(K. S.; A. J. H.)
1Poemata, lib. vii. cap. 8, p. 245, Migne’sPatrologiae cursus completus(Paris, 1857-1866, vol. 88).2A few nangas (c.1500B.C.) are preserved among the Egyptian antiquities at the British Museum, fourth Egyptian room.3Bruce’s harps are reproduced by Champollion, tome iii. p. 261.4Representations of these may be seen among the musical scenes in the Nimrod Gallery at the British Museum.5See also a woodcut in John Derrick’sImage of Ireland(1581), pl. iii. (Edinburgh ed. 1883).6See the fine volumeMusical Instrumentson the Irish and Scottish harps by Robert Bruce Armstrong (1904), vol. i. Vol. ii., which deals with the Welsh harp, has unfortunately been withdrawn from sale.7See for the medieval harp a careful article by Hortense Panum, “Harfe und Lyra im alten Nord-Europa,” inIntern. Mus. Ges.vol. vii. pt. 1 (Leipzig, 1905); and for references as to illuminated MSS., early woodcuts, paintings, &c. see Hugo Leichtentritt, “Was lehren uns die Bildwerke des 14-17 Jahrhunderts über die Instrumentalmusik ihrer Zeit?”ibid.vol. vii. p. 3 (Leipzig, 1906).8See Nauwerk, “Die Hakenharfe, Die Vervollkommnung des Mechanismus an der deutschen Harfe.” inAllg. musik. Ztg.(Leipzig, 1815), p. 545 seq.
1Poemata, lib. vii. cap. 8, p. 245, Migne’sPatrologiae cursus completus(Paris, 1857-1866, vol. 88).
2A few nangas (c.1500B.C.) are preserved among the Egyptian antiquities at the British Museum, fourth Egyptian room.
3Bruce’s harps are reproduced by Champollion, tome iii. p. 261.
4Representations of these may be seen among the musical scenes in the Nimrod Gallery at the British Museum.
5See also a woodcut in John Derrick’sImage of Ireland(1581), pl. iii. (Edinburgh ed. 1883).
6See the fine volumeMusical Instrumentson the Irish and Scottish harps by Robert Bruce Armstrong (1904), vol. i. Vol. ii., which deals with the Welsh harp, has unfortunately been withdrawn from sale.
7See for the medieval harp a careful article by Hortense Panum, “Harfe und Lyra im alten Nord-Europa,” inIntern. Mus. Ges.vol. vii. pt. 1 (Leipzig, 1905); and for references as to illuminated MSS., early woodcuts, paintings, &c. see Hugo Leichtentritt, “Was lehren uns die Bildwerke des 14-17 Jahrhunderts über die Instrumentalmusik ihrer Zeit?”ibid.vol. vii. p. 3 (Leipzig, 1906).
8See Nauwerk, “Die Hakenharfe, Die Vervollkommnung des Mechanismus an der deutschen Harfe.” inAllg. musik. Ztg.(Leipzig, 1815), p. 545 seq.
HARPENDEN,an urban district in the Mid or St Albans parliamentary division of Hertfordshire, England, 25 m. N.W. by N. from London by the Midland railway, served also by a branch of the Great Northern railway. Pop. (1901) 4725. It is a favourite outlying residential district for those whose work lies in London. The church of St Nicholas is a modern reconstruction with the exception of the Perpendicular tower. In the Lawes Testimonial Laboratory there is a vast collection of samples of experimentally grown produce, annual products, ashes and soils. Sir John Bennet Lawes (d. 1900) provided an endowment of £100,000 for the perpetuation of the agricultural experiments which he inaugurated here at his seat of Rothamsted Park. The success of his association of chemistry with botany is shown by the fact that soil has been made to bear wheat without intermission for upwards of half a century without manure. The country neighbouring to Harpenden is very pleasant, including the gorse-covered Harpenden Common and the narrow well-wooded valley of the upper Lea.
HARPER’S FERRY,a town of Jefferson county, West Virginia, U.S.A., finely situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers (which here pass through a beautiful gorge in the Blue Ridge), 55 m. N.W. of Washington. Pop. (1900) 896; (1910) 766. It is served by the Baltimore & Ohio railway, which crosses the Potomac here, by the Winchester & Potomac railway (Baltimore & Ohio) of which it is a terminus, and by boats on the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, which passes along the Maryland side of the Potomac. Across the Potomac on the north rise the Maryland Heights; across the Shenandoah, on the West Virginia side, the Virginia or Loudoun Heights; and behind the town to the W. the Bolivar Heights. A United States arsenal and armoury were established at Harper’s Ferry in 1796, the site being chosen because of the good water-power; these were seized on the 16th of October 1859 by John Brown (q.v.), the abolitionist, and some 21 of his followers. For four months before the raid Brown and his men lived on the Kennedy Farm, in Washington county, Maryland, about 4 m. N.W. of Harper’s Ferry. The engine-house in which Brown was captured was exhibited at the Columbian Exposition at Chicago and was later rebuilt on Bolivar Heights; a marble pillar, marked “John Brown’s Fort,” has been erected on its original site. On Camp Hill is Storer College (state-aided), a normal school for negroes, which was established under Free Baptist control in 1867, and has academic, normal, biblical, musical and industrial departments.
The first settlement here was made about 1747 by Robert Harper, who ran a ferry across the Potomac. The position of Harper’s Ferry at the lower end of the Shenandoah Valley rendered it a place of strategic importance during the Civil War. On the 18th of April 1861, the day after Virginia passed her ordinance of secession, when a considerable force of Virginia militia under General Kenton Harper approached the town—an attack having been planned in Richmond two days before—the Federal garrison of 45 men under Lieutenant Roger Jones set fire to the arsenal and fled. Within the next few days large numbers of Confederate volunteers assembled here; and Harper was succeeded in command (27th April) by “Stonewall” Jackson, who was in turn succeeded by Brigadier-General Joseph E. Johnston on the 23rd of May. Johnston thought that the place was unimportant, and withdrew when (15th June) the Federal forces under General Robert Patterson and Colonel Lew Wallace approached, and Harper’s Ferry was again occupied by a Federal garrison. In September 1862, during General Lee’s first invasion of the North, General McClellan advised that the place be abandoned in order that the 10,000 men defending it might be added to his fighting force, but General Halleck would not consent, so that when Lee needed supplies from the Shenandoah Valley he was blocked by the garrison, then under the command of Colonel Dixon S. Miles. On Jackson’s approach they were distributed as follows: about 7000 men on Bolivar Heights, about 2000 on Maryland Heights, and about 1800 on the lower ground. On the 13th of September General Lafayette McLaws carried Maryland Heights and General John G. Walker planted a battery on Loudoun Heights. On the 14th there was some fighting, but early on the 15th, as Jackson was about to make an assault on Bolivar Heights, the garrison, surrounded by a superior force, surrendered. The total Federal loss (including the garrisons at Winchester and Martinsburg) amounted to 44 killed (the commander was mortally wounded), 12,520 prisoners, and 13,000 small arms. For this terrible loss to the Union army the responsibility seems to have been General Halleck’s, though the blame was officially put on Colonel Miles, who died immediately after the surrender. Jackson rejoined Lee on the following day in time to take part in the battle of Antietam, and after the battle General McClellan placed a strong garrison (the 12th Corps) at Harper’s Ferry. In June 1863 the place was again abandoned to the Confederates on their march to Pennsylvania. After their defeat at Gettysburg, the town again fell into the hands of the Federal troops, and it remained in their possession until the end of the war. On the 4th of July 1864 General Franz Sigel, who was then in command here, withdrew his troops to Maryland Heights, and from there resisted Early’s attempt to enter the town and to drive the Federal garrison from Maryland Heights. Harper’s Ferry was seriously damaged by a flood in the Shenandoah in October 1878.
HARPIES(Gr.Ἅρπυιαι, older formἈρέπυιαι, “swift robbers”), in ancient mythology, the personification of the sweeping storm-winds. In Homer, where they appear indifferently under the name ofἄρπυιαιandθύελλαι, their function is to carry off those whose sudden disappearance is desired by the gods. Only one of them is there mentioned (Iliad, xvi. 150) by name, Podargē, the mother of the coursers of Achilles by Zephyrus, the generative wind. According to Hesiod (Theog.265) they are two in number, Aëllo and Ocypetē, daughters of Thaumas and Electra, wingedgoddesses with beautiful locks, swifter than winds and birds in their flight, and their domain is the air. In later times their number was increased (Celaeno being a frequent addition and their leader in Virgil), and they were described as hateful and repulsive creatures, birds with the faces of old women, the ears of bears, crooked talons and hanging breasts; even in Aeschylus (Eumenides, 50) they appear as ugly and misshapen monsters. Their function of snatching away mortals to the other world brings them into connexion with the Erinyes, with whom they are often confounded. On the so-called Harpy monument from Lycia, now in the British Museum, the Harpies appear carrying off some small figures, supposed to be the daughters of Pandareus, unless they are intended to represent departed souls. The repulsive character of the Harpies is more especially seen in the legend of Phineus, king of Salmydessus in Thrace (Apollodorus i. 9, 21; see also Diod. Sic. iv. 43). Having been deprived of his sight by the gods for his ill-treatment of his sons by his first wife (or for having revealed the future to mortals), he was condemned to be tormented by two Harpies, who carried off whatever food was placed before him. On the arrival of the Argonauts, Phineus promised to give them particulars of the course they should pursue and of the dangers that lay before them, if they would deliver him from his tormentors. Accordingly, when the Harpies appeared as usual to carry off the food from Phineus’s table, they were driven off and pursued by Calaïs and Zetes, the sons of Boreas, as far as the Strophades islands in the Aegean. On promising to cease from molesting Phineus, their lives were spared. Their place of abode is variously placed in the Strophades, the entrance to the under-world, or a cave in Crete. According to Cecil Smith,Journal of Hellenic Studies, xiii. (1892-1893), the Harpies are the hostile spirits of the scorching south wind; E. Rohde (Rheinisches Museum, i., 1895) regards them as spirits of the storm, which at the bidding of the gods carry off human beings alive to the under-world or some spot beyond human ken.
See articles in Roscher’sLexikon der Mythologieand Daremberg and Saglio’sDictionnaire des antiquités. In the articleGreek Art, fig. 14 gives a representation of the winged Harpies.
See articles in Roscher’sLexikon der Mythologieand Daremberg and Saglio’sDictionnaire des antiquités. In the articleGreek Art, fig. 14 gives a representation of the winged Harpies.
HARPIGNIES, HENRI(1819- ), French landscape painter, born at Valenciennes in 1819, was intended by his parents for a business career, but his determination to become an artist was so strong that it conquered all obstacles, and he was allowed at the age of twenty-seven to enter Achard’s atelier in Paris. From this painter he acquired a groundwork of sound constructive draughtsmanship, which is so marked a feature of his landscape painting. After two years under this exacting teacher he went to Italy, whence he returned in 1850. During the next few years he devoted himself to the painting of children in landscape setting, and fell in with Corot and the other Barbizon masters, whose principles and methods are to a certain extent reflected in his own personal art. To Corot he was united by a bond of warm friendship, and the two artists went together to Italy in 1860. On his return, he scored his first great success at the Salon, in 1861, with his “Lisière de bois sur les bords de l’Allier.” After that year he was a regular exhibitor at the old Salon; in 1886 he received his first medal for “Le Soir dans la campagne de Rome,” which was acquired for the Luxembourg Gallery. Many of his best works were painted at Hérisson in the Bourbonnais, as well as in the Nivernais and the Auvergne. Among his chief pictures are “Soir sur les bords de la Loire” (1861), “Les Corbeaux” (1865), “Le Soir” (1866), “Le Saut-du-Loup” (1873), “La Loire” (1882), and “Vue de Saint-Privé” (1883). He also did some decorative work for the Paris Opéra—the “Vallée d’Egérie” panel, which he showed at the Salon of 1870.
HARP-LUTE,orDital Harp, one of the many attempts to revive the popularity of the guitar and to increase its compass, invented in 1798 by Edward Light. The harp-lute owes the first part of its name to the characteristic mechanism for shortening the effective length of the strings; its second name—dital harp—emphasizes the nature of the stops, which are worked by the thumb in contradistinction to the pedals of the harp worked by the feet. It consists of a pear-shaped body, to which is added a curved neck supported on a front pillar or arm springing from the body, and therefore reminiscent of the harp. There are 12 catgut strings. The curved fingerboard, almost parallel with the neck, is provided with frets, and has in addition a thumb-key for each string, by means of which the accordance of the string is mechanically raised a semitone at will. The dital or key, on being depressed, acts upon a stop-ring or eye, which draws the string down against the fret, and thus shortens its effective length. The fingers then stop the strings as usual over the remaining frets. A further improvement was patented in 1816 as the British harp-lute. Other attempts possessing less practical merit than the dital harp were the lyra-guitarre, which appeared in Germany at the beginning of the 19th century; the accord-guitarre, towards the middle of the same century; and the keyed guitar.
(K. S.)
HARPOCRATES,originally an Egyptian deity, adopted by the Greeks, and worshipped in later times both by Greeks and Romans. In Egypt, Harpa-khruti, Horus the child, was one of the forms of Horus, the sun-god, the child of Osiris. He was supposed to carry on war against the powers of darkness, and hence Herodotus (ii. 144) considers him the same as the Greek Apollo. He was represented in statues with his finger on his mouth, a symbol of childhood. The Greeks and Romans, not understanding the meaning of this attitude, made him the god of silence (Ovid,Metam.ix. 691), and as such he became a favourite deity with the later mystic schools of philosophy.
See articles by G. Lafaye in Daremberg and Saglio’sDictionnaire des antiquités, and by E. Meyer (s.v.“Horos”) in Roscher’sLexikon der Mythologie.
See articles by G. Lafaye in Daremberg and Saglio’sDictionnaire des antiquités, and by E. Meyer (s.v.“Horos”) in Roscher’sLexikon der Mythologie.
HARPOCRATION, VALERIUS,Greek grammarian of Alexandria. He is possibly the Harpocration mentioned by Julius Capitolinus (Life of Verus, 2) as the Greek tutor of Antoninus Verus (2nd centuryA.D.); some authorities place him much later, on the ground that he borrowed from Athenaeus. He is the author of aΛεξικὸν(orΠερὶ τῶν λέξεων)τῶν δέκα ῥητόρων, which has come down to us in an incomplete form. The work contains, in more or less alphabetical order, notes on well-known events and persons mentioned by the orators, and explanations of legal and commercial expressions. As nearly all the lexicons to the Greek orators have been lost, Harpocration’s work is especially valuable. Amongst his authorities were the writers of Atthides (histories of Attica), the grammarian Didymus, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and the lexicographer Dionysius, son of Tryphon. The book also contains contributions to the history of Attic oratory and Greek literature generally. Nothing is known of anἈνθηρῶν συναγωγή, a sort of anthology or chrestomathy attributed to him by Suidas. A series of articles in the margin of a Cambridge MS. of the lexicon forms the basis of theLexicon rhetoricum Cantabrigiense(seeDobree, P. P.).
The best edition is by W. Dindorf (1853); see also J. E. Sandys,History of Classical Scholarship, i. (1906), p. 325; C. Boysen,De Harpocrationis fontibus(Kiel, 1876).
The best edition is by W. Dindorf (1853); see also J. E. Sandys,History of Classical Scholarship, i. (1906), p. 325; C. Boysen,De Harpocrationis fontibus(Kiel, 1876).
HARPOON(from Fr.harpon, a grappling-iron, O. Fr.harpe, a dog’s claw, an iron clamp for fastening stones together; the source of these words is the Lat.harpago,harpa, &c., formed from Gr.ἁρπαγή, hook,ἁρπάζειν, to snatch, tear away, cf. “harpy”), barbed spear, particularly one used for spearing whales or other large fish, and either thrown by hand or fired from a gun (seeWhale-Fishery).
HARPSICHORD,Harpsicon, double virginals(Fr.clavecin; Ger.Clavicymbel,Kiel-Flügel; Ital.arpicordo,cembalo,clavicembalo,gravecembalo; Dutch,clavisinbal), a large keyboard instrument (seePianoforte), belonging to the same family as the virginal and spinet, but having 2, 3, or even 4 strings to each note, and a case of the harp or wing shape, afterwards adopted for the grand pianoforte. J. S. Bach’s harpsichord, preserved in the museum of the Hochschule für Musik at Charlottenburg, has two manuals and 4 strings to each note, one 16 ft., two 8 ft. and one 4 ft. By means of stops the performer has within his power a number of combinations for varying the tone and dynamic power. In all instruments of the harpsichord familythe strings, instead of being struck by tangents as in the clavichord, or by hammers as in the pianoforte, are plucked by means of a quill firmly embedded in the centred tongue of a jack or upright placed on the back end of the key-lever. When the finger depresses a key, the jack is thrown up, and in passing the crow-quill catches the string and twangs it. It is this twanging of the string which produces the brilliant incisive tone peculiar to the harpsichord family. What these instruments gain in brilliancy of tone, however, they lose in power of expression and of accent. The impossibility of commanding any emphasis necessarily created for the harpsichord an individual technique which influenced the music composed for it to so great an extent that it cannot be adequately rendered upon the pianoforte.
The harpsichord assumed a position of great importance during the 16th and 17th centuries, more especially in the orchestra, which was under the leadership of the harpsichord player. The most famous of all harpsichord makers, whose names form a guarantee for excellence, were the Ruckers, established at Antwerp from the last quarter of the 16th century.
(K. S.)
HARPY,a large diurnal bird of prey, so named after the mythological monster of the classical poets (seeHarpies),—theThrasaëtus harpyiaof modern ornithologists—an inhabitant of the warmer parts of America from Southern Mexico to Brazil. Though known since the middle of the 17th century, its habits have come very little under the notice of naturalists, and what is said of them by the older writers must be received with some suspicion. A cursory inspection of the bird, which is not unfrequently brought alive to Europe, its size, and its enormous bill and talons, at once suggest the vast powers of destruction imputed to it, and are enough to account for the stories told of its ravages on mammals—sloths, fawns, peccaries and spider-monkeys. It has even been asserted to attack the human race. How much of this is fabulous there seems no means at present of determining, but some of the statements are made by veracious travellers—D’Orbigny and Tschudi. It is not uncommon in the forests of the isthmus of Panama, and Salvin says (Proc. Zool. Society, 1864, p. 368) that its flight is slow and heavy. Indeed its owl-like visage, its short wings and soft plumage, do not indicate a bird of very active habits, but the weapons of offence with which it is armed show that it must be able to cope with vigorous prey. Its appearance is sufficiently striking—the head and lower parts, except a pectoral band, white, the former adorned with an erectile crest, the upper parts dark grey banded with black, the wings dusky, and the tail barred; but the huge bill and powerful scutellated legs most of all impress the beholder. The precise affinities of the harpy cannot be said to have been determined. By some authors it is referred to the eagles, by others to the buzzards, and by others again to the hawks; but possibly the first of these alliances is the most likely to be true.
(A. N.)
HARRAN,HaranorCharran(Sept.ΧαῤῥάνorΧαῤῥά: Strabo,Κάῤῥαι: Pliny,CarraeorCarrhae; Arab.Harrān), in biblical history the place where Terah halted after leaving Ur, and apparently the birthplace of Abraham, a town on the stream Jullab, some nine hours’ journey from Edessa in Syria. At this point the road from Damascus joins the highway between Nineveh and Carchemish, and Haran had thus considerable military and commercial value. As a strategic position it is mentioned in inscriptions as early as the time of Tiglath Pileser I., about 1100B.C., and subsequently by Sargon II., who restored the privileges lost at the rebellion which led to the conquest referred to in 2 Kings xix. 12 (= Isa. xxxvii. 12). It was the centre of a considerable commerce (Ezek. xxvii. 23), and one of its specialities was the odoriferous gum derived from the strobus (Pliny,H.N.xii. 40). It was here that Crassus in his eastern expedition was attacked and slain by the Parthians (53B.C.); and here also the emperor Caracalla was murdered at the instigation of Macrinus (A.D.217). Haran was the chief home of the moon-god Sin, whose temple was rebuilt by several kings, among them Assur-bani-pal and Nabunidus and Herodian (iv. 13, 7) mentions the town as possessing in his day a temple of the moon. In the middle ages it is mentioned as having been the seat of a particular heathen sect, that of the Haranite Sabeans. It retained its importance down to the period of the Arab ascendancy; but by Abulfeda it is mentioned as having before his time fallen into decay. It is now wholly in ruins. The Yahwistic writer (Gen. xxvii. 43) makes it the home of Laban and connects it with Isaac and Jacob. But we cannot thus put Haran in Aramnaharaim; the home of the Labanites is rather to be looked for in the very similar word Hauran.
HARRAR(orHarar), a city of N.E. Africa, in 8° 45′ N., 42° 36′ E., capital of a province of Abyssinia and 220 m. S.S.W. of the ports of Zaila (British) and Jibuti (French) on the Gulf of Aden. With Jibuti it is connected by a railway (188 m. long) and carriage-road. Harrar is built on the slopes of a hill at an elevation of over 5000 ft. A lofty stone wall, pierced by five gates and flanked by twenty-four towers, encloses the city, which has a population of about 40,000. The streets are steep, narrow, dirty and unpaved, the roadways consisting of rough boulders. The houses are in general made of undressed stone and mud and are flat-topped, the general aspect of the city being Oriental and un-Abyssinian. A few houses, including the palace of the governor and the foreign consulates, are of more elaborate and solid construction than the majority of the buildings. There are several mosques and an Abyssinian church (of the usual circular construction) built of stone. Harrar is a city of considerable commercial importance, through it passing all the merchandise of southern Abyssinia, Kaffa and Galla land. The chief traders are Abyssinians, Armenians and Greeks. The principal article of export is coffee, which is grown extensively in the neighbouring hills and is of the finest quality. Besides coffee there is a large trade in durra, the kat plant (used by the Mahommedans as a drug), ghee, cattle, mules and camels, skins and hides, ivory and gums. The import trade is largely in cotton goods, but every kind of merchandise is included.
Harrar is believed to owe its foundation to Arab immigrants from the Yemen in the 7th century of the Christian era. In the region of Somaliland, now the western part of the British protectorate of that name, the Arabs established the Moslem state of Adel or Zaila, with their capital at Zaila on the Gulf of Aden. In the 13th century the sultans of Adel enjoyed great power. In 1521 the then sultan Abubekr transferred the seat of government to Harrar, probably regarding Zaila as too exposed to the attacks of the Turkish and Portuguese navies then contendingfor the mastery of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Abubekr’s successor was Mahommed III., Ahmed ibn Ibrahim el-Ghazi (1507-1543), surnamed Gran (Granyé), the left-handed. He was not an Arab but, probably, of Somali origin. The son of a noted warrior, he quickly rose to supreme power, becoming sultan or amir in 1525. He is famous for his invasion of Abyssinia, of which country he was virtual master for several years. From the beginning of the 17th century Adel suffered greatly from the ravages of pagan Galla tribes, and Harrar sank to the position of an amirate of little importance. It was first visited by a European in 1854 when (Sir) Richard Burton spent ten days there in the guise of an Arab. In 1875 Harrar was occupied by an Egyptian force under Raouf Pasha, by whose orders the amir was strangled. The town remained in the possession of Egypt until 1885, when the garrison was withdrawn in consequence of the rising of the Mahdi in the Sudan. The Egyptian garrison and many Egyptian civilians, in all 6500 persons, left Harrar between November 1884 and the 25th of April 1885, when a son of the ruler who had been deposed by Egypt was installed as amir, the arrangement being carried out under the superintendence of British officers. The new amir held power until January 1887, in which month Harrar was conquered by Menelek II., king of Shoa (afterwards emperor of Abyssinia). The governorship of Harrar was by Menelek entrusted to Ras Makonnen, who held the post until his death in 1906.
The Harrari proper are of a distinct stock from the neighbouring peoples, and speak a special language. Harrarese is “a Semitic graft inserted into an indigenous stock” (Sir R. Burton,First Footsteps in East Africa). The Harrari are Mahommedans of the Shafa’i or Persian sect, and they employ the solar year and the Persian calendar. Besides the native population there are in Harrar colonies of Abyssinians, Somalis and Gallas. By the Somalis the place is called Adari, by the Gallas Adaray.
SeeAbyssinia;Somaliland. Also P. Paulitschke,Harar: Forschungsreise nach den Somâl- und Galla-Ländern Ost-Afrikas(Leipzig, 1888).
SeeAbyssinia;Somaliland. Also P. Paulitschke,Harar: Forschungsreise nach den Somâl- und Galla-Ländern Ost-Afrikas(Leipzig, 1888).
HARRATIN,black Berbers, dwelling in Tidikelt and other Saharan oases. Many of them are blacker than the average negro. In physique, however, they are true to the Berber type, being of handsome appearance with European features and well-proportioned bodies. They are the result of an early crossing with the Sudanese negro races, though to-day they have all the pride of the Berbers (q.v.), and do not live with or intermarry among negroes.
HARRIER,orHen-Harrier, name given to certain birds of prey which were formerly very abundant in parts of the British Islands, from their habit of harrying poultry. The first of these names has now become used in a generic sense for all the species ranked under the genusCircusof Lacépède, and the second confined to the particular species which is theFalco cyaneusof Linnaeus and theCircus cyaneusof modern ornithologists.
One European species,C. aeruginosus, though called in books the marsh-harrier, is far more commonly known in England and Ireland as the moor-buzzard. But harriers are not, like buzzards, arboreal in their habits, and always affect open country, generally, though not invariably, preferring marshy or fenny districts, for snakes and frogs form a great part of their ordinary food. On the ground their carriage is utterly unlike that of a buzzard, and their long wings and legs render it easy to distinguish the two groups when taken in the hand. All the species also have a more or less well-developed ruff or frill of small thickset feathers surrounding the lower part of the head, nearly like that seen in owls, and accordingly many systematists consider that the genusCircus, though undoubtedly belonging to theFalconidae, connects that family with the Striges. No osteological affinity, however, can be established between the harriers and any section of the owls, and the superficial resemblance will have to be explained in some other way. Harriers are found almost all over the world,1and fifteen species are recognized by Bowdler Sharpe (Cat. Birds Brit. Museum, i. pp. 50-73). In most if not all the harriers the sexes differ greatly in colour, so much so that for a long while the males and females of one of the commonest and best known, theC. cyaneusabove mentioned, were thought to be distinct species, and were or still are called in various European languages by different names. The error was maintained with the greater persistency since the young males, far more abundant than the adults, wear much the same plumage as their mother, and it was not until after Montagu’s observations were published at the beginning of the 19th century that the “ringtail,” as she was called (theFalco pygargusof Linnaeus), was generally admitted to be the female of the “hen-harrier.” But this was not Montagu’s only good service as regards this genus. He proved the hitherto unexpected existence of a second species,2subject to the same diversity of plumage. This was called by him the ash-coloured falcon, but it now generally bears his name, and is known as Montagu’s harrier,C. cineraceus. In habits it is very similar to the hen-harrier, but it has longer wings, and its range is not so northerly, for while the hen-harrier extends to Lapland, Montagu’s is but very rare in Scotland, though in the south of England it is the most common species. Harriers indeed in the British Islands are rapidly becoming things of the past. Their nests are easily found, and the birds when nesting are easily destroyed. In the south-east of Europe, reaching also to the Cape of Good Hope and to India, there is a fourth species, theC. swainsoniof some writers, theC. pallidusof others. In North AmericaC. cyaneusis represented by a kindred form,C. hudsonius, usually regarded as a good species, the adult male of which is always to be recognized by its rufous markings beneath, in which character it rather resemblesC. cineraceus, but it has not the long wings of that species. South America has inC. cinereusanother representative form, while China, India and Australia possess more of this type. Thus there is a section in which the males have a strongly contrasted black and grey plumage, and finally there is a group of larger forms allied to the EuropeanC. aeruginosus, wherein a grey dress is less often attained, of which the South AfricanC. ranivorusand the New ZealandC. gouldiare examples.
(A. N.)
1The distribution of the different species is rather curious, while the range of some is exceedingly wide,—one,C. maillardi, seems to be limited to the island of Réunion (Bourbon).2A singular mistake, which has been productive of further error, was made by Albin, who drew his figure (Hist. Birds, ii. pi. 5) from a specimen of one species, and coloured it from a specimen of the other.
1The distribution of the different species is rather curious, while the range of some is exceedingly wide,—one,C. maillardi, seems to be limited to the island of Réunion (Bourbon).
2A singular mistake, which has been productive of further error, was made by Albin, who drew his figure (Hist. Birds, ii. pi. 5) from a specimen of one species, and coloured it from a specimen of the other.
HARRIGAN, EDWARD(1845- ), American actor, was born in New York of Irish parents on the 26th of October 1845. He made his first appearance in San Francisco in 1867, and soon afterwards formed a stage partnership with Tony Hart, whose real name was Anthony Cannon. As “Harrigan and Hart,” they had a great success in the presentation of types of low life in New York. Beginning as simple sketches, these were gradually worked up into plays, with occasional songs, set to popular musicby David Braham. The titles of these plays indicate their character,The Mulligan Guards,Squatter Sovereignty,A Leather Patch,The O’Regans. The partnership with Hart lasted from 1871-1884. Subsequently Harrigan played in different cities of the United States, one of his favourite parts being George Coggswell inOld Lavender.
HARRIMAN, EDWARD HENRY(1848-1909), American financier and railroad magnate, son of the Rev. Orlando Harriman, rector of St George’s Episcopal church, Hempstead, L.I., was born at Hempstead on the 25th of February 1848. He became a broker’s clerk in New York at an early age, and in 1870 was able to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange on his own account. For a good many years there was nothing sensational in his success, but he built up a considerable business connexion and prospered in his financial operations. Meanwhile he carefully mastered the situation affecting American railways. In this respect he was assisted by his friendship with Mr Stuyvesant Fish, who, on becoming vice-president of the Illinois Central in 1883, brought Harriman upon the directorate, and in 1887, being then president, made Harriman vice-president; twenty years later it was Harriman who dominated the finance of the Illinois Central, and Fish, having become his opponent, was dropped from the board. It was not till 1898, however, that his career as a great railway organizer began with his formation, by the aid of the bankers, Kuhn, Loeb & Co., of a syndicate to acquire the Union Pacific line, which was then in the hands of a receiver and was generally regarded as a hopeless failure. It was soon found that a new power had arisen in the railway world. Having brought the Union Pacific out of bankruptcy into prosperity, and made it an efficient instead of a decaying line, he utilized his position to draw other lines within his control, notably the Southern Pacific in 1901. These extensions of his power were not made without friction, and his abortive contest in 1901 with James J. Hill for the control of the Northern Pacific led to one of the most serious financial crises ever known on Wall Street. But in the result he became the dominant factor in American railway matters. At his death, on the 9th of September 1909, his influence was estimated to extend over 60,000 m. of track, with an annual earning power of $700,000,000 or over. Astute and unscrupulous manipulation of the stock markets, and a capacity for the hardest of bargaining and the most determined warfare against his rivals, had their place in this success, and Harriman’s methods excited the bitterest criticism, culminating in a stern denunciation from President Roosevelt himself in 1907. Nevertheless, besides acquiring colossal wealth for himself, he helped to create for the American public a vastly improved railway service, the benefit of which survived all controversy as to the means by which he triumphed over the obstacles in his way.
HARRIMAN,a city of Roane county, Tennessee, U.S.A., on the Emory river, about 35 m. W. by S. of Knoxville. Pop. (1900) 3442 (516 being negroes); (1910) 3061. Harriman is served by the Harriman & North Eastern, the Tennessee Central, and the Southern railways. It is the seat of the East Tennessee Normal and Industrial Institute, for negroes, and of the American University of Harriman (Christian Church, coeducational; 1893), which comprises primary, preparatory, collegiate, Bible school, civic research, commercial, music and art departments, and in 1907-1908 had 12 instructors and 317 students. Near the city are large deposits of iron and an abundance of coal and timber. Among manufactures are cotton products, farming tools, leather, tannic acid, furniture and flour. Harriman was founded in 1890 by a land company. A clause in this company’s by-laws requires that every conveyance of real estate by the company “shall contain a provision forbidding the use of the property or any building thereon, for the purpose of making, storing or selling intoxicating beverages as such.” Harriman was chartered as a city in 1891, and its charter was revised in 1899.
HARRINGTON, EARLS OF.The first earl of Harrington was the diplomatist and politician, William Stanhope (c.1690-1756), a younger son of John Stanhope of Elvaston, Derbyshire, and a brother of Charles Stanhope (1673-1760), an active politician during the reign of George I. His ancestor, Sir John Stanhope (d. 1638), was a half-brother of Philip Stanhope, 1st earl of Chesterfield. Educated at Eton, William Stanhope entered the army and served in Spain, but soon he turned his attention to more peaceful pursuits, went on a mission to Madrid and represented his country at Turin. When peace was made between England and Spain in 1720 Stanhope became British ambassador to the latter country, and he retained this position until March 1727, having built up his reputation as a diplomatist during a difficult period. In 1729 he had some part in arranging the treaty of Seville between England, France and Spain, and for his services in this matter he was created Baron Harrington in January 1730. Later in the same year he was appointed secretary of state for the northern department under Sir Robert Walpole, but, like George II., he was anxious to assist the emperor Charles VI. in his war with France, while Walpole favoured a policy of peace. Although the latter had his way Harrington remained secretary until the great minister’s fall in 1742, when he was transferred to the office of president of the council and was created earl of Harrington and Viscount Petersham. In 1744, owing to the influence of his political allies, the Pelhams, he returned to his former post of secretary of state, but he soon lost the favour of the king, and this was the principal cause why he left office in October 1746. He was lord lieutenant of Ireland from 1747 to 1751, and he died in London on the 8th of December 1756.
The earl’s successor was his son, William (1719-1779), who entered the army, was wounded at Fontenoy and became a general in 1770. He was a member of parliament for about ten years and he died on the 1st of April 1779. This earl’s wife Caroline (1722-1784), daughter of Charles Fitzroy, 2nd duke of Grafton, was a noted beauty, but was also famous for her eccentricities. Their elder son, Charles (1753-1829), who became the 3rd earl, was a distinguished soldier. He served with the British army during the American War of Independence and attained the rank of general in 1802. From 1805 to 1812 he was commander-in-chief in Ireland; he was sent on diplomatic errands to Vienna and to Berlin, and he died at Brighton on the 15th of September 1829.
Charles Stanhope, 4th earl of Harrington (1780-1851), the eldest son of the 3rd earl, was known as Lord Petersham until he succeeded to the earldom in 1829. He was very well known in society owing partly to his eccentric habits; he dressed like the French king Henry IV., and had other personal peculiarities. He married the actress, Maria Foote, but when he died in March 1851 he left no sons, and his brother Leicester Fitzgerald Charles (1784-1862) became the 5th earl. This nobleman was a soldier and a politician of advanced views, who is best known as a worker with Lord Byron in the cause of Greek independence. He was in Greece in 1823 and 1824, where his relations with Byron were not altogether harmonious. He wroteA Sketch of the History and Influence of the Press in British India(1823); andGreece in 1821 and 1824(English edition 1824, American edition 1825). His son Sydney Seymour Hyde, 6th earl (1845-1866), dying unmarried, was succeeded by a cousin, Charles Wyndham Stanhope (1809-1881), as 7th earl, and in 1881 the latter’s son Charles Augustus Stanhope (b. 1844) became 8th earl of Harrington.
Before the time of the first earl of Harrington the Stanhope family had held the barony of Stanhope of Harrington, which was created in 1605 in favour of Sir John Stanhope (c.1550-1621) of Harrington, Northamptonshire. Sir John was a younger son of Sir Michael Stanhope (d. 1552) of Shelford, Nottinghamshire, who was a brother-in-law of the protector Somerset. Sir Michael’s support of Somerset cost him his life, as he was beheaded on the 26th of February 1552. Sir John was treasurer of the chamber from 1596 to 1616 and was a member of parliament for several years. He died on the 9th of March 1621, and when his only son Charles, 2nd baron (c.1595-1675), died without issue in 1675 the barony became extinct.
Before the time of the first earl of Harrington the Stanhope family had held the barony of Stanhope of Harrington, which was created in 1605 in favour of Sir John Stanhope (c.1550-1621) of Harrington, Northamptonshire. Sir John was a younger son of Sir Michael Stanhope (d. 1552) of Shelford, Nottinghamshire, who was a brother-in-law of the protector Somerset. Sir Michael’s support of Somerset cost him his life, as he was beheaded on the 26th of February 1552. Sir John was treasurer of the chamber from 1596 to 1616 and was a member of parliament for several years. He died on the 9th of March 1621, and when his only son Charles, 2nd baron (c.1595-1675), died without issue in 1675 the barony became extinct.
HARRINGTON,orHarington,JAMES(1611-1677), English political philosopher, was born in January 1611 of an old Rutlandshire family. He was son of Sir Sapcotes Harrington of Rand, Lincolnshire, and great-nephew of the first Lord Harington of Exton (d. 1615). In 1629 he entered Trinity College, Oxford, asa gentleman commoner. One of his tutors was the famous Chillingworth. After several years spent in travel, and as a soldier in the Dutch army, he returned to England and lived in retirement till 1646, when he was appointed to the suite of Charles I., at that time being conveyed from Newcastle as prisoner. Though republican in his ideas, Harrington won the king’s regard and esteem, and accompanied him to the Isle of Wight. He roused, however, the suspicion of the parliamentarians and was dismissed: it is said that he was for a short time put in confinement because he would not swear to refuse assistance to the king should he attempt to escape. After Charles’s death Harrington devoted his time to the composition of hisOceana, a work which pleased neither party. By order of Cromwell it was seized when passing through the press. Harrington, however managed to secure the favour of the Protector’s favourite daughter, Mrs Claypole; the work was restored to him, and appeared in 1656, dedicated to Cromwell. The views embodied inOceana, particularly that bearing on vote by ballot and rotation of magistrates and legislators, Harrington and others (who in 1659 formed a club called the “Rota”) endeavoured to push practically, but with no success. In November 1661, by order of Charles II., Harrington was arrested, apparently without sufficient cause, on a charge of conspiracy, and was thrown into the Tower. Despite his repeated request no public trial could be obtained, and when at length his sisters obtained a writ ofhabeas corpushe was secretly removed to St Nicholas Island off Plymouth. There his health gave way owing to his drinking guaiacum on medical advice, and his mind appeared to be affected. Careful treatment restored him to bodily vigour, but his mind never wholly recovered. After his release he married,—at what date does not seem to be precisely known. He died on the 11th of September 1677, and was buried next to Sir Walter Raleigh in St Margaret’s, Westminster.
Harrington’s writings consist of theOceana, and of papers, pamphlets, aphorisms, even treatises, in defence of theOceana. TheOceanais a hard, prolix, and in many respects heavy exposition of an ideal constitution, “Oceana” being England, and the lawgiver Olphaus Megaletor, Oliver Cromwell. The details are elaborated with infinite care, even the salaries of officials being computed, but the main ideas are two in number, each with a practical corollary. The first is that the determining element of power in a state is property generally, property in land in particular; the second is that the executive power ought not to be vested for any considerable time in the same men or class of men. In accordance with the first of these, Harrington recommends an agrarian law, limiting the portion of land held to that yielding a revenue of £3000, and consequently insisting on particular modes of distributing landed property. As a practical issue of the second he lays down the rule of rotation by ballot. A third part of the executive or senate are voted out by ballot every year (not being capable of being elected again for three years). Harrington explains very carefully how the state and its governing parts are to be constituted by his scheme.Oceanacontains many valuable ideas, but it is irretrievably dull.