Bibliography.—The history of Herodotus has been translated by many persons and into many languages. About 1450, at the time of the revival of learning, a Latin version was made and published by Laurentius Valla. This was revised in 1537 by Heusbach, and accompanies the Greek text of Herodotus in many editions. The first complete translation into a modern language was the English one of Littlebury, published in 1737. This was followed In 1786 by the French translation of Larcher, a valuable work, accompanied by copious notes and essays. Beloe, the second English translator, based his work on that of Larcher. His first edition, in 1791, was confessedly very defective; the second, in 1806, still left much to be desired. A good German translation, but without note or comment, was brought out by Friedrich Lange at Berlin in 1811. Andrea Mustoxidi, a native of Corfu, published an Italian version in 1820. In 1822 Auguste Miot endeavoured to improve on Larcher; and in 1828-1832 Dr Adolf Schöll brought out a German translation with copious notes (new ed., 1855), which has to some extent superseded the work of Lange. About the same time a new English version was made by Isaac Taylor (London, 1829). In 1858-1860, the history of Herodotus was translated by Canon G. Rawlinson, assisted in the copious notes and appendices accompanying the work by Sir Gardner Wilkinson and Sir Henry Rawlinson. More recently we have translations in English by G. C. Macaulay (2 vols., 1890); in German by Bähr (Stuttgart, 1867) and Stein (Oldenburg, 1875); in French by Giguet (1857) and Talbot (1864); in Italian by Ricci (Turin, 1871-1876), Grandi (Asti, 1872) and Bertini (Naples, 1871-1872). A Swedish translation by F. Carlstadt was published at Stockholm in 1871.The best of the older editions of the Greek text are the following:—Herodoti historiae, ed. Schweighäuser (5 vols., Strassburg, 1816);Herodoti Halicarnassei historiarum libri IX.(ed. Gaisford, Oxford, 1840);Herodotus, with a Commentary, by J. W. Blakesley (2 vols. London, 1854);Herodoti musae(ed. Bähr, 4 vols., Leipzig, 1856-1861, 2nd ed.); andHerodoti historiae(ed. Abicht, Leipzig, 1869).The most recent editions of the text, or of portions of it, with and without commentaries are the following:—H. Stein,Herodoti Historiae(ed. Major, 2 vols., Berlin, 1869-1871, withapparatus criticus; still the best edition of the text); H. Kellenberg,Historiarum libri IX.(2 vols., Leipzig, 1887); van Herwerden,Ἱστορίαι(Leiden, 1885); H. Stein,Herodotus, erklärt(Berlin, 1856-1861, and several editions since; the best short commentary and introduction); A. H. Sayce,The Ancient Empires of the East, Herodotus I.-III., with introductions and appendices(1883; an attempt to prove the unveracity of Herodotus, especially in regard to the extent of his travels, which has found little support amongst more recent English or German writers); R. W. Macan,Herodotus IV.-VI.(2 vols., 1895) andHerodotus VII.-IX.(2 vols., 1908), with exhaustive introduction, appendices and notes; the only scientific edition of these books in English; E. Abbott,Herodotus V. and VI.(Oxford, 1893); A. Wiedemann,Herodots zweites Buch mit sachlichen Bemerkungen(Leipzig, 1890; the best and fullest commentary on book ii.).Among works of value illustrative of Herodotus may be mentioned Bouhier,Recherches sur Hérodote(Dijon, 1746); Rennell,Geography of Herodotus(London, 1800); Niebuhr,Geography of Herodotus and Scythia(Eng. trans., Oxford, 1830); Dahlmann,Herodot, aus seinem Buche sein Leben(Altona, 1823); Eltz,Quaestiones Herodoteae(Leipzig, 1841); Kenrick,Egypt of Herodotus(London, 1841); Mure,Literature of Greece, vol. iv. (London, 1852); Abicht,Übersicht über den Herodoteischen Dialekt(Leipzig, 1869, 3rd ed., 1874), andDe codicum Herodoti fide ac auctoritate(Naumburg, 1869); Melander,De anacoluthis Herodoteis(Lund, 1869); Matzat, “Über die Glaubenswürdigkeit der geograph. Angaben Herodots über Asien,” inHermes, vi.; Büdinger,Zur ägyptischen Forschung Herodots(Vienna, 1873, reprinted from theSitzungsber.of the Vienna Acad.); Merzdorf,Quaestiones grammaticae de dialecto Herodotea(Leipzig, 1875); A. Kirchhoff,Über die Entstehungszeit des Herodotischen Geschichtswerkes(Berlin, 1878); Adolf Bauer,Herodots Biographie(Vienna, 1878); H. Delbrück,Perser und Burgunderkriege(Berlin, 1887; of great importance for the criticism of the Persian Wars); N. Wecklein,Über die Tradition der Perserkriege(Munich, 1876); A. Hauvette-Besnault,Hérodote historien des guerres médiques(Paris, 1894); J. A. R. Munro,Some Observations on the Persian Wars(in various vols. of theJournal of Hellenic Studies; acute and suggestive); G. B. Grundy,The Great Persian War(London, 1901); J. P. Mahaffy,History of Greek Classical Literature, ii. 16 ff. (London, 1880); E. Meyer,Forschungen zur alten Geschichte, i. 151 ff., and ii. 196 ff. (Halle, 1892-1899); Busolt,Griechische Geschichte, ii. 602 ff. (2nd ed., Gotha, 1895); J. B. Bury,Ancient Greek Historians(1908), lecture 2. For notices of current literature see Bursian’sJahresbericht. Students of the original may also consult with advantage the lexicons of Aemilius Portus (Oxford, 1817) and of Schweighäuser (London, 1824). On Herodotus’ debt to Hecataeus see Wells, inJourn. Hell. Stud., 1909, pt. i.
Bibliography.—The history of Herodotus has been translated by many persons and into many languages. About 1450, at the time of the revival of learning, a Latin version was made and published by Laurentius Valla. This was revised in 1537 by Heusbach, and accompanies the Greek text of Herodotus in many editions. The first complete translation into a modern language was the English one of Littlebury, published in 1737. This was followed In 1786 by the French translation of Larcher, a valuable work, accompanied by copious notes and essays. Beloe, the second English translator, based his work on that of Larcher. His first edition, in 1791, was confessedly very defective; the second, in 1806, still left much to be desired. A good German translation, but without note or comment, was brought out by Friedrich Lange at Berlin in 1811. Andrea Mustoxidi, a native of Corfu, published an Italian version in 1820. In 1822 Auguste Miot endeavoured to improve on Larcher; and in 1828-1832 Dr Adolf Schöll brought out a German translation with copious notes (new ed., 1855), which has to some extent superseded the work of Lange. About the same time a new English version was made by Isaac Taylor (London, 1829). In 1858-1860, the history of Herodotus was translated by Canon G. Rawlinson, assisted in the copious notes and appendices accompanying the work by Sir Gardner Wilkinson and Sir Henry Rawlinson. More recently we have translations in English by G. C. Macaulay (2 vols., 1890); in German by Bähr (Stuttgart, 1867) and Stein (Oldenburg, 1875); in French by Giguet (1857) and Talbot (1864); in Italian by Ricci (Turin, 1871-1876), Grandi (Asti, 1872) and Bertini (Naples, 1871-1872). A Swedish translation by F. Carlstadt was published at Stockholm in 1871.
The best of the older editions of the Greek text are the following:—Herodoti historiae, ed. Schweighäuser (5 vols., Strassburg, 1816);Herodoti Halicarnassei historiarum libri IX.(ed. Gaisford, Oxford, 1840);Herodotus, with a Commentary, by J. W. Blakesley (2 vols. London, 1854);Herodoti musae(ed. Bähr, 4 vols., Leipzig, 1856-1861, 2nd ed.); andHerodoti historiae(ed. Abicht, Leipzig, 1869).
The most recent editions of the text, or of portions of it, with and without commentaries are the following:—H. Stein,Herodoti Historiae(ed. Major, 2 vols., Berlin, 1869-1871, withapparatus criticus; still the best edition of the text); H. Kellenberg,Historiarum libri IX.(2 vols., Leipzig, 1887); van Herwerden,Ἱστορίαι(Leiden, 1885); H. Stein,Herodotus, erklärt(Berlin, 1856-1861, and several editions since; the best short commentary and introduction); A. H. Sayce,The Ancient Empires of the East, Herodotus I.-III., with introductions and appendices(1883; an attempt to prove the unveracity of Herodotus, especially in regard to the extent of his travels, which has found little support amongst more recent English or German writers); R. W. Macan,Herodotus IV.-VI.(2 vols., 1895) andHerodotus VII.-IX.(2 vols., 1908), with exhaustive introduction, appendices and notes; the only scientific edition of these books in English; E. Abbott,Herodotus V. and VI.(Oxford, 1893); A. Wiedemann,Herodots zweites Buch mit sachlichen Bemerkungen(Leipzig, 1890; the best and fullest commentary on book ii.).
Among works of value illustrative of Herodotus may be mentioned Bouhier,Recherches sur Hérodote(Dijon, 1746); Rennell,Geography of Herodotus(London, 1800); Niebuhr,Geography of Herodotus and Scythia(Eng. trans., Oxford, 1830); Dahlmann,Herodot, aus seinem Buche sein Leben(Altona, 1823); Eltz,Quaestiones Herodoteae(Leipzig, 1841); Kenrick,Egypt of Herodotus(London, 1841); Mure,Literature of Greece, vol. iv. (London, 1852); Abicht,Übersicht über den Herodoteischen Dialekt(Leipzig, 1869, 3rd ed., 1874), andDe codicum Herodoti fide ac auctoritate(Naumburg, 1869); Melander,De anacoluthis Herodoteis(Lund, 1869); Matzat, “Über die Glaubenswürdigkeit der geograph. Angaben Herodots über Asien,” inHermes, vi.; Büdinger,Zur ägyptischen Forschung Herodots(Vienna, 1873, reprinted from theSitzungsber.of the Vienna Acad.); Merzdorf,Quaestiones grammaticae de dialecto Herodotea(Leipzig, 1875); A. Kirchhoff,Über die Entstehungszeit des Herodotischen Geschichtswerkes(Berlin, 1878); Adolf Bauer,Herodots Biographie(Vienna, 1878); H. Delbrück,Perser und Burgunderkriege(Berlin, 1887; of great importance for the criticism of the Persian Wars); N. Wecklein,Über die Tradition der Perserkriege(Munich, 1876); A. Hauvette-Besnault,Hérodote historien des guerres médiques(Paris, 1894); J. A. R. Munro,Some Observations on the Persian Wars(in various vols. of theJournal of Hellenic Studies; acute and suggestive); G. B. Grundy,The Great Persian War(London, 1901); J. P. Mahaffy,History of Greek Classical Literature, ii. 16 ff. (London, 1880); E. Meyer,Forschungen zur alten Geschichte, i. 151 ff., and ii. 196 ff. (Halle, 1892-1899); Busolt,Griechische Geschichte, ii. 602 ff. (2nd ed., Gotha, 1895); J. B. Bury,Ancient Greek Historians(1908), lecture 2. For notices of current literature see Bursian’sJahresbericht. Students of the original may also consult with advantage the lexicons of Aemilius Portus (Oxford, 1817) and of Schweighäuser (London, 1824). On Herodotus’ debt to Hecataeus see Wells, inJourn. Hell. Stud., 1909, pt. i.
(G. R.; E. M. W.)
1The date of his travels is difficult to determine. E. Meyer inclines to put all the longer journeys, except the Scythian, between 440 and 430B.C.The journey to Susa and Babylon is put by C. F. Lehmannc.450B.C., and by H. Stein before 450.2Most recent critics (e.g.Stein, Meyer, Busolt) put the visit to Egypt after the suppression of the revolt under Inarus and Amyrtaeus (i.e.after 449B.C.), on the strength of Herod. 2. 30, which implies the restoration of Persian authority.3Stein, Meyer, Busolt, and other recent writers attribute his departure from Halicarnassus to political causes,e.g.the ascendancy of the anti-Athenian party in the state.4This story is on chronological grounds rejected by all recent critics.5Opinion is divided as to this visit to Athens after his settlement at Thurii. Stein, Meyer and Busolt hold that much of his work (especially the later books) was composed at Athens soon after 430B.C.See further Wachsmuth,Rheinisches Museum, lvi. (1901) 215-218. Macan,HerodotusVII.-IX. (Introduction, pp. xlv.-lxvi.), seeks to prove that the last three books were the first part of theHistoriesto be composed. He is followed in this view by Bury.
1The date of his travels is difficult to determine. E. Meyer inclines to put all the longer journeys, except the Scythian, between 440 and 430B.C.The journey to Susa and Babylon is put by C. F. Lehmannc.450B.C., and by H. Stein before 450.
2Most recent critics (e.g.Stein, Meyer, Busolt) put the visit to Egypt after the suppression of the revolt under Inarus and Amyrtaeus (i.e.after 449B.C.), on the strength of Herod. 2. 30, which implies the restoration of Persian authority.
3Stein, Meyer, Busolt, and other recent writers attribute his departure from Halicarnassus to political causes,e.g.the ascendancy of the anti-Athenian party in the state.
4This story is on chronological grounds rejected by all recent critics.
5Opinion is divided as to this visit to Athens after his settlement at Thurii. Stein, Meyer and Busolt hold that much of his work (especially the later books) was composed at Athens soon after 430B.C.See further Wachsmuth,Rheinisches Museum, lvi. (1901) 215-218. Macan,HerodotusVII.-IX. (Introduction, pp. xlv.-lxvi.), seeks to prove that the last three books were the first part of theHistoriesto be composed. He is followed in this view by Bury.
HÉROET, ANTOINE,surnamedLa Maison-neuve(d. 1568), French poet, was born in Paris of a family connected with the famous chancellor, François Olivier. His poetry belongs to his early years, for after he had taken orders he ceased to write profane poetry, no doubt because he considered it out of keeping with his calling, in which he attained the dignity of bishop of Digue. His chief work isLa Parfaicte Amye(Lyons, 1542) in which he developed the idea of a purely spiritual love, based chiefly on the reading of the Italian Neo-Platonists. The book aroused great controversy. La Borderie replied inL’Amye de courwith a description of a very much more human woman, and Charles Fontaine contributed aContr’ amye de courto the dispute. Héroet, in addition to some translations from the classics, wrote theComplainte d’une dame nouvellement surprise d’amour, anÉpistre a François Ier, and some pieces included in the now very rareOpuscules d’amour par Héroet, La Borderie et autres divins poëtes(Lyons, 1547). Héroet belongs to the Lyonnese school of which Maurice Scève may be regarded as the leader. Clément Marot praises him, and Ronsard was careful to exempt him with one or two others from the scorn he poured on his immediate predecessors.
See H. F. Cary,The Early French Poets(1846).
See H. F. Cary,The Early French Poets(1846).
HEROIC ROMANCES,the name by which is distinguished a class of imaginative literature which flourished in the 17th century, principally in France. The beginnings of modern fiction in that country took a pseudo-bucolic form, and the celebratedAstrée(1610) of Honoré d’Urfé (1568-1625), which is the earliest French novel, is properly styled a pastoral. But this ingenious and diffuse production, in which all is artificial, was the source of a vast literature, which took many and diverse forms. Although its action was, in the main, languid and sentimental, there was a side of theAstréewhich encouraged that extravagant love of glory, that spirit of “panache,” which was now rising to its height in France. That spirit it was which animated Marin le Roy, sieur de Gomberville (1600-1674), who was the inventor of what have since been known as the Heroical Romances. In these there was experienced a violent recrudescence of the old medieval elements of romance, theimpossible valour devoted to a pursuit of the impossible beauty, but the whole clothed in the language and feeling and atmosphere of the age in which the books were written. In order to give point to the chivalrous actions of the heroes, it was always hinted that they were well-known public characters of the day in a romantic disguise.
In theAstréeof Honoré d’Urfé, which was a pure pastoral, in the religious romances of Pierre Camus (1582-1653), in the comicFrancionof Charles Sorel, piquancy had been given to the recital by this belief that real personages could be recognized under the disguises. But in theCarithéeof Gomberville (1621) we have a pastoral which is already beginning to be a heroic romance, and a book in which, under a travesty of Roman history, an appeal is made to an extravagantly chivalrous enthusiasm. A further development was seen in thePolyxène(1623) of François de Molière, and theEndymion(1624) of Gombauld; in the latter the elderly queen, Marie de’ Medici, was celebrated under the disguise of Diana, for whom a beautiful shepherd of Caria (the author himself) nourishes a hopeless passion. The earliest of the Heroic Romances, pure and simple, is, however, the celebratedPolexandre(1629) of Gomberville. The author began by intending his hero to represent Louis XIII., but he changed his mind, and drew a portrait of Cardinal Richelieu. In this novel, for the first time, the romantic character proper to this class of books is seen undiluted; there is no intrusion of a personage who is not celebrated for his birth, his beauty or his exploits. The story deals with the adventures of a hero who visits all the sea-coasts of the world, the most remote as well as the most fabulous, in search of an ineffable princess, Alcidiane. This absurd and pretentious, yet very original piece of invention enjoyed an immense success, and historical romances of a similar class competed for the favour of the public. There was an equal amount of geography and more of ancient history in theAriane(1632) of Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin (1595-1676), a book which, long neglected, has in late years been rediscovered, and which has been greeted by M. Paul Morillot as the most readable and the least tiresome of all the Heroic Romances. The type of that class of literature, however, has always been found in the highly elaborate writings of Gauthier de Coste de la Calprenède (1609-1663), which enjoyed for a time a prodigious celebrity, and were read and imitated all over Europe. La Calprenède was a Gascon soldier, imbued with all the extravagance of his race, and in full sympathy with the audacity and violence of the aristocratic society of France in his day. HisCassandre, which appeared in ten volumes between 1642 and 1645, is perhaps the most characteristic of all the Heroic Romances. It deals with a highly romantic epoch of ancient history, the decline of the empire of Alexander the Great. The wars of the Persians and of the Scythians are introduced, and among the characters are discovered such personages as Artaxerxes, Roxana and Ephestion. It must not be supposed, however, that la Calprenède makes the smallest effort to deal with the subject accurately or realistically. The figures are those of his own day; they are seigneurs and great ladies of the court of Louis XIII., masquerading in Macedonian raiment. The passion of love is dominant throughout, and it is treated in the most exalted and hyperbolical spirit. The central heroes of the story, Oroondate and Lysimachus, are dignified, eloquent and amorous; they undergo unexampled privations in the quest of incomparable ladies whose beauty and whose nobility is only equalled by their magnificent loyalty. These books were written with an aim that was partly didactic. Their object was to entertain the ladies and to gratify a taste for endlessly wire-drawn sentimentality, but it was also to teach fortitude and grandeur of soul and to inculcate lessons of practical chivalry. La Calprenède followed up the success of hisCassandrewith aCléopâtre(1647) in twelve volumes, and aFaramond(1661) which he did not live to finish. He became more extravagant, more rhapsodical as he proceeded, and he lost all the little hold on history which he had ever held.Cléopâtre, nevertheless, enjoyed a prodigious popularity, and it became the fashion to emulate as far as possible the prowess of its magnificent hero, the proud Artaban. It should be said that la Calprenède objected to his books being styled romances, and insisted that they were specimens of “history embellished with certain inventions.” He may, in opposition to his wishes, claim the doubtful praise of being, in reality, the creator of the modern historical novel. He was immediately imitated or accompanied by a large number of authors, of whom two have achieved a certain immortality, which, unhappily, must be confessed to be partly of ridicule. The vogue of the historical romance was carried to its height by a brother and a sister, Georges de Scudéry (1601-1667) and Madeleine de Scudéry (1608-1701), who represented in their own persons all the extravagant, tempestuous and absurd elements of the age, and whose elephantine romances remain as portents in the history of literature. These novels—there are five of them—were signed by Georges de Scudéry, but it is believed that all were in the main written by Madeleine. The earliest wasIbrahim, ou l’Illustre Bassa(1641); it was followed byLe Grand Cyrus(1648-1653) and the final, and most preposterous member of the series wasClélie(1649-1654). The romances of Mlle de Scudéry (for to her we may safely attribute them) are much inferior in style to those of la Calprenède. They are pretentious, affected and sickly. The author abuses the element of analysis, and pushes a psychology, which was beyond the age in penetration, to a wearisome and excessive extent. Nothing, it is probable, in the whole evolution of the Historical Romances has attracted so much attention as the “Carte de Tendre” which occurs in the opening book ofClélie. This celebrated map, drawn by the heroine in order to show the route from New Friendship to Tender, and a geographical symbol, therefore, of the progress of love, with its city of Tender-upon-Esteem, its sea of Enmity, its river of Inclination, its rock-built citadel of Pride, its cold lake of Indifference, is a miracle of elaborate and incongruous ingenuity. But, amusing as it is, it shows into what depths of puerility the amorous casuistry of these romances had fallen. These novels formed the chief topic of conversation and of correspondence in the literary society which gathered at and around the Hotel de Rambouillet, and in the personages of Mlle de Scudéry’s romances could be recognized all the famous leaders of that society. The mawkish love-making and the false heroism of these monstrous novels went rapidly out of fashion in France soon after 1660, when the epoch of the Heroic Romance came to an end. In England the Heroic Romance had a period of flourishing popularity. All the principal French examples were very promptly translated, and “he was not to be admitted into the academy of wit who had not readAstreaandThe Grand Cyrus.” The great vogue of these books in England lasted from about 1645 to 1660. It led, of course, to the composition of original works in imitation of the French. The most remarkable and successful of these wasParthenissa, published in 1654 by Roger Boyle, Lord Broghill and afterwards Earl of Orrery (1621-1679), which was greatly admired by Dorothy Osborne and her correspondents. Addison speaks in the “Spectator” of the popularity of all these huge books, “theGrand Cyrus, with a pin stuck in one of the middle leaves,Clélie, which opened of itself in the place that describes two lovers in a bower.” When the drama, and in particular tragedy, was reinstituted in England, sentimental readers found a field for their emotions on the stage, and the heroic romances immediately began to go out of fashion. They lingered, however, for a quarter of a century more, and M. Jusserand has analysed what may be considered the very latest of the race,Pandion and Amphigenia, published in 1665 by the dramatist, John Crowne.
See Gordon de Percel,De l’usage des romans(1734); André Le Breton,Le Roman au XVIIesiècle(1890); Paul Morillot,Le Roman en France depuis 1610(1894); J. J. Jusserand,Le Roman anglais au XVIIesiècle(1888).
See Gordon de Percel,De l’usage des romans(1734); André Le Breton,Le Roman au XVIIesiècle(1890); Paul Morillot,Le Roman en France depuis 1610(1894); J. J. Jusserand,Le Roman anglais au XVIIesiècle(1888).
(E. G.)
HEROIC VERSE, a term exclusively used in English to Indicate the rhymed iambic line orHeroic Couplet. In ancient literature, the heroic verse,ἡρωικὸν μέτρον, was synonymous with the dactylic hexameter. It was in this measure that those typically heroic poems, theIliadandOdysseyand theAeneidwere written. In English, however, it was not enough to designate a single iambic line of five beats as heroic verse, because it was necessary to distinguish blank verse from the distich, which was formed by the heroic couplet. This had escaped the notice of Dryden, when he wrote “The English Verse, which we call Heroic, consists of no more than ten syllables.” If that were the case, thenParadise Lostwould be written in heroic verse, which is not true. What Dryden should have said is “consists of two rhymed lines, each of ten syllables.” In French the alexandrine has always been regarded as the heroic measure of that language. The dactylic movement of the heroic line in ancient Greek, the famousῥυθμὸς ἡρῷοςof Homer, is expressed in modern Europe by the iambic movement. The consequence is that much of the rush and energy of the antique verse, which at vigorous moments was like the charge of a battalion, is lost. It is owing to this, in part, that the heroic couplet is so often required to give, in translation, the full value of a single Homeric hexameter. It is important to insist that it is the couplet, not the single line, which constitutes heroic verse. It is interesting to note that the Latin poet Ennius, as reported by Cicero, called the heroic metre of one lineversum longum, to distinguish it from the brevity of lyrical measures. The current form of English heroic verse appears to be the invention of Chaucer, who used it in hisLegend of Good Womenand afterwards, with still greater freedom, in theCanterbury Tales. Here is an example of it in its earliest development:—
“And thus the longë day in fight they spend,Till, at the last, as everything hath end,Anton is shent, and put him to the flight,And all his folk to go, as best go might.”
“And thus the longë day in fight they spend,
Till, at the last, as everything hath end,
Anton is shent, and put him to the flight,
And all his folk to go, as best go might.”
This way of writing was misunderstood and neglected by Chaucer’s English disciples, but was followed nearly a century later by the Scottish poet, called Blind Harry (c.1475), whoseWallaceholds an important place in the history of versification as having passed on the tradition of the heroic couplet. Another Scottish poet, Gavin Douglas, selected heroic verse for his translation of theAeneid(1513), and displayed, in such examples as the following, a skill which left little room for improvement at the hands of later poets:—
“One sang, ‘The ship sails over the salt foam,Will bring the merchants and my leman home’;Some other sings, ‘I will be blithe and light,Mine heart is leant upon so goodly wight.’”
“One sang, ‘The ship sails over the salt foam,
Will bring the merchants and my leman home’;
Some other sings, ‘I will be blithe and light,
Mine heart is leant upon so goodly wight.’”
The verse so successfully mastered was, however, not very generally used for heroic purposes in Tudor literature. The early poets of the revival, and Spenser and Shakespeare after them, greatly preferred stanzaic forms. For dramatic purposes blank verse was almost exclusively used, although the French had adopted the rhymed alexandrine for their plays. In the earlier half of the 17th century, heroic verse was often put to somewhat unheroic purposes, mainly in prologues and epilogues, or other short poems of occasion; but it was nobly redeemed by Marlowe in hisHero and Leanderand respectably by Browne in hisBritannia’s Pastorals. It is to be noted, however, that those Elizabethans who, like Chapman, Warner and Drayton, aimed at producing a warlike and Homeric effect, did so in shambling fourteen-syllable couplets. The one heroic poem of that age written at considerable length in the appropriate national metre is theBosworth Fieldof Sir John Beaumont (1582-1628). Since the middle of the 17th century, when heroic verse became the typical and for a while almost the solitary form in which serious English poetry was written, its history has known many vicissitudes. After having been the principal instrument of Dryden and Pope, it was almost entirely rejected by Wordsworth and Coleridge, but revised, with various modifications, by Byron, Shelley (inJulian and Maddalo) and Keats (inLamia). In the second half of the 19th century its prestige was restored by the brilliant work of Swinburne inTristramand elsewhere.
(E. G.)
HÉROLD, LOUIS JOSEPH FERDINAND(1791-1833), French musician, the son of François Joseph Hérold, an accomplished pianist, was born in Paris, on the 28th of January 1791. It was not till after his father’s death that Hérold in 1806 entered the Paris conservatoire, where he studied under Catal and Méhul. In 1812 he gained the grand prix de Rome with the cantataLa Duchesse de la Vallière, and started for Italy, where he remained till 1815 and composed a symphony, a cantata and several pieces of chamber music. During his stay in Italy also Hérold for the first time ventured on the stage with the operaLa Gioventù di Enrico V., first performed at Naples in 1815 with moderate success. During a short stay in Vienna he was much in the society of Salieri. Returning to Paris he was invited by Boieldieu to collaborate with him on an opera calledCharles de France, performed in 1816, and soon followed by Hérold’s first French opera,Les Rosières(1817), which was received very favourably. Hérold produced numerous dramatic works for the next fifteen years in rapid succession. Only the names of some of the more important need here be mentioned:—La Clochette(1817),L’Auteur mort et vivant(1820),Marie(1826), and the balletsLa Fille mal gardée(1828) andLa Belle au bois dormant(1829). Hérold also wrote a vast quantity of pianoforte music, in spite of his time being much occupied by his duties as accompanist at the Italian opera in Paris. In 1831 he produced the romantic operaZampa, and in the following yearLe Pré aux clercs(first performance December 15, 1832), in which Frenchespritand French chivalry find their most perfect embodiment. These two operas secured immortality for the name of the composer, who died on the 18th of January 1833, of the lung disease from which he had suffered for many years, and the effects of which he had accelerated by incessant work. Hérold’s incomplete operaLudovicwas afterwards printed by J. F. F. Halévy.
HERON(Fr.héron; Ital.aghirone,airone; Lat.ardea; Gr.ἐρωδιός: A.-S.hragra; Icelandic,hegre; Swed.häger; Dan.heire; Ger.Heiger,Reiher,Heergans; Dutch,reiger), a long-necked, long-winged and long-legged bird, the typical representative of the groupArdeidae. It is difficult or even impossible to estimate with any accuracy the number of species ofArdeidaewhich exist. Professor Hermann Schlegel in 1863 enumerated 61, besides 5 of what he terms “conspecies,” as contained in the collection at Leyden (Mus. des Pays-Bas, Ardeae, 64 pp.),—on the other hand, G. R. Gray in 1871 (Handlist, &c. iii. 26-34) admitted above 90, while Dr Anton Reichenow (Journ. für Ornithologie, 1877, pp. 232-275) recognizes 67 as known, besides 15 “subspecies” and 3 varieties, arranging them in 3 genera,Nycticorax,BotaurusandArdea, with 17 sub-genera. But it is difficult to separate the family, with any satisfactory result, into genera, if structural characters have to be found for these groups, for in many cases they run almost insensibly into each other—though in common language it is easy to speak of herons, egrets, bitterns, night-herons andboatbills. With the exception of the last, Professor Schlegel retains all in the genusArdea, dividing it intoeightsections, the names of which may perhaps be Englished—great herons, small herons, egrets, semi-egrets, rail-like herons, little bitterns, bitterns and night-herons.
The common heron of Europe,Ardea cinereaof Linnaeus, is universally allowed to be the type of the family, and it may also be regarded as that of Professor Schlegel’s first section. The species inhabits suitable localities throughout the whole of Europe, Africa and Asia, reaching Japan, many of the islands of the Indian Archipelago and even Australia. Though by no means so numerous as formerly in Britain, it is still sufficiently common,1and there must be few persons who have not seen it rising slowly from some river-side or marshy flat, or passing overhead in its lofty and leisurely flight on its way to or from its daily haunts; while they are many who have been entertained by watching it as it sought its food, consisting chiefly of fishes (especially eels and flounders) and amphibians—though young birds and small mammals come not amiss—wading midleg in the shallows, swimming occasionally when out of its depth, or standing motionless to strike its prey with its formidable and sure beak. When sufficiently numerous the heron breeds in societies, known as heronries, which of old time were protected both by law and custom in nearly all European countries, on account of the sport their tenants afforded to the falconer. Of late years, partly owing to the withdrawal of the protection they had enjoyed, and still more, it would seem, from agricultural improvement, which, by draining meres, fens and marshes, has abolished the feeding-places of a great population of herons, many of the larger heronries have broken up—the birds composing them dispersing to neighbouring localities and forming smaller settlements, most of which are hardly to be dignified by the name of heronry, though commonly accounted such. Thus the number of so-called heronries in the United Kingdom, and especially in England and Wales, has become far greater than formerly, but no one can doubt that the number of herons has dwindled. The sites chosen by the heron for its nest vary greatly. It is generally built in the top of a lofty tree, but not unfrequently (and this seems to have been much more usual in former days) near or on the ground among rough vegetation, on an island in a lake, or again on a rocky cliff of the coast. It commonly consists of a huge mass of sticks, often the accumulation of years, lined with twigs, and in it are laid from four to six sea-green eggs. The young are clothed in soft flax-coloured down, and remain in the nest for a considerable time, therein differing remarkably from the “pipers” of the crane, which are able to run almost as soon as they are hatched. The first feathers assumed by young herons in a general way resemble those of the adult, but the pure white breast, the black throat-streaks and especially the long pendent plumes, which characterize only the very old birds, and are most beautiful in the cocks, are subsequently acquired. The heron measures about 3 ft. from the bill to the tail, and the expanse of its wings is sometimes not less than 6 ft., yet it weighs only between 3 and 4 ℔.
Large as is the common heron of Europe, it is exceeded in size by the great blue heron of America (Ardea herodias), which generally resembles it in appearance and habits, and both are smaller than theA. sumatranaorA. typhonof India and the Malay Archipelago, while theA. goliath, of wide distribution in Africa and Asia, is the largest of all. The purple heron,A. purpurea, as a well-known European species having a great range over the Old World, also deserves mention here. The species included in Professor Schlegel’s second section inhabit the tropical parts of Africa, Australasia and America. The egrets, forming his third group, require more notice, distinguished as they are by their pure white plumage, and, when in breeding-dress, by the beautiful dorsal tufts of decomposed feathers that ordinarily droop over the tail, and are so highly esteemed as ornaments by Oriental magnates. The largest species isA. occidentalis, only known apparently from Florida and Cuba; but one not much less, the great egret (A. alba), belongs to the Old World, breeding regularly in south-eastern Europe, and occasionally straying to Britain. A third,A. egretta, represents it in America, while much the same may be said of two smaller species,A. garzetta, the little egret of English authors, andA. candidissima; and a sixth,A. intermedia, is common in India, China and Japan, besides occurring in Australia. The group of semi-egrets, containing some nine or ten forms, among which the buff-backed heron (A. bubulcus), is the only species that is known to have occurred in Europe, is hardly to be distinguished from the last section except by their plumage being at certain seasons varied in some species with slaty-blue and in others with rufous. The rail-like herons form Professor Schlegel’s next section, but it can scarcely be satisfactorily differentiated, and the epithet is misleading, for its members have no rail-like affinities, though the typical species, which inhabits the south of Europe, and occasionally finds its way to England, has long been known asA. ralloides.2Nearly all these birds are tropical or subtropical. Then there is the somewhat better defined group of little bitterns, containing about a dozen species—the smallest of the whole family. One of them,A. minuta, though very local in its distribution, is a native of the greater part of Europe, and has bred in England. It has a close counterpart in theA. exilisof North America, and is represented by three or four forms in other parts of the world, theA. pusillaof Australia especially differing very slightly from it. Ranged by Professor Schlegel with these birds, which are all remarkable for their skulking habits, but more resembling the true herons in their nature, are the common green bittern of America (A. virescens) and its very near ally the AfricanA. atricapilla, from which last it is almost impossible to distinguish theA. javanica, of wide range throughout Asia and its islands, while other species, less closely related, occur elsewhere asA. flavicollis—one form of which,A. gouldi, inhabits Australia.
The true bitterns, forming the genusBotaurusof most authors, seem to be fairly separable, but more perhaps on account of their wholly nocturnal habits and correspondingly adapted plumage than on strictly structural grounds, though some differences of proportion are observable. The common bittern (q.v.) ofEurope (B. stellaris), is widely distributed over the eastern hemisphere.3Australia and New Zealand have a kindred species,B. poeciloptilus, and North America a third,B. mugitans4orB. lentiginosus. Nine other species from various parts of the world are admitted by Professor Schlegel, but some of them should perhaps be excluded from the genusBotaurus.
Of the night-herons the same author recognizes six species, all of which may be reasonably placed in the genusNycticorax, characterized by a shorter beak and a few other peculiarities, among which the large eyes deserve mention. The first isN. griseus, a bird widely spread over the Old World, and not unfrequently visiting England, where it would undoubtedly breed if permitted. Professor Schlegel unites with it the common night-heron of America; but this, though very closely allied, is generally deemed distinct, and is theN. naeviusorN. gardeniof most writers. A clearly different American species, with a more southern habitat, is theN. violaceusorN. cayennensis, while others are found in South America, Australia, some of the Asiatic Islands and in West Africa. The Galapagos have a peculiar species,N. pauper, and another, so far as is known, peculiar to Rodriguez,N. megacephalus, existed in that island at the time of its being first colonized, but is now extinct.
The boatbill, of which only one species is known, seems to be merely a night-heron with an exaggerated bill,—so much widened as to suggest its English name,—but has always been allowed generic rank. This curious bird, theCancroma cochleariaof most authors, is a native of tropical America, and what is known of its habits shows that they are essentially those of aNycticorax.5
Bones of the common heron and bittern are not uncommon in the peat of the East-Anglian fens. Remains from Sansan and Langy in France have been referred by Alphonse Milne-Edwards to herons under the names ofArdea perplexaandA. formosa; a tibia from the Miocene of Steinheim am Albuch by Dr Fraas to anA. similis, while Sir R. Owen recognized a portion of a sternum from the London Clay as most nearly approaching this family.
It remains to say that the herons form part of Huxley’s sectionPelargomorphae, belonging to his larger groupDesmognathae, and to draw attention to the singular development of the patches of “powder-down” which in the familyArdeidaeattain a magnitude hardly to be found elsewhere. Their use is utterly unknown.
(A. N.)
1In many parts of England it is generally called a “hernser”—being a corruption of “heronsewe,” which, as Professor Skeat states (Etymol. Dictionary, p. 264), is a perfectly distinct word from “heronshaw,” commonly confounded with it. The further corruption of “hernser” into “handsaw,” as in the well-known proverb, was easy in the mouth of men to whom hawking the heronsewe was unfamiliar.2It is the “Squacco-Heron” of modern British authors—the distinctive name, given “Sguacco” by Willughby and Ray from Aldrovandus, having been misspelt by Latham.3The last-recorded instance of the bittern breeding in England was in 1868, as mentioned by Stevenson (Birds of Norfolk, ii. 164).4Richardson, a most accurate observer, asserts (Fauna Boreali-Americana, ii. 374) that its booming (whence the epithet) exactly resembles that of its Old-World congener, but American ornithologists seem only to have heard the croaking note it makes when disturbed.5The very wonderful shoe-bird (Balaeniceps) has been regarded by many authorities as allied toCancroma; but there can be little doubt that it is more nearly related to the genusScopusbelonging to the storks. The sun-bittern (Eurypyga) forms a family of itself, allied to the rails and cranes.
1In many parts of England it is generally called a “hernser”—being a corruption of “heronsewe,” which, as Professor Skeat states (Etymol. Dictionary, p. 264), is a perfectly distinct word from “heronshaw,” commonly confounded with it. The further corruption of “hernser” into “handsaw,” as in the well-known proverb, was easy in the mouth of men to whom hawking the heronsewe was unfamiliar.
2It is the “Squacco-Heron” of modern British authors—the distinctive name, given “Sguacco” by Willughby and Ray from Aldrovandus, having been misspelt by Latham.
3The last-recorded instance of the bittern breeding in England was in 1868, as mentioned by Stevenson (Birds of Norfolk, ii. 164).
4Richardson, a most accurate observer, asserts (Fauna Boreali-Americana, ii. 374) that its booming (whence the epithet) exactly resembles that of its Old-World congener, but American ornithologists seem only to have heard the croaking note it makes when disturbed.
5The very wonderful shoe-bird (Balaeniceps) has been regarded by many authorities as allied toCancroma; but there can be little doubt that it is more nearly related to the genusScopusbelonging to the storks. The sun-bittern (Eurypyga) forms a family of itself, allied to the rails and cranes.
HERPES(from the Gr.ἕρπειν, to creep), an inflammation of the true skin resulting from a lesion of the underlying nerve or its ganglion, attended with the formation of isolated or grouped vesicles of various sizes upon a reddened base. They contain a clear fluid, and either rupture or dry up. Two well-marked varieties of herpes are frequently met with. (a) Inherpes labialis et nasalisthe eruption occurs about the lips and nose. It is seen in cases of certain acute febrile ailments, such as fevers, inflammation of the lungs or even in a severe cold. It soon passes off. (b) In theherpes zoster, zonaor “shingles” the eruption occurs in the course of one or more cutaneous nerves, often on one side of the trunk, but it may be on the face, limbs or other parts. It may occur at any age, but is probably more frequently met with in elderly people. The appearance of the eruption is usually preceded by severe stinging neuralgic pains for several days, and, not only during the continuance of the herpetic spots, but long after they have dried up and disappeared, these pains sometimes continue and give rise to great suffering. The disease seldom recurs. The most that can be done for its relief is to protect the parts with cotton wool or some dusting powder, while the pain may be allayed by opiates or bromide of potassium. Quinine internally is often of service.
HERRERA, FERNANDO DE(c.1534-1597), Spanish lyrical poet, was born at Seville. Although in minor orders, he addressed many impassioned poems to the countess of Gelves, wife of Alvaro Colon de Portugal; but it is suggested that these should be regarded as Platonic literary exercises in the manner of Petrarch. As is shown by hisAnotaciones á las obras de Garcilaso de la Vega(1580), Herrera had a boundless admiration for the Italian poets, and continued the work of Boscán in naturalizing the Italian metrical system in Spain. His commentary on Garcilaso involved him in a series of literary polemics, and his verbal innovations laid him open to attack. But, even if his amatory sonnets are condemned as insincere in sentiment, their workmanship is admirable, while his odes on the battle of Lepanto, on Don John of Austria, and the elegy on King Sebastian of Portugal entitle him to rank as the greatest of Andalusian poets and as the most important of the followers of Garcilaso de la Vega (seeVega). His poems were published in 1582, and reprinted with additions in 1619; they are reissued in theBiblioteca de autores españoles, vol. xxxii. Of Herrera’s prose works only theVida y muerta de Tomas Moro(1592) survives; it is a translation of the life in Thomas Stapleton’sTres Thomae(1588).
Bibliography.—E. Bourciez, “Les Sonnets de Fernando de Herrera,”Annales de la Faculté des Lettres de Bordeaux(1891);Fernando de Herrera, controversia sobre sus anotaciones á les obras de Garcilaso de la Vega(Seville, 1870); A. Morel-Fatio,L’Hymne sur Lépante(Paris, 1893).
Bibliography.—E. Bourciez, “Les Sonnets de Fernando de Herrera,”Annales de la Faculté des Lettres de Bordeaux(1891);Fernando de Herrera, controversia sobre sus anotaciones á les obras de Garcilaso de la Vega(Seville, 1870); A. Morel-Fatio,L’Hymne sur Lépante(Paris, 1893).
HERRERA, FRANCISCO(1576-1656), surnamed el Viejo (the old), Spanish historical and fresco painter, studied under Luis Fernandez in Seville, his native city, where he spent most of his life. Although so rough and coarse in manners that neither scholar nor child could remain with him, the great talents of Herrera, and the promptitude with which he used them, brought him abundant commissions. He was also a skilful worker in bronze, an accomplishment that led to his being charged with coining base money. From this accusation, whether true or false, he sought sanctuary in the Jesuit college of San Hermenegildo, which he adorned with a fine picture of its patron saint. Philip IV., on his visit to Seville in 1624, having seen this picture, and learned the position of the artist, pardoned him at once, warning him, however, that such powers as his should not be degraded. In 1650 Herrera removed to Madrid, where he lived in great honour till his death in 1656. Herrera was the first to relinquish the timid Italian manner of the old Spanish school of painting, and to initiate the free, vigorous touch and style which reached such perfection in Velazquez, who had been for a short time his pupil. His pictures are marked by an energy of design and freedom of execution quite in keeping with his bold, rough character. He is said to have used very long brushes in his painting; and it is also said that, when pupils failed, his servant used to dash the colours on the canvas with a broom under his directions, and that he worked them up into his designs before they dried. The drawingin his pictures is correct, and the colouring original and skilfully managed, so that the figures stand out in striking relief. What has been considered his best easel-work, the “Last Judgment,” in the church of San Bernardo at Seville, is an original and striking composition, showing in its treatment of the nude how ill-founded the common belief was that Spanish painters, through ignorance of anatomy, understood only the draped figure. Perhaps his best fresco is that on the dome of the church of San Buenaventura; but many of his frescoes have perished, some by the effects of the weather and others by the artist’s own carelessness in preparing his surfaces. He has, however, preserved several of his own designs in etchings. For his easel-works Herrera often chose such humble subjects as fairs, carnivals, ale-houses and the like.
His sonFrancisco Herrara(1622-1685), surnamed el Mozo (the young), was also an historical and fresco painter. Unable to endure his father’s cruelty, the younger Herrera, seizing what money he could find, fled from Seville to Rome. There, instead of devoting himself to the antiquities and the works of the old Italian masters, he gave himself up to the study of architecture and perspective, with the view of becoming a fresco-painter. He did not altogether neglect easel-work, but became renowned for his pictures of still-life, flowers and fruit, and from his skill in painting fish was called by the ItaliansLo Spagnuolo degli pesci. In later life he painted portraits with great success. He returned to Seville on hearing of his father’s death, and in 1660 was appointed subdirector of the new academy there under Murillo. His vanity, however, brooked the superiority of no one; and throwing up his appointment he went to Madrid. There he was employed to paint a San Hermenegildo for the barefooted Carmelites, and to decorate in fresco the roof of the choir of San Felipe el Real. The success of this last work procured for him a commission from Philip IV. to paint in fresco the roof of the Atocha church. He chose as his subject for this the Assumption of the Virgin. Soon afterwards he was rewarded with the title of painter to the king, and was appointed superintendent of the royal buildings. He died at Madrid in 1685. Herrera el Mozo was of a somewhat similar temperament to his father, and offended many people by his inordinate vanity and suspicious jealousy. His pictures are inferior to the older Herrera’s both in design and in execution; but in some of them traces of the vigour of his father, who was his first teacher, are visible. He was by no means an unskilful colourist, and was especially master of the effects of chiaroscuro. As his best picture Sir Edmund Head in hisHandbooknames his “San Francisco,” in Seville Cathedral. An elder brother, known as Herrera el Rubio (the ruddy), who died very young, gave great promise as a painter.
HERRERA Y TORDESILLAS, ANTONIO DE(1549-1625), Spanish historian, was born at Cuellar, in the province of Segovia in Spain. His father, Roderigo de Tordesillas, and his mother, Agnes de Herrera, were both of good family. After studying for some time in his native country, Herrera proceeded to Italy, and there became secretary to Vespasian Gonzago, with whom, on his appointment as viceroy of Navarre, he returned to Spain. Gonzago, sensible of his secretary’s abilities, commended him to Philip II. of Spain; and that monarch appointed Herrera first historiographer of the Indies, and one of the historiographers of Castile. Placed thus in the enjoyment of an ample salary, Herrera devoted the rest of his life to the pursuit of literature, retaining his offices until the reign of Philip IV., by whom he was appointed secretary of state very shortly before his death, which took place at Madrid on the 29th of March 1625. Of Herrera’s writings, the most valuable is hisHistoria general de los hechos de los Castellanos en las islas y tierra firme del Mar Oceano(Madrid, 1601-1615, 4 vols.), a work which relates the history of the Spanish-American colonies from 1492 to 1554. The author’s official position gave him access to the state papers and to other authentic sources not attainable by other writers, while he did not scruple to borrow largely from other MSS., especially from that of Bartolomé de Las Casas. He used his facilities carefully and judiciously; and the result is a work on the whole accurate and unprejudiced, and quite indispensable to the student either of the history of the early colonies, or of the institutions and customs of the aboriginal American peoples. Although it is written in the form of annals, mistakes are not wanting, and several glaring anachronisms have been pointed out by M. J. Quintana. “If,” to quote Dr Robertson, “by attempting to relate the various occurrences in the New World in a strict chronological order, the arrangement of events in his work had not been rendered so perplexed, disconnected and obscure that it is an unpleasant task to collect from different parts of his book and piece together the detached shreds of a story, he might justly have been ranked among the most eminent historians of his country.” This work was republished in 1730, and has been translated into English by J. Stevens (London, 1740), and into other European languages.