A collected edition of her novels, plays and poems appeared in 1724, and herSecret Histories, Novels and Poemsin 1725. See also an article by S. L. Lee in theDictionary of National Biography.
A collected edition of her novels, plays and poems appeared in 1724, and herSecret Histories, Novels and Poemsin 1725. See also an article by S. L. Lee in theDictionary of National Biography.
HAZARA, a race of Afghanistan. The Hazaras are of Mongolian origin, speak a dialect of Persian, and belong to the Shiah sect of Mahommedans. They are of middle size but stoutly made, with small grey eyes, high cheek bones and smooth faces. They are descendants of military colonists introduced by Jenghiz Khan, who occupy all the highlands of the upper Helmund valley, spreading through the country between Kabul and Herat, as well as into a strip of territory on the frontier slopes of the Hindu Kush north of Kabul. In the western provinces they are known as the Chahar Aimak (Hazaras, Jamshidis, Taimanis and Ferozkhois), and in other districts they are distinguished by the name of the territory they occupy. They are pure Mongols, intermixing with no other races (chiefly for the reason that no other races will intermix with them), preserving their language and their Mongol characteristics uninfluenced by their surroundings, having absolutely displaced the former occupants of the Hazarajat and Ghor. They make good soldiers and excellent pioneers. The amir’s companies of engineers are recruited from the Hazaras, and they form perhaps the most effective corps in his heterogeneous army. They are now recruited into the British service in India.
HAZARA, a district of British India, in the Peshawar division of the North-West Frontier Province, with an area of 3391 sq. m. It is bounded on the N. by the Black Mountain, the Swat country, Kohistan and Chilas; on the E. by the native state of Kashmir; on the S. by Rawalpindi district; and on the W. by the river Indus. On the creation of the North-West Frontier Province in 1901 the district was reconstituted, the Tahsil of Attock being transferred to Rawalpindi. The district forms a wedge of territory extending far into the heart of the outer Himalayas, and consisting of a long narrow valley, shut in on both sides by lofty mountains, whose peaks rise to a height of 17,000 ft. above sea level. Towards the centre of the district the vale of Kagan is bounded by mountain chains, which sweep southward still maintaining a general parallel direction, and send off spurs on every side which divide the country into numerous minor dales. The district is well watered by the tributaries of the Indus, the Kunhar, which flows through the Kagan Valley into the Jhelum, and many rivulets. Throughout the scenery is picturesque. To the north rise the distant peaks of the snow-clad ranges; midway, the central mountains stand clothed to their rounded summits with pines and other forest trees, while grass and brushwood spread a green cloak over the nearer hills, and cultivation covers every available slope. The chief frontier tribes on the border are the cis-Indus Swatis, Hassanzais, Akazais, Chagarzais, Pariari Syads, Madda Khels, Amazais and Umarzais. Within the district Pathans are not numerous.
The name Hazara possibly belonged originally to a Turki family which entered India with Timur in the 14th century, and subsequently settled in this remote region. During the prosperous period of the Mogul dynasty the population included a number of mixed tribes, which each began to assert its independence, so that the utmost anarchy prevailed until Hazara attracted the attention of the rising Sikh monarchy. Ranjit Singh first obtained a footing here in 1818, and, after eight years of constant aggression, became master of the whole country. During the minority of the young maharaja Dhuleep Singh, the Sikh kingdom fell into a state of complete disorganization; the people seized the opportunity for recovering their independence,and rose in 1845 in rebellion. They stormed the Sikh forts, laid siege to Haripur, and drove the governor across the borders. After the first Sikh War it was proposed to transfer Hazara with Kashmir to Gulab Singh, but it remained under the Lahore government in charge of James Abbott, who pacified it in less than a year and held it single-handed throughout the troubles of the second Sikh War. It was also undisturbed during the Mutiny. The population in 1901 was 560,288, showing an increase of 8.52% in the decade. The headquarters are at Abbotabad; pop. (1901) 7764. Through the Kagan valley and over the Babusar pass at its head lies the most direct route from the Punjab to Chilas and Gilgit.
HAZARD(O. Fr.hazard, from Span.azar, unlucky throw at dice, misfortune, from Arab,al, andzar, dice), a game of dice (called Craps in America), once very popular in England and played for large stakes at the famous rooms of Crockford (St James’s Street, London) and Almack (Pall Mall, London). The player or “caster” calls a “main” (that is, any number from five to nine inclusive). He then throws with two dice. If he “throws in,” or “nicks,” he wins the sum played for from the banker or “setter.” Five is a nick to five, six and twelve are nicks to six, seven and eleven to seven, eight and twelve to eight and nine to nine. If the caster “throws out” by throwing aces, or deuce-ace (called crabs or craps), he loses. When the main is five or nine the caster throws out with 11 or 12; when the main is six or eight he throws out with 11; when the main is seven he throws out with 12. If the caster neither nicks nor throws out, the number thrown is his “chance,” and he keeps on throwing till either the chance comes up, when he wins, or till the main comes up, when he loses. When a chance is thrown the “odds” for or against the chance are laid by the setter to the amount of the original stake. Seven is the best main for the caster to call, as it can be thrown in six different ways out of the thirty-six casts which are possible with dice. Supposing seven to be the main; then the caster wins if he throws 7 or 11; he loses if he throws crabs or 12. If he throws any other number, 4 for example, that is his chance. The odds against him are two to one, as 7 can be thrown in six ways, but 4 only in three; hence six to three, or two to one, are the correct odds, and if the original stake was £1, the setter now lays £2 to £1 in addition. It is useful to remember that 2 and 12 can be thrown in one way; 3 and 11 in two ways; 4 and 10 in three ways; 5 and 9 in four ways; 6 and 8 in five ways. The odds against the caster are thus given by Hoyle: If 7 is the main and 4 the chance, two to one; 6 and 4, five to three; 5 and 4, four to three; 7 and 9, three to two; 7 and 6, six and five; 7 and 5, three to two; 6 and 5, five to four; 8 and 5, five to four, &c.
HAZARIBAGH, a town and district of British India, in the Chota Nagpur division of Bengal. The town is well situated at an elevation of 2000 ft. Pop. (1901) 15,799. Hazaribagh has ceased to be a military cantonment since the European penitentiary was abolished. There are a central jail and a reformatory school. The Dublin University Mission maintains a First Arts college.
TheDistrictcomprises an area of 7021 sq. m. In 1901 the population was 1,177,961, showing an increase of 1% in the decade. The physical formation of Hazaribagh exhibits three distinct features: (1) a high central plateau occupying the western section, the surface of which is undulating and cultivated; (2) a lower and more extensive plateau stretching along the north and eastern portions; to the north, the land is well cultivated, while to the east the country is of a more varied character, the elevation is lower, and the character of a plateau is gradually lost; (3) the central valley of the Damodar river occupying the entire southern section. Indeed, although the characteristics of the district are rock, hill and wide-spreading jungle, fine patches of cultivation are met with in all parts, and the scenery is generally pleasing and often striking. The district forms a part of the chain of high land which extends across the continent of India, south of the Nerbudda on the west, and south of the Sone river on the east. The most important river is the Damodar, with its many tributaries, which drains an area of 2480 sq. m.
The history of the district is involved in obscurity until 1755, about which time a certain Mukund Singh was chief of the country. In a few years he was superseded by Tej Singh, who had gained the assistance of the British. In 1780 Hazaribagh, along with the surrounding territory, passed under direct British rule.
The district contains an important coal-field at Giridih which supplies the East Indian railway. There are altogether six mines. There are also mica mines which are gaining in importance. Rice and oilseeds are the principal crops. Tea cultivation has been tried but does not flourish, and is almost extinct. The only railways are the branch of the East Indian to the coal-field at Giridih, where there is a technical school maintained by the railway company, and the newly-opened Gaya-Katrasgarh chord line; but the district is traversed by the Grand Trunk road. Parasnath hill is annually visited by large numbers of Jain worshippers.
HAZEBROUCK, a town of northern France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Nord, on the canalized Bourre, 29 m. W.N.W. of Lille, on the Northern railway, between that town and St Omer. Pop. (1906), town, 8798; commune, 12,819. With the exception of the church of St Eloi, a building of the 16th century with a spire of fine open work 260 ft. high, and the hospice, occupying a convent built in the 16th and 17th centuries, there is little of architectural interest in the town. Hazebrouck is the seat of a sub prefect, and has a tribunal of first instance and a board of trade arbitration. It is the market for a fertile agricultural district, and has trade in live-stock, grain and hops. Cloth-weaving is the chief industry. Hazebrouck is an important junction, and railway employés form a large part of its population.
HAZEL(O. Eng.hæsel1; cf. Ger.Hasel, Swed. and Dan.hassel, &c.,; Fr.noisetier, coudrier), botanicallycorylus, a genus of shrubs or low trees of the natural order Corylaceae. The common hazel,Corylus Avellana(fig. 1), occurs throughout Europe, in North Africa and in central and Russian Asia, except the northernmost parts. It is commonly found in hedges and coppices, and as an undergrowth in woods, and reaches a height of some 12 ft.; occasionally, as at Eastwell Park, Kent, it may attain to 30 ft. According to Evelyn (Sylva, p. 35, 1664), hazels “above all affect cold, barren, dry, and sandy soils; also mountains, and even rockie ground produce them; but more plentifully if somewhat moist, dankish, and mossie.” In Kent they flourish best in a calcareous soil. The bark of the older stems is of a bright brown, mottled with grey, that of the young twigs is ash-coloured, and glandular and hairy. The leaves are alternate, from 2 to 4 in. in length, downy below, roundish heart-shaped, pointed and shortly stalked. In the varietyC. purpurea, the leaves, as also the pellicle of the kernel and the husk of the nut, are purple, and inC. heterophyllathey are thickly clothed with hairs. In autumn the rich yellow tint acquired by the leaves of the hazel adds greatly to the beauty of landscapes. The flowers are monoecious, and appear in Great Britain in February and March, before the leaves. The cylindrical drooping yellow male catkins (fig. 2) are 1 to 2½ in. long, and occur 2 to 4 in a raceme; when in unusual numbers they may be terminal in position. The female flowers are small, sub-globose and sessile,resembling leaf-buds, and have protruding crimson stigmas; the minute inner bracts, by their enlargement, form the palmately lobed and cut involucre or husk of the nut. The ovary is not visible till nearly midsummer, and is not fully developed before autumn. The nuts have a length of from ½ to ¾ in., and grow in clusters. Double nuts are the result of the equal development of the two carpels of the original flower, of which ordinarily one becomes abortive; fusion of two or more nuts is not uncommon. From the light-brown or brown colour of the nuts the termshazelandhazelly,i.e.“in hue as hazel nuts” (Shakespeare,Taming of the Shrew, ii. 1), derive their significance.2The wood of the hazel is whitish-red, close in texture and pliant, and has when dry a weight of 49 ℔ per cub. ft.; it has been used in cabinet-making, and for toys and turned articles. Curiously veined veneers are obtained from the roots; and the root-shoots are largely employed in the making of crates, coal-corves or baskets, hurdles, withs and bands, whip-handles and other objects. The rods are reputed to be most durable when from the driest ground, and to be especially good where the bottom is chalky. The light charcoal afforded by the hazel serves well for crayons, and is valued by gunpowder manufacturers. An objection to the construction of hedges of hazel is the injury not infrequently done to them by the nut-gatherer, who “with active vigour crushes down the tree” (Thomson’sSeasons, “Autumn”), and otherwise damages it.
The filbert,3among the numerous varieties ofCorylus Avellana, is extensively cultivated, especially in Kent, for the sake of its nuts, which are readily distinguished from cob-nuts by their ample involucre and greater length. It may be propagated by suckers and layers, by grafting and by sowing. Suckers afford the strongest and earliest-bearing plants. Grafted filberts are less liable than others to be encumbered by suckers at the root. By the Maidstone growers the best plants are considered to be obtained from layers. These become well rooted in about a twelvemonth, and then, after pruning, are bedded out in the nursery for two or three years. The filbert is economically grown on the borders of plantations or orchards, or in open spots in woods. It thrives most in a light loam with a dry subsoil; rich and, in particular, wet soils are unsuitable, conducing to the formation of too much wood. Plantations of filberts are made in autumn, in well-drained ground, and a space of about 10 ft. by 8 has to be allowed for each tree. In the third year after planting the trees may require root-pruning; in the fifth or sixth they should bear well. The nuts grow in greatest abundance on the extremities of second year’s branches, where light and air have ready access. To obtain a good tree, the practice in Kent is to select a stout upright shoot 3 ft. in length; this is cut down to about 18 in. of which the lower 12 are kept free from outgrowth. The head is pruned to form six or eight strong offsets; and by judicious use of the knife, and by training, preferably on a hoop placed within them, these are caused to grow outwards and upwards to a height of about 6 ft. so as to form a bowl-like shape. Excessive luxuriance of the laterals may be combated by root-pruning, or by checking them early in the season, and again later, and by cutting back to a female blossom bud, or else spurring nearly down to the main branch in the following spring.
Filbert nuts required for keeping must be gathered only when quite ripe; they may then be preserved in dry sand, or, after drying, by packing with a sprinkling of salt in sound casks or new flower-pots. Their different forms include the Cosford, which are thin-shelled and oblong; the Downton, or large square nut, having a lancinated husk; the white or Wrotham Park filbert; and the red hazel or filbert, the kernel of which has a red pellicle. The last two, on account of their elongated husk, have been distinguished as a species, under the nameCorylus tubulosa. Like these, apparently, were the nuts of Abella, or Avella, in the Campania (cf. Fr.aveline, filbert), said by Pliny to have been originally designated “Pontic,” from their introduction into Asia and Greece from Pontus (seeNat. Hist.xv. 24, xxiii. 78). Hazel-nuts, under the name of Barcelona or Spanish nuts, are largely exported from France and Portugal, and especially Tarragona and other places in Spain. They afford 60% of a colourless or pale-yellow, sweet-tasting, non-drying oil, which has a specific gravity of 0.92 nearly, becomes solid at -19° C. (Cloez), and consists approximately of carbon 77, and hydrogen and oxygen each 11.5%. Hazel nuts formed part of the food of the ancient lake-dwellers of Switzerland and other countries of Europe (see Keller,Lake Dwellings, trans. Lee, 2nd ed., 1878). By the Romans they were sometimes eaten roasted. Kaltenbach (Pflanzenfeinde, pp. 633-638, 1874) enumerates ninety-eight insects which attack the hazel. Among these the beetleBalaninus nucum, the nut-weevil, seen on hazel and oak stems from the end of May till July, is highly destructive to the nuts. The female lays an egg in the unripe nut, on the kernel of which the larva subsists till September, when it bores its way through the shell, and enters the earth, to undergo transformation into a chrysalis in the ensuing spring. The leaves of the hazel are frequently found mined on the upper and under side respectively by the larvae of the mothsLithocolletis coryliandL. Nicelii. Squirrels and dormice are very destructive to the nut crop, as they not only take for present consumption but for a store for future supply. Parasitic on the roots of the hazel is found the curious leaflessLathraea Squamariaor toothwort.The Hebrew wordluz, translated “hazel” in the authorized version of the English Bible (Gen. xxx. 37), is believed to signify “almond” (see Kitto,Cycl. of Bibl. Lit.ii. 869, and iii. 811, 1864). A belief in the efficacy of divining-rods of hazel for the discovery of concealed objects is probably of remote origin (cf. Hosea iv. 12). G. Agricola, in his treatiseVom Bergwerck(pp. xxix.-xxxi., Basel, 1557), gives an account, accompanied by a woodcut, of their employment in searching for mineral veins. By certain persons, who for different metals used rods of various materials, rods of hazel, he says, were held serviceable simply for silver lodes, and by the skilled miner, who trusted to natural signs of mineral veins, they were regarded as of no avail at all. The virtue of the hazel wand was supposed to be dependent on its having two forks; these were to be grasped in the fists, with the fingers uppermost, but with moderate firmness only, lest the free motion of the opposite end downwards towards the looked-for object should be interfered with. According to Cornish tradition, the divining or dowsing rod is guided to lodes by the pixies, the guardians of the treasures of the earth. By Vallemont, who wrote towards the end of the 17th century, the divining-rod of hazel, or “baguette divinatoire,” is described as instrumental in the pursuit of criminals. The Jesuit Vanière, who flourished in the early part of the 18th century, in thePraedium rusticum(pp. 12, 13, new ed., Toulouse, 1742) amusingly relates the manner in which he exposed the chicanery of one who pretended by the aid of a hazel divining-rod to point out hidden water-courses and gold. The burning of hazel nuts for the magical investigation of the future is alluded to by John Gay inThursday, or the Spell, and by Burns inHalloween. The hazel is very frequently mentioned by the old French romance writers.Corylus rostrataandC. americanaof North America have edible fruits like those ofC. Avellana.The witch hazel is quite a distinct plant,Hamamelis virginica, of the natural order Hamamalideae, the astringent bark of which is used in medicine. It is a hardy deciduous shrub, native of North America, which bears a profusion of rich yellow flowers in autumn and winter when the plant is leafless.
Filbert nuts required for keeping must be gathered only when quite ripe; they may then be preserved in dry sand, or, after drying, by packing with a sprinkling of salt in sound casks or new flower-pots. Their different forms include the Cosford, which are thin-shelled and oblong; the Downton, or large square nut, having a lancinated husk; the white or Wrotham Park filbert; and the red hazel or filbert, the kernel of which has a red pellicle. The last two, on account of their elongated husk, have been distinguished as a species, under the nameCorylus tubulosa. Like these, apparently, were the nuts of Abella, or Avella, in the Campania (cf. Fr.aveline, filbert), said by Pliny to have been originally designated “Pontic,” from their introduction into Asia and Greece from Pontus (seeNat. Hist.xv. 24, xxiii. 78). Hazel-nuts, under the name of Barcelona or Spanish nuts, are largely exported from France and Portugal, and especially Tarragona and other places in Spain. They afford 60% of a colourless or pale-yellow, sweet-tasting, non-drying oil, which has a specific gravity of 0.92 nearly, becomes solid at -19° C. (Cloez), and consists approximately of carbon 77, and hydrogen and oxygen each 11.5%. Hazel nuts formed part of the food of the ancient lake-dwellers of Switzerland and other countries of Europe (see Keller,Lake Dwellings, trans. Lee, 2nd ed., 1878). By the Romans they were sometimes eaten roasted. Kaltenbach (Pflanzenfeinde, pp. 633-638, 1874) enumerates ninety-eight insects which attack the hazel. Among these the beetleBalaninus nucum, the nut-weevil, seen on hazel and oak stems from the end of May till July, is highly destructive to the nuts. The female lays an egg in the unripe nut, on the kernel of which the larva subsists till September, when it bores its way through the shell, and enters the earth, to undergo transformation into a chrysalis in the ensuing spring. The leaves of the hazel are frequently found mined on the upper and under side respectively by the larvae of the mothsLithocolletis coryliandL. Nicelii. Squirrels and dormice are very destructive to the nut crop, as they not only take for present consumption but for a store for future supply. Parasitic on the roots of the hazel is found the curious leaflessLathraea Squamariaor toothwort.
The Hebrew wordluz, translated “hazel” in the authorized version of the English Bible (Gen. xxx. 37), is believed to signify “almond” (see Kitto,Cycl. of Bibl. Lit.ii. 869, and iii. 811, 1864). A belief in the efficacy of divining-rods of hazel for the discovery of concealed objects is probably of remote origin (cf. Hosea iv. 12). G. Agricola, in his treatiseVom Bergwerck(pp. xxix.-xxxi., Basel, 1557), gives an account, accompanied by a woodcut, of their employment in searching for mineral veins. By certain persons, who for different metals used rods of various materials, rods of hazel, he says, were held serviceable simply for silver lodes, and by the skilled miner, who trusted to natural signs of mineral veins, they were regarded as of no avail at all. The virtue of the hazel wand was supposed to be dependent on its having two forks; these were to be grasped in the fists, with the fingers uppermost, but with moderate firmness only, lest the free motion of the opposite end downwards towards the looked-for object should be interfered with. According to Cornish tradition, the divining or dowsing rod is guided to lodes by the pixies, the guardians of the treasures of the earth. By Vallemont, who wrote towards the end of the 17th century, the divining-rod of hazel, or “baguette divinatoire,” is described as instrumental in the pursuit of criminals. The Jesuit Vanière, who flourished in the early part of the 18th century, in thePraedium rusticum(pp. 12, 13, new ed., Toulouse, 1742) amusingly relates the manner in which he exposed the chicanery of one who pretended by the aid of a hazel divining-rod to point out hidden water-courses and gold. The burning of hazel nuts for the magical investigation of the future is alluded to by John Gay inThursday, or the Spell, and by Burns inHalloween. The hazel is very frequently mentioned by the old French romance writers.Corylus rostrataandC. americanaof North America have edible fruits like those ofC. Avellana.
The witch hazel is quite a distinct plant,Hamamelis virginica, of the natural order Hamamalideae, the astringent bark of which is used in medicine. It is a hardy deciduous shrub, native of North America, which bears a profusion of rich yellow flowers in autumn and winter when the plant is leafless.
1It has been supposed that the origin is to be found in O. Eng.hæs, a behest, connected withhatan= Ger.heissen, to give orders: the hazel-wand was the sceptre of authority of the shepherd chieftain (ποιμὴν λαῶν) of olden times, seeGrimm, Gesch. d. deutsch. Sprache, p. 1016, 1848. The root iskas-, cf. Lat.corulas, corylus; and the original meaning is unknown.2On the expression “hazel eyes,” seeNotes and Queries, 2nd ser. xii. 337, and 3rd ser. iii. 18, 39.3For derivations of the word see Latham’sJohnson’s Dictionary.
1It has been supposed that the origin is to be found in O. Eng.hæs, a behest, connected withhatan= Ger.heissen, to give orders: the hazel-wand was the sceptre of authority of the shepherd chieftain (ποιμὴν λαῶν) of olden times, seeGrimm, Gesch. d. deutsch. Sprache, p. 1016, 1848. The root iskas-, cf. Lat.corulas, corylus; and the original meaning is unknown.
2On the expression “hazel eyes,” seeNotes and Queries, 2nd ser. xii. 337, and 3rd ser. iii. 18, 39.
3For derivations of the word see Latham’sJohnson’s Dictionary.
HAZLETON,a city of Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., about 25 m. S. of Wilkes-Barré. Pop. (1890) 11,872; (1900) 14,230, of whom 2732 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 25,452. It is served by the Lehigh Valley, the Pennsylvania (for freight), and the Wilkes-Barré & Hazleton (electric) railways. The city is built on a broad tableland on Nescopeck or Buck Mountain, a spur of the Blue Mountains, about 1620 ft. above sea-level. It has a park and a number of handsome residences; and its agreeable climate and picturesque situation make it attractive as a summer resort. The city has a public library. Hazleton is near the centre of one of the richest coal regions (the Lehigh or “Eastern Middle Coal Field”) of the state, and its principal industry is the mining and shipping of anthracite coal. It has silk mills, knitting mills, shirt factories, breweries, macaroni factories, lumber and planing mills, important iron works, a casket factory and a large electric power plant. The value ofthe city’s factory products increased from $998,823 in 1900 to $2,185,876 in 1905, or 118.8%, only three other cities in the state having a population of 8000 or more in 1900 showing a greater rate of increase. There is a state hospital here for the treatment of persons injured in mines. Hazleton was settled in 1820, was laid out in 1836, was incorporated as a borough in 1856 and received a city charter in 1891. The local coal industry dates from 1837.
HAZLITT, WILLIAM(1778-1830), British literary critic and essayist, was born on the 10th of April 1778 at Maidstone, where his father, William Hazlitt, was minister of a Unitarian congregation. The father took the side of the Americans in their struggle with the mother-country, and during a residence at Bandon, Co. Cork, interested himself in the welfare of some American prisoners at Kinsale. In 1783 he migrated with his family to America, but in the winter of 1786-1787 returned to England, and settled at Wem in Shropshire, where he ministered to a small congregation. There his son William went to school, till in 1793 he was sent to the Hackney theological college in the hope that he would become a dissenting minister. For this career, however, he had no inclination, and returned, probably in 1794, to Wem, where he led a desultory life until 1802, and then decided to become a portrait painter. His elder brother John was already established as a miniature painter in London. The monotony of life at Wem was broken in January 1798 by the visit of Samuel Taylor Coleridge to Shrewsbury, where young Hazlitt went to hear him preach. Coleridge encouraged William Hazlitt’s interest in metaphysics, and in the spring of the next year Hazlitt visited Coleridge at Nether Stowey and made the acquaintance of William Wordsworth. The circumstances of this early intercourse with Coleridge are related with inimitable skill in a paper in Hazlitt’sLiterary Remains(1839). On visits to his brother in London he made many acquaintances, the most important being a friendship with Charles Lamb, said to have been founded on a remark of Lamb’s interpolated in a discussion between Coleridge, Godwin and Holcroft, “Give me man as he isnotto be.” He also formed an acquaintance with John Stoddart, whose sister Sarah he married in 1808. In October 1802 he went to Paris to copy portraits in the Louvre, and spent four happy months in Paris. When he returned to London he undertook commissions for portraits, but soon found he was not likely to excel in his art; his last portrait, one of Charles Lamb as a Venetian senator (now in the National Portrait Gallery), was executed in 1805. In that year he published his first book,An Essay on the Principles of Human Action: being an argument in favour of the Natural Disinterestedness of the Human Mind, which had occupied him at intervals for six or seven years. It attracted little attention, but remained a favourite with its author. Other works belonging to this period are:Free Thoughts on Public Affairs(1806);An Abridgment of the Light of Nature Revealed, by Abraham Tucker ...(1807);The Eloquence of the British Senate ...(2 vols., 1807);A Reply to Malthus, on his Essay on Population(1807);A New and Improved Grammar of the English Tongue ...(1810).
Hazlitt married in 1808. His domestic life was unhappy. His wife was an unromantic, business-like woman, while he himself was fitful and moody, and impatient of restraint. The dissolution of the ill-assorted union was nevertheless deferred for fourteen years, during which much of Hazlitt’s best literary work had been produced. Mrs Hazlitt had inherited a small estate at Winterslow near Salisbury, and here the Hazlitts lived until 1812, when they removed to 19 York Street, Westminster, a house that was once Milton’s. Hazlitt delivered in 1812 a course of lectures at the Russell Institution on theRise and Progress of Modern Philosophy. He soon abandoned philosophy, however, to give his whole attention to journalism. He was parliamentary reporter and subsequently dramatic critic for theMorning Chronicle; he also contributed to theChampionandThe Times; but his closest connexion was with theExaminer, owned by John and Leigh Hunt. In conjunction with Leigh Hunt he undertook the series of articles calledThe Round Table, a collection of essays on literature, men and manners which were originally contributed to theExaminer. To this time belong hisView of the English Stage(1818), andLectures on the English Poets(1818), on theEnglish Comic Writers(1819), and on theDramatic Literature of the Age of Elizabeth(1821). By these works, together with hisCharacters of Shakespeare’s Plays(1817), and hisTable Talk; or Original Essays on Men and Manners(1821-1822), his reputation as a critic and essayist was established. Next to Coleridge, Hazlitt was perhaps the most powerful exponent of the dawning perception that Shakespeare’s art was no less marvellous than his genius; and Hazlitt’s criticism did not, like Coleridge’s, remain in the condition of a series of brilliant but fitful glimpses of insight, but was elaborated with steady care. His lectures on the Elizabethan dramatists performed a similar service for the earlier, sweeter and simpler among them, such as Dekker, till then unduly eclipsed by later writers like Massinger, better playwrights but worse poets. Treating of the contemporary drama, he successfully vindicated for Edmund Kean, whose genius he recognized from the first, the high place which he has retained as an actor, and his enthusiasm for Mrs Siddons knew no bounds. His criticisms on the English comic writers and men of letters in general are masterpieces of ingenious and felicitous exposition, though rarely, like Coleridge’s, penetrating to the inmost core of the subject. Moreover, at the time when the lectures were written, Hazlitt’s views, orthodox as they may seem now, were novel enough.
As an essayist Hazlitt is even more effective than as a critic. Being enabled to select his own subjects, he escapes dependence upon others either for his matter or his illustrations, and presents himself by turns as a metaphysician, a moralist, a humorist, a painter of manners and characteristics, but always, whatever his ostensible theme, deriving the essence of his commentary from himself. This combination of intense subjectivity with strict adherence to his subject is one of Hazlitt’s most distinctive and creditable traits. Intellectual truthfulness is a passion with him. He steeps his topic in the hues of his own individuality, but never uses it as a means of self-display. The first reception of his admirable essays was by no means in accordance with their deserts. Hazlitt’s political sympathies and antipathies were vehement, and he had taken the unfashionable side.The Quarterly Reviewattacked him with deliberate malignity, stopped the sale of his writings for a time and blighted his credit with publishers. Hazlitt retaliated by hisLetter to William Gifford(1819), accusing the editor of deliberate misrepresentation. In downright abuse and hard-hitting, Hazlitt proved himself more than a match even for Gifford. By the writers inBlackwood’s MagazineHazlitt was also scurrilously treated.1He had become estranged from his early friends, the Lake poets, by what he uncharitably but not unnaturally regarded as their political apostasy; and he had no scruples about recording his often very unfavourable opinions of his contemporaries. He displayed, moreover, an exasperating facility in grounding his criticisms on facts that his victims were unable to deny. His inequalities of temper separated him for a time even from Leigh Hunt and Charles Lamb, and on the whole the period of his most brilliant literary success was that when he was most soured and broken. Domestic troubles supervened; he had gone to live in Southampton Buildings in September 1819, and his marriage, long little more than nominal, was dissolved in consequence of the infatuated passion he had conceived for his landlord’s daughter, Sarah Walker, a most ordinary person in the eyes of every one else. It is impossible to regard Hazlitt as a responsible agent while he continued subject to this influence. His own record of the transaction, published by himself under the title ofLiber Amoris, or the New Pygmalion(1823), is an unpleasant but remarkable psychological document. It consists of conversations between Hazlitt and Sarah Walker, drawn up in the spring of 1822, of a correspondence between Hazlitt and his friend P. G. Patmore between March and July, and an account of the rupture of his relations with Sarah. The business-like dissolution of his marriage under the law of Scotland is related with amazingnaïveté by the family biographer. Rid of his wife and cured of his mistress, he shortly afterwards astonished his friends by marrying a widow. “All I know,” says his grandson, “is that Mrs Bridgewater became Mrs Hazlitt.” They travelled on the continent for a year and then parted finally. Hazlitt’s study of the Italian masters during this tour, described in a series of letters contributed to theMorning Chronicle, had a deep effect upon him, and perhaps conduced to that intimacy with the cynical old painter Northcote which, shortly after his return, engendered a curious but eminently readable volume ofThe Conversations of James Northcote, R.A.(1830). The respective shares of author and artist are not always easy to determine. During the recent agitations of his life he had been writing essays, collected in 1826 under the title ofThe Plain Speaker: opinions on Books, Men and Things(1826).The Spirit of the Age; or Contemporary Portraits(1825), a series of criticisms on the leading intellectual characters of the day, is in point of style perhaps the most splendid and copious of his compositions. It is eager and animated to impetuosity, though without any trace of carelessness or disorder. He now undertook a work which was to have crowned his literary reputation, but which can hardly be said to have even enhanced it—The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte(4 vols., 1828-1830). The undertaking was at best premature, and was inevitably disfigured by partiality to Napoleon as the representative of the popular cause, excusable in a Liberal politician writing in the days of the Holy Alliance. Owing to the failure of his publishers Hazlitt received no recompense for this laborious work. Pecuniary anxieties and disappointments may have contributed to hasten his death, which took place on the 18th of September 1830. Charles Lamb was with him to the last.
Hazlitt had many serious defects of temper. His consistency was gained at the expense of refusing to revise his early impressions and prejudices. His estimate of a man’s work was too apt to be decided by sympathy or the reverse with his politics. For Scott, however, he had a great admiration, although they were far enough apart in politics. He was a compound of intellect and passion, and the refinement of his critical analysis is associated with vehement eloquence and glowing imagery. He was essentially a critic, a dissector and, as Bulwer justly remarks, a much better judge of men of thought than of men of action. The paradoxes with which his works abound never spring from affectation; they are in general the sallies of a mind so agile and ardent as to overrun its own goal. His style is perfectly natural, and yet admirably calculated for effect. His diction, always rich and masculine, seems to kindle as he proceeds; and when thoroughly animated by his subject, he advances with a succession of energetic, hard-hitting sentences, each carrying his argument a step further, like a champion dealing out blows as he presses upon the enemy. Although, however, his grasp upon his subject is strenuous, his insight into it is rarely profound. He can amply satisfy men of taste and culture; he cannot, like Coleridge or Burke, dissatisfy them with themselves by showing them how much they would have missed without him. He is a critic who exhibits, rather than reveals, the beauties of an author. But all shortcomings are forgotten in the genuineness and fervour of the writer’s self-portraiture. The intensity of his personal convictions causes all he wrote to appear in a manner autobiographic. Other men have been said to speak like books, Hazlitt’s books speak like men. To read his works in connexion with Leigh Hunt’s and Charles Lamb’s is to be introduced into one of the most attractive of English literary circles, and this alone will long preserve them from oblivion.
His son,William Hazlitt(1811-1893), was born on the 26th of September 1811. The separation between his parents did not prevent him from being on affectionate terms with both of them. He early began to write for theMorning Chronicle, and in 1833 married Caroline Reynell. He was the author of many translations, chiefly from the French, and of some works on the law of bankruptcy. He was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1844, and became registrar in the court of bankruptcy. He held this position for more than thirty years, retiring two years before his death, which took place at Addlestone, Surrey, on the 23rd of February 1893.
Hazlitt’s grandson,William Carew Hazlitt, the bibliographer, was born on the 22nd of August 1834. He was educated at the Merchant Taylors’ school and was called to the bar of the Inner Temple in 1861. Among his many publications may be noted his invaluableHandbook to the Popular, Poetical and Dramatic Literature of Great Britain, from the Invention of Printing to the Restoration(1867), supplemented in 1876, 1882, 1887 and 1889, aGeneral Indexby J. G. Gray appearing in 1893. He published further contributions to the subject inBibliographical Collections and Notes on Early English Literature made during the years 1893-1903(1903), and aManual for the Collector and Amateur of Old English Plays ...(1892). He was the chief editor of the useful 1871 edition of Warton’sHistory of English Poetry, and compiled theCatalogue of the Huth Library(1880).
The list of the first William Hazlitt’s works also includes:Political Essays, with Sketches of Public Characters(1819);Sketches of the Principal Picture Galleries in England ...(1824);Characteristics; in the Manner of Rochefoucauld’s Maxims(1823);Select Poets of Great Britain: to which are prefixed Critical Notices of each Author(1825);Notes of a Journey through France and Italy ...(1826);The Life of Titian; with Anecdotes of the Distinguished Persons of his Time(1830), nominally by James Northcote; an article on the “Fine Arts” contributed to the seventh edition of theEncyclopaedia Britannica; and posthumous collections made by his son.A comprehensive edition ofThe Collected Works of William Hazlitt(12 vols., 1902-1904) does not include the life of Napoleon. It contains an introduction by W. E. Henley, and was issued under the superintendence of A. R. Waller and Arnold Glover, and there are many modern reprints of isolated works. The most copious source of information respecting Hazlitt is theMemoirs of William Hazlitt, with Portions of his Correspondence(2 vols., 1867), by his grandson, W. C. Hazlitt, a medley rather than a memoir, yet full of interest. A slight but appropriate sketch had previously been prefixed by his son to hisLiterary Remains ...(2 vols., 1836), accompanied by estimates of his intellectual character by Bulwer and by Talfourd, who had been his fast friend. There is an excellent monograph onWilliam Hazlitt(1902) by Mr Augustine Birrell, in the “English Men of Letters” series, and one in French by J. Donady (Paris, 1907), who also published a bibliography of his works. Valuable biographical particulars have been preserved in Barry Cornwall’s memoirs of Lamb; in theMy Friends and Acquaintances(1854) of Mr P. G. Patmore, Hazlitt’s most intimate associate in his later years; in Crabb Robinson’sDiary, and in Lamb’s correspondence. A full bibliographical list of his writings, with a collection of the most remarkable critical judgments upon them from all quarters, was prepared by Alexander Ireland (1868). Further information on the Hazlitt family is to be found in Mr W. C. Hazlitt’sFour Generations of a Literary Family(2 vols., 1897). The chief interest of this desultory book is the considerable extracts from the diary of Margaret [Peggy] Hazlitt, which describes the Hazlitt experiences in America. See also “William Hazlitt” in Sir L. Stephen’sHours in a Library(ed. 1892, vol. ii.), andLamb and Hazlitt, further Letters and Records hitherto unpublished(1900), by W. C. Hazlitt.
The list of the first William Hazlitt’s works also includes:Political Essays, with Sketches of Public Characters(1819);Sketches of the Principal Picture Galleries in England ...(1824);Characteristics; in the Manner of Rochefoucauld’s Maxims(1823);Select Poets of Great Britain: to which are prefixed Critical Notices of each Author(1825);Notes of a Journey through France and Italy ...(1826);The Life of Titian; with Anecdotes of the Distinguished Persons of his Time(1830), nominally by James Northcote; an article on the “Fine Arts” contributed to the seventh edition of theEncyclopaedia Britannica; and posthumous collections made by his son.
A comprehensive edition ofThe Collected Works of William Hazlitt(12 vols., 1902-1904) does not include the life of Napoleon. It contains an introduction by W. E. Henley, and was issued under the superintendence of A. R. Waller and Arnold Glover, and there are many modern reprints of isolated works. The most copious source of information respecting Hazlitt is theMemoirs of William Hazlitt, with Portions of his Correspondence(2 vols., 1867), by his grandson, W. C. Hazlitt, a medley rather than a memoir, yet full of interest. A slight but appropriate sketch had previously been prefixed by his son to hisLiterary Remains ...(2 vols., 1836), accompanied by estimates of his intellectual character by Bulwer and by Talfourd, who had been his fast friend. There is an excellent monograph onWilliam Hazlitt(1902) by Mr Augustine Birrell, in the “English Men of Letters” series, and one in French by J. Donady (Paris, 1907), who also published a bibliography of his works. Valuable biographical particulars have been preserved in Barry Cornwall’s memoirs of Lamb; in theMy Friends and Acquaintances(1854) of Mr P. G. Patmore, Hazlitt’s most intimate associate in his later years; in Crabb Robinson’sDiary, and in Lamb’s correspondence. A full bibliographical list of his writings, with a collection of the most remarkable critical judgments upon them from all quarters, was prepared by Alexander Ireland (1868). Further information on the Hazlitt family is to be found in Mr W. C. Hazlitt’sFour Generations of a Literary Family(2 vols., 1897). The chief interest of this desultory book is the considerable extracts from the diary of Margaret [Peggy] Hazlitt, which describes the Hazlitt experiences in America. See also “William Hazlitt” in Sir L. Stephen’sHours in a Library(ed. 1892, vol. ii.), andLamb and Hazlitt, further Letters and Records hitherto unpublished(1900), by W. C. Hazlitt.
1For some quotations see Alexander Ireland’s bibliography.
1For some quotations see Alexander Ireland’s bibliography.
HEAD, SIR EDMUND WALKER,Bart.(1805-1868), English colonial governor and writer on art, was the son of the Rev. Sir John Head, Bart., rector of Rayleigh, Essex. He was educated at Winchester school and Oriel College, Oxford, and taking his degree with first-class honours in classics, he became fellow of Merton College. On his father’s death in 1838, he succeeded to the baronetcy as 8th baronet. His services as poor-law commissioner, to which post he was appointed in 1841 after five years as assistant-commissioner, procured for him in 1847 the office of lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, whence he passed in 1854 to the governor-generalship of Canada, which he retained till 1861. The following year, having returned to England, Head was nominated a civil service commissioner. In 1857 he was sworn of the Privy Council, and in 1860 was decorated as K.C.B., while in the course of his career he received the degrees of D.C.L. at Oxford and LL.D. at Cambridge. He died in London on the 28th of January 1868, the baronetcy becoming extinct, as his only son had died in 1859.
Sir Edmund Head wrote the article “Painting” in thePenny Cyclopaedia;A Handbook of the Spanish and French Schools of Painting(1845);Shall and Will, or two Chapters on Future Auxiliary Verbs(1856); andBallads and other Poems, Original and Translated(1868). He also edited F. T. Kugler’sHandbook of Painting of theGerman, Flemish, Dutch, Spanish, and French Schools(1854) and theEssays on the Administrations of Great Britain(1864), written by his lifelong friend, Sir George Cornewall Lewis. His translation from the Icelandic ofViga Glum’s Sagaappeared in 1866.
Sir Edmund Head wrote the article “Painting” in thePenny Cyclopaedia;A Handbook of the Spanish and French Schools of Painting(1845);Shall and Will, or two Chapters on Future Auxiliary Verbs(1856); andBallads and other Poems, Original and Translated(1868). He also edited F. T. Kugler’sHandbook of Painting of theGerman, Flemish, Dutch, Spanish, and French Schools(1854) and theEssays on the Administrations of Great Britain(1864), written by his lifelong friend, Sir George Cornewall Lewis. His translation from the Icelandic ofViga Glum’s Sagaappeared in 1866.
HEAD, SIR FRANCIS BOND,Bart.(1793-1875), English soldier, traveller and author, son of James Roper Head of the Hermitage, Higham, Kent, was born there on the 1st of January 1793. He was educated at Rochester grammar school and the Royal Military Academy, whence in 1811 he was commissioned to the Royal Engineers. He was for some years stationed in the Mediterranean, and he served in the campaign of 1815, being present at the battle of Waterloo. He went on half-pay in 1825, when he accepted the charge of an association formed to work the gold and silver mines of Rio de La Plata. In connexion with this enterprise he made several rapid journeys across the Pampas and among the Andes, hisRough Notesof which, published in 1826, and written in a clear and spirited style, obtained for him the name of “Galloping Head.” On his return in 1827, he became involved in a controversy with the directors of his company, and in defence of his conduct he publishedReports of the La Plata Mining Association(London, 1827). He was soon afterwards restored to the active list of the army as a major unattached, mainly owing to his efforts to introduce the South American lasso into the British service for auxiliary draught. In 1830 he published a life of Bruce, the African traveller, and in 1834Bubbles from the Brunnens of Nassau, by an Old Man. In 1835 he was knighted, and in the following year created a baronet. In 1835 he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, and in this capacity he had to deal with a political situation of great difficulty, being called upon in 1837 to suppress a serious insurrection. Shortly afterwards, in consequence of a dispute with the home government, he resigned his post and returned to England, via New York (seeQuarterly Review, vols. 63-64). Thereafter he devoted himself to writing, chiefly for theQuarterly Review, and to hunting. He rode to hounds until he was seventy-five. In 1869 Sir Francis Head was made a privy councillor. He died on the 20th of July 1875, at Duppas Hall, Croydon.
Head was the author of a considerable number of works, chiefly of travel, written in a clever, amusing and graphic fashion, and displaying both acute observation and genial humour. His principal works, beside those mentioned above, and a narrative of his Canadian administration (1839), wereThe Emigrant(1846);Highways and Dryways, the Britannia and Conway Tubular Bridges(1849);Stokers and Pokers, a sketch of the working of a railway line (1849);The Defenceless State of Great Britain(1850);A Faggot of French Sticks(1852);A Fortnight in Ireland(1852);Descriptive Essays(1856); comments on Kinglake’sCrimean War(1853);The Horse and his Rider(1860);The Royal Engineer(1870); and a sketch of the life of Sir John Burgoyne (1872).
Head was the author of a considerable number of works, chiefly of travel, written in a clever, amusing and graphic fashion, and displaying both acute observation and genial humour. His principal works, beside those mentioned above, and a narrative of his Canadian administration (1839), wereThe Emigrant(1846);Highways and Dryways, the Britannia and Conway Tubular Bridges(1849);Stokers and Pokers, a sketch of the working of a railway line (1849);The Defenceless State of Great Britain(1850);A Faggot of French Sticks(1852);A Fortnight in Ireland(1852);Descriptive Essays(1856); comments on Kinglake’sCrimean War(1853);The Horse and his Rider(1860);The Royal Engineer(1870); and a sketch of the life of Sir John Burgoyne (1872).
His brother,Sir George Head(1782-1855), was educated at the Charterhouse. In 1808 he received an appointment in the commissariat of the British army in the Peninsula, where he was a witness of many exciting scenes and important battles, of which he gave an interesting account in “Memoirs of an Assistant Commissary-General” attached to the second volume of hisHome Tour, published in 1837. In 1814 he was sent to America to take charge of the commissariat in a naval establishment on the Canadian lakes, and he subsequently held appointments at Halifax and Nova Scotia. Some of his Canadian experiences were narrated by him inForest Scenery and Incidents in the Wilds of North America(1829). In 1831 he was knighted.
He published in 1835A Home Tour through the Manufacturing Districts of England, and in 1837 a sequel to it, entitledA Home Tour through various parts of the United Kingdom. Both works are amusing and instructive, but hisRome, a Tour of many Days, published in 1849, is somewhat dull and tedious. He also translatedHistorical Memoirs of Cardinal Pacca(1850), and theMetamorphoses of Apuleius(1851).
He published in 1835A Home Tour through the Manufacturing Districts of England, and in 1837 a sequel to it, entitledA Home Tour through various parts of the United Kingdom. Both works are amusing and instructive, but hisRome, a Tour of many Days, published in 1849, is somewhat dull and tedious. He also translatedHistorical Memoirs of Cardinal Pacca(1850), and theMetamorphoses of Apuleius(1851).
HEAD(in O. Eng.héafod; the word is common to Teutonic languages; cf. Dutchhoofd, Ger.Haupt, generally taken to be in origin connected with Lat.caput, Gr.κεφαλή), the upper portion of the body in man, consisting of the skull with its integuments and contents, &c., connected with the trunk by the neck (seeAnatomy,SkullandBrain); also the anterior or fore part of other animals. The word is used in a large number of transferred and figurative senses, generally with reference to the position of the head as the uppermost part, hence the leading, chief portion of anything.
HEAD-HUNTING, orHead-Snapping, as the Dutch call it, a custom once prevalent among all Malay races and surviving even to-day among the Dyaks (q.v.) of Borneo and elsewhere. Martin de Rada, provincial of the Augustinians, reported its existence in Luzon (Philippine Islands) as early as 1577. The practice is believed to have had its origin in religious motives, the worship of skulls being universal among the Malays. Severe repressive measures have led to its decrease. Among the Igorrotes all that remains is the dance, accompanied by singing, around the bare pole on which the head was formerly fixed. With the Ilongotes a bridegroom must bring his bride a number of heads, those of Christians being preferred. The chief examples of head-hunters are the Was, a hill-tribe on the north-eastern frontier of India, and the Nagas and Kukis of Assam.