Chapter 17

TheEpistolaehave been frequently edited, notably by J. Jacobs in 1890, with a commentary (1891), and Agnes Repplier (1907).

HOWELLS, WILLIAM DEAN(1837- ), American novelist, was born at Martin’s Ferry, Ohio, on the 1st of March 1837. His father, William Cooper Howells, a printer-journalist, moved in 1840 to Hamilton, Ohio, and here the boy’s early life was spent successively as type-setter, reporter and editor in the offices of various newspapers. In the midst of routine work he contrived to familiarize himself with a wide range of authors in several modern tongues, and to drill himself thoroughly in the use of good English. In 1860, as assistant editor of the leading Republican newspaper in Ohio, he wrote—in connexion with the Presidential contest—the campaign life of Lincoln; and in the same year he was appointed consul at Venice, where he remained till 1865. On his return to America he joined the staff of theAtlantic Monthly, and from 1872 to 1881 he was its editor-in-chief. Since 1885 he has lived in New York. For a time he conducted forHarper’s Magazinethe department called “The Editor’s Study,” and in December 1900 he revived for the same periodical the department of “The Easy Chair,” which had lapsed with the death of George William Curtis. Of Mr Howells’s many novels, the following may be mentioned as specially noteworthy:Their Wedding Journey(1872);The Lady of the Aroostook(1879);A Modern Instance(1882);The Rise of Silas Lapham(1885);The Minister’s Charge(1886);A Hazard of New Fortunes(1889);The Quality of Mercy(1892);The Landlord at Lion’s Head(1897). He also publishedPoems(1873 and 1886);Stops of Various Quills(1895), a book of verse; books of travel; several amusing farces; and volumes of essays and literary criticism, among others,Literary Friends and Acquaintance(1901), which contains much autobiographical matter,Literature and Life(1902), andEnglish Films(1905).

Howells is by general consent the foremost representative of the realistic school of indigenous American fiction. From the outset his aim was to portray life with entire fidelity in all its commonplaceness, and yet to charm the reader into a liking for this commonplaceness and into reverence for what it conceals. Though in his earliest novels his method was not consistently realistic—he is at times almost as personal and as whimsical as Thackeray—yet his vivid impressionism and his choice of subjects, as well as an occasional explicit protest that “dulness is dear to him,” already revealed unmistakably his realistic bias. InA Modern Instance(1882) he gained complete command of his method, and began a series of studies of American life that are remarkable for their loyalty to fact, their truth of tone, and their power to reveal, despite their strictly objective method, both the inner springs of American character and the sociological forces that are shaping American civilization. He refuses to over-sophisticate or to over-intellectualize his characters, and he is very sparing in his use of psychological analysis. He insists on seeing and portraying American life as it exists in and for itself, under its own skies and with its own atmosphere; he does not scrutinize it with foreign comparisons in mind, and thus try to find and to throw into relief unsuspected configurations of surface. He keeps his dialogue toned down to almost the pitch of everyday conversation, although he has shown in his comedy sketches how easy a master he is of adroit and witty talk.

See also J. M. Robertson,Essays towards a Critical Method(London, 1889); H. C. Vedder,American Writers(Boston, 1894).

HOWITT WILLIAM,(1792-1879), English author, was born on the 18th of December 1792 at Heanor, Derbyshire. His parents were Quakers, and he was educated at the Friends’ public school at Ackworth, Yorkshire. In 1814 he published a poem on the “Influence of Nature and Poetry on National Spirit.” He married, in 1821, Mary Botham (1799-1888), like himself a Quaker and a poet. William and Mary Howitt collaborated throughout a long literary career, the first of their joint productions beingThe Forest Minstrels and other Poems(1821). In 1831 William Howitt produced a work for which his habits of observation and his genuine love of nature peculiarly fitted him. It was a history of the changes in the face of the outside world in the different months of the year, and was entitledThe Book of the Seasons, or the Calendar of Nature(1831). HisPopular History of Priestcraft(1833) won for him the favour of active Liberals and the office of alderman in Nottingham, where the Howitts had made their home. They removed in 1837 to Esher, and in 1840 they went to Heidelberg, primarily for the education of their children, remaining in Germany for two years. In 1841 William Howitt produced, under the pseudonym of “Dr Cornelius,”The Student Life of Germany, the first of a series of works on German social life and institutions. Mary Howitt devoted herself to Scandinavian literature, and between 1842 and 1863 she translated the novels of Frederika Bremer and many of the stories of Hans Andersen. With her husband she wrote in 1852The Literature and Romance of Northern Europe. In June of that year William Howitt, with two of his sons, set sail for Australia, where he spent two years in the goldfields. The results of his travels appeared inA Boy’sAdventures in the Wilds of Australia(1854),Land, Labour and Gold; or, Two Years in Victoria(1855) andTallangetta, the Squatter’s Home(1857). On his return to England Howitt had settled at Highgate and resumed his indefatigable book-making. From 1856 to 1862 he was engaged on Cassell’sIllustrated History of England, and from 1861 to 1864 he and his wife worked at theRuined Abbeys and Castles of Great Britain. The Howitts had left the Society of Friends in 1847, and became interested in spiritualism. In 1863 appearedThe History of the Supernatural in all Ages and Nations, and in all Churches, Christian and Pagan, demonstrating a Universal Faith, by William Howitt. He added “his own conclusions from a practical examination of the higher phenomena through a course of seven years.” From 1870 onwards Howitt spent the summers in Tirol and the winters in Rome, where he died on the 3rd of March 1879. Mary Howitt was much affected by his death, and in 1882 she joined the Roman Catholic Church, towards which she had been gradually moving during her connexion with spiritualism. She died at Rome on the 30th of January 1888. The Howitts are remembered for their untiring efforts to provide wholesome and instructive literature. Their son, Alfred William Howitt, made himself a name by his explorations in Australia. Anna Mary Howitt married Alaric Alfred Watts, and was the author ofPioneers of the Spiritual Reformation(1883).

Mary Howitt’s autobiography was edited by her daughter, Margaret Howitt, in 1889. William Howitt wrote some fifty books, and his wife’s publications, inclusive of translations, number over a hundred.

HOWITZER(derived, through an earlier formhowitz, and the Ger.Haubitz, from the Bohemianhoufnice= catapult, from which come also, through the Ital.obizaorobice, the French formsobus= shell andobusier= howitzer), a form of mobile ordnance in use from the 16th century up to the present day. It is a short and therefore comparatively light gun, which fires a heavy projectile at low velocity. A high angle of elevation is always given and the angle of descent of the projectile is consequently steep (up to 70°). On this fact is based the tactical use of the modern howitzer. The field howitzer is of the greatest value for “searching” trenches, folds of ground, localities, &c., which are invulnerable to direct fire, while the more powerful siege howitzer has, since the introduction of modern artillery and, above all, of modern projectiles, taken the foremost place amongst the weapons used in siege warfare.

SeeArtillery,OrdnanceandFortification and Siegecraft.

HOWLER,a name applied to the members of a group of tropical American monkeys, now known scientifically asAlouata, although formerly designatedMycetes. These monkeys, which are of large size, with thick fur, sometimes red and sometimes black in colour, are characterized by the inflation of the hyoid-bone (which supports the roof of the tongue) into a large shell-like organ communicating with the wind-pipe, and giving the peculiar resonance to the voice from which they take their title. To allow space for the hyoid, the sides of the lower jaw are very deep and expanded. The muzzle is projecting, and the profile of the face slopes regularly backwards from the muzzle to the crown. The long tail is highly prehensile, thickly furred, with the under surface of the extremity naked. Howlers dwell in large companies, and in the early morning, and again in the evening, make the woods resound with their cries, which are often continued throughout the night. They feed on leaves, and are in the habit of sitting on the topmost branches of trees. When active, they progress in regular order, led by an old male.

(R. L.*)

HOWRAH,a city and district of British India, in the Burdwan division of Bengal. The city is situated opposite Calcutta, with which it is connected by a floating bridge. The municipal area is about 11 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 157,594, showing an increase of 35% in the decade. Since 1872 the population has almost doubled, owing to the great industrial development that has taken place. Howrah is the terminus of the East Indian railway, and also of the Bengal-Nagpur and East Coast lines. It is also the centre of two light railways which run to Amta and Sheakhala. Further, it is the headquarters of the jute-manufacturing industry, with many steam mills, steam presses, also cotton mills, oil mills, rope-works, iron-works and engineering works. Sibpur Engineering College lies on the outskirts of the town. There is a hospital, with a department for Europeans, and Howrah forms a suburban residence for many people who have their place of business in Calcutta.

TheDistrict of Howrahextends southwards down the right bank of the Hugli to the confluence of the river Damodar. For revenue purposes it is included within the district of Hugli Its area is 510 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 850,514, showing an increase of 11% in the decade. In addition to the two steam tramways and the East Indian railway, the district is crossed by the high-level canal to Midnapore, which communicates with the Hugli at Ulubaria. The manufacturing industries of Howrah extend beyond the city into the district. One or two systems of draining low-lying lands are maintained by the government.

HOWSON, JOHN SAUL(1816-1885), English divine, was born at Giggleswick-in-Craven, Yorkshire, on the 5th of May 1816. After receiving his early education at Giggleswick school, of which his father was head-master, he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, and there became tutor successively to the marquis of Sligo and the marquis of Lorne. In 1845 Howson, having taken orders, accepted the post of senior classical master at the Liverpool College under his friend W. J. Conybeare, whom he succeeded as principal in 1849. This post he held until 1865, and it was largely due to his influence that a similar college for girls was established at Liverpool. In 1866 he left Liverpool for the vicarage of Wisbech, and in 1867 he was appointed dean of Chester Cathedral, where he gave himself vigorously to the work of restoring the crumbling fabric, collecting nearly £100,000 in five years for this purpose. His sympathies were with the evangelical party, and he stoutly opposed the “Eastward position,” but he was by no means narrow. He did much to reintroduce the ministry of women as deaconesses. The building of the King’s School for boys, and the Queen’s School for girls (both in Chester), was due in a great measure to the active interest which he took in educational matters. He died at Bournemouth on the 15th of December 1885, and was buried in the cloister garth of Chester. Howson’s chief literary production wasThe Life and Epistles of St Paul(1852) in which he collaborated with Conybeare.

The book is still of interest, especially for its descriptive passages, which were mostly done by Howson; but later researches (such as those of Sir W. M. Ramsay) have made the geographical and historical sections obsolete, and the same may be said of the treatment of the Pauline theology.

HOWTH[pronouncedHōth], a seaside town of Co. Dublin, Ireland, on the rocky hill of Howth, which forms the northern horn of Dublin Bay, 9 m. N.E. by N. of Dublin by the Great Northern railway. Pop. (1901) 1166. It is frequented by the residents of the capital as a watering-place. The artificial harbour was formed (1807-1832) between the mainland and the picturesque island of Ireland’s Eye, and preceded Kingstown as the station for the mail-packets from Great Britain, but was found after its construction to be liable to silt, and is now chiefly used by fishing-boats and yachts. The collegiate church, standing picturesquely on a cliff above the sea, was founded about 1235, and has a monastic building attached to it. The embattled castle contains the two-handed sword of Sir Almeric Tristram, the Anglo-Norman conqueror of the hill of Howth, and a portrait of Dean Swift holding one of the Drapier letters, with Wood, the coiner against whom he directed these attacks, prostrate before him. The view of Dublin Bay from the hill of Howth is of great beauty. Howth is connected with the capital by electric tramway, besides the railway, and another tramway encircles the hill.

HÖXTER,a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Westphalia, prettily situated on the left bank of the Weser, and on the Prussian state railways Börssum-Soest and Scherfede-Holzminden, 32 m. N. of Cassel. Pop. (1905) 7699. It has a medieval town hall, and interesting houses with high gables and wood-carved façades of the 15th and 16th centuries. The most interesting of the churches is the Protestant church of St Kilian,with a pulpit dating from 1595 and a font dating from 1631. There are a gymnasium, a school of architecture and a monument to Hoffmann von Fallersleben in the town. The Weser is crossed here by a stone bridge about 500 ft. in length, erected in 1833. On the Brunsberg adjoining the town there is an old watch-tower, said to be the remains of a fortress built by Bruno, brother of Widukind. Near Höxter is the castle, formerly the Benedictine monastery, of Corvey. The principal manufactures of the town are linen, cotton, cement and gutta-percha, and there is also a considerable shipping trade. Höxter (Lat.Huxaria) in the time of Charlemagne was avilla regia, and was the scene of a battle between him and the Saxons. Under the protection of the monastery of Corvey it gradually increased in prosperity, and became the chief town of the principality of Corvey. Later it asserted its independence and joined the Hanseatic League. It suffered severely during the Thirty Years’ War. After the peace of Westphalia in 1648 it was united to Brunswick; in 1802 it was transferred to Nassau; and in 1807 to the kingdom of Westphalia, after the dismemberment of which, in 1814, it came into the possession of Prussia.

See Kampschulte,Chronik der Stadt Höxter(Höxter, 1872).

HOY(NorseHaey, “high island”), the second largest island of the Orkneys, county of Orkney, Scotland. Pop. (1901) 1216. It has an extreme length from N.W. to S.E. of 131⁄3m., its greatest breadth from E. to W. is 8 m., and its area occupies 53 sq. m. It is situated 2 m. S.W. of Pomona, from which it is separated by Hoy Sound. As seen from the west it rises abruptly from the sea, presenting in this respect a marked contrast to the rest of the isles of the Orcadian group, which as a whole are low-lying. Its eastern and southern shores are indented by numerous bays, one of which, Long Hope, forms a natural harbour 4 m. long, with a breadth varying from ¼ m. to more than 1 m., affording to any number of vessels a haven of refuge from the roughest weather of the Pentland Firth. Off the eastern coast lie the islands of Graemsay, Cava, Risa, Fara, Flotta and Switha, while the peninsula of South Walls, forming the southern side of the harbour of Long Hope, is an island in all but name. Red and yellow sandstone cliffs, sometimes over 1000 ft. in height, stretch for 10 to 12 m. on the Atlantic front. The detached pillar or stack called the Old Man of Hoy (450 ft.) is a well-known landmark to sailors. The only break in this remarkable run of rocky coast is at Rackwick in the bight below the head of Rora. In the interior, Ward Hill (1564 ft.) is the loftiest summit in either the Orkneys or Shetlands. In the valley between Ward Hill and the ridge of the Hamars to the south-east is situated the famous Dwarfie Stone, an enormous block of sandstone measuring 28 ft. long, from 11 ft. to 14½ ft. broad, and 6½ ft. high at one end and 2 ft. high at the other, in which two rooms have been artificially hollowed out, traditionally believed to be the bed-chambers of Trolld, the dwarf of the sagas, and his wife. A boulder lying at the narrow end was supposed to be used to close the entrance. The generally accepted theory is that it was a pagan altar which some hermit afterwards converted into a cell. Other hills in the island are the Cuilags (1420 ft.) and the Knap of Trewieglen (1308 ft.), besides several peaks exceeding 1000 ft. in height. Hoy is commonly approached from Stromness, there being piers at Linksness, the nearest point to Graemsay, and at Hackness, South Ness and North Bay, the last three all on the harbour of Long Hope.

HOYLAKE,a watering-place in the Wirral parliamentary division of Cheshire, England, 8 m. W. of Birkenhead, on the Wirral railway. With West Kirby to the south, at the mouth of the estuary of the Dee, it forms the urban district of Hoylake and West Kirby. Pop. (1901) 10,911. The well-known links of the Royal Liverpool Golf Club are at Hoylake. The town has a considerable population of fishermen.

HOYLAND NETHER,an urban district in the Hallamshire parliamentary division of the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, 5½ m. S.S.E. of Barnsley, on the Midland railway. Collieries and brickworks employ the large industrial population. Pop. (1901) 12,464.

HOYLE, EDMUND,orEdmond(1672-1769), the first systematizer of the laws of whist, and author of a book on games, was born in 1672. His parentage and place of birth are unknown, and few details of his life are recorded. For some time he was resident in London, and partially supported himself by giving instruction in the game of whist. For the use of his pupils he drew up aShort Treatiseon the game, which after circulating for some time in manuscript was printed by him and entered at Stationers’ Hall in November 1742. The laws of Hoyle continued to be regarded as authoritative until 1864, since which time they have been gradually superseded by the new rules adopted by the Arlington and Portland clubs in that year (see Whist). He also published rules for various other games, and his book on games, which includes theShort Treatise, has passed into many editions. The weight of his authority is indicated by the phrase “according to Hoyle,” which, doubtless first applied with reference to whist, has gained currency as a general proverb. Hoyle died in London on the 29th of August 1769.

HOZIER, PIERRE D’,Seigneur de la Garde(1592-1660), French genealogist, was born at Marseilles on the 10th of July 1592. In 1616 he entered upon some very extensive researches into the genealogy of the noble families of the kingdom, in which work he was aided by his prodigious memory for dates, names and family relationships, as well as by his profound knowledge of heraldry. In 1634 he was appointed historiographer and genealogist of France, and in 1641juge d’armesof France, an officer corresponding nearly to the Garter king-of-arms in England. In 1643 he was employed to verify the claims to nobility of the pages and equerries of the king’s household. He accumulated a large number of documents, but published comparatively little, his principal works beingRecueil armorial des anciennes maisons de Bretagne(1638);Les noms, surnoms, qualitez, armes et blasons des chevaliers et officiers de l’ordre du Saint-Esprit(1634); and the genealogies of the houses of La Rochefoucauld (1654), Bournonville (1657) and Amanzé (1659). He was renowned as much for his uprightness as for his knowledge, no slight praise in a profession exposed to so many temptations to fraud. He died in Paris on the 1st of December 1660. At his death his collections comprised more than 150 volumes or portfolios of documents and papers relating to the genealogy of the principal families in France. Of his six sons, only two survived him. His eldest son, Louis Roger d’Hozier (1634-1708), succeeded him asjuge d’armes, but became blind in 1675, and was obliged to surrender his office to his brother.

Charles René d’Hozier(1640-1732), younger son of Pierre, was the true continuator of his father. In addition to his commentary appended to Antoine Varillas’s history of King Charles IX. (1686 ed.), he publishedRecherches sur la noblesse de Champagne(1673). On the promulgation in 1696 of an edict directing all who had armorial bearings to register them on payment of 20 livres, he was employed to collect the declarations returned in the variousgénéralités, and established theArmorial général de France. This work, which contained not only the armorial bearings of noble families, but also of those commoners who were entitled to bear arms, is not complete, inasmuch as many refused to register their arms, either from vanity or from a desire to evade the fee.

The collection (now in the Bibliothèque Nationale) consists of 34 volumes of text and 35 of coloured armorial bearings, and in spite of its deficiencies is a useful store of information for the history of the old French families. It contains 60,000 names, grouped according to provinces and provincial subdivisions. The sections relating to Burgundy and Franche-Comté were published by Henri Bouchot (1875-1876): those relating to thegénéralitéof Limoges, by Moreau de Pravieux (1895); and those for theélectionof Reims, by P. Gosset (1903).

In 1717, in consequence of a quarrel with his nephew Louis Pierre, son of Louis Roger, Charles sold his collection to the king. It then comprised 160 portfolios of genealogical papers arranged alphabetically, 175 volumes of documents, and numerous printed books profusely annotated. In 1720 it was inventoried by P. de Clairambault, who added a certain number of genealogies taken from the papers of F. R. de Gaignières, increasing thetotal to 217 boxes and portfolios. Thus originated theCabinet des titresof the Bibliothèque Nationale. Charles subsequently became reconciled to his nephew, to whom he left all the papers he had accumulated from the date of the quarrel until his death, which occurred in Paris on the 13th of February 1732.

Louis Pierre d’Hozier(1685-1767), son of Louis Roger, succeeded his uncle Charles asjuge d’armes. He published theArmorial général, ou registre de la noblesse de France(10 vols., 1738-1768), which must not be confounded with the publication mentioned above, inasmuch as it related solely to noble families and was not an official collection. Complete copies of this work, which should contain sixregistres, are comparatively rare. A seventhregistre, forming vol. xi., prepared by Ambroise Louis Marie, nephew of Louis Pierre, was published in 1847 by comte Charles d’Hozier. Louis Pierre died on the 25th of September 1767. His eldest son, Antoine Marie d’Hozier de Sérigny (1721-c.1810), was his father’s collaborator and continuator; and his fourth son, Jean François Louis, wrote an account of the knights of St Michael in the province of Poitou, which was published in 1896 by the vicomte P. de Chabot.

His nephew,Ambroise Louis Marie d’Hozier(1764-1846), was the last of thejuges d’armesof France. He held the position of president of thecour des comptes, aides et financesof Normandy, and was therefore generally known as President d’Hozier, to distinguish him from the other members of the family. After the Restoration he was employed to verify French armorial bearings for theconseil du sceau des titres. He died in obscurity. His collection, which was purchased in 1851 by the Bibliothèque Nationale, comprised 136 volumes, 165 portfolios of documents and 200 packets of extracts from title-deeds, known as theCarrés d’Hozier.

Abraham Charles Auguste d’Hozier(1775-1846), who also belonged to his family, was implicated in the conspiracy of Georges Cadoudal, and was condemned to death, but Bonaparte spared his life. He did not, however, recover his liberty until after the fall of the emperor, and died at Versailles on the 24th of August 1846.

(C. B.*)

HRABANUS MAURUS MAGNENTIUS(c.776-856), archbishop of Mainz, and one of the most prominent teachers and writers of the Carolingian age, was born of noble parents at Mainz. Less correct forms of his name are Rabanus and Rhabanus. The date of his birth is uncertain, but in 801 he received deacon’s orders at Fulda, where he had been sent to school; in the following year, at the instance of Ratgar, his abbot, he went together with Haimon (afterwards of Halberstadt) to complete his studies at Tours under Alcuin, who in recognition of his diligence and purity gave him the surname of Maurus, after St Maur the favourite disciple of Benedict. Returning after the lapse of two years to Fulda, he was entrusted with the principal charge of the school, which under his direction rose into a state of great efficiency for that age, and sent forth such pupilsasWalafrid Strabo, Servatus Lupus of Ferières and Otfrid of Weissenburg. At this period it is most probable that hisExcerptiofrom the grammar of Priscian, long so popular as a text-book during the middle ages, was compiled. In 814 he was ordained a priest; but shortly afterwards, apparently on account of disagreement with Ratgar, he was compelled to withdraw for a time from Fulda. This “banishment” is understood to have occasioned the pilgrimage to Palestine to which he alludes in his commentary on Joshua. He returned to Fulda on the election of a new abbot (Eigil) in 817, upon whose death in 822 he himself became abbot. The duties of this office he discharged with efficiency and success until 842, when, in order to secure greater leisure for literature and for devotion, he resigned and retired to the neighbouring cloister of St Peter’s. In 847 he was again constrained to enter public life by his election to succeed Otgar in the archbishopric of Mainz, which see he occupied for upwards of eight years. The principal incidents of historical interest belonging to this period of his life were those which arose out of his relations to Gottschalk (q.v.): they may be regarded as thoroughly typical of that cruel intolerance which he shared with all his contemporaries, and also of that ardent zeal which was peculiar to himself; but they hardly do justice to the spirit of kindly benevolence which in less trying circumstances he was ever ready to display. He died at Winkel on the Rhine, on the 4th of February 856. He is frequently referred to as St Rabanus, but incorrectly.

His voluminous works, many of which remain unpublished, comprise commentaries on a considerable number of the books both of canonical and of apocryphal Scripture (Genesis to Judges, Ruth, Kings, Chronicles, Judith, Esther, Canticles, Proverbs, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Maccabees, Matthew, the Epistles of St Paul, including Hebrews); and various treatises relating to doctrinal and practical subjects, including more than one series of Homilies. Perhaps the most important is thatDe institutione clericorum, in three books, by which he did much to bring into prominence the views of Augustine and Gregory the Great as to the training which was requisite for a right discharge of the clerical function; the most popular has been a comparatively worthless tractDe laudibus sanctae crucis. Among the others may be mentioned theDe universo libri xxii., sive etymologiarum opus, a kind of dictionary or encyclopaedia, designed as a help towards the historical and mystical interpretation of Scripture, theDe sacris ordinibus, theDe disciplina ecclesiasticaand theMartyrologium. All of them are characterized by erudition (he knew even some Greek and Hebrew) rather than by originality of thought. The poems are of singularly little interest or value, except as including one form of the “Veni Creator.” In the annals of German philology a special interest attaches to theGlossaria Latino-Theodisca. A commentary,Super Porphyrium, printed by Cousin in 1836 among theOuvrages inédits d’Abélard, and assigned both by that editor and by Hauréau to Hrabanus Maurus, is now generally believed to have been the work of a disciple.The first nominally complete edition of the works of Hrabanus Maurus was that of Colvener (Cologne, 6 vols. fol., 1627). TheOpera omniaform vols. cvii.-cxii. of Migne’sPatrologiae cursus completus. TheDe universois the subject ofCompendium der Naturwissenschaften an der Schule zu Fulda im IX. Jahrhundert(Berlin, 1880). Maurus is the subject of monographs by Schwarz (De Rhabano Mauro primo Germaniae praeceptore, 1811), Kunstmann (Historische Monographie über Hrabanus Magnentius Maurus, 1841), Spengler (Leben des heil. Rhabanus Maurus, 1856) and Köhler (Rhabanus Maurus u. die Schule zu Fulda, 1870).Livesby his disciple Rudolphus and by Joannes Trithemius are printed in the Cologne edition of theOpera. See also Pertz,Monum. Germ. Hist.(i. and ii.); Bähr,Gesch. d. römischen Literatur im Karoling. Zeitalter(1840), and Hauck’s article in the Herzog-HauckRealencyklopädie, ed. 3.

The first nominally complete edition of the works of Hrabanus Maurus was that of Colvener (Cologne, 6 vols. fol., 1627). TheOpera omniaform vols. cvii.-cxii. of Migne’sPatrologiae cursus completus. TheDe universois the subject ofCompendium der Naturwissenschaften an der Schule zu Fulda im IX. Jahrhundert(Berlin, 1880). Maurus is the subject of monographs by Schwarz (De Rhabano Mauro primo Germaniae praeceptore, 1811), Kunstmann (Historische Monographie über Hrabanus Magnentius Maurus, 1841), Spengler (Leben des heil. Rhabanus Maurus, 1856) and Köhler (Rhabanus Maurus u. die Schule zu Fulda, 1870).Livesby his disciple Rudolphus and by Joannes Trithemius are printed in the Cologne edition of theOpera. See also Pertz,Monum. Germ. Hist.(i. and ii.); Bähr,Gesch. d. römischen Literatur im Karoling. Zeitalter(1840), and Hauck’s article in the Herzog-HauckRealencyklopädie, ed. 3.

HRÓLFR KRAKI,perhaps the most famous of the Danish kings of the heroic age. InBeowulf, where he is called Hrothwulf, he is represented as reigning over Denmark in conjunction with his uncle Hrothgar, one of the three sons of an earlier king called Healfdene. In the Old Norse sagas Hrólfe is the son of Helgi (Halga), the son of Halfdan (Healfdene). He is represented as a wealthy and peace-loving monarch similar to Hrothgar inBeowulf, but the latter (Hróarr, or Roe) is quite overshadowed by his nephew in the Northern authorities. The chief incidents in Hrólfr’s career are the visit which he paid to the Swedish king Aðils (Beowulf’s Eadgils), of which several different explanations are given, and the war, in which he eventually lost his life, against his brother-in-law Hiörvarðr. The name Kraki (pole-ladder) is said to have been given to him on account of his great height by a young knight named Vöggr, whom he handsomely rewarded and who eventually avenged his death on Hiörvarðr. There is no reason to doubt that Hrólfr was an historical person and that he reigned in Denmark during the early years of the 6th century, but the statement found in all the sagas that he was the stepson of Aðils seems hardly compatible with the evidence ofBeowulf, which is a much earlier authority.

See Saxo Grammaticus,Gesta Danorum, pp. 52-68, ed. A. Holder (Strassburg, 1886); and A. Olrik,Danmarks Hettedigtning(Copenhagen, 1903).

HROSVITHA(frequentlyRoswitha, and properlyHrotsuit), early medieval dramatist and chronicler, occupies a very notable position in the history of modern European literature. Her endeavours formed part of the literary activity by which the age of the emperor Otto the Great sought to emulate that of Charles the Great. The famous nun of Gandersheim has occasionally been confounded with her namesake, a learned abbess of the same convent, who must have died at least half a century earlier. The younger Hrosvitha was born in all probability about the year 935; and, if the statement be correct that she sang the praises of the three Ottos, she must have lived to near the close of thecentury. Some time before the year 959 she entered the Benedictine nunnery of Gandersheim, a foundation which was confined to ladies of German birth, and was highly favoured by the Saxon dynasty. In 959 Gerberga, daughter of Duke Henry of Bavaria and niece of the emperor Otto I., was consecrated abbess of Gandersheim; and the earlier literary efforts of the youthful Hrosvitha (whose own connexion with the royal family appears to be an unauthenticated tradition) were encouraged by the still more youthful abbess, and by a nun of the name of Richarda.

The literary works of Hrosvitha, all of which were as a matter of course in Latin, divide themselves into three groups. Of these the first and least important comprises eight narrative religious poems, in leonine hexameters or distichs. Their subjects are the Nativity of the Virgin (from the apocryphal gospel of St James, the brother of our Lord), the Ascension and a series of legends of saints (Gandolph, Pelagius, Theophilus, Basil, Denis, Agnes). Like these narrative poems, the dramas to which above all Hrosvitha owes her fame seem to have been designed for reading aloud or recitation by sisters of the convent. For though there are indications that the idea of their representation was at least present to the mind of the authoress, the fact of such a representation appears to be an unwarrantable assumption. The comedies of Hrosvitha are six in number, being doubtless in this respect also intended to recall their nominal model, the comedies of Terence. They were devised on the simple principle that the world, the flesh and the devil should not have all the good plays to themselves. The experiment upon which the young Christian dramatist ventured was accordingly, although not absolutely novel, audacious enough. In form the dramas of “the strong voice of Gandersheim,” as Hrosvitha (possibly alluding to a supposed etymology of her name) calls herself, are by no means Terentian. They are written in prose, with an element of something like rhythm, and an occasional admixture of rhyme. In their themes, and in the treatment of these, they are what they were intended to be, the direct opposites of the lightsome adapter of Menander. They are founded upon legends of the saints, selected with a view to a glorification of religion in its supremest efforts and most transcendental aspects. The emperor Constantine’s daughter, for example, Constantia, gives her hand in marriage toGallicanus, just before he starts on a Scythian campaign, though she has already taken a vow of perpetual maidenhood. In the hour of battle he is himself converted, and, having on his return like his virgin bride chosen the more blessed unmarried state, dies as a Christian martyr in exile. The three holy maidens, Agape, Chionia and Irene, are preserved by a humorous miracle from the evil designs ofDulcitius, to offer up their pure lives as a sacrifice under Diocletian’s persecutions.Callimachus, who has Romeo-like carried his earthly passion for the saintly Drusiana into her tomb, and among its horrors has met with his own death, is by the mediation of St John raised with her from the dead to a Christian life. All these themes are treated with both spirit and skill, often with instinctive knowledge of dramatic effect—often with genuine touches of pathos and undeniable felicities of expression. InDulcitiusthere is also an element of comedy, or rather of farce. How far Hrosvitha’s comedies were an isolated phenomenon of their age in Germany must remain undecided; in the general history of the drama they form the visible bridge between the few earlier attempts at utilizing the forms of the classical drama for Christian purposes and the miracle plays. They are in any case the productions of genius; nor has Hrosvitha missed the usual tribute of the supposition that Shakespeare has borrowed from her writings.

The third and last group of the writings of Hrosvitha is that of her versified historical chronicles. At the request of the abbess Gerberga, she composed herCarmen de gestis Oddonis, an epic attempting in some degree to follow the great Roman model. It was completed by the year 968, and presented by the authoress to both the old emperor and his son (then already crowned as) Otto II. This poem so closely adheres to the materials supplied to the authoress by members of the imperial family that, notwithstanding its courtly omissions, it is regarded as an historical authority. Unfortunately only half of it remains; the part treating of the period from 953 to 962 is lost with the exception of a few fragments, and the period from 962 to 967 is summarized only. Subsequently, in a poem (of 837 hexameters)De primordiis et fundatoribus coenobii Gandersheimensis, Hrosvitha narrated the beginnings of her own convent, and its history up to the year 919.

The Munich MS., which contains all the works enumerated above except theChronicle of Gandersheim, was edited by the great Vienna humanist, Conrad Celtes, in 1501. The edition of Celtes was published at Nuremberg, with eight wood-cuts by Albrecht Dürer. It was re-edited by H. L. Schurzfleisch and published at Wittenberg in 1707. The comedies have been edited and translated into German by J. Bendixen (Lübeck, 1857), and into French by C. Magnin (Paris, 1845), whose introduction gives a full account of the authoress and her works. See also herPoésies latines, with a translation into French verse by V. Rétif de la Bretonne (Paris, 1854). A copious analysis of her plays will be found in Klein,Geschichte des Dramas, iii. 665-754. See also W. Creizenach,Geschichte des neueren Dramas, i. 17 sqq. (Halle, 1893), and A. W. Ward,History of English Dramatic Literature, i. 6 sqq. (Cambridge, 1899). Gustav Freytag wrote a dissertation,De Rosuitha poëtria(Breslau, 1839), to qualify himself as an academical teacher, which, as he records (Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben, Leipzig, 1887, p. 1839), showed “how impossible it was to the German, a thousand years since, to compose dramatically”; and at the beginning of Albert Cohn’sShakespeare in Germany(Berlin, 1865) Shakespearean parallels are suggested to certain passages in Hrosvitha’s dramas. Her two chronicles in verse were edited by Z. H. Pertz in theMonumenta Germaniae, iv. 306-335 (Hanover, 1841). See also J. P. Migne,Patrologiae curs. compl.(Paris, 1853, vol. 137). TheCarmenwas included by Leibnitz in hisScriptores rer. Brunsvic.(Hanover, 1707-1711). For other early editions of these see A. Potthast,Bibliotheca historica medii aevi(supplement, Berlin, 1862-1868); and for an appreciation of them see Wattenbach,Geschichtsquellen, pp. 214-216, and Giesebrecht,Deutsche Kaiserzeit, i. 780, who mentions a German translation by Pfund (1860). There is a complete edition of the works of Hrosvitha by K. A. Barack (Nürnberg, 1858). J. Aschbach (1867) attempted to prove that Celtes had forged the productions which he published under the name of Hrosvitha, but he was refuted by R. Köpke (Berlin, 1869). Anatole France,La Vie littéraire(3èmesérie, Paris, 1891), cited by Creienach, mentions a curious recent experiment, the performance of Hrosvitha’s comedies in the Théâtre des Marionettes at Paris.

(A. W. W.)

HSÜAN TSANG(Hiouen Thsang,Hiwen T’sang,Yüan Tsang,Yuan-Chwang), the most eminent representative of a remarkable and valuable branch of Chinese literature, consisting of the narratives of Chinese Buddhists who travelled to India, whilst their religion flourished there, with the view of visiting the sites consecrated by the history of Sakya Muni, of studying at the great convents which then existed in India, and of collecting books, relics and other sacred objects.

The importance of these writings as throwing light on the geography and history of India and adjoining countries, during a very dark period, is great, and they have been the subject of elaborate commentaries by modern students. Several Chinese memoirs of this kind appear to have perished; and especially to be regretted is a great collection of the works of travellers to India, religious and secular, in sixty books, with forty more of maps and illustrations, published at the expense of the emperor Kao-Tsung of the T’ang dynasty,A.D.666, with a preface from the imperial hand. We will mention the clerical travellers of this description who are known to us by name.1.Shi-tao-’an(d. 385) wrote a work on his travels to the “western lands” (an expression applying often to India), which is supposed to be lost. 2.Fa-hientravelled to India in 399, and returned by sea in 414. His work, calledFo-Kwo-Ki, or Memoirs on the Buddha Realms, has been translated by Abel-Rémusat and Landresse, and again into English by the Rev. S. Beale; Mr Laidlay of Calcutta also published a translation from the French, with interesting notes. 3.Hwai SengandSung-Yun, monks, travelled to India to collect books and reliques, 518-521. Their short narrative has been translated by Karl Fried. Neumann, and also by Mr Beale (along with Fa-hien). 4.Hsüan Tsang, the subject of this notice. In relation to his travels there are two Chinese works, both of which have been translated with an immense appliance of labour and learning by M. Stanislas Julien, viz. (a) theTa-T’ang-Si-Yu-Ki, or Memoirs on Western Countries issued by the T’ang Dynasty, which was compiled under the traveller’s own supervision, by order of the great emperor Tai-Tsung; and (b) aBiography of Hsüan Tsangby two of his contemporaries. 5.The Itinerary of Fifty-six Religious Travellers, compiled and published under imperial authority, 730. 6.The Itinerary of Khi-Nie, who travelled (964-976) at the head of a large body of monks to collect books, &c. Neither of the last two has been translated.

1.Shi-tao-’an(d. 385) wrote a work on his travels to the “western lands” (an expression applying often to India), which is supposed to be lost. 2.Fa-hientravelled to India in 399, and returned by sea in 414. His work, calledFo-Kwo-Ki, or Memoirs on the Buddha Realms, has been translated by Abel-Rémusat and Landresse, and again into English by the Rev. S. Beale; Mr Laidlay of Calcutta also published a translation from the French, with interesting notes. 3.Hwai SengandSung-Yun, monks, travelled to India to collect books and reliques, 518-521. Their short narrative has been translated by Karl Fried. Neumann, and also by Mr Beale (along with Fa-hien). 4.Hsüan Tsang, the subject of this notice. In relation to his travels there are two Chinese works, both of which have been translated with an immense appliance of labour and learning by M. Stanislas Julien, viz. (a) theTa-T’ang-Si-Yu-Ki, or Memoirs on Western Countries issued by the T’ang Dynasty, which was compiled under the traveller’s own supervision, by order of the great emperor Tai-Tsung; and (b) aBiography of Hsüan Tsangby two of his contemporaries. 5.The Itinerary of Fifty-six Religious Travellers, compiled and published under imperial authority, 730. 6.The Itinerary of Khi-Nie, who travelled (964-976) at the head of a large body of monks to collect books, &c. Neither of the last two has been translated.

Hsüan Tsang was born in the district of Keu-Shi, near Honan-Fu, about 605, a period at which Buddhism appears to have had a powerful influence upon a large body of educated Chinese. From childhood grave and studious, he was taken in charge by an elder brother who had adopted the monastic life, in a convent at the royal city of Loyang in Honan. Hsüan Tsang soon followed his brother’s example. For some years he travelled over China, teaching and learning, and eventually settled for a time at the capital Chang-gan (now Si-gan-fu in Shensi), where his fame for learning became great. The desire which he entertained to visit India, in order to penetrate all the doctrines of the Buddhist philosophy, and to perfect the collections of Indian books which existed in China, grew irresistible, and in August 629 he started upon his solitary journey, eluding with difficulty the strict prohibition which was in force against crossing the frontier.

The “master of the law,” as his biographers call him, plunged alone into the terrible desert of the Gobi, then known as the Sha-mo or “Sand River,” between Kwa-chow and Igu (now Hami or Kamil). At long intervals he found help from the small garrisons of the towers that dotted the desert track. Very striking is the description, like that given six centuries later by Marco Polo, of the quasi-supernatural horrors that beset the lonely traveller in the wilderness—the visions of armies and banners; and the manner in which they are dissipated singularly recalls passages in Bunyan’sPilgrim’s Progress. After great suffering Hsüan Tsang reached Igu, the seat of a Turkish principality, and pursued his way along the southern foot of the T’ian-shan, which he crossed by a glacier pass (vividly described) in the longitude of Lake Issyk-kul. In the valley of the Talas river he encounters the great khan of the Turks on a hunting party,—a rencontre which it is interesting to compare with the visit of Zemarchus to the great khan Dizabul, sixty years before, in the same region. Passing by the present Tashkend, and by Samarkand, then inhabited by fire worshippers, he reached the basin of the Upper Oxus, which had recently been the seat of the powerful dominion of the Haiathelah, Ephthalites or White Huns, known in earlier days to the Greeks asTochari, and to Hsüan Tsang (by the same name) asTuholoor Tukhāra. His account of the many small states into which the Tukhāra empire had broken up is of great interest, as many of them are identical in name and topography with the high valley states and districts on the Upper Oxus, which are at this day the object of so much geographical and political interest.

Passing by Bamian, where he speaks of the great idols still so famous, he crosses Hindu-Kush, and descends the valley of the Kabul river to Nagarahara, the site of which, still known as Nagara, adjoining Jalalabad, has been explored by Mr W. Simpson. Travelling thence to Peshawar (Purushapura), the capital of Gandhara, he made a digression, through the now inaccessible valley of Swat and the Dard states, to the Upper Indus, returning to Peshawar, and then crossing the Indus (Sintu) into the decayed kingdom ofTaxila(Ta-cha-si-lo, Takshasila), then subject to Kashmir. In the latter valley he spent two whole years (631-633) studying in the convents, and visiting the many monuments of his faith. In his further travels he visited Mathura (Mot’ulo, Muttra), whence he turned north to Thanesar and the upper Jumna and Ganges, returning south down the valley of the latter to Kanyakubja or Kanauj, then one of the great capitals of India. The pilgrim next entered on a circuit of the most famous sites of Buddhist and of ancient Indian history, such as Ajodhya, Prayaga (Allahabad), Kausambhi, Sravasti, Kapilavastu, the birth-place of Sakya, Kusinagara, his death-place, Pataliputra (Patna, thePalibothraof the Greeks), Gaya, Rajagriha and Nalanda, the most famous and learned monastery and college in India, adorned by the gifts of successive kings, of the splendour of which he gives a vivid description, and of which traces have recently been recovered. There he again spent nearly two years in mastering Sanskrit and the depths of Buddhist philosophy. Again, proceeding down the banks of the Ganges, he diverged eastward to Kamarupa (Assam), and then passed by the great ports of Tamralipti (Tamluk, the misplacedTamalitisof Ptolemy), and through Orissa to Kanchipara (Conjeeveram), about 640. Thence he went northward across the Carnatic and Maharashtra to Barakacheva (Broach of our day,Barygazaof the Greeks). After this he visited Malwa, Cutch, Surashtra (peninsular Gujarat,Syrastreneof the Greeks), Sind, Multan and Ghazni, whence he rejoined his former course in the basin of the Kabul river.

This time, however, he crosses Pamir, of which he gives a remarkable account, and passes by Kashgar, Khotan (Kustana), and the vicinity of Lop-nor across the desert to Kwa-chow, whence he had made his venturous and lonely plunge into the waste fifteen years before. He carried with him great collections of books, precious images and reliques, and was received (April 645) with public and imperial enthusiasm. The emperor T’ai-Tsung desired him to commit his journey to writing, and also that he should abandon the eremitic rule and serve the state. This last he declined, and devoted himself to the compilation of his narrative and the translation of the books he had brought with him from India. The former was completedA.D.648. In 664 Hsüan Tsang died in a convent at Chang-gan. Some things in the history of his last days, and in the indications of beatitude recorded, strongly recall the parallel history of the saints of the Roman calendar. But on the other hand we find the Chinese saint, on the approach of death, causing one of his disciples to frame a catalogue of his good works, of the books that he had translated or caused to be transcribed, of the sacred pictures executed at his cost, of the alms that he had given, of the living creatures that he had ransomed from death. “When Kia-shang had ended writing this list, the master ordered him to read it aloud. After hearing it the devotees clasped their hands, and showered their felicitations on him.” Thus the “well-done, good and faithful” comes from the servant himself in self-applause.

The book of the biography, by the disciples Hwai-li and Yen-t’sung, as rendered with judicious omissions by Stan. Julien, is exceedingly interesting; its Chinese style receives high praise from the translator, who says he has often had to regret his inability to reproduce its grace, elegance and vivacity.

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