “Dainty” passed through the Straits of Magellan, and in due course reached Valparaiso. Having plundered the town, Hawkins pushed north, and in June 1594, a year after leaving Plymouth, arrived in the bay of San Mateo. Here the “Dainty” was attacked by two Spanish ships. Hawkins was hopelessly outmatched, but defended himself with great courage. At last, when he himself had been severely wounded, many of his men killed, and the “Dainty” was nearly sinking, he surrendered on the promise of a safe-conduct out of the country for himself and his crew. Through no fault of the Spanish commander this promise was not kept. In 1597 Hawkins was sent to Spain, and imprisoned first at Seville and subsequently at Madrid. He was released in 1602, and, returning to England, was knighted in 1603. In 1604 he became member of parliament for Plymouth and vice-admiral of Devon, a post which, as the coast was swarming with pirates, was no sinecure. In 1620-1621 he was vice-admiral, under Sir Robert Mansell, of the fleet sent into the Mediterranean to reduce the Algerian corsairs. He died in London on the 17th of April 1622.